#Take everything I say with a grain of salt because I still haven't played the game yet lol

[theharrowing]

Collateral 🗡️ POV: Seokjin

After a successful day of scheming, Seokjin calls his favorite plaything to join him and Hoseok for a little fun. 

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❗ THIS IS A CHARACTER POV CHAPTER!!!

if you do not wish to perceive any POV that is not the main character, please feel free to skip this one!

🗡️Seokjin x Hoseok

🗡️ word count: 7.2k

🗡️ mafia au, dishonest characters, established relationship, bdsm, poly, smut, angst, fluff, nsfw, explicit, 21+

🗡️ warnings: top Seokjin with mention of bottom Hoseok; top Hoseok & bottom Seokjin; scheming; mention of the use of heroin; use of the word "whore" not meant derogatorily, but not always kindly; allusion to puppy play; talk of manufacturing and selling drugs with the purpose of getting people addicted; shower play; enema play; light humiliation; ass eating & fingering; Seokjin is...morally grey at best.

🗡️ notes: mc is referred to in 3rd person (she/her) pronouns for this chapter! listen: Seokjin is not the nicest person, so please take the way he speaks with a grain of salt. it is hard to put everyone's full intentions into the POV scenes because i still need there to be surprises later on!!! but i feel like this is going to really help to solidify the way many of you feel about this character hehehe. i hope you enjoy!

🗡️ early draft beta read by @blog-name-idk - with minor unbeta'd edits done since.

🗡️ posted march 2024 - originally jan. 2023 | read on ao3

"She's not going to go for it," Hoseok teases as he reaches around Seokjin's broad shoulders from behind and straightens out his burgundy satin tie. 

Seokjin's tie matches a fitted burgundy Armani suit, which he wears with a cream undershirt. His hair is pushed off his forehead, bringing together the look.

He has a meeting at House of Cards with some investors who are looking to build near the Shin territory just outside Busan, in a smaller port city, and Seokjin wants to make sure those men are on Yoongi's side if push should come to shove. 

But first, he plans to make a stop by the mansion to discuss something with Yoongi's little pet. 

"She doesn't have to go for it," Seokjin responds, watching Hoseok's reflection with adoration swelling behind his lungs. Recently, Hoseok has been letting his hair grow out, and he looks devastating with dark brown waves falling past his eyes and longer bits tucked behind his ears.

Hoseok raises an eyebrow and cocks his head, done with his task and letting his arms hang over Seokjin's shoulders. Seokjin spins on the balls of his socked feet and wraps his arms around Hoseok's waist, pulling him close. 

"I am merely planting a seed. I want the actual idea to be hers when the time comes."

Hoseok grins. "Elaborate."

"Well," Seokjin says, "for starters, the plan is terrible. Shipping her off to Busan for a week—or whatever the span of a vacation may be—is hardly enough time to turn her into an informant. She is smart enough to know that much. But I will pose it to her that way, insisting Yoongi cannot know, which will force her to stew on it. I know she wants revenge for the recent attack on Jimin at Paradise, and if Shin sends any more men to try to shake us up, it will only fuel her fire."

"And you want her to do this, because...?"

Seokjin chuckles. "Because, my love, Ryujin has always responded best to the friendships and authority of women. As sweet and empathetic as Hyunjin is, she has not gotten as close to him as we hoped. Yoongi's wolf cub, on the other hand, is the perfect bait. Not to mention, she comes from the honey bee ring, which Ryujin will sympathize with."

"And if Ryujin recognizes her from Serendipity?"

Seokjin pouts, sticking his lip out and down-turning his eyes. "Seokie, baby, you pretend I haven't thought of absolutely everything, and it wounds me."

With a roll of his pretty eyes and a soft giggle, Hoseok says, "Then humor me, love."

Seokjin rubs the tip of his nose against Hoseok's, then places a soft kiss, making Hoseok smile widely. "All we have to do is spread a rumor that Yoongi has harmed or upset her in some way. Nothing too damaging to his reputation, just a simple whisper. Ryujin may be hesitant, but, given her feelings about Yoongi, I think she will fall for it."

Hoseok leans in and mimics Seokjin's motion, rubbing their noses together, making Seokjin's heart pound just a little bit harder. "And if Ryujin doesn't believe the rumors? We don't think Yoongi was abusive to her at any point?"

"Not abusive..." Seokjin drifts off, squinting slightly while he chooses his words. "But when his parents died, he went off the deep end with drugs. All the voices have to whisper is the word heroin, and her ears will perk up."

Hoseok purses his lips, thinking over what Seokjin says but looking unconvinced.

"And anyway, she's competitive," Seokjin continues, gently kissing the tip of Hoseok's nose, "even if she doesn't buy the rumor," Seokjin kisses the apple of Hoseok's cheek, "Ryujin might still take her in, thinking she can convert her to actually become part of her family."

"Or, she might kill her," Hoseok responds with a pointed gaze.

Seokjin places a kiss on Hoseok's other cheek as he shrugs. "Sometimes, the cat must wet its feet, no matter its dislike of water, in order to eat fish."

A soft, pretty chuckle comes from Hoseok, who presses his lips against Seokjin's and then mutters, "Idioms to describe a human life, Jinnie bear? Tsk tsk."

Seokjin hums, says, "Sacrifices need to be made for the greater good," and licks over Hoseok's lips until his partner parts them, pulling him into an eager but soft kiss. 

Time comes to a halt in Hoseok's arms, and Seokjin holds him tight, kissing slow and deep, savoring each taste, touch, and sound. There is nothing in the world quite like being in his lover's arms. Even the joy of watching the light die in his enemy's eyes pales in comparison. Seokjin thinks that he would do absolutely anything for Hoseok.

"Join me?" Seokjin asks. "She may be more comfortable with you around; you seem to have made a better impression on her, anyway."

"Fine," Hoseok mutters. "But I do not condone a plan that may get her killed, just so we're clear." Seokjin playfully rolls his eyes, and Hoseok smacks him on the shoulder as he continues, "I do like the idea of her running off to Busan for a while. For her sake and for Yoongi's."

"Oh?" Seokjin asks with a curious cock of the head, studying the microexpressions that tug gently at Hoseok's lips and eyes. To the untrained pupil, one would hardly notice these quirks, but Seokjin sees everything. Hoseok is nervous.

"Namjoon thinks he's becoming unhinged again," Hoseok finally says. "Slipping from reality. He's worried about another bender...so your plan to tell the voices about heroin use seems more grounded in reality than you realize."

"And you think taking her away from him won't just make him worse?" Seokjin teases, bending at the knees to smack a kiss on Hoseok's chin. 

Hoseok nibbles on his bottom lip, considering his words. "I think she needs to spend more time out of the house, and out from under Yoongi's shadow. He is still very controlling, despite her willingness to stay, and whenever she's not directly in his line of sight, he gets paranoid and on edge."

Seokjin mulls it over. "I have noticed he is on edge more when we are away from home for extended periods."

"He needs to break out of that loop. We can't have a mad king on our hands. Especially one who could raze the city to the ground."

"So, we need to somehow get him to grant her more freedom, in a way that does not cause Yoongi to completely lose his shit," Seokjin clarifies.

Hoseok nods. "I'll talk to Namjoon about it."

"Good plan."

And with that, Seokjin presses one more kiss against Hoseok's lips, then releases him, linking their hands together as they make their way out of their bedroom, through the hallway, and down the stairs. 

"And what is our excuse for visiting the mansion?" Hoseok asks as Seokjin sits on a charcoal grey chaise lounge beside the front door, reaching for a pair of black wingtip shoes. Seokjin slides his feet into both and begins tying the laces on one after the other. 

"I am either going to catch Yoongi before he leaves for the day and discuss what he would like me to say to the investors this afternoon," Seokjin sighs, "or I will message to let him know that I was trying to catch him before he left, yadda, yadda, yadda."

As Seokjin stands and rubs his hands over his slacks to straighten them out, Hoseok pulls his black shirt sleeve back to reveal an elegant black timepiece. "He should be home for another fifteen minutes, assuming Namjoon is making him punctual and not late."

With a pleased hum, Seokjin offers an elbow and says, "The weather is nice. Shall we walk?"

The weather truly is beautiful, and the two of them take their time, walking hand in hand along the gravel path. Seokjin does not like to be nostalgic, but it is hard not to smile as he remembers the years spend in this secluded stretch of trees with Hoseok, before there were mansions on the property, and they would steal away to be alone.

As timing will have it, Yoongi and Namjoon are just about to leave when Seokjin and Hoseok arrive. Seokjin can hear the two of them laughing on the other side of the bulletproof door and opts to use the large brass knocker rather than scan his retinas, and all that. 

The door swings open to Namjoon's tired but smiling face, and he walks outside, followed by Yoongi. They are in their standard black outfits, and Yoongi wears a cardigan rather than a blazer. Seokjin wonders what the two of them may be up to; Yoongi only mentioned meeting with some people concerning the mess Jeongguk recently made—which, Seokjin thinks, is a very flippant way to address a killing spree. 

"Gentlemen," Yoongi calls with his arms held wide, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Looking sharp, Jin," Namjoon mutters, making Seokjin grin. 

"My reason to visit today is twofold," Seokjin begins. "I was hoping the chef was in so I could have a plate of his fabulous eggs benedict.

"Of course," Yoongi responds with a smile. 

"And, I wanted to let you know that I will be meeting with the Choi brothers about their desire to open a casino near Busan."

Yoongi hums and then nods. "The chef is in, although, I am surprised you haven't perfected the recipe on your own."

With a shrug, Seokjin lies, "There is something about his hollandaise sauce that I cannot quite nail, but he refuses to give me the recipe." 

The truth is that the chef adds horseradish rather than dijon mustard, and just a dash of dried ginger, giving it more of a bite. Seokjin figured it out almost immediately, but he likes that the chef can whip it up on a whim, saving him the trouble of purchasing the ingredients and doing it himself.

"And the men?" Yoongi asks as he reaches into his front pants pocket, pulls out a metal cigarette case, and opens it, revealing a row of perfectly rolled joints. 

"Shall we offer to buy them, or shall we threaten them?" Seokjin simply asks.

With a smirk and a shrug, Yoongi pulls a joint to his lips, muttering, "Offer first, threaten second?"

Seokjin nods, watching as Namjoon pulls a lighter from his pocket and ignites Yoongi's joint, feeling glad that the two of them are finally able to be together once more. Yoongi needs a lapdog more than anything, and Namjoon is the perfect fit. 

"Excellent," Seokjin says with a small bow, "then I will be on my way to the kitchen. Shall I order an extra serving for the wolf cub?"

Yoongi takes a long drag of the joint, holds it in, and then slowly lets it out, creating a plume of skunky smoke between them. "I doubt she'll be up for another hour or so."

Perfect, Seokjin thinks; he actually was hoping to be fed. "Sounds good."

The front door hadn't been closed completely, so Seokjin enters the mansion easily, stepping aside to remove his shoes while Hoseok does the same. They close the door tight and make their way toward the kitchen. 

"You're so hot when you lie," Hoseok mutters, leaning in close enough for Seokjin to smell his cologne.

Seokjin twists and bends to place a kiss on Hoseok's lips, saying, "As are you, my love."

* * *

Despite having to wait more than thirty minutes on the balcony for Yoongi's darling to wake up, Seokjin considers their little meeting a success. He was certainly able to get into her head and could tell she was not ready to completely write off the idea of taking a trip by the time they made their exit, giving him just enough time to get into town on schedule for his meeting.

House of Cards is a raucous place even in the daytime when fewer men are around to throw away their money. The machines ding and play loud soundtracks, and televisions blare with various sport and fighting events. 

Seokjin enters through the main doors after leaving his sedan with valet, and he walks past all the drunks and coke heads with a straight face, making his way to his decoy office on the main floor to meet with some men whom Namjoon claims are going to be good for business if they can manage to keep him on their good side, and bad for business if they do not. 

Frankly, Seokjin could hardly give a fuck about what is good for business—Yoongi has inherited one of the oldest families in Korea, and by far the wealthiest. House of Cards brings in money simply by existing, and he hardly has to do any actual work. The boxing nights were Jeongguk's idea because he likes watching men fight to the death, and the wealth gained from those simply fuels the family's more expensive drug habits. 

The Shins in the east hardly have a stronghold on their own docks, and the Songs in the south are happy to form an alliance when the price is right, showing loyalty to no one but their own pockets.

Rumor has it the Song family turned down the Choi men because they do not wish to be in the business of entertaining tourists, and a casino might bring in the wrong crowds. Let the tourists flock to Jeju, they say, and Seokjin agrees. The Shins, on the other hand, are desperate for anything they can get their fingers on, and more or less offered them a stretch of land. 

