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marlasomething · 2 years

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The Line Is Erased: Day 23: Bring on the Monsters

Hello there! This is the first time I write a RQG fic and it’s going to be…rusty (NO IT’S NOT A PUN). Since I don’t want to be depressing AF and I FUCKING KNOW MYSELF, I am going to choose to write from outsider’s PoV, with a teeny tiny group of characters that just happen to be around on the background.

Also, after writing the first one I realised how much this podcast motivates me to keep saying “yes” to my friends’ campaigns and that is always a good choice for many reasons, so this is homage to all of us, people playing as our always very particular characters and suffering because of dices and masters!

So…that is that.

Here is my contribution for Day 23: Travel + To catch a breath; to rest and relax (at least, that was their intention), prompts given by @the-line-is-erased on Tumblr.

It is set about ep. 213-214; however, is kind of poorly mimicking Gifts! (204). BEWARE MY REFERENCE TO ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE

Do forgive me for any possible screw-ups (as well as for my quick tipper, non-native speaker writer).

Allons-y!

“Coming back to London had been a TERRIBLE idea” Yorick rolled their eyes as Nym complained for the umpteenth time. They knew the human could be annoying, but this was reaching another level…

“I don’t necessarily agree with that, after all, is our OG city, where we all met. Wouldn’t it be AMAZING IF WE ENDED HERE TOO?!” the tiefling was a bit overenthusiastic but, he had a point, this would make for a great song.

“You only say that because you had absolutely no rich men left to backstab in Lisbon, Saulis” continued Nym as they left their secret stances under the National Gallery.

Tara, as the tired leader she was, sighed her eyes and coughed.

“Ahem…the note said there was something waiting for us near the Thames, right?”

“Yeah, not suspicious at all.”

“I mean, Dryas smelled the thing or whatever and it had nothing to it, right?” the platypus-esque failed experiment nodded.

“So, we head there, right? I mean, you do. I’ll just follow along…”

“Oh, Vincent…”

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They didn’t actually need to reach the River, just as they were closing to the Parliament, they (barely) realised there was a table on a pub with their names on it…and some presents.

Everyone opened them with excitement, all being clearly great improvements for them but Yorick, as usual, zoned out of these mundane elements as soon as they saw their new viola with some magical and mechanical additions.

The songs they were going to compose with it (and the things they could do with it to keep the narrative of said tales interesting…) YES, THEY WOULD BE SOMEONE AGAIN! It was extremely sad that, the only thing people knew them for lately was the ballad they composed based on the stories they had come across this Sasha character Tara swore once kind of met and their own almost parodic adventures.

Then, that dammed dice sound filled their heads (and, if they had to bet, also their party’s), but everyone kept too focused on whatever they had been given except for them.

After all, they had to pay special attention to find their new great story…

…and they heard it. It was so loud they could hear it as if there was no glass between them and the streets of London.

They stood up (holding to the new viola as to precious life) and went outside to see…a dragon clumsily moving through the sky.

Some voices that sounded weirdly like theirs and their companions interrupted the moment, all complaining simultaneously until Nym’s voice made itself sound louder than the rest.

“Aurora no me jodas, Guivres?! Did you really have to make our characters suffer the Shrek-like deadly dragon?! They shouldn’t get so much into the actual show plot!”

“First of all, I allowed you to have a ghostly version of Vincent Van Gogh (which is wildly anachronistic and, well, just very personal fan service) just because you wanted your character to flirt with him…”

“…Nym really suits him!”

“Whatever. The thing is, I AM the GM, I rule over you.”

“You are worse than Alex, that’s what you are.”

“Shut it, Nym.”

Yorick blinked, confused.

Whatever that had been, it was over and now they should inform about the situation to the rest…they smirked; dragons always made good stories.

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Extra notes for flavour: Yorick is my character of a series of one-shots we sometimes play. They are basically the same as they seem in here (though the group is obviously different and it’s a D&D 5th Edition setting instead of Pathfinder). I love my bitchy selfish bard.

Also, yeah, I gave them a famous artist too because I CAN and Dryas (name after a character in the Olympus series –if you know Spanish, FIND THIS BOOKS THEY ARE JUST SO GOOD, THE LAST ONE BROKE MY HEART I LOVE IT-) is my little homage to Skraak…in a very weird way (animalesque NPC, ok? Let me be).

As usual, likes/kudos (depending if you are reading this on Tumblr or AO3), feedback and random comments ARE SO HIGHLY APPRECIATED.

The title of the story is from a song from the musical of Percy Jackson, which is just GOLDEN.

Now live in AO3!

Also, thanks to the TMA discord channel that posted this prompts! You are lovely, gracias!

Long life and prosperity,

Marla

#the line is erased #rqg #rqgaming #fanfic #rqg fic #rusty quill gaming

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author-archive · 4 years

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Author Interview: awickedplacethisis

Name: Simon

Tumblr: @awickedplacethisis

Where else you can find them: ao3

What is the main pairing you write for?

Harringrove - Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington from Stranger Things

What inspired you to start writing for them?

The obvious tension between them in the show, and all the queer subtext I could see in Billy’s character! Plus, of course, all the amazing creators I found in the fandom. I wanted to contribute too!

Do you remember the first fic you ever wrote?

The first fic I ever wrote was definitely something Harry Potter related. The first fic I SHARED was a Simon vs. fic I wrote when the book came out, when that fandom was even smaller than it still is.

What fic/scene has been the hardest for you to write and why?

Billy’s relationship with his dad is always a challenge for me to write. Because we saw so little of it, and the little we saw was a mess. There’s a lot that hits close to home, whenever I write Billy in general. When I look back to the first time I ever wrote their relationship, I just want to go back and change it all. It’s a struggle, to capture something real, there.

What inspires you?

