#that to work. and 2. caleb generally falls in love with everyone BUT this is so critical BUT he did not fucking do that with essek. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumgik

#that to work. and 2. caleb generally falls in love with everyone BUT this is so critical BUT he did not fucking do that with essek.

wizardnuke · 6 months

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i know it's popular fanon to think that essek has little to no relationship experience and i do think his bedroom experience is average at best (for a hot young* elf) but i Personally think he's got a long line of heartbreaks behind him. i mean this so slash negative slash derogatory i think he was out there wining and dining and leaving-behining all the time. just for fun and profit. working on his acting chops. showing off. he likes attention dude. i don't think that's directly contradictory to him being very reclusive and quiet about his work i think he was mysterious and sexy and thought flirting was funny. anyway he and caleb "genuinely falls in love with every other person he meets and then is really weird about it, EXCEPT for essek, who he was genuinely honeypotting" widogast, who essek was also genuinely honeypotting for reasons Far beyond boredom (see: i think some of his early weirdness/awkward formality can be explained by the fact that he was trying to mask real homicidal rage towards the m9) are insane together they're ride or die they're perfect for each other they're lifelong "friends" and they're playing mind games the likes of which would level a city park id they broke out of containment. and it's enrichment for them

#i think it is absolutely critical to keep in mind that 1. this CHILD of an elf (in comparison to da'leth) convinced DA'LETH to do treason #with him. not that i think da'leth is generally against treason but essek had to have been a winning combo of cunning and charismatic for #that to work. and 2. caleb generally falls in love with everyone BUT this is so critical BUT he did not fucking do that with essek.#he Did Not. my guy is not that stupid he knew exactly what he was looking at. he didn't know the scale but he knew Something Was Up #and essek 'flirts so often he forgets he's flirting' thelyss and caleb 'victim and perp of some of the most insane relationship drama to #ever come out of wildemount AND a trained manipulator' widogast stumbled into one another sometime circa hot chocolate whiskey #and Aeor Horrors #and both promptly had the same OH NO moment before saying fuck it and showing off increasingly complicated spells #as a mating dance #while also still being deeply insane about their perception of 'normal relationships' and 'how to communicate'#caleb did a good job at the grove but. where's the fic where he gets essek to stay the damn night via shutting off his magic

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setaripendragon · 3 months

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WIP Game

No one tagged me, I tagged myself in because I want to and you can't stop me =P And I'm tagging everyone who sees this that writes! Do it! Dooo iiit!

Rules: In a new post, list the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it. And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I don't actually have a WIP folder, I have WIP folders, plural. So, I'm adding a rule that I can't have posted any of the fic online anywhere for it to qualify, and I also have to have worked on it some time in the last... four years?

Let's see if that keeps me below the 50 fics mark (place your bets now)...

A Song of Ice and Fire

Codywan In Westeros

King Eddard Stark

Time-travel TyrionSansa

Pevensie Starks

Cat SI

Assassins Creed

Desmond's PLP

Desmond meets Darcy

ATLA

The Lost Nomads

Ursakoda Canon Crossover

Charmed

Phole Time Travel

Dimension Hopping Chris and Wyatt

Gramarye Book 2

Critical Role

Molly Lives... In Caleb's Head

Molly Does a Time Travel

The Patchwork Bower

Slave AU

OT3 Does a Time Travel

FullMetal Alchemist

Time Travel Outsider PoV

What Is Remembered Forever

RoyEd Adopts Harry Potter

Ed Gets Time Swapped

Wei Wuxian as a RoyEd Baby

A Body for a Body

Psychic Wolves AU

RoyEd Time Travel

RoyEd Arranged Marriage

Rise of the Guardians

Hold Out Your Hand Sequel

Everyone Loves Pitch

The Journal of General Kozmotis Pitchiner

Kingsman

Time Travelling Eggsy

The King's Whores

Chavs and Gentlemen

Kingsman's Wolves

Lord of the Rings

Durincest Polyamory

On the Hunt

Sam Time Travel Adventure

Courting Fate

Seven Ladies Time Travel Epic

Gimli As Celebrimbor Reincarnation

Thilbo Reincarnation

Polyamorous Hobbits

Marvel

Three for a Marriage Four for a Birth

Soulmarks Book 3: Our Song

Heterodyne Legacy #2

One Piece

Secret Marriage

StrawHat Time Travel

Trans Sanji

Who Are You

Peaky Blinders

Time Travel

Soulmate Colours

Heart of Birmingham

Self Insert AU

Pride and Prejudice

A Better Timeline

Sherlock Holmes (Elementary)

Friends in Low Places

Skyfall (James Bond)

Calendar Novel: Time-travelling Q

Harry Potter Crossover

JAQ Polyamory Negotiations

Q Has a Symbiote

Fathers and Daughters

Star Wars

Obi-wan is a Slut

Firefly Crossover

Egg-preg Drabbles

CodyMace Time Travel

404 Battalion Not Found

ABO GAR

Aitash Tu Akos

Release My Soul

Strange and Norrell

All Other Wives

Miss Jennifer Strange

ArabellaChildermassSegundus Time Travel

SI: Childermass Family Drabbles

Supernatural

DeanHotch

GabrielJess

How to Make a Baby with an Angel

Atlantis Sideplot: Princess Mia

Wayward Hunters: Where Are the Winchesters

Time Travel Wish Fulfillment

Rising Star #2

Teen Wolf

Noah and the Tattoos

The Blue People Movie (Avatar)

Tsu'tey's Twins

Time Travel Fix It

The Untamed (MDZS)

In Memoriam

WangNingXian Reincarnation

Ed as Zangse Sanren

Zangse and Changze Save the Day

WangXian Reborn as RuoShan

The Witcher

River God and the Sorceress

Curse of the Black Sun

VesiJask: The Sacking of Kaer Morhen

Torchwood

Old Guard Ianto

Aaand the total comes to 90! At least it's less than a 100... And that's just the stuff I've worked on recently! (Yes, four years is recent. I have fics I haven't actually touched in 6+ years that are still marinating in my brain, waiting for the pieces to fall into place) If you've trawled through all of those to get here, you've got more stamina than I do!

Please ask about anything that piques your interest! I'd love to talk about some of these, see if it gets the creative juices flowing. (Also feel free to ask about any of the WIPs I have posted on here or Ao3!)

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writefightandflightclub · 1 year

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Glad you’re back! Your insights are always appreciated, and thus, a question:

I’ve been putting off watching Ex Machina for the first time, despite (or probably because) the fact that I’ve already fallen in love with the character/Oscar’s portrayal of Nathan (in large part because of your wonderful writing!). I tend to do this when I have a new actor blorbo bc I let myself enjoy things like a repressed 1950s housewife, but I’m working on it. So I’m making it a goal to watch the movie, and that way I can start writing for Nathan with more concrete understanding.

What warnings/advice do you have for someone about to watch the movie for the first time? Spoilers are fine bc I’ve already read the synopsis AND I found out if you Google “Ex Machina script” that thing’s online??? For free???

Hope this makes sense, if all else just know it’s great you’re back!

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Hiiii! Thanks so much for the warm welcome back! That’s so kind,

So amazing that you’re going to watch the movie finally!! 😀 That’s some impressive restraint too. I could never.

I’m honoured that you trust my insights, but honestly I’d generally say just dive in and let it hit you. I’m excited for you to have your own unique experience with it, and I wouldn’t want to colour your experience too much with my own ramblings!

BUT, I am still going to share some things which sprang to the forefront of my mind when you asked the question. Mainly bc I love this film and I can’t resist the opportunity to talk about it and about Nathan, so thank you for the opportunity to do just that! 😆🧡 But I really would advise you to watch it first without reading them 😝

1) Nathannnnn 🥵 He pretty. He beautiful. I luff.

2) There are two neat divisions in the movie when it comes to the character of Nathan, imho. a) things we know for sure about Nathan and b) things we know for sure that Nathan needs Caleb to think about Nathan. One of the things I love about his character is the ambiguity, guesswork, and room for interpretation. Especially as the audience is placed in Caleb’s position and therefore our sympathies, assumptions, empathies, suspicions etc. more naturally fall on the side of Caleb’s interpretation. (Also bc there’s such lovely squashy room for interpretation, I’m sure that however you currently “see” him, the movie has enough wiggle room that you should safely be able to hang on to that version - if you still want to afterward, that is!)

3) Some / many of the Nathan + bot scenes are… uncomfortable. They’re… supposed to be?! Especially as we’re seeing them from Caleb’s POV, and with some major assumption of sentience on behalf of the bots.

4) Why do all his clothes seem too long for him?! I know he can afford a tailor 😂

5) I know the design of Nathan’s compound isn’t for everyone. Personally, it’s just my cup of tea. I’d move in tomorrow and wouldn’t change anything, besides maybe replacing all of his paintings 😂 I also think the movie is a great example of the set design / setting really adding a lot to our interpretation of the character, the tone and feel of the movie. Here’s an article I enjoyed on the subject:

6) It’s wild to me that this movie is presented as “with Oscar Isaac”, as though he’s minor to the piece. To me it is his movie, he’s the central character, and I don’t understand how he can be suggested as having a side role.

Please let me know what you think once you’ve seen it?! I’d love to hear your takeaways and whether your interpretation of him changes at all after watching. I really hope you enjoy it but ofc however you feel about it and about our collective grumpy husband is 100% valid! I enjoy hearing all the different takes on it all so much.

Have fun! 🧡🥳🧡🥳🧡

#ex machina #nathan bateman

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michelangelinden · 3 years

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Hello and welcome (please stay a while)

Hi, I’m Linden

20 - any pronouns - bi - neurodivergent

This is my (mostly JATP) sideblog, where I reblog stuff about fandoms, writing and art. I write fics and draw every once in a while, please check out my works.

My AO3: Michelangelinden

My askbox is always open for headcanons, questions and random love. I always welcome prompts and art ideas but no promises that I write or draw them quickly unless stated otherwise.

Feel free to use any of my art as icons or headers, but please tag me in your description if you do!

My blog is strictly NSFW free and I’d like to keep it that way, so please have that in mind when sending asks and prompts! Any racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia or hate in general will be blocked and deleted so don't even try!

If you're a Harry Potter fan, please leave. This is your sign to look up JKR and rethink.

List of all my fics including descriptions + shortcuts around my blog below the cut

Series

the Band Dance Camp we all wish existed irl (2 parts)

Between Chaos and Contentment (and a little Creativity)

Multichap. Unfinished. rated T (for swearing). AU where all of them go to a summer camp with either band or dance classes (with everything your heart may desire, mainly Willex, but also Boggie, Juke and a hell lot of Found Family)

Alongside Patience and Potential (and a lot of pretty People)

Multichap. Unfinished. rated T (for swearing). The work where I post all the “deleted scenes” from the first part (including pain)

Julie and the Himbos and Kittens (2 parts)

Rambo The Hamster (don't give Reggie a cat)

4.9k. rated T (for swearing). Julie finds kittens and decides to adopt them. The band has feelings (mostly excitement)

Anyone who asks (Everyone, really)

3.9k. rated T (for swearing). Willex sequel where Willie meets the kittens and also has feelings (but not only for the kittens)

Willex is sad :( (3 parts)

Please tell me what you need (being sad is okay)

2.9k. rated G. Willie has a bad day and Alex comforts him with hugs and cuddles (normalising being sad for no reason)

When getting up is almost painful (but peach juice gives a little comfort)

4k. rated T. Warning for depressive themes. Willie comes home to Alex feeling very depressed and does his best to support him through it (this is my last angst exception, I swear)

It's not all bad (but right now it is)

1.6k. rated T. Warnung for descriptions of ADHD overstimulation. Willie is having a bad ADHD day and Alex helps him through it (that was not my last angst exception, I'm sorry)

Chaos Willie /Affectionate (three parts)

Whore /Affectionate

1.1k. rated G. Willie is impulsive and Alex doesn't know how to handle it (Bobby is okay with it tho)

Simp /Affectionate

3.6k. rated T (for swearing). Alex is surprised by Willie climbing through his window (but they finally settle on a relationship label)

Talk Dirty To Me /Romantic

1.1k. rated G. Willie realises he loves Alex and Bobby has to be the one to listen to his agonies (if only he himself weren't pining for Reggie)

Willex

Caress my cheek and leave traces of glitter (and hold me like I'm something precious)

Multichap. Finished. 46.8k. rated T (for swearing). Big Band 2022 fic where JATP works at a campsite as the restaurant band (feat. a kids club, tired lifeguards, and even more tired Caleb)

When I got to touch you, I touched the sun (just like I always wanted)

5k. rated G. A collection of times Alex and Willie shared a first time (or the very slow process of them falling in love)

Pretend-Fiancée and literal Partner-In-Crime (don't try to steal my watch again)

9.5k. rated T (for swearing). Alex and Willie rob a jewelery store (and their family of their last nerve, as it should be)

Please wash your grapes (even when you're tired)

1.8k. rated T (for swearing). Alex comes home after a long day of studying to find his boyfriend already asleep in their bed (a Willie appreciation fic)

A coffee order doesn't tell you somone's sexuality (but it kind of really does)

6.1k. rated T (for swearing). Alex works at a coffee shop and Willie becomes a regular, crushes are inevitable (as is anxiety)

Don't come into a man's house and insult his shampoo (unless it's your boyfriend's)

3.9k. rated T (for swearing). Willie breaks his wrist and Alex comes over to help him wash his hair (a Willie's hair appreciation post)

Giving people water when they're drunk is a love language (calling them "Starburst" too)

6.6k. rated T (for swearing). Warning for alcohol consumption and effects. Willie is a bartender and Alex and his friends come by to celebrate a possible gig (Alex tries his best to flirt and fails but redeems himself)

And I would kiss you if you wanted to (with my hand on your cheek)

Multichap. Finished. 14.7k. rated T. Warning for talk of emotional abuse. JATPFS Secret Santa Princess and the Pea AU, but very distant, where Alex is a stranger seeking shelter from a storm and Willie is the beautiful boy taking him in (also Caleb being a dramatic asshole)

Don't kiss him on the first date (even if he might taste like coffee)

2.3k. rated G. Alex and Willie at the end of their first date, sweet ice cream and soft kisses (and a Bobby being a little shit bonus scene)

All my senses screaming at me (I'm not reading the signs wrong, am I?)

7.3k. rated T (for swearing). Four times Alex and Willie wanted to kiss each other + one time they did (the moment we've all been waiting for)

Melting in the sun (and at your words)

2k. rated T (for swearing). Alex is slowly going from medium rare to well done in the summer sun so Willie braids his hair (yes, it looks dumb, Krissy agrees)

Sleepover in my room (when you're feeling better)

2.1k. rated G. Willie needs a night to himself so he decides to sleep in his room (but Alex's arms are wide open when he decides to come back)

Boggie

Someone has to be there to tackle you (it's the law)

8k. rated T (for swearing). It's Bobby's birthday and Reggie is the only one who can celebrate with him, which only stresses Bobby a little bit (in which Reggie is the emotionally clever one)

And then You caught my Eye (giving Me the Feeling of a Lightning Strike)

2.1k. rated G. Bobby is a solo musician doing gigs in bars and sings a song for Reggie who works there as a waiter (trying not to make a fool of himself)

You think I'm cool? (Unfortunately, I do)

1.8k. rated T (for swearing). Pre-show rituals for Sunset Curve include Luke checking everything, Alex going for a smoke, and Reggie and Bobby sharing secret kisses (until eventually someone notices)

Juke

All the other People who tried (it had to be You)

Multichap. Finished. 12.9k. rated G. Secret Santa Sleeping Beauty AU, but Luke is the prince falling asleep for 100 years and Julie is the saviour going on an adventure to free him (feat. Boggie and Alex (and a hint of Willex) and like so much found family)

Found Family

Always welcome (that's what family is for)

5.6k. rated G. Alex is having a shitty Christmas Eve so he spends it at the Molina's (aka Julie Molina is an angel)

Works in progress (unpublished)

High School Musical Theatre AU - Willex, minor Boggie and Juke

Alex takes Willie to meet his grandparents - Willex

Hui Buh AU - Willex, Juke

Shortcuts

Linden talks: I think therefore I am (I have thoughts and opinions)

Linden writes stuff: I write stuff (please read it)

Linden draws: I draw (not much to say about that)

Linden recommends: I reblog fics from friends or make posts about fics I loved, check it out if you need some new reading material (it's all quality content, I promise)

Linden answers asks: sometimes I'm sad and ask for headcanons, people send me asks and I comment on them (and sometimes I get love from my friends and I don't know how to react)

Linden gets tagged in stuff: I get tagged in games and answer questions about myself (mostly, sometimes it's just appreciation)

Linden edits: I make memes or project my tweets onto characters (graphic design is my passion)

#linden talks #linden writes stuff #linden draws #linden recommends #linden answers asks #linden gets tagged in stuff #linden edits

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prettywordsyouleft · 3 years

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The Cowboy - Part 4

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Summary: Leaving the city for a rural area called Blayne seemed simple enough. Your task was to convince the people to agree with selling their land for a resort redevelopment. But once there, you soon realise that your city ways are entirely different to theirs. Winning their trust was going to take some effort, and when you start to fall for a local cowboy, you wonder if you really needed Blayne more than the city life after all.

Pairing: Jung Jaehyun x female reader

Genre: cowboy au / drama / romance / if you squint there’s some enemies to lovers up in here.

Warnings: Jung Jaehyun is a cowboy, need I say more? (a bit of angst and drama, and it sometimes might feel like you’re reading a Nicolas Sparks book, so I’m told lol) --- there’s a bit of angst in this part

Word count: 2078

This series will be updated every Thursday and Friday.

Preview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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“That was delicious, thank you!”

“I hope you have room in your stomach for apple crumble,” Mr Jung said, leaning across the table towards you. “June is a mighty fine cook but an even greater baker.”

