#there's a few that feel thematically appropriate | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mtkay13 · 2 months

Text

Gonna post TWO hoboxus today because I CAN! (still desperately trying to catch up with my twitter posts LOL help I'm terrible at this)

From a meme based on art by KOTTERI, the author of Veil (among amazing other things). Find them on twitter @_K0TTERl_!

More musing below, as per usual! (Be ready it's a LONG one again)

I really hesitated with how I wanted to do this. The original had this gorgeous red poster that seemed like a perfect fit for WKX:

(@_K0TTERl_)

Either I went for the imagery of ZZS wistfully gazing upon the mysterious and eccentric WKX, which would definitely have been more aesthetic and undeniably fitting, or I went the semi-humorous route of channelling the "WKX fell for that ugly hobo and his gorgeous shoulder blades" meme-ified side of their dynamic.

Well, clearly that's where I ended up going, but I feel like explaining a bit.

For me, this picture was three-folds:

First part is the meme; it's kind of funny, kind of ridiculous, and sets the tone of what TYK starts off as; rather absurd, with its reasonable dose of dark humor, and the (at first seemingly improbable) meeting and love story between a silly dying hobo and a strange, suspicious, hedonistic gentleman. It felt thematically appropriate for TYK to twist the original image and put the obviously uglier one on the poster since TYK relies heavily on genre subversion to begin with.

Secondly, there is WKX. So, controversial opinion (/jk) but I don't think WKX was necessarily convinced or even really thought that ZZS was "a beauty" underneath his alleged mask. It was probably a mix of various feelings and teasing/provoking which lead to this joke. First, everything he expresses throughout the book and in extra 4; the fascination for this man who seemed too hide great strength and was of no known identity--who was probably more than what he seemed.

(I'm gonna push it just a little bit ((but isn't that the fun of literary interpretation)), but the "beauty under the mask" is not only physical. It could be a way to say, I think that beneath your raunchy, ridiculous attitude, beneath your gross appearance, beneath the pretense that you're a nobody, that you're a peasant, you're probably someone of great importance and great accomplishments, someone much stronger than you pretend to be--someone like me, perhaps, even. The shoulder blades references are, besides of course WKX *actually* noticing them, the observation of how ZZS moves, of how agile his body is, etc...)

Anyway-- the entire point of this intro is to say that to me, this isn't actually referring to that whole side of their dynamic (or not entirely), but rather to that passage that I am STILL OBSESSED WITH where Wen Kexing recognizes ZZS just from the way he's sitting in a restaurant, and that makes him feel things not entirely positive:

Zhou Zishu stepped into an inn alone. He chose a seat by a window, ordered a few side dishes and a jug of mulled rice wine, and drank it slowly while soaking in the sunshine. As soon as Wen Kexing walked in, he saw Zhou Zishu from behind. He didn’t know why, but he thought that this view was quite special—he could always pick it out of a crowd. Zhou Zishu did not sit with his back straight. Most of the time, he lounged indolently at an angle that looked exceptionally comfortable. Wen Kexing thought that it seemed as though nothing weighed on him; seeing him was enough to ease the heart. Wen Kexing unconsciously halted his steps. He stared at Zhou Zishu’s relaxed silhouette for a while, with no trace of an expression in his face or eyes. His heart swelled with some strange feeling—strange, in that it was no feeling at all. He felt as though this man was mocking him with this wordless posture; he who rushed around for one thing or another, who was burdened with so many cares, yet obstinately put on a devil-may-care persona. Zhou Xu—as carefree as duckweed, he thought, with a body like willow catkins. In all the world, with its boundless perspectives, where could you find someone who walked their path alone and never allowed anything to trouble them? Yet he was not apathetic—he had his joy, his anger, his sorrow—and they came in a flash as quickly as they went. Within the blink of an eye, he had forgotten it already.

(Tian Ya Ke, chapter 18, TL by Lianzi) (have I quoted this already??? If not I should have I love this passage so much)

AND THEN QUOTING ANOTHER PASSAGE (LOL), TL by me this time:

From the moment he'd noticed his shoulderblades, felt this rush of excitement, to when he'd started liking who Zhou Zishu was, when he'd thought——so this is the Commander of Tian Chuang. Suddenly, he'd felt as if he'd met his other self. Both of them, lone wolves caught in a hunter's trap, struggling for freedom to no avail, until they had resolved to coldly gnawing off their own legs in the end. He'd felt compelled to follow him around, watched him, until he suddenly realised—if Zhou Zishu could live like this, then surely, so could he?

(Full passage in this other post LOL)

So yes, THIS. Those two things. That's it. Need I say more? HAH OF COURSE I DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO (help)

More seriously--the way WKX is captivated by ZZS' apparent carefreeness and freedom, all the different feelings (or absence thereof, as he puts it, which I interpret as so distant from what he's used to feel that it almost feels like nothing at all) is what I was going for here.... By not showing his face at all LMAO

The envy, the frustration--the impression of being mocked, but also the longing, how it inspired him to follow along and try to be free like he was.

-cough- yes, so that was point 2 out of 3.

Now lastly, about ZZS himself and my representation of him as hoboxu. I think (?) I've written enough about him that I think I can keep this succint. I love how priest often makes a point of expliciting, in the book, how he's so often smiling, and how he's always incredibly energetic in the morning, as if the night of pain had never happened. I like to think that hoboxu is both a carricature of a ridiculous character that ZZS has fun embodying---but also a liberated expression of his deeper self.

WKX feels like he's mocking him, but ZZS is also mocking himself relentlessly, when he feels like the outside resembles the inside finally, when he feels ridiculous in these new robes, when he allows himself the most outrageous behavior---and then there's mocking life itself, mocking jianghu, mocking everything that he nonetheless deeply cherishes. It's almost... gently mocking, affectionate mocking of everything because his own life has become a joke yet he's still going to enjoy it to the fullest--drinking to his heart's content, rolling in the mud and visiting touristy sites (or so he intended).

In the end... the world is still in his own hands. He chose everything, chose the way he lived, the way he (would have) died and still has the power to dissappear at will--but he stays. Stays and endures what he pretends annoys him, because he can't help himself, because he's ridiculous and is aware of it and may as well have some fun while being so.

I can't seem to ever have enough of this, of this vibe. I wanted to have him laugh at and with WKX, at and with the people seeing him, at and with himself, at and with the narrative.

SO YEAH HAH THATS HUM THAT'S IT. You know what they say, it's only a fun meme if there's an essay behind it (noone says that help 😭😭😭😭)

I hope you had fun reading it and have a nice weeked 🤪

#tian ya ke #tyk #zhou zishu #wen kexing #wenzhou #zzs #wkx #meta #LOTS OF META LOL

169 notes · View notes

otherswap · 6 months

Text

Happy 5th anniversary to DELTARUNE Chapter 1! To celebrate I've drawn a few festive pictures! I'm playing with the idea that Forestgrove is Halloween-themed to match with New Home/The Capital being Christmas-themed.

In case you didn't check your mail or hear the news, we got a cool little Halloween newsletter from Toby last night! I swear to you I had these sketched before the newsletter went out I just planned to post them today because, well, it's Halloween. I'd say it's too bad that we don't have a newsletter too, but also we don't really have anything to report on.

Admittedly I've been a bit behind on OTHERSWAP things because I've been busy with other interests & hobbies, but maybe we'll have something nice by the end of the year! Maybe. It'd be thematically appropriate at least.

As always, feel free to ask us anything about the AU or even just to say hi! With the news that Chapter 3 & 4 are well underway (maybe even releasing sooner than we expected since 5 is getting dropped from this release?!) I hope we get some more info about the Holidays.

#otherswap #undertale au #undertale #utdr #glam dummy #noteblook

225 notes · View notes

hongluboobs · 6 months

Text

ok i was cooking up another hong lu analysis thing bc i noticed SEVERAL things in his base id art the other day and wanted to share with the class but they just dropped a new one in the canto V trailer and i have some stuff i wanna talk about that one:)

My Hong Lu knowledge and interpretation is very heavily influenced by reading Dream of the Red Chamber, which may not be the best because I don’t know how much Limbus will pull from the book because it’s Long as fuck but I think it’s given me a deeper knowledge of Hong Lu.