All Seokjin has to do is offer the Choi brothers more money and an illusion of influence. Seems like the easiest thing in the world. The only variable he thinks that could possibly make those men want to side with the Shins would be an old family bond or rivalry, and as far as he can tell, these men have neither. So now, all he has to do is meet with them and find out what he can find out. 

Seokjin has a way with men. A look, a gesture, and a veiled threat are all he needs to get them talking. He has no doubt he will be able to make these men sing. 

* * *

Seokjin barely manages to light a cigar before his phone rings. The Choi brothers left mere minutes ago, and Seokjin had been hoping for a moment of alone time, but it is his informant who has been living with the Shin family, which makes this call potentially very important.

"Hyunjin, darling, what's the news?"

Seokjin sits back in his large, black leather chair, listening to the shocks whine as he leans, bending the springs a bit too far. He is in his real office on the second floor, and has a cigar between his teeth, slurring his words around it while he holds his cell phone to his ear. His informant, who works on Ryujin's drug-running team, sighs. 

"She plans to intercept Yoongi's next shipment of pills. Apparently, one of his dock men was bought. A man by the name of Kang Daesung is going to steal the shit."

"Fuckers," Seokjin mutters, spit flying from his lips. He takes a puff from the cigar and holds the smoke in, then lets it out with a bitter huff. It feels lackluster now, and he gently stubs the cigar out on a golden ashtray, then sets it aside to let it extinguish itself the rest of the way. 

Shin has really been coming for the drug operations, which has Seokjin feeling concerned for Jeongguk's safety. And his sanity.

"I am also one of the only people who knows this information, so now that I have passed it along, I have put a target on my back."

Seokjin hums and considers his options. 

"You want to come home, or hop off the peninsula for a while?"

Another sigh comes through the line, and Seokjin gives him time to consider. Hyunjin has been with the Shin family long enough that leaving the country may be his best bet, but he does have a family of his own, which could complicate things. 

When Hyunjin does not respond, Seokjin says, "We can get your little girl into a prestigious American school. Or Australian; there are plenty of Koreans in Australia. And we could assist with getting you and the wife nice jobs." 

"Yeah," Hyunjin says. "Yeah, you're right. I'll think it over and talk to Jisu. Maybe Australia would be good."

"Let me know," Seokjin says as he thumbs through his files, opening a folder that reads "Hwang Hyunjin'' and pulling out documents. "Your passport is current, and I have a burner identity on the books with a line of credit. I can have you on a flight within an hour, any time, day or night, alright?"

"Thank you, Seokjin-ssi."

As they end the call, Seokjin pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. He hates giving Yoongi bad news. This will also put another man in Jeongguk's crosshairs, and Seokjin really hopes that hunting him down will not also include killing fourteen of this man's closest friends. 

Seokjin dials Yoongi and is surprised he picks up on the first ring. "Jin."

"Yoongichi, bad news." 

Yoongi sighs and hums, and Seokjin continues. "Hwang called. Says Kang is planning to switch teams and sabotage the next shipment of pills."

"She bought him, eh?" Yoongi asks. 

"Yup."

"Fuckers."

"Yup."

"What about Hwang?"

"I offered him an out, and he said he would think about it. Considering Australia."

"Sounds good. I may call everyone to meet later. Taehyung has an engagement until nine, so it will be a late one if I do."

"Alright. I'm headed home soon. Should have my hands full for a few hours, so after nine is perfect."

"Thanks, Jin."

"No problem."

At least Yoongi's tone was pretty flat; no reaction from Yoongi is the best reaction. Especially if Namjoon is worried about him falling off the rails. 

This bump in the road aside, Seokjin considers the day a win, and he lifts his cigar, fits it between his lips, and lights it back up before locking up and heading out.

* * *

Seokjin My winning streak continues. This calls for celebration.

Hoseok In the pink dollhouse room?

Seokjin Of course, baby. Where else?

Hoseok ETA?

Seokjin 1 hour. Going to make a pitstop. I called Puppy, and he will be there in 20.

Hoseok  I'll be home to get our guest ready.

Seokjin Thank you, baby.

Hoseok  Anything for you, Jinnie bear.

To celebrate, Seokjin calls Hyungwon—his and Hoseok's favorite whore—to join them in one of the dollhouse rooms. Hoseok is home to get him ready while Seokjin stops at one of the boutiques to buy him a white leather muzzle that is shaped to fit a dog, with pointed ears on top and a pretty pink bow in the center. 

The pièces de résistance, however, is a bar inside the muzzle for Hyungwon to bite down on, ideally making a mess of himself with drool. 

One of Hyungwon's favorite toys is an anal plug with a long white tail, and Seokjin wants to see him with a pretty new accessory to match it. And, although Seokjin has plenty of items like this in his puppy playhouse room, this muzzle is a gift specifically for his most special whore. He is feeling rather generous tonight.

The drive home is short and sweet, and when Seokjin arrives, he is pleased to see a motorcycle parked in the driveway and light shining through the sheer white curtains of the first room on the second floor, confirming that Hyungwon has, in fact, already arrived, and that Hoseok must be getting him ready. 

Seokjin always finds it incredible how the man can strip down from all his worn, thick leather and stand in the prettiest pink lingerie, and he laments briefly that he was not home to witness the transformation. 

When Jimin first hired Hyungwon at Paradise, Seokjin thought that, perhaps, the heavens had opened up and shined just for him. He has a cold indifference to him that makes Seokjin want to break him apart and make him sob. And he does.

Hyungwon is the only man who allows Seokjin to do every little sadistic thing he desires, then leaves at the end of the session with a soft kiss and a promise to return. Seokjin treasures him dearly. 

Many whores blacklist him for less. 

Of course, now that Jimin has returned to their bed, Hyungwon may have to take second place, but that is a discussion for another time. Seokjin is eager to make Jimin sob again and again, but he worries about coming on too strongly and scaring him off. Jimin has always been quite sensitive, which Seokjin will never understand, but he does his best to respect it.

Seokjin takes his time exiting the car, grabbing the black paper shopping bag with an expensive monogram on all sides. He knows the men have heard his car pull up, and he wants to draw out the anticipation and make them wait. 

Hoseok, in particular, hates to wait. His temper is as explosive as the incendiary devices he so enjoys crafting, and Seokjin takes pleasure in pushing his buttons.

As he punches the hex code of his partner's favorite shade of sunshine yellow into the door and waits for the device to scan his retina, Seokjin takes a deep breath and allows a hint of a smile to creep over his face.

Things within the family have been a bit of a mess lately, but everything seems to be going fairly well, aside from their drug runner turning heel. Men on the lower ranks tend to chase money, after all; they are no stranger to these types of incidents.

If he can ensure the Choi brothers remain loyal and convince Yoongi's darling to leave town for a while, everything might even be perfect for some time. Seokjin hesitates to dwell on the thought.

Once inside, Seokjin closes the front door as quietly as he can and has a seat on his chaise lounge to remove his wingtips one at a time, placing them carefully beside the rows of footwear. Then, he takes the handles of the bag gently in his fingers and creeps up to the second floor, stalking like a tiger in the hope of catching the men off guard. 

He can hear their voices coming from the room, though what they are saying is difficult to make out. Hoseok has an excited lilt to his voice, and Hyungwon is speaking too softly to be detected clearly. Hyungwon is often quite soft-spoken—another thing Seokjin enjoys about him. 

As Seokjin gets to the top of the stairs, he forgets that the landing step is particularly creaky, putting down his weight as the wood whines beneath his toes. He lets out the breath that he had been holding, dropping his head in a defeated sigh as a tuft of brown hair shoots out from the first door on the right, and Seokjin spots his partner. 

"Gotta get that step fixed," Seokjin complains as he straightens his posture and smooths down his burgundy jacket. 

Hoseok grins from ear to ear, and he stands in the doorway to the pink dollhouse room with his hair disheveled and the top four buttons of his dress shirt undone. The sight of exposed sun-kissed skin has Seokjin's heart thudding behind his ribs, and he lifts a brow, playfully assessing the sight. 

"Did my puppies begin without me?" he teases as he approaches with his shoulders hunched forward to give Hoseok the impression that he is stalking his prey.

Hoseok chuckles, and Seokjin can tell he is feeling shy from the accusation as he bites his lip and shakes his head. "Hyungwon messed up my hair because he wanted you to think we had started without you. But we are being good puppies, I promise."

With a hum, Seokjin stalks further, watching Hoseok become increasingly antsy the closer he gets. "And is he all ready for me?"

"He is," Hoseok beams, taking a step back to allow Seokjin to enter the room. 

Seokjin, however, pounces, pressing Hoseok into the far side of the door frame and caging him in with his arms, giving him nowhere to go. With a hand on the dollhouse room wall and the hand holding onto the shopping bag on the hallway wall, Seokjin towers over his partner and gazes down at him hungrily.

"But are you ready for me?"

A silly question, since a stipulation to being Seokjin's lover is to be ready at all times. Hoseok cleans himself every morning, and he inserts a plug every time Seokjin is expected to be home so that there is very little need for prep and Seokjin can take what he wants. 

Of course, Seokjin is no monster; if they are unable to engage in play, Hoseok simply removes the plug—or gets himself off and then removes it—ensuring that it does not stay nestled up inside him long enough to cause any kind of complications or health risks. 

But Seokjin tries to be very clear about his expectations, and they communicate their schedules in order to make sure Hoseok can be ready for him at the drop of a hat. Seokjin's appetite is insatiable, and it is not unusual for them to fuck five or six nights a week. One of the reasons they invite so many whores to play dress up and join them is to give Hoseok a little extra help. That, and whores tend to come pre-used.

A plus side of fucking Jimin back in the day was when he would come home from the club, already stretched from his clients. Even when he would whine about being sore and sensitive, he would be such a good, pliant boy for Seokjin. Not a day goes by that Seokjin doesn't dream about the sweet sounds Jimin would make, becoming an overstimulated, sobbing mess long before either of them would reach their first orgasm. 

Hoseok's smile falters ever so slightly, and Seokjin already knows what he is going to say. He must have assumed that, because they have a guest for the night, Hoseok would not be expected to be stretched. He should know by now that when Seokjin calls with good news, that a victory fuck is in order, whether or not they are tending to a guest for the evening. 

And this, Seokjin thinks, is the danger of falling in love. Years ago, Seokjin would plot ways to punish his puppy for being so short-sighted and disobedient. But now? Staring into his deep brown eyes, downturned beneath a knit brow, all Seokjin wants to do is kiss him and tell him everything will be alright. His heart has become soft. 

Before Hoseok can excuse his bad behavior, Seokjin plants a soft smooch on the tip of his nose and grins. "I'm kidding," he assures softly. 

"You're not," Hoseok groans as relief paints his face. 

"I'm not," Seokjin admits, taking a step back and allowing Hoseok to breathe. "But I am in too good of a mood to make you cry."

"Lucky me," Hoseok teases with a wink. 

Seokjin leans in and places a kiss on Hoseok's forehead, then enters the room. The walls are all painted cotton candy pink, and there is a large bed on the left with plush pink bedding and a white wrought iron sleigh frame with beautiful spiral designs at the head and foot—perfect for attaching restraints. 

Hoseok's favorite addition to the room is a pale pink sex swing that hangs from the center of the space, with vines wrapped around the long arms that stretch to the ceiling. Seokjin is partial to the vanity with a large mirror that is very sturdy and perfect for humiliation play. 

The wooden furniture and wainscoting are all painted pink with gold accents, the floor is covered in pink carpeting and large, white cloud-shaped rugs, and every light fixture is a giant, white orb. In the corner of the room furthest from the bed is a chair in the shape of a giant pink high-heel, and when Seokjin enters, that is where he finds their guest. 

Hyungwon is breathtaking in sheer pink babydoll lingerie with little ruffled sleeves that hang from his shoulders, and a skirt that falls just above his thighs. He reclines on the shoe chair with one knee bent, bare foot adorned with pretty silver chains and rings, perched delicately atop the chair, and the other leg down, spread slightly to accommodate for the chair's width. His hair is long enough to be styled behind his ears—straight and black as a raven's feather—and he wears a thick silver choker of shimmering zirconias and a glittery lip balm.

"Master Seokjin," Hyungwon states as he moves from his reclined position—which Seokjin assumes he only sat in to be a tease, in the first place—and slowly lifts his leg, leaning forward and getting onto his hands and knees. "You look ravishing tonight, sir."

Seokjin turns to Hoseok with a puzzled expression, then back to Hyungwon, "Baby, did you give our pet permission to speak?"

"I did not, sir," Hoseok responds simply, standing near the wall with his arms flat at his sides. "But you do look ravishing tonight, sir."

How in the world Seokjin wound up with two disobedient puppies, he will never know, but he cannot bring himself to be upset when they are so devastatingly pretty and so good to him. Seokjin reaches to tap the underside of Hoseok's chin with the pad of his finger—a playful gesture that also tells him to keep that gorgeous fucking mouth of his closed unless he is asked to open it.

