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allbeendonebefore · 1 month

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Casual Cruelty

Happy Monmonton Day gang.

So, I don't write anything other than comics like, ever, let alone writing for a dedicated ship event because what even is that. I may chicken out and expunge this from the earth because it's cringe as hell but we'll see. I wrote this literally on my phone any time I was waiting somewhere without wifi or late at night when I couldn't sleep for some reason over the past, like, idk year and a half? I started with the title and went from there.

This is a (canon?*) story featuring Edward and Étienne, friends with benefits, in some indeterminate time period in the late 20th century in Montreal. Ed struggles with a lot of internal strife that almost wanders into the territory of self harm, but not quite. Lots of pining and seemingly unrequited feelings. Some drinking but nothing excessive, and just a tiny bit of bad French. There's nothing particularly unsafe for work although some undressing happens and Ed has very low standards in his fantasies. So, without further ado...

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There were a lot of things that were likeable about Étienne Maisonneuve. He was attractive, naturally, though it was more how he carried himself, curated himself than anything else. One would look from his dark, carefully coiffed curls to the loud and erratic patterns on his clothes into his bright green eyes, peeking over a sunrise of long lashes and an amused smile, and one would gasp in genuine shock as he nonchalantly revealed how his older, taller, more handsome brothers would comment on his various shapes and sizes with caution or contempt, that he needed to tone his body up or his attitude down. Who would tell Étienne of all people that he wasn't enough? Too much, perhaps.

Edward, naturally, liked the coiffed hair and the loud prints and especially the green eyes. He was (silently) pleased that Étienne was not particularly tall (so they were generally at eye level), and whether Étienne could fit into his jeans one way or the other didn't particularly bother him (as Étienne, whether there were comfortable handles at his sides or whether you could cut your hand open on his hip, always chose jeans that were probably a little too small).

It was Étienne's unconventional physique (and his unconventional physicality) that Edward liked because Étienne was always changing, he could barely be held in his own skin. When Étienne reached out for him, which was often, it was all Edward could do to hang on for the ride. And it made him feel that, even with ten years of medication and self hatred and complete lack of control over his own body, perhaps he could become something desirable too. Even if only for a moment.

But it wasn't Étienne's appearance that was particularly occupying Edward's thoughts, even if it was rather pointedly occupying his lap and flashing a gleeful grin towards the other occupants squished tightly together into the booth. It was what he was saying, and the conjectures of Meaning that Edward's mind was trying to keep up with.

"And so I couldn't pretend like I hadn't seen him, I mean, how fucking cowardly!" (The others tittered encouragingly, not wanting to miss the blow by blow, while Edward busied himself with a cluster of little triangles printed on Étienne's shoulder and tried to pay attention and not think about how he himself was a fucking coward more often than not.)

He missed the details about the confrontation in his concentration.

"But I said to him, maybe if he wasn't a biphobic de crisse de-"

The altercation rapidly being sketched in Edward's head, at least, was full of expression and colour and electricity. Étienne had run into (an acquaintance? An ex? An old flame who had burned him one too many times, who had made him swear off love for good?). One (Étienne?) was on their way in, one heading out of the (cafe? diner? dispensary? trading post? dep?). Words were exchanged, the fur flew, Étienne naturally emerged victorious (pleased? bitter? wounded?). However it had felt in the moment, clearly amongst attentive friends it was a savourable challenge and good humoured.

Edward was convincing himself it was something he had taken that made the details slip through his brain like earthworms through wet mulch. Surely it was down to some substance that made his stomach clench, not the fact that he had heard some version of this story from Étienne enough times to wish he hadn't. Étienne confronts the weak-minded conservative. Étienne dashes any hope of salvaging a relationship against the rocks. Étienne pierces the heart of the next poor sap who dares to remind him he ever had one of his own, just because he can.

This is how Étienne is and has always been, Edward reminds himself as he calmly takes a sip of whatever Étienne has pressed into his hand (he can't taste it). What he thought he read from him over the years was projected onto ink and tears that had long since dried, delusions of childish fantasy. The person in his lap was more real, carried more weight, than whatever scrawling Edward had been trying to interpret since before he was literate.

"Eddy?"

"Mm?"

"What do you think?"

Edward stared at him stupidly. Was he supposed to tell him he'd done the right thing? That his casual cruelty to the poor sap who just wanted to pay his bill and go home was his sexiest quality?

"The drink."

Edward weighed the question.

"It's okay."

Peals of laughter rippled forth and jostled Ed from his position, clearly the wrong answer.

"That's Eddy for you, always a polite word. A true Canadian," Étienne teased as he slung an arm around Edward's neck.

Edward flushed. The only thing more embarrassing than not paying attention was being caught out as undiscerning, uncultured.

