#dont get me wrong i like the romance options

[emmodii-mode]

Playing The Wayhaven Chronicles and what do you mean Verda's married and Tina's not a romance option.

[perilegs]

oh... you get to sit under the starry sky next to gale even when you're friends with him and not in a romance... karlach has been waiting all her life to touch someone, and now that she can, you can choose not to sleep with her and she respects that and your romance still continues... astarion holds your hand ever so sweetly no matter if you're a friend or a lover... i'm feeling so much love in this game

[baekuras]

Veilguard thinks its funny having me choose between 2 of my favourite companions/their factions/cities smh

Other things I've found slightly amusing is pre-launch people who had their eyes set on Lucanis, aka Mage Killer galore, ready to make mage rooks and it turns out he is actually super chill with anyone not his target or who hasn't wronged him/his

Other thing I've found bemusing looking back is people looking at Taash and going "omg butch lesbian" and rn that's very much on the brink of shifting at least from what Taash just told my Rook in a cutscene

[yo9urt]

ball dur's gait 3 is ruining my life

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

as much as i love having a library card again and love going to the library.... it sucks so bad that the closest library to me is very small and does not partner with other libraries

[kithj]

the more people complain about genderlocked characters i feel like the more stubborn i get about it...

i just feel like. there's a fine line between wanting to see yourself reflected in the art you engage with (everybody wants this to some extent) versus just straight up refusing to engage with any kind of art that you can't personally relate to.

and sure you can argue it's not that deep when we're just talking about romance games i guess but usually this extends beyond just IF romance games, i see it on bookstagram or in mainstream video gaming circles, too... and particularly in IF & gaming it tends to lead to this very entitled attitude where if the thing doesn't appeal exactly to what you personally want, then it's Bad and Wrong.

i definitely understand in some instances, as a butch lesbian there is like... no game even off the top of my head that i can think of that actually has someone that looks like me in it (except for the stuff i've personally written. lol) and i do really like the gender-selection mechanic for this reason. most of the time it's the only way we get sapphic ROs. but to me that's just a band-aid and not a real solution, especially when a lot of authors tend to lean on bioessentialist ideas to depict the gender-selectable variants, and most of the time don't even seem to be aware that they're doing it.

i would much prefer actual female characters, or actual trans characters, over gender-selectable characters. because the other thing we see is that a lot of the time the male variation is the most popular, and is seen as the "default." this is through no fault of the author, really, it's just how the cookie crumbles, i guess.... i don't really know what the solution is but i do really wish people would be more mindful about... well. all of it. authors and readers alike. and maybe broaden your horizons and read something that's different for you, or write something challenging outside of your comfort zone. i get that a lot of these games are pure wish fulfillment, and that's fine, we're not all going to like or want the same things. but when most games don't include people like me, i'm forced to pick from a much smaller pool of fish than everyone else, and i don't agree with that. both in that i wish there were more options for me, obviously, but also that i shouldn't only limit myself to games that "represent" me and am still willing to reach for something different and still give it a chance. both things can be true.

now when a game is intentionally excluding entire groups of people, of course that needs to be called into question. because then it's just bigotry, and we all know bigotry is bad, yes? a game that... let's say. only allows white mcs. is going to attract a particular kind of audience. we know this we can acknowledge this. but i do also kinda think it's a waste of time to try and appeal to authors like this... i'm not against offering feedback but at the end of the day these authors excluded these people for a reason and they have no interest in us. don't bother. there are other authors out there that are writing women and trans people and poc that you can read instead of trying to get a misogynist or a racist or a transphobe to write about people they clearly don't give a shit about.

and i really feel like that encapsulates why i both like and dislike the gender-selectable mechanic... again it's just a temporary band-aid. it lets me play a sapphic mc for a little while. but the larger problem still remains which is that there are no depictions of butch lesbians (or lesbians in general) in most of these games, and there are not a lot of authors out there willing to even try. there are a lot of instances where i feel the gender-selection mechanic is just... a cop out. there's no thought or effort put into it.