Hoseok smiles, winks, and does not say another word.

"I got you something," Seokjin beams as he turns back to Hyungwon, closing the gap between them. 

He reaches into the bag, pulls out the leather dog muzzle, and holds it up. Hyungwon's eyes widen, and a soft smile plays on his lips. If the man truly is excited, Seokjin has no idea; all he cares about is that he acts the part, as he is paid to do. And Hyungwon, as always, is a brilliant performer.

* * *

The shower down the hall in the guest bathroom runs as Seokjin pushes a hand through his hair, walking from the dollhouse room to his bedroom. His cream shirt is unbuttoned and hung open, burgundy pants are undone, and he is covered in a sheen of sweat. 

Hyungwon practically needed to be carried away when Seokjin was finished with him, and Hoseok is currently assisting with washing him and tending to his various marks with creams. Seokjin was not too hard on him, but his nails did break skin a couple of times, and he spanked him until both cheeks were tomato red. 

Although it is getting late, Yoongi has called to request everyone to congregate at the mansion at the top of the hour. It gives Seokjin thirty-five minutes to change into a black dress shirt and slacks and see that Hyungwon is able to get home on his own or has a suitable bed to sleep in for the night. Ordinarily, Seokjin is not as kind to his whores, but after what he did to the guy's ass, he takes pity on him for driving out on a motorcycle. 

The sound of the shower shutting off is followed by muffled voices, and Seokjin shrugs out of his shirt, dropping it into a hamper near the closet door, and grabs a black shirt from a hanger. He attempts to listen for the men—to get a sense of whether or not Hyungwon will need to stay—but all he can make out is Hoseok's bright, happy laughter. 

Seokjin loves it when Hoseok laughs loud and unabashedly. It rings like music to his ears. 

"Baby?" Hoseok calls down the hallway. 

Seokjin takes a step out of the closet as he buttons his shirt and shouts, "Bedroom," then returns to the racks of clothing and wiggles out of his slacks, picking them up and placing them into the hamper, and then reaching for a black pair to slide into.

"Ah," Hoseok says as he rounds the corner and finds Seokjin dressed in all black. "Yoongi called."

"He did," Seokjin responds. 

"For all of us?"

"For all of us."

"Hyungwon should be good to drive, but I'll go check on him."

Seokjin flashes Hoseok a smile. "Thank you, love."

Once he is ready, Seokjin switches off the light and exits his and Hoseok's massive closet, then he leaves the bedroom and makes his way down the hall, to the pink dollhouse room. The dark wood wainscoting and blood-red walls adorned with pretty brass sconces is such an abrupt change of scenery compared to the pink playroom, and from time to time, it makes Seokjin chuckle softly when he leaves one atmosphere for the other. 

Hyungwon sits on the edge of the bed dressed in blue jeans, a blue and white flannel shirt, and a black leather jacket, with his hands in his lap. Hoseok stands before him, dabbing a salve to his lip, which Seokjin split from slapping a little too hard once the muzzle came off. To Seokjin's credit, Hyungwon was the one who begged him to hit him harder. 

As Seokjin enters, both men turn to him with smiles, and Seokjin leans against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. 

"How is our puppy feeling?"

"Amazing," Hyungwon responds, always saying so no matter which state he seems to be in. 

"Good. And I take it your ass isn't too sore for the bike?"

Hoseok shoots Seokjin an incredulous glare, which he pointedly ignores. 

Hyungwon chuckles quietly. "No, sir. Not too sore."

"Good. I will be downstairs, then." He turns his gaze to Hoseok. "Join me soon?"

Hoseok nods and screws the cap on his balm, then leans to place a soft kiss on Hyungwon's forehead as Seokjin takes his leave and goes downstairs, to the kitchen, to have a few shots of whiskey before heading out to Yoongi's place. 

It does not take long for the others to join him, and they bid Hyungwon farewell with kisses to his cheeks and forehead, then link hands and take the long way to Yoongi's property, up toward Taehyung's place and cutting through the gardens. It is eerie out here at night with low lighting and tall, dark shadows. They walk all the way around the mansion, to the front door, and find Taehyung and Jeongguk on the stoop, smoking a cigarette.

"Fellas," Seokjin calls, and everyone lifts their hand hello.

"Is it just us?" Hoseok asks, and Taehyung shakes his head, saying, "Jimin is inside."

Seokjin takes a puff from Taehyung's cigarette, then goes inside, happy to find Jimin and Namjoon seated on the couch as he takes his place on the far end. Seokjin assumes Yoongi would be upstairs and is surprised to see him enter through the front door with Taehyung and Jeongguk. Once they are all seated, Yoongi begins. 

"We have two orders of business, which are somewhat related. The first is that Jeonggukie has been working with a team to formalize a new type of ecstasy that contains amphetamines, to give the user more of an upper-type high. It will be smoother than the shit the Americans sell, which contain meth, and the users will crave the experience, ideally getting them hooked on it."

This news comes as somewhat of a surprise to Seokjin, but he does not show it, keeping his expression stoic. He is curious when Yoongi decided to pivot into selling drugs for the purpose of creating addicts, and thinks perhaps the man really is losing his mind. He sounds like his late father, which is no compliment.

Yoongi continues. "So far, the trials have been pretty positive, and we should have those on the streets within the next month, or so. Let Jeongguk know if you would like samples."

Yoongi sits up and sighs, "And for our second order of business, it seems our main dock man Kang has been bought, and he plans to fuck with our next shipment of pills. I will be orchestrating a hit some time this weekend."

"I can go," Jeongguk offers, and Seokjin is pleased when Yoongi holds his hand up, turning him down.

"I need you to stay here this weekend. I want us to start going to the range again, and there are some other things I want you around for. I'll put Changkyun on the job."

Jeongguk opens his mouth to complain, and Yoongi cuts him off. "Ggukie, we have men hired to carry out hits. Let me utilize them."

Silence falls, then Namjoon clears his throat. "Is there anything anyone else would like to share?"

Seokjin cannot believe everyone was called over for this, and he crosses his arms over his chest and glances around. When nobody says anything, he shrugs and says, "Guess that's it."

"Alright," Yoongi says as he slaps his palms over his knees and stands with a sigh. "I thought this would be more of a conversation, but it seems pretty cut and dry. Thanks for coming by."

Seokjin studies Yoongi as he stands, curious about what Namjoon sees that makes him so paranoid. There are bags under his eyes, and he seems quite tired, but he does not seem jittery or pale, or any of the other symptoms Seokjin tries to remember from his last bender. 

It could be his more recent shift in seeming colder than usual. Prior to the pet moving in upstairs, Yoongi even went so far as to have a nasty little violent streak. Still, violence is not an indicator of drug abuse.

Yoongi has always been good at hiding shit until it is really bad, however, and he has always been quite unreadable, wearing parts of himself on his sleeve while keeping the rest locked away. He hopes that Namjoon's suspicions are false, but nobody would know better than him.

With that, everyone stands to leave, including Yoongi. In fact, the only person who seems to hang back is Namjoon. They say good night, everyone begins to head back to their homes, and Namjoon locks up the mansion as Yoongi slides his hands into his pockets and sets off in the direction of Namjoon's home.

Something is definitely amiss, but Seokjin does not feel like asking. The warmth of Hoseok's hand pulls him from his thoughts as he is tugged in the direction of home.

When they return from the meeting that could have been a conversation via group text, Seokjin sits with a huff on his chaise lounge. He bends his leg to lift it in order to untie his shoe, but Hoseok drops to his knees and places a hand on Seokjin's foot, guiding it to the floor. 

"You seem off, baby," Hoseok mutters sweetly. "Let me take care of you."

With an affectionate smile, Seokjin crosses his arms over his chest and lets his posture droop in a sigh. "Always taking care of others."

Hoseok's eyes shine as he mutters, "I live to serve."

Seokjin chuckles and sits up straight as Hoseok removes one shoe, then the other, and places them neatly aside. "We both know that is untrue."

"Yes," Hoseok responds, also laughing. 

Seokjin leans forward, takes Hoseok's chin in his hand, and pulls him close. Hoseok strains to get near enough, sitting high on his knees, but Seokjin stays just out of reach as he says, "You can still take care of me, though."

He revels in the way Hoseok's tone drops as he asks, "And how would you like me to do that, baby?"

Seokjin begins to think of all the ways he would like to make Hoseok whine, but Hoseok continues, "It's been a while since you've submitted to me and completely let go of control."

It has been a while. Probably months. Seokjin mulls it over with a squint of his eyes. There is nothing in this world that he likes more than pulling sweet sounds from Hoseok's lips, but he knows that Hoseok also enjoys being in control. However, relinquishing power does not come easily to a man like Seokjin.

"You are correct," Seokjin finally responds. "It has been a while."

Hoseok's eyes glimmer with mirth, and even if Seokjin had not been considering it before, he would certainly cave now. With a nibble of his bottom lip, Seokjin leans close enough to kiss Hoseok. 

"I'll let you fuck me tonight. Give me twenty minutes to get ready?"

With a pout, Hoseok shakes his head. "I want to get you ready."

"Oh?"

"Please."

"Enema play, Seok? Really?"

Hoseok shrugs. "I want to watch you tremble and whimper as the water falls out."

Seokjin, admittedly, gets it. "Alright, let's go."

Hoseok is gentle as he takes Seokjin's hand and leads him up the stairs and down the hall to their master suite. He is gentle as he undresses him and leads him to their shower. Gentle when he bends Seokjin over—hands splayed on the white tile bench that runs along one wall—and inserts the nozzle of the enema. Seokjin gasps from the sensation; he hasn't done this in quite a while.

When Hoseok takes Seokjin by the hair and lifts his head, pulling him into a standing position, he is less gentle. Lifting the bag, which is full of tepid water, so that it can enter his body makes Seokjin gasp, sending a shudder through him. 

Hoseok holds his chin, firm and not very gently as he says, "Eyes on me," and slowly pulls the nozzle out, releasing the water to the floor of the shower. 

Seokjin keeps his eyes on Hoseok as the water rushes from him, a sensation that he thinks should not be in the least bit erotic. Hoseok knows that this is mildly humiliating, which, Seokjin thinks, is the reason he is insisting on it. 

Hoseok inserts the nozzle two more times, sending water rushing from Seokjin's rectum, holding him in place while they stare into one another's eyes. Warmth covers Seokjin's face in a mix of embarrassment and arousal, and when Hoseok bends him back over right there in the shower to eat him out, Seokjin practically blacks out. 

"Fuck, feels so good," he whimpers as Hoseok teases his hole with his tongue, circling the rim and prodding inside. 

"You like it, baby?" Hoseok groans, biting Seokjin's buttcheek and circling a finger over him, gently pushing inside and pulling out, making Seokjin sigh and tremble from pleasure-pain. 

"You know I do," Seokjin whines.

Hoseok groans. "Too bad I won't let you cum until you're begging and sobbing."

Evil. Pure fucking evil. Hoseok loves making someone like Seokjin beg. He whimpers before he can stop himself, and Hoseok chuckles and crashes a hand over his ass with a loud, wet smack.

"Come on, big boy," Hoseok sing-songs "Let's tie you to the bed and make you scream."

Seokjin already fears for his life, knowing that Hoseok will edge him for hours. But the earth-shattering orgasm that tears his world asunder, followed by Hoseok's sweet, pretty smile, makes everything worth it. How could he possibly resist?

*

THANK YOU FOR READINGGG!!!

i didn't give Hyungwon a relationship tag since he's not a main character in the story, nor does he appear again. for those of you who aren't monbebe, this is the man i was talking about:

i also remember being too exhausted to write a smut scene when i was putting this POV together, which is why we don't get to experiencing these three together hahaha. i think i wrote Hoseok and Seokjin back to back.

REBLOGS AND COMMENTS ARE THE LIFEBLOOD OF THIS SITE, BUT LIKES ARE ALSO SUPER APPRECIATED!!! THANK YOU FOR READING, I LOVE YOU!!!

tag lists will be on separate reblogs! they’ve gotten too big to contain as one! if you would like to be tagged in this fic, please let me know!!! 💜💜💜

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Collateral is copyright 2022 - 2024 theharrowing, all rights reserved. no translations or reposts allowed!

#seokjin mafia #hoseok mafia #yoongi mafia #bts mafia #seokjin x hoseok #seokjin smut #hoseok smut #bts smut #bts angst #bts poly #fic: collateral

[just-antithings]

Re: ageism in "30yo playing teens" ask.

I think a part of it may be ageism, even if unintentional. Part of it sounds like not knowing much about casting, acting, the general business/industry. I don't know much about the workings of it either, so take what I say with a grain of salt, as I'm only repeating stuff I've heard from people working on movies and shows in one way or another.

