thinking about the tonal shifts each of the characters control in acoc and what their secondaries specifically brought/would have brought to the tone? some things change and some things stay the same (cumulous and lapin both maintained a strong hatred for the church; jet and saccharina both maintained a strong focus on the royal family) and while all the secondaries would have made the series darker, the ways in which they do so are so messy and narratively interesting!
if liam dies, the party turns towards connection. liam, for all he’s a part of the rocks family, is the outcast, the ward-but-really-a-hostage. he’s on the outside of his own family surrounded by his brothers, he’s on the outside of the royal family in castle candy, he’s on the outside of courtly discussions, he’s literally wandering far out into the woods alone. after he becomes a gloomstalker liam’s always racing ahead alone, scout and assassin and death coming in the night. liam looks outside himself and outside the party for answers, finding lapin in an otherworldly space. on the other hand, a world in which liam runs or dies and amanda maillard enters the party is one that instantly has to reckon with itself. amanda immediately loops caramelinda into the party in a more humanized way; amanda also complicates the dealings with calroy as a knight of house cruller. amanda is closed off to everyone outside and opens up to one person, inside. theo has to reckon with a rivalry with a very capable knight; the royals have to deal with the fact that cara and her lover aren’t so easy to villainize when they’re in the party. a party with amanda feels like one that might fast-track a lot of interparty tension but also in the end be a stronger one (there’s a lot of love in a story with amanda, i think).
if theo dies, the party turns towards freedom. theo is all about control and arguably repression—he’s a fighter who acts like he’s bound by paladin oaths even though he literally isn’t! theo keeps his word, keeps his place at the side of the royal family, keeps his armor on and his guard up. theo uses titles like a shield and courtly courtesy like full plate. theo doesn’t let himself feel, sometimes doesn’t let himself think, doesn’t let himself shirk his oaths. he needs to remember an older set of orders from lazuli before he lets himself reconsider the orders he’s under here and now. but the bubblegum abomination is all about monstrousness and freedom. it is what it is and doesn’t give a damn if you disagree; it picks bits off its surroundings and becomes what it wants to be. a party grieving theo are going to be scared out of their minds—what can kill theobald gumbar? and who would want to? the bubblegum abomination tells them, you don’t need to fear anyone if you become the monster. so they do.
if amethar dies, the party turns toward escape. amethar, for all he wants to, can never escape. he’s trapped under the weight of a crown he didn’t want and didn’t ever expect to have. he’s trapped in castle candy when he’d rather be on the battlefield. he’s trapped by a friendship with a dying emperor and the demands of a comida that needs an emperor. he’s trapped in life itself, because the unfallen can’t seem to die. murdo briar could be the opposite of all that. he literally doesn’t have a solid shape, he’s an outlaw vigilante living by his own rules, he’s a necromancer who defies the laws of nature and death themselves. murdo is a wizard who looks at the weave of the world and the otherworldly and knows i can change that, if i try. a party without amethar is shaken, scared, angry, grieving, scarred. they look at the world that killed their king and wonder whether to fight or to flee. murdo will always say to run.
if ruby dies, the party turns towards duty. ruby hates duty, or maybe it’s more that she barely gives it a thought. she’s the princess who doesn’t want to and doesn’t have to ever be queen. she’s the trickster, the child, the twin feeding into jet’s chaos and bouncing off the limits of royalty and magic and safety. but rococoa/bitternibs is all about duty, the crown princess turned general turned queen turned revenant. bitternibs above all has a mission she will carry through. if ruby dies at any point in the first nine episodes of acoc (episode 2 probably being the most likely), i don’t see a way the party doesn’t either turn on calroy instantly or split itself agonizingly over whether they have a stronger duty to the man who’s been at their side for years or to the throne and candia itself. it’s all duty and grimness and irrefutable truth of betrayal in the form of his oldest sister, half-alive, staring amethar in the face. there are no easy choices. there are no easy duties.
By clicking the gif page in the source link below, you will find 177 textless gifs of Ki Honh Lee as Dan in Looks That Kill (2020). These gifs were not made by me, but by a friend who does not wish to host their gif packs on Tumblr. I am posting these on their behalf with their full permission because they wanted them to be available for roleplay use.The size of the gifs are all 245px in width and 168px in height (245x168), and below 3.0 MB. Please like or reblog if you found these gifs helpful!
Trigger/Content Warnings: fighting, hand injury/bandages
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”Everyone is an influencer. I think sometimes you forget that – for yourself, for your family and for the world. You can make a difference.” -Billy Jean King
Jewish and Muslim characters - what would they pray in a dire situation?
Jewish answer
“Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One / Blessed is God’s Glorious Name For Ever and Ever” (Shma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad / Baruch Shem, K’vod Malchuto, L’Olam Va’ed) – this is the shema, there are plenty of times to say it and this is just one of them. My flippant way of describing it in my head is that if we’re mobile phones this is the way we ping the tower.
–Shira
Definitely agree it would be the Shema.
The only exception I can think of is if it’s the time of day for ritualistic prayer (either shacharit, mincha or ma'ariv), they might prioritise that over reacting to the situation as an affirmation of their faith in face of death. There is no obligation to risk your/others’ lives in order to pray at the correct time, in fact this would be against Torah, but if the situations seems hopeless anyway then I can think of some stories of people saying ‘it’s time for *insert daily prayer*’ and proceeding to go through the relevant service with no obvious signs of fear.
Similarly, you might want to research how to make sure your character’s attitude towards the situation is in line with their unique Jewish identity.
