Blu Is Plotting

[BluLibrarian]

• Welcome to Blu’s Idea Thread! •
Repeatedly edited and reorganized throughout the years, and now presented here upon Elliquiy for your perusing pleasure. If you see something that piques your interested, send me a PM. Do not, I repeat, NOT, reply to this thread.

Let’s get started with a directory to other pertinent threads and a few quick things to get to know my writing!

• Ons and Offs •

BluLibrarian:

__________Loves__________						_________Loathes_________
Plot, first and foremost OOC communication Third Person Limited perspective Multiple paragraph posts Threads with multiple characters Subverting / Challenging Cliches and Sterotypes						Porn Without Plot Playing with / as canon characters First person perspective in RPs One sentence replies Passive characters

I do not care who's on the other side of the keyboard; as long as you're riding the same idea wavelength as me, we're good to go. I prefer writing men or non-binary characters, but if you've got a great pitch that needs a gay lady, I'm sure I can whip one up in a pinch. I have nothing against cishet characters / couples, I'm just not interesting in writing those stories. They can of course be in any given story, just not the main focus of any plot I'm crafting.

• Table of Contents •
________________________________________
• Favorite Story Elements •
• Blacklist Bikers •
• Unfinished Science-Fantasy Military Setting •
• In This Church, We Don't Pray •
• On A Hot Summer Night •
• Song Snippets •
• Monsterfuckery, Anyone? •
• Pirate Scene Idea •
• Wastelanders Plot Seed •


To see a sample flight of the types of characters I play, then please please wait patiently for me to post them. One thing to note about it all, though: I love making characters for a set RP. I’m kind of a junkie about making them, actually. Seriously, just ask and we shall plot up a storm on all these fronts.

And now, for reference as to my writing style, I have here a list of all RPs, past and present, as well as their current status and the name of the main character I play in it. For now, it’s empty, but maybe someday, I’ll have something to put here.

[BluLibrarian]

Favorite Story Elements

_______Setting Specifics_______		________Plot Points________		________Character Components________
Low Magic Fantasy Countries Post Apocalyptic Wastelands Not-So-New Spacecraft The Weird West Golden Age of Sail / Golden Age of Piracy Remote / Difficult to Reach Environments		Awkward / Dangerous First Encounters Long Journeys Social Separation / Social Shunning Intrigue Danger of Detection Mutual Pining Communication Barriers Tragedy		Secrets / Regrets / Debts Subversion of Social Order Power Gaps / Struggles Role Reversals Jerks With A Heart of Gold Jerks With A Silver Tongue Jerks

[BluLibrarian]

• Blacklist Bikers •

Sometimes, I have a setting made up and many characters within it. I'm going to put those in here for perusal.

Here goes info about the Blacklist Bikers setting and then I type up a bunch about the characters I have within it.



Originally, this was a setting conceived for the early to mid 80's, but it's flexible enough that it can completely be adapted for more recent years. Actually, the latter facelift might stick better now, all things considered. It would set the Early Days part of the story neatly in the original Present Day timeslot, which kind of amuses the hell out of me.

This started from one character for a chatroom RP and blossomed into a huge web of people, who are all linked in this bizarre web because, well, they knew That Guy. That Guy has gone by many, many fake names throughout the course of me writing him. In Present Timeline moments, he's using Nikki Gray. Most of them all met while in motorcycle clubs, and in Present Day timelines, they're all out and have taken to semi-hiding out in the same southwestern town. Some are adjusting better than others.

I'm going to go ahead and say it's safe to assume virtually all these characters are operating under assumed names and that they may be subject to change as I come up with a fake name I like better. I'll also be sorting these into two groups; the Main Crew, and the Outsiders. Think of the former as the slightly more fleshed out Spotlight Characters and the latter as the less fleshed out Antagonist or Secondary characters.

