okay so a whole of 5 people (and then myself so i could see the results) have answered yes to the poll SO. we'll start with the strange ones and work our way backward

(p.s. it feels important to preface this by saying first of all it's 3 in the morning and i've been working on this post for the better part of an hour and have gotten sidetracked several times during it so i'm not sure this is at all sensical to anyone but me lol . i MIGHT try and clean it up a little and make it a little more comprehensible at some point, but i make no promises.

second of all this very much so blurs the lines of just straight factual canon BUT i think most of it is reasonable to assume in turn with real canon. but also please keep in mind im working on a reboot of the trilogy and may have gotten some of THAT canon mixed up in there so please take this with a grain of salt lol.)

my little reason why ; lisa hannigan (steven universe)

dimitri about the cooper gang i think. admittedly this one is mostly just about vibes and the last lines* but it makes me Emotion so you get it anyway. i can also see this as the panda king just less so

*"My little reason why / You make me want to try / Loving you"

rambling in-depth breakdown/analysis below the cut ! for being a spur of the moment association bc i thought about dimitri with this stuck in my head, it works surprisingly well <3

er. to me anyway.

so im gonna talk about this like it was written for this intended purpose and like it's all just a big metaphor even though it most certainly was not lol

"Cold palace walls / And endless empty halls / Haunted by echoes of laughter"

metaphorically about the klaww gang. like they were a TEAM sure but i doubt they really liked each other, y'know? i cant imagine bison and the contessa putting up w dimitri any more than they have to.

i take the "haunted by echoes of laughter" in part as dimitri being like the outcast of the Klaww Gang so the others are laughing but dimitri himself is not, hence the haunting and the echoes. but that's not CANON canon so like who's to say. but i think it's not a far fetch all things considered. but the halls could very well be haunted by echoes of laughter post-klaww bust where they've been disbanded if that's more your jive!

"You gave the pull / And suddenly they're full / You've thrown the gates open after you"

continuing with the Palace is a Metaphor For Teams thing im doing presumably the "you" is sly & the rest of the cg! the halls are full and the gates are open because they actually like care about each other and don't view each other as means to an end. i point out sly specifically bc he's. well. the leader of the team (or at least who you would assume as the leader at a first glance but that's a ramble for another day) and also bc he's the one who talks to dimitri first.

and probably the first one to like befriend him but that's blurring out of factual canon. but if you want to continue blurring those lines then "throwing the gates open" could be read as like. if sly's the first one to get comfortable with him presumably that's going to encourage the others to as well so it goes from work acquaintances -> work acquaintances and sly -> friends/found family

"And swept in with the throng / Comes this wonderful song"

okay this part i dont have much for i was honestly just gonna put it with the last part or the next part lol BUT it could be framed as dimitri's redemption* arc of sorts . like i said i have the least abot this and is there a mouse above me hold on

(it was not. leaving that though 'cause it's funny.)

anyway. like i said i have not a lot about this part and less that's actually fit into just straight canon but like consider it as dimitri swept into the throng and the wonderful song being. well in a literal sense the next few lines. but also in a less concrete way metaphorical heart singing about finally fitting in in a team that doesn't suck ass you know. like i said not very solid. but it makes me Feel Things so.

"My little reason why / I'll never make you cry / Oh, I have got the sweetest things to tell you every day"

again more about his redemption* arc. something about not making them cry anymore bc he's not a sucky dude anymore. my gay found family heart says it's about the found familyness .

also the "sweetest things to tell" is just him getting comfortable enough with the crew to infodump about boats /j

in a more serious sense (though not by much) i cannot imagine a world in which he does not talk a very much. so i am sure he does certainly say a lot of sweet things every day . and again i can't imagine the klaww gang putting up with him beyond the necessities so i imagine he says a lot more sweet things to the cg than he did to them but as is to be expected with me that is Blurring the Lines still so .

"My little reason why / You make me want to try / Loving you"

again with the redemption* arc . still blurring my lines here but i'm sure if the klaww gang weren't fond of each other than dimitri is definitely not going into the cg with high hopes . but as he bonds with them he learns that they don't suck actually. so he's coming out of his metaphorical shell (sorry bentley) as he learns that the cooper gang is not just a team or "cold palace walls and endless empty halls" but they're like actually friends/family. so he can try to (platonically, in case you couldn't tell)** love them.

*redemption played fast and loose here bc he is still definitely part of a team of master thieves and therefore still on the unredeemed side of the law but redeemed as in working with sly/the protagonists, ya dig? of course ya dig.

**no offense to everybody who ships him with people in the cg thi just personally reads found family to me and i just want to make that clear lol .

LUSUS HEADCANONS

In the world of Alternia there are not only the trolls we all know and love, but also the amazing white furred creatures that serve as guardians to them.

Yes, tonight we are talking about lusii and some of our headcanons on what species and characteristics lusii should have according to caste. 

We made an extensive research, using all the canonical material to bring you a quick and easy guide to lusii by blood type. We hope that this can help you decide what lusus you want for your troll in the future. 

Now a few short disclaimers before we start:

Firstly, we refer to “lusii” as the creatures that act as the troll’s guardian, they are different to “pets”, those are creatures adopted by the troll for company and are non-existent in the canon. A lusus can act as a pet but a pet is not necessarily the troll’s lusus. 

Secondly, Mutant bloods and cuspbloods would often be ignored by lusii the same way an animal would reject a defective offspring. Despite the fact that the followers of the signless created a lusus to take care of mutant grubs, we are not sure how many species of mutant blooded lusii are out there and if they would adopt any mutant blood. 

Cuspblooded trolls could be adopted by a lusus that shares one of its colors, however cuspblooded lusii do not exist.  

And thirdly, We talk high and mighty about our headcanons and about the canonical material, but please remember that these are just our point of view and are not the norm. You don't have to accept it if it doesn’t work for you, in the end you create your troll’s world the way you like the best.

With all that said, have fun and enjoy the ride. <3

The burgundy caste is often known for being often weak physically compared to other castes like Olives, Indigos or Purples, but they are very strong mentally, with their dominion over thelepatics. Canonical Rustbloods also tend to be more docile and obedient, not as aggressive as higher castes, which deems them perfect for servitude. So we figured Rustblooded lusii should follow these patterns. 

A rustblooded lusus could be a creature with a gentle nature or a creature that is not very active. A good example of this would be Xefros giant sloth lusus, that even though is big and protective, it doesn’t seem to be aggressive and its movements are lazy. 

Other good examples would be creatures like Dormice, Lazy cats, Koalas, and other meek animals that are not usually aggressive. 

However, another possible type of creature for a Rustblood lusus could be a mystical creature commonly associated with the mind or death. Since Rustbloods are known for their strong psychic powers and the ability to connect to the dead, it wouldn’t be surprising that they were chosen by a lusii with similar powers as well.

There are a few canonical Bronze lusii, Tinkerbull,  Lady the collie, Canary the emu and the deercat.

All these creatures share a common trait: they are all based on domesticated animals. 

Yes, even the deercat, which is portrayed with a saddle, a clear sign of domestication. 

It fits well with bronzebloods as they are known for being hardworking trolls, often handling other lusii or doing heavy duty work. Being the second lowest caste, they are also portrayed to be servants to higher castes, and are often deemed to be friendly and non aggressive. 

There are of course exceptions, as we know the Deercat chooses bronze trolls that have strong leadership traits. 

Any animal that has some form of domestication fits well as a Bronze lusus, from farm animals like cows, sheep, fowl and pigs, to any other company animal like dogs, cats, ferrets, birds and even hamsters. 

You wouldn't believe what animals have already been domesticated. 

Canonically there is only one goldblooded lusus, that being the biclops that is Sollux dad. However it’s been theorized that Cirava has a wasp-like lusus, seeing as how they have a wasp like hive in the ceiling of their… Well, hive. 

With this in mind, We believe a goldblooded lusus should be any creature with a duplicated feature: two heads, two tails, to sets of ears, two extra limbs, two extra eyes, etc. Always keeping the symmetry as all Goldbloods are shown to be symmetrical at birth and have double horns compared to other trolls.  

Insects like beetles, butterflies and bees all enter this category as they already show to have extra limbs. Not to mention that Goldblooded trolls often work in apiculture and apiculture networking.  

Another good option are creatures that are receptive to electricity and electromagnetism or are receptive to frequency waves, as gooldbloods are known for their psionic powers and their knowledge of  technology. Eels and bats are a good example for this. 

Of course, there are no existent lime trolls in the canon, therefore there are no existent lime lusii either. We could argue that Karkat’s Crabdad could be considered a lime lusus, however he was created by the signless followers so mutant grubs would have a lusus of their own.

Therefore this headcanon is purely based on our opinion and how little we know about limebloods. 

With so little to work with, we theorize that Limebloods could have hybrid or strange creatures as their lusus, this will go well with the overall “mystery” of what a limeblood really was and what their powers were. 

We have theorized before what limeblood powers were, but as of now there is no canonical interpretation of it. 

So hybrid or strange animals like platypus, echidnas, and any strange combination you can think of could work well for the elusive  limeblood. 

Olives are a jack of all trades in Alternia, known for their agility, strength and sharp minds, they can do a large range of works throughout the world, from hunters and mercenaries, to clever detectives, artists and even salesfolk.

With these traits, we theorize that Olivebloods should have mammalian-like creatures covered in fur as their lusii. We would even say that Olives tend to have predatory animals, not necessarily mammals. as lusii, such as wolves, felines, mustelids, bears and so on... but we could easily see a young olive troll learning their agility and cleverness from a rabbit, a deer or a squirrel. 

Now, there are mixed beliefs when it comes to Jade lusii. Kanaya has a virgin mother grub as her lusus, however it's unclear whether her having a lusus is a special case or a common occurrence between jade trolls.

We like to theorize that jades have lusii around helping them take care of younger jades and even grubs before they are taken by their respective lusii. 

Jade lusii should be all females, just like jades, with very few exceptions. Creatures with strong maternal instincts, or creatures that are often associated with femininity work well as Jade lusii. So lionesses, does, hens, bears, cows, swans, butterflies or even mantises and spiders could be good options for jade lusii. 

However, another good example could be cave-dwelling creatures that are already native to the brooding caverns, so bats and glow worms could be a good idea. 

Some of these lusii could even have bioluminescence, similar to how some Jades develop glowing skin as rainbowdrinkers. 

There is quite a large menagerie of canonical tealblooded lusii, and we have found a few traits that could be considered a pattern.

Seeing as how Tealbloods are born and raised to work in the law career, it would be appropriate to assume that tealblooded lusii reflect this as well.

So creatures that are often associated with justice, law, loyalty,  protection or balance could be a good lusii for a Tealblood. So creatures such as dogs, lions, bears, and hedgehogs are good examples of this. 

There is also the possibility that tealblood lusii have all some sort of relation to dragons, seeing as how dragons are often portrayed as a symbol of protection, justice and loyalty. So reptiles and birds could enter this category, there are thousands of dragon types out there and creatures that are related to draconic creatures. 

Ceruleans are often known to be sly and sneaky, sometimes even a bit manipulative and they are commonly not well seen by other trolls, even if they are considered “blue bloods”. It wouldn’t be a surprise that creatures often deemed as “vermin” or “creepy crawlies” would favor Ceruleans as their charges, possibly adding to the overall bad and unjustified reputation of the blood.  Also creatures with bad reputation or creatures commonly known as “sly”.

So creatures like spiders, insects, snakes and rats could be good options for a cerulean troll. 

This one will be very short, as of now all Indigo lusii show the same traits: they are all Ungulate creatures. Which makes sense considering there are a lot of horse puns around the indigo blood. Not only that, but horses and other ungulated creatures are often a representation of strength that is the main trait of Indigo bloods. 

So any ungulate creature from horses, goats, elk, and even giraffes or rhinos work as good indigo lusii. 

We have talked here a lot about our headcanon for purple lusii. 

It has been shown in canon that purple lusii are aquatic or semi aquatic, not to mention that often purples build their hives near the sea so they can be close to their respective lusii. So any creature that depends on water for survival but can still breathe air can be considered a good lusus for a purpleblood.  

So Aquatic animals like whales, seals and dolphins, Semi-aquatic animals like aquatic birds, otters and hippos, to even amphibians could be your choice for a purple lusus. 

So this one is a no-brainer, since violetbloods are aquatic themselves, it would only be reasonable to think that their lusii are aquatic as well.

So any type of aquatic or semi-aquatic creature fits here, as long as they can breathe underwater. 

Yes, you heard us right!

Fuchsia trolls could have lusus too!

Though it's commonly known that the heiress is often raised by the Gl'bgolyb, however when there is more than one fuchsia troll around, there is the possibility that the Gl'bgolyb would prefer one to the others.

So It wouldn’t be too out there to assume that some fuchsiablooded lusii would assist in the raising of young possible heirs to the throne. 

