#i tend to like mapping and filling out a characters life but...

[dvouhr]

everytime i try to play mk1 i keep trying to play it like it's dead or alive

the combat system could nooooooot be more different

#in short i'm terrible at these games but by god am i fascinated by the lore #feeling IMPASTA syndrome in my lack of excessive knowledge #trying to balance it out by just focusing on the single timeline since it makes sense that milenna would know nothing of #the history of the other timelines #i tend to like mapping and filling out a characters life but... #dis bish been alive 10k years #hELP #.ooc

[lilisouless]

I try to respect people that don’t like the ending of ruin and rising, but it’s hard cause most of them tend to ignore factual things and fill in the information with their bias.

Cause other than Alina losing and missing her powers, also I don’t really like Leigh’s reasoning for it, but people say that it undoes her character development and, first: powers are a physical thing , they are not related to character.

The the other is “she is sick and lonely just like she was at the start of the book” at the start of the book she was not respected nor believed she was worthy of that, at the end she is loved by the people that know she is alive and respected by everyone else (the ones not on the anti grisha crowd). Also she felt unloved by people that weren’t Mal, at the end of the book the fact that the grisha still wanted her around after losing her powers pretty much made her realize she was loved for herself, not just as a weapon or a symbol.

I’ll let aside the sick part because i don’t recall her being told to be sickly, i assumed she was healthy since the reason of her being sickly not using her powers and she was told to work plenty.

The lonely makes me laugh because, first: in real life actually that’s pretty much how it works after you get married l you get your own place where most of the time you are around only with your partner, kids if you have, and coworkers, while your friends you see them not daily on a non regular schedule unless you live near them. Like, most people live with their partner, not their friends, that’s how marriage works.

But even then, she is far from lonely, not only Mal is there , Misha is too young to be leaving soon, she also spends time with the kids , in RoW they are not around because she didn’t want to endanger them. Also it is told that Nikolai and the grisha actually do visit her often and writes to Genya on a regular basis. She is hardly lonely.

Also people say the lonely argument on the same breath they complain about Mal being revived, when we’ll, he was revived so she wouldn’t end up lonely cause,unless Leigh says otherwise one day, i think she’d go back to fix the orphanage, regardless if Mal was brought back or not. Let me tell you that other author would have just killed Alina off, here she was given a chance to keep living away from the pain of the war. Cause the theme was never “powes rule!” it was how war destroys people, to the point even the people that scape it, like Alina and Mal, don’t get out unharmed, they lost something very dear to them and do their best to live with the aftermath. Also, by this point the darkling has been revived three freaking years after his killing on a ritual i still don’t understand, so you will have to get over Mal being revived by now.

Also, she doesn’t spend all her alone time being nostalgic about her powers, other than working she finds joy in painting. People only focus on the ending about Alina’s powers but not that she started doing maps for the army and ended up doing paintings for herself and the kids that once were like her.

Like, you can dislike it, but i haven’t seen arguments against it that don’t contradict the canon , if get if you don’t like it you won’t read it often or try to remember it. But you can double check if you are going to say why it’s a bad ending and then give reasons that contradict what’s actually told.

I have said many times that i wished she kept her powers, my problems with that are Leigh’s external reasoning (which I am very skeptical on ) but it’s far from bad writing or undoing her whole journey: she is one of the few characters allowed to somehow have the chance of getting back the childhood she lost (compared to Genya,Inej or Kaz). The good things she did are still there, the things she learned are still there, going back to where she started would be her on a place she holds no power and feels marginalized, where she ended up on a place she is in charge and loved.

#alina starkov #netflix shadow and bone #leigh bardugo #grishaverse #ruin and rising #grisha trilogy

[kuruna]

∞ Arisen & Pawn Character Introductions

Template by @arisenreborn ^.^ Thank you for making it- I love stuff like this!

♛ THE ARISEN:

NAME: Desdemona NICKNAME: Mona AGE: While she physically appears to be in her mid-late 20s, she is at least a few hundred years old. RACE: Some sort of elven subspecies! PRONOUNS: She/Her PREFERRED VOCATION: Mage or magic archer. While she is capable of battling up close and personal when necessary, she prefers keeping her distance. FAVORED GIFTS: She tends to enjoy expensive things. Gemstones, regal clothing, and the likes. She is constantly pretty low on funds, because as soon as she has enough gold she'll blow it all on cute outfits. FAMILY: Noblewoman mother, peasant father (estranged from both). Distantly related to my DD1 Arisen, Kuja.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Has a very strong sense of justice. Determined. Has a natural curiosity that makes it easy for her to find hidden secrets. Kind, despite how she tends to keep her distance from people. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Very, very private. Tends to keep things to herself. Distant in the sense she doesn't allow herself to become close to others. Reckless and impulsive, will rush head-on into danger if it's to help someone else (which isn't necessarily bad... but if she gets hurt too, then it's an issue!) LIKES: Shopping, gemstones, forests, perfumes, hanging out around the brothel (she doesn't even do anything there she's just nosy...), she is fond of helping others. DISLIKES: hot weather, battling against ogres (more often than not she is the only woman in her little party...), reading maps (she's awful at it), large cities (despite everything, she gets lost very easily). FUNFACTS: Kind of flirtatious but avoids commitment. In a modern AU she'd be really into gyaru fashion. Likes exploring new places, but has a tendency to get lost... and whenever she makes it back to whichever city is newest, her and her pawns are in a pretty bad shape due to it. Actually prefers seafood, but doesn't often cook it while camping since it's not as filling as the meats.

1. What was their life like before becoming Arisen? Desdemona lived a very aimless life, in a sense. Due to her age she's gone through many different experiences, but she does not tend to attach herself to anything. But she enjoys helping others, despite this. she enjoys doing things that may be considered noble... and so when Melve needed help, she headed there.

2. How do they handle being Arisen, and the responsibilities that come with it? In the beginning, it was devastating for her. She already thought that her long lifespan as an elf was a curse, but now she has the immortality that comes with being Arisen. What will she do now? Thinking about it makes her head ache. Regardless, she tries her best to be virtuous... in her own way.

3. What are their thoughts on Pawns in general? Desdemona feels more kinship with pawns than she does her fellow men. She relates to the experience of lacking the will to do as you please, though her life has changed greatly since her time spent in a noble's household. Even so, this had led her to be very protective of any pawn that enters her care even if it's only for a short time. When they are taken by the Brine or she is unable to save them in time, she feels as if she's betrayed them...

4. What's their relationship like with their main Pawn? One of their first interactions was Desdemona saying "I'm not fond of that title- "Master" or Arisen or what-have-you. I'd like if you'd simply use my name." This small thing established how they'd interact with one another during their journey. Galapagos' own will is something Desdemona encourages. She likes him to be able to choose for himself what he wants. This has led to some tense interactions with townspeople, of course. To most of the world, pawns are simply mindless followers. Why is it, then, that this particular pawn has such freedom? She's also just very protective over him and on more than one occasion may have threatened someone who was looking at him funny. Whoops!

5. Do they have any interest in being Sovran? What are their opinions on the politics of the world in general? Desdemona left the noble life behind her long ago... and so she isn't fond of the idea of being Sovran at all. If she has no other option, however, she would be willing to do it... but she'd rule in her own way, which would perhaps be a bit untraditional. She doesn't quite understand why Vermund's ruler NEEDS to be an Arisen, when Arisen aren't always the best people for the job, tradition be damned. It also frustrates her that while pawns are treated better in Vermund than they are in Battahl, it is clear that they are still seen as tools, or just accessories to the Arisen.

6. Who are their love interest(s) and/or closest friends? Desdemona enjoys flirting with Glyndwr (she thinks its funny how obvious his blush is when he's so pale), but doesn't really have an interest in pursuing him. she sees some similarities between herself and raghnall, but wishes he wasn't so pessimistic, despite being the same way. she likes wilhemina quite a bit, too. she is more sympathetic to her desire for revenge than most may be. brant doesn't dislike her, but he thinks she is a bit strange.

7. What drew them to their preferred vocation? Do they have history with it?Desdemona is a bit... reckless. She tends to go for vocations that allow herself to have a longer range during battle, because she knows otherwise she'll end up getting herself beat due to some impulsive choice she made. She is also simply pretty proficient in magic.