“The reason he married me, so he says.”

You smiled warmly, enjoying the banter between the pair. Their love for one another was evident. You hadn’t seen such a genuine display of affection in years. The city had jaded your parents and kept them looking for the next big project instead of cosy nights curled up together.

They’re professionals, you reminded yourself when you felt a sense of sadness for your parents. They don’t have time like they do out here.

“Were the heifers put into the bottom field?”

You had almost forgotten Jaehyun was sitting at your side until he cleared his throat then, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Yeah, I moved them this morning.”

“By yourself?”

“You had Caleb up in the high fields with you and Avery was otherwise preoccupied with someone,” he continued, and you felt eyes boring into the side of your head on the latter half of the conversation.

You smiled brightly. “It must take a lot of people to run such a big ranch like yours, Mr Jung.”

“We make do with the help we have.”

“We could do with three more men,” Jaehyun muttered, and you looked at him, pausing in saying anything in response when you noticed the dark look within the elder’s eyes.

Blayne was under-populated. You already knew this from the basic land per capita estimates online and in the business proposal for Blayne’s development. If more jobs were created here, then the farms that were struggling would be able to hire more help.

But Blayne also lacked housing. It would need to supply appropriate accommodation for new workers. You stewed over the thought of how many changes would be needed to not only make Blayne easily accessible but also improve the existing community until a dessert plate was placed in front of you.

Blinking out of your reverie, you beamed up at June. “I cannot wait to try it!”

After dinner, you thanked both your hosts generously. “I’ve not had a home-cooked meal quite as tasty as that before.”

“Your mother?” June enquired.

“She’s a professor at the School of Commerce.”

“Ah, she would have been too busy to make meals a priority.”

“It’s okay! I admire her for her work ethic. She’s taught me a lot. Both my parents have always been busy, but that’s how it is in the city.”

“Busy people don’t often see the bigger picture. I can tell by how eager you were to take up the position out here,” Mr Jung mentioned gruffly and you nodded despite his expression. “A woman of marrying age coming up here all alone is usually unheard of.”

“Perhaps Blayne will leave an impression on Y/N, honey.” June offered, patting her husband’s lower arm fondly. She then smiled at you. “You seem quite confident.”

“I’m hopeful I can make a positive change here,” you stated, your own smile fading when you heard a scoff, and then feet moving across the gravel behind you. Darting your focus to the disappearing man that had been waiting nearby, you looked back at his parents. “Thank you again!”

“We’ll have you over anytime, sugar!”

Turning on your heel, you took the pathway that Jaehyun had just departed down, finding him strapping up the horse that had brought you here earlier in the evening. You stopped near his side, frowning at his efforts. “Should you be asking the horse to work again?”

Jaehyun looked in your direction before returning his gaze back to his efforts, not answering your question.

“Your mother said it was too dark to ride last night. Shouldn’t we take the truck since the moon is now up in the sky?” you prompted, shifting your eyes to the heavens. You gasped in awe. “Wow, I’ve never seen such a clear night sky before!”

“Pollution inhibits that,” Jaehyun explained curtly, yanking on a strap and tightening it into place.

“It’s so beautiful out here, though. It’s a shame not many people have experienced it outside of a postcard.”

“Why don’t you save the speech for someone who is interested?”

“Excuse me?” Staring back at the man beside you, you tilted your head to the side. “You’re awfully moody tonight, Mr Cowboy.”

“Back to that name, huh?”

“Well, since you’re feeling a little cold towards me, I don’t know if it’s my place to call you by your first name,” you explained. Jaehyun didn’t respond again, and you sighed. “What did I do wrong?”

“Are you always this self-centred? Can’t you see the bigger picture than the goal inside your head?” Jaehyun questioned, sliding his hands onto his hips and finally facing you. He looked you over again, much as he had earlier when he first saw you as he jumped down from the wagon. Instead of the kindness you had experienced then, it was laced with scrutiny this time. You lowered your gaze to your outfit and stepped back.

“Hey…” you started, and then squared your jaw.

Just who was this guy to act so blunt with you? You should have stuck with believing he was the rude and full of assumptions jerk just as you had thought of him earlier in the day. Perhaps it was the fresh air and gentleness of the wagon ride that had softened your heart to him somehow. You should have known better to trust in your instincts.

Turning on your heel, you started walking down the drive towards the field you had travelled across from your place to the main homestead on this land. You didn’t get far before a hand reached out and yanked on your forearm roughly. “What are you doing?!”

“Going home!”

“Oh, is that so? Through a darkened field? See, this is why you belong in the city, Y/N. You have no idea about the dangers of a working farm. You’re used to living in tiny apartments and navigating mazes of streets and buildings and-”

“I didn’t come here to have you tell me what you think about me, Jaehyun.”

“No, I’m sure you didn’t. But you did come out here all alone with zero understanding of how the country works. You’re here to change how we are? What a joke. You have no concept of what Blayne is about. You’ve not even stopped to take the time to listen to those around you. Instead, you’re dreaming up something big that none of us wants. Can’t you tell that? We might be showing you some country hospitality right now, but don’t go thinking people want you here.”

“That’s incredibly evident, don’t you worry,” you bit back, shaking his grip off your arm.

Jaehyun ran an agitated hand through his hair before looking at you again. “I’ll take you home. Come on.”

“I’m good with directions. I’ll take myself back.”

“What you see during the day changes at night around here. Hate me all you like, but I’ll take you home so I don’t have to worry about you falling in an open drain pipe.”

You opened your mouth to refute the offer, but the image he had painted was enough for you to silently march back over to the wagon. Jaehyun checked everything over again and jumped up into the seat, his hand reaching down to help you up.

Stubbornly, you ignored it and heaved yourself into the seat.

The ride back home was silent, and you preferred it that way. After the outburst in the field, you had little to say to the man. You were grateful he seemed compliant of such silence and didn’t offer any conversation from his behalf either. All the same, you were somewhat holding out for an apology.

You gained none, however.

Leaping down from the wagon, you merely tipped your head as Jaehyun did in farewell and then headed inside without a single word. You watched as the wagon disappeared thereafter, and finally, let out a string of incoherent cursing and annoyance.

You blew a strand of hair away from your face and glowered out the window. “God, I hate him.”

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When the morning rose, you got up with a new plan in place. The night before, you had spent the first part of it packing your belongings and then unpacking several times over. You were done with Blayne. If the people didn’t want you here, then you would take heed of their warning and leave.

However, you had been too confident when your boss assigned you with this project.

“They will resist change, you know.”

You nodded. “Of course, but I’m equipped to handle it.”

“Are you?”

“You wouldn’t have pitched the proposal to me if you didn’t think I was the best to acquire the deal, Pierce.”

That, along with the fact that everyone seemingly had bets on when you’d depart played into your new resolve. You would show them just how capable you truly were.

First, however, you needed more information. “Is there a local library or archives here, May?”

“Library?”

You nodded. “Or a town hall? Surely the public can access the information there?”

“Our town hall was burned down ten years ago,” another person at the diner counter mentioned, despite May’s obvious hand swatting him off. He smiled at you. “You’ll have to go to the town over for anything like that.”

“Thank you, you’ve been a great help. Thanks for the coffee, May!”

Once in your car again, you headed back down the country highway and took the forty-five minute drive to the closet township. You cried with comforting relief when you heard the usual bleeps of your phone notification ring in succession.

“Ah, I’m back in a place of proper civilisation!”

Although this township had most amenities, you still were surprised by how small the town hall was. Having no luck there, you went next door to the equally quaint library and piled up all the documents and texts you could find on Blayne.

With a pen in hand ready to take down notes, you picked up the first journal and began to read.

You weren’t aware of how long you spent perusing the history of the area or familiarising yourself with the generations of family lines that were born and bred in Blayne. Stopping on an interesting line in the Jung family, you let out a low whistle. “June and May aren’t originally from Blayne?”

“Perhaps Blayne will leave an impression on Y/N, honey.”

June’s comment from last night pulled a smile onto your lips. At least there seemed to be one person rooting for your stay in Blayne.

It was then when you saw how late into the afternoon it was and you collected up your belongings, asking a clerk if you could take a couple of the history logs with you. After registering with the library and checking them out, you stepped into the warm air, smiling triumphantly at your discovery.

You then pulled out your phone, browsing through the messages you had received. Natalia had contacted you the most, and you pressed call instead of replying, waiting for the call to connect.

“You didn’t let me know if you got there safely!”

“I couldn’t really, the signal out in that place is something else,” you admitted with a grin as you headed to your car. You climbed inside it and then sighed. “I miss you, Natty.”

“Not enough to assure me that you’re alive!”

“Come on, it’s only been a few days, and I’m talking to you now. Isn’t that enough?” you humoured, watching a family cross the intersection up ahead. The little girl skipping across the road seemed so carefree compared to what you had been at that age.

You wondered if the city environment had made you cynical or if that was just who you naturally were.

Natalia cleared her throat and gained your attention again. “Yeah, yeah. So, any hot cowboys out there?”

The image of Jaehyun immediately appeared in your mind, and it ruined your mood entirely. “No. Not a single one.”

“Aw man, here I had you pegged for having a hot summer romance with some farm boy out there.”

“I’m here to work, Natty,” you reminded, both for hers and your sakes. “Even if there was someone handsome, he’s not going to do anything for me.”

_________________

Part 5

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sunsetcurveofficial · 3 years

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jatp fics by yours truly

[so, since i’ve written quite a few jatp fics in my time now, i decided that it’s time for a little masterpost before i post something new. sorted the way they appear in my ao3 stats.]

Force of Nature [Luke/Reggie, 49k, T, famous!AU]

Luke meets Reggie in a toilet stall at an award show when he's just trying to hide from everyone. He's the frontman of famous pop punk band Sunset Curve, and Reggie is an international country star. Something shifts in his life when he asks Reggie to sneak out of the award show together to attend an underground punk rock gig instead. Luke doesn't believe in love at first sight, but Reggie sure as hell makes him question everything he's ever believed in before.

A Change of Scenery [Luke/Reggie, 32k, M, camping AU]

“Oh! Apparently, there are 36 questions that are designed to make anyone fall in love with anyone,” Reggie says, eyes wandering over the page. “That sounds easy.” Luke peers at the article and snorts. “Yeah, right. You mean to tell me that if I do these with Bobby’s dad, I will fall in love with him? Sounds likely.” Reggie shrugs, a grin tugging at his lips when he meets Luke’s eyes. “We could try it. Scared to actually fall in love with me, Patterson?”

or, Luke takes Reggie on a camping trip to the woods in an attempt to cure his writer's block and gets a little more than he bargained for.

Not That Straight [Luke/Reggie, 4.8k, T, post canon]

“Am I the only straight person in this group?” Three heads immediately turned towards Reggie, and three pairs of eyebrows were raised at him at the same time. Alright. They didn’t have to make it quite so obvious that he was the odd one out, right? “You sure, Reg?” Alex asked with a fair amount of disbelief in his voice. Luke snorted. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, bro. You aren’t that straight.”

Keep Dreaming Like We'll Live Forever [Luke/Reggie, 10k, T, post canon]

A few weeks before the Orpheum, Luke wrote a list of things he wanted to do before he turned 20. Obviously he never got that far, but the list is still there, crammed into his notebook. Death didn’t make him quite as dead as he expected, though, so maybe there is still a chance to do all the things he missed out on when he was alive.

(Part 1 of the Bucket List series)

One Life, No Regrets [Luke/Reggie, 12k, T, post canon]

After crossing almost everything off his bucket list of things he wanted to do before he turned 20, Luke tackles the second list he wrote a few weeks before the Orpheum: Things he originally wanted to do before he turned 30. Life after death still has more in store for him than he ever expected, including some valuable lessons about love and happiness, and about pain and heartache.

(Part 2 of the Bucket List series)

Sometimes Two Is Better Than One [Alex/Reggie/Luke, 2.1k, poly soulmates AU]

It’s weird, this soulmates thing. Alex has always thought so. People are born with random sentences scribbled onto their skin, and they’re supposed to be the first words their soulmate ever says to them. Generally speaking, he does think that the soulmarks make sense, too. For most people. His, however, has never made any sense at all.

Because his soulmark says "Hi, I’m Reggie. Reggie says you’re killing it on the drums, man."

Alex And His Rose Bush Boys [Alex/Reggie/Luke, 6.6k, poly pre-canon AU]

Five times Alex has to watch his two drunk and supposedly straight best friends make out with each other, and one time he finally gets to join.

Or, Luke and Reggie are completely oblivious and Alex has a lot of feelings.

Two Can Play This Game [Luke/Reggie, 5.9k, pre-canon AU]

Luke Patterson is a menace. He’s stubborn and persistent, and when he wants something, he stops at nothing to get it. And that includes flirting with Reggie to make him go to a punk rock gig in downtown LA with him. Luke is so sure he's going to win, but two can play his game. Reggie won’t just let him have it, and he will most certainly not go down without a fight.

For the prompt: “Stop flirting with me, I’m not going to fall for it.”

In Heaven I Can Skate [Alex/Willie, Luke/Reggie, 3k, post-canon AU]

The boys get drunk on liquor that Willie smuggled out of Caleb's cursed club, and Alex decides that it's the perfect time for Willie to teach him how to skateboard.

Meanwhile, Reggie feels a little impulsive.

Booksmart [Luke/Reggie, 1.5k, post-canon AU]

“This says that one in four people are gay,” Reggie reads out loud. “That means at least one person in this band is gay. I hope it’s Luke. Because Luke is cute.” Alex looks like he's about to have an aneurysm. “Dude. I’m literally right here. I’m the gay one.” Julie giggles. “Honey, I hate to break it to you, but I have a feeling he’s not the only one who’s a little gay in this band.”

Better Think With Your Mouth [Luke/Reggie, 2.3k, pre-canon AU]

“You kissed me!” Reggie shrieks, spluttering as he drops the guitar pick he’s been holding onto for the entirety of his rant. Luke merely chuckles and goes right back to strumming idly on his acoustic guitar. “Luke!” Reggie tries again, staring at his friend like he’s lost his mind. Luke must have lost his mind, right?

or, Reggie keeps going on extensive rants, and Luke starts kissing him to shut him up.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang [Luke/Reggie, 2.2k, post-canon AU]

It's New Year's Eve and Reggie just wants a kiss.

Bed Head [Luke/Reggie, 2.3k, pre-canon AU]

Here’s the thing. Reggie loves Luke’s messy hair. He would never admit it, of course, but the messier Luke’s hair, the more he enjoys watching him.

For the prompt: "Your bed head is really cute."

Post-it Notes [Luke/Reggie, 1.3k, pre-canon AU]

Reggie cleans Luke's room and leaves small notes on his things that make them both rethink just how platonic their feelings for each other really are.

For the prompt: “Don’t be sorry… it was kind of cute, actually.”

Loving Luke Patterson [Julie/Luke, Luke/Reggie, 7.2k, post-canon AU]

Julie and Reggie talk one afternoon and end up realising they're both in love with Luke. So, naturally, they become best friends. And Luke? Well, falling in love with people is just what Luke Patterson does, apparently.

Every Storm That Comes [Luke/Reggie, 5k, post-canon AU]

"Luke wants to be with Julie, because she’s awesome. Because she’s more than good enough. It doesn’t even matter that he’s a ghost and Julie isn’t. He wants to be with her anyway. He’d never want to be with someone like Reggie."

Or, Reggie has some mental health issues to work through, and his feelings for Luke don't really help. He learns that there is so much more love in his life than he ever realised, though, and that every storm has a tendency to come to an end eventually.

Through The Ages [Luke/Reggie, 4.2k, post-canon AU]

“So Luke, huh?” Alex asks, a small smile pulling at his lips. Reggie just grunts in agreement. “You know, I couldn’t stop him from confronting Julie about the song, but it‘s only a matter of minutes until she tells him that she didn’t write it.” “It doesn’t matter now,” Reggie says quietly. “He didn’t even stop to consider that it’s mine. He just thinks I’m a loser who writes bad country songs.”

or, After a few failed attempts at telling Luke how he feels about him, Reggie decides to write Luke a song instead. He sneaks it into Luke's journal, excitedly waiting for his best friend to find it. But when Luke finally does, he assumes Julie wrote it.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp fic #peterpatter #ruke #luke x reggie #willex #juke #jukebox #rukebox #jatp #my writing #my fics #fic

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kinda-just-chillin-here · 4 years

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Greek Mythology and Julie & the Phantoms

My first watch through of Julie and the Phantoms (JATP), I noticed a few similarities and parallels to certain myths within Greek mythology. On my million rewatches, I paid more attention to see if there were others. This post is all my observations of the parallels, as well as a few possible theories for season 2 the writers could follow for certain storylines. This is a ridiculously long read, I apologize.

**Disclaimers:

There are spoilers, so if you haven’t finished watching for the first time yet, don’t read this.

The content in Greek myths can vary depending on the source. This is largely due to the fact they are just super old. So some of the myths might be slightly different. I did my best just to compare to the gist of the myth.

I’m going to refer to Luke, Reggie, and Alex together as either Sunset Curve or the boys to save space.

I apologize for any typos and mistakes; midterm season has left me with an empty head.

1. Orpheus

Obviously a major motif in the first season is the Orpheum. Orpheum literally means House of Orpheus.

Background information of Orpheus:

His mother is Calliope (muse of epic poetry), and depending on the version of the story, his father is either Apollo (god of the sun, healing, music, medicine, archery, and poetry) or King Oeagrus of Thrace.

Orpheus was considered to be one of the greatest musicians. He had a “divinely gifted voice that could charm anyone who heard it,” no god or mortal could resist his music.

Let’s look at some of his myths.

