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sixstepsaway · 6 months

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I don't get why people want to pretend Ed wasn't abusive. Why do people insist on making everything into binaries? Yes, Ed has been a victim of abuse. Yes, he has been abusive. Both things can be true. I love him because I think he's in interesting and I understand where his pain is coming from (even if I think S2 was a missed opportunity in terms of character development). But anyway, thank you for writing about this because maybe some folks genuinely don't recognize abusive trends.

I think it has a lot to do with the fandom culture of only being allowed to like "wholesome" ships.

Look at it this way: when season 1 was airing, Ed and Stede were, in fact, very wholesome. Sure, they had some moments of lesser wholesomeness, but overall they were pretty wholesome and sweet and gentle. They were sweet and finding love in middle age and it was adorable. They had a general stamp of fandom approval that they were, in fact, Wholesome And Good To Ship™.

If you look at other fandoms, you'll see a lot of times there's the Good And Acceptable Ship and then there's the Bad Ship (or ships) and the Bad Ship is always slapped with the "oh that's actually incest!" label when they've, idk, grown up together, or "oh it's abusive!" because one of them one time made a bad joke or something, or "power dynamics!" because one is 27 and one is 25 or one is short and the other is tall or whatever, and yeah sometimes the Bad Ship is actually toxic or whatever (which is not a reason to not ship and enjoy it!), but they're put in neat little boxes: Good and Bad.

And for a lot of people, those boxes keep them safe. Last year, someone who was an Izzy Hands fan got doxxed because...? They liked Izzy Hands and shipped him with... I don't know actually. Ed? Stede? It doesn't matter, all I know is they got doxxed.

The side of fandom that thinks you should only ship the Good Ship are toxic and downright dangerous. It's happened again and again in numerous fandoms and just keeps happening.

So when at the end of s1, Ed turned around and cut Izzy's toe off and fed it to him, I think a lot of people panicked because shit, now Ed was Bad too, and if he's Bad then you can't like him or relate to him or ship him with the Good guy of Stede, so what the fuck do you do?

Obvious answer: Blame Izzy. Izzy's already classed as Bad, so put all the responsibility on Izzy for Ed's darkness and then it's safe to ship Ed and Stede again and no one can call you an abuse apologist or whatever for liking them together.

(To be clear: Shipping says nothing about your real morality. This is very clear for many reasons, one of which is... spend thirty seconds watching fans of the Wholesome Ships dox people and abuse people online lol)

So they spent all this time saying Ed was just scared and lashing out, and now s2 has come along and Ed is... well, abusive, canonically.

And for most of us, that doesn't really matter. We can still enjoy Ed and Stede or Ed and Izzy, we can throw ourselves into fanworks and enjoy the show for the things we like, and we can critique the things we have issues with (my problem is not Ed being written as dark and twisty and having a villain arc, my problem is the show writing it badly, exploring it badly, and then handwaving it, because it's shitty writing) and still really enjoy the vibes we got from the show.

But for people who are scared because they spent all this time saying Izzy fans should kill themselves for liking an abuser, well... now they have a choice: either admit Ed is an abuser and admit that liking a character doesn't dictate your irl morality, nor does it say anything about you aside from what you enjoy in fiction, or excuse away his actions, insist he's just a lil meow meow and continue feeling safe in their little bubble.

In a lot of ways I can't blame people for wanting to duck and cover from it. I mean, look at the shit people get for liking characters who aren't perfect, or talking about the imperfections of characters, or just enjoying complex narratives!

But what genuinely concerns me isn't anything to do with the fiction really, it's when people look at Ed's behavior in 2x01 and 2x02 and go, "Nah he's fine," because oh, honey, no, you are making yourself so vulnerable to real life abuse. That is what worries me, which is why I answered that one ask saying Ed wasn't abusive, it felt important to point out why he is.

Anyway, that's what I think is happening here. I think people are just scared that if they admit their fave has multitudes and isn't a perfect character who never does any wrong, they'll get doxxed and abused and harassed online.

I get that.

#anonymous #ask

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class1akids · 3 months

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Hi, I know you really like Shouto, but I am wondering if you think his story and him overall is objectively well written, and where would you put him among not just MHA characters but compared it to general fiction, writing wise, and development wise. I personally think there could be things that make his development and personality more prominent and make his character stand out more, nevertheless I still think he is above average when I read the story again and again and see the nuances, tiny but important details. It is sad to see when it's MHA, people assume the character is less valuable in every way no matter what manga/show you are comparing it to.

I think people often confuse things like power, fight feats, art panels, fandom appeal, popularity when they think about "well-written". For example, many people think Mirko is "well-written", when she's more well-designed and has flashy fight moments. Several, more underrated female characters are better written than her.

When I think about "well-written", I think about these things:

What is the overall narrative role of the character in the story?

How well and consistently are the character's themes represented throughout the story and how do they connect to the "main plot"?

Does the character have an arc? How is the arc progressed?

Does the character have well developed relationships and dynamics with others?

Does the character get meaningful conflicts and challenges to his/her worldview and grow from these?

So if you translate this to Shouto:

Shouto is a "bridge" character. Because of his dual design, he connects well the different worlds / ideas in the story. He's got the genetic lottery / strong potential like Bakugou, but he's also an abuse victim like Izuku. His personal history and family drama connects the world of pro heroes to UA Class A. He's foiling with Iida on family legacy. He represents change, healing and 2nd chances. The Todoroki family is a microcosm of what is happening in the wider hero society and Shouto is the protagonist of the story, perfectly placed to be able to understand the pov of the heroes and of the family villain, Toya.

In the overall plot, the Todoroki plot becomes prominent in the SF arc and Shouto's part is "frontloaded". We learn his backstory before we know much about Endeavor or Dabi. However, even if his biggest moments come early, Shouto keeps growing. His quirk growth is tied to his emotional healing. Every time he takes a step towards overcoming trauma, he "unlocks" something new in his quirk. Taking steps towards his different family members, peaks in Phosphor which is narratively a perfect culmination of his quirk and journey. But his other themes - figuring out who he wants to be, claiming a part of All Might's legacy, the importance of being authentic, etc. also get important beats throughout the story.

Shouto's arc is foremost a healing journey. It's about overcoming / letting go of his well-justified negative emotions and pour his energy into building bridges with his family and making friends. The two worlds interplay well. The friends Shouto makes remain relevant in saving his family (Bakugou saving Natsuo, Iida taking him to Gunga, etc.), but the steps he takes towards his family also benefit his friends (most notably with Bakugou and Deku interning with Endeavor and learning things from him). I also like that his arc is not linear. He takes steps back (provisional license, JTA), but he keeps growing from his mistakes / failures. His growth as a hero is interwoven with his growth as a person, a son, a brother, a friend.

Shouto has actually a really wide circle of important and meaningful interactions. He has a distinct dynamic with every member of his family. We know more about the Todorokis than any other character's family and Endeavor and Dabi are also well-developed characters. He's most prominent friends are important Class A members (Deku, Bakugou, Iida), and he has good moments with a number of others, notably, Momo, Sero and Kirishima. He's the bridge character between UA and Shiketsu (Inasa). He's got a couple of good scenes with All Might. So he is well built into the core of the story, with diverse and interesting interactions and dynamics.

Shouto is challenged a lot. He is allowed to be wrong, fail, learn, get up and try again, which is crucial for a well-written character. His view of his own quirk and overall goal is challenged by Izuku. His confrontation with Bakugou brings out his flaw of relative aimlessness compared to his main rival. His repeated confrontations with his father force him to learn to see Endeavor as a complex human being and also to try to sift through the bits of his inheritance he wants to keep. The Stain fight gives him an early reality check on relying too much on his quirk. His confrontation with Inasa is crucial in understanding that to become a hero, he needs to process his trauma. The first family dinner allows him to connect later with Natsuo. Tetsu pushes him into a corner from which he learns flashfire and understands why he wants to be strong (to be reassuring). Failing to win his fight make him go for a 2nd internship with Endeavor and stand up for himself and lay down clear boundaries. His repeated confrontations with Touya give him the perspective of wanting to save his family, which helps him unlock his full power in Phosphor.

