#especially in wlw routes

[cadybear420]

Look, I completely understand that plenty of m!MC players (mlw route players included) prefer to play their MC with more masculine or masc-associated behaviors. Like, I'm about as "All MCs should have options in how you make them act/behave" as you can get, it's really that simple.

But there's a HUGE difference between "I like to play mlw routes and I personally prefer my MC to have the more masc roles, I'd like MCs to be written with those options" and "MC behaving effeminitely or having more fem roles even with a m!MC/mlw route makes no sense and is poor coding for m!MCs". If you want more options for how MCs behave then I 100% sympathize with that, but the moment you start crying about how "unrealistic" or "behaving like a woman" it is for m!MC to giggle or cry be saved by the LI or whatever the fuck, it's very difficult to take that seriously.

[danielnelsen]

i wouldnt go so far as to call the calling a good book necessarily, but it's so much better than the stolen throne and it's actually got an interesting plot & lore, it's very refreshing when im reading them in order

[loveislandthegame]

smh, FB should’ve had a survey question about the treatment of diverse islanders

[diaphin93]

About Edelgard-Discourse

I think the most funny aspect of Edelgard Discourse is how her detractors have build this immense echo chamber for themselves, including their own slangs and dogwhistles and even some really obscure readings of what the story actually says and does, while framing the Edelgard Fanbase as this actually niche insane and delusional crowd in this attempt to contextualize themselves as the moral majority...but then you have mainstream video game outlets doing articles like this:

I'm really curious on what the edelcrit crowd, especially parts of it which have a very incel-esque rhetoric surrounding the allegedly really seductive properties of Safflowers and strong opinions about women who don't wanna talk with them, thinks about articles like this. And its not really just Kotaku, the very article also links to a Vice article appreciative of the very revolutionary core of Edelgards route? I would suspect quite some seething from it.

But yeah, I think its easy to come to the believe that liking Edelgard is this forbidden sin and this minority position in very invested online echo chambers that treat hating Edelgard as a form of social activism (which coincidentally often happens towards wlw favs in fandom in general), but in the real world, you have mainstream gaming publications write articles like this and Edelgard being the most voted character in FEH history. It is really only a minority that is this obsessively negative about Edelgard. As this linked discussion shows:

Its also a minority that is clearly not acting rational, but is projecting some really pathetic grievances on Edelgard. Like, you can't tell me t hat OP doesn't read like somebody who writes rants about how women like Edelgard dismiss nice guys like him.

[nightlyrequiem]

Personal Assistance

Cross posted from AO3

Leading a non-descriptive dubiously legal business is stressful. It's your duty as Valeria's personal assistant to provide some much-needed relief.

A/N: I feel like an absolute goober writing smut. I also think this was my first attempt at it.

Tags/Warnings: Cunnilingus, Boss/Employee relationship, WLW, Graphic violence, Sexual content

Running a cartel is hard. Not that you'd know, but you've been assisting someone who does for a little over a year now. Helping a drug lord was not your first choice in career. Or your second. It wasn't even a runner up, but it pays more than the other jobs you've had. It doesn't hurt that your boss is Valeria.

Thud.

Valeria yells as she shoves someone - you think his name is Pablo, into one of the stone walls of the basement. You think you can hear the sound of the breath being driven out of his lungs. He does kind of deserve this. He was caught selling trade routes to some lowly street gang. As if they'd have a chance against a cartel. Against El Sin Nombre. He knew better.

Thud.

It's not like Valeria is a particularly weak woman, but it still Suprises you how effortlessly she can just toss around a grown man twice her size. It's impressive, maybe even hot. She rages like a rabid animal. Baring her teeth and snarling threats. Her face is dotted with a few scarlet splatters.

Thud.

She slams his head into a wall aggressively and you hear the delicate sound of teeth clattering to the ground. You cringe. You think he may be crying. He's certainly making noises that sound similar to it. There are two men here as well. Deigo and some scrawny guy you never learned the name of. Deigo watches impassively and the other one watches with a jittery excitement you don't like.

Sure, you find it a little attractive when she gets violent, but you don't enjoy watching people get hurt. You do enjoy the way her back muscles look in that tank top though. Pining, or lusting, (you really haven't figured it out yet.) is not a good idea. Not under normal circumstances and certainly not under...these ones. But how can you not? She has a strong personality. She's brave, intelligent, hardworking, ambitious, and very, very attractive.

The man goes down and doesn't move again. That doesn't stop Valeria from angrily kicking at his body. She curses at it with vitriol, then turns to Deigo and the twitching scarecrow of a man.

"Clean this up." She hisses. Clearly still very worked up. Sometimes beating a man to unconsciousness or death just isn't enough. Sometimes the rage is buried too deeply beneath the skin to ever be fully released.

Deigo starts ordering the man around while Valeria turns and storms towards the door. You wrinkle your nose as it's assaulted with the stench of Iron and ammonia. You jump slightly when Valeria barks your name from the doorway.

"Stop standing there and follow." She grits out. Not wanting to piss her off further you follow her out of the interrogation room. It's your least favourite room in Deigo's home. You hate the whole basement, but especially the interrogation room. The rest of Diego's home is furnished and beautifully decorated. Not that damned interrogation room. It makes sense, you reason, you don't want the people you're torturing to feel comfortable.

The ride up is incredibly uncomfortable. You can just feel the simmering rage burning Valeria. You half-expect her to turn her fury on you. You can almost feel the phantom pain of getting your head slammed into the wall. Feel the rattle of your brain in your skull. The pain never comes though. Valeria does a very good job of keeping her hands to herself. And why wouldn't she? You always do your job well. You're loyal. A good assistant ready to do whatever she asks of you.

Your skin prickles and you angle your head to look at her subtly. She's already staring at you. Not at your face though. Her eyes seem to be caught on your chest. You look away. Feeling nervous and giddy as you try to explain it away mentally. She just so happened to zone out while looking at your chest. She's not checking you out. You aren't very good at convincing yourself. Not when you want her to be checking you out.

There's a small rustling of clothing as she shifts, and you know she's going to speak before she does.

"It doesn't matter how feared you become," She mutters. "There's always someone out there who thinks they're smarter than you." You don't know if she's actually speaking to you or just talking to herself, but you decide to play it safe and answer anyway.

"You'd think people would learn to not go against you," You'd love to be against her. "I mean, you've made examples out of everyone who has."

It's not even enough for her to just kill them. She doesn't bother with recording the executions and posting it online. No, she likes to display them.

Valeria just scoffs. "That's not enough, and it never will be." She sounds frustrated.

"There will always be greedy and stupid people, doesn't matter how much fear you put into them." You reply. "If there weren't, you wouldn't have any customers or employees." Valeria seems to consider your words.

'I suppose so, but I wish they could be stupid in ways that don't inconvenience me." She mutters.

The elevator stops and Valeria walks out with you not far behind. She storms into an office and you follow suit. You close the door and stand in front of it while Valeria goes up to the window. Staring out at the city in the distance. You can feel a tension in the air so thick that it settles on your skin like sweat. There are a few lamps turned on throughout the room. Casting it in a warm, homey glow. honeying Valeria's tan skin. She's so beautiful. It makes you want to start chewing on the desk before you.

She sighs and turns. You pretend you weren't just staring at her. Though with how intensely you were, you're sure she could feel it. Valeria sits down on the chair behind the desk and looks over the few loose papers strewn about. You make a mental note to broach the subject of finding a main base of sorts. Just so that she - and you don't have to go back and forth between her home and Diego's.

She looks up from the papers. Looks up at you. Her eyes are half-lidded, and her hair is a little mussed and you defiantly aren't at fault for the blooming wetness between your thighs.

"I'm stressed." She states. Her voice low and a little raspy. You know she's stressed. She makes it incredibly obvious. Most of her feelings are incredibly obvious. All the negative, violent ones are anyway. She blinks at you expectantly and you realize she wants a response. You can think of a few ways to help her relive some of that stress.

You aren't ballsy enough to offer any of those solutions though.

"...Do you want a drink?" You offer. She shakes her head. There's a look in her eye that you've seen a few times before.