Keep in mind this ego is NOT out yet so i could be totally off base depending on what the full animation/corrosion/sin affinities are like and this is totally theorizing but I wanted to have a go at anyway!! And this got totally out of hand so reading is appreciated :)

One of the first things I noticed here is this Hong Lu seems VERY Bao-yu. We still don’t know for sure what Hong Lu is within the context of Red Chamber (i don’t think it’ll be straightforward considering how that book works) but it’s important to note!

He has this little hat on (this is the best pic i can get atm to show it’s not a fancy hair tie, unfortunately the footage we have rn is a little scuffed)

and Bao-yu is ALWAYS depicted with a hat like this.

This could just be because that’s the appropriate outfit for Chinese nobility (I unfortunately have little to no reference point here, feel free to correct me, but from some quick searches hats aren’t ubiquitous and ESPECIALLY not ones of this style.) I think it’s worth noting because it comes up in nearly all modern depictions of Bao-yu.

There’s also the pearl Hong Lu is wearing on his neck/chest area, which is where Bao-yu wears the magic jade he was born with. His jade is translated into Limbus as Hong Lu’s jade eye, but this plus his hat and the abno’s themes REALLY makes me think we are dealing with some Bao-Yu stuff here.

Speaking of the Abno’s themes, now i can actually go over them! All we have for Walking Pearl right now is the MD event (as well as general observation), but there’s a few things that are relevant.

Just based off design, the abnormality seems to be mostly about the precious (the pearl) and the filth (the muck) intermixing. which makes sense with the EGO being named “Effervescent Corrosion” and our holders being Hong Lu and Rodya.

There’s some symbolism around greed/wealth (the offspring filled muck desiring the pearl and fighting for which one will earn it? the muck tarnishing the pearl? ) and I think we should read into that because it’s Hong Lu and Rodya who have this one and they’re both very tied to their financial status. Those two sharing an ego makes me insane for a bunch of reasons but that’s probably for another analysis piece! But duality is REALLY important for those guys and that’s a theme they’re emphasizing here with both the pearl and muck within the clam.

There’s also some elements of shelter/protection/potentially entrapment with the clam’s shell which are HUGE for Hong Lu, especially with his egos so I think those may come up.

But mostly it’s about the mixing of the precious (likely “wealth” here) and the unsavory, which works very well with what we know of the Jia family. The design likely referencing Bao-yu and thematically dealing with the Jia family makes me think each of those individual readings are more likely because they’re deeply tied together!

And now onto the MD event! I did not write this in order so I may repeat stuff here but. I realized I had to cover the design first so here we are!

First thing that stuck out of me is this portion when you choose to sample some of the clam’s slime.

Sibling/family infighting is very Jia family. It reminds me a lot of this line base Hong Lu says.

You could take this a step further because the clam is something that would typically offer shelter from the rest of the world, and even though it protects, its offspring continue to kill and eat each other.

It seems fine, the offspring have this lovely shell for protection, and they have the precious pearl held within, but even as they are sheltered and wealthy. They are still getting killed and eaten by one another! Reminds me of someone I know:)

It reminds me of some bits in the later half of Red Chamber, where family members more obviously start acting behind each other’s backs or turning on each other, some even killing other family members.

Another part of the MD event that I got something out of was the beginning portion.

using specifically jade as the color for the seawater is a Hong Lu thing. I may be reaching with this bc it’s more than likely just flavor text BUT when taking this color with the fact that there’s nothing in the water it makes me think of an important scene in Red Chamber where Bao-Yu is described as an empty shell, so I wanted to mention it. We know Hong Lu has TONS of water motifs, especially when relating to his family (see his base ego)

The main reason I brought up this section of the MD event is because of the question brought up by the last portion.

If you take one thing from Dream Of The Red Chamber into your perception of Hong Lu as a character, it should be the themes of ambiguity, duality, and being between binaries. Because he sure as hell does that a lot!!! (and i’m not just talking about his gender) He is both genuinely curious and sheltered with an urge to learn as much as he can, but he also plays dumb frequently, backpedals and asks a lot of stupid questions on purpose to maintain others’ perceptions of him. He is CONSTANTLY walking the line between truth and illusion and it can be hard to tell which is which and precisely how much is fake or real, which is why I find him such an interesting character to think about.

Tangent about Hong Lu's characterization aside, it's really easy to read this line as about his family's perceptions of him.

Hong Lu (or rather, Bao-yu) can be read as being the source of the contamination in that he is the heir of the Jia family who is just an absolute fucking failure of everything you’d want in an heir for that time period.

The clam containing the filth can be read as Hong Lu’s lies (whether conscious lies or otherwise) to himself and others about the true “filth” of his family. Really good example of this is with another bit of window dialogue, but these lies and half truths come up quite a bit if you know where to look. (what happened to cohort of kin looking to stab each other in the back at every turn???)

We already have Hong Lu’s assorted water motifs (his feet make ripples on the water in his base id, land of illusion has so much water theming and shows the Jia mansion is surrounded by water) so I think this is a reasonable analysis to make :)

There’s some other sections to the MD event, but there’s nothing of note that triggered the Hong Lu sleeper agent in my brain & also this has gone on long enough that I wanna talk about predicting some stuff for the ego!

I am manifesting Gluttony/Gloom/Wrath for this ego!!

Gluttony and gloom are in the MD event’s skill check already and I think tie in nicely with the themes. Gluttony works with the offspring in the muck killing and eating each other and themes of greed with the pearl (plus the ego is primarily green and that’s a pretty good clue) and then gloom comes up a LOT with Hong Lu’s family (Liu Hong Lu, the only one that remarks on his jade eye, is also the only Hong Lu with gloom. land of illusion requires 5 gloom resources and also relates a lot to red chamber/his family) Gloom’s also generally a stand-in for water which exists here.

Wrath in Hong Lu generally manifests in him going “yeah, maybe my family was a little fucked up actually” internally, instead of manifesting as taking direct action about the fucked up things like it works for most other sinners, and acknowledging that his family was at least partially filth and killing and eating eachother (metaphorically. maybe literally) works for that

i am not an expert on sin analysis but i wanted to take a prediction bc it’s fun :)

I have a couple of predictions for corrosion and i’ll be real they are the main reason i wrote this thing because i LOVE when bad things happen to Hong Lu!!

Since this ego seems to be referencing Bao-yu so much i can pull stuff from Red Chamber too which makes it more fun :)

First one I came up with is Hong Lu taking the place of the pearl within the clam and getting locked in there! A bunch of his egos have to do with being controlled/trapped so i think it works and it also can work as a parallel for Bao-yu’s treatment by his family. Bao-yu’s name means precious jade, and he’s often treated more like his namesake than a person, heavily controlled and never allowed to leave the Jia mansion (or, in this case, the clam.) I just think it’d be fun!

My other concept has to do with more Red Chamber stuff, notably what happens when Bao-yu loses his jade. I’m not quite there yet in the text, but from what i’ve heard he becomes incredibly unstable and essentially loses his mind. This sets the Jia family’s downfall into even faster motion and from that point things get REALLY fucked up. Since the pearl here parallels Bao-yu’s jade, I think having a reference to that part of the book would be really fucking crazy for all 5 people who have read 1800+ pages of red chanber to get to chapter 94 where he loses that thing. Also i just want to see Hong Lu lose his mind i KNOW it would be terrifying and chilling. but they may be saving that for his distortion (manifesting)

In my skimming Red Chamber table of contents to find when Bao-yu loses his jade i just found a chapter where Bao-yu’s father admires a pearl but we will just ignore that for now bc this has taken long enough to type already and that is several chapters off. but there may be more analysis when this thing actually comes out!