8. Do they have any hobbies? Any way of relaxing between all that monster-slaying and traveling?Desdemona looooooves shopping...the first thing she does upon finding a new town is hit up the shops, she'll do it even before staying at the inns. she also enjoys reading and collecting different rings...she's a bit picky about jewelry, though!

♟︎ THE PAWN:

NAME: Galapago Ialandos (he was named by the child of the first Arisen he served. You can just call him Galapagos, though.) NICKNAME: Gal AGE: Physically looks to be in his early-mid 30s, but is really a very ancient pawn. RACE: Same elf subspecies as Desdemona. PRONOUNS: He/him (but when he learns about they/them pronouns it's over for him quite literally) PREFERRED VOCATION: thief -> fight / warrior FAVORED GIFTS: Would definitely get really really flustered if given Any gift, but he not so secretly likes being given fancy armors and the likes. He loves being brought along on Desdemona's shopping trips. INCLINATION: Forager (it's Desdemona's fault... she likes randomly grabbing stuff and cramming it into her pockets, and now he does too.)

POSITIVE TRAITS: Dedicated and loyal, thoughtful, always looks at all sides of a situation before acting. Good at communicating and very honest about his feelings (as honest as he can be, at least). Makes friends rather easily. NEGATIVE TRAITS: At times is unquestioning of other's motivations, even if such a thing can get him hurt. Has a bad habit of running off on his own. A little bit of a hypocrite; will scold others for things he lets Desdemona get away with. LIKES: Sunny days, traveling in ox-carts (he likes to see the scenery go by), collecting flowers, street performances, fancy armor sets (he takes good care of them). DISLIKES: Rain, ghosts, spiders, even darkness... despite his life experiences, he's actually a bit of a scaredy-cat and is often jumpy when exploring caves and the likes. FUNFACTS: Used to wear a black face-paint, but since switching vocations he's stopped using it. Has several tattos and scars from his time spent with bandits. His eyesight is pretty bad, so he tends to rely on sound more than sight... Desdemona wants to see about getting him glasses, though.

1. What was their life like prior to being summoned by their Arisen? Galapagos once served under an Arisen of old. This Arisen was a bandit-king, and while he wasn't callously cruel like some are, he was definitely a bit uncaring towards Gal. Due to this experience, Galapagos learned to be ruthless in battle, and learned to make himself quiet an unassuming. When this Bandit-Arisen was caught and swiftly executed, he left behind a young child... and Galapagos began to raise this child as a way of continuing his service to the Arisen. It was a strange time in his life, to act as a parent when a pawn should have no desire for such a thing... eventually this child became an adult, and grew old, and passed on. Afterwards, Gal traveled aimlessly across different worlds until, many years later, he felt something calling out to him... and soon he appeared before Desdemona.

2. What is their opinion on the Arisen? How do they view their relationship? Desdemona is very, very different from the previous Arisen he served under. She encourages him to think and act for himself. She encourages him to speak (and be listened to), to try out new things, to explore freely even without her guidance. He isn't quite sure what to think of it all, except that her kindness towards him has made him start to feel... odd. He doesn't know, for example, why seeing Glyndwr tends to make him feel instantly bitter (Gal hasn't realized it yet but the answer is very simple... he wants Desdemona to be flirting with Him instead!!)

3. Is there anything about the Arisen they find troublesome? Be it a small quirk or bad habit? (Or are they obviously flawless?) He wishes she wouldn't run off on her own so often! So many times they've ended up in perilous situations because desdemona got herself separated from him. at the time time, he finds her boundless curiosity very charming. he can never stay upset with her for long. and again, he tends to grow Mysteriously Annoyed and Angry when she flirts with others, though he tends to hide it (it's none of his business who Desdemona talks to, after all). He only figures out he's experiencing jealously when he brings it up to Brant (Brant does Not want to know the details about this, but Gal didn't know who else to ask about it 😭)

4. What is their specialization and is there any story behind how they cultivated that skill set? He's a forager... but it's not for any deep reason. It's simply that Desdemona herself loves foraging, and Galapagos ended up loving it too. However... they both end up carrying very heavy packs by the end of the day.

5. Do they have any thoughts on the politics of the world and their place in it as a Pawn - or how Pawns are treated? Due to his age, Galapagos has seen the world, as well as the way pawns are treated within it, change much over the years. Despite the attempts of Empress Nadinia, he noted that pawns have been getting treated even worse within Battahl, no doubt as backlash against the Empress giving pawns more legal rights. It frustrates him, though he doesn't often voice it. After his experience as a parent, he doesn't see himself as being overly different from humans or beastrens. He grieved his loss all the same.

6. Does their journey with the Arisen change them in any significant way and how? Galapagos becomes more confident and more talkative... he also, of course, falls in love for the first time, though he's reluctant to voice that. But being treated simply as a fellow man by Desdemona has enabled him to be true to himself.

7. Is there a reason they chose their preferred vocation? Due to his past as a pawn serving under a bandit, Galapagos was an archer and thief for a time, focusing on long range attacks and being sneaky. But he felt as if he learned all he could, and felt as if he were stagnating. And so he switched to a fighter at first... he wanted to learn new skills, but... something about being able to protect Desdemona in the same way a knight would... made him feel very excited. He's also giving warrior a try (Desdemona likes seeing him swing around that big hammer).

8. Do they have any hobbies or preferred past-times? He likes camping more than he'd admit... he also enjoys going on shopping trips with Desdemona (he acts like he isn't as Into fashion as she is, but more than once she's caught him eyeing some nice outfit or fancy suit of armor with a sparkle in his eyes). He finds it relaxing to be near the beach, and would probably enjoy fishing if he ever gave it a try... he's anxious about the idea of sailing on the water, though.

#hope plays dragon's doggy #i hope u enjoy reading about my freaks <3

[starlitangels]

Smash Night (Shaw Pack Edition)

Hi. Here’s something silly. It’s been a long while since I wrote something just really silly and fun Titled as such because there might be a Smash Night (D.A.M.N. Fam Edition) coming later? 2.2k words

—

I laughed, making sure to keep my drink away from flailing limbs, sitting on the floor. David and Milo were on either end of David’s sofa, Sam was in the armchair directly behind me, and Asher was sprawled out on the loveseat—for the safety of everyone else involved, to use David’s usual phrase. Asher tended to get really physical when he played video games, and Super Smash Bros was the worst offender. Empty and half-empty pizza boxes were haphazardly stacked on the coffee table, along with paper plates and an assortment of disposable plastic cups filled with various sodas, names scrawled in everyone’s handwriting in permanent marker.

David, Asher, and Milo’s mates were all outside, having a night swim. They’d invited me to join but I’d been having too much fun watching—and I’d forgotten to bring a swim suit and hadn’t fancied the drive back to Sam’s house (our house, I reminded myself) in wet jeans.

They were also all having a discussion—that sounded more like an argument through the screen door—about whether or not a Stealth who was cloaked the whole time they were outside in the sun needed to wear sunscreen and whether it would affect a skin tan for skin tones that did significantly change from sunlight.

“Hey,” I piped up during a lull in the fight—and the trash-talking of my packmates—when David had smacked Asher and Milo clean off the stage and Sam tried to attack the wrong direction. “Whoever wins gets to hand me their controller and give me a turn.”

Asher groaned. “David, don’t let Tank play!” he complained.

Sam’s leg tensed against my shoulder. “Why not?” he asked.

Milo snorted and shot a quick glance at Sam. “Because, no matta what, or which character Tank plays,” he began sarcastically, “Tank will always kick all our asses. Items on or off.”

“That is not true,” David grumbled.

Milo scoffed. “Oh really? Do I need to pull up some of the replays we got on this system? Their name is very clearly over their head whoopin’ all of us into next week.”

“No,” David growled.

Sam chuckled.

Ash made another noise of complaint. “David, don’t let Tank play!” he repeated.

“Ash, if you keep talking like that I’m gonna shove your controller where the sun don’t shine,” I snapped. Which earned me a bark of laughter from Milo.

“Tank is allowed to have a turn,” David said. “Besides. I’m about to beat—” He fired off a combo that launched Asher straight off the screen and into death with no chance of recovery, quickly followed by a quick snap at Sam that threw him off too, terminating his last life. “—two of you, and I need a break to go check on my mate anyway. I promised those three I’d grab them anything they needed so they didn’t track water all over my house.”