"Come here." Something about this interaction feels different to the others. You find that you don't mind. Not at all. You always do as you're told, and this time is no different. You slowly walk over to her. Standing at her side. Valeria reaches out and puts a firm hand on your shoulder, pushing you down to your knees. Your heart thumps erratically with excitement. You think you know where this is going.

"Always so good for me." She murmurs. She turns in the chair and spreads her legs ever so slightly. You feel a little dizzy. "You'll help me out, won't you?" You don't think you can speak right now so you nod instead. Her mouth twitches but she doesn't say anything. She just leans back and looks at you.

You tense your thighs to try and provide the barest amount of friction. This isn't about you though. This is about the woman in front of you. You jerkily reach up and grasp her knees. You unhurriedly drag your hands towards her belt. You want this to last. This might be the only time you get to do something so special. You undo her belt and glance up her for approval. She stares back at you, expressionless. You feel a little insecure as you unzip her jeans and start tugging them down. What if you don't do well? It can't be that hard to eat pussy, surely.

Her pants are down to her ankles, and you're greeted with the second most beautiful thing you've seen. Her cunt is hiding behind plain cotton underwear. Like a gift just for you to unwrap. You're delighted to see a little wet spot already forming. You tenderly pull her panties down and you find that you were wrong. The second most beautiful thing is actually her bare core four inches away from your face. You shift so that your heal is pressing against your crotch, providing some desperately needed friction. You glance up at her again before lowering your head down.

You take a deep breath and take in her scent. You wish you could bottle it up and use it as perfume. Valeria's thighs tense slightly when you grab ahold of them. You take one last admiring look before closing the distance between you and your gift. You dab at her clit with your tongue and feel her relax. Encouraged, you add more pressure. Lapping at her like a thirsty bitch in heat. Her breathing gets heavier, and you remove a hand from her thigh. You trace two fingers along her entrance. Gathering up the wetness. You lick at her, tasting her directly from the source.

She tastes heavenly and you decide that if you were to die tomorrow, you'd die a happy woman. You rock against your heal as you return your mouth to her clit. She's wet enough for you to add a finger and she lets loose a low, short moan. A jolt of pleasure shoots through you at the sound. You set a good pace and soon add another finger. You pump them into her and feel her clench around them. There's a sudden pressure on the back of your head before your face gets shoved right against her pelvis.

"Good girl." She pants. Grinding against your face. "Good girl." You pick up the pace and feel yourself throb. You latch onto her and circle your tongue around her clit. Just the auditory stimulation is almost enough to make you cum. She doesn't bother with trying to keep quiet. The people in the basement can probably hear her, but if she doesn't care then neither do you. Her entrance squelches as you push your fingers into her, you find that gummy spot inside of her curl your fingers.

She stiffens. "Yes, yes, like that, just like that!" Her breathy words devolve into breathy mumbles of your name. You've never heard her sound like this. You already had a thing for her voice, and this is definitely helping. A keening whine builds up in her throat and her thighs suddenly snap close around your head, locking you in place. She sits rigid with you face in her cunt. You feel her pulse around your fingers. She finally goes limp and you reluctantly pull away. Your chin and lips glisten with her release. You pull your fingers out of her and eye the thin, wet strings attaching your index and middle finger. You look at her to make sure she isn't looking before popping them in your mouth. The taste is a little tainted by the saltiness of your skin, but you can still taste her.

The hand in your hair gives a small tug and you look up at her. The post-orgasmic look on her fcae burns itself into your memory. She gives you another tug.

"Up." She says. Her voice is raspy. You get off your knees and stand. Wincing at the sharp ache that attacks them as soon as you straighten your legs. She pulls you into her lap and rests her face in the crook of your neck. You relax against her. Feeling her warm breath ghost over your skin.

[agattthaa]

who is your top 3 RC couples?

That was a veryyyyyyy difficult question and I had to think a lot about it, but I choose three couples from finished stories so that I'm sure about their entire journey. So, in random order, we have:

Amala and Ratan

Mimi and Vicky

Renée [especially calculation path] and Maria Theresa

I love Amala and Ratan. The care and trust that they put into each other. The way that Amala had to be the pillar of her family because she had to take care of both Kiran and Indira and because of that she couldn't rely on anyone. The way that she allowed herself to trust Ratan, to rely on him, to let him take care of her. They way they are ready to risk anything for each other, to keep each other safe.

Mimi is half of the couple, so it's already the best. Now being for real, they are each other's rock. On most routes of friends to lovers on this app, especially the wlw ones, you are told that they are friends, but you can't really feel it. In Mimi's route, you can. They are each other rock the entire time, always giving each other comfort and strength and affection and softness.

Renée is Maria Theresa's salvation. In a foreign land were she was treated like nothing, she met a woman that always putted her in first place, even when she wasn't supposed to. And due to the love that she received from Renée and Renée alone, she was able to find her voice, to fight and get and live the life that she wanted, by her beloved's side.

[mrsbsmooth]

I don't know if this is a safe space for me to share my opinion on S8 but I disagree with your take on WLW relationships in S8. As someone who is exclusively WLW, I've got to say that Season 8 is the worst season that I have ever played. It's not worth it. I regret every second that I have spent on it. I wish I never played it. I feel like I have wasted my time. Watching Claudia grind on Theo made me feel physically sick. If you're bi, you're automatically locked out of the WLW route and Bea dances for Claudia instead. If you're doing a WLW route, the two female LIs are merged together. There are only two female LIs and they're hidden behind a gem wall. You can't couple up with them until the final week. The male characters are forced on MC no matter how many times you reject them. Being LGBT is treated like a fun side mission. It's something you're only allowed to do behind closed doors. You can pay to make out with a girl in every episode and the other characters will keep pushing the OG guy and CA guy on you either way. If you're romancing a girl, you're made to feel like a cheater. The WLW routes in S8 are written to be a bonus thing for bi women to do once they finish the good routes. They are not written to be the main course. The S8 WLW routes  are something to play around with but not something to commit to. S5 was no fun but at least we could be in an unofficial relationship with Dana and we could choose to befriend Alfie. We could couple up with Vicky in S7. S8 is like S6 but somehow even worse. The openly homophobic and racist comments that I have seen some straight players make about Bea and Hari are only making it harder to feel accepted. What hurts the most is that MC was a bombshell and she was not coupled up with her OG LI before the Casa. They could have let us pick a female LI the moment MC walked into the Villa. There was no better way to justify a WLW main route. The way they waste Luna and Felicity is unbelievable. I wouldn't recommend S8 to anyone who isn't super into the male LIs

Hi lovely, of course!! Always happy to hear a different opinion as long as they're respectfully put, which yours absolutely is, and as long as you don't mind me disagreeing back!

[Note: Sarah's just pointed out to me that you asked for a safe space and my response doesn't really do that and just disagrees with you. She's right, and I apologise for not being clearer about the fact I was planning to do so when I hit post. But you are always welcome to share your opinion here. I can't guarantee a safe space, but I can guarantee an open mind.] Because I do genuinely believe that the WLW routes in S8 are better than they have been previously.

I'm not going to be addressing homophobic and racist comments about Bea and Hari. My advice for those? Stay the hell off Reddit. I'm not getting into the way this fandom talks about race, especially for Asian islanders. I just want to talk about the WLW routes as that was the main point of your ask.

I want to make sure I've acknowledged and responded to everything you said, so please see below.

[This got long AF. TL;DR at the end.]

Locked out of routes, and Male LIs being forced on you

This isn't new to this season, and in my opinion it's been done dramatically better than previous seasons. I've played all of them, and almost every single season holds the female LI back until the end. Marisol, Elisa, Najuma, Angie, Dana, Lulu, Bella, Chloe, Flo, Bonnie, I don't think you could couple up with a single one of them until the final recoupling. The only exceptions were S1 and S3, I think? I believe you could get with Talia slightly earlier (and have Sammi come in later as a LI for the guy who otherwise would be dumped), and AJ/Yasmin you could couple up with and make Tai and Ciaran get together. But that's only 2 seasons from 8.

