It's Bones, baby.

Sorcerer. Nihilist/Absurdist. Troublemaker Everyone's favorite unliving misanthrope. Wyrmrest Accord - Horde (US)

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

How would you describe your writing style?

This is tough, as I am, as many of us are, a harsh critic of my own writing, and I am always hesitant to have any opinion on my own writing, even if it's just to try and objectively encapsulate the style of it.

It would be easier to talk about what I try to accomplish with my writing style.

Gonna do a line break, because I wrote too much, I think.

I try, when I write, to be evocative to the senses. When I write something, I try and ground any potential readers in details of the scene that I think are poignant to understanding the atmosphere of the story, and often, I try and paint a picture specifically through the lens of the character's perception, as I think I excel at first-person perspective, having dabbled in second-person and third-person. I am also quite a fan of the hard-boiled genre of noir storytelling, so conjuring an atmosphere and aesthetic through a first-person perspective is an important thing to me. I think, my writing style uses repetition as emphasis. Especially when combined with short, punchy sentences. I think it becomes almost like a visual element of a scene. To describe someone being punched in the nose. Again, and again. And again. I think really creates an impact with each sentence.

I think when I write, I try and have a mind for tempo, for word placement, and word choice. I try and alternate between flowing sentences and shorter fragments depending on the tone of a scene, and I try and focus on words that have the right connotations for their place in the story, and ordering the words so that they are sometimes alliterative, or more pleasant or interesting to the ear.

I think I tend to be very grounded in the details of a scene, and am an observer of Chekov's Gun, in that if I mention a detail, there's a reason I mentioned it, and it will likely come up in some form.

I think my writing style is also very... corporeal. I think I excel in writing action, especially when visceral. I think my writing tends to be focused on the physical, with details about how characters move and fidget and speak, where they are, what they're saying. I think I write the external more than the internal.

When I do write introspective pieces, or exposit from a character's perspective, they are often narrative asides, and I typically frame them as such, with them thinking and taking time to reflect, but not always. I do think I need to work on my more introspective and thoughtful writing.

I have spent a long time trying to work on my dialogue, and my pacing, and I think my writing style is also very... succinct, because of it. Almost to the point of being too compact. Something I also need to work on. I do think my dialogue is intelligent, and quick-witted enough in a roleplay-sense, but in long-form I think I still struggle.

(( Thank you for the ask, @kharrisdawndancer! I got a bit rambling, but I hope it is a satisfactory response! ))

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

What gets you invested in other storylines?

I admit, I'm not quite as tapped into the pulse of RP as I used to be. I do not often chance upon storylines very often, at this point in my roleplay life. Generally speaking, invested from a reader's point of view? I find character vignettes with a depth of emotion and and storylines with nuanced perspectives compelling. I enjoy some good action sequences, I enjoy seeing a character change because of a storyline, growing as a character, even if it's in a problematic direction. I enjoy strong banter, too. As for what gets me invested in a storyline as a participant? Just asking me gets me involved. Having a place for my character to fit into it is always a plus. I'm always happy to be a helpful NPC, too.

(( Thank you @kharrisdawndancer ))

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

You gave me lots; I give you lots!! 03 - What forms of media have been significant in your RP history? 11 - Which character is the most challenging to write? And/or what aspects of your characters do you find challenging to write? 21 - What about your RP and writing style has changed the most since you first started roleplaying? 25 - Do you find it hard to create new characters? What does the creative process look like for you?

I am going to put a line-break here, because it's a lot! I hope I answered these in a satisfactory manner!

