#her >>>>>>> every other character in the history of characters. btw. if you even care

[woozapooza]

😍🫶🥰👏👸🏻🌟💖 Dr. Melfi 💖🌟👸🏻👏🥰🫶😍 in season 2

[cod-dump]

HI HELLO UH

I've never really done asks before but this question is burning a hole through my skull

is there any way you could provide a list of the characters from COD that are present in your teen!au and their roles? I have many ideas and silly situations in my head that need context >:)

(love your stuff btw, very cute)

From my notes to you! Hopefully this satisfies!

The characters and their roles and backstories

———

Ghost:

Simon R. Price is the adopted son of Price and brother of Kyle. He is sixteen. Simon was taken away from his bio family at the age of eight after his bio father god into some shady business and those people came after his kids and wife. He was a flight risk for every caregiver he was given to, so Laswell had to step up her game and find someone more capable. Price turned out to be the perfect one for the job, the man ending up adopting Simon when he turned thirteen. Price helped Simon get in contact with his brother and mother and helps to make sure they stay in his life. He can’t go back with his mom, it’s too dangerous, and Tommy had found his own family. Simon is able to spend time with his mother and brother on some holidays and every other birthday.

—

Gaz:

Kyle G. Price is the adopted son of Price and brother of Simon. He is fifteen. Kyle was abandoned when he was nine. It was rough for him, leaving him abandonment and trust issues which ultimately made it hard for him to find a new family. Laswell sent him to stay with Price and Kyle ended up never leaving. He was adopted by Price when he was twelve. Though he butts heads with Simon a lot, it’s out of playfulness. Kyle loves his father and brother very much. He started dating Laswell’s son, Alex, and has been pretty secretive about it. He’s worried about how dating his dad’s boss’ son might affect him, so they keep quiet about their relationship.

—

Price:

John Price is the adoptive father of Simon and Kyle. He is thirty-seven. Price is ex-military and currently working for CIA’s own Kate Laswell as a ‘free agent’ as Laswell calls him. An issue arose involving an ongoing threat that required Price to care for Simon. he ended up loving him so much that he adopted him. It did complicate Laswell’s work but she didn’t try to stop him. Price had devoted his life to caring for and loving Simon, and when Laswell sent him Kyle to look after he did the same for him. He ended up getting in a strange romantic relationship with one of Laswell’s contacts. This is something both he and Nik keep from Laswell.

—

Nik:

Nik is the unofficial second father of Simon and Kyle. He is forty-seven. He was stationed to look after Simon while he was being cared for, chasing off anyone that would try to do him harm or take him. He was the one who took Simon to Price. Even after Simon was confirmed safe in Price’s care, Nik never left out of worry for the boy. He ended up getting romantically entangled with Price, both refusing to put a label on their relationship, once they did it becomes all too real and Laswell would not approve. Nik has helped raise Simon and Kyle. He loves them like they’re his own. He often leaves to do work for Laswell, being gone for days at a time. This does not bother him because everything he’s doing is making the world safer for those he loves.

—

Laswell:

Kate Laswell is the mother of Alex K. Laswell and the wife of Annie Laswell. She is forty-five. Laswell is the boss of Price and has been dealing with a growing threat to the UN. Big or small, she’s on the job. One of these jobs involved placing two at risk boys into a capable caregiver’s care. This ultimately lead to Price adopting his first child, Simon. While it made things more difficult for her by capacitating one of her best men, she did nothing to stop the adoption after seeing how happy they both were. Laswell has a rough history with Nik, seeing they’ve met each other’s guns to the face more than once. Nik has turned a new leaf, but Laswell has a hard time trusting him.

—

Alex:

Alex K. Laswell is the son of Kate and Annie Laswell. He is seventeen. Alex was first introduced to the Price family after Kyle was adopted. He and Kyle hit it off almost instantly and became inseparable, which lead to them dating. Alex is very nervous about how Kyle’s father would react to him dating his son while Kyle was worried about what his dad would think about him dating his boss’ son, so they both agreed to keep it a secret for now. Simon knows about their relationship and has agreed to keep it a secret, but this is anything but comforting considering how protective Simon is of his brother and how Alex is convinced the guy would kill him if given a reason.

