#I will not say which characters are in it bc I don't wish to clog tags

[necrotic-nephilim]

as an apology for being gone for a month, have a uquiz i spent a week making! pls feel free to reblog with which character you got, i worked way too hard on this silly little thing. there are eight different characters you can get that are varying levels of unknown, with comic recommendations for each character <3

[lastwave]

Hello, if you have the energy, time and will, would you expand on the recent post you made on how people in fandom talk about the skills and how harry feels about them? Like, what kind of things people say are hurtful/inaccurate/uncomfortable, in relation to disco elysium?

I do not mean to pressure you to educate me on this topic, as it is not the responsibility of the affected to educate unknowing people just because they are affected, of course. I just have not found many sources discussing the microaggression regarding the way some people talk about the skillset in disco elysium and the way that they might differ from the general microsaggression about psychosis and systems.

I ask this because I am curious about the way other people experience the world (though I know I will not always get my curiosity sated and this might be a selfish reason) and I want to know what not to do or say in talks about the skillset or in depictions of the skillset in art or writing. I want to be able to discuss and use the skillset as a game mechanic, narrative device and characters in a way that minimizes harm to marginalized groups. I also know that venting or talking about frustrations can sometimes help make one feel better, (but I also know that that depends on the person, problem and the relationship between the venter and the person listening) so maybe this can help relieve some feelings? Those are my intentions with this ask.

I apologize if my careful wording is too overly careful or if this question in other ways causes you unnecessary strife. I just try to be a careful person when it comes to these topics. If you'd rather only respond to me personally instead of the ask, feel free to message me. Whatever way you wanna handle this, if it be publicly as a post, a private message or if you do not feel like you want to answer at all.

Whatever you choose, I wish you the best day that you can have today. Kind regards, Chromatophorium

hiii thank u for asking!

im gonna preface the system bit with whether or not harry & his skills are a system is never explicitly stated, so take this all with a grain of salt

the rest is under the readmore so i don't clog up peoples dashboards

so what gets me is a lot of works imply the skills are less as people than Harry. i understand where the assumption comes from tho, because a lot of media likes to purport the idea of an "original" alter, which isn't how the disorder works. harry is the current host, and he identifies with the body, but the host isn't any more or less person than the other alters.

& we know the skills have independent thought from harry and their own, even if some (or a lot) of them share similar goals (see electrochemistry and volition, two very different personalities w/ different thoughts on how to go about things, but share a goal of keeping the system experiencing joy, though echem has considerably worse coping mechanisms). hell, they even have different political affiliations (see different routes) and a method of coming to a consensus on information (thought cabinet.)

and, as implied in the name, the skills have different talents from harry. *harry's* talent is connecting with people. i interpret the red checks with other skills as trying to let another alter front. i know ive had moments where i've had to let a way more socially adept alter take over. this would be a slightly different conversation if he was implied to be polyfragmented, but hes not soo.

that's why im less inclined to believe theyre a delusion or supernatural thing (shivers excluded, shes definitely supernatural), bc on the most part the skills just act like people, and all display signs of did/osdd (amnesia, distinct personalities, dissociation, etc.) if u want i can make a separate post going into individual skills and how i think they fit how certain alters form, but thats off topic

ANYWAY. it irks me when people boil the skills down to "this is the one that wants good things and this is the one that wants silly things and this is the one that wants bad things" bc it really falls easily into the negative stereotypes applied to systems & by extension psychotic people

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

sorry for hopping into ur ask box i jst dont wanna clog peoples dashs lmao. anyways AUAUAAA thats. :/ albw and alttp are different incarnations in the same hyrule what....... a big reason i havent gotten into LU is because it feels like it reduces the links to extremely specific personality types (like. sksw is the sweet one and time is the stern one and wind is childish and so on and so forth) and while thats not, like, terrible, it does permeate SO MUCH fanon content that it gets a little :[ sometimes. sky is the one that bothers me the most bc if u play past the beginning and watch his dialogue he actually gets more and more like, short and snappy and weary which makes sense bc it is a 38 hour game and his childhood friend tells him he wont see her until he fulfills a destiny he did not pursue so ofc hes DRAGGING himself thru it but !! no one thinks of that they just kinda use the LU char and thats that. idk i certainly hold no ill will to the creator or fans or anythin like that i jst wish one persons interpretation(s) didnt overshadow everyone elses ................. also i know bonus links but what were thos other ones u named !!!!!!?!

