#dol meta??? maybe???

[medico-meo]

Sane and normal behavior is wanting to pursue Harper as an LI but I was contemplating the plausibility of which in terms of DoL as a game as well as the role of the PC and Harper to the best of my knowledge. If anyone happens to be interested in this utter insanity, disclaimers are everything below the cut is from my POV as a player; that I do, in fact, have biases due to personal preferences; and while I tried my best to get my hands on most Harper stuff there is, I play DoL Very Safely (< focusing on being a functional member of society despite everything's going on while grinding stats And avoiding pregnancy) so there surely would be things I missed.

Additional warning for being too Long for someone with thoughts on an NPC with next to no disclosed lore. TL;DR at the end if anyone just wants to know the conclusion I reached :) Also! Open to any discussions or questions that may arise! I'd be happy to talk to anyone about anything DoL here lol.

So, Harper LI. There are two possible ways I can come up with this, either a Stockholm route or uh, half-way functional ig??? The former is clearly more likely than the latter (laughs) but I find the hypothetical gameplay to be less interesting. The problem with either of these is requiring the player to be able to spend time with Harper—like, plenty of it—which the current game doesn't even remotely allow the same way they do for us with the named NPCs we can work for. Letting the PC see Harper whenever would either destroy the elusive nature of Harper's character and/or undermine their established workaholicism, both of which I happen to be very fond of. Of course, the PC can become Harper's assistant etc which I categorize into the second way this can happen, but I'll expand on it as the secret third thing between the two.

Another point about Harper's character I wanna bring up is that, despite 90% of Who They Are exactly being complete whiteboard theory and personal tastes, one thing I can be Pretty Sure about is that they love their work more than they'll love the PC (the canon scenes proving this ranges from So Normal people probably don't think twice about it Or dearly hilarious, namely the encounter at the park if you're jogging naked there). A lot of Vrel's Q&A answers also point to this, which is something we can fall victim to or, you know, thoroughly exploit :)

Stockholm Route: Rather plausible, relatively speaking, but if no major changes can be made re:non-asylum Harper content this would most likely be locked behind the asylum with the addition of the Stockholm stat. Considering current Stockholm LIs sans Kylar, I don't consider it completely impossible ig?

Unlike (what I've seen) with Eden, BW, and GH however, I feel like this would be a one-way street into a different game mode altogether—yielding to Harper consistently locks you in as their "patient" brainwashed little toy for good and maintaining the power difference that, considering Harper's overall position and status in town, would largely influence the gameplay altogether both for the better and worse. Story-wise though it's surely consistent with (gestures) DoL is about so it's more about the technicalities of stuff.

I'm not exactly partial to this (personal tastes) (dislikes being almost entirely passive) but plenty of power to those who do.

Half-way Functional or I'd also like to call the Kylar-like Route: Possibly applies to Eden and a bunch of other non-LI NPCs too but I'm not exactly well-read on them due to the tunnel vision. This can be asylum-locked but I can see it with more frequent Harper visits available. The tldr of this is resisting their dodgy treatments to establish dominance (exploiting their workaholism and emotional repression) while aggressively coming onto them on your own terms.

"How would that even work?" Yeah, about that.

As much as I would love it in terms of the story I severely doubt that can ever happen because that is Not the point of DoL. It is Not written to primarily be a dating sim and neither is the PC supposed to be the protag of a romance in the truest sense. The school LIs are written to be otome game-like since you're more or less equals with them but that doesn't extend to the others, highlighting the PC's position relative to those higher than them in the hypothetical hierarchy—you can't very actively flirt with Avery or Eden before you can take them as an LI, ie to start with it's mostly Them seeking You out than the other way around, which is, unfortunately, the case with Harper here.

