Brain Bribery: More Catboy Bard Rambles

[kiya]

I told my brain I could write this post if I got my editing done last night and then I was too tired after I had my editing done to do it so I am writing this post now.

Things that profoundly entertain me about the party as established in the Deliria game: the party's reactions to discovering that they are in a magic-works world full of the Good Neighbors.

Thomas: This is kind of a lot and I am not sure about it.
Isobel: I will appropriately sort through and organize all the weird things that are going on so I understand them properly and know how to help.
Danny: WHEEEEEE I AM IN. (Except for faerie court events, those give me Class Anxiety.)


After this latest round of experience-spending I think I've corrected all the "you know I should've put a point in that" stuff that I've noticed, which means I'm now up to "where to go from here". And of course Danny has decided to leap in the deep end of "No, really, I don't care about a semblance of being a normal person" with literally wishing for shapeshifting powers and accepting the consequences of that wish with ... reasonable equanimity once he got over being startled by it.

The shapeshifting is going to be fun. He's not going to improve it in a controlled fashion until several things happen: one, several more uncontrolled changes, to give him a broader basis of variety of shapes to take. And two, he needs to deal with some of his Personal Issues. (I am reasonably sure what precipitating event will help him solve that, and that's a way off.) But the way it's falling out at this point I'm wondering what sort of personality aspects and facets will give him new animal experiences, and what those animals are.

Right now, what he has a shape for that he can control is the cat. The cat carries his skittishness, his uncertainty about humans, his vigorous independence; I have a sort of scene-fragment in my head where he comments that he always reflects the cat. But because of what the cat is, the cat is also carrying a lot of his trauma. Not as intensely embodied as his human self, but there's a lot of fear/anxiety in the cat.

And then he has an uncontrolled shape that's happened once: the fox. And the fox carries playfulness, flirtation that he actually is doing as more than a show, a certain adventurousness. Possibly more things, but that's what I've got. He's mostly struck by the fact that the fox doesn't carry any of his dissociation.

But that leaves so much to tinker with, to figure out what else is true. I cracked a joke about black sheep a while back and it makes me wonder what would get his past to surface enough for that to happen. (I have a notion for one thing that would do it, but we are nowhere near a situation where he would go that direction.) Where does the music go; he's absolutely a bard, so what animal has that? I don't actually think he's a corvid; I toy with the idea of a starling. Nothing has really surfaced the thing that will make him fight, that potent sense of justice and protection of the marginalized/weak that he has in him; what animal is that? Does he go mama bear for it? That would be startling all around. Does the mischief of his fox have a full-bodied manifestation as a coyote? What other animals are True? (His shapeshifting has to express a truth. What animal embodies, for that matter, his notion of Truth?)

(And of course I know MG has plots and I look forward to seeing what chaos will ensue with them. And part of why I'm writing this is to support MG in developing Ideas.)

I hadn't originally planned on going magical practitioner with Danny; I figured the music and the shapeshifting angles would be interesting enough. I had not, however, taken into account his WHEEEE I'M IN attitude, and given the game is structured so that someone with the right stats can haphazardly make magic go, he has been absolutely fucking haphazarding his way through the scenery with reckless abandon. "Can humming the William Tell Overture make me better at aiming a squirtgun? No way to know but trying! How about singing 'The Sound of Silence' at a door to muffle the noise it's about to make when the Majestic Sword Lesbian knocks it down? We can try that too!" So that's just a thing that's going to happen, apparently; I wrote up his approach to magic and have it noted on his character sheet now.

Which means I've got two solid things that he's developing at the speed of plot filed there.

Meanwhile, I'm very clear that linguistics is absolutely going to be an experience sink for him. (I need to bump the key to three so he can achieve accented conversational fluency; current thing I am saving up for around the things I'm spending.) He is capable of understanding basic Feline even when he isn't one, because this is a fairy tale game and there is absolutely a mechanic for talking to the animals. He's learning Vulpine because it will make his personal life easier. He has plans when he's not otherwise occupied to drop by the place with the other shapeshifter he knows with a couple tins of sardines and a shiny object and saying "Hey, could we see if I can learn Corvid even without turning into one?" to that guy. (This may also wind up picking up a little Canine; that house has a big dog.)

Basically he is going to slowly but steadily become Dr. Doolittle. And it's going to be hilarious.