YEAH they are very much different links but I guess jojo (the creator) didn't want to deal with another character? None of the other links are combo'ed as far as I'm aware (except for maybe four? I'm not sure if he's supposed to just be mc/fs or if he's supposed to be fsa too)

Yeah they really are reduced down to very little :/ especially in fanon sometimes. notable example include: legend as the snarky/mean/broody/angsty one, sky as a sleepy soft boy, time as the responsible/parental one, etc etc. I have many many problems with this but ESPECIALLY with sky because I am incapable of being normal about anything in that game like. He's not? He's really not? 10 minutes into the game you get "nice hair" and um. I don't know how to break this to you but um. HE SAYS THINGS LIKE THIS A LOT. There's just... everything with Scrapper ("not that guy") and also.

Yeah. I think it's safe to say that he's very willing to fuck with people. (And the chandelier breaking and just-- yeah)

(I could refute the sleepy part too but then I would probably write a whole rant about how he's really not and also how it's unfair to him because he would be the "lazy" one and uhhh I can't say anything else bc I'll just work myself up)

Honestly just as an au in general its not THAT great. I would put it solidly in the "it's okay" category so it's really NOT deserving of how it's taken over EVERYTHING (fun fact-- have you ever tried to look up loz fics on ao3? Well if you haven't, ITS INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO FILTER IT ALL OUT. botw and lu fics SOLIDLY dominate a good portion of all the fics and-- man I just wanted to read some link's awakening stuff). Everywhere I go, I see lu names on posts that are not lu (there's using it once as a distinguisher but there comes a point when it's obvious that's not why you're doing it), and if you look up fics with more than one link in them you WILL get lu names and characterization even when explicitly stated to not be lu. Also, and correct me if I'm wrong, but. The hero titles? I'm pretty sure those don't exist (beyond hero of time, which seems to be a general thing), except MAYBE in the context of the names of the clothes you can get in botw with amiibo so like. Bad excuse, buddy

Anyway sorry for ranting I. Did not mean to do that. The other aus I mentioned are @/linked-maze and @/ageless-soul-au. The first is a comic, the other is a fic (which does bear some resemblances with lu at first glance but uh-- yeah it's not (if the alttp and albw combo bugs you a lot they do the same thing). Certainly not my favorite but its not bad)

[smileymikey]

Hey! Wonder what you think of The Wilds S2? Were u satisfied with the girls’ scenes? Or what’s your overall take/review. 😊 love to hear your thoughts coz your fics are really awesome!

hi anon!!!

i'll put all my proper thoughts below the read-more so i dont clog the dash loool

i have to say, on the most part i really enjoyed s2!! i loved all the girls' scenes, like every single scene from dot's birthday filled me with so so much joy. they have such good chemistry all of them and they all play off each other so well and im beyond obsessed with them all (and fatin's always been my bff but after this season. she IS my bff. i'm definitely not hers but she's mine)

and shoni!! they were so so sweet!! i think i still would love to have seen the build-up between the (like how did toni feel about shelby going from hating her to loving her in s1?) but they killed every single scene they were in. the fact that in the bg of most group scenes they were cuddling or holding hands was just so 🥺🤩 they absolutely BODIED me and im obsessed with them !!!!!

(also. dont even get me started on leatin. many ptyderacal shrieks about that one)

as for the boys, i'll be really honest, i'm a lil torn about them. i think unfortunately it was sort of a lose/lose situation with them - the only way we as an audience would grow to love them as much as the girls is if they got the girls' amount of screen time (aka a whole season) but no one would watch if there were no girls, so i mostly just feel like we didn't know enough about any of them because they had to split the time. (except raf!!! i understand why but i wish we'd gotten a raf-style ep for all the boys, like not lumping scotty and bo and then kirin and ivan together, because of all of them i think raf was the character i felt i knew the most about)

(like josh!!!! we didnt get an iota about josh as far as i remember!!)

anyway, as a result, i felt like this season felt a little..... disconnected in a way?? like i enjoyed it THOROUGHLY don't get me wrong, but you were balancing the boys' scenes, who we don't know much about, with the girls' scenes, which, esp near the beginning, felt kinda... aimless in a way? like dont get me wrong, i loved them, my favourite type of tv is the tv where nothing happens and friends just sit around shooting the breeze, but there was a moment when the girls were talking about food babies and someone (i think fatin) goes "this has been a low-point for banter" and it just felt so startling almost self-aware/meta, like the writers knew that most of it was just filler fluff? like. this is gonna sound really dumb ashdhsdfjds. but a lot of the scenes in the season felt like me when i was still writing my percabeth fic and needed every chapter to be at least 3k but had no idea what the chapter would be like, so inane aimless things would happen just to buff up the word count.

anyway ZHDFDSJF this has been very long but sum-up:

loved all the girls scenes even if they felt kinda fillery bc i love the girls and am obsessed with them.

