#establishing boundaries and whatnot

[quaintnecromancer]

💞Name between 3-5 of your top kinks

Dirty Question Time! | @runyou-clever-boy

“Hmmm…rope play is definitely up there, though I haven’t had anyone tie me up in a while. Blood play is another one, but only with partners that I trust. Enjoying pain does not mean I relish the thought of bleeding out in someone’s arms. I also like when the power dynamic shifts through out the session, but I don’t know if there’s a proper word for that. It works best when I’m in a dominant mood, and my partner is also dominant, so we’re both constantly switching and vying for control, almost like a game. Usually leads to pretty rough sex, which I am always a fan of!” He smirked devilishly before fading to a more thoughtful expression. “This one…hmm, this is probably a weird one but I’ve always wondered what it might be like to fuck whilst under the effects of a love potion or some other enchantment. Obviously, I’d have to be with someone I trust very dearly, but I love the idea of letting go like that, of giving in to complete and utter devotion, and being mostly mindless otherwise. Just an odd little fantasy of mine; I’d never use something like that on anyone else.” A sheepish laugh escaped the flustered wizard’s mouth as he chanced a glance over at his companion, hoping to any and every god that he wasn’t being judged. “And I sincerely doubt that this comes as a surprise, but I have a massive praise kink. Stroke my ego, call me pet names, tell me how good I’m being, and I will melt.”

[helianthus-tarot]

FUTURE SPOUSE: Your first meeting with their family

As written in the title. I posted the extended version on my Patreon which includes what their family will think about you (their first impression of you) and what they will think about the relationship! 👀❤️

Disclaimer: Here | Instagram: Here

Instructions: Focus on the topic and ask yourself the question. Choose a number/picture that you feel the most drawn to or that you can’t stop looking at. Trust your intuition. May the message resonate. Let me know which pile you choose! Feedback is appreciated!

Like my readings? Tip here!

PILE 1 

First meeting: The Tower, Queen of Cups, The Hierophant (The Sun), 5 of Pentacles (8 of Swords), 7 of Cups (6 of Wands). 

It will probably happen by accident. It could happen when you and your person are both out and you guys run into one another. For some of you though, it’ll happen when you both are at your person’s place; so their family members could suddenly knock on the door, and you might start freaking out, especially if you are not ‘supposed’ to be there, especially if it’s nighttime. Maybe you’re from a conservative culture, or your person is, or maybe it’s not appropriate, etc. Whatever it is, there will be a feeling of chaos or panic at first, or the situation itself may be a bit chaotic or out of order. Some of you could meet their family when your relationship hasn’t been properly established yet, so it may feel like it’s a bit out of order; this meeting isn’t supposed to happen at this time because it could cause complications. Something like that.  

I think there will be at least two people that you’ll meet; probably the maternal influence and paternal influence in your person's life, or the main feminine and masculine figures in their life. Most likely they are your person’s mother and father. For others of you, it could be the person who does the nurturing and caretaking, and the person who sets boundaries and supports the family (regardless of their genders or status in the family). The feminine figure will be warm and nice towards you, they may act like nothing is amiss and they’re all right with you there; they're giving the vibe of someone who brings cupcakes and fruits when they visit lol. You will sense their interest and curiosity about you, but they will probably focus more on your person at that time, e.g. talking with your person, asking about your person’s life and whatnot.

Now, The Hierophant and The Sun both fell horizontally, almost in reverse, so I’m going to interpret them as such; whoever the masculine or paternal influence here, this person may not seem like they are happy to see you. Honestly, they may not talk much, they may not show much emotion, hence why they’ll seem that way. They may also come across a bit more stern and traditional.  

So there’s a possibility that you may feel a bit rejected. Because like I said, the masculine figure may not react much, and I feel like the feminine figure may not focus on you, perhaps out of consideration or perhaps because they don’t want to push your person to reveal everything about you two that day, but this can also come across like they don’t really care about you. It’s hard to explain, because they’ll seem like they are nice and caring, but at the same time they’re not that focused on you. Also, the masculine person could say something about appropriateness, manners, rules, and whatnot. I don’t think they will admonish you though, I don’t think they will address you that day, to be honest. Either they won’t say anything at all, or they could make a subtle comment about it to your person. You could feel like they don’t like you much, or you’ll feel like they don’t see you as the right partner for your person. You will be overthinking it a bit.  

But the meeting will end with you still feeling hopeful, not sure why, it could be due to their body language towards you at the end, like, the feminine person could smile or pat you on the arm as they leave, or your person might explain their personalities to you after they’ve left and say something that makes you feel like the meeting wasn’t bad at all. Maybe your person won’t look worried. So you will hold on to your hope and optimism. 

EXTENDED VERSION IS ON PATREON! What will they think about you? What kind of person will they think you are? And what will they think about your relationship with your person? Will they approve?👀📝

PILE 2 

First meeting: Ace of Cups, 2 of Wands, Ace of Wands, Judgement, The Magician, Knight of Cups. 

This meeting will be planned. It could happen outside, like, maybe a family outing or a gathering, and you’ll be there to join them. For some of you, it could be a camping trip, or just somewhere you guys can do activities, like having a barbecue or doing something together. So you probably won’t just sit and talk. You or your person could choose this day or this event to meet their family for the first time because doing an activity together can take some focus off you and help you and their family bond through shared activity. The overall energy of this meeting feels quite nice and positive, but there’s also underlying significance and seriousness, which I’ll explain later. 

The meeting may start with a warm welcome, “oh you’re XYZ, they’ve told me a lot about you” or something like that, with smiles and welcoming gestures. You guys may then talk about the weather, the inconsequential things like the traffic jam, or the day, the place, and whatnot. Whatever they’ll do that day, it may cause you to open up or have to show yourself; so either you’ll have to show yourself through the activity that you guys will be doing, or they’ll ask you questions and make you come out more. Their family will be very interactive, responsive and open. They’ll move here and there; there’ll be a lot of energy. They will want to get to know you, especially you guys’ plans with each other and your true intention; e.g. where you see this connection going, what’s your next plan, what are you working on in your life, what you see in your future together, etc. For some of you, the activity you’ll do that day will bring out your talents, skills or expertise.  

But like I said, there’s something significant about this that may not just be about two people coming together and potentially getting married. For some of you, this meeting is a sign or a mark of a big change, especially a change that includes leaving something sad or negative behind. You, your person or their family will recognise this for what it is; they’ll see this meeting as a full stop to whatever has happened in the past, and they’ll be aware of what’s coming next and what this means.

Some of you may have been married before, or your person has, and so being together means you’re moving forward and changing that part of your life for real. If it’s not someone having been divorced/married, you two being together could involve some massive life change; relocation, or being distant or moving away from your/their family or something in your past. It doesn’t feel like the normal change. It feels spiritually significant, kinda heavy and potentially negative too. I’m not saying there will be something negative about you two, but maybe there’s leftover negative energy from the past. It’s like Fate is being moulded and created in front of your eyes, and a path is being established and aimed in a new direction; and everyone knows it. There may be some conflicting feelings about this change (someone might overthink it a bit), but overall, the meeting itself will be positive.  

The meeting will end well, you guys may also make new plans to meet again, exchange pleasantries and good wishes. Their family could offer you something, and you could offer something back. For example, they could offer to bake a cake or show their kittens when you come over to their house, and you could offer to bring a gift or a painting that you have made. There will be offers of love and care. 

EXTENDED VERSION IS ON PATREON! What will they think about you? What kind of person will they think you are? And what will they think about your relationship with your person? Will they approve? 👀📝     

PILE 3 

First meeting: 3 of Cups, Knight of Wands (2 of Pentacles), The High Priestess, King of Swords, 7 of Swords. 9 of Swords. 

A lot of cards didn’t fall fully upright, so I think there will be some reluctance, most likely on your part. Because when I asked for a card to represent the hidden energy, you got 9 of Swords; so it’s possible that you will have been overthinking this or been stressing about this, and may be not looking forward to the meeting, for whatever reason (it could just be nerves). For some of you, you may have been putting off this meeting; not actively, but perhaps subconsciously. For others of you, this may not be the first meeting, as in, you will have met their family members briefly before (or talked with them online, or via text). So this may be the first long, proper meeting you’ll have.  

Either it will happen at an event, like a party or an open house or a wedding, or the meeting itself will be a social gathering that involves multiple family members. Your person could have a lot of family members who are extroverted (or this is the vibe you’ll get). You will be welcomed warmly, there’ll be obvious emotional expressions or obvious welcoming gestures. But at the same time, being there could feel like you’re being lowkey judged, or they’ll seem like they talk behind your back. I’m not sure if this will actually happen, or if the meeting will feel that way because of your nerves and your own negative energy (maybe you’ve had bad experiences dealing with a group of people, or being in a group).