When I write, I get a lot of inspiration from thoughts running around in my own head, true events or just random things that COULD happen, to me. To someone LIKE me. But also, a lot of the beautiful fanart in the fandom give me real good ideas for fics. Just generally in life, my inspiration comes from fiction, I think. I’ve always read a lot, and that feeling of seeing something on paper that could happen to you, or would never ever happen, having that grip you and keep you in a whole different world, that feeling means a lot to me. Literature plays a big part in all aspects of my life, in the end.

Do you have a writing process? If so, what's it like?

Oh... I don’t think I even know my own process, really. I try to always have something at hand, a phone or computer or notebook, so I can write down ideas as soon as inspiration hits. That’s probably the only consistent thing, I write down all my ideas, big ones or small ones, because I know I forget them within the minute if I don’t. And from there, I usually try to find the “eye of the storm” first. What does the whole fic revolve around? How does it come to that place? Why does it change? Honestly, my projects are messes right until they’re done. Snippets of dialogue here, some author notes to myself there, delusional 2 am writing hidden away in a corner.

How would you describe your writing style?

My writing style is... messy. But that’s why I like it. It’s filled with cut off thoughts and italics, ‘cause that’s how I think. And that’s how I’d like to imagine those characters think. It’s also slightly influenced by the poetry I read, and just other literature in general. All though I try to be careful when it comes to that, ‘cause I’d rather something be plain when it comes to wording, than to be all fancy in a way the characters would never think. My writing style is like mundane poetry, if that makes sense.

Is there anyone that influences your style?

Not really, at least not consciously. I definitely take up tips from other writers, both in fandom and published authors. I see things I like in someone else’s writing and remember it for the next time I write. Something I think influences me a little is “The book of disquiet” by Fernando Pessoa.

What's your favourite line that you've written? This was a tough one, really. Probably this one, from my fic “the first time I saw the ocean (it was in your eyes)”

“to find darker blue in the lighter, specs of green so vivid that it’s weird he’s never seen them before. Maybe he’s never really looked , before.”

It’s really not a deep line or anything, but it really just captures Steve’s unknowing longing. The way he wants but he doesn’t know what. The way he sees so much that he’s never seen before, doesn’t really know what to do with that.

What do you find to be the easiest part of writing?

I don’t know if it counts, but nsfw content is definitely the easiest and non challenging stuff for me to write. ‘Cause just on a base level, it doesn’t really hold any depth. It can, depending on what you do with it, how you write the characters inner turmoil and everythin’. Other than that, I feel like it’s easy for me to write dialogue, all sorts of it. As a theatre kid, scripts have always had a big appeal, I guess.

What's the hardest?

The hardest is definitely getting to the point. I’ll spend too many words on building up a backstory, and then the actual plot just never happens. Backstory can be nice, but some fics call for that “being plunged right into the chaos”, from the start.

Why do you write?

I write ‘cause I’ve learnt no one else is going to give me the fiction I want. No ones gonna write characters like me if I do nothing. Sure, it’s starting, the whole diversity thing. But I won’t sit around and hope someone will write a book or script a movie with characters I can see myself in. I’ll write it myself. Of course, writing is a passion of mine. It’s not just that I wanna see myself on a page or a screen. The way we have languages, ways of creating stories and immortalize them, it’s so amazing to me. And I love it.

Why do you share your work?

I share my work in hope to make someone feel something. I want people to read words I’ve put together and feel things, feel pain or happiness or sadness or hope. Anything. ‘Cause it’s so baffling to me that words can DO that. I also want other people to be able to see themselves in something. A lot of people turn to fanfiction to find some kinda story they can see themselves in, and if I make even one person feel like they belong thanks to my work, I’ve succeeded.

Is there anything you’d like to share from a current WIP?

I’ve got quite a few of ‘em, and too little organization to finish them. Here’s an excerpt from my fic “the first time you said sorry (you used all the wrong words)” - part 2 of my “a series of firsts (in a way)”

“Nothing changes, except Steve can’t stop thinking about it. And he’s great at not thinking about it, but blue eyes and rough hands and deft fingers keep following him. That feeling, too. The one that gripped him, locked him in place. It choked him, left him heaving. Maybe it’s ‘cause it was Hargrove. He’d find some way of hurting him, even if he didn’t pound his face in. Maybe it’s the queer thing. The thing he’s never, ever thought about. The thing he locked away, kept away. Maybe it’s a sign that he’s not, that it’s so wrong that his body protested against it, locked itself in.”

(Italics got removed, but you can imagine I overuse the hell outta them)

Question from an anon: as a gay man, how do you feel about straight women who enjoy m/m fanfiction?

Now, this is quite the heated subject. And I do have a lot of feelings about that. Both as a gay man, and as a fanfiction writer. First, and most importantly, if what you enjoy is not harmful to you or anyone else, it’s okay to enjoy it. I’m all for enjoying things. As a content provider, my whole goal is for people to enjoy themselves. And I’d never restrict my content to one group of people, ‘cause everyone has the right to consume free media, and I want to share my work with everyone.

Straight women have the same right to enjoy content as any other person. Whatever floats your boat, do that. But, one thing needs to be clear. Enjoying m/m fanfiction in itself is nothing more than that. It doesn’t make you an ally of the community, and it doesn’t make you apart of it. Honestly, its just fetishizing. If you consume gay porn, it’s ‘cause it gets you going. If a straight woman consciously searches out gay porn or m/m fan fiction, its fetishizing.