A fuchsia lusus should be a water dwelling creature that doesn’t often come to the surface, so bottom dwellers, deep sea creatures or reef creatures are good examples for this. 

And there you have it folks!

Our headcanons for lusii characteristics according to their caste!

Please remember we are going with standards here, we are aware that all trolls are different and show the traits of their caste in a different way than the rest. Their lusus should also represent that!

We hope it was of your liking and that it will help you in the future. 

Happy 280th Birthday Tom!

After having such a great fun with doing this for Lord John, I decided to do a reading for our wee Byrd as well.

A Natal Chart Reading for Tom Byrd

Disclaimers:

I am still not an astrologer

This is made in the spirit of appreciation of this character and his story. The purpose of this is pure fun on my part and hopefully to entertain some of you as well. Plus, to maybe provide some character-study-style insight or inspiration.

Tom Byrd’s character belong to Diana Gabaldon - duh -

Tom has no official canon birth date as far as we know it. A few of us decided on a whim to celebrate him on this day, and oh boy is it perfect from an astrological standpoint. Of course, it is. But that’s it, it’s just adoring fan-silliness from our part.

Again, I take full responsibility for the time of day chosen. I have cycled through the day by the hour, compared charts and decided on the one that I’ve found most fitting and just went with that.

Tom Byrd’s character has appeared only in the Lord John books so far, so every example I’m giving here will be from there. Nothing too spoilery.

This is astrology applied to a fictional character, you have been warned. Continue at your own discretion.

Let’s transport ourselves into the world of Outlander, and imagine the day that world was gifted with the presence of this cute and complicated character. What do the stars tell us about him?

Double Cancer 

No one ever said that Cancerians would be easy to understand. People born under the Crab are capable of holding many contradictions in their personality, and this is twice as true in the case of Tom Byrd who has both the Sun and the Moon in Cancer. When the two most powerful planets of a chart are in the same sign it tends to make the characteristics of that sign very prominent.

He is extremely cautious, but won’t hesitate taking the initiative when he needs to. Others tend to underestimate him at first, because he will stick to the rules. That is until he breaks them. He does not welcome change, but still adapts quickly to changing circumstances.

Tom appreciates safety, like the security that comes from stable employment, but still has a secret love for adventure. Luckily he can satisfy both of those cravings as the valet of Lord John Grey, because we all know that his lordship has the talent of getting into the most bizarre situations and is more than happy to keep Tom around to accompany him. (#zombies #succubus)

Just like a little crab crawling sideways he might have an indirect approach to things, but eventually he will always get where he wants to go.

He is sensitive and kind, but since his feelings are so dominant his mood can change fast. This is usually concealed by a carefully constructed exterior built from propriety and good manners. He uses this to hide deep feelings and extreme sensitivity underneath. He might be calm and collected on the surface most of the time, but there is a constantly shifting tide of emotions in his heart. He has the tendency to worry too much, to brood silently when he’s hurting or sulk when he disapproves, but no one listens to him.

Those who know him a little better will know that this grumpy little valet has a heart of gold. He is extremely caring and has a natural talent for making others comfortable and cared for.

At the same time Tom is cautious about revealing too much, which makes him naturally discrete. Besides his skill at giving a close shave this was one of the characteristics that made Lord John keep him as a valet just after just a short while of knowing him. Tom is also exceptionally perceptive and hard to deceive. He will notice the tiniest of details. This, and his high sensitivity to people’s emotions makes him good at figuring out others’ motivations. His intuition also makes him great at sensing public trends, and this combined with his creativity contributes to him becoming a good valet. He has a good memory and likes to collect information and store away small details later to be used.

His most admirable trait is probably his loyalty. When he is caring for someone, nothing can deter him. Crabs are known to retreat to safety at the first sign of danger. Don’t be fooled by Tom’s occasional outburst heroism, bravery is not his default setting. (#roaches) And because of that it means so much more when he does choose to stay and fight.

Cancerians tend to be quite the people-collectors. They don’t easily let people they know out of their sight. So fyi: there is no way Tom Byrd would willingly abandon Lord John Grey or let him out of his life completely. I think he would have loved if Jack decided to stay with them, but you know… his brother had his own loyalties.

Underneath all these layers Tom hides a fragile heart. He secretly needs and craves support and encouragement. He tries to hide it, but he has a lot of insecurities and can be a bit shy.

He is passionate about fixing other people’s problems. It comes from a strong urge to care for others even if it can be a bit overbearing sometimes.

Having the Moon in Cancer as well makes him even more protective and persistent. He perceives the world through his emotions, rather than rational arguments. This can cause a conflict with people who try to argue their feelings away - khm John khm - because that is very hard to understand for Tom. Other aspects of his chart play into this as well (Mars in Taurus) Sometimes he won’t be willing to see someone else’s point, especially if he knows that person feels differently than the argument they intellectually make.

No matter how in tune with his feelings he is, he doesn’t usually show them openly and as hypersensitive he is to other people’s emotions, he can sometimes be blinded by his own.

He is best in a deep, committed and loving relationship with someone who will appreciate his delicate heart and will dispel his feelings of unworthiness.

Capricorn Rising

Tom Byrd has a serious outward demeanor. No matter how young, inexperienced or out of his depth he may be in a certain situation, he is more than capable of employing the ‘fake it ‘till you make it’ tactic.  

With strangers he is often quiet and reserved. He also possesses great willpower and determination. It is important to him that he achieves things through his own hard work and that he feels like his life is meaningful. (Mars in Taurus) He has all the necessary discipline, ambition and patience to do just so. Becoming a lord’s valet is something he takes pride in, no matter the initial circumstances.

He has an active mind, quick intelligence, and the ability to concentrate. He likes to map things out ahead of time, because he doesn’t like to be caught unprepared. Fussing over details is his way of staying in control. He’s also a bit of a perfectionist.

He is a worrier. He loves deeply, and goes out of his way to be kind to others, but on the other hand he will hold onto hurt, and will hold a grudge.

His chart is ruled by Saturn which is in Cancer in the 7th house of partnership. This might suggest that he is emotionally too dependent on others. However, he is great at seeing a task through completion. Can be sly if he wants to. (see how he inserted himself into John’s life? see??) The obstacles he needs to overcome are his insecurity and lack of confidence.

Other interesting tidbits

The evils of propriety

Tom is mindful of decency and societal norms. (Capricorn Rising) That doesn’t mean he is not ready to throw them out the window, this is just another one of his contradictions. With him belonging to one of the Uranus in Capricorn generations he has the confidence to break through old established ideas. This aspect of his chart does oppose the likewise generational Neptune in Cancer, which suggests that this conflict is something he has a lot to do with in his life. Old-fashioned values vs. change for the better. Being compassionate towards others and maintaining harmony vs. fighting for your values and/or goals.

Sweet little cupcake

Tom is irresistibly likeable and naturally attracts warm feelings from others. (Venus in Leo) Do I need to say more? He is adorable and I have fallen under his spell. Points to Venus - there is my excuse lol

Twin influences

Tom has Mercury in Gemini, which gives an interesting quicksilver quality to his personality. He is surprisingly hard to pin down (get your mind out of the gutter ;P ). He is curious, versatile and quick witted. A great example of this is when in Private Matter John is trying to be very discreet about inquiring about his brother, and is surprised to find that against this effort, Tom immediately sees through him that he considers the possibility of his brother being guilty.

He also has Jupiter in Gemini, which again points to his adventurous nature and the knack for getting into advantageous situations. Do I need to say more?

Detective

My favourite small tidbit in his chart is a complex trine which suggests that he is good at looking beneath the surface for answers, good at investigating and unearthing things, and that he finds great allies in this. He is quite a little detective, our Tom. Seems like a small thing, but the placement of it suggests that this aids him in a great way. Which we know is true ;)

I hope you enjoyed this little ramble. It was fun to write, and it just made me fall twice as madly in love with our wee Byrd. Not that I need the encouragement on any day lol

Just Let Logan Read 2020 (1865 words)

Quick A/N before the fic, this is set outside of canon in what I call ‘everyone gets along verse’ inside my head, and I have put them in my version of the ‘mindscape’, where they can go into the real world to interact with Thomas, but they can’t interact with anything from the real world that Thomas hasn’t (in the case of this story, that applies to books) Logan uses they/them and Virgil uses ze/zem/zir because I said so and NB sides rule. 

All of the sides and THomas (except Roman, who is referenced) are in it and sympathetic, besides that, TWs for implied nudity and kissing. Please let me know if there are any others I need to tag!

Logan finally set aside the last of their work for the foreseeable future. They’d been working just about nonstop for the past week, trying to catch up with their normal scheduling and editing as well as trying to assuage some of Thomas’s fears about the quarantine. Now that they had some free time, they wanted nothing more than to curl up with a new book and a cup of tea. The problem with that, was that being an actual human’s ‘side’, and thus not having access to the real world past Thomas’s experiences, they could not read any books that Thomas had not, and therefore needed to convince Thomas to read something new, preferably a horror book, their favourite genre. 

Logan did briefly worry that reading a horror book, and by extent Thomas reading a horror book, might worry Virgil even more about the current pandemic, but they had an arsenal of research on escapism to defend himself, and Virgil had a very good support system in place in case of this, having recently reconciled and resumed zir romantic relationship with Janus and Remus. Logan was very glad to hear this, as they cared about the anxious side very much. (This care was, in part, due to Logan being head over heels in love with zem, although you’d have a hard time getting them to admit even a slight romantic attraction.) 

The much more pressing obstacle that Logan expected in his quest to finally get to read was Roman and Patton. Unlike the former ‘dark sides’, the two of them had been together for quite some time. The longevity of their relationship had done nothing to curb their enthusiasm, however, and they spent a great deal of their time together, and in spare time for them all like this tended to engage in rather grandiose displays of their affection. 

Due to this, Logan decided that if they wanted their quiet afternoon of reading, they would have to ask the two lovebirds to tone it down for a while, please and thank you. 

They chose to approach Patton (assuming Roman wasn’t already with him) mainly arbitrarily, but also because Logan was a bit worried that asking Roman to tone down his… romantic tendencies might offend him somewhat (especially in conjunction with their rather blunt phrasing) 

They knocked on Patton’s door, barely having time to bemoan about the peeling stickers covering it to themselves before it opened. 

“Heya, Logan!” Patton greeted, smiling, “Finally taking a break?” Logan smiled back, 

“Yes, Patton, thank you for your concern. I actually came to ask a favor, if that’s alright?” 

“‘Course, Lo! Whatcha need?” Patton looked just as happy, if maybe a little concerned for Logan, and they had to take a second to remind themselves that they weren’t asking for that much really and that they are not a burden before they spoke again 

“Um, I was wondering, if it’s not too much trouble,” Patton was looking increasingly concerned for Logan, 

“If you and Roman could, um, tone it down? With the romance today? As you know, our emotions impact Thomas’s somewhat, and I’d like to finally get to a new book today.” 

“Oh, sure! We actually didn’t have anything planned today, so if anything we’ll just hang out.” 

“Thank you Patton, I appreciate that.”

“No problem Lo, good luck with the reading!” Logan muttered a thanks, and left with a wave. 

Now they just needed to convince Thomas. 

When Logan popped up in the living room, Thomas was reading something on his phone. He seemed remarkably engaged, he hadn’t even noticed Logan pop up. 

“Thomas?” no such luck. They leaned away from the stairs, towards Thomas. 

“Thomas!” 

“AH- oh hey Logan!” Thomas recovered quickly from his startle. 

“Hello, Thomas, I apologize for scaring you.” 

“Nah, you could never scare me Logan, you just startled me, you do it almost as well as Virgil!” he joked. Logan knew it was a joke and an offhand one at that, but he still blushed at the comparison. Thomas cocked an eyebrow at them, but relaxed it quickly, resuming his cheerful expression. 

“So, what’s up? You don’t usually pop up if it’s not for a video or something,” Logan frowned at that, perhaps they should venture to make more social calls? 

‘Well, not this time, in fact I actually have some free time and I came to ask you a favor,” Thomas motioned for them to continue.

“Well, you know about my… penchant for reading, particularly horror novels, and I was hoping that you, er, we might read a new one?” 

“Oh, buddy, you didn’t have to be nervous about that!” Logan bristled a little at how easy they were to see through, and Thomas chuckled a bit.

“How much free time do you have? I’m pretty into this story I’m reading now, maybe we could read IT or something tomorrow?” Logan was disappointed at that, but tried to contain it, nodding at Thomas. They were quite ahead after all. 

“Of course, Thomas, I’ll still be free then,” They tried to smile reassuringly at Thomas, but the answering one was still apologetic. 

“If I may ask, what were you reading just now? Perhaps it might interest me as well.” 

“Oh, well, I don’t know, maybe, it was just some fanfiction for that new anime I’m into, it’s pretty good but I don’t know if ‘found family’ is really your thing?” That caught Logan’s interest, wasn’t that why they asked Patton and Roman to tone it down? But… Patton was anything but a lier, and a found family fic was a little… soft to be influenced by those two. 

