•tabletop time•

mostly d20 + some other stuff

[lobstermigration]

The gangs all here!!!! 

(free to use as icons) 

[leftbeeftheory]

That’s my referee ‼️ 🫡 🔥

[unseenbox]

I can't stop thinking about how HJ and/or LaVonte throw each other under the bus to win shady business deals often enough that even when LaVonte does it after fighting with him, HJ is completely, 100% understanding and supportive because securing the bag comes first, we all know this. Like that's how much they operate on the same wavelength.

Ally and Lou I am in your walls.

[blue-sun-rising]

ALSO that despite them establishing this habit/history, HJ attempts to throw HIMSELF under the bus later in the episode! And that might be because LaVonte is there so it wouldn't work to blame him, but it's just such a fascinating dynamic. I simply cannot get enough of the character choices Ally and Lou are making with each other.

[unseenbox]

YEAH it's like the look of surprised joy on hj/ally's face when lavonte/lou said he was keeping the basil plant.

Like at any point they could choose to pull back and every time they get the chance, they double down on the idea that they're in this together. That maybe this isn't the first time one or both of them had a 'you need to lock the fuck in' argument.

It's just that maybe this is the first time HJ bought LaVonte something to cheer him up after. And maybe this the first time LaVonte kept it.

[a-vague-yet-menacing-agency]

My theory on HJ turning LaVonte is mostly that LaVonte was a business partner/retainer so efficient that HJ had to turn him (LaVonte now perpetuates this grind or die mindset onto Tyler).

Maybe LaVonte rocked up to a business meeting with HJ in the 1980s like: you are leaving money on the table and I could get it for you, all these other guys, they're ancient, they're stuck in the past, they'd never give me a chance and they'll never take the opportunities they need to make it rich. I could make you rich. If you fund my startup. How else could Worthy and Wingstreet happen? HJ has money, sure, access, sure, fame, plenty, cocaine, abundantly, but he's not persuasive. He doesn't have good business sense. He has no leadership. Wingstreet Industries wouldn't have made it. And yet LaVonte is the one pulling the moves, the one with more resources, the one who has an actual retainer even though HJ also has two dots in retainer.

So maybe back in 1980, HJ thinks, yeah, you'll be the brains and the face but I'll be the name, the generation(al wealth), the patron to your artist. Maybe to a Black man in 1980 this seemed like the only way to make it. LaVonte starts the series with debts (HJ doesn't). The Camarilla is extremely hierarchical, society is racist, here is an opportunity to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and HJ is the man who can make that happen who can ensure that LaVonte's hard work actually pays off.

So HJ Embraces LaVonte.

Except now they're in Purpee where HJ's name doesn't mean anything, his connections don't mean anything, LaVonte saved them from execution by the Camarilla with only his Presence, and the man who's been his partner suddenly doesn't have anything else to offer. It's Worthy Industries now. HJ buys him a basil plant and LaVonte realizes he's on his own.

[guessitsgay]

Thank GOD Zac clocked the bloodlust in Lou’s eyes as he wrote down that skate shop lolll

LaVonte will leave no bridges unburned to borrow this dog for one day to take approx. 5 pictures

[koszmarnybudyn]

As the prophecy foretold i drew him in a sweater.

Also some doodles under cut:

[burnerformybs]

Imagine the terror of being Aaron Bow. Crouched in the darkness. Stalking your prey. You're undetected. You line up for the perfect shot...And then the tallest, most hulked-out man you have ever seen in your life whips around and snatches your bolt out of the air. His eyes and those of his companions reflect the moonlight like cats as they turn to look at you. He shouts that "you're FUCKING DEAD" and starts charging straight towards you in the darkness. He does this all in a giant chunky turtleneck.

He was cozycore 2 minutes ago with a mug of tea and now he is fully the Predator chasing someone through the woods. In a turtleneck. It really jarred me to see that beastial reaction from Mitch because I am so used to him being the quiet, gentle one of the coterie. Amazing and quick choice by Murph

[natjennie]

"I get mad that the letters don't do other things"

[rooolt]

average darkness man civilian outfits:

[thecheshirerat]

“do you ask HJ or LaVonte?” its giving which parent do you think is a sucker

[wizard-loving-wizard]

Estelle really said "My next book is age gap yuri. And it's starring you." Legendary move, maam. Legendary lesbianism happening

[heytherecentaurs]

The Templers just being a few old men who just like hanging out is endearing. They fund raise and like go carts and skeeball. And even though it’s a fraternity, Herb tells Vesper if she just wants to play skeeball she’s welcome to come and do that. And when she displays sincere interest, he immediately sees it and accepts it. They’re grumpy and don’t like change but they do change because they believe the Templers are more important than some arbitrary rules. Also the one old man ensuring nonbinary people are included because his grandkid is nonbinary suggests he not only accepts them but is creating the opportunity for them to join as well. Maybe he hopes if they join the two of them will have the opportunity to spend more time together. Reminded me of my grandpa. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like someone just wanted to spend time with me more than him. He was the sort to call just to talk. Maybe I’m projecting but I like them.