Overall, I think Shouto is one of the best and most consistently written characters in the manga. I think he's a bit underrated, because a lot of people think of redemption arcs when they think of a well-written character. But all kinds of arcs can be well-written and I feel like Shouto's is quite unique in this kind of medium with how much attention it's given and how well it ties in with his themes.

I mean people may not connect with his character more because he's relatively quiet, plain in tastes, doesn't get the flashiest fights, etc.

I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but his story is objectively a well-rounded part of the manga, and I think Shouto's endgame is one of the best parts of the final arc, where all previous threads came together quite satisfyingly, without it needing a lot of explanations.

There are of course parts where Shouto, because in the end he's not the MC, got shoved off to the side, where I expected more. This came mostly in the post-Dabi reveal era, where I think if Hori wasn't in a hurry to cut the story short, we would have had a proper fall-out for Shouto for the scandal, along the lines of what Bakugou got post-Kamino. A kind of emotional peak / release. But post-war, Hori dropped the ball on everyone, I think including Deku (despite having his solo arc).

Now, I don't read a lot of manga, so I can't really judge that well, but I think Shouto is one of the best-written characters of his own kind. If you think wider literature - I mean Horikoshi's writing is decently entertaining and his art is very pleasing, but it's not high literature. I think he excels in character design and in playing with the tropes of shonen. But when he tries to tackle more complex issues, those tend to fall flat. Actually, I think the Todoroki plot is one of the few places, where he does a fairly good job of showing nuances of abuse, trauma, victim responses, but I think it's better written in Acts 1 and 2 than in Act 3.

#c1a asks #todoroki shouto #bnha meta #todoroki meta

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racefortheironthrone · 1 month

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In A Guildsman Goes Forth to War, what can you tell us about fae society? I'm assuming they're monarchies, feudal or absolute? Do they bear any resemblance to Celtic society? Do they practice slavery? What of their gender dynamics? Etc

Great question!

So there's a lot that I'm not going to share with you, because the fae/Fair Folk/etc. are supposed to be a mysterious people who live in their own realm that connects to the human world via thin places in the forests and underhill and deep in the mountains or underground rivers, and humanity doesn't particularly understand them very well despite centuries of intermarriage, as the fae are both very cryptic and contradictory in the information they've shared with their Gentry kin.

Government

As far as humans have been able to glean, the Fae do organize themselves into Courts that seem close enough to European feudal systems that the leading families of Europe can do business with them when it comes to dynastic marriage alliances and diplomatic relations.

That being said, status and power in Faerie society don't seem to be based in land as they are among humans. (In the interests of full disclosure, I'm borrowing some ideas here from the Feywild in D&D.) As far as people have been able to glean from correspondence and diplomatic and cultural interactions, titles are based on elements of nature (the Duke of Hoarfrost, the Viscount of Watermeadows) or from emotions (the Lady of Wistful Rememberance, the Prince of Sorrow), or from ideas and beliefs (the Duchess of the Dark Side of the Moon claims to have once been a handmaiden to the goddess Selene).

Quite a few scholars of geography and history from the leading universities have theories and taxonomies about how Faerie society is organized, but they're all second-hand and can offer only partial explanations and there's absolutely no consensus about what's going on. It does not help that the rare diplomatic missions or marriage parties that go to Faerie from the human world rather than in the other direction tend to report memory issues, such that much of what is recorded owes more to dream logic than accurate observation. Needless to say, this has been a rich vein of material for poets, playwrights, and painters only, and intensely frustrating for academics and statesmen.

Culture

Faerie culture is highly localized in accordance with regional folklore and mythology, although scholars disagree whether human folklore is a record of pre-historical encounters with Faerie, or whether the Fae pattern themselves after the human cultures they interact with.

So for example, the Fae of Éire, Alba, Anglia, and northern Gallia seem to correspond to Gaelic and Brythonic literature, Arthuriana, and the Matters of Britain and France. In the Sacrum Imperium and the Danelaw, however, the dominant Fae cultures are distinctively Germanic and Scandinavian - whether that's the Rheintöchter of the Rhineland and Palatinate, or the dvergr who predominate in Bavaria and the Hapsburg lands or the trollkind and various álfar in the land of the Northmen. In much of southern Europe around the Mediterranean, one is much more likely to encounter Faerie peoples recognizable to students of Greek and Roman mythology: many Gentry from the Lega or the western half of the Rhōmaîoi-Rashidun Federation claim descent from oreads, naiads, nereids, satyrs and other bloodlines.

Human scholars are particularly confused by the fact that all of these different peoples all call one another "cousin," no matter whether they belong to the more humanoid elfkind or the distinctly non-human trollfolk or even the potentially fictional or extinct dragons.

Class and Slavery

As already suggested, Faerie society seems to have some sort of a hierarchy, but it does not seem to be one based in the inheritance of land passed down from generation to generation. Rather, as far as humans can tell, status seems to be associated with proximity to or control of or possession of or identification with magical power from various sources.

What does seem to be the case is that those with more power can command those with less, and Faerie embassies ubiquitously feature both vips with titles and what appear to their servants, but there is no consistency on which kinds of fae serve and which rule. Human visitors and diplomats are very unsure whether this consistutes a caste system or clientilism, because the Fae themselves speak in rather vague terms about "obligations" and "debts" and "true names."

Gender

Again, humans have a rather hard time understanding Faerie gender norms - and are rather unsure whether various Fae kinds have genders and how many they have. What is known is that, among what passes for royalty and nobility in Faerieland, there is a tendency for the female to be announced first - correspondence often arrives in the form of "Queen Titania and King Oberon" or "The Baroness and Baron"- which suggests a slight tendency to the matriarchal, but that is mere supposition. Human cultural conservatives both within and without the Church do grumble about the "immodest" and "amazonian" habits of Faerie women when they comport themselves in their visits to human society or in their Gentry marriages, but they make sure to do so under their breath.

#a guildman goes forth to war #renaissance fantasy #fantasy genre #world building #faerie #fae #fair folk

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splat20 · 18 days

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Another part of Icewind Dale that's been fucking grueling so far though... Ngl a part of me is actually fascinated by the historical fantasy worldbuilding done by A Certain Kind Of History Dude who clearly has no idea how history has ever actually worked. The hoops they jump through to convince you that history has never been what might be called "political" is, in its own way, kind of impressive.

Conflict has never been about stuff like colonialism, it's all about nebulous human themes like Tradition. Conflict is about Economy and Economy never involves anything like class or culture. Only trout. The entire machinations of this society revolves ONLY around trout. (I'm now genuinely harping about the trout, it's just really dumb ok.) Conflict is about different groups just being fundamentally different, usually with a clear evil one. Conflict is about all groups being greedy about THEIR FUCKING TROUT because it's just a nebulous human condition to be greedy. Racist also. And poor people are just poor because they aren't ambitious, as a little aside.

It's so...... ashistorical but also deeply uncurious about our own actual real life world right now.

So many "high" fantasy books are like this. The Certain Kind Of History Dudes have too much power in this genre. They get praised for their worldbuilding and it's just the most shallow understanding of how anything works ever.

And more nefarious is the way this seemingly innocent ignorance so quickly and easily justifies stuff like "well, it's totally chill for good guys to kill bad guys... because they're from a bad guy society." Drizzt will tie himself in knots if he has to kill the worst human you can possibly imagine, but swats down random orcs no problem. The way that seemingly creates no cognitive dissonace at all for these writers needs to be studied in a lab. It's all fun and games when we're talking about monsters, but then you think about how that translates into the real world using the exact same mechanisms and that isn't fun at all is it? The ways racist men can tell themselves they are good people follows similar mental gymnastics. Why are "humans" deserving of infinite grace and forgiveness even at their most evil but "orcs" are understood to be inherently a lost cause? Why really? What is that mechanism really? It's been particularly egregious as I'm trying to slog my way through The Crystal Shard because, like, we can generously say that the "barbarians" are based on vikings, but ngl all I'm getting from this dynamic is Salvatore playing "cowboys and indians" but with white people. The general underlying vibes... And maybe that's what I'm trying to get at with what I'm describing in the fantasy races too. If you take off the mask, it all just feels like "cowboys and indians." A trope so deeply embedded in American genre fiction which has always just been incredibly racist this whole time.