Back before most of Tumblr turned against Buzzfeed and still shared a bunch of their videos and listicles, one was about showing pictures of the listicle writer's classmates as teenagers vs adults playing teens, and at the same time, there was a post going around showing Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson when they were 16 and 17 (the ages Katniss and Peeta were in the first book, iirc). People were saying how if 16/17yo actors had been cast, the horror of the book's setting would have showed through much more in the movie.

An issue that got brought up but never got as much traction as the OG posts was that in THG movies, there's a lot of physical demands for the actors. Even taking stunt workers into consideration, those demands would be harsher on a teenage body than one in their 20's.

Another issue, which anon had brought up was that when you're (general you) 20-30, physical changes are more subtle compared to, like, 15-25. So because of how long it can take to film everything and get the end product out to theatres/streaming/etc, especially for a series, some rewriting will likely be necessary to explain why 16yo character played by 16yo actor looks so different in movie 1 vs 17yo character played by now 19yo actor in movie 3.

I haven't watched much of the Unfortunate Events series on Netflix, but there was a joke to explain this between seasons, something like "It feels like we've been sitting on this bench for so long that Sunny* aged a whole year" (I don't remember the exact line).

*Sunny is the youngest of the three siblings and is supposed to be about infant/toddler. Iirc, she didn't start taking her first steps until partway through the book series.

And in Game of Thrones, I remember seeing articles when S1 finished airing, positing if any rewrites or rushing to film more would be needed, since characters like Sansa and Arya are young (14 and 10 respectively I think?), but they'd of course get older when their characters stay the same age longer than they do.

An issue I don't always see, though, is about Acting Experience. Acting is a skill, and like all skills, requires practice and experience. Yes, there are child and teenage actors that do very well and blow audiences away, but this is not the norm, just like it's not the norm for a 5yo to compose a minuet like Mozart did. And depending on the budget, the kind of vibe they're going for (in some media and genres, you can get away with not-great acting compared to others imo), etc, casting directors might prefer 30yo actors who can act well compared to teens who can't.

And this isn't even taking to account labor laws and problems there have been with kid actors, as that's a whole other thing and not one I feel like I can talk about, since that's something I know even less about compared to what I already said.

.

#mod erin #ask #posted without comment

[atwas-meme-ing]

BOTW's Confusing Timeline

First off, please take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt. BOTW is the only Zelda game I've ever beaten, and I only just beat it a couple of days ago, with a 38.something% completion. (And even at that, I don't think I could have gotten the true ending. Zelda asked if Link remembered her, and I doubt he did, because I was still missing 3 memories). A large majority of my understanding of the history of Hyrule comes from the Zelda Encyclopedia, Hyrule Historia, and stuff online. I could have everything wrong.

I've been trying to figure out which timeline BOTW probably fits into the best, and I'm pretty sure it must be the Triumphant Child Link timeline. Here's why:

Bokos

First, there's the existence of bokoblins. I did a quick google search, and bokos appear in the following games:

Skyward Sword takes place before anything else. According to Hyrule Historia, both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess take place in the Triumphant Hero timeline. Bokos, then, do not appear in the Defeated Hero timeline. So BOTW and TOTK must not be in the Defeated Hero timeline.

So, as sad as it makes me to say it, I don't believe we will see Lorule appear in TOTK. (So don't ask me how Ravio's hood ended up in BOTW. I suppose Ravio must have existed in this timeline, as well, just in a different capacity than how he appears in LBW.) I wish we could- the Dark World would be just so. darned. AWESOME! in an open-world adventure. But I doubt it will happen.

2. Witches

Another point against the idea that BOTW could have been in the Defeated Hero timeline is the absence of witches. To my knowledge, witches appear mostly in the Defeated Hero timeline (Maple in the Oracle games, Irene in LBW, the old crones that fix up potions in LTTP and Link's Awakening). Now, I know Koume and Kotake appear in Majora, but while I haven't finished Majora, I feel like it should be considered an outlier, since it takes place in Termina instead of Hyrule (and besides, it's the same twin witches from OOT).

If there are witches in other timelines, I either haven't found them or don't remember them.

3. Ritos

The Ritos are descendants of the Zora, and Zoras don't exist after Wind Waker. (Also, Ritos don't appear in the Defeated Hero timeline.) It doesn't make much sense, then, for BOTW to take place after Wind Waker, because how did the Zora just magically reappear after they'd gone extinct?

BUT, I see no reason why the Zora and the Rito couldn't coexist in BOTW if it follows Twilight Princess. Just because the flooding of Hyrule spurred the Zora to evolve into the Rito in Wind Waker, that doesn't mean that the Rito couldn't have spontaneously arisen as their own culture in the Child Link timeline. All that would have had to happen would be for a few Ritos to be born all at about the same time (possibly due to a freak genetic mutation in the Zora gene pool a few centuries ago?), decide that they just didn't fit into the Zora's water world, and split off to form their own nation.

There really isn't any reason they can't coexist.

4. Koholit Island

This island drove me crazy for the longest time. How can Koholit be real in BOTW when it was nothing but the Wind Fish's dream?

I have 2 theories for this:

Theory 1: The Wind Fish was given time to awaken and bring the island that it dreamed about to life in the real world.

Theory 2: Someone else, not a Link, landed in the Wind Fish's dream and, after awakening, landed on a very remote, difficult-to-reach island and decided to name it Koholit after the island in the dream. (This same person probably also traveled inland and named Goponga Swamp.)

In either case, it's still unlikely that BOTW takes place in the Defeated Hero timeline.

5. Tears of the Kingdom/Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess is probably the one that I know the least about. I've only played just a very little of it. But my understanding is that Ganondorf was executed, and now in TOTK he's being resurrected. Further, people keep talking about a connection between the Zonai and the Twili, which come from TP, as I understand.

Also, most of the special armor in BOTW comes from Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time, with the exceptions of the Lobster Shirt (Wind Waker) and Ravio's Hood (Link Between Worlds) (there may be other armor that I don't know about). As I said before, Ravio could have existed in this timeline, just in a different capacity. The same could be said for the people of Outset Island, even though Outset Island doesn't appear to exist in BOTW, at least not under that name.

6. The Big Reason Why BOTW Could Actually Be in the Adult Link Timeline

Simply put, it's because the Hero of Time is frequently mentioned in BOTW. And if this game does take place in the Child Link timeline, how would anyone know about the Hero of Time? The whole point of the Child Link timeline is that Link erased the events that happened in OOT, isn't it?

Well, I actually do have a tentative theory about that, too...

7. A Connection Between the Timelines?

Somehow or other, BOTW is a reconvergence of the 3 timelines. Or at least of the Triumphant Child and Adult Link timelines.

Most of the armor and items are references to either OOT or TP. But they mention the Hero of Time. And there's the Lobster Island shirt. And the Ritos. And the Koroks (whoops! almost forgot them!), who also only appeared in Wind Waker, and there is really no reason for the Kokiri to have turned into the Koroks in the Child Link timeline. And there's Koholit Island and Ravio's Hood, which both come from the Defeated Hero timeline, which, as I've said over and over, isn't likely to be BOTW's timeline.

In other words, BOTW covers every timeline. Especially if you look at the DLC.

Flip over to the Tears of the Kingdom trailers (at the time I'm writing this, TOTK is less than 2 weeks away), and it is filled with references to Wind Waker. There's a boat that looks very much like the King of Red Lions, the inside of Hyrule Castle looks exactly as it does in Wind Waker, and there's some kind of a dragon in a tornado. Meanwhile, people who know more about Twilight Princess than I do have noticed lots of TP references.

So. Is TOTK going to converge the Wind Waker and Twilight Princess timelines? Were the EX treasure chests, with their references to the Heroes of Time, of Wind, and of Twilight, a hint or a foreshadowing of this upcoming convergence?

I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks, huh?

#legend of zelda #my theory #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #wind waker #twilight princess #child link #adult link #skyward sword #zelda encyclopedia #hyrule historia #bokoblins #defeated hero #ravio #oracle of seasons #oracle of ages #link to the past #link between worlds #twinrova #ocarina of time #majora's mask #ritos #zoras #koholit island #wind fish #goponga swamp #link's awakening #ganondorf #zonai #twili

[amaiguri]

Wanna see the business side of story-based games?

Me! I want to! 👋 Hi, I'm Amaiguri. I'm a full time gamedev and I've released two games before and correctly predicted how much money I would make each time! Wow!

I've been considering converting the webfic I write into a story game of some kind -- a visual novel or a RPGmaker game or maybe even a walking sim? But I didn't know what I wanted to make!

This story has been THE STORY of my early adult life here -- it is SO important to me. So, while I'm a huge advocate of making whatever you want, I wanted to ensure whatever I put my effort into would be VAGUELY marketable. (Because, lemme tell you, webnovels are not marketable XD)

Before I dive in too deeply, **BIG DISCLAIMER**:

I am not a business person. I am using big, wide guestimates to make non-essential business decisions with myself. BUT I want to share my learnings with you. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt and JOIN ME on this journey:

Earlier this month, I made a post about wanting to make a visual novel. Specifically, a kinetic visual novel where you don't make choices and you just read basically. SO I've now done research into how well they sold. I used THIS website to determine how much money each of these games made (VERY loosely):

Juniper's Knot: ~$4k USD

Higurashi (The Whole Series): ~$300k USD (Averaging like 400 reviews per game and $50 for the whole bundle)

House in Fata Morgana: ~$1 million USD

I picked these out mostly because these are the small handful of kinetic novels I have actually heard about. I'm not saying there aren't other, more successful ones I haven't heard about but I figure, if I'm supposed to be representative of my target audience, I'm as good of a sample as any for this wild estimation.

Besides, Higurashi has a whole anime -- it is definitely fair to use that as an upper end -- and Juniper's Knot -- a tiny game no one has heard of -- as the lower end. (I mean, $0 is the lower end, but... you know...)

This paints a pretty stark picture, honestly. Like, this is looking at 6 to 8 years of work for... maybe a couple thousand for me? Realistically? Maybe up to $300k if I'm super lucky and go viral? And I'm not saying that isn't LIFE CHANGING money but like in the MOST MIRACULOUS scenario here, I am compensated less than my current salary for my current magnum opus. But realistically, I'm looking at maybe $1-4k if I get lucky. I'm not a horror-writer and I'm not a romance writer -- I will not have THAT feral of a fanbase XD And on top of all of that, I don't even play that many kinetic visual novels. I'm barely in my own target demo here!

Now, compare that to the numbers I ran on RPGmaker games where you just do narrative and there is very minimal gameplay:

Rakuen: 4000+ Reviews, over $100k in profits estimated

To the Moon: $8 Million in profit

A Bird Story: Definitely sold worse than To the Moon, was cheaper to make and cheaper to buy -- estimated at $397k

Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea: Dunno cuz it's free BUT its manga adaptation has 267 reviews on Amazon -- so the creator COULD have made bank on the actual game

See how much higher those are? Even when they're not as well known? And sure, the bottom is still $0 ultimately but the upper limit, with the most successful of these titles (and incidentally, the video game that convinced me to get into Game Design) is much much higher.

"BUT BELLE! Laura Shigihara did the music on a lot of those! You don't have Laura Shigihara!"

Ok BET! I'll hire her! The base industry rate for music per minute is $100/min. Let's suppose now she charge 10x that, cuz she's famous -- $1k/minute of music. I get her to compose a 3 minute song for $3k BUT she also brings over... say... 5% of her audience to check out my game.

That's admittedly, a high conversion rate so we'll just take 5% of Rakuen. Now, I'm imagining I'd charge like $25/copy of my game because it's gonna be like 300k words -- people pay $25 for a book of that length, so if I have art and programming also, I can do that. With just her 5% of Rakuen reviewers (21 reviewers of her 4.3k), that's like $7k USD. So, she'd probably just pay for herself and then some.

And to top all this off: I'm back in the target demo. I am ABSOLUTELY the kind of person who will play a solodev's RPGmaker game and forgive all jank and flaws and lack of gameplay if the story, art, and music are good.

That is, of course, making the assumption that I'll make good music and art 🥺🥺🥺

Now obviously, all this is WILD guestimates so like. You shouldn't make business decisions off this. I'm barely making "business" decisions -- I'm making hobby decisions. I have a full time job and I intend to keep it. BUT I think it's pretty clear where the potential money might be for me -- RPGmaker games.

Eris (Blinking): Thank you for reading!