Back home, he would have leaned into it, but here... The insult would have to slide off his well-oiled armour. He managed a grin, almost as if he meant it, and took another sip.

---

His guard was still up even after they stumbled up the metro steps, and as he leaned his head against the bus window away from Étienne's shoulder. It remained so even after the front door closed behind them and Étienne had pirouetted away with their coats and boots.

He excused himself to try to settle the emotional soup in his stomach in front of the bathroom sink before Étienne had a chance to pin him in place. For someone who was so easy to be around, Étienne had a way of making him feel uneasy.

Ed's malaise was chronic and ebbed in like a tide; Étienne was mercurial and his mood shifted sharply and unexpectedly. It was in Edward's interest to deal with himself first rather than risk Étienne misinterpreting him, or worse: feeling responsible for him.

Maybe he'll ask if I'm alright, he thought as he completed his routines. Maybe he'll ask what took so long, or make some joke about getting lost that will lighten the mood enough for me to tell him.

Tell him?

Edward caught his own inquiring eye in the mirror as he dried his hands and swept away the ring of droplets around the rim of the sink. Tell him he didn't perform these little gestures out of the traditional guest-host relationship? That he wanted something impossible?

He leaned on the counter unsteadily, somewhere between faking being sick and being sick.

Here came the tears. What the fuck did he want? For Étienne to knock the door off its hinges and rescue him? To wipe the sick off his face and tuck him in? Or would he rather be back home, imagining becoming the latest villain who dared to try to make E. M. fucking Maisonneuve commit?

This, he reasoned, was the alcohol. Clearly he was simply a sad drunk and the only thing for it was to brush his teeth, splash his face enough to hide any tear tracks, and sleep it off.

He caught himself eyeing the tub in the mirror. It wouldn't do any good, acting on that impulse. Imagining the slip, the fall, the impact and the shout was already giving him a headache. Even if the idea of being exposed, broken, and cradled was appealing. Christ-like, even... he managed a smile. He would find that funny.

Where might his host have got to? Ed doubted he was awaiting him with bated breath. He would surely find him bored, asleep waiting for him on the couch. Or perhaps he had already moved on to amuse himself elsewhere. He dried his hands, flicked off the light and peered down the hall.

There was no sign of life from the living room, but he heard running water. Étienne trying to wash the taste of the evening out, no doubt.

Edward cautiously hovered at the edge of the kitchen, a dimple curving despite himself. Étienne, of all possible things, was furiously washing the last of a generous array of dishes.

"You clean up well, Maisonneuve," Edward gave him an exaggerated once over, smiling at the large amount of water Étienne had somehow spilled down his front in his haste, revealed as he twisted around to acknowledge Edward's presence.

"I was hoping you'd take a little longer, you aren't supposed to know how much I had left to prepare for you and how little I'd done," Étienne smiled and turned back to rinsing the last few stragglers hiding beneath the suds.

"The illusion of your carefree bachelor life is shattered," Edward mock sighed. He leaned against the wall, unable to answer the impulse to help. Somehow, finding Étienne this concerned over it was so...

It was like a dream, watching this private moment. Étienne fiddling with the cap on the dish soap, scrubbing a particularly displeasing spot, nails scratching over the towel. One might even mistake him for mortal, wiping his hands on the sides of his jeans after fumbling around in the dishwater for the plug.

Edward's heart ached sweetly. He couldn't have everything he wanted, but he could continue to savour this tart hurt for a hundred years more. Whatshisname de Biphobe was missing out.

"Effortless." Étienne grinned, scrunching his face in mock satisfaction that blossomed into nothing short of a genuine smile as Edward met his eyes.

"Your secret is safe, I'm nowhere near sober enough to remember your kitchen as anything but spotless," Edward twirled unsteadily out of the doorway to prove his point.

"I'm sorry for that, Eddy," Étienne laughed and reached out to catch Edward's fingers and complete the clumsy flourish. "You flew five hours only for me to find you the worst drink in town."

"I thought you knew this city," Edward's eyes and his resolve crinkled up like tin foil, he couldn't help but interlock their fingers.

"I'll make it up to you," Étienne's gaze sunk briefly, his smile rose.

"Mm? I dunno, I may be ruined for trying new things forever."

"Perhaps I find bad things on purpose," Étienne grinned maliciously. "Get the worst out of the way so that you tolerate the rest. Or that you appreciate my favourites."

"I fly out five hours to "tolerate" the farce of national unity at work, I don't "tolerate" you," Edward looked away from Étienne's face and back down to studying his shirt pattern, dabbing at the damp spots uselessly with his hands and causing Étienne to try to wriggle away.

"What are you doing?" Étienne whined, "It's cold!"