Oh shit. If it wasn’t them, then that meant the others, which meant Virgil. Logan was not looking forward to this conversation. 

“Apologies, Thomas, I understand now. I will see you tomorrow.” And with that, they sunk out, cutting off whatever confused utterance Thomas was about to say. 

They rose up near Virgil’s door, dreading another ‘can you please not be horny so I can read’ conversation, especially with their crush. Well, at least they were giving some warning this time, and maybe that warning would help prepare zem for what Logan planned to read tomorrow? 

Logan gave a courtesy knock to Virgil’s door (which had fewer sticker’s than Patton’s, but the artfully distressed and chipped paint irritated Logan no less) Logan and Virgil had been quite close lately, a double edged sword in Logan’s opinion, since it meant Logan was frequently close to zem, but nowhere near as close as they would like, but regardless, due to the close nature of their relationship as of late, they had agreed that they were welcome in Virgil’s room anytime (and vice versa) so long as they knocked, so after doing so, Logan opened the door, a greeting on their lips. 

Oh. Logan froze. In the back of their mind they told themselves that agreement or no agreement they would definitely wait for Virgil to answer next time. Because while the three sides in the room were technically doing little more than kissing, it was still a very… intimate moment, and Remus was wearing very little. 

Finally having processed enough to realize that they should definitely not be standing in the doorway still, Logan moved to back out and close the door, but before they could, a pair of eyes locked onto their own. 

“L! What are you doing?” Virgil was bright red, and while Logan couldn’t be sure, they were pretty sure they were blushing just as much as zem. 

“I- it’s not important, I will leave.” 

Janus looked at ehm, considering, the same time Remus exclaimed, 

“No need to do that!” 

“Remus!” Virgil admonished, turning to Logan, apologetic. Logan wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow him. They wanted nothing more than to join the three sides, and it was the three of them, they realized, Remus with his earnest curiosity and enthusiasm, Janus with his sly flirting and tendency to bully his loved ones into self care, not to mention Virgil with zir intelligence and fierceness and softness. Shit. 

Logan almost dared to have hope for a second when he looked back up at his three crushes. Remus was smiling a little unnervingly at them, Virgil was still looking at them apologetically with that blush on zir face, and Janus, Janus was smirking at Logan in a way that made them feel just a little bit like prey, but by no means in a bad way.

“Remus is right,” Janus purred, ignoring Logan and Virgil’s shock, 

“After all, you came here to tell V something, didn’t you?” 

“This is not how we agreed to do this,” Virgil grumbled, and Logan couldn’t even begin to wrap their head around what that meant, so they just decided to answer Janus’s question.

“Why I came is… not important. You were busy, I should leave.” Janus hummed, 

“That’s not a lie, but I don’t think it’s quite the truth either… regardless, it’s not an answer.” Logan sighed, stubborn as they were, Janus had them beat in that regard, as well as the fact that (provided he was paying enough attention), he could tell when they were lying. They were going to have to tell them why they were here. 

“I wanted to ask if, tomorrow, you all could tone it down with the… romance, so that Thomas can focus on reading, but as I said, it is not important and I can leave.” Remus laughed, and Janus looked just as amused. 

“And, do you still want us to ‘tone it down’? As ze said,” Janus motioned to Virgil, “This wasn’t exactly our plan, but I have no complaints with you staying.” Remus grinned and nodded enthusiastically at Logan, looking at them hungrily. Logan looked, shocked, at Virgil, and ze met their eyes with a shy smile. 

“Just to make sure I’m not… misinterpreting, what exactly are you offering?” Logan asked quietlyC. Remus got up then, the first of them to leave the bed, and Logan realized that he was wearing even fewer clothes than they had realized. 

Logan very pointedly looked up at Remus’s face, and he took their hand, (if it hadn’t been Remus, Logan might have thought he seemed shy) 

“We were gonna ask tomorrow since Virgey said you’d be free!” Remus started leading them towards the other two, all three of them looking at Logan with different degrees of nerves and affection, 

“We really like you,” Virgil said, and Logan gasped, unbelieving how lucky they were, 

“So, L, would you want to join us? Our relationship?” Virgil finished. 

Logan lunged at Virgil then, kissing zem briefly before switching to Janus. They broke away, looking at Remus. “Yes,” they said, “I’d love to!” Remus moved to kiss them then, but Logan stopped him. 

“I’m not kissing you until you put on some pants.” 

“Lie” Janus said, and Remus’s disappointment melted away as he moved to kiss his new partner. Virgil threw some shorts at Remus, winking at Logan when they turned to look. Logan laughed, the happiest they’d been in a long time. 

Maybe they could settle for a romance, instead of a horror. 

More than 900 notes on the “Lila gets Exposed” ficlet? I love you guys.

And writting Lila liying stupidly and being caught stupidly is fun. so yeah, I might make this a series on different characters catching Lila lying. At least I have some idea on how Alya, Chloe, Nino, Rose and maybe Juleka might catch her. 

These are meant to be unrelated and one shots, but I will try to kept characters other than Marinette and Lila out of the fic that aren’t their so they can still form a coherent narrative if the reader want to feel like Lila was caught by everyone.

———————-

Lila gets Exposed As The Lying Liar Who Only Lies

Marc and Nathaniel.

“Did you want to see me?”

Marinette got inside the classroom of the art club, where Marc and Nathaniel were waiting for her.

“Hiya Mari!” greeted overenthusiastically Marc, guiding her to a seat near a table where Nathaniel and he had been working. They had something covered in cloth, which Marinette found a bit suspicious, but was used to how theatrically dramatically extra those two could get.

“What’s this?”

“Well, remember our comic?”

“Which one? Where Super Nathaniel saves me from Stormy Weather and Lady Wifi and then we ki…”

“NOT THAT ONE!” reacted Nathaniel not so quickly, blushing so much his skin got the same color of his hair. “Ahem. The one where Might Illustrator and Reverser teamed up with Ladybug and Chat Noir for…”

“The double date one or the one where they fight Queen Wasp?”

“… Queen Wasp.” Marc turned to Nathaniel. “You told her about the double date one?” Nathaniel shook his head, both looked at Marinette confused, but she just smiled innocently and sweetly.

“Ha! You guys are so transparent. I was just guessing”

Marc made a face “meanie” he added a raspberry for emphasis. Nathaniel just kept his red hue.

“ANYWAY. The comic with us as heroes being heroes alongside the heroes of Paris” said Nathaniel very quickly.  Marinette giggled at how easy was to push Nathaniel’s buttons.

“And you’re our Everyday Ladybug, so we decided it was only fair that you would join the team!”

“We actually wanted to say you’re the real Ladybug, but realized that would be a bit problematic… and Alya would freak out big time”

Marinette had never panicked and been relieved so quickly in her life.

“Yeah, right, clumsy old Marinette as Ladybug, who would believe a loser like me was a superhero?”

Nathaniel and Marc looked at each other.

“Marinette, sweetie…” Marc said, holding Marinette’s hand “We love you with all our hearts, brains and other internal organs, but if you dare to call yourself bad names ever again, I will be legally and morally obligated to slap you silly until you learn to appreciate the wonderful human being that you are.”

“Duly noted”

“SO! Since you have never been akumatized –kudos for that, by the way, you rock – we didn’t had anything to base your herosona with… so we started thinking, and your main forte is designing, but bringing stuff that you draw to life is sort of Mighty Illustrator gimmick…”

“It’s not a gimmick!”

“Right right… so, Nathaniel thought about the hat you designed and we basically took a peek at your sketchbook, and we decided that fashion was going to be your thing!”

They grabbed the cloth and pulled it at the same time, uncovering a series of illustrations of Marinette in several hero suits. Some very elaborate some more simple. The main one seemed to be a play on her normal clothes, with a dark pink bodysuit with white details, including a belt, a dark grey jacket, and a brooch that resembled the ladybug earrings, just in the same shade of dark pink as the body suit.

“We based her a bit on Ladybug. With the brooch she can switch between suits, and the brooch changes colors to match which suit she is using. Her standard outfit is the pink one, which we based on your clothes, and it gives her agility and strength. The other suits are more specialized, like the blue one allowing her to breathe underwater and swim more efficiently.  We’re thinking a rainbow theme, with 7 suits plus the pink one. We might squeeze a black and white one too, although that is Reverser gimmick.” Nathaniel looked at Marc with a sly smile. Marc rolled his eyes.

“Touche. Anyway, we call her Fashionette, unless you want to be called something else”

Marinette couldn’t help but notice that they somehow had made the power of the suits match the power of the potions that Master Fu had given her. Still, it was different enough from Ladybug to throw suspicions… even though Nathaniel had made an illustration of Ladybug, ‘Fashionette’, Chat, Reverser and Mighty Illustrator. To Nathaniel’s credit, he had made Ladybug with longer hair, taller and more muscular than herself. She then wondered if that’s how other people saw Ladybug or if it was just Nathaniel’s artistic view.

“Marinette as a hero? Wow, you guys are so talented!”

They had been so focused on their explanation of Fashionette that they hadn’t noticed that Lila the lying liar who lies had entered the art room. Marinette closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Oh, and you did a drawing of her with Ladybug, my best friend.”

“Well yeah. We’re making a comic and including Marinette as a hero with us. I’m sorry, who are you?” asked Marc sincerely, as he had no idea who this girl with sausage hair was, but felt weird for how she was talking.

“Oh, you don’t know me? I’m Ladybug’s best friend, Lila Rossi”

“Isn’t Ladybug’s best friend Chat Noir?”

Lila’s eye twitched, but decided that Marc probably would question her if she kept that lie. Marinette smiled wide at that, hoping that Lila would go, but alas, she just approached the table and grabbed one of Marc and Nathaniel’s comics.

“Oh, a comic book. Cool. I know Stan Lee, he basically based Spider-Gwen on me. I might be able to get you to meet him someday.”

The three art kids looked at each other, a bit confused.

“Are you going to use a Ouija?”

“What?”

“Stan Lee died last year”

“And Spider-Gwen was created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez, not Stan Lee”

“I… I was just testing you. I meant he based Spider-man on me, way before he died, of course.”

“Didn’t know you had a time machine. Must be awesome”

“What?”

“Lila, Spider-man was created in 1962, so either you have aged really well, or you have a time machine.”

“Ugh you guys, always misunderstanding me! I mean the spider-man from the movie!  He’s my best friend!”

“Didn’t know you and Tom Hiddleston were friends”

“Of course, we are very close!”

“Hiddleston is the guy who plays Loki. Holland is Spider-man.” Lila was speechless.

Marinette was using all her power to not fall from her chair laughing. Lila trying to outgeek Marc and Nathaniel, comic book fans extraordinaries, was the funniest thing she had ever seen. Even more fun than when Chloe fell in a puddle of mud.

“Ugh, you suck!”

Lila threw the illustrations to the floor, without noticing that Mister Perrault, the art teacher had gotten in the art room just that moment.

“What is going on?”

“This girl who I am still not sure who is” said Marc quickly, as he could see Lila was going to respond something “started trying to impress us with her lies, but since we didn’t believe her, she just threw our work”

“They were being mean to me!” Lila tried to sob, while the other three teens were gathering the stuff she had thrown.

“Regardless of what they might have said, I caught you on the act of trying to destroy the work of art they had done for Marinette, and if there is something I will not tolerate in my club, is precisely that. Follow me to the Principal’s office… whoever you are.”

The trio smiled. Marinette couldn’t help but worry at Lila being akumatized yet again, but she also wanted to put some input on her “super hero” persona that Marc and Nathaniel had created with so much love for her.

——-

Art Teacher has no canon name, so I landed in “Perrault” after searching for french last names. If you don’t know who Charles Perrault is, I weep for your childhood. 

And I do accept suggestions for “Fashionette” canon name, which would be also my Akumanette, should I ever write one. 

How about Monson and Barnamontphyson for the crack ship asks? 😘

Ooooh, you sly little thing. Our gay asses both know those are canon ships hahaha jk

Monson

Okay, so... These two would work well together as friends and as romantic partners. Ayieeee.

These two meet through Barnaby Lee, who wanted his friends to befriend each other. Monty and Jason had an immediate bond over people they hated: Merula Snyde and Professor Snape. Eventually, they become close friends who not only help each other out (like Monty tutoring Jason with the latter's weaker subjects and Jason doing some first-aid on Monty after the latter goes on Curse Vault shenanigans) but also sharing tons of secrets. Monty and Jason even come out to each other and confide in each other about the crushes they harbored for Barnaby and Murphy McNully respectively and it's a soft and tender moment for them uwu. At some point, Monty hooks Jason up with Tulip Karasu and Nymphadora Tonks to help Jason pull the ultimate prank to get Professor Snape to quit (which unfortunately doesn't work). These two boys are just generally loving and affectionate towards each other as friends. Hell, they even cuddle sometimes (and enjoy some "benefits" here and there oop). They're so close that they're basically inseparable. Anyone at Hogwarts would think these two are dating. Speaking of dating, I definitely see romance as a possibility. It would basically be the same as them being friends, except they flirt with each other overtly and make out and have some rendezvous here and there.