Thank you for reading this far!! I hope you enjoyed me looking far too deep into an unreleased ego we know next to nothing about for fun! this took WAY longer than expected to type out but i’m glad I did because I loveee telling people about Hong Lu!

There is a very real chance very little of my analysis and prediction is reflected in canon BUT please remember that truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true and even if this doesn’t turn out to be correct now u know a little more about Hong Lu and the themes he plays with :)

#limbus company #hong lu #hong lu lcb #limbus analysis #effervescent corrosion #analysis #limbus company analysis #my analysis #pachiposting #idk what tags people use!!! this deleted on me halfway thru and i type slow so weiting this was a miracle #i think i’m cooking here. i love analyzing #fighting for my life to upload the. ugly clam theory lore

203 notes · View notes

lynxgriffin · 7 months

Note

Since we've got plenty of time to reflect, who do you the Knight is? (I'm very much hoping it's Papyrus)

Okay! So!

While I uh, think that Jaru is super wrong on almost all his theories, I've got one major exception where I think he is correct, and that’s the identity of the Knight:

(This is kinda long, so going under the read more)

Namely, that the Knight is Gerson’s soul tied to a particular object and brought to life in the Dark World. Although for me personally, I’m going to tweak that idea quite a bit because I think it can actually tie in really nicely with my current theories on Ralsei’s identity and nature.

We keep getting little references to Gerson brought up here and there in both chapters: there’s a drawing of a turtle monster in the abandoned classroom, done by Alvin. It’s presumably either Alvin himself or his dad, Gerson, and I’m guessing it’s the latter. We have books written by Gerson in multiple places, a memorial bench for him, and then Alvin’s conversation about him in the graveyard by his headstone. Alvin also mumbles something about “did I do the right thing?” to Gerson’s grave. As long as you initiate a conversation with Alvin, the game makes sure that you don't miss that extra bit, which is a little telling.

We know that Gerson was originally a historian, and then later turned to writing fiction, and wrote a beloved fiction series that fans still send his family letters about after his death.

What do we know about the nature of the Dark Worlds? They’re basically imagination and fantasy brought to life. While they certainly seem to have a full history outside of what we experience, with characters that remember each other even from other Dark Worlds, they’re only “given form” when a dark fountain is opened. Any Lightner with determination can stab the earth, and a dark, inky substance can spew from it and give a world of fantasy its own form. The Darkners frequently talk about how Lightners give them direction and purpose in their lives.

So…question! How many of you have used a fountain pen?

I have used those before. They’re quite sharp, and using them very often feels like scratching or stabbing the paper. Black ink spews forth, and from this black ink…you can create whole worlds of fiction! Worlds that other people can interact with!

We know that Gerson wrote beloved fiction well into his old age. What if he knew his time was coming, but still had stories to tell? What if he didn’t want to stop? Alvin says how his dust was sprinkled on a hammer and buried in the earth, and that this is considered the appropriate monster cultural ritual for helping a soul pass to the afterlife. But Alvin also appears to have done something that is still really troubling him. Maybe Alvin, either at his father's request or based on his own wants, didn’t actually follow the appropriate cultural funeral rites, and somehow helped his father’s soul attach to a different beloved object…a fountain pen that he’d use to write down his story ideas. And if that object gets brought to life with a dark fountain, you could get the Knight: the soul of a writer, filtered exclusively through their favorite writing tool, unwilling to stop creating.

I think it would make sense on a few logical and thematic levels:

It explains how the Knight is able to get around and open the fountains: the same way that Ralsei is able to do the weird things he does. They’re both Darkners carrying Lightner souls, so they can bend the rules.

It explains Queen’s insistence that Lightners are the ones that can create fountains, while King hates Lightners but seems to fully trust the Knight…a Darkner with a Lightner soul can meet both those people's expectations.

It sets up the Knight as a foil to Ralsei: they’re both the same kind of special Dark World being, both believing that they are fulfilling their roles and serving the Lightners, but coming to vastly different conclusions about how to do that.

It explains the Knight’s motivations: not that he’s actually trying to destroy the world or anything, but that he’s trying to serve the Lightners. He knows very well how much joy and positivity his fiction has brought to Lightners in the past. How could more of that be anything bad? This is his purpose, what he was made to do. Not doing it is virtually unthinkable.

And I think that in turn keeps him following in the footsteps of how Toby usually writes his villains…rarely if ever fully malicious, but utterly convinced that they’re doing the right thing, or that they have no choice in the matter.

And of course that ties in with one of Deltarune’s themes: the balance between reality and fantasy. The Knight has no more ties with reality, and therefore is focused exclusively on creating more fantasy and having it supplant reality, upsetting the balance between them.

And this is extremely speculative, but I've been thinking about how Toby mentioned that chapter three will be a bit of an odd one out, that it's more about trying weird things than advancing a lot of plot. Kind of an interesting thing to note since Kris just made a fountain that should take us into chapter three. If the Dark Worlds are in some way shaped by the will of the Lightner that makes them, then chapter three indicates that Kris's will manifests more as just...trying out stuff rather than something purposeful. Kris makes a fountain because they really want to keep up this special hangout with their friends. But the Knight? He's making narratives.

#ask lynx stuff #ask me about my stupid Knight opinions!!#but yeah a big turnaround from it being Gaster like it was in PT #I am sorry...I'm not a Papyrus Knight believer :(#I do want to see Paps tho #deltarune theorizing

358 notes · View notes

opbackgrounds · 3 months

Text

I think I must have gotten interrupted when queuing chapter 449, because going back to check some stuff and there are a few things I missed when going over the chapter.

The first is how physically imposing Moriah is during his introduction. Oda has always played with the size of his characters in order to invoke a certain feeling (the best known example being the Warlord lineup during Marineford) the exaggeration here is made even greater by these zombies being very small, throwing the perspective completely off.

Oda also goes out of his way to not show Moriah’s face for a surprisingly long amount of time. This is another hallmark of Oda’s style, but usually with important characters what he hides until a dramatically appropriate moment is their eyes (think Akainu or Roger). Moriah is the opposite, his eyes being the only part of him shown for another 5-10 chapters. Maybe Oda thought it was more thematically appropriate given Moriah’s power, or maybe he was worried about how intimidating his main villain would look to the audience when they don’t really have a chin.

#opbackgrounds #one piece #ch449 #moriah #Character Design #panels and layouts

124 notes · View notes

morkhan · 1 year

Text

Jedi Survivor impressed me so, so much. I loved Fallen Order, but I genuinely feel like Survivor was on another level. A few things I loved, full game spoilers ahead...

Cal genuinely feels so much older and more mature. It's incredible how much his interactions with the Mantis crew feel like a wayward adult son coming home again after a long time away.

Cal and Merrin's romance was beautifully built up and paid off, felt totally natural. Importantly for me, it required both of them to move the needle; Merrin to definitively make the first move and let Cal know she wants him, and Cal to finally acknowledge that he wants her too, that he isn't really a Jedi and that they weren't right about everything.

Cal using the Dark Side is portrayed as dangerous, but not inherently evil. The game does not vilify or punish Cal for using it, in fact, it does the opposite; it essentially says that it was necessary for Cal to embrace his darkness in order for him to survive. Importantly, it shows that even the darkness can be controlled; when Cal first uses it on Nova Garon, he nearly loses himself in it, but Merrin calls him back. When he uses it again on Tanalorr, he is in complete control of it, calmly using it to lift Bode off of him and partially disarming him before letting it subside. Merrin's final monologue to Kata in the ending says it all; your pain, your loss, it will always be a part of you. But it doesn't have to define you. Both Dagan and Bode let their pain and loss consume their entire lives, and it led directly to their respective ends.

When Cal kills Bode, he does so quietly and with no anger, and only after offering him multiple chances to surrender, all of which he rejected violently. Cal killed Bode not out of vengeance, but because it was clear that Bode was beyond reason. He was never going to stop. He was never going to accept any outcome other than the one that he had decided was best. And even then, Cal quietly takes a moment alone to mourn him, and respectfully gives him a Jedi funeral alongside his two mentors.

