#also what's the line between roleplay and actual people because that's confused me a bit as well

[welcometoparkerplays]

Hey guys so I'm rejoining the Life SMP series fandom after like 8 years away from it, having only watched LDShadowLady's perspective of the first One Life and Double Life series when I was younger

I'm currently watching LDShadowLady, SmallishBeans, GoodTimesWithScar, and Grian's perspectives of the Wild Life SMP

Can someone please give me a quick rundown on all that I've missed 😅

[blockgamepirate]

I have so many thoughts about Purgatory and how it's being handled, but I'm also too tired to write a proper post

Here's a bunch of rambling instead:

idk like I think the thing they did successfully was reinvigorating the QSMP project (I think, idk what the actual numbers are tbh, I'm just going by vibes). It's a very dramatic event and it's constantly changing. No two days are the same as I said earlier. They also brought together people who hadn't interacted much before and gave everyone a break from the staleness of a seven month old server. And the mystery aspect keeps people engaged, even almost unwillingly so I think.

It's spectacle, it's hype

But....

I do think the way it was handled, even taking it for granted that this was all a good idea, as far as I can tell, the players were not warned in any way that they would be suddenly thrown into a completely new gamemode? Live on stream? A gamemode that's explained very poorly to them so most of them have no idea what's happening or how they're supposed to play it? That's harsh. It's no wonder a bunch of them didn't take it well! And some of them might have if they'd been given a bit more of a warning or had a better explanation! People are generally more open to new things if they're not just suddenly pushed into it.

They didn't sign up for this kind of pseudo-battle dome type of thing, they signed up for an SMP. Usually when SMPs do competitive events, the players are told ahead of time and are allowed to opt out. But with this? If you opt out, you're fucking over your team, because you already got assigned to one and if you're not logging on, your team has one less player.

Also the viewers too would probably have responded better with a bit more of an explanation. Like if you're showing up for a mystery thriller in the movie theatre, you'd be pretty pissed off if it turned out it was actually a sports tournament. And most would probably just leave the theatre. And then the people who heard that it was a sports tournament and came in going oh boy I sure do love me some sports, would be pretty pissed off when it turned out it was actually a mystery thriller masquerading as a sports tournament after all.

Okay maybe that analogy is a bit weird and exaggerated and unfair but like.... what even is this event actually?

And that's my next point: Like separating it from all the stuff I just said about needing to reinvigorate the server, what is the point of doing it like this? The players themselves don't seem sure what's expected of them, should they be roleplaying or should they just have fun competing and ignore the lore?

I get the impression that it was intended to be possible to play either way depending on the streamer, but the thing is that this makes both options frustrating. You can't fully roleplay because have to play along with the game and you can't just fully commit to the competition because it's so full of lore elements and badly designed from a competitive point of view (I mean look at Sunday's surprise elimination round when a bunch of greens were busy, which I feel is the most ridiculous example of this. But also Soulfire getting targetted by the kill quests for seemingly no reason. And then there's the cursed team aspect: what the hell are you even supposed to do with that as a competitive player? So much of it is so stupid. But it's also not balanced in a way that would be fun for casual play either.)

Not to mention the fact that when you have people who want to roleplay and people who don't, there's absolutely going to be clashes, and you also end up blurring the line between roleplay and reality. And of course the audience will be confused and won't get it, either way.

Okay, a very simple example that I think was already dropped: Etoiles attacking Phil and Phil taking it as Lore while Etoiles was just having fun playing video games. I think they basically just resolved it by Phil letting it go (which is the correct take IMO), but you can see why this kind of thing is a problem, right? Because if the person who wants to roleplay interprets it as roleplay, they're effectively godmodding the other person's character, which is bad rp etiquette. But then if they can't interpret it as roleplay it means they basically just can't actually roleplay.

You can't have some characters roleplaying and others not, at least not unless you've made that clear between the players and also to the audience.

Also I just have to point out that even though QSMP doesn't have an activity requirement, I do feel like they have a bad habit of creating events that effectively create psychological and social pressure to log on and play along with whatever they throw at you. This was a problem with the egg event; suddenly you have a Minecraft baby that you have to take care of every day with another person you've probably only known for like two weeks (if you get a partner at all) OR THE BABY DIES AND THE FANDOM WILL HATE YOU.

And this is kinda similar; you don't have to log on but you're letting your team down if you don't!

Except this time the fandom will also probably hate you if you do.

idk. I think it's a mess that could have been (somewhat) avoided by just not being so obsessed with mystery and surprises and letting at least the streamers know ahead of time what they were getting into and letting them choose whether they wanted to play at all in the first place or not, and also actually setting up some guidelines for figuring out what was roleplay and what wasn't.

And maybe putting together some kind of a trailer for the viewers so they'll have even a rough idea of what the concept is and would be a bit more prepared for it. (They could just say the trailer is non-canon, it's fine)

The streamers can still act surprised in character, you can just tell them to not let the audience know exactly what's coming and to pretend like they don't know anything. I mean there could still be surprises like the teams and the exact mechanics of the game and the specifics of the lore. I just think the players should know something about what they're getting into. It's just common courtesy.

(But also the event itself could have been better designed)

And maybe you can set up something where only the streamers who signed up for the event actually end up on Egg Island, and the others conveniently were all in a car that got detached from the train on the way so now they've ended up somewhere different and maybe they just have like a low-maintenance temporary server to play on casually if they want to, maybe with some subtle lore elements that they can discover. You could do something weird with that too, like maybe the car got derailed into an ocean and they end up in a waterworld sort of place and have to figure out how to play in that kind of environment for two weeks; challenging but chill. (idk it's a random idea but something like that could be fun for a very limited time, and imagine the memes.)

Anyway, obligatory end note: I do genuinely respect the work the admin team put into this project. It's a lot, it's very ambitious, and it often pays off. They're also very good about responding to feedback which is great. I just think that they do make a lot of frustrating mistakes, or what I would consider mistakes. (There are other things I could complain about but that's another post)

Also I do think Purgatory would have worked better if it had happened earlier in the egg disappearance arc, but I fully understands why it took so long. There isn't much you can do about scheduling issues. Can't criticise the admins for that.

[single-malt-scotch]

i'm in agreement with what you've put on your blog about hermitcraft not being an rp server- it just isn't and i'm kind of sick of new age mcyt fans treating it as such. i am curious though about where you draw the line (or even if you do draw a line) between rpf and "character" fanfiction. as you've mentioned, fans are the ones taking the improv bits in videos, creating their own "lore" out of it, and shipping those characters together. obviously, the lore characters are very much linked to their youtuber counterparts, but it's not like most hermitshippers want the real life grown men and women to kiss each other or even are referring to the actual flesh and blood youtubers in their fanmedia (the term cubito from spanish mcyt/qsmp folks comes to mind). do you personally consider this to be rpf?

the rpf topic in this situation is veryyyy hard to make a conclusive answer on and the one i make is one i think people shouldnt take as fact, everyone can decide personally what it means for them. my constant mindset, due to the subjective thoughts, just ends up being "is it rpf? maybe. i dont know. i dont care anymore" but i can explain more of what i really do think

considering i came from 2011~ minecraft youtube there was no concept of "characters" for youtubers outside of blatant series like... shadow of israphel and a bit later, lords of minecraft. there was nothing comparable to what we have today in terms of roleplay. they were still The Person just in minecraft and many of us back then, myself included, called it rpf. and we even wrote fics outside of the minecraft settings-- we wrote stuff in the real world, but it all just looked the same to us because we did not have any separation between a person and a character made out of them. it was the youtuber to me, whether or not i throw them into a lore heavy high fantasy AU (which i did lol), it did not come off any different to me than the fics written about them chilling at minecon.

i took a number of years away from this fandom and so the change like... oof it was a lot to understand. it confused me a lot (still does), i did not at all get this idea of separating them into their own character. the thing is, the extent to which people do so is again, subjective.... but for the most part the point nowadays is to say its not the Real Person at all anymore, even if the difference is only that there is absolutely no mention of the outside world and it is often heavily enforced to remember it is Not the real guy.

and thats where it just gets complicated. whenever i write i always generally imply its a game. and if its not a game i still think of it as guys playing a game. they are behind a screen and i may even reference the real world. so for me? yeah, its in the vein of rpf if we're looking at it that way. people who create a fictional realm with the guys made into characters that fit into this crafted world, well i guess its not... or is it?

the whole topic of saying hc isnt roleplay isnt to scare everyone into realizing they were writing rpf the whole time. but kinda to say- one stop being afraid of the label rpf. and two honestly i define "rpf" fandoms as a fandom built around real people. mcyt is built around real people. no matter how much you do make a character out of the youtuber its still in many regards.... the youtuber.

so yeah this isnt a conclusive answer some may want. short: it is always rpf because i define rpf as being a fandom based around real people. when it comes down to specific content (headcanons, fics, art) its totally fine and makes sense to not consider it that individually but in an overall sense i would categorize it as such because i also grew from an mcyt fandoms who saw it that way

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

completely brainless 1am ramble

On the topic of stagnation, and the geopolitical plot vs. character-driven plot discussion people are having rn:

Maybe this is just a nostalgia-blinded bias of mine, having started with the Disc War, but...I’ve never minded the more character-based plots? Anyone who’s followed my blog for a bit knows that I love the Pet War, but I also loved the Disc War and the Final Pet War too. In those conflicts, the factions served as a backdrop rather than being the main focus, and the plot was driven by the characters and their grievances with one another.

One of my favorite smaller plots from Season Two was Fundy and Ghostbur. That had absolutely zilch to do with factions, or L’manburg, or geopolitics, but it was honestly one of the most well-acted and heart-breaking plots I’ve seen from the SMP in its entirety. 

I think that character-driven plots are places where the SMP’s really shined, at least to me personally.

Maybe that’s not everyone’s thing, but I don’t think it’s bad for the stories to be more character-driven! I think a lot more of the SMP than people realize has been like that this entire time. I think people sometimes overestimate how much the factions have actually mattered, in a sense?

Remember how the Disc War started? 

Tommy and Sapnap were a pair. Punz and Tubbo were a pair. Ponk and Alyssa were a pair. Dream logged on to stop the fighting and Tommy and Sapnap killed him, leading to Dream allying himself with Ponk and Alyssa. These weren’t faction lines dividing everyone, but personal grudges. That’s how the SMP’s entire plot started. “You and me, versus Dream,” right?

While the L’manburg War was amazing and a game-changer for the SMP storyline as a whole, I feel like the motivations, the driving forces for that war were actually a lot weaker than the recent conflicts. It was a cool bit of political roleplay, yes, but it was kind of just a war for the sake of a war, to be honest.

L’manburg was founded because some Americans got in the way of Wilbur and Tommy stealing everyone’s blaze rods. It went from a hotdog-selling business to a literal independent country because...revolution, I guess? And Dream declared war because...sometimes you just gotta kill some people sometimes, y’know...? 

It was the character-based conflicts from before that war that ended it. The discs ended the war even though they had nothing to do with the reason L’manburg seceded, because Tommy and Dream’s grudge against each other held more weight than the actual country. Who cared if L’manburg gained its independence as long as Dream gained the discs? That was a bigger win for him.

The conflicts that happened afterwards continued that trend of being character-driven rather than faction-driven. L’manburg kind of disappeared for a month as the Disc Saga continued with Tommy and Dream, Tommy and Quackity founded the Cartel and then the Pet War started up because of Sapnap.

None of these conflicts had anything to do with factions, really, and having all these little smaller stories gave a chance for people like Quackity, Fundy and Skeppy to get in on the drama more and throw their hats into the ring. 

That’s what I think is happening right now, except since there are a lot more people on the server now, they’re starting up their individual plots around the same time so that they start to overlap. 

And remember how Fundy and Tubbo started up the Dreamon Hunters plot, picked out new skins, built a new setting and everything just for that plot to never take off due to needing to prepare for the Manberg Festival? Such a cool plot idea, and it just never happened, really.

Well, now, the Badlands have been having fun creating their own Blood Vines plot, and since they aren’t very involved in what Tommy and Dream are doing, they have space to flesh out that idea and not have it be overshadowed by other things. Whether or not you, as a viewer, want to follow along with the side plot is your choice! But Bad seems to be having a lot of fun telling his own story. 

Quackity creating Mexican L’manburg and having that turn into a five-day plot that ended in war? That’s basically just the L’manburg War 2.0, and if you don’t feel like following along with the plot -- again, no need to! But Karl finally getting his chance to shine, Sapnap and George having character development with Dream, and Eret, Puffy and H getting in on some drama was honestly pretty exciting!

The thing about the SMP is that it’s not really built to be just one storyline. It’s never just been about L’manburg. 

While the Camarvan was built, Fundy and Eret were having their Prank War.

The same day Dream and Tommy fought to bargain with Skeppy, Fundy was getting into a court battle with Punz, Eret and Tubbo.

While the Election was happening, so was the Pet War.

In the middle of Pogtopia building its resistance, the Battle of the Lake happened with Tommy, Sapnap and the Badlands.

The SMP has always had storylines going on at the same time. It’s just that since most of the viewers have always focused on Tommy and Wilbur for the most part, a lot of the time those extra storylines slipped through the cracks of memory.

Now let’s get back to the geopolitics vs. character-driven thing:

This feeling of “stagnation” isn’t new! The SMP’s had periods like this, where it feels a bit slower and everyone’s a little confused about where it’s going before.

Remember that period from like, October 18th to November 6th or so where pretty much nothing happened to progress the plot? And since none of the other streamers on the SMP were doing their own plots, it was just kind of this period of...”who knows what’s happening right now?”

The thing about a politics-based plot vs. a more character-driven, million side-stories type deal is that as long as none of the country leaders were online, nothing could really happen to progress the main plot, and since the character-driven stuff wasn’t the main focus, that couldn’t drive much either.

So...yeah, you got the Tubbo Bathwater stream three days after the Festival happened. That’s just kinda how it went.

Schlatt only got on very rarely, Wilbur a bit less rarely, and Dream logging onto his own server was always more of a surprise more than a routine. Tommy and Techno were getting into hijinks, but there weren’t really any political stakes. Even though he was supposed to be exiled, Tommy just moved back into his house anyway, because who was going to stop him? The one person who cared about him staying out wasn’t there to do anything.

Yes, the Big Plot Days like the Festival and the Meeting were jaw-dropping and amazing! I loved them! Incredibly-written, incredibly-acted. 

But what about what happened between them? 

One thing I’ve enjoyed about the recent period is that it feels like a lot more streamers are keeping track of their characters and holding onto longer plot threads. It feels like more people are interacting with each other instead of doing builds by themselves. And even the main plot is progressing at this more subtle, bit-by-bit pace where there’s a bit of new development with each stream. The big event days still happen, like the New Festival and the Execution, but the pacing’s a lot more consistently spread out. And with all these other streamers keeping their own mini stories as well, it’s more of this melting pot of different people interacting, each with their own arc and tale to tell.

Ponk and Jack, for example, are keeping their ongoing rivalry. Sam, Bad and Ant are getting into their own storyline whereas before, the Badlands weren’t really doing much of anything. And Karl’s been doing the same fun side-things that he’s always done for months, but he’s recently started to try and find a niche for himself by trying these light-hearted events or his new Tales series, which could end up being really cool the more he refines it! 