(The other thing that's going to be background going up occasionally is his combat skills, not because his not-boyfriend-because-boyfriend-is-way-too-serious-a-word-there-really-isn't-a-word-for-this-situation is a combat-trained knight of the fairy court, but because his not-boyfriend is a fox and playing chase and pounce games is good for unarmed combat and evasion skills. Things that will absolutely not come out as relevant until something happens. This is funny because as I keep telling people Danny's actual combat skillset is "knows how to hold a switchblade in a sufficiently menacing way that he can apply his substantial manipulation skillset to convincing the other party they don't want to have a knife fight." Have not had an opportunity to demonstrate that, either; not that he wants to, particularly. I suspect it would croggle poor Thomas.)

Though of course I keep poking around for other stuff to do, and peer at legacies and stuff. (Adaptation and Charming, for example, were ones I considered for him at build but didn't take.) Picking up Beastfriend at a low level after extensive Dr. Doolittling might make sense (Disney Princess power). The Slip is absolutely the sort of thing the cat would learn. Noodle, noodle.

Meanwhile, the more I play him, the more I notice that Danny's already edging towards Season: Spring for a developing Wyrd. The more comfortable he gets in his skin the more energetic and reckless with that skin he gets. Nobody's made him angry yet, mind... (What animal is his angry?) At this point if he picks up some sort of flaw to balance off some magical effect I'm thinking that this would be a sensible one (and if I were building him for a Journeyman campaign at this point I'd give this to him).

Anyway. My character makes me happy.

Comments

[jenett]

This is entirely delightful. I mean, Danny just a delight in general, for all of his complexities. Or because of them. Both.

And then of course, over here, we have Isobel with half a dozen (well, at least 5) varieties on magic potentially on offer, just idly poking around going "I'll pick one sometime!"

(Which she now finally has, mostly because there is one of those that is more immediately helpful if they are going to wander around being Fairy Tale Helpful to all and sundry. And it can expand in other directions as she gets a desire to.)

[kiya]

And you start somewhere and then pick up more options as they make sense, anyway. At least I'm pretty sure Isobel does; I'm not sure Danny's inclined to branch out from "Can I music at it in a productive direction? I don't know! I'M GONNA TRY."

[jenett]

Yep! Start with portable kitchen witchery, emphasis on the witchery, maybe pick up some knowledge magics, maybe pick up some sewing magic, maybe pick up something entirely different, becuase who knows who we're meeting next month....

[madgastronomer]

I like the Spring Wyrd thought, that is a good thought.

I feel like his angry should be a big cat, because anger is so often a response to fear and anxiety. But that one's up to you, I have no plans for it. At least not yet.

Melanistic leopards are pretty...



Just googling around to look at the pretty cats. That's not actually a suggestion, just a ramble.

You know what I rather like for justice? Wild boar. I couldn't tell you why, though. Just. You don't fuck with those. Also, even more chaos in town than a bear.

Now I want to know what could make him turn into a goat. Like full on Black Phillip from The Witch, with the grand curvy horns.

This is a fun game.

You always write awesome posts about this game.

[kiya]

Googling to look at pretty cats is rarely a wrong choice, really.

I think the other thing that makes Spring Wyrd make sense for him is the way he's already oriented to Not Being Inside, so the 'the nature has gotten under your skin and that has consequences' bit is a possibility. And given that he has basically cannonballed into the weird, a more overtly supernatural consequence that can't be broken is another thing that works for his narrative flow. (Where, like, Thomas's much more cautious approach isn't going to get him magical soul-warping but it might get him Fanferluche stalking him, heh.) (Jenett and I were talking about Fanferluche and what the hell she might be up to last night.)

I could also see splitting justice impulse into two with the "Oh this fucking will not stand" half of it going boar and the "These people are in need of protection" going bear, and look, we have just recapitulated the Celia Lake worldbuilding on Schola.

Goats. Goats are stubborn, self-willed, and will do things their own damn way. That's the independence of the cat cranked up, I suspect, with a certain amount of pigheaded NO I AM DOING MY THING.

Also: you are running an awesome game, so.

[jenett]

First, yes on the awesome game.

Cracking up here. (Look, I put significant thought into the Schola houses.)

Which means I also have to quote this, from Casting Nasturtiums

Seth nodded. “I keep thinking about your knife. That it’s about who’s in charge of the horse, and how they treat it. All the different things.” He waves a hand.

“Everyone thinks Horse House is simple. And to be fair, it’s the only one of the seven whose animal is domesticated. Granted, a Chicken House or Cow House or Goat House would be a little silly.”

“Goats are only barely domesticated.” Golshan was now deeply distracted by considering what the House magics of a hypothetical Goat House might be. He suspected that might be more of the sticking point, as the average Schola student did not need more encouragement to be stubborn. Or to be committed to eating everything in sight.

[madgastronomer]

Thank you, too!

Really, I should've asked you, I guess. Which are the Schola books, so I can add them to my list? I really need to get around to Celia. Seems very much to my taste.