And the extreme fetishizing of gay men in media is a problem. We’ve been given breadcrumbs of representation only to now be used as bait for straight girls who think it’s just sooo cute to see Timothée Chalamet get fucked on screen. And I get angry about that. I get angry that the representation we need is redirected to other people, people who really don’t care about the community as a whole further than their cute gay (and cis, and white) couples. I hate that. But i can’t sit and pretend like I have some sort of moral high ground. ‘Cause I make content that feeds into that. But it’s different, with fanfiction. I make content for MYSELF, and then whoever sees it, good for them. If all of my readers were straight women, I’d be fine with that. As long as they know that all they do is enjoy porn that fits their fetish. Or, if its not the smut, its still to an extent that. Fetishizing or romanticizing a group of people. And you do you, as long as you know that’s all you do.

Enjoy the harmless content you want to enjoy. And fanfiction is harmless. Just, this is the important part, don’t act like you’re doing more than that. You’re not a gay icon or an ally or super woke for reading about two fictional characters who interacted once fuck. You’re enjoying yourself, and thats fine. But in the end, its nothing more than that. We’re a community, and you gotta stick up for everyone if you think you’re even close to an ‘ally’. Queer folk stick together. And when i say i don’t mind straight women reading my work, I gotta make one thing clear:

My work is to LGBT+ people, from someone in the community. I write because we deserve to see authentic people like us in fiction. And I’m doing my part to make at least one person feel like they can see a character and think “this is me”.

#awickedplacethisis #interview:awickedplacethisis #author interview #st author archive #staa #stranger things author archive #author archive

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beyondthetemples · 4 years

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Multimuse RP questions!

{{ I couldn’t figure out which RP blog to stick these on (since I have like. nine), so I figured I’d just skip to the Answering Part over here. =w=

Found here: https://memesfortheroleplayerssoul.tumblr.com/post/163688858676

is there a muse that you wish gets more attention? Honestly? Dove. There are a couple of people who've said they love reading about her, and I'm so absolutely eternally delighted for them, too deeply appreciative for words! A couple friends I met via rping her, and a couple friends I met in Certain discord servers, but that's about it anymore. But she's my baby, you know? I love her, she's amazing, and I wish more people took the time to write stories with her, because she just has so much potential! I mean, yeah, for angst of course, but also for healing and comfort, for action and fantasy, for mystical and mundane plots alike. She's so multi-faceted and fascinating to explore, I just... well, maybe it's more selfish in that I need help exploring some of the more mundane stuff with her. Because if it doesn't really Have Relevance to a Particular Plot, I generally won't wind up writing it, let alone publishing it. :P But this answer's already too long; I could rave about Dove for hours! All I'm trying to say is, I wish more people cared about OCs.

if you HAD to choose, who’s your favorite muse? Favorite to RP with? Far and away, Dove! Favorite for crack RPs, Srentha or Leyla. Favorite canon character is a GIGANTIC toss-up between Raven and Lapis. Favorite characters to explore for personal reasons are Ryou Bakura and Blue Diamond, but I have a hard time bringing myself to actually WRITE about them, for some reason...

is there a muse that not a lot of people roleplay with? (Besides the ones I haven't advertised? ^^';;) Maybe Phobia? She has only ever existed in comic canons-- though she WAS in the Teen Titans Go comics too! (The original series, not the... bastardization). Anyways, she's a much lesser-known muse. And my muse for her is wildly unreliable, she's a volatile and abrasive character, and my inspiration for her has run dry for awhile now...

if you HAD to choose, who’s your least favorite muse? Phobia. o_o See above, actually.

which one of your muses have you been playing the longest? Prooobably Dove? She was the one I started rping with, of course!

which one of your muses has the most ships? Ships in their canon, or ships in my rps? Because you're talking to a demigray here; I don't really do romance? But in my stories, Dove has 3 ships (all at different times in her life). In rps, Dove has been kinda-contemplating-it shipped a couple times, but never got to the point of, you know, kissing... and in fandom, Lapis probably has the most.

what is each of your muses’ otps? notps? ~ Dove and Srentha together~ (Don't have notps for them.) ~ Kary: food? sleep? Her canon boyfriend Eric ~ Leyla has a qpp named Toby in the stories. ~ Raven: I'm demonbirds trash. I don't even know how that happened, honestly. (Notps include B|BRae and, while not as strong of a NO in the jlvtt canon, ter/raven.) ~ Lapis Lazuli: OTP with Peridot! Intensely notp with jasper. ~ Blue Diamond: OTP with Yellow hardcore, no notps to speak of. ~ Phobia: Utterly unexplored??? I think she voluntarily abstains. ~ Ryou: OTP with Joey (thank my girlfriend for that one)! Notp with Yami Bakura, it’s absolutely 100% possibly my most violently-disgusted NOtp yet. Also with Diva because... What The Fuck??? But I won't rant about that just now. ~ Jess: I haven't really done much shipping, though Mistress and Trick are a hella canon, deeply bonded breeding couple. ~ Evangeline? Sorta-OTP with my gf's character Taex, though it's not exactly a ~romantic~ dynamic. Notp with Srentha, probably, considering she'd try to kill him, given the chance, and she’s pissed at Dove for marrying him.

why were you drawn to each one of your characters? Okay, listen, you can't just ask something like this and expect an easy answer! I could write an Actual Legitimate Essay on EACH ONE, because I only write a character when I'm Extremely Highkey Personally Emotionally Inspired by them!