The entire final chapter is such a beautiful contrast to the first game's. Fallen Order had you storming Fortress Inquisitorious, fighting hoards of the game's hardest enemies and concluded with a bombastic escape sequence. The atmosphere was alternately oppressive, tense and exciting, full of mechanical reds and blacks. Tanalorr is the complete opposite; it is quiet and calm, an organic place of white rocks and blue plants. There are no enemies there other than Bode, a man whose paranoia has isolated him from everyone in his life, including the daughter he supposedly loves so much. When you find him, he is not even with her. When you beat him, there is no bombast. This is not a victory to be celebrated; it is a tragedy, one that you tried to avoid, but was seemingly inevitable.

"Ghost Star," the lullaby you hear Kata singing as you approach the final battle, is so stunningly beautiful and thematically appropriate that I am appalled there wasn't a full orchestral version of it playing over the credits.

So yeah, there's probably some other stuff I'll post about later, but man, Survivor really kinda blew me away.

#Star wars #jedi survivor #cal kestis #nightsister merrin #bode akuna #jedi survivor spoilers

319 notes · View notes

blossomwritesthings · 1 year

Text

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝? 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. | 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫

pairing: minho x fem!reader (afab)

genre: veterinarian!minho (this includes a few of the skz members working in his clinic). client!reader. hurt/comfort. angst. fluff. smut - MDNI, 18+ only. reader pov. strangers to lovers au. slowburn romance. lots of pining.

content & warnings: explicit & strong language. very thematic elements. minho is reader's vet. reader is now his past client. the guys have a party for the next few parts. drinking alcohol and getting drunk/tipsy is mentioned. humor/fluff placed throughout. also, smut is coming very soon. :))

word count: 3.8k

summary: dr. lee minho is known throughout your area as the city's hottest veterinarian, and he's also the very man that's been taking good care of your two cats for the past three years. but one day, you're thrown down a dark path of heartache when the cat that you've grown up with - nyx - is diagnosed with an acute form of bone cancer. burdened with the hardest decision of your entire life, you come at a crossroads of what to do. and throughout it all, minho is the single most person who continually stays by your side.

a/n: decided to upload this today because i'm going to be having a busy weekend lol 😂 the last three parts of this are in the works, and i'm really excited to see how this little series of mine ends~ 🥸 i am honestly SO shocked by the response that i've gotten for this series... reading your guys' comments and feedback literally always makes my day and it makes me feel so happy to hear that my readers are enjoying the stuff i'm writing. so thanks so much for the support!! ❤️ also- STREAM 5 STAR CONCEPT TRAILER!!! 🌟

🐈‍⬛ - ̥۪͙۪˚┊❛ other cool stuff ❜┊˚ ̥۪͙۪◌! ࿐ྂ

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋread my rules & guidelines here! ࿐ྂ

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋcheck out my skz masterlist! ࿐ྂ

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋmy wip list! ࿐ྂ

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ skz fic recs [sfw ver]! ࿐ྂ

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋskz fic recs [nsfw ver]! :: 18+, MDNI! ࿐ྂ

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋback to navigation! ࿐ྂ

ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴘᴏsᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ sɪᴛᴇs (ᴛʜɪs ɪɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇs ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴs). ©ʙʟᴏssᴏᴍᴡʀɪᴛᴇsᴛʜɪɴɢs ⤐ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛs ʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ

The entire week leading up to the anniversary party, you agonized over what to wear. You didn’t think it’d be right to show up in something formal, but you didn’t want to reveal yourself to all of the guys after such a long time in your usual attire of baggy jeans and a simple t-shirt/hoodie.

It wasn’t until Friday evening, exactly two hours before you had to leave for the party, that you found the outfit. After rummaging inside your closet all week long, you happened to stumble upon a dress that had been shoved down at the bottom of a box of your old clothes. As you pulled the thing out, you were hit with a wave of memories - of when you’d wear the same dress while out clubbing with your friends during your university days.

The mini-dress was a light mint color and complimented your skin tone quite well. The scoop neckline hung low and exposed a good amount of cleavage, but not too much that it was deemed completely unsavory. There were long, sheer sleeves that covered your arms, and the thin fabric of the dress ruched just at your hips, defining your curves and adding depth to the otherwise short dress, with its hemline that stopped mid-thigh.

You felt that it was appropriate enough to wear to the party, since after all - it was a party, and there were sure to be drinks there. And drinks always called for a cute and flirty outfit. You matched the dress with some silver studs - things you hadn’t worn in a long time and only saved for very special occasions - and the only pair of heels that you owned, which were metallic in color and had a height of 3 inches. Small rhinestones lined the edges of the shoes, and they were one of your most expensive possessions, having been gifted them as a graduation gift by one of your fellow roommates in university who happened to be a good friend of yours.

Keeping the makeup on the lighter side of things, with your hair curled in soft ringlets around your face, you opted to grab the matching shawl that you always wore with the dress- the light mint color complimenting the ensemble perfectly. You took one final look at yourself in your bedroom’s floor-length mirror before leaving your place.

And to be honest, even you were shocked.

By how good you looked-

How hot.

If you were being entirely honest with yourself, it had somewhat been your plan. To reveal your inner sexiness subtly. But then all at once, the sensuality that you always tried to hide unexpectedly showed through in every aspect of your outfit.

You weren’t trying to seduce Dr. Lee.

No, surely not.

But… a little mini-dress never hurt anymore, right?

During the commute that you took to Dr. Lee’s place via subway, you came to terms with the fact that things were going to be awkward at first. Especially since you had practically run away from him the week before. And you hadn’t seen the others who worked at the clinic in a long time, so it was only reasonable for you to assume that the talking would be stagnant at first. Surely, though, the alcohol running through everyone’s systems would promptly help to quell all of that.

When you finally stepped off the train, you realized where you were-

Gangnam.

Perhaps one of the most expensive districts in Seoul.

And of course, he had to live here.

It was to be expected since he was a rich and successful businessman.

At least Gangnam wasn’t too far from your district…

As soon as that thought entered your mind, you had to do a double-take and retract it back to the very depths of your being. Because what was your heart trying to insinuate? That him living close to you was a good thing? That something would come out of your broken client-doctor relationship?

Yeah, fucking, right.

With that depressing thought clouding your mind, you made your way through the many side alleyways of the area. It seemed like the further into the district you got, the grander the places were, with extravagant high rises lining either side of you.

Finally, your phone’s GPS dinged in completion when you stood in front of a rather large apartment complex. The four separate buildings towered over you in well over twenty stories, forcing you to crane your neck upwards as you tried to take in their size. The grounds were well kept, flourishing with spring flowers and green grasses.

The nearby park was bustling with activity - little kids playing together and young moms conversing at the benches while sipping on coffees. It was nine on a Friday night, and at this point in the night, your district usually wasn’t very busy. However, Gangnam seemed to be on a whole other level.

And as you made your way through the complexes, soon finding Dr. Lee’s building, you understood just how out of your league he was. If the nice outfits at work weren’t enough and the literal fucking sports car didn’t cut it for you, then the sparkling, sprawling apartment complex with humungous units on each floor worked to suffice his position over you.

You took the sparkly-silver elevator up to the twenty-fifth floor, registering that the building reached up to forty. As you filed out of the doors, you noticed the cute decorations outside of Dr. Lee’s place. A small rug was placed just underneath the door, in the shape of a pink-colored cat that read ‘Hello, Peasants.’ That forced a small giggle out of you at the peek of humor in his personal life. There was also a small wreath hanging at the center of the door, with three miniature figurines of cats nestled into its green leaves. You supposed they were his since they looked similar to the pictures he had shown you in the past.

Taking a deep breath to calm your rising nerves, you reached over and rang the doorbell. As you stood there, you would hear the distinct sound of a loud bass playing over speakers. So, the party must’ve already started, then.

It took a moment, but finally, someone answered the door.