You may be someone who’s in your head quite a lot. You may be intuitive but you probably have a tendency to overthink, which can make things a bit more complicated, because now you don’t know if it’s your intuition or if it’s just your past trauma or issues. You will also feel like something is being hidden from you, maybe you’ll pick up on subtle energies or body language from your person’s family. But just keep in mind, just because people hide something, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are hiding something bad or negative. 

I think there will also be extended family members; I’m not seeing much of their parents or main guardians’ energies; so it could be that your person doesn’t have those, or it could be that you will be more focused on these other people. There may be several cousins, both men and women. Maybe siblings as well. Whoever these people are, they may seem like they’re quite close-knit; ‘going to different places together’, ‘giggling with each other’, ‘inside jokes’ kind of vibe. Hence why they’ll seem like potential ‘mean girls’ to you (when they may not be) regardless of their genders. Some of you may have been bullied before or have experienced being treated terribly by a group of people, so this meeting could bring that wound to the surface.

There’ll be a masculine person (regardless of gender), a cousin I think, who will be quite flirtatious, this person may tease you or make flirty comments and the rest of the family could laugh or tell them off, but in a joking manner. If you are on the spectrum, the whole thing may seem a bit confusing because you won’t feel sure if they’re on your side or they’re also making fun of you. The thing is, I’m not getting negative energy from them, it’s not clear from the cards; what’s clear here is your anxious, sceptical energy.  

One of the reasons why this meeting could stress you out a bit, is probably because you will feel like you have to exaggerate or overly express yourself, you’ll feel like you have to put yourself out there more. If you are an introvert, you’ll feel like you have to be an extrovert. Whatever it is, you’ll feel like you have to show more than how you normally behave. And again, this could be the pressure you put on yourself, or it could be something you expect from yourself due to your past experiences. You may be a bit restrained, like you’re there to observe before you act. Which can cause that masculine person to tease you even more (some people are like that, they like to poke quiet people just to see who you are underneath your silence and reservations).

There may be another masculine figure (regardless of the gender, but probably the father) who can sound a bit stern and strict when they talk to you, like they’re assessing you and your intention and your plans with your person. It’s probably just their personality. Honestly, I’m not getting a message about them hating you or being mean towards you, but again, this is a general reading. Overall, I think the meeting will end with you still feeling unsure about who you can trust in the family, or what they think of you, etc. You may feel like you just want to hide and be alone or spend some time with your person after that.  

EXTENDED VERSION IS ON PATREON! What will they think about you? What kind of person will they think you are? And what will they think about your relationship with your person? Will they approve? 👀📝   

PILE 4 

First meeting: Page of Wands, 10 of Wands (9 of Swords, 7 of Cups Rx), 4 of Wands, The Tower (7 of Wands), The Hermit. 

You will approach this situation with optimism, openness, and just... generally being your true self. Some of you probably have some innocent, pure, childlike vibe; like you don’t expect the worst from people, or that you don’t think/assume negatively about people. This meeting may require you to travel a bit more than usual (which makes sense). Either going to meet their family will require some effort on your part (e.g. need to arrange time, and buy tickets and whatnot), or there will be a lot of things going on during the meeting itself. 

I think there’ll be something unexpected about this meeting; it’s like you entering this situation having expected one thing but getting another thing. At some point, you could feel like you’re being asked to do more or to give more. I don’t want to say ‘perform’ but it feels like you’re being asked (indirectly or directly) to meet their expectation in some way, or to do something to please them; which won’t be what you expected at all. This could be anything really, it doesn’t have to be some outlandish thing, but it may put some pressure on you and make you overthink a bit. 

For example, they could say or do something that implies their expectations, but they do it in a nice, smiley, socially appropriate way. I can only give Asian example since I’m Asian; for example, if you’re a woman, it’s like they expect you to join them in the kitchen and cook something with them on that very first day (it’s not unusual, some people legit let their future daughter-in-law do the dishes just to test the girl smh, but this also depends on what type of Asian they are, of course). If you’re a man, then they may expect you to carry some stuff for them that day. Something like that. Don’t misunderstand, they’ll be welcoming and warm towards you, the house may be beautiful as well and they could have decorated it a bit to welcome you.  

But yeah, it really depends on what kind of thing they expect from their people, or from people they intend to welcome into their family, if that makes sense. They may start expecting you to be that way as well, for the sake of the family or for the sake of harmony. Again, there will be something unexpected; they could ask you unexpected questions, or something nerve-wracking suddenly happens, like a mistake, an accident, etc.

Whatever the situation will be, it could make you feel like you have to stand strong within yourself, for some of you it may feel like you have to prove or defend yourself a little. For others of you, you could find out something unexpected too, about your person’s family or about your person. And this thing will shift your perspective big time, it will shock you a bit. It won’t necessarily be bad, this depends on your specific case, but it may be shocking. Like “do you know that your person used to be a part of a gang?” That kind of thing. But I think it’ll mostly be something that makes you feel like you need to defend your position, something that challenges you, I just couldn’t think of an example.  

You’ll leave that meeting with a lot of things to think about. This could be good, or could be bad. But some of you may withdraw into yourself to ponder things a bit, to understand your experience from a different angle, to understand why you feel/think what you feel/think, etc. So some adjustments or some shifts in mentality could happen after the meeting. Some of you may feel disappointed about some things, some of you will choose to learn from the experience. 

EXTENDED VERSION IS ON PATREON! What will they think about you? What kind of person will they think you are? And what will they think about your relationship with your person? Will they approve? 👀📝  

[sepublic]

Actually it's utterly hilarious to me how Hayley Wong, storyboard artist for The Owl House, posted one of the first pieces of Lumity art ever on this site during Season 1A; So before we even got the trailer for Grom and whatnot. And the whole time she had to clarify in the caption below that it was just fanart, that she didn't know anything about how the show would go due to being an artist and not a writer, she wasn't making any promises nor guarantees. And like you get it because you want to avoid accusations of queerbaiting and disappointing people, while also establishing limits and boundaries. Uh-huh. Just covering one's bases.

...And then Enchanting Grom Fright comes out later that year and it turns out Hayley boarded the whole scene with Amity's fear only to dance with Luz. And with how long production takes place and how far ahead of time it happens, that means she did and knew all this when she posted that Lumity fanart in early 2020. Meaning she could've just as easily NOT included that whole disclaimer and not suffered any consequences for the fairly quick payoff that happened afterwards. Utterly amazing. Like again professionalism and standards and whatnot, plus avoiding giving out spoilers by framing it as just a guess but. Legendary.

[cheecats]

To soothe you from your Riverstar's Home trauma, how about you ramble about oneripple?

YOU'RE SO KIND FOR LETTING ME GO OFF ABOUT THIS TY TY 💞💞💞 I'm terrible at structuring logical/coherent rambles, so I'll just dump some thoughts I have (obv these exclude Riverstar's Home and are roughly how I'd like to play with their dynamic [give them to me NOW erins!!])

LONG POST UNDER CUT!

Obviously this is way before the mountain cats arrive. BIG FAN of the idea that River Ripple and his small circle at the time were the ones to help One Eye and baby Star Flower get back on their feet after the two lost the rest of their family to the sickness we see again in TBS (I imagine One Eye had already treated them with the Blazing Star, but the two were still so terribly weak and unwell after that.) The group find the two living inside a rotting hollow and approach them. One Eye is, naturally, EXTREMELY aggressive and reclusive at first — distressed from sickness, grief, and fear of losing his tiny daughter, for he hasn't been strong enough to feed them much. The other cats are nervous around him, unwilling to approach the tom for his sheer size and ferocity, even if he is weakened. But not River Ripple. He understands why he is acting this way, that his aggression is a defense mechanism to mask his fear, and ultimately wishes to convey to One Eye that he is not going to do anything to them without his explicit permission first: and he sticks to that promise! Every day he sits outside the makeshift shelter with food, asking permission to come inside, leaving prey, water and herbs at the entrance if One Eye is asleep or simply says no. He never challenges it, and simply obliges and wishes him and Star Flower well. It is through this gradual process that One Eye begins to somewhat relax around River Ripple, allowing ONLY him to come inside, communicating his and Star Flower's needs and whatnot (Vulnerability moment!!)

Although she was too young to remember, once she began to recover, Star Flower was always excited when River Ripple visited, coming up to him, chasing his tail, and telling him all about her big adventures (all just made up ones, but River Ripple would always listen and ask her questions about them!) One Eye initially doesn't take well to Star Flower going up to the near-stranger, pulling her back or growling at River Ripple to back off. But over time, he sees that the risk is minimal, and the two never leave his sight while interacting. Besides, it stops Star Flower pestering him to entertain her for just a bit (also I just find this funny because adult Star Flower can barely recall this and River Ripple is just looking at her like omg you've gotten so tall now!!! I remember when you used to tell me how you beat up monsters and dogs 🤭💙!!)