UPDATE: I tried to summarize, I really did! But there's just so MUCH, and it turned into an essay on its own. --> https://beyondthetemples-ooc.tumblr.com/post/189837029682/why-were-you-drawn-to-each-one-of-your-characters

Summaries go like this: Dove is brave, complex enough to delve deeply in and constantly discover new facets of, and inspiring enough to create a positive experience while doing so. Srentha is fun, positive, and passionate, and legitimate ADHD representation. Leyla is a chill miracle child of creativity and quiet passion. Raven is the reason I'm still alive and perfectly reflected me at about age 14, so I have a very deep personal connection to her. Kary is so fun to explore because she's my polar opposite, as a temperamental pyrokinetic who revels in chaos and really just wants to have a good time. Evangeline is everything Dove suppresses, brought to life, so she's fun to explore as an extension of Dove! Lapis has a lot of struggles to explore and has done a lot of healing and growth that I'd like to expand on someday. Blue Diamond and Ryou Bakura were basically literally me, so I can explore the trauma and healing from their perspectives in a safe space. And Phobia? I just wanted to put characters' mettle to the test honestly, and see what would happen.

which muse is the most fun to write for? Oh, Srentha, absolutely hands down! Dove does have the best close-friends casual-fun kind of rp relationships, though. And Mistress the Mismagius has this sardonic teasing sense of humor that always makes me smile, especially with Murky (Murkrow).

is there another muse you’ve been thinking of adding or writing for? who? Oh stars, I don't need another one. =w= I've been... struggling to get my Ryou blog actually up and running for a long while now. Nobody new has inspired me lately, but I'm pretty stuck in my fandom ways.

what is something everyone should know about your muses before interacting? I stick it all in their bios! But, let's see... Dove: Even though she's Raven's half-sister, she keeps it DESPERATELY hidden, and nobody IC is supposed to know about that. Srentha is very deeply rooted in Azarathean pacifism and won't do much in battle besides help people retreat. Leyla has her father's heart condition and can't do anything too active. Kary will rarely use her powers, as conjuring even a simple spark stings her scar badly. Lapis is more than her toxic relationship! Blue Diamond is NOT the dictator she once was! Ryou does NOT want the spirit of the millennium ring in his life anymore! Jess just... sticks mostly to Sinnoh and rarely ever leaves. And Evangeline has a palpable evil aura about her; she makes SURE of it.

what’s a weird headcanon you have for each of your muses? Dove hates pie. Srentha loves colorful things. Leyla will cover everything in glitter if you let her. Kary will do anything for some good food and/or a nap. Ryou's hair is untamable. Lapis doesn't guard her gem as carefully as she should. Blue Diamond may be more emotional, but she won't sing about it as frequently as other Gems. Raven... doesn't wear underwear?

which muse has the most aus or verses? I mean, the Lapis I was writing for was 97% canon divergent. Evangeline only exists as her own person (and not merely a partition of Dove's mind) in a DCUO-compatible timeline. But I don't really do aus or verses otherwise; it's just more stressful for me.

can you sort your muses from youngest to oldest? Sorting based on the ages I'll generally play them: Leyla (8-14), Dove (15-25), Kary (18+), Ryou (19+), Srentha (20+), Jess (22+), Phobia (23+), Lapis (5k+), Blue Diamond (10k+).

which muse is most willing to fight another muse? Oh, definitely Kary. (She won't fight Dove or Leyla, even if there's a really good reason. And Srentha has this weird power of defusing her. But anyone else, she can easily be provoked to fight on a dime.) Or maybe Evangeline, who will fight anyone at any time for any reason whatsoever?

do your muses get along with each other? Evangeline gets along with nobody. Dove/Srentha/Leyla are all a very tight-knit family, and Kary considers herself Dove's sister and Leyla's aunt. I've thought about what might happen if Lapis met Blue Diamond, but I don’t have the faintest idea of how that'd go? I did start an RP once where Lapis met Dove, and I planned to have them bond over homesickness and purpose-seeking, but then I lost the ehd I had that prewritten on, and never had the heart to try rewriting it. Ryou and Jess kinda exist in their own universe's bubble. (Jess has a whole cast of Pokemon creature muses she very much gets along with, though~)

would you ship any of your muses together? who? Dove and Srentha are hella-canon endgame already, that's been decided for like 12 years!

for each muse, is there a character you wish had a blog so you could interact with them? You know, I've never really been one much for wishing like that. I do wish Dove had a stable Raven again, since both of my all-time favorite Raven rpers have left the rp circle... but that's about it, really.

have you ever considered making a multimuse/is it easier having a multimuse? I mean, my Pokemon blog has like 19 muses built into the breeding center... 8F But no, I prefer to keep my drafts, rps, and tag systems for each muse on separate sideblogs. Tumblr's tags break WAY too often to shove them all in one place. (And with a sideblog, I don't have to log in and out every time I want to check for replies!)

which muse is the most problematic towards other muses? Toss-up between Phobia and Evangeline, obviously. Blue Diamond is a reformed Gem, the way I play her. (I don't care what anyone says, THAT'S CANON as HELL too!) But Evangeline actively goes out of her way to hurt and/or sacrifice people to her own ends,

which muse is most likely to make new friends? Probably Leyla, though now that SU has sent out a message across the Gem universe that Gems are welcome on Earth, Lapis could wind up meeting quite a lot of new acquaintances. It's much harder to befriend her, though. Srentha has a lot of charismatic energy too, and he’ll go out and make friends with anyone, given the chance.

which muses’ fandom do you like the best? Ahhh, don't make me CHOOSE like that! ;; Fandom like being a fan of them, or fandom like, liking the other people in the fandom? Because Steven Universe, Teen Titans, and YuGiOh all have incredibly special places in my heart, while having Their Issues amongst the fandom... Pokemon seems to be the best mannered fandom though, especially amidst the RP community.

is there someone playing the same muse/s as you and you really look up to them? Ohgosh, well there's a blog called, I think, melancholeyes?, that plays Blue so well, it's like reading canon scenes. I did see a blog that played a Ryou I respected, but I can't remember their name... and of course Larissa and Pix played great Ravens, but each a different version.

which muse do people send the most asks for? Probably Dove, thanks in large part to Caleb!

which muse is most likely to have kids? Leyla is already Dove's kid, so... 8F

is there a rule that someone keeps breaking for your muses? Not to my knowledge, but my rules aren't strict anyways.

can you sort your muses from weakest to strongest? ...Oh, stars. How am I supposed to sort them? Well, let's try this.

