#MAYBE HE HELPED ASIMOV WRITE BETTER FEMALE CHARACTERS????

[prurientpuddlejumper]

I FOUND AN EASTER EGG IN THE FOUNDATION SERIES!!!!!!!

feels like my weirdly specific knowledge of old-timey sci-fi just paid off

Near the end of Second Foundation (1953), the First Speaker off-handedly mentions that something is “a consequence of Leffert’s Theorem.” 

George Lefferts was another sci-fi writer, at the time, most famous for adapting stories to radio for the series Dimension X (1950-1951), which featured stories by Isaac Asimov. 

I did not know that they were friends & I can’t find anything online suggesting they were friends, but -- there was literally no reason to mention “Leffert’s Theorem” otherwise; it was just some technobabble. THEY WERE FRENNNNS!!! 

[madseance]

King is pretty harsh on Carrie the book in general, which isn't surprising given that it's a first novel, but all I can really say about this being a mischaracterization is that, at worst, I've got the order of events slightly wrong in terms of what went into the story. But I'm looking at On Writing right now, so I'll just relay exactly what he says.

He had worked briefly as a janitor in a high school when he was about 19 or 20, and was struck by the differences between the girls' and boys' showers—primarily that the girls had shower curtains for privacy, and also the tampon dispenser in the restroom. He was remembering this when he first got the idea for a scene in which a girl gets her period in the showers, but one without privacy screens, and she doesn't know what's happening, and the other girls start making fun of her and throwing tampons at her, and "fights back... but how?" Which is when he brings the magazine article about poltergeist activity into it, and thinks he might actually have a decent idea for a short story. But he found it hard to write for a number of reasons, including:

I didn’t much like the lead character. Carrie White seemed thick and passive, a ready-made victim. The other girls were chucking tampons and sanitary napkins at her, chanting “Plug it up! Plug it up!” and I just didn’t care. ... I couldn’t see wasting two weeks, maybe even a month, creating a novella I didn’t like and wouldn’t be able to sell. So I threw it away.

Which is when Tabitha rescues it from the trash and tells him to keep going. And that's when King's dislike of Carrie White comes into some context:

I never got to like Carrie White and I never trusted Sue Snell’s motives in sending her boyfriend to the prom with her, but I did have something there. Like a whole career. Tabby somehow knew it, and by the time I had piled up fifty single-spaced pages, I knew it, too.

He talks about the important things he learned from writing this book:

But none of them taught me the things I learned from Carrie White. The most important is that the writer’s original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader’s. Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.

And this is when he brings in those memories of the girls in his high school to help him understand the character better:

And I also helped myself, digging back to my memories of high school (my job teaching English didn’t help; I was twenty-six by then, and on the wrong side of the desk), remembering what I knew about the two loneliest, most reviled girls in my class—how they looked, how they acted, how they were treated. Very rarely in my career have I explored more distasteful territory.

In this version he calls "Tina" Dodie, and also mentions a brother named Bill.

The other girls made fun of her, at first behind her back and then to her face. Teasing became taunting. The boys weren’t a part of it; we had Bill to take care of (yes, I helped—not a whole lot, but I was there).

And finally:

I never liked Carrie, that female version of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but through Sondra and Dodie I came at last to understand her a little. I pitied her and I pitied her classmates as well, because I had been one of them once upon a time.

The point, really, is that how he personally feels about Carrie as a character, and how he wrote her, are two different things. Not totally separate things—for one thing, I think King, like a lot of male writers (Isaac Asimov comes to mind), betrays a degree of deep-seated misogyny in how he incidentally describes female characters—but distinct enough to be worth considering separately, too. He found her unpleasant, but he did also make an effort to understand her and flesh her out beyond his original impression of her.

And the original charge here wasn't just that he disliked her (true) or found her, at least initially, pitiful (true), but that he wrote her as "a horrible terrible disturbed woman beyond redemption". I think it's pretty clear, at least, that that was not King's angle on Carrie White. Of course we could get into the issue of how writers are unreliable narrators of their own process (which is also addressed in On Writing), but that's the only primary source we have to go on.