(Note: I see you said you could couple up with Vicky in S7, and I'll be honest, I barely played S7 as I found the writing itself extremely lacklustre. So I'll have to take your word for it that they somehow made that work.)

I get that it's frustrating to be separated from a female LI until late game. It's a sentiment I've heard every single season since I started playing alongside the releases. But realistically, this is how the game is structured. Love Island, as a premise, is based on heterosexual relationships. Pairing off and being in heterosexual couples, etc. Same as something like 'the Bachelor'. Two female contestants could be together, sure. But that's not how the show is structured. The only real solutions have been in S1 and S3, both of which I've already mentioned. I'd love to see more MLM couples made canon, or creative ways of letting us couple with women earlier, but I don't think there's one simple solution. This particular show is aimed at het couples. As unfair as it may seem, that's how the game is structured. (Crossing my fingers for canon MLM couples. PLEASE!)

I also disagree that WLW routes are written to be a bonus thing for bi women to do once they finish the good routes. Claudia's route has been a main route since day one in the villa. The fact that you can only have a relationship with either Theo OR Claudia means they intended from the very beginning to have whichever one of that couple you choose be the slow burn route- the route that you can't get on until the very end.

To say that 'Watching Claudia grind on Theo made me physically sick'-- Congratulations and welcome to the slowburn route 😂 I feel exactly the same way when Theo REJECTS ME OUTRIGHT and says he's only interested in Claudia, or when Suresh's heartrate gets raised the most by Lulu, or when I finally couple with Jake and he tells me I should pursue Levi. Don't you think the fact that it's had such an impact on you shows how well-written she is as a female LI? Claudia is AMAZING. But she's also bisexual. She's allowed to be torn between a male and a female LI and want to explore relationships with both, and I don't think it's fair to be angry that she's playing out all her options. That just means she's a well-written bisexual character. (Side note may I remind you that you've been able to take Claudia to the hideaway, and sleep in a bed with her, whereas Theo girls were only able to KISS the dude for the first time within the last week!!!! 😭) I think the only canonical lesbian routes are Angie from S4 and A.J. from S3. But even so, they're both questioning while in-villa and only come out either towards the end or in the post-season. You can watch AJ's route on Youtube if you didn't get a chance to play. Also, you're not locked out of the WLW route if you're bi/into men. Only if you're interested in Theo specifically. This is definitely somewhere they could improve-- I wanted Theo and Claudia, but eventually went back to play a straight route for Theo. However, I DESPERATELY wanted to flirt with Bea. It would've been wonderful if we'd been able to flirt with her separately. (I think I did get this option, but I believe it may have been a glitch). An option early in the game when the female LI asks you could be:

Yes, I'm into you!

No, I'm not into you, but I might be into other women

No, I'm not into women.

The Female LIs are merging together

Welcome to Love Island the Game by Fusebox games, where all the love interests merge and the personalities don't matter. You're not alone here, and it's not NEARLY as bad as previous seasons. Watch Najuma, Bruno, and JAMES have exactly the same dialogue in S4 despite being wildly different personalities. Watch Lewie, Jamal and Ryan be completely interchangeable. This isn't exclusive to WLW routes.

The female LIs are hidden behind a gem wall.

Again, this is the same for everyone, even players on a straight route. FB are greedy.

Being LGBT is treated like a side mission

It's something you're only allowed to do behind closed doors. You can pay to make out with a girl in every episode

This is hard. I get why you feel like this, anon, I really do. But I genuinely do think that this is the devs trying to give you something. They know it's frustrating to have to wait so long to couple with a female LI, so they try and give you bonus opportunities along the way to connect with your love interest. Almost every single smut scene written in the scripts has a female alternative. Again, I'm not saying that it's perfect, but having looked at and manipulated the scripts for four seasons now, I can absolutely assure you that this has not always been the case. They ARE improving and giving you more opportunities to spend time with your female LI than you had in previous seasons.

TL;DR

I'm not saying S8 is a perfect season for WLW routes.

The part I'm disagreeing with is where you said it's the worst season.

I absolutely disagree with that. There are far worse seasons. Even the golden child Season 2 didn't let you couple up with a woman until right at the end, watching her graft and grind on everyone BUT you. We also don't even know for sure that we can't couple up with a girl until the last week. The game's still being released. (I won't be surprised if that's the case though.)

I think Claudia and Bea are EXCELLENT female love interests in comparison with what we've had previously. They're both beautiful, they have unique personalities, they have very different routes (Claudia's confused between you and Theo, Bea's your bestie to lover and she's got terrible taste in men, dear god please save her).

I understand WANTING more WLW routes, but from a development point of view, there are simply not enough opportunities in the real-life structure of LITG to have fully blown out WLW routes. And even if they were, FB Games are not going to be financially motivated to do so. Their main customer base ($$$) is pursing a het route, so that’s who they’re creating for. They can't even get through the hetero routes without the characters merging personalities. There are other games doing this well, including fan-made games, which I'd recommend checking out. I don't have the link handy to the game pages, but check out @thatwheelchairchick, I believe she's working on an alternative game?

Anyway, I hope that clarifies my position on why I think they're worth playing. Sorry that it turned into an essay.

[luckyqueenreign]

This season of LITG has so far been so good. I wonder what happened that forced them to push the update a week… because it’s clear this “meet the OG girls” was slapped together in the matter of hours and thrown up on the app. If you haven’t played it yet and want to know if it’s worth it….it’s not. We already know what all of the girls look like and the girls don’t really say anything new or interesting.

Here’s the gist of what all of the girls said..

Estelle: Alex isn’t the type of guy she normally goes for but she wants to try something new and she thinks he’s hot.. she can’t tell right now if just friendship vibes or more and she doesn’t wanna lock things in too early like Daphne and Raf. She thinks they come off looking forced. She loves all of the girls but Willow is her bestie… she mentioned asking alex about sharing a bed. I mean it’s a given on love island especially as an og, we’ve never asked to share a bed with someone so I thought that was weird.

Daphne: poor girl, she would benefit from some acupuncture and micellar water... I felt her reasoning for going after Cassius was actually so real. This is love island you’re supposed to explore your connections and attractions and for her to explore it with Cassius and see she didn’t feel anything I think is part of the process. What I found to be possibly the only interesting thing any of the of girls said was when she was talking about Alex she mentioned that he’s Raf’s bestie and that he would redo her kitchen cabinets but then she gets flirty and blushes and says “That’s not the only reason I like him” EXCUSE ME?!? 🤔👀 I wonder if they’re going to explore this at all or if this was just a random thing they added in to this super rushed update. I guess we’ll see.

Willow: she says she needed a break and her and Bryson aren’t really vibing. I’m sorry to the Bryson girlies but I get what she means, I kind of felt like he was a little annoying and it’s the reason why I couldn’t jump on his route 😬🫣 anywayyy Willow says she normally goes for business bros but it seems like it doesn’t matter what type of guy both types sucked, so she’s hoping for a new bombshell. Is it just me or isn’t Willow perfectly coded to have a friends to lovers type route with MC like a more new and improved Angie route??? Really hope they do bc the wlw routes def need some work. As for the other guys she thinks alex is a hottie, Joyo is gonna take her diving and eek she said it looked like Raf wasn’t that interested in Daphne before they left for casa.

Geri: I’m sorry but immediately I couldn’t focus on anything because they gave her the tiniest hands ever and it somehow makes her head also look bigger. Look at this pic of her and Daphne. Look at the hands!! The poor girls proportions are all off.

Ok ok back to what was said.. her connection to Joyo seems super physical and not much else. The things they have in common are all of the many places they’d want to bone and coffee. Basically she’s unsure of where her couple stands right before casa. She thinks Estelle and Alex are great for other people. She doesn’t seem them vibing or going very far. Daphne and Raf she thinks are vibing hard and she would be shocked if he twisted! This made me think if you’re on the Raf route she might be your enemy but on the Alex route she might be more friendly towards you. (I really hope they explore that) as everyone else has said Bryson is too much of a flirt that it’s hard to tell how he actually feels. She feels like there’s a spark missing with both Joyo and Bryson. She thinks every girl but Daphne is going to twist!! But she mentions we can’t forget history could repeat itself and Daphne could end up twisting too. It would actually be exciting if they had all of the girls twist too BUT I’m thinking that, that would mean no more bombshells for the rest of the season because we would be getting four new boys at once. I doubt they would throw more bombshells in for an already shortened season.