i dont think every single author needs to start genderlocking or anything (that would be stupid) i just wish it was something both authors and readers would spend more time thinking about, rather than just automatically defaulting to gender-selection. people approaching Blood Choke and then complaining that it's all genderlocked but... the story is About being a lesbian. it would not exist in any other way. and the beautiful thing is that you can still read it even if you're not a lesbian! in fact i wish more people would. again, reach for something different and you might find that you actually like it. you might even connect with it in a way that surprises you. meanwhile The Northern Passage has a lot of options for the mc both in the character creator and when it comes to romance options. i have a gender-selectable character there, and a lot of people enjoy that, and i do too. and i also chose to lock Clementine originally because i knew i wanted there to be a nonbinary RO that could not be ignored (and then the other two followed shortly after once i started writing).

there's Nuance. there are lots of reasons to genderlock and there are lots of reasons why someone might not. there are games out there that let me play with an all female cast that i hate, other games with a mixed, genderlocked cast that i love. there are authors out there that do handle their gender-selectable characters well, some of my favorite games utilize it! and there are genderlocked games that are all just skinny white cis people that make me recoil. there are downsides to both. this is not an either-or situation. it's just something to think about, both when creating a character as an author and when engaging with a work as a reader.👍

[watchyourbuck]

it's just to me a bad sign on how things will go moving forward especially if the buck/tommy ship doesn't go away come season 8 like you are all clearly thinking it will or if it does but they revisit it later. eddie isn't confirmed to be queer in canon yet, he might never be so what's the plan? shitting on the canon romances buck gets and/or patronizingly praising them as long as they serve buddie endgame?

babe you went on a TRIP. ok so im not sure which answer you want me to give you here. fandoms work in specific ways, and this fandom has always been primarily buddie. granted, up until 7x04 they only dated women, but alas, they havent dated each other is my point.

its only natural that people who ship buddie endgame may like to partake on Buck's newest relationship but only as a relationship bound to break to make space for buddie - because thats what they (or we, i guess) ship.

i dont know whats gonna happen next season, or god, this one, but i know ive never taken a shit on any of their partners unless they have done something wrong. never liked taylor bc she was so selfish and played dirty, but lucy and ana and shannon i never had any trouble with, i just didnt see them as that character's forever (and marisol i dont like bc of the actress, but we can get into that later).

thing is, people are gonna ship whatever they ship. you cant change that. im not exactly sure why you went on the bisexual tangent, but as a queer person i can tell you its got nothing to do with sexuality. my advice to you as a person who curates her fandom experience is to blatantly stay away from blogs, fics and fanons you dont enjoy. fandoms are optional, this is supposed to be something that you do in your spare time and love, so why go meddle where you know you dont feel comfortable?

personally, im riding both trains right now, and i enjoy fanfics in most of their forms, so im gonna write/read fanfics where tommy isnt his final love, or some where he is, or threesomes where they end up together (all of them), or where they dont. its fiction! it can vary and spiral and - you get it.

about canon queer eddie, its not something i have the power to decipher. if you follow me, or if youve seen my posts, you should know i think hes queer, but im not gonna go down that road right now bc technically, that doesnt matter for the question. if he never becomes canonically queer, then, well, sometimes we lose. not for that im gonna "shit" or "praise patronizingly" any of their love interestes as long as they are good people who make them happy, whatever gender they are.

[lordedlady]

HOT TAKE!

does anyone main portia? by that i mean : think portia is their favourite *LOVE INTEREST*.

not favourite character, favourite TO DATE/FLIRT WITH/MARRY POTENTIALLY (??)

'cus, dont get me wrong, portia is an absolute gem in other routes... but that' s the thing.

in other routes.

i haven't currently met anyone who likes portia's route as their best, or even top 3. personally, the route isn't ALL bad, its cute, quirky and it's not too out of character.

however, it feels less like a romance and more like a platonic. sure, they get together in the end -- but it doesn't really feel all too established, aka i feel like the route is rushed.

i feel the same for muriels and a little for lucio's as well, though i think that (COUGH COUGH dorian COUGHGHG) did portia the most dirty, which is a shame, cus i definitely would've loved her if they established a bit more of her personality, and less on tasya.

cus while the plot is important, we haven't really seen anything like it in other routes (where the M3 where the same), and this caused alot more building to be on plot than a romance option

... which could've been EASILY fixed if her route was as long as the M3 (asra, for example)