David ended up winning the match. And by a lot. They tended to play with five lives, and David still had two by the time he got Milo’s last one. He handed me his controller and got up. I cackled, took his spot on the couch, and quickly deselected Bowser once we’d finished arguing over which map to play on while Sam listened politely to me, Ash, and Milo bicker.

“A’right,” Milo said reluctantly. “Who do you plan on beatin’ the hell outta us with this time?”

I spun my pin around the character selector menu, pursing my lips. On the one hand, it was always funny to hear my try-hard packmates complain when I kicked their trash with Kirby. On the other hand, it was more satisfying to beat them all with one of the emo anime pretty boys that for whatever reason the game was chocked full of.

I selected Cloud and picked the most emo skin before switching the name from David to Tank.

Asher groaned, flopping his head backward onto the loveseat. “Whyyy,” he complained.

I laughed. “For exactly that reaction,” I said, hitting the + button on my controller to get the fight started.

Everyone spawned in with their character animation, and immediately Milo and Asher ganged up on me. Sam was the least threatening opponent by far. Milo and Asher had been “trying” to help teach him (occasionally shouting advice at him without telling him how to actually do it) and button bashing could really only get him so far against me and my packmates. I wasn’t particularly concerned about him yet.

I needed to eliminate Milo and Asher first. It’d be a clean sweep afterward. If I wanted it to be.

Part of me wanted to fake losing to Sam to make him feel better by letting him beat me.

But at the same time my competitive spirit had revved to life and I wanted to win.

Asher jerked and thrashed on the loveseat, somehow always managing not to throw his controller halfway across the damn room. His mate had once mentioned to me that when they were still new to their relationship, they’d made a blanket fort on the couch in the apartment Ash and David used to share and played through every Halo game in a weekend. I’d snarked to Asher that I was surprised his mate didn’t still have bruises from getting elbowed by sitting that close to him while playing a game. To which I’d gotten some indignant reply from Asher and a laugh from Milo.

“Sam, ya gotta figure out how to play a character that has a counter,” Milo remarked casually, as if his character—he was trying out Marth tonight—wasn’t in an all-out war with mine.

“A what?” Sam asked.

“A counter,” I explained, “is a certain button combination that, when timed right, essentially negates your opponent’s attack while immediately delivering an attack of your own.”

“I know what the concept of a counter is in a fight, darlin’,” Sam grumbled. “I just didn’t realize they were in this game.”

“Yeah, not every character has one,” Asher added, “and they’re hard to time. If Milo wasn’t such a show-off we’d probably never—hey! That was me, idiot!” I laughed as Cloud jumped out of the way, causing Marth to smack Jigglypuff halfway across the map.

“Sorry,” Milo said, not sounding sorry at all.

“I don’t think ‘bein’ a show-off’ is entirely contained to just Milo,” Sam said softly.

“Oh, definitely not,” I agreed. “We all are.” I couldn’t help but smile and laugh as I realized my B-button attack had fully charged up. I got Cloud close to Marth and unleashed the full-powered attack. Marth launched off the stage with a pillar of light exploding where he’d disappeared, killing him.

Milo swore creatively while I laughed. Sam chuckled slightly, though the sound was strained behind his concentration.

“Tank, have you and Sam ever just played one-on-one?” Asher asked. Probably trying to distract me.

“Nope,” Sam replied instead.

“Why not?” Milo put in as Marth dropped off the respawn platform and rushed toward Cloud. “Scared he’s gonna get better than you?”

“Resigned to it, actually,” I said. “Vamp reflexes are nothing to knock. And I know a one-on-one, slow practice battle while someone teaches another the controls is the easiest way to learn the game but watching him play it by himself was more fun.”

Asher swore as I hit Jigglypuff with a charged attack. “Tank!” he shouted.

“Yes?” I asked placidly, following up when he floated back down to me and launching him off-screen.

“How are you still so good? I swear you don’t play anywhere near as often as we do.”

“I don’t. I just know you guys. Ash’s strategy is literally only optimized to piss off David and he really doesn’t care about anything other than that. David is really aggressive but Bowser is still slow as hell and isn’t the greatest at range. The only one of the three of you that poses a genuine threat to me is Milo since he switches up characters almost as often as I do.” 

They didn’t need to know that I spent literal months recovering from the injuries Quinn dealt to me up in Washington playing Smash just to pass the time and get out some energy while I was more or less bed-bound and barely able to do much else. Devoting hours to each individual character until I considered myself proficient with them. It sounded pathetic and sad and I didn’t talk about my time with my family in Washington much anyway.

Sam swore as Captain Falcon got caught in the crossfire, but he didn’t fly too far. He recovered and made it back to the stage no problem. He hadn’t taken much damage anyway this round because Asher and Milo had been too focused on me.

General banter and trash-talking died off somewhat as we got more intense in the fight. I was floundering a little bit under a concentrated attack from Milo and Asher, but I could still beat them.

At some point, David showed up and leaned against the back of the couch, watching. “Are you aware that Sam is still on five lives?” he asked.

“Mmhmm,” Milo said.

“Yup,” Asher agreed.

A long string of expletives followed as I got the Smash Orb—Smash Ball?—and caught Asher in Cloud’s Final Smash. “Ha-haaa! Omnislash, suckers!” I exclaimed. Sam chuckled and I even caught David suppressing a grin.

After a bit longer—no more than two minutes—I’d whittled Asher and Milo down to their last lives and threw them off the stage, while still having two myself. Sam was on four after accidentally Falcon Kicking himself downward at the wrong angle and plunging into the abyss below.

Milo and Asher, of course, started rooting for Sam to beat me. “C’mon Collins!” Asher cheered, digging a slice of pizza out of one of the half-empty boxes. “You’ve got double the lives! Just take it slow!”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but backed off my aggressive fight strategy from taking on the two of them at the same time. One of the things I liked about Cloud, in particular, was that he was primarily melee-based, but had a ranged option. It wasn’t a good option, really, but it was useful. Especially back when Amanda played Pit all the time and just spammed arrows from a distance like a wimp.

Sam and I fight one-on-one slowed down a lot. I talked him through things, guided him into combos, advised him on which buttons to push and what move to use when, gave him examples of how to time his attacks—

And still promptly kicked his ass and won the match anyway.

Milo and Asher both groaned in complaint as I hopped off the sofa and gave David back his controller. “Thanks for the turn,” I said. I returned to my spot on the floor in front of Sam and took a long drink of my soda before also finding another slice of pizza to munch on.

—

“Tank,” David said as we were leaving. Ash and Milo had already gone home with their mates. I paused, one foot halfway in my boot. “It was nice to see you smile and hear you laugh so much again. It’s been a long time.”

I cleared my throat, finding the toes of my boots to be the most interesting thing in the room to avoid meeting his eyes. “Thanks,” I said, finishing shoving my foot into the boot. “It, uh... it was nice to see you smiling a lot too. I don’t think I ever have seen you laugh like that.”

He held out a hand as though we were going to shake. I took it and pulled him into a hug, wrapping my other arm around his back. He did the same, resting his forehead against my shoulder.

“Here’s to being better and brighter for—and because of—our mates, yeah?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

I pulled back. “See you at the office tomorrow. Asher has finally bullied me into picking up a job with you guys.”

“I look forward to it. I’ll have a new hoodie out for you. Your old one is way too ratty to be professional now.”

I looked down at the old Shaw Security hoodie I’d had since David started being more serious about the business than Gabe had been. The logo printed on the left of the chest was cracked and peeling. Faded against the black fabric. I made a face. “Rude—but true. Thanks,” I said.

“See you tomorrow,” he said.

“See ya.” I finished tying off my boot and reached out for Sam. He took my hand and we walked to his truck. I waved at David—and his mate who’d appeared at his side in the doorway—as I climbed in. He raised a hand back.

Once the door to the truck was closed, I glanced at Sam.

“How much of that did you hear?”

“Darlin’, I coulda heard that from halfway across town, remember?”

“Mm. Right. Have fun tonight?”

“Well... I expected to get my ass handed to me. Just didn’t realize it’d be by you.”

I snickered. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry for bein’ good at somethin’ you enjoy.”