SO LIKE skipping the recovery period, and now One Eye and Star Flower are more present outside … One Eye falls first. He initially is bothered by this, still grieving the loss of his mate and their other kits moons ago. But the feeling is nonetheless there. It's complicated, because at first he had every intention of claiming the area for himself and pushing River Ripple & his friends out… but as much as he tried to resent River Ripple's philosophy, there was just something so…. soothing yet powerful in the way he carried himself. He realises he actually enjoys his company, which is also weird for him! One Eye has lived among opportunistic cats his entire life, learning that being aggressive and domineering is the only way to make it, and that the passive and meek were destined to be crushed. But River Ripple is a curious example to him. He is gentle and patient, but completely capable of establishing boundaries and shutting down veins of discussion that belittle or threaten him. He would call out One Eye's bullshit every single time, but in a way that didn't escalate the situation. His heart was soft and his identity was strong in that. Kindness without weakness??? In MY Warrior Cats??? Impossible??? (Erins: yes it's impossible. 🗿)

Anyway, montage of One Eye giving terrible rizz and making a complete fool of himself 90% of the time — getting frustrated and defensive while everyone else is like🧍‍♂️. River Ripple is confused at first, but slowly begins to catch on. He finds it both amusing and sweet… and yeah! He realises he does feel the same way! He always found One Eyes protectiveness of Star Flower warming, found his intelligence to be engaging, and he genuinely believes there is good in the tom's heart (me shaking my head slowly.)

First date? Swimming lesson! One Eye is terrible! He's half drowned, scrabbling onto River Ripple every .2 seconds, and hates how pathetic it makes him look. But River Ripple is patient, assuring him that they can always try again some other time, and that it took him a while to get used to it too <:)

^ I feel like it's important to emphasize that One Eye genuinely feels like he can relax around River Ripple. That this cat doesn't have any ulterior motivation to trick him or take from him. Nor' does River Ripple ever belittle his failures or negative traits. They simply exist, are acknowledged, and pass like water.

But of course there is difficulty in how these two's ideologies clash. Everyone's beliefs are different, but theirs almost completely counter. River Ripple's philosophy is peaceful. To live and let live, and be custodians of the land. One Eye's on the other hand is to conquer. To take, to fight for what you need, and to claim the land. While there is room to accommodate each other, they are both two strong individuals with strong identities. Neither is going to abandon their philosophy, and when they clash so strongly, it can make it impossible for them to see eye to eye on issues. Long term, that would be hard. I believe that is why they'd go their separate ways. It doesn't work out. But that is okay. For that period of time, there was coexistence, there was connection, and there was love.

TL:DR. Very brief romance! A spark of passion that burns then fizzles out when One Eye leaves to be on his own (with Star Flower) once again. River Ripple, of course, says One Eye can return any time if he needs anything. Even for a short visit. He never does. For everywhere the tom goes, there is destruction and disruption, and River Ripple's home is like an oasis to be left untouched in One Eye's head.

Even as One Eye's reputation worsens, they still feel for each other. River Ripple especially. He knows what One Eye is capable of, what he has done, and how downright hideous he can be. But it's hard not to miss the memory of him. (Cue the mountain cats like PLEASE stop talking about this asshole in flowery prose he is trying to kill us!!)

BONUS: Not really relevant here, but their presence in the narratives respectively as the punisher/destroyer vs the voice of reason… ooogh, sun that burns, moon that soothes e.t.c but that deity kind of vibe would be more relevant once they're spirits in the Dark Forest & Starclan!

I could go on forever but that's the meat of it. Ty ty i hope everyone enjoyed and its not terribly incoherent ✌️

[sangrefae]

some cithrun thoughts ive had bc i like thinking about them

i honestly feel like cithis has been aware of her attraction to him for the longest time but has completely assumed it was a lost cause, so shes very caught off guard when he says he has feelings for her

in general i think they're kind of weird with it and don't really... categorize themselves as one singular thing. they're just living together but also they kiss and do romantic things and have sex but they're not like. In A Relationship. it's complicated

100% go out just to people watch and talk shit. mithrun may not be the same person he was before the demon but he still has that gossip-y streak and while he doesn't actively seek it out he Will eat up everything cithis tells him

cithis isn't really sure of his boundaries with affection so she lets him set the pace, which is how it ends up that every time they're alone and have downtime mithrun is glued to her side and always needs to be touching her in some way

otherwise he soaks up anything and everything she'll give him. cithis likes being pursued so he's gotten used to initiating but occasionally she'll kiss his cheek or grab his hand and hes like 😐🙂

pattadol is still closely involved with them just bc she's mithrun's primary caretaker, which has made it so that sometimes she's caught up in the middle of their petty disagreements or mithrun being a stubborn asshole and is put into the torment nexus

i say "primary caretaker" pretty loosely bc once he establishes a routine for himself post-canon mithrun is easily self-sufficient. cithis becomes a big part of this routine though and sometimes when she leaves for some solo trip or whatnot mithrun is even more stubborn than usual

ill probably add more in rbs but this is what i have for now

[simonalkenmayer]

this is so random but I dunno, you seem wise. If you don’t have any response or advice, then that’s quite alright, it’s not like this is your responsibility.

I’m in a dilemma where I am so attracted to this girl(I say girl not woman because we’re both teenagers) but I don’t know if I could have any kind of intimate relationship with her that wouldn’t be me using her. As in, even if she consented, I think she might just be too vulnerable and I’m not.

Because I believe that that wouldn’t be right, because I don’t think it would be ethical, I’ve decided I shouldn’t proposition her. But how should I move forward with these feelings? They’ve been hard to cope with. She’s so cute and I’m just someone that feels emotions intensely. How should I let go and just be friends with her?

Don’t worry, I’ll also consult a therapist about it soon.

Thank you.

Wisdom? Ha. I am not so stupid as to claim wisdom. Perspective? Age? Those I will claim.

Here is my reply.

Why do you have the right to decide what she is allowed to experience? That’s very self-centered, don’t you think? Doesn’t seem like you actually have a high opinion of her, if you think somehow you’re entitled to determine whether or not she is “being used”. Seems as if you think you’re smarter/more capable/more knowledgeable, and speak of her as if she’s fragile or weak, compared to your machinations or whatnot. No idea what sex you are, but that’s the kind of thing men tend to do to women that vexes them most.

My reply sounds harsh to you? Well, good, because hopefully it will show you how silly the above situation is.

It is perfectly fine to ask someone if they’d prefer to have only a physical relationship, with extra features to that, friendship and so forth, to be added as desired. There isn’t one type of relationship. There are many. And you can build one that suits you both. You could have a conversation about your mutual thoughts and make a decision together instead of deciding you ought to choose for her.

Don’t decide things for her, because that tells her you don’t respect her agency.

Or…could it be you’re making that choice so that you never have to face actually walking up to the girl and telling her how much you admire her. Terrifying, but one of the only experiences humans seem to feel with any intensity. Don’t deprive yourself of that emotional rollercoaster. I hear it’s one of humanity’s chief delights.

If she has a vulnerability you can see, then simply don’t exploit it, but instead make her aware of it and strengthen her. That, my friend is the active form of “love” such as humans feel it. By helping her tackle those things that make her vulnerable without exploiting them, you prove you are the sort who truly does have what it takes to be a safe place for her.

Do yourself a favor. Tell her you like her and end the debate. If she says no, you move on. Because now the question is moot. If she’s interested, well then you get the fun of establishing your boundaries and deciding what sort of relationship would be equitable. With her input, since she is a thinking feeling person and not an object.

Humans waste so much time agonizing rather than just solving. To hell with fear or nerves. Just do the thing and enjoy the next phase of existence.

I advise forthright honesty in all things. Yes it can make you vulnerable to others, but it’s also something that can provide you with incredible strength further down the road. being vulnerable with someone shows them you trust them and is the basis of a relationship.

Do the thing. Then agonize, if such is required.

[cosmiclove-heavenstruck]

Did I just... rewrite Life Is Strange: Double Exposure? Not completely, obviously, but after watching game plays and reviews on the game I was just so unhappy that I had to put my thoughts down and it escalated a bit. This is really long (over 5000 words), but I remember watching the trailer for the first time and having such different expectations and such a different story in mind that I felt so disappointed when seeing what the game was actually about. This is a rant-turned-sorta-rewrite... so enjoy!

Quick disclaimer, these are just my ideas and opinions – if you enjoyed the game as it is, that's great <3

Okay look. There's dozens of people on YouTube and whatnot who've already laid out why Life Is Strange: Double Exposure feels lacking. The decisions made have no lasting effect and most times two decisions have the same outcome, even the “major” ones. The police officer/detective Alderman, who could've made for an interesting villain or at least an antagonistic force, dies either way and is then brushed off and forgotten. I remember somebody mentioned that those major decisions are also phrased in a way that pushes the player towards one, for example one time the two options on screen aren’t “Accept” and “Decline” but vice versa.