Weakest to strongest in combat (based on their style of choice): Ryou, Leyla, Srentha, Phobia, Evangeline, Jess, Kary, Dove, Lapis, Blue Diamond, Raven. ( * i switched raven and blue diamond around SO many times. both are immensely powerful with god-like abilities, but raven can literally destroy reality itself. so...)

Weakest to strongest by strength of heart and character: Phobia, Evangeline, uh... Kary? Srentha...? Uh... frICK THIS ONE'S HARD. Because they're all so strong in their own ways. Probably Leyla? Next tier is probably Blue, Lapis, and Jess, and Dove, Raven, and Ryou are highest tier.

which muse are you considering deleting? Phobia, and maybe sometimes Blue. (I actually... never got a single RP or follower on Blue. I'm still debating if I really WANT to rp as her, at least on Tumblr, knowing how toxic the fandom can get around the Diamonds...)

most importantly, are you having fun playing each one of your muses? Pretty much! Especially Dove, Srentha, Leyla, and Raven!~ Raven's wit and clipped verbiage can be tricky to for me sometimes, but all it takes is a little tlc on her dialogue, and it doesn't slow down my enjoyment one bit. :} And when I'm in a Pokemon-hyperfocus mood, writing the Pokemon team is ALWAYS a blast! (Especially the Pokemon; their personalities are so dynamic together.) With muses like Lapis and Blue, and even Kary, the mood for their emotionality waxes and wanes, but I don't write for them unless I'm in The Right Frame of Mind to KEEP UP with them, you know? I never push myself in an rp until it's not fun anymore; at least I know where my writing burnout limits are.

Phobia and Evangeline are both sadistic, and when you're a compassionate person, that can be very hard to write out in the painstaking detail of my style. But sometimes my mind just Won't Shut UP about 'Vangie unless I WRITE IT OUT. Which is a good exercise of course, stretching my horizons and all that, and I do love writing the drama and conflict they stir up.

But beyond the momentary discomforts, I'm just so eager to explore their lives and minds and adventures, so yes, I absolutely DO have fun writing for each and every one!

#ooc rebloggables #questions list

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fountainpenguin · 5 years

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What do you think of TUFF Puppy? I see a lot of people give it flack for one reason or another, but do YOU think that’s warranted? Would you recommend the show at all? Hopefully that’s not a loaded questions. Thanks!

I was able to watch the show with my free 1-month trial on Hulu (as opposed to buying the episodes on Amazon or something), so that’s always nice, and it was a good way to keep entertained during my study breaks this semester.

I previously wrote out my general thoughts about “T.U.F.F.” in THIS post just after I finished my binge-watchif you’d like to read that too. I can expand on some thoughts in more detail more below the cut.

“T.U.F.F. Puppy” isn’t the first show that pops into my head as a recommendation for its genre (“WordGirl” is the superior crime-fighting cartoon in my mind). When it comes to secret agents, I do enjoy a good “Bruno the Kid” for its wit, slow burn character development, and the fact that some of its villains legitimately die. And when it comes to cartoons that really explore animal behavior and what it would be like to live in an anthro animal world, I’d point first to “My Gym Partner’s a Monkey.”

But for what it’s worth, “T.U.F.F. Puppy” was enjoyable. It didn’t feel like a repetitive Monster of the Week show and it had its share of fun and engaging plots. There were some worldbuilding elements I really enjoyed (such as laws protecting endangered species - including villains - and the aquarium doubling as prison for aquatic criminals). There were some fun animal behaviors that I enjoyed seeing anthropormorphized, such as Kitty bringing people dead mice to express affection and the Chief (who is a flea) sneaking drinks of Keswick’s blood when he gets hungry. Many of the jokes were creative and worked for me- for example, a background character ended up committing crimes solo for a day because his usual partners in crime were on jury duty.

It is a show aimed at 7-year-olds, so it has its share of simplistic characterizations, crude humor, and a preference for action over long-term character development. And blood. There will be blood.There are a few continuity issues as well, but they’re pretty minor details. If you’ve enjoyed the other Hartman shows and are itching for something to watch this summer, it’s a fun choice if you can find it for free. I will say that now that I’ve watched it, it’s fair game for headcanons and ‘fic allusions.

I’ve been re-watching the series with my little brother (skipping around to see my favorites instead of going chronologically this time) and it’s been enjoyable. He’s gotten really into it and we like quoting random lines at each other (There’s an entire song about how to defuse a nuclear bomb that we’re particularly fond of).

The way I see it, if you go into it with an open mind, you’ll enjoy it, and if you go into it looking for reasons to dislike it, you’ll find them. I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now and I think that “T.U.F.F.” might actually be my second favorite of the Hartman shows. I’m more biology-minded than tech-minded and worldbuilding-oriented than action-oriented. I could never get interested in much about “Danny Phantom” except Youngblood psychology, and as much as I adore Mikey being a manipulative narcissist, the rest of “Bunsen Is a Beast” is a little hit or miss for me.

I enjoyed how “T.U.F.F.” really drew me into the world. If you watch the show starting from Episode 1, you learn everyone’s names extremely quickly. That means every major character at T.U.F.F., every single villain, and every henchman every villain has. I believe the exteriors (and some interior rooms) of every major character’s home were seen within the first half of Season 1, except Keswick’s which was seen in Season 2. We even learned the streets of several major locations. Details like that helped strengthen my belief in the world and follow along without getting lost. Villains were often defeated through clever plots rather than just punching them into submission, which was nice too, and they were a nice blend of being goofy and legitimately threatening.

Feel free to skip anything containing the Caped Cod, though, because he’s a piece of work and you’re not missing much.