#Redacted ASMR #fic #Redacted Sam #Redacted Darlin' #Redacted David #Redacted Asher #Redacted Milo #Redacted Audio #Starlit Fic #Sam Collins #Darlin' #David Shaw #Asher #Milo Greer #Sam #David #Milo

[talenlee]

3e: The Love Potion

We’re all kind of on the page that ‘love potions’ in stories are probably bad, right?

Those things that you could buy in 3e as a cheap, disposable magical item?

It’s one of those tropes from history that people used pretty freely up until like, even until 2013. Gravity Falls featured an episode about a character using a love potion, and then realising it was a foolish plan and going to undo it, only to find that, y’know, maybe it was an okay idea after all. And that was Gravity Falls, a cartoon I like. Shock! Horror! And that’s a bad trope and all!

Love potions show up in stories all over the place, and that makes them an iconic trope and I feel like they go through a sort of life cycle. In their oldest appearances — as I remember and are filtered through the mind of a boy like me — the love potion is a solution to a problem. Then, as things get a little more protestant, a little more puritanical, love potions tend to be set up in the first part of the story, and then developed and dismissed in the second part. Love potions are a thing you think will solve your problems, then you find they don’t.

There are a lot of reasons they can fail. They can fail because you find out that the person you love-potioned, you don’t actually want them in love with you. They can fail because you find out that the potion doesn’t make them love you the way that you imagined. They can fail just because love potions aren’t real but now you have to consider what it meant that you tried. They can fail because they have to destroy the way the person you were interested in order to work, somehow. And of course sometimes they can fail because you mess up their application like spilling it on a bird or something.

Lots of different ways that ‘the love potion’ is a setup that gets subverted. In fact, so much so that, especially in reset-heavy pulp media like sitcoms and weekly dramas, love potions fit the mould really conveniently. The subversion means that the characters undo the love potion by the end, and that’s that. It’s a tidy little plot loop, and the form it’s poured into handles it just fine. Makes sense.

Why can ya buy ’em?

Look, 3rd edition was a hungry beast. It needed content, content, content and a lot of what it needed never made sense to me. I did not think I needed as many versions of ‘human, but ugly and weird’ as the game books provided me. I never needed the flying mount rules, or the keep rules. They were nice, ostensibly but they weren’t useful, because they weren’t focused on the game played by players and instead on a sort of systemitising the world. This is a reasonable thing for a system to do when it wants to do it, I’m not criticising them for the choice, but that the choice put the way D&D 3E was built at odds with the way I expected to play it.

You’d see this throughout supplements, in Dragon Magazines and soft cover splatbooks; sometimes there was a cool idea that the game could do and that cool idea ran headlong into the system’s design. A gladiatorial campaign? Cool idea, here are maps and opponents. Oh, the system isn’t designed to make one-on-one fights very interesting for the uninvolved parties and dying represents an immense debt? Hm, sounds like the real thing this system needs is loans and banking. Oh wait, but if you’re doing gladiatorial fighs, how do you get loot from enemies? You can’t loot the bodies, that belongs to their stable! There’s got to be a payment system!

And thus we return to the love potion. The love potion was in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (and SRD, even now!) because it’s an obvious trope, the item works in a simple, easily explained way, and it fills some inches in the book that needs so, so many inches filled. The item is built by a formula, it works to a rule and it kind of rests on a leyline of things D&D 3e doesn’t do very well.

First of all, the item gives a save. Well it has to right, because otherwise it’d be overpowered. But saving throws aren’t like, narratively coherent things. They’re there to defend you from attacks, but ostensibly, they’re there to represent how well your body resists things changing it (which was why you can resist healing spells and, in some cases, are called upon to do so, which is, yes, dumb). Don’t worry, though, the DC is really low: Only a DC 14. Which means an ordinary human with nothing heroic going on has about a 30% chance to ignore it and it lasts for 1d3 hours.

Thus we position the elixir of love perfectly badly. It’s a magic item that an adventurer can buy in bulk, that they never would care about, that represents life-deforming mind control, but not for very long and not very well. It promises what a love potion in a story is, but delivers instead a very crap charm spell, which is the closest thing it can approximate to love because the game system wants to try and systemitise love without dealing with how incredibly overpowered love is. There’s no category of ‘minor effect’ or ‘story beat’ for magical items, which need to be built to instead, operate the way adventurers expect adventurers to work.

The Elixir of Love doesn’t actually represent anything particularly heinous. Nothing out of type. It’s a love potion, but because it sucks it’s not that bad, and nobody would use it, except because it sucks, and that it sucks isn’t because of the story needs but because of the way the mechanics of the system handle items. It’s the same wonky stuff that permeates 3e. Systems aren’t immune to this. My favourite system isn’t immune to this kind of thing!

Still pretty funny way to waste a year’s wages for a normal person.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#DnD 3e #Dungeons &amp;amp; Dragons #Games

[itisthefunpolice]

Book of Travels by Might and Delight

You may notice I do not really post fandom content on this blog. This is not due to it "conflicting with the theme of my blog" but because I am not genuinely a fan or member of a fandom for any of the media I consume. I have never really understood fans or fandom, I've liked pieces of media, maybe even loved them, but I did not have the long term sustained passion that fans have nor the desire to expand the enjoyment of that media to other parts of my life like fandoms do.

I understand now though. Book of Travels is something I am passionate about, something I think about outside of my time playing the game or even when I don't feel like playing the game, it inspires me and I want that inspiration to be something I carry with me into my real every day life.

Book of Travels has, by sheer coincidence, much in common with my own passion projects and the values and aesthetics that shape them, except, while my passion projects are often just fuzzy imaginings that I loosely describe to others or occasionally scribble down, Book of Travels is very real and very much a realized concept, even in its current form.

While I certainly haven't consumed all of the content Book of Travels currently has to offer and Might and Delight put out new content all the time, I will try to describe my experience with Book of Travels and why I am so passionate about it so hopefully others will appreciate it and support it.

Book of Travels is a tiny multiplayer online role playing game (TMORPG) with a focus on exploration, lore, and cooperation rather than the traditional linear quests, experience grinding, and combat.

The game starts with character customization that focuses on the substance of who your character is as a person, setting up the framework of how you move through the world and letting you fill out the rest of the details to make someone that feels deeper than just a character class or stat sheet. You are then released into the world of The Braided Shore, where Book of Travels takes place.

The Braided Shore feels like a real location, full of history and culture that you discover organically with time as you trek across it, via the environment, the locals, and items you acquire.

The people of The Braided Shore feel like genuine members of this society with their own lives, goals, and personalities that exist outside of your interactions with them.

The immersion of the game is also enhanced via a real time day night cycle and a multitude of events that cycle depending on the day of the week, the time of day, and region you are currently in, making you feel as if the world exists outside of your character and changes with the passage of time.

The gameplay itself encourages this as well as you engage with the game as if you are genuinely a traveler in foreign lands, getting advice and directions from locals that you have to write down in your journal, being unfamiliar with certain aspects of the language or culture until you gain enough context or are educated by someone else, and using a map that only marks major roads and landmarks that you can add notes to as you explore.

In a media market saturated with western European style sword and sorcery fantasy, with the few alternatives tending to be different regional aesthetics, like eastern Asian style, on top of the same template, Book of Travels is something that feels, and as far as I can tell is, completely unique in almost every aspect.

Book of Travels is a passion project and it shows, it is not a gimmick, it is not trying to imitate, it is not trying to mock or spite, it exists as its own entity and is conceptualized as such. Everything from the art style to the music reinforces the atmosphere of the world, giving it a strong sense of identity, and while one can see some of the real world cultures and ideas that may have inspired some of these things, none of them feel derivative.

The world and its culture feel reflective of certain values while still feeling grounded and nuanced, lacking a need to preach to its players or hit them over the head while avoiding over complicating or convoluting itself, and that's something I greatly appreciate as I agree with a lot of the messaging in this game and how its reflected through how the game functions rather than being hand fed to the audience or made obtuse.

There is clearly a desire to create a game that encourages thoughtfulness and cooperation but that doesn't punish you for playing in your own way. Allowing you to succeed in this world no matter your desired play-style without it feeling cheap, unchallenging, or thin.