I'm not going to go into a deep textual analysis of Carrie itself to see whether this holds up (although maybe for the other blog?), but I don't think the story works if Carrie is irredeemable. As I recall, the dramatic tension is based on the reader thinking maybe Carrie can get control of her powers, maybe she can survive high school; but what's done to her at that critical moment at prom, and how she reacts, is what seals her fate. What would've happened to Carrie if she'd made it through prom? That's a subject for someone else to explore, but the fact that it's a question at all seems counter to the idea that she's written as irredeemable.

yes carrie killed over 400 people ok. thats bad i know. but have you considered that i feel really bad for her :(

[qaraxuanzenith]

On Representation: A review of The Tyrant’s Tomb

It’s still too early to go to sleep and I have nothing better to productively do, so: time for me to rant angrily about representation.

IMPORTANT WARNING: this will include some (probably minor?) spoilers for The Tyrant’s Tomb by Rick Riordan. Since I’m pretending it’s a review of that book even though it is really just my angry thoughts about representation that were prompted by it. There will also be (definitely minor) spoilers about a character in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series.

Edit: this rant is long, in addition to the spoilers, so please (but actually, please) read it after the cut.

Okay. First of all: I enjoyed The Tyrant’s Tomb. I’ve been loving the Trials of Apollo series, and this is no exception, and I’m excited for the next book. But.

I have ranted, a lot, about representation before, because I so rarely see Jewish characters in books not written exclusively by and for Jews, and even rarer do I see observant Jewish characters in any media not created exclusively by and for Orthodox Jews. And obviously, I want to feel reflected in at least some of the mainstream media I consume.

The important preface to this rant is a quick review, though I have discussed this, too, before, of the intense pleasure and pain brought on by reading the character of Samirah al-Abbas in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase books. Samirah was almost, almost, almost the Holy Grail of “observant religious character” that I had described, almost to a T, of what I am constantly seeking in media: she was a major character, whose religion was a major part of her life in tangible ways throughout the books - from wearing her hijab, to observing modesty in her interactions with her fiance, to performing heroics while fasting for Ramadan - and yet who was characterized well enough that her religion, while inextricably an important part of her life, wasn’t her entire character, either. It was beautiful; it was magnificently done.

And it broke my heart. Because God knows observant Muslim people have deserved Samirah for so long; but her existence on these pages only drove home to me that what I was looking for was possible and yet, impossibly, I still didn’t have it. Samirah was fantastic, but she still wasn’t the representation that I was looking for: I wanted, and still want, those traits, but for a Jewish character, in whom I can see something of myself. I want Samirah, but I want that for me, too.

Flip ahead a couple years (and a few more representation in media rants) to me picking up and reading The Tyrant’s Tomb. I’d pre-ordered it in the summer, while ordering a few books as a birthday present to my sister, and promptly forgotten about it, so when it arrived, it was like a delightful gift from Past Me.

I started reading, and I was so, so excited when the character of Lavinia was introduced, right near the beginning of the book. Right away, Riordan telegraphed that she was both Jewish and queer, with the Magen David necklace and her interest in a female dryad. I was primed and ready to both love her and see myself in her.

And then I was let down.

Now, before I dig deep into the many ways in which Lavinia was a complete and utter disappointment, I want to offer an important caveat, referring to my preface about Samirah. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m castigating Riordan for trying, when so many other mainstream writers don’t. At least he made her canonically Jewish on-page, rather than hiding behind a Jewish-sounding last name and then declaring it to be the truth off-page (looking at you, Rowling and Anthony Goldstein). At least there is a Jewish character in his books (looking at... almost every other mainstream YA fantasy series I’ve ever read not written by Jews).

But the thing is, we raise our expectations of people based on what we know they are capable of. I’m a teacher; a level 3 “Meets Expectations” is going to look different for my academically-struggling student who is working really hard to improve, as opposed to my bookworm student who started the year off by turning in a long and erudite personal essay.

