#tc-doherty

[memento-morri-writes]

Happy Blorbo Blursday!

What's your favorite thing about your character, what makes them Blorbo? Is it a personality thing, a design thing, something in their backstory or character arc? Please elaborate on the things you love!

Hi TC! Thanks for the ask!! Sorry I didn't get around to answering this on the day you sent it (although I still haven't slept yet), but hey, now it's actually Blorbo Blursday!

It's pretty much impossible for me to choose a single favorite thing about Rook. I'm just so utterly obsessed with him, hahahaha. So I'll try to offer up a few of my favorite things about him.

Well, firstly, I absolutely adore his personality. His reckless self-sacrificing nature and all-consuming love for his friends is just so much fun to play. The way that he doesn't even realize that what he's doing counts as self-destruction because it's done in the service of other people.

I also absolutely adore how much of a fucking liar he is. I would ever go so far as to call him a compulsive liar, at least in some regards. He's almost incapable of admitting the truth about his own health or emotions, for example. Having expertise in both Persuasion and Deception with him is SO FUN to play, and I also have freakishly good luck with both (especially Deception) when rolling in-game.

Of course, I do love his design. I think he's maybe the most beautiful man to ever exist, and I'm aesthetically in love with him, despite my aroace-ness. I love his curly hair and freckles (both things he inherited from his mother). I love his scars, too. There's lots of fun (read: horrible) stories behind them all.

Oh, and it's a crime to mention his appearance and not talk about his absolutely stunning rapier, designed by the phenomenal @swampcastle (who I hope is doing well in their time off of tumblr). I gave them such a vague prompt/description, and what I got in return was absolutely gorgeous.

And, because it's me, no discussion of Rook is complete without a discussion of his mentors. His relationships with both Zara and Sigmar are a source of eternal fascination and obsession for me. I'm never ever going to be over how complicated both of those relationships are, and how important they are/were to Rook (albeit in very different ways).

The way Zara taught him almost everything he knows and saved him so many times, yet also let him down when it mattered most. The way that Sigmar lied to Rook about everything, except for his desire to protect him. It just destroys me every time.

I've also been loving Rook's character arc in the campaign. He had a really really really fascinating conversation with his quartermaster on Sunday that I think shows a lot about how much Rook has matured as a person, especially when it comes to being able to assume responsibility for his crew. (Made even more interesting by the fact that it revolves around betrayal and abandonment, something that Rook has a lot of painful personal experience with.)

Oh, and of course I love just how fucking whumpable Rook is. And the dice agree!!! This man is literally always getting the shit kicked out of him. I mean hell, Sunday's session ended with him getting pulled underground by some unknown creature and the party failing 3 checks in a row to find him or even notice he was gone. (I'm very scared, ajsdkajds. I'm trying to save my birthday point for the fight against Olvar or even Wolf, but I'm worried I might have to use it for whatever the hell this solo encounter is gonna be.)

(Hilariously, this isn't the first or even second time Rook has gotten yoinked away from the party, nor is it the first time they've had trouble finding him afterwards. He once failed a lockpicking check he had advantage on, rolled a nat one on a wisdom save, and was teleported to another section of the dungeon. Another time he got stabbed in his sleep by Kuo-Toa and was being dragged off the ship and the crew failed like, 6+ Perception checks to notice. Not to mention the time that he got kidnapped by Wolf and the party accidentally wasted 3 Material Plane days sightseeing in the Feywild before they came back and discovered he was missing. And in Furicifer's temple he was the first person to get yoinked into a dream dimension, where he got stabbed in the chest by "Sigmar".)

He certainly has a reputation among my friends and family.

[kajisbraincell]

Happy Blorbo Blursday!

What is your favorite romantic relationship that exists within your cast (main characters or otherwise). What is it like and why do you love it so much?

Bonus: will it work long term, or is it destined to end in tragedy?

Hard question not going to lie. I want to say there's not a lot of romance in my wips just because I myself fear I'm poor at writing it, but it even slipped into one of the wips I swore wouldn't have romance at all. It's, in fact, this ship that I think ranks as my favorite.

The ship is from my wip "Shadows of Dawn" and is of the main character, Corva, and one of the side characters, Tay Lin. Tay Lin is a courier for the Gilded Dawn (basically the knights of the realm).

Their relationship is my favorite honestly because unlike my other characters - Corva had never known affection. Ever. And Tay Lin is the first "outsider" that shows her any sort of positive reaction to her presence. There's another character, Ziv, who does also in the same initial meeting scene, but uh he's the same type of "species" as Corva so she thinks it's fair that he shows her kindness. But Tay Lin is kind just because and Corva latches onto that. And they end up becoming an item later on down the road as things develop. I'm also a sucker because I've never gotten to write lesbians before and I love getting to!!