Book of Travels doesn't feel like an aesthetic, though it is full to bursting with aesthetic appeal. It feels like it has depth and clarity and a carefully hand crafted quality that is rare in our fast paced consumption focused world. It is that depth and quality which makes me appreciate this world so much and make me so willing to engage with it, fighting the desire to absorb as much of it as possible so I can discover and experience it organically at my own pace.

I haven't talked much about the actual content of the game as I feel so much of the enjoyment of this game is based on experiencing it for yourself, seeing all of it with a fresh and open mind.

I sincerely hope some of what I have shared here encourages others to purchase this game and support it, regardless of whether you just enjoy it casually or become a fan.

If you do end up wanting to play the game or share your enjoyment of it, feel free to reach out to me. I'd love to see more people experiencing it for the first time and interacting with it in general.

[the-broken-pen]

Alright, I’ve seen this introduction game for writblr bouncing around, started by @iloveyou-writers , and thought I’d give it a go, because I know like. Nobody else on here lol.

Hi! I’m Archangel, or Arch, and I use she/her pronouns. I tend to traverse writing genres pretty freely, but my favorites (and most common) are fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, heroes and villains, and horror. I’ll write anything though, so be warned. As far as tropes I love, it’s a lot of Hero Villain stuff, that one “Oh. Oh.”, hurt/comfort, anything to do with fae(is that a trope?), and of course, enemies to lovers. Also one bed. Sue me.

I would say I’m SFW, but everyday I am dragged towards NSFW, and it is entirely my friend’s fault. So uh. I may not stay SFW for long? I do tend to write a lot of mental health stuff, (including self harm, but more so healing from it/getting help), kidnapping, and hurt comfort, as of now. I don’t know what tropes I won’t write, but if someone ever asks for one (if one day, I am blessed with an ask 🕊️) and I realize I won’t write it, I’ll let you all know.

In my opinion, the best work I’ve ever written is either my half written, totally not mildly abandoned book The Edge of Truth, or my other book that is slightly close to being done and has no title, the poor thing. The Edge of Truth is entirely serial killer based and I love that the main point is to not only trick the characters, but the audience too, while leaving clues the whole time. Haha, foreshadowing. Also it’s lesbians so like. My no name book is superpowers based and has been a war to write, but I love the character dynamics and also my demon character. On here, though, my favorites are likely my Map of Fae story, or the one with the hero who can steal powers. I will not link them because tumblr hates me and I can’t make it work for the life of me :(

My favorite characters I’ve written are probably Riven, Mercy, Lucy, Melody, and Aletheia(but sometimes she actively fights me as I try to write her, which sounds over dramatic, but of course it does, I’m a writer.) (All of those are book characters that I’ve written so you likely won’t find them on here, at least for a bit)

One last thing is that I go absolutely feral for anything to do with fae, or other supernatural creatures. Also hurt/comfort. I’m lgbtqia+, and my writing is too, so check the homophobia at the door, and if you can’t part with it, then kindly find the nearest exit.

I’m also obsessed with the All For The Game series (It’s rather unhealthy, really), and my friend is relentlessly trying to get me to write megamind fanfiction. Sometimes my writing sounds British, but I’m not British, and I have no explanation.

Thanks for reading that horrifying essay, and I challenge these people to fill this out (I have very few writer friends and I’m very lonely so here are the few I know): @ettawritesnstudies @jtl-fics @save-the-villainous-cat @epiclamer @megreads22 @d-cs @lektricfergus @meadowofbluebells

#creative writing #newwritersclub #new on writblr #help I want writer friends #also asks

[malhare]

٩( ^ᗜ^)و ´- If you're comfortable sharing I'd love to hear more about Rowan's relationships with the DLC characters (The Think Tank, Dr. Mobius, Dog/God, Dean Domino etc.)!

OF COURSE I DON'T MIND!! I love rambling about Rowan and fnv so thank you for asking! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

I won't get into Honest Hearts as I've already talked about Rowan and Joshua's relationship and I can already tell this answer is going to be long ^_^;

Old World Blues: Rowan did NOT like *any* of the Think Tank at first but they grudgingly began to grow on him. He genuinely likes Dr. Mobius and checks in on him often. Rowan likes Dr. 8 and Dr. Dala, he finds Dr. O annoying but harmless, Dr. Klein also annoying but less harmless (he keeps a close eye on him), and he's genuinely weirded out by Dr. Borous and typically avoids him. Dr. Borous is the only one he cannot even begin to get his head around with regard to his neuroses, and he's also weirded out by his obsession with experimenting on animals

Dead Money: While I like Dean Domino as a character, him and Rowan immediately butt heads. Rowan cannot stand (what he perceives to be) misplaced arrogance and stubborness/unwillingness to handle even slight push back. He gets along better with Christine Royce but they still tend to keep eachother at a distance, their relationship being one of mostly necessity and mutual respect. Rowan latches hard onto Dog/God as his lifeline - The entire experience of Dead Money really rattles his confidence and puts true fear into him, so he's initially drawn to them due to wanting that bulky Nightkin strength on his side. God and Rowan end up building a mutual trust and grow surprisingly close, so much so that they keep in touch even after escaping the Sierra Madre

Lonesome Road lore under the cut because it accidentally ended up so long because I'm insane about Rowan and Ulysses' relationship 😭

Rowan and Ulysses met when Ulysses first scouted the West for the Legion. Rowan was already working as a drug runner and courier at the time so he offered to show him around the Mojave. The two spent a lot of time together and eventually became romantically involved. When Ulysses saw the budding community forged by Rowan's route he decided to fully defect from the Legion to focus on building their new home there... Then the NCR came. Following the massacre at Bitter Springs Rowan could not stand the NCR presence. Ulysses urged him not to risk his life and destroy what they had built, but Rowan just couldn't let go - He waited until he knew Ulysses would be away before delivering the payload that he knew would wipe the place off the map, given to him by Vulpes Inculta. Ulysses was horrified and enraged by what Rowan had done but couldn't bring himself to hurt him so the two went their separate ways. When Benny put two bullets in Rowan's head it gave him amnesia, making some of his memories murky or outright forgotten - By the time Rowan makes his way to The Divide to follow Ulysses' call home, he had completely forgotten him. This took the sails out of Ulysses' rage completely, leaving him only hollow. With time Rowan recovers some memories and Ulysses fills in the gaps, but sometimes he wishes he didn't remember what he had and so callously threw away. It's his biggest regret, and a part of him will love Ulysses forever but there's just too much history and pain between them for things to ever be the same

#Thanks again for asking Maddy!! :3 #oc: Rowan #asks

[pillow-anime-talk]

match up. {1}

request (match up) ; @ a23--un66-u77: i’m a 5’2 female with short brown hair that reaches my neck and with curtain bangs, i have hazel eyes and i’m a bit chubby in the lower body. i’m a sagittarius, an esfp and i tend to be an ambivert leaning to extrovert, i also tend to overthink a lot and often feel guilty and insecure but otherwise i’m really cheerful and dirty minded. my hobbies are drawing, watching anime, writing stories; bungou stray dogs characters + platonic relations

# tags: match up; platonic relations; mostly fluff; a bit of comedy; slice of life; compliments and hugs; sfw

includes: atsushi nakajima, edgar allan poe, gin akutagawa & nikolai gogol {bsd}

author’s note: my first match up ever so... i just hope it's okay for you! thank you so much :)

— ATSUSHI

↘ It’s hard not to be friends with Atushi. He really likes people and he really appreciates having a best friend like you. You are very similar in that you both think a lot about life, problems and not being enough for others. Nevertheless, you two are always very supportive and I have a vision in my head that you like spending time with a cup of hot tea in complete silence. You don’t need words to communicate, just the presence of the other person will significantly improve your mood.

↘ This boy is the most supportive guy we all know; he’s always praising your haircut and eyes, he’s always saying you look great in >that< outfit or make-up, he’s complimented your paintings and stories more than once... He is such a good and loving boy who knows well that such small things work best on another person. You appreciate it very much.

— EDGAR

↘ You both love to write, so Edgar really enjoys your company and you exchange ideas, opinions and comments about books together. You go to a coffee shop together and discover new places on the map of Yokohama or nearby towns. You are by far the best duo ever made! Oh, of course, let’s not forget about Karl, who senses human intentions perfectly – but luckily this adorable raccoon adores you so bad, so you don’t have to worry about anything. For a small and sweet pet, you are the second parent.