Edward dropped his hands abruptly as Étienne took the opportunity to return the favour, poking and prodding Edward against the wall.

"You're doing, it wrong," Étienne paused, laughing briefly between words, angling for his next attack. He looked up to see Edward's worried expression, which was disturbing enough for Étienne to straighten up and meet his gaze.

"Oh, come on Eddy," he stepped in closer and started playing with the collar of Edward's shirt, "You've barely smiled since you got here. Are you not having fun?"

Edward gulped. He hadn't been, but Étienne knowing this was exactly the opposite of what he wanted.

Then again, what other reason did he have to come out here? Their entire relationship for around two decades seemed to balance on Étienne as his personal concierge of fun, legitimate or otherwise.

"Has something happened?" Étienne's brows knit, eyes searching.

"No," Edward recovered. "No more than the usual bullshit."

Étienne looked unconvinced for a moment, but he expertly shifted the tone.

"I'll help you forget all about it." Étienne, clearly plotting something, grinned wickedly as his arms shot out to pin Edward's to his sides.

"What are you-" Edward flushed as Étienne slowly pivoted him back to the door frame.

To his surprise, Étienne released him as quickly as he had caught him. He grinned over his shoulder at Edward, "You were in front of the fridge."

Reaching in for what he was looking for, he added, "There's a jar in the cupboard on your left, please. And I'll also need a bowl and two mugs."

Edward blinked at him stupidly before retrieving the dishes, opting to use what he could find in the cupboards before turning to the freshly washed items by the sink. By the time he had found the jar, he heard a curious hissing sound and nearly dropped the thing when he figured out where it was coming from.

Étienne's electric kettle was soon whistling merrily, and Edward finally brought himself to comment while Étienne reached for the offered bowl.

"Seems you aren't about to burn the place down," he laughed weakly.

"Ha, no, it took some courage for me to try it out but so far it's worked like a charm and expanded my repertoire significantly. I can make all sorts of things: oatmeal, noodles..."

Edward's heartstrings nearly snapped with the strain. He really needed to heighten his standards. The thought of Étienne preparing cup noodles for the two of them should not be attractive. He had to look away before he started imagining him ruggedly heating water over a campfire.

"And the powder?"

Étienne handed him a spoon from the drawer as he fumbled for whatever he was looking for. "Cocoa. I've been experimenting with my own blend," he replied as he triumphantly pulled a beater out from where it had been wedged in the drawer. Slotting it into place with a satisfying click, Étienne turned up the dial and his hand mixer roared to life.

Edward spied the carton of whipping cream next to the bowl and everything fell into place.

Étienne, catching his eye as the mixer powered down, winked teasingly. "Don't worry, I've made extra for later." He handed Edward one of the beaters and could barely restrain his giggles as he popped off the other and brought it to his mouth.

The cold cream did little to help the first blush creeping up Edward's neck and ears. The sour taste did.

Étienne choked on his beater. "Oh, Eddy, no... I swear this was good yesterday," he frantically tried to grab the other beater from Edward.

"It's not bad," Edward spun away with a smile as he finished licking up the cream. "Better than that first drink you gave me, anyway."

"Eddy, you'll make yourself sick-!"

"It isn't that far gone, honest. If it really bothers you, put some plastic wrap on the bowl and we will cook with it tomorrow. Whipping cream is a decent butter substitute, and it'll taste much better than this heated."

Étienne looked at him with amazement for a moment before he hastily followed Edward's instructions. "Where do you learn this stuff?"

"You've been around three centuries and you don't pick this stuff up?"

"I pick it up," Étienne leaned against the fridge door as he closed it, hands behind his back and a sly grin on his face, "off a plate. With a fork."

"How do you survive?"

"Much better now. You're a life saver, I mean it."

Ed turned his attention to the hot chocolate, saved from spoiling, to distract himself from thinking too much about what exactly he meant. Picking it up, he glanced warily at Étienne who gave him an encouraging nod and smile.

The bitter cocoa, the sweet sugar, the hint of cinnamon... Everything had been smoothly whisked and there was even a kick of chili at the end. Étienne's smile grew as Edward's eyes widened.

"It's good. I like it." Surely he could come up with a better compliment than that.

Étienne didn't seem to mind his awkward bluntness, smiling into his own mug without breaking his gaze. "You see, I may be a fuck-up, but things eventually turn out just as I intended."

Edward said nothing, focusing on the cocoa and not the story of the evening. Of course, Étienne Maisonneuve, conquering hero. Always.

The companionable silence as they drank was unbearable. Edward quickly broke it.

"This might be the first hot meal you've ever made for me." He meant to muster a smile, but must have forgotten.

Étienne blinked in surprise. "Not so," his eyes narrowed in concentration. "You remember I made that... the roux, with the peas and corn?"