—

Farah:

Farah Karim is the childhood friend of Simon when he was first taken in by Price. She is eighteen. Farah was close with Simon since he was first taken in by Price. Being neighbors, they often played together and hung out. Though after Kyle was brought into the Price household, Farah had to move away with her family. She kept contact with Simon but did not speak to him as much as she would’ve liked, having been dealing with a less than favorable home life. After Farah turned eighteen, she was kicked out of her parent’s home, sharing the Sam fate as her elder brother. With no where to go, she went to the Shadow Company Shelter, where she was stay until Price took her home to stay with him and his family. She’s determined to make up for lost time with Simon and has become an elder sister to him and Kyle.

—

Soap:

Johnny MacTavish is Kyle’s best friend and Simon’s crush and inevitably his boyfriend. He is fifteen. Johnny lives across the street from the Price family with his parents and three older sisters. He became friends with Kyle soon after Kyle was sent to school, taking him under his wing and helping him adjust to his new environment. Johnny would develop a crush on Kyle’s older brother, which would blossom into a romantic relationship. Johnny introduced Kyle to his friend Hong-Jin, which would lead to an inseparable trio of friends. Though there is no such evidence, Johnny is thoroughly convinced Simon’s dad’s friend would make him disappear if anything were to happen to Simon.

—

Horangi:

Hong-Jin Kim is Johnny’s long time best friend. He is fifteen. Being a immigrant, it took time for Hong-Jin to adjust to his new life, thankfully Johnny made things much easier faster they became friends. He was originally jealous and bitter when Johnny started hanging out with Kyle, feeling like he was losing his friend. Then the bitterness and jealousy turned into a crush that Hong-Jin is certain will kill him. He doesn’t want to ruin his friendship with Kyle or Johnny, so he keeps his feelings quiet. He’s happy to be his friend.

—

Graves:

Phillip Graves is the caretaker of the local runaway shelter for teens and young children. He is forty-two. Phillip is an associate of Laswell, the two having a less than friendly work relationship. While his day job is running a shelter and caring for and protecting children and teens in unfortunate situations, Phillip also does work with Laswell when it’s called for. Many call him an asshole and selfish, but Phillip genuinely cares for the kids under his care. He’s been running the shelter for a goof several years, and quite a few kids who he cared for that had long since become adults now work with him as caretakers themselves. These caretakers, these Shadows, are what keep the kids safe. Phillip is very proud of them.

—

Alejandro:

Alejandro Vargas is the best friend of Simon and boyfriend of Rudy. He is seventeen. While almost al the kinds in the neighborhood avoided the violent new kid, Simon, Alejandro saw a challenge and ran to meet him. It didn’t take long for him to consider Simon his best friend and included him in everything he did. Simon was there for him when things didn’t end well with Valeria, the girl he was certain was his everything. Simon helped him put his head back on straight, which lead him to asking out Rudy. Now he is certain he’s on the right path, organizing a gang of kids that live on his street to be ‘heroes’. It’s more or less just a very large friend group, but he likes to pretend.

—

Rudy:

Rudy Parra is Alejandro’s boyfriend and friend of Simon. He is sixteen. Rudy grew up next door to Alejandro and Valeria and was Valeria’s friend before he was Alejandro’s, having gone to the same school as her before they both transferred. He developed a crush on Alejandro but said nothing due to not wanting to become between his friends’ relationship. The two eventually ended things and Rudy’s home life took a turn then after he came out to his parents. The outcome was brutal and Rudy ended up running away, ending up at Shadow Company shelter where he’ll remain until he can get a place of his own. Eventually a relationship sprouted between him and Alejandro, the two officially becoming a couple after Simon’s fifteenth birthday.

—

Valeria:

Valeria Garza is the ex-girlfriend of Alejandro and the local troublemaker. She is seventeen. Valeria has always been getting into trouble, getting kicked out of the all girl’s school she originally went to, getting into trouble with the law, stealing— She’s always been a bad influence. Yet somehow her best friend has never went down the same path as her. She’s not sure where she would’ve ended up if it wasn’t for Rudy. She started dating Alejandro after her and Rudy started going to his school. It didn’t feel right to her, which is what lead to her finally ending things. Alejandro was upset but it was for the best. Besides, now Rudy cold be with him. She knows Alejandro would never hurt him.

—

There are more characters in the au but these are the ones with the biggest roles in it. The au of course focuses around Ghost and his new family and friends. The au is wholesome but the world it’s set in is anything but.