• Main Crew •

Nikki Gray

• Tall, dark, and handsome. Green eyes, sly smile. Absolutely covered in tattoos and piercings
• Posterchild Bisexual Disaster
• Hangs out with more exes than is healthy. For his exes, mostly
• Talks his way into and out of more trouble in a week than is anywhere near acceptable or healthy
• Is legitimately trying his best but there are just so many skeletons sprinting out of the closet

Ana Flores

• Medium height, stocky. Deep, raspy voice. Takes no shit
• Legitimate business owner. Runs a strip club
• Gruff exterior. Will adopt too many strays that remind her of herself
• No longer thinks she's invincible but Will Not Hesitate, Bitch
• She and Nikki go waaay back

"Doc" Tucker

• Gigantic. The Tank
• Dropped out of nursing school, but when you stitch enough guys back up, the nickname sticks regardless
• Going to the gym is easier than conversing with strangers
• Supposed to be on the straight and narrow but fight club cash is just. . . So good. . .
• Is actually a light weight drinker

Wayne Cash

• Short, slight. Large facial scar across right side of face. Grumpiest
• Legitimate business owner. Runs an auto repair shop
• Eats like absolute garbage when he remembers to stop and eat. Will forget to go outside
• Somehow got badgered into letting Parker help out
• Voted least likely to open up

Morena Torrez

• Tall. Long legs, tight pants. Aggressive flirt
• Dancer at Ana's club
• Will pick your pocket if you piss her off enough

J. Parker

• Young, Pretty, and Dumb. Absolutely cannot be convinced that he is dumb
• Finally aged up enough to get into his trust fund but will never swallow his pride enough to go back to it and his real name
• Got picked up attempting a life of crime by Nikki; now has five biker parents out of the bargain
• On and off and on and off again nonstop with his dealer
• Developing a serious drug habit. Needs a therapist something fierce

• Outsiders •

"Ripper"

• Medium height, scrawny. Deathhawk to make them look taller. Terrible dye job
• Used to dance at Ana's. Side hustle became main hustle
• Says their too old for this shit but still actively partakes in this shit even when they have to go out of their way to get into it
• Wears the same vest everyday. Can and will fistfight you in Starbucks
• Got too good to peddling drugs to the rave kids to stop now

Ray "Stingray" Justice

• Medium height, very stocky, very hairy. The gray streaks are taking over
• Old timer. Tight with Ana
• Not out, but passes through a lot. Can be trusted not to say shit
• Smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, sleeps like a corpse. Will stop when he's dead
• It's amazing he doesn't have more cancer

Xavi

• Young, Pretty, and Too Smart For His Own Good. Always dressed to kill
• Illicit Substance Alchemist, Guru, and Peddler. Will ruin your couch
• Had a corner on the market before Nikki brought Ripper to town. Does not like that one bit
• On and off and on and off with Parker
• Getting too high on his own supply

Seth Volker

• Medium height and build. Broad shoulders. Heavily scarred
• Notable scars are big slash across throat, lines all across torso, and a faint vertical slice on the left side of his mouth
• Rode with Doc and Nikki back in the day. Not welcome at Ana's
• Wears so many rings. Huge rings. Offsets the heavily scarred knuckles.
• Doesn't partake anymore but goes with Doc to fights when he's in town

Albert Everard

• Medium-tall. Thin and wiry. Voice like a chemical burn
• Bad News Personified
• Used to ride with Cash back in the day. Briefly tangled with Nikki
• Not welcome at Cash's. Or Ana's. Or town. Or anywhere

I also tend to write short stories about them, so once I start posting those, I'll put the appropriate links in here.

[BluLibrarian]

• Placeholding •

Sometimes, I have a setting made up and many characters within it. I'm going to put those in here for perusal.

Here goes info about the Military Verse setting and then I type up a bunch about the characters I have within it. It's very much a sci-fi human world colliding with the suddenly very real myths and legends realm. I don't know why I put it as a post here the more I think about it. This setting was done for a group game and I'm not terribly confident or comfortable running one in a forum yet. Not a lot of good luck with forum RP Group games in my time, alas. I guess post is placeholding for when I do rewrite / edit up the old shorts for posting here? The big ass character bios for this would  consume this thread in a very user-unfriendly way, so they'll be tucked into the short story thread together, rest assured.