↘ God, I have the thought in my mind that you help each other with the smallest and often the stupidest requests/things like cutting your hair or choosing an anime you should watch tonight. There’s nothing better than a friend for better or for worse, and Poe is exactly that kind of buddy.

— GIN

↘ She’s a calm and graceful woman so having such a friend/sister/soulmate is really amazing for you and it’s damn reassuring. Gin understands your problems and listens to you carefully (she is the best at it). Her advices are the most important and valuable to you. When you have your silly moments and suddenly you burst out laughing, she’s also happy and smiles slightly. You really appreciate the time and the opportunity to spend it together.

↘ You like to go for walks and relax in your/her apartment. If you like shopping at the mall, she will certainly always accompany you (she loves to buy cosmetics and new hair products, I’m pretty sure about it). You always advise each other on clothes and makeup. I am also sure that these afternoons always end with a cup of coffee and a portion of cake, as well as a conversation (or rather gossips) about your friends, family or co-workers.

— NIKOLAI

↘ If you say you have extroverted moments, you like naughty jokes and anime in general, then Nikolai really suits to your person. You are like two lighters that ignite the wick of the same bomb. You always have huge fun together and do crazy things, sometimes betting on which of you will buy food or movie tickets (e.g. for the latest ‘Barbie’ movie).

↘ Even if you have worse moments, moments full of doubt and uncertainty – don’t worry. It’s only a matter of time before Nikolai comes to your house with a cat (or other animal) taken from the middle of the street and a bag filled with your favorite snacks/sweets and thus cheers you up for the rest of the day or even the week. You always evaluate the time spent in each other’s company as successful and used as much as possible.

#— ❤️ #match up #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs headcanon #bungou stray dogs headcanons #bungou stray dogs match up #bungou stray dogs match ups #bungou stray dogs x reader #bungou stray dogs x you #bungou stray dogs x y/n #bsd #bsd headcanons #bsd headcanon #bsd match up #bsd match ups #bsd x reader #bsd x you #bsd x y/n #tetchou suehiro #tetchou suehiro x reader #gin akutagawa #gin akutagawa x reader #atsushi nakajima #atsushi nakajima x reader #edgar allan poe #edgar allan poe x reader

[toastytoaster22]

How do you plan out your stories/form an outline for what you’re gonna write? Any advice for it?

Hi Hello! Thank you for the ask! I love talking about my weird process for writing long fics. Hopefully you find even a bit of this helpful. Everyone is different and my process isn't going to be the same as what might work best for you.

I went through part of this a while ago for a different ask, so I'll reblog that after I answer in case I miss something (my head isn't really on today) Forgive me if there's overlap.

OKAY!

The first thing I do once I've got a good idea in my head and its fleshed out enough that I think "This is good! I will actually write this!", I start a new notebook (if the fic will be long) or grab a couple pages from a partially filled one (if its going to be shorter). I am a visual person when it comes to writing, so I like to see my story built out in front of me. It helps me organize, plan, and keep track of character arcs/specific events/details I want to include.

Issho's original story map got nearly destroyed with the amount of edits and notes I added over the course of writing it, but here it is in it's delightful, disgusting glory:

As you can see, I am a messy person. This works for me. I am sure some people will see this and want to scrub their eyes out of their heads.

But the important thing is that I have noted down where events happen across the timeline, where the chapters are marked, the three main arcs (if you can see them, good lord) and have a note at the top about what the main theme of the fic is, and Points to Make. Below are some notes on Toichiro and Serizawa that should have been on another page but ended up there somehow.

I tried to be more ... legible... with Nightjar's story map, and even color-coded it by location. It keeps track of each group of characters, when they interact, when the big events happen in conjunction to those meetings, and bc i am like this, the weather.

Nightjar has a lot more moving parts, so I just put a couple words in each spot and wrote the notes for those events in full on another paper. Nightjar has a very organized notebook with labeled tags and everything, with sections on Character Arcs and Emotional Progress, The Government's Response, Counter Attacks by Claw, OCs, and a whole back section of maps that correlate to where in Seasoning they are.

When I have a basic idea of what I want to happen and when, I go ahead and get a word doc going with the whole outline in one place. I just shorthand write down everything I want to happen as messily as I want. It doesn't matter what it says so long as i know what it means. If i get an idea at any point that i want to include, I throw it in the appropriate place asap. It could be a cool scene, a specific line I want, or a point of progress I need a character to make. Anything. The Outline Doc gets LONG. like 30 pages.

When I sit to write an actual chapter, I go to the outline doc and copy/paste the selection of events I want in that chapter into a new doc and work from there. I keep both docs open so i can throw ideas in anywhere or move events around if I need to change where the chapter ends.

I try to be open minded and flexible with my story construction. And I sure do call it Construction. I tend to change events and move chunks of story and plot around like puzzle pieces until it feels Just Right and makes the most sense.

Sometimes I do this more on paper than on the word doc bc my brain likes seeing things a lot less... up and down? Than a computer can provide. Like this section of notes I have on Issho Teru's emotional state after his parents leave:

I wanted to have a map of Teru's 5 Stages of Grief along with events that move him along toward accepting Reigen into his life and which chapters those events happen in. This got abandoned before I ended up writing any of it, so the top part about him acting out against Reigen never came into play. Originally he never went to the Children's Center, but I couldn't pull that off, so i had to send him away for his Angry period. It worked better.

Obviously not every story needs this level of attention and mapping! My Issho side stories get a few notes in the notebook and then go straight to a word doc. Anything that's only a couple chapters tends to go right to the computer bc I don't need to move events around or map out arcs.

My brain has run out of juice at the moment, but I got more out here than I expected. If you have any follow up questions, feel free to ask!

#toasty writes #toasty answers #i swear my handwriting is not always this bad #its just NOTE JOTTING in which it turns to incomprehensible squiggles #thanks anon!

[kimaratomoya]

You said yesterday that you were interested in a fanfic idea I had? Well here it is.

It's about a pair of fangirls going into freddy fazbear's pizzeria and deciding to stay the night there for shits n giggles. But it's a deconstruction of several things, such as wanting to get isekai'ed into the media of your choice, the fact that I kept wanting this despite the fact that teenage me would have made a terribly dysfunctional protagonist, the way how fandom seems to fill out every gap that canon lacks, but causes the place to be confusing as if reality overlaps, as somewhat of a side effect.

It was because when I was 13 and talking with my friends online, we used to get a kick out of pretending Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was a real place, we'd be looking up vandalised google maps places and joking about going there. The fanfiction is similar, but it's also a deconstruction of the idea because FNAF in real life would be Very Dangerous regardless of if you're 20 or 12, or a fangirl or not. And it's also about how the real world would react to the haunted animatronics, I think there might just be two entries in the series but I'll focus on the first one for now.

It takes place in around 2016 or so when FNAF had less content, and had much more of an 'urban legend' aesthetic to it than it does now. If I am ever to write this fanfiction however, I think I'll need to change that. However this goes in contrast with the 'urban legend' aesthetic I had in mind, so I'll either find a workaround or I'll just not make it about FNAF in general. The main point is to deconstruct this adventurous tangent I had in mind and demonstrate how actually fucked someone in the situation would be in, regardless of how much they know about the lore.

The names of the two girls are Áine (awn-yah) and Jene. One of them values enjoyment over personal safety, and the other is an insecure liar. Áine's the one who suggests exploring the places where the children were killed staying the night when Jene wants to look around and then leave, and Jene, while having a higher sense of self preservation, compulsively lies to Áine and other characters to try and keep them safe. The conflict is about them keeping safe from the animatronics of course, but also to work together even though they eventually end up fighting a lot and Áine starts to slowly transform into her self insert OC and lose her memories. Jene's quick lying ability comes in handy as she is able to write Áine's self insert's backstory even closer to Áine's actual memories, and preserve them quicker.

There's also a plot about how the fuck the pizzeria even came into being in the first place, because most stories where fans are transported into the medium of what they're fans of don't tend to dive into this.