Monson is a bond that lasts even beyond adulthood, even when Monty's off traveling the world for his Curse-Breaker career while Jason works at St. Mungo's, and eventually, both of them work at Hogwarts.

Barnamontphyson

Ah yes, the supreme gay poly ship.

In my universe, Montague and Murphy are Ravenclaw dorm-mates while Barnaby and Jason are such in Slytherin. Monty and Barnaby are connected thanks to the former's excursion to the Vault of Fear with Tulip and Bill Weasley. Jason had a huge crush on Murphy and was surprised to learn that Monty and Murphy were dorm-mates let alone friends. They become a big group of friends who like to hangout together.

More than once, Murphy and Barnaby have engaged in wizards' chess, with Murphy taking time to help Barnaby become better at not only the game but also in thinking strategically. Barnaby and Murphy would ramble on about their respective interests (magical creatures and Quidditch) and the other would happily listen and ask questions. Montague and Murphy have known each other since their first-year. Their usual dynamic is an exchange of witty and playful banter that has their other three roommates (Rowan Khanna, Andre Egwu, and Talbott Winger) in stitches (yes, the banter was funny enough for Talbott to snicker). Barnaby and Jason had a good friendship going as dorm-mates and became close friends prior to meeting Montague and Murphy. When Montaby and Jamurphy became a thing, the four would have double-dates at Hogsmeade with countless Butterbeers and a few Honeydukes shopping bags in tow.

As a polyamorous group, however... Oh boy. I'll leave it at this. We can definitely say that Barnaby and Murphy would feel some sort of mutual attraction to the other, which they confess to their respective boyfriends. Jason and Barnaby dated once before. Montague and Murphy had crushes on each other before. I would say the dynamics remain the same as what's stated above. Just four times the romance and four times the NSFW.

Just like Monson, their bonds last beyond adulthood, with one couple frequently updating the other couple about their lives. Montaby would send Jamurphy cute little trinkets from their adventures, while Jamurphy would send cute photos of themselves at Murphy's matches that he commentates for.

A sly return

Hello, it’s been a while…

 And I am back with a new request! This one will be more specific as it only targets certain fandoms. I have had plenty of amazing original roleplays in the past time but now my desire is slowly favouring canon universes once again. Btw, call me Gil ;) 
 I have a strong penchant for including original characters and ideas that can be added to the pre-existing plot. Also very happy to expand on the given worlds and open to AU’s. Okay so I am a really big nerd when it comes to the supernatural, mysterious, urban myth and fantasy. Love combining those given elements with organised crime, complex characters, cataclysmic events and dark schemes that all unravels as time goes on. 

 A little about me. You must be at least 18+ of age if you want to start a roleplay with this gal here. Since I am in my twenties, I prefer maturer partners. I accept anyone, regardless male or female. What I expect is a decent (if not very good) grasp on grammar, the ability and will to write creatively, shoulder a great part of the plotting and responsibility as well as passion for roleplaying. Of course this should be seen as a fun hobby but I really like to invest… I wish for my partner / friend to take equal initiative. 
 Here are my cravings and guidelines! Even though they are limited, I made sure to filter out the ones I know I wouldn’t role-play anytime soon. So if you are interested in something I didn't mention here, I am afraid I might not role-play this or decline. 

 Fandoms and cravings:

Castlevania ****

Devil May Cry ****

Game of Thrones ***

Witcher ***


Fate **


Star Wars ***


What it entails:
 Alright, so you are writing with some of a mature age. I have 11 years of writing experience when it comes to the game. This will be a fair warning that this request is not for the faint of heart. There will be violence, swearing, gore, intimate themes, uncomfortable subjects, drama, conflict and other dark matters included within the story. I have few limits but I will respect the boundaries of my partner, so do not shy away from telling me. Just so you know, I won’t fade to black or skip out on the nitty gritty. Go big or go home. Interests: My line of interests are very electric when it comes to genres. I love conceiving my own lore inside a stories, be it an original or a pre-existing story. Gothic fantasy among others are one of my favorites. I am not opposed to tapping into science fiction, action, romance, crime, action or thriller genres, in fact I encourage it. Inspirations for me are Lovecraft, Hellsing, Blade, Underworld, etc. As for the fandom inspired RPs, I am more than willing to bend some rules and be a little indulgent. Writing: 3rd person perspective. My writing is wide-ranging and flexible, which means that frequently, word count will go up 1000+ per reply - though it highly depends on the given situation and partner. Quality over quantity as they say - but why not both? I love detail in description, and I am actively seeking someone of the same infamy. My partner should have a basic grasp on grammar, punctuation and somewhat of an interest in knowledgeable writing. I also double! (preferably, but we can always discuss whether it makes sense for our roleplay our not.) World building and sharing the burden: You should be active and help me shape the world around our characters. Even if we discuss many things during and before the roleplay, how we wish for things to play out and take its course, I am always happy to be surprised with a secret of my partner’s character I didn’t know before. You don’t need to lay out all your cards on the table… keep it a little mysterious and suspenseful. Just enough so we can work with the ideas, but not completely kill off the suspense. Characters: I write canon as well as OC characters. Faceclaims, GIFs, drawings, mood boards or just a plain physical description is absolutely sufficient. Whatever floats your boat when it comes to visualising your character and their backstory, I’m on board. Characters should be written as opulent, flawed, unique, talented, heroic, villainous, spiteful, angry, and everything in-between figures. In other words, don’t be scared of making them ‘human’, even when they are non-human. Romance: Openly play and accept characters of both genders, preferable m x f pairings, but I am open to m x m and f x f relationships as well. I have more experience with m x f relationships, so I might be more savvy with this one. If the chemistry of two characters compel me, I will ship them no matter what! When it comes to sexual scenarios and intimacy (intercourse, foreplay, all that jazz). I encourage erotism, but in a tasteful manner (that goes for romance as well). The passion must be felt through the screen, even if it’s just a mere description of someone’s deep train of thought. Content: Drama, violence, sex, metamorphosis, symbolism, action, romance, pretty much everything is a-okay. I am unbothered by certain subjects that may or may not be uncomfortable for the general public. Roleplays are fictional stories and we best keep viewing them as such. If there are things you are uncomfortable with, name them and I shall respect those boundaries. But don’t be surprised when suddenly one of our characters bites the dust, or gets tortured. It may be difficult to write and read, but it is all part of the story and furthering the plot. My roleplays imply and involve brutality, mayhem, psychological and physical torture as well as other things. But I also endorse beauty, serenity and placid moments, scenes or characters. I love it when it comes full circle… everyone- and everything has their beautiful and hideous side. Both should be embraced. Communication and friendship: OOC-chat friendly! I love meeting new people and making potential friends. Plus it strengthens the compatibility between us. Communication is the alpha and the omega. If there is something that bothers you, or if you think you are left out in some way (be it a mistake on my part or we’re both at fault here), don’t be scared of telling me. Really, it won’t be taken personally - since I know that we slip up every now and then, we’re only human after all. It is also completely sufficient if you only type out a few messages per week. I am super chill about it. It doesn’t bother me re-writing a scene to fit the narrative more. If there are mistakes, they can be corrected - just to get that out there. We can always exchange opinions and see what would benefit the story most. I will also voice my opinion should something arise that could be bothersome. World building and plotting: An active roleplayer is wanted without a doubt. Can’t do the thinking for two now. Let’s row this boat together. Limits: Subject matters I won’t touch are pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, vore, scat, furries and some other bizarre fetishes. Also no one-liners or text-talk messages. The sentences have to be cohesive, coherent and decently structured. 
 
Now a little more information about myself. I live in CET central Europe. My response rate varies throughout the weeks, depending on my schedule. 
I study at a university full time and work a job on the side and both are keeping me fairly busy. My writing will increase most likely during the weekends. If I should hit a hiatus, I will inform you as soon as possible. I understand when you are busy as well and are not able to respond, though I prefer if my partner does not ghost me. At least let me know what’s going on so I can adjust and put the roleplay on hold if needed! 
Mediums I roleplay on are email and googledocs. Though I also have Discord in case for OOC chat! Preferably my partner would message me first on email, giving me a brief description of themselves, their cravings as well as ideas. That way I can see if we’re compatible or if this bears any potential. After that we can easily move to Discord and carry out our chats / conversation there. 

Message me here EMAIL: [email protected] Hope to hear from you soon! Lots of love!



 Sincerely yours, -Gil

omg do all the dnd asks im so curious !!!

Long boi this one is

1. A favorite character you have played.

This is a hard one, I was a real big fan of my storm barbarian Tiffany, or Unfaceable the ranger I played awhile ago.  They were more or less the same character

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

Oh absolutely Ragnarok the Winged One, he was my friend Juan’s first character I think (if not first one of the first).  He was a white dragon born sorcerer, who didn’t actually have wings for 96% of the campaign.  He also hated capitalists so goals really. 

3. Your favorite side quest.

One time I tried to set up a One night ultimate werewolf side quest, and it kinda worked, it’s just we stopped playing for like 2 months and they didn’t finish it.

4. Your current campaign.

I’m currently in Dungeon of the Mad Mage as an Aasimar Warlock!

5. Favorite NPC. 

Pit Man.

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

So, technically they didn’t die, but one my players character went into the Negative Plane to marry a nightwalker who was going to be the final boss, but I felt really bad for all of them after making them do a like 4 stage thing.

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

Rivals!!!!!  They are the coolest thing.

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

The Strahd fight when I ran CoS last year was p cool, they all died but it was really not close (They got him to like 15 hp but there’s still tons of bullshit to do after that) or the final fight I did as Unfaceable, we fought a beholder and I was paralyzed for like 6 rounds.

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

Honestly, I enjoy seeing people get excited about playing the game.  Like when Juan (Tbh he’s just my all time favorite player sorry everyone else) got a crit while we were playing in the cafeteria and just fucking yelled about it.

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

OH fccuk this is a hard choice.  I really think Nightwalkers are like the coolest right now since I love Negative plane shit.  I think dragons are kinda overrated as enemies tho, i don’t hate them really tho since dragons are dope as fuck.

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

I Dm about twice a week and play once a week, Ideally I’d play or dm every day and have no other obligations but life is simply unfair

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

Temaridy

13. Introduce your current party.

We’ve got Krosnis, my Celestial Warlock, Temaridy, a Tiefling Fiend Warlock, Sigil, a Warforged Eldritch Knight, Ketla, a uh, the elvish giants, FIRBOLG, Moon Druid, and shit fuck uh, the Abjuration Wizard, who’s name is, uhh, Enzio?  Idk his name but the player canonically decided he looks like Fenris so that’s all that matters.  

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

Hmmm this is a tough choice there’s tons of them....  I’ll do the first party I solo DM-ed for I guess since they were p cool:  Hellspawn, a Tiefling Monk with the homebrew way of the 8 gates of hell subclass (He was so goddamn edgy, and played by @t-rexquefuturus even tho he doesn’t really use tumblr), Thargus Irvin, a Totem Barbarian (Played by @themonotonyofdays fun fact i guess?), Borges, an Alchemist who was just trying his best, Mikono, who was also trying his best but was much sadder about it (Played by @tsurikun so double fun fact in one post actually boom), uhhhhhh, Delgor?  Delgar?  Del-something, a Battlemaster Warlock multiclass, i’m not sure what delgar was triyng to do (other the complain about hellspawn yeah i went there they don’t have a tumblr so none of you better snitch on me i stg) and last (literally he joined in towards the end of the campaign) Magnus, a uh, Mystic, he was there

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Yeah usually, me like snackys

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

I do both!  I prefer in person since it’s harder for people to talk online since it all gets muddled

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

Er, on the sly anything goes tbh if it seems cool enough

18. Does your party keep any pets?

In the current one we have so many familiars it’s crazy.

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

Amy (The one who loves pit man) rolls all her dice at the start and takes the one that did the best

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

In highschool i played 2 times for like, 10 hours each time?  that was so fucking long holy shit, and the freshman year of college i started co-dming a group and then it took off from there

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

Tbh, not really?  Like, 80% of them are dumb as fuck so jot that down, but I don’t usually do stuff in game that I regret, except that one time i died but it was to be a hero so worth it

22. What color was your first dragon?

I think it was a baby black dragon?

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

I use both depending on how busy I am

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

Depends?  I usually do a lot of long term planning early on and then not too much per session

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

The one group got really attached to some meaty boiz, and then the one player killed all of them and like most of the party, great way to end the campaign

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters.