I feel like a lot of the “chaos” feeling isn’t really from how the SMP’s main storyline has been written; most of the main plot has still kept to L’manburg and Techno.

It’s just that more people are taking notice of all the side hijinks that are going on in the background all the time, and some of the people who weren’t involved in the main plot before have started creating their own storylines for fun. 

I will say it again and again: you don’t have to follow along with every storyline! If it overwhelms you to try and keep up with the Blood Vines? That’s okay! You as a viewer have the freedom to create the viewing experience that makes you the most comfortable, that brings you the most joy! 

But I also think people could try and branch out a bit too. Give some new creators a try. No pressure or anything, and it’s fine if you just want to stick to Tommy or Techno! But there are a lot of talented people on the SMP, and I feel like some of these smaller stories are worth paying attention to if you’re interested!

Aaaaanyway, this is just a long, long post with some nonsense thoughts that I felt like getting out. Feel free to disagree! The SMP’s an interesting piece of media that everyone’s going to experience slightly differently. What may be my cup of tea might not be yours, and vice versa! :]

[angelsndragons]

Well, I don't know about you but I have watched Caduceus' conversations with Beau and Lucien about a dozen times each so let's compare and contrast.

So, the conversation with Beau highlights how far both of them have come since Caduceus joined the party. Beau is, dare I say it, downright gentle in her poking and prodding Caduceus' reactions. She's approaching Caduceus both from a place of concern and a place of equality; she doesn't feel the need to try to control the conversation or to find some angle to work. She pulls straight from Yasha's playbook back in the dance hall, making me wonder just how much of Caduceus and Yasha's conversation she actually got (that Observant feat is no joke, y'all). Beau approaches with a thank you for the healing, which by itself shows her growth, she acknowledges that she needed the help and is openly appreciative of it, then asks how Caduceus is doing. She gives him time and space to answer rather than impatiently jumping the gun, acknowledges his feelings, lightly prods his previous trauma, then finds a plan that everyone can presumably live with. She tries to speak Caduceus' language of fate, myth, and religion by harkening back to the Kiln and she lets him go when he’s obviously done. All in all, it is an amazing display of just how far asshole rebel without a cause, abrasive as fuck Beauregard Lionett has come. Props to her and Marisha.

But this meta is about Caduceus so let's talk about his growth. Because guys. Guys. If you need evidence that Caduceus has grown and let some of his walls down, this is it. He tells Beau he “doesn't like this” and goes as far as he can to explain what specifically is messing with him. Not only is this thing unnatural, it is a mockery of life. They are not alive, not truly, they go against everything he stands for. He expresses his desires clearly and plainly, “I want to burn it on the way out.” He acknowledges the rifts between himself and the others, then explains his thought process clearly and completely: that they are low on resources, that they might have to fight their way out anyway and the sooner they leave the better, and that he doesn't think the crest will just break. Anyone want to take a gander at the last time Caduceus laid out his deal like this? Trick question, he really hasn't. He has had a couple of moments where he talks out an idea but he rarely goes this in depth. Speaking this directly and specifically on his feelings and opinions just doesn't happen very often. For all that Caduceus believes other people need to talk about their feelings, he is very much a doer, not a talker, he doesn’t process that way. Caduceus doesn’t explain himself as a rule yet here he is, trying as hard as he can to make Beau understand. 

Contrast that conversation with his talk with Lucien. So, first of all, we know that Caduceus loathes what Lucien is trying to accomplish and has nothing but contempt towards the city and efforts to bring it back to the Material Plane. At best, Caduceus pities Lucien; he’s willing to believe that Lucien Knows Not What He Does and is being manipulated by the city. At worst, well, there’s always a plant that needs compost and Caduceus is more than happy to make some. He tells Beau this episode that “there’s something very wrong with your friend.” Yet Caduceus does what he always does when faced with an unknown, currently non-hostile threat- he starts with polite small talk. From the Gentleman to Avantika, from Ludinus to Essek, from pirates to stone giants to yetis, Caduceus’ default mode for dealing with threats is to play nice and polite and to figure out what information he can glean to use against them. People underestimate Caduceus right up until he reads them for filth and he totally pushes that polite, harmless image.

Now, I need some nervous nellies to pause and ask themselves why in the world Caduceus would “open up” to Lucien mere seconds after threatening the man. Because that is what his comment “I’ve never met anybody who looks like you before. For the record,” is. It is as close to a threat as Caduceus will ever utter. And if you don’t believe me, please rewatch the Roasting of Trent Ickithon and then watch this conversation again; Caduceus has the exact same polite bitch face energy there that he does here. Well, there, he was scolding Ickithon, here he is straight up warning Lucien. I also need you all to remember that conversation he just had with Beau, the one where he delves into specifics and keeps pushing himself until Beau understands where he’s coming from. This conversation is not that. Caduceus spends this entire conversation playing into Lucien’s expectations and dodging around his real intent up here. 

Actually, let’s talk about his ‘I’m confused’ bit here. He’s not confused about his ultimate goal. Caduceus has been driving the ‘we have to stop the Astral Sea City’ train from the literal moment it showed up. He’s the one who saw the Abyss stare back at them, he’s the one who insisted they ask Yussa, who asked Beau push her Cobalt Soul resources, who asked the literal Mother of All Nature for answers, who’s pushing for Essek’s help. Him, not the others. Hell, boy was asking Jester to ask the Traveler what the hell is going on, that is how anti-city he’s been this entire time. He knows what needs to be done, the question in the air is how. This changed because the Nein’s circumstances changed; they now have a crest and Lucien caught up to them much faster than they anticipated. Are they supposed to let Lucien summon the thing and take it out? Or is it better to wait for him to gather all the items and destroy them so they can never be used? What’s stopping the next guy from coming up here and doing the ritual themself? And what precisely is he supposed to do about Lucien and Molly? It speaks highly of Taliesin’s roleplay skills and the consistency with which he’s played Caduceus that Matt never once called for a deception check, despite the fact that Matt knows that Caduceus is directly opposed to Lucien and his goals AND is hiding that information. Taliesin and Caduceus danced so skillfully around that fact, it was a delight to watch.

Bottom line, Caduceus is very good at feigning vulnerability to get what he wants or to come off as a lesser threat. He told the Gentleman a bit about his worry for his family to induce the man to reconcile with Jester. He expressed his confusion and worry to the Nein and Essek at that dinner. Seriously, go watch those conversations and then go back to the Lucien conversation, it’s kind of eerie how well that playbook works. That pseudo-vulnerability was in direct service in getting the other person to do what Caduceus wanted them to do, it was not shared just because or in any real meaningful fashion. Both of those instances were direct manipulation tactics he learned at the Grove, comforting the bereaved. People are more comfortable sharing their issues and worries, after all, when you give them a little morsel of your own. People build a rapport around perceived sharing of vulnerabilities. People are more likely to do what you want when you have such a rapport. And that’s precisely what Caduceus did here; he didn’t tell Lucien anything Lucien didn’t know or couldn’t guess himself, he traded a small nugget about his own confusion for Lucien’s curiosity and it worked. The Tomb Takers and the Mighty Nein are stuck together for the foreseeable future and I for one can’t wait to see what growth awaits Caduceus next.

TL;DR: Caduceus has only ever been really openly vulnerable with the Nein, the rest is playing possum. Please don’t fall for it or worry that he’s actually unloading onto strangers when he’s actually unloaded quite a lot, for him at least, on his friends and loved ones. His growth is undeniable.

[miaclemeverett]

Wilbur, Fundy, and Purpled were interviewed for this great article on the Dream SMP and the Minecraft community! Full article below the cut. 

"Minecraft" launched over a decade ago and the video game is as popular as ever. With over 126 million players worldwide, the voxel-based survival game drops adventurers into a world where they can craft, build, explore, destroy, and create to their heart's content. Aided by tools, blocks, and creativity, the simple sandbox world allows anyone on PC, console, or smartphone the chance to project their own feelings and creations directly into their virtual space.

"As long as you have the mind for it, you can really just do anything," 17-year-old "Minecraft" YouTuber Purpled, who has 700,000 subscribers, told Insider. "Because of how simple Minecraft is and how easy it is to build with it, you can create whatever you want."

In recent years, Microsoft's never-ending game has evolved into a tool for content creators to express themselves, leading to high-profile collaborations with some of YouTube's biggest personalities. By creating their own private "Minecraft" servers, creators have been able to craft ornate worlds and stories that they can explore in streams and videos, immersing fans in a cinematic-style universe.

Minecraft has a long history on YouTube

"Minecraft's" versatility has made it an incredibly popular game for content creators and influencers. In 2012, a change in YouTube's algorithm promoting watch time over video clicks led to a renaissance of "Let's Players" who recorded themselves reacting and playing their favorite games. "Minecraft" was one of the most successful, spawning some of the largest channels of the time like SkyDoesMinecraft (11.3 million subscribers) and Tobuscus (6.25 million subs).

Though the popularity of "Minecraft" remained fairly steady, content about the title waned a bit over the next decade either due to content fatigue or newer titles like "Fortnite" taking the spotlight. 2020 flipped the title back into the forefront, with both streamers and YouTubers capitalizing on the title's popularity.  

The biggest breakout star for "Minecraft" in the past few years is Dream, an expert, faceless player with a neon-green avatar with over 17 million YouTube subscribers. YouTube labeled him the second overall content creator of the year and his streams consistently pull in a quarter of a million people.

In May of 2020, Dream decided to create a small, private server for his friends to play around in. This SMP server, or "survival multiplayer," started off with only a handful of content creators being invited. Soon, the server would expand to over 30 members, bringing in millions of views from fans who chronicle every moment of the lore the creators eventually created.

Viewership on Twitch of "Minecraft" content went from 17 million hours watched in January 2020 to 74 million in January of 2021, according to data from analytics company Rainmaker.gg.  

How the Dream SMP grew from a private server with friends to a cultural milestone

Purpled has been playing "Minecraft" for the past eight years and is a high-ranking player in a multiplayer game mode called "Bed Wars." He had started talking to Dream in the summer of 2019, when the pair were both small, mutual fans.

"When the SMP was in its infancy, I just asked him if there was any room because he said how it's just for friends and if a friend wants to join, they can," Purpled said. "So I asked him, he said, 'Sure.' He sent me the IP and I was in."

The server was originally just a place to create and hangout, with no intention of creating an overarching story or plot.

Fundy, a 19-year-old Dutch YouTuber with 2.7 million subscribers joined when only a handful of other creators were on."I had talked to Dream on a few occasions, out-of-the-blue Dream sent me a message about a survival world that they had going on. It was very small at first," Fundy said. "I thought it could be a fun little side-project I could stream every now and then on Twitch, so I decided to join."

Fundy joined in the early days alongside Wilbur Soot, a 23-year-old YouTuber with 3.8 million subscribers. Soot, after attempting to create an "illegal potion shop" on the server, decided to establish a nation of non-Americans players called L'Manberg. Soot said he wrote a "treatment" for how the formation of his country would go, creating an official canon that fans could follow along with.

"I was invited into the Dream SMP near its inception but I only joined fully when I had an idea for building a country in 'Minecraft'," Soot said. "I write up a series of plot hooks and points that should tie together, however we improv dialogue and comedy throughout to take us from point to point."

These streams and pieces of content all had a canon that could be followed and consumed like a television show. L'Manberg eventually started a war against Dream for its independence, staging a rebellion chronicled in YouTube videos with millions of views.

These streams and videos aren't just randoms in "Minecraft" trying to defeat the end-game Ender Dragon — these are performers putting on a show that their fans can't miss. As the lore expanded, so did the rules needed to keep a sense of continuity and order. For example, each player only has three lives before they are removed and deleted from the server.

"It went from a casual survival game to a whole story-line filled with plots and twists," Fundy said. "Role-playing at this point is a key-feature of the Dream SMP, some parts are scripted, some parts are improv, and some parts are 'non-canon,' where it is just counted as a standard 'Minecraft' server."

The fan communities have risen up and made their voices heard

Over the next few months, the lore and world would continue to grow and so would the fan base. Hundreds of thousands of viewers would tune in for these streams, trying to keep up with the lore and content. To help catalog the story, a network of fans established themselves as lore keepers, documenting each moment for those that had to miss a stream.  

The "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" account on Twitter has established itself as one of the most popular locations to find all this content and lore on social media. Starting in December 2020, the account has grown to over 147,000 users with just a team of seven administrators, ages 14-17, in different locations around the world, posting updates and stream notifications for fans. "Minecraft" is a game that appeals to all ages, but the audience for this content tends to skew younger, with 41 percent of Twitch's user base being 16 to 24, according to GlobalWebIndex.

"You can tell they're all friends and it's a lot more lighthearted in general and it shows," mod on the "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" Twitter account eclaire said over chat app Discord. "When it's not lore you see them actually having good chemistry and it really pulls you in because it almost feels like being pulled into a friend group."

User SamHQ first started the fan account with a couple of friends from high school but the group quickly expanded after the account tweeted that they needed more fans of certain streamers to join. She is online and runs the account "24/7" but "it's just like answering a text."

"When I started the account I knew lots of people who couldn't catch up because of work or school," SamHQ said. "So I gathered friends to help and now people rely on us when someone's streaming or to catch up with the lore when they can't watch."

For the fans that run the update account, keeping up with the Dream SMP isn't dissimilar to following the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a long-running television show. Characters come and go, but the improv and roleplay stay.

"The Dream SMP did something really special — taking an original idea, creating new things that have never been seen on 'Minecraft' and incorporating them with humor and characters that you can become easily attached with," mod NotAlex said.

Though other SMP roleplay servers, like EarthSMP and SMPLive, have been created over the years, none have been as successful or popular as the Dream SMP.

Finding a fan base on the Dream SMP can lead to major growth.

For the performers on the server, addressing fans and their responses comes with the territory.

"The Dream SMP viewers are very important to the Dream SMP, and the fact that they openly speak their mind about how a certain stream went only helps the streamers improve," Fundy said. "It's basically an instant review of what was liked and what wasn't."

Like most major fandoms with a young audience, fanfiction of these streamers has popped up online. Dozens of Dream fics and drawings exist online, some going a bit far and putting underage characters together. Dream responded on Twitter to those "ships," writing that they shouldn't "ship creators that are uncomfortable with it, and especially not minors."

The Dream stans, or the super fans, also tend to be very vocal online about the SMP. Hashtags on Twitter like #dreamnotfound and #dreamfanart consistently break-through to the trending page, confusing those who have no idea this world exists. The most ferocious of stans sometimes overstep the boundary between polite disagreement and outright harassment. This vocal minority has sent death threats and waves of harassment at those who criticize or disagree with their favorite content creators.  

The growth and future of these channels is in large part due to the Dream SMP server

The popularity of Dream SMP has helped grow the content creators that take part in it. Since joining the server, Purpled is gaining three times as many subscribers a month on YouTube and has been introduced to an entirely new fan base. His streams used to pull in 3,000 viewers but now his average is closer to 35,000 to 40,000 viewers.