#gamedev #story games #visual novel #rpg maker #rpgmaker #visual novel development #game development #game industry #indie dev #indie games #amaiguri

[girl-kendallroy]

Hiiiii :)

I just saw you on my feed talking about the show „Under the bridge“ which I started and am totally obsessed with because I love lily Gladstone and ✨butch women✨ but on a more serious note I wanted to ask if you are maybe personally a fan of Lily ? Because just like I said I’m a fan of her and I have been following her for 3 years now and with the on going situation about the met gala, her playing a cop in this show.. and not really speaking up about Palestine the way I expected, makes me kinda sad and uncomfortable. I know celebrity worship is not positive in any way but I always liked her acting and also the way she seems to be when not on camera. I know I can’t say much about her because I don’t know her personally but I said to myself kind of ironically before the met began „I‘m gonna stop supporting everyone who will be there“ but I kinda meant it and seeing lily there made me sad knowing that she would be willing to pay 75k for this sh!t is not it for me. Idk maybe I‘m overreacting I‘m just not really happy about what‘s happening lately when I thought some celebs actually stand on the right side but it turns out most don‘t care one bit about others and us the working class ofc.

Could you maybe tell me your thoughts on this ?

To start off I don't really keep up with the met gala/celebrities in general and I haven't heard of any specific controversies with the met gala this year? All I really know about it is that it's a fundraiser for the costume section of the met museum and she was there this year. so even if she did pay for the ticket the money goes directly to that non-profit cause. Take this with a grain of salt though because I really don't put any effort into keeping up with events like these. maybe i should but i'm just not particularly interested :) anyway this is quite long so i will put the rest under a cut.

as for her playing a cop- i think it's a good thing- her character occupies such a nuanced space; she's queer, a first nations woman adopted into a white cop family. yes she's a cop as well, but she's also a victim to that institution in a lot of the same ways reena was, and i think it makes for a great plot where she's forced to reckon with the institution she's a part of even though she is a marginalized woman in many ways. (i dont want to cite any specific things from the show because i don't really want to spoil anyone since the newest episode came out only yesterday, but there are several parallels between her and reena.)

As for her activism, with celebrities in general i don't necessarily look to them for moral guidelines. that isn't to say that i support any celebrities in any way with heinous views, but i'm also not keeping tabs on everything a celebrity who's work i enjoy has said about x y z issue. while i, too would imagine that she is sympathetic towards palestinians, i think it's not really fair to expect lily to take on every single issue concerning indigenous people around the world, seeing as indigenous people in north america alone are still in a shitty position (in terms of mmiw, threats to their land, mental health crises, natural disasters, and these are issues off the top of my head.) i think i also hold this opinion because i am a pretty privileged white woman and i think it would be beyond hypocritical to point at lily and go "you're not being a good activist for palestinians even though you're indigenous yourself!!" and this goes beyond whether i think of myself as a good activist or not. i also think that since she's really just 'broken through,' she doesnt want/maybe has been told not to rock the boat in that way in order to protect her future career, though i honestly dont know. it's not an excuse for not speaking out, but it's just something that came across my mind. again, take this all with a grain of salt.

#asks #anon #under the bridge #< i guess?

[acutewitchcraft]

Hello!

I’m sorry to bother you, but I’ve been scouring the entirety of tumblr to find all the blogs that use video games in their craft and asking this question because I’m bad at research: is there any advice you have for spellcrafting in video games? With games such as Stardew valley (the one I’m trying to work with), it kinda feels like there’s a limitation to what you can do, so I’m trying to gather ideas on how to use video game mechanics in spells to work around or even with those limitations

Have a good day/evening/night!✨💐🍡🍯

Hello!

Personally, I haven't played SDV at all to help give you specific examples of possibilities, you have to work that out for yourself...

However, I will give my two cents on spellcrafting with the knowledge I have currently, though I'm still figuring things out so take it with a grain of salt.

Spellcrafting, from what I've noticed, has two main aspects: intention and energy. Everything else that people do usually goes to help strengthen the intention as well as direct the energy through specific ingredients or designs or actions.

Intention is what you want to happen. These are things like wanting to protect your space or yourself, or promoting prosperity in your life. It's the direction or change that you want to make.

Energy is what you're putting into the world, into the spell, to make that change happen. It can be aided by ingredients you're putting into something that you consider relevant to the goal of your spell, or actions you take in the game that you feel is relevant.

With those two parts in mind, the game and its items and mechanics just becomes a medium to make spells happen and it all comes down to you to figure out how to make it work.

But that's my thoughts on that matter. Other people can see it another way.

For research, I would suggest to not to look for specific resources on how to do magic the way you want. Maybe pick up books detailing just the basics of spell work and spellcrafting. It's good to have. A handle on what a spell entails in general anyways, you can adapt it to any number of things.

It's why I'm appreciating the spell section of The Door To Witchcraft by Tonya A. Brown since she breaks down the reasons why she chose the ingredients she does that makes sense to me.

And I've also had my eye on looking into The Elements of Spellcrafting by Jason Miller, which I'm interested to see what it says.

Anyways! Hope this helps and good luck!

#acute answers #schrodingersdragon #pop culture witchcraft

[cy-cyborg]

I've read a lot of stories with disabled characters, and I've enjoyed some of them more than others. I'm wondering, can non-disabled people write disabled people in stories? Is it possible to do it respectfully and accurately?

I recently read the book "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes. I really enjoyed the story, but I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if I had been disabled myself. The main character, Will, is a quadriplegic, and the story explores his relationship with his caretaker, Louisa. I thought the book did a good job of portraying Will's physical limitations, but I'm not sure if it did a good job of portraying his emotional and psychological journey.

What do you think? Can non-disabled people write disabled people in stories?

Sorry for the late reply, I thought I posted the answer to this already, but I saved it to my queue instead 😅

This is a really hotly debated topic in disability circles, but in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with non-disabled folks telling stories featuring disability, so long as you're respectful and do your research/hire sensitivity readers. Stories where a character (even the main character) is disabled, or becomes disabled during the story, but that's not what the core of the story is about. Disability is a natural part of life, the disabled community makes up nearly 20% of the total population according to some sources (though many people think this is an under-estimate and the real numbers are much higher, since what is considered a disability isn't universally agreed on), it's unrealistic to just straight-up not include it.

But stories that are specifically about the disabled experience, about what life as a disabled person is like, about learning to live with disability and learning how to adapt to it, where any of those themes are a part of the main plot, then I think that's usually best left to disabled people to tell those stories. There are some things that, unless you've lived through it, you can never truly understand, and I do think disability is one of those things (this doesn't just apply to non-disabled people, but also to people with disabilities different from your own. I know what life for an amputee with autism is like, but that doesn't mean I also know what living with DID or paraplegia is like). If you try to tell a story where those things you haven't lived through are the centre focus, the holes become very visible to those who have. I do say usually though, I've seen some exceptions where people still do a good job, but they're usually from very well-established writers who have a team of people like sensitivity readers, consultants etc, and a lot of them who are able to pull it off.

The irony that you used Me Before You as an example though is a little funny. I try not to talk about that story specifically because I couldn't even finish the movie, let alone the book 😅 but the online disabled community has made their thoughts on both known. The general consensus as I've seen it is it is a perfect example of the author doing everything wrong, but getting it close enough that most non-disabled folks won't notice, and the movie just following in its footsteps. Take this with a grain of salt of course, but I've heard that the author didn't even talk to anyone with Will's disability directly, she only spoke to and consulted with healthcare workers/carers who worked with people like Will, which will always give you a very incomplete view of life with a disability at best and a very jaded and pessimistic view of things at worst - both in regards to the emotional side of things and the ability of the disabled person. I'm not here to say you can't enjoy it, but it does play into a lot of very harmful tropes and stereotypes. I'm not the best person to discuss it in any real detail though, sorry. There's some great video essays on YouTube though, including a few from people with the same disability as will, so I'd definitely recommend taking a look at them if you want to know more!

TLDR: I don't think there's anything wrong with non-disabled folks telling stories that contain disabled characters, but stories about our lived experience should be left to those with that lived experience.

#disability #disabled #disability representation #writeblr #writing #authors of tumblr #writing disability #creative writing #writer #on writing #writers on tumblr

[dennydraws]

Curious and I wanna ask because you have played Octopath Traveler 2! :D

For many friends of mine, the critique for OT1 was that the different stories had too little impact on each other. Do you share the same sentiment? If yes, does OT2 do it better?

Also, should you have played 1 before 2? Thanks 💕

Hello hello, bright Spark!! :D I had indeed played Octo1 before Octo2 even though they aren't related. It's same world, same religion and gods, different continent and different time period. Octo2 feels more industrial, more steampunk times and less medieval! :D If you haven't played Octo1 you can dive into 2 without an issue and I think I'd recommend it cause 2 is so vastly superior, I can't believe how polished it is!!

First of all, I am a slow player! Really, I'm savoring a lot as I play ;u; I like taking my time cause the game is absurdly gorgeous, the music is amazing and the characters are so lovable I'm dying. With that said, I've only finished Temenos and Osvald's stories, started everyone else's and progressing with Throne next!

The characters have cross path stories where they share a quest. I'm unaware how exactly it progresses, how long they are or what triggers them. I only got part 1 of Temenos and Throne, so in a way they do interact more. During their individual stories they don't.

Characters do have banters that are recorded in a journal so you can't miss them and they do feel more frequent but I played Octo1 long ago when it came out so... my memory is fuzzy!

Characters do address one another during combat a lot which in my opinion makes things more personal and dynamic. They encourage or worry for whoever is injured or applaud if broken the enemy :D That was missing from the first.

Story wise, from the intros alone the cast feels stronger to me. I genuinely am a lot more interested in everyone's stories. I read that the quest after you finish everyone's stories ties the narrative way better than Octo1 so I'm excited to see this too! In octo1 that quest was... a side quest that was very convoluted to trigger.

So by this alone it does feel a lot more lively? As in I can see and imagine the characters interact during travels a lot more than the previous cast. I'm yet to do more cross path stories or see how things tie at the end but I am beginning to see some story elements that appear in the chapters hinting to a common foe.

I still try to avoid spoilers whenever I can...cause I know I may take a while before I finish it XD it is seriously so good, so pretty, everyone has so much personality and everything is so well animated, I gush over the game like a lil kid holding a present under a christmas tree, hehe

Again take with a grain of salt all I say cause I enjoyed Octo1 a lot as well and the characters not interacting or their stories not overlapping never bothered me. I do think the devs took all the criticism and tried to make Octo2 better and they did while still keeping the idea of - 8 different paths. I love how they did it cause everyone's story is very personal and beyond banter between scenes, I don't think others should be interjecting. The banter between characters still makes it feel like they address what is happening while leaving the lead character be the star of their own story... as they should be.

I hope my little ramble helped :D;;

#replies #ty for the ask! #behold an octopath 2 ramble!

[moonbeam-dreamer]

Solace

The crack of the fire in the hearth mingles with the gentle breeze, and the comforting heat works to drive away the chill of the afternoon. It was a day of mixed emotions, hardships, and revelations that I still haven't been able to reconcile. It's these moments that makes me appreciate the friends that chose to stick around when given the option to flee.

I have always been my own worst critic and when people lash out with unkind words, I never know if they are rooted in truth or wildly blown out of proportion. Thank growing up with a narcissist. The smallest act of kindness towards yourself is seen as a slight towards them and made into a situation as large as Mount Everest. I have never been able to understand why people choose to adopt this route when talking could defuse the explosion. I know I'm not the best person in the world, and I can be difficult to have around, but I try my best.

I was writing with a friend, a role play of sorts, and was following her lead. I thought everything was fine, but she stopped responding. After a few days I asked if all was okay and she told me it was, that she just had company over and was gaming. I told her I understood, and just sent little messages, random thoughts, that she could read when she was able. After an hour she sent me a message that did multiple things at once. It made me seem like a sexual deviant who only wanted to write smut, though she brought up scenarios as much as I. That I was an attention seeker who was trying to keep her from her boyfriend and friends, though that was never the case. She used to message me even with him around and while gaming, so I didn't understand why now was a problem? She made our writing and my friendship seem like a burden and said she was glad it was ended. Lastly, she made me out to be a snowflake that couldn't take criticism, simply because I could bring up instances to prove that I was not the only one to blame. Once work ended, I sent messages to a few friends asking their advice, and decided on a walk through the woods.

The cold winds of Autumn cut through my long-sleeved shirt and leggings, but I kept going. My heart ached replaying her words and all I asked myself was how I could have messed up so badly? I'd followed the ideas they'd had and tried to keep with the theme. I was going down a shame spiral and tears fell into the dirt. Disgust welled up within me, and I considered never writing again. Sitting by the river, I let the emotions overtake and wept for the first time in months. Was I truly this deplorable? Was there something wrong with me? How could I have been so stupid as to take on something that wasn't plotted to begin with?

My phone blew up with messages. Each told me the same story in similar words and context, while citing examples. I was not to blame. She'd tried for constructive criticism but when words failed, she flew into a personal assault and attempted to gaslight me, making me seem as if I alone forced her to take this step. An hour flew by with them telling me not give up, and to take what she said with a grain of salt. Especially after she tried to blame me for her mental health failing. I lifted myself up from the bubble of grief and took the road back home.