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK 🤍

i'd love to hear ur opinion, darlings!

xoxo,

lordedlady

[hecksupremechips]

But really, it’s like. I don’t want to be so obsessive over something so trivial cuz it really just causes shitty discourse at the end of the day. I’m just really really into queer analysis of shit I like and put waaaaay too much thought into it so when it seems like others don’t do the same, or that they’ve done it completely differently than me, it’s like. I get way too hurt by it agdjskl

I think I get way too like. Obsessive when it comes to gender/sexuality hcs for queer characters and I think it all started with people saying Marvin from falsettos is bisexual representation

[rjalker]

its certainly not everyone but like the insistence of using those designs specifically when sphere and square can look however you want its a public domain book. nothing wrong with enjoying shipping but idk i think some of the personalities they attribute to sphere and square are far removed from the source material, perhaps because its filtered through the movie idk. like everything aside i dont get why youd limit yourself to those designs when its not necessary. i love drawing square and sphere but i have my own design i go with

yes. A lot of people thankfully have gotten the memo that the creator of those designs is a bigot and have done the right *AND FUN* thing of creating their own designs. But then a lot of them are still using the exact designs from the films, and defending people who do so.

I'm really tired of fandoms always being filled with bigots who don't actually care about the harm they do to real minorities. How can you prioritize fanart for a known Conservative bigot after you find out how horrible of person he is? When the characters are public domain and can look like literally everything?

I understand a lot of people simply do not know that Ladd Ehlinger is a Conservative. That's why I've made so many PSAs about it and made so many of my own original designs for the characters public domain, and why I've been asking people to stop fucking recommending his shitty film.

But so many people are aware and they just don't care. They'll admit it's a bad adaptation but insist it's still a good film and still something they should encourage people to watch. And not even for the purpose of disecting and analysis, they literally just want more people to join the fandom for the bigoted film on purpose.

More people need to make PSAs about the creator of the 2007 film than just me. More people need to push back against the idea that Ladd Ehlinger's designs for the characters are more important than actual real minorities.

The Gravity Falls fandom at least took my post aimed at them and helped spread the word. But not enough people are aware. And part of that is because of so many stans of the movie refuse to drop it even after they find out how horrible of a person the creator is.

If you're reading this post and you care about minorities in real life, stop supporting Ladd Ehlinger by creating fanart for the 2007 Flatland film. You are doing free advertising for him. He makes his money from youtube. He is literally a Conservative. You can google "Ladd Ehlinger" racism. He thinks that all trans people are pedophiles, and that if anyone respects a trans kids' pronouns, that makes them a pedophile too. He thinks Black people are all violent killers who HAVE to be jailed a disproportionate rates to keep white people safe. He thinks that taxes paying for free school lunches for children is the same thing as slavery.

The actual book Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, and the translation into 2024 English to make it easier to understand, are both completely and utterly free to read literally everywhere.

There's literally so many public domain designs for the narrator and the sphere. And you can literally create any design you want for them that you can imagine.

Here's a post of public domain designs for the narrator

Here's another one of designs for the narrator and the sphere. And another

And another one with a public domain design for the narrator and sphere

Here's another public domain design for the sphere. And another. And another (1). And another (2). And another (3). And another (4). And another (5).

Here's another group of public domain designs for the sphere. And another (1). And another (2).

And there's probably more I'm forgetting to link because I've made so many of them. There are literally infinite options for designs for these characters that don't do free advertising for a Conservative bigot who gets his money and attention from Youtube.

Here's an Internet Archive compilation of all the public domain designs.

[life-winners-liveblog]

Agree with Frista friendships are the best kinda ships (qprs too, but mostly frens)

Romance is a plague and im immune to the sickness but its still annoying to see all the infected peoples acting like its romance is the only option (im maybe a bit salty about romance being everywhere, dont get me wrong i dont mind shipping or couples most of the time, its just that when its always there at all times its easy to get annoyed)

9.2

I know right?!? I mean, its everywhere movie cartoons... I mean It's funny sometimes like the whole ranchers situation but still It's annoying.

...

At least if It's of any confort you don't live nextdoor to the literal god of romance so-

You called?!? Oh Drista!

NO! Go away, this is my thing! I am doing it not you!