"Some people think of them as obsessive or stalker fans, but those are people that really like to talk about certain creators and really get invested in things," Purpled said. "And it's really nice because they care a lot more and connect more with the creator than the content."

These creators understand the power of the fan base and know that they come for the content.

"I think the Dream SMP is popular thanks to the brilliant creators and funny improv moments," Soot said. "I think we'll be seeing the emergence of a huge wave of roleplay-centric gaming communities."

[viviae]

can you like. tell me a little about dragon age. seeing your posts about it has got me interested in playing but i have little to no clue what it actually is

Boy can I explain nonny <3 This is a bit long so strap in and im sorry

Dragon Age is (currently) a three game series composed of Dragon Age: Origins (PS3, Xbox 360/Xbox One, PC), Dragon Age: II (PS3, Xbox 360/Xbox One, PC), and Dragon Age: Inquisition (PS4, Xbox One, PC) and its really unique because of its selling point that your actions impact the games as you progress. Like if you kill one character in one game they’ll stay dead through the rest of the series which makes you feel lived in the story and that your actions matter. Dragon Age is also an RPG so a roleplaying game kind of along the same lines of DnD where you get to make and play your own character. And yes there are romances and you can be gay.

The First Game of the series is Dragon Age: Origins where you choose from a selection of six unique (technically seven) origins or backgrounds for your character. You can be anywhere from a human noble or a Dalish elf, the unique elven culture in Dragon Age of nomadic clans dedicating to reclaiming their past. But eventually, from the events in your origin, you wind up a member of a secretive and elite order known as the Grey Wardens whose duty is to protect the world from the Blight.

The Blight is this spread of a horrible disease known as the Taint but is characterized by the presence of Darkspawn, a kind of zombie like creature who exists only to destroy the world. Grey Wardens take the heavy duty of protecting the world from the Blight, which have nearly wiped all of humanity multiple times, at all costs. And currently the country of Ferelden is under going a blight and due to events you wind up the only Grey Warden with your companion Alistair to save the world and reunite Ferelden which had fallen under a civil war.

Along Origins you meet many interesting characters. Alistair is your friendly co-warden who has a mysterious parentage that he hides under his happy go lucky attitude. In contrast to Alistair is the witch Morrigan who is your favorite goth swamp queen who would insult you and you thank her. In addition you meet your chaotic bi rogues Zevran and Leliana. Leliana is a nun who is on the run and hiding from a dark past and she is suspiciously good at murder. And Zevran is not at all hiding his aptitude for murder as an Assassin for hire who tried and failed to kill you but who can ignore that charming bastard?

Dragon Age II follows a much smaller story of a Ferelden refuge who had escaped from the Blight to the city of Kirkwall named Hawke. Unlike in origins where you get to pick your background 2 limits you to Hawke but fear not, Hawke is a loveable bastard and you can still customize them. Throughout DA2 you get to experience all the delights Kirkwall has to offer: Demons, crime, corrupt cops, and fighting your way to survive in this city and make a name for yourself.

Where Origins sets the stage for the world DA2 you are the actor in that play - literally the game is divided into 3 acts that take place over a span of 7 years. DA2′s main conflict is the argument of Mages vs Templars, as in DA’s lore while there are those who are born with magic they are forced to live in prisons policed by the Templar order and the church. You explore the more political arguments of; are the Templars right in their fears of magic as Kirkwall is filled to the brim with corrupt mages or do Mages deserve the chance to live and prove themselves freely from their prisons.

Your romancable companions in DA2 are all bisexuals as the true theme of DA2 is: be gay do crime. You have the foils of Anders: the runaway mage who fled from the prisons the mages are housed in and is determined to bring mages to freedom, and Fenris: the runaway escaped slave who curses magic for only inflicting pain and suffering in his life and wants his warnings to be heard about the dangers magic bring. In addition you also have Merrill, your cute but terrifying Dalish mage who would probably murder you with a cute smile and then go oops. And of course, my pirate wife Isabela, who lives a life free from commitment and is dedicated to the idea everyone should have a good time no matter the cost. Also while not romancable Hawke’s bff Varric deserves every ounce of praise he gets as never before has the energy of “two idiots sharing a braincell” ever been so well adapted.

Then finally we reach Inquisition. After the events of DA2 it triggers a full on war between the Mages and Templars that is destroying the land and causing severe damage that neither side can handle anymore. Desperate for an end to the conflict the Divine (err... fantasy pope) calls for a meeting on both sides... only for the entire thing to literally explode. Killing everyone present and causing a hole in the sky which now means demons are raining like cats and dogs you are the only one to survive. In Inquisition you can once again return to pick between unique backgrounds like in Origins but you don’t get to play through those backgrounds sadly.

You now possess something on your left hand which gives you the ability to patch up the hole in the sky that is pissing demons and due to being the only survivor everyone is incredibly confused about you. Eventually the Inquisition is formed around you, the character they are calling the Herald of Andraste (Andraste is fantasy Jesus) due to your ability to seal the holes. The mystery unfolds as over the course of the game you learn what caused the explosion, how you are connected, and what exactly the mark on your hand is.

DAI has the largest numbers of romance options so I’m gonna give a quick bullet point list for them all

Iron Bull (Pansexual, All Races): A Qunari (think Tiefling but big and beefy) mercenary who is far more clever than he lets on, as well as being the rope top dom of your dreams. Literally! Bull’s romance is a really healthy bdsm relationship if you are interested its very well done

Josephine (Bisexual, All Races): Your loveable ambassador and advisor for the inquisition. She is a workaholic noble who is a tried and true classic romance. Sweep her off her feet and duel for her hand all while navigating the nobility

Dorian (Gay, All Races): The flamboyant pariah rock star mage, he demands attention whenever he walks into the room. Although he wants to be all talk and no emotions make no mistake he is making puppy eyes at you the entire time and gets deeply offended if you say he is. Also not going to lie Dorian is the best piece of gay male rep in gaming history.

Cassandra (Male-only, all Races): Your stern warrior wife who is all serious no funny business... expect she is a bleeding heart romantic who reads horrible smut for fun. You wish to COURT HER?? I mean... if you want 👉👈 she won’t say no...

Blackwall (Female-only, All Races): Your weird dilf who wants desperately to prove himself every step of the way and help people. He is a constable for the Grey Wardens, but all the details on him seem murky... Ah well I’m sure its nothing, the Grey Wardens are a secretive order after all.

Sera (Lesbian, All Races): My wild child, monster chugging, beer guzzling, arrow shooting lesbian. Sera is here for a fun time and not a serious one, she’ll always make sure to keep you humble and ensure you aren’t getting to big for your breeches. 

Cullen (Female-Only, Human and Elf only): Cullen’s the Inquisition’s commander who oohh boy is steeped in a lot of trauma. Cullen’s actually a character you get to know through out the series and see just all the horrible nonsense he’s been through. But he is your tragic self loathing... he isn’t princely but he is your adorkable charming

Solas (Female-Only, Elf Only): The humble apostate who joins the Inquisition out of curiosity of the breech, he is an expert on what the hell is going on with that hole in the sky. However, he holds a wisdom that goes far deeper than your typical apostate. Smooth talking and refined he carries a heavy cloud over him.

I left out a lot and all the nonsense with books and what have you but this is the easiest overview of the series I can offer. It’s main selling points is the deep story and characters throughout the games. And of course who doesn’t love the ability to make and roleplay your own character as a bonus? The games are bit of a flawed gem and Origins in my ugly child but they are truly a delight if you are interested

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 1: CamelNOT

[Lively Music Plays]

I shit you not... that’s what it said in the CCs.

Tower of London (?)

*Catherine looks at the array of crowns like a museum curator and the proceeds to strut down the halls*

Wolsey: *gives her this strange look which is a mixture between damn girl and the eagle is my spirit animal.

Then Catherine gets fake detained and taken to Henry in what must be a strange variation of the whole Robin Hood/Maid Marian roleplay they historically engaged in.

... did she just call his erhm manhood his kingship? Well that’s original, I’ll give them that. Also funny how Bessie Blount initially looks on in fright... don’t worry girl that will be you soon.

———————————————————————

*the four ladies have a brunch friendship moment together*

I see Blount is among them... I see they are setting her up as Catherine’s friend in order to play up the whole betrayal.

Alright. Jokes aside, I realised how much I’ve played myself. I was inspired by @melusineloriginale ‘s sporks (which if all this TSP episode posts got you in the mood for PG show mockery I urge you to check out here - you’ll thank me later). In truth, Henry VIII’s early reign is a bit too late from my main area of focus for me to make intelligent jokes.

I’ll content myself with just bullet-pointing random thoughts that came into my head, and if some intelligent thought gets through, well that would be the pinnacle. In any case I’ll aim to not parrot some of the stuff that’s already been said, repetition can get annoying.

This image embodies this post, but maybe not the show. I’ve noticed those Starz productions get better by the end.

First Scenes:

- The recap just reminded me how much I will miss Margaret Beaufort in the coming episodes. I know her portrayal was innacurate but Harriet Walter just made everything better.

- They are making such a big deal out of this whole ‘we were crowned together, we rule together’ thing in this episode - it makes no sense. Catherine was an influential Queen but she was definitely no more than a consort and never saw herself as more.

- Ruairi’s new haircut is pleasing to my eyes.

- When she says ‘Abuelo’ it’s super adorable awww

The Ferdinand and Charles V scene:

- Bessie Blount looks so much like Ursula Pole lmao. Also they totally got the Pole children’s birth order wrong and UGH WHERE IS GEOFFREY POLE???

- I like Mary Tudor’s actress and her facial expressions. However, this whole polyglot image they are representing is innacurate. I am fairly certain she knew no spanish and I recall reading a contemporary account which said that she was not very learned.

- I’m pretty sure it would be considered bad luck to prematurely crown your son ‘Henry IX’ while you’re still alive.

- I actually like the whole Grape motif in this episode. It’s probably the smartest thing they’ve come up with so far for this episode. I know a lot of you will be all like ‘there’s no record of Ferdinand being abusive’ but this choice sort of makes sense when you recall Joanna’s treatment. Also I appreciate them for not being tacky and showing flashbacks of more overt abuse eg physical. The sugared grape is also fairly symbolic (the sugar is like a gilding, the grape easily crushable)

- OMG the guy from Garrow’s law is playing Thomas More!

- AND PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT SEEING THINGS? Margaret Pole x Thomas More is happening?? Please god that is a historical crackship I am getting behind. Yes. This is what I’m most invested about.

Margaret Tudor and Scotland Scene:

- The whole ironic cutaway to Margaret being all depressed after Charles Brandon’s statement about her charming Scottish king is such a cliché movie technique.

- If this were a more artsy film I would think the whole setup resembling a stereotypical middle-class family breakfast was done on purpose for humorous effects or to create a link with the past. But here I don’t have as much trust in the producers. I think they just failed to capture the time period accurately.

- The modernisms continue: ‘Negassi please stop playing’ idk, there just something so modern about this for some reason ahaha

- Also again, I’m getting tired of all this ‘Catherine is basically queen herself’, ‘Catherine is a political genius’, ‘Catherine Catherine Catherine’ ugh. I don’t think the producers understand that Henry VIII was a very autocratic and traditional ruler. He didn’t make any show of joint-rulership (correct me if I’m wrong).

- The teeth thing is funny, smart and I liked it.

Back to Westminster:

- I like Ferdinand’s actor!

- Also Catherine’s response to ‘who are you loyal to?’ was not that smart. I feel like the producers wanted us to be impressed. What if Spain and England’s interests conflict, ey??

The Joust:

- I care too much for the whole Margaret Pole plotline. I’m so invested.

- I could watch a series of More and Pole just exchanging lines. I love the actors too and this is my hope for this series. The whole frustrated parents is SO CUTE.

- I didn’t know More tutored Reggie, I would be curious to know more.

- The way compton says groom to queen’s stool is freaking hilarious. He looks like a pervert.

- Henry Pole is a darling and must be protected at all costs.

- Oh Christ oh Christ that eyeball shot was just... good job on the special effects guys. Don’t know what the point of that choice was.

- I found the whole armour mentions after interesting, it looked so set up as a PR campaign because Stafford speaking about the armour just sounded like a statement agreed on beforehand ‘should have worn the same’ and the Catherine with ‘steel in the bones’ and Ferdinand’s impressed face (it was him playing them?)

- Am I giving this show too much credit?

- Also whats up with “God save the Queen?”

War Counsel:

- Henry VIII’s actor is quite charismatic in this scene. It’s almost as if Catherine is the hothead and Henry the wise one that speaks less but more significantly. It almost feels like they gender-swapped them.

The Bedchamber:

- Did Catherine breastfeed the baby? I thought it was Anne Boleyn. Doubtful... I’m tired of the trope of ‘you’re a good woman if you insist on breastfeeding the child yourself despite social conventions’. For a feminist show, the writers seem very attached to some 1950s perceptions of motherhood.

- I feel like the age difference between Catherine and Henry is well conveyed.

Scotland Again:

- ‘All the sheep were pregnant’ 👀 oh touché Margaret. oh my. Did she just?

- I know they are playing out this disenfranchised Margaret arc to reinforce how great Catherine and Henry are (cheap technique) and to build up to her involvement in Flodden (innacurate historically but I know what the show will do). But I will say this: the humour is pretty good in the Scottish scenes! But I know it’s unintentionally so... (I highly doubt they wanted us to laugh at Margaret hitting James or calling Alexander a pig).

Westminster and the baby chamber:

- What’s are those red splotches on the babies face??

- Oh that shot of Margaret and silent Reginald :((( it makes me sad.

- And now the Poles are at church! I just love the look of them.

- That scene of Maggie and Catherine was needed, as we didn’t get the best friends vibe much in this episode. The whole thing looked a bit pagan though, but it was nice :)

The whole Ferdinand’s betrayal segment:

- The grape motif again was fitting, him snapping the fruit right before she gets to it even despite her knowing what he’s like and what he’ll do, was a good parrallel.

- I’m tired of hearing of this ‘Camelot’. Even in the novel, Camelot was Catherine and Arthur’s dream and... can we just live it up with Arthur?

- Ursula Pole’s, Bessie Blount’s and Mary Boleyn’s actresses look way too similar.

- I fail to see why Catherine thinks she’s turning into her father... she doesn’t strike me as much of a game-player or subtle two-facer.

- I’m intrigued what will happen with Oviedo and Lina... I feel like they won’t stay in England long.

- He was made knight bannaret... nice... but why does he thank Catherine publicly for this? It was in Henry’s gift that he was made a commoner Knight.. if this transpired irl Henry would have been gravely insulter.

Catherine’s Dead Baby and thereafter:

- Guys. In all seriousness, I don’t think the TV series is trying to imply that Catherine killed the baby with her negligence. I mean, they are so bent on us liking her they wouldn’t do that. It would be a bit too ballsy anyway. Remember the red splotches I mentioned earlier? Could those have been a sign that he was already ill but no one noticed/was in denial?

- The pebbles in hands would have had more emotional payoff if it had been established earlier if you know what I mean. Basically, this episode is too fast and entire arcs begin and end within it which extinguished any build-up.