Oooo, hmmmmmmmmm, I really had a good plan for the end to this arc (the one with the nightwalker) but it kinda didn’t really happen how i planned which was a bit of a bummer, but it worked out in sort of a better way

27. Do you allow homebrew content? Yeah as long as it doesn’t seem like super busted

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?  I usually give npcs if they need like a healer or something, like Kargol

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

I don’t really have a preference for either?  My groups get a lil bloodthirsty if they go too long with a fight usually (Except you @themoragontrail just pacifist running a whole session and a half)

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

Oh definitely murder hobos

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

Oh this is hard, I’m a big fan of Warlock customization and flexibility, I don’t really have favorite race (It’s tieflings I read homestuck feel free to at me)

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

I’m usually a tank/front line, It’s where I like to be, does it always end well?  Not even close, does my warlock have more hp than our fighter?  Hell fucking yes

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

So, it depends?  I usually do it last once I’ve made the rest of the character and use it as a reason why their the way they are now.  And I give like 65% of them heterochromia cause i thinks it’s sick as fuck

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

as someone who loves lances, need i say more?

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

It depends on what game i’m in, i usually don’t do too much rping in combat heavy stuff, but i like to, and also i love rping sub 8 int, or 14>= int but that’s just me irl and let me tell you, I’m a dumbass who will eat the exploding rock

I have no legitimate sleep schedule, so take my list of my Top 20 favorite Gorillaz tracks

20: Momentz - In the same league as Feel Good Inc., don't at me.

19: Stylo - Mos Def and Bobby Womack absolutely devastating on the bridges. Hearing Jeremih perform this live was gorgeous.

18: Humility - Gorillaz made a summer jam, and it sure sounds like it. Damon's getting old, man. Just wants to retire, wants to have a few beers by the beach. 

17: Sleeping Powder - iwasgone I M B A C K ASDKJHAJSDHGSKDJHFGKJHASGLDKJAGSD

16: Feel Good Inc. - A legendary song in my formative years, and a soundtrack to the Bush administration as important as “American Idiot”. Only so low on the list because of oversaturation.

15: Rhinestone Eyes - This song is the embellished production of Plastic Beach in a moment. I once made a mashup with this song and "Kangaroo Court" by Capital Cities.

14: Re-Hash - First song on the first album, and it slaps.

13: Ascension - Vince Staples is such a brilliant voice in the latter half of the decade, and I'm pleased to see Damon Albarn recognize this.

12: DARE - Hot damn, this song is a jam.

11: M1 A1 - Hearing this song kick off a Gorillaz concert feels like getting shot by a cannon. It's the "most like the sound the pilliows exuded on the FLCL soundtrack" song in the Gorillaz discography, and for that, I like it.

10: Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head - When Gorillaz want to tell a horror story, they double down and get Dennis Hopper to tell a story of apocalypse. Demon Days is such an immortal album, and this song will live on as a ubiquitous reminder of one's mortality at the hands of greed. Good one for the pessimistic crowds of both 2005 and 2019.

9: Rock the House - BETTER THAN CLINT EASTWOOD. FIGHT ME. When Gorillaz sample audio, they make sure to make the most of it. The ten second sample of John Dankworth's "Modesty Blaise" carries Del the Funky Homosapien's bragging boogie rap through to another level with the tight bass riffs the self-titled album is known for. Echo effects, horn stabs, a fucking recorder. This tracks fucks me up.

8: Souk Eye - I think a track off of The Now Now is one of the best works in the Gorillaz discography. Primarily because following Humanz and The Now Now, Albarn and Hewlett are in a strange time of their lives. Both are now 50 years old, and Gorillaz has lasted 20 years. The concept has run its course for now. To hear this song close this chapter of the Gorillaz story feels fitting. A love song to the many miles taken, only to realize one must leave their current circumstances in order to survive.

7: Last Living Souls - It's a cliche to say a song builds, but when the track starts with little more than a drum machine, and leads to an acoustic breakdown and string section breakdown back-to-back, you can agree this song builds. A lush atmosphere of tiny bleeps and bloops coming together to become greater than the sum of all parts. The song sounds so down and muted on the album, but hearing it live, it feels like a war cry. Both interpretations fit the themes of Demon Days, and it's a good one to start off the album following the Dawn of the Dead sampled "Intro".

6: El Mañana - Hearing this song follow "Busted and Blue" accompanied by visuals of Noodle during the Humanz Tour is the closest I've come to a religious experience at a concert. The sudden immediacy of the situation following "Feel Good Inc" is made aware from sirens and Damon delivering a ragged vocal delivery. The track ebbs and flows in and out of deep bass and washed out highs. It feels like a sigh. It feels like crying. And if you're a Gorillaz lore sucker like I am, this track accompanies the death of Noodle, the single most important event in the canon. Also, the acoustic version reminds one how good Damon is at evoking very quiet emotion.

5: Tomorrow Comes Today - When those drums come in, man, you get teleported to the turn of the millennium. Dirty trip-hop was coming out of the UK en masse, Fatboy Slim released one of my favorites albums of all time "Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars", and Daft Punk's "Discovery" was still a year off. In between some of the most important music of my life being dropped, Gorillaz dropped their first single "Tomorrow Comes Today" at the end of the year and solidified their place for years to come. Slinking and sly, velvety and smoky. This is Gorillaz sending up a culture of basement shows and turntablism. If Think Tank is the first "Gorillaz album", this is when the transition was made manifest.

4: On Melancholy Hill - Ugh, this song. This song is pretty. Full stop. It's one of Gorillaz' very few love songs, and it still manages to capture the plasticine sadness of Plastic Beach. Plastic Beach was my first real and honest introduction to Gorillaz in college, as I only remember hearing about Demon Days from advertising in 2005, when I was 12. This track was just a treat to hear in spring/summer, and a reason I made so many (see: too many) of my finals about Gorillaz. Around the time Humanz was teased, I went back and realized this song had held up so well. It's just a universal sentiment about how the world we know is falling apart, but let's have this moment together. The acoustic version is an honest to God lullaby. Something I can play my future children. Not bad for only 16 lines of lyric.

3: Empire Ants - If "On Melancholy Hill" is about finding the beauty in ruin, "Empire Ants" holds a magnifying glass up to ruin, wondering how it came to be. Listening to the album, "Superfast Jellyfish" came just before. A satirical take on consumeristic meals leading into a song about how we are personified as ants, marching in tandem to complete our tasks and build ever outward, never truly satisfied until death. It is a reminder to look upon the greater picture that is our world and see the moments of tranquility for what they are. Sadly, these moments do not last, and Little Dragon's part reminds us we are part of a machine, ever moving, ever crumbling. It is beauty interrupted by obligation, and for a kid who was in college when this album dropped, and who is now 26 and facing a lifetime of having to make my own decisions, it's an anthem.

2: Hong Kong - I remember loading the entirety of Plastic Beach onto my iPod Nano, and having an iTunes gift card left to spend from Christmas/birthday/etc. Having seen the Demon Days Live concert, I knew this track had to be on my beautiful iPod Nano. That, and for some reason, "Dirty Harry (Schtung Chinese New Year Remix). I remember long car rides staring out the window, listening to this track as the scenery blew by. I remember reading up on this track's history, how it was released in-between Demon Days and Plastic Beach and it shows, how it's a tale of neo-industrial China and Hong Kong's place in both Chinese and British history. This is both a love letter and warning to the nation of the apocryphal train ride that inspired Demon Days. In a world where China seems to be ever rising, "Hong Kong" is a song that asks questions of how this will affect the world as a whole, using Hong Kong as a metaphor. That's nothing to say of the wondrous instrumentation, the piano part in particular on my wishlist of "Songs I Should Learn on Piano Before I Die". Many call it Gorillaz' most underrated track, and I agree full stop.

1: DoYaThing - I'M THE SHIT. I SAID I'M THE SHIT. Above all else, Gorillaz is a collaborative effort of hundreds of musicians from all walks of life. When you throw James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, a band that rose in the same timeframe as Gorillaz, and Andre 3000, my personal pick for the G.O.A.T., magic happens. Uncut, unedited, 13 minute magic happens. Is it a bit of a meme? Sure. It is a shitpost disguised as a legitimate song? Why not. But sometimes, the goofy aspect of Gorillaz can craft audio gold. And aren't we all about memes on this blog? Albarn's at his most snotty white boy. Murphy's production and vocals are a reminder he was every music nerd's wet dream in the 2000s. Andre 3000 is just laying into every line with a confidence not heard since Stankonia. Everything about this song is designed and manufactured to sound like it it running off the rails in a fit of confidence. It is both wildly powerful and mournfully unaware. In short, to quote the great music critic Todd in the Shadows on the subject of LCD Soundsystem’s song “Losing My Edge”, "(It is) a critical darling... This was tailor made for critics. It is perfect music nerd bait, total pandering." DoYaThing, my favorite Gorillaz song of all time.

A Year in the Life - Chapter 4

Okay, I couldn’t resist. I was going to wait until tomorrow to post the next chapter but I have been going so hard working on later chapters today I had to post it early.

Thank you all so much for your support and all of your wonderful comments. Talking with you and getting your feedback has really made my week. I know a lot of readers are leery about oc-inserts so I really want to thank you for giving Nell a chance. One of the most comments I have gotten is how much you like her and how well she fits in the canon world. That is something I work really hard to achieve in my characters so I am so glad that you all like what I have done with her.

And now without further delay, on with the story!

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Chapter 4: Once Upon a Time

         Miguel spent his lunch hour that monday in the library. After discovering that they didn’t have a particularly wide selection of graphic novels he turned to the internet. Nell had said that she’d done a webcomic as well. Maybe her website would help him figure out who he was dealing with.  Just because Nell seemed decent so far didn’t mean she actually was. His experience with Ernesto De la Cruz had taught him that. Hadn’t De la Cruz been kind at first? Hadn’t he saved him from drowning? But behind the smiles and dramatic persona was a selfish, self-absorbed creature who was more than willing to kill to get what he wanted.

         Not that Miguel thought that Nell would be anywhere as bad as De la Cruz had been, but he wanted to get a little more background on her before he decided to tell her anything else.

         A quick Google search had given him the basics. Penelope Rey. (Miguel snorted at that. Penelope? No wonder she went by Nell.) Twenty-five years old. Born in Kelowna, Canada. (Okay, so she wasn’t American, but he’d been close.) Published her first stand-alone graphic novel at twenty-two and recently released the last volume of the trilogy she’d been working on. Most of her books were of the urban-fantasy sort, or contained some hints of “other”. The webcomic, which she’d started while she was in university, was about a magical girl who discovers that she has inadvertently been working for an evil power the whole time, and sets about on a quest of redemption to make things right.

         Not really his thing (he was more into the masked-crusader/folk-hero/luchador genre) but the splash pages and banners on the website intrigued him enough that he clicked the link that would take him to the first page of the comic. Right away he was hooked. The art-style was dramatic but not cluttered or overdone, and her heroine spoke like someone he would meet on the street, with only a minimum of cliche comic book-style dialogue. Her characters were diverse and compelling and her villain…. Miguel shuddered. Oh she was so creepy! Sly and manipulative and calculating under a veneer of support and encouragement. You didn’t even get the hint that there was something wrong about her until you were over a year into the plotline.

         He had just gotten to the part of the story where the main character discovered she’d been played when the five-minute warning bell rang.

         Miguel jumped, almost falling out of his chair. How had the lunch hour gone by so fast? Quickly he closed the browser, logging off of the computer as he grabbed his book bag, then took off out of the library to get to class.

         Miguel’s talk of alebrijes stuck with Nell, and after a few days of independent research she decided to approach approach one of the craftsmen from the plaza.

         Sebastien Berardo had been in the business for many years. Some of his earliest memories were of sitting with his father in his workshop, watching him work. He learned the craft at his father’s side, how to shape and sand the wood to bring out the fantastic creatures inside, and the types of paints and glazes that brought out the best color. He also learned how to deal with the public, from the closest of neighbors to the loudest of tourists.

         When Nell first started asking questions he started with the basic history of the craft.

         Alebrijes had first been created by the artist Pedro Linares in the early 1930’s. The story went that he had become very ill, and had dreamed of a beautiful forest populated by incredible, colorful hybrid creates that called themselves alebrijes. Horned roosters, winged snakes and donkeys, a thousand creatures of infinite strange and wonderful combinations. Inspired, he began to create carnival masks and religious figures of these creatures to sell in the markets of Mexico City. His unique pieces had attracted the attention of a prominent gallery owner who wanted to showcase the pieces, and even Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo sought him out for commissions. Now most alebrije figures were carved from copal wood, in the pre-Hispanic woodcarving tradition of the local Zapotec culture.

         “And you still make all of these by hand?” Nell asked, crouching to take a closer look at the delicately articulated figure of a winged snake that was coiled upon the table.

         Sebastien nodded proudly. “Each piece is crafted in our family workshop. My son Filipe, he is studying art in university. He painted many of these.”

         “They’re beautiful. I love the colors.” It was like seeing an entire summer’s worth of color condensed into a single small figure. “At what point did they started becoming associated with spirit guides? By some of the descriptions they are kind of similar to the Aztec nagual.”