I can go on a bit more about how this undermines DoL and compromises the PC's role/function in general but I might have to start actually citing texts which... yeah no I'm not insane enough to do that yet. But! You can read about it in this interview. This is not to mention the numerous new gameplay mechanics that will have to be added and how they consequently influence existing content, but it's fun for me to think about. Pissing Harper off Then working the fact that they can't just Drop you because you're their patient and they're so committed to their job to your advantage. Charming.

The mentor-mentee/assistant route potentially falls into either umbrella plotline I mentioned, maybe even as a possible aftermath to Stockholm. The second one would slightly diverge since I think if you actively match their energy without straight up trying to straight up bully them it Might end up as actual criminal romance but, again, the PC's nature and the gameplay withstanding).

I can't remember if I have anything else I'd like to add so here's a thank you to anyone who actually read any of these LMAO and if you're a fellow Harper—or any other character, really—liker in a "I want to claw them apart and see what's inside" way (like me) there's this neat site that compilates the Q&As with Vrel (godspeed OP where would I be without them).

TLDR: Not very, Very plausible but if it does happen they'll likely be a Stockholm-inducing LI locked behind the asylum. If it's LI (conventional sense) then that's more likely than not never happening since it compromises quite a bit of what DoL is as its core. Wanna be their little underling? To me it falls into one of the aforementioned generally speaking, so it's a (wave hands) thing there.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Actually, I would say Adrien's ring being more expensive than Chat Noir's is not some meta commentary of Chat being less valuable, that's just a smart real life business decision to make sure that Adrichat DOESN'T end up being "less valuable" regarding the merchandise sales.

You cannot treat this as a reflection of how the characters are treated in the show, we're talking about real life business and consumer behavior here. If the show had something to do with this Chloé's Queen Bee wouldn't still be used to sell dolls or promote the show.

I personally find this well handled bc between Marinette's camouflaged earrings, the Ladybug ones, Adrien's camouflaged ring and Chat Noir's, it's clearly Chat's ring that's a plain obvious give-away that you're wearing merchandise of this SPECIFIC show and SPECIFIC character.

Every other one is more subtle. Marinette's earrings are the least recognizable as miraculous merchandise but already subtle to the point where it's questionable if you're REALLY gonna spend $36 for small plain black earrings.

Hence why Ladybug's being $3 more makes sense, since if you already decided that you're gonna spend way too much on such small earrings consumers are more likely gonna say "Alright, then at least I'll take Ladybug's." and this decision is more likely to happen on a broader scale because the earrings having a ladybug pattern doesn't automatically mean you're a fan of Miraculous, so they're still wearable in daily life.

This show didn't invent what a ladybug looks like, such earrings exist outside of Miraculous too and people around you WILL accept such a coincidence as an answer.

Meaning, you can absolutely wear them in public even if you're too shy to let anyone know that you're a fan of Miraculous, cuz if anyone asks you can simply say "Nah, I just liked the pattern" and that's valid.

Even when someone sees the ZAG symbol on them you can simply say that you got them from a friend of yours who didn't wanted them anymore but you liked the pattern. Again, the show doesn't own what a ladybug looks like, people are allowed to like animal inspired jewelry.

But the same doesn't apply for Chat Noir's ring. There is no talking yourself out of that one, you're wearing Miraculous merchandise, specifically Chat Noir's ring. That's a recognizable and unique symbol + color combination for a ring, which is topped off by it having the accurate form.

I would rather make the argument that Chat's ring ONLY being $1 cheaper is a GOOD sign bc that means people are buying it for this price despite knowing they won't be able to casually wear it in public without everyone knowing they're such a huge fan of Miraculous' Adrien Agreste/ Chat Noir.

And Adrien's ring being $1 more expensive most likely serves the purpose of being the subtle alternative to Chat's extremely recognizable ring. Meaning if you're a fan and actually WANT Chat's ring but you don't want to buy it for this price only to keep it at home and also don't want to wear it bc maybe you're too shy, then Adrien's camouflaged ring works the opposite of Marinette's earrings logic wise.