These books are such whiplash because unfortunately I do love the characters but boy I wish I could save them from these books sometimes. The Crystal Shard has been soooo much worse than the other books so far imo, so I'm hoping the series chills tf out again generally.

#this has soured my enjoyment considerably but unfortunately i am cursed with investment at this point #jarlaxle come back #everything's going to shit without you babygirl #also where is catti brie tbh #i feel like catti brie isn't in this book because if she was she'd just be like 'everything happening here is macho and stupid'#im just saying maybe we didnt need wulfgar at all and you couldve just given the cool hammer to your daughter just saying #legend of drizzt #racism cw #fantasy racism cw

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compacflt · 7 months

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I have to ask because I'm just too curious! How is your writing so good? Like, holy hell, your prose, the flow from one sentence to another, how you tell Ice and Mav's thoughts and the yearning and pining and angst and everything. You made me cry so many times reading their perspectives, and it's such a unique take and so relatable and sad at the same time.

I'm just wondering if you've taken any courses, what you do to improve your writing, or maybe any references and ideas for when you get stuck on a scene. I'm not much of a reader of western media, so maybe you have some recommendations?

Thanks in advance! You're one of the best writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading!

See here for my regular writing advice :)

yes, i am a double major in journalism & english so I’m taking basically all writing classes at school. but as i said in my previous advice post, i haven’t learned anything in any of my classes that you couldn’t learn just by reading attentively and writing on your own. the benefit of a structured program is Having Deadlines and that’s about it imo

I don’t have a ton of recommendations for precisely this reason—my recommendation is to literally read everything you can get your hands on, AND to treat Everything you read/watch/experience like high literature. Advertisements in the subway have a theme & a message & employ certain literary tactics to deliver that message to you. They’re worth learning from. So are the nature documentaries on tv—which stories are prioritized and why? What story techniques do documentarians, for instance, use to make us, the viewer, relate to animals and experiences that are otherwise unrelatable? Can you find examples of foreshadowing & symbolism in your own real life? Fiction is just a reflection of the dynamics of our own world—if you can find the rhythm of an overheard conversation on the street, you can find the rhythm of fictional dialogue

(Which is why i continue to stress, keep a journal or a diary. one of the most instructive exercises i ever did was when I was in a creative writing class at like 14 and they had us just follow strangers around and write down exactly what they said. So you get a lot of “so he told me, like, he was, like, like, um, ‘I’m not cheating on you,’ or whatever, and I was like, bitch, what?” —But that’s how people talk! It’s a good exercise lol.)

my one actual craft recommendation is basically mandatory assigned reading in many western english/writing classes—for good reason: Thomas c foster’s “how to read literature like a professor.” He summarizes about a hundred classic western texts and explains how they use various english-canonical symbols (“if characters eat together they’re taking communion,” “if a character gets wet and doesn’t drown it’s a metaphorical baptism,” “literally everything you read is somehow related to sex… except sex which is usually about something else”) and it’s written really well for both readers and writers. Basically my bible. a great primer if you don’t know where to start with western literature/if you don’t know where to start with writing symbols and stuff

anyway to summarize, life is literature, living is reading, we all still have so much time to learn, read “how to read literature like a professor,” and keep a diary

I also forgot to mention this in my last advice post but don’t use epithets please 😭 idk if you use epithets or not but this is just general advice, it’s my most snotty literary opinion and it’s very common in fanfic for some reason (it’s like so specific to the fanfic genre it’s insane) but i am extremely convicted about it i feel very strongly so im telling you. epithets make your writing sound very obviously fanficky. “the blond man” “the taller man” etc… just don’t use them it’s so unspecific!! WHICH blond man???? WHICH tall man? why can’t we be specific here?? have we been suddenly struck with amnesia?? just use his name!!

Also you say you don’t read a lot of western literature—I am not sure where you’re from but don’t feel like you HAVE to read/write only western literature to be successful. That’s only true if you want to succeed in the gatekept western lit market—and even then, the gatekept western lit market is literally currently foaming at the mouth to hear other perspectives right now. Who you are & where you come from invariably affects how you see the world & write about it, so lean into that if you can!

unfortunately my advice for getting stuck on a scene is “just write it.” Just sit down and get SOMETHING on the page. Spoiler alert, those tend to be the scenes i (and most of the writers i know) dislike the most, when coming back to reread my/our own writing. like there are many scenes in my fics that i have published where i think the lack of passion is unfortunately pretty obvious. But that’s kind of the way it goes. Some scenes you will like/want to write better than others. Shrug. at least they’re there on the page. as they say: don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good enough.”

#not to be snooty or anything but i personally value specificity sooo much when reading #cadence & flow is all poetry #read poetry; follow the rhythm #but like advertisements can be poetry too #does that make sense #like there is so much literature all around us the real advice is to be purposeful in how you’re engaging with it #there is something to be learned from every experience and every little moment #sorry i know you asked this like three months ago. I’m clearing through my drafts in advance of leaving this blog 😎#writing tips #❤️❤️❤️

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asexual-means-no-attraction · 8 months

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Being in a very mogai-infested fandom is pain, but I'm probably most annoyed by demisexuality being so rampant as a HC. There is no reason for that label to even exist. I just came across a fanfic and decided to read it just to see what the author considers to be "demisexual" and:

[[Casual intimacy isn’t his thing if he’s being honest. The idea of sex without the weight of romance isn’t something he feels he’s comfortable with.]]

That's... literally normal. In fact, it's what I was specifically taught as a child was normal. That sex should only be had with the person I loved, and preferably was already engaged/married to. Because my family is catholic and that's their conservative opinion on sex.

It's totally fine to not be into one night stands or other hookups, but you are not a different sexuality because of it, otherwise being catholic is also a sexuality I guess.

(I didn't proof read any of this, so apologies now)

Gonna go off on a tangent here, but I swear it's related:

Growing up I watched a lot of Disney. And something I noticed a lot in any non animation show or movie, was just how rich everyone was. A house would have only a father and daughter, but have 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, a massive living room and dining room, and a state of the art full blown security system that at the time I didn't actually believe could actually exist cuz no 'normal' person could have that. And that would be the standard for many movies that were very much supposed to be realistic in the settings. They'd even say these people have average jobs. Even the apartment in wizards of Waverly place was HUGE. With each kid having their own bed rooms significantly larger than mine. They literally own a family restaurant that they live upstairs in. But the apartment was bigger than my childhood home. And this is coming from a kid who grew up middle class, the most well of between all my friends. If I were to base what the normal American home looks like based on the media I watched as a kid, I would have a very warped idea of what homes look like. If you actually look at the stats, not even my middle class home is normal.

Mainstream media is produced by rich people (the workers under them not so much, but the actual person in charge generally), and that can easily give a bias or warped view of what's "normal." This is even more exaggerated by the fact that characters in mainstream media are designed to be interesting not normal.

So if you're basing your idea of attraction, dating, sex, etc on what you see in the media, it's going to be warped. Which I feel like ties into your comments quite well.

Usually when I see people try to explain what is and isn't normal for experiences of attraction I get examples of media and fiction. Usually examples of characters having one night stands or being playboys. Which:

1. Flirty play boy characters are common in the media because it's easy to make them a dynamic character. Giving them character development or to gain special feelings quickly give them a whole new perspective that audiences love (this isn't a bad thing for the record).

2. Most irl people who are like these fictional characters don't get nearly as many one night stands as they or the media claim. They aren't nearly as much of a player as they seem. And they're also usually pretty annoying unlike the characters in the shows who are made to be likeable. It's unrealistic in the first place.

3. Media itself is not a good standard of what is normal as it's entirely biased on what the producer deems as normal or average. See my tangent at the beginning. The characters aren't a good way to figure out what's "normal."