The dialogue feels off, the relationships are shallow and not developed, and the promoted murder mystery surrounding Safi gets abandoned for a cheap marvel-we're-all-superheros storyline. What I'm also missing is the atmosphere and the world-building. A comparison to the original is inevitable, so lets remember how much we could explore of the world of Arcadia Bay: Blackwell Academy with all the classrooms and the two outdoor spaces, the dorms, the junkyard, the swimming pool, the diner, Chloe's house, Jefferson's bunker... we were able to actually get to know the world and its people which are at the final moment put at risk. In the new game, Max runs around the abandoned bowling hall, the snowy campus, the bar and her house... and that's it. It lacks so much in places that when she is caught in her timelines shifting alternative nightmare reality, they used a motel she once stayed in off-screen. Honestly, at first I thought it was from LIS2.

It never feels like Max is actually part of this world. I so wish the game would've started out with Max actually teaching a class instead of just mentioning on the sidelines Oh yeah, she's a teacher now. It would've been a reasonable nod to the start of the original game and to show how far Max has come, how her art style has developed, the differences (and maybe similarities) to Jefferson's teaching. Have a callback to her selfie moment because one of her students takes one. When Max is done with her class, she could explore (a part) of the college/classrooms and then pick up Safi from one of her classes; maybe we even briefly meet Moses. Just so it's established from the getgo that they are part of the staff and not students/set a clear boundary, because that line is SO unclear in the current game. Sometimes the students address Max as “Ms. Caulfield” other times just as “Max” like they are friends and that's just weird to me. (I never went to college or uni, but I doubt it's normal to just address your teacher or professor with their first name, right?)

So, Max picks up Safi and they drive to the outskirts of town to that abandoned bowling alley. That way, we can see some parts of the town Max chose to stay at (plus some nice music)! Also, let us start on a parking lot outside, not directly inside.

But wait, you might say, what about Chloe? What about the endings of LIS1? Well, this came to me surprisingly easy when I thought a bit about the concept for Double Exposure, which is: timelines. Max no longer jumps back in time or through photos, but she discovers she can switch back and forth between two realities. The “real world” splits when Safi gets shot. So, to answer the question: How cool would the new Life Is Strange game have been if the players can start out in two possible realities depending on their choice of the first game? One reality similar to the one in the current game (storm was prevented, Arcadia Bay survives, Chloe isn’t there – because let’s be honest, the new game never intended to serve as a follow-up to the reality where Chloe lives) and then an opposite one. Instead of the two timelines being created through Safi's death, her death is what causes something to open between the worlds.

I understand bringing Chloe back would be too difficult but then you could argue she drove ahead to where Arcadia Bay used to be to visit her mother's grave over Christmas or something like that, and Max’ plan was to come too as soon as the term ends. They’ve had over fifteen years after the storm, I’m sure they have grown to be able to handle being away from each other for some time. Having them break up off screen just feels like a gut punch to most fans who decided to save her. In another scenario, the sequel would've picked up right after the storm, but that makes it even harder to respect both endings.

So, fast forward fifteen years to Caledon University, Lakeport, Vermont.

The realities can't be too different even though they surely would be, but it’s two possible futures to explore through Max and how she discovers these differences. That would require newspaper articles, text messages, diary entries, similar to Max' Arcadia Bay stuff box in Double Exposure.

When does Max realise she can switch between realities? Obviously, Safi's death still only happens in one and when it happens, realities glitch and overlap from Max (she sees everything in double exposure).

Would Safi die in the reality where Chloe lives or died? Personally I think the first option makes the most sense, putting Max on the spot whether she's going to let another town be destroyed or not. Most happening from the start of Double Exposure up until the glitch should in my opinion be the same, with my additions: Max teaching a class and then exploring the college, meeting with Safi and driving to the abandoned bowling alley, going to the Snapping Turtle, watching the meteors with Moses on the roof. Slight differences would include text messages from Joyce vs. from Chloe, etc. Let’s make it clearer which reality is which going forward:

A (Arcadia Bay survives)

B (Chloe survives)

On the roof, Safi acts strange and keeps staring at her phone – then the phone call. Max is worried and decides to follow Safi. When Max takes the photo of the owl, the realities begin to glitch. Max sees herself, hears the gunshot but sees Safi alive – she goes unconscious, wakes up with a bleeding nose, and runs up to the viewpoint to check on Safi.

Quick sidenote on why i really like the owl. Reddit user NihilistStylist put it quite nicely:

I love that! I think the butterfly in LIS1 was a very obvious but nonetheless amazing choice, and so is the owl, though I think it would've been cool to have anything on campus or in the library so Max (and the player) can learn about totem animals and what an owl may symbolise. (Hey, that would've been a great base for a conversation with Amanda. You know, the girl you're constantly told to snog on the bar counter or else...) 

Now it's important in which reality you began the story. If you started out in reality A, you are now in reality B, and vice versa. The A-to-B!Max finds Safi alive. Safi is confused why Max is making such a fuss and she's angry that she followed her even though she told her not to. As they are fighting, Max receives a text – from her dead best friend Chloe. The B-to-A!Max finds Safi's dead body; she was shot in the back. Max is utterly confused/crying and calls an ambulance. As she puts down her phone, she sees a new text – from Joyce (or somebody else from Arcadia Bay, though I suppose Max would have the most connections with Joyce because of her childhood friendship with Chloe). This establishes the two different realities. I like how in Double Exposure, they differentiate the worlds by coloring. When Safi is alive, the colors are warm, almost golden, uplifting the Christmas spirit. When Safi is dead, the colors are bluish-gray and washed-out. (It reminds me of Greta Gerwig's Little Women and her lighting/coloring choices to differentiate “childhood” and “adulthood”). That needs to be kept.

However, what I can whole-heartely go without is the social media app Crosstalk. It's very annoying and it often doesn't make any sense. Max takes a photo (on her instant camera?), somehow posts that picture on social media (that's the real mystery here, guys) and immediately, everybody and their goddamn dog have responded to the post. Also all the pseudo-deep text posts that serve nothing to the story except for me to roll my eyes at characters I don't even know are so useless. Burn it, I say.

Okay, maybe not burn it. But cut 90% of the rubbish that is posted on there. I doubt most people who just want to play the game don’t even read the posts, they are just annoyed by that red dot telling you eight more people have posted some vague shit in the last hour. I can go on Twitter if I want that.

Who should post on Crosstalk? Whose posts are necessary and interesting to the story?

1. Yasmin, as the head of Caledon, or maybe some official account, especially when it comes to official news about Safi’s death and all.

2. Loretta/GetAClue!. Yes, I know some people find her and her podcast annoying, but I think it could be interesting to read the crazy theories and that’s surely where they’ll be. I’ll get to Loretta in a bit. (Fun Fact: I just googled her character and her last name is ‘Rice’ – did anyone know that?)

3. Abraxas. Hear me out, in the current game, they are about as interesting and mysterious as Vinh is modest, but I think with a bit of work they could become some sort of Pretty Little Liars/Gossip Girl account that exposes secrets.

Otherwise I can’t think of anyone else whose posts I’d care about so… back to the story. 

You noticed I kept those first story points roughly the same. They work, they set up the first big questions: What happened to Safi? And what is happening with Max/the realities? What I disliked maybe the most about Double Exposure (apart from Crosstalk) is that it felt like a setup for another sequel, and not just any sequel, no, a Life Is Strange a là X-(Wo)Men or Marvel Infinity War. I was so confused by the last two chapters (if you can even call them that as they were so empty and short) and what Safi's intentions were, and judging by the stats on the “final” decision I doubt many players understood either. I do not want a power revelation, I do not want a team up against the evil, I do not want after credit scenes revealing the powers of a character you barely get to know.  What I wanted was to solve a murder mystery. Why don't we team up for that? I say Max teams up with Moses and Amanda to solve Safi's murder and for that, she tells them about her powers.

It would've been fun to see Max explore her powers when they get interrogated by the police (which the game either didn't show us or just glossed over like that's not something that happens) plus she could find out more about Maya Okada at the police station — the autopsy found traces of a drug in her blood (we’ll see why later). I wanted to see more of Alderman! He was an antagonist, accusing/judging Moses for having something to do with Safi's death, trying to sabotage the investigations, and to kill him off only shortly after he's introduced was so pointless. It felt more like a show-off, and never led to anything. No one was ever in danger of touching their other version ever again!

Why would Alderman sabotage the investigations/put it off as a suicide? Maybe because Safi's mother Yasmin told him to/payed him to. Caledon University doesn't have the best reputation as it seems, and maybe another suicide would look less bad than an actual murder. I think Max (as well as Moses and Amanda) are certain Alderman is trying to hide something, and maybe after overhearing a phonecall with Yasmin at the police station, they decide to break into Yasmin's office.