Most of those other mainstream YA fantasy writers, I don’t have any expectations of. Whereas Rick Riordan, the man who created Samirah al-Abbas: I know exactly what he is capable of. Which is why it hurts so much more that, when it comes to a Jewish character, he falls so strikingly short.

I’ll be fair: I wasn’t expecting a second, Jewish Samirah from him. That wouldn’t be reasonable. I would like that, someday, from someone, but that will have to be in someone else’s book; it wouldn’t make sense for Riordan to retread the exact same ground, and I understand that.

And Lavinia didn’t have to be observant - as I’ve recognized, he already has Samirah for that. But I was hoping, expecting, for her to be something more than Jewish In Name Only. (Strike that: she may have been Jewish on-page, but Riordan never even used the J word. He wrote around it. Why? I don’t know. Presumably not just to disappoint me.)

So what’s wrong with Lavinia? And how could he have done better with her?

Great news: I’ve got a bulleted list to help with that, starting with the simple and working our way up.

To start with: her last name. I’ve been going over and over this dozens of times, and I still can’t quite work out why, for his one Jewish character, Riordan decided to give her the last name of one of the most famous Jewish speculative fiction writers, and then (a) never once acknowledge this connection, and (b) acknowledge that she shares her name with a famous Jewish... fictional dancer. Why Asimov, if he wasn’t going to say anything at all about the Asimov?

Continuing with her name: her first name. I get that Riordan likes to give Romanesque names to the Roman demigods, but this overlooks the fact that the demigods are almost always named by their human parent; and while Sally Jackson had her reasons for naming her son after a Greek hero, most Jewish parents will give their child a Jewish name, if not the actual name of a recently-deceased relative. But okay. Fine. I wouldn’t want to mess with the thematic naming in the book; but how about a name that evokes the intersection of Roman and Jewish history: Salome, or Salome Alexandra, for instance?

Speaking of that intersection of Roman and Jewish: I’m still too relieved at finding a Jewish character, any Jewish character, in his books, to be offended that this Jewish character ends the book as a centurion in a Roman army, but - she should be. Lavinia should, at some point in the book, have expressed discomfort at the Roman side of her heritage, as it intersects with her Jewish culture and history. And it would have been so easy: throughout the book, Lavinia has problems with authority and with the structures of the Legion in particular. Just once, she could have defended that rebelliousness - honestly or not - with a reference to how the Roman legions once destroyed her people’s Temple, razed her homeland, and subjugated her people with an exile that is still, in many ways, ongoing to this day. Not in so many words, obviously; I’m not asking Riordan to write it the way I did. Just something like “Yeah, well, Roman Legions and Jews aren’t usually a good mix.” Or here’s another way she could have expressed her Roman discomfort: in that conversation about awkwardness. Instead of “You want awkward? Try telling your Rabbi that you’re taking a girl as your date to your Bat Mitzvah,” she could have said: “You want awkward? Try being a Jewish demigod.” “You want awkward? Try being a queer Jew in a Roman legion.”

SPEAKING OF THAT INSANE AND PERPLEXING COMMENT ABOUT RABBIS AND BAT MITZVAHS, I have so so so many problems with that line:

First of all, given the premise that Lavinia as written is very clearly not an observant Jew by any means or interpretation, and does not appear to have any Jewish community ties, it is strange to me that she speaks about having a rabbi. Typically, people who have a rabbi are either (a) observant people who go to this rabbi with religious questions, or (b) community-oriented people who see the rabbi of their community (or another chosen spiritual leader in their chosen community) as their rabbi. Lavinia appears to be neither, so why “try telling your rabbi that...” and not, say, “try telling the rabbi at your shul that...”?