"Rubaboo," Edward supplied.

"Rubaboo! Now, I could make that at some point, surely. And far more meal-like than this."

Edward didn't want to think about old times. He didn't want to think about his childish thoughts or his naivety and he didn't want to think about the self satisfied glow in his chest that Whatshisname de Biphobe would never, could never know Étienne as long or as well as Edward did.

He didn't want to think about sacrificing almost two hundred years by ruining their relationship and becoming the next poor sap to be discussed over one of Étienne's outings.

Suddenly, the weight of his escape from home settled between his shoulders. He put down his empty mug unsteadily into the sink.

"I have to pass out." He was too tired to try to be anything but his blunt, boring self.

"Of course," Étienne smiled, setting his own mug down and fluidly steering Edward out of the kitchen.

"I'd just brushed my teeth," Edward moaned pathetically.

"Mhm," Étienne flicked off the light behind him.

"It's like 6:00 AM in my head and I just got here and I'm boring and tired, and-"

"And drunk."

"And drunk. And not fun." Edward hiccupped weakly for emphasis.

"Where to?"

"Yours. I won't be able to sleep with Rocket Richard staring at me."

Étienne caught him by the shirt before he could collapse on the bed. He quickly unbuttoned it for Edward and held it back, letting gravity do the rest. Edward fell with a soft sigh, eyes closed.

"'Tienne, peux-tu..." For some reason, it was easier to ask for something in French.

"Bien sûr." He didn't see the smile on Étienne's face, but he could hear it. He felt well practiced hands undo the belt and button at his waist; he then half-heartedly tried to wriggle free.

"Et peux-tu me cuisiner," Edward murmured. "Demain."

"Qu'est-ce que tu voudrais, Édouard?" He felt the denim peel off his legs.

Edward was silent for a long time, drifting off, grasping for the right word. "Oatmeal," he said.

He struggled to hang onto consciousness. Though he couldn't keep his eyes open, he heard Étienne laugh. Seconds later, or maybe a few minutes, he heard the clink of a cup set against the nearby night table.

Even nearly asleep, a wave of guilt lapped at him. It wasn't so long ago that he could keep up with Étienne, that he could be fun, almost without pretending. Now Étienne was tucking him in and keeping him hydrated, like a child, or an old man.

"J'm'excuse..." he mumbled.

"Ahh, Eddy. Toujours le 'Canadian'." Étienne teased, a mocking melody on the English. Edward felt the warmth from Étienne’s cupped hand, mussing his hair gently. "Bonne nuit, mon chum."

There were a lot of things he loved about Étienne Maisonneuve. He loved how he never took himself, or anyone else, too seriously. He loved how every time he fucked something up, he would find a way around it or through it. He loved his warm dishpan hands and the solid press of him against his back. He loved the way he was causally cruel, biting and acidic. He loved when his smiles met his eyes and when his eyes met his.

---

END

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*It's canon in the sense that they are immortal personified cities but it's only "canon" if you accept it as such. I try to position myself somewhere in between @randomoranges' fluffy candy writing and @quatschmachen's angsty torment writing I guess, so today you get a little of both.

#projectcanada cities #monmonton day #it is the monmonton #pc: edmonton #pc: montreal #edward murphy #étienne maisonneuve #hapo writes #if you saw me accidentally post this two days early trying to fix a typo #no you didnt <3

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randomoranges · 30 days

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ok so @allbeendonebefore shared with the group that this glasses company has released certain nhl themed frames and so of course i had to draw these two with their respective pairs lamao.

#pc: montreal #étienne maisonneuve #pc: edmonton #edward murphy #art #windex attempts to draw #monmonton day #monmonton day 2024

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surfingthesealand · 1 year

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A little something for @acetechne's birthday, starring the Texas boys and the @battle-of-alberta cities! Howdy from down south! 🤠⭐️ 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🎂

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attichoney4u · 2 years

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The following drawing is for a special event, called #Monmongary, where we have to draw or write stories about a special ship consisted of the ocs of Étienne, Ed and Cal.

Since I'm more into the ÉtiennexEd ship thanks to @randomoranges, I chose to draw Ed and Étienne with a bit of Cal there.

Sorry, for it being rushed. I just wanted to finish the piece before the prompt was closed.