I have had people explain things usually actual people as examples which I think ties into my earlier rant in exactly the same way.

How you view the people around you (or more accurately your perception of them) is biased. You have a limited social circle and can't really base what's standard for society off of it. I'm guilty of this too. We all are. It's a very natural thing to assume everyone is like the people that you have experienced with-- for better or for worse..

If you're in your teens and have teenage friends, it's gonna be really easy to feel like they're all obsessed with sex or dating. It's a new thing that you're (hopefully) just now really learning about and exploring. It's easy to go a little overboard with something new. And it's also normal to not be interested in something new. Some kids are gonna be really into dating while others aren't. Some are gonna go from one person to another, others aren't. Cuz no one knows what they're doing. No one knows their boundaries yet. No one knows what they want outta relationship yet. They're figuring it out. Whether you are interested in it or not-- both ends of the spectrum and everything in between is totally normal.

As a young adult you're still figuring things out so it's the same thing. Your own journey to figuring out what/who/how/where you want a relationship is gonna be unique then someone else's. It's normal for each person to have a different journey. This alone isn't some new identity.

Lastly, on a final note. The amount of people who want "sex without romance" is a lot smaller than we're led to believe. And the people who do feel that way are the ones who are abnormal. They may have trauma that influences it, they may not. They could be likeable, they could not. They may be abusers who just want someone to abuse, they may not have any ill will at all. They may be a shitty person, they may not. Regardless, our society pushes "romance goes with sex" a whole hell of a lot more than "sex and romance are separate." Like... a lot so. Historically and in the modern day.

So if your entire reasoning for a whole brand new identity is "I want to connect before we date or have sex," I need you to know how much that is actually extremely normal. And how much you've been influenced by biased media, possibly a shitty friend or ex, and just a warped pov in general (not necessarily of any fault of your own).

#answered #ask #discourse #lgbt discourse #long post #sorry for taking forever anon

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valorums · 2 months

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GET TO KNOW THE MUN.

respond to the prompts out of character!

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? So uh … sweats nervously … bit of a funny story here. Shi’al Valorum first came to be in February of 2020, when I was in my final year of high school and playing the violin in the orchestra pit for the theatre department’s Phantom of the Opera production. A single thought of “okay but consider this … imagine a character who is a renowned opera star like Christine Daaè but in ✨space✨” led to me developing the basic elements of Shi’al’s prequel trilogy storyline, and over the next few years, she crystallized into more than just a Christine Daaè knockoff. Somehow, I’ve (or at least, I think that I’ve) managed to flesh her out into a multi-dimensional original character. But yeah — there’s Shi’al’s very embarrassing origins as what amounts to a Phantom of the Opera alternate universe. 😭

is there anything you don’t like to write? Naturally, the minute that I sit down to respond to this question, everything that I don’t like writing just vanishes from my head. Genres wise, the first that comes to mind are fandomless modern timeline threads and modern alternate universes in general. I do not mind writing my muses into fandoms with a modern setting such as Percy Jackson or Red, White, and Royal Blue — but I hail from the historical fiction writing community, so modern settings without fandom ties are difficult for me to invest in. I go to roleplay for escape into different worlds and exploration of intriguing themes, neither of which (in my opinion) modern timelines really allow. I am also not that fond of writing angst with no purpose or resolution as well as what I call its “cousin”, hurt with no comfort. If I put my characters through hell and back, it has to be for a specific narrative purpose; I cannot just torture them mercilessly with no intent of giving a reason for that torture, even if it is as simple as enabling another muse to rescue them later on. First meeting threads are also difficult for me to write — I prefer pre-establishing dynamics in our plotting conversations and then “filling in the blanks”, so to speak, of those dynamics by writing their key developmental moments out in threads.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? Absolutely! The first thing that comes to mind is threads which involve the hurt / comfort trope — I enjoy a perfect balance of angst and fluff, and the fluff oftentimes serves as the reward for putting my characters through the pain required by the angst. Threads like these allow me to explore the full emotional depth of my muses in a way that most other broad tropes cannot allow. Alternate timelines also come to mind as a possible answer to this question; yes, Star Wars is a tragedy that ultimately nothing could prevent, but I enjoy playing in the sandbox of this universe far too much to adhere to canon all the time. I LOVE straying from Shi’al’s established narrative to explore the various storylines I’ve created for her, such as her Force Sensitive universe and the fix-it timeline that I’m still in the process of developing where she becomes Chancellor like her father before her.

how do you come up with headcanons? It’s difficult for me to pin down my exact process, but if I had to trace the sources of my headcanons — they’re either inspired by outside sources (movies, tv, music, books, things that I learn in my university classes), conversations with mutuals, or ideas I’ve gotten from ruminating on my own general vibes and emotions.

do you write in silence or do you play music? The easy answer to this question is both, but the more complex response is that I do everything in my power to avoid writing in silence. Writing my replies in a space wherein I can listen to music or the ambiance of surrounding dialogue (such as the classroom 🤭 or the university cafeteria) is crucial to my productivity, and it also stimulates my creativity. Sometimes, though, writing in silent spaces is unavoidable if the inspiration to do so strikes at a crappy time.

do you plan your replies or wing them? For me, it honestly depends on what precisely I’m replying to in the first place. I always go into “reply mode” with at least some idea of what I want to write, but my askbox meme replies tend to be more spontaneous than actual thread replies or starters.

do you enjoy shipping? Yes yes yes YES! A thousand times YES! As I stated in my rules and as multiple PSA’S I’ve reblogged indicate, I enjoy all forms of shipping, whether it is romantic or even platonic. No matter how long we’ve been interacting for, if you detect a possible ship between our muses, TELL ME! Chances are, I probably ship it already.

what’s your alias/name? Callie.

age? 21 years old.

birthday? May 16th.

favorite color? Blue, Purple, Red.

favorite song? Aw come on; you’re really making me pick? Anything listed on my character playlists is fair game and a valid answer for this question, but if I had to select one song … I’d say that my current answer would be Sarah Cothran’s Poor Marionette simply because of the fact that the Shi’al vibes it gives me are immaculate.

last movie you watched? I watched the 2005 Pride and Prejudice on the plane ride back home from spring break!

last show you watched? Bridgerton Season 2 Episode 2. I’m watching the entire franchise for the first time as part of a project in my Jane Austen seminar course about Austen adaptations because apparently it’s Austen fanfiction?? Before y’all ask I’m LOVING it so far!

last song you listened to? Don’t Blame Me — Taylor Swift.

favorite food? Uhh … pizza? Ice cream? Idk

favorite season? Springtime.

do you have a tumblr best friend? This is honestly kinda sad, but I’m not sure. I have multiple mutuals who I think I’m really close to; however, I’m nervous to voice those thoughts out loud just in case they don’t feel the same way about me lololoool

TAGGED BY no one. I stole it from @prcspcr LOL and I’m going to tag a BUNCH of old and new mutuals across various fandoms because I am very curious about these prompts.

TAGGING @jaigalorad, @k4ssa, @alootus, @tapalslegacy, @sorehsu, @unwaivering, @pilothearted, @shexopt, @deficd, @reiignonme, @menaceborn, @nieithryn, @misfittcd, @debelltio, @strcngered, @oflightsbeam, @stars-written, @lostwcrlds, @shadowedlights, @spokewar, @vendettavalor, @frxncaise, @ncmad, @adversitybloomed, AND YOU.

#⠇ dashboard game ⠇ ━━━ the latest gossip in coruscant

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endless-bunny · 8 months

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Pathfinder Iconics Comparison Part 1: Classes with Different Iconics

[Part 2: Core Classes] [Part 3: The Remaining PF2 Classes] [Part 4: Classes Who Got Demoted] [Part 5: Prestige Classes] [Part 6: Who's left?]