Character-wise, I would have liked to see more female characters, and more villains too. One of the awesome things about “WordGirl” is that is has a truly massive pool of villains to draw from, and they’re all fleshed out in lovely shades of moral gray. In “T.U.F.F.” you will get the same few villains over and over again, so you’d better learn to like them. Some of the villains didn’t appeal to me, while others are fascinating from a psychology / writing perspective.

I wasn’t very interested in Snaptrap (the show’s main antagonist) during my first watch. He’s your typical evil megalomaniac, but he’s also dumber than bricks and doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities to choose from. During my second watch, however, he’s grown on me. I’ve realized that I like him more when I listen to what he says instead of overthinking what he does. He’s probably the funniest character in the entire show, and has a whole slew of quirky lines like “If I’m so dumb, why have I been getting away with slowly poisoning you?” and “I love our new crib! It was an impulse buy. (Gasp!) We should steal a baby to put in it!” One of his quirks is that ambiguity trips him up, so he’s easily confused and has a lot of quasi-insightful thoughts about mundane things… it’s hilarious.

Snaptrap’s not that bright, but he’s incredibly impulsive with a knack for building destructive weapons and promptly losing them. He also has a streak of affection for kids and is a surprisingly good parent when put in that position (He’s absolutely the type who would encourage his kids to follow their dreams and would support them every step of the way, which is an interesting quality for a villain). Literally the first thing he did when he realized he’d accidentally cloned himself was send his clone into the world to live the happy life he didn’t get to have. He grows on me more and more each day. He’s fun.

I like the Chameleon (the second main antagonist of the show) a lot. I favor neutral characters, and the Chameleon tends to base his loyalties on the kindness others show him. Sadly for him, both the good guys and the bad guys find him clingy and annoying, so he ends up ping-ponging back and forth between whichever side he believes will cause him the least amount of pain (When he knows he’s upset powerful enemies, he’ll try to hide in either jail or witness protection to avoid facing consequences).

His motives for most crimes are hilariously petty. He’ll target vacation spots where he had a bad experience or attempt to burn the whole city because he thinks the heating company takes advantage of him for being cold-blooded. He’s the type of villain who commits international crimes purely to earn the “international criminal” bragging rights, but he’s also the type of villain who will drive random strangers to the airport mid-crime attempt despite it being out of his way. He’s described himself as someone who “doesn’t always make the best choices, but you just can’t help rooting for anyway.”

The Chameleon is arguably the smartest of the main villain trio, but his weakness is that he’ll let his “friends” walk all over him in a desperate attempt to maintain one-sided friendships. In Season 2 he got himself tangled in a terribly abusive relationship with his girlfriend and is completely in denial that she’s only interested in him for his money. He’s exactly the type of quirky villain I’m interested in. I’d love to tap inside his head for a ‘fic or two.

The third main villain, Bird Brain, isn’t one of my favorites. I did enjoy a lot of the minor villains, such as the members of F.L.O.P.P. (the Fiendish League of Potential Perpetrators) who think they’re way more evil than they really are. Meerkat is particularly interesting. He’s obviously in the criminal business for fame rather than fortune, but planning isn’t his strong suit. He can organize a get-together, put together an evil lair, scout for useful weapons, he’s great at pep talks, he has connections- he can do EVERYTHING on the spectrum to put a criminal organization in motion, except actually think up ambitious plans. He works so hard, but he’s his own worst enemy.

He’s like an evil secretary.He really needs a boss to design plans for him and keep him on track and pat him on the head and tell him he’s doing a good job. If Snaptrap ever took him into D.O.O.M. (and listened to him), he’d have organization and Meerkat would have muscle. Seeing ‘kat run with the big kids for a day would be interesting, I think.

Anyway, there’s a nice handful of engaging characters in the show and some fun episode plots as well. The worldbuilding is decent, though there’s still room for headcanons to expound upon. I’d recommend it to anyone who thinks they might like it, because if you have a good attitude, you’ll see it as a good show. It has its ups and downs, but it’s cute and clever overall. There are three seasons worth of episodes (Seasons 1 and 2 have 50 individual episodes each) so if you watch it, you’re sure to find something in there you enjoy!

#asks #Anon #Eyyy Hartman gang!#Spy dog show #Vile Verminious #Lonely lizard #No mere cat #The tag I should check later

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oumakokichi · 7 years

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I was wondering what you thought of the character Oowada Mondo? I was reading your meta of Celestia and i was wondering what you thought of him as a culprit?

Mondo isn’t exactly one of my favorite characters from dr1,but I do think he worked well as a culprit.

Sdr2 and ndrv3 both had stronger Chapter 2s in my opinion,but dr1 Chapter 2 still is pretty decent in its own way. Mostly, it suffersfrom the rather rushed relationship between Mondo and Ishimaru, as well as fromthe messy implications of Chihiro “hiding as a girl” to avoid being calledweak. But the former is something that several characters in the series havesuffered from, not just Mondo and Ishimaru, and the latter is unrelated to thequestion of Mondo’s character, so I won’t dwell on it too much.

In hindsight, I would say Mondo reads as a sort of prototypefor Juzo and Momota both. Like Juzo, he’s quick to anger, wants to solveproblems with his fists, and rarely thinks things through before rushing toaction—which can be useful, sometimes, but often leads him to more trouble thanit’s worth, and eventually does wind up being the reason that he commitsmurder.

There’s also the matter of Juzo being canonically confirmedgay, which adds another lens through which to view the sauna scene with Mondoand Ishimaru. While I do think the sauna scene was originally meant as a mix ofbaiting and comic relief, it’s true that Juzo and Mondo both deal heavily inrepressed emotions, and both feel like they would absolutely be better off deadif anyone knew their darkest secrets. Considering the heavy stigma associatedwith being openly gay in an environment very filled with toxic masculinity(like, for instance, a biker gang), there’s a lot of room to read into Mondo asa very closeted individual.