Okay but forget whose rabbi this is: why is she telling the rabbi about her date? Why is that necessary? For those (like Rick Riordan??) unfamiliar with what a Bat Mitzvah is: A Bat Mitzvah is actually the term for a (female) person who has reached the age of religious responsibility in Judaism, and it happens automatically when a girl turns 12 (and for a boy - Bar Mitzvah - when he turns 13). But okay, I’ll stop being so pedantic, and agree that Riordan, and Lavinia, were obviously referring to the party that is commonly held to celebrate this milestone. But that’s all it is: a party celebrating a milestone. Although there is often a prayer service and/or a Torah reading, there is no ritual aspect to a Bat Mitzvah celebration. Other than, again, perhaps the prayer service / Torah reading, there is definitely nothing you would need to inform a rabbi of. You would definitely not be telling the rabbi about your guest list, unless the rabbi is your parent/guardian / the person paying for the party.

But never mind who she’s telling about her date: did you miss the part where I noted that a Bat Mitzvah is for a girl turning twelve. Speaking as somebody who has celebrated a Bat Mitzvah for myself, and who has attended many such celebrations as a guest, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt: you do not invite a date to this event, whether you are a guest or the girl of honour. For one thing, you are twelve. Twelve is too young to be bringing dates! For another, you’re going to a party full of twelve-year-olds, where there will be maybe a prayer service and then a nice meal and then probably a bunch of twelve-year-olds bopping around to some obnoxiously loud music. I get Lavinia’s trying to let us know she was already very gay when she was twelve, but that does not explain bringing a date, female or otherwise, to her own Bat Mitzvah. Just ask the girl as a normal guest and then awkwardly ask her to dance, for heaven’s sake!

In conclusion, that entire sentence made no sense, and it really only accomplished two things: (a) it gave me the impression, rightly or wrongly, that Riordan knows absolutely nothing about Judaism; and (b) it strongly implied, unfairly, that rabbis in general are homophobic, which it why it was so awkward for Lavinia to tell her rabbi about her nonsensical date.

Throughout the book, Lavinia’s big crusade is ecological safety, protecting the nature spirits and the environment, and the homeless people living in the park who would be impacted by the Emperors’ attacks. It would have been so easy to infuse this important aspect of her personality with her Jewishness, by just letting her throw around the term “tikun olam” in that context. It would have absolutely fit with the culturally-not-religiously Jewish air he was clearly going for, and it would have made her seem 10,000% more authentically Jewish to me, with just, my God, two words added to the entire book.

You want another way to make her seem more realistically, three-dimensionally Jewish? How about, oh, I dunno, her one Jewish parent? (By the way: it has not slipped my attention that Lavinia’s one Jewish parent is her father, meaning that except by Reform definitions, she’s not, technically, Jewish at all; just canonically connected to Jewish culture. Are paternal Jews who consider themselves Jewish valid and Jewish? Of course. Am I nonetheless extremely disappointed that he’s managed to water down the Jewishness of his one Jewish character in 20+ books in this additional way? Absolutely.) Apollo showed great interest in asking her about her father, the famous Asimov... dancer (I’m sorry, I still can’t get over that he named her Asimov and did not make a single reference to Asimov; is Isaac Asimov the only Jew he’s ever heard of or something???). She could have alluded to his Jewishness. “Yeah, Sergei’s still mad that I stopped coming to our Asimov family Seders.”

Instead, other than the absurd-and-mildly-offensive rabbi-and-Bat-Mitzvah line, what is the only evidence we have that Lavinia even is of Jewish descent? Ah, yes. The thing that got me so excited in the first place, as - or so I thought - a hint of Jewishness to come: her Magen David necklace. Except of course, Riordan only ever calls it a “Star of David,” because - okay, that’s what Apollo would call it in his narration, and of course Lavinia never said a word about it, despite all the times she played with it. Never explained where she got it from, or why she wore it, or what made it so important to her. So it had no sentimental or cultural value conveyed to the reader. It was just a visual cue to tell us: “Jewish character.” It was as anemic and anodyne a way of making her Jewish as the Menorah-on-the-Mantelpiece trick that I’ve often complained about in TV shows that want to suddenly establish a character is Jewish - except worse, because at least with a Menorah on the mantel, we’ve got the implication that somebody lights it (if it’s a Chanukiyah) on Chanukah. This is just a star, on a necklace.