Paizo hit upon a really clever bit of design when they came up with the idea of "Iconic" characters.* Unlike some other role-playing games, which have illustrations full of generic characters and scenarios, each character class in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is illustrated with an Iconic character. These are fleshed-out characters in their own right, and in addition to appearing in illustrations throughout the books, they're used for novels and comics and fiction of all sorts. Some of them appear as party members in Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous. *Note: I have since come to learn that the character illustrations in the Player's Handbook for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons were considered Iconic. The characters for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game therefore represent a continuity of that concept rather than something Paizo came up with. However, I think Pathfinder does it really well, and it's something that is sorely lacking from the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Between the first and second editions of Pathfinder, some of the Iconics got swapped out, while others stayed the same but got updated outfits. See below the cut for comparisons between the classes that got swapped, and I'll make separate post for classes which stayed the same.

Note about the artwork: We have the absolute shining star Wayne Reynolds to thank for most of these. He's genuinely my favourite fantasy illustrator. Unless noted otherwise, all illustrations in this post are by him (and all are © Paizo). Paizo credits all the interior artists at the front of each book but finding out which specific artist did each specific piece is a bit tricky. Thankfully, not only does Wayne sign is artwork, he has such a distinctive style, so he's easy to recognise.

We'll start off with the characters who are completely different.

Alchemist

Damiel (PF1, he/him, Elf) and Fumbus (PF2, he/him, Goblin)

Pathfinder 2e has promoted Goblins to a core ancestry, so they wanted one of the new iconics to show it off. Goblins often have a fondness for things blowing up, so alchemist seemed like a perfect choice. Fumbus has already had his own solo adventure in a comic book, while Damiel was featured in Hollow Mountain.

The Alchemist appears in Advanced Players Guide for PF1 and Core Rulebook for PF2.

Gunslinger

Lirianne (PF1, she/her, Half-Elf) and Nhalmika (PF2, she/her, Dwarf)

These ladies are both very cool in their own ways. Lirianne has that sort of Clint Eastwood vibe, peeking out from under her hat. Nhalmika is a real Mama Bear, and it's quite rare to see a mother going adventuring.

The Gunslinger appears in Ultimate Combat for PF1 and Guns & Gears for PF2.

Oracle

Alahazra (PF1, she/her, Human [Garundi]) and Korakai (PF2, he/him, Tengu)

Like goblins, tengu are now more available to player characters in PF2, and Korakai was brought in to demonstrate that.

Lest you worry that Alahazra might have been forgotten, she does appear in the PF2 Advanced Player's Guide as one of the Oracle "quick builds", the Flame Augur. She also continues to appear in scene artwork in the books.

Illus. TBD, it's not Wayne.

The Oracle appears in Advanced Player's Guide for PF1 and Advanced Player's Guide for PF2.

Psychic

Rivani (PF1, she/her, Human [Vudrani]) and Thaleon (PF2, he/him, Elf [Vourinoi])

I love Rivani's outfit, and there is something to be said for completely invisible magic, but the splashes of colour in Thaleon's key art just make it so dynamic I can't help but love it.

The Psychic appears in Occult Adventures for PF1 and in Dark Archive for PF2.

Summoner

Balazar & Padrig (PF1, he/him, Gnome) and Ija & Tuku (PF2, she/her, Human [Bonuwat])

The Summoner is the Pet Class in PF2. It lacks a lot of the granular customisation of the class in PF1, but in exchange the class works in sync with its pet in a way that the Ranger and Druid can only envy.

On a side note, it seems unlikely we'll get the Spiritualist in PF2 given that the Summoner can take an Undead Eidolon and cast Divine spells if she so chooses, so as a bonus, here's Estra (she/her, Human).

The Summoner is found in Advanced Player's Guide in PF1 (with a revised version appearing in Pathfinder Unchained) and in Secrets of Magic in PF2. The Spiritualist is found in Occult Adventures in PF1.

So that's your lot. All five of the classes that got a new Iconic between editions. If I remember, I'll update this post with links to the others once I make them.

#pathfinder 2e #pathfinder #pf2e #tabletop #ttrpg

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chvnnie · 2 years

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Be My Escape

bang chan x reader

part 4/8 - come on fuck me emo boy - find the playlist here

word count: 3.5k

genre: smut, a lil bit sad but not angsty?, fluff - MINORS DNI

warnings: struggling musician chan, established relationship, lots of talk of financial struggles, chan self esteems plummets for a sec, marking/biting, fingering (f receiving), unprotected sex (im tired just don’t), v v soft dirty talk, no power dynamic, chan doesn’t finish, they’re just in love and making love. if i missed anything, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

summary: life sucks. you don’t.

a/n: this is once again apologizing for posting off schedule and hoping this is good enough that you’ll forgive me. ngl this took a lot of energy to write w the past two weeks i’ve had so pls enjoy. i hope you’re loving this series - we’re halfway done!

this is a work of fiction. this fic in no way represents bang chan as a person or stray kids as a whole. you are responsible for the media you consume. please read responsibly.

taglist: @lix-ables, @rachalixie, @agustd-essert, @fthan, @chaitae-bae, @cloudyybinin, @lix001, @dnadoublefelixx, @cyder-puff, @whatudowhennooneseesyou, @metalchick529, @stranger-thighs, @gibbysupremeacyisreal, @katieraven, @miamormi

You flipped through the mail, heart sinking lower and lower with each envelope. Second notice. Third notice. Final notice. Bills, bills, bills piling up and feeling so heavy in your hands.

It was the last thing you wanted to see at 4:00 am, just now getting home from your shift. The bartending gig was supposed to be temporary. Chan had promised you wouldn’t be working at that crowded college bar for more than three months. But then three months passed, then six, and now, at nine and half, you were still there, coming every night sticky with alcohol and pockets basically empty from shitty tips. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that frat boys don’t tip well.

Deciding you didn’t have the mental capacity to think about bills, you dropped them on the kitchen counter and fished tonight’s tips out of your wallet. You jumped onto the counter, slowly standing up on it to reach the top of the cabinets. Tucked in the back corner was a glass jar, filled with various numbered bills and handfuls of change that made the jar jingle when it moved. You stuffed the cash you made inside, reminding yourself to count the money before class in the morning.

After the jar was returned to its hiding place, you climbed off the counter and sluggishly began your bedtime routine. You stood under the shower a little longer than necessary, eyes too heavy to stay open under the warmth of the water. You tried to justify the extra time with the fact that water bills are generally cheap, but flashes of red stamped envelopes had you hurriedly turning it off. The guilt of wasting water had you using a water bottle to brush your teeth, not wanting to use the tap.

It was almost 5:00 by the time you climbed into bed next to Chan. He laid facing your side, one arm tucked under his pillow while the other was laying across the bed like it was in search of you. Gently lifting his arm, you slid underneath it, rolling on the bed until your noses were almost touching. His breath fanned across your face, stale with sleep, but you didn’t care. Everything about Chan was comforting. Everything about him made you feel safe.

His alarm was shrill, echoing off the walls of the tiny studio apartment and waking up the dog next door. Tiny curses were mumbled as he flipped over in bed, unplugging his alarm clock and pushing it off the side table.

“Good morning.” You said with a yawn, moving closer to your boyfriend to feel his warmth just a bit more. Arms wrapped around his waist, you buried your head in the space between his shoulder blades, the scent of his soap and musk making your entire body relax.

“‘Morning.” His face was pressed against the pillow, muffling his words. “When did you get home?”

“Hour ago.” You placed kisses across his bare back between sentences, tracing his light freckles with your lips. “Put all my tips in the jar. Should be able to make rent on time this month.”

Chan grunted in response, a hand finding yours and intertwining. He would never tell you, but he always felt so fucking guilty when you put your tips in the jar. That was supposed to be your extra money, money to do fun things, not to pay bills with. It wasn’t your fault Chan’s band hasn’t taken off yet, or that he lost his corporate job a year ago, forcing the two of you to move out of your comfortable two bed apartment into a squished studio with thin walls. You had weathered those storms with him, refusing to leave him alone in it.

“We’ll get through it together.”

You were far too good for him.

He flipped in the bed to face you, wanting to enjoy just a few minutes of the comfort of the bed and you before he had to get up for the day. “Busy day today?”