03 - What forms of media have been significant in your RP history? I take inspiration from a lot of different things, from a lot of different ideas. Novels, movies, comics, TV shows, video games. Certain authors, have influenced me as a writer more than others. Generally, my characters are all a hodge-podge of different inspirations and tropes and ideas that coalesce into something character-shaped. Bones, for example. I was, once upon a time, inspired my Jim Butcher to start writing magical urban fantasy noir, and a lot of those themes crept into characters like Bones, a snarky, genre-savvy, sarcastic evil wizard. I tried to write him like I was writing a noir detective story. Constantine, from the Hellblazer comics, was a huge inspiration for Bones's characterization. Randall Flagg, specifically from the Dark Tower and from Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King, was a big inspiration. 11 - Which character is the most challenging to write? And/or what aspects of your characters do you find challenging to write? My most challenging character to write for, I think might be Khidell. He's an eccentric character, incredibly eccentric (which may be something I have a habit of doing too much), a drummed-out Farstrider, former thistle-dealer, parkour and hearthstone-enthusiast turned bounty-hunter and tracker. He's alot, but I think one of the major things that's difficult to write about him is that he is decidedly an unreliable narrator, and I have a tendency to write characters are are astutely aware of some things. That, and his constituent cast of characters in his life have all largely migrated away, and so he is sort've stuck on his own now, and that makes it hard to write for a character, but that's another can of worms, I think. Aspects that I find difficult to write in a character are really things that I am not, personally. Suave, charming, flirtatious characters I am often self-conscious about, because I really lack those traits in real life. Writing truly emotionally intuitive, aware, and mature characters can be tough, as I am not always fully aware of my own idiosyncrasies and am a little neurodivergent, and so, every character is filtered through my own perception of situations. And there's the common setback of trying to write for an exceptionally intelligence character. My character is really only ever going to be as smart as I am without a lot of hand-waving.

21 - What about your RP and writing style has changed the most since you first started roleplaying? I think that's hard to answer for me. Like the frog in boiling water, I hardly notice the change in temperature over time, so I don't feel like my writing style or roleplay has changed really.

I think that I have become more nuanced in my character-work. As I have matured as a writer, I think I make more grounded and well-rounded characters. Quirky or eccentric as they may be, I think I make them more three-dimensional than they used to be. I like to think I have more of an elegance when it comes to word choice, and a better grasp on pathos than I used to, and I think I have more of a polish on my dialogue and banter than I used to.

My pace has certainly changed, that's for sure. I am much slower, and more deliberate with what I put out there. I am also quite a bit more prolific in the amount of words I put out there.

I think that I put more focus on things I didn't really focus on, when I first started twenty-odd years ago. Character interaction and dynamic interpersonal situations and dramas are a highlight for me, whereas I think I used to be obsessed with big plotlines, adventure, and badass one-liners and epic fights. Not that I don't still love those, but they aren't what give me life, necessarily.

25 - Do you find it hard to create new characters? What does the creative process look like for you?

I actually don't find it too hard to create new characters. I actually think character-work is one of my stronger suits as a writer/roleplayer/dungeon master.

For me, the creative process usually starts with an inspiration when it comes to a character, if I'm making it out of the blue. A line of dialogue, a scene in something, a song. Though, sometimes, I will create a physical character to fill a role and fill in the character as an idea as I go. I consider what race they might be, what their job is, what their passions are, and how those things might intersect, how they might change how they do them, or change how they view the world. And that can lead me to different idiosyncrasies and attitudes and demeanors. Their race often leads me to a name, as I will typically try and ground a character's identity in what lore is available to me, but give it a personal touch to that character.

My most recent character, Savate Escrimeur, was created because I have been very much enjoying watching fencing and HEMA. I decided to make him a fencer. Now, I also made him a nightborne, because I didn't have a Shaldorei character yet, but that made me start thinking how I could incorporate a swashbuckling fencer into nightborne society, and landed on being a spellfencer. And, being so heavily french-coded, that led me to choosing the name 'Escrimeur', as it translated to "fencer", and 'Savate', as it was a french kick-based martial art, which aligned well with my choosing monk as a class. Everything else fell into place as I leveled through Legion and started reading the Suramarian quest-line, and as I thought about what side he was on, if he was young or old, and if old, how old (Very), led me to develop him more, little by little. I suppose there's no real method to my madness, sometimes it all happens out of order and things just coalesce into a character.

[lilyofporcelain]

RP Process and Character Questions

How did you get into RP?

How long have you been RP'ing?

What forms of media have been significant in your RP history?

Have you retired any characters? Have you unretired a character?

Tell us about plot you're writing right now. What do you love most about it?

What do you most look forward to writing for your characters? Do you plan their arcs?