I still struggle with putting this knowledge unto the forefront of my mind and knowing that what they say is right. I have been making strides to better myself, and nothing I could have done would bring about what she'd said of me. It's made me leery of writing with anyone I don't know personally, lest it happens again, but I will continue with my personal writing, creating new ideas, and making new worlds for people to explore. It's my calling.

#creative writing #writing #short story #writerscorner #writersofinstagram #writerslife #survival #drama tw #story time #writerscommunity #tw gaslighting

[emperorbubblegum]

Alright so I just finished Shimousa in preparation for Heian-Kyo, so here's a longer-than-usual post about my thoughts on it. I think I'm gonna do this everytime I beat a story chapter actually.

Oh and, obligitory spoiler warning. Go play Shimousa if you don't want to be spoiled, especially if you've finished Olympus and are waiting patiently for LB5.5 like me.

First off is the story itself, which I actually liked a lot. I haven't finished Shinjuku or Agartha so take this with a grain of salt, but I think this is the second best Epic of Remnant chapter. Or at the very least my second favorite. It felt very anime-cliche, with the basic summary being "Main character gets transported to another world and has to defeat the guy commanding all the evil demons" but I like that sort of stuff so it doesn't bother me. The twist that Yagyu was the Saber of Empiero was a genuine shock to me, or it would of been if I hadn't been spoiled. Oh yeah, speaking of shocks, I lost my shit when it revealed that Amakusa was the Sorcerer. I know the shaded out sprites has been criticized as stupid, but I'm used to his Apocrypha design. So the entire time I thought he was a new NPC and not just an ascension I didn't recognize. I was so hyped for seeing who this new, unknown figure was than when he turned out to be someone I already knew I flipped.

The bossfights were kind of... eh. They weren't too difficult, and I liked the challenge of being forced to use Musashi. I think it worked for this chapter better than it did for, say, LB5.2 (go fuck yourself Demeter). Once I beat Solomon I focused on this chapter so I could get the True Name of Paraiso, since she was my first non-tutorial 4*. I didn't play it again until after Olympus so Orion made a lot of the bossfights really trival (as he does for everything pre-lostbelt). The final fight being a 1v1 between Kojirou and Musashi was really hype though. I think that was my favorite fight.

I've already talked about how Vegas caused me to heavily dislike Musashi, and she did grow on me during Olympus, but this chapter made me really like her. Which is good, because Miyamoto Musashi is one of my favorite historical figures and it'd be a shame if the version we see of him in Fate was unlikeable, even if it's not our Musashi. Everything that I found obnoxious about her in Summer 4 was somehow likeable in Shimousa, and I don't know if that because of writers or the fact that this was a serious chapter and not a gag event, but it makes Musashi one of my favorite Sabers (that list isn't very long though tbf).

Unlike Musashi, I loved Kotarou in Summer 4, so seeing him have actual story significance was really exciting for me. I knew where his arc with Danzo was headed, but it was still sad for me to watch him struggle with it. I'm definitely going to put some levels into him once I have exp to spare.

Paraiso didn't have too big of a part to play, but this is probably one of the only times I'll get to talk about her, so whatever. I really like Paraiso. Partly because I've had her since I started playing, and partly because I feel like she's the only one of the Heroic Spirit Swordmasters whose lore fit the themes of the Heroic Spirit Swordmasters. Inshun, Raikou, and Shuten all hd their spirit origins tampered with, Yagyu's a dick, and I honestly don't remember Tomoe's arc. But Paraiso, to me, embodied the idea of a Heroic Spirit who's been cursed with evil blood. And I like that. Her design's also really cool but if I went off about her anymore this post would devolve from my thoughts organized into text to just insane ramblings about my first true Servant.

Danzo's also worth noting because I feel like her character arc is very similar to Altera's, seeing as they both struggle between doing what's right and doing what they're made to do. Obviously, since Altera got her own game I feel like her's was done better, but Danzo's still spoke to me the same way Altera's did. Plus how can you go wrong with a robot waifu? It's too bad I already have Paraiso, otherwise I'd roll for her on her next banner.

Muramasa's up next on the list of things I want to talk about. I feel like most people either love or hate Pseudo-servants, but I'm kind of ambivalent towards them. I like Muramasa as a historical figure so it was really cool seeing him in Fate. I thought it was cool how they paired a renowned swordmaker of history with a renowned swordmaker of Fate lore. Actually I think he'd actually be worse off as a character if he wasn't a Shirouface (even though I hate that term) especially with Rasputin possessing Kirei and them working together in Part 2, but that's a topic for another day. My only problem with him is that whenever he popped on screen it distracted me from the dialogue because Shirou is fucking ripped. I can't wait for him to come to NA.

Amakusa's the final thing I have thoughts on regarding this chapter, even though it's mostly because I'm an idiot. Seeing this version of Amakusa, who survived Shimabara and was driven to hatred and madness as a result, really sent home the parallels between him and Jeanne, which is something that flew over my head during Apocrypha becuase I didn't know who Amakusa really was. I have a personnal connection to villains whose motive is that the being they had a stronger-than-average belief in something (be it a god, king, or system) that ended up failing them. It's why I like Jalter and Gilles as much as I do. So seeing another one of those in this already amazing chapter made me like it even more.

In short, Salem will always be my favorite chapter from Part 1.5, but Shimousa is definitely a close second. It's such a shame that such a great and important chapter is just made optional, even though I get why they did it. The characters were great, the story was right up my alley, and the boss fights were really fun.

#fgo #fate grand order

[heloflor]

Wanted to share my thoughts on the Mario movie trailer because it gives me an excuse to procrastinate writing fics since everyone's doing it : So far this movie is 50/50 for me in terms of whether or not I'll want to watch it.

To keep it short (putting it under the cut for spoilers)

PROS :

The animation looks amazing, but then again this is pretty much the standard for movies nowadays. Still, huge props to the artists and animators working on this movie !

Bowser was badass as hell and him being expressive in such a """cartoony""" way works surprisingly well.

Kamek and especially Bowser sound really good. Props to the voice actors for those two !

Toad's voice works. Like he's not 100% raspy but such a voice would probably been very annoying to listen to for an hour and a half. Plus it'd be hard to understand everything he'll say and would possibly be detrimental to the voice actor's throat. So his "slightly raspy" voice works

I was NOT expecting the Mario 64 baby penguins to show up ! I can't believe that out of all the Mario characters out there, those annoying fuckers made it in. Just WOW !

CONS :

The Bowser scene let us know enough of what kind of humor this movie's going to have, and it's not going to be fun 😒

Sorta related to that first point but this movie was made by Illuminations, the studio known for making movies with cheap stories and the dumbest humor because "why bother making good products when people will come see our stuff anyways ?" (note that I haven't watched a single movie from this studio so take this point with a huge grain of salt). So despite the quality shown, the fact that this studio was chosen for this movie is still worrying me (in general Illuminations is a studio that makes me sad. Like, from what I've heard "Despicable me 1" actually had some heart to it and a cute story, meaning they can do good movies ! They just don't want to because it costs less money to hire less writers)

Mario's voice. Just Mario's voice. I have no idea who the fuck Chris Pratt is since I don't know shit about celebrities, but he is not even trying with this voice ! And the fact that he's playing the main character makes it so much more aggravating...

Not a big fan of this idea of "Mario is new to the Mushroom Kingdom", or at least that's the vibe his part of the trailer gave.

I'd also like to point out that my first thoughts after watching the trailer were "I won't go watch this crap". But after watching the french trailer, since this is the version I'll get in theaters, I'm actually considering it. At least this version has a voice actor for Mario who tries to sound like him, and the other voice actors are really good as well (except for Toad who doesn't sound at all like Toad. Though at the same time the voice does fit the character. Like if you take someone who doesn't know shit about Mario and show them this Toad with this voice, they'll find it fitting)

So overall, I'll wait until more info comes out to decide whether or not to watch it in theaters. One thing for sure, I'd much rather see it in french than english. And if I do go see it, it'll likely be with zero expectations so that at least I won't be disappointed.

#Super Mario #Mario movie #Mario movie spoilers #(I guess ???) #Flor talks #Video Games #Other Works #(yeah I don't have a 'movies' tag...) #am I writing this because Mario was a very huge part of my childhood and even today stills is a franchise I absolutely adore ? #so despite never making posts about it I still feel entitled to talk about it as if my opinion actually mattered to other people ? #yes; yes I do #also this is a weird case where I want to say a word about this movie but also doesn't want to have an actual conversation with someone #I just want to scream my opinion into the void #so Tumblr post it is !

[fortyfive-forty]

top 5 video games? :D

take everything i say about video games with a grain of salt bc i haven't played that many overall but here you go

(in no particular order)

assassin's creed odyssey: the first story-based game i played when i bought my console, still working on finishing it almost a year later lmao. as someone who grew up with only wii graphics, the step-up was astonishing. beautiful game. also who doesn't love ancient greece and swords and cults and shit. plus it lets you be gay.

mariokart: specifically the classic wii version. a timeless classic and i mean that 100% unironically. no new versions of mariokart will ever come close to this. elite game. i bought a used wii on ebay specifically so i could keep playing this version of the game after our old one stopped working.

far cry 6: i've actually heard mixed review on this game but this was the first EVER story-based game that i played through, using xbox cloud gaming which i managed to configure on a mac laptop...would not recommend doing that lol. but this game is so fucking engaging, the story is so good and the graphics are spectacular, i mean i could literally play this game just so i could watch the sunset, it's that good to me. biggest peeve is that the story is realistically too big for the length of gameplay. it sort of feels like they had a really expansive plot set up and then realized 3/4 of the way through that they didn't have enough time to flesh it all out, so they just sort of. wrapped the whole story up super abruptly. but up until that point the story is great, the characters are great. very fond of this game.

super smash bros: fight me. same as mariokart tbh. just a great example of a good game that can never be topped, no matter how many new features or "improvements" you try to make. perfect as it is. i have gotten my ass kicked more times than i can count.

fifa: controversial choice, even for me, because i actually hate the mechanics of fifa and the game has devolved so much in recent years...but it will always be my comfort game. especially in "eafc24" (boo i'm still calling it fifa) now that they've added women's clubs and you can play w them in ultimate team, that really revitalized my love for it. it's a shitty game. but it's fun. especially if you're a football fan and not super serious about winning (which i'm not). i scored a goal and saw marta and haaland do the macarena together. what more could i ask for.

#this got so long i'm so sorry 😭 #i talk a lot when i'm interested in something lmfaooo #i put a keep reading to spare you all the excess lol #for the record when i talk about graphics. i know nothing ok #but i grew up only playing wii console games #literally until like...march of last year #so everything that isn't wii graphics looks incredible to me #also honorable mention to f1 which i would say is the same as fifa #just a good mindless clicky button game

[prismatic-glow]

navia explained + should you pull?

Hello everyone! Navia is out and I can't wait to talk about her!! Unfortunately I lost my 50/50 (to dehya...) so I won't be able to talk about my personal experiences playing her but I still have lots to talk about.

Here's what i'll be discussing today (table of contents i guess?)

1 ・❥・ brief overview of her playstyle

2 ・❥・explaining her essay of an elemental skill in a reasonable amount of words hoyo pls stop with the novels

3 ・❥・builds and teams

4 ・❥・ strengths and weaknesses

5 ・❥・ should you pull

let's begin!!