For that, they need to distract Vinh. Max can tell him the truth (depending on how well earlier conversations went, Vinh is willing to play along and let them in or threatens to snitch on them), lie to him or threaten to spill a secret she found out in the other timeline (that he and Safi dated but she broke up with him and he is therefore more likely to be a suspect in the investigations, that his election to become the head of Abraxas was manipulated, something like that...). The three get access to Yasmin's office. Moses is so nervous he decides to stand guard in case Yasmin (or Vinh, based on the earlier made decision) comes back. Max and Amanda find transfers from Yasmin to Alderman as well as Mails, confirming their suspicion.

And while we're talking about Vinh: His weird thing to turn every conversation with Max sexual needs to go. They work at the same place, he had something with Max' best friend, there's never any indication as to why Vinh does this in the first place and no, later revealing he has daddy issues or some shit does not explain that. The only time his flirty personality sorta works is during the smash/pass game but that also feels out of place. And by the way: Whether or not you are playing the B-reality!Max, I don't need her to have a love interest. This is about finding out who murdered her friend, not whether Max wants to smash the bartender or the cult leader. Back to the story.

They also find: A mail history of Yasmin and Gwen, arguing about Safi's failed book deal. Up til that point, they believed it was Gwen who sabotaged the book deal, but it seems like Yasmin was the one who did not want it to be published. Maybe Safi let some things slide when they were on the roof watching the meteors, which led to Max snooping around Gwen's office. I think that should take place before Max teams up with anyone. She finds mails in which Gwen first praises Safi's book to the publishers, then later cancels the deal. So it seems like Gwen let it fail, but Max doesn't know why until Yasmin's office.

When Max' leaves Gwen's office, she gets ambushed by Loretta. I like Loretta! She is interesting and not one of those polished, perfect characters. she is difficult and nosy and this pretend-detective, sticking her nose in other people's business (a bit like Max, only that she's less secretive about it). Loretta confronts Max about snooping. Max can either give her a satisfying logical answer as to why she was in Gwen's office (school work? picking something up for Gwen?), make a compromise that she gives Loretta a short statement for her podcast and therefore Loretta doesn't tell Gwen, or tell Loretta to stay out of her business which will lead to Loretta (maybe anonymously) telling Gwen. In that case, Gwen loses trust in Max and Loretta grows suspicious. If Max is nice to Loretta, she will later help them with the clues she found out when researching for her podcast.

Back to Yasmin's office. Amanda and Max find a phone locked away and manage to unlock it. There isn't much on there, except for an anonymous chat hinting at a love affair. They use nicknames. Max checks the phone in both realities. In A, the affair seems to have hit rock-bottom, Yasmin hasn't responded to the other person's messages within days; on the day of Safi's death, the messenger asked Yasmin to meet them at “their spot”. In B, the affair is apparently still going on. But who is the other person? Amanda says it sounds like another professor. Max checks Yasmin's calendar and notices most days have a few hours blocked around the afternoon. She takes a picture. 

Outside, someone's coming back. If Max talked to Moses before entering the office/made him more confident, he manages to distract the person and take them to his office. If Max didn't talk to him, she and Amanda have to escape through the window. I think it’d be funny if someone from Abraxas saw them and posted about it on Crosstalk.

Since the anonymous chatter seems to be another teacher, Max needs to check when which professor has their consultation hours and when they are out of the office. Max checks the calendars at the teachers lounge. Gwen and Lucas both regularly have afternoon hours blocked for private reasons, but since Max knows about Gwen's wife, she decides to go after Lucas. She finds out the nickname used in the chat also appears in Lucas' highly praised novel — Yasmin and Lucas have (or had) an affair.

The difference between the two realities:

A (Safi is dead): The affair is over. Lucas wears his wedding ring, but is fighting with his wife or his son over the phone, maybe even tries to get back with Yasmin. Yasmin tries to cover it up, further sabotaging the investigations since that would ruin Caledon's reputation even more.

B (Safi is alive): The affair is still going on. Lucas also still wears a wedding ring when Max sees him. He seems to be on good terms with his wife and son while juggling the affair.

In the game, if you look at the cherry blossom tree on campus, you find out about Maya Okada. It's established she was a writer, Safi's friend, and killed herself some time prior to the start of the game. But why? I like the idea that Lucas was her professor and stole her work, pretending to have written it himself. It’s just that Lucas being an asshole isn’t really enough of a reason to me to steal an entire manuscript and ruin his student’s life.

I think Maya found out about the affair, but before she could tell Safi, Lucas threatened her to stay quiet and stole her book. It broke Maya and then we all know what happens. Why is it so bad that Maya found out about the affair? Well, on one side, she is best friends with Safi and would’ve told her, and on the other side, I think she was part of Abraxas and therefore could’ve spilled the secret on Crosstalk.

In my mind, Safi and Maya were both part of Abraxas. Only that Safi was kicked out after her relationship/fling with Vinh. Maybe she broke his heart, maybe she was trouble, maybe they were afraid her mother would put a stop to it.

Safi doesn't accept that Maya just killed herself for seemingly no reason (they were best friends, she would've known if something was up) and when Lucas' book gets published, she immediately recognizes it as Maya's work. She confronts Lucas, she tells her mother, she even begs Vinh to post about it, but she has no real evidence. The only copy left of Maya's work is with Lucas'. Safi's only escape is writing; her work is very autobiographical though poetic, and Yasmin can tell what it's about. Gwen has had assumptions, too. Max finds Maya's old texts in Lucas' office, confirming that he did steal it word for word. She also finds a gun locked away in a safe alongside the documents.

I’ve been mentioning Abraxas here and there so maybe let’s talk about them now. In Double Exposure, they are blowing smoke. Max comparing them to the Vortex Club is laughable. So how about this: Max gets ahold of Reggie’s mysterious box and has to solve the riddles to get inside. It should be more difficult than just turning the box and pressing some buttons, which would be a great opportunity to explore the campus more. Now, what’s inside? A note with a place and a time for a secret Abraxas meeting for new members. Max tried to talk to Vinh about Maya but he rebuffed her, so she decides to go to the secret meeting to try her luck there.

Abraxas should be some sort of cult/secret society and really pretentious. I’m talking rituals, cloaks, matching tattoos, drug use. Maya was deep in that cult and when she was so upset and confused about Lucas’ stealing her book and all, she went to Vinh/Abraxas for help. During a ceremony/ritual, she overdosed and died. Vinh blames himself for Maya’s death and never told Safi. Caledon only ever officially stated that Maya killed herself.

At that point, Max, Amanda and Moses decide that Max needs to talk to the Safi who's still alive. Both Safis had a similar state of knowledge about what went on with Lucas and Maya. Max can decide whether she wants to let Safi know about the affair between her mother and Lucas AND whether she wants to tell Safi about what Vinh had to do with Maya’s death. This affects Safi's trust in Max but also her rage/longing for revenge. Still, they do not know who shot Safi. Safi points out that nobody's tried to kill her in this reality yet, so there must've been something her other version found out that made her the target. She says if she found out anything, she surely wrote it down or kept the evidence in her house (or apartment? We never even find out where she lives, Jesus.).

Max switches back and they search Safi's place. Turns out the Safi from reality A found out about the affair and, upon receiving backlash from her mother, wrote a mail to Lucas' wife with her evidence. But she didn't use her own name. She used her mothers, pretending it's Yasmin who wrote to the wife.

Max, Moses and Amanda gather all their evidence and review them at Max’ house. Loretta comes over because she saw the missing cat in Max’ living room and she’s investigating that case. She sees what they are doing and wants to help. They suspect her of only having her true crime podcast in mind, but Loretta says that the students deserve to know what happened and she has been secretly investigating Maya Okada’s case. She found out from whom Abraxas is buying their drugs and how they can reveal so many secrets.

Max confronts Yasmin, who didn't know until now who leaked the affair. She admits she told Vinh to help cover any rumors about it and to find out who might've gotten wind of the affair. Max digs deeper, wanting to figure out what Yasmin knows about Safi's death, but she says she doesn't know who did it. Max asks about the affair and the “spot” mentioned in the texts. Yasmin says she hasn't even looked at the phone since before Safi's death and breaks down. The last point of call is Lucas. Max, Moses, Loretta and Amanda decide they should lure him to the viewpoint (the alleged “spot”) via a message over Yasmin's secret phone.

Outside, a storm is raging. It’s snowing heavily. Max recognised it immediately, knowing she has once again gone to far with her powers. She wants to abort the mission (Moses and Yasmin are in favor of this), but Loretta and Amanda say they just need to find Lucas. Surprisingly, he comes to the viewpoint despite the weather.

At first, he’s defensive, then Lucas confesses he was the one to fire the shot, but he thought it was Yasmin. Because of the snow and the dark, he mistook the daughter for the mother. He wanted revenge on Yasmin for destroying his family (that’s his way of viewing it, saint Lucas of course never did anything wrong… ha ha) and thought if she was dead, Safi would stop trying to get the truth about his novel out. Max says they will call the police on him, but Lucas says they have no evidence and pulls out his gun. Loretta comes in and says that they actually got evidence of everything as well as his confession and reveals a recorder for her podcast.