Meanwhile, Momota shares far more similarities in terms ofappearance and attitude with Leon at a first glance, but I think it’s true thathe and Mondo are both the characters that deal the most with “what it means tobe a man,” “real men keeping their promises, etc. He too shares many of thesame issues of toxic masculinity that Juzo and Mondo both do, though in Momota’scase, a lot of this is because his character is meant to imitate the “perfectshounen protag.” So the violence and harmful aspects of this character trait golargely unexplored with him.

Still, Mondo’s character was interesting to look at from theaspect of being a sort of prototype figure for future characters. I couldeasily see the similarities there on my recent dr1 reread, and it’s hard not tosympathize with him to some degree for falling so pitifully into the trap Junkoset with the “embarrassing secrets” motive in Chapter 2.

One of the things I like best about both the motive andMondo’s character though is perhaps the fact that his desperate need to be “strong”in the eyes of others ties in perfectly with DR’s more general commentary onsocietal pressure. The need to succeed in Japanese culture, both academicallyand socially, is incredibly strong, and not a laughing matter at all. Suiciderates among high schoolers and college students are extremely high in Japan. One of the things DR has always done verywell with as a franchise is commenting on this extreme societal pressure byputting it through the lens of “SHSL Talents” and kids who feel they have to bethe absolute best at what they do,otherwise they’ll be discarded by society as a whole.

Mondo’s obsession with strength reflected that societalpressure quite well, especially with its added layer of toxic masculinity.There’s nothing admirable or enviable about Mondo, by the time the trial ends:neither his strength nor his talent account for anything. He’s just… rather pathetic,really, a scared kid who snapped under pressure and killed someone weaker andsmaller than him, in order to try and prove himself strong. All his talk about “men’spromises” and “protecting the weak” ultimately amount to nothing, because itwas those things which drove him to want to take his secret of “killing hisbrother” with him to his grave in the first place.

And that hollow realization also embodies Junko’s idea of “despair”so well, especially in the first game. In sdr2, the motives were far morepointed and deliberate, usually guaranteed to target at least a few people, oreven one specific person. As Kodaka himself has said, Junko cared very littleabout the sdr2 kids overall. To her, they were small fry; her objective wassimply to get them back to the way they were, and especially to get Kamukuraback. The killing game was simply a means to pass the time until that happened.

But in dr1, the killing game itself is the end goal. Junko’stwisted “love” for her classmates is shown by the fact that she wanted them todespair on their own, through much more general, less targeted motives. Thefirst three chapters illustrate this particularly well: Leon, Mondo, and Celesall kill for very mundane, completely-avoidable reasons, like wanting toescape, the terror of a secret being exposed, or plain and simple greed.

If dr1 had been a tad more polished, I feel like Mondo could’vereally been shaped into a more interesting character. Sadly though, I don’tthink Chapter 2 ever really reached his full potential. The main redeemingpoint of his character was supposed to be his newfound bond with Ishimaru, andhis loyalty to both him and his gang members. But this aspect of his characterwasn’t explored almost at all; if anything, him killing Chihiro went directlyagainst what was expected of him as both a biker gang leader and a “real man.”

We’re not even really given an explanation as to why he and Ishimaru became so close inthe span of about a day or so. Sure, there’s room to read between the lines asto what might have happened in the sauna scene—but it’s ultimately all justspeculation. Had their interaction been more gradual, leading up to a moreunderstandable friendship (or more than that), that would’ve been understandable.

But it ultimately felt very flat in the end, as did Ishimaru’sbreakdown over his death. Rather than exploring Ishimaru’s character on hisown, he was mostly just there to mourn over Mondo’s instead, all without anyreal reason provided for it by the plot other than “they had one really sweatynight in the sauna that we mostly played for comic relief.”

We’re meant to feel sympathetic for Mondo in the end—arguablymore sympathetic than Leon, who tries to claim self-defense in Chapter 1 but isrightfully called out on having gone willingly back to his room to get thetools to hunt down Maizono in the bathroom and kill her, even though he had aperfect opportunity to run away without doing anything to her at all.

Mondo’s crime was unplanned, and took place in the heat ofthe moment, that much is certain. But his admission to it later on is somewhatmarred by the fact that he does, in fact, deny it fervently early on, eventrying to rush the trial by saying that Togami did it when the group discoversthat Togami posed the body. Despite his apparent guilt over what happened,there’s still undeniably an aspect of self-interest to his crime which is neveractually addressed within the trial much, and that makes it somewhat hard toconsider him as sympathetic of a character as the narrative tries to act.

Also, this is perhaps somewhat nitpicky, but his executionis… honestly really bad. It’s quite hard to take it seriously or read into itmuch when it’s based on a pretty racist folktale, and when it’s mostly meantfor funny meme material. This sort of bouncing between everything being a hugejoke and everything being actually, seriously traumatic is pretty ongoingwithin the whole Mondo-Ishimaru dynamic, though (Ishida is another example of “characterdevelopment” being done only as a joke).

In any case, these are pretty much my thoughts on Mondo! He’snot my least favorite character in DR by any means, or even in dr1, but I dofeel there was a lot that could’ve been improved about him, and about dr1Chapter 2 in general. Still, there areaspects and motifs about his character that I feel were reflected in characterswhich came after him, and I can respect that his character arc tied in quitewell with DR’s larger themes about the pressure to succeed, and how it oftencauses kids to snap and do things which they’re unable to take back.

I hope I was able to answer your question, anon! Thank youfor asking; it’s always really fun to be able to write meta about some of theother games sometimes!

#dr1 #dangan ronpa #danganronpa #mondo oowada #oowada mondo #my meta #okay to reblog #no spoilers in this one!#just a comparison to momota but nothing explicitly spoilery was said #anonymous

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jackalgirl · 5 years

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Bear With Me

You know those posts when people rave about something that’s been going on for a while as if it’s new because they’ve just discovered it? This may be that kind of a post for you, if you’re familiar with bullet journals.