Since $43 for a well made, good looking silver ring is not a wasteful purchase. Unlike Marinette's earrings Adrien's ring is still unique and worth it just through its form, not to mention that more people wear rings than earrings.

And then the same logic applies for Adrien's camouflaged ring as for Ladybug's earrings. Even if someone recognizes the ring as miraculous merchandise it doesn't out you as a fan bc you can say the valid excuse of "that's from Miraculous? Huh. I got that ring from someone else bc they didn't wanted it anymore but I really liked how it looked like so I took it. Eh, I'll still wear it".

People, you would be surprised how much other people just vibe with these days when it comes to merchandise. And manufacturers know that. It's a very pretty silver ring, of course that one is gonna be the most expensive.

And regarding Chat Noir not being available as doll anymore, I frankly wouldn't be surprised if that's because he's always sold out so quickly so they're putting the Chat doll on break to better manage the production schedule without constantly having him visibly going "in and out of stock".

(don't underestimate how beloved Adrien/ Chat Noir is. Tumblr, Youtube and social media in general even for that matter (especially not that loud portion of Marinette stans and Adrien salters) don't decide what characters are beloved by different demographics and the more casual fans. And of course don't forget that alot of Adrien's Fandom simply was kinda forced into silence but that doesn't mean it not THERE, and is now buying our boy's merchandise more than ever.

Again, Chloé's dolls still exist and may I say for a reason: because Chloé still sells WELL, even if it's sometimes spite purchases from fans bc they don't like what was done to her character and want the company to know that)

And last but not least, I'm assuming "Félix" here actually means "ARGOS isn't available in all of Europe" because the other dolls are tranformed too.

Honestly, the moment something isn't available in Europe specifically I always go with the assumption that the problem lies somewhere in the trademarks or copyrights. Argos is also the name of a well known British retailer and sometimes stupid accidents happen when it comes to trademark cases.

Maybe a while ago his name being Argos wasn't a problem yet (honestly, I WOULDN'T even write the brexit having something do to with this out as a possibility) and those where the circumstances his character was designed and put into full production with, but then suddenly new factors came in and now the name can't be used anymore for his dolls in Europe.

Look, shit like that happens. And I wouldn't call something similar to this being the reason far fetched at all bc, again, the moment Europe specifically has problems with stuff like this, it's some kind of law getting in the way.

Maybe the Argos doll will come back soon just being sold under the name "Félix Fathom"? Wouldn't be the first time, certainly won't be the last.

Just looked through the Zag store some more, and there's some more interesting things in there.

First of, Felix isn't sold in Europe.

Second, Marinette's Miraculouses gain value when transforming. Turning into Ladybug is worth 3€ for her.

However, for Adrien, transforming means he loses value. Chat Noir is 1€ cheaper than Adrien.

Of course the biggest problem with the store remains one that I'm almost certain I talked about before:

They sell the puppets that Marinette made for Manon, but only Ladybug, Lady Wifi and Evilstrator. Not Chat Noir. That's unacceptable. I can't just buy Ladybug on her own, she'll get lonely without her chaton!

[letsnaththings]

Again, memeage

Memeage

Tagged by @cairistiona7  Thank you!

Rules: If you’re tagged, make a rec list of your own fics that you’re most proud of. The ones you personally want people to read because you know they’re good. The ones you get extra excited when you get comments on them because people are responding to what you know is your best work. As part of the list, say why you’re proud of them! Participant’s choice on how many that is and where you draw the line on pride, but the more the better. Bonus points for fics that you like to reread yourself or fics that have low engagement because they’re in a small fandom or an unpopular ship/trope. Then tag however many people you feel like to continue the game. (If you want a guide number, try for seven or however many fics you listed)

Secondary rule: If you get tagged and you’re not a fic writer, consider doing the same for art you’ve done or meta you’ve written that you’re proud of.