╰┈➤ part 1 ➤ navia's playstyle

Navia is a geo DPS with most of her damage coming from her skill. Her damage is frontloaded, meaning she deals a large amount of damage early on and very quickly. Her burst has some off-field geo damage over time and her passive gives her a Geo infusion. The damage of her skill is increased by stacks gained when you pick up crystallize shards Navia is pretty unique in that she can be played mainly off-field as a more quickswap unit or onfield to utilize her infusion

╰┈➤ part 2 ➤ wtf does her skill do

When any of your characters picks up a crystallize shard (from the crystallize reaction), Navia will gain 1 stack. She can have up to 6 stacks. When you use her skill, she consumes all stacks to fire shots of Geo damage The number of stacks consumed will increase the number of shots fired. When multiple shots hit the same opponent, the damage is increased. Every stack consumed past 3 stacks will also increase the damage The skill starts with 2 charges, meaning it can be used twice in a row without needing to wait for the cooldown Holding the skill will cause her to continually collect crystallize shards until it is released. TL;DR: Collect crystallize shards to gain stacks, then consume all stacks and fire shots based on the number of stacks consumed

╰┈➤ part 3 ➤ how to build navia

important note!! she just came out and I haven't seen many calculations yet so please take everything I say with a grain of salt The new Geo set is very good on her but the second set in that domain is basically useless. The domain is kind of a "resin trap" and not really recommended to farm. - If you play Navia with Furina, 4pc Marechaussee Hunter is her best set - 4pc Golden Troupe is also a good alternative to the new set but you need to use your skill very quickly upon entering the field. Because of the short duration of the buff once on-field, pretty much only your first skill will get the buff from the 4pc - Other than that you can just use 2pc/2pc artifact main stats: - attack sands - geo damage goblet - crit rate/crit damage circlet next up, weapons verdict ➤ signature weapon, BIS beacon of the reed sea ➤ gives useful stats redhorn stonethresher ➤ gives useful stats the unforged ➤ gives attack which can be nice wolf's gravestone ➤ gives attack which can be nice serpent spine ➤ amazing choice!! her best four star. At R5 it's very comparable to verdict in terms of damage ultimate overlord's mega magic sword (event weapon) ➤ really good choice, lots of attack and a bit of ER which can be useful in some teams sacrificial greatsword ➤ pretty good choice, helps a ton in teams where she's the only Geo character and finally, teams! Navia is actually very versatile so instead of listing very possible team, i'm gonna go over a few good teammate options bennett ➤ Insanely broken character, Navia really benefits from his attack buff. Bennet isn't usually a good choice as a healer in Furina teams but because Navia doesn't take up much field time, you can take some time to heal up your characters with Bennett's burst to build your Furina stacks xiangling ➤ Xiangling is also really broken. She can apply Pyro off-field which can be useful for Navia. She is pretty much always played with Bennett who, as mentioned, is a great character to play with Navia furina ➤ Great damage, Hydro application, and damage buffing. Navia's short field-time allows for more flexibility within your healer choices zhongli ➤ Amazing shielder. Provides Geo resonance which boosts her damage. He can also help produce crystallize shards albedo ➤ Geo resonance, off-field damage, can produce crystallize shards since she has a TON more characters she can work with, i'm also gonna provide some criteria for characters that can work well with her ➤ Off-field elemental application. can be through summons or effects that trigger with normal attacks ➤ DPS characters with downtime ➤ DPS characters with flexible field time (characters who can swap off during burst such as Noelle) ➤ Other characters with low field time

╰┈➤ part 4 ➤ strengths and weaknesses

+ Navia's teams are very versatile. She can fit in to a number of different teams and her low field time makes it easier to do so. She has good damage that is from her skill, meaning you don't have to build as much ER on her. She also has a very flexible playstyle and can be played on-field or off-field. She's also very easy to play - There is no character that Navia has "perfect synergy" with. This can make some of her teams feel a bit awkward. Her quick field time is nice but may feel weird if you don't account for it when building your teams.

╰┈➤ part 5 ➤ should you pull navia

i talk a lot in this section so you can skip to the end of it for a tldr) From what i've seen so far, Navia seems like a very balanced unit. You most likely wont regret pulling her unless you dislike her playstyle. But if you don't like her or her playstyle, she probably isn't a character you will regret skipping. Navia is an awesome unit with awesome damage and versatile teams. But you shouldn't feel forced to pull her because, in my opinion, she isn't "broken". Her very large amounts of frontloaded damage might make her seem game-breaking and OP but they are balanced out by her low amounts of sustained damage. This does not mean she is bad though!! As I said, she is balanced. I'm trying to push my point of her being balanced and not broken because, as Zy0xx said, her large frontloaded damage makes it easy for people to screenshot her numbers and say "look at this she's broken" which is kinda misleading. I'm not saying to get mad at people posting her damage or using it for thumbnails and call them liers or clickbaiters!! People are allowed to get excited for a character and who doesn't love big numbers. To sum it all up: Navia is a great choice if you want a DPS and a great choice if you like her. She's easy to play, strong, and you probably won't regret it. But skipping her isn't a huge, account ruining mistake and there are many other DPS characters and teams who perform similarly to her

that's all for today!! I hope this post was helpful. Don't hesitate to comment or send in an ask for more questions on Navia or literally anything else relating to what I do (more info in pinned post)

p7 of my explaining every character post will probably come later today

good luck on your pulls (or primo saving!!). If you're reading this, thank you for listening to what I have to say, I really appreciate it

Have an amazing day!!

-color

#genshin impact #genshin ask blog #genshin help #genshin guide #genshin impact advice #genshin #genshin advice #navia #navia genshin #fontaine #navia pulls #genshin geo #genshin primogems #˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ advice

[taephilia]

lost (myself) & found (you)

pairing: jeon jungkook x gn!reader

genre: fluff, soulmate au, based off of kimi no na wa

warnings: one (1) swear word

word count: 2,120

a/n: i saw this quote from the movie and inspiration just struck and i haven't been able to get it out of my head since. ofc i wrote this for jungkook since he's a weeb and said he would also want to hear bells ring when he meets his soulmate <3 also this is not edited lol i'll come back to it later, i just wanted to get this out

"Once in a while when I wake up, I find myself crying. The dream I must’ve had I can never recall. But… the sensation that I’ve lost something, lingers for a long time after I wake up." - Tachibana Taki, Kimi No Na Wa (2016)

Jungkook isn’t sure how long he’s felt like this—felt like something is missing, something important, something that his heart just can’t seem to let go of even if his brain has already forgotten. He knows that he dreams of whatever it is. He recalls scenes as he goes about his day; a loud laugh here, a brush of a hand against his there. People that he’s never seen before walking by him in a city he’s never been to, music playing on the radio that he’s never heard, a family that he comes home to that he doesn’t recognize at all. It’s all very strange and Jungkook is starting to wonder if maybe the late night ramen he’s built up a habit of eating has gone bad or maybe the unhealthy amounts of salt in it are the cause behind this. Because it was all fun and games until Jungkook’s heart starts to ache, like it’s calling out to someone that his brain can’t even conjure up an image for. Someone that he would search the ends of the cosmos for, someone that, whenever he feels like he gets close to them, slips right through his fingers like grains of sand. But he shakes it off whenever the feeling comes and ignores the heavy feeling in his chest in favor of paying attention to that day’s classes. If he had somehow found his soulmate, it definitely wouldn’t be someone in his hometown in the countryside.

Soulmate. That’s who his grandfather had told him he’s been dreaming about ever since Jungkook confessed almost two months ago about the reason behind his ever-present furrowed brows and faraway look in his eyes. He says that it had happened to him when he was around Jungkook’s age but, like most dreams, he’s forgotten who it was. He then went on to talk about the red thread of fate and that’s when Jungkook started tuning out. It’s a nice concept to think about when you’re a child—a red string tied around your pinky that connects you to the person that you’re destined to be with—but it’s just a myth and Jungkook doesn’t have time to think about things that aren’t real. Not when he barely has the time to think about the things that are real, like college entrance exams and graduating from high school.

So he buries his head in his books and pours every last drop of blood, sweat, and tears into his studies to get into his dream college in Seoul. The yearning in his heart doesn’t go away but it’s eclipsed by the pure exhaustion that he feels at the end of every day. And, like most dreams, he forgets.

Jungkook is 23 when he seriously begins to wonder whether or not he’s going crazy. He had thought he was going over the deep end while in college but hearing bells go off? Now that takes the cake. It happens at random; he never knows when the bells in his head will ring (and Jungkook knows that only he can hear them because nobody around him ever gives any sort of indication that they’ve heard them) no matter how much he tries to prepare for it. He checks his surroundings every day, eyes scanning over the crowds of people weaving around him in Seoul, but it’s no use. The only consistent location that they seem to chime in is when he’s on the metro and even then, it’s on random days, at random times, and not always at the same stop.

He’s not the type to go chasing after fairy tales, or at least, he isn’t anymore. He doesn’t have time to think hard and long about what these imaginary bells could mean, not when he has a job to do and people to impress and money to be made. And his grandfather died during his second year of college so the only conversation of “soulmates” that occurs now are the ones he has with himself in his head and the memories of their conversations years ago. But as fate would have it, Jungkook took a couple of days off to get an early start to the weekend and he is just itching for an adventure. So when he hears the bells go off while he’s making his way to his connecting train, he closes his eyes for a brief moment and puts himself into the hands of fate.

Jungkook allows his feet to carry him where they want, observing his surroundings and keeping an eye out for any person who gives any sort of indication to hearing something that they shouldn’t be hearing. He climbs up the stairs and out of the station, not giving any attention to the people who side-eye him for standing still on a bustling sidewalk, but looks down at his hand instead. In particular, at his pinky, which feels like there’s something squeezing at it. Like… like a thread that’s been tied snugly around it.

The red thread of fate, a voice in his head whispers to him and Jungkook almost chuckles out loud at the thought. And then almost laughs out loud again because, although he doesn’t believe in soulmates, his actions say otherwise. Because as much as Jungkook doesn’t believe in soulmates… Well, the thought of them and the red thread of fate being real is nice, isn’t it? Someone that you’re destined to be with, connected to by a string that can tangle and stretch but will never fray, keeping you tied to them for all eternity. It’s a comforting thought, especially when he thinks of his extremely lacking love life that comes with his high standards and fear of rejection.

Jungkook passes by a bakery during his fate-led walk and just as he’s considering stopping in to buy something, he hears the bells again. A light sound, one that could be mistaken for a phone notification, but one that he knows very well. But Jungkook’s soulmate must be as used to the sound as he is because no one around him gives any sort of indication that they’re also in search of him. And after an hour and a half of walking around a part of the city that he isn’t too familiar with, he’s ready to call it quits for the night. So Jungkook makes his way to the nearest metro station and gets on a train home.

Of course, that’s when he hears the bells again.

He looks up from his phone and around the crowded train but nobody has been able to move since the doors closed. And if it were someone near him, he would have heard them before. There’s a flash out of the corner of his eye and when Jungkook looks up and out the window of the sliding doors, he sees a pair of eyes staring back. A pair of eyes that are not his but in fact belong to someone in a train traveling right next to his. They stare right at him and mirror his own when they widen at the exact same time as his. But just as soon as Jungkook finds you, he loses you just as quickly when your train goes in a different direction.

Jungkook spends the entire day the next day looking for you. He manages to cross off everything on his “things to do when I’m in Seoul” bucket list that he’s been adding on to for the past 10 years. His feet hurt, his wallet feels significantly lighter than when he first left his apartment, and he’s wondering how much weight he lost from walking what feels like the entire expanse of Seoul three times over. And even after all that, he hasn’t heard the bells. Not once.

And it’s at this point, when Jungkook decides to eat dinner at his favorite ramen shop before calling it a night, that he begins to wonder if he had missed his chance last night. Not like it was much of a chance considering the fact that you were on a different train and he had no way of getting to you. But fate is cruel, isn’t that what some people say? Maybe his thread is just so tangled, so frayed, that it’ll take a lifetime before he’s able to get another glimpse at you. And Jungkook just isn’t that patient.

He can barely even remember what you look like anymore. Maybe it’s the hunger eating away at his stomach and the aching of his feet but as he eats his ramen, he can only recall vague details about you. Like how he wants to drown in your eyes, how soft your skin looks even through two dirty train door windows, and how he thinks your shiny hair probably smells nice - like vanilla or peaches or something. But your face? Absolutely nothing. It’s like he blacked out the second he looked up at you last night.

Jungkook leans back in his seat as he sips at his water, staring out the window of the shop as if you would walk past right that second. But you don’t. So Jungkook throws a couple of bills down onto the table for a tip and heads out, a sigh leaving his lips when he looks around but doesn’t hear any bells. Now that he’s had a chance to sit down and eat, he feels a bit more rational and more determined to find you—but that can wait until tomorrow after he’s had a good night’s sleep. It’s a bit later in the evening so there’s barely anyone around him as he makes his way to the nearest metro station that will take him home. Jungkook is just about to descend the stairs when something makes him stop. He’s not really sure what it is that he stops for; the bus honking on the street beside him or the group of friends laughing as they walk by him? Or perhaps it’s the person at the bottom of the stairs, their eyes looking down as they climb up, but Jungkook just knows that it’s you.

Well, he doesn’t actually know. He’s pretty sure it’s you. It feels like it’s you. But is that fate talking or just his hopeful heart? Jungkook decides not to say anything and slowly walks down the stairs. The bells will tell him if he’s right. Your eyes glance up and meet his and Jungkook sees them widen, but like him, you don’t say anything. Are you waiting to hear your own bells?

He shoves his hands deep into the pocket of his hoodie, eyes quickly darting away from yours to stare holes into the ground as he keeps walking. His heart beats faster with every step and he has to resist the urge to just stare at you point blank because he needs to know and-

He hears the bells. And it’s like a weight is taken off of his shoulders.

But he keeps walking. And you keep walking. And now Jungkook is panicking because why the fuck is he still walking? You’re his soulmate, he found you, so why isn’t he stopping? Jungkook tries to get his feet to stop moving, to just turn around and call out to you but he can’t. What would he even say? ‘Hey, you’? He doesn’t even know your name. ‘I think you’re my soulmate’? How disgustingly cliche. What if you don’t even care that he’s your soulmate? What if you’re already seeing someone? What if he’s the only one that can hear the bells for you and you hear them for someone else? What if-

“Um, excuse me?”