I also tend to write short stories about them, so once I start posting those, I'll put the appropriate links in here.

[BluLibrarian]

• In This Church, We Don't Pray •

Sometimes, I have a setting made up and many characters within it. I'm going to put those in here for perusal.

Here goes info about the Unsettled Chapel setting, the rules for the angels and demons within it, and then I type up a bunch about the characters I have within it.

• Those Below •

Vivax

• Concubus of the Lust Order
• ??? Aligned
• One half of the minds behind the Cambion boys
• Mostly remains within the chapel or the Underrealms; no stable conduit to the Mortal Coil
• Took a vow of chastity because fuck the rules

Xezbeth

• Incubus of the Lust Order
• Metal Aligned
• One half of the minds behind the Cambion Boys
• Hasn't been himself the last few thousand years
• It's better for everyone if nobody gives him a conduit to the Mortal Coil

Veritas

• Pride Order; Formerly of Greed
• Water Aligned; Specialized in Ice
• Secured a permanent residence on the Mortal Coil
• Is far too ambitious and refuses to slow down

Mendacium

• Wrath Order; Formerly of Lust
• Fire Aligned
• Was betrayed and cheated out of a permanent residence on the Mortal Coil
• Will kill that motherfucker if it's the last thing he does

• Those Betwixt •

Phobos

• The Older Cambion Brother
• Æther aligned
• Finds the family calling suits him just fine
• Getting far too good at Underrealm politics for anyone's good
• A serious taste for the expensive

Daxos

• The Younger Cambion Brother
• Æther aligned
• Angry young rebel. Knows less than he ought to but more than you'd think
• Actively trying to disengage from family scheming
• Fuck the system, fuck your plan, fuck my name, fuck you mom and dad

• Those Above •

Afel

• Principality
• Air Aligned
• Received a most unusual placement on the mortal coil 40 years back
• Has been awaiting further instruction ever since
• Is failing at keeping the long term placement on the Mortal Coil affect him
• Is failing to keep bitter resentment and frustration from brewing

[BluLibrarian]

• Current Craving •

This feature happens to have been inspired greatly by Meatloaf, the majestic musical marvel that he is. It’s very much the pitch of a theme.

Specifically, the spoken word introduction to You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth. Just the intro, really, not the whole song. Then, I found this clip. My insane craving for tricorn hats and dramatic period longing was very pleased with this. It did not hurt that I’d been watching Black Sails, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and Downton Abbey at the time, not one bit. Finally, toss in this image, and you've got yourself this post!

All parts of that little scene delight me: The strange question, the breathless escalation, the last line at the end, just- HNNNNNNNNNNGH. I LIKE IT A LOT.

Been doing some refining, and there a couple different roads I'm willing to take this narrative thread down. They will all have this in common, though:

This relationship is dangerous. Socially speaking? Discovery could mean death – of reputation, of position, of liberty, or of life itself. They both know this is a terrible idea. The closer they get to each other, the higher the stakes are raised. There’s only more and more to lose. Things like this can never be simple, and life only heaps it on, more and more. And yet- And yet, neither party can seem it to find it in themselves to pull away.

Big time period/location cravings for this are: the Caribbean in the late 1700s , the 1870s in a Weird West setting, the 1880s in late Victorian Britain, and the Roaring twenties. Any setting craving you have could work just fine, though; just pitch it to me. There’s a lot of great options; potential difficulties for both parties are definitely classism, homophobia, xenophobia, racism, as well as some good old fashioned treachery and treason against the nation / the crown mixed in.

Time period can change some of the trappings. The Wolf could be anyone; an outlaw with a silver tongue and a bounty on his head? A young socialist revolutionary in an unreceptive country, or a wanted one in his home land hiding away in a foreign place? A bootlegger, ambitious or otherwise, during the Prohibition? Someone with minor rank in the Navy who is under the thumb of another, more powerful person, who needs a little bait to help himself wriggle free? Perhaps an outspoken pirate, far bolder than he has any right to be? Just a stranger with an odd gleam to his eye that scares people off?