In the beginning, Áine says she wants to invite whoever is the night guard over to her house so they're safe from animatronics, and Jene suggests spending more time with them to determine whether or not they're Purple Guy first. This is foreshadowing towards the end where they crash, fictional characters and all, at Áine's house and Áine's mom is like WTF. It also sets up the sequel since Áine has irreversibly been touched by whatever forces have been at play in the pizzeria, she needs to stay close to it or she might vanish from existence entirely. Áine's mom can't have her daughter staying so close to something so dangerous, so she becomes the manager and strives to make the place safer. She does things such as putting the animatronics in giant hamster wheels the whole night so even though they can free roam, there's no way for them to harm people, and installing an emergency escape door for the night guard and also doors that don't use electricity.

That's some of what I have for now. Also since FNAF has so many continuities, part of the early plot is Áine and Jene trying to figure out which one they're in. The books? The movie? The games? Some fan artist's AU? Someone's fan fiction? They learn kind of later in that it's Áine's own AU which she never fully developed and based it off a bunch of other works.

Should I continue?

Bestie

Write this please, I'd 100% read it. Sounds like something that genuinely could be in the books (with some of the weird shit that happens in them *cough cough* the fucking mpreg one *cough cough*).

Genuinely, go for writing it. I kinda am torn about hearing more, because I don't want you to spoil it tbh.

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #fazbear frights #fanfic #fanfic ideas #ask response #bestie

[swaps55]

Writer Tag Game

Tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant. Thank you!

Tagging @mrsd-writes @crescentbunny @commander-krios, @stormikins, @pigeontheoneandonly @shadesofmauve and anyone else who would like to play, if you so desire!

Do you write in order?

When inspiration strikes I’ll scribbles lines for future scenes, but I write almost exclusively chronologically. The only exception has been Sonata. I wrote the beacon nightmare, panic attack, and kiss in the rain before I wrote most of the rest of the story, because they were so vivid in my head I couldn’t sleep. But Sonata in general was more like performing an exorcism than writing a story.

Note this does NOT apply to Opus as a series, which is all over the map. I wrote part of Cantata first, then Sonata, then half of Fugue, then Cantata in its entirety, then Concerto, then the rest of Fugue. It sounds insane, but I think it's the only way I could have written these stories the way they needed to be told.

Do you start with something in particular?

I usually have a hook or a goal of some kind in mind, be it a character arc, a plot point, etc. I have a quirk where I have to have a first line to work from. I can’t overcome the blinking cursor without it. The first line sets the tone, and I go a little feral if I don’t have that opening note.  

How fully formed does your writing come out on the first try?

I tend to write in layers. First pass through will be heavier on dialogue and lighter on prose, and then I layer in depth, nuance, context, plot threads, etc. If I’m writing slow and methodical, I’ll get pretty close on the first pass, but if I’m rushing to get an idea on the page, it’s usually a skeleton that needs some muscle on the second pass.  

How many drafts do you go through?

I do a lot of revision as I go, but I usually go through 3-4. First draft, first heavy revision pass, post-beta feedback revision, and a polish pass. Fugue would skew those numbers a lot higher, heh.

Tell me about your process?

Until the back half of Fugue, I was almost a pure pantser. I’d have a theme or idea for a one-shot or a chapter, and I would just sit down and go, and see what happened. My two favorite examples of this are from Cantata.

For the chapter “Infinity,” aka Kaidan’s ‘oh’ moment, the only thing I had to go on was ‘kaidan sleeps off a migraine in Sam’s quarters + star gazing.’ Also, that chapter wasn’t planned in the original draft at all. I added it last minute.

For the chapter, “The Things We’ve Done,” aka, Sharjila, when I initially sat down to write it, I didn’t know why they were there, what the fuck happened other than ‘thresher maw????’, or why they were mad at each other. I just thought it would be cool to maroon them on a planet in a life-threatening situation. Fun fact, because I couldn’t figure out the answers to any of those very valid questions, I said ‘fuck it, I’ll go write a fake dating prompt as a fun distraction.’ The fake dating prompt became Sonata, and it answered all my questions.

Fugue got complicated enough that I had to do a lot more plotting to make sure everything fell together, and I think that will carry over somewhat to Mezzo, the next fic, which is going to be a planning nightmare.

But normally, when I actually sit down to write, I write forward, then go back and revise/fill in holes, then write forward, go back and revise/fill in holes. If the train starts veering off the tracks I stop and go back to figure out where the jump is so I can fix it before I write forward.

I almost always ride a pendulum back and forth between, ‘I can do this. It’s gonna be great,’ and ‘I am a fraud and there is no way I can pull this off; I am going to let everyone down.’ The pendulum swings can last days, or happen within a single sentence. It’s wild.    

#how writing is written #chapter 8 and chapter 13 of Fugue went through SO MANY FUCKING DRAFTS #it was SO painful #my 'leftover's doc for fugue is something like 28k words

[lets-talk-spirituality]

Words of Love

Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, I’m sharing some beautiful words of love. I hope these feel as powerful to you as they do to me.

You hang my moon and stars, my entire world pulsates to the beat of your heart and the rhythmic rise of your chest.

I will use my light so she shines, I will hang the stars from her ears, Steal the oceans for her tears, Paint her lips in sunsets, Move mountains so she has a view to wake up to.

You are precious to me and you must treat yourself as such in my “absence” I’m trusting you with my most prized gift—you.

I may be a bright star in the sky of everyone else, but you are the moon in my eyes.

My love, you are a hurricane, a true force of nature, and it will take all my strength to stand strong in the power of you. You’re going to buckle my knees, humble me, and I’m going to open my soul to you, cry out for you, love you forever.

And I just want to love you

Unconditionally, in a way that

Makes your heart bloom

A gift I’ve wanted to give so long

And I’m glad it’s you

When I’m close enough to feel your breath

I smell roses and honeysuckle

And spring flowers and I know

You’re letting me tend the garden

Of your soul

I will spend my whole life trying to fill the world with my love for you.

I’ll crave you like a dehydrated man in a desert.

I love you like the sun loves the earth, like the moon loves the stars, like the trees love all breathing things, like the oceans love the shores. It is a force of nature that cannot be stopped. My feelings for you are never ending and true. 

I would say pretty things to you forever if I could. I’d lay beside you and hold you for eternity. Just to breathe you in and feel complete that you are finally here. I’ll remind you how magnificent you are and all that you are worth. I love you so so so so a million sos much.

You are my dream, not just a character in it, the whole thing.

I would plant flowers on every place you walk

Just so people knew you’d been there

Follow behind you taking note

Just so someone has your existence in pen

I love you with every tear that ever fell, every lip that was ever bitten and every drop in your heart you’ve ever felt. 

I’d fly anywhere with you, Because you taught me how to

I’d connect every freckle On your back, create a map Or form new constellations Stars that can shine bright In your eyes

I find you divinely beautiful. I desire you so deeply, you do complete me, I’d never become the me I knew I could be without you. You are my everything.

I wish I could just spend forever making sure you feel nothing but peace. I’d spend all my time crafting you a perfect sunny day to rest in forever.

#words of love #love month #valentines day #be my valentine #valentines #valentine #happy valentines #valentinesweek #valentines2023 #my love #love in the air #loveislove #loveyourself #love #love poem #love is everywhere #love quotes #love who you are #i love you #lovers #love of a lifetime #love of my heart #love of my life #poem #poetic #beautiful words #wordsnquotes #my words #words of mine #poets on tumblr

[pyrochilles-writes]

Fandom : Silmarillion

Character(s) : Maglor

Description : Maglor realises he is in love and reflects on when there ever has been a suitable time for such in his life.

Good Time

I am not stupid enough to say this has come at a bad time. A quick reflection is enough to realise that any time in this life of mine would have been a "bad time".

Perhaps, back when I was younger, more carefree, without this oath etched into my spine. Back then though, you would have had the impossible task of surviving my brothers. I have been to hesitant to mention it before now, but I do dream about it quite often. About what would have been, had we met earlier.

I have not wanted to burden you with the grief of what could have been.

It would have been a "bad time" either way. I was taught and trained to be royalty, my days were packed full with schooling, my whole life was planned. And any free second I did have, I vowed to my love of the arts. We might not have even gotten the chance of ever being introduced. I was young and filled with fleeting and naive passion.