Your hands slid up his side, one resting on his chest while the other played with his curls. “No. Just one class this afternoon, then I work a short shift tonight. Will probably be home around 10:00.”

“You’ll be home before me.” Chan sighed sadly, playing with the hem of your sweatshirt. “I have practice tonight. And I go from the coffee shop to the mall today, so I don’t even have a break in between jobs to come home and see you.”

You shrugged, and Chan watched as you struggled to keep your eyes open and on him. “That’s okay, baby. I can wait up for you.”

“Please, don’t. You worked so late tonight.”

“I wanna.” You mumbled, eyes now shut for good. “Wan-wanna spend som-spend some time with you to-onight.” You couldn’t speak without yawning, sleep slowly wrapping her arms around you and pulling you in.

“We can talk about that later.” He whispered, not even sure if you fully understood him. He leaned in, placing a small peck on your pouty lips. “Get some rest. I love you, baby.”

Your lips curved up, letting out a small, happy moan. “I love you the most, Channie.”

Sleep had pulled you in before Chan was out of the bed, small breaths growing deeper by the second. Chan took a moment to watch you, your body finally letting go of the day’s tension and relaxing under the thin sheets. Your lips parted, soft snores tumbling out as drool gathered at the edge of your mouth. It eased Chan’s mind to see you like this - relaxed and at peace, the struggles of the day melting away. You never outwardly voiced your worries to him, opting to shoulder the burden and keep the pain locked away. But he could see it. He could see it in the way your body tensed, the way your eyes were constantly weary. He could hear it in the way you cried in the shower when you thought he was asleep.

You deserved better than this. You deserved better than him.

Chan stood at the door, counting the change in his leather jacket to make sure he had enough for the bus today. The last thing he wanted was to resort to taking quarters from the jar, even though that’s what they were there for. Confirming he had enough, he looked over at your sleeping form one last time, heart aching with both affection and sheer agony.

The damn guitar wouldn’t tune. Chan had spent the past fifteen minutes tightening the strings, trying to ready his instrument for practice and he couldn’t. His frustration built by the second, huffing frustrated grunts with every adjustment.

Right when he swore he would smash his guitar if it didn’t fucking tune, the garage door opened, an angry Jisung storming in.

“Fuck!” He shouted, heading straight for his drum set and breaking the first set of sticks he could find. “Fuck, fuck, fuck-“

“What’s wrong?” Changbin asked, who had been standing near Chan just in case he did decide to break the guitar. “Is everything o-“

“Obviously not.” Jisung snapped. He plopped on his drum stool, resting his elbows on the snare drum before he threw his head into his hands. “I got a call on the way home from work, about the Saturday show. You know, the one we booked months ago and were confirmed for just last week?”

“Oh.” Changbin said softly, coming to the conclusion before his friend could speak.

“Yeah.” Jisung lifted his head up, locking eyes with Chan. “They bumped us. They fucking bumped us for another band, saying that they would get more revenue from them. Can you fucking believe that? And to make things worse-“

Chan sat there, staring at his friend whose face was growing redder the more he yelled, and waited. He waited for the wave of disappointment, the wave of frustration, the pain of having to tell you that you two were out extra cash this month for seemingly no reason.

It never came. Not even a little splash of it, the weight of the news lost on him. He was used to it. He was used to the disappointment, to things not working out, to having to scrape and struggle and still not have anything work out.

He was used to it. So used to it in fact that he was willing to brush this off as just a small inconvenience, another hiccup in his life that he would eventually get over. What other reason could there be to this? He let a few months of struggle turn into a year of it, dragging you down with him because he had grown comfortable.

That pissed him off more than any canceled gig could.

“I can call and try to see if they could fit us in? I mean, they literally confirmed last week, there has-“

“Do that.” Chan said, standing up from his seat to pack his stuff. “Let me know what they say tomorrow, okay? If we’re bumped for now, I’m going home. I haven’t seen my girlfriend all week. Cool?”

Jisung and Changbin nodded, letting Chan go with a series of goodbyes and promises to fill him in. Frankly, Chan didn’t give a shit if they did - whether or not they played this gig was the last thing on his mind. He just needed to get out of there, and get home to you.

It typically took less than thirty minutes for Chan to walk from Jisung’s parents to your shared apartment, but tonight he made it in under twenty. He spent the entire walk in his head, trying to compress his anger with himself. The last thing he wanted was to spend the first night you both were at home and awake simmering with fury.

Chan gripped the door knob, taking a few extra breaths before he gently pushed the door open. He found you in the kitchen, sitting cross legged on the counter top with a mug in your hands.

“Hey!” Your eyes were wide, the corners of them crinkling as you smiled at him. “You’re home early.”

“Yeah we uh, canceled practice tonight.” He looked away, pretending to struggle with his guitar case so he didn’t have to look at you when he lied. “Changbin doesn’t feel well.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I am glad you’re home though.” You put the mug down, reaching out for him. Chan dropped the rest of his things, not bothering to worry about where they landed and crossed the kitchen, diving right into your arms.

He crashed into you, head nuzzling into your neck as he pulled you to the edge of the counter. You giggled at his eagerness, arms wrapping around his shoulders to keep him close to you. One of your hands found the nape of his neck, fingers running through his blonde curls and softly scratching his scalp. That, with the added feeling of your body heat made Chan immediately relax, the troubles of today slowly melting away.

You pressed kisses on his head as you wrapped your legs around his waist, locking his body into yours. “I missed you.”

Chan groaned, pulling his head out of your neck to look at you. “I missed you, too.” He leaned in, gently brushing his lips against yours. What was only meant to be a small kiss turned into something deeper, your lips parting and offering an invitation that Chan simply could not refuse.

The groan you released when your tongues met went straight to his cock, hands flying up to pull your hips flush against his. Chan would never tire of the way you taste or the way your mouth fit so perfectly against his, never failing to draw him in. The taste of you was his favorite, always going straight to his head and leaving him breathless.

However, you tasted differently today. It was still very much you, but with hints of floral that were overly familiar.

“Were you drinking tea?” He asked breathlessly, breaking the kiss.

Your eyes flashed with guilt, and with a blink, the emotion was gone. “Yes.”

Chan cocked his head in confusion, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of what he saw in your eyes or- “I thought we were out of tea.”

You pressed your lips together, teeth digging into the bottom one as you nodded. “We are-we were, but I had a really bad day at work and all I wanted was some tea so I used some of my tip money to pick up a box on the way home. I’m sorry, Chan, I shouldn’t have but I figured with your gig this weekend that-“

His heart had never shattered so hard, so quickly. Chan watched you apologize, tears forming at your waterline as you tried to reason with buying tea. Tea. A three dollar box of tea bags had you shaking and profusely apologizing.

And it was all Chan’s fault.

He pulled away from you, apologizes cut short by what you assumed was rejection. That was, until Chan climbed up on the counter next to you, standing up to reach the jar’s hiding spot.

“Wh-what are you doing?” There was a slight hiccup in your voice, and fuck, if Chan wasn’t about to start crying with you. He did that to you.

“I hate this fucking jar.” He said before dropping it to the ground, glass shattering on impact. You gasped, watching as it scattered across the tile, loose changing rolling to hide under the fridge and small kitchen table.

He could see it - the fear in your eyes at his sudden movements, not knowing what he was getting at. Did you really think he was that angry about fucking tea? No, he was livid with himself.

“Chan-“

“It’s my fault. I should’ve got us out of this mess months ago-“

“Babe-“

“I got so used to this… disappointment? This failure? I don’t fucking know, but at some point I accepted it and dragged you down with me.”

“Hey-“

“God, I’m such a fucking joke. You deserve more than this, than whatever the fuck I’ve become-“

“Chan!” You snapped, the tone of your voice firm enough to cut his rant off. “Would you get down from there? Please?”

He slowly lowered himself down and sat next to you on the counter, anger slowly being replaced by regret. Why did he break the jar? Why did he raise his voice at you? God, he was so-

“I don’t care about the jar.” You spoke as though reading his mind. “But don’t you ever, ever, talk about yourself like that again.”