In conclusion: Lavinia could have been great. She could have been a queer Jewish demigod, passionate about nature and about tikun olam, complex and uncomfortable with her role as a Jewish person in the Legion despite her absolute commitment to helping her friends survive the attack and defeat their dangerous enemies.

Instead, she was a disappointment. She was characterized well, for what she was. But what she was was a girl with a necklace. A queer Roman demigod with a famous dancer father.

I started this rant expecting to call her Jewish in name only. But she wasn’t even that.

Perhaps it’s unfair of me to call Lavinia a disappointment, from how anemic her Jewishness was. The real disappointment in The Tyrant’s Tomb was Rick Riordan.

[dominant-muses-rp]

Looking for RP to help me through the quarantine! [MxM]

Hello lovely person reading this!

Due to the virus quarantine I suddenly find myself with a lot of extra time on my hand and what better way to spend that time than by roleplaying? I'm really looking for something more fast-paced at the moment, especially since I'm stuck at home with nothing to do. I'll go into just exactly what I'm looking to RP, but first of all, a little about me: 

I'm female, 21+ and my time zone is GMT+1. I'm an experienced writer and roleplayer of 10+ years. I exclusively write in 3rd person/past tense and would prefer for you to do the same. 

English isn't my first language but I'm pretty comfortable with it and I always try to keep mistakes to a minimum. Despite that, I hope you will excuse the occasional mistake! I would really prefer for you to have good spelling/grammar as well, but of course I'm not super pedantic about it and don't mind typos from time to time. Nobody's perfect, after all! 

I'm normally not super available due to real-life obligations but because I  can't go to work and uni at the moment I have a *lot* of extra time to spend on roleplaying so while I usually prefer slower-paced RPs (think something between one reply per day to once every couple of days) at the moment I'm mostly looking for a more 'rapid-fire' one, so similar time zones would be great but aren't a must. 

I'm a literate RPer who can write posts up to around 1,500 words if this is what my partner prefers but since I'm looking for a fast-paced RP at the moment. I would prefer to stick to shorter posts. I'm fine with any length, as long as your replies aren't just one-liners. 

Due to the whole quarantine situation I'm fine with doing a short-term RP, although I usually prefer having long-term partners! 

I love chatting OOC, not only to discuss plot-related stuff but also to get to know who I am RPing with but it's not mandatory and if you'd rather not that's A-okay!

I prefer character-focused RPs,  I'm not too good at writing action scenes and I tend to get bored of those rather quickly. I'd rather concentrate on my character's feelings and his interactions with your character and focus on exploring their dynamic. 

I prefer MxM pairings. I'm fine with smut but it's not a must and we can fade to black. My characters tend to be switches who mainly top but if they do bottom they're more along the lines of "power bottoms". In any case, they won't just lie there and need your character to do all the work for them. 

I love conflict/tension in my RPs and I also love exploring more "philosophical" themes in them.  Angst, Hurt & Comfort and similar genres are absolutely welcome as well!

Now, let's go to what I'm craving the most right now:

I would very much like a RP that focuses on a (consensual) Dom/Sub relationship. I would like to play the dominant character for this one. This can involve a lot of smut (but doesn't have to!) but ideally I would really like to also explore the non-sexual aspects of the dynamic between our characters. 

I would say most of my limits are the "normal" ones you usually see, and I  don't think I'm super kinky (I would rather not include too many "out there" ones) but we can discuss more in detail in private. 