Bonus: There's going to be a LOT of ups and downs and near tragedy due to the plot but in the end they get to be happy together I think.

[sidhewrites]

Hello, happy Storyteller Saturday!

What's the earliest story that you can remember writing? Are you still working on it or not? If not, is there anything from it that you're still proud of or would be interested in using/trying again?

Hello! Thank you! The first story I actually tried to write was when I was 9 years old, it was a chapter book about a boy who didn't have any friends, and the alien that showed up to join his 4th grade class.

I never finished it, didn't get past chapter 3 out of 10, but I know I still have that notebook somewhere, with gemstone stickers on the front and doodles throughout.

If we're talking serious writing projects, I started working on The Glittering Queen at 16, and it kept starting but never going anywhere. I've reworked it four or five times now. The basic story is that a young woman named Polly discovers she's the lost queen of Faerie and is brought to the seelie court to take her place among the court intrigue and dangerous, beautiful people there.

Its latest iteration is nothing like the court intrigue I started with but instead an adventure story named Silverlight, where Polly's a hedgewitch in a small village rather than the queen of Faerie, traveling with the head knight of the Daylight fairies to help stop the evil Night king. Also the main character has changed to an entirely different person.

I still might pick up Glittering Queen again one day, but I'm not holding my breath. More than anything, Polly is one of my favorite OCs to play with my friends and come up with plots, and that's more than enough for me :>

[oh-no-another-idea]

Hello! Happy Blorbo Blursday!

This is for the character redesign game! I got your ask and I put Veila in my queue :D

I'm sending Retta to you. She's the captain of a profitable merchant ship and has a very big personality. Retta is both a skilled swordfighter and an extremely eloquent speaker so one way or another, she is confident in her ability to handle any situation that might arise. She speaks multiple languages fluently and sails all over the world for trading purposes. Unfortunately for her crew she's really into puns and other wordplay jokes that they might not actually understand. Retta is excitable and often takes risks that other captains wouldn't but, like many sailors, she's still extremely superstitious.

Happy Blursday! Thanks so much for initiating this game, I'm having so much fun with it! I loved hearing about Retta so much, it was really fun to play with her description! At first I envisioned her with waves of flaming red curly hair, but then I changed my mind--you'll have to let me know how close I am! 💛

Wanna play? Check out the game!

[jess-p-edits]

Happy Blorbo Blursday! I have a one track mind, will you tell me more about Cricket? Or perhaps share a snippet that he is in?

Oh you absolutely may!! This message gave me the biggest shot of serotonin. As I was fleshing out Cricket's character, my literal first thought was the hope that he would become someone's favorite. He's one of the the oddest, skrunkliest blorbos in The Hour and I'm glad he has a fan!! Thank you for your interest!!! ;A; <3

He's a little snippet that also shares a little bit of his backstory and personality. Enjoy!!! 🦗

Context: The party of Krieve, Godric, Salma, Fahad, and Jaisse ran into uhhh a pretty big monster problem through the abyssal weald on the way into Correlaine. Cricket is patching the twins up here!

In the repurposed refectory, the crackpot savant himself was in an animated conversation with Salma and Fahad, both sitting encouragingly upright on a cot. The two looked weary but healthy, all under the caring watch of Mage Warden Mauve who appeared to have a death grip on two mugs she was holding just out of reach.

“-and the knight is under your care,” Mauve said delicately. “Magical exhaustion is under my purview, and certainly for guests to the kingdom.”

“‘Guests’!” Cricket scoffed. “They are my kinspeople! New Nobelian blood embraces experimentation!”

Mauve placed the mugs of dubious contents on a side table behind her, then turned back to Salma and Fahad. “And your land has standards,” she said to them with a pleasant nod. “Which is why your council revoked his medical license. The Medic Warden is a brilliant man, but do not try anything of his that is untested.” 

“Over a decade ago,” Cricket dismissed with a wave. “The council was much fussier back then--Cyrus the Great wasn’t among them yet.” 

“Oh! We met Cyrus once, you know!” Salma said, her eyes gleaming. 

“I have a signed portrait of him in my dorm!” Fahad added.

“A man also known for some dubious ethics…” Mauve said.

“Leading to the most important magical advancement this side of the Hour has seen!” Cricket said as the twins turned, openmouthed, to Mauve. “I don’t see you turning down chickadee posts just because he may have exploded a bird here or there before getting the enchantment correct.” Cricket turned to Fahad and Salma. “You know, some days I really miss being surrounded by civilized people,” he said with a grave nod. “Welcome, welcome indeed.”

“I’m just saying,” Mauve continued. “Someone banished from Magnolia for animal cruelty isn’t exactly role-model material.”