i enjoyed the boys' scenes but i need to know more about them, none of them felt fleshed out

there were other things i kinda wanted to be touched on that weren't, like shoni's backstory (how did they go from loving to hating each other?), rachel adjusting without an arm, and also martha being catatonic (i needed more closure to this i think)

kirin startlingly grew on me

leatin rights!!!! also leah, rachel and fatin best characters this season so true!!!

shoni bodied me in every scene. i mean that like dream sequence in the last ep??? HELLO?????

the girls singing home with leachel's instruments was my favourite scene maybe in cinematic history

[lesbian-spiders]

I wish I was able to tell myself last year, when I was first figuring out I was a system, that I didn't need to interact with anyone online. I didn't need to have a stance on syscourse. I didn't need to have everything figured out right away.

there's a lot of pressure on being able to outwardly organize your system in a way that's easy to understand for others, or you needed to relate to these popular, accepted systems to be "valid" and I don't think that was very helpful for me.

I made a carrd for my system at one point and it felt so... stupid tbh. I didn't make it bc I thought it would be internally helpful, I made it bc I wanted people to know the names of my alters, and then ask questions, get attached to us, and I would get popular online. I wanted to be easily consumable. and I was more focused on that than like.... therapy work.

related: I was in a discord server that was very inclusive and anti-sysmed or whatever and while the inclusivity helped me with not worrying that someone was gonna fakeclaim me when I was so early into being diagnosed, the anti-medicalization kinda got me lost in the reeds. made me feel distrustful of any academic writing on PTSD. CPTSD, and OSDDID. and since I didnt trust that, I could only trust what the people in the server or on twitter were saying. which wasn't always great stuff.

like. the time in the server where I changed my icon to fan art of a character I liked and someone DM'd me saying they formed an introject based off the 3 seconds they saw the fan art. when I sent the whole picture to them, which included another character, they claimed to have an introject of both of them that formed just by seeing the art. they didn't know the characters beforehand.

or the times someone would have loooong conversations between their alters in the main chat channel of the server. about really personal shit. to the point where the mods had to @/everyone to say not to do that because it clogs up the whole channel.

there's so many other things lmao. the only thing I got out of the server was being able to vent about what I was struggling with at the moment.

and then . the more I tried to solidify myself in medicalized osddid communities, feeling some sense of understanding and healing, the less I felt in common with the rad inclus in the server, and I eventually left.

anyway. wish I just let myself *be* for those few months. I wish I hadn't have cared about being easy to consume.

[parcai]

CELIE FROM TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE YEAH !!! man i love her so much she <333 i actually reread tuesdays recently and ive had like. not brainworms exactly but dude i !! all the characters and the castle have so much personality, like in a way i feel like u dont see too often? like, it's like george picked a primary character trait for everyone and built them up around that and it works so well!!! honestly lulath of grath was always my favorite because his name was fun to say and he was (1/?)

he was always so funny ? like, hes all floaty and such and he makes me smile oikredfk but yeah man the stakes are so well done and its another like super believable expression of childhood- celie's fear is always so real, but so are here silly pranks to get back at the council. and its (like willow falls, this is why i associate them ireujkd) one of my favorite portrayals of magic? like. this castle is a person. cope. is one of my favorite things ever its so funny but also like (2/?)

it's genuinely another of my favorite characters? and it has permanently affected the way I view settings/locations in fiction, like to this day i see them as (if not their own person) a representation of the people who live there and i !!!!! man. sorry for clogging your ask box i just have so many feelings abt the castle glower books and i can actually articulate them (which i wish i could do w willow falls ikhrfewd) (3/3)

DON'T BE SORRY i'm smiling SO hard rn 😭😭😭😭💕💕💕💕

ahhh omg i never even put it together but yeah it DOES make sense that i loved both willow falls + tuesdays at the castle: it's the realistic, personable, lovable characters!!! the castle's personality was AMAZING. i remember little more than lulath's name for him 🥲 so i'll have to take ur word on his personality and coolness (i DO remember his rooms expanding bc of his kindness tho and his dogs also) BUT THE CASTLE + CELIE?? i'm RIGHT there w u!! i think it's bc the book just kept getting more and more insane that it was just straight up endearing and celie of course plays practical jokes on enemies bc the idea of waging war in response to intruders is such an adult way of thinking, and so it's so humorous yet realistic and the deep pov and just MM 😤 jessica day george did GOOD with that one

and yeah the idea of a castle having a personality like that, at the time of the book's release, was BRAND new. simply the freshest thing on the market, taking if walls could talk and making it reality, like the whole thing was so creative and done w such genuineness and people's homes ARE fragments of their personalities and the cultivation of their growing up and just 🥺 i remember being like eight or something and going on bike rides (90% sure there was a bike thing in either tuesdays at the castle or wednesdays at the tower) and thinking abt how cool it'd be if my house changed like hers and thinking of all the cool things it'd create just 😭 the nostalgia

i Will be rereading tuesdays at the castle soon <3

[iidsch]