Some dynamics I enjoy (none of these are a must):

    -  the sub being rather shy/timid

    -  the sub being physically stronger/bigger than the dom

     -  the dom being a little uncertain of what he wants in the beginning/needing            to find himself as a dom

Other ideas I'd like to explore:

Soulmates:  

I love exploring soulmate AUs, I'm a sucker for all variations of this trope but I've been thinking about an idea for a society that places each member of a bonded pair in one of two categories, and members of one category are treated as lesser in society/expected to serve their other half. For this I would love to explore our characters maybe fighting against such expectations in society but I'm open to other ideas as well! 

Royal x Servant, Royal x Knight: 

Especially if the characters have known each other since childhood or combined with the soulmate trope! I really enjoy the idea of "devotion", of onecharacter swearing to serve another for the rest of his life. 

Androids: 

I really love exploring the morality of androids/AI and what makes something sentient. This can be based on established media (e.g. Isaac  Asimov, Detroit: Become Human), but doesn't have to be. I do have an idea for this one (would be an Android x Android pairing) but I'd be open for other ideas as well.

Escaped slave: 

This has been an idea I've had for a long time. Your character would be an escaped slave (or maybe a slave my character somehow came into possession of) and my character would be an abolitionist who is against slavery and tries to help your character heal. This would be more hurt/comfort-focused. 

I would prefer not to RP anything involving child abuse, underage characters in sexual situations, incest and similar themes. (I'm fine with these things being part of your  character's back story and your character dealing with the after-effects  of them but I don't want to actively RP them!).  

I'm also exclusively looking for MxM pairings, so please don't contact me if you're looking for someone to RP a MxF plot with!  And please be at least 18+.I don't feel comfortable RPing with anyone younger, even if the RP doesn't have any smut in it.

Fandoms: Harry  Potter, Supernatural, Dragon Age, Detroit: Become Human, Vampires: the  Masquerade, Merlin (BBC), Kuroshitsuji, Hannibal, DC/Batman, Joker

At the moment I'm also really into RPing as the Joker so it would be cool to play him against someone else! (Of course I'm also completely open to  playingOCs or other canon characters)

Other pairings: 

Elder Vampire x Fledgling Vampire Vampire x Human   Vampire x Human Servant Human x Demon Hero x Villain Villain x Civilian Mafia Boss x Mafioso working for him Mafioso x Civilian ...  (Make a suggestion!) 

I would prefer for you to already have a plot in mind (or at least a  vague idea of what you want to roleplay) before contacting me! 

Thank you for reading all of this! Have a great day & stay safe and healthy!

Contact: 

E-mail: violetlillies [at] yandex [dot] com Discord: hatshepsut [hashtag] 2330 

[fyrapartnersearch]

Looking for RPs to help me through quarantine-related boredom! [MxM]

Hello lovely person reading this!

Due to the virus quarantine I suddenly find myself with a lot of extra time on my hand and what better way to spend that time than by roleplaying? I'm really looking for something more fast-paced at the moment, especially since I'm stuck at home with nothing to do. I'll go into just exactly what I'm looking to RP, but first of all, a little about me:

I'm female, 21+ and my time zone is GMT+1. I'm an experienced writer and roleplayer of 10+ years. I exclusively write in 3rd person/past tense and would prefer for you to do the same. 

English isn't my first language but I'm pretty comfortable with it and I always try to keep mistakes to a minimum. Despite that, I hope you will excuse the occasional mistake! I would really prefer for you to have good spelling/grammar as well, but of course I'm not super pedantic about it and don't mind typos from time to time. Nobody's perfect, after all! 

I'm normally not super available due to real-life obligations but because I  can't go to work and uni at the moment I have a *lot* of extra time to spend on roleplaying so while I usually prefer slower-paced RPs (think something between one reply per day to once every couple of days) at the moment I'm mostly looking for a more 'rapid-fire' one, so similar time zones would be great but aren't a must. 

I'm a literate RPer who can write posts up to around 1,500 words if this is what my partner prefers but since I'm looking for a fast-paced RP at the moment I would prefer to stick to shorter posts. I'm fine with any length, as long as your replies aren't just one-liners. 