Orpheus and Eurydice:

The basic summary of this myth is that Eurydice, Orpheus’ wife, died after being bitten by snakes while running away from a man, Aristaeus, or a satyr (depends on source) who wanted her for himself. Devastated, Orpheus began singing sad songs until he was advised by nymphs to go to the Underworld and bring her back. After singing to Hades and Persephone, they agreed to let Eurydice return to the main world. However, they warned him not to look back before they both entered the light of the surface. He happily began his trek back to the surface. When Orpheus reached the exit, Eurydice in toe, he turned around to see her, anxious to make sure it wasn’t a trick, that she was really there. Only, Eurydice was still in the Underworld, she hadn’t crossed over yet. Orpheus turning around when he did, caused Eurydice to remain in the underworld.

So who’s who?

Julie = Orpheus (talented musician and desperate to save their love from the Underworld)

Sunset Curve = Eurydice (dead and trapped)

Caleb = Aristaeus and Hades (wants Eurydice/Sunset Curve for himself; controls the place the dead are)

Hollywood Ghost Club (HGC) = The Underworld

How do they relate? Stand Tall (s1e09) is where it all goes down.

Like Aristaeus, Caleb is pursing Sunset Curve because he wants them for himself (and Caleb is also threaten by the power they have).

Caleb has the boys trapped in the HGC, just like Eurydice in the Underworld.

Julie had to deal with the idea the boys died (again) when they didn’t show up before the performance. At first she couldn’t, she ran out until she had a sign from her mom, telling her to go on stage. You could argue this sort of parallels the nymphs telling Orpheus to plea to Hades, or that it parallels Orpheus on his journey back to the surface after Hades agreed.

This is where Julie and Orpheus differ. Julie goes onstage, fully believing in the sign from her mother; that even if the boys don’t come, she can do it. The lyrics of Stand Tall are pure genius. “Keep moving on, never look back.” That’s exactly what Julie does. Unlike Orpheus, Julie doesn’t look back. And the boys appear, no longer trapped by Caleb at the HGC. Julie breaks away from the Orpheus formula and wins.

@multifandomterrors wrote an essay on how it relates too! She has three theories of how it fits and I definitely recommend you check it out!

Bonus reasons Julie is Orpheus:

Orpheus joined Jason and the Argonauts. When the ship was approaching the Sirens, Orpheus saves the crew from death by playing his own music, drowning out the Sirens’ Song. Likewise, Julie is able to save the boys from Caleb. You can argue that her singing Stand Tall acted as a beacon, beckoning the boys away from Caleb and back to her, saving them in the process.

This one is more of a long shot but oh well. Orpheus is said to have a “divinely gifted voice that could charm anyone who heard it,” that no god or mortal could resist his music. The boys say that Julie has “the voice of an angel.” Throughout the season, as soon as Julie starts to sing, people are generally drawn in, even Carrie by the end.

Onto the next parallel...

2. Lotus Eaters

As soon as the slightest idea of the boys missing the dance was hinted at I knew it was going to happen because ~formulas~, but once they got to the HGC, I had a strong feeling it was going to be a Lotus Eaters situation.

Summary of the Lotus Eaters:

In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew encounter the Lotus Eaters. They do as their name suggests, they eat the peculiar Lotus flower. When the lotus flower is eaten, those who eat it are “overcome with a blissful forgetfulness,” and want to do nothing more than stay where they are. The crew mates had to be dragged back to the ship, otherwise they never would have returned to their duties. The most well known adaptation of this is probably the Lotus Casino in Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, where the characters spend days/years there, only thinking it was a few hours/days. It’s a time warp per se.

So what’s what?

Hollywood Ghost Club = Lair/island of the lotus eaters (everyone there appears to have no other worries in life)

The music & dancing = Lotus flower (sucks everyone in)

How do they relate?

Once Caleb starts performing, Sunset Curve are sucked in. Eventually, they are overcome with a “blissful forgetfulness” and forget about Julie and the dance. They only get sucked back out once Caleb mentions it’s the witching hour.

Alex literally says “This place is some sort of time warp.”

When the boys try to leave, the dancers and then Caleb try to reel them back in.

The next is not directly Greek mythology, but distantly related:

3. Disney’s Hercules

The story in Disney’s Hercules isn’t exactly what the myths of Heracles are. It’s Disney, so of course the stories are romanticized and changed significantly. First of all, in the original myths, Hercules is really named Heracles, and Megara is nothing more than Heracles’ wife that ends with a tragic story.

In the movie, Hades wants Hercules dead since he is the only one that can ruin his plan to take over the world. He enlists Megara (or Meg, whose soul he owns) to get to know him and find his weakness. As Meg gets to know Hercules, they fall in love. Hades uses this as Hercules’ weakness, and once he outs Meg for working for him, Hercules is emotionally defeated. However, he still gives up his power for 24 hours, as long as Meg remains untouched by harm. Of course that doesn’t happen, and Meg dies while saving Hercules. Her soul is returned to the Underworld, and Hercules journeys down there to save her, even though he might die doing so. Except he doesn’t; he saves Meg, and it’s happily ever after.

So who’s who?

Alex = Hercules

Willie = Meg

Caleb = Hades

How does it relate?

Like Hades wants Hercules dead, Caleb wants Alex (and the boys) under his control because they are too powerful. He’s threatened by them.

Even though Willie didn’t mean to bring the boys into the mess with Caleb, he still did (no hate, I love my son). Willie acts as Meg in this situation because Caleb still uses him to get to the boys. Caleb gets to put his stamp on them.

Willie, just like Meg, decides to not help Caleb anymore, though he’s still stuck. He cares about Alex, he doesn’t want him to be stuck at the HGC like him forever; he doesn’t want Caleb to own Alex’s soul. So, Willie helps Alex and the boys with their plan to crossover.

In Stand Tall, right before You’ve Got Nothing to Lose, Caleb appeals to each of the boys’ weakness. Caleb says “Everything you want, including Willie, is right here.” Just like Hades uses Meg against Hercules, Caleb uses Willie against Alex.

Potential Season 2 Willex Storyline

The parallel to Hercules and Meg isn’t finished. Alex hasn’t saved Willie from Caleb yet, and Caleb hasn’t been defeated yet. We don’t see Willie after the Willex hug in Stand Tall. I think it’s safe to assume that Willie is not safe from Caleb, especially since he helped Sunset Curve escape Caleb’s curse. There’s a lot of things that could happen. One of my assumptions is that Caleb is going to use Willie as bait to lure Alex back in. Another is that, like how Hercules goes to the Underworld to save Meg’s soul, Alex is going to actively choose to return to the HGC to try to save Willie from Caleb.

And the last parallel to Greek mythology in season 1...

4. Cheyenne Jackson

He plays Hades in Descendants 3, a Disney movie, meaning he’s the same Hades as in Hercules.

Caleb Covington, you could argue is the “king of the dead” in JATP

That’s it, that’s the parallel.

Possible Season 2 Storylines

Cephalus and Procris (I’m not as familiar with this myth, but it basically goes like this)

Cephalus and Procris are happily married and very in love with each other. One day, the goddess of dawn, Eos, kidnaps Cephalus because she wants him to herself. Depending on the version you read, Cephalus either sleeps with Eos, or he doesn’t, but regardless, his only concern is how much he loves his wife, Procris. Eos finds that annoying, and plants the idea in his head that Procris is cheating on him when she releases him eight years later. Cephalus returns to Procris, disguised as another man, to see if she would remain faithful. A disguised Cephalus continuously brings Procris presents, and slowly, Procris is swayed by the mysterious man. When Cephalus reveals himself, Procris runs away, ashamed, and joins Artemis’ hunt. Eos wins essentially. She get’s Cephalus... until Procris returns, trying to make amends with her husband. He takes her back, but not long after Procris hears rumors that Cephalus has been unfaithful. She follows him on a hunt, hiding behind a bush. Cephalus hears a bush move, and thinking it’s an animal, he shoots, killing Procris. In the end, Eos still wins as Procris is no longer in the picture, and she could theoretically be with him. Expect Cephalus exiles himself and Eos is never seen again.

How could this apply to JATP season 2?

Julie = Procris

Luke = Cephalus

Caleb = Eos

Caleb-Possessed-Nick = Disguised man

Since Caleb possessed Nick at the end, I assume his plan is to get Julie to pick Nick, thus pushing Luke away from her. Caleb wants Luke and the boys to himself, and as long as Julie is in the picture, that won’t happen. As Caleb-Possessed-Nick tries to flirt and get closer to Julie, Luke will see this and get jealous. His jealousness could lead to tensions between Julie and Luke, making the band a bit awkward, maybe even a big fight that pushes Luke to think about joining Caleb, or at least isolating himself where Caleb would have easy access. I think it would be a very loosely applied parallel, but the idea of Caleb working to cause a rift between Luke and Julie to get Luke by himself is a major possibility. Regardless, Caleb-Possessed-Nick is going to get in the way of Luke and Julie’s slow burn pining for each other.

A General Thought Not Related to Greek Mythology

Regardless of what the writers end up doing, I think Caleb’s best plan would be to target the boys individually; like the continuance of the Hercules parallel with Willex and potential Cephalus & Procris parallel with Juke. I don’t know how he would isolate Reggie, maybe something with his family, but targeting the boys one-on-one would be the most strategic move for Caleb. He could even get super manipulative with it. He could say something like “Alex already agreed” or something along those lines to try to persuade the boy he is talking to.

Additionally, I don’t have any theories on where Carrie and Julie’s relationship may go, but i’m looking forward to a Carrie redemption arc. As far as where Bobby fits in, I read someone’s theory that Caleb may approach him, offering to help keep his reputation as Trevor Wilson, if he helps deal with the boys somehow. I’m sure there’s a potential greek myth that fits a potential Bobby and the boys storyline, but out of the ones I can think of right now, there aren’t. Betrayal is a huge theme in greek mythology though.

Anyway...

While the original target audience was kids and the show probably wasn’t meant to be this deep, as a screenwriter myself, I find it super useful (and fun) to parallel classic stories and myths when I write. It can add a sense of nuance to the story, especially when done right. I hope the writers (assuming at least the Orpheus and Lotus Eaters parallels were intentional) continue to parallel the season with some form of myth or classic story, only to then completely flip the ending.

If you actually took the time to read ALL of this, my god, I applaud you, you amazing human. Thank you so much for reading it. I’d love to hear what y’all think or what theories y’all have as well!

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #jatp #julie molina #madison reyes #luke patterson #charlie gillespie #alex jatp #owen patrick joyner #owen joyner #reggie jatp #jeremy shada #caleb covington #hollywood ghost club #carrie wilson #trevor wilson #dirty candy #flynn jatp

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essektheylyss · 3 years

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Fanfic ask game for procrastinating on writing, that's what I'm understanding here, got it.

(tagged by @mllekurtz, thank you! these are super fun questions)

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

55! Jeeeeeez that's a lot.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

295k. (Maybe it's because I come from the writing month world but that's the only stat I genuinely pay attention to lol.)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In current times, only Critical Role—back in the day I wrote on ff.net for Heroes and Castle and a few YA books.

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

before it buries me

This was... actually my first shadowgast fic! One-shot set right after 91.

now I will ask you to be brave

Okay, so, this fic. I will not describe it, as I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. I started it right after hiatus with lofty ambitions and promptly realized my hubris, and now it is definitely never going to be finished. I did not get far. My deepest apologies to anyone who has read it and wanted more.

seeing eye to eye

One-shot of the nein running into Essek's family, and Beau understanding him a little better, rich kid with shitty parents to rich kid with shitty parents. A very specific characterization of Deirta in here, mostly filtered through Beau's mentality, which was so fun to write.

not from the absence of violence

OLD GUARD AU MY BELOVED. I desperately want to write in this au more but have not had the time or ideas, but holy shit I love this au so much.

cruel tricks the gods play

Another pre-97 shadowgast one-shot—the peace talks go very wrong and Caleb and Essek end up pulling a Titanic on a plank of wood after the ship sinks. Very fun, very no longer canon-compliant.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

So, okay, I do not, but this is a Thing for me, because I have, inexplicably, deep panic about responding to ao3 comments. I do not know why. I can feel physical panic thinking about it now. I aggressively hate it because I do really want to respond to comments because commenters are so lovely! I think it is a combination of my brain not knowing the culture of ao3 interaction well enough that it seems alarming (thanks, neurodivergence) and college screenwriting workshops in which I was taught not to respond during critique.

In any case, I do not have the same weird panic about tumblr interactions, so I'm always down to chat here.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

You know, for all of the angst that I write, I don't really write angsty endings. I think my two main Verin-centric fics (laid out one by one and this guilt-ridden heart) end kind of angstily, because that relationship isn't gonna be fixed in a conversation. But in general I think the worst I've got is bittersweet.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't—I'd have to have a really, really good concept to write a crossover.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I can remember, though who knows if I got any in high school. I'm a little impervious to flames anyway—again, workshop classes helped with the reminders that critique is what's useful, while hate is just, 'you can't please everyone'.

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do not!

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I mean, not that I'm aware of lol.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

I mean, currently? Shadowgast. I don't have an all-time.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

sweet child. "Someday!" she says, shaking her fist at an unforgiving god.

15) What are your writing strengths?

I've suddenly forgotten every comment I've ever gotten. I am pretty good at grounded settings when I put in the effort. I think I am good at matching character voices—far better than inventing new ones.

And in terms of writing process... I managed to decide somewhere along the way that I like my own writing? Which is very hard, but also once you do that, it's a lot easier to just write instead of being hung up on quality, and it's then easier to notice when you're falling out of your own voice or when you actually need to rewrite a scene. I think I forced myself into this practice because I am soooo bad at sitting down and editing, so I have to do it as I write, and I had to get over the "this writing sounds like me therefore it is bad" feeling to manage that. (This has been my "love yourself as a writer" high horse.)

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

I think I overexplain. And on the other side, I lean so heavily into showing emotion via physical sensation that I forget to actually write the emotion.

And on a similar process high horse, I am so bad about feeling constantly like I need to write everything right now. This is primarily a problem because if I get too in my head about it, I end up writing none of it. I have not found a way to combat this, except to put one sentence in front of the other. (This is not helped by my ever-increasing pile of wips and ideas lol.)

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I patently refuse to do it, because I hate the idea of butchering a language I don't know, and because I tend to try to draw as little attention to the fact that a thing is written as possible, and if a language has to be translated via a glossary or something, it's drawing more attention to that, and even if it's something I'm leaving untranslated, someone who speaks that language will know that I have butchered it. That being said, I don't dislike it when I'm reading!

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Percy Jackson! I wrote so much PJO fic in middle school.

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

what luminous worlds await, if only for the sheer enormity of that project and my delight that it actually came together. Though I cannot mention that without mentioning Icarus to your certainty, without which I probably would not have even written the former.

Tagging (and please feel free to ignore if you so choose) @the-littlest-goblin @mithrilwren @sky-scribbles!

#hello I am being perceived #dating myself with the use of the word 'flames'#I'm sorry for my strengths/weaknesses responses I hate evaluating my own qualities and love talking about writing process lmao #and now that I have managed to waste half an hour time to go back to writing lol #just! very! passionate! about! writing process!

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fandom-hoarder · 3 years

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listen I have so many questions about Stanford Sam, like this kid who was raised in the wild, barely aware of acceptable social conduct arrives with his 2 ectoplasm stained t-shirts at his dorm and like ????? is he very aware of it at first? or does he think he's hiding it well? and like moving in with Jessica?????? he doesn't know how to water plants and that you have to pay electricity bills ??? Like obviously he's not stupid, we know that!! But there are certain things about ordinary everyday life that are just impossible to pick up when you're raised like that. And this is just surface-level stuff, like I feel overwhelmed just thinking about how many tiny things I do in a day, just normal life stuff that I've always done, that Sam would be like ???? so weirded out by, or maybe creepily fascinated ??? Would he try and copy everyone around him maybe??? and then all the odd things that he'd probably do !!! like just basic marine survival nonsense he's dad probably taught him applied in mundane life situations that would make him stand out and he wouldn't even notice !!! And he thinks he's doing fine, people seem to accept him, but then suddenly someone mentions like... TRL or something and he's like ??? and then Dean picks him up and it all falls to pieces, because it's so EASY and ingrained and he doesn't have to pretend and it puts it into perspective how not okay he was doing at Stanford even when it felt like he was ?? god I'm just rambling, like I barely even have headcanons, I'm just so overwhelmed by all the possibilities of how this would play out !!!!

Holy crap, first I wanna apologize if this has been sitting here awhile. The Ask notification location in settings instead of notifications on the app is so weird and I get them so rarely I don’t think to check. (and the website shows that I have 4 but this one is the only one it’ll show? How does tumblr work? Oh yeah, it doesn’t lol.)

Anyway, I have so many thoughts on this! But they’re not necessarily cohesive?! Like first we all know Sam is super smart. He’s curious. He’s inquisitive. But he’s also sheltered in weird ways. There are things he’s known about the world that most people would never know about, let alone kids his age at any given time; yet the existence of those things--and the understanding that therefore potentially anything could be real--also lends itself to keeping him childlike--he had an “imaginary friend” at age nine and believed in the Easter bunny through age eleven, which is much later than the average probably???

By middle school, he definitely would’ve been feeling the strains of his otherness around his classmates, even if they weren’t constantly moving around, but of course the nomadic lifestyle just makes it even harder.

I think Sam is a very observant person, though. He figured out something was up with their dad and The Truth at age 8! So people watching is Sam’s saving grace for getting along in the mundane world. He definitely learns to mask his otherness by mimicking mundane people.