         “It is possible,” Sebastien conceded with an uncertain shrug. He’d never really considered that, but there were certainly some similarities.

         Nell liked the idea. After Miguel had first brought up the idea of spirit guides she’d ended up going on a bit of a research binge on the topic, compiling a series of notes about guardian spirits in world mythology. She’d been particularly intrigued by the the concept of the nagual, the Mesoamerican spirit guide or spiritual double. Depending on the myth, the nagual functioned as either a reflection of the self, or as a separate spiritual advisor. According to some of the myths that she’d found, a person’s nagual could even go wandering while they slept.

         Or in other words, they could astral project.

         There were also stories about shapeshifters but Nell was reasonably sure that wasn’t going to end up as part of her skill set.

         After a little more discussion on the history and process behind the art and history of the alebrije figures Nell decided to leave Sebastien to his work, but as she turned to leave one of the figures caught her eye. A small, brightly-painted bird.

         She couldn’t have stopped the grin that spread over her face if she tried. “Señor, how much is the crow?”

         Over the next few weeks Mariachi Plaza became the unofficial meeting spot for astral hang-outs. By this point Miguel had learned to successfully project while awake, and was confident enough in this new ability that their occasional late-night chat was often more friendly than lesson-like. Honestly it was nice just to be able to talk to someone and not worry about letting something slip and having them think he was crazy. He’d already made that mistake once with friends at school, and had had to play it off as a weird dream.

         At least will Nell he didn't have to worry about that.

         He grinned when she appeared across the plaza. "What, you couldn't sleep either?"

         "Nah. Finished some book planning and wanted to go for a walk. Then I saw what time it was and thought.... yeah this way is better."

         Miguel chuckled. He knew what it was like to get wrapped up in a project and lose all sense of time. How many times had he stayed up late working on a new song, forgetting entirely that he had class in the morning?

         “How was school?”

         “Fine,” he shrugged. “Annetta came to visit my music class yesterday. That was pretty cool.”

         “She’s the trumpet player, right? The one the violinist has that debilitating crush on.”

         “That’s the one. She played for us during class, then did sort of a tutorial session with the other trumpets.” God willing, they’d actually be able to stay in tune from now on. “You get any farther on your book?”

         "A bit, yeah. Started doing research on alebrijes and I found some really cool stuff.” She answered excitedly, eager to share what she’d found. “You know the Mayans and Aztecs had stories about spirit guides too? And some of the magic users in the old myths could astral project, just like us! So of course that turned into a crazy research binge. I swear I filled up an entire flash drive just with ideas for character alebrijes."

         "Sweet!" He grinned. "You'll have to show me later. I can tell you how they compare to the real thing."

         "The real -- Man, you've been holding out on me," she groaned, dropping onto the step of the gazebo to sit next to him. "You see alebrijes too?"

         Miguel shrugged. "You probably have too. They just look different this side of the bridge."

         "Different how?"

         "Different like.... You know, normal."

         That was interesting. She hadn't considered that guides could take different forms between worlds. That was something she'd have to think about later. "So there's a lot of alebrijes on the other side of the bridge?"

         "Loads," Miguel told her. "And they're huge! Well, some of them. I used to think they were just a myth, like vitamins--"

         "Vitamins are real, Miguel."

         "People keep saying that but I really don't think they are. Anyway," he continued. "They're, like, everywhere! Some people have them as, well not exactly pets, but they have ones that stay with them. There might be some wild ones but I didn't really see any."

         Oh God the curiosity was killing her. She wanted to respect his boundaries and not ask questions that he wouldn’t be comfortable answering, but she also really wanted to know what had happened. But just asking how the bridge worked wouldn’t hurt, would it? "So you just found the bridge and walked over?"

         Miguel gave a sheepish smile, rubbing one hand over his forearm in a nervous gesture. "Not exactly... It was an accident. Well, the first time was. I kind of....stole something."

         Nell stared. "You what? Damn, kid, what did you steal? Some cursed ancient idol or something?"

         "HA! No!" He laughed. "No, no, no. Nothing like that. It was a guitar."

         “A cursed guitar?”

         “No! The guitar wasn’t cursed. Nothing was cursed. I mean I thought I was for a while, and then I actually was for a while, but no.”

         Now she just blinked at him. “What… What? Okay. I am officially confused. You stole the guitar and it took you across the bridge. And then you got cursed?”

         “No. Taking the guitar got me cursed, but I crossed the bridge after. It’s… kind of a long story.” But maybe it was about time he told someone the truth. Miguel sighed, brushing one hand distractedly thought his hair as he hunched forward, bracing his arms across his knees. It would be nice to have someone to talk to about what happened, someone who would actually believe him.

         “I didn’t mean to steal it,” he told her. “Well, I did. But I was going to bring it back. I just wanted to play it once, here in the plaza.”

         It all came pouring out, the reason for the Rivera family’s ban on music and the events that led to him believing that Ernesto De la Cruz was his ancestor, trying to steal the guitar, and the curse that resulted.

         “Hold up, hold up,” Nell interrupted, holding up her hands in a ‘stop now’ gesture. “Your great-great-grandmother told you that if you didn’t give up music that she was going to let you die?”

         “She didn’t mean it that way,” Miguel said defensively. “She thought she was doing it to protect me. That music was dangerous. And I kind of did almost die three times that night.”

         “What?!”

         “Anyway, so I thought, fine, if the rest of my family refused to give me the blessing, I’d track down the one family member who might understand.”

         “Ernesto De la Cruz.”

         Miguel nodded.

         “Except he wasn’t your grandfather.”

         “Gracias a Dios.” Now that would truly be a nightmare, now that he knew what De la Cruz truly was. “But I didn’t know that at the time. So I ran off and tried to find him.”

         He told her how he met a shabby-looking skeleton who claimed to know De la Cruz, and how he disguised himself with shoe-polish so he wouldn’t stand out. Their attempts to find the man, which took them all over the city (and he met FRIDA KAHLO! HOLY CRAP!), and their quest for a guitar that took them to Shantytown. Nell listened raptly as Miguel continued his story, snickering to herself when he told her about Hector singing “Everyone Knows Juanita”. She wasn’t familiar with the song but she could certainly guess what word “knuckles” might have been meant to replace. And even though she knew full well what kind of awful human being De la Cruz was, hearing first-hand how he’d murdered Hector back in 1921, and then tossed both him and Miguel into a cenote to rot in the Land of the Dead, had her clenching her fists in helpless anger. She wished she could cross the bridge herself so she could punch that creature in his stupid face.

         “And then Mama Imelda and Pepita showed up and pulled us out! Dante had found them and helped track us down. Turns out he’s an alebrije too.”

         “Wait a sec. You are telling me that you were being followed around what is quite literally the afterlife by a dog who turned out to be your alebrije, and you named him Dante.”

         “Yeah?”

         Nell snorted with laughter. “Oh, that is perfect. Absolutely beautiful. I love it.”

         “Um...why?”

         “Look up Dante’s Inferno at school when you get the chance. Let’s just say your dog is really appropriately named.”

         “Um… ‘kay. Anyway…”

         He took her through their infiltration of the Sunrise Spectacular with the entire family in Frida Kahlo cosplay, right up to their final confrontation with De la Cruz when he threw Miguel off the top of the building. Thank god for alebrijes that were large enough to ride on. Pepita had earned her chin-scritches for eternity that night.

         “And then...they sent me back,” Miguel finished. “I ran back home. Mama Coco… I couldn’t let her forget him. She’d had problems with her memory for so long but I had to try. But when I played their song, it was like it all came back somehow. She’d kept everything hidden in her drawer. Hector’s letters, some of his song drafts. And the corner of the picture that had been torn away. We taped it back on and put it in a new frame. It’s on the ofrenda now but… I don’t know if I made it in time.”

         Tears stung at his eyes but he wiped them away stubbornly.

         “And you’ve never tried to go back, just to see?”

         Miguel shook his head, giving a watery chuckle. “I think Mama Imelda would have killed me for real if I tried. I thought… For a moment last year I thought I felt him, like he was playing right next to me but…”

         “Then I’m sure he made it,” Nell told him, resting one hand reassuringly on his shoulder. “You would know best, right? My great-grandma passed away when I was ten and I will swear on whatever you want that I still feel her in my grandparents’ house, so if you say you felt Hector playing next to you that night, then you did.”

         He let out a shaky sigh as a feeling of relief washed over him. He didn’t know how badly he needed to hear that until that moment, for someone else to have such absolute faith that what he felt was real. Hector had become one of his best friends even before they’d found out they were related. The fear that he had been too late had been eating at him for so long…

         They sat in silence for a moment as Miguel collected himself. Then he sighed again. “Thank you.”

         “Any time,” Nell smiled. “Seriously. And hey, we could always try an experiment this year.”

         “What kind of experiment?”

         “Projecting during Dia de los Muertos. I’ve never tried it before but who knows, maybe you’ll be able to see them.”

         Miguel’s face lit up like a christmas tree. “En serio? We can do that?”

         “We can try,” Nell promised. “All the old stories say that the veil is thinnest that time of year, so if there’s any time it would work, well it’s worth a shot right?”

         The boy jumped to his feet, letting out an enthusiastic grito that would have woken the entire town if he’d been in his physical body.

         “I take that as a ‘yes’ then?”

         “Yes! Absolutely yes!”

         Nell didn’t sleep well that night. She wanted to, oh how she wanted to, but one thought kept circling in her mind. There was something about that guitar. She couldn’t help but feel that there was more to the story. Miguel had said that it wasn’t the guitar that was cursed, but if it was nothing more than a harmless musical instrument, Nell was a fire-breathing monkey. There was just something way too coincidental about it.

         Annoyed with herself, she rolled over to scribble a reminder to herself on the notepad she kept on her bedside table in case of midnight bursts of inspiration. She would look into it in the morning. Surely somewhere on the internet was stories of haunted instruments.

         Apparently, as Nell found the next morning over breakfast, stories of haunted or possessed musical instruments were not uncommon. There were even long-standing legends cultural legends related to the phenomena, and when Nell came across the myth of the Japanese tsukumogami, she knew she’d found what she was looking for. Though there was no cultural crossover of this type of legend the correlation of events was just too close.

         Immediately she opened up a new document on her laptop and started to take notes.

         In old Japanese culture there was a belief that if an object was owned for over a hundred years, it would develop a soul of its own and become self-aware. Musical instruments were particularly common tsukumogami because they were often crafted with great care and carried great monetary value, so they usually ended up passed down through generations. But the descendants of the masters who once owned these instruments were not always musically inclined themselves, causing the instruments to fall into disuse and become resentful. And Hector Rivera would definitely be classified as a “master”. Between what Miguel had told her and her own research, Nell could see that this was a man who put his heart and soul into every note he played. That was a lot of emotion for an instrument to absorb in the approximately three years that he had owned it. A lot of love. And for him to be betrayed, murdered for his music, and the instrument stolen and paraded around by the murderer? Someone who only played for fame and attention? Nell figured that would result in a pretty pissed-off guitar.

         And the guitar itself was a freaking showpiece. Hand-made and perfect to the last detail. That kind of love and care being put into its creation had to leave a mark as well. Nell wondered how Imelda had been able to afford it.

         The writer sat back in her chair, biting absently at her lip as she contemplated. Another quick google search had her frowning. Hector had died in November of 1921, at the age of twenty-one. Ernesto De la Cruz had been crushed by a falling bell during a performance in 1942, almost exactly twenty-one years later. No way in hell was that a coincidence.

         And according to the date stamp on the video taken that night, the date of the concert was… the second of November. Dia de los Muertos.

         “Well… holy shit.”

         Nell scrubbed her hands over her face, almost dislodging her glasses. That was a hell of a kick for an instrument that hadn’t even hit twenty-five years yet. It didn’t hit one hundred until 2017. Displayed like a trophy in the tomb of the man who murdered its master until some kid breaks in and steals it. A kid whose motivations might not have been entirely pure, but who had a musician’s heart, and who happened to be a direct descendant of Hector Rivera, its original owner.

         Most stories of cursed objects just dealt with bad luck and deadly accidents. She’d never heard of people being shoved into astral planes and being taken to the Land of the Dead. She could only concluded that the guitar wanted Miguel to meet Hector, wanted him to find out the truth. Had it known that Hector was being forgotten?

         When Miguel returned at sunrise the first thing he did was run to his grandmother. The guitar would have known her too. This was the child that Hector had loved so dearly, who he had played for every night. It had held onto that love, those powerful memories for all those years, and Miguel said that when he played for her she came back somehow. Nell’s own grandfather had passed away when she was in university. Over the last few years of his life, dementia had robbed him of most of his memories. The last time she had seen him, he thought she was her mother. To bring someone back from that was nothing short of a miracle.

         “Okay. So. The guitar might be sentient.”