- Oh man Henry is so sweet in this, how will they build him up as the tyrant he was historically if they keep this up?

Scotland Again:

- I must admit, I don’t like all those nicknames they keep using. But somehow James calling Margaret ‘Meg’ is nice and seems fitting.

- What’s a hermana sister?

England Last Mourning Scenes:

- YOU DID NOT BUILD CAMELOT ughhh

- Why is Catherine giving the speech and not Henry?? It turns out Catherine was more emotional historically then the whole perception of ‘perfect queen of stone’ to which some people hold her. However, I doubt it would have been proper of her to give a speech in such a emotional manner.

Conclusion:

6.5/10

Some of the dialogue was stilted, the costumes are confused as to which era they’re supposed to be (aesthetically distracting) and many other characterisation issues.

I don’t have high hopes for this series in terms of cinematography or art but I sure as hell expect it will be entertaining. So far, everything is just getting set up and I find some aspects promising. As you can tell I am truly excited over how the Margaret Pole plotline. I am also interested in how Henry will be portrayed, with Catherine being so OTT and pushy this episode Im starting to Stan him more. In this show he appears sensitive and serene and kinda... adorable. Kind of like a little brother hanging onto his sister’s skirts.

But in a way that is a disservice to the real historical figure which would not tolerate such a representation. I am very irritated by this whole ‘joint-rulers’ thing which is just sooo innacurate. These STARZ shows have an obsession with showing women turn into men for the purposes of feminism - I see.

Catherine overpowers Henry too often and it sometimes feels like he’s HER consort. Of course, the feminism in this show is schizophrenic as we get the overemphasis of Catherine as a 1950s motherly ideal with the whole breastfeeding angle (“you’re better than other noble woman who would find this beneath them”, “they’re not as motherly as you”).

So the relationship dynamic between Henry and Catherine is a bit off at the moment, but oh well.

Mary Tudor is a bit distracting with her dark hair but I find the actress extremely endearing and promising. I know there will be emphasis on her storyline too and I hope they’ll not be clichéd with it.

[hopeamarsu]

Live-commenting Girls 3x10

Is she reacting to her grandma dying by drinking her weight in tequila (or vodka) and then throwing up on her shoes and going to her friends house to get hosed down by him? Or why is this the first scene of 3x10? I’m confused. 

The girl Marnie is interviewing for was the former assistant of Jonathan something that Marnie dated right? I’m more confused. Which seems to be my go-to mood for this episode. 

A newsboy-cap? Well thats a look. Also Adam, your girlfriend who you live with was out for the whole night and morning and you didn’t worry? Thats bullshit behaviour. Didn’t you say that you love her in the previous episode and now it almost seems like you don’t care at all. Or is this passive-aggressive anger? And... Weren’t you ready to fuck at a moments notice in previous seasons? There is something going on, I just can’t put my finger on it. 

Why does this episode feel totally left-field for some reason? Like nothing makes sense (and its been 6 minutes into the episode)...

But the song Marnie started singing, with the jetplane and flowers and Tom, actually sounds like it could be a really cool song. And it was a nice scene between Desi and Marnie, I’m starting to like these two together. I just hope they don’t cheat on Clementine.

Jessa is still fucked up I see. Nothing new there. I have to give the actress, Jemina, credit though, she plays Jessa really well. 

Is that a British accent I hear? 

Okay ouch, that was kinda harsh. You did invite her, Adam and now you are just shrinking away. Not cool dude. 

Oh Elijah, I like you. Its wonderful that you are supportive of your friend and there for Hannah. But all this “relationship drama” feels really out of left field to me as there wasn’t that much build-up to these “problems” they are having apart from this episode. Or was there an I just missed it? Maybe I need to watch a couple of previous episodes again to see if I missed something. 

Hannah, what the hell is that thing you are holding? With the straps and the feathers. Also also, why do you need to borrow Marnies apartment? Why do I have a bad feeling about this? 

Poor Dottie, I feel for you girl. I’ve only known you for three seconds on screen, but still. 

Umm.... A wig, Hannah? Meeting in a bar? Its overdone, sure, but I think both parties should know of the game you want to play beforehand. And you ordered a vodka, even though its water, to your boyfriend that is in the AA and you feel angry at having to explain it to him? 

This is making me uncomfortable. 

Like super uncomfortable.

Why the hell would you throw your drink at this man when you started this whole ridiculous thing? Talk about going from 0 to 60 in five seconds flat. Yes, what he said wasn’t the hottest thing ever but doing that and keeping up the pretense that you are mad at him is not the way to roleplay Hannah. Especially when you don’t tell your partner the rules of the game. 

Well, I guess he is into this kind of behaviour. So maybe Hannah don’t.... well, of course you yelled. This seriously cannot end well for either of you. 

He got punched?! And he still wants to do her after that? I take it back, I think you need to go back to not fucking her Adam. 

Oh Dottie. I hope you can get through to your dad. I hope you can find a common ground with him and get him the help he needs. 

Hannah, you need to stop this roleplay. Its not doing anything to anyone. It is awkward and not even funny anymore. Do you think this is how roleplay works? If yes, I’ve got news for you sweetie. It’s not. 

I’m seriously having trouble watching this. How can they both think this is okay, with the awful lines and a knife and Marnies apartment. How? And how did LD think that this might make a good episode? Or is the whole point to make the person watching this show want to fast forward these parts? 

Jessa and Shosh. The silence speaks volumes. 

So now the roleplay got changed? When, where, what, why? 

I’m glad they stopped. I’m glad Adam spoke about his feelings because they needed to speak. I’m glad that he can admit that he is in love with Hannah and wants to change for the better for her. I’m glad that he is caring about his play and wants to take it seriously. I’m also glad that he can see that he needs the distance at this point but what I’m not glad about is that he hasn’t spoken to her about any of this. PLEASE PEOPLE, CAN YOU JUST COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER?!!

I’m still a bit confused, I feel like there should’ve been an episode or two before this to make more sense of this episode. 

[homenum-revelio-hq]

Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, Tori!

You have been accepted for the role of HESTIA JONES! We really enjoyed the balance and realism you brought not just to Hestia’s flaws, but to the flawed world in which she (and everyone else!) lives, and we’re looking forward to all the tension this lovely little firecracker will add to the Order! We are so excited to have you as part of this roleplay!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Tori

AGE: 24

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: Well, due to classes and my internship being online now, I have lots of free time. I’ll definitely be able to check and reply throughout the week. Weekends I will be able to as well, but I  spend those days with my spouse, so I may not reply as frequently.

ANYTHING ELSE: Rape/non-con/dub-con is definitely something that needs to be tagged for me. I’m okay with most other things.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Hestia Jones

AGE: 18

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cisgender female, she/her. Hestia is currently a bit…confused, is how I’ll put it, about her sexuality. Those types of things were taught and not mentioned a whole lot, so her attraction to women makes her feel a bit uncomfortable. And scared. But she’s interested in them.

BLOOD STATUS: Half-blood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Ravenclaw

ANY CHANGES: Nope! I love Lana as the FC!

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

Hestia is very good at thinking outside the box. Whether it comes to her ideas at her internship or fashion or even at the Order, she doesn’t do well with just sticking with the status quo. At the internship, this was easy. There were so many laws to be changed and there were all right and legal channels to go through. Her supervisors even encouraged her to keep digging! In the Order, she tries to speak up, but because she’s a low-level member, her ideas fall short. It’s frustrating. But she keeps going back to the drawing board to come up with something new. She’s not one to back down from a fight or to give up so easily.

She’s also very independent, even from a young age she liked doing things herself. She hates asking for help and admitting defeat. Her supervisors always write “Shows great initiative!” on all her reports. She’s not afraid to tell people how she feels or what she thinks should be done. She’s not afraid to get ahead of the curve, to get ahead of the trends.

Although, because she’s so full of ideas of what to do next, Hestia isn’t the best listener. It’s like she zones out the minute someone tells her what’s actually going to be done. Or what she could be doing better. At 18, Hestia thinks she’s an adult and that her ideas are just as good as anyone else’s. And sometimes that means everyone else is wrong in her eyes.

She also has a bit of internalized-homophobia and internalized-misogyny as well. It’s the early 80s and no one really talks about gay people, about those who may not be straight. At least not in a positive way. And with dealing with her own feelings of same-gender attraction, she’s trying to repress it. She has a mean jealous streak and it shows when she sees anyone who is out talking about it. How dare they feel so comfortable when she doesn’t? She’s trying to deny her own feelings and Hestia isn’t the greatest at dealing with that. It’s given her a big compulsive streak as well. She’ll go out drinking with other interns and black out, as if that’s going to help with anything. But at least it means she doesn’t have to think about her own feelings too much.

With the internalized-misogyny it’s a bit more difficult. Hestia hates the “I’m not like other girls”. The ones who think they’re better just because they’re not into fashion or doing their nails, because they’re too busy reading and being introverts. And she does kind of look down on women who aren’t as feminine.

Despite those things, she is rather welcoming and definitely is still in the fight against the oppression of muggleborns, halfbreeds and the others. She would never look down on someone because of blood or even species.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

Hestia grew up an only child to a muggle father, Alexander, and witch, Natalie, surrounded by all the love she could ask for. Or, at least, that’s the way she saw it. Her parents were always supportive of her aspirations and her goals. Even if her father didn’t quite understand everything that she talked about. Her parents also both worked a lot and had very well-established careers. Hestia never went without anything. But her parents made sure that their daughter didn’t grow up too spoiled. They taught her to work hard and to never stop being curious.

Hestia did grow up seeing some of the racism that her parents, and herself at times, faced. And it made her even more empathetic to the cause of fighting oppression. The fact that her parents changed their names to something more “normal” made her angry. The fact that they couldn’t truly be themselves. While her parents didn’t instill this fight in her, she has it because of them indirectly.

OCCUPATION:

She is still a law intern in the Department of Magical Law. It becomes a struggle to go in each and every morning, knowing that she’s lying to everyone there on what she’s doing. On who she is. But currently it’s the most moral way to change the laws. The Order certainly isn’t holding any protests or petitioning the Minster, that’s for sure. Still, she hates holding this secret in and sooner or later she’s afraid she might just spill the beans.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

She’s a low-level member and quite frankly, she’s tired of not being heard. Of being looked down upon because she’s not in the inner-circle. As if cliques at Hogwarts weren’t annoying enough. She knows she’s smart and more than capable with a wand, so why won’t they listen to her? Would it be so terrible to listen to the low-level, and quite young, members?

She also just has a lot of complicated thoughts, because she’s still working for the Ministry. If they found out what she was a part of they’d…well, Hestia doesn’t want to think about that. Going to meetings and headquarters gives her so much anxiety that she’s hardly able to sleep at night. Is this the right thing to do? She’s never been one to follow what people tell her to do, to behave how people want her to, but this? This is something else entirely. And it feels like no traction is being made. Voldemort and the Death Eaters just seem to be getting stronger and more powerful. Hestia joined to make a difference, but all she’s doing is getting ignored.

Hestia also sees the wear and tear it has on members like Fabian, who rushes head first into danger. Who looks like he’s dead behind his eyes. If this organization is doing so much good (supposedly!) then why is Fabian on the edge of suicide?

SURVIVAL:

Hestia’s safety net is her internship, is the Ministry. As much as the Order hates them, she needs them to stay alive. If she doesn’t have that, then she’s not sure what she’ll have. Where she’ll go. If something happens to the Order, she’ll keep her internship and hopefully get a job at the Department of Magical Law. Having a secret life isn’t ideal, but she’s glad her more public life is the one with the Ministry. Hestia is 18 and thinks that maybe she can still change laws and the Ministry from the inside.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Hestia is very busy between the internship and the Order, but she tries to spend time with her friends. To go out to the pubs with them (and maybe drinks far too much). She’s not interested in a full-fledged long-term relationship at the moment, but she wouldn’t mind some company. A friends-with-benefits situation. Hestia has no idea how her friendships are staying above water with everyone so stressed and worn-out all the time. Maybe it’s because alcohol hides that for a moment, or maybe they’re all just very good at pretending.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: I ship chemistry above all else. I don’t really have any anti-ships besides no chemistry.

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

I like to think that since Hestia comes from a fairly well-to-do family, she doesn’t really get poverty. She doesn’t understand that some people can’t just shop all the time or get their nails or hair done. Obviously, she’s around some Weasley members, but she just doesn’t get why they don’t just work harder. Like her parents.

I mentioned above her internalized-homophobia, so there’s that as well.

Part of her has a hard time looking at the bad parts of the Ministry, because she works there and Amelia is so supportive. She’d rather just keep her head in the sand when it comes to the not-so morally upright things they do. I think of the line from Rogue One where Jyn says it’s not a problem if you don’t look up [and see the Imperial flag]. That’s Hestia about the Ministry most of the time.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Getting to explore her emotions and feelings about working for both the Order and the Ministry. How complicated that is, how it compromises her at times. It’s a very interesting dynamic.

PLOT DROP IDEAS (OPTIONAL):

This might be something the Amelia mun and I work out, but I absolutely want Amelia to find out at some point. And to explore how that changes their relationship. Or even if someone else finds out Hestia is part of the Order.

ANYTHING ELSE? That’s all!

[mere-mortifer-writing]

His quiet whispers - Part Two

Paring: Lucifer/Reader; Lucifer/OFC

Summary:  “Lucifer”, she moaned, soft trembling hands caressing his face and petting his hair. Yes, yes, he thought, half incoherent with lust, that's what he needed from her, what the wanted - to spend the night wrapped in her arms, to be the center of her undivided attention. No games or toys or roleplays, no nothing but gentle touches and breathy moans of his name.

Tags: Lucifer’s POV; Shy!Reader; Blowjobs; Angst&Fluff; Making out; Reader rides Lucifer, yee haw

>>Chapter One

You can also read it on Ao3

Lucifer stood next to Dan, observing the interrogation room without knowing of which mood to settle in.

The Detective was interviewing his past lovers for the new case, in an attempt to find the murderer of poor Jana and Raj. He didn't believe that one of the beautiful men and women occupying the precinct at the moment had done anything of the kind, but still. He had actually been hoping that the Detective would change her mind about him if she heard a bunch of very satisfied ex-lovers sing his praises - and they did just that, however. However he certainly hadn't expected all of them to say that their night with him had been completely meaningless. He hadn't expected to feel used - which was ridiculous, mind, because he had always been delighted to be used for sex. And worst of all, he was mortally offended that Detective Douche had started giving him pitying looks after a while. Unacceptable, really. He scoffed. These human feelings...He blamed it all on the Detective. He needed to stop thinking about her for a while - her referring to their almost-kiss as a “big mistake” still stung everytime it came to mind.

The thing went on for a while, with Lucifer offering unwanted details to Dan about his many sexscapades - “I'm not making any of this up, Daniel, thank you very much” - and Chloe getting more and more frustrated with their lack of leads for the case. Oh and, you know, people giving the same answer over and over: no, it had meant nothing, it was just sex. There was nothing “just” about sex to him.