I tend to complain too much on my blog so to compensate I’m gonna make a

✨ List of things I’ve recently watched/played that are pretty good ✨

(putting it under the cut to avoid clogging y'all's dashboards ❤)

Amphibia 🐸

Ongoing series about a girl that gets transported to a world full of frogs. Really unique concept! The worldbuilding is amazing and all the characters are lovely + it has a similar vibe to Gravity Falls in terms of writing/script. It starts as an episodic series but later it develops a very interesting plot 👀🔎 Also it’s currently on season three so the fandom is pretty active!

Выкрутасы / Lucky trouble 💞⚽

Really cute Russian comedy! It’s free with eng subtitles on youtube so that’s already a +1. Literally ignore the argument and the image, the beginning is super misleading and it’s kinda boring? but I promise it gets waaaay better after the first ten minutes. Seriously trust me bro. At the end of the movie you will want to adopt 13 children.

In this corner of the world 🌄🎑

A movie about the life of a Japanese girl during WWII. The animation and style are very soft and the story has a slow pace that lets you enjoy every second of it. It has both endearing and sad scenes without being too tragic nor too light, and it has received praises from Japanese people who lived through the war so if you’re interested in that topic this one is the perfect match for you!

Dark Shadows 🦇🧛‍♂️

Rumors have it that if you haven’t watched Dark Shadows you’ll have your vampire fan license revoked. ICONIC vampire protagonist played by Johnny Depp and ICONIC villain played by Eva Green. The comedy is so XD????? It will make you giggle, or laugh even. The only complaint I have is that it doesn’t have a sequel. Sad.

Clover by Otsu Hiyori 🍀💛

Four short stories about four wlw sisters and their love lives. Super cute and heartwarming!! Pay attention to the names and looks of each character for a nice surprise in every chapter! The tropes featured in this manga will make you 🥺🥺😭😭😭💖💕💖💕💖

Kageki Shoujo!! 🎭

A series about two girls in a musical and theatre school. Despite looking like a cute, drama-free anime it actually handles some of the negative aspects of being a popular girl without being too overdramatic, which is something new for this genre. There’re two trigger warnings for eating disorders and csa, so be careful with that! Also Sarasa owns my entire heart.

Journey to the West: Conquering the demons 👹

Didn’t expect to love this movie as much as I do but here we are! A seemingly heroic tale of a demon hunter which turns into a romantic comedy. Very stupid humor but it’ll make you laugh! Also it has the only trope ever aka strong outgoing girl and weak shy guy fall for each other.

Omori 👁

An actual masterpiece. Da vinci wishes he had made this. Rpg game with a super interesting and gripping story that will definitely make you cry. Also similar vibes to Undertale/Deltarune, there are lots of secrets and unique characters with funny dialogues. HOWEVER BE CAREFUL!!! It’s classified as a psychological horror game and it has a bunch of trigger warnings bcs it deals with very heavy topics so DON’T PLAY THE GAME IF YOU’RE SENSITIVE TO THAT KIND OF CONTENT!! Though if you can don't mind that stuff definitely go give it a try, you won’t regret it.

Girl x Girl x Boy by Kujira 💙💜💖

Pretty self-explanatory title but it’s about a love triangle between two girls and a boy. Very angsty! You will suffer, but it’s worth it because the ending is super cute and it will have you ‘aaawww 🥺’ing for ten minutes.

Psychonauts 2 🧠✨

The definition of fun. To say that the artstyle is the most original style in decades of gaming history falls very short, and you’ll remember every single character because they are all very unique and interesting. The gameplay is super fun too! It’s a platformer about psychic agents (:o!!) with lots of stuff to collect and lots of places to discover, so even after finishing the main story you’ll have plenty of game left. You don’t need to play the first Psychonauts though if you enjoy this one you’ll like the other too!

[vive-la-revolution]

Hey Lee bestie! Hope you're doing well! I'm giving my mutuals who have read the Helpless Trilogy a "few" Q&A type questions to see what their responses coming from a reader's perspective and not just an author's. And also because I'm curious-

If you could be any character from any of the three books based off of your personality, who would it be?

What scene from either three books made you laugh the most, cry the most, angry the most, etc.?

Who was your favorite character?

Who was your LEAST favorite character

Which character did you relate too the most?

What was your favorite scene in Alex's POV in Yrs Forever and least? If you have one of course.