[narrators-journal]

I'm coming home for Christmas

This was a bit of a curveball bc I don’t write much for a Machi. But! I had a lot of fun writing for her! And some WLW is always nice! I hope this is good and fluffy, with plenty of Christmas vibes! Sorry if it’s a bit short for the time it took, I took a bit of time for some more indulgent projects to refresh before I returned to asks. There’s another one in the wings, but god help me with that bc u hxh bitches (affectionate) sometimes hit me with the craziest of f/o requests that I forgot existed LMAO. Guess that’s what I get for still refusing to refresh on hxh’s anime <3

As a woman with a long-distance girlfriend like your Machi, you knew better than to expect even a face-time call for Christmas. So, you simply made yourself some adorable Christmas cookies, put on a movie, and settled down onto your couch for an evening of lightly unsettling stop motion and self-indulgence.

At least, that had been your plan for the night, with, of course, room in the schedule made for a potential phone call. But, you didn’t expect a call from the pink-haired beauty that you had the honor of calling yours. So, it was a bit of a surprise when the sun set on your snow-blanketed apartment building and you had just begun Rudolph, and somebody knocked at your front door.

With a press of a button, you paused your movie and listened for a long, tense moment. Your plate of cookies forgotten on the coffee table, your senses on edge, and your eyes locked on the handle of your front door while your brain ran through any escape routes or weapons you had on hand for a break-in. Until, “Hon, I know you’re in there, you can open the door.” The anxiety popped like a bubble, and you were at the front door to throw it open and see your slightly monotone girlfriend out in the chilly, flickery, hallway.

Machi stood before you with a flower in one hand, a reindeer antler headband nestled into her wild, fluffy pink hair with one of the flimsy felt antlers drooped forward. She looked tired, with a homemade splint on her wrist, but you could tell that she’d at least tried to get a bit dolled up, as she had on a clean t-shirt and a good pair of jeans that only had one suspicious rip along her inner thigh. She had even used the techniques you’d taught her to put on a touch of concealer, blush, and light pink lipstick to try and soften her strong, beautiful, experience-chiseled face. “Mochi! How the hell are you here?! I thought you were out of town for work until after new years.” asked as you let the woman into your home and accepted the rose from her. “My boss let me off a bit early because I got my tasks done. I decided not to tell you to try and surprise you for Christmas.” She explained with a small, slightly awkward ‘tada’ gesture.

Machi wasn’t that good with emotions. She was clinically cold, she had to be with her childhood, so being warm and affectionate was a challenge for her, even when it came to you. Which, you had gotten used to and grown to find quite charming. Especially when she showed her affection with little moments like how she followed you into the living room to watch you put the offered rose into a cup of water and plop back onto the couch to return to your movie. With how she kept the goofy headband on as she sat beside you and draped her well-muscled, powerful arm over your shoulders to let you cuddle into her side and return to Rudolph.

Neither of you spoke as you settled for the cheesy movie. You had learned not to pry into whatever nebulous work the pink-haired woman had, and not to ask about the damage she’d gotten to her wrist. You knew better than to ruin the moment and your holiday by extension.

[gmsrrn98]

Okay but if I branch out of Choices to play other IFs, I gotta know which apps/books/stories have really good wlw routes.

If I'm gonna go down another rabbit hole (especially in these trying times trying to juggle a fulltime job, a business, and planning to move) I might as well get me some good wlw ships to fuel my crazy brain movies.

[adorawasright]

an interview with adora's and catra's VAs (plus nate), apparently before s4 was released.

the comments in this video piss me off tbh, everyone is joking about the VAs calling adora and catra "friends" or "sisters", when they're. literally written as sisters lmao????

yeah it's odd that c//a was apparently "planned from the start" but if you rewatch the show, it rlly doesn't look that way, if not for a few shots where they're sexualized (which is... fucked up, honestly). even some scenes in s5 still imply that the characters are sisters, especially when they involve shadow weaver.

but considering that even the VAs didn't see anything romantic in their bond... yeah, spop is very confusing on that front. nate didn't imply any romance in this interview, i think. you might argue that it was to avoid cancellation, but even in the supposed show bible catra and adora were thought to be sisters. if they rlly wanted the two to be in a romantic relationship, idk why they didn't go in other routes - such as adora being raised by hordak and catra by shadow weaver. but no, they shared the same parental figure and they fought like two siblings who grew up in an abusive environment.

it is very telling when all the other wlw pairings ppl compare with c//a are NOTHING like c//a. meanwhile, tragic sibling relationships have a lot more in common with catra and adora.

[fun-k-board]

What type of Cards Against Humanity players would the Mortal Kombat X Kast be?

Note(s) : I have not played this game fully and I also haven't written for these characters before, this is almost definitely inaccurate and cringe, but I'm free.

Kung Jin -

Goes the dark humor route, but plays it with a complete straight face, he does laugh, but purposefully never at his own cards because he thinks it'll be 'suspicious'. It becomes a tell to see what his card is. He never picks what the person choosing would find funny, which means he usually never gets any black cards.

He will absolutely rage quit, or just try and get others to rage quit by being snarky and incredibly salty about his losing odds.

Takeda Takahashi -

He's not extremely dark humored (?) in his cards, but one of his cards made Liu Kang faint once. He typically goes to dad humor, the ones where you laugh at them but don't actually pick them.

He's never actually angry when he loses, sure, he's a bit salty especially if he finds his cards funny, but, at the end of the day, it's just a game.

Cassie Cage -

It depends on a, the black card, and b, the person choosing. She can win easily if it's her parents or Jacqui, she knows their humor, but if it's someone like Kitana she's screwed. Very 50/50 with her win chances.

She'll only get angry if Kung Jin wins, they're wlw and mlm hostility.

Jacqui Briggs -

Her cards are always hit or miss, she either puts her best card down on a prompt but someone else has a better card, or she saves her good cards until it's too late. She tends to get little to no black cards.

Never gets angry at a loss, she's pretty competitive during it, but afterwards even if she loses, she's just happy to spend time with everybody.

Kitana -

Gets confused on the point of the game, she's trying to keep her dignity and plays the less Inappropriate cards, whenever a particularly dark humor one comes along, she sneaks it back into the pile and picks a different card. She never gets black cards.

Doesn't get angry, she finds the game a bit pointless anyway.

Mileena -

The amount of horror this lady thinks of on the daily can't compare to any cards in any deck, she somehow always brings the worst one out, hardly ever wins because people are too horrified to pick her cards.

Will attempt murder if she doesn't win every round.

Johnny Cage -

Always goes the outwardly dad humor route, he rarely ever picks dark humor cards to put down unless that's all he has. Usually people can tell it's him, so he only wins if the person choosing likes him.

He says that he's only pretending to be salty as a joke, but in reality? It definitely makes him lose pride for at least one evening. Everyone can tell. And they all make fun of him.

Sonya Blade -

She plays with dry yet witty humor, ones you'd expect to see in a teen drama series or something, she's always relying on what she thinks her friends will find funny, and gets black cards regularly.

Will only rage if someone gets a black card and she finds the card genuinely unfunny, she can get over losing if she has a laugh over the card they chose, but if not, she's holding that over that person's head for years.

Kenshi Takahashi -

He's more of a judge, makes sure nobody commits murder, and makes sure nobody cheats. He can't play for obvious reasons, but he does secretly root for certain players, and may or may not excuse cheating if it means someone he doesn't like will lose.

Hanzo Hasashi -

He's silent the entire time, doesn't pick dark humor cards, and doesn't pick any funny ones, either, it's always a deadpan and scorchingly dry card, he's never won a single black card, everyone can tell it's his card, and nobody will pick his.

He's treating it more like a game of chess, and so when he loses he sort of just goes 'welp, could've been smarter.' And moves on.