Might add more characters later on

[chrkrose]

Hey just so you know, Mushroom is the only one who said salacious stuff about Daemon and Nettles. All other accounts by the people around them said they just have a close bond. What book did you even read??? Also, why are you so obsessed with talking about daemyra if you so hate them??

LMAOO y’all truly went to Wikipedia, skimmed through their summary real quick and called it a day huh

Let’s see then. This is how Nettles and Daemon relationship is described in the five sources we have so far for The Dance of The Dragons:

1) The Princess and The Queen (2013): It is suggested they are lovers. There’s no ambiguity in the text.

2) The World of Ice and Fire (2014): They are confirmed to be lovers.

3) HBO Histories and Lore content for Game of Thrones DVDs (2016): They are confirmed to be lovers. Transcription of what the video says:

“But, there was a… complication. As well as her dragon, the girl had taken to riding Daemon”

4) Fire & Blood (2018): The character of Maester Norren at Maidenpool suggests that Daemon acted paternal towards Nettles because he taught her how to behave at court and dotted upon her. The characters of Mushroom believes prince Daemon fell in love with Nettles; the unnamed maidservants of Maidenpool that attended to Nettles and Daemon while they stayed there said they took baths together and he washed her hair and back; Lord Mooton’s men openly discussed how to kill her without having to harm Daemon because he slept next to Nettles every night and they didn’t want to do it because she was young, “however foul her treasons”. They were terrified of what Daemon would do to Maidenpool if they killed her because “he was more than fond” of her and if they killed her, he would certainly burn Maidenpool to the ground. This is actually present in Norren’s account btw, it comes from him. And finally, the book narrator, Maester Gyldayn, who is always disbelieving Mushroom, in this case thought he was actually right because analyzing all the information he had, he believed Daemon and Nettles to be lovers.

5) The Rise of The Dragon (2022): It suggests they are lovers, even going as far as saying that Norren’s account actually supports that notion instead of disproving it.

However, Mushroom suggested another cause for Daemon's unwillingness: that he and Nettles had become lovers. This theory is supported by the Chronicles of Maidenpool, maintained by Lord Mooton's maester, who remarked that the prince and Nettles were inseparable, their bedrooms were adjoining, and that Daemon often gave her gifts and even shared a bath with her.

So we have 2 sources that confirm them to be lovers; 3 sources that suggest they are lovers, with one of these sources, Fire&Blood, having a ratio of:

1 character thinking they are platonic vs 4 instances of other characters thinking they are lovers, the majority of them who were in Maidenpool as well, and the book’s narrator agrees to that version. And then Rise of The Dragon contradicts the one character who thought they were platonic by stating that his account actually supports the notion they were lovers. Idk anon, I think your math isn’t mathing.

Truly, try to read the books instead of asoiaf wiki if you want to engage in book discussions.

And about your last point: I don’t talk about Daemyra. I talk about the shippers who are 50% of the time posting discourse on Nettles’ tag because she lives in their mind rent free. The other 50% they are either being racist without even hiding it or pretending they care while being just a little bit racist thinking nobody is noticing it. So maybe idk, take up to them and why they can’t stop thinking of a character who actress hasn’t even been cast yet and who’s story we don’t even know how it will be adapted, maybe they can answer u better ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[platinumrosetail]

Could I request a Runaan x male reader who's the son of viren.

So m!reader can use magic to transform into animals (idk if that's possible but let's pretend it is, btw when he transforms back sometimes some parts of the animal remains, the ears/tail etc, and it can last a few hours)

and he decides to transform into a cat to see Runaan and it just becomes a thing he does frequently and what if one time he accidentally falls asleep (Whether he's laying on Runaans lap or sm you choose) and transforms back (he keeps the ears and tail btw so Runaan knows it's him)

Interesting! I don’t know if ethari is in the relationship as well and it’s just focused on the reader and runaan or if this is a au where runaan and ethari aren’t in a relationship so I’m going to not mention it the best that i can so y’all can choose on which one it is. Might have to mess with the ages in order for it to work but it’s not really mentioned as far as I can see.

Warning: noob author, male reader, possible au, and others.