Favorite scene in John's POV in Yrs Forever and least?

When John broke up with Alex, what would you do for him?

Favorite Schuyler Sister?

Favorite member of The Boys?

If you had caught John cheating on Alex during that party at Steuben's, what you have done?

Favorite King's High teacher?

Favorite Chandler Bing act Meade would do? Or has done?

Favorite quote?

Favorite scene with Hamilton and Andre? And least?

Least favorite book out of the three?

If you could, who would you pick to cast as the characters? It can be us mutuals, or actual actresses/actors or whatnot!

Favorite brotherly moment between Lafayette and Alexander?

You don't have to answer all or any of these if you don't want too of course!

okay woah ima put this under a cut so i don’t clog the dash

also this will be very unhelpful there’s been too much going on since i finished reading the series so i don’t remember all of it :/

i’d say the character i’m most similar to is alex, because we’re both ambitious (with terrible mechanisms) and overprotective of the people we care about despite attaching to others too easily

i can’t remember all the scenes but the ones that made me happiest were just the little moments between alex & john, nothing too important, just them enjoying each other. the one that made me angriest was when a) kinloch and john had a little thing or b) andre being a dick

lafayette because i wish i had someone like him

andré, no doubt, he reminds me of my father lmao

like i said in the first one, probably alex

aaaAH i don’t remember all the details fml, it’s been too long

(see above)

for alex? idk, i mean john had his reasons, things were rocky and even though it was a little rash, maybe they did need a break from each other. i guess i’d say that he should give john his space, let him cool down, and not run immediately back to andré because that would only make things worse

angelica just bc i love her

meade & tilghman because they are Iconic with a capital i

*evil noises*

the only one i remember is gwash 🙃

i’ve never seen friends lol

i don’t knoW

favorite is probably when they first met, because obviously things were gonna be shitty, but it was cool to see how it would play out. (or the one at the prison trying to rescue john). least favorite was probably whenever andré tried to manipulate alex (again, because he reminds me of my father)

i couldn’t pick

i don’t know any actors lmfao (random people off google? absolutely. but names? i have no idea who anyone is i don’t give a fuck about famous people)

all of them.

sorry that was a lot of “i don’t know”s and “i don’t remember”s :/

[pain-somnia]

(1)so, i've been re-reading AOY for like, the third time, and i just wanted to tell u how much i appreciate the way you write all of the characters. i feel like you approach them with empathy, or at least an understanding of some sort. like, you don't ignore their flaws or their virtues, you don't get viciously against or in favor of any of them. and even if your fic is focused on Hyde&Jackie and their relationship, u give depth to almost all of the characters,

(2) none of them could be replaced with a cardboard cutout, u know? and the dynamics in the group are fantastic, everyone matters to everyone in one way or another (although there are different degrees of closeness, of course). a long time ago i had started reading the eric/buddy fic u mentioned, and while it was well written and intriguing, i couldn't get past the first few chapters bc i can't handle fics that are too biased (not to say that it was bad, it just wasn't my thing).

(3) plenty of other t7s fanfics are biased too (to a certain extent), which is fine and completely normal, but idk, i just love that u seem to care for everyone at least a little bit. it's one of the things that makes AOY so compelling to me. i'm looking forward to what's next, especially bc i wanna know how Hyde&Jackie are gonna deal with their new-but-not-really relationship,

(4)and i NEED more Buddy&Fez, and Jackie&Donna. i also i have a good guess as to the ship you're gonna introduce, so i'm excited to see how you're gonna tackle them 👀. anyway, i didn't mean for this message to get so long lmao. hope you're doing well 💕.

First, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING MY WORK I’m in awe that you re-read it that much (I’m always in awe when ppl re-read my work)

I’m blushing so hard from your compliments. When I first came up with the idea to do this time travel fic I did mostly focus on Jackie and Hyde but then I started to think about the other characters and how Jackie isn’t entirely selfish and she is a compassionate person, so why shouldn’t relationships with other characters be mentioned or highlighted in some way?

(gonna try and put everything under the cut so I don’t clog up the dash but if it doesn’t work I’m so sorry)

Besides the fact that the show was about the group of friends, a huge bit of inspiration for giving more attention to the other characters especially having them do activities with each other especially outside of the basement actually came from my own years as a teen and into my early 20s. The zenmasters fandom is still really new to me unlike the sasusaku fandom so many don’t know about how I got really sick and lost the closeness I used to have with my irl friends due to my illnesses and inability to do all of the things I used to do with them. This is my way of capturing my love for my old friends in a way.