Tertiary rule: This is the time to be the opposite of humble! Hype your own stuff! Share why you’re proud of something. Do some self love! And please give the game a chance even if you haven’t written much or are just starting out etc etc.

Do or do not – there is no tag.

 All these are in the Tolkien fandom – the list got a bit longer than I had planned, even with vigorous weeding (and would therefore probably look partly different if I made it at another time). They’re all stories that I like to reread for one reason or another. Even if I felt a ‘must edit’ itch for some of the older ones as well *g* I’ve tried to say something more than the original summary for them, but didn’t succeed for all.

  Eriador

An excess of weather - Life in Eriador can often be harsh, even more so when the weather becomes as much an enemy as Orcs or wolves. A look at how the Fell Winter of 2911 affected the Dúnedain. 

A gapfiller story with mostly OC Rangers. What I like about this one is how the circumstances test the Rangers to their limits, and in some cases beyond.

 Troll country - Where were the Rangers when Thorin & co. encountered those trolls?

A gapfiller I didn’t know I needed until the plotbunny turned up

 Out of time - FA 83 - King Elessar visits the North and realises something that has been bothering him

There are precious few stories about the Fourth Age – another gapfiller I had to have.

Inheritance – Recipe fic:  A taste from history in two drabbles and a double drabble - originally written for the October 2014 challenge, Sweet or Savoury, at the Lotr-genfic LJ community; my element was 'spicy'.

My only recipe fic, and therefore also my best recipe fic *g*

 2nd Age

Et Eärello Andorenna utúlien - Númenor: thoughts upon arrival and departure.

There’s a lot more to explore for both Elros and Ar-Pharazôn I think, and maybe someday I will. Until then, this short sketch will have to do.

 Spindrift - Of the seven palantíri, it is said that the one kept in the tower of Elostirion is the chief, and that Elendil looked in it often to alleviate the yearning of exile. This vignette examines one such viewing in the year 3423 of the Second Age.

 Opening - Sometime early in the second millennium of the Second Age: a moonlit night in Eregion, and two craftsmen anxiously wait the unveiling of their latest work.

 Other

Edge of the world - After the Downfall it was believed by the remnants of the Dúnedain that the top of Meneltarma rose once more above the sea level. If so, sailors of later Ages may have found it on occasion.

 Recall - Thengel, captain of Gondor, deals with a small family crisis, considers the past and receives some news.

 Holiday - Snapshots of a summer spent in Dol Amroth. Gimli is ambivalent about it all.

This entire fic was written to justify the use of one specific word in a Tolkienian context. I’ll leave it up to the reader to spot the word.

 Collections

Back to Middle-earth month 2012 - A collection of the various drabbles and short stories I wrote for B2MEM 2012

A very miscellaneous bunch of stories, but one I’m pretty happy with. Definitely my best BMEM year.

 Tales of the North - banner

And in hope… –  Arwen finally understands one particular vision she saw in Galadriel's Mirror, and starts work on a special project.

Watching from afar – It is said in The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen that Arwen watched over Aragorn in thought. At times, this must have been a harrowing experience.

Envinyalë –  About a week after their wedding, Aragorn and Arwen spend an evening by themselves. Arwen has plans, but the evening does not turn out quite the way she had in mind.

A small collection of three stories in which I explored Arwen a bit, of course also against the background of my related stories on Aragorn and the Dúnedain.

 AUs

Some that live - It is 3013, and Orcs are raiding and destroying Dúnedain farms in Eriador. Aragorn sets out to stop the raids. Alternate timeline leading up to the War of the Ring.

This story… During the writing its working title was “the Heap O’Angst”, and I’ve also been known to refer to it as “the story that ate my life”. It took some work to get out of its headspace once it was done. Without giving away too much, it’s an exploration of honour, guilt, redemption, friendship, loyalty. It may also be the best story I’ve written so far.

 As may be obvious, I like writing AUs, both long ones and shorter stories, because they allow exploring different approaches to characters, events and themes They’re also a lot of fun to play with: “what breaks if I change this…?”