Due to the whole quarantine situation I'm fine with doing a short-term RP, although I usually prefer having long-term partners! 

I love chatting OOC, not only to discuss plot-related stuff but also to get to know who I am RPing with but it's not mandatory and if you'd rather not that's A-okay!

I prefer character-focused RPs,  I'm not too good at writing action scenes and I tend to get bored of those rather quickly. I'd rather concentrate on my character's feelings and his interactions with your character and focus on exploring their dynamic. 

I prefer MxM pairings. I'm fine with smut but it's not a must and we can fade to black. My characters tend to be switches who mainly top but if they do bottom they're more along the lines of  "power bottoms". In any case, they won't just lie there and need your character to do all the work for them. 

I love conflict/tension in my RPs and I also love exploring more "philosophical" themes in them.  Angst, Hurt & Comfort and similar genres are absolutely welcome as well!

Now, let's go to what I'm craving the most right now:

I would very much like a RP that focuses on a (consensual) Dom/Sub relationship. I would like to play the dominant character for this one. 

This can involve a lot of smut (but doesn't have to!) but ideally I would really like to also explore the non-sexual aspects of the dynamic between our characters. 

I would say most of my limits are the "normal" ones you usually see, and I  don't think I'm super kinky (I would rather not include too many "out there" ones) but we can discuss more in detail in private. 

Some dynamics I enjoy (none of these are a must):

the sub being rather shy/timid

the sub being physically stronger/bigger than the dom

the dom being a little uncertain of what he wants in the beginning/needing to find himself as a dom

Other ideas I'd like to explore:

Soulmates:  

I love exploring soulmate AUs, I'm a sucker for all variations of this trope but I've been thinking about an idea for a society that places each member of a bonded pair in one of two categories, and members of one category are treated as lesser in society/expected to serve their other half. For this I would love to explore our characters maybe fighting against such expectations in society but I'm open to other ideas as well! 

Royal x Servant, Royal x Knight: 

Especially if the characters have known each other since childhood or combined with the soulmate trope! I really enjoy the idea of "devotion", of one character swearing to serve another for the rest of his life. 

Androids: 

I really love exploring the morality of androids/AI and what makes something sentient. This can be based on established media (e.g. Isaac  Asimov, Detroit: Become Human), but doesn't have to be. I do have an idea for this one (would be an Android x Android pairing) but I'd be open for other ideas as well.

Escaped slave: 

This has been an idea I've had for a long time. Your character would be an escaped slave (or maybe a slave my character somehow came into possession of) and my character would be an abolitionist who is against slavery and tries to help your character heal. This would be more hurt/comfort-focused. 

I would prefer not to RP anything involving child abuse, underage characters in sexual situations, incest and similar themes. (I'm fine with these things being part of your  character's back story and your character dealing with the after-effects  of them but I don't want to actively RP them!).  

I'm also exclusively looking for MxM pairings, so please don't contact me if you're looking for someone to RP a MxF plot with!  And please be at least 18+. I don't feel comfortable RPing with anyone younger, even if the RP doesn't have any smut in it

Fandoms: Harry  Potter, Supernatural, Dragon Age, Detroit: Become Human, Vampires: the  Masquerade, Merlin (BBC), Kuroshitsuji, Hannibal, DC/Batman, Joker

At the moment I'm also really into RPing as the Joker so it would be cool to play him against someone else! (Of course I'm also completely open to  playing OCs or other canon characters)

Other pairings: Elder Vampire x Fledgling Vampire Vampire x Human   Vampire x Human Servant Human x Demon Hero x Villain Villain x Civilian Mafia Boss x Mafioso working for him Mafioso x Civilian ...  (Make a suggestion!) 

I would prefer for you to already have a plot in mind (or at least a  vague idea of what you want to roleplay) before contacting me! 

Thank you for reading all of this! Have a great day & stay safe and healthy!

Contact: E-mail: violetlilliesrp [at] gmail [dot] com Discord: hatshepsut [hashtag] 2330