My home used to have the same feeling as Eric’s basement (every time my family moved my house was still THE house) and I was one of like three friends that were licensed (even up to our mid 20s) and I was the only one everyone fully trusted to drive. So in a way I was the Eric of our friend group especially when you add in my mom’s train of thought when it came to my friends and I which was that she would rather us eat everything in her fridge in kitchen and have her go broke feeding us than for us to be out doing stupid shit. It didn’t stop us from doing stupid shit but that was our life lol

we used to trespass into places (abandoned houses, abandoned asylum, parks and fields and lakes when they were closed at night), I had an ex that stole a golf cart from a security guard cuz it was there and the keys were in the ignition and we all fucking scattered when the guy showed up, we would fuck around at my house or another friend’s house and drinking and weed (and acid and shrooms) were usually involved (I was the mom friend so I always took care of everyone and was designated driver), we went to concerts even if we had to drive to other states and also went to Warped Tour almost every year until I got sick af. We would find the perfect places to watch meteor showers and hold bonfires at a friend’s house (although we did start a bonfire in a soccer field we had no business being in at that time at night).

And we would drive around for hours with no destination. We typically told our parents we were going bowling when we did and we never fucking went bowling lol

There’s so much that we did

This is all the energy of my personal experience being a teenager with access to a minivan and then my own car that really made me think about the T7S gang and even though I want to focus so much on Jackie and Hyde and their romance, I feel like I would be doing such a disservice to the friendships in the show by not having them be actual friends in the story.

I’ve had a friend abandoned by her mother and she moved in with a bf and we all helped her (I had to teach her how to cook rice in a pot cuz her bf didn’t have a rice cooker and my mom made sure she knew she could come live with us if she got fed up with her bf’s family) and my family has opened their home to my friend and her family when they were in between homes. I’ve had to help friends through bad trips. We’ve all had our hearts broken. Some of us have dealt with being queer and learning about our own identities and the struggle with finding out who we really are. I found out my father wasn’t my biological father when I was 20 lol

And we all had each other during those moments. Just like how the T7S gang had each other. So I felt personally invested in making sure to elaborate on moments where they were hanging out and being friends to each other.

And I know. God that fic. Whenever I re-ead that fic I actually skip a lot and my last re-read of it made me feel like I couldn’t read it again just because it is way too biased. Like it completely absolves a certain character of everything and I kind of lost it when Brooke had to apologize to him in the fic....I feel like, you should definitely be able to criticize things that you love and that it doesn’t take away any love to recognize the bad with the good.

Like right now I have to show some bias against Kelso for the part of the story but I keep editing it so it’s not complete hate against him. It’s just for this part of the story he is well just being him which is unfortunately ugly and it has to be ugly until he can grow. But I feel guilty about it lol don’t hate me too much for what he has to go through first

Jackie and Donna. I have such a weak spot for them in my fic mostly because for the longest time I didn’t really have many girl friends. I was always too much of a boy, too weird, too ugly for the other girls so I didn’t have someone I was truly super close with until I was in like 8th grade. And there’s this sisterhood with Jackie and Donna that I wish they did better. Like ignoring s8 completely, there just could have been more. But the sweet moments we got were amazing. I just feel like the writers knew fuck all how to make the girls proper friends without feeling like they were losing the characters and how they were.

i will probably be introducing that ship in chapter 8. I’m just struggling wrapping up the last bit of chapter 7 aka the January 31st part. I’ve just been staring at page 56 and wondering if I’m doing it right.

[carcinoaquarium]

alright kk, don't say i didn't warn you lmao: Dearest Karkat, I am the anon whom you blessed with that dragon age tangent and i was bettered for it bc that tangent was great. When I played da:i I knew jack-all about the characters and literally only chose to be an elven female bc she had the most romantic options and I was going in thinking 'hell yeah imma romance the first available qunari of the series, you kidding me?' (1/7)

And then i chatted w solas and the literal first 'flirt' option w him is to tell him you aren't going to harass him for being an apostate and that was so /sad/ to think about, like he's so...lonely? Not to mention his greatest fear is dying alone?? Also he was hella intelligent and had interesting conversations and was suave as fuck, and I ended up being like "iron bull who?" and got my hEART RIPPED FROM MY CHEST, OW because solas has gotta be one of my fave villains in media to date. (2/7)

Also loghain, whom I didn't really appreciate until after I'd beheaded him. Whoops. Actually, I'd love to keep talking to you about dragon age?? i haven't been able to chat w a new(ish) fan in ages and these games have such depth. (also, dorian was absolutely my inquisitor's moirail, too, tbh. Although that's technically a romantic relationship, and Dorian is gay...? They're def BFFLs, tho, once Dorian was less racist against elves. Everyone in dai was kinda racist against elves.) (3/7)