 Unto the ending of the world - Dark AU, diverging from the end of the Two Towers: Sauron regains his Ring in Ithilien, and a very bleak world emerges for those who survive the Ringwar to make their way in. 

This is the only still ongoing story in the list. I started it in 2007 and am still writing it. I do actually know how it ends, but I’m a slow writer to begin with, and it’s taking just a bit longer than I expected to get where I want to go – plus I spent some time away from it writing the Heap O’Angst. The basic idea was quite simple, Sauron gets the One Ring, so what happens now? Quite a lot, as it turns out, and not much of it good.

 Elenion Ancalima - Nerdanel wonders whether perhaps it would have been better if Fëanáro had not listened to his father.

 Still standing - Six vignettes from Halbarad's point of view - from the siege of Minas Tirith until the day after Aragorn's coronation

[elamarth-calmagol]

The Silmarillion in particular is very classist.  Basically everyone we hear about is some form of nobility or royalty or at least a tribal leader.  There are maybe a couple of dwarves who are commoners, and maybe some of the outlaws?  But I can’t think of the names of any of them.  I do wonder whether the first kings of the Elves were born to be kings or earned that title by choosing to go to Valinor, but nonetheless, once they’re kings, they don’t go back.

What really stands out to me is the patterns in marriage.  High-ranked Elves seem to only marry other high-ranked people, whether Elf or Man.  Yes, this is because we barely hear about people who aren’t high-ranked, but come on.  There’s Thingol and Melian, Finwe and Indis, Earwen and Finarfin, Galadriel and Celeborn, Elrond and Celebrian, Aragorn and Arwen, Beren and Luthien, Idril and Tuor, Aegnor and Andreth, arguably Caranthir and Haleth, and so on.

I don’t know about the origins of Anaire, Mireth, Eol, and others (though some people say Eol is related to Thingol, so there's that).  The only Elf-Man relationship I can think of where the two aren’t both leaders to their people or heirs to the leaders is the time the first prince of Dol Amroth married an elf-maiden -- she was a handmaiden of Nimrodel, so not exactly poor, but not really a leader.  Of course, he was minor nobility.  Elves don’t marry ordinary Men.

What are the chances that this happens coincidentally?  For the Elrond example, I, an elf-lord and probable heir to the kingship over the Noldor, just happen to fall madly in love with the daughter of Galadriel (who is Finwe’s granddaughter) and Celeborn (who is supposedly related to Thingol somehow)?  That’s a heck of a coincidence.  Is it all a bit exaggerated?  Or do nobles only socialize with other nobles? Or is whoever is in charge of people falling in love (Eru, presumably, or in a meta way, Tolkien) is a bit classist?

But that’s how British society was back then, wasn’t it?  A bit classist?  Heck, it probably still is.  Not to mention that Tolkien is writing about a fantasy medieval world.  Medieval nobility didn’t marry commoners.  They married other nobility.  And the higher their status was, the higher the status of their spouses.  This meant that nobility was very inbred.  And Elrond is a distant cousin of Celebrian.  Same for Aragorn and Arwen.  If I knew the family trees better, I’d probably find more examples.

Anyway, Elves having more equality than Men? Not likely.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Okay so I use to send you asks all the time about tdp (Star arcanum, Luna Tenebris, meta etc) but I haven’t in awhile since s4 taking an eternity but today I go on reddit to find out Viren apparently resurrected Soren when he was younger?! That’s the reason the mom left!?!? That’s probably how Claudia knew the spell!?!?!? I feel faint. There’s also a new map of Xadia (I would love you’re thoughts on that and what new places you’d like to see) and Rayla finds her moo shadow form disorienting?

Well hello again, then! Hmm, I couldn’t find that post over there. Is it a theory, or something official? It makes good sense though. The opportunities for Claudia to see/learn that spell are extremely limited, and that scenario fits with what the B1:M hinted at regarding Soren’s health, what Viren would be willing to do about it, and how his wife would react.