I like the idea what this is a dangerous man who, due to the circumstances under which the two parties meet, seems helpless, ineffectual, or at the very least defanged. And likewise, the Wolf presumes he has the element of surprise on his side and dismisses any potential danger the other part of this dance could have to him.

Both walk in with different expectations of how this will go down, and then there is perhaps friction as things change and certain approaches are objected to, or differences in terms of goals arise. The Wolf I can see as being far more helpless than he seems. Or rather, his appearance and his personality don't match up; The destitute looking man might turn out to be more connected and cunning that his shabby dress and slumping posture let on, or the outlaw winds up much more readily manipulated than he ever had thought himself to be. He’s kind of self destructive in most of my imaginings, this Wolf, so there will absolutely be a lot of shitty judgment calls. Really, they both can be a wolf of some sort, just in different measures. Hooray for putting together two scary ones!

I am fond of the Wolf as unexpectedly connected man of lesser statue than his potential partner, myself, in terms of who's playing what and how. But that’s mostly because he's the one who's had more thinking on in terms of this framing device. Really, with a little more plotting, I'm sure I could go either way on this one. It's allll in the pitch.

And who says they have to be strangers when it happens, after all? It could be that they’d known each other ages ago and this reunion is shocking in more ways than one. Imagine being convicted of some hideous crimes and being sentenced to be transported to Australia, and one of the guards on the ship is that beautiful boy you’d given up on ever seeing again. Maybe you’d been collared and cuffed just because there was specifically something or someone you were looking for in that prison for your men, and now that you’d found it, your men were nearby to help you abscond with your hard earned prize. And how messy it would be if that beautiful boy nearly foiled your escape plan so you definitely totally for sure just had to bring him along with you?

While most of these ideas are very much not-fantastical, there’s fun to be had by introducing supernatural elements as well.

Perhaps tie it in with a Tam Lin sort of plot? For a Tam Lin idea specifically, I have in my head this scene, of the Wolf in question sitting on a curb outside in a sketchy alley, perhaps near a dive bar, and he asks the same question of everyone who passes. "On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?" Most people ignore it and scuttle off, sometimes someone tells him to fuck off, or just laughs, or what have you, because it's an odd question asked in not the right location to get a good answer. Very few people respond, and the answer is invariably some variant of no. After all, it's not the sort of question that expected a positive answer, is it? The Wolf either looks rather shabby or some form of stereotypically 'dangerous' in his dress; Either homeless or a threat.  The Wolf is cursed, and is fishing for someone to help him break it. He’s been at it so long, he’s let his carefully harmless looking facade slip. Or he can’t afford to pretend to helpless any longer, not after trying for so long. His desperation and near resignation is the whetstone upon which he sharpens his hunger.

And I mean. . . there werewolf angle is right there. I’d be remiss to not mention it. Just saying, that old myth where someone who truly loves a werewolf can call their name and cause them to change back? Very good, very romantic. Also puts a lot of pressure on his partner to assume guardianship of what the Wolf may do when he turns, might cause drama for them if something happens between them, the Wolf changes when the other man isn’t there to call him back to himself and the resultant mess gets very, very ugly. How unfortunate.

Another idea I was toying with was reincarnation/repetitive cycles; Perhaps the same scene happens several times over, between two people who all have a common personality thread or two with their previous incarnation. The stories might only be similar in that one moment when they meet. This would be a long haul RP idea, though, so holy fuck, that is some commitment right there.

I am interested in how this dangling little skeleton gets fleshed out. PM me to brainstorm.

[BluLibrarian]

• Song Inspirations •

I get a lot of inspiration from both song and the music videos. Sometimes I jot down fragmented plot ideas based on them and put it here. These are far less fleshed out, so they get to hang out in here and maybe inspire a reader.