[jenett]

I mean, Kiya knows them very well too.

The two set at Schola are Eclipse (1924-25 school year, contains astronomy and academic politics as well as romance) and Chasing Legends (one of three novellas in Winter's Charms which is an anthology collection) which I think might be very to your taste, which is set over the winter holidays of 1926 and is all about the personified magic of place.

(I'd met the Stags by then, and this is not that, but they'd all recognise each other very agreeably, is what I'm saying.)

For reading: Outcrossing is the weakest of the books, I think, in a lot of ways (also my first, so, y'know, have put experience points in writing and editing since then). I'd suggest Carry On, and then Fossil Door, Eclipse, and going on from there in the Mysterious Powers series (last book in this one will be out in August)

I am also deeply fond of books in the first series, and if any of those strike your fancy or you're looking for something specific, look away. (I will also be getting my act together for something related to Pastiche this weekend, I'll throw a link on my DW when I manage the other social media bits.)

[madgastronomer]

Ah. Thank you! I shall collect things...

[madgastronomer]

Re: Spring Wyrd: Yes, that's just what I thought when I went back and reread it! It seems like a natural outgrowth of his Can't Sleep Too Many Nights Under A Roof thing. Something obvious.

Ah, Fanferluche. Yes, indeed, what could she be doing?

I still haven't read any Celia. She's on my To Read list, I swear! Carry On, Fossil Door, and Outcrossing, which I think are a series. On my very long list. *sigh* Which ones are the Schola books? Clearly they need to be on my list as well.

And thank you!

[kiya]

Schola is part of the worldbuilding more than a particular series, though Eclipse is set there and one of the novellas in the Winter book is deep into Schola's mystery path. But the relevant thing to the conversation is that of the seven houses (named for their heraldic animals) Boar House is the martial specialists who believe in taking territory, and Bear House is the defensive (still martial but also static magic) specialists who believe in holding territory.

Anyway most of them will have bibs and bobs of stuff about Schola and the stereotypes/expectations of its people. I think the Bear/Boar marriage is Roland's parents, and she hasn't written that yet though. (Both of those people are independently terrifying. His mother perhaps more so.)

(The other Houses are Owl, for logical thought, Salmon, for deft mastery of many things, Seal, for being liminal and knowing multiple worlds, Horse, for actually getting shit done, and Fox, for schmoozing and power-brokering.)

[madgastronomer]

Thank you! I'll add things.

[kiya]

Further random thoughts that have come up include, of course, that Danny's mama-bear history came up in that bit where he identified Fanferluche as the sort of person you keep your hand over your drink around, and that gives me hilarious visions of a possible event in which she menaces Thomas in some noticeable way and then there's a "Ma'am, there's a bear behind you" moment.

I am actually really looking forward to a moment in which Danny accidentally turns into something large because he's only done small animals thus far and the 'how to manage this problem' effect is very different for something like a bear, or an ox (the ox wasn't who decided to go to law school but damn well did the work), or a horse (not sure what a horse would be aside from "probably high-strung"). One cannot smuggle a horse into a taxi.

[madgastronomer]

The horse runs, of course, both away and for the joy of it!

[madgastronomer]

See, it is my considered opinion as someone who rode relatively seriously as a young thing that horses are built to do three things well: turn grass into fertilizer, make more horses, and run.

[kiya]

The pony I rode was very good at balking at four-inch not-even-really-a-jumps! (She was a stubborn cuss and I did not successfully convince her that I was in charge.)

Jenett and I were talking about horses (not least because "One cannot smuggle a horse into a taxi" is the best sentence I wrote yesterday) and she suggested Danny's probably an ehwaz horse - willing to work in partnership but also highstrung about it. (So: "we have a crisis and we need to get from here to there how do?" "I accidentally a horse?")

[madgastronomer]

What ponies are good at is Being Cranky And Balky. My riding instructor used to say that horses didn't know they were stronger than you, and ponies didn't know they weren't.

It's a good sentence! I had not heard that term before, but I have known the type.

[kiya]

Terminology is us being nerds about the elder futhark there. :}

[madgastronomer]

Aha. I recognized the reference, but thought it was in wider use.

[elisem]

Elder futhark nerdery for the win!

[madgastronomer]

Also, that’s a great image.

[kiya]

Aw hell if the goat is the stubborn self-willed I'M DOING MY THING FUCK YOU ALL it's the goat that went through fucking law school.

[madgastronomer]

Your Witness, Counselor van Goat.

[elisem]

I am reading this two years later and falling into giggles.

[madgastronomer]

My weaving mentor actually had a goat named Vincent van Goat, which is why that came out that way.