Lucas points his gun at Loretta. Max rips up her hand to stop him and freezes time just like she did in LIS1 when Kate tried to jump off the roof. She manages to take the gun from Lucas’ hand, then the freezing stops. Loretta sacks the evidence, but Lucas is fighting Max, pushing her over the edge of the viewpoint. She can hear the others calling her name, but also the voices of other people like Chloe, Joyce, Jefferson, Victoria, etc.

Then she gets sucked right into the storm.

Okay, wait. Let’s pause for a second.

One big problem my version has that is also present in Double Exposure: What about the other Max? I think in Double Exposure, there isn’t even another Max. The doppelgänger turns out to be Safi, but I’ve cut out her superpowers because I don’t think they elevate the story in any way. I think Max creates these two universes because of her grief and so she is the one variable standing between the realities that later merge into one.

But in my version, there have to be two versions of Max. One from reality A and one from reality B. And which one you play with depends on what ending you chose in LIS1. Let’s try to make sense out of that:

In the beginning, I said: The A-to-B!Max finds Safi alive while the B-to-A!Max finds Safi's dead body. Both saw Safi die in the glitch before they were thrust into the other universe. The gunshot was heard in both realities, which is why the police is called in both realities. I think I mostly wrote from the perspective of the B-to-A!Max, because she witnesses the murder hand-first and is therefore in the midst of the investigations. She has to solve the murder. Meanwhile A-to-B!Max has to confide what she saw to someone, possibly Moses, first. She has to solve a murder that did not happen in this world, but did happen in the other. Both have to solve why they changed places. Both want to get back to their own world… right?

What needs to be established is that Max can run into her other self and that other characters will be confused, saying things like “Weren’t you just at the Snapping Turtle?” or “Didn’t you say you wanted to go home?”. That will lead to more mess/weird conversation. It would be so cool to have a task in the game where you have to hide from the other self in order to get somewhere, similar like Max and Chloe sneaking around the swimming pool to not run into David.

So, what happens in reality B? Yasmin and Lucas are still having an affair, so they cannot convince Yasmin to text Lucas to meet her at the viewpoint for a confrontation. Either way, Lucas is busy that night: He wants to make an announcement about the screen adaptation of “his” novel at the Snapping Turtle (similar to what happens in Double Exposure). Amanda, Moses, Loretta and Max want to expose him.

Now it matters what the other Max told Safi. If the other Max told Safi everything, Safi will not only expose that Lucas stole Maya’s manuscript, but also the affair and Maya’s overdose caused by Vinh and Abraxas. If the other Max didn’t tell her about the affair or Abraxas fault, Safi of course won’t mention it. Lucas and Safi have a back and forth conversation until Safi says that it was Max who told her everything. Lucas storms off stage, grabs Max’ arm and asks her to go outside with him to talk while he secretly shows her he has a gun. She has no choice but to follow him outside onto the terrace. Here, a storm rages as well. Lucas confronts her, wants to know how much she knows and pushes her up to the railing.

The others follow them outside. A close up shot on Max’ face, trying to get Lucas to put down his gun, until Safi interrupts her and points at the storm. It’s really close. In that careless moment, Loretta tries to get ahold of the gun. The gun fires. Lucas pushes Max over the railing. She, just like her other self, gets sucked into the storm.

We need a realities-glitching-nightmare sequence in the game and now it’s time for that. I don’t like that in Double Exposure, it takes place in a motel we have never seen before. Yes, Max has lived a life in those over fifteen years since the first game, but this has no meaning to the player. What I did like about that motel scene is how more and more stuff turned into paintings. It’s a nice illusion and when Max tries to find her way out of the following locations, those optical illusions should definitely stay: Max’ classroom, the bowling alley, the Snapping Turtle, the Abraxas’ location and finally (and here, I’m allowing myself to stray from what I just said) a mirror labyrinth. Max sees dozens of versions of herself in those mirrors until one doesn’t follow her movements. Say hi to your other self, Max! They talk for a bit until the other Max touches the mirror, saying they can make everything go back to normal.

I don’t know if this is big enough for a final decision, but it’s what I’ve come up with. Max can either switch back or stay. It’s a second chance so to say. She got a glimpse of the future she could have had if she decided differently back then in Arcadia Bay. Does she still stand with that? Does she miss [Chloe | Arcadia Bay] so much that she is willing to stay in the reality she previously gave up? Does she miss Safi so much she wants to stay in the reality she’s alive or can she leave her?

[ STAY ] or [ GO ]

[ STAY ] The Max you play doesn’t touch the mirror. She turns back. The Max on the other side is very upset (“NO! COME BACK!”) and hammers against the mirror, but it’s too late. The “portal” is locked, they cannot switch back and forth between realities anymore.

A-to-B!Max is now in the world where Chloe and Safi are alive, but Arcadia Bay got destroyed.

B-to-A!Max is now in the world where Chloe and Safi are both dead, but Arcadia Bay is alive.

[ GO ] The Max you play touches the mirror and through that contact, they get thrown back into their respective worlds. The “portal” is locked, they cannot switch back and forth between realities anymore.

Each Max is back in the world she belongs in. What happened while Max was inside the storm? What are the differences between the final confrontation?

First of all, the storm is gone. Everyone in the area has a headache and some memories are mixed up, just like in Double Exposure. No one remembers that Max switched between timelines and she does not tell anyone.

Universe A (Safi is dead): The confrontation happens at the viewpoint. Amanda and Loretta are holding Lucas to the ground; Moses is calling the police. Loretta has Lucas’ confession on her tape, has the murder weapon, and they all saw that he tried to kill Max as well.

Lucas gets arrested. They all have to testify. Yasmin dissolves Abraxas before having to resign from her post. Max can decide whether or not she wants to give the police the evidence on Vinh and Abraxas. If she does, the police decides the evidence not valid enough, but Vinh gets suspended*. Loretta makes a long podcast episode and writes an article on the steal, earning an award. Alderman gets suspended for obstruction of investigations and corruption.

*The case will not be reopened. Owning the drug is not a direct indication that Vinh/Abraxas were the ones who gave Maya the drug. But the use of drugs on campus is still illegal, so he doesn’t get to keep his job.

Max celebrates an early Christmas with Moses, Amanda and Loretta at the Snapping Turtle before driving to Arcadia Bay.

Universe B (Safi is alive): The confrontation happens at the Snapping Turtle. If Max managed to talk Lucas into lowering the gun before Loretta grabbed it, the fired shot was aimed at Loretta. She dies. (Sorry! But somebody has to die!) If Lucas refused to lower the gun, his shot was aimed at Max but because of the storm, the bullet misses. Amanda and Safi are holding Lucas to the ground; Moses is calling the police. Lucas never confessed but they have enough evidence.

Only if Loretta was shot, Lucas gets arrested. In both cases, his awards get taken away, the book won’t be renewed and Maya’s manuscript gets published. Also his wife divorces him. If Loretta lives, she makes a long podcast episode and writes an article on the steal, earning an award. Max can decide whether or not she wants to give the police the evidence on Vinh and Abraxas. If she does, the police decides the evidence not valid enough, but Vinh gets suspended. (Reasoning explained above)

Max celebrates an early Christmas with Safi, Moses, Amanda and Loretta at the Snapping Turtle before leaving to meet up with Chloe.

I don’t know if this story is enough to split it into five chapters, scrolling back I think it might be four:

Chapter One: Introduction to Max’ new life, ending with Safi’s mysterious death / cliffhanger: Max noticing she must’ve switched realities Chapter Two: Investigations at the police station and at various offices / cliffhanger: Yasmin and Lucas have or had an affair Chapter Three: Maya Okada and Abraxas / cliffhanger: Abraxas killed Maya Chapter Four: Confrontation, Nightmare and End

Splitting them further would make them feel shorter and more empty.

Let me know what you think!

[neuship-zone]

Fictional characters do not have their own thoughts or feelings.

The thoughts and feelings that they appear to have are merely the thoughts and feelings of other people (including the people who wrote the character)

Please read whole post before commenting/reblogging

The concept of mischaracterisation comes from the writer(s) making a character with certain thoughts and traits in mind, only for other people to dismiss or change some of those traits. Almost every character in the world will be mischaracterised, because we are not the authors. We won't always see exactly what the authors are seeing in their characters. Additionally, not all mischaracterisation is bad. Sometimes, a fan's perception of a character is more interesting than the author's, and that deserves to be explored.

However, when mischaracterisation is done with the intention of reducing complex characters into one singular trait, or sexualising them, people who like the characters for their story will be (rightfully) disappointed. Does that mean you should stop? Well, depends. Are you intending to hurt a real person? If the answer is no, then keep going. But at the very least, it would be nice if you could acknowledge at some point that you're mischaracterising. Also, lying that a mischaracterised character is actually the author's intention is not cool and doesn't achieve anything.