If you aren’t, it’s basically an organizer. The system itself makes use of regular kinds of markings to indicate tasks, events, etc. But for me, there are two things that make bullet journals fundamentally different from the classic kinds of organizers I’ve bought at the Office Pr0n store* and then never actually used:

You buy a plain notebook in your desired size and figure out the layouts yourself, based on what it is that you want to keep track of. You can have a calendar, or task percent bars, a ledger to track spending, a calorie tracker, and so forth -- whatever it is you want to track.

You decorate it: colored pencils, pens, paint, washi tape, with hand-lettering or stamps or patterning -- there’s a zillion ways to go about it.

When I first heard about this, I have to admit, I was pretty dismissive of it. A quick Google of bullet journaling shows a large quantity of extremely beautiful, creative layouts that seemed to me to be so heavy on the inspirational quotations and trendy brush lettering that there wasn’t enough room for, you know, information, and it seemed to me that the point of it was to spend more time decorating the thing than actually using it. And there’s the trendy “#BuJo” hashtag. “Trendy” = uuuugh.

I think in hindsight that this was all probably a horrible attitude brought on by the inspirational quotes which, to a large part, make my skin crawl, perhaps due to overexposure in the workplace. ** And I’m probably definitely jealous of the artwork.***

But the bullet journal concept started because a person with autism (Ryder Carroll) needed to keep track of stuff (full story here), in a way that tied what he wanted to achieve with why he wanted to achieve it -- that constant linking of what and why kept him stocked up with motivation. That story caught me: I think I’m probably on the spectrum, although I’ve never been diagnosed, and recently I’ve had ever more trouble trying to keep track of stuff, to the point of acute emotional distress. Plus, I am 100% ALL IN on the idea of the importance of why (see Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why”).

So what the heck, thinks I, I’ll try this out. I bought a notebook, came up with a rudimentary layout based on a really basic description of two-page layouts (so that the entire conceptual element -- such as a week -- is visible at once).

My layouts are laughably simple and amateur (as the photo attests), but I have to say, I am a convert. And I will tell you why. It is because my journal is my mental plot.

The Plot

In warfare, you need a plot. You need a map, or a chart, or something, where you can visualize all of the things you need to keep track of. Ideally, you mark up the plot with the things that require calculation (”is the enemy within range of my weapons? Am I within range of theirs? When will that radar contact be within visual range of my lookouts, so I can try to get someone to visually identify it?” “How close am I to someone else’s territory?”). Calculations and overlays are things that computers are good at producing on displays (and you can do it with pencils and some tools). So the trick is to let them do that, so that when you have one of those very important questions, you don’t have to waste time doing the calculation yourself. You just look and lo, there is your answer, on your plot.

Using a plot frees up your brain from these mundane, computer-friendly tasks, to do the things that the computers (or charts) can’t do: identifying patterns. Recognizing behavior. Using observation & intuition to tell a story that you use to make tactical decisions and to anticipate future needs & actions. Thinking about the “what-ifs”, especially “what if I’m wrong about this?”. If you are spending all of your time trying to do the math to figure out if you’re still positioned where you’re supposed to be, or within a weapon range, or whatever, you will forever be behind the problem, struggling to keep up. You’re going to miss stuff, and it’s probably going to be dangerous.

This has been exactly the problem that has been causing me so much distress. I have a lot to do -- the work is complex and involved and I have to keep track of a zillion tasks, most of which cannot be completed without some kind of follow-up, which is yet another task. I’ve been trying to keep track of this mentally -- no wonder I’ve been so extremely anxious about forgetting stuff. No wonder that, up to this point, feeling like I’m on top of my tasks list has filled me with the dread certainty that it’s only because I’ve forgotten something (and I almost always have). My brain is simply not wired to keep track of a large quantity of tasks like this, and I’ve been trying to force it to, and that has not been working out well for me. I’ve been missing stuff, and it’s definitely been painful.

My bullet journal is my plot. It is extremely good at holding lists of tasks. Moving that list out of my brain and into the journal frees up my brain to actually think about things and especially to be creative, which is something that the crushing need to track tasks -- and the attendant anxiety -- had up to this point killed in me.

My journal is pretty simplistic, but that’s because I’m trying to maximize the space so that I have room to write down my tasks. I write in something like 4-pt lettering and I will fill each of those day boxes completely full with tasks. So I don’t have room for full- or half-page illustrations or motivational quotes at this point and I’m fine with that. Other people do, and that’s just fine, too.

It’s All About Dat Art

So, on to the second point as to why I am a bullet journal convert: doctors and colleagues have been telling me, for years, some variant of “you need to write stuff down”. Which I’ve tried to do, but I would always misplace the list, or forget to look at it, and it was just a bunch of scribbles anyway, so it was not useful. How is a bullet journal different?

Part of it is that there is now a system for categorizing and marking the types of entries. Plus, you design it for yourself, for your own goals: instant buy-in! But the REAL difference for me is in the art. Art is that great thing that ties together all other disciplines as an expression. You want to get to the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy in a heartbeat? Art is how you do it. Art is what keeps you coming back -- at least, it’s what keeps me coming back, wanting to scribble and tweak and decorate, and keeps me looking at the journal. It also makes me less likely to lose it: after all, I’ve put a considerable amount of work into inking and coloring the thing.

In Conclusion

I cannot overstate the effect that designing and decorating using this journal, as ludicrously basic as it is, has had on my anxiety level. I feel like a whole new person.

---------------

* Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, whatever

** And which probably explains my perverse love of demotivational posters.

*** I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and have not really truly used it -- at least not for painting -- in 20 years, as is probably obvious. Some of the art I’ve seen in Googling about bullet journals is absolutely gawwwjus

#bullet journal

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