So, I got this idea when I read a fanfic from @randomoranges, where Étienne poses to a hockey magazine… in nude. I originally wanted to draw both of them naked, but I didn't know if the Tumblr guidelines would agree, so I put them clothes. Cal is looking from afar wanting to join them.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my drawing as much as I had fun making it and have a lovely rest of your day (or night, depending when you see this post)! Bye! 😘

#projectcanada #monmongary #pc: edmonton #pc:montreal #edward murphy #pc: calgary #calvin mccall #étienne maisonneuve

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roniebuttercups · 1 year

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Hetalia: Axis Powers Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Edmonton/Calgary/Montréal Characters: Calgary Alberta (Anthropomorphic), Montreal Quebec (Anthropomorphic), Edmonton Alberta (Anthropomorphic) Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic Fluff, self-care, Sleepovers, Hair Brushing, One Shot, can be seen as romantic or platonic or queer-platonic, up to you, Soft Boys, Historical References Series: Part 2 of IAMP/PC Fics Summary:

Cal's been having a hard time recently... time to destress!~

@randomoranges @allbeendonebefore

#welp posting this a year late ig #is it obvious that I love cal???#pc: calgary #pc: edmonton #pc: montréal #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #project-canada #boab #battle of alberta #iammatthewian

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tech4service · 10 months

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If you’re looking for computer repair services, you’ve come to the right Computer Repair in Edmonton. Tech4Service specialize in both home computer repair and business computer repair services.

#Computer Repair #Laptop Repair #Computer Repair Shop #Laptop Repair Shop #Computer Repair Shop edmonton #Computer Repair edmonton #Laptop Repair edmonton #PC Repair edmonton

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allthecanadianpolitics · 11 months

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Why did the Alberta NDP lose the 2023 provincial election? The major flaw at the core of their strategy was deciding to make an explicit pitch to historically conservative voters in Calgary and the suburbs surrounding Edmonton. The idea was that voters would be so repulsed by premier-elect Danielle Smith’s embrace of COVID conspiracies and Alberta separatist fantasies that enough would reluctantly support the NDP just for this election. From that assumption flowed four major mistakes to learn from next time. Mistake 1: Making it about leader personality: The NDP’s strategy produced a campaign centring largely around Smith’s personality and suitability for the premiership, rather than more substantive policy debates. To the extent the NDP offered alternatives to Smith’s policies, they were tailor-made to woo former PC supporters who were asked to “lend” their votes to the NDP. [...]

Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @abpoli

#cdnpoli #NDP #Alberta #provincial elections #Rachel Notley

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felassan · 7 months

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Article: 'If Anthem is the "anti-BioWare game", then James Ohlen is correcting the balance'

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"The hugely influential design director talks Baldur’s Gate, his next RPG, and the abandonment of the BioWare model.

“Baldur’s Gate II set the model, and I obviously loved that model,” says James Ohlen. “But there were a ton of people at BioWare who didn’t like it.” During leadership meetings over the course of the Canadian designer’s 22 years at the RPG studio, he’d sometimes feel totally outnumbered when talking about the importance of story. “Game developers don’t get into the industry to create stories, they get into the industry to create games,” he says. “And so there’s this conflict between game developers and story - my entire career it's been a constant fight.”

Ohlen picked his side early. He was telling BioWare stories even before he joined the company. The meeting of Minsc and Boo, one of the most enduring partnerships in PC gaming, came about in a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game he ran as a teenager. Then a comic book store manager, he took advantage of his premises to guide no fewer than three concurrent D&D groups through their campaigns. “I didn’t really have much of a life outside of Dungeons & Dragons,” he says.

BioWare programmer Cam Tofer played Minsc in one of those campaigns, “as a guy who’s basically been knocked on the head too many times in fights”. A merchant NPC of Ohlen’s invention sold him Boo, the miniature giant space hamster, in an apparent scam. Tofer ran with it, declaring that Boo would be Minsc’s animal companion, and holding one-sided conversations with the confidant that lived in his pocket. “In my campaign he was just a hamster,” Ohlen says. “I always thought of him as just a hamster.”

Back then, in the early 90s, there were no game design degrees, but Ohlen had dedicated himself to the next best thing. DMing proved to be an intensive training course in giving players agency and immersing them in another world - and his local reputation as a story wrangler landed him a job working on Baldur’s Gate. It’s a similar origin story to that of David Gaider, another D&D head who was plucked from the hotel industry to tell tales about vampires and druid groves.

“Have you ever read Malcolm Gladwell on the 10,000 hour rule? I think by the time I got hired by BioWare, I had done 20,000 hours of dungeon mastering,” Ohlen says. “It was ridiculous. I owe a lot to D&D. My friendships, my career, my mental stability.”

BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka encouraged Ohlen to dig into the huge binders that contained the details of all the player characters and NPCs in his campaigns, and to let them spill out into the world of Baldur’s Gate. “I hadn’t intended to do that,” Ohlen says. “It seemed narcissistic. But he was right. Once I started using them, I started getting things done real fast. All the characters had personalities that I already knew.”