         After some thought she found she kind of liked the idea. It was reassuring in a way to feel that treasured things could love people in return. And if they developed spirits of their own, could they be considered alebrije too?

         Nell grinned, reaching for her tablet and plugging it into her laptop, breakfast entirely forgotten. A sentient, haunted guitar. It looked like she finally had a real plot for her new book.

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And so ends Chapter 4!

Researching for this fic has been really educational for me. I've tried to stick as close to the known facts about the history and culture that I reference as possible, though I may have had to use a bit of creative license to get everything to mesh properly with my plot. One of those details was the date of Ernesto's last concert. It was never really specified in canon, but based on the stage design and how when the scene was originally planned for the opening number and how the introductory song was about Dia de los Muertos, I went with that being the date.

One of the most fun things about writing Nell for me is getting to play with all of the meta storylines and fan theories that I can't get to fit within the regular plot. I want to give a special shout out to @im-fairly-whitty​, whose incredible discussion of the sentient guitar theory (found here) has inspired the basis of Nell's novel.

Thanks so much for reading! If you want to see any more fun content or fanart, please follow me! Send me your asks, your fun theories, or any comments you have! I can't wait to connect with you!

Hmm, KiKasa and IwaOi double date, maybe Ki-chan and Shittykawa cooperate and tease our poor hotheaded boys? You write fluff and humor just on point *-* Iwa-chan and Kasamatsu just complain each other about their annoying bfs!! And both couples kiss in the end please *blushes* If it was over detailed you can shut off the teasing detail :3 *hugs back tight and purrs to your pat* Thank you, love you ^^

Hi dear! Sorry, it took my years to write this! However, I finally didit! I needed a stressed Oikawa who wanted to enjoy himself and some Iwaoi’FLUFF so be ready, it’s all sweet and heartwarming.

My head canon is that Kise and Oikawa met during a sport magazine’sinterview and went from bitching rival to best friends. Here, Kasamatsu is auni first year, Oikawa and Iwaizumi are high school third years and Kise is asecond year.

IWAOI, KIKASA,FLUFF AND SWEETNESS

 Double datewith the Bubblegum Duo

 Near a bus stopin front of small park full of children, two boys were waiting chattingquietly. Oikawa, dressed all nicely, was rocking on his heels humming happily;Iwaizumi instead, was looking around lazily. They had been invited invited tohang out by the new Oikawa’s “Bubblegum Friend” and now they were searching forhim. It was exam period, but they absolutely needed to take a break; Oikawalately was stressing more than usual and Iwaizumi had to literally move to hishouse so he could check on him and make him sleep for more than three hours pernight. While Iwaizumi tended to become more grumpy and nervous to the point hehad problem focusing or relate with other human beings, sign he had absolutelyto relax at least for an afternoon.

“A date!”Oikawa bubbled happily, giving his boyfriend an excited look. “A double date!”added stretching and swinging back and forth on his feet.

“No need to beso excited.” He observed deadpanned, but truth to be told he had missed thiscarefree Oikawa, so he was excited too. Well, actually he was also starting toregret the idea to have to share him with the other guys but…he could endure itfor an afternoon.

 “OIKAWA-SENPAIIII!” a high-pitched voice cutthe air of that quiet afternoon, interrupting them. They bothturned and saw a blonde guy running full speed towards them, somehow surroundedby a shining aura that made some girls turn their heads.

Iwaizumisighed and raised his hands as a greeting, while Kise Ryouta jumped into hisboyfriend’s arms.

“Ki-chan!”Oikawa laughed, hugging him happily. “How are you?” then asked, letting him goand staring at the, annoyingly, tall boy. Not only tall, but athletic and goodlooking; another gifted boy.

“I’m fine!It’s been a bit from the last time we hanged out!” he pouted crossing his arms,sending the brunette an offended glance. Oikawa had already turned him down twotimes before that afternoon.

“I’m sorry, wewere very busy preparing the exams!” Oikawa justified himself with puppy eyes, andit was the truth. He had barely left his room before then and every timebecause Iwaizumi dragged him out.

“Is it true,Iwa-chan?” Kise asked doubtful to the other boys, who scoffed.

Iwaizumirolled his eyes. Actually, Kise was a goody guy; in some ways he resembled Oikawa,both childish and fearsome at the same time. However, he could barely bear withOikawa’s cheerfulness and childishness, so when those two were together he feltdying inside. It was too much for him.

There was onlyone reason he still hanged out with those two. (Not mentioning Oikawa’s persuasivetricks.)

“Oi Kise!” arough voice interrupted and another boy, reaching them, punched the blonde onthe head, “How many times I’ve said to call him properly?” reprimanded himharshly.

KasamatsuYukio that was the name of the reason.

Another victimof the Bubblegum Duo, another poor boyfriend who sometimes needed to interactwith someone else who was normal and could understand his problems at the sametime.

And, finallysomeone shorter than Iwaizumi.

“ButKasamatsu-senpai!” Kise whined holding his head between the hands, but theother glared.

Oikawa andIwaizumi chuckled at the familiar scene.

“No but.” Hegrowled crossing his arms.

“Hi, Iwaizumi-senpai.”Kise then repeated pouting, gazing at the ground unwillingly.

“HeyKasamatsu.” Iwaizumi artfully ignored the blond and greeted the older boy witha nod. “Is everything alright?” Actually, it has been Kasamatsu himself the onewho gave Oikawa and Iwaizumi the permission to not use honorifics with him.Kise was still offended by that.

“Yeah, examsare coming soon and they are giving us a hard time, but it’s okay.” The universitystudent answered with a shrug and a small smile.

“Exams uh?Last year we’ll be like him too.” Oikawa whined, leaning against Iwaizumi’sshoulder with a thoughtful look. “I feel already tired, Iwa-chan!”

“That’sbecause we’re already like him.” Iwaizumi shoved him off with a scoff, thinkingat their room transformed in a fort of books, caffeine and notes.

“I bet you’renot going to have any problem, Oikawa.” Kasamatsu reassured the brunette firmly,knowing well how brilliant he was, “Not like some basketball idiot I know!” headded with an exasperate huff. He had surrendered with Kise.

“That’s mean!”Kise grimace offended, especially because Oikawa burst into laughter too. “I’mnot that stupid!” tried to defend himself, but Kasamatsu was looking straightat Iwaizumi with void in his eyes.

“I even triedto help him…everything was useless…” whispered so incredulous that Iwaizumisnorted, covering his mouth with a hand.

“You’rehorrible!” Kise cried stomping a foot and, before they could react, he grabbedOikawa by the wrist, “I’ll just talk to Oikawa-senpai then!” he announced,before rushing ahead with the brunette.

“Oi Kise!”Kasamatsu tried to call him back, but they were already far.

“Let them go,Oikawa wanted to chat with him alone too.” Iwaizumi assured him with a fist onhis shoulder, “We know where they want to go, let’s just follow them slowly.”Offered without rushing. He wasn’t worried about those two and was used totheir antics, he also liked talking with Kasamatsu, so he was okay with it.

The older boygroaned, but nodded in the end.

 “…And it wasactually his fault! He’s the one who attacked me in the middle of our studyingsession!” Kise lamented gesturing animatedly, blush staining his cheeks.

“Attackedyou?” Oikawa glanced at him surprise. It didn’t seem something Kasamatsu woulddo. “I thought you would be pestering one, Ki-chan!”

“Well he gaveme a kiss, as a reward for guessing finally an answer.” Kise reluctantly correctedhimself, “But it was sudden and unexpected! So, it counts as an attack! He’salways so stiff and cold in public! I couldn’t let occasion go to waste!” Hetried to explain to the brunette, searching for understanding. “So I jumpedhim.” Concluded with on part of his brain that high-fived himself at the memoryand the other who slapped himself seeing the consequences.

“And that’show you ended up failing the test?” But the other was more sly he rememberedand rubbed salt on the wound.

“Oikawaaaaa!”he cried covering his eyes and the brunette chuckled patting his head.

“Sorry, sorry.It’s just too funny.” Apologized amused, shaking his head. “But I do understandyou! Iwa-chan lately is always grumpy because he’s worried about the exams anddoesn’t give me enough love. I’ve to beg for kisses!” Complained raising hishands to the sky.

“Why theymistreat us?” Kise added shaking his head, “Can’t they how much we care?” hedramatically brought a hand to his heart.

“He’s always“Not now, Shittykawa!” or “When we are home, Trashykawa” or even “I’ll punchyou!”” Oikawa mimicked his own boyfriend perfectly, showing a scowlingexpression.

Kise giggledat it and nodded repeatedly.

“Yes, yes!Kasamatsu-senpai always says the same! But he prefers to kick me. They are likenagging mothers.” Kise sighed exasperated.

“Iwa-chantreats me like a child too.” Oikawa laughed glancing behind his shoulder,watching his boy talking quietly with the other boyfriend. He seemed to enjoythe conversation and his sharp features were relaxed; he was even showing asmall smile.

 “But in the end, it’s okay with me.” Oikawahummed with a sudden bittersweet smile.

“Ah?” Kiseblinked and tilted his head perplexed, “It doesn’t annoy you sometimes?” askedtrying to understand what the brunette was thinking. Lately, he was doing hisbest so that Kasamatsu would recognize him as his proper equal, but didn’t seeany progress.

Oikawa blushedslightly and resumed watching the street in front of him, full of life in thatsunny afternoon. Children with their mothers, groups of high schoolers chattingloudly, old ladies doing grocery shopping…

“Iwa-chanthinks that I would never survive without him and this means he’s never goingto abandon me.” He explained softly, gazing sweetly at a future only he couldsee.

Kise remainedspeechless and felt a little envious of their relationship. If there was somethinghe couldn’t not notice every time, was the absolute confidence Oikawa andIwaizumi had that, whatever may happen in the future, they would be still therefor each other. Kise instead, most of the time felt unsure about his boyfriend’sfeeling and felt the age gap weighting on their relationship. Especially now thatKasamatsu was attending university.

“Aaaaah!”Oikawa suddenly groaned covering his face with the hands and throwing back thehead, “I can’t wait for the next year! It’s going to be the best!” mewledcupping his own cheeks with shining eyes and a bright grin. He was overflowingwith happiness.

“Weren’t youworried?” Kise frowned, having lost the thread of thoughts of the other boy.The last time he had called Oikawa, he was gloomy because he and Iwaizumi haddecided to go to different universities.

“Ah!” Oikawasuddenly exclaimed turning to look at him with big eyes, “If forgot to tellyou!” remembered guiltily. “Me and Iwa-chan will share an apartment, halfwaybetween our universities!”

“Eh?” Kisegasped, widening his eyes. “How could you forget to tell me?” Accused himoffended. It was something important!

“Sorry Ki-chan!It happened a few weeks ago and we were busy with all the planning andorganizing! Forgive me!” he pleaded the blond, bringing his hands together in aprayer.

“I can’tbelieve it.” He pouted, but a small grin betrayed him “You lucky bastards!”laughed, playfully jostling his shoulder and the other let out a happylaughter.

“I know, Iknow!” he chanted merrily. “I can’t wait!”

“I’m a bitjealous.” Kise admitted with a smile and Oikawa toned down a bit.

“Come on! Youjust have to endure it for another year!” Tried to cheer him up, ruffling hisblonde hair, “I can’t stand such an annoying big guy like you be gloomy.”Joked, hoping to bring back a smile on his friend’s lips.

“Not big, tallOikawa-senpai.” Kise smirked slyly, “Model-like tall.” Claimed lifting his chinproudly and Oikawa rolled his eyes.

“My height isperfect, as everything else.” Replied puffing out his cheeks.

“Average.”Kise shrugged, jokingly.

“Don’t provokeme. I could accept all those modeling offers just to wipe that grin out of youface, Miracle Blondie.” Threatened, crossing his arms and sharpening his gaze.

“Oh? I wouldlike to see you try, Grand King.” Kise stopped walking and loomed over him,with a confident smile.

 “And honestly,he’s always whining about something and getting on my nerves in the most inappropriatemoments because I don’t pay him attention. As if I didn’t want to do it! But IfI have to submit an assignment in three days, I can’t do miracles.” Kasamatsuwas venting his exasperation out and Iwaizumi nodded in understanding. “And healways thinks I’m being cold or I don’t want him when we’re in public. Why hecan’t understand it’s embarrassing for me?” he muttered with flushed cheeks.

“Yeah, Oikawais spoiled like that too.” Iwaizumi agreed, shutting up the thought that he wasthe first one to spoil him. “He has learnt to annoy me in every possible waywhen he wants something. Really, it’s a sort of talent.” Huffed tiredly.

“You seem tohandle him better anyway.” Kasamatsu commented, arching an eyebrow to highlightan implicit question.

Iwaizumiblinked and couldn’t help himself smiling a bit.

“Nineteenyears together teach you a lot.” Replied glancing at the brunette walking infront of him. He was chatting leisurely with the blond and seemed at his ease,such a rare sight lately. When Oikawa smiled like that, Iwaizumi felt bettertoo.