And I get sidetracked here because then I start thinking about exactly how their childhood went. We know John used Pastor Jim and Bobby as childcare/parenting support to some degree. I don’t think we really know anything about Caleb, maybe I’m forgetting something, but my headcanon is that Caleb functioned as a “fun younger uncle” type to Sam and Dean: cool, responsible in a pinch, but mostly not given childcare responsibilities because of his wilding tendencies. (they learn swears accidentally from Bobby and John, but Caleb TEACHES them.) Sam and Dean didn’t even know about Missouri until s1, so she’s off the caretaker list. They had that babysitter they met up with in uhh... Swap Meat! But largely we assume that Dean had a lot of the caretaking responsibilities; maybe with temporary babysitters in other places the same as Swap Meat.

And lbh you just can’t expect well-rounded, informed child-rearing from a kid only four years older. There’s a reason I associate a lot of weechester flashbacks with Sammy watching TV like in Something Wicked, because literally little siblings are A LOT and sometimes you just want them to sit still and quiet and leave you alone for a bit omg.(wait, give me a minute, I’m imagining little 6 year old Dean on the phone with Bobby because John ran out for food supplies and isn’t back yet and Sammy is still asleep but Dean’s creeped out in the longterm room they’re staying in because he KNOWS about the supernatural already. but then bobby gets on John’s case about it--and instead of never leaving Dean alone with baby Sam again, Dean learns from John’s belt not to call anyone when he’s left alone unless it’s an ACTUAL EMERGENCY. Or maybe, because marine, John doesn’t use his belt; maybe he uses PT instead and every time Dean thinks about calling Bobby for that reason again, his abs ache from the memory of punishment situps, or his arms get suddenly shaky thinking about doing pushups til he just couldn’t anymore.)

I haven’t read all of John’s Journal, and I know it’s not actually canon, but IIRC the bits that I’ve read from the wiki show John and the boys staying with a family friend in Lawrence for a few weeks, MAYBE a few months before John visits Missouri and everything STARTS. I think if he hadn’t picked up and left with them then, the family friends would’ve been contacting CPS because they’re starting to think John’s grief is making him unhinged. (I really want to read the journal tbh--there are bits I’ve seen that make me fantasize even more about boyking!sam storylines... but I’m getting even more off track.)

So we’ve got this weird/interesting dichotomy of kids that are groomed with these hyperspecialiizations, too weird to really fit in with other kids but sheltered from the actual hunter life also--like the fact that there ARE other hunters, like as a THING, not just their dad’s rando friends that, as kids, they may just assume know about the supernatural because their dad told them! (jfc they’re SO PRIMED to be each other’s entire world omg I’m gonna die)

So like, by being quiet and observant (an imaginative kid, by nature and by nurture as John starts to take Dean out more and leave Sam alone with his own thoughts), Sam would pick up a lot of things. But they’re never anywhere long enough for him to fully grasp everything and he would definitely suffer a bit from the Dunning-Kruger effect--not having enough knowledge about a thing, but having just enough that you don’t realize you don’t.

Let’s say Sam observes and picks up some things about normal residential life by being around a few mundane babysitters. The nature of John’s “work” would mean that, even if they were in a more in-home-daycare-like situation, they’d be likely to be the “after hours” kinds of kids that are still there when everyone else is picked up and the babysitter would normally be doing their normal life stuff: changing clothes, cleaning up from the daycare kids, making dinner, etc (sam and dean would definitely help, either out of kindness or duty or because it’s agreed that if they help out John will get a discount on their care costs--don’t mind me, just projecting my childhood onto the winchesters hahh. I’m NOT going to go off on a tangent about Dean already having so much experience caring for babies cuz of Sam. He definitely doesn’t have all the under-4s following him around begging for attention while he burps one of the three babies their babysitter cares for after a bottle. it DEFINITELY didn’t make Sam (age 4, 5, 6 maybe) jealous enough to repress the memory so that over a decade later he would claim that Dean doesn’t even LIKE kids.)

Uhh... what was I talking about? Oh yeah, Sam. Observing normal life. Anyway so maybe after things settle for the day, sometimes a babysitter will sit at the dining table with the weekly bills and their checkbook and do the bills. And Sam kind of loves things like this: it feels like something important; it feels like playing school before he was old enough to go (quick aside here: John totally enrolled Sam in school early, both because that’s the only way his age works with canon timeline and because it would make life easier if Sam was in school just like Dean--more cost-and-time efficient.) And maybe Sam goes and sits at the table and just. Watches.

And then he asks questions. When he’s curious, he doesn’t keep his questions to himself as a child (unless the subject is expressly forbidden: see Dean’s reaction when Sam brings up Mary). But his age would inevitably limit the scope and understanding of those questions. Adults are generally disinclined to fully explain the adult world to children, especially when it comes to finances, and in the 80s and early 90s?? With most of the adults of that time that I knew, those kinds of questions were considered rude and nosey. He might understand that adults have to pay bills; he may even understand something about utilities; but he wouldn’t necessarily understand all the requirements and frequency.

Though their nomadic lifestyle wasn’t stable by any “normal” definition, one thing to be said about mostly living out of motels is that your power is never cut off, or your water, or your heat. There’s always television, usually with cable. And the only form of payment you see going on is dad handing over cash or plastic at the front desk--one and done. My headcanon usually disallows the idea that they would’ve squatted in empty houses when Sam and Dean were kids (John makes plenty of bad decisions but I just don’t see him staying in a place without power or water with CHILDREN. Teenagers? SURE.) They would learn how to clean house and make proper beds even when it wasn’t always necessary with housekeeping available--both because of John’s military parenting style and because John would be most likely to opt out of daily housekeeping to lower the risk of having people ask questions.

So yeah, there are so many little intricacies of the mundane world that Sam wouldn’t be conditioned to even think about. Even the realization that he doesn’t know enough about regular life, as he grows up and longs more and more for that very thing because he’s never had more than a glimpse of it, wouldn’t necessarily be enough.

Would his natural curiosity lead him to ask those questions? He can’t ask John because he already asked Dean and got a dismissive answer because ‘what does any of that matter, Sam? we’ll never have to worry about that shit.’ and if Dean seems borderline offended by the sheer audacity of the questions in the first place, he knows John will be worse.

In the 90s, life skills were still kind of a thing in most U.S. schools. But in a really inconsistent way. Sometimes it was in health class curriculum; sometimes your math class would actually do a short focus on balancing a checkbook and banking if there was a chapter, but a lot of times those parts get skipped. You never use the whole textbook. Sometimes life skills was only in Home Ec, but H.E. was completely elective in my area when I was in middle school (the same exact years Sam would’ve been in middle school) and I’m assuming the same for most of the U.S. Sam may have taken it, or he may have taken something else instead (wood shop or computer class were the alternatives in my area). Maybe the nature of school hopping meant that he HAD to enroll in Home Ec, because resources for the other electives were finite, but somehow always managed to miss the bills and budgeting portion. Maybe he couldn’t even take Home Ec due to class size or resources and they just put him in a study hall for that period. (Maybe they put him in the computer class, where he mostly does book work until he gets a turn on the PC he has to share with his classmate.)

As an observant person, Sam totally would’ve known about TRL, I think. There’s no way at least one group of kids in the halls or lunchroom wasn’t talking about it every day in high school, especially with the advent of Britney Spears and Eminem and Jesse freakin Camp. Maybe he goes to someone’s house to try to hang out or to study and they turn it on and Sam watches raptly because it’s such a strange phenomenon and he hardly ever gets to hear new music, much less watch the videos. But he can’t actually get into it because the fangirls are annoying and his analytical mind won’t let him suspend his disbelief about how the voting works. (Maybe he tries giving it another shot in their motel room sometimes, but Dean vetoes that bubblegum pop shit IMMEDIATELY--no Sam, look, that shit isn’t REAL music; most of them don’t even play instruments. And it’s really not fair because Dean TOTALLY watched MTV’s The Grind in the early 90s for his fix of suggestively gyrating bodies before he figured out how to access porn without getting caught.)

Sam and Dean actually make a LOT of pop culture references, which always fascinates me. I imagine they did a lot of TV watching and VCR/movie renting in the times they weren’t working on a case with/for their dad (projecting again; my dad’s house was a very boring place on his weekends). The nature of Dean’s idolization of John and disinclination to let Sam have his own separate likes means they have a mix of age-appropriate pop culture knowledge and a lot of Boomer-era TV and movie knowledge--Dean more than Sam, maybe when it comes to things like cowboy movies and TV lol.

Anyway, as the realization that he doesn’t really know how anything works crept in, maybe Sam would try to lowkey create situations where he could ask his friends/his friends’ parents those normal life kind of questions. But maybe after his first few tries, he’s become so uncomfortably aware of how weird he is to even need to ask that he stops asking. Maybe he starts to tap into his specialized skills and starts snooping/creeping around their houses to try to glean knowledge. Maybe he scours the library for books on ‘what you need to know for life’--I have the urge now to do a google search on actual titles of books on this subject that may have existed at the time, but I’ve already spent a lot of time on this without going into research spirals. lol Maybe he can’t find exactly the things that are pertinent--still doesn’t fully realize that, though--and in the meantime his cache of esoteric knowledge continues to build.

So he gets to Stanford and he mostly understands how the financing works; enough to get by with enrollment and stuff. He understands that he’ll need to get a job of some sort to make ends meet because he’s there to be normal and normal people don’t pay for everything with scammed credit cards and billiards money; he knows that much. But he doesn’t really know about wages, minimum wage, freaking payroll taxes, etc. (I feel like Dean would’ve had odd jobs as a teen, some legit some under the table, but that the nature of John (and Dean) wanting to keep Sam home and safe would’ve made the subject of Sam working through high school a banned topic. And anyway, much as I’m not a fan of the characterization in Drag Me Away (From You), what Dean said to Sam about the impossibility of getting into college with the way his academic career would look is accurate. So Sam would’ve probably spent most of his free time on academics so he could get the fuck out, rather than trying to get a job.

Maybe having to buy his textbooks would be a surprise? John probably always qualified for Sam and Dean to be on free lunch/free book programs in public school, not to mention the likelihood of the records being at least partially counterfeit. But at the same time, John was probably very hands off with their school enrollment crap once the boys were old enough to handle it themselves, so Sam would at least have an inkling.

Sam would be a weird mix of no-boundaries and too-secretive, and his first attempts at acting normal would be a bit too put-on. He’s got experience acting per 1x16 (oh, maybe he did drama instead of home ec somewhere lol), but acting on stage is so much different to acting in a more personal setting. On stage you have to exaggerate your movements to project all the way to the back. Early-Stanford Sam, I guess, is a bit like Soulless Sam. He knows there’s something off about him compared to the people around him, and he just does his best to pretend he’s the same as them without calling attention to his differences, which ends up coming off robotic. A little Stepford. A little uncanny valley. He learns to bite his tongue every time he’s about to let something normal only to his family roll off it; learns to be even more vague than he used to be, because now he’s around strangers ALL THE TIME.

At some point, Sam has a little-but-big breakdown about a payment he missed or the fact that he had to steal shampoo because he didn’t even have toiletries in his budget and couldn’t even afford a bottle of White Rain or Suave, so since he was stealing anyway he got the special brand he really likes and then feels too awful to even use it and doesn’t wash his hair for a week. Brady takes pity on the cute but hapless puppy-boy who is a physical and academic behemoth but has obviously been living off-grid on some kind of militia commune for the past forever--at first the rumor was that he was Amish on rumspringa but the amount of times Sam has busted out some supremely random survival knowledge in casual conversation changes that rumor quickly--and has no understanding of the world. And by the time he moves off-campus with Jess, Sam has this masking thing down pretty well; he can almost forget he’s not normal sometimes and Jess only knows about his previous helplessness in a cute, anecdotal kind of way.

And then Dean comes and gets him and Sam’s all “you and Dad still doing credit card scams?” and Dean’s like “well hunting doesn’t pay the bills.”

AND SAM’S LIKE, NEITHER DO YOU DEAN! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT BILLS ARE?! BECAUSE I DIDN’T AND IT WOULD’VE BEEN NICE TO KNOW!

#ask #@princessconsuelapark #stanford era #sam winchester #pre-stanford era #sam n dean #john winchester's a+ parenting #long post

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jedimasterbailey · 3 years

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A preview of a Clone Wars Life Day fic I’m currently working on. Plenty of Barrisoka and Jedi wholesomeness to come!

Life Day

2 Days Before

Grandmasters Yoda and Mace Windu couldn’t help but smile at the sight of their Jedi Knights reporting back home from war duty. After several months of battling Count Dooku’s Separatist droid army, Life Day has allowed the exhausted Jedi generals and commanders to come home. Even in a time of war, Life Day is a holiday the Jedi Order honored. For hundreds of years, Jedi brothers and sisters, Masters and Padawans, have celebrated with the usual gift giving and feasting. It is a time of reflection, joy, love, and peace. Given all the heavy losses felt during the last two years of the Clone Wars, the esteemed Jedi Masters knew how important the holiday break was for their friends.Furthermore, neither Master believed Dooku would dare strike within these next few days. If the purpose of the war was to prove the Separatist movement to be superior, then a direct strike to Coruscant would be unwise

“It’s good to see everyone smile for once,” Mace exhaled, looking downward at Yoda.

“Yes, suffered enough, they all have,” Yoda agrees as fresh snow begins to fall from the cloudy grey sky above. “Enjoy this time, we must. Now, prepare for the youngling feast, I must go. Reunite with your Padawan you will, Master Windu?”

Mace lets out a chuckle, “Of course Master. That is once I finally settle on a gift for her and young Caleb Dume!”

The two then shared a laugh before parting ways.

_______________________________________________

Meanwhile down within the Temple’s main hall Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi and his former student Anakin Skywalker were engaged in yet another argument.

“For the last time Obi-wan, I’ll be the one to roast the tip yip! It was you who overcooked it!” Anakin huffed to which the bearded man calmly shook his head in response.

“Your memory fails you once more Anakin, for I recall it was you who forgot to baste the tip yip thus the result. Only you can accomplish ruining Ahsoka’s first Life Day dinner with us!” Obi-wan teased back.

“Ahsoka had a great time I’ll have you know, right Snips?” Anakin says turning to face his visibly annoyed Padawan.

“I had a much better time when you two weren’t constantly bickering like an old married couple!” Ahsoka answers with an eye roll, “So you two need to kiss and make up and figure something out before I…”

Ahsoka couldn’t finish her thought as a certain young woman came into view. In the distance, she sees the familiar silhouette of her new friend Barriss Offee. Barriss was walking alongside her Master Luminara Unduli, appearing to be laughing at something the older woman said. Since their first meeting during the second battle of Geonosis, the young Togruta woman has been fascinated by the Mirialan.

Having been in the company of men for so long, it was refreshing to meet another student her gender. Though Barriss appeared to be more advanced in her Jedi training than Ahsoka, striking a friendship was easy. Barriss, the Jedi who memorized 200 Geonosian tunnels to help destroy a droid factory and survive the torture of a mind controlling parasite, was just like her. Another child thrown into war, facing challenges no Padawan has probably faced in decades. Sure, Ahsoka has Anakin, Obi-wan, Captain Rex, and even Padme to turn to, but if anyone can understand her on a different level, it would be Barriss.

Dependable, beautiful Barriss. The one that can guide Ahsoka through dangerous missions and make her feel warm inside? Feel as though all time has stopped and it was just Ahsoka and Barriss. “What is wrong with me!?” Ahsoka thought to herself before being thrusted back into reality by Anakin’s finger snapping.

“Uh, Snips? You in there?” asked Anakin.

Ahsoka blinks, “What?”

Confusion washes over Anakin, “You were just telling me and the old man here to “kiss and makeup and figure something out” and then you just stopped talking. Are you feeling alright?”

Ahsoka’s orange cheeks flushed pink from embarrassment, “Uh, yeah I’m totally fine! Just tired I guess, but uh...seriously you two need to just forget about last year and think about what we’re doing this time around. Maybe we invite some other Jedi to help cook?”

Obi-wan smiles, “Master Unduli is actually a phenomenal cook if you can recall from last year. I was just thinking of having her and Barriss over for meal preparation as well as dinner. I’ll go ask her now!”

Ahsoka’s heart began to beat wildly in her chest at the mention of Barriss, “Wait, Obi-wan!”

Obi-wan cocks a brow up, “What is it Ahsoka? Are you sure you’re feeling alright, you sure are acting strange. Perhaps I’ll have Barriss have a look at-”

“NO!” Ahsoka shouts before making a run for it in the other direction.

“Ahsoka!” Anakin shouts back, running after her, leaving a dumbfounded Obi-wan behind.

“What did you do to make both of your Padawan’s run away Master Kenobi?” Luminara questions as she and Barriss approach the man.

“Honestly, I don’t have the slightest idea. Anakin and I were just trying to have a discussion with Ahsoka on our Life Day dinner, but she just acted strange?” Obi-wan replied plucking his beard in thought.

“Maybe she’s not feeling well? I can go check on her if you’d like Master Kenobi,” Barriss suggests politely with a bow.

“Not to worry Miss Offee, Anakin will get to the bottom of things I have no doubt. Those two are truly meant for each other...but I appreciate the offer as I’m sure you’ve grown to be a gifted healer!” Obi-wan beamed at the blushing Mirialan teen.

Luminara grinned at her student as well, “Indeed, Barriss is on her way to becoming a greater Jedi than I could ever hope for. I’m very proud of her, she shall save countless lives with her gifts.”

“Masters, you are too kind…” Barriss mumbles to herself, shyly earning a nudge from Luminara.

“We speak the truth, my dear, it is okay to acknowledge your strengths. Why don’t you go ahead and get some rest, I’ll be right behind in a moment. I’ll make your favorite for dinner tonight?” Luminara proposed lovingly.

Barriss smiles, “That would be lovely Master. I’ll see you in a bit then, good day to you Master Kenobi. I hope Ahsoka is alright.”

“You’ll be the first to know if she’s in need of your services,” Obi-wan affirms with a bow.

Once Barriss turns to leave, Obi-wan quickly asks Luminara to help prepare the big meal to which the woman happily accepts.