Those tabletop campaigns turned out to be accidental writers’ rooms - producing distinct personalities that reflected the voices of their individual players. From the binders came some of Baldur’s Gate’s most beloved companions, like Minsc and the egotistical conjurer Edwin, as well as its villains - leading all the way up to the sequel’s Hannibal Lector-esque antagonist, Jon Irenicus.

That said, inspiration for Baldur’s Gate II’s much deeper companion stories came from an unlikely source. During a freezing winter smoke break in Edmonton, an Interplay producer named Dermot Clarke mentioned that Baldur’s Gate’s characters weren’t nearly as developed as those in Final Fantasy VII.

“I’m very competitive,” Ohlen says. “I went and played Final Fantasy VII and was like, ‘Oh my good god, these characters make ours look like a bunch of cardboard cutouts. This is terrible.’” The disparity convinced BioWare to up their game, leading to the complex journeys of companions like Jaheira - the grieving wife and activist, whose sense of duty has been shaken by so much loss. Despite Ohlen’s distaste for the way SquareSoft’s RPGs played, he continued to be influenced by their character work - all the way up to Knights Of The Old Republic, which was partly inspired by the twist-laden Chrono Cross. That and Star Wars, of course.

“I actually totally, entirely ripped off The Empire Strikes Back in such blatant fashion,” Ohlen says. “You basically go to face the dark lord by yourself, and then you get into a lightsaber fight with him, and he kicks your ass. And then, after kicking your ass, he does the big twist. Then you don’t die because you’re rescued by your friends on the Millennium Falcon - I mean, the Ebon Hawk. It’s beat by beat the same thing.”

Of course, KOTOR’s plot twist didn’t feel familiar to players because it impacted not Luke Skywalker but them personally. For those who don’t know - and spoiler warning, if so - it revealed that your character was in fact a former Sith Lord, their memory wiped by the Jedi Council. In an RPG genre rooted by knowing your avatar down to their last stat, having your identity ripped out from under you felt genuinely radical. BioWare had succeeded in making its biggest setpiece not a battle, but a revelation. And in the process, it proved that BioWare storytelling was packed with the kind of explosive potential a publisher could bank on.

After the sale of the company to EA in 2007, Ohlen was put in charge of creative development on a Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic. It was BioWare’s next great hope, and an enormous undertaking - involving the founding of a brand new studio in Austin, Texas. At launch, it featured eight story campaigns which unfolded across 19 planets. In 2011, executive producer Rich Vogel told Fast Company that The Old Republic hosted “the most content in a video game ever”. Looking back, Ohlen views that as a fundamental problem.

“If open-world is the enemy of storytelling, multiplayer is the arch-villain,” Ohlen says. “If I was to go back in time to give my 2006 self some advice it would be, ‘Don’t try to make the game so long that you can fill up 200 hours. Instead, keep it shorter.’” With less ground to cover, the Austin team could have committed more resources to its Flashpoints - story-heavy missions which forefronted the difficult decision-making and tight encounter design that had elevated previous BioWare games. “Everyone wanted Knights of the Old Republic Online, and it felt more like World Of Warcraft with Star Wars spray-painted on it and some BioWare juice thrown in,” Ohlen says. “Even though the Metacritic was pretty good, it wasn’t new enough to really take off.”

At this point, a Knights Of The Old Republic 3 directed by Ohlen would be “not great”, he says. “Because I’m all Star Wars’d out. I have nothing else to say about Star Wars. But if a whole new studio does KOTOR 3 that loved KOTOR, that could be an amazing game. So hopefully Disney makes that happen. But probably not, because executives around there are all probably going, ‘It’s too hardcore.’” Ohlen still remembers the efforts he made to convince EA boss John Riccitiello that fantasy was a genre that could sell. “I had this whole PowerPoint presentation,” he says. “We have Lord Of The Rings! We have World Of Warcraft! We have Diablo!”

The year after The Old Republic’s launch, with the arch-villain of multiplayer still undefeated, development of Anthem began - and BioWare fought that increasingly costly battle for the better part of a decade. Those at the studio tired of the Baldur’s Gate model had the backing of EA, since a live service looter-shooter in the mode of Destiny could unlock years of long-term revenue beyond the reach of a single-player RPG. Or so the theory went. “It was always chasing the gigantic successes instead of leaning into what BioWare was good at,” Ohlen says. “It wasn’t just EA leaning on BioWare - there were lots of people in BioWare who wanted to do something different.”

Ohlen understood why others at the company would want to get away from a formula that empowered old hands like him and Gaider, and embrace one that empowered them instead. And he knew first-hand that freedom to experiment was what had set BioWare on the path to success decades before. Yet this new direction felt like an abandonment of the studio’s strengths. “Anthem was the ultimate expression of that,” Ohlen says. “It got away from everything. It’s kind of like the anti-BioWare game.”