But to the people who complain about objectification and whatnot, please read the first sentence of this post again. Fictional characters do not have their own thoughts. Therefore, the concept of fictional characters consenting or not consenting doesn't really exist, because you could easily just say "actually they consented because I said so" and you would be right. Because it's ultimately you who gets the final say in what happens to the fictional character.

"But authors can put boundaries!"

That's then the author consenting/not consenting, not the fictional character. And personally I have mixed feelings on authors telling you what and what not to do with their own characters. On one hand, it's good to establish boundaries, but on the other hand it's extremely hard to enforce them in situations like this. And if the boundaries are stuff that other people don't agree with (eg saying that people shouldn't ship your two male characters together because you find it uncomfy), it could backfire HARD.

I delve into this a bit more in this post here

------------------------------------------------------

"What about fictionkin/fictionfolk?"

That's actually a brilliant argument that I'm surprised I didn't think to mention since I'm literally fictionkin myself, but I do have an answer.

Simply put, the point I'm trying to make is that fictional characters are basically a concept. A concept on its own cannot think for itself. However, conceptkin can think for themselves. This is partially because (whether they like it or not) they are bodily real people, but also because they have a consciousness that a typical concept would otherwise lack. For example, time cannot think for itself. However, someone who is timekin can. These two facts can co-exist because fiction and reality are a Venn diagram which overlap, not two separate entities.

The same goes for fictionfolk. The fact that they are fictional characters does not negate the statement I've made at the top.

Feel free to disagree but be nice!

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

As much as I'm enjoying the philosophical discussion of the nature of the force and what it means to be a jedi and whatnot, Sabine and Ahsoka are both well established characters with long histories and this story is probably not just context-free boundary-breaking ideology.

Sabine hasn't told us why she wants to walk the path of a jedi, but the fact that she grew up with Kanan and Ezra, was taught by them, was entrusted with Ezra's saber, and lost them both probably does have a lot to do with it. I doubt her desire to be a jedi will be truly separate from her relationships with them (or Ahsoka, even). There's probably more to it than that, but it's gotta be a factor. And we're supposed to be looking for him. Presumably, things will happen.

And Ahsoka- she has talked about her reasoning a little, but I suspect the ideological motive is just the easiest part to talk about, and even there you can infer how Anakin still haunts her decisions. 'A millennia of tradition failed' makes the most sense if you're thinking of how Anakin, with all his talent, betrayed them and did... all of that. Anakin looms large in her life and always has, and we already know he'll be dug up later in the show, so. There are multiple ways to imagine how he shadows her choices if indeed he does.

So. As far as I'm concerned, they are not just a non-traditional jedi with a non-traditional padawan. They are this non-traditional jedi and this non-traditional padawan in particular and that makes them even more interesting.

[i-am-the-quintessential-queer]

I was always a little confused by what exactly aligns as a queerplatonic relationship, but recently I started talking to my friend and I think what we’ve talked about is one?

Like we’ve talked about how well we mesh as just, people and how ultimately we have very similar life goals, but we don’t necessarily have a romantic connection

But we’ve talked about maybe when we’re more stable in our lives (financially and whatnot), getting together and having kids together to raise as a pair, but like, as partners not as a relationship

They understand my wants and boundaries so well, and we’ve established if this happened we would still be comfortable for each other to still have romantic or physical relationships with others

Idk, this is a long rambling and I’m not sure I actually had a point to it, but I think talking about this more I started to truly understand what queerplatonic was

That is all, have a nice day

[caspersscareschool]

would u recommend working w kids? they are so so sillay. also leo being second oldest is very real to me and i love that your vibes for her are summer camp counselor

HI!! that's a complicated question because it really depends on who you are and what your needs are. kids are adorable and hilarious and i find their company extremely fulfilling, but they're also LOUD and EXHAUSTING, and you need to have a certain tolerance for screaming, grabbing, bluntness, and (if you work with toddlers like me) the occasional poopy situation. if you have sensory issues like me, I'd strongly recommend establishing a set time and place to recharge every day, (or even bringing headphones if you're able to) and setting clear boundaries, like "my body needs space right now," "i don't like being touched there, thank you," etc. (which also teaches them consent/setting their own boundaries as a bonus). if you've never really worked with kids before, you might look for opportunities to substitute, or even volunteer at libraries and whatnot to get a sense of how it feels for you. i feel like everyone remembers a teacher from their childhood who just hated their job and made it everyone's problem, so don't be that person. i guess what I'm trying to say is that it's important to put your wellbeing first, or you'll be miserable, and that will rub off on the kids.

personally, i love how kids are naturally curious and blunt. they will just say whatever. and it IS extremely exciting and fulfilling to watch them learn and grow in real time, because they absorb information SO FAST. it's important to be observant and patient and non-judgmental and kind, because they WILL emulate your behavior. every single day I'm delighted and surprised by one of them saying something sweet out of nowhere, supporting or comforting a friend, resolving a conflict on their own, pronouncing a word like CRUSTACEAN that's way beyond their usual reading level, or randomly asking to hold my hand or sit on my lap when they've never done that before....

HOWEVER. do not tell my employers i said this, but I'd eventually like to work with slightly older kids, like 6-8 year olds, because i feel like that's the age range where they've kind of had a chance to develop personalities and hobbies and interests (beyond favorite colors and animals and whathaveyou), and they're starting to learn how to make jokes and insult people but they just go about it in the funniest way possible. and their imaginary games have extended plotlines, and theyll sometimes just decide to write an entire comic book or movie script in an afternoon. and you can actually hold a conversation with them, wheras toddlers will often just lose interest and walk away if they don't immediately grasp something. you also have to be very direct with toddlers, which is something I'm still getting used to just because i really dislike talking down to people of any age or size. like do NOT get me wrong, i LOVE my 3-5 year olds, but i do miss babysitting 8 year olds from time to time. and age is something to consider, again, especially if you're squeamish about bathroom stuff. *shudders and stares off into the distance*

anyways that was probably a way longer answer than you wanted and just a bunch of nonsense words. tl;dr the answer is Yeah. If you want. ❤️

[spicedwatermel0n]

hey man i dont know how else to tell you this but i wouldn't recommend having a DNI in your bio

i say that because the internet is filled with dummies/jerks/etc that will either gladly gloss over said dni or proceed to interact anyways, especially since you've pretty much put up a vulnerable window for yourself. people are dicks. :(

by all means, please establish your boundaries and whatnot! but online, its best to keep your anonymity, using the block (and/or report) button, not offering any explanation cuz of the pure fact that it's the internet, etc.

just be careful man.

I put my DNI up so people know they'll be blocked upon interaction. I don't care if they try. It's for others to know where I stand.

[joyokosuka]

complaining about terfs and then "pro-kink" is sure. a take

yeah people can have nuanced opinions and whatnot but. sigh

just a head's up, though i'm not going to talk about kink much here, i'm all for consenting, non-related adults doing whatever kind of things they wish to do as long as consent is pre-established and boundaries are not pushed during the act

[ultrvmonogamy]

Let’s say hypothetically you were married, but there is an intern working at your division and you two would become friends. She finds a job at your place of work, but you don’t work directly together anymore. Some romantic feelings would develop between the two of you. Would you cheat on your wife or would you try and stay friends to not ruin the friendship and see what may happen down the line? Like in case you and your wife ever divorce or things become more serious between you and your friend as she gets older?

first of all as a man, whether or not married, one of the last things i'd wanna do is cultivate non-professional dynamics w a woman who's subordinate to me in the workplace. sometimes it's essentially unavoidable to share a laugh over smth, but to me feeling a potential for strong rapport is all the more reason to be mindful of keeping my distance.

i'm kind of imagining a corporate environment just due to the fact that there are interns, and in an environment of corporate politics and power moves and HR antics, i'm trying to steer as clear as possible of any situation that can potentially ruin me on the basis of simply looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time. it surely depends somewhat on the workplace culture and whatnot, but things can get very ugly very fast.

now more to ur point, i think: loyalty is paramount to me in a committed relationship. it's smth i want and need for myself, and it's one of the most meaningful things that i can provide to a partner. it's a core aspect of partnership as far as i'm concerned. we're a team. we stand together, and we protect each other's heart. there has to be a fundamental inviolable agreement on that, and it needs to be rooted in mutually valuing that kind of relationship and being as motivated to provide it for one another as to receive it from each other. if that's not there, i'm not going to be marrying that person.

from my perspective a committed relationship is unlikely to endure without vigilance. even with that common appreciation for and drive to provide loyalty to one another, relationships are challenging. there are undoubtedly going to be times when one or both partners are gonna be more emotionally vulnerable than others, and those times will likely at some point coincide w partners already experiencing friction or feeling out of sync or similar. if ur not proactively avoiding the creation of precarious situations and ur out their cultivating friendships that are just this side of romantic in nature, ur setting urself up to be one misstep away from setting smth catastrophic in motion.