...chill... anyway-

Velvet 2 deities are perhaps already enough I don't think theres a need for you to be here as well.

So yeah you can go-

But I want to help out with the dandelion husbands pining!!!

...ok he can stay.

What? I tought you disliked him?

As much as I REALLY don't want...him...here, Scotts and Jimmy's denial is going to phisically hurt me.

Yeah!!!

BUT don't be weird, or I'll ask Kristin to kick you out of this world.

*gasp* When have I ever been- nevermind... I promise to dial it back is that fine?

...And don't talk to me.

It's not like I would want to anyway... I am not even going to be here that often don't worry.

Children *sigh*

[waterfall-ambience]

nghm okay my take on the neuvillette 'ships' is that they're...all kinda boring? theres a lot of interesting dynamics to explore dont get me wrong but for all of them romance is the least interesting option lol. first is because i dont think he's romantically-inclined by nature (aroace king) but also he intentionally tries to keep people at arms length because of his position as iudex (so even if he has friendly connections i cant see anything 'more' than that actually working out) .

however the most interesting juxtaposition for his character imo is being so filled with love for the world and the people around him and simulataneously not experiencing 'love' in the way a lot of people traditionally understand it. he loves people so deeply no he does not want to pursue any of them romantically. it doesnt even have anything to do with him being a dragon, he's just like that.

[dxnse-macabre]

i know people will not agree with me and most likely hate on this take but

can we normalize liking ascended astarion?

like... i get it that ascended astarion is the WORST possible path for him. i acknowledge that it is the most unhealthiest option because it is just continuing the cycle of abuse. but i genuinely love that path because i love my power hungry characters. i love my characters that aren't morally good, that will do anything just to further their own agenda. i love my selfish muses because there's something so... enticing about being so ambitious and flying so close to the sun that you become the very thing that you were afraid that would burn you and others.

call me a sadist/horrible person/whatever, but for my first complete playthrough, i played durge and i wanted to dive deep into the dynamic of, "we can make each other worse" and really loved the canon that my durge + AA would rule the world with each other by their side

like, there were moments in the AA romance where astarion believed he was more powerful, that he was the greater one in the power duo. but then there were other moments where my durge would be a force to be reckoned with, and reclaim that power as theirs. it was a constant power struggle, but i LOVED it because it gave their dynamic depth as opposed to a very one-sided abusive dynamic. like, dont get me wrong, the dynamic is VERY fucked up, but i also live for the whole "evil king/queen" vibes. lets rule the world together sweetie

idk. on my feed i see a lot of hate about how you shouldnt like AA because its the worst option for him, he deserves to heal and break the cycle (i do agree with this) but... i love the dynamics that are fueled from this shitty scenario. it isnt an ideal situation, but it was never meant to be. i dont want a happy fairy-tale ending. i want the ending to be a beginning of an era.

"lets make each other worse while destroying everyone else" is my favorite trope, idk if you guys can tell

[ca-suffit]

There's a new interview in which the interviewer asks both Sam Reid and Assad Zaman to describe their characters relationship to Louis. And is so funny to watch how they talk about them side by side.

Because, Sam Reid was like: "You know when you are a vampire there's a loneliness and a real fear people will leave you and Lestat thinks Louis can support being his companion in his inmortal life, and loves his strength and that's what they are soulmates."

Wherareas Assad Zaman is more like "Armand is very selfish in his love for Louis and that's the tragedy of their romance."

[This is paraphrased]

Which neither of them are completely wrong. But it is interesting to note how Sam Reid is more lenient, for the lack of a better word, with his interpretation of Lestat (I think his as selfish a bastard as Armand), and Assad Zaman is less generous with Armand.

I dont know if this is some great insight, but I do find it interesting how the fandom (and some interviewers) also treats their characters in a similar way. Like people are rightly calling Armand on his bullshit and giving him the hate he deserves for directing Claudia's linching, meanwhile forgetting Lestat stared in it.

Also, personally I found Assad Zaman's response to be more unique to Armand, I don't know, something about Sam Reid's made me think he was talking about all/any vampires not just Lestat. And it makes me wonder, if Assad Zaman is able to look at Armand through a more "objective" (still subjective ofcourse but less rose-colored) lense because his character is not being pushed as the favorite (not to say people don't love it) while in the other hand Lestat is said to be the protagonist of next season, so he needs to be seen in a more likeable light, and that is why Sam Reid is more kind to it.