Can you imagine being a tiny little girl and seeing your dad bring your brother back from the dead? My gosh. He did it out of love, and he wielded such power! And he did what he did because he truly believed it was right. Claudia must’ve been so proud of Viren, and so in awe of him!

Also. This would be why Soren said he’d stay with Viren when their mom left. He owed his dad his life, and he must’ve felt so loved and wanted and grateful, like he owed Viren his loyalty, and all the rest of his years. Such an innocent sweet boy! But when you give someone a gift, Viren, you don’t get to decide what they do with it. Soren can make his own choices.

And then there’s this. Consider the haunted look on Viren’s face as he realizes what Claudia has done:

Could be he’s having a big “Oh so this is how Soren felt” moment there, on top of his feels about seeing Harrow’s crown all bent. I don’t imagine Viren has too many “oh this is how other people experience feelings” moments anymore, between his secure and powerful position and whatever dark magic is doing to his soul. But maybe here he’s missing Soren, who left him and defected to the other side. The boy he sacrificed for, the boy he adored, turned away from him, and maybe Viren is having an actual Feel over it here. I hope so!

Listen, I LOVE THE MAP OKAY. I love maps. I am a map nerd. And I pored over the map in B1:M and enjoyed the heck out of it.

My top four favorite details from this map are: Ocean Point, marked with the Stars rune, the pawprint and crescent moon islands in the Independent Isles because i have theories, how the Ruins of Elarion are situated to the Silvergrove the way that Dol Guldur is to the Elvenking’s Halls in Mirkwood, and the fact that the border between the human lands and Xadia extends out into the sea in both directions and there’s a whole frozen ocean and a whirlpool of epic proportions to make sure that the humans absolutely definitely stay on their side of the border. Avizandum and Company literally childproofed the planet, okay. It’s hilarious and powerful and very telling.

Moonshadow form being disorienting was a fun detail! I think it must have to do with how the magic form works. It was stated that the form works by adapting to the patterns of light and shadow around the elf’s body so they blend right in. They’re not really going invisible. It’s the magic version of the stealth tech we see in sci fi movies, where cameras take pictures of what’s on the far side of a car or plane and project it onto the near side, to hide the object in plain sight. Maybe the disorientation comes from having to put a low-level conscious focus into that, while also having it pass across your own eyes all the time, like you’re looking at the world through tinted goggles, or when you keep having shadows flicker across your eyes in bright sunlight. I hate that. 

But it’s a condition the elves can embrace, and Runaan and his team would definitely practice working in full Moonshadow form so they could be swift and precise with no disorientation. I imagine he trained Rayla to fight in that form, too, so she’d be ready for the mission. But from everything we got in the show and in the book, she’s really concerned with not letting him down, and she might have overstated her comfort with her Moonshadow form a little to make him think she was ready for the mission, because it was so important to her and she knew he was taking a risk vouching for her. Among other things she did that clearly meant she wasn’t ready at all.

Thanks for the ask, anon! I’m always DTT (down to theorize), and we got families and maps and worldbuilding all up in this ask. Made my day, thank you!

[nocompromise-noregrets]

1, 4, 8, 20, 24!

YAY THANK YOU! :D

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?  Well. Obviously Two of a Kind is the ultimate ongoing project, dammit all to hell (two very damaged ex-street-kid musicians slowly working out that they are everything in the world to each other; they are the archetypal idiots in love), but it’s not co-operating at the moment. What is cooperating, however, rather faster than I can write it down, is My Heart Is An Empty Vessel, which is a Bard the Welshman/Thranduil the Drama King epic currently standing at *checks* just over 60k, with a multitude of side fics and an ultimate-happy-ending epilogue which is threatening to turn into a sequel that plays extremely fast and loose with canon. I’d expected it to be about 10k of sexual tension and maybe a bit of smut, but the characters had other ideas, and now it’s 60k of feelings, yearning, pining, a bit of smut, political ramifications, and Bard’s kids being alternately scheming (Sigrid the oldest girl) and adorable (Tilda the youngest girl). I am bewildered to fuck but enjoying every second of it. :D