Hunter’s Kiss

Rasputina - Hunter's Kiss

Something lovely, delicious, and kind of unsettling. I can only do one RP of that type at a time, and I prefer to choose partners I've collaborated with before to make them. A story of a romance pursued on one end as a sort of quick conquering and on the other as being star struck and swept up in love only to discover there's nothing like that on the other end when they're left stranded on the forest floor, so to speak. Bonus points if the conquest turns into an obsessed stalker type! I just have such a weak spot for self destructive characters. Nothing like seeing the worst outcome and throwing yourself in headfirst anyway.

Had a fun run of this idea that fell apart but I really would love to revisit it, set in moderns times. The most recent iteration of it was a powerfully arrogant, dangerously hedonistic stripper and someone who gets dragged to the club and quickly gets way too invested in what one party views as just something to break up the daily (nightly?) monotony. There was a third party in a controlling older businessman, too. PM for more details on the who/what/where of this potential story line.

Over The Hills And Far Away

Okay I'm very much on an Age of Sail kick, but hear me out - Naval Uniforms hot. Piracy sexy. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

BUT ALSO - Long term love triangle plot? Character A is falsely accused of a crime due to machinations (a rival trying to steal a promotion out from under them? Family scheming to discredit them and inherit instead?) and the only way to prove his/their innocence would be to not only out himself and then be found guilty of a new crime, but also to put Character B, their beloved, in mortal peril as well. Destroyed by the system, Character A is transported to the colonies in order to serve a manual labor sentence. This, of course, won't do. Character A is hell bent on returning home to Character B, and fixates on escape.

It takes some time to work out a scheme with some fellow prisoners. Too long. By the time Character A is free and gets a letter back to Character B, the response indicates that Character B is somehow unavailable. Lots of wiggle room here - disappeared shortly after Character A was sentenced? Jailed later down the line? Listed as POW/MIA in a military conflict? Placed in asylum? Sent away for being a disgrace to the family and now transported elsewhere? Whatever has happened, whatever Character A finds out, it's that after all their planning and fixation,Character B appears to be far outside their grasp once more.

Despondent, Character A remains with one of their head co-conspirators in the prison camp break, Character C. Or perhaps Character C is the contact who offers them a chance at less than legal but definitely profitable employ - preferably a job that would help them move towards any potential leads on how to find / get to Character B. This would be knowledge found or brought in by Character D, who got to know B (or at least become close to people close to B) during the missing years in between. They are pining for Character C, who was unavailable when last they had met, and C is still kind of a mess from the fallout of that relationship, which is why they're so fixated on their terrible idea crush on Character A. Character D wants to sink the C & A relationship without C being pulled under with the ship.

This is definitely a messy love quadrangle with Big Pining Vibes to it - A loves B but it seems, at least for a big chunk of the RP, that B is outside their grasp. C has been falling for A for some time and is all too aware of A's devotion, and that any affections between them would always be second place to the chance of B returning into A's grasp once more. Then make it a quadrangle in that we have a Character D who brings the information / leverage to open the path to Character B once more to A, but they're really hung up on Character C, and everyone's pining dreadfully. I guess there's room for Character E as the Evil Ex to C, but that's. . . a lot of people already. And I don't know how exactly they'd show up as a spoiler when there's already enough inner turmoil going on. Might be a needless complication.

A is very focused on B but might drown their sorrows physically in someone else if they were persistent enough, B is AWOL for quite a while and there are so many options for what's become of them in the interim, C knows that their pining after A is a long shot but when B seems to be gone they let themselves hope that perhaps second place is good enough if first can never be and they persuade A of that. D hates watching C resign themselves to such a fate; D's knowledge of how to open the path to B would sink any and all of A & C's relationship potential, but it's pretty dangerously clear that unless they can get some signs from C that doing so would wreck them, as they're in a bad enough emotional place already considering they decided second place to a ghost forever is the best relationship they can get. But D also knows B, perhaps? Or has reason enough to care about B's fate - it would not be for A's sake that they help reunite the two. They don't like A for what they are unknowingly putting C through.