You were greeted by a smiling Jeongin, his grin stretching from ear to ear as he registered your presence. “Holy fuck- Y/N, hi!” He exclaimed, leaning over the threshold of the door and enveloping you in a warm hug. “I thought for sure that Minho had lied about you coming tonight!”

That detail caused a flush to bloom across your cheeks, “Yeah, well- it sounded like fun, so I thought I’d join in the celebrations… how are you?” You asked, taking in his appearance. He looked a little more mature than the last time you had seen time over a year before, with his jawline slightly more chiseled and a distinct kind of glimmer in his eyes. His hair was dyed a snow-white color, painting his deep olive skin tone in a milky glow.

“Doing good,” Jeongin began, as he stepped aside to let you into the apartment. Immediately upon entering, the distinct smell of him took over your entire being. It seemed to flood all of you, drowning you in thoughts of only Dr. Lee and nothing else. “Been so busy at the clinic lately, business has picked up in the last few months.”

You gave him a soft smile, “I bet… you guys work your assess off over there, you deserve every client.”

He frowned at you then, watching in silence as you yanked your shawl a little tighter around your shoulders and slipped off your heels. You weren't entirely comfortable showing off so much skin so early into the evening. “We all miss you at the clinic… the days aren’t the same without seeing you walk in through the front doors holding your adorable kitties-”

“Hey, Innie, don’t bore her with shit about the clinic,” an exasperated voice called out to your left. You turned and caught a glimpse of Seungmin, as he leaned against a nearby wall. He was clutching onto a brown and white cat - which you assumed was Dr. Lee's cat, Dori - in one of his arms. He was dressed in an oversized matching set of joggers and a hoodie. Comfy clothes. Perhaps you had overdressed for the occasion. But then when you studied Jeongin, you noticed the particular detail that he had put into his outfit… from the necklace of pearls hanging around his neck to the simple baby blue t-shirt he had tucked into light-washed jeans.

“I was just telling her how much things have changed since she stopped coming around…” Jeongin’s voice trailed off, as they both stared at you then. The fucking elephant in the room was that you left because of Nyx’s passing.

They both knew it.

You knew it.

Everyone knew it.

Seungmin waved off his words, slinking an arm around the younger’s shoulders and motioning with a tilt of his head to the hallway behind him. Meanwhile, Dori was a squirming mess in his hold, as he tried to escape his hands. “Anyways, the party’s already started. Some of the guys haven’t arrived yet, but we’re all hanging out in the living room, so c’mon…”

You said nothing more to that, choosing to follow behind the two men as they led the way through the apartment. And it was so grand and beautiful. Multiple doors lined either side of the hallway’s walls, but they were all closed. You wondered what lay behind them. Then, there was the spacious kitchen off to the left, which had a magnificent marble island counter at the center of it.

And finally, you stopped in the living room. The biggest tv you had ever seen was mounted on the farthest wall, quickly flashing with bright lights as some of the guys played Mario Party. There was an L-shaped couch that was pushed against the wall closest to you, with room to fit at least six grown adults. And two armchairs were positioned on either side of the grand coffee table that was in the middle of the room. In the corner of the room, you caught sight of a cat tree, where an orange-and-white tabby - Soonie - was busy dozy off amongst the chaos. Dr. Lee's third cat, Doongie, was nowhere to be found apparently.

Throughout the area, small hints of Dr. Lee’s personality were hidden - from the many sprawling-green potted plants that lined the large bay windowsill, to the tiny cat figurines sitting just underneath the tv, to the large portrait of him and his three cats that hung above the couch. It looked to be in a unique style, with distinct brushstrokes and a cool colour palette. Immediately, you recognized it as Hyunjin’s work. After all, he had told you on multiple occasions that besides working with animals, he had a true passion for art. He had shown you some of his pieces in passing, and you were always blown away by the technical details of it all.

Your eyes slid past the two hunched-over figures - Yongbok and Jisung - who were enraptured by the game on the tv screen and landed on the men lounging on the couch. Chan was swishing an ice-cold glass of soju in one hand, as he chattered away with a listening Dr. Lee. None of them had noticed your presence yet.

“You guys- Y/N’s here!” Jeongin announced loudly over the rap music that was blasting throughout the room and somewhat masking the guy's voices.

All at once, they turned in unison to get a glimpse of you, Dr. Lee’s head snapping so quickly you were afraid his neck would break by the sheer force of the movement. He was dressed in black, oversized cargo pants, his midnight-toned locks a little mussed at the ends. But perhaps the worst part about the outfit was what he was wearing on top. It was a tight, black, muscle t-shirt that clung to every ripple of his sinewy flesh. The silver zipper that lay at the front of the garment was pulled down slightly, flashing bits and pieces of milky-smooth skin. (a/n: I'M SORRY- BUT YOU KNOW THAT I HAD TO DO IT!! I'M STILL NOT OVER ZIPPER MIN!!). And the choker… fuck, the black-chained choker that he wore around his thick fucking neck… he was surely going to be the death of you.

“Y/N- hey, you made it!” Jisung called out, while Yongbok waved excitedly before the two of them delved back into their game.

Chan stood up from his place on the sofa, passing you with a light squeeze of the shoulder, “Nice to see you,” he said in that deep, rumbly voice of his. You flashed him a smile, already feeling comforted by the way that they were acting like no time had passed between the lot of you. Like this was something normal… to be invited into Dr. Lee’s house for a private gathering of friends.

Seungmin and Jeongin hastily picked up two extra controllers and were soon sitting beside Jisung and Yongbok, joining in on the fun of the video game. That left just… you and Dr. Lee, since evidently, Hyunjin and Changbin hadn’t arrived yet.

He continued to watch you in silence for a few more beats from his seat on the couch. You could practically feel his eyes roving down the length of you, witnessing you in all of your party-goer glory. But then his focus caught on the shawl hanging around your shoulders, and you offered him a tiny, meek smile.

“Don’t be shy and come sit down.” He finally said in a voice that was so low, it was hard to hear over the vibrating music around you. He gently patted the space just beside him on the couch, his lips spreading into a warm grin.

You swallowed around the solid lump that was forming in your throat. Sitting next to him. In such a revealing dress. With him in such a drool-inducing outfit.

Surely, the night wasn’t going to end well - surely, it was going to result in irrevocable heartbreak and pain.

But perhaps, you could bear such a thing if it meant getting to see him so up close and personal.

“Thanks for the invite,” you began once you were seated an appropriate distance next to him - at least a pillow’s length. “Seriously, this place is insane.”

He laughed awkwardly, running a few fingers through his hair, “It’s no problem… thought you might enjoy a change of scenery. Your district can be quite- bleak at times.”

“No shit- you’re telling me.”

“Is it that bad?”

He was staring at you again, his body turned to the side, back leaning into one of the corners of the sofa so that he could get a full look at you. You could tell all of this from your peripheral vision.

But you couldn’t look at him…

His outfit,

His closeness,

The intimacy of the entire night,

It was swoon-worthy and vomit-inducing all at once.

So instead, you decided to curl up with a fluffy throw pillow, keeping your focus straight ahead, on the tv screen, as Jisung’s character fell off of a platform which resulted in his team losing.

“Most of the time the shops in the area close around nine, so there’s nothing to do after dark. It sucks if you ever want to have a life outside of work because as soon as you’re off, everyone is closing up for the day. I have no idea why you decided to start a clinic in my district, to be honest… like, Gangnam is a much better option.”

“True…” His voice trailed off. And you felt him shift so that now his focus was on the tv. This gave you enough time to peek a glance at him again. He looked ethereal under the soft glow of the living room lights - the teasing skin of his chest glistening in a warm hue, his cheekbones washed in a distant kind of shadow, his perfect, red lips pursed slightly and- “But then, I’d never have met you if I set up shop here in Gangnam.”

You didn’t have any time to react, as he whipped his head back towards you, catching your perusal of his otherworldly beauty. Because truly, how can any man be so hot and yet beautiful at the same time? His face looked like it was chiseled by the Gods themselves, the picture-perfect example of a Hellenistic sculpture from Greece… all soft lines, flowing movement, and a focus that was wholly on his soft and genuine personality.