Ohlen left in 2018, intending to retire from videogames altogether. “The big games have a formula and they don’t adjust it too much,” he says. “It’s very production driven, and I was like, ‘I’m not gonna get to make a game that I want to make at EA.’” He returned to the tabletop, putting together a new Baldur’s Gate adventure book featuring Minsc and the gang. But then Wizards Of The Coast called and flew him up to Seattle to discuss starting a new studio. Ohlen didn’t need or necessarily want a videogame development team under his wing - and that proved to be a perfect negotiating position.

“My demands were, ‘I only do this if I get to start my own studio in Austin, I get to choose who I hire, I get to choose exactly the kind of IP I want to make, no one’s gonna tell me anything about how to make the game.” At this point, Ohlen adopts a megalomaniacal tone, as if he were Baldur’s Gate baddy Sarevok, ascending to the throne of the dead god Bhaal. “I want control over absolutely everything! I want all the power!”

To his surprise, Wizards said yes, and Ohlen has been happily presiding over Archetype Entertainment ever since, building a new sci-fi RPG world without interference. “If you’ve seen the games I like to build, it’s that style of game,” he says. “But then it leans into the people and technology that I have available.” Ohlen won’t elaborate on what’s in his toybox, for fear of spilling secrets - but it’s worth noting that Mass Effect legend Drew Karpyshyn joined Archetype in 2020 as lead writer. “The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare,” wrote Karpyshyn on his blog at the time. “I can feel the magic in the air.”

Magic and Wizards and science fiction - it’s the kind of atmosphere in which you could believe a hamster isn’t just a hamster, but something altogether sillier and more exciting. An act of collective imagination is happening, the binders are filled to bursting, and all we have to do is wait."

[source]

#bioware #sw:tor #long post #longpost #anthem #mass effect #smoking mention

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battle-of-alberta · 2 months

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Who had the happiest childhood ?

well over a year later i finally tackle this question! it was at the bottom of the box because one of my weaknesses is drawing children, and another one is the necessary historical research to draw their childhoods :' ) but i really wanted to start imagining them because it's very important to the overall story i'm trying to tell here.

here's the main gang, who were children at one end of the 19th century or another. I don't really know how to answer the question (they all lived through some very rough times, even if they didn't know as much) but I can give a little bit of an explanation for the times they grew up in...

[but most importantly, who do you think was the cutest?]

Ed and Jas were kids in the early decades of the 19th century (the regency era). They didn't really have a sense of the outside world much at all (Ed in particular had a very inflated sense of self importance he has since lost) and moved around a lot to follow the fur bearing animals (typically beavers). I feel like they were often getting into scrapes like this!

Cal and Lil grew up in the 1870s when the Northwest Mounted Police were establishing the Canada-US border. Calvin doesn't realize that his childhood enemy Fort Whoop Up and Lilith are the same person, so he tends to think of Lilith as younger than him. Lilith knows better, of course, but I guess she wanted a fresh start. In some ways, they were both only a bit spoiled as kids, though Lilith was less sheltered.

Jo and Mac didn't really interact much as they were isolated for most of their childhoods and didn't really hit their first growth spurts until the 20th century. It's hard to imagine their childhoods (or that Mac was ever a child haha) but they must have been quite lonely, so I figure they had to have pretty big imaginations to cope during the times Ed wasn't around.

Nor, Red and Maddie grew up in the railroad era of the 1880s-90s, although Nor and Maddie were the railroad resort and energy princesses respectively. Red depended far more on carriages and later vehicles passing through on their way between Ed and Cal's places. [also, do not attempt to cuddle bear cubs or feed them chocolate biscuits!!]

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acetechne · 27 days

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Truth be told I drew this days before the Boopening but it seems relevant :)

#projectcanada cities #pc: edmonton #pc: calgary #or is it projectcatnada #hapo doodles #ink #traditional art

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allbeendonebefore · 1 year

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(this is right to left not left to right sorry)

going through photos of comics i drew at work in 2019 that i never posted and nothing is funnier to me than this really angsty comic of ed yelling at calvin for ghosting him for 9+ months (and then the smoke alarm going off because he started burning what he was cooking) being immediately followed by this

#hapo rambles #pc: calgary #pc: edmonton #pc: fort mcmurray #hapo doodles #edward murphy #calvin mccall #reginald buffalo

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randomoranges · 30 days

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when i made the post for m2 day, one of the recommended posts on the side was the art i did 4 yrs ago. for funsies i decided to redo it.

chuis pas vraiment satisfaite du résultat final, mais bon.