“I’ll be there first thing tomorrow, I take it you still have the tea I like?” Luminara winks.

“Darling, you know I do. Quinlan just needs to bring the liquor!” Obi-wan laughs before taking a moment to look into Luminara’s amethyst eyes that had that same twinkle to them from when they were younglings.

The pair just basked in each other’s presence for a moment more. For once, the two Jedi Masters could just be Obi-wan and Luminara. Had Quinlan Vos been there too, the trio would be complete. Life was so much simpler then. When the assignment of the day was stealing midnight treats from the kitchens and there was nothing to fear. Obi-wan quickly takes notice of a change in his dearest friend. The usually serene Jedi Master looked as if she was withholding something from him.

“Lumi?” Obi-wan probed gently, his face softening.

Luminara’s breath hitched, “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in years…”

“Too long I’d say,” Obi-wan admitted with a tinge of guilt.

Luminara offered a small smile, “Perhaps you should say it more often then.”

With that, Luminara turned on her heel and walked in the direction of her and Barriss’s residence. Obi-wan watched from behind until she was out of sight. Not wanting to dwell on the emotions starting to bubble up inside, Obi-wan decides that now would be the best time to go gift shopping with Anakin and Ahsoka preoccupied.

_______________________________________________

#star wars fanfiction #barrisoka #ahsoka tano #barriss offee #obi wan kenobi #luminara unduli #anakin skywalker #the clone wars #star wars #mace windu #yoda #my work

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llnwritings · 3 years

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♫ JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS APPRECIATION WEEK ♫

DAY 2 | Write an AU.

Summary: Turns out Reggie was right, Julie really is a witch!

[[Read on Ao3]]

Family meant everything to the Molina family and Julie was very proud of her family. Not everyone could say that they could trace their family line back 15 generations and that their family regularly produced powerful witches and warlocks.

When Ray had married Rose, he had proudly taken her name, knowing how much it meant to her. It was also a long standing family tradition, the Molina name must live on no matter what. You join the family, you become a Molina.

Growing up, Rose and Victoria had been known in certain circles as the Molina Sisters, both being strong witches. Rose had the main power of telekinesis, something she was incredibly talented using, as well as a strong talent for spell creation. While Victoria had been gifted the power of psychometry; the ability to make accurate associations from an object of unknown history by making physical contact with that object as well as being a low level empath and also she had a natural talent for potion making.

Both sisters used their witch powers to help out unfortunate people, if you had a magical problem, you could contact the sisters and for the right price they would deal with it for you. They always only charged people what they knew they could afford, if someone was down on their luck and couldn’t pay, the sisters happily accepted payment in the form of food, vouchers or from those that insisted that they paid the sisters accepted a form of payment plan, pay what you could, when you could.

If you were rich or tried to swindle the sisters, they happily charged you double if they were feeling nice or triple if you really pissed them off, 3 quarters up front before the job and the other quarter afterwards once the job was done.

It was a good job, something they both enjoyed. They knew which jobs to take and which ones to pass onto someone else in the family that was better equipped than them. Well paying clients also allowed them both to live comfortably and continue pursuing their hobbies. Rose with her music and Victoria with her cooking.

The only time the sisters slowed down was when Rose fell pregnant. It was then Rose felt it would be best to focus on her growing family. She didn’t completely give up taking jobs though, Victoria and her were just more selective on what they picked.

The day Rose brought Julie home from the hospital, the house had been filled with numerous ghostly relatives, all offering their own blessings to the newest witch of the family, love and happiness surrounded the newest little one. Growing up, Julie was taught in many forms of magic by her mamá and her Tia, in hopes of bringing her own power to the surface.

Julie liked making potions with Tía Victoria but she lacked the natural talent her Tía had. Julie instead took after her mama. The little girl loved making spells up with her mamá, Julie had a gift with words, which transferred over nicely when Julie discovered music and began writing lyrics and playing the piano with Rose.

It was discovered that Julie’s power revolved around her music, she had a talent for mixing her magic with her music and making things happen when they heard her play or sing. She could also use sound to defend herself if the need ever rose, not that it had so far. This was something Rose nurtured deeply, wanting Julie to be as in touch with her witch side as she could be.

Then when Carlos was born, the same ghostly relatives visited and offered their blessings again, this time to the newest warlock, the first one born in 3 generations. It was Tia Victoria who noticed that when he was 2, Carlos had the power to affect the emotions of those around him. If he was happy, people in the same room as him felt happy and it was the same for any other strong emotions the 2 year old felt. They also found out that he could feel the emotions of non-living members of the family, as he always seemed to know when great-great-grandmama was around visiting.

Rose nurtured his talents just as much as Julie’s, but took advice from her sister, as Victoria was the empath out of the two of them. Victoria theorised that Carlos would be able to affect more people at once and larger areas as he got older.

Everything was going good for the Molina family, that was until Rose died.

When Rose died from a job gone wrong, it was like the magic and warmth from the Molina household died with her. It also didn't help that no matter how hard they tried, Julie and Carlos were unable to summon their mamá's spirit. So Julie cut herself off from music and her magic, refusing to even step into her mama’s old studio, while Carlos unconsciously dulled his own ability to emotionally connect with others outside of the family.

----

It wasn’t until a year later, when Julie finally entered her mama’s studio and played an old Sunset Curve CD, that she felt her magic reach out connect itself to the chaotic energies surrounding the music itself and she felt herself pull. Somehow Julie managed to pull three dead teens from limbo without much effort.

After the initial shock of the accidental summoning of a group of teen ghosts and playing numerous gigs with her boys, Julie waited patiently for one of them to ask what was so special about her that allowed her to see them. But it never happened. It’s not like Julie intentionally hid a part of herself from her boys, they just weren’t curious enough to ask. They were just happy to be back and to be able to play music while being seen and heard by people.

Not even after her magical hug, that broke Caleb’s hold over them and allowed Julie to touch them, raised questions from her boys. It was only when Caleb returned to enact his revenge plan, that things began to fall into place for the boys.

While possessing Nick’s body, Caleb attacked Julie in the studio on a Wednesday afternoon. He threw her across the room with a wave of one of his hands and used his other hand to hold her boys in place, unable to help her. Julie yelped as her body slid across the floor and stopped when it connected with the steps that lead up to the loft.

“Julie!!” She heard Reggie yell out.

“How the hell did a little lifer like you break my stamp!” Nick’s voice echoed deeply as Caleb twisted his face into an evil sneer, “It shouldn’t even be possible.”

Julie wiped away the blood that slowly began to run down her face with the back of her hand as she slowly pulled herself back to her feet. She groaned as she felt her magic start to build up, just waiting to be released. Having not truly been used in so long, it was itching for release and it thought Caleb was a perfect target. Clenching her hands into fists, Julie breathed deeply and focused, she needed to wait for the right moment, it wouldn't work if she striked to early.

“Leave her alone!” Luke yelled as he struggled to break free from Caleb’s hold, but all he managed to do was anger Caleb enough for him to send jolts of electricity coursing through his body. Luke clutching his chest and gasped in pain as he dropped to his knees.

“You boys are going to watch,” Caleb-as-Nick turned to the boys with a flourish, “Watch while I crush the life out of your little lifer. Once she’s gone, you’ll have no choice but to come play for me and you’ll be mine forever.”

“Get out of him.”

Caleb-as-Nick stopped gloating at the boys and slowly turned to look at Julie with an eyebrow raised, “What did you say to me?” He stalked towards her, electricity dancing along his fingers, "Look at me when to speak to me." Caleb-as-Nick reached out to grab at Julie's face but was shocked when she screamed.

Caleb wouldn't have known, but it was never smart to attack a witch in her own home. Years of living there, with multiple powerful magical beings under the one roof created a pool of magic, just waiting to be unleashed on some unexpecting evil. Unknown to Julie, her magic eagerly tapped into this pool, giving her a hefty power boost.

"I said, get out of him!" Julie’s eyes glowed electric purple as she thrust both her arms forward towards Caleb-as-Nick and released a sonic soundwave. Using everything she had, Julie focused on pushing Caleb out of Nick’s body, never minding the fact that she blew out the windows of the studio.

The soundwave forced Nick’s body to stagger as Caleb’s hold over him wavered. Caleb could feel himself being ripped away from his pawn, it didn’t matter how deep he tried to sink his claws in, Julie was proving to be more powerful than he had realized. He released his hold over the phantoms to pour more power into holding onto Nick, but it was no use.

Caleb could only watch in shock and horror as Julie’s power painfully expelled him from his meat suit. He landed on the floor of the studio near the entrance with a thud, gasping in pain. Once he was removed, Nick’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.

Julie stepped forward, getting in between Nick’s fallen body and Caleb. Her eyes continued to glow as she stood over the man that had hurt her boys.

“You’re going to disappear to wherever the hell you came from and leave us alone. I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to hear about you. You’re going to forget about my boys and them joining your hack of a band. If you don’t,” Julie pulled her phone out her pocket and scrolled through the numbers, “I’m sure my Tia will be very happy to help me banish a ghost, it’s practically her day job, a problem like you shouldn’t be too hard for her. Hell, maybe she can trap you in some jewelry for a few hundred years and we’ll throw you into the ocean, how’s that sound?”

Caleb’s eyes widened in fear at each sentence Julie spat at him, he could only pathetically crawl backwards as he attempted to get away from her. With his last bit of his dwindling power, Caleb forced himself to teleport away from the angry witch to the safety of his club, he could only hope that he could regroup and try again later with a better plan.

Once she was sure that Caleb had really disappeared from the studio, Julie dropped to the floor with a gasp, landing hard on her hands and knees. Slowly, the purple glow faded from her eyes as her magic receded back within herself. Shock hit her as she remembered the boys, eyes widening Julie looked around for her boys. She didn’t have to look far, as the three of them had recovered enough to quickly make their way to her side. All of them trying to reassure themselves that she was okay.

“Are you okay?” Alex hovered to her left, “Do you need us to get anyone?”

“I’ll be fine. Are you guys okay?” Julie smiled at Alex, “He didn’t hurt you guys too much right?”

“We’re dead,” Luke tried to wave off Julie’s concern, “We’ll be good as new in a moment, the pain will fade. Are you sure you’re okay?” He reached out to take her hand.

“Um, are we not going to talk about what just happened?” Reggie cut in, “Julie what are you? You handed Caleb his ass.”

Alex smacked Reggie on the arm, while trying to hush him, “Dude, don’t push!” Alex turned back to Julie and smiled, “You can tell us whenever, it doesn’t have to be today.”

“Whaaat?” Reggie huffed, “I wanna know. Don’t tell me you guys don’t wanna know. That’s just unrealistic.”

“It’s fine Alex,” Julie giggled as she pushed herself to sit up properly, with the help of Luke, “Actually Reggie, you already know what I am. Remember the first night you guys appeared?”

Reggie’s face scrunched up in thought as he tried to remember that first night. It took him a moment, but when the penny dropped Reggie’s eyes lit up, “Witch!” He clicked his fingers at her and Julie smiled in reply, “I totally called it.” He happily nudged Alex in the ribs with his elbow.

“Stop it.” Alex smacked Reggie’s elbow away.

“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Luke helped Julie stand up, “But first I’m going to have to make sure Nick’s okay and then maybe ask Tía to help with a memory spell. We have no clue what Caleb did while in body.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Reggie cheerfully agreed, “I want to know everything.” Reggie froze and gasped, he spun around to face Julie, “Is Ray a witch too?”

“Boys with magic are called warlocks,” Julie explained, “Dad isn’t one,” Reggie frowned sadly at the information, “He married into the family, not a drop of magic in him, but Carlos is and he can see you guys.”

#jatpweek #jatp #jatp fic #julie and the phantoms fic #julie and the phantoms #julie molina #day 2 #llnwrites #jatp alex #luke patterson #jatp reggie #caleb covington

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arcane-cosmetics · 4 years

Link

Rating: T

Fandom: Critical Role (Campaign 2)

Relationship: Nott | Veth Brenatto/Caleb Widogast

Additional Tags: Caduceus mention, Beau mention, Fjord mention, Jester mention, Body Dysphoria, non-gender related body dysphoria, Blood, Accidental Kissing, Sharing a Bed, Boats and Ships, Guilt, Regret, Misunderstandings, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Character Study, Nott character study, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Unrequited Love, OR IS IT??, Some Nott spoilers, Nott | Veth Brenatto-centric

Summary:

A sad, almost longing look crept its way across Nott’s features. Nostalgia and something else distracting her mind from her current distress for just a moment. She reached out and gently raked her fingers through his hair.

Caleb took a harsh intake of air as he was shocked out of sleep, stiffening under her touch. Seconds passed with a palpable tension. Guilt, shame and embarrassment darkened the color of Nott's face. This was exactly what she hoped to avoid.

Read it on AO3

Nott’s stomach was clenched tight and her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings.

The sea was choppy tonight. The bunks the party was given below deck of the newly dubbed Mistake were more like hammocks, three stacked on top of each other, a few feet separating them in each column. It would have been comfortable if it were not for the terrible rocking back and forth of the ocean waves making the cots swing with them. The movement made Nott woozy and constantly on edge.

Nott had no idea what time it was other than a general “late” she didn’t have Caleb’s keen mind after all. She was afraid to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes the roiling sea and splashing water made her mind flash with images of herself drowning. She opened her eyes with a gasp, not realizing she had been holding her breath. She was afraid to dream.

Normally when Nott had nightmares, Caleb would already be laying beside her, pulling her tighter into his warm chest and whispering soft affirmations of safety. Not tonight, though. Not since they’d been on board the ship. It was hard enough to fit one person into the small, barely held together pieces of fabric that were made to pass as beds. Exemplified by Beau who was on the top bunk of Nott’s row. Both of Beau’s arms and legs sprawled to the sides, keeping her precariously balanced, with the threat of crushing both Caleb and Nott beneath her at all times.

Nott ruminated on that thought for a moment. At least if Beau crushed her she’d probably go unconscious and be able to get some rest. She rolled her eyes and smiled, coming to the conclusion that would never happen. Beau would start to fall and do some sort of badass monk flip to land agilely away from any sleeping bodies. Psh, she could do that too.

It looked like it was going to be a sleepless night for Nott the Brave. She reached down, grabbing her flask, and took a big swig. She sighed, first with relief as the brown liquid burned down her throat and into her belly, and then with somber recognition, as it seemed not even booze would be enough to get her through the night this time.

Her eyes started wandering the dark room, which she could see perfectly thanks to her goblinoid darkvision. It didn’t look like there was much worth stealing down here. The crew that wasn’t part of the Nein seemed to not have a penny to their name. Her eyes finally came to a rest, landing on the bunk above her. She could see the outline of Caleb nestled in on himself and heard the soft sound of his breathing. She had half hoped he would be awake too.

Caleb deserved a good night's rest. The days had been long at sea, with more physical labor than any of them outside of Fjord had expected. The entire team was learning to help crew the ship, but it had been hardest on her Caleb. He wasn’t exactly the muscular type like Yasha or Jester. Nott had been absentmindedly fiddling with one of her many trinkets as she thought about how exhausted Caleb had looked after being taught how to unferal, tether, and then re-feral each of the Mistake’s sails. He had taken off his jacket in the heat, letting the rays hit his sun-deprived skin. He’d been sweating, and pieces of his hair had fallen loose in front of his face from the leather band usually tying them back. He looked disheveled and handsome as always.

She was shocked out of her reverie when a particularly large wave crashed into the boat. The Mistake learched to one side, sending Nott’s bauble flying across the floor before coming to a stop under Caduceus’s hammock as the ship righted itself.

Shit.

Across the floor, Nott pinpointed the glass bead that had betrayed her. She glowered down at it in an attempt to will it back to her. A frustrated huff—no luck. Nott was not about to let one of her prized collectibles roll away. She sat up in her hammock and dubiously attempted to reach a foot down to the floor. She was very stealthy, but no amount of dexterity was going to make it easy for her to get out of this bunk. Her short legs didn’t reach the ground, and shifting her weight to one side without her foot anchoring her to the floor made her dangerously unsteady as the ship continued its perpetual side to side movement.

With a deft leap, Nott landed on the unfinished wood floor. She bowed a little to an audience that wasn’t there in celebration of her perfect dismount before tip-toeing over to where her bead had disappeared below Caduceus. Nott crouched down on all fours and immediately located her precious. She had to crawl a little under the bunk before she was able to reach her bead, where it had gotten wedged in between two planks. She pulled it out easily and held it up, a wide smile growing across her face in triumph.

Of course, the sea chose that moment to pummel the ship with an even larger wave than the last, sending the Mistake carriening to the side once again. The nails on Nott’s free hand clawed into the soft wood. Her other hand clutched close to her chest, unwilling to part with her bead a second time. A high pitched yelp escaped Nott’s lips before she quickly released her grip on the floor to slap her hand over her mouth. Her eyes darted around the densely packed sleeping quarters. A few individuals shifted and various snorfles and groans of displeasure were murmured, before quickly fading into the familiar sounds of snores and light breathing.

Cold, clammy sweat drenched her face, neck and hands. Nott was too afraid to move, her body frozen in place under Caduceus' hammock.

Water.

Can’t breath. Can’t breath. Can’t breath.

A desperate gulp of air.

Minutes that felt like hours passed as she tensely waited for the boat to regulate itself. Shakily, Nott inched backwards from her hiding place and gently slipped the bead into one of her many pockets.

Nott’s already large eyes were wide, pupils dilated, and her ears flattened against her head. She shuffled back toward her bunk, less careful of the creaking wood in her rattled state. She reached out to get in before her eyes darted up to Caleb, now only slightly above her as she stood. He had been too tired and deep in sleep to have woken up. It seemed that most everyone but Nott had gotten used to the sway of the ocean.