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)  Ooooh, this is going to take some thought. I am really happy with how Empty Vessel is turning out (I might dare to think that it’s my best work so far, although that might have a lot to do with how much I’m loving writing it), and there are a lot of bits that I might choose, but here is a bit that makes me squee every time I reread it:

Bard’s letters provided small bright spots in the darkness of winter. He was not eloquent, and he clearly struggled to think of what to say; most of the letters were variations on a theme of ‘it is cold and wet and everyone is miserable and I am most miserable of all’, but Thranduil could read between the lines and understand what Bard was trying to say, and that made his heart sing. Bard was miserable because he was uncomfortable with the role that had been thrust upon him, but also because he was missing Thranduil quite dreadfully; he looked forward to spring not only for the better weather but because that was when they would see each other again. His negotiations with the Dwarves for builders and stone to make the buildings safe had gone well, because Sigrid and Tauriel had known just what to say, and that was because they had been studying the book Thranduil had sent them. Bain was becoming a competent archer and swordsman thanks to his textbook, and Tilda was a ray of sunshine who could not stop retelling the tales from the book of Elflings’ stories Thranduil had sent. I cannot thank you enough for the books, Bard wrote more than once, it was a kindness we did not look for, and we all appreciate it very much. Which meant, Thranduil thought, you remembered my children and I take the gesture as it was intended and it warms my heart even now.

And just for fun, because I had a blast writing it, here is an extract from Bard and Sigrid explaining to Thranduil how their negotiations with King Dáin of the Dwarves have been going (I channelled Billy Connolly as best as I could), and how Dáin reacted to a particular suggestion with regard to diplomatic relations with the Elves:

“And what did he say?” inquired Thranduil, one eyebrow raised.

“I can only tell you if you cover Tilda’s ears,” said Bard, and Thranduil did so with a soft chuckle, though Tilda pouted in disappointment. When the little girl’s ears were safely covered, Bard drew in a breath. “He said that if I thought he was [spoiler spoiler spoiler] to the perfidious pointy-eared pretty princeling, I could bugger right back off to the lake and then I could keep buggering off until I got to the Woodland Realm and then…well, I’ll stop there, given the company, but he continued in that vein for a little while. He did manage to cast aspersions on you, me, and what he perceived our alliance to be, let’s just put it that way.”

Sigrid was chortling hysterically behind the hand she had clapped to her mouth, and Bain was snickering, wide-eyed at the amount of profanity he was apparently considered old enough to hear. Thranduil let out a bark of laughter, and Bard was relieved that he did not appear to be offended.

“He does not seem to have a great many insults for me, does he?” said Thranduil after a moment, uncovering Tilda’s ears. “Except one or two about my appearance, and the rest is simply where I live, and an inaccuracy about my rank.”

[they have already reported several of Dáin’s utterances on the subject, and none of them have been complimentary XD ]

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read? To a certain extent. I am much happier reading really angsty stuff and really smutty stuff than I am writing it - I can’t do unhappy endings or heavy angst because I just want my characters to be happy, and I can’t do explicit smut mostly because most of the words for the necessary parts of the anatomy make me cringe. XD I can read it quite happily, but I can’t make myself write it.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?) Ooooooh. I am nowhere near clever or organised enough to intentionally include symbolism and callbacks, but I was delighted to discover last week, on rereading A Little Piece of the Sea, the series I began 15-odd years ago about Legolas and Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth (it’s a tiny ship but I will sail it till I die), that I have unconsciously included some fairly huge parallels with that story in Empty Vessel. I mean, apart from the fact that both Legolas and his Dad manage to fall in love with a mortal (there are some fairly large similarities between how I’ve characterised Imrahil and Bard, although they are very different people). Particularly the first story in the series, in which Legolas and Imrahil meet at Éomer and Lothíriel’s wedding and become lovers, which I wrote in 2004, and had not referred back to at all before I wrote the first few chapters of Empty Vessel. :D So that was pleasing. Mostly I discover this stuff after the fact, because I’m definitely a pantser, not a planner, and the stories just come out how they want to come out, and to hell with whatever I might have envisaged for them.