Character: runaan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were the oldest child of Viren and the older brother to Soren and Claudia. Unlike other humans being born without magic you somehow was born with magic, your father has no idea as both he and your mother have no natural (not dark magic) magic history in their blood as far as they knew in order for you to inherit it.

You don’t really follow your father in his dark ways the only reason why you didn’t go with your mother like you wanted to was because your little siblings went with him and you wanted to protect to the best of your ability in case your father does something to them for dark magic, which your mother understood when you told her.

You met runaan while out in the forest as that’s the place you practice cause of the privacy it gives you than any other place plus it gives you time away from your father when he irritates you.

He first saw you as an animal that you had transformed as but soon you transformed back, you have animal features every time you change back into a human.

He was shocked to see a human that has magic without using dark magic at all. He was thinking of killing you but decided against it as he wants to find out how you can shapeshift and if it’s by dark magic or not.

It was shocking on how you two ended together even though you both are from different worlds, you were always reminded of the forbidden love trope some of the books you read had in it you even based your relationship in a little book of yours but it’s mostly for you to read for now.

You two couldn’t talk much unless you want to get suspicion and found out by your father so you two have to be careful about your relationship, it wasn’t until he and his group did you see him again but not in the way you wanted. You found him in the cell while in your animal form, he was passed out while chained up so you lay your animal form on his lap to give him some comfort even if he won’t know, you quickly unchained him and brung him back to your room so you can patch him up, he was resting on your bed so you decided to rest on on his stomach after making sure no one can get in your room without your permission.

(A/n: hope y’all like it! I don’t think I have anything else to say so hope y’all have a wonderful day/evening/night!!)

[nyaagolor]

Vex's big fat SV fic recommendation list

Being stressed while waiting for reviews and thesis feedback had me tearing through the SV AO3 tags like a rabid animal. Bright side to this is that I've been through basically the entire tag for a few characters so you don't have to. Below the cut is all the fics that really stuck with me

Invasive Species by hiratake Hassel/Brassius oneshot. You know that popular post that says the holy grail of AO3 is a 10k oneshot that changes your life when you binge it at 3am? yeah that's this one they meant this fic. It's a look at their younger years and the falling in love stuff these two go through and it's fantastic. There's cute cameos, excellent prose and really fun themes throughout

Team Building (and other remedies for loneliness) by viodef Arven Gen multichap. By the time I finished this fic I was convinced it's canon. It fills in the unseen parts of the game absolutely expertly, telling the story of how Arven caught and raised his team, and balances emotional angst and cute moments within his team flawlessly. It actually got me to care immensely about Arven's Toedschol. btw, this fic is part of a series-- and every fic in it is just as excellent as this one. They're some of the best Arven fics I've ever seen and I cannot recommend them highly enough

I Love You (just in case you didn't know) by WizardGlick Hassel/Brassius oneshot collection. "Where are all the incredible writers for SV?" making old man yaoi content. The Hassel/Brassius scene on AO3 is killing it. This fic has been on my mind since I first read it, it's so GOOD. It's tender it's emotional it's cute it has it all. Even if you don't care for this ship you will by the end of it. Read it

normal people by golden_blue Larry gen oneshot. I'm actually astounded at the charm people are putting into fics about Larry, a character designed to be as basic as possible. This is a fic that really just brings the pokemon world to life, giving so much depth to characters and making everything feel so grounded and lived in. If you like Larry, or even if you don't, read this fic, it'll leave you loving Medali and everyone in it

Kitchen Confidential by aclockworklemon Zerotrio Gen Twoshot (for now). People who characterize the player's mom are the most powerful among us and this is as good as it gets. There's a lot of subtlety in how the characters emotions are explored through the perspective of the character's own mom, and honestly I just love a fic that feels so grounded and sweet. Everyone is characterized so well, and the conflicts feel so real and personal. Good times all around

lost in translation by fivveweeks E4 gen oneshot. This fic is fucking hilarious I am actually begging you to read this one. One of the few times a fic actually got me to belly-laugh. Every work in this author's series about the E4 is equally as funny and equally as good so just do yourself a favor and read them all

holding onto the past (just like her) by centispores Arven oneshot, focused on grief. This one absolutely destroyed me. It has a real mastery of prose, a slowly building sense of dread and confusion that really hammers in the emotional core, and a really good understanding of flow. Setting the fic to a flu delerium backdrop lets the author's talents really shine and also gut punch you