Caleb was curled up facing away from her. She could see the bumps of his spine pressed against his thin shirt. Nott bit her lip and wrung her sweat moistened hands, debating if it would be okay to ask if she could crawl in with him—she wouldn’t take up too much room. It’s not like they hadn’t slept in tighter quarters during their time on the road.

Memories flooded her mind of the nights they spent huddled together for warmth. She had felt every scar, every jutting rib. It seemed so long ago and just yesterday at the same time. Back then, when Caleb was sound asleep, she would study his face. The cut of his jaw, the ridge of his brow, his pale lashes against the bruise-colored skin under his eyes, the curve of his lips…. Nott wished she could look at Caleb’s face now, see the peaceful look he only let his guard down enough in sleep to show. She would hate to disturb it.

A sad, almost longing look crept its way across Nott’s features. Nostalgia and something else distracting her mind from her current distress for just a moment. She reached out and gently raked her fingers through his hair.

Caleb took a harsh intake of air as he was shocked out of sleep, stiffening under her touch. Seconds passed with a palpable tension. Guilt, shame and embarrassment darkened the color of Nott's face. This was exactly what she hoped to avoid. Luckily, Caleb didn't have darkvision. Caleb turned his head a bit,

“Nott?” His tone hushed and paranoid.

“Uh, yeah. It’s me. I–I’m sorry Caleb I didn’t mean to wake you! I was just going back to bed and—”

“Nott. Nott. It is alright. Is something the matter?” At this point Caleb had fully turned toward Nott, hearing the panic in her voice. He could faintly make out her silhouette; her ears were down and her body was slightly hunched in on itself. “Scheiße, of course you aren’t, why am I asking you that. Would you like to…?”

Nott furiously nodded her head in affirmation. It took an awkward moment of balancing and rearranging before Caleb was able to reach down and lift her up. He pulled Nott on top of him, the only place she fit in so small a space. Her hands were still unsteady, a slight tremor running through them and sweat was still slick on the back of her neck, but she felt the tension release from her shoulders with each stroke of Caleb’s hand on her back.

The two laid in silence for a moment. Nott’s guilt for rousing Caleb grew in her chest as the wave that made her quake with fear grew more distant.

“I’m sorry I woke you up, Caleb. I didn’t mean to. I thought about it, but I wasn’t actually going to do it. You need your rest more than I need to be coddled.” The last few words dripped with derision.

Caleb winced a little at her biting tone, like her criticism of herself was a splinter in his chest. He continued the soothing circular pattern he was tracing on her back, a pattern to a spell he was memorizing.

“Ah—Nein, do not worry about it. How many times have I woken you up at night, hm? Plus, I have missed my cuddle buddy while we have been out on this shithole of a ship.”

Nott gave a tired smile and nuzzled her head into his chest. “Yeah, me too.”

After a few minutes had passed, Nott hesitantly peeked to get a glimpse of Caleb's serene sleeping face. She was in luck—his furrowed brow had smoothed out, and the frown lines framing his mouth relaxed as his jaw hung faintly open. He looked tanner than she had ever seen him, adding a smattering of freckles and a healthy glow to his features. As she stared, Nott lifted her head fully off his chest to appreciate his countenance in full. She reached out to brush a hair off his face, giving herself the freedom to caress his cheek for just a moment. She was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and adoration. Not just for tonight, but for every night since they met.

“Thank you.”

Caleb opened his eyes to look at where she had been laying on his chest and craned his neck forward, human eyes unable to see Nott’s face right in front of him.

“Hmm? Did you s—”

Caleb cut off when his lips unexpectedly collided with hers. Nott’s mouth, slightly agape, caught on his as they slammed clumsily together.

Nott had never been so glad Caleb couldn’t see in the dark.

Their lips only touched for a second and it was mostly teeth grinding against teeth, but the repercussions were instantaneous. They both hastily moved their heads away. Nott’s mouth was flooded with a familiar salty, iron taste. Immediately recognizable as blood. It wasn't her own blood on her lips.

”Oh fuck, oh shit! Caleb, I–I think I cut your lip! You're bleeding! I can go grab some water and maybe Jester should look at it to make sure you don't get infected from my gross teeth?” Nott started to get down off the bed, but Caleb’s tightening grip around her thigh quickly stayed her.

”I'm okay Nott, really. It is just a small scratch. If anything it was my fault. I should not have moved so quickly in such tight sleeping quarters.” His voice sounded strained.

Caleb may not have been able to see, but Nott could.

From where Nott was now sitting straddling Caleb’s torso, she could clearly see the red that had spread from his neck over his face. Caleb’s focus was straight up toward the ceiling, seemingly to avoid looking in her direction, as he fruitlessly endeavoured to reassure her he was not hurt.

“Al–alright.” Nott barely breathed out the words.

She laid back down, more conscious of all her movements and body placement than before. Nott was hyper-aware of all her sharp, pointy bits that she hated so much. Never more than in instances like this. When she hurt the person she cared about most.

One of Caleb's hands had gripped her upper arm and the other her thigh in his bid to stop her from leaving the bunk. His arms slowly and cautiously moved back to wrap around Nott’s back. He felt more rigid than before, no longer sliding his hands up and down her spine.

He’s disgusted by me. He doesn’t want to touch me anymore. I can’t blame him for that. I hurt him. I wouldn’t want to touch me either. He’s just too nice to ask me to leave. All this body can do is hurt people. Maybe if I was softer and not so sharp and my skin wasn't so rough, like Jester or–or like how I used to be….

Nott bit her already sore lip with her jagged teeth, drawing her own blood this time. She reached to where her flask usually hung from her belt, hoping to wash the taste of blood from her mouth and numb the sting of her lips and heart with the bitter elixir. Her hands fumbled at her side and she cursed inwardly as she realized it was sitting on top of her pack on the ground. It looked like she would not be able to drown out this night from her memory. Nott squeezed her eyes shut blinking out tears and hoping desperately Caleb didn’t mention what had happened in the morning—or ever, for that matter.

Nott’s emotions were spent. She just wanted this horrible night to end. She turned as gently as she could to get comfortable without disturbing Caleb a third time. She finished adjusting herself and laid her head back down on Caleb’s chest, when something, or more precisely, someone caught her attention.

Nott froze.

Fuschia eyes bored into her as Caduceus stared. Nott’s heart jumped into her throat and then plummeted like a rock to her stomach. Wait. Caduceus didn’t have dark vision, all the noise probably woke him up—with his being so perceptive and all. She was safe. He gave her a little half smile before turning over in his cot. The small action sent blood roaring back into Nott’s cheeks. He couldn't see in the dark, could he?

Nott really wished she had her flask now.

She tried to shut it all out. Nott shook her head as if it would dislodge the night's events from her brain. The fright of the ship's harsh rocking mixed with the anxiety and guilt of what just happened with Caleb left Nott emotionally and mentally exhausted. Her eyes stung with the specific feeling of having been awake far later than sheshould and the cut from biting her lip was starting to scab over, but the knot in her stomach persisted. Oh well, she would have to deal with that in the morning. Nott’s strung out nerves coupled with the warmth of Caleb’s body surrounding her with his familiar scent—she liked it no matter what the others said—finally, finally lulled her to sleep.

#critical role #widobrave #fanfic #nott the brave #caleb widogast #cr campaign 2 #fan fiction #Veth Brenatto

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loquaciousquark · 4 years

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E83 (Nov. 5, 2019)

A day late and many dollars short, but we’re here! Tonight’s preroll: minifigs & what I assume are tonight’s guests of Liam & Matt:

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which is followed by lazy susan rotating the D&D minis from eldritch-foundry.com for the rest of the cast. Cute! Anyway, Dani is back and ready to rumble! Brian is briefly lambasted for only getting through mumblemumble questions last week, but it’s all smoothed over soon enough and we move right along.

Tonight’s announcements: Undeadwood finale is delayed one week due to some post-production tech issues. Should premiere Friday, Nov. 15. Brian marvels over Matt’s speech about God being just as feral as what he creates. Matt is also surprised. Marisha is apparently the living dice Snitch of both campaign 2 and Undeadwood - everyone wonders if it’s the seat, the chair, the floor, or some innate karmic sense Marisha herself creates. CR is also partnering with Operation Supply Drop for the month of November to support veterans. Matt announces (re-announces?) that they are partnering with Amazon to create a full second animated season, as well as two more episodes to the original season one. All backers will be able to still watch the full season one for free. Everyone is so excited & I’m excited for them. Good job, tiny D&D friend group. More details on the CR Kickstarter Updates page.

And now! Episode 83: Dark Bargains

CR Stats: Liam poured wine for 49 seconds. Brief sidebar as Liam expresses genuine nervousness being on the couch beside Matt; he normally talks behind his back on TM, since he’s not sure if Matt ever watches it, but now he has to watch what he says. Caleb’s smell has been mentioned 60 times. Matt acknowledges that he is clean and washed. [doubt] Nott’s death was the 60th knockout and 8th player death of C2. Half of those deaths were Frumpkin. Liam calls Frumpkin a magic fart with a weak wifi signal.

Our first question (23 minutes in, NOT THAT ANYONE’S COUNTING), reveals that Matt did design the HFB with some “big red buttons” for the characters to press, or want to press. He expected more group approval before some of them were pressed, though (the dreadnought). Liam wanted to clear all the corners of the Baldur’s Gate map.

Caleb fears Halas because he’s one of the most powerful mages ever, he fears the lab setup/experimentation angle, he still fears the siren song, and is scared of the grains of similarity he sees between the two of them.

Liam knows they’ve continually seen fun stuff come from shitty situations, but Caleb sees the story of the HFB as “you’re not welcome here; this is going to suck for YOU! You thought you were going to have fun here? Fuck you!”

Matt loves those climactic moments though, because he loves it when the dice tell the story. Liam loves that there was a day where Matt rolled terribly in Undeadwood and played it as being embarrassed to be around all these amazing people.

Matt enjoyed getting to dig into the backstory of his world. He’s had references to pre-divergence stuff before, and it was a big joy to give more context to some of the things the M9 have been encountering.

Liam: “[Caleb] is gambling big when he thinks there’s something of worth to gain.“ He’d heard of a long-vanished mage who was messing with time stuff, and thought there might be a chance this was him. Then, once they found the gem, he started feeling this might be the real chance he needed to start messing with the crazy stuff he wants to do with time.

The bound devil was a general temptation, but in hindsight he can see why Jester was drawn to him. Matt often builds scenarios and has no idea how they will react to them (and acknowledges that the M9 did not fully read the poem that would have given them more info here), and sometimes he’s right and sometimes he’s very wrong.

Caleb is very distrustful of other arcanists and always assesses their level of threat to the group. Liam does think Caleb has come a long way since the start of the campaign. “A lot is changing for him. He’s very reactive in a lot of ways. Whatever is laid out for him in the moment that he can take advantage of, or that he cares about...I don’t know. The Betrayer Gods coming back is so much more important, and I don’t know if it’s going to make him let go of that stuff. He has to re-evaluate. He has to. He’s like an addict who has a weak day.”

Brian comments that Caleb seems to be a clinic in self-forgiveness. He wants him to do well, but at the end of the day he wants him to forgive himself. He also points out that it’s possible to get addicted to grief, and he sees that in Caleb; he’s choosing to stay in that space, and we are watching what that does to a person. Brian feels that he forms an attachment to the grief because it is the only emotional connection he has to the family he lost.

Liam nods and says these are things he’s been thinking about for months and months. He does not and did not have the answers when he created the character, and is looking forward to seeing where he ends up. He is not railroading his character; he’s letting the other players affect his character so that Caleb can remain malleable.

Matt loves how it reflects how real people inform the lives and actions of their friends in real life.

Cosplay of the Week: @suchamantis on twitter for a Caleb/spellbook cosplay. It’s gorgeous work!

Brief derailment into Liam pulling a Bane out of his mug and Matt hypersensually smelling the winner’s dice vault. I don’t even know what’s happening.

Revivify in this campaign is being used as a CPR/AED type thing. If they fail, the DC goes up and a longer-form raise dead spell must be used out of combat.

It did occur to Liam that this is the second time his bestie has been killed by a treasure box. Would Caleb make the same sacrifice? Liam says in a spooky voice that nothing is as strong as the twin bond...but when Caleb goes into full-on survival mode where all emotions are pushed to the side, he doesn’t know what would happen. He knew he was with two very magical people who could work miracles and was focused on just getting her up the steps to them. Matt was sure everyone would figure it out and was shocked when no one checked it for traps.

The effect of the diamond on Nott being different from the diamond on Cad was flavor related to the Power Word Kill trap that was on the chest. He built the revivify around that imagery in the moment. A lot of Matt’s flavor text around spells is built around the moment, the characters themselves, their gods, etc. as much as possible.

Caleb is glad to find the signs of magic that may be able to return Nott to a halfling, but was way too concerned about the gem to think about anything else at that time.

Fanart of the Week: @acemasters4 on twitter for a beautiful pastel stylized portrait of Caduceus and mushrooms.

Ashley is almost here! Brian allllmost tells us how many days but refrains. COME BACK ASHLEY.

The Angel of Irons thread has been planned since the very beginning: everything with chains and hunger was planned. He pulled it together with Yasha when he realized they would mesh well. She had created her backstory, and as the campaign proceeded he was able to marry some threads together to make story points. Liam compliments Matt’s ability to weave character & world backstory together; specifically, the crystals in Caleb’s arms were Matt’s idea after Liam sent the first draft of his backstory to Matt. Liam loved it and ran with it.

Everyone is so excited that she is coming back and Matt won’t have to plan for her to be suddenly absent again.

In a moment that shakes my world, Matt is discovered to be wrong about what class of magic Cure Wounds is in 5e. The question is about how Halas’s comment on healing being necromantic is a throwback to older editions of D&D where CW was a necromancy spell, and Dani reveals to us all that in 5e it is now Invocation. Matt chooses to accept this as a deliberate throwback to older editions to emphasize that “man out of time” feel.

Chris Perkins apparently once described BWF’s personality as “Power Word Kill for someone’s joy.” He also apparently did MMA & figure skating, because why not.

Caleb’s reference to Jester suffering in the ruby was purely coincidental regarding her mother. He didn’t realize until it popped out of his mouth.

BWF talks about how he likes where the campaign is at. He has a weird gut feeling that something exciting is about to happen. “I’m finally invested in this campaign after 83 episodes.”

Everyone pauses to talk about how beautiful Matt’s hair is blowing in the wind. BWF tells a story about how based on how they were sitting in Undeadwood filming, Matt’s hair would blow ever-so-slightly in the A/C and people thought they did it on purpose.

Matt had a good time at Blizzcon! He was glad to see people gathering for the Hong Kong protests; he understands it’s a very complicated situation where the initial punishment was way too harsh and caused a ripple effect, but he was glad to see the space where the activism was welcomed in response.

Matt enjoyed cosplaying again for the first time in a long time, both at Blizzcon and as McCree for the Halloween episode. When he was buying adhesive a shop worker upsold him on an inferior product, which is why his beard started falling off during the show. Sad times, Matt. :(

And that’s all! Is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 245: The Second One

Previously on BnHA: We kicked off day one of New Internships with a fun-filled morning of shenanigans. Highlights included: (1) an old bearded man gallivanting around town telling everyone the world is going to end (and making a surprising amount of sense); (2) Bakugou and Deku attempting to rough up a group of impassioned hobos, only to have their thunder stolen from right underneath their noses; and (3) Hawks, the thunder-stealer himself, who proceeded to be all “what’s up fellas, hey Endeavor did you miss me?” Endeavor, who totally did miss him, pretended like he had not, and meanwhile Hawks introduced himself to Endeavor’s new trainees: Finger-Smashing Kid, Kid Who Used To Work For The Guy You Just Murdered, and Shouto (Just Shouto). Then he pulled out a copy of Re-Destro’s book and was all, “hey Endeavor have you heard of this book which was really important to the plot in the previous arc? I think you should read it, for reasons!!” and Endeavor just kind of stared at him, which wasn’t exactly inspiring. Anyways let’s see if these two idiots can manage to pull this off.

Today on BnHA: Hawks shoves the Liberation Army’s book into Endeavor’s hands while staring at him with the intensity of a thousand suns, and then, to avoid suspicion, proceeds to hand out another 500,000 copies of the book without even being asked. He then flies back to the PLF headquarters and is all “good news gentlemen, I gave out copies of the Army’s book to everyone in Japan!” and they’re all “that’s great, Hawks!” because somehow it turns out that this was actually a good plan. Back at the Endeavor Agency HQ, the kids meet Endeavor’s 30+ other sidekicks, who are all “now let’s all stand around and wait for Endeavor to tell us what to do.” Over in his office, Endeavor shrewdly deduces that Hawks was trying to tell him something, and pieces together the hidden code Hawks left in his book, which basically reads “IN FOUR MONTHS WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.” Back at the PLF, the League cheerfully discusses their plot to blow up the entire world come Springtime. Which apparently everyone is on board with. So, uh, does anyone else feel like they accidentally fell asleep during a really important part of the movie, because uh. What.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

okay so two things: (1) as I mentioned in a previous post, Caleb Cook reported that this chapter took him more than 4 times longer than usual to translate. so like, what does that mean?? guess we’re about to find out!

and (2) HAWKS’S REAL NAME. I started typing up this recap early just so I could liveblog my reaction, since it seems that the databook has leaked, and I figure I’m going to stumble across this sooner rather than later. so I’m just going to look it up now here goes!!

AHHHH TAKAMI KEIGO AHHHH

lol. I have no idea what that actually means. let me look up some more stuff about this

oooh thank you reddit!