Then she entered the room, visibly nervous, and sat down in front of the Detective. A swarm of memories passed through his mind, from her sitting alone at the bar to her sprawled out on his piano, to her taste and smell and sounds. Roughly a month and a half had passed since the last time he saw her. That one had been a...uncharacteristically wholesome night, for his standards. As wholesome as a night of sex could be, anyway. He certainly wasn't excited to hear her say how it had been completely meaningless for her.

She was dressed more conservatively than some of the women who preceded her, but still very lovely in her high-waisted jeans and blouse. She crossed her legs and he was reminded for a second how actually stunning she was naked. He zoned in on the conversation when Chloe asked her the first question. “So, can you describe to me how the night with Lucifer went? In broad details, please”, she was quick to add. The girl laughed softly, embarrassed, and shifted awkwardly on her seat. “Well, it was an amazing night. Oh, and morning. You-uh, you actually saw me leaving his penthouse.” Chloe nodded in recognition and gestured her to go on. “Lucifer is very passionate and attentive - honestly, it was like he came out of a wet dream, I don't know how else to describe it. It was the best night of my life.” She was smiling secretively, like she had just gotten away with something. It was adorable. Lucifer preened at her words and turned to Dan to wiggle his eyebrow, but the detective just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, man, I've been hearing this over and over for the past two hours. It stopped being impressive a while ago.” He made a disgusted face. “It's just overkill at this point.” Lucifer chuckled and brought his attention back to the questioning. “I remember meeting you. Didn't it bother you that he basically kicked you out the morning after? Some could say, he used you for sex”, the Detective was asking, trying to get a reaction from the girl. She frowned. “He didn't kick me out, he was a gentleman. I didn't want to overstay my welcome so I...saw myself out.” He would have loved to have her for breakfast. He would have loved to have her for breakfast and then fucked her on the piano one last time. He shook his head, watching her blush and play with one of her bracelets. Too bad she had decided to leave before that could happen. “Okay, let's say I believe you. What about the fact the he was sleeping with a different woman the day after? Did that bother you?” She lifted her gaze from the table, confused at the line of questioning. Lucifer clenched his jaw, reading himself to hear for the upteenth time the who-cares-about-him speech. “I don't understand what you're trying to make me say, Detective. That I was so upset about that, I killed someone? I don't-it's not like he cheated on me or something. Why would I do that?” “So what you mean is,” Chloe said, arching an eyebrow, “that that night meant nothing?” The girl stumbled over her words, diverted her eyes. “I wouldn't say that” she admitted, voice small. Oh, Lucifer thought. Oh, that's nice to hear for a change. His spirits lifted. Detective Douche huffed a sardonic “congrats, man” beside him, living up to his Satan-given name. Chloe straightened on her chair, interested picked. “Believe it or not, you're the first one to say that today.” The girl leaned toward her, desperate to be believed. “Listen,” she started, “Listen, I have seen him naked and he has been inside of me. It's-it's not wired into my brain to not care about him after that. To not be...fond of Lucifer. There you go, I'm fond of him, alright?” She put one hand in her hair, frustrated. “Which is stupid, because I've seen him like once, and yet…But that doesn't mean I would kill two other people just because they had sex with him!” A warm feeling settled in his stomach at her words. Fond of him, uh? Nice. Very nice. He knew already she was lovely, all trembling hands and blushes that spread down to her chest, and now he also had to thank her for restoring his faith in one-night stands. He had left an impression. He would gladly leave an impression all over her, actually, if she let him, whenever she wanted - and honestly, how come she didn't swing by Lux again in the past month and a half? He thought he had made her feel thoroughly welcome last time.

He bit his bottom lip and leaned against the one-way mirror, observing her figure on the other side and letting his mind wander. What do you desire?, he would ask her, because he hadn't needed to last time, and he would make whatever came out of her trembling lips a reality. Then the Detective also briefly entered the fantasy - of course she did, the two women were sitting next to each other and they were both gorgeous, that was all he needed (“Caveman”, would have accused him Chloe if she could read his thoughts). But thinking about the Detective brought back the pain of her rejection, so he let his mind drift back to safer shores.

Daniel must have noticed his fantasizing, because he left the room with an disbelieving “Gross, dude”.

Maybe that's all I need to feel better, he mused to himself, to be reminded that someone cared. That someone whose name and desires he remembered clear as day, someone he had held in his arms for an entire night, thought of him fondly from time to time.

Lucifer refocused on the conversation before him, where the Detective was certainly getting more and more suspicious of the poor girl, considering her answers, and decided to come to her aid. He pressed the button on his right to let his voice through the other room. “Detective,” he said, “this girl is not our murder, I assure you. Let her go.” Seeing the expression of pure terror paint itself on the young woman's face when she realised he had been listening the whole time almost made him feel bad. Almost. He already a few ideas on how to make it up to her.

After all, he was the Devil.

***

Chloe finished off the questioning after a bit of convincing from Lucifer, who assured her again and again that the girl was innocent. “She just doesn't seem the type, Detective! I recognize people who deserve to be punished when I see them, and she is not one of them.” “Okay, well,” she said, “we'll be sure after you do your desire mojo thing on her. Just go ask.” And with a pat on his shoulder, she went off to get a coffee. Lucifer smoothed his hands down his perfectly tailored suit, and with a murmur of “Don't mind if I do”, he exited the room to go talk with her.

He found her after just one minute, signing some documents of sorts at a desk. The rest of his exes had already left the precinct. He approached her with two strides of his long legs, and like the first time she didn't notice him until he spoke. “Hi, love” he said, smiling cheekily at her. She gasped, startled, and let out a breathy “Jesus.” “Not quite, I'm afraid.” She chuckled and covered her face with one small, soft hand - he remembered how they felt; on his body, gripping his hair - to hide herself from him. His smile widened, turning almost predatorial before he could school it into something softer. He wouldn't want to scare her away, and she was already embarrassed the he had heard her confession. “I came by to say hi. Why are you the only one still here?”, he asked, genuinely confused. He thought he had convinced Chloe of her innocence, hadn't he? “Oh, they're just checking my alibi for two nights ago and yesterday. I, uh- I do have one, so I'm not worried.” She let her hand fall and finally looked at him, eyes big and worried. “You believe me, right? I didn't do anything.” His hands itched to smooth the wrinkle between her brows, but he resisted. He opted for stepping closer and resting his hips against the table, folding his arms just to make the muscles bulge underneath the suit and watch her eyes glaze over. “I didn't doubt it for a second, darling. I know how cold-blooded murderers look like, and you don't have it in you. I'm sure checking your alibi is just a mandatory step.” Well, maybe it wasn't, but a little white lie hardly counted as breaking his vow. He didn't like seeing her worried and tense. And, to his testament, she did relax a bit at his words. Not much, though. Lucifer added “massage” to the list of things he wanted to do to her. Using an over priced oil of her choice, perhaps. While straddling her legs, so he could slide his length on the cleft of her- He cleared his throat. He was getting ahead of himself. “You still seem tense, love. Can I help you with that?”, he drawled, voice an octave lower - he couldn't help it, arousal was already coursing slow in his veins, various memories of the night spent with her flashing in his mind. Like how close she had held him after he had come deep inside of her - and he needed that, he needed that today, he wanted to forget Chloe and how cold her eyes had been before the elevator doors closed in front of her... “No-no, I don't think so. I'm not even tense, no idea what you're talking about.” She stood up, realized she couldn't go away until a police officer gave her the okay, and sat down again. “You're right, where did I even get that idea from?” She looked up at him again from under her lashes, and he noticed with a pang to the stomach that her eyes were red and liquidy. “No, no, no need for any ofthat,” he said hurriedly, taking her soft hands in his to lift her from the chair. He stroked his thumb along her knuckles, a bit awkward. He wasn't used to comforting people. “I assure you, no one thinks you're the culprit! They'll let you go in a minute, no reason to be this stressed.” “No, no, it's not that”, she admitted, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. It seemed to have the opposite result, because she released it very shakily and swained on her feet for a second. She probably took a whiff of my cologne, he realised. She seemed to really like it last time. “Then what is it? The offer to help you relax is always valid, sweetheart.” “It's you”, she finished, voice small. “Oh?” “Yeah, I don't how to act around you. You're just- you're so- Ugh, whatever. You know how people react to you.” Both delighted and confused at her words, he cupped her cheek and stroked the soft skin there. He knew very well the magnetic pull that attracted people's attention on him, but no one has ever ever been frustrated about it before. Especially not gorgeous young women, and less so the ones who had already spent a night with him. “You don't need to act in any way, darling. And you seemed to be doing just fine last time you saw me. Care for a repeat? I'm sure it'll do wonders for your nerves.” “Yeah, about that...I-I didn't feel very good, after. I mean - the days after.” She was keeping her eyes low, refusing to look at him. He frowned. “I wasn't aware I had been too rough with you, darling, my apologies.” The girl chuckled nervously and began playing with the cufflinks at his wrists, seemingly unaware of be doing so. “No, that's not it. I wasn't great, uh... mentally.” “That's even worse!” he said, stepping closer to her. People who slept with him were supposed to leave his penthouse with a smile - and possibly keep it on for the next week - not feeling...what, guilty? Used?

That absolutely won't do, he thought, even more resolved to remedy the situation.

“It's not your fault,” she said, taking another half a step towards him. They were close enough to kiss at that point, and some police officers gave them dirty looks as they passed by. Or where they jealous looks? That was more probable. “I just don't usually sleep around, you know? You-you have definitely been an exception.” “Darling”, he said, and then he used her real name because she was still refusing to look at him. Her eyes snapped to his, and from then on she seemed unable to let his gaze go. “Just tell me, what can I can I do to remedy? What is it that you truly want?” He infused in the question more power than usual and let some of the red shine through his dark irises, just to see her lips fall open, just to see hear her gasp. “I- I just want to feel better. I want you to feel better.” “Make me feel better? Why do you say that?” he asked, his wicked smile melting into a confused expression. “I don't know Lucifer, you seem...subdued, today.” She shuffled on her feet, kept fiddling with his cufflinks. “Does it have to do with Detective Decker? You looked at her at all sad when you two were talking.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it when he realized that if he talked he would have to say the truth. Which he didn't want to do at the moment, thank you very much. Talk about hitting the mark… “Okay, you know what?” he said after a second, bending down to kiss her lips. “You're right. We both obviously need to unwind, we might as well do it with each other. Come to Lux tonight, I'll tell the bouncer to let you in.” Another heated kiss, for good measure, and then he left her there without another word.

Hopefully he would see her again later.

***

Lucifer was kind of drunk.

Okay, very drunk. But it wouldn't last long, not with his his celestial metabolism or, or whatever it was that made him sober up so criminally quickly.

He had drank his way through a very expensive bottle of whisky in less than hour to reach the desired level of bloody-hell-why-is-the-room-spinning and he was trying to enjoy it while it lasted, thank you very much. The fact was- he stumbled is way to his stereo to put on some music- the fact was, he truly needed to stop thinking about the Detective for a while after an entire day spent pretending that her jabs at their moment didn't hurt. And the lovely girl he met again at the precinct hadn't arrived yet, maybe wouldn't for the rest of the night - and honestly, what was with women rejecting him all of a sudden? Were they all self-flagellating masochists? Unbelievable.

He downed another half glass of, what was it? Brandy? Who cared.

He spent some time just half singing-half mumbling to the songs reverberating through his penthouse, minutes blurring together. He eased on the drinking after a while, when he caught himself about to open a very expensive 11-year-old bottle of Bourbon that he would have downed without even tasting. That would have been too dramatic, even for his standards. He briefly considered taking a trip down to Lux, dance with strangers to some songs almost certainly containing the word “devil” - what, he had a whole theme going on, alright?- but really wasn't in the mood. And also, he realised with a glance down to his attire, he looked like a hot mess. Emphasis on the hot, but, still. He had a reputation to maintain, he couldn't jus-

The doors of his private elevator suddenly opened up, and a girl took a couple of hesitant steps into the penthouse. It was her. Oh, suddenly his evening didn't feel that pathetic and depressing anymore. He was going to have fun, he was going to enjoy himself and take his mind off of detectives he definitely wasn't in love with. “Uhm, Lucifer?”, she called out. She still hadn't seen him standing behind the bar. “Hello, darling. I'm quite happy to see you took up on my offer.” He put on his best wicked smile when she finally turned to him, but his heart wasn't in it. “Oh, hi”, she said, “I almost didn't, but you definitely made a compelling argument earlier today.” She tapped her index finger on her pretty, pink lips and then offered him a cheeky smile in return. Oh, right, he had kissed her at the precinct. How lovely that that was what had convinced her to come back. Lucifer felt his expression melt into something more genuine while he walked closer to her. “I can offer the same argument again, if you'd like. More thoroughly this time.” She already had a soft blush painting her cheeks red, eyes big and bright in the low lights of the apartment. When she nodded at him he didn't waste another second before bending down to kiss her.

Her lips were soft and had the taste of artificial strawberries, like she been sucking on a lollipop just minutes before. Or maybe it was the gloss she had on? Lucifer didn't know nor care, he just licked her bottom lip to get more of the flavour. She immediately opened up to him, and before he knew it the kiss had turned wet and passionate and oh so nice. She pressed him hard against the bar, body flush on his, and it was the hard edge of the table digging in his spine that brought him back to the present.

They were going too fast. At that rate, they would have been naked in a minute, and he would have been deep inside of her in another five, without even realising it. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing - how could it ever be, he thought, feeling her soft curves pressed against his chest. And she was awfully responsive to his touches, too, it wouldn't have taken much to have her ready and aching for him... But he wanted to take his sweet time, even more so than last time. To push himself to the limit before finally sliding into her tight heat.

Also, he was still a bit drunk. He needed to calm down before continuing.

Lucifer grudgingly broke off the kiss, and she followed his lips until even standing up on her toes wasn't enough to reach them. “Love,” he started, running his hands through her hair and down her back, “I can't believe I'm saying this, but - can we slow down?” She looked confused for a second, but then her expression cleared and she actually took a step back from him. “Yes, yes, of course. You - you distracted me!”, she accused him. “I did notice that you've been drinking. Are you feeling alright?” Not really. He deflected the question: “I just started the party a bit earlier, forgive me. Can I serve you a glass?” “No, I think you've had enough for the both of us.” She gestured to the half empty bottles and tumblers disseminated everywhere in the apartment. “How are you even still conscious?” “Oh please, I am almost sober again”, he scoffed. “The pros and cons of being the Devil, I'm afraid.” She laughed softly and tilted her head, as if to say fair enough, then started sinuously moving her body to the rhythm of the music still playing in the background. “How about we dance, then? I do love this song.” He tried to figure out which one it was, and after a few second he recognised that Ready for Love had started playing. A bit too on the nose, isn't it?, he thought. But it is very appropriate.

And who was him to refuse a pretty girl a dance?

He took her hand and led her away from the bar, and she swirled on her feet before ending up flush against him again. Her arms went around his neck, a hand caressing slowly the soft hair at the nape. A shiver run down his back at the tentative contact, and he couldn't help but leave a kiss on her forehead that made her smile.