#pc: montreal #étienne maisonneuve #pc: edmonton #edward murphy #art #windex attempts to draw #in 2028 étienne's hair will be off the page lamao #i think his hair is the only thing i like in it lal

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attichoney4u · 1 year

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I posted 1,782 times in 2022

That's 1,669 more posts than 2021!

58 posts created (3%)

1,724 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@purple-amaranthe

@hermes-left-nut

@gemsofgreece

@six-feet-underneath

@alatismeni-theitsa

I tagged 1,214 of my posts in 2022

Only 32% of my posts had no tags

#greece - 73 posts

#projectcanada cities - 57 posts

#pc: edmonton - 38 posts

#disney - 33 posts

#!!! - 32 posts

#pc: calgary - 30 posts

#athens and sparta adventures - 27 posts

#art - 26 posts

#tumblr - 24 posts

#edward murphy - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#εξαιρετική ιδέα πιστεύω 100% πως θα οδηγούσε στις πιο γελοίες παρεξηγήσεις λόγω γκουγκλ τράνσλεϊτ κ για αυτό ακριβώς την υποστηρίζω.

My Top Posts in 2022:

Recently, I've started thinking about how magic works in the Asterix universe.

Let's start with the Druids. It's obvious the exist and they're well respected among the common people. They participate in an annual festival, where they compete to see who has produced the best potion. Asterix, the village's greatest warrior, always makes sure that Getafix is ok and sometimes he doesn't even act without Getafix' consent. Even Vitalstatistix, the village's chief, asks Getafix for advice. And Getafix' opinion is always respected.

We have seen Getafix producing more kinds of portion, not just the magic portion that gives its consumer great strength. Like that one time where he profuced a magic potion that healed or made Asterix jump like a grasshopper.

See the full post

23 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

Ok, but hear me out: Mathios from "Sasmos" is the perfect Tumblr man that every Tumblrerina simps for. Let me explain:

He's tall, dark, mysterious and intimidating

He's a murderer (and we all know Tumblr's tendency to overromanticize killers *cough cough* Jeffrey Dahmer *cough cough*), but not just any murderer

He killed to be closer to the love of his life. And he waited for and stayed loyal to her

Honestly, I don't know why the internet doesn't talk about him that much.

24 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

Sketches of some of my childhood heroes, because I felt nostalgic! Click for better quality.

From left to right: Asterix (Asterix), Lucky Luke (Lucky Luke), Idefix/Dogmatix (Asterix), Iznogood/Iznogoud (Iznogood/Iznogoud) and Bass Reeves (Lucky Luke).

Note: Bass Reeves is actually from a new album of Lucky Luke (A Cowboy In High Cotton), but I added him because I really liked his design! It was nice to see a black cowboy for once (when black characters like him are usually background characters in this series)!

25 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

I know I'm late to the fandom, but I just wanted to share the similarities I found among "Six: The Musical":

"No Way" - "Get Down": Both songs address Henry for the same reason: to prove him wrong! Catherine wants to prove to Henry that he's wrong about divorcing him, as she has never ever has done something to upset him or cause him pain ("If you could just explain/ a single thing I've done to cause you pain/ I'll go/ No?/ You've got nothing to say/ I'm not going away/ There's no way!"), meanwhile Anna states that Henry was wrong about him calling her "ugly" ("You, you say that I tricked ya/ 'cause I, I didn't look like my profile picture/ Too, too bad that I don't agree!")

"Don't Lose Ur Head" - "All You Wanna Do": Both pop songs address the audience and they follow a "storytelling" structure, with both Anne and Katherine explaining how their life was before Henry, how they met him and what they did to deserve their "beheadings", caused by their childlike and immature personalities ("I wouldn't be such a b- if you could get it up!/ Oh oh!/ Here we go!/ Is that what you said?/ And now he's going 'round yelling "OFF WITH HER HEAD!"/ Yeah, I'm pretty sure he means it/ Seems it", "Thomas is there to lend a helping hand/ so sweet, makes sure that I'm ok/ and we hang out loads when the King's away")

"Heart of Stone" - "I Don't Need Your Love": Both songs are ballads, specifically dedicated to their loved ones - Jane to Henry and Catherine to Thomas - and expressing their grief that they can't enjoy their lives with them - Jane because she died from childbirth and Catherine because she's forced to marry a man she doesn't love. However, each one ends on a different note, as Jane's song continues to be sad, even to the end (as, you know, she died), whereas Catherine's ends on a positive note, as she survived and she was finally free to marry the man of her dreams (even though said man turned out to be an asshole).

39 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

One of my favourite tropes from bande dessinées is when you take a character who has an extremely slim physique like a typical nerd…

See the full post

109 notes - Posted July 31, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #im so proud of myself #Next year im gonna hit 1000+ notes #Just you wait #Like Alexander Hamilton

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