If they’re very religious, for example, they may have an easier time accepting this fate than the average person. Jewish theology involves a belief that everything ultimately comes from G-d and is therefore good. We do have a strong emphasis on protecting life as one of our main obligations in this world, but there is also an acceptance towards death as something that G-d created and so is ultimately for the good - the first thing we say on hearing that someone has passed away is ‘Baruch Dayurn Ha'Emet’, 'Blessed is the True Judge.’
Unlike Christianity, we don’t have a concept of the Devil as a being independent of G-d who is capable of introducing fundamentally bad things into the universe. This may or may not play out in your character’s thought process and decisions in the situation you’re describing, it depends on their relationship to Judaism and Jewish theology, so that’s something I recommend including in your research.
–Shoshi
As you can see, Shoshi and I have varying levels of knowledge about how much prayer belongs when, and that’s something to keep in mind – if your character is Reform they might sound more like my answer and if they’re Orthodox go with Shoshi’s – but that difference is only relevant at specific times of the day.
–Shira
Muslim answer - open to followers
The Muslim portion of this character is open to followers.
Muslim mods are not active at this time. We’ll be recruiting for more mods soon; Muslim writers, feel free to apply anytime!
Like all the replies before me have stated, the most likely thing to happen is your character recite the syahadat (“there is no other God than Allah, I testify that Muhammad SAW is his messenger” [rough translation from what my language translates it as]) over and over. We’re gonna need specifics for what sort of dire situation you’re in because, well, we have doas/prayers for just about everything under the sun.
Now, if you were about to die? Lots of teaching will tell you what to recite, but the one thing most people will urge their family members on their death beds is to recite the line: “laa ilaha illallah” which is the first half of the syahadat. If your body has gone stiff and you can do literally nothing else, this line is not only the most ‘practical’ (according to my teacher, I went to a school for this stuff) because it requires no other movement than the tongue and air for all the ‘h’s, but it’s memorable and easily repeatable.
Again, the above is death bed level 'you are about to meet the angel of death oh look they’re right there’ stuff. If you’re on a sinking ship? About to crash into an asteroid? The other replies have mentioned repeating the syahadat; 'sujud’ which is bowing with your forehead, hands, and knees and tips of your toes flat on the ground 'kising’ it; ayat kursi, which is also good against malevolent spirits/entities and general protection against anything that might crawl into your dreams as you sleep; and dzikir, which are, like, three verses that all mention God in some way that most muslims recite after every one of our daily prayers/sholat. Those would be go-tos for most people, the Al-Fatihah verse as well because it’s one of the most used surahs in the Quran and is the first verse anyone teaches their children and is used in, well, basically everything.
Sorry if this isn’t as coherent (kinda hard to explain a few things because I’ve been taught them in my language and for some reason English tends to make harmless words in Indonesian sound evil or some shit, I don’t know, I hate it) or detailed as the others. I live in a fairly moderate household despite going to a Muslim boarding school, so my day to day has kinda diluted the more detailed things I’ve been taught(?) and so I’m kinda lax on a few things. Kinda sad that I tend to forget important bits when I’m at home, but I hope this helps.
This! Adding that the general dua for any misfortune is “ina lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un” – which roughly translates as “we belong to God and to him we return”, here it is in the Quran if it helps. Note that this dua is applicable for everything, from, say, you failed a test or didn’t get the job you want, to your parent just died or your country was invaded.
From the context, it sounds like there might be an offending party about to kill them? If that’s the case, there are also many duas for tyranny and injustice.
I’m not familiar with the tyranny and injustice ones (either that or they slipped past me in school) but yeah innalilahi wa innailaihi raji'un is a pretty common one to use in harrowing situations or if you hear a person has recently passed. Another is 'anuzubillah min dzalik’ which is used mostly like a 'dear God no’ or 'please let that not happen to me’ sort of thing.
More Muslim Commentary
@cinnnamonrollstan said: A Muslim would probably recite the shahada/ testimony of faith. Which basically translates to: I testify that there is no God but God and Muhammad is his messenger.
@polarissdiary said: A Muslim would say the shahada (testimony of faith) and if they can, they would pray what we call two rak'at. Since we are closer to Allah with our foreheads on the floor, they would say any dua'a (supplication) in that position, from asking for forgivenes to asking for mercy. This in case there is no escape for them. If there is a chance to break free or save themselves, as Muslims they have the obligation to put they’re trust in Allah and at least try. Hope it helps 🖤
A Muslim character might definitely pray in a dire situation. It doesn’t have to be any specific prayer. This could be in any language and even just in your own thoughts.
If you want a character to recite something specific, they might recite a certain part of the Qur’an (one thing I often recite to myself when I am anxious is aayat al-kursi, which is a very holy part of the Qur’an, that you recite for protection) or a specific dua (thats the arabic word for prayer). There are duas for specific things, such as one dua to recite when traveling that Muslims might recite when driving.
Jewish Commentary
@beautifullights1 said: Some Jews, esp those who are less familiar with the traditional liturgy, less fluent in Hebrew, and/or from a progressive denomination, might pray in a more freeform way. For example, they might have a conversation with Gd or plead for Gd’s help in their own language.
@addiehour said: just wanted 2 say i’m orthodox & agree w shira!
Just a flash in the pan(sexual). I've had this blog for way too long so it takes me from super dumb undergrad to present day thirtysomething who is hopefully closer to getting this stuff right. Please be patient. This is my next project.