In their defence, they did try to keep things chaste for a while. They moved around the room and sang along to the chorus of the song, Lucifer even chuckled in her hair when she whispered the “uuuh” part right in his ear. They danced, hand in hand, like it was appropriate at a high school prom; and then they shifted closer and moved slower, like he had done so many times on the Lux dance floor with other people. His hands kept stroking over the curve between her waist and hips; he could feel the ghost of her lips on his neck at every movement - and desire was still pooling in his stomach, hot and heavy, from the kiss they had shared before. Lucifer bent down to rest his head on the slope of her shoulder and slipped his fingers under the hem of the flowy dress she was wearing. He could feel how hard her heart was beating even through two layers of clothing, a fast tu-tum that had stolen the laughter from her voice when she whispered his name. Or maybe that was his hands’ fault, which were currently very busy palming her ass underneath the dress. He picked her up, then, because he wanted to feel her soft thighs snug around his waist - her cleavage right at eye level was just a bonus, really. She let out a surprised “oh” at the change in height and held on tight to his shoulders, but he barely noticed all her weight on him. He kept swaying on the spot in time with the music. “Lucifer, this is not dancing!” she giggled, “I'm supposed to be touching the ground.” - but she made no move to get out of his embrace. Bloody hell, she smelled lovely and was so warm… “Who made up all these boring rules?” he asked, then he pushed her hips against hers before she could answer. Slow, he thought, he didn't particularly want to go slow anymore - not when she was desperately kissing wherever her lips could reach, not when she was whimpering at the burn of his beard on her skin. He mouthed between the valley of her breasts, on her collarbones, up to the soft line of her neck and, fuck, he was already so hard he couldn't think straight. He kept walking until they softly hit the back of the sofa, and he sat her on top before licking his way across her neck and to her mouth. He kissed her hard - bit her bottom lip, sucked on her tongue, tried his damn hardest until her eyes were rolling back in her head and her heels pressed insistently on his ass and thighs. Lucifer didn't know how long they kept grinding against each other like that, some other sultry rock song playing in the background, but after a while he felt her hands abandon their place under his shirt to push him back a little. “Please,” she said, hopping off of the sofa. One strap of her dress was hanging low on arm, revealing the lovely absence of a bra underneath. “Please, let me, let me-” and then she was sinking on her knees in front of him, mouthing on his cock through his pants with her eyes half closed. He moaned her name, the syllables thumbling out of him in a low rumble and- and he thought he would get to undress her first, to feel her wet and hot and quivering around his fingers, but. But she was already unzipping his trousers and sliding both those and his boxers down to his ankles, freeing him of his shoes to take them completely off. How could he say no now.

He remembered how it felt when she did this the last time. The heat of her mouth had woken him up in the middle of the night, when he thought she had been too exhausted to do anything more. Still in the phase between sleep and consciousness, and with pleasure waves coursing fast through his veins, he had just let himself lay there and be her personal buffet. It hadn't been a hurdle at all. He remembered being delighted by her eagerness; her every kiss, lick and caress so obviously saying thank you for the fantastic night and also I'm putting my heart and soul into this, I hope you noticed. Oh, he had noticed. He had shown his appreciation profusely the morning after, in the shower.

He came back to the present when she took him in her mouth, curling her tongue around the head. He didn't stop the breathy gasp of her name from coming out; to encourage her, to let her know her know he was enjoying himself. That seemed to have the desired effect of making her more confident, because she even risked a glance up of her big, bright eyes, already teary - image that Lucifer was sure, without doubt, he would have had impressed behind his eyelids for days. She continued her ministrations on him and his hand went to the back of her head without him controlling it - not to force her forward but just to hold the hair off of her face, just to pass his thumb on the bottom lip wrapped around him. The other hand was holding on the top of the sofa, knuckles white with the strength behind it. Then he saw her dainty, clever fingers slip under her dress and the vibration of her moan right after sent a shock of pleasure through all his body, so strong he almost broke the couch in an attempt not to thrust in her mouth. “Alright, love, that's enough.” he was quick to say, sliding out of her and bringing her up to her feet. He was not going to cum before this lovely, gorgeous girl was half delirious and blissfully naked, thank you very much. “Uhm, alright, 'm sorry. Did I do something wrong?” she asked, worried and embarrassed and a whole series of things that no one who was having sex with him should have felt, ever. “A bit too well, actually,” he reassured her, kissing the taste of him right out of her lips. “Oh, really?” She eyed his straining erection, wet with saliva and pre-cum, with a self-satisfied half smile. “Oh, you little minx,” he drawled, voice rough with arousal, “you're proud, aren't you? Come here.” Lucifer picked her up with one arm around her legs and the other immediately went to unzip the dress that she was, for some obscure reason, still wearing. He went around the sofa in two long strides, and sat down on it with her on his lap. He spread his legs a bit more to make her slide towards him and she settled right against his cock, her finally naked chest at the perfect height for Lucifer to take one of her nipples in his mouth and generally suck marks wherever his lips could reach. “Lucifer”, she moaned, soft trembling hands caressing his face and petting his hair. Yes, yes, he thought, half incoherent with lust, that's what he needed from her, what the wanted - to spend the night wrapped in her arms, to be the center of her undivided attention. No games or toys or roleplays, no nothing but gentle touches and breathy moans of his name. “It's my turn now, it's my turn…” he murmured against her breasts, and moved his hand between their bodies to touch her over the lacy barely-there thing she had put on. She was soaked, dripping, really, and so hot that his brain short-circuited for a second. He experimentally pushed two fingers in, as deep as the fabric of the panties permitted. “Oh my God, you're such a tease, please-ah!” He had taken one of her nipples between his teeth in retaliation. “No need to bring him into this”, he chastised her, but he couldn't help soothing the soft bite with a kiss. He hooked his index finger in the underwear and pushed it to the side, unwilling to take off something so pretty that contrasted deliciously with her skin colour. Lucifer pushed in again, this time without anything between him and her, and lost himself in the wet heat of her - even more so when her own hand sneaked down to take him in her soft palm.

She felt feverishly hot everywhere he was touching, but he knew it was him who was positively burning, almost scaringly so if she had the presence of mind to notice. Usually, during normal circumstances, he tried to keep his temperature under control; but when he was in bed with another, mind clouded with lust, he let some of the Hell fire shine behind his closed eyes, burn through his skin - and why bother to hide it, really, why resist, when they all seemed to like it so much? Lucifer, Lucifer, they all repeated, his name replacing his Father's on their lips, come closer, closer, I want to feel you…

She was almost there, he could feel it in the quivering of her thighs and in the urgency of her kisses. He kept rubbing his thumb against her clit in wide circles and he couldn't wait, he couldn't wait to feel her desperately clump around his fingers, couldn't wait for her to hold him tight until she could breath again and then some more after. The thought had him lick a hot strip on her neck, up to her ear. “Darling, you feel incredible. Cum for me, I know you're close, just let go.” “No, no, wait-” she started, and he was so surprised by the reaction he let her move away from his fingers. Disappointment coiled in his stomach; he almost whined as she slapped his hand away when he tried to touch her again. He wanted her to get off so bad. “Inside, I want you inside first”, she explained, and she laughed softly at the offended expression on his face. “We would have done that in a minute, love, no need to deny yourself an orgasm!” “I'm not denying myself anything, and I swear, if you don't get in inside me right now I might cry.” “But-” She raised his face up to hers with her index and thumb slightly pressing into his cheeks. “Lucifer, please, just be a good boy and fuck me.” The words died in his throat. Well. Well. He could be a good boy if she wanted. He could be the best. She seemed surprised at her own forwardness. “I-I don't know where that came from, sor-”, but he was already taking a hold of her waist and pushing his hips up, sliding into her in one long stroke that left both of them breathless. “Like this, love?” he asked, moving in and out of her slowly and deeply like she had so much enjoyed last time. He hoped she would say the words again, hoped she would sing his praise right in ear, so he could feel that warm feeling again. She started moving on her own, meeting his thrusts midway and undulating her hips in a maddening eight-shape motion. “Oh, Lucifer, yes-” She attached her mouth on his neck, and as usual he found himself sorry that she couldn't leave a mark. “Like this, don't stop. You're amazing, you're so good for me.” “Thank you”, he answered, really meaning it, not caring if his playboy smooth-talking persona was slipping a little. His head fell back at a particularly hard push, expecting to find the sofa and meeting only air, but he couldn't find it in him to raise it again. She noticed, because of course she did, and put both hands on the nape of his neck to support him. “Better?”, she managed to ask, while still bouncing up and down on his cock. It was such a sweet thing to do in the middle of sex, so tender, and it reminded him why he had wanted to spend the night with her and no one else- and she needed to cum like yesterday, why hadn't he reduced her to a mumbling mess already?, that was frankly criminal now that the thought about it…

Lucifer doubled his efforts, doing everything with his hands and mouth that he knew she liked (also trying some other things from his own repertoire), and finally, for his pleasure almost as much as hers, she came with his name on her lips.

“Brilliant. Once more now, for good luck”, he said while she was still recovering, and manoeuvred them around until he was flat on the sofa with her lying right over him, her back on his chest.

***

She was running a foot up and down his calf, caressing him however she could while still lying on top of his chest.

The weight of her was comforting, so he didn't change position despite her worries of weighing too much for him to be comfortable (“Too much?” Please, love, you offend me.)

They were both sated and very satisfied, basking in the afterglow for as long as they could. She seemed pensive, tough. “A penny for your thoughts?”, he asked, and left a kiss in her hair. “I was thinking…” “Yes?” “I was thinking that you should definitely put a mirror on the ceiling. Like, it would have a been so hot to watch you fuck me in this position.” He laughed, startled, because he wasn't expecting that at all from her. Still drunk on the endorphines, then, he thought. He knew her to be way more shy than this. “I can see the appeal”, he conceded. She turned her head to kiss him as best she could - her lips ended up on the corner of his mouth, but he didn't mind at all. “About about you? Do you feel better?” He thought about it, trying to figure it out himself. “You know, I think I do.” He felt less...hollow. He didn't know how long it would last, nor when the Detective's “She stopped me from making a big mistake” would come back to haunt him - but for now, he was well. “I'm glad”, she said, with a lot of warmth in her voice. “Help me turn, I want to- ah, thanks. Hello.” She was still lying on him, but with the added benefit of her soft breasts pressing against his chest. He kept his eyes fixed on them just to make her blush. “I hope you're feeling alright, too, love. Yes?” He didn't like at all the thought of her leaving happy and then being miserable the days after - he still didn't quite understand why that had happened last time. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm fine this time,” she reassured him, offering him a gentle smile and a caress on his cheekbone. “I guess I just needed to see what you would do if you saw me again. That night...I don't think I'll ever forget it. And I was afraid you wouldn't even remember my name, you know?” He squeezed her waist. “I remember everything”, he told her, and he hoped she understood how important it was for him the she believed me. “Yeah, I noticed. You-you really are a gentleman, Lucifer. You're wonderful, I hope you get told often.” Hardly ever, actually, not outside of sex. He refused to blush. “You're not so bad yourself.” He winked and gave her his best come-fuck-me smile, trying to shift the dangerously emotional atmosphere into something more playful. “So, how about a shower together? We could make it a tradition.” She groaned and the proposition, which was fair considering how much he has exhausted her - but it didn't take much to convince her, anyway.

Feedback is love, feedback is life. Let me know if you enjoyed it!

[cuilective]

Announcement: New Muse(s?) Incoming

Actually, possibly two, though I’d like a bit of input first if at all possible.

The one that I for sure have in the works is an OC I had back when I first joined the pokemon roleplaying community back during the ORAS hype: my Team Aqua grunt Alphonse. He’s a tall gangly softboy whose signature pokemon is a sassy Girafarig he named Banana. He’s a pro at names, guys. Always dooting a kazoo or trying to cheer people up with puns, he’s the sweetest ‘villain’ around. Joined Team Aqua more for the roof over his head and steady income but couldn’t really care less about the team’s ultimate goals, but the team in general has become so much like a family to him that he’ll do whatever he can for them.

Now, there was one other muse I wanted to add... but I can’t really pick between the two OCs. I’d like to see which one, if either, y’all might be interested in interacting with? Or maybe both??? I’ll ramble a bit about them each beyond the cut cus it’s kinda long oops... there’s tl;drs under each character if it’s too much to read at once gjbdfgh

One of the two would be a trainer unaffiliated with any team or organization, Cooper Evans. His signature pokemon is an Espurr named Marnie, who is an intense busybody and a walking callout post of a cat and likes to abuse her telepathy to pester people... when Coop isn’t around, anyway. She’ll only behave around him. As you can see through the link he doesn’t have a very human appearance, so trying to figure out a pokeverse for him has been a bit tricky.

I’m still figuring it out, but first option is he might be a human/ultra beast fusion made secretly in Aether’s underground labs out of an unofficial ultra beast called UB Infinity or Neuroboros, a serpentine psychic/poison purple dragon captured by Aether and kept under lock and key to be studied while it slumbered away biting its own tail. The fusion was with a comatose and deathly ill young Cooper in a desperate attempt by an Aether scientist to bring him back from the brink of death.

Or I’ll remove the Aether aspect entirely and he’s fused with various mundane pokemon in an attempt to give him a stronger body. Pokemon like Nidoking, Espurr, and Feraligatr, and possibly others were used. Either way he takes on a very inhuman appearance and has to find a way to fit in without, yknow, scaring the living daylights out of people. He typically does this by dressing like the Poke Maniac trainer class. Big stuffed nidoking suit to hide his tail and ears in with slots to put his horns through, and a simple cloth mask to hide his jagged teeth. He’s got an excuse for any odd trait of his when asked. But ye, he’s at least 19 and an absolute meme. An obnoxious little meme. He hasn’t given up on dabbing yet, but when it comes to memes his favorite has to be the classic rick roll.

I have yet to find a fitting faceclaim of him due to his unique face, so chances are I’ll have to commission some simple icons. But until then I’m thinking Shigeo Kageyama would do well enough, since it’s close enough to his previously human appearance. gamefreak tried to be slick with allistair the purble masked spooky boy but coop was first!!!!

TL;DR: Psychic Purple Little Man Tries To Blend In With Normal Humans, Has The Power of Anxiety And Anime On His Side. And A Cat.

My other option... Aleksey Volkov (< each name is a link! warning for shirtless old sketch in the second half???), the ‘Beast of Rocket’. (Not to be confused with pokespe’s ‘three beasts of rocket’) Though likely without the fluffy ears/tail... maybe. I dunno. I’m kind of attached to them. He’s at least around 30 years old. He studied the differences and commonalities between humans and pokemon--particularly humans with ESP and pokemon that are said to have originally been human. His goal was to unlock the 'innate power' he believed each human to have, which was comparable to a pokemon and its moves/abilities. His theory was that ancient humans had powers akin to pokemon and his goal was to activate those ancient genes in modern humans.

His experiments were getting some interesting results, but he got the attention of Team Rocket before long. They abducted him and his wife and daughter, using his family as leverage to get him to work for them. Their goal was to use him to find a way to harness the energy of pokemon to give humans superhuman abilities, much in the same line as what he was doing already. This was in a particularly cold part of the world, so traits were chosen from ursaring, piloswine, and mightyena to create a superhuman who was perfectly suited to fighting in subzero temperatures.