“Could youhelp me out then?” Kasamatsu groaned defeated. “The more I try to make himhappy, the more I fail.” Admitted bitterly.

“I don’t thinkhe’s unhappy.” Iwaizumi comforted him bluntly, “You two have just to find yourbalance. You need time.” He tried to explain him. He couldn’t tell heunderstood perfectly Kasamatsu; he and Oikawa had always been together, so forthem it had been natural. They had a lot of years to learn and adjust to eachother. They were lucky and he knew it.

“Yeah, I know.It’s just a bit hard sometimes.” Kasamatsu mumbled narrowing his eyes. He wasjust being impatience, he was conscious of it, but sometimes he just hadproblems keeping up with Kise.

“Talk to himmore. Even if it sucks.” Iwaizumi offered as his only suggestion, hands in hispockets.

“Yeah, itsucks.” Kasamatsu agreed with a smirk. They both weren’t much for words andvocal expressions of their love.

Sudden,excited shrieks broke their eardrums, followed by numerous giggling andshrilling voices chattering excited. Iwaizumi and Kasamatsu instinctivelylooked for the source of that disturbance and found their boyfriends surroundedbit a group of squealing girls. They were chattering politely and smilingkindly at their fans, who probably had recognized them from some sports orfashion magazine.

“And this isanother thing I damn hate.” Kasamatsu gritted his teeth nervously. He could seethat Kise was wearing his cold and courteous mask, yet it was annoying thesame.

“I agree.”Iwaizumi growled, arching an eyebrow at a girl who rested her hand on Oikawa’shoulder. Obviously, the brunette gently brushed it away, however that switchedIwaizumi on.

“And the worstis, I can’t speak to girls. At all. I froze like an idiot when I try. So I cannever do anything.”Kasamatsu added in a grunt. Couldn’t all those girls leavethem alone? Sometimes it happened even when they were on a date, nerve-wrackingfor him, but he wasn’t good at marking the territory.

Iwaizumilooked at him thoughtfully, then a playful light flashed in his eyes.

“Would youlike to see one of my trick to deal with this?” Offered, straightening his back.The other nodded, curiously. Who knew, maybe it could work for him too.

Iwaizumididn’t do anything, he didn’t move either.

He fixed hisgaze on the brunette and took a deep breath.

“Tooru.” Hecalled loud enough to be heard, and Kasamatsu was already asking him if he wasjoking, when Oikawa reacted.

The exactmoment he heard his name being called, he whipped his head toward Iwaizumi. Heblushed hard and, stuttering some words to excuse himself, he shoved the girlsout of his way and rushed towards them with widened eyes.

Panting, he stoppedin front of his boyfriend, who hid a smile.

“W-what do youneed, Iwa-chan?” he blurted embarrassed and giddy at the same time.

“Nothing.” Theboy replied with a shrug, “Didn’t you want an ice-cream?” asked stretching tohim an open hand.

Oikawaliterally beamed as a child in front of his favorite candy, grabbing itimmediately and interlacing their fingers. He wasn’t going to waste thatoccasion for all the gold in world.

“Yes, let’sgo!” agreed with a bright smile, “The bar is just there!” added nodding at acute café on the other side of the street.

“Come on,Ki-chan! Kasamatsu!” called, dragging his satisfied boyfriend to buy ice cream.

Beforefollowing Oikawa, Iwaizumi winked quickly at Kasamatsu, who was looking at themjaw dropped.

While theywere walking, Oikawa leaned his head against Iwaizumi’ shoulder.

“That wasreally unfair.” Pouted all flustered.

“I don’t knowwhat you are talking about.” Iwaizumi hummed angelically, but the brunette smirked.

Catching himby surprise, Oikawa pulled his hand suddenly and planted a kiss on his lips.

“Oikawa!” heexclaimed blushing furiously and covering his lips with a hand, but the otherboy laughed swinging their hand.

“Now we’reeven!” he mused cheerfully and Iwaizumi couldn’t even insult him, too busyswallowing down the bubble of warm joy inside his chest and the need to kisshim some more.

 Kise, in themeanwhile, reached his own boyfriend, left behind to wait him.

“I’m sorrysenpai! They didn’t want to let me go!” complained looking disheveled, slightlyworried to having made him made, “But Oikawa-senpai bolted away whenIwaizumi-senpai called him and left me alone!” added grimacing. Girls could bescary.

Kasamatsualternated glances between him and the other two guys, thoughtfully.

“The power ofa name, uh?” mumbled more to himself than to the blonde.

“Well,Oikawa-senpai always says it’s special for him.” He explained tilting his head,so that the bangs of his hair covered the eyes. His eyes fell on his friends’linked hands and felt a pang of bitter jealousy. They could it so easily andnaturally.

“Would youreact the same if I called you by your name?” Kasamatsu suddenly asked, soblunt and unexpected that he made Kise get all red.

Kise fixed hisgaze on the floor, feeling strangely embarrassed and mumbled somethingintelligible before managing to form a proper answer. Damn, usually he was thesmooth one.

“I-I suppose.”Murmured with a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his neck. It wassomething he wanted, but he knew that Kasamatsu wasn’t going t-

“Ah, I’ll takenote.” Kasamatsu smirked, surprising him, and stretched out his hand too.

The blondelook at it as if he was offering him gold or something similar.

“For real?”asked excitedly, while his eyes filled with stars.

“Caught youstaring at them.” Kasamatsu explained deadpanned, gesturing at the othercouple, “You were thinking you wanted to do it too.”

Kise was nowready to dig his own grave.

“And,”Kasamatsu added, averting his gaze, “W-we are in a –r-relationship too…s-so it’s…okay.”Muttered with red cheeks.

That gave Kisethe final blow. That was too much cuteness and fluff in a day.

He grabbed hisboyfriend’s hand and leaned to kiss him excitedly on the lips. Just a peck, butenough to froze the boy’s mind.

“I love you somuch, senpai!” he chirped enthusiastically, with a warm laughter.

“Kise youbastard!” he replied shoving him away roughly, but not letting go of his hand.He was covering his mouth with the arm and glaring daggers at him, yet a smallsmile was painted on his lips.

A sly correction!

Hello my lovelies!

Yes, it is me again, haha. I know I've just posted here on this blog not too long ago, but I realized a small mistake on my behalf that I want to correct!

My email was posted with a small error, hence why some couldn't message me in the first place!

Here's the correct address: [email protected]

Also, I would like to add that I am also open to Harry Potter (Next Gen) roleplay!

Concerning original roleplays, we can surely discuss to see if we find anything we are both highly interested in. Mainly either supernatural, urban myth, demons, vampires, creatures of the night or mythological gods. (I can also be swayed for a dark medieval fantasy.. But more of a subtle sort of fantasy, similar to Berserk or Game of Thrones). 

In case you didn't get the chance to read or find my previous ad, I will post it here down below, just in case. Be sure to read through it thoroughly.

I have a strong penchant for including original characters and ideas that can be added to the pre-existing plot. Also very happy to expand on the given worlds and open to AU’s. Okay so I am a really big nerd when it comes to the supernatural, mysterious, urban myth and fantasy. Love combining those given elements with organised crime, complex characters, cataclysmic events and dark schemes that all unravels as time goes on. 

 A little about me. You must be at least 18+ of age if you want to start a roleplay with this gal here. Since I am in my twenties, I prefer maturer partners. I accept anyone, regardless male or female. What I expect is a decent (if not very good) grasp on grammar, the ability and will to write creatively, shoulder a great part of the plotting and responsibility as well as passion for roleplaying. Of course this should be seen as a fun hobby but I really like to invest… I wish for my partner / friend to take equal initiative. 
 Here are my cravings and guidelines! Even though they are limited, I made sure to filter out the ones I know I wouldn’t role-play anytime soon. So if you are interested in something I didn’t mention here, I am afraid I might not role-play this or decline. 

 Fandoms and cravings:

Castlevania ****

Devil May Cry ****

Game of Thrones ***

Witcher ***


Fate **


Star Wars ***


What it entails:
  Alright, so you are writing with some of a mature age. I have 11 years of writing experience when it comes to the game. This will be a fair warning that this request is not for the faint of heart. There will be violence, swearing, gore, intimate themes, uncomfortable subjects, drama, conflict and other dark matters included within the story. I have few limits but I will respect the boundaries of my partner, so do not shy away from telling me. Just so you know, I won’t fade to black or skip out on the nitty gritty. Go big or go home.  Interests: My line of interests are very electric when it comes to genres. I love conceiving my own lore inside a stories, be it an original or a pre-existing story. Gothic fantasy among others are one of my favorites. I am not opposed to tapping into science fiction, action, romance, crime, action or thriller genres, in fact I encourage it. Inspirations for me are Lovecraft, Hellsing, Blade, Underworld, etc. As for the fandom inspired RPs, I am more than willing to bend some rules and be a little indulgent. Writing: 3rd person perspective. My writing is wide-ranging and flexible, which means that frequently, word count will go up 1000+ per reply - though it highly depends on the given situation and partner. Quality over quantity as they say - but why not both? I love detail in description, and I am actively seeking someone of the same infamy. My partner should have a basic grasp on grammar, punctuation and somewhat of an interest in knowledgeable writing. I also double! (preferably, but we can always discuss whether it makes sense for our roleplay our not.) World building and sharing the burden: You should be active and help me shape the world around our characters. Even if we discuss many things during and before the roleplay, how we wish for things to play out and take its course, I am always happy to be surprised with a secret of my partner’s character I didn’t know before. You don’t need to lay out all your cards on the table… keep it a little mysterious and suspenseful. Just enough so we can work with the ideas, but not completely kill off the suspense. Characters: I write canon as well as OC characters. Faceclaims, GIFs, drawings, mood boards or just a plain physical description is absolutely sufficient. Whatever floats your boat when it comes to visualising your character and their backstory, I’m on board. Characters should be written as opulent, flawed, unique, talented, heroic, villainous, spiteful, angry, and everything in-between figures. In other words, don’t be scared of making them ‘human’, even when they are non-human. Romance: Openly play and accept characters of both genders, preferable m x f pairings, but I am open to m x m and f x f relationships as well. I have more experience with m x f relationships, so I might be more savvy with this one. If the chemistry of two characters compel me, I will ship them no matter what! When it comes to sexual scenarios and intimacy (intercourse, foreplay, all that jazz). I encourage erotism, but in a tasteful manner (that goes for romance as well). The passion must be felt through the screen, even if it’s just a mere description of someone’s deep train of thought. Content: Drama, violence, sex, metamorphosis, symbolism, action, romance, pretty much everything is a-okay. I am unbothered by certain subjects that may or may not be uncomfortable for the general public. Roleplays are fictional stories and we best keep viewing them as such. If there are things you are uncomfortable with, name them and I shall respect those boundaries. But don’t be surprised when suddenly one of our characters bites the dust, or gets tortured. It may be difficult to write and read, but it is all part of the story and furthering the plot. My roleplays imply and involve brutality, mayhem, psychological and physical torture as well as other things. But I also endorse beauty, serenity and placid moments, scenes or characters. I love it when it comes full circle… everyone- and everything has their beautiful and hideous side. Both should be embraced. Communication and friendship: OOC-chat friendly! I love meeting new people and making potential friends. Plus it strengthens the compatibility between us. Communication is the alpha and the omega. If there is something that bothers you, or if you think you are left out in some way (be it a mistake on my part or we’re both at fault here), don’t be scared of telling me. Really, it won’t be taken personally - since I know that we slip up every now and then, we’re only human after all. It is also completely sufficient if you only type out a few messages per week. I am super chill about it. It doesn’t bother me re-writing a scene to fit the narrative more. If there are mistakes, they can be corrected - just to get that out there. We can always exchange opinions and see what would benefit the story most. I will also voice my opinion should something arise that could be bothersome. World building and plotting: An active roleplayer is wanted without a doubt. Can’t do the thinking for two now. Let’s row this boat together. Limits: Subject matters I won’t touch are pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, vore, scat, furries and some other bizarre fetishes. Also no one-liners or text-talk messages. The sentences have to be cohesive, coherent and decently structured. 
 
Now a little more information about myself. I live in CET central Europe. My response rate varies throughout the weeks, depending on my schedule. 
I study at a university full time and work a job on the side and both are keeping me fairly busy. My writing will increase most likely during the weekends. If I should hit a hiatus, I will inform you as soon as possible. I understand when you are busy as well and are not able to respond, though I prefer if my partner does not ghost me. At least let me know what’s going on so I can adjust and put the roleplay on hold if needed!  
Mediums I roleplay on are email and googledocs. Though I also have Discord in case for OOC chat! Preferably my partner would message me first on email, giving me a brief description of themselves, their cravings as well as ideas. That way I can see if we’re compatible or if this bears any potential. After that we can easily move to Discord and carry out our chats / conversation there.