Liu Kang -

He doesn't find any cards funny to be honest, and he mostly relies on how other people react to see what they find funny, as such, he has no black cards until the end, where he makes a comeback so insane everybody fully believes he cheats.

Won't rage if the comeback fails and he loses, however, he will get annoyed if Kung Jin wins. ( No but why was this man so outraged in every intro like calm tf down )

Kung Lao -

He won't be too sour if he loses, he's past the point of being insecure at every loss, but he definitely does try too hard to be funny. It makes everybody cringe. He gets at least one or two black cards on a bad day, but he plays too much into his humor rather than the person choosing.

Jackson Briggs -

Plays a lot of dry and witty type humor cards down, or ones where it's an actual answer to the card that would make sense, he's a sort of mix of Hanzo and Johnny, so he typically gets a few black cards, and wins maybe.

Doesn't get angry at all, he's just happy to be here.

[oyiiiii]

Your Top 10 lis

With some character analysis below, in no particular order (more so in the order my phone decided to put).

Tagged by @justanotherrcblog

Reading from left to right:

WALTER

For me he's the best green flag and Wincy is one of the authors who can write green flags very well. He's kinda the opposite of Vyxaria, but their dynamic blends so well. You can tell he likes it when Vyxaria is roasting him but then can diffuse her without even her realising it lol. The Siren part of his character keeps on giving. His identity began as a mystery when he hypnotized Tiger, the tension kept building and finally there was the revelation, alongside Isolde being his mom. Him and Cynthia being two separate people was such a great twist.

THREXIA

I really like her character development and the angst between her and Vyxaria. She's not for everyone, but personally I really like how realistically she's written for a red flag. We know she's narcissist (as Wincy has said) but that is to be expected since she's a succubus. I like how in this story a demon acts like a demon and it's not the trope of "I hate everyone but for some reason MC is the exception". And then it just so happened for her to absorb Vyxaria's humanity alongside her energy in "that night", so now she got infected with feelings too 🙆‍♀️

NETTIE

I never pick my li right from the start because I usually need to spend a lot of time with them to start liking them. But when I saw Nettie I knew she was going to be my li in this book. Black haired alt girl? Sign me up! I also think her introverted kinda awkward personality is cute.

RATAN

Ratan is definitely one of these lis with a really cool and laid back aura. He's also really supportive and a feminist king. I still haven't finished KCD, but I definitely plan to for his route 👌

FELONIA

Despite being the only female li in this book, there's a heart in her scenes and I feel like her author actually likes writing her. I especially liked the tension between her and Audrey in that restaurant scene.

MIMI

She's really supportive but there's *tension* to that and she's not laid back at all lol. She can sting but in a good way. I'd say she's not a green flag nor a red flag either. Her character and lines/humor parts are very well written and in my very subjective opinion she and Lucifer have the best chemistry with Vicky out of the rest. She's not unpopular but I still think she's underrated. And also, have you seen her? I'm not going to get into the negative parts of her treatment here, it still bothers me though.

SIRIN

Sirin for me kinda saved this book. Her character feels so real and the way her struggles are written is very good too. I like Haze as a story, but I wasn't crazy about any of the lis. With the new 2 female lis policy and with the addition of Sirin, for me this book became balanced (not sure if this will change with the new man coming). Tata is fine but she's the best friend trope that would get drawn out in the sea of male lis, especially if Sirin was a man too.

LIAM

Sweet with a dose of craziness, just one my favourite types. The mystery of his character in S1 was really well executed too. You'd always feel there was something sinister about him and that he was hiding something, but then he would go on and be so genuinely sweet with Selena (and her tantrums) and it was such a great combination. Arcanum is also the only book of Alice from which I liked almost all of the male lis. Which is funny because she's one of the authors who's not very keen of the wlw routes, yet with her books I always end up liking her female lis a lot, and disliking most of her male lis.

DMITRY

Dependable and also one of the best looking sprites. Imo Cain is the one who matches Lane's personality the most and Dmitry feels like an adult who needs to keep parenting her, but I still like him the best.

CASSIEL

Last but definitely not least. All of his scenes with Audrey are so well written and I've never felt any of their interactions was empty or a filler. Sweet and aloof, I really like how the story shows he cares deeply about Audrey and others, even when his words say otherwise. When he gave Audrey a glass of water there was so much care into that action, and he's genuinely sweet to her even when she's not romancing him. He's definitely going in my all time top 5 list.

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on todays volume !

leo is…well, at least he’s not dean 😭 i like his personality but he looks like a mix of dylan from season 4 & wesley stickler from ace attorney

i feel like FB is overexplaining why OG LI didn’t leave when MC got dumped. i get that they’re trying to make him look good (& get more money from players by milking these backstory gem scenes lol) but tacking on even more stuff is making the whole thing look nonsensical

FB! make this evil twink a love interest and MY LIFE IS YOURS ! (i guess they are aware of the slim shady comparison lmao)

but for real, i still don’t know if he’s gonna be an LI or not. i can't tell if he has any significant dialogue changes and i'm too lazy to start another playthrough. he doesn't have amnesia though, he remembers that ive been flirting with him (i forgot to screenshot his first piece of dialogue but he’s talking about the spin the bottle kiss)

there’s not much to say about mr. love island, except that FB seriously needs to retire that gross looking yellow massage oil overlay. at least adjust the hue a bit 😭

caleb sticking up for MC was very sweet 🥺❤️ obviously she can defend herself just fine, but he’s a real one for this. it’s making me feel bad that i haven’t spent any time with him in the villa (if only we could be a friendship couple, instead of the game forcing us to lead him on)

the spirit of season 1 MC possessed us for just a moment, i was gagged 😭 i ended up forgiving ava tho, i wish we could just be friends with the girls that aren't also LIs. i know i keep saying it but this one sided rivalry shit is so boring

the ex rated challenge was what i expected: LIs get decent reviews, MC gets the only 5 star rating. not to nitpick (in the sense that there's much bigger issues with FB's LGBT representation) but i don’t know why we couldn’t have chosen the gender of MC’s ex, especially since ash is already a gender neutral name (there could’ve easily been a dialogue option like “my ex…boyfriend/girlfriend/partner” before telling the story)

since MC won the challenge, she gets to go to the hideaway. i don't know why it's a secret or why none of these nosy af islanders tried to figure out what the prize was. anyways, i chose lisbeth ! it was so cute that they mentioned being happy to be there with eachother again

this damn box— whatever, i picked sexy dice

all those letters teasing movie night got me scared luv, i’m sure the main event is gonna be nyah in the shower with dean, but i’m bracing myself for MC and lisbeth caught doing bits all over the villa in 4K. i hate how wlw routes have to be sneaky/shady/hoe route-adjacent (it really sucks because i remember complimenting FB for the dialogue you get if you kept choosing her over the guys up until the first hideaway visit)

i'm still holding out hope for enemies to friends but sadly i won't be surprised if she does a full 180 in the next volume

next up is a three way date with hayden and caleb, unfortunately we can’t make them kiss challengers-style. i picked neutral answers whenever i could, but caleb won whatever compatibility thing we were doing because i liked his answers more lol

tristan’s rapping…i was gonna say “welcome back, rap crew” but tim, rohan, even jake would never come up with bars as horrible as those 😭 (can you tell i miss season 1)

lisbeth got jealous, so she took us on a hot tub date ❤️😭lately all of her scenes mention something among the lines of “i can’t wait until we’re finally able to couple up," when the hell is the recoupling ?! the last volume ? my heart can’t take it

hayden, caleb, tristan, and leo are on the chopping block. i have no idea why milo is safe & not the two dudes who’ve been here for one day and are still single, but alright.

it’d be hilarious if tristan got dumped again, but i’m guessing they’re gonna keep him around for drama (or he's a LI ?) . leo will probably stay to be ava’s partner, so my prediction will be that MC will have to choose between OG LI and casa LI

overall, there's 4 volumes left, why on earth are we dealing with a forced love triangle instead of spending time with our chosen LI ? at the very least i'd be more invested if it was between lisbeth and jesse, or even eisha if FB was too lazy to branch for a love triangle with different LI genders 😭 (even though they were able to do that back in season 3, with the iconic "i've got a beautiful girl and a handsome guy fighting for my attention. i'm living the bisexual dream") what a mess

i'm not looking forward to movie night, but i guess OG LI loyal girlies will probably be considered cheaters too, let's all be miserable together 🥀