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time? Not stylistically, I don’t think. I’ve just become capable of writing longform fiction, thanks to doing NaNo a few times. I’ve looked back at some of my old stuff recently and I wouldn’t have done any of it any differently if I were writing it today - but I’ve become more capable of sustaining a story, and perhaps more confident at just going with what the muse tells me, no matter how wordy or lyrical or potentially pretentious. 

THANK YOU THAT WAS FUN!, <33333

[enzelffxiv]

4.56 reactions/thoughts (spoilers under readmore)

I was…underwhelmed by MSQ, but honestly that’s not a bad thing in this case? The finales of ARR and HW were…VERY intense and I’m actually glad its not a ridiculous cliffhanger in the same way because the wait until the expansion would be more painful, i think.

I didn’t dislike the MSQ, it was just very short. Elidibus is a cheating bastard. Estinien cameo made me happy. (he hasn’t changed much, lol. I did wonder how he managed to carry Imry all on his own, though. She’s probably got a good 75 lbs on him at the least, not including armor.) Aymeric was very sweet and the gutpunch when you realize how worried he and Edmont were about you… ;____;

Poor Tataru. She continues to have no grasp of Imry’s style, though. XD (its all right, the outfit looks pretty good on other people.)

I’ve been slacking so i have 2 more ranks of SB Beast tribes to go but I’m looking forward to more Dumbass Catboy Shenanigans. (Also 1 rank of Moogles for HW ones…)

Hildy was…Hildy. The trial was really great; its not often that i think wiping multiple times is “fun”, lol. (I was a bit rusty at tanking after raiding as a healer for so long, but i got to use pretty much everything in the PLD arsenal for it.)

Worth it for the dance, imho.

Other stuff: so, when the origin of the Voice was still being hotly debated, i pointed out to Aki that they use “ware” in Japanese; it’s a very…sort of archaic formal pronoun. In FFXIV usually older non-human beings use it, like dragons and stuff. (Afaik Nidhogg does when he’s not speaking in Dragonspeak, if i recall correctly) My guess was honestly Zodiark because of that, esp since i didn’t think it sounded like anyone else we’d met before, so the options were either a new character, or a character that hadn’t been voiced yet.

Aki actually brought up G'raha, since they know someone who plays the JP version of the game. (Since the CT storyline isnt voiced, i didn’t pick up on his speech patterns at all.) Apparently he uses "ware" because he’s a huge fuckin history nerd, more or less. I originally dismissed the idea because i figured SE wasn’t going to force people to do CT for MSQ. But it seems like they’re moving more towards “this stuff happened in the timeline where it was released even if you the player havent completed it yet” sort of thing. (This also means a bunch of people no longer have a meta immunity to being killed off…eeep.)

I was honestly going back and forth after the trailer because…well…where are his ears!! But maybe showing the person being a Miqo'te would make the guess too easy? (Esp because there are so few dude Miqo'te…) Also there are more than a few hoods players can wear that hide their ears, even if it looks dumb imho. So…yeah, once i saw him in game, I was pretty convinced. We’ll see!

I’m almost relieved there’s no more major content til July honestly. I’ve got all my DoH/DoL to finish leveling (plus the rest of my DPS classes ;___;) so the rest of my spring is going to be Inventory Management Hell.

If anyone on Adamantoise is willing to have random crafts mailed to them so i don’t go insane trying to find space for it all, lmk. :p