furthermore, ur opening urself up to doubt and/or second-guessing that can start out innocent and benign but plant seeds that insidiously erode the bond between u and ur partner. i believe that for a relationship to endure requires more or less the exact opposite. the bond needs to be nurtured internally while armored against external interference. you have to establish and protect ur boundaries. if it isn't already clear i'm sure as hell not gonna be cheating on my partner w this intern, but beyond that i'm not going to allow a situation where this intern dares to think that she can take me from my girl.

i say shut that shit down and if someone wants to try to test that boundary, well then at that point they're disrespecting my girl and are willfully pursuing a course of action that threaten's my partner's wellbeing. if i'm not gonna go warrior mode when faced w that, what the fuck am i even trying to do? in my eyes if i'm not going to look out for my partner in a situation like that, then i have no business taking up her space for a man. it'd be like condemning the person i allegedly love to being stuck w the kind of partner she definitely does not want.

wrt keeping someone in tow for a possible future connection or wtv, fuck all that noise. i mean, obviously all of this depends on what kind of "marriage" ur both trying to have in the first place, but any form of committed relationship i'd want fully precludes being half in and half out. and for me personally the whole idea of keeping someone around as a contingency plan like that is just fucking disgusting.

you asked hypothetically abt me, and where i'm coming from is that i legitimately internally intrinsically almost desperately want to be so fucking good to and good for my girl. i want to be for her the one person that she can be sure no matter what she has to face in life, i will do everything in my power to face it with her. in light of all that, the last thing she should have to worry abt is some fucking intern. and again, rly, fuck anyone who'd dare to think they could take my girl's man from her.

thanks for the ask, and idk what might've inspired u to have this question in the first place or to send it my way, but whatever u've got going on over there, i hope u'll find a positive path forward.

[shingetsu-online]

Hi, so I know that you run that one crispin blog, and I kinda want to know how to make an blog for rp like that? also how to like. integrate into whatever's going on over there

yep, that's me! the crispin guy. and making a rotomblr blog is pretty simple! to actually set it up, you need to make a sideblog. i use laptop, so it might be different for you but it's p much the same procedure. there's a sidebar with a bunch of different options. click on the one that says account, which looks like this.

it has a drop-down menu, displaying likes, following, the log out option, and your blogs. the blogs one is the important one. it looks like this.

click the "+ New" option, which takes you to where you MAKE the side blog. there's a menu that's displayed, which shows you the options to pick the display name [aka the blog title. like mine that says "Mr. He/They Transgender Gay.] and the blog url [the actual username, like shingetsu-online]. the "set password" option is only if you want the blog to be visible to someone WITH the password. like a private account essentially. you can skip the password if you want the blog to be visible to everyone. there's a captcha afterwards, one of the "click all the images with stairs" ones.

and that's how you make a sideblog! the icon, blog colours, banner, and bio can be set from the blog settings of the sideblog.

establishing your character and whatnot is DEFINITELY the easier part. making an intro post's a good way to start: introduce your character [usually in-character], what they do, and what region they're in. adding things like pokemon teams and interests are all optional, but they're fun to add! also: add an out of character part [usually under a "read more".], which will help you introduce yourself as the mod, set up boundaries for specific things, add spoiler/trigger warnings, clarify if magic anons are on, and other things about your character that you'd like to add. hope this helps!!

[imaginariancathouse]

𝐃𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐄𝐑.

Arcana / Angel / ᐋᓐᔐᓃ • 24 • Mixed Native / Indigenous & Ashkenazi Jewish • Transmascfem Two Spirit • Genderfluid • Trans/Nonbinary • Intersex • Bi/Omni Vincian/Lesbian/Enbian • Romance & Sex Ambivalent Aspec • Ambiamorous • Disabled & Neurodivergent • Chimera Multigenic HC-DID System

POINTS OF INTEREST:

THRONE WISHLIST | KO-FI

𝐁𝐘𝐅 . . .

• Main blog is l*d*i*********m. • This space is closely monitored by protectors of our system. • I will usually be the one posting on this blog, but other adult members of the system may post here too; our littles & middles are forbidden to post here. • Commissions for NSFW ASMR & erotic literature pieces are available. Don’t ask for pics, I don’t share NSFW content for free unless we’re partners. • Absolutely no discourse, bigotry nor fakeclaiming of any kind is tolerated here, nor are any debates. This is my personal space. Do not waste my time. • Top Leaning Switch. I’m mostly in a dom mood & I only sub for people I trust, which in my case for numerous reasons usually takes quite a long time to establish. When in domspace, my titles are Mistren or Goddexx. When I am subspace, I go by Princex. I'm interested romantically & sexually in any & all genders although I have a slight preference for women & nonbinary folx. While it’s not necessarily always going to be my cup of coffee nor my main focus, if all parties are consenting, I’m open to entertaining couples as long as all boundaries and consent are discussed between all parties involved beforehand. I will never do physical meetups unless I've known you for literal years & a strong bond is already pre-established beforehand, otherwise, don’t even ask, because it’s not happening. I’m an experimentalist & am kink/BDSM friendly. Open to asks & occasional DMs, may not always answer, keep this in mind, fantasies & whatnot are fine but I’m not gonna sext, don’t automatically DM me if you’re gonna ask me to dom/sub for you. Unsolicited pics, pressuring me to sext, ignoring my hard limits, & any general disrespect are an instant block, & furthermore, don’t expect me to sext you in general. Consent & mutual respect is everything. I don’t like being hit on out the gate, I may be ambiamorous but I’m also on the aromantic & asexual spectrums and I am traumatized, please respect this.

• Keep in mind that we're& a H.C-DID system & we& may talk about our& experiences as a system & how that effects us& sexually, others of us& may also post here.

• I'm here to reclaim sexual experiences for myself and indulge myself in a controlled way that will help me heal; I also take this seriously as an act of devotion to one of my goddesses Aphrodite so when I get paid, I am honoring Lady Aphrodite and honoring myself; being a sw brings me closer to Lady Aphrodite as a sacred, holy act.

• I'd love to get into more practice with voicework (I do both SFW & NSFW ASMR/voicework) as practice, so please do send in ideas/requests in asks.

• The following lists are my no means exhaustive & they may be edited as I get to know myself and grow as a person more. • Anon asks are free. If you message me here & we aren't mutuals, I won't respond unless you pay me or you get me a gift on my wishlist. My time is precious & I'm not wasting it on random strangers. I’m open to either financial payments or gifts from my wishlist as compensation; it’s a part of self care & it helps a multiply disabled person get by & I love to be spoiled. If you're going to pay us cash or give us a gift, leave it blank, unless it's to wish me a happy birthday or something like that. Kinks: praise, oral, edging/teasing, primal, dirty talk, “heats”, collars, gentle to moderate femdom, femled relationships, findom, god/goddess/goddex worship, jerkoff instruction/JOI, pegging, dick/pussy worship, outercourse, sumata, frictation/tribadism, scissoring, cockwarming/pussywarming, lapdancing/airdancing/frictiondancing, handjob/fingering, loving ownership, light bondage, light spanking, orgasm control/denial ( on the sub ), light forced masturbation, public play, & certain types of roleplay like experimentation kink & fantasy kink. Soft Limits: blood, light choking / breathplay, kidnapping, bratting, loving degradation. Hard Limits: bad manners, poor hygiene, bullies, thieves, arrogance, gossip, haters/jealousy, cheaters, backstabbers, liars, noshows, ageplay, DDLG, incest, rape, pedophilia, petplay, homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, detrans/misgendering kink, abdl, bestiality/zeta/zoo, snuff/gore, hard breathplay, dehumanization, feederism, guns, fat fetishism, s/h fetishism, ed fetishism, heavy burns / branding, misogyny/patriarchy, orientation play, any unsanitary kink, raceplay, slavery, breeding / pregnancy / birthing, abandonment, sub/sub competition, any degradation / humiliation, & my genderfluidity & intersexuality not being respected, on some days I’m a man, others I’m a woman, other times I’m both & sometimes I’m neither or anywhere outside of the Western binary, although I usually present androgynously, I’m fine with all pronouns as long as you don’t strictly refer to me as she/her. I, personally, hate being degraded, it reminds me too much of my trauma & I’d rather not deal with it. I don’t want to be called stupid or dumb or treated like I’m worthless, been there.

𝐃𝐍𝐈 𝐈𝐅 . . .

Minors, ageless blogs, blank blogs, creeps, cishetallo men & women, homophobes, transphobes, queerphobes, intersexists, anti-kink, anti-BDSM, if you don't pay sex workers, if you're the type of person to be morally outraged at what other consenting adults do on their own time, antisemites, anyone who's a discriminatory cunt & TERFs/SWERFs, as well as sex repulsed individuals, system littles, system middles, & age regressors tread at your own risk & keep yourselves safe; this is not a safe place for you.