Perhaps I would have been to gentle a soul for you back then; I know you are easily bored. Though, I make a blind guess that we both are quite different people from our childhood selves. Is it not funny how life never tends to follow the map we lay out for it? It makes it's own route in it's own, often unexpected way, and we do not end up where we thought we would. Our paths crossing earlier might not have led us to where we are now.

Yet, I do dream of the time we never had. This part of the conjoined "us" that it feels as though we've lost.

What would we have been like? Would we have to sneak kisses in between archery and debate lessons? Would you enjoy horseriding? We could watch the stars, I know you would have liked that. We could have done whatever our hearts desired. I'd write your smile into poems, try to press your love into words as though I was pressing flowers. I'd sing the sound of your laugh. Was your laugh always so melodic as it is today? I would have taught you an instrument, if you'd have liked. I would have taught you everything I knew, though I knew so little back then. All the lighthearted joys bestowed upon young love. We perhaps could have had that, had we lived in paradise for a little while.

I would have liked you to meet my parents. You soothe me now as only ever my mother did before. You edge me on like my father. - Softly, yet never ineffectively. Your will is strong, like theirs.

Though they would give me genuine concern for your safety at some point, if not daily, I would have liked you to meet my brothers. All of them.

There is an ache in my heart. It will not leave until the day their actual presence does replace it, when I do see them again. For now, they are lost to me. Even Maedhros is lost, in his own way. I am the second oldest, meaning there has been little time in my life for childishness. But, I think this ache is aging me even further. There are six sharp and emptied seashells in me. I feel them in my feet when I walk. I feel them in my lungs when I breathe. In my throat when I sing.

Perhaps I am happy we did not meet long ago. Grieving my brothers, naught could console me. I do not think you could have either. If we had met earlier, perhaps I would have lost you too. This doomed storm above me, striking lightning on all I hold dear. You've sought cover from the storm under me, but I am a tree, and my hide is misleading as I might attract the next strike and hand it right to you by painful default.

I am far from the elf I was, those years ago. My head was not yet a beach, and had little sand to blow into this glass vase that you seem to have crafted around my heart.

I have grown into a desert, scratchy grains of sand trinkle into me, more and more, day by day. I've grown dry and hot, into a landscape where few survive. I can feel the dust in my throat as I sing.

You bring the ocean. You clench my thirst, and turn me into a beach. Only smooth rolls of foam and waves muster to lull me calm. I am holding on between each tide, clenching my fists in damp sand.

I will retort to singing again, I guess. It does seem to be the only thing for me, and these qualms on the inside of me, sounding a steady tick, tick, tick, by each falling grain of sand. I sing of you the most.

I hope, I pray, and I beg that the price of my salvation will not cost your life as well.

#maglor #maglor x reader #silm fanfic #silmarillion fic #tolkien fic #tolkien fanfiction #tolkien fanfic #maglor fic #× reader #silmarillion #the silmarillion #silm headcanons #silm fic #silm fanfiction #silmarillion fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic

[drabbles-mc]

Tay! how are you doing?? I have a question for you if you don't mind :)

when you're writing a story with an oc, do you usually have the storyline first then the oc completely planned as the story goes; or do you usually start it after the PC is complete??

🖤🖤

I hope you know that you can always come through and ask about OCs and everything to do with them! Its in my top five favorite topics of conversation 😂

When I'm going to write an OC story, I usually get a bulk of the character's backstory and personality traits down first. I personally find it helpful to look for faceclaims but its not a deal-breaker for getting the story started.

If I'm creating an OC that's related to another character in the story (I tend to do this more with SOA than Mayans) I map out what their dynamic is with the rest of the family. Who do they get along with? Who do they confide in? Who do they want to toss across the room like a ragdoll and feel no remorse about it? I do that for a majority of the character dynamics in a story but especially with family. Knowing your character's own moral compass and who they keep close whether it be family, friends, or a love interest helps to figure out what is going to drive your character's story, and cause potential bumps for them down the road.

Once I get a lot of the big picture stuff settled for them, then I start putting together what type of conflict would serve them best in a story. Is it going to be them vs their family? Them vs the club? Them vs a love interest? Are they the one getting in their own way and something is going to happen to make them realize that?

Once I figure that stuff out, then I get to writing. Things in the plot usually change along the way which is fine and part of the process haha. But I find that, for me, a lot of little details and idiosyncrasies for my OCs tend to get developed as I start to write them. It's like getting to know a new friend. It also helps me figure out what details and pieces of backstory are and aren't necessary for a story. Not everything you know about an OC in your head necessarily needs to make it onto the page. Other times, as you write, you'll realize that certain things you didn't think of or plan for beforehand and you get to sort of make it up on the fly, which I always think is fun too.

I feel like I usually tend to make OCs to fill a void of some kind. Whether its a family dynamic, a romantic dynamic, or just a type of person that a certain character in canon never came across. So I usually have a very vague genre idea in mind and then I get into the business of making the OC. I personally need a decent base of info for a character before I start writing them so I do some real lore-creating for my OCs before I get into story-writing mode 😂

This was a very long-winded answer and I apologize for that! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. 😊

One last note: I cant express how helpful it is to have someone to talk through your ideas with. This goes for plots but also very much for creating OCs. The amount of times that I have talked through the weirdest most minute details of a new character with @garbinge is too high to count but she always helps me bring my characters to life in a way I would've struggled to on my own without the feedback and questions. Its good to find your person for stuff like this. 🥰

#sorry for the ramble #i just love talking about ocs #ask #asks #writing #writer #fanfiction #oc #oc creation #fic ref #anonymous

[watasemasaru]

for the wakaba ask game: 👪🎂🌋🕷️🙈📣✂️ i could go on but i worry that i'm askin too many questions hahaha

👪 FAMILY - what is their family like? what is your ocs relationship to them?

They're a loud and loving family! Let's see how best to map this.

-Majima & Jyou (never married) had Wakaba September 3, 1983

-Majima & Makoto (married) had Ryuko March 21, 1996 (Ryuko is @nikkiswiki 's oc <333)

-Kashiwagi & Jyou (never married) had Kyrie August 10, 1996

-Jyou is currently with her long time friend and bassist Shobu (wlw bisexuals stay winning)

So it's kinda big! Wakaba is a very loyal to the point of devotion type of person, so for her; family is everything. Wakaba LOVES to dote on her younger sisters and adores Makoto, you couldn't land a better stepmom.

To differentiate between everyone the names Wakaba uses for the parental units

Majima; Dad or Otochan

Jyou; Mama

Makoto; Okasan

Kashiwagi; Osajisan (combining Osamu & ojisan)

Shobu; Shobu-chan

The parents get along really well, they're all like friends. Jyou and Majima weren't ever a serious couple it was more like a fwb type of thing. Makoto is a bit more grounded than Jyou who tends to go where the wind takes her so Makoto fills that role when Jyou can't. Wakaba definitely has a cohesive family that she loves and loves her.

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it?

September 3, 1983. She's a virgo through and through ;3 she does like celebrating and isn't the type to worry about getting old. A nice dinner with family and friends is her idea birthday.

🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion?

Wakaba is a slow boil. It takes a lot to get her to blow her stack. She has that mad dog bite when she's at her limit. When pushed that far; watch out!

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

Her biggest fear is losing someone she loves. Be it family or friend. A more mundane fear is she gets really wigged out by caterpillars.

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

Wakaba as a person who always seems put together and has everything under control, being vulnerable is hard for her. She doesn't care in the slightest is someone sees that vicious side of her, but sad or insecure - that's what she doesn't like for people to see.

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

Wakaba is usually even keel, her voice is soothing to others. She's not much of a contraction user so she speaks formal, but her demeanor is friendly. Her voice claim is Megumi Ogata, that deep sultry pitch is Wakaba to the letter.

✂️ SCISSORS - what is the "last straw" for them to cut someone out of their life? how easily do they let go of people?

It would take great betrayal for Wakaba to cut someone off. some examples are;

-Daigo having Majima take the fall in Y4 (she is a daddy's girl so, even as we speak, Daigo is in the dog house with her)

-Watase dumping her before he went to prison because he figured there was no point in her waiting around for him. She took that as a great insult against her character, like she wasn't capable of being faithful or loyal with his absence.

PLEASE ask more questions! it's a lot of fun to answer them <33

#ask games #kulemiwrites #wakaba aesthetic #oc spewage