“I-“

“No.” You brought your hands to your face, wiping your tears with the sleeves of your sweater. “I mean it. How dare you think that about yourself when you’re the best person on earth.”

“But-“ Chan held his head in his hands, sniffling as the tears began to fall. “This is no way to live. Struggling, having to decide between transportation or eating. You don’t deserve to suffer like this.”

“And you do? You’re right, it isn’t fair that this is the life we’re living, but I don’t care. I wouldn’t care if we had no home or the biggest in the city, as long as you were here with me.” Your hand wrapped around his arm, resting your head on his shoulder. “Who fucking cares how much money we have? Who cares if we have a car or not? The only thing I’ve ever cared about is you, Chan.”

He lifted his head, turning to look at you. When your eyes met, you smiled softly and lifted your sweater clad hands to his face, cleaning it.

“You’re not a failure. You’re everything.”

Chan couldn't stop himself, kissing you as if he was offering you his soul. In a way, he was; wanting every fiber of his being to be yours, and yours his. The way you matched his tempo, deepening the kiss before he had the chance to, confirmed that you had him, and that he had you.

Without breaking the kiss, Chan pulled his knees onto the counter, broad body pushing you down until your back hit the counter top. The location was less than ideal, with your head partially in the sink and Chan unable to fully stretch his legs without kicking the toaster, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except for you, and the undeniable need to have you immediately.

You broke the kiss, cupping his cheeks as you moved to his jaw. Teeth sunk into his skin, bruising in the wake of your bites. He shut his eyes, releasing a whiny groan as you marked him. The bites continued down as Chan found the waistline of your leggings and peeled them off. He slipped a hand inside your underwear, bites faltering at his touch.

“Oh, baby.” Chan whispers as two fingers rub your entrance, teasing like he was about to push in. “Such a mess already.”

The feeling of his fingers had your head rolling back, detaching from his neck and hitting the countertop with a thump. Your eyes rolled back, fluttering shut as he applied just a bit of pressure as if he was going to enter before letting up.

His name fell from your lips as a whine and your back arched, and fuck, if you weren’t the prettiest when you were needy for him. “Channie, don’t tease.”

”'m not teasing. Just playing with what’s mine.”

Chan pushed his fingers inside you, watching the way your lips parted and nose scrunched up as you moaned for him. Slowly, he filled you up with his fingers, stopping only when his knuckles were deep inside you. He parted the fingers inside, spreading them out as much as he could.

“God, how are you always this fucking tight?” He grunts, dragging his fingers out just to pump back in. “Can’t wait to stretch you out, pretty girl.”

“Please?” Your lips trembled as you began to beg, nails digging into the nape of his neck. “Please, I need to feel you so bad. Need you so bad.”

He could never say no to you.

Pulling his fingers out of you, he held them to your lips, watching you lick them clean as he used one hand to undone his jeans. He pushed them down just enough for his cock to spring out, hard and angry from lack of stimulation.

Hands found your hips, pulling your center closer to him. Chan pulled your panties to the side, rubbing the head of his cock on your folds. “Baby.”

Your eyes fluttered open, meeting his with a weak smile. “Hm?”

Chan leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead. “Just needed to see you.” And then he was inside you, slowly pushing until you were filled with him.

The feeling of you was intoxicating, a high that Chan would chase over and over and never have enough of. The effect you had on him was addicting. When he was in you, his mind blanked, body moving on its own with the sole purpose of pleasuring you. Like a light in the darkness, you were his comfort, his escape from the harsh reality. You were right; it didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing, just as long as he had you.

You, you, you.

You, whose hands were on his face, bringing his attention back to the present.

“Hey, where’d you go?” You whispered, voice rough from the volume of your moans.

Chan nuzzled into your palms, turning to brush a kiss against them. “Nowhere. I’m here.” Fingers traced up your leg, goosebumps making a path to where you and Chan connected. A slight brush of his thumb against your bundle of nerves, and your jaw went slack, strained moans tumbling out. “Always right here.”

“Yeah?” You whined out, trying to keep your droopy eyes open and on him. “Always?”

“Always.” The pace of his hips picked up, teeth grinding together as you began to clench tighter around him. Your eyes rolled back, nails digging into the leather of his jacket as your orgasm approached.

Chan had never seen your high hit so hard, your entire body shaking underneath him as your moans echoed off the walls. The moment your high ended, Chan pulled out and sat up, taking you with him. A large hand cupped the back of your head, pulling it into his neck as the other stroked your back.

“So good. Always so good for more.” His praises were accompanied with kisses across your head. He didn’t stop until he heard your breath even out, arms now lacing around him instead of hanging limp at his side.

Life was a mess, and he had made it that way. There was no denying that. But as you lifted your tired head up, blown out doe eyes meeting his with a goofy grin on your face, he realized any hell was bearable as long as you were his escape.

#stray kids smut #skz smut #bang chan smut #chan smut #bang chan fluff #chan fluff #bang chan angst #chan angst #stray kids fluff #skz fluff #stray kids angst #skz angst #emo bf!skz chvnnie

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emmabirb8 · 2 years

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Dismissive Behavior and Intricate Rituals

*Again this has nothing to do with the most recent ep and almost nothing to do with season 4 as a whole, just a quick fyi*

Okay, part 2 of my Nandermo ramblings that I promised:

In my previous post, I discussed how I think it's possible that Nandor fell in love with Guillermo before Guillermo had fully fallen for Nandor. If that is true (and I'm not saying it is, this is just fun speculation as always), then why the hell has he often treated Guillermo so flippantly through the years?

Obviously, part of the answer is simply that Nandor is immature and doesn't handle his emotions well and can be a jerk about it sometimes. But I also think he had legit reasons for his behavior toward Guillermo.

For one thing, vampires are kind of expected to treat their familiars a certain way (that is, as lower class beings). Treating them as equals would be socially frowned upon, and falling in love with them would be near taboo levels of socially unacceptable. (I'm not talking about casual sexual relationships, I'm talking about true love connections and commitment, which vampires seem a bit averse to in general, but that's a discussion for another day.) Nandor is not the kind of person to want to make himself into a social pariah for any reason, so of course he followed the unspoken rules and made sure to display to others that his familiar (supposedly) meant nothing to him. He insulted Guillermo and disrespected him frequently, but especially when they were around other vampires, to keep up appearances.

Furthermore, Nandor knew that Guillermo was an excellent familiar. He knew that if he boasted in public about how great Guillermo was at his job, another vampire might come along and try to steal him away for themselves. Or, worse yet, they might just try to kill him out of rage and/or jealousy (or, y'know, just flat-out eat him). So, making Guillermo out to seem dumb, clumsy, annoying, inept at his job, and unappetizing actually served a secondary purpose of keeping him safe and secure in Nandor's employment.

Beyond that though, I think Nandor was also trying to convince himself that Guillermo was not as wonderful and amazing as he truly is.

See, Nandor fears the intense feelings he has for Guillermo because they are something he has never actually felt for anyone before, not really. So, he subconsciously has tried to talk himself out of those feelings by belittling Guillermo and trying to convince himself he believes that Guillermo means nothing to him beyond providing service. He's also (as we all know) tried acting aloof and unbothered as a way to escape his true feelings, forever hoping that they will just disappear. But they never do.

(Honestly, Nandor has one of the most blatant cases of cognitive dissonance that I've ever seen in a fictional character. If I could, I would force his stupid ass into therapy.)

No, Nandor's disrespectful behavior toward Guillermo will never be okay or the right thing to do. But it's what's (unfortunately) expected, and it's how Nandor felt comfortable attempting to subtly protect Guillermo while simultaneously trying to dodge his own feelings.

(Thankfully, he has mostly stopped treating Guillermo that way and has actually gotten to a point of calling him his friend recently, which is a big step in the right direction. It's baby steps, but it's progress nonetheless. Guillermo's not even technically Nandor's familiar anymore, and their dynamic is always complicated and shifting. But still, it's nice to see that bit of growth anyway.)