A sparkle filled his chocolate-brown irises then, as they lit up with the fact that you had blatantly been checking him out. Surely, he didn’t know about your feelings. Surely, he didn’t…

You spluttered in embarrassment at his words, as they finally registered in your mind. “I hardly doubt that I’ve made any difference in your career, Dr. Lee-”

“I wish you’d stop calling me that.”

And just like that, he pulled the breath right out of your lungs again.

Like it was just a flimsy green leaf, that he had happened to pluck out of the sky and catch hold of.

Dragging the air up your throat and out between your lips.

“W-What?” You managed to say in a strangled kind of way, the words tickling the tip of your tongue. They burrowed down into the pit of your heart, lighting something dim and unchecked inside of you.

“Addressing me so formally. That title, Dr. Lee… only my clients use it.”

“B-But I am your-”

He leveled you with a swarthy regard then, dark brows pulling together, mouth pressing into a firm line of displeasure. “No, you’re not- not anymore. So I honestly don’t see the point in keeping up with all of the formalities.”

The anxiety balled up into an unruly knot at the speed of light. And soon, you found it jumbling around in your stomach. Was he mad? By his tone, which held a slight edge to it, he seemed upset…

But why? You thought he’d appreciate the honorifics, and welcome them, even, since the two of you were from such opposites sides of life.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that it was such an issue for you.” You said, but as soon as the words left your lips, you realized the bitterness that hung between them. The slight anger was laced there, from the fact that he was trying to break the one rule that you had set for yourself long ago.

Because okay- yes, he was really fucking hot. And fucking nice all of the time. But that didn’t give you the right to jump his bones just because you were attracted to him. And besides, he’d never stoop so low for a woman like you.

He threw his hands up in the air then, sighing in defeat. “I mean, I really don’t know what I have to do- I invite you over to my place, I fucking call-”

Just then, he was interrupted by a loud shout flooding in from down the hallway. And suddenly, Changbin appeared in the living room, a goofy smile plastered on his face, as he held up a huge case of beer and a jumbo-sized bag of potato chips. “What’s up, dweebs?” He hollered, throwing his head back and cackling maniacally.

“What did I tell you about using such a word?” Yongbok groaned out in despair, throwing his controller down onto the ground and stomping over to the older man. “It’s like- so nineteen-nineties.” He plucked the bag of chips out of his hand before scurrying back to the others.

Hyunjin filed into the living room, interrupting the scene with his show-stopping looks, even though he was dressed like a literal hobo, in ripped sweatpants and a stretched-out hoodie. “Give it up, Bokkie- his uneducated ass could never grasp such a concept.” He rolled his eyes at the dark-haired muscly man who was silently fuming with rage in the corner.

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I’m a fucking vet assistant-”

“Yeah only because you failed your placement test to get into tech school.” Seungmin threw back, earning a few shrill cackles from the younger men sitting around him.

“I swear to all things holy if you don’t stop bringing up-” Changbin began, storming over to the brown-haired boy in apparent rage when suddenly he was intervened by a shouting Chan.

“Food just arrived- come eat you little shits, before I take it all for myself!” He called from the nearby kitchen.

And just like that, the playfully-tense atmosphere in the living room dissipated, as Changbin was immediately soothed by the prospect of food.

“I call first dibs on the Hawaiian pizza!” Jisung exclaimed, shooting up from his spot on the floor and rushing for the kitchen.

“No one’s going to fight you on that one, Ji, you literally have the worst taste in cuisine,” Jeongin said under his breath, shaking his head in distaste as he followed right behind him.

As all of the guys left the living room, you were thrown into the uneasy silence between you and… and Minho. Your heart was beating wildly against your chest, as you tried to process what had just gone wrong between you.

Maybe coming to the party was a mistake after all.

Maybe, you should’ve just stayed holed up in your small, dingy apartment, like you usually did every Friday night.

But then Minho was sighing heavily, and from his proximity, you could practically feel his hot breath hit your neck. It seemed like he had grown closer to you in the last few minutes. “Fuck- just forget I said anything.”

And before you could say - or do - anything else, he was shuffling out of the living room, in search of some piping hot food.

Getting some alcohol into your system would surely help the pain that suddenly coursed through your veins.

Surely, drowning your mind in liquor would help to quell the rising hurt that was beginning to squeeze at your heart.

Because just like that, without you even having to confess your feelings to him, he was dismissing you.

He was ignoring your feelings.

Just from the way that he told you to ‘forget about it.’

When no-

You couldn’t just erase it from your mind.

You couldn’t simply snap a finger and ‘forget about it.’

Forget the history the two of you had together?

The attraction that was seemingly only one-sided?

The realization that he had only called you over to his party to fill the space of a friend?

Nah- fuck that shit.

So you weren’t going to forget any of it, just to spite him.

And you decided that for the rest of the night, you’d think about nothing but him.

Be consumed by nothing but him.

Again and again, you’d allow your mind to wander to the fantasies you had of him.

Because then, maybe you’d be able to get back at him - for all of the hurt that he was putting you through without even realizing it, for so very long.

To be continued...

taglist: want to be added onto my taglist? well then, comment below on this post/reblog it, and indicate your interest in my taglist and i'll add you... or, you can send me a msg and request to be added~

🌾 tags: @sleepyleeji :: @if-spearb :: @hyunes4ngel :: @drhsthl :: @seosalad :: @toomuchtellyneck :: @endzii23 :: @smally97 :: @ana-marais98 :: @sherryblossom :: @priincehoseok :: @biribarabiribbaem :: @linovely :: @lolqxv :: @linonyang

211 notes · View notes

dicebound · 9 months

Text

Barnaby 5e Build

Lineage - Owlin He's literally an owl, there isn't much to say here. You could alternatively go with the Reborn Lineage as well for more undead flavor but you'd lose flight and other useful things.

Class - Bard/Whispers So Barnaby is primarily observed in his level singing about death, slashing at you with a dagger, and conjuring objects out of nowhere to attack you. He also has little ghost buddies as back up singers. With that in mind, You have a few good options with Wizard, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock or Rogue standing out to me. A quick breakdown of the subclass options I would consider: Wizard - Necromancy or Conjuration Warlock - Undead Sorcerer - Shadow Bard - Creation, Spirits, Whispers Rogue - Phantom, Arcane Trickster. Rogue is the most out there, with no innate casting. Arcane Trickster certainly fits his personality and gives him thematic spellcasting, but lacks the spooky flavor we're looking for. Phantom has the flavor, but loses the spellcasting. Could be a good multiclass option. While Wizard could fit especially Conjuration for the object summoning, I really feel Barnaby would make a better Charisma caster than an Intelligence caster given his demeanor and "Party Animal" descriptor. Undead Warlock gets you that strong undead flavor, charisma casting and access to the spookier spells in the game, but Barnaby doesn't seem bound up by the demands of a patron. Shadow Sorcerer obviously fits Barnaby aesthetically and even gives you a limited summoning ability. It's a strong contender and was the first thing I thought of when making this list. Finally, Bard captures the musical and social inclinations of the character and has a few good spooky options for subclass. Creation lets you animate objects to fight for you, very fitting but otherwise lacks the flavor we're looking for. Spirit gives you a strong spooky flavor, the ability to tell harrowing stories about the dead or dying, and communicate with the dead. Whispers however gives a little bit more, you have the strong spooky flavor, psychic attacks, a frighten ability, and the ability to tap into creature's fears and steal their shadows. This is the one to me.