Do you have any development goals for your characters?

Share a recent storyline or theme that you are particularly proud of.

Which of your characters do you identify the most with? Why?

Which character is the most fun to write?

Which character is the most challenging to write? And/or what aspects of your characters do you find challenging to write?

How would you describe your writing style?

What gets you invested in other storylines?

What do you envy in other writers?

What does your writing process look like?

Have you experimented with any new styles or ideas in your RP'ing?

Do you find yourself repeating particular phrases or words in your roleplay?

What character, storyline, lore, other other related meta have you been wanting to ramble about lately?

Do you like to include symbolism, call backs or refer to other scenes / events in your writing?

Do you ever make notes (for instance, in TRP) or save snippets of previous RP scenes to reference or remember later on?

What about your RP and writing style has changed the most since you first started roleplaying?

Has your approach to RP changed significantly since you started?

Do you write AU versions of your characters? If so, do you have a favourite one you like to visit or would like to visit?

What do you think you do best in RP?

Do you find it hard to create new characters? What does the creative process look like for you?

What makes a character "ping" for you?

What do you like most about roleplay?

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

ARCAN’DOR - What is something completely contradictory about who they are? (ie. things they like, personal views, dreams, etc.) CHROMIE - Hypothetically, if they had the power and capabilities to alter timelines, what would they do with it? Would they languish over their past or visit the future? 

ARCAN’DOR - What is something completely contradictory about who they are? (ie. things they like, personal views, dreams, etc.)

"Bones" has had some very draconian views about society and about magic that he has, himself, contradicted over the years. He rails against the uplifting of those he deems "lesser" or "weak", but he often will put himself on the line or advocate for children or those afflicted by the mindlessness of the Forsaken curse.

He preaches living life without regret or guilt, but laments his treatment of Maggot and seeks to atone for it when he can, in the ways he knows how.

He, in general, is a hypocrite. Though, he's very open about it, willing to admit that he will compromise many of his principles if it leads to his survival or escape, and admit that he is philosophically bankrupt when it comes down to the razor's edge. He is a rat and a cur of a man, and he is very shameless about it.

That being said, he is slowly becoming just a bit less craven and despiccable in part of his atonement in regards to Maggot.

CHROMIE - Hypothetically, if they had the power and capabilities to alter timelines, what would they do with it? Would they languish over their past or visit the future? 

Theoretically, "Bones" could gain that ability in a very grounded way. After a long struggle with a temporal variant of his who sought to rectify what he saw as a mistake in his timeline had become a powerful chronomancer and invaded into the inviolable and sacred "prime" timeline to kidnap this timeline's Maggot as a ritual sacrifice to bring his own back wholly. He had staged his incursions from a cloaked cavern outside of time and space, an island adrift in nowhen, which has since been co-opted by Bones as his lair, wherein he had left all of his research and progress into mastering chronomancy in the same way the prime "Bones" mastered necromancy.

That all being said, if he had dominion over time, he would likely only use it for flights of thought, altering the past in various ways to see how things might have turned out if things were just slightly different. He might explore a timeline where Maggot was never indoctrinated by him, or a timeline where his mother was never murdered by his father, even a timeline where "Bones" never studied magic. He'd make no real manipulations for any lasting changes.

Generally speaking, he'd more lament and observe his past. The future is mutable in every present moment, so he puts no stock in "futures".

(( Thank you @lilyofporcelain! ))

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

N’ZOTH - What is something they tend to try to overcompensate for?

Typically speaking, "Bones" does not often overcompensate very much, as he has a very precise knowledge of his limitations and though he has his ego at times, hubris or pride doesn't typically cause him to feel inadequate.

However, sometimes, if he does feel inadequately outmatched or unprepared, he has been known to bluff and grandstand, getting by on pure bravado and projected confidence, and obsess over figuring something out that might elude him.

(( Thank you @safrona-shadowsun! ))

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

05 - Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Will they give one, and what about? 15 - What would they consider a waste of time– other than school or work?

05 - Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Will they give one, and what about?