When it came time to test what he currently had, he refused to test on anyone else but himself. It worked, in a way, turning him into an actual manbearpig... but also scrambling up his head to the point where he was difficult to control and no longer seemed to remember anything in regards to the project, or... much of anything else, actually. The project deemed a failure and not even remembering his own family, what he became was instead used as muscle for Team Rocket whenever they need to dish out knuckle sandwiches for whatever reason. Typically loaned out to the different executives and admins, either as a bodyguard, enforcer, or something of an assassin, as any evidence left behind would point to some wild pokemon attack, not a human, right?

His faceclaim would be Klaus Von Reinherz. I mean, look at him!!! the lil tusks... the sideburns... it him.

TL;DR: Doctor Prettyboy is forced by Team Rocket to make a super soldier potion. He tests it on himself and becomes Manbearpig. He is now huge and angry and strong but can’t remember anything else. Team Rocket is keeping him as a sexy, sexy weapon. Quite possibly over eight feet tall even while slightly hunched over.

I genuinely can’t pick one or the other because I love them both and think they’d both have a lot of potential for neat interactions. Can you see your characters interacting with either of these? Do you have any interest or questions? Please feel free to reply, send an ask, IM me, whatever. Be as honest or nosy as you want, I’ll even take anonymous input if that’s what folk are more comfortable with. I just want to be selective with which characters I add to this multimuse because I don’t want to end up with 50 characters and only end up using like 3 of them, yknow?

[enixamyram]

Rose’s Q&A’s on Sunday

Any OUAT issues: Robin's bow and arrow. Beautiful romantic moments were interrupted by Rose being hit by them! Also the bug was always like a clown car because there was so much to stuff inside and it was always the bow and arrows that were in the way the most when filming scenes in the bug.

Creating a Disney world ride: spinning tea cup with no restraints.

What Marvel characters would she be: Black Widow. She's kick ass.

Overcome fear: She's afraid of heights but went bungee jumping (which she wasn't allowed to do since if she was hurt it would screw up filming, so it was a secret though she did tell Colin and Andy). When jumping she screamed the whole way down, but it’s like jumping twice because of the bounce. So she jumped, bounced like she was doing it again and it helped overcome her fear.

Funniest moments on set: So many funny moments. Especially when lines are similar in a long speech and you stumble over them. And to make it worse, you're staring in someone's eyes and they can do whatever they want cause they're normally off camera. And you can always see the twitching on their faces and lips as well.

Songs for the others: Africa by Toto for Colin. Leon Ridges Album for Andy

Character to introduce: The March Hair.

What's it like looking back at the show: Incredible. You can't prepare for it. Her friend is a massive fan of OUAT and got to meet some of the cast because of her so she knew what she was in for beforehand. It's so amazing cause you do the work and resonating with the fans is a bonus. Meeting everyone and witnessing the reaction is incredible.

Party tricks: She does a really good Andrew J West impression. (Andrew then said his was sound affects, and Rose added that on the set of Wasted, she had to slide into frame for a shot. And whenever she did she made the same whoosh sound affect and kept getting told off for it. She even forgot she was doing it at one point and had to be reminded.)

Touching thing someone has said: The LGBT fans who say her role gave them confidence and helped them come out and accept themselves.

How did the get their role: Rose was in the running to play Captain Hook! Lol, just a joke obviously. She did a self tape at home but didn't know who she was playing lol. She did the Hatter scene and sent it off and then got a code name before finding out she was playing Alice.

Play or musical: a Greek tragedy

Favourite Bobby memory: ALL memories. She couldn't praise him enough as a person and an actor! Also gonna add that Colin was pretty much the same. He admired Bobby so much, he was his role model and the very reason he joined the show and he literally called the guy a God like twice haha. In other words nothing but praise and good times all around!

(This was my question and I also took the chance to ask Colin about his impressive Rose impression.)

How it felt exploring the LGBT: Shout out to Rose on this one. Because Rose actually went spoke to A & E after finding out Alice was gay and said she wanted it to be real and more than one episode so it could be real and done properly (unlike Ruby and Dorothy). And she hopes we liked the arc they had in the season.

Asked about her relationship with Robin: Her fav scenes is the bookshop date they went on. She wanted it to be real and not just your token love story. She wanted it to be real and true. (And because it's about Rose's character lol) Colin thought S7's love story was really well done and the investing in Alice and Robin was rightly timed. And not making more of it than the fact that it's a normal love story.

Rose and Colin had to explain pantomimes for Andy.

Advice About Acting: It's about bringing yourself to the character and have a vulnerability and openness that allow the character in. But it's not something you learn in school. It's more something you learn over time. And having people around who understand you and that helps. 

More advice about uni and living alone: She never went to uni so passed the question to Andy.

Most upsetting scene she had to film: Rose's was saying goodbye to the troll in The Girl In The Tower. Party because she was tired in general but mostly because of the speech she gave. Something about saying "I'm okay, thank you for looking after me but I'm okay now" was really heartbreaking. Colin's was Dark Hook's death and also singing to baby Alice! It was emotional for him because he had his own daughter at the time so it really weighed on him. And he and Rose both chose the "more important one" (their words lol) to be when Rogers and Tilly have their phone conversation after the curse (the improvised I Love You’s scene).

Funniest thing: So much. Mostly in Henry's apartment, playing guitar and messing between takes. Or any scene with her, Colin and Andy cause it was later after they had gotten to know each other and could relax a bit more.

How would Alice tell Rogers she was pregnant: I could not keep up with this one! It was hilarious! They were roleplaying it out with Alice telling Rogers she was pregnant but poor Rose was confused and thought it was about the wedding. So after realising it wasn’t the wedding, she literally just turned to him and said; "Hi dad. I'm pregnant!" (Will try and get the full convo up at one point.)

And that’s that one done as well!!!

[sparxwrites]

I'm not sure if you've answered something similar before (I can't find it if you have but knowing tumblrs terrible search function that's not saying much) but why do you write such dark sexual stories? What is it that you find so appealing in these twisted tales? Please understand this is from a point of good faith - I'm not judging and I enjoy dark stories and erotica both, only seperately. I'm just morbidly curious as to why you enjoy the combination as I see no appeal in it personally

oof, just a nice easy question to answer on a friday night, anon. okay. there’s a lot of answers to this question, depending on how personal i want to get and also like... which stories you’re talking about.

some stories i write that could be considered “darkly sexual” are categorically erotica. stuff involving weird, niche kinks, or monsters, or “dub-con” (which is not a real thing, i know, it’s a fantasy erotica thing)... the appeal there is, idk, whatever the fantasy is. they are, in my mind, written as fantasies - a fic where a character doesn’t want sex and then ends up "enjoying” having a monster lay eggs in them is obviously not what happens irl. eggs aside, no one ends up actually enjoying sexual assault. they’re written (from my side) with the air of “irl this would be Utterly Reprehensible, but what i’m essentially writing here is like... a roleplay session between two consenting partners where i am both partners”. it’s all fantasy! it’s all fake! it’s a bdsm scene or whatever where they’re both pretending/playing a role, except it’s just me writing it out with little finger puppets (either for my amusement/titillation, or the amusement/titillation of others).

then there’s... Other Stuff. see also, a lot of my percy and ripley fics. and i find it interesting that people often read those as fetish stuff because, whilst they do have sex in them, those are fundamentally horror stories. the appeal i get out of them is the same as whump/darkfic. when i write about horrible, traumatising sex where one person clearly doesn’t enjoy it, that is not a sexual fantasy for me. characters roleplaying at it, sure, me playing fingerpuppets with it, sure. but something deeply and fundamentally focused on the trauma and violation of that kind of thing is not, for me, sexual (and if what you’re getting off on is the actual nonconsent, rather than the playing at/silly version of nonconsent, i have some questions/concerns. this seems like a weird and not-really-there line, but it’s surprisingly obvious and disconcerting when someone/a fic crosses it tbh). what i get out of that is a deep sense of catharsis. i’ve gone into why i think i (and others) get this catharsis a little in my meta tag and this specific post - but, at the end of the day, i don’t exactly know. 

i think, perhaps, it is that i am a very sad person sometimes, and a very angry person sometimes, and in real life i spend a lot of time keeping both of those things hidden and pressed down, and... there has to be some kind of release valve for those emotions. with fiction, i have a safe way of managing that, both reading and writing - i can be both aggressor and victim, no one gets hurt (i find the thought of hurting people abhorrent; i nearly passed out once because a stranger was in pain from a dislocated shoulder, despite the lack of visible injury. hyperempathy is wild), i get to work through a whole bunch of psychological shit from various stuff i won’t go into... i often refer to writing as a release, or a valve, or a way to ease the pressure inside my head, or a form of venting. 

as to why sexual assault often shows up in these stories... i do frequently write whump without sexual assault, but it’s also like. a) a bunch of personal stuff that i don’t give enough of a shit to talk about, but it’s there, and b) sex and sex-adjacent stuff (often rape and assualt, but even consensual stuff!) has such a fascinating way of crystallising character/power dynamics, or stripping people bare, or exposing vulnerability, or dragging up really awful, messy, scary, painful, confusing stuff. and that makes it often a really good target when you (like me) want all those emotions in your writing because you’re using it as a pressure-valve vent, and as a way to safely experience and work through them. writing about difficult or traumatic relationships to the self, the body, to sex and to other people... sex is really good for all of that stuff. idk.

also, sometimes fics end up a weird mix of the two. i can’t think of any off the top of my head for cr, but for yogs (my previous fandom) i wrote a handful of things for a character that was essentially straight out of a horror movie and another monster character, with some real questionable consent stuff. 50% of that was “this is horrible and manipulative and just. really fucking Awful” and 50% of that was “hrnghghgh tentacles hot” so like. yknow. my brain is a weird mess i guess, is the takeaway message here.

(sometimes, there’s also an element of “can i get myself into this headspace” or “this is an interesting technical exercise” - i wrote something a while back about ripley masturbating to the memory of torturing percy, and that falls into this category. that wasn’t a fetish/fantasy thing, that was a character study, using sex as a medium to work through ripley’s obsessive, violent thoughts and strip away the veneer of imparitiality she so loves to pretend she has.)

idk how well this explains it - this is something i spend a lot of brain-power analysing on a regular basis, because i am constantly nosy about how my brain works and why it works in these weird, angular, fucked-up kinds of ways (not just with writing, the adventures of being autistic means i spend a Lot of time analysing myself to make sure i’m calibrating my interactions with other people correctly). i still haven’t entirely worked it out, and a lot of the stuff i have worked out is personal/messy enough i both don’t want to and can’t be arsed to explain it to strangers on the internet. i hope it’s given a Bit of an explanation tho, and if there’s a specific fic that prompted this comment, feel free to ask me about it specifically, bc i might be able to offer a little more insight as to my thought processes for like... a specific example i guess.

[scribeofmorpheus]

I Don’t Dance To Dubstep Part 4 (A Deadpool Fic)

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

A/N: I don’t even know what the hell inspired this chapter tbh! I just love the banter between all the characters and the reader. Also, Dopinder is a killer cinnamon roll. I will say this: the next chapter contains TIMETRAVEL SHENANIGANS!!

Remember: Reader’s alter ego (nickname) is DJ

Words: 2621

Warnings: Mature Language, Mention of Sexual Kinks,Stan Lee what are you doing here?

(gif isn’t mine)

The taxi was parked in the lot of a clothing and specialists store tastefully named 'Dom N' A's Tricks.'

You had never rolled your eyes so far back into your head you thought they'd roll like bowling balls until you read that tacky sign.

When everyone was arguing amongst themselves as to who should do the shopping, Wade had suggested a sing-off and the loser would have to buy the supplies. As soon as Cable heard 'sing-off' he practically threw himself out of the car and hurled himself into the store.

Wade and Dopinder were singing along to Sonny and Cher's: I Got You Babe playing on CD in an overly enthusiastic performance to pass the time.

You and Domino sat in the back seat of the taxi with your mouths agape and a bug-eyed expression painted on both your faces.

"They say we're young and we don't know, we won't find out until we grow," Wade sang Cher's part in a high pitch, of course.

"Well I don't know if all that's true, 'Cause you got me, and baby I got you," Dopinder was smiling euphorically as he sang along in a pleasant voice.

Dopinder and Wade turned their heads towards each other at the same time like it had been choreographed.

"I got you babe," they sang together, Deadpool theatrically gracing Dopinder’s cheek as though they were filming some romance musical.

Dopinder, feeling not at all uncomfortable with Wade's lack of acknowledging other people’s personal space, played along and swayed his head from side to side.

"I got you babe," they continued singing along.

"Kill me now," Domino said in an exasperated huff.

You were speechless as you watched the act Dopinder and Wade were putting on.

"It's like I'm watching a re-run of all the nightmares I didn't know I had repressed play through in high definition..." You said to no one in particular.

Feeling in no particular mood to listen to the duet between the two weirdos in the front, you used your ability to generate a white noise hum to drown out all other noises. What you were doing was basically generating an ability induced set of earplugs.

Unbeknownst to you as the calming thrum of the white noise lulled you to the brink of sleep, a panicked Cable came sprinting to the car while red lights blared from inside the store and a skinny tatted woman shot off her shotgun in the direction of the car.

There was a busted window behind the woman that had the jagged but noticeable outline of a large man. It looked like a cartoon outline. Deadpool flailed about in his seat as a splatter of his blood missed Domino's face by an impossible inch, no doubt a shotgun pellet had managed to hit him.

You opened your eyes when you noticed Dopinder panic and put the car in reverse, bumping into a light post jerking you from your seat.

You stopped producing the white noise and suddenly you were bombarded with too much information for a sane person to process all at once.

"Drive!" Cable shouted as he threw the box of clearly shoplifted goods in between you and Domino.

Dopinder put the car in drive and his tyres screeched as he burned rubber behind him. The lady with the shotgun let off another shot and shattered the rear window. All three of you in the back ducked on instinct.

"What the fuck did you do, Cable?" Wade chastised in the same high pitch he used to sing Cher's lines.

"I don't carry cash on me and I figured we were in a hurry!" Cable bit back.

"Who doesn't bring money with them when they go shopping?" Wade asked idiotically.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a half-human cyborg from the FUTURE?" Domino shouted over the two of them.

"Then why did he volunteer to buy all the sexy roleplay stuff?" Wade asked.

"Maybe because you threatened to make him sing a duet with you when he was clearly uncomfortable, Mr Pool," Dopinder enlightened him.

"Can everyone stop referring to me in the third person, please? I'm right here!" Cable exclaimed.

"Well if you're from the future an argument could be made for the fact that you are actually existing in two places simultaneously..." You chipped in.

Cable grumbled at you and Deadpool looked in the distance and said, "And that is called a continuity plot-hole ladies and gentlemen!"

"A WHAT HOLE?" You, Cable and Domino asked in unison, completely confused by Wade's comical shtick.

Wade noticed a street sign up ahead that read Parker Ave and pointed to it hastily, "Quick, Dopinder, take the next left and go down the street Uncle Ben will undoubtedly not be killed in during the current MCU reboot!"