3. Background - Entertainer We don't know much about Barnaby's backstory at present, making it difficult to pick something concrete. The standout choices to me are Entertainer, Sage and Haunted One. 4. Skills For his Bard skills, I picked Performance, Arcana and either Sleight of Hand or Persuasion. I avoided Intimidation as his class features will allow him to make people afraid on their own and Stealth is gotten naturally from Owlin. For his background, I chose Entertainer and had to take Acrobatics. I also picked up Perception. For his expertise I selected Performance and Arcana. 5.Stats For his stat spread I selected a +2 to Charisma and a +1 to Dexterity from his lineage and then used point buy to distribute them as follows: Str - 8 Dex - 14 Con - 14 Int - 14 Wis - 9 Cha - 16

I dumped Strength because he has no need of it, and dumped Wisdom because he very clearly can't read a room when interacting with Billie. Con is higher than you might otherwise put on a Bard to represent that resilience of being undead. Decent Dex and Cha are obvious choices for any bard, and heightened Int just felt appropriate. 7. Spells So Spell Choice will vary by level, but good options for 0th-2nd spell level are as follows: For Cantrips most of the options are solid and thematic. I'd likely pick Vicious Mockery* and either Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation or Dancing Lights. Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Nathair's Mischief and Phantasmal Force all fit the spooky vibes and grant either good crowd control or damage. Suggestion, Faerie Fire, Invisibility, Bane, Hold Person and Cloud of Daggers also stand out as good thematic options. * if you're using feats at first level, you can pick up more flavorful/utility cantrips from Bard and grab your damaging cantrips from say Magic Initiate instead.

8. Feats (Optional) Some tables allow for Feats at First Level. Stand out choices to me are Shadow Touched, Eldritch Adept, Magic Initiate, Poisoner, Chef, Slasher and War Caster. Some of these are more flavorful than mechanical however. I find Bard's offensive magic to be too limited especially early on and so Magic Initiate (Warlock) or (Wizard) is very helpful. You want an attack roll cantrip for sure. For Warlock pick up Eldritch Blast and either Mind Sliver or Toll the Dead. For the 1st level spells, Arms of Hadar and Hex are great options. For Wizard, pick up Chill Touch and either Mind Sliver or Toll the Dead. For 1st level spells, Tasha's Caustic Brew is a thematic choice as well as Catapult and False Life. Mechanically motivated options could be Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield or Find Familiar.

#billie bust up #barnaby #billie bust up barnaby #indie games #D&D #D&D Builds

95 notes · View notes

auncyen · 3 months

Text

random thoughts for au act 5 in regards to Siffrin's memories (spoilers for canon under cut)

OKAY so canonically. Siffrin automatically has Memory of Emptiness on with no option to equip anything else, so they just automatically revive via looping when KO'd/frozen.

And like. I was considering changing that for AU because the circumstances were different. I was considering playing with both Memory of Sadnesses and Memory of Family as Siffrin is struggling between like "I just want to kill anything that gets in my way so steer clear" and "oh but I did want everyone with me, and I still think the best way to keep them with me and safe is for them to get stronger, even if it went wrong yesterday I need to keep trying to make them stronger."

But just now I was thinking of how horrifying Memory of Emptiness would look from an outside perspective (Siffrin recklessly charging into a Sadness, getting himself killed and just looping a few seconds back and then striking again) and gosh that is tempting. The only reason I'm not sure it works well is because Siffrin is pretty hard to kill at that point and if the others are with them they would help so he really shouldn't be getting KO'd by anything short of like. the King. (And even then, again, with people focused on supporting and fighting alongside them, Siffrin probably wouldn't really get knocked down just based on how it plays out.) So maybe it would be better to stick with Sadnesses/Family (or something else?) but even in the AU "Emptiness" still feels thematically appropriate too so...it's a question of where that'd pop up.

#in stars and time #in stars and time spoilers #siffrin #ahhhhh I have thought too much about au lol

26 notes · View notes

pinkanonwrites · 2 years

Note

Hiya, I saw your story about Jamil becoming a snake and loved it. I was wondering if maybe I could ask for something of a reversal fix where the s/o is transformed instead. And instead of a snake, let’s make it a bigger animal like a sheep or a donkey. (Got inspiration from one of my all time favorite moments in a show called Critical Role, but I won’t go into detail). Anyway, it’s up to you, but I thought this situation might be funny.

Certainly! I did just Jamil’s reaction for this request, but if anyone would like to request any other Twist boys’ reactions to their S/O being transformed, feel free to send ‘em on over!

As for what the Prefect was transformed into, I gave it some thought and ended up deciding that no large animal would be more appropriate for Crowley’s favorite problem-solver than a work horse. Enjoy!

Overworking had clearly been getting to you, seeing as you’d barely been able to keep your eyes open in Professor Crewel’s Potionology class. But who could blame you? Juggling Overblots, extracurriculars, Ramshackle chores, homework, babysitting Grim, and dealing with the Headmaster’s newest “assignments”, it felt like you barely had a few hours to string together for sleep most days.

So it made sense that said lack of sleep would have finally come back to bite you in class, bleary eyes misreading a few potion ingredients and your concoction instead transforming you into a horse, one much to large to be indoors in this small classroom. You couldn’t even sigh now, so you tipped your head down and let out a quiet, exhausted whinny instead. Just your luck...

Jamil sympathized far too much with your plight to find your accidental transformation even the slightest bit funny, no matter how thematically appropriate said transformation turned out to be. He gave you a soothing pat on the side of the neck like you were one of the Al-Asim family camels as he helped you carefully navigate through the narrow doorways and crowded halls of NRC until the two of you found yourselves outside near the stables.

“If anyone tries to get you to run any errands today, I highly recommend kicking them.” He tells you as you lay in the grass next to his seated form, diligent hands carefully braiding your mane. “Great Seven knows you do more than enough for everyone around here.”

He takes it upon himself to keep you company until the teachers figure out how to transform you back, and it’s as much a day off for him as it is for you. The only time he really leaves your side is to pop inside to grab a few things. A blanket to sit on, one of his books to read, a bowlful of sliced fruits he prepared in the cafeteria for the two of you to snack on. With that exception he’s by your side the entire time, idly reading to you or brushing your mane or patting your large head strewn across his lap.

He’s definitely not above using his signature magic on anyone who tries to bother the two of you while you’re relaxing together.

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland imagines #twisted wonderland x reader #twst #twst imagines #disney twst #jamil viper #jamil x reader #jamil imagines #jamil viper x reader #jamil viper imagines #jamil viper fluff #jamil fluff #twst fluff #my writing #anon

478 notes · View notes

larena · 10 months

Text

Wanted to try ranking SWTOR class stories in order of "importance" - how relevant they are to the games overarching ongoing storyline, based on factors like how often aspects of them come up in other class stories, or elsewhere in the story, how easily they flow into the expansions, how important their companions end up being later, etc.

Jedi Knight: This one's undeniable, I think. It's basically the main plot class. Knight kills Vitiate first, deals with a lot of the more important problems on most of the planets they go to. And Kira, Scourge, and T7 all get main character status in the expansions regardless of your class.

Imperial Agent: This one is a tossup with Sith Warrior for me. I can see arguments for either, but Agent wins out imo just because of how far-reaching the Star Cabal is, and, maybe somewhat paradoxically, how relevant *other* class stories are to its story. Kaliyo and especially SCORPIO also end up being pretty important in the expansions, as well as a few other Agent companions and NPCs.

Sith Warrior: You are literally the Emperor's Wrath. The class with the closest direct connection to the Emperor, besides maybe Knight. Again its a tossup for me whether Warrior or Agent are the "A" plot for the Empire storyline, but the Wrath almost single handedly reignites the war for Darth Baras. As well as being a fairly close acquaintance of one of Vitiate's potential successors, Vowrawn. Vette also ends up being fairly important in the expansions, though not as much since Eternal Throne.

Jedi Consular: The Children of the Emperor have only recently become very, very relevant again, and we don't fully know where that plot is going, but I think thats still a compelling argument to put Consular relatively high. None of their companions have been super relevant post-class story besides Nadia on Ossus, but the Rift Alliance does end up feeling like a precursor to the Eternal Alliance, to me.