[vanguard-if]

I was wondering. Does MCs sexuality/gender play into any of the routes with certain RO's?

the RO's are romanceable by an MC of any gender! they are all queer and loving of all genders, one way or another. the MC's sexuality is based on how you want your MC to express their romantic interests, and the ROs roll with whatever the MC is rolling with. there's gonna be some mild spoilers for Nia's route below, regarding the gender of the MC.

the only route that really takes gender into consideration is Nia's route. she has felt unsafe around men all her life, and has felt pressure numerous times to have children by her parents. with a man, and only a man. so if you're playing a male MC and don't immediately present yourself as safe to her, she will be wary at first. she's just a girl you know 😞

and since we're on the topic of gender, i would also like to point out that faerings have a very different concept of gender than humans. so if your MC is outside of the gender binary or trans this is completely normal within the Midlands. basically faerings just kinda adopt whatever pronouns they think look cool. and Cirrus especially...their gender is like..whatever Prince had going on. most faerings don't even bother to label themselves anyways. too much work. long story short, gender is complicated for dragons. don't ask Cirrus what his gender is. he will tell you that he's a Sagittarius.

of course, the ROs will have slightly different interactions with the MC based on gender, but nothing that would block the MC from romancing them. the only two characters that would are Vio and Kiera, but they're not romanceable HAHAl. i feel like i've said this before but whatever; Vio is gay and Kiera is a lesbian. they truly are MLM and WLW solidarity.

[dragonsarecats]

[ Previous anon ]

 I'M SORRY FOR WORDING IT LIKE THAT I played the Golden Deers, some of my favorite queer ship are with Deers and some of my favorite character are among the deers! My favorite deer ship is probably Leonie x Lysithea ( She litteraly say Leonie would make an incredible partner! Why do their support stop at B again?? ) and my otp is Hilda x Edelgard ( do not judge me I have REASONS ). And also, one of my favorite queer headcanon is trans aro-ace Claude! So I genuinely love the Deers as queers!

However, for me the deer and the diverse queer content around them is heavily a fandom thing. When I say the deer are "too straight for me", I meant it for the game directly. Like you have the Black Eagles where not only litteraly every characters is canon queer/has heavily subtext but has also its whole narrative drenched in queer metaphor! You have the Blue Lions where, while there's less "canon queer", you litteraly cannot say most of its members are straight with how heavy the subtext that's barely even subtext anymore is: there's 0 straight explanation for Felix crying more at Dimitri death than his wife, or him dying the same day as Sylvain because they can't live without each other.

But for the Deers... You have Hilda/Marianne and Claude/Lorenz as the most popular one but while their relationship are so fascinating, when you only look only at the game, they feel too platonic? Especially compared to a Dedue/Dimitri ( like a family in private. took up a post at his grave for the most of his days. BURIED BESIDE EACHOTHER ) or a Ferdinand/Hubert ( rare A+ support, with blushing, their own little surname, Ferdinand/Edelgard support changing just to mention Ferdinand drinking coffee ). Otherwise you have Leonie/Lysithea which stop at B. You have Raphael/Ignatz where they decided to just push the relationship to make their ending all about Ignatz with his sister.

Like really, the Deers manage to have less in game queer moment than the Church of Seiros, Rhea aside, of all things! We were so robbed! The rainbow house deserve better. I'm a lesbian and after all my playthrough Verdant Winds was my only route where I had to marry a man, all I wanted was a lavender wedding with Claude while I have a passionate romance with Leonie :(

To sum up: Lysithea and Leonie should kiss, Intelligent Systems are fucking cowards 

For the fandom I'll have to disagree, I think the Deers have a lot a queer content and it's amazing :] My only thing might be how Claude has become the first character you think of when talking about bi fe3h character which is kinda telling how wlw are dismissed in the general fandom, but its better than some people insisting he's totally straigh so eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

( Also I big agree on Hilda support being gem, she's such a great character and one that's much more complex than given credit for!! )

Oh and I think I disagree with Deers being the more family found-esq ( saying that bc it's a great subject of I discussion and I want to hear more about your opinion on the matter )

The Lions is the family where they all stick together through thick and thin, following Dimitri to hell and back, but their relationship are complexe and not always healthy ( mostly at the beginning with like Dimitri & Felix or Ingrid & Sylvain ).

The Eagles are the found family where a lot of them bitch about each other at first but they end up with deep relationship where they take care for each other and stand together against the world, even sticking together during the time skip ( also because they kinda all killed each other dad ).

The Deers are for me more like an actual close group of friend: their life are not going to revolve around each other like it does with the other houses, but they won't hesitate to come for that 5 years reunion to see the other. It's kinda like you say they're so normal in a good way! They tease each other but they don't hate each other in the way of a Dimitri/Felix, a Caspar/Petra, a Ferdinand/Hubert ( except for Lorenz but like, it's Lorenz ). They won't kill the other dad, but they'll sure as hell support each other like Lorenz and Ignatz or Marianne and Raphael. They might not start a revolution together but they will listen to the other even when it’s total heresy ( Leonie & Claude, such an incredible support :’) ) and help the other to reach their goal… I do agree with you it’s linked to not knowing each other before, but on that, isn’t knowing each other before more of a Lion thing than not knowing being a Deer thing? I don’t know, the BE are kind of a middle ground.

( Sorry for my ramblings- It's so fun talking about the deers )

AA anon thank you for the long ask!! Okay I'm gonna take this point by point under the readmore!

"My favorite deer ship s probably Leonie x Lysithea ( She litteraly say Leonie would make an incredible partner! Why do their support stop at B again?? )"

INCREDIBLY fair and based of you, lol, I read Lysithea as gay and it's 100% because of the support conversations she has with Leonie and Hilda (which to me implies an ADORABLE crush--Lysithea seems to genuinely respect and admire Hilda which is not something you'd expect from like, a surface level reading of their characters).

I'm gonna admit my own bias here in terms of canon text endings--my favorite Lysithea ending is her paired ending with Lorenz. It really reads like a queer platonic relationship to me--I don't really get romantic vibes from either of them (gay as they are) towards each other, but the commitment and care they have for each other genuinely warms my heart. Especially the fact that like, Lorenz is SO determined to ensure Lysithea takes care of herself and the ending doesn't really imply that she dies young (only that her health is delicate/poor) in comparison to others, and she and her family get to live the quiet life they want. Of course, as an aro/ace disabled person, I think it probably hits differently for me than people who aren't just because of the fact that after the most recent time I saw their support chain/got their ending I teared up a bit (and also why I'm now adoring your trans-aro-ace Claude).

ANYWAYS, I agree IS are cowards and that's why Edelgard is the only Lord who can romance both male/female Byleth.

"For the fandom I'll have to disagree, I think the Deers have a lot a queer content and it's amazing :]"

I probably didn't word what I meant completely lol correctly-- it's not that the Deer don't have a lot of queer content, it's just that overall, they have less content in general made for them then the Black Eagles and Blue Lions.

I do ALSO love so much of the queer content made for the Deers! The Three Houses fandom is amazing.

"My only thing might be how Claude has become the first character you think of when talking about bi fe3h character which is kinda telling how wlw are dismissed in the general fandom, but its better than some people insisting he's totally straight so eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

Okay, so I was kind of dancing around saying this to your last ask but you hit the nail on the head lol. I genuinely think the reason why the Deer might come across as less queer is because the "main ship" for them, so to speak, is the WLW pairing Hilda/Marianne.

Ironically when I think about bi fe3h characters my first thought is consistently Lindhardt?

"Oh and I think I disagree with Deers being the more family found-esq ( saying that bc it's a great subject of I discussion and I want to hear more about your opinion on the matter )

The Lions is the family where they all stick together through thick and thin, following Dimitri to hell and back, but their relationship are complexe and not always healthy ( mostly at the beginning with like Dimitri & Felix or Ingrid & Sylvain ).