Actually, elf Inquisitors kind of got a really fucking short stick in da:i. Not only did all of thedas hate them for being an elf, but there wasn't a single elf in that party that didn't challenge and beat on their religion (which is worse if they weren't already questioning it, as my inquisitor was), and even the people you can date don't seem to comfort you once your entire understanding of the world comes crashing down around your eyes. (4/7) (shit, i might hit the ask limit)

To a lesser extent this happens to the dwarves, too! Like, idk if you played the Descent dlc, but spoiler-free the dwarven religion is kind of picked apart and in the Tresspasser sequel we find out the ancient elves did a lot of shitty subjugating of the dwarven race, and not to mention the qunari are implied to be a race made through scientific genetic SPLICING of human and/or elven genes with fucking /dragons/, and it's like?? Man, give these fantasy races a break. (5/7)

Humans were the only ones who weren't really fucked with, they just kinda showed up from the north and invaded thedas while all that other political stuff was going on. But playing as a human's always seemed so boring to me, lmao. Did you play DA:O and DA2, too? (6/7) I feel like 200% nerd power right now,but the amount of effort and heart bioware put into these games is fascinating and i can't help but love dissecting it. Feel free to respond in private if u don't wanna clog ur blog w DA. (7/7)

--

YES. LET’S DO THIS. PROBABLY GOING TO BE A LONG REPLY SO I’LL READ MORE THIS SHIT.

ALTHOUGH I ONLY PERSONALLY PLAYED THROUGH ONE ROMANCE I OF COURSE HAD TO WATCH ALL OF THE COMPILATIONS ON YOUTUBE BECAUSE THAT’S JUST THE KIND OF GLUTTON I AM. SO YEAH. I AM FAMILIAR WITH SOLAS’ ROMANCE ARC. AND MAN I HAVE TO SAY YOU HAD TO BE MASOCHISTIC AS HELL TO RIDE THAT ONE OUT AND ENDURE THE MOST HEARTBREAKING OUTCOME OF THEM ALL. BLACKWALL WAS BAD ENOUGH, BUT AT LEAST, YOU KNOW, IT GETS BETTER IF YOU CHOOSE IT TO. 

DON’T GET ME WRONG, IT PLAYED OUT BEAUTIFULLY. BUT SADFPSDHFHSDF I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE SEE THAT THROUGH. 

AND I SERIOUSLY DID NOT SEE SOLAS’ TURN COMING. IT WAS AMAZING. HE WAS SO CONVINCING THE ENTIRE TIME. JUST THE BOOKISH APOSTATE ELF WHO LIKED TO PAINT MURALS AND FANBOY OVER THE FADE IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER. FUCKING. IAMBIC. PENTAMETER. THAT WAS PRETTY AMAZING. ERIDAN APPRECIATED THAT. ALTHOUGH IT WAS HARD NOT TO THINK OF SOLLUX WHEN WE SAID HIS NAME. ESPECIALLY ERIDAN. 

fuckin sol

BUT HOLY SHIT. I NEVER SAW IT COMING. AND YET WHEN YOU PLAYTHROUGH A SECOND TIME YOU SEE ALL THE LITTLE HINTS. MY SECOND PLAYTHROUGH WAS FULL OF ME SCREAMING AT THE SCREEN 

“OOOOOH, SUUUUUUURE. TELL ME YOUR VAGUE ASS REASON FOR BEING HERE AGAIN, YOU LYING PIECE OF SHIT.”

“I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, DREAD WOLF. GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE.”

“YOU KNOW WHAT? THE FADE IS BORING. SPIRITS ARE BORING.”

“MAYBE I SHOULD SKIP THESE ELVEN PUZZLES THIS TIME, EGGSPONGE. OR MAYBE PISS IN THIS WELL. OR FIGHT THE IMMORTAL ELF DUDE. HMMMM??"

“I’M RUBBING MY BULGE AAAAALLL OVER THIS FEN’HAREL STATUE. YEAH. THAT’S RIGHT. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT??”

“WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GIVE YOU A *HAND* WITH THAT QUEST??? OH I BET YOU WOULD.”

SERIOUSLY THOUGH I THOUGHT THE WAY SOLAS’ CHARACTER ARC UNROLLED WAS MASTERFUL. THE WAY HE PULLS THE INQUISITOR ASIDE NEAR THE END OF THE MAIN GAME TO TELL THEM THAT THEY EXCEEDED HIS EXPECTATIONS AND THAT HE TRULY VALUES THEM AS A FRIEND... I DON’T THINK I’LL EVER REALLY KNOW IF HE MEANT IT BUT I LIKE TO THINK HE DID. AND THAT IT GENUINELY SURPRISED HIM THAT THE PERSON HE WAS OUT TO MANIPULATE NEARLY CHANGED HIS WORLD VIEW IN THE END. THAT’S HOW YOU WRITE A THREE DIMENSIONAL ANTAGONIST.