Shit I dunno how well this would work in RP but. . . I sure can use this as a story idea if I can't let it go, hahah!

[BluLibrarian]

• Monsterfuckery, Anyone? •

This is way vague but like. . . Yeah? I want to write some spooky horrible enticing monster type real bad.

One idea seed is like. . . Someone has to get away and de-stress, so they go to a vacation in a tiny little New England town where nothing ever happens and they never make news. . . How perfectly not suspicious. So of course, when they can't help but feel vaguely unsettled the whole time, well, surely that's the residual stress and definitely not the strange horned creature in the swamp that was one worshipped as a pagan deity by those who founded the town in those early colonial days. And the swamp creature that definitely doesn't exist is stirred from a long dormancy by the disruption of their docile flock by an few newcomers. Especially if one of them is a nosy reporter who thinks that several missing persons reports have somehow been tampered with ever so slightly, and that picking at those loose threads have led them here. And who would even think about a rival cult worshipping a different lovecraftian horror attempting to make a move on a new location, an ancient and deep nexus of horrible cosmic power?

Like, YC can be in all kinds of trouble; are they just there to try and relax and gets caught in the crossfire of all this going on? Perhaps they're the nosy reporter, getting drawn in too deep? Are they part of the invading cult and get caught by the particular old one their group seeks to unseat? Swamp God needs a particular mortal to bond with in order to exist and interact on a more human-scale and timeline. They have long been slumbering, dreaming. Now it's time rouse. To act. To feed.

Yeah this is probably a multi-character horror / mystery / tragedy where I really definitely truly want to play the Horrible Monster. And maybe like, the local bookstore owner who rents out some of his upstairs rooms to out-of-towners and also knows too much about the Care and Keeping of Your Local Old Gods.

My brain hurts with an unshakeable headache so that's all I've got but PM me if you wanna expand on this idea.

[BluLibrarian]

• Blu Presents: A Scene •

I literally cannot get this off my mind so:

     The air in the hold is sweltering. The prisoner is waiting a the far end of his cell, kneeling in the dim light. Though his wrists are already shackled behind his back, both navymen are cautious as they enter. They remember all too well what the prisoner did to that guard whilst boarding the transport ship, after all, and are scarcely eager to allow him a repeat performance. Higgs drops the tray onto the narrow table and scurries away to the doorway, outside the room. It's not what he's supposed to do, yet the young navy man can hardly reproach his fellow for something he likewise yearns to do.
     The captive raises his gaze, first to the table bearing his food, and then the the remaining navyman. Despite himself, despite his grip on his own pistol, his breath catches in his chest whilst he waits for the pirate to speak.
     "Dinnertime already?"
     The navyman swallows and manages a nod. With a rattle of iron, the pirate heaves himself to his feet and takes a step forward. Then, another. "Am I expected to eat, bound like this? Like a dog?" The navyman glance to the doorway. Higgs' back blocks it all out He feels desperately alone, somehow, though his men in arms are but a loud call away. His eyes remain upon the captive, yet he cannot seem to find it in himself to meet that fierce gaze.
          "I remember you." His head whips back around to the captive, nerves on edge as the sea dog scrutinizes him. "You were on deck when I. . . boarded. By the mizzenmast."
     The bright flash of scarlet flits before his vision as the memory rises against his will. The navyman hesitates, then nods. His eyes are fixed on the pirate's knees, the idea of meeting his eyes making the young soldier's gut flip about oddly in his torso just to think of it.
     "Yes, that's what I thought. You were quite bold, that day."
     "Bold?" He asks without thinking, glance flickering upwards. The space between them has shrunk somehow, though the navyman can feel the unyielding wood of the support beam behind his back. That's it; once his eyes lock onto those frighteningly pale ones, he feels himself freeze in place; it's like being a mouse before a snake.
     "Aye, bold. Even as that coward cried out his last breath beneath my teeth, ye did not look away."
     With a confidence belying his current circumstance, the pirate swaggers closer. Even as the navyman shrinks back, he finds himself without room to retreat; The exit it to his left somehow, and the older man is all but between him and his escape.
     "Well now, it's a little late to realize how afeared of me you are," the pirate breathes into his ear. The naval man shivers as he feels the captive's knee slide between his, pinning him to the post. They are so close, too close; how did that happen? "Were you a dutiful little soldier, you'd have shot me already."
     This seems to shake the young navyman to his sense at least somewhat; his breath stutters for a moment as he composes himself and then he says, "Prisoner, you will face away from me and get on your knees in order to be fed. Do you-"
     "And what if I don't?" The pirate pressed closer against him, their bodies sliding together as the ship rolled over the swell of a wave. "I ask again; will ye feed me yourself, or will you ask me to lap from the plate like a dog?"
     "I- I-" sputters the navyman, keenly aware of the hot breath on his ear.
     "Which would you like?" The pirate's tone is coaxing, cajoling; were he any less wise, the navyman might dare call it playful, teasing.
     "The- the prisoner will stand back and await for the exchange of his shackles from w-wrist to ankle before he may eat," the navyman recites, eyes fixed on on a small swirling knot in the plank across the berth from him.
     "It seems to me like ye can uncuff me right here, now." The navyman barely bites back a squeak as the sensation of hot lips brushing his neck. "I'm close enough for ya now, aren't I?"