The Eagles are the found family where a lot of them bitch about each other at first but they end up with deep relationship where they take care for each other and stand together against the world, even sticking together during the time skip ( also because they kinda all killed each other dad )."

Okay so I definitely agree with you that they're all found family, explicitly in the text lol. What I meant in my statement that they're the most found-family-esq is that you get to see the development of ALL their relationships and becoming that family together on screen.

The Lions (a mess, and I love them), are pretty heavily involved with each other at the beginning of the game. A lot of the intrigue with them is the fact that they all have backstory stuff going on with each other (save for Ashe, I think, but we kill his dad on screen so). Mercedes and Annette went to Sorcery School together, Felix/Sylvain/Dimitri/Ingrid are all childhood friends with intense complications, and the trauma and deliberate kindness that brought together Dimitri and Dedue makes me emotional.

Similarly to them, the Black Eagles all have a history with each other (save for Dorothea) as well. There's the insane and amazing devotion between Edelgard and Hubert, Lindhardt and Caspar's childhood friendship, the onesided rivalry going on between Ferdinand and Edelgard since they were kids and Hubert's judgement of Ferdinand for it. Petra and Bernadetta, technically don't have pre-established relationships with the others, but in ways that are deliberately intense. Petra is blatantly a political hostage in the Academy Era in a way that really informs her relationship with Edelgard and Hubert even before they get to know her. Additionally Bernadetta's isolation creates a kind of infamy between her and the other nobles.

The Golden Deer, on the other hand, don't really have as many intense bonds going in (and thus, in my opinion, makes it easier for Byleth to integrate amongst them as an eventual equal). There's the preestablished dynamic of Lorenz being suspicious of and wanting to best Claude, but it's a recently developed dynamic, as Claude only appeared a year ago. This would be a bigger personal issue if he was leading a house like the Blue Lions or the Black Eagles (noble heavy as they are), but it's barely an issue in the Deer and not just because of the commoners. Hilda, Lorenz, Lysithea, and Marianne are not close. In all his supports with the three of them, Lorenz is the one reaching out because of his belief that their time in the Academy should be used to form better and closer connections with other nobles. There is nothing to imply that there was any substance to their pre-existing relationships. The only two who have anything to their relationship before the game starts, are Raph and Iganatz, who haven't spoken in years, mostly due to guilt on Ignatz's behalf for what happened to Raphael's family.

So as a result, you get to see the bonds being formed and deepened with the Golden Deer from scrap. Obviously some development happens off screen during the time skip, but other than that the Deer's found family forms and develops completely on screen, which is why I think it's the most found family-esq of the three.

In fact, it's a huge part of Claude's story. It's something you don't really notice in his route, but it's really clear when you don't pick him. While Edelgard and Dimitri kind of can't function and literally can't without Byleth's support, Claude has probably the highest survivability rate when you don't choose him of any character save technically Marianne. He survives the Blue Lions route, the Black Eagles route (if you spare him), and is implied to have survived the Silver Snow route. When he doesn't have Byleth, he still survives, so not choosing him isn't as dramatic. But it's easy to see that without Byleth as a teacher, he doesn't open up enough to the Deer. Dimitri and Edelgard have assured loyalty from their houses (even Ferdie and Felix) becuase of these pre-established relationships and positions, but Claude has to earn it. That's why Hilda, despite being his vassal, is recruit-able so long as you don't choose Black Eagles (the only route where he can die). Without Byleth, although the Deer do grow close, they don't do it as quick or as closely as they do with the Professor. Claude is a character who's never been able to truly rely on others, even if they care about him, and being able to rely on Byleth allows him to open up and rely on the Deer and truly trust them. I mean, Claude's two most relied upon people in the Deer (as seen in 3Hopes when he goes against Dimitri) are Hilda and Lorenz. I don't think people talk enough about how insane it is that Claude trusts Hilda Goneril with his life, considering he's an Alymran prince.

That's also why I think the Deer are so good for Byleth. I don't think any of the other route's are bad for Byleth at all, but I think the deer provide something to Byleth that neither the Lions or the Eagles can bring to her: a single of equivalency. Byleth is only slightly older than her students in the Academy Era and is in fact younger than most of them in the War Era, and yet it's only really with the Deer that she feels like she's amongst peers (whether it be because of the commoner/noble ratio or that she's as much of a stranger to them as they are to each other.) I mean, Claude is literally the only character who doesn't call refer to her by her Profession.

Anyways, TLDR: I think they're the most found family because a huge part of the Golden Deer route is them getting to know and love each other from scratch, and being a found family is a much bigger thematic aspect for them then it is for the other two houses.

"However, for me the deer and the diverse queer content around them is heavily a fandom thing. When I say the deer are "too straight for me", I meant it for the game directly. Like you have the Black Eagles where not only litteraly every characters is canon queer/has heavily subtext but has also its whole narrative drenched in queer metaphor! You have the Blue Lions where, while there's less "canon queer", you litteraly cannot say most of its members are straight with how heavy the subtext that's barely even subtext anymore is: there's 0 straight explanation for Felix crying more at Dimitri death than his wife, or him dying the same day as Sylvain because they can't live without each other."

"But for the Deers… You have Hilda/Marianne and Claude/Lorenz as the most popular one but while their relationship are so fascinating, when you only look only at the game, they feel too platonic? Especially compared to a Dedue/Dimitri ( like a family in private. took up a post at his grave for the most of his days. BURIED BESIDE EACHOTHER ) or a Ferdinand/Hubert ( rare A+ support, with blushing, their own little surname, Ferdinand/Edelgard support changing just to mention Ferdinand drinking coffee ). Otherwise you have Leonie/Lysithea which stop at B. You have Raphael/Ignatz where they decided to just push the relationship to make their ending all about Ignatz with his sister."

Okay, so I definitely agree with you that those things are canon queer and subtext, and that it's a shame they don't push the Raphael/Ignatz stuff and focus on Ignatz and Raph's sister (which is admittedly adorable to me).

Again, I'm aro/ace, so for me, queerness doesn't necessarily require romance as a prerequisite? Which is why I like Lorenz and Lysithea's ending, lol.

Hilda/Marianne in no way reads platonic to me, so I really disagree with you there. Hilda treats Marianne completely differently to how she treats everyone else in game. Their support chain is focused on how Hilda, who manipulates her way out of doing anything she doesn't want to, chooses to consistently over and over again do things for Marianne that she can't, and refuses to let Marianne feel bad over it. She leverages this into Marianne buying her pastries and them having a lunch date together. Their A support consists of Marianne questioning their regular dynamic of doing this and Hilda reassuring that she enjoys it so much she'd feel odd if it changed. They compliment each other to the point where Hilda starts to get a little flustered, and Hilda's even able to poke fun a little at Marianne and get Marianne to poke fun at her back. Marianne laughs at Hilda, and Hilda textually thinks it's adorable and can't even get mad at it because it's so cute. Marianne seems so genuinely happy and herself (even in negative ways!) with Hilda, and can rely on her in a way that doesn't make her feel inadequate or a burden.

I can understand as being able to view Claude/Lorenz as platonic, especially since I will never diverge from my Claude/Byleth endings, but I think they can also still be read pretty textually clear and potentially romantic. Part of this is Lorenz, who just, is very clearly gay to me? But again, part of this is the fact that a huge part of the Lorenz/Claude dynamic is them being viewed textually as equals, which is something that will and can never happen with Edelgard/Dimitri and their rival characters. Their support chain is all about getting to know and respect each other as they grow to care for one another, and while it isn't explicitly as romantic as Marianne/Hilda, I think their paired ending really speaks a lot for itself, in that Claude trusts Lorenz to be Fodlan's face of diplomacy towards Almyra. He trusts Lorenz to help him achieve his dream in the most direct way possible, something I think you can absolutely compare to his relationship with Byleth in their S-Support. Additionally about their support chain, their A-support really is about affirming to the player how close they've become, how fond they are of each other, and how neither of them can imagine the future of Fodlan without the other one in it. While there isn't a lot of direct text between Claude/Lorenz, I think there is absolutely enough subtext that you could read them romantically, especially from Lorenz's POV. The hard thing with this game is that each character needs to be able to be paired with Byleth, so they can never be textually obviously/blatantly in love with another character save for Byleth until their paired ending, and I think that absolutely holds doubly true for Lord characters, which is why I think Claude/Lorenz relies more on subtext.