Jungkook almost trips on the last step from how fast he turns around at the sound of your voice. His hands feel clammy but he keeps them in his pocket otherwise you’d be able to see how they’re shaking ever so slightly. He drags his eyes up to yours and suddenly, every bit of anxiety he felt is suddenly gone. Is this what it’s supposed to feel like?

“Have we met before? You seem really familiar.”

You’re at the top of the stairs now but you step down a few steps, as if you want to get closer. Jungkook climbs back up a few steps because he does want to get closer. There’s an easy smile on his face as he says, “Found you.”

He isn’t sure where it came from. He isn’t even exactly sure what he means. But it feels like the right thing to say, like something that he’s vaguely remembering from a dream he had a long time ago. And judging from the matching smile on your own face, you know what Jungkook means.

“Took you long enough.”

#heartsforbts #kwritersworldnet #thebtswritersclub #ficscafe #jeon jungkook scenario #jeon jungkook fluff #bts fluff #bts scenario #bts drabble #bts imagine #jeon jungkook drabble #jeon jungkook imagine #jungkook fluff #jungkook x reader #bts x reader #kpop imagine #kpop scenario #bts au #jungkook au #jungkook scenario #kpop drabble #jungkook drabble #jungkook imagine

[syubub]

ENERGY CHECKUP: YOONGI (again)

Now, I know I've already done an energy check up on yoon but I wanted to see how he was doing now that he's gotten his shoulder surgery!

Disclaimer time: tarot is not to be takes as fact and is my interpretation if the cards :) entertainment purposes only~

SHIT IS STRANGE (it is Yoongi though so I'm not too shocked)

So. For starters, his energy is pretty calm and chill. He's also a bit more quiet?

I wrote a note that tomorrow is exciting... idk I wrote it down and I'm not sure if its exciting for him or for us? Maybe its just a general like, "tomorrow is a good day" type thing.

Now. 11... I wrote this down and I'm not sure why though I believe that he might be seeing 11:11 on the clock or possibly that something exciting is happening for him at 11:11 (I just checked and thats in like an hour and a half from when I'm writing this down(( update i just finished writing the whole post and it is about 11 minutes away)) idk. I make no promises but I wrote it down so there you go.

I also kept seeing plants and I'm not sure if people got him flowers or plants as a "get well" type thing or maybe he's stressing bc someone has to water his plants lol

Okay. Okay. Hear me out. Black bean noodles. It popped into my head and I was told to write it down but I'm also really hungry so take that with a grain of fucking salt. (I even pictured a nice elaborate bowl that was red as well as the take out container. Yum. Send me noodles)

MOVING ON

Here's the actual reading lol. He is bored.

Thats all. Thank you for coming.

Jk

I joke. The cards give me a kind of frazzled feeling? Its the struggle of knowing hes done something good but it comes at a cost. Yoongi works. A lot. All the goddamn time. So what now? He's having this shake up thats forcing him to deal with stuff. Him having this surgery also may have brought back some less than favorable memories/ feelings that hes being forced to deal with now. Over all though he feels like its good. The 6 of wands makes me think that he's thinking of our response when he comes back. Its like he's gonna be so much more confident in himself and his dancing and he can finally move on from the car accident? It happed so long ago but he literally carried this burden with him. Its good. The wheel of fortune and is about a change and the 8 of swords is about self imposed restriction, imprisonment and over all bad/ negative feelings. I pulled the wheel of fortune first and asked what was changing and that was the 8 of swords. This surgery is helping to free him from this restricting, painful thing that may have been reminding him of the past! YES HEALING

Now. For this section I just kinda asked "whats up?" And got, easy does it, divine life purpose l, balancing masculine and feminine energies and uplift your thoughts. He may be resting but he's got his mind working on 3,000 my dude. Its the regular "yoongi is woke af" bullshit but damn. The cards say what they say. He's preparing. I'll come back to this.

Now the 7 of cups and the 3 of swords. I asked how he felt about missing out on promoting. He's heart broken with the 3 of swords. It genuinely pains him. And with the 7 of cups he might feel like there's a lot of ways this can play out and he's considered a lot of options.

I was curious how he felt about me coming into his energy so I asked him what he thought of me. Lol. These each came out separately. We got, 2 of cups, four of wands, the empress, justice, the magician, the sun and the lovers. Ha

So. To add to the mood setting my guide said "he's a drama queen" lol yeah he is.

So so so so so. I was confused? Still am a little confused but I'm like 80.9% sure that he isn't bothered by me poking around in his energy n shit. In fact my theory is that he's using this connection to his advantage? Lol sounds dumb but my best guess is that home boy sees my energy/ what I'm doing as a way to figure out his own shit? Idk maybe he thinks I'm his energetic therapist. Maybe even a matchmaker (I mean... I have been putting a lot of energy and work into finding/ connecting with his soulmate so maybe he's letting me do all the dirty work) I really don't understand but I got no further explanation.

Oki oki oki. Now. I was drawn to 2 books. The kybalion and the prophet. I asked yoon if there was any messages that we wanted to point out through the books and I got a number for each book so I took it as page numbers. 28 for the prophet and 54 for the kybalion

Take what you will from these if it calls to you. I haven't read these since I was around 13? The sentiments for each felt important to me so I'm curious what you all might think/ feel when reading these? ( I also get the feeling that Yoongi has read the prophet idk why)

Okay. At this point I was like cool, let's wrap this up but I need to talk about his pjs? Green/grey? Plaid pj bottoms don't ask me don't ask me don't ask me I don't know but It wouldn't go away so I had write it down? Help.

I had written yoongis brother down too. Theres something about him? I'm not sure what but thats all I got lol

I was very strongly told that I needed to remember 7, that its important. Got it. Worth it down.

Oki. As I was going back to the platform blah blah blah the string turned blue too. The cord is usually white or silver but it was blue so that was a fun thing and then I was like "nice. Cool. Thanks. This was awesome, get healthy blah blah" and go to leave/ end the connection but the cord wouldn't go away.

???

What.

Then the string (idk if I said but that string shit is like on the third eye? Its connected to my forehead and his too.) Kind tightens.

I'm like, "oh shit."

Listen. Usually everything is smooth and nice and I just leave.

All is well though bc my guide is like, "stop being a little bitch" so I just let it happen.

Yoon shoves me back off the edge of the platform. Why he gotta be like that?

Now. This is strange. I had dropped down into a library.

Y'ALL

I almost shit my fucking pants. Dear god.

THE AKASHIC RECORDS MY DUDE

He started walking me around until he found a blue book. His mother fucking book.

Home boy brought me to his fucking Akashic fucking blue fucking book.

I was big mad. "YOU LITTLE FUCKER! YOUVE KNOWN ABIUT THIS SHIT?" And he was like, "duh"

I've never felt more disrespect lol

Also the way the library was presented was way way way different from how it looks to me. So thats an interesting note. Looking at his book, on the base of the spine is a number 7...

Oki. Cool. I asked if I could look and he said, "Sure, when you can find your way back."

This mother fucker threw me out of a meditative state. Have you ever woken up just before you hit the ground in one of those falling dreams? THAT WAS THE FEELING.

?? I'm not sure what the fuck just happened or if it holds actual significance.

Anyway. After cursing the fuck out of yoobi I started thinking what else 7 ment.

I was specifically told to remember 7 and it was on his book. Then It popped into my head (I want to say its because I'm smart and thought of it all by myself but I think that was my guide wanting me to keep my last brain cell safe). What is yoongis life path number?

Now I don't know shot about life path numbers but imma read up on them tonight. I used a life path calculator on Google. HIS LIFE PATH NUMBER IS 7 Y'ALL.

Maybe I'm dumb as fuck but yoobi never disappoints.

Conclusion: Yoon is fine. Hes just being a yoongi and a yoongi does.

⬆️Me after this reading⬆️

⬆️ Yoongi rn playing 12D chess⬆️

#bts #bts tarot #bts reactions #bts imagines #bts rm #namjoon imagine #jin #kim seokjin #yoongi #yoongi imagine #min suga #min yoongi #hoseok #jhope #bts jimin #taehyung #jungkook #jk

[nilim]

As a WOC who plays D&D, I feel the Polygon article could have been better expressed. I recently joined a D&D group at my friend's invite, and they've all known each other for years while I haven't, and there is awkwardness while I'm figuring out how to fit into the group dynamic. I can't imagine having to do that live on stream and being a "diversity hire" at the same time. I get that ppl want to see more diversity, so do I, but forcing a POC at the table seems unfair to *all* sides.

Note: I’m white and I don’t live in the US (I’m from Europe), so take everything what I say with a big grain of salt because this is really not my area… at all. But I also don’t want to ignore this sitting in my inbox so let’s talk about the polygon article, I guess! 

I’m going to talk about the diversity issue, and not the first part of the article, which is a bit of a muddled mess because of the false equivalent comparisons between what is in essence a project to get a story animated, and TTRPGs as a gaming industry. I have made my opinion on this issue abundantly clear in another post even before the article came out. 

Onto the main premise! 

When I say I sympathize with the overall message behind the article, I mean that there is a reason the article was written, and it isn’t because Critical Role is white and therefore the cast are bad people. It’s just that Critical Role’s success with their kickstarter has propelled them into a mainstream spotlight, and it being in the news is a good jumping off point to talk about diversity in TTPRGs and Actual Play streams/podcasts. 

And yes, diversity is a problem. Like many other entertainment media, we could be doing better, you know? But I understand that the article itself feels disingenuous in that it chooses to highlight Critical Role specifically, failing to mention other popular TTRPG livestreams and/or podcasts that have the same issue. For example, I completely understand that some people get a little annoyed that the McElroys aren’t mentioned, especially because of Polygon’s close relationship with them. (Sidenote: I adore TAZ, and I think the McElroys are in the same position as the CR cast in this matter.) 

But I still don’t think the overall premise of the article is to attack Critical Role. It’s just singling out Critical Role as the most successful example of this endemic problem. And honestly? I can get behind that message. For this reason, it makes me uncomfortable to see people dismissing the article outright. The article has problems, yes, but it’s overall aim is to get a conversation going. Ignoring that conversation just because the article has problems is not the ideal solution. 

That said, the major thing that felt unfair to me when I originally read the article is that, even though I sympathized with the message, the article points out problems but doesn’t offer solutions. And because it used Critical Role as the example, people that really care about all this stuff already, it feels… unfair, you know? Because what would the solution be in the eyes of the writer and those who agree with them? 

Because diversifying the core cast seems like a very difficult problem. These people are beyond friends… they’re a family. For a D&D group, they’re also a really large group already. So, we do know they would never get rid of current members to make room for others, because I honestly think they would rather stop streaming all together than to have to pick and choose who gets to continue the adventure with them. 

However, I do think it is entirely within the realm of possibility to add one more member, especially because they used to play like that before. I also don’t necessarily think it has to be awkward, because there have been many guests in the past that really gelled well with the cast. I think a new member could feel natural when this person is a friend of the cast already (for example, I absolutely adored Ashly Burch as Keg, and she was there for FOUR entire episodes and really clicked with the others! I would have loved it if she had become a permanent member back then).

However, there are issues with this solution. First of all, it leaves less room for guests. I think the guests provide a wonderful opportunity for exposing the audience to other amazing actors, diverse creators, and just generally Good People. Losing that would be an overall loss for CR. 

Secondly, like you already pointed out, hiring just one person becomes very close to this kind of… awkward tokenism. Would it be better to at least have one POC? Definitely. But the reason for it matters. The overall message matters. One new cast member is like a bandaid; it doesn’t solve the entire diversity issue the article is pointing out. 

Therefore, the way I’m seeing it, the article is just an example of an overall conversation we should be having about diversity within the genre CR operates in. And CR can still set an example for the rest! Even if they will never have enough diversity in the core cast, they can still make sure to have it in all the other projects they’re involved in. The crew. New twitch shows. The animation project itself. Their success gives them the ability to lift others up. They’ve only been independent from Legendary for like a month now, and I’m sure they’re going to do amazing things. 

Therefore, I think Critical Role and the cast ARE a good example to use when having this conversation, because the fact of the matter is: the cast will take note. Because they’re such open, kind hearted people. Because they want to do good. Because they will listen. 

The awkward thing about the article, however, is making it seem like the cast aren’t already aware of this problem. Or making it seem like they’re willfully ignoring these conversations, because they’re not. 

Furthermore, the way the issue of diversity is presented (focusing on the cast themselves) makes it seem that CR will never live up to the standards the article sets if they don’t diversify their core cast. And that just feels… unfair. I think therefore we should all just focus on where they CAN make a difference instead.

#critical role #sorry this is long #long post #*pictures taken seconds before disaster: Me wading into this debate* #Anonymous