Dopinder followed Wade's instructions and drove down Parker Ave and used the back roads to drive to your destination while avoiding the freeway and the mass of cops that were probably out searching for the five assailants that robbed Dom N' A's Tricks store.

***

"I look utterly ridiculous!" You pouted as you looked at your distorted reflection through a store window.

True to the singer persona Wade had given you earlier at the Chinese Restaurant, you wore a platinum blonde wig, a leather corset and fishnets, coupled with six-inch heels that could kill someone just by tripping over a cobblestone walkway.

"Here's the finishing touch," Wade held out a pair of fake teeth with a gap in the middle.

You looked at Cable in astonishment, "Did you buy a set of faux teeth?"

"I take no credit. That was all him," Cable said as he stared at you with intense eyes.

"I'm not putting on a set of fake teeth, Wade!" You warned as you focused the sound waves generated by the whooshing cars driving passed to shatter the plastic teeth into a million pieces.

"You have no respect for the art of role-playing," Wade said.

"I think you mean Cosplay?" Domino corrected him.

"I meant what I said!" Wade shouted as he reached into the backseat to grab another outfit from the box of stolen goods. "Alright sweet cheeks, your turn," He handed the clothes to Domino.

Domino gave the outfit one glance then looked at her own attired and gave Wade a condescending look, "Uh, no thanks. I'm already in costume."

Wade was about to protest against Domino's refusal to change into a new costume when you interjected, "Look I can do the whole infiltrating and catching the target off guard routine on my own. Domino you're on crowd suppression duty, Cable just cover my six from a vantage point, Dopinder keep the meter running and Wade…"

"Yeah?" He questioned cautiously.

"Put on the wig and heels. You're my dance partner, sweet cheeks!" You retorted with a sinister smile.

Domino and Cable laughed, enjoying your little power trip and the fact Wade had to wear a wig and a pair of heels... again!

Feeling a bit flustered, Wade dropped the box on the taxi's boot and placed both his hands on his hips, "Well, jokes on you! I've actually been looking for an excuse to wear heels again. They make my calf muscles pop!"

"Sure thing Queer Eye. Go get changed." You shooed him into the cab.

***

When Wade was fully in costume -above his regular costume, naturally- he quickly made his way up a three-story window that was the entrance into the Burlesque clubs dressing room with ease. You'd die before admitting this, but Wade's agility was something you envied.

You looked up at the window and then down at your heels wondering how on this God's green Earth would you manage to get up there without busting an ankle. Maybe if you focused the sound waves from a considerable sound generating source you could levitate on a cushion of sound waves, but there was nothing loud enough to draw from in your vicinity.

Domino noticed the crease of your brow and smacked Cable's chest before nodding her head in your direction to let him know his assistance was needed.

Cable stood up from the hood of the car, the temporary indent straightening out when his weight was removed. He walked over to you and looked between you and the window, before making a brace with his fingers and getting low on one knee.

"Need a boost?"

You looked down at him, took off your heels and placed your foot on the brace he made, "Since you're offering."

"Hey, don't get any ideas. He's mine!" Wade shouted from the window as he sat on the sill and stretched his arm out for you to grab.

Cable hoisted you up, his metal arm grabbing your ass for the briefest moment. You tried to act like the contact of hard metal on your ass wasn't invigorating and pleasantly different. Fuck! Now you had a new kink to add to your ever expanding list: Metal Arm Ass Groping. Quite the mouthful, you'd have to think up some catchy abbreviation for it later.

With his mechanised strength, he flung you high up into the air and you managed to grab Wade’s hand and he pulled you into the club. Domino and Cable made scarce and disappeared to get with the plan.

You put your heels back on.

"Naughty, naughty," Wade tut-tutted as he noticed your flushed cheeks and devious grin.

"Please, like you haven't thought about it!" You retorted as you marched out of the dressing room and down to the private parlour’s dancer entrance, more than ready to kidnap this Madam Mayflower and pay your rent to your sleazy landlord.

Behind you, Wade gasped in exaggeration as he followed suit walking like a model with poise and grace.

***

The upbeat tempo of the music you were dancing to filled the private lounge where Madam Mayflower sat with a glass of champagne in one hand and a cigar in another. She was guarded by four bodyguards who seemed to be having a hard time appearing stoic and immovable since they were constantly stealing glances of your seductive dance number.

Mayflower eyed you with desire clearly advertised on her face as she licked her lips and eyed you up and down.

"I count two guards on the second floor," Domino's voice rippled out to you through Wade's earpiece as he sat waiting patiently for you to give the signal to make the move on Mayflower.

"I count six others circling the perimeter." Cable's voice rippled out too.

"Something tells me there isn't a stealthy way to handle this," Wade whispered.

"Tell me I didn't dress up like a dominatrix for nothing, Wade!" You said in annoyance, your hands rubbing at your sore temples as you blinked rapidly. You dance routine thrown out the proverbial window.

Madam Mayflower looked at you in confusion, "I'm sorry is this part of the act? I don't remember role play being a part of the package… not that I'm complaining." She said with a heavy lilt as she proceeded to suckle on her lower lip suggestively.

You didn't have time to deal with her horny attitude right now so you raised a finger at her and said plainly, "Just hold on a minute," You curved your back a little and leaned back so that you could peak through the curtain Wade was hiding behind, "Wade just come out here and do your thing, toss me the earpiece."

"What the hell is going on here?" Mayflower demanded from you. Her bodyguards circling in around her, creating a human barrier.

Wade emerged from behind the curtain full of energy and pizzazz, a leather whip in one hand and a pair of handcuffs in the other.

"You do know Burlesque and BDSM aren't the same thing right?" you asked him.

"Don't ruin this for me," Wade shushed you as he tossed the earpiece your way. He cracked the whip against the open space and made a neighing sound, "Come on boys!" He teased the bodyguards.

"Just keep it quiet, Wade," You reminded him.

Mayflower made a motion to jump out of her chair but you thrust her back into it using a controlled burst of waves.

The sound of Wade fighting off the bodyguards with his whip was thankfully drowned out by the loud music that played in the room.

"Cable, when I say when, I need you and Domino to generate a loud noise right above the window I'm waving to you from." You said through the earpiece.

Cable searched for your waving figure through the scope of his gun. When he spotted you, he saw Deadpool engaging in a fight with four other guards still wearing his heels and wielding a bullwhip.

"What the?" Cable whispered through the earpiece.

"Remember, when I give the signal, generate big boom!" You said in a baby voice as you thrust Mayflower back into her seat for the umpteenth time again.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Domino asked.

"Get lucky I guess," you joked.

When you turned to see if all the guards were knocked unconscious you looked over at Deadpool who was wiping non-existent sweat from his masked face. During all the excitement you noticed someone had snatched his wig off.

"Hey, Indiana Jones, throw Mayflower through the window," you told him as you opened the large window.

"Wh-What?" Mayflower shouted in shock, her eyes wide with fear.

"What? No, I'm not gonna throw my paycheck out the wind-"

You cleared your throat and clicked your heels, "You mean our paycheck?"

"That's what I said!" Deadpool said all too defensively.

"Just do it, Catwoman!"

"Okay geez, enough with the outdated references already," he groaned as he flung a very scared Mayflower out the window.

"The woman currently hurtling to her death, is that the signal?" Cable asked an instant later.

"Yes!" You shouted as you jumped after Mayflower too.

“WHAT THE FUCK DJ?” Deadpool shouted after you as you began to free fall with Mayflower down several stories.

“Oh, not good,” you heard Domino scurry about anxiously over the earpiece.

Mayflower was screaming like one of the Bond girls.

Please, don't let me die swan diving after a Madame, you secretly prayed to whatever cosmic entity watched over your universe.

Suddenly, a large explosion of fireworks went off in a dumpster near the taxi and the sound of the exploding gunpowder and the vigorous force the projectiles produced when they hit the metal lids generated strong enough sound waves for you to generate a cushion of waves to catch you and Mayflower before you turned to street pizza.

Your prayers have been answered my child, A smiling Stan Lee whispered in your inner ear. Where the fuck did that come from, you wondered.

You landed gracefully on both feet while Mayflower landed in a puddle on her face next to you.

"Okay, we can go now!" You shouted up to Wade who decided the quickest way down was the same way you made your exit. He was lucky the fireworks were still producing enough sound that you were able to catch him and lower him mid-air onto the ground.

Domino appeared out of nowhere as a small explosion went off behind her and Cable grappled down the side of the building he had set up his sniper position by using his metal arm to dig into the brick and slow his momentum.

All four of you (plus a muddied Mayflower locked in the trunk) got into the cab and headed for Al's apartment before any of the bodyguards could fully realise what had just transpired.

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[vengeancect]

you like making rpg maker games right? are there any reoccurring characters or themes that show up in them? who or what do you take inspiration from?

it’s a very weird surprise that anyone cares or knows enough about me to even ask this, like you’re genuinely that interested. i don’t think i can answer your questions, at least allow myself to answer them, but i can explain to you what the two games ARE, hopefully in the driest most neutral way that won’t make the audience in my head cringe    oh wow this didn’t go very well FUCK

i made the first one (skull island) i think starting on august 31st 2016. i stopped making it somewhere around late november. i made it purely because someone had kindly gifted me the program, and i felt like i’d be ungrateful if i didn’t make something with it. my initial idea was to just throw some awful 15 minute long thing together, use some “random” humor, show it to some people, they’ll laugh and forget about it and i’ll be free from this. but as it went on i felt compelled to put more things in it. my internet was going out often back then so i’d just be left alone working on it for hours on end. i made a starter area and then a hub area and then the 3 main areas and their respective secret events. as it went on, i had ideas and understood i wouldn’t be able to fully realize them due to my nonexisting talent. it was this very strange exhausting tightrope between shame and irony. i went from making areas to trying to draw my own assets, an extremely infuriating experience. i made a school, a city area leading into a park leading into a lab, and a night-time highway leading into a tunnel leading into my patience running out and me getting sick of this and just ending the game. everything about it is completely unbalanced. i went through the trouble of designing enemies even though i could never figure out how to make most of them attack during battles. i incorporated real chat logs and things i’d heard about in the past into their own “levels” and events. the “main character” was still just a stock rpgmaker sprite even though i had gone through the trouble of editing other sprites for characters to make them semi-original. very uncomfortable dialogue was written. you could get a whip as a weapon, from an NPC who tells you “you look good with it”. or something. the bgm for that area was text to speech voices saying “you were always sick, i was always sick”. it stopped being a joke, but it wasn’t serious, it instead became nonsense. there are no themes. there’s no inspiration. nothing could justify this.

when making it i remembered this text file i had from back in 2014, where i detailed areas and the plot of a game i wished i could make but never even tried to. it was about the world disappearing, the protagonist being the only human left alive. his name was mori. he’d find other characters eventually including a little boy who liked watching stars. i put no thought into how it would work, i guess i just unconsciously knew it couldn’t realistically be made without a lot of knowledge, hard work and talent. i thought it would be funny if i tried bringing those characters and areas into life ayway, into this stupid half-joke clusterfuck of a game. the stargazing kid does nothing but despair about how his existence is tainted, how he wants to “go back”, ie. go back to being an idea of something good. parts of that old text file flash by the screen constantly in the background. i made roleplay scenarios from when i was 13 into “””gameplay”””. like “follow this red line in a void, you are then led to a house (that is just a blue rectangle), go up the stairs and meet this naked faceless boy with a suicide note written into his body, who then blows up in a shower of blood and gore.” a random battle happens just before the final stretch of the game. it appears to be a mound of scrap metal and junk with an old TV sticking out the top. this is a reference to another character that appeared in the old concept. a “cool” bad boy character with a TV for a head. i guess that’s how you can tell it was written in 2014. the final boss is Mori, who talks about “leaving this world” through death. in a horrendously drawn replica of my bedroom, you find the original synopsis for the 2014 game, in the end it asks “what happened?” over and over again. the final bit of gameplay in the game is a calm scene with a character talking to you about how all of this was meaningless and you shouldn’t worry about it. you walk by a bunch of graves. the final screen is 3 graves, one for Mori and one for the stargazer, and one open grave for you. you jump in it and the game ends. a quick joke that could have gotten a laugh out of someone turned into a 3 month long self-indulgent masochistic shameful project of fetishized inability, then recorded and put on youtube to satisfy my digital hoarder compulsions.

OKAY NOW FOR THE OTHER ONE in 2017 i tried my hand at making some assets and characters for a game, another fucked up grand concept like the 2014 one and just as impossible to implement. shame got the better of me this time and i gave up. near the end of march 2018 a person i know had made a joke game on Unity just to get acclaimed to the engine. this one was actually successful, short, and made me laugh. i thought it would be funny to one-up said person and make a game myself. and then i tried. and then i learned i couldn’t do it and immediately lost interest. but for some reason i didn’t stop

instead i made safe room, which i developed for all of april and released late may this year. so i made it in less time than skull island, even though both games are just about an hour long, and with this one i had used almost entirely original assets. huh. i repurposed the characters and areas i drew in 2017 and made up a new “””story””” involving them, though some of the usual self depricating “hahaha wasted ideas asshole” humor came through in this one aswell, nowhere as much though. a young boy is stuck in the basement of some mysterious man who had presumably kidnapped him from somewhere. his condition is a mystery and so are the motives of his kidnapper. there is this smart-mouthed, incessant, gameplay interrupting voice constantly coming in and deriding him for everything, but at the same time almost empathizing with him. the voice is confused about it’s own existence. you have nothing to do but watch time go by mercilessly, dreaming to try escaping from your situation. there are no battles in this one. there are two puzzles except they don’t work. i couldn’t figure out how to make them work. i also didn’t care. i stole a lot of music, because in skull island i was terrified that someone would copyright me and hastily cobbled together a bunch of ear-splitting bullshit. at this point i was begging to just stop. stop doing this kind of shit. it’s not funny. it’s not cool how i made this despite not wanting to, despite having years of free time and infinite resources and tutorials on how do anything at my fingertips. this is just shameful. this time there’s 4 “levels” except one of them is like 5 minutes long. i wanted to go a little further with this barely-a-concept i made up. laziness had something else in mind, however. again the “inspiration” is taken from the strange internet interactions i had in the past. fake stories from other people. one trick pony. you go from a forest, to a small house in the “woods”, to a snowy, corrupted mountain taken from a stupid dream i had years ago, to a creepy museum. it’s more…polished than the last one? i guess? it has an unique text box. the main character’s sprite is edited. there’s a place where you have to jump to platforms. sometimes there’s “animated” sprites. i suppose it’s an improvement. the best, nicest looking thing in this game wasn’t made by me. you could play this with your eyes closed, though that’s absolutely not to the game’s detriment.

“You are locked in a room. Some time has passed, enough for you to start doubting everything. You have to escape, you guess, but it’s hard. It gets harder to do anything the more time goes by. You’re forced to depend on him, the person who brought you here in the first place. Most days, there’s nothing you can do. In the middle of all this, I came to exist. Let’s figure this out together, okay?“ this is it’s official description

oh god i hate this. oh man. oh wow what a fucking idiot i am. i can’t even tell if this is ignorant or just narcissistic. i’m just gonna leave this here and go away