I do think it's a shame that Lysithea doesn't have any A supports with women in her own house. Leonie like you mentioned is an adorable one, and I think Lysithea has a huge crush on Hilda in the ones with her, and there is definite potential in the one she has with Marianne (which in my opinion is a kinder, more gentle version of her supports with Ignatz).

I also think there's a few other support chains where there is a queer romance blossoming, they just don't get the chance to have an ending. A big one for me, personally, that I think deserved more, is Ignatz and Lorenz. I also think Leonie and Marianne's support chain was very cute, and deserved an A.

This is kind of what I was saying when I answered your last ask, I think, wherein the Deer have queer romance, but because the don't have a big blow up mlm ship (Claude is more often shipped with Dimitri + a lot of people aren't as fond of Lorenz as I think they should be lol), they kind of get sidelined as their big queer ship is WLW. And unfortunately in most fandoms, wlw ships are rarely as popular or have as much pushing force.

And also, I think, that the deer are queer without having as much romance. Their romantic pairings are far less set in store then the other two houses, I think, and part of that is because a lot of their endings read really queer platonic to me. Plus, a lot of the heavy romance lifting in the explicit text for a lot of supports tends to happen in the A/A+ region, and a several of the wlw/mlm golden deer pairings only go to B, which I think is a shame and forces them to rely more on subtext.

Additionally, because they're not the revolutionary or chivalry aligned House, a lot of their endings aren't written as...dramatically? Like I adore Felix/Sylvain to death (I have a print of them hanging next to my Claude one lol), but their childhood promise is very much the product of living in Faergus, similarly to how Hubert and Ferdinand's relationship is defined by them living in the Empire. I think because the Alliance politics are far less dramatic (or are far more dramatic in a visibly different way) the subtext for Claude and Lorenz's Romeo/Juliet for politics thing doesn't come across as huge as two characters who promised to die with each other as kids and keep it (insane I love them).

That's why in my original post I talk about loving how normal the Deer are, and I think ultimately a part of that comes from their setting: the Alliance. In my first play through, I specifically chose having my loyalties lie (in the initial meeting with the Lords) with the Alliance, because to me, someone who had no real context for the game, the Alliance was the closest thing to a democracy from what little we'd hard of each nation. Politics informs almost every aspect of the Golden Deer; sure it's played for angst and importance in the other two routes (Duscur/Sylvain's Crest Complex/Felix's problem with the chivalry system for the Blue Lions--with the latter two never being things that are textually resolved in the Kingdom's government--and Enbarr/those who Slither in the Dark for the Black Eagles), but Claude actually has to balance what other lords want in the War phase, and it's his ability to be so good at politicking that enables the Alliance to consistently remain neutral in the war. So a lot of the subtext stuff comes to fruition through the realm of politics in a way it doesn't entirely through the other two, if that makes sense. It's a huge gesture of love that Claude can trust Lorenz with his dream.

"The Deers are for me more like an actual close group of friend: their life are not going to revolve around each other like it does with the other houses, but they won't hesitate to come for that 5 years reunion to see the other. It's kinda like you say they're so normal in a good way! They tease each other but they don't hate each other in the way of a Dimitri/Felix, a Caspar/Petra, a Ferdinand/Hubert ( except for Lorenz but like, it's Lorenz ). They won't kill the other dad, but they'll sure as hell support each other like Lorenz and Ignatz or Marianne and Raphael. They might not start a revolution together but they will listen to the other even when it’s total heresy ( Leonie & Claude, such an incredible support :’) ) and help the other to reach their goal… I do agree with you it’s linked to not knowing each other before, but on that, isn’t knowing each other before more of a Lion thing than not knowing being a Deer thing? I don’t know, the BE are kind of a middle ground."

I both agree and disagree with what you've said here!

I think it's true, that in any route where you don't choose Byleth, the Deer are textually viewed much more as just close friends rather then found family, whereas I think if you chose their route they end up much closer (as I said above). I think the Black Eagles and Blue Lions have their lives, by nature, revolve around each other since they're literally all Nobles and thus part of the governning system of this world (with the exception of Dorothea). I think the Golden Deer have to make it a much more deliberate choice, and I do think it's something they do after the War in any route (assuming the majority of them have been allowed to live) because that sort of thing just forms a life long bond between people that's hard to shake without deliberate effort I can't imagine any of them truly wanting to put in.

They are normal! None of them hate each other! They don't have that sort of intensity, but they do have a lot of complexity that lends itself very well to found family. I think a big part of that complexity lends itself to the lack of killing (although I don't really think any of their parents deserve to be killed whether they've alive or dead?). The fact that Lorenz's dad has Claude's uncle killed (which when combined with Hilda, again, being a fucking Goneril is INSANE my man's two best friends are people who have reason to kill him for BOTH SIDES OF HIS ANCESTRY) and thus gets Raph's parents killed is something truly heartbreaking, and yet I think it's because there's no violence amongst each other or against the previous generation that characters like Claude (has had violence perpetuated against him for his heritage), Marianne (has had implied violence perpetuated against her for her crest), and Lysithea (has had violence perpetuated against her to get her second crest) are able to feel safe amongst the Deer. Violence is an intense choice, but I think lack of violence should also be viewed as something deliberate and chosen, esp. in the world of Three Houses. I mean, throughout Verdant Wind Claude is constantly complaining about the perpetuation of violence caused by the War! He's someone who deliberately chooses direct harm reduction. Although, to in fact speak of violence, I think it's absolutely insane that Hilda "I refuse to die for my friends" Goneril will willingly die for Claude "DO NOT DIE FOR MY SAKE FLEE PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU RETREAT" von Riegan's sake.

I do think that the Golden Deer are the most similar to a modern queer friend group and thus would be the easiest to make a 1:1 comparison, but again the events of the game do kind of necessitate that they are found family because they go through a war together. Their group dynamics are probably the most influenced by Byleth (Dimitri and his relationships with others while "mad" of course, aside), and it's really hard to make generalizations about them because again, the fact that she is not there to facilitate these close bonds makes it a lot harder for them to be as close as they are before the war as they end up being, although even without Byleth I still think they're exceedingly close. But yes, I agree, they do not live in each other's pockets, which does not make them any less found family, but does, probably, make them healthier in modern context lol.

(As a side note about Byleth and the house leaders: I think what she visibly provides to Edelgard and Dimitri is a lot more obvious than what she provides to Claude. She helps the both of them in maintaining themselves and not loosing themselves to the burden of leadership and trauma. Claude, however, is a character who has been handling both of those things alone, and we are shown that he is capable of handling them alone without massive cracks appearing in Three Houses. Claude does not need Byleth to live, as the other two directly do. Byleth gives Claude someone consistent and trustworthy to rely on, which opens him up to being able to do it with the other members of his house far easier then he's able to otherwise.)

Anyways! I think the Golden Deer are very queer, just more subtextually so then the Black Eagles and Blue Lions. I personally view a lot of the straight endings, so to speak, as queerplatonic (again Lorenz/Lysithea and honestly Leonie/Ignatz). Romance is a pretty easy metric to view queer storytelling through, but I don't think I'd see Sylvain as any less of a queer character if he didn't have his paired ending with Felix because of how his story is written. In a similar way, I think characters like Ignatz (wanted to be a painter, but it's not what his family wants for him; yearns to be creative and is self conscious about people thinking it'll interfere in his duties and has to learn to accept himself and his true dreams) and Marianne (sees herself as a monster that other people won't accept if they knew the true her and what she's hiding) are also queer without needing to be in romances, which is why the fandom gets a lot out of them subtextually.

Acceptance, I think, can be viewed as a very queer theme, and I think it's a prominent one within the Deer.