Cricket tutted. “Born in Correlaine and studied in New Nobelia, yet some days you sound like a real Crest-”

“Medic Warden!” Jaisse said, stepping into the room.

Also tagging @avrablake who asked to be tag in Hour stuff since this is a bigger than normal chunk of it!

[stories-by-rie]

5 & 25!

thank you!!

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

i don't think so? that's probably a boring answer x)

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

i somehow have a whole backstory for the ghost lady who lives in ariel's apartment and takes care of the fern in the hallway despite the fact that she never appears in the whole story aside from one or two remarks about her existing. at least so far! maybe i can actually make her relevant some time? who knows xD

i'm doing this ask game

[italiangothicwriteblr]

Got any Ms to share for the OC alphabet?

Yes!

M is for Martino

Martino Rossi is the epitome of "this might as well happen." He's the voice of reason in most situations, and usually one of the first ones to know when something's amiss.

He briefly worked for Basilio after the conquest, mainly because Giacomo was his second in command, but was one of the first ones to really see the terror of the regime. Unfortunately for everyone, Giacomo didn't listen to him. He defected to King Enrico (who was thrilled at the opportunity to humiliate Giacomo) and by the time we meet him in the story, his best friends are Enrico and his second in command, Vincenzo.

Basilio used his leaving to pull Giacomo even further into his web- Martino was the only one around who would tell him the truth.

He's insanely protective over people he cares about- he was not joking when he said he'd kill Basilio.

Also, this is not plot relevant at all, but he has a metric buttload of pets- mostly magical/fantasy ones. And because Giacomo's a sorcerer, the magical pets like him better and it's both adorable and peak "dad with the dog he said he didn't want" energy.

Thanks for the ask!

[memento-morri-writes]

Happy Blorbo Blursday!

What is your favorite romantic relationship that exists within your cast (main characters or otherwise). What is it like and why do you love it so much?

Bonus: will it work long term, or is it destined to end in tragedy?

Hi TC! Thanks for the ask!

Honestly, since I realized that I'm aroace, I haven't written much romance. (Also since my parents' divorce, lmao.) The only romance I really ever wrote was All the Queen's Horses, and I haven't touched that in about 4 years. (I do still adore Fallon and Kris, though. They are perfect for each other, and they do get their happy-ever-after.)

But I want to talk about something that's more recent to me, which is the fucking DISASTER that is Cyra and Eris. (I once pitched them to a friend as "toxic yuri romeo and juliet with a helping of griddlehark*".) (*Their strong visual resemblances to Gideon and Harrow from TLT were accidental, but I decided to roll with it, and there's plenty of other parallels, too.)

Cyra is one of my current dnd characters, an augmented human zealot barbarian. She grew up as a member of a doomsday cult called the Sunborn. Her mother was a "Lighthouse Keeper", running one of the cult's secret sanctuaries hidden in the wastelands.

When she was in her mid-late teens, Cyra was sent to the capital, Solarion, on essentially a mission trip. Her goal was the recruit more members to the cult.

While she was there, she met another girl by the name of Eris. They actually met when Cyra was captured by a group of members of the Hollow Star, a rival doomsday sun cult.

Eris was a member, but she helped Cyra escape before she could be taken back to their base.

Later, Cyra ran into her again (alone), and thanked her for her help. Crushing hard on her savior, Cyra asked Eris to meet up with her. At first Eris declined, but after a couple more chance meetings, she accepted.

They talked a lot, and continued meeting up. Eventually, they struck up a relationship. This continued (in secret) until Cyra was recalled back to the Lighthouse.

Eris devised a way for them to secretly exchange messages, and they continued their relationship at a distance. Eventually they began to plot a way to leave their respective cults and make a new life together.

When Cyra was 20, they put the plan into motion. Unfortunately, it didn't go well. Eris was captured by the Hollow Star, while Cyra was left alone in the wasteland, with only Eris's damaged sun pendant.

Cyra was soon picked up by the Iron Maw, a Mad-Max inspired group of raiders who modified her body against her will and used her as a living weapon for three years before she managed to escape.

Cyra still keeps Eris's pendant in a secret pocket, and dreams of someday attempting to rescue Eris from the Hollow Star.

What Cyra doesn't know, however, is that the entire thing was a ploy -- and most likely Eris's idea.

She set up the whole thing in order to gain access to a member of the Sunborn to allow the Hollow Star to gain information. It ended up working out even better than expected given Cyra's direct relationship to a Lighthouse Keeper. Her "capture" was just for show, and Cyra was supposed to be killed. Unfortunately for Eris, she managed to escape. And even more unfortunately for both of them, Cyra is still in love with Eris.

It will sure be a fun time when Cyra learns the truth! >:)