Sith Inquisitor: This may feel low for Inquisitor, given they become a Dark Council Member but honestly they don't do that much. They're somewhat responsible for the Dark Temple being Like That in the other class stories, and the Silencer Fleet is somewhat important, as well as Moff Pyron. But none of their companions are relevant anywhere else and I don't think the events of their class story are referenced anywhere except some passing name drops of Darth Thanaton. I could realistically rank them lower, but again, they ARE on the Dark Council.

Bounty Hunter: Honestly the remaining three tech classes are hard to rank. But I think BH gets a lot of credit for technically allowing Saresh to rise to power. And not for nothing, a lot of their companions have been relevant in expansions, especially Torian recently. You only get a *lot* of the earlier Mando stuff through BH, which I think also counts for something.

Trooper: I think Trooper mainly gets points for Jorgan being a main character in Fallen Empire. They do a lot of stuff that *feels* important, and General Garza, Rakton, and the Bastion come up elsewhere, but it never feels like there's much impact from the Trooper story overall.

Smuggler: I mean what can I say. I love the Smuggler storyline, and Nok Drayen *is* a member of the Star Cabal, but none of this shit mattered lol. Which is totally thematically appropriate imo, it's at least meant to be a pretty personal story with personal stakes. At least everyone can meet Akaavi and Guss in the expansions.

#swtor #star wars the old republic #swtor spoiler #jedi knight #sith warrior #imperial agent #republic trooper #sith inquisitor #bounty hunter #smuggler #jedi consular

90 notes · View notes

oflights · 11 months

Note

oh this is so exciting! happy pride! You've reblogged a number of pretty bejeweled things today, and I wonder if they could be a prompt, perhaps as a gift, or an item in need of cursebreaking? no stress at all if this doesn't spark the muse!

hi!! thank you for this prompt, i kind of loved it. i chose to use this as a reference point and honestly had a lot of fun with it!

as i said yesterday, this wound up being thematically appropriate for a certain blond someone's birthday, which is why it's posting now!! i'm still working on other prompts, and feel free to keep sending some if you'd like!

this is about ~1100 words (sooo close to under 1k 😭) and features curse-breaking partners harry and draco, very jealous harry, and cheesy gemstone/eye comparisons. 💎🎈

“He bought them at auction,” Draco says in a hushed sort of voice, beaming down at the dangly gold earrings Harry is frantically casting on. “I can’t even imagine the price—not that that matters, of course, it would be thoughtful either way, but look—those are genuine pearls, Harry. Byzantine! Sixth century!”

“Sure,” Harry says through gritted teeth, not pausing in his casting. His hand is starting to cramp a little, so he drops his wand and takes a breath to gather his magic up in his spread fingers, ignoring Draco rolling his eyes and muttering something about showoffs. “Too bad they’re cursed.”

“They’re not cursed!”

“They’re definitely cursed,” Harry says, flexing his fingers over the earrings nestled in their ornate wooden box. He could cast the magic he’s working over them in his sleep—the perks of being a rather competent Curse-Breaker—and it’s no trouble at all to cast a few more times, just to be sure. More than sure. He’s absolutely certain that there’s something magically wrong with these earrings, and he’ll prove it. “And they’re ugly, beside.”

“They’re not—you have no taste.”

“They wouldn’t suit you at all, either; you’ve only got the one ear pierced,” Harry says, glancing up at the tiny diamond cuff glinting over Draco’s cartilage and the even tinier moonstone stud in his lobe, easily overlooked unless you make a habit of looking. Harry thinks he could point them out in the dark, blindfolded and spun around, but that’s not anyone’s business but his own. “Are you sure they were for you?”

“Of course they’re for me,” Draco huffs, shaking his head. “The box had my name on it, and Edmund left a note that he’d been called away but he wanted to make sure I got my present on my actual birthday instead of waiting for the party on Saturday—” The party that Harry had planned with absolutely minimal help from Edmund, who he thinks has a low chance of actually showing up, the bastard. “And, as I already told you, there are pearls.”

Harry just glares down at the stupid earrings, shaking his head.

Draco sighs. “Pearls are my birthstone.”

“Since when?”

“Since I was born in June, you nitwit.”

“They don’t even look like pearls,” Harry says, trying not to swear out loud. He’d gotten Draco a moonstone and diamond cuff so he could switch out his piercings. He’d never even considered birthstones, only that little stud that always catches his eye, and the shimmery moonstones on Draco’s watch; he’d learned about adularescence and thought about what light looked like reflected in Draco’s eyes.

At least, Harry knows, his gift is actually wearable. He can’t imagine Draco in these earrings, dangling there as he chats away with their clients and tosses his head back in laughter at Harry’s scant, interjected jokes. They’d agreed early on in their Curse-Breaking partnership that Draco was more of the natural at client relations, but Harry never feels as good as he does when he can join in and make Draco laugh. And the client, of course. That’s fine too.

He wonders if Edmund ever makes Draco laugh like that, when he’s not Portkeying off to another auction, standing Draco up for dinner with his parents, or gifting him absurd, assuredly cursed earrings. Certainly not, Harry thinks.

“I assure you that there are pearls,” Draco says, reaching out for the box. Harry smacks his hands down over it, shaking his head.

“No way, you know the rules. No touching, not until I’m sure there are no curses,” Harry says. “And I’m sure there are, so—”

“That rule is for both of us,” Draco says, swatting at Harry’s hands, laughing a little as Harry swats him back, their hands fluttering against each other over the top of box.

Harry traps both of Draco’s hands in his for a moment, grinning triumphantly, then yelps as Draco grips his hands back and slams them down on the box.

“You can’t keep me away from my birthday present,” Draco says firmly.

Before Harry can argue—before he can say he’s just protecting Draco, he’s just showing him who Edmund really is, and he could show him so much more, he could prove that Edmund is a dunce who has no idea what he has in Draco, who takes him for granted and thinks Draco would wear yellow gold and pearls and garnets and dangly, ugly, obnoxious, definitely cursed earrings in a pair when he only has one ear pierced—before any of that can come out, the door to their office bursts open to reveal a panting, red-faced Edmund, practically doubled over.

“Edmund?” Draco says, standing up from where he’s been perched on Harry’s desk and whipping his hands back.

Edmund wheezes at him, slowly straightening, his eyes widening as he holds up a very similarly-shaped wrapped box in one hand. “Wrong—present—”

“What?” Draco squawks as Harry grins broadly, triumphant.

“Don’t—open—oh—” Edmund continues, eyes going impossibly wider as he stares at the box still under Harry’s hands. “Don’t—touch—”

It’s Harry’s turn to squawk, “What?!” and whip his hands away, just as Edmund chokes out, “Cursed.”

Harry’s grin drops, staring down at the box—which is now devoid of earrings. He realizes this at the same time that Draco does, at the same time he feels a suddenly pinch in his left earlobe, jumping in his seat and yelping, “Ouch!” at the same time Draco’s hands fly up to his own ear.

He feels a weight near his cheek and gapes, wide-eyed, as he sees one of the earrings is now in Draco’s unpierced left earlobe. The other, he realizes as he cups his hand over the side of his face, is in his ear.

Harry and Draco stare at each, something charged and heated building up in the air between them, tingling where the earring is and spreading out to the tips of Harry’s fingers.

“Right,” Draco says as the moment builds, his eyes never leaving Harry’s—wide, bright, beaming with something that would be adularescence if his eyes were the moonstones they resemble. “What kind of curse, exactly?”

The earrings jingle, the magic tingles, and suddenly Draco drops into Harry’s lap, Harry’s arms going around him with little choice, their breaths quickening and a flush spreading across both their faces, as Draco’s horrible boyfriend watches.

“Erm,” Edmund says. “Right. That is to say, ah—well, you see, it might not be a curse so much as a—a bond, perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” Draco says, pants out really, staring down at Harry, who stares back, until they can’t stare any longer because they’re kissing instead.

#drarry #drarry fic #oflights #the-starryknight #asks #fic prompts #my fic #harry's chest monster is draco's real birthday present tbh

122 notes · View notes