[fireandashes]

it’s SO funny to me that it feels like zac has just not let go of some parts of pappy. zaeth is like an entirely different character and he still says stuff like “come on now.” it also seems like it’s become a permanent part of ally’s bits as well with “im a different guy.” it’s killing me so bad like the ghost of daisuke bucklesby has now inhabited a permanent part of zac’s brain

[ju-nebugg]

something about “we’ve done this dance before”

[jalapenyochips]

they've already got a guy! you know it!

(based on a cover of "Go For It, Nakamura!")

[koszmarnybudyn]

Im very normal about darkness man (lying)

Alao alt no mask version:

[rabdoidal]

I’ve been thinking about episode 7 of City Council of Darkness and about Lavonte reacting the way he did to Maya assuming he and HJ were a couple.

Lavonte and HJ represent exact tropes of homosexuality and vampirism of the 1980s; by the 80s, vampires had shifted from countryside landed gentry hiding away in musty castles to urbanised capitalists - the setting changes, but they still benefit from the toil of others as the bourgeoisie against the proletariat (Morrissette, 2013). At the same time, people moving to cities during the industrial revolution to work formed proletariat communities of their own, including homosexuals that left their homes in search of a better life; the city was different than their small-knit towns where everyone knew everyone, and gave them freedom. By the 80s HIV/AIDs crisis, horror had synthesised vampires and homosexuality to be intertwined urban concepts; for members of these groups (homosexuals/vampires), there is an element of hunting or pursuing a partner (cruising/finding a victim), exchanging fluids (cum/blood), and those fluids put you at risk of sickness or death (AIDs/vampirism) (Clark, 2022). There is, further, the idea of “turning someone” - this is framed as a bad thing by out-members, but contains nuance within the community. They are both seductive. They are both abnormal. You should warn your children about (homosexuals/vampires), do not let your daughter move to the city, or she will become a (homosexual/vampire). Within horror, vampires began to be queer coded; Daughters of Darkness (1971), The Hunger (1983), Fright Night (1985), The Lost Boys (1987).

HJ is the exemplar of the 80s vampire - he is a businessman with immense power, he is slick, he is clean shaven and well dressed, he is a confirmed bachelor. He is coded as (homosexual/vampire), and it’s interesting to think about whether Lavonte pursued HJ because he was a vampire, or because HJ was a man. It is risky for either of those factors to be what makes him appealing, but the desire alongside the disorder is what makes it a (homosexual/vampire) love story - it would be horrifying to want someone while also being terrified of what they can do to you. It completely makes sense to me that Lavonte, even though Lou played it as a joke, would have reservations about people thinking he was gay. Being gay in the 80s meant being dirty, meant being sick, meant being less masculine or respected, meant being the “other,” regardless of if he’s gay or not (Clark, 2022). Even though I see Lavonte as being totally accepting, being gay himself would be an admission of guilt in some way. Lavonte is focused, charismatic, and doesn’t like hearing “no” - if someone implied he seduced HJ to gain vampirism, I think that would be his nightmare.

Truly, even though none of their 80s-gay-vampirism coding was intentional, and even though Lou and Ally were playing up the miscommunication as a joke, I think it's interesting to see how character moments make logical sense within meta-horror. It’s been a great season so far.

Clark, Ian (2022) "Infectious Queers: HIV/AIDS and the Vampiric Body in Interview with the Vampire (1994)," Journal of Dracula Studies: Vol. 24: No. 1, Article 4. DOI: 10.70013/n1p5h7g4 Available at: https://research.library.kutztown.edu/dracula-studies/vol24/iss1/4

Fullilove MT, Wiley J, Fullilove RE 3rd, Golden E, Catania J, Peterson J, Garrett K, Siegel D, Marin B, Kegeles S, et al. Risk for AIDS in multiethnic neighborhoods in San Francisco, California. The population-based AMEN Study. West J Med. 1992 Jul;157(1):32-40. PMID: 1413740; PMCID: PMC1021901. 

Heller J. Rumors and Realities: Making Sense of HIV/AIDS Conspiracy Narratives and Contemporary Legends. Am J Public Health. 2015 Jan;105(1):e43-e50. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302284. PMID: 25393166; PMCID: PMC4265931.

Morrissette, J. J. (2013). Marxferatu: The Vampire Metaphor as a Tool for Teaching Marx’s Critique of Capitalism. PS: Political Science & Politics, 46(3), 637–642. doi:10.1017/S1049096513000607