Plus Louis & Lesstat being teased to reunite, meanwhile Louis & Armand finishing this season with the fastest divorce ever.

(PS. Using their full names because I feel weird about using just their first names)

I rly like all the ways ur looking at this and thinking about it. I wish ppl like u could be doing these interviews tbh.

reading this, I was also trying to remember if I knew assad's history with any knowledge of the VC stories beforehand. we all know sam read them as a teenager and all that, but idk about assad. that could also account for their different perspectives.

I do think that lestat and louis getting back together *is* a driving force of a lot of ppl (from cast to fans) softening lestat's actions. although I also wonder why they feel the need to do that tbh (I generally know *why* I'm just saying....it's literally not required tho).

I think there's two ways u could tell this story. most likely, given what they've said, they're leaning towards keeping it romantic and learning from past mistakes. but u could also tell the story of cycles of abuse and being unable to escape them. I think ppl not giving room for others to explore that second option, even if it's unlikely that's gonna be reality, is just shit tbh. let ppl explore things in fiction ffs. especially as a lot of these darker theories are coming from fans of color who are also usually queer and/or trans and don't have many outlets for exploring interracial abuse like this plot has given. shouting down all those experiences to say "well it's not what they're doing so stop talking about it" is fucked up. isn't that what fandom is for?? exploring why things are meaningful to u, using it as a tool to express urself in diff ways and connect with others over it too?? fuck anne rice forever for creating this selfish breed of rotten fans who can't let anyone else exist outside their own warped interpretations and hcs.

I'm kind of getting off topic lol but anyway. lots to think about.

4:05 at the interview here btw

[the-s1lly-corner]

What would happen if eyeless jacks s/o was being targeted by the cult that killed him? (Or remaining members from the cult) like somehow the stars aligned and they somehow found him and his s/o, and chose to target them since yk...going after a human would be a lot easier then going after him

Hunted (Eyeless Jack x reader being tracked by the cult hcs)

you. anon. points. shakes you (/pos) im loving the ej requests and honestly this one!! already love it and im hoping i can do the idea justice!! dont get me wrong i love the basic romance prompts but the drama and action that can come from prompts like this??? WOOOOOOO

no because imagine some of the remaining members track him down as you proposed. regardless of if they find him through sightings or tracking down his "feeding grounds", they find where he lives. and in turn also find his.. partner

ive got multiple ideas for this so bare with me

idea one: imagine they find you and him together and manage to overpower you both... i think at this point they would view jack as a lost cause and... try to put him down for lack of better wording. they already failed with him with the sacrifice and trying to get that demon they worship to take over his body... though did the ritual even fail? i mean something definitely happened, but... shrugs. too many things to dive into for this prompt but!! but imagine if they decide to use you as a new sacrifice

even worse what if they cant actually kill jack, be it because he cant be killed in any normal means or they dont have the means to do him in.. and hes made to watch. imagine what would be going through his mind. regardless of if you are a successful sacrifice, or youre botched like jack, or you simply die...

on the chance its successful, would it even be fair to say that its still you in there? i mean your body is literally being used as a skin puppet for... something else... gone and disgraced. but if you end up like jack, i think it would be worse. at least with the other option he can say you passed away or that there is hope to get you back.. but you being like him just makes his skin crawl. it feels more final, more personal. he would never wish what had happened to him onto you.. and yet, here you are. i think death, as much as it would hurt and destroy him, would at least give him some finality that you wont have to suffer. many feelings here you know. and again, this is assuming hes forced to watch everything to go down

Idea two: hes captured and you go looking for him... i think, since the cult doesnt know youre around they try to do the ritual right on jack... if it can even be redone.. probably leads to you trying to rush in and get jack out of there; ultimately ending in you either being used as the sacrifice or being offed before the option can even be considered

Idea three: you're taken while waiting for jack at his home. youre ambushed while your partner is away and taken. there will definitely be signs of a struggle and break in, but jack probably wouldnt have many leads of where you went. cursing him to live the rest of his life trying to search for you and figure out what happened to you. on the chance that you survived and returned to him, theres going to be so many questions... and so many more if the ritual was botched..