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ooh damn, I love it!? “hawk” + “vision” lolol HORIKOSHI BACK AT IT AGAIN. but “watchman” is a really nice bonus what with how it relates both to the whole spying biz, and in a more general sense toward what he is trying to do as a hero trying to protect society. plus the name “Keigo” just has a really nice sound to it in general. kind of a boyish, youthful sound. not too hard or soft. idk. I like it. that was my favorite character in Bleach too

also apparently both of the kanji used for “Keigo” mean “enlightenment” oooh. my god I could analyze this all day. this being Thursday night, I’ll have some time to ruminate before I read the chapter tomorrow, so if I have any epiphanies I will add them in later!

(ETA: no additional thoughts on this right now, but there is now a ton of other content out from Ultra Analysis, so let’s take a quick look at some of that!

Haagen Dazs’s gender: I now feel vindicated in continuing to refer to him as a “he” even after the face reveal! let this be a lesson to everyone never to judge a shounen character solely by how pretty they are. not that it wouldn’t have been nice to have another female villain! anyways the important thing is that I still don’t have his name memorized and never will!

Thirteen’s gender?!: now this, I don’t really like. Thirteen was already in the previous databook IIRC and their gender was ambiguous. which to be frank was awesome. having a canon nonbinary character was sick. why you gotta do this now Horikoshi smdh.

Reason for Shouji’s mask: nooooo poor Shouji. people in quirk society are jerks! lol I get the arms being scary, but his face?? now I really want to see what he looks like though. it would be cool if he became more accepting of himself as a result of hanging with his chill classmates and decided to ditch the mask. anyways my boy needs a hug.

and there’s a lot of other stuff, including a whole series of cute segments showing the characters’ relationships with each other, but I think I’ll save those for another post because otherwise this would get way too off-track. but man, so far I’m really loving this.)

okay kiddos. it is now Friday, and time to take our horse to the hype town road. I have been waiting all fucking week for this shit so it had better not disappoint!

“Rising to Action” ooh, nice. guess this is not much of a “sit still” gang, here

okay so we’re picking off right where we left off, and guys, I just need to know, does anyone other than me find this kind of hilarious

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like, I don’t know why but just. Endeavor’s face. omg. he just looks like he’s trying so hard to figure out what’s wrong. I think what it is is that this is the exact same bemused/perplexed expression that Shouto gets on his face all the freaking time, and it just tickles me to no end that the apple apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree. ahh Shouto I know you don’t want to hear this but damn boy you look like your dad

anyways. I think we can all agree Endeavor should not be looking this adorable and what the hell. let’s move on

LOOOOOOL

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why is this so funny ahhhhhhh. they’re so fucking serious please stop. I mean, but of course they’re serious, though. the weird one is me, right? whatever!

so now here’s the handoff. between these two super-serious dudes

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Endeavor you had better not do like me and be all “of course I’ll read it!” fully intending to follow through (really!) but then you never do and everyone is super disappointed and you start to read something else instead, all the while feeling incredible guilt! my point is, Endeavor, I hope you don’t have ADHD or we’re all fucking screwed omg

lol though thankfully we have a backup!

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“oh boy!” clamors Deku, a gleam of excitement in his eye. “homework!”

OH MY GOD

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WHO ARE YOU, OPRAH

ff now he’s just SLAPPING THEM INTO THEIR HANDS omg. this is amazing

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love how Katsuki is keeping an extra 1.5 meters of space in between him and the others because cooties. or something

anyways! I really want them all to read it actually so this is awesome! KACCHAN YOU ESPECIALLY. I want you to read it and then give it a disgusted 1 star review on goodreads. show me how much you’ve grown kiddo

lmaooo

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Todoroki Shouto. god’s perfect idiot. bless this child. someone explained Occam’s razor to him one day, and he just sat there nodding like “yes that makes perfect sense” and proceeded to apply it to every fucking thing in his life from there on out. “what’s Hawks doing carrying around 10,000 copies of The Book of PLF and just handing them out to strangers like an old lady on Halloween? processing... processing... oh I see, he probably just REALLY LIKES THE BOOK how keen”

this is what Hawks is up against. this squad of certified morons with two whole brain cells shared among them on a good day. boy literally brought three backup secret messages just in case Endeavor was too dense to figure this out, only to watch these kids exclaim, with perfect sincerity, “GOSH, HAWKS MUST REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK, HUH”

and meanwhile the best Endeavor can do is “............something.......... feels.... off.......” fml. we’re all gonna die. Hawks, I’m sorry. you tried!! next time give Momo your secret message instead!

so now he says that he’s actually recommending this book to all of his acquaintances omg. don’t tell me this handsome canary is actually going around handing out books to every single person he knows?? all to cover up this one action of giving Endeavor the book with the secret message highlighted in it?? okay guys help me decide: is this brilliance or stupidity? like, what is even going on inside Hawks’s head. “I’ll just fly around handing out copies of Atlas Fucking Shrugged to everyone I meet. that’ll seem really natural”

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I s2g Endeavor if you don’t follow up on this...! THE WORLD IS COUNTING ON YOU YOU BIG MEATHEAD. GET TO READIN’. MAKE LEVAR PROUD

and now Hawks is flying away with his hands in his pockets

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godspeed you dramatically casual bastard

now Deku is all “you know, he’s not much older than us, but he really seems like he’s got his shit together!” which, yeah. don’t you hate that? the truth is though it’s all an act, and he’s actually just as screwed up as the rest of you! the moral is: never trust any 22-year-old who seems like they’ve got their shit together. because, no. he sits on a throne of lies

Endeavor are you actually being thoughtful??!

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oh my god. we may actually have a chance here. praise be

now we are cutting to the Endeavor agency! guys, fucking look at this fucking ‘E’, though

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ngl that shit is dope. I’m mad. I would buy his merch just for the logo and I hate that about myself

holy shit

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the... flaming hot... oh my god

holy shit there’s so many of them

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(ETA: hold up -- “Bakugou” and “Shouto”? this is a crucial detail here; they’re using Bakugou’s last name, but Shouto’s given name. so either they’re calling him Shouto because they know his pop, or -- more likely -- they’re calling him “Shouto” because that’s his hero name. in which case, “Bakugou” most likely also refers to “Bakugou” as in the hero name, not his actual name. meaning that still is his hero name. meaning he is still undecided. fucking... Katsuki. honey. why.

ffff and the new databook seems to support this too. instead of a hero name, Horikoshi just wrote “XXX” indicating he still hasn’t made up his mind. welp. looks like it’s back on that slow burn character development train, folks. maybe by the end of this arc, though? please? Horikoshi? Horikoshi damn it look at me.)

so this is how the number one operates, huh. meanwhile All Might only ever had one sidekick, and reluctantly at that. he really was so far out ahead of everyone else that he was basically untouchable. crazy

anyways, yes! they don’t know anything about anything so please teach them!

good grief this girl says Endeavor has over thirty sidekicks?? lmao and her name is “Burnin’.” please tell me the missing g is an actual part of her name please I need this

wow, Burnin’ really went and tried to pick a fight with my famously hot-tempered son knowing full well what his personality is like. and just look at him keeping his cool and firing back though

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oh, Katsuki. [hair ruffle] he will thrive here

damn these guys are passionate

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Endeavor seriously picked these people as his sidekicks? that Endeavor? they didn’t annoy the shit out of him?? that man is an enigma

btw can we all just stop here for a moment and give a shoutout to this horse-looking dude because. look at him. amazing. new fave

anyway so now the mummy-looking guy is explaining how they organize their shift schedule

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so professional. this really is the big leagues

yoooooo my boy is FIRED UP. READY TO SAVE SOME BITCHES! YESSSSS WIN AND RESCUE LET’S DO THIS

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LET’S FUCKING GOOOO omg I love him so much. Kacchan you need to cool it or I’m going to spend this whole fucking chapter ruffling your hair

(ETA: incidentally, here’s something I neglected to point out earlier: in spite of being a belligerent asshole in general, Katsuki for the most part is actually surprisingly respectful to most adults, especially heroes. so it’s interesting then that so far, this doesn’t seem to apply to Hawks. he almost seems to consider him another rival rather than another mentor/teacher-type figure to learn from. I wonder if this is because -- as Deku pointed out earlier this chapter -- Hawks is much closer to them in age than the other heroes. it’s interesting that that was pointed out -- and that in the very next panel Katsuki was grumbling about how Hawks pisses him off, at that.

anyway. this BakuHawks rivalry seems to be an established thing now, so I’m very curious to see how this develops.)

lol now Mummy Guy is all “that’s great! now we just need to wait for Endeavor to tell us what to do!” and Kacchan is like “WHAT”

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I mean, he’s got a point lol. “we’re so busy!” “great let’s get to work!” “actually we don’t have any work yet!” like, what a fucking tease. don’t worry Kacchan, they’re just waiting to make sure they assign you boys a job that’s plot-related so we don’t waste any time

ahhh, and now we finally come to the moment we’ve all been waiting for! the part that apparently took four hours to translate! ENDEAVOR READING A BOOK

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yeah he was acting like he had a freaking gun to his head. why don’t heroes have secret code phrases they can use to let each other know some weird fucking shit is up? or maybe they do, but since he’s being recorded and since PLF has some heroes on roster who probably know those same codes (looking at you, Slidin’), Hawks didn’t want to risk one of them figuring it out. that makes sense

ahhh, here we go

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don’t tell me Caleb tried to translate this whole thing. though I gotta admit I am hella curious

anyway. so the rest of this page is Endeavor metaing about Hawks, and it’s some good stuff, ngl

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he really is fond of him, huh. look at all those pictures. how many mental snapshots did you take of this kid smiling?? he’s so adopted it hurts

and look at the concern in that last panel! “why is he acting so weird, that’s not like him, I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” damn, Hawks really did put his trust in the exact right person and it’s paying off

ENDEAVOR STOP MAKING THESE SOFT WORRIED FACES ABOUT HAWKS RIGHT THIS INSTANT I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THESE FEELS

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god damn!! I don’t know why, but I continue to be surprised and impressed at how the character development of Endeavor is actually a subscribe and save deal and not just a one-time purchase. fucking look at Todoroki Enji, proud annual recipient of a different “world’s worst dad” mug every Father’s Day, actually caring enough about another human being to notice the subtle changes in his behavior and realize something is wrong. bruh. good for you!! human compassion is a damn good look for you, negl. fucking growth right here and I’m here for it

anyways, on to the hidden code!

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and here are all of the highlighted portions for your code-breaking pleasure

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fucking feel like I’m reading Detective Conan right now. yeesh

oooh!

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BINGPOT LOOOOOL WHY DID I GET SO EXCITED OKAY LET ME GO BACK AND READ!

“the” “enemy” “liberation” “army” ahhhhhh! HAWKS YOU SNEAKY SON OF A BITCH. GOOD JOB ENDEAVOR!

and now we’re cutting back to Hawks, nooooo I wanted to see Endeavor’s reaction! come on!

lmao although it’s worth it to see Hawks mentally roasting Endeavor exactly like I was mere pages ago omg

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his fucking face omg. that’s right Hawks, he’s not the brightest crayon in the box. not the sharpest tack in the bulletin board. he’s a few fries short of a happy meal. the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor

but give him some credit, though! because he did figure it out! not necessarily because he was clever, but because he knows you!

oh shit lol

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OH SO YOU PLANNED THAT PART TOO. WELL OKAY THEN

goddamn. he really is a clever bastard. and okay but in all seriousness, I fucking love that he has enough faith in this weird connection between them that out of all the ploys he could have gone with, this is what he chose. he seriously put all his eggs in the “Endeavor will figure it out from my face” basket. and it fucking paid off. this is awesome

AHHHHHHHHHHHH HERE WE GO

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LOOK AT HIS EYE OH MY GOD. YOU CAN SEE THE EXACT MOMENT WHEN HE REALIZES HOW SCREWED THEY ALL ARE, YES, FUCK, THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR OH GOD

and we’re cutting back to Hawks again! I’ll just assume the rest of his message went something like “we” “are” “boned” and Endeavor’s face was like :o

BACK AT THE OL’ VILLAIN HOTEL!!!

LOL WHAT IS THIS

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THEY HAVE A FUCKING COUNCIL NOW

whose seat is that over on the left? Hawks’s? is Gigantomachia actually wearing a shirt?? AND SHOW US TOMURA’S FACE HORIKOSHI YOU COWARD

lmao oh my god are they really buying this shit

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look at him. so trustworthy. nothing to suspect over here! just a 100% sincere born-again villain committed to the cause!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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NOOOOOO MY BABIES ARE EXPOSED. HORIKOSHI YOU BETTER PROTECT THEM I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

wow is the whole conversation just shifting over to the topic of Deku now, seriously?

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oh my god oh my god oh my god. like. it’s been so long since the forest lodge and Kamino that I almost forgot that the League already knows these kids. they did fight Deku and Shouto briefly in the woods, and then they had an extended fight against Katsuki later on, although Dabi was unconscious for that part. anyways, shit. just like that they’re on their radar again I’m getting chills omgggg

(ETA: at least they’re underestimating them, though. “looks like he hasn’t gotten much stronger.” boy have you not heard about his bloop? that bloop will fuck you up just you wait!)

so now have some weird panels of Hawks walking through a door

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(ETA: ohhhh you can see the door closing on the tip of his wing close-up! sneaky!)

ooh! wtf are you serious he can use his feathers to eavesdrop?!

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(ETA: it only just clicked on my second read-through that Spinner of all people appears to be the mastermind behind this plan? like, am I reading this right? is he Tomura’s second-in-command now or what? damn, boy, good for you.)

okay, question. if he could do this the entire time, why did they even need him to pretend to join the League at all? I guess you never know when having a man on the inside who can possibly influence their decision-making will come in handy. but still, it seems to me like he could have easily done the spying bit without ever having to join up. ehhh but I guess there’s probably a range limit, and too much risk of the feathers getting caught and destroyed... eh, fine. I’ll allow it

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

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WHAT THE FUCK WHAT EXCUSE ME WHAT?????

AND OF COURSE THAT’S THE END OF THE CHAPTER, LOL, FUCK. EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO STAND IN A CORNER AND SCREAM

lol “danger lurks” fucking you think?? what the hell! so they have an actual plan already, with the details outlined to the extent that they actually have a freaking timetable and everything? and the Liberation Army is on board with this whole thing too? the “destroying everything” part and all? this is too much to process all at once fuck me I can’t

okay! so four months from now is also when the kids will enter their second year! so that means Shinsou can get in on this action too. I’m trying to think of other significant plot things this could potentially imply, but none are coming to mind right now, other than it’ll be the anniversary of USJ. but that’s basically it. -- oh, wait, this also means that there’ll be a new first-year class of students at U.A. too! so that could be interesting. some potential new characters, and a chance for Deku and the others to be senpais. incidentally, to the best of my knowledge the kids will all stay in the same class and Aizawa will continue to be their homeroom teacher in year two. so nothing will change really aside from them becoming 2-A rather than 1-A. and Shinsou joining them, as mentioned. omg

anyway! let me see, any other stray thoughts before I wrap this up? I guess it’s worth noting that Toga’s eye is fine. the League has healed up pretty nicely in general actually. like, that’s seriously impressive for a group that doesn’t have Recovery Girl on staff. how long has it even been since Deika? a few weeks? this is almost ridiculous

and the “boom” -- is that literal? like they’re actually planning to blow everything up? or is that a metaphorical boom. fucking what kind of plan did they come up with where they actually think they can destroy THE ENTIRETY OF JAPAN all at once? is there a doomsday device?? what exactly is this “power” they’re talking about? HAWKS WHY DIDN’T YOU PUT THAT IN YOUR STUPID MESSAGE YOU BOOB

hahaha. anyways. it came down to the last two pages, but that certainly was a reveal worthy of all the hype. to sum: yikes

#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha 245 #hawks #endeavor #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I honestly can't even think of anything to put in the tags you guys #four months from now!!#BOOM #well all right then!#I'm sure deku can master the rest of ofa in four months #this is fine #anyways #everyone running from the plot now as it barrels toward them like the giant rock in indiana jones #god help us

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ronanivarsson · 4 years

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“I WAS BORN FOR SOMETHING GREATER THAN I WAS--AND GREATER I WOULD BECOME.” | MARY SHELLEY

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Ronan Ivarsson

MEANING:

RONAN ( IRISH ) - “LITTLE SEAL”

IVARSSON ( SWEDISH ) - “SON OF IVAR”

NICKNAME(S): Ronan has never had a nickname, and would never allow someone to call him by a nickname. He’s only ever been Ronan, even to both of his parents. The only acceptation would be if someone called him by his last name.

PREFERRED NAME(S): Ronan

BIRTH DATE: December 13th, 1980

AGE: 39

ZODIAC: Sagittarius

GENDER: Male

PRONOUNS: He / His

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual

NATIONALITY: Italian

ETHNICITY: Swedish

CURRENT LOCATION: Verona, Italy

LIVING CONDITIONS: Ronan lives in an expensive top floor penthouse near the center of Verona, which is furnished exactly to his tastes--dark wood, sleek metals, dark leather. He bought it shortly after being married to Lucien, but his husband rarely ever stays for more than a couple of days or weeks, which means that most of the time Ronan lives alone. It is also outfitted to be more accessible for him.

TITLE(S): Richard III, The Vice, Councilman

BACKGROUND

BIRTHPLACE / HOMETOWN: Stockholm, Sweden / Verona, Italy

SOCIAL CLASS: Ronan was born into a wealthy, upper class family, and his wealth has only increased since he became the sole bearer of that family name. He considers himself to be among Verona’s elite, though in the end he holds no love for that title--in his own mind, he is better than everyone in Verona.

EDUCATION LEVEL: Ronan graduated university with a degree in political science.

FATHER: Magnus Ivarsson

MOTHER: Joanna Ivarsson.

SIBLING(S): None as far as he knows, but his parents cheated on each other throughout their marriage, and his mother could have very well had other children without telling him.