FFFF. THE RACE SHENANIGANS. DRAGON AGE AND SKYRIM REALLY LIKE TO PLAY UP THE DISCRIMINATION AND OUTRIGHT PERSECUTION OF ELVES, WHICH STANDS IN SHARP CONTRAST TO THE TOLKIENIAN LORE IT ALL STEMS FROM WHERE ELVES ARE (MOSTLY) POWERFUL AND RESPECTED AMONG HUMANS. I LIKE IT THOUGH. IT’S AN INTERESTING SPIN. THE DWARF HATE TOO. I FUCKING LOVED THE WAY THE ORLEASIAN COURT NOT-SO-COVERTLY THREW SHADE AT YOU IN THE WINTER PALACE FOR BEING A DIRTY LOWBLOOD INFERIOR RACE. IT MADE PUTTING THEM ALL IN THEIR PLACE A WHOLE LOT SWEETER. AGAIN. WISH FULFILLMENT.

I HAVE TO AGREE THOUGH THAT THE GAME SOMETIMES KIND OF DID A SHITTY JOB OF ACKNOWLEDGING THE ELF AND DWARF INQUISITORS’ PERSONAL STRUGGLES WITH THEIR RACE, AND I GUESS THAT COMES DOWN TO THE SHIPLOAD OF DIALOGUE CUSTOMIZATION THE DEVS ALREADY HAD ON THEIR PLATE. I REMEMBER BEING ESPECIALLY PISSED OFF TALKING TO DAGNA WHERE SHE FUCKING SEEMED TO FORGET NELLIE WAS *ALSO* A DWARF HALF THE FUCKING TIME. 

AND THEN OTHER TIMES THE GAME WAS RANDOMLY REALLY GOOD IN THAT REGARD. IT WAS HIT AND MISS. ERIDAN DID AN ELF PLAYTHROUGH THAT I SAT IN ON AND I REMEMBER HOW COOL IT WAS BEING ABLE TO INTERACT WITH THE DALISH CLAN IN THAT INSIDER KIND OF WAY. BUT IT’S TRUE THAT PRETTY MUCH NONE OF THE ROMANTIC INTERESTS GIVE YOUR RACE MORE THAN *ONE* PASSING MENTION. CULLEN’S ROMANCE WITH A MAGE PLAYS WAY MORE HEAVILY INTO THINGS THAN SAY THE FACT THAT MALE LAVELLAN CAN DATE A GODDAMN *TEVINTER* ALTUS AND THE SLAVE THING IS BROUGHT UP A GRAND TOTAL OF ONCE.   

AND AS A SIDENOTE THE FACT THAT IF YOU CHOOSE THE NECROMANCER MAGE SPECIALIZATION, DORIAN-THE-GOD-DAMN-NECROMANCER HAS FUCK ALL TO SAY ABOUT IT. EVEN IF YOU ROMANCE HIM. WHICH AMPORA DID. AND HE WAS PISSED. 

SPEAKING OF AMPORA, HE ACTUALLY DID ROLL A HUMAN AT FIRST, BUT FIVE MINUTES IN HE WAS SO BORED WITH HIS CHARACTER HE ALMOST GAVE UP THE GAME FOR GOOD. SO YEAH. I FEEL YOU THERE. 

BUT YEAH. THE SUGAR COATING ON THE CONFECTIONERY ITEM IS DEFINITELY THE FACT THAT THE GAME HINGES ON BASICALLY SOLAS DESTROYING DALISH LEGITIMACY. AND AS A DALISH INQUISITOR IT’S LIKE. OH. OK. SURE. MY LIFE WAS A LIE. NO BIG DEAL. NOW WHO’S READY FOR A VACATION IN TEVINTER BECAUSE BOY HOWDY ME AND MY QUNARI FRIEND ARE DOWN FOR SOME FIRST CLASS NORTHERN HOSPITALITY.

AS MUCH AS I CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT A LOT OF IT I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I NEVER PLAYED THE PREVIOUS GAMES BUT I ABSORBED THE DRAGON AGE WIKI AND I THINK I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT WENT DOWN. I HAVE DA:O AND I DO PLAN ON PLAYING IT SOME TIME.

THE SADDEST PART IS THAT IT SEEMS PRETTY CERTAIN THAT THE SERIES IS PERMA-DEAD. AND I ACTUALLY WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WHERE THEY SEEMED TO BE TAKING IT. IT’S A FUCKING SHAME.