"Bones" has, and will always, give speeches about magic to those who genuinely want to hear it. It is what "Bones" has dedicated himself to, in life, and his mastery of it has been hard-earned. Having been a teacher of magic, an instructor at the Scholomance, he has become quite good at giving speeches for people. 15 - What would they consider a waste of time– other than school or work?

Charity.

Bones, while his draconian views on strength and weakness have softened a bit over time, he still views charity to be a wasteful thing, in regards to time and resources.

If they want to change their circumstances, it's up to them. It's dog-eat-dog out there, and if someone weak or infirm or otherwise toothless needs to survive, they need to learn how to bite or scratch, because the bigger dog won't always be there to protect them. And, to mix metaphors, a drop in a broken bucket just goes in and out.

(( Thank you, @lilyofporcelain! ))

[narikkaphoto-deactivated2021082]

Death Knight https://www.instagram.com/narikkaphoto/

[lieslmakesthings]

[harrypotterhousequotes]

SLYTHERIN: “I didn’t recognize what she was describing as love, but I had been around long enough to understand that sometimes love doesn’t look like anything you would expect. Sometimes love is a spider hiding in the corner of the room, dark and brooding and terrible to anyone who doesn’t experience love in the exact same way.” –Mira Grant (Dr. Shannon Abbey: Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus)

[zegalba]

Undercover: ‘Anatomicouture’ Ribcage Leather Jacket (2013)

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

What do they like that nobody else does?

Necromancy.

Most people, at least, find it distasteful.

Many people believe the dead are entitled to some sanctity, to some dignity in repose. But to "Bones", a body without a soul is just meat. It's detritus, like anything else dead and scattered and left to decay. It's a resource like any other, to be harvested, to be utilized. Even the restless dead: spirits, ghosts, wraiths, revenants. There are some that "Bones" would put to rest and offer some succor, but most in their pettiness, in their anger, in their inability to find rest and their wandering of the Veil makes them fair game.

(( Thank you, @safrona-shadowsun! ))

[lord-momonga]

*September 1st on Tumblr*

[lord-momonga]

You can only reblog this once a year

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

🔥 (I want this one for Laeynna even though Bones and her only met once.)

"I know nothing about her, other than she's real soft. She's pretty, I guess, most elves are. I caught just a whiff of something dark on her, though. I like that. Just that little tingle in my bits that I get when there's something about someone that just feels a bit... profane."

(( Thank you, @lilyofporcelain! ))

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

⚰️ - Someone they lost (not necessarily dead)

Margaret Anastaph. "Maggot". His former apprentice and lover. His oldest and only real flame.

Their relationship over the years could only be described as toxic.

Jealousy, control, obsession, possessiveness, and violence defined their love for one another for a long time, on both sides, but their relationship was also real. They knew each other's most guarded secrets and their most intimate selves. Their relationship knew respect and intimacy and softness and passion in its quietest and most private moments. It was a genuine love for "Bones", or the closest thing to love he is likely capable of.

As Margaret matured, as she thrived and flourished apart from him, she came to realize that though there was a genuine, mutual love between them, it was a killing love and its highs were never worth its lows. It was a strangling thing made of barbed wire and coated in poison, and it drew blood from them whenever they were both touched by it.

She avoids him as best she can, now, and has allowed her heart to move on, even though it still has the puncture marks from his claws. She refuses to be loved by him, refuses to be wanted or manipulated or used or hurt by him again.

"Bones" still grieves losing her, but understands her need to be away from him. He still holds a deep-seated resentment towards himself for what he had done to her over the years.

(( Thank you for the prompt, @kharrisdawndancer! ))

[the-man-with-the-mohawk]

✿ - DECAY - an old memory, from childhood perhaps ∇ - TOMBSTONE - who they are versus who they appear to be

An Old Tombstone, A Decayed Home

(✿ - DECAY - an old memory, from childhood perhaps)

The bubble and hiss of his mother's alchemy always inspired wonder in Jack. He enjoyed watching the oils and steam collect on the perfectly rounded glass. He loved to watch vapors travel along thin tubes and, like magic, become droplets of perfumed oil that made him think of her. He loved to watch his mother turn flowers into magic. It made her smile, which made him smile.