CHILDREN: None

PET(S): None

OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: All of Ronan’s other relatives are back in Sweden, and he does not communicate with them. (No brothers or nephews to do anything horrible to--yet!)

PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS:

Caleb Tallmadge: An intern at the American embassy, who was Ronan’s first serious boyfriend right out of college.

Rafaella Capulet: The love of his life, his soulmate as far as he’s concerned. Their relationship deteriorated when he became a member of the Montagues, and with the exception of one night after Ronan became engaged to Lucien, they have not spoken since.

Lucien Ivarsson: Ronan’s husband, who he met shortly after things with Rafaella fell apart. Ronan fell out of love with him quickly, and their relationship is barely functional at the present--they appear in public together before going their separate ways, with the exception of rare moments where they fall together violently.

Renzo Carozza: A distraction bordering on an addiction.

ARRESTS?: None.

PRISON TIME?: None.

OCCUPATION + HOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: Ronan is an elected councilman in the city of Verona, and his family has several investments that he manages.

SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME: His salary as a Montague Soldato--a trifle in comparison to what he already has, however, he isn’t interested in earning money from the position.

CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: Ronan loves being the center of attention, and the power that he commands as a politician. His ambition extends far beyond his current office however, and he’d like to eventually run for more prestigious positions.

PAST JOB(S): Ronan interned with the mayor’s office right out of college, and steadily worked his way to his current position. He has only ever worked in politics.

SPENDING HABITS: Ronan felt like an outsider growing up, so he uses his money to purchase the life he feels like he deserves, the life he always wanted. As long as he has money, and lots of it, he feels safe--it’s as much an armor as the designer suits he puts on every day. He’s always aware of exactly how much he has, and ways that he could obtain more.

MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: A first edition of Frankenstein, his favorite novel. He bought it right after his mother died and he became the sole heir of the Ivarsson fortune.

SKILLS + ABILITIES

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: 4/10

Ronan was born with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, which means that the muscles of his arms and legs are very weak. He does what he can to stay as good of shape as possible, and he is capable of doing the bare minimum required of a Montague soldier.

OFFENSE: 4/10

Ronan would prefer not to get into a physical altercation, but he knows the bare minimum of fighting techniques. He can throw a punch with accuracy, that would hurt reasonably. His strength is his ability to see other people’s weaknesses fairly quickly, and fight cleverly.

DEFENSE: 5/10

Defense requires less physical exertion, which means Ronan is stronger in that area.

SPEED: 0/10

Ronan walks with a cane, and isn’t really capable of running.

INTELLIGENCE: 10/10

Because he can’t fight with his fists, Ronan made his mind into a weapon. He’s well read, he attended one of the finest universities where he attained excellent grades, and he is well studied in the arts of manipulation. He can read people’s facial expressions with astounding accuracy, he is excellent at verbally manipulating people into action, and more than anything, he is capable of inspiring great loyalty in people through deception, though words, through the weaknesses they were so certain they could hide. Its the same principle as your other senses heightening when one is deprived--Ronan couldn’t fight physically, so he made sure every other power he possessed worked at maximum capacity.

ACCURACY: 5/10

The muscles in Ronan’s arms and shoulders are weak, but he can sustain the position necessary to fire a gun long enough to be average with it.

AGILITY: 0/10

Ronan is not agile at all--his muscles are too weak to allow him to do anything agile.

STAMINA: 7/10

Ronan is used to pain--his spine and his shoulders, his legs, all cause him pain on a regular basis. His daily life requires an amount of stamina that the average person doesn’t have to exert.

TEAMWORK: 0/10

He allows others to think they’re working with him, that they’re part of a team with him, but he’s always looking out for himself and his own designs first and foremost. Other people are merely pieces he can move around, or discard, as they present themselves as useful to him.

TALENTS: Ronan is excellent at public speaking, and his public persona is very magnetic. He is skilled at manipulating people, at reading their faces, at ferreting out their weaknesses. He played the violin growing up and still plays occasionally when he needs to clear his mind, and he enjoys playing chess.

SHORTCOMINGS: Ronan is incredibly narcissistic, with little to no empathy for anyone. He cares exclusively for himself and the things that he wants, and he doesn’t care who he has to hurt, whatever he has to do, in order to get them. He is also incredibly greedy, and one of his primary interests is getting more money for himself.

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: Italian, Swedish, Latin, English

DRIVE?: No, he’s always had a driver.

JUMP-START A CAR?: No, that’s what mechanics or new cars are for.

CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: No.

RIDE A BICYCLE?: No, he physically can’t.

SWIM?: Yes.

PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: Yes, he plays the violin on occasion.

PLAY CHESS?: Yes, and at a high level.

BRAID HAIR?: No.

TIE A TIE?: Absolutely, a nice tie can make or break an outfit.

PICK A LOCK?: Yes.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE + CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: Joel Kinnaman

EYE COLOR: Brown

HAIR COLOR: Blonde

HAIR TYPE/STYLE: He likes to stay pretty trendy--his current haircut is short on the sides and long on top, slicked back.

GLASSES/CONTACTS?: None.

DOMINANT HAND: Right

HEIGHT: 6′2 at his full height, but he usually is hunched over to varying degrees, rendering him about 5′10-6′0 to the eye.

WEIGHT: 165

BUILD: He has a solid build, keeps what muscle he’s able to gain.

EXERCISE HABITS: Swimming, lifting weights, physical therapy.

SKIN TONE: Pale, but he tans pretty easily.

TATTOOS: None, mostly because of his physical condition--but that could change if he found a person he trusted to give him one ;)

PIERCINGS: None.

MARKS/SCARS: He has various scars from his work as a Montague soldier, and a few from when his mother was feeling particularly vindictive.

NOTABLE FEATURES: Keen and sharp eyes, a mouth that seems to always be smirking to some degree, a sharp jawline.

USUAL EXPRESSION: Pensive, like he’s looking for a weakness in your armor you didn’t even know you had, like he can see straight through you.

CLOTHING STYLE: Designer suits, designer t-shirts and jeans, luxurious fabrics that feel nice against his back and shoulders, expensive watches, silk ties, all neutral and dark colors. Even his casual is dressed up from the average person. He also has several different canes with different heads on them.

JEWELRY: He has a weakness for a nice watch, and if he’s in public he’s probably wearing his wedding ring. He also considers a cane as an accessory, and changes which one he uses depending on what he’s wearing.

MAKEUP: None.

ALLERGIES: None.

DIET: He never had to cook for himself, so he generally orders out from Verona’s nicer restaurants. He drinks socially, and doesn’t really indulge in sugar that often. If Lucien is there and feels like cooking, he’ll eat whatever his husband makes.

PHYSICAL AILMENTS: Ronan was born with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, which means the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and legs are weakened. His lower back is curved, and the bones of his shoulders protrude in something called “scapular winging”. He wears a back brace most of the time to prevent a pronounced hunch and to lessen the pain in his spine, and he attends physical therapy anywhere from once to three times a week to deal with it.

PSYCHOLOGY

JUNG TYPE: ENTP

ENNEAGRAM TYPE: Type 3, The Achiever. The success-oriented, pragmatic type: adaptable, excelling, driven, and image conscious.

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil

TEMPERAMENT: Choleric

ELEMENT: Fire

PRIMARY INTELLIGENCE TYPE: Intra-personal Intelligence.

MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: None officially diagnosed--a case could probably be made for narcissistic personality disorder.

SOCIABILITY: Ronan is very sociable--after being forced to the shadows throughout his entire childhood, he loves nothing more than commanding a room, than being the center of everyone’s attention. He doesn’t care about people on a deeper level than that, but he likes being around them--he’d be a terrible politician if he wasn’t able to make people believe that they liked him, that he had their best interests at heart. Again I quote Les Miserables, “He was a charming young man, capable of being terrible.”

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: Ronan doesn’t allow his emotion to get the better of him most of the time--he believes that emotion gets in the way of logic, prevents people from making the best, most rational decisions. He’d like to be cold and unfeeling, but more often than not his heart has a habit of getting in the way. He genuinely fell in love with Rafaella, it genuinely hurt when she left him, etc. He has a temper, but he’s worked very hard on keeping it under control.

OBSESSION(S): power and money, being understood.

COMPULSION(S): He doesn’t feel compelled to do anything--he refuses to be compelled to do anything. He is always in control.

PHOBIA(S): Failure, Irrelevance.

ADDICTION(S): Ronan isn’t addicted to anything.

DRUG USE: Nothing recreationally.

ALCOHOL USE: He drinks socially, but he likes to be fully in control, fully able to observe everyone and everything going on around him.

PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: Absolutely, violence is the quickest way to come to solutions, or to prove that you’re more powerful than your opponent. Violence is necessary if you want to get anywhere in Verona.

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: Clear, properly enunciated, verbose.

ACCENT: Italian

QUIRKS: Twisting his wedding ring, tapping his fingers against a nearby surface, never quite smiling, rubbing his hand over the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

HOBBIES: Reading, playing chess, playing the violin, occasionally strolling through art galleries. He doesn’t have a lot of leisure time, and prefers to be actively doing something useful.

NERVOUS TICKS: Twisting his wedding ring primarily, other than that he doesn’t like to show weakness, and has trained himself out of having a lot of ticks.

DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: Ronan was cast aside the minute he was born, told repeatedly that he was monstrous simply because of a twist of fate that he had no control over. He wants to prove just how monstrous he truly is, and that he is capable of so much more than anyone ever thought he would be--he wants to see the faces of everyone in Verona when the monster they created comes to his throne to lead them. He wants control of the Montagues, the Capulets, and he wants control of Verona.

FEARS: failure, being alone, becoming anything like either of his parents.

POSITIVE TRAITS: intelligent, charismatic, perceptive.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: manipulative, cruel, self-centered

SENSE OF HUMOR: dry, sarcastic, often at the expense of whoever he’s talking to.

DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: Not really, he thinks it betrays a lack of intelligence. But if he feels like the person he’s talking to will respond better to it, he’ll let something slip.

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY: Working, visiting Renzo at The Dark Lady, scheming.

ANIMAL: He compares himself to a wolf, or to a snake--vicious, hungry, frightening creatures.

BEVERAGE: Vodka Martini

BOOK: Frankenstein, Il Principe, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Memoirs of Hadrian, The Art of War, Wuthering Heights

COLOR: Navy Blue

DESIGNER: Yves St. Laurent, Burberry, Gucci

FOOD: Food isn’t really something he enjoys--its an annoyance he has to put up with in order to survive.

FLOWER: Hellebore

GEM: Sapphire

HOLIDAY: Ronan thinks holidays are trivial, and generally ignores them.

MOVIE: Todd Browning’s 1931 adaptation of Dracula, Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Lawrence of Arabia

QUOTE/SAYING:

“beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.”

-MARY SHELLEY, FRANKENSTEIN

SCENT: Amouage--Jubilation XXV Man

SPORT: None.

TELEVISION SHOW: Hannibal, Game of Thrones, The Tudors

WEATHER: Dark and stormy.

VACATION DESTINATION: His family owns property in Sweden that he has a few vaguely fond memories of. He also owns a place in Rome that he likes to go to when he needs space.

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: To basically fashion himself a kind of king in Verona. He may be named after Richard III, who tried to do the same thing, but Ronan vows that he will be successful where is namesake failed.

MOST AT EASE WHEN: He’s by himself and doesn’t have to wear any kind of mask--the only person he can fully trust is himself, therefore in private he puts forward the least amount of effort to disguise himself.

LEAST AT EASE WHEN: His family is mentioned--particularly anything having to do with their deaths. He used to be at ease whenever Lucien was around, but in the present he feels like he has to be on his guard, whenever his husband decides to show his face.

WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN: Someone manages to outplay him, to reveal his machinations and get him killed.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT: Being elected to the Verona city council, taking his family fortune for himself, becoming bigger than the abuse his parents hurled at him.

BIGGEST REGRET: Letting Rafaella walk away from him, marrying Lucien in an effort to fill the hole that she left.

TOP PRIORITIES: Ascending in the ranks, eliminating anyone who he sees as a potential threat, gathering allies to himself.

#diveronatask #THIS GLORIOUS SUN OF YORK | ABOUT #abuse tw

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eponymous-rose · 5 years

Text

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E55

This week’s guests are Laura Bailey and Taliesin Jaffe! This week’s theme: leaning hard into the post-con tired. This week’s conspiracy: beards. Why? How? WHEN?!

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Announcements: General Admission tickets for Gen Con on August 2nd go on sale tomorrow at 10 AM Eastern Time! Everyone was really blown away by the love at ECCC (over 200 people were at one of the CR cosplay meetups!). Kickstarter update: with 30 days left in the campaign, over $7.6m has been raised thus far. If the next stretch goal is hit, there will be an entire 10-episode series. Brian and Laura also know Ashley’s idea for a one-shot and he’s excited to see it happen.

There will be no episode on Thursday, March 28th and no TM on the following Tuesday due to family commitments and half the cast being out of town.

Without further ado, it’s time to discuss Episode 55: Duplicity!

This episode sets the campaign 2 record for most player d20 rolls at 211. 230 was the record number of d20 rolls in campaign 1, in episode 114. 752 damage was dealt by the Mighty Nein, 280 of which was against each other. Jester and Caduceus both dealt 44 damage, none of which was friendly fire. By the end of the episode, the M9 had 8 spell slots left among them (of 45 total).

Taliesin’s reaction to last episode: “Maaaan. Ow. That hurt.”

For Clay, Taliesin only keeps notes for things he thinks he’d pay attention to. He occasionally peeks at Laura’s notes, mostly for entertainment value. Sam has the most detailed notes at that table right now.

Laura’s strong reaction to Caleb going bad was partly Laura just “giving Liam a lot of shit, because we’re actually siblings,” but this kind of betrayal was also a new experience for Jester.

Are they feeling betrayed by the M9? Taliesin: “Nah, he had siblings, man. He’s fine.” Laura: “Jester does not have siblings. She was pretty distraught about Caleb doing that.”

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“This doll definitely comes alive at night.”

There is a very strange puppet show with Laura playing Caleb and Taliesin playing Jester until they decide it maybe makes more sense to swap.

Taliesin’s first thought with the explosive arrow was “Fuck, that’s expensive.” He knew Jester had the spell slot and he knew Clay would be okay. “That was not dumb. It would’ve been worse to be at the mercy of that creature there for a moment. I was toast no matter what. Better to do that there so we could get it in right away.” Laura points out that Sam had the explosive arrow prepped for that action regardless.

Jester is “definitely fighting the fear that she faces during battles now, because she feels mortal,” especially after seeing Caduceus fall. But at the same time, she is “at her core, a protector, both physically and emotionally, of people.”

Laura points out that she doesn’t heal in battle as much because she knows that she won’t be able to overcome the damage enemies are doing; it makes more sense to save lower-level spell slots to bring people back from unconsciousness than to heal people who are nearly down.

Gif of the Week: an extensive (and amazing) dice fail compilation!

Taliesin: “Oh man, that vision from the Wildmother was really good. That was Matt just giving me a big hug for everything that happened.” He’s excited to see some backstory hints there. “This is not what rattles him. Other things rattle him.” He’s of the opinion that grave clerics have probably been pushed to this place in ceremony a few times before.

Jester feels good about the revivify spell, but it’s also made the power of her abilities feel a lot more real. “Healing’s always second for her.”

Clay’s death experience was mainly just significant to him because it involved the Wildmother basically giving him a thumbs-up. “He definitely has a philosophy on the notion of destiny that’s very specific.” Taliesin’s excited to see how Caduceus will act if and when siblings show up. “I think he’s a trash fire. I don’t think this is the Caduceus you get when his siblings are around.”

Laura mentions the blood lust that comes up whenever Matt mentions that a baddie is “looking pretty rough”; it tends to make it tough to concentrate on anything else.

Fan Art of the Week: the revivify spell and Caduceus’ vision.

Jester’s bravery pre-dragon came from naiveté. Now it comes from love, and the people she surrounds herself with. “It’s like she’s trying to find the bravery herself.”

A question points out that Percy’s inventions indirectly led to Nott firing that explosive arrow... and hence he was somewhat responsible for killing his own character. “This is literally what the character was intended to do. This is literally what Percy was invented to do.” He absolutely thought last campaign that he may be killing a future character with his actions as Percy.

“Jester believes in the other gods. She just thinks that the Traveler is way cooler than any of them.” In her mind, the Wildmother has the same sort of relationship with Clay as she does with the Traveler. That’s why she immediately took the “go get his mom, he needs help” approach with her plea to the Traveler.

Is Caduceus holding a grudge against Nott? “I think there’ll be a little bit of a ‘hey, little buddy, be a little more careful there going forward’ talk.” But things happen.

Jester has had a bit of a “Fuck, I should have been there for Molly, too” reaction after the revivify.

In Clay’s mind, fiends are slightly better than the undead. “They’re better, but they don’t belong here. It’s like having an infestation in your home.”

“In retrospect, Nugget really should’ve stayed with Momma a little longer.” Sprinkle’s well-protected. “That’s how I’m saying Sprinkle is not dead.”

Taliesin has really been enjoying his first experience as a cleric. "There’s a lot of satisfaction to looking Matt in the eye and ruining something he’s been working on.”

Search for Grog Questions! CR1 SPOILERS ENSUE!

Taliesin and Laura felt like they didn’t miss a beat going back to Vex/Percy: “Fuckin’ power couple, man.”

Laura had no recollection of the joke about Percy losing his arm in the original episode and was extremely confused. Taliesin honestly didn’t believe Matt was going to do it, but he respects Sam’s commitment to the bit.

The Golden Snitch actually got stolen at some point when Matt’s car got broken into. Taliesin now has an Anti-Snitch that’s been working pretty well.

There’s some ideas thrown around about what to do with Percy’s arm. Some sort of greeter/wacky inflatable tube guy is the general consensus.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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