MC is the pirate and YC is the young navyman he's bothering. Who gets caught up in the madness of an attack on the ship and is yanked away from all that is comforting and familiar by this pirate;  What a shame!

[BluLibrarian]

• Wastelanders •

Mad Max: Fury Road is my one true movie love and I'm only a casual suggestion away from watching it again at any given moment. I love so much about the post-apocalyptic setting; specialized groups with a tight bond, cannibalizing broken things to craft something strange and new, wildly different pockets of civilization growing off the gravesite of humanity's endeavors past, landscapes blasted and mutated and slowly either clawing their way back to life or giving up entirely, lone wanderers who just can't help but get drawn into high stakes plots between factions unfamiliar to them.

I've long had a loose plot for such a setting; Due to a very unfortunate last gig, MC is freshly without a merc band to support them or a tongue to ease getting an easy position new one. They were never that talkative to begin with, and happened to grow up in a group that heavily used sign language many years past, so it could have been a lot worse. Thing is. . . Not everyone else out here is going to be able to sign back. And they can't read or write, either, so that's a dead end. They're trying to find a new partner or band to partner with, but it's proving hard to find someone who can understand them that they also trust.

So of course, when they get caught right in the crossfire of a situation gone quite thoroughly awry, they don't really have many options that aren't teaming up with YC in order to squeak out by the skin of their teeth.

I really want to give YC as much free reign as possible here; there's so much fun that could be had. I just love me some mismatched partners slowly overcoming language barriers and growing to trust one another as they navigate some misadventures; we can go the whole gamut from madcap fun to grim high stakes.

This can easily be a group too, I just don't really feel keen on running one yet. Who knows; as I build up more and more set pieces, I just might give it a go. For now, an episodic 1x1 Mercs For Hire tale is the flavor.

[BluLibrarian]

I have a great and terrible Cyberpunk craving. Neon lit holes in the ground. Dramatic body mods. Gig jobs and the callous who are stuck working them. Skeevy corps and the suits who do their dirty work while keeping their hands aesthetically clean. Social feed broadcasters as unlicensed reporters. Liberally skirting the law in pursuit of enough funds to cover the next week's expenses. Angry rallies over rights for synthetic beings. Hackers stumbling onto some data they probably shouldn't have. Back alley chop docs who'll spoof you a dead guy's ID codes for a steep price or just give you some decorative panels or fun implants without the megacorp oversight. Strangers becoming entangled by a problem neither of them have any say in and being forced to work together toward a common resolution.