She could, like magic, turn 'ouchies' into 'all-betters' with nothing but a kiss and a drop of peacebloom oil.

That was why he was always so excited when he got to help her.

"Jack, sweetheart, be careful around that burner!"

It was too late, though. He'd touched it, and the flame had kissed him hard on the tips of his fingers which caused him to wrench backwards with all the lack of grace and spatial awareness of a child.

He hadn't even noticed his father's favorite whiskey glass on the table, but he did notice it in pieces when it crashed.

She wasn't smiling, anymore.

There was something in him that wanted to cry. His finger hurt. It surely did. But that wasn't what made him want to cry. It was that his mother looked like she did.

"I'm sorry, mama..."

Her eyes were a little wide, her skin was a little pale. She knelt down beside him and held his cheek in one palm, and his hand in the other, cradling and holding each with a soft despair. Her voice was always so sweet, though, "It's okay... It's okay. Just... G-go into your room, and I'll have this cleaned up... Alright?"

She sounded out of breath.

She kissed his forehead with a kind of severity that Jack could hardly understand. That he wouldn't understand for quite a few more years.

Her smile was different, then. Not like when she did her magic.

"Don't... tell your father about this, okay? It was just a little oopsie, so no one needs to know about it once it's all cleaned up, alright? Go on, Jack, so I can get this cleaned up before he comes home."

(∇ - TOMBSTONE - who they are versus who they appear to be)

"Bones" couldn't help but sneer as he sniffed away the heaviness beneath his eyes, just above his nose. Where tears might have welled if he still had them.

He stared down at the overgrowth, thick and lush and green, and pulled the wooden grave-marker from the wildflowers that had sprung up around its base. She would have liked to know that there were flowers there. He knew she would have.

He replaced it every year. He took the time to build another; to create rope from the vines nearby, to chop and shave another two lengths of wood to mark the grave again, to place a small bundle of lavender atop it, her favorite, with all the reverence and ritual he could muster.

Ritual was important to a real magi. To a true sorcerer worth the salt in their salt circles. To a thaumaturge. A worker of miracles, profane and eldritch and eerie.

"Bones", if he was meant to have a true love, it was magic, though his lovers might have argued that his true love was himself. It was something he viewed as wholly paramount to survival, to living, to the future. He'd spent his life mastering it, plumbing its deepest, darkest, and grimiest depths. He looked after magic as a teacher, ensuring only the strongest and most worthy could wield the precious secrets he'd bled from the stone. He ensured magic's survival in his most precious student, in his most precious lover, in "Maggot".

But, he'd hardly let anyone else know how deep his mastery ran. He'd hardly let anyone else know how deep his love ran.

Some knew, of course. What counted for his "inner circle" did. But, he preferred everyone think him the fool, the cur, the lech, the blasphemer. He would be underestimated that way.

He looked to either side as he placed the lavender down and rose, drawing his cloak around him. He always checked to make sure he was alone.

He wouldn't suffer trespassers in this place.

Gods help them if they disturbed even a single blade of grass.

But, of course, they wouldn't ever.

He made sure he wasn't followed, double-backing and making sure the ground didn't remember his footsteps. He moved through the dark and eerie corridors of magic, dark leylines that few with sense would touch, and fewer would let touch them. An enchanted fog offered a creeping and persuasive susurration within the mind to turn away from that small little tended grove in the woods of Elwynn; where nature had reclaimed the foundation of that burned-down cottage.

He guarded his name, his secrets, his masteries, his passions.

They could be understood and exploited. Levied against him.

There was no way in any hell that he would let anyone know that he had once been a scared child, with a mother who loved him, and a father who didn't.

(( Thank you for the ask @lilyofporcelain! I turned it into a small little story! ))

[greyface-dude]

Mages by and large are a guarded, paranoid lot. We don’t have friendships so much as alliances of convenience. But erotimancers need relationships with other mages. It’s how their magic works. Some of their most powerful spells come out of ritualistic orgies.

Or so I’ve been told. Nobody ever invites the necromancer to the orgies.

-Stephen Blackmoore, Cult Classic (Eric Carter)