theres just so many ways to go about this but none of the outcomes and routes sound desirable as they all end in death and tragedy. either someones getting possessed, cursed, or killed... not very good...

but as i reread your request, i come up with another idea. what if they scope you out, by yourself. like how they originally would have done to jack to get him to drop your guard... imagine youre none the wiser, in fact you even talk about your new 'friends' to jack; and he, stupidly, decides to let you have your privacy. can you imagine the guilt that would hit him when the cycle repeats itself and you become a victim? i think he wouldnt know at first, just that youve stop coming to him for a while... i mean he doesnt exactly have many ties to the world outside of his little bubble at home, how could he ever find out?

[bao-dur]

Hello! I just completed the 5some scene witb Halsin and Astarion and I dont really have anyone to comment this with I hope you dont mind me dropping here real quick to say [SPOILERS]

So... he just dissociates no matter what? I completed Astarion's quest and I could swear that meant he wouldnt dissociate in the scene. But I think what bothers me the most isnt even the dissociating itself but the lack of response from the Player Character. I just LET him?? I dont comfort him, I dont stop the whole thing in its tracks??

And its the only way to get Halsin's backstory?? Am I doing something wrong? I feel so conflicted about the whole thing. Opinions? Thanks for reading this far if you have, sorry for any inconvenience!

I don't claim to be the best source on Astarion lore or on his storyline consistencies/inconsistencies since we're like a bitter divorced couple, I can't talk about him without getting slightly annoyed. But,

I got that exact same scene (5some) after Astarion's story conclusion. To me it makes sense that he's still distant - we fixed his Cazador situation but we didnt fix his sexual abuse issue because he never brought up the trauma. I'm assuming you didnt romance Astarion ang got this scene? For me, a non-Astarionmancer it made sense, since he never told me about his intimacy issues in the first place. But if that happened to you, and you romanced him, then I can still understand him being distant in that moment. He's not that into sex with other people and you just asked him to perform in front of 4 others. I can see how he would default to an auto-pilot. But that's assuming you did romance him. If you didn't then there's not much to be surprised about. He's tired of performing seduction.

To me, it's not that big of a deal that the PlayerCharacter doesn't respond to catching Astarion drift away. Without romancing him and learning about his baggage PC at best can only assume that Astarion is not into sex due to his past of sleeping with his victims and that possibly bringing up bad memories. Since the narraror line about him being distant during the encounter was only a brief mention (narrator mentions PC and Astarion catching eyes for a moment, any further descriptions of his performative behaviour are a general description of the scene since nothing is visible, not necessarly describing what the PC is seeing).

What! I! Fully! Agree! With! You! Is how Halsin's mega traumatic backstory is only ever accessible through a hidden option (i wouldn't even call it a mission, just a random NPC conversation) in Act 3. That conversation could have been naturally implemented into the (currently bare-bone) Halsin romance route. This is why I'm still screaming about letting the players have access to Halsin as a companion in Act 1 already, so that he can go with the PC to the Underdark. That could lead to him having some flashbacks to his time there, and perhaps slipping in some titbits during idk the exploration of the wizard tower in the underdark and him seeing the chain mounted to a wall and that bringing up some nasty memories?? Like the story writes itself, it's all there but I'm guessing the devs had better things to do then flesh out their fanservice and fan demands. Like adding Halsin as a romance options SHOULD HAVE BEEN a post release thing !!!

My opinions are more or less summed up here. It's ass that an abuse victim such as Astarion gets all the special treatment and a catharsis while Halsin, who also went through a traumatic experience doesn't. He actually laughs it off. But that's okay, people cope differently. So why not have us explore his backstory more? Well, it's crunch of course. The devs had no time to put love and care into Halsin even tho him being a romance option/companion (so those conversations about his past wouldn't come up) wasn't even on their initial goal list, just something a few discord people suggested.

I feel like the writers had too much on their plates and too little time to make sure inconsistencies in character motivations/ reactions, backstories don't occur. But we should all be happy Astarion got all the attention he deserved. Oh, you're saying there are other companions in this game too? Since when?