Another important element to consider in Nandor and Guillermo's early relationship is the fact that they are both very touch-starved individuals. They still are now of course, but especially when they were first establishing the master/familiar dynamic, they craved physical intimacy.

Neither knew the other felt the same, and because of those unspoken rules about the proper way to act with familiars, they couldn't just initiate even the smallest of gestures. But touch deprivation can cause one to subconsciously seek out contact, and this is no different for people as repressed as these two idiots (affectionate) are. So, what did they do to help sate their mutual hunger for touch?

They literally constructed intricate rituals.

That's right, folks. I believe Nandor insisted upon Guillermo helping him to dress, brush his hair, get in and out of his coffin through hand holding, and possibly bathe (tho I'm not sure this has been canonically confirmed) so that he could achieve that precious intimacy with Guillermo without even being aware of what he was really after. And of course Guillermo agreed to help with these things; for one thing, he wouldn't have been apt to deny or even question fairly simple requests like that, but also - these chores allowed him to indulge in that sweet, sweet physical contact as well. It was a total win-win and it fit right into place in a master/familiar dynamic. Who cares if other vampires don't usually make their familiars do that kind of stuff? Nandor is just a bit more particular than other vampires about how he wants things done.

And of course, later on, as both Nandor and Guillermo's feelings for each other grew into legitimate fondness and then full-fledged love, these daily/nightly routines became even more meaningful and evolved to encapsulate the true essence of the "intricate rituals" phrase.

I know we all joke about the fights Nandor and Guillermo have had so far as being embodiments of the intricate rituals meme (and they totally are), but I think we forget sometimes that the basic stuff Guillermo does daily as Nandor's familiar/bodyguard is quite literally the definition of constructing intricate rituals.

#what we do in the shadows #wwdits #wwdits meta #wwdits analysis #nandermo #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #wwdits nandor #wwdits guillermo #nandor and guillermo #intricate rituals #constructing intricate rituals #nandor analysis #nandermo analysis #my posts

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rpgchoices · 1 year

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Sometimes I really want to read a short summary of what to expect from a game… and thankfully people can also submit their summaries of games they played and help me (and others) find games that cater to their interests!

submitted by @lairofsentinel

(click here for other videogames)

what to expect from Pentiment

Hybrid of Visual Novel, Point&Click, and role-playing video game.

It is set in Bavaria in the 16th century.

The town where this game happens, called Tassing, as well as the double abbey related to it called Kiersau, are fictional, but the way people lived, the religion of the time, the history of the Romans and Christians in this area, the lifestyle of the people, the lifestyle in the abbey, the popular books of the time, the medicine, etc. All the rest in this game is historically accurate.

It’s so well researched that by the end of the game you will read a long list of bibliography and cities of books and articles on the matter. The game was developed with the consultory of three mediaeval historians.

The word pentimento is derived from the Italian 'pentirsi', which means to repent or change your mind. Pentimento is a change made by the artist during the process of painting. These changes are usually hidden beneath a subsequent paint layer. The mere title of the game gives an idea of what we are going to have as a narrative: a series of layers about the events that people live, the truth, the distortion of the truth, the conveniences of lies and hidden truths, and what is left in the History after all that.

This is a game about history, power dynamics, classes, rebellions, and how history picture all this. And how the little people get caught in the historical events with little choice.

The game is basically a “solve a murder” kind of story, but it is never as simple as it looks like. The amount of layers and hidden truths you find while solving the case is really big.

The timespan of the game is 25 years.

The game is divided into 3 acts, and you play with two different main characters.

You play an artist called Andreas, who can be customised with different backgrounds and personality traits that allow you to unlock different dialogue options. The options in the dialogue are not vital and work more like a flavour, allowing you to have better or worse approval from other characters you interact with.

Design-wise, Andreas is already a set character and cannot be customised physically: outfit, hair, face, etc.

The game depends on time but it’s not timed. You will never have time to cover all the clues or ask questions to all the suspects, so you need to appraise your options and be tactical. The time is not in a constant count-down: you can spend a lot of time talking with the people of the town or abbey without wasting time, but once you speak with one of the main characters involved in the murders or that was suggested in the journal, hours pass by as a way to represent the time you spent talking with these plot-relevant persons.

Part of your research is done “eating” with people: during the meal, questions and comments will arise that will allow you to push people to tell you things about the cases or simply provide you important insight over other characters or events.

You need to talk with a lot of people all the time. Through the knowledge of the people, folklore and myths pass through generations, and some opinions and gossip, you recreate the motives of the murderer, helping you to point out one of your suspects as the real culprit.

This game forces you to pick a culprit with the information you have and live with the consequences of accusing them. It’s not immediately clear whether or not you made the correct decision, but it is immediately clear the effect that such decision has on the people.

Consequences are quite impactful. Your choices along the game matter significantly, changing situations and characters that may live or die or simply change their mind, imprinting a particular different effect in each case.

Its pace is rather slow. Especially in the beginning, it can feel slow and overwhelming in the amount of names, characters, and places that are dropped in the first minutes of the game. There is a system of glossary and small codices that helps the player’s memory, but still it takes some time to get accustomed.

I personally disliked a lot the lack of teleportation via “double click” in the map. This makes you waste a lot of minutes when you want to cross the whole town to check something, so it’s a lot of walking and screens that could be spared once you walked once along that path.

The game's art style is a mixture of late mediaeval manuscripts, early print, and woodcuts at the transition from late mediaeval to early modern art.

It has multiple endings in the sense that each character you speak to can end in a different manner depending on your choices.

Most of the time, the game has no music in the background, but environmental sounds in a loop, like birds, running water, the constant hit of a hammer on an anvil, etc. This can be bothersome after some minutes.

It’s not voiced.

The game has an option to activate or deactivate easy reading. This is related to the fonts we see that each character speaks with. It's not just a small detail: Pentiment has no voice-acting so it assigns special scripts to the speakers. Almost all of them are handwritten and show small changes depending on the tone of the conversation. For example, if Andreas initially thought a person that he is speaking to was very educated and finds out that they can’t write at all, the writing in his speech bubbles changes to a very simple, untidy-looking one. If he finds out that someone has studied at university when he did not expect that before, the writing becomes more ornate. In a way, the writing reflects Andreas’ opinion of the person. When you see the pattern, these changes impact the players’ perception.

It’s a short game, lasting around 20 hours, but it has a high replayability due to the amount of different changes you can imprint to have different results.

Trigger warnings: public executions, stylised gore, suicide, references to abortion, frequent strong language, references to sexual assault, and references to sexual activities. Small parts of the game also reference notable alcohol consumption and incidental ergot-induced hallucinations. It’s a game strongly themed in Christianism and religion.

——- Plot? ——-

You play as the journeyman artist Andreas Maler, who spends his time in Tassing, a fictional town in the countryside of the Holy Roman Empire, in the year 1518. Although Andreas’ routine has him working on his masterpiece or making copies of one of the local abbey’s manuscripts, he quickly becomes wrapped up in a series of local murders that he decides to be involved with in order to solve them.

——- Gameplay? ——-

Basically like a Visual novel with some options for particular reactions, answers, or questions. You explore the town, the houses, stores, and abbey, and check on clickable elements or talk to people. When the time of the trial has come, the player is meant to accuse an individual based on either who they think did it or who most deserves punishment.

——- Characters? ——-

The main one is Andreas Maler, the artist you play with, but there are dozens of characters, since even the most secondary ones have and impressive depth, with motivations, roubles, fears, hopes. It’s just a matter of following some char along the acts to unlock their stories.

——- LGBT? ——-

There is an explicit gay couple of monks, and a hinted lesbian couple among the peasants.

——- Sadness level? ——-

A lot. There is a lot to cry about in this game. There is a lot of human experience with life and time, grief, death, and loss.

——- Happy ending? Deaths? ——-

The ending of the majority of the characters depends a lot on your choices. There are a lot of bittersweet and sad endings, and a lot of Death. I can’t specify much without making a long list of spoilers.

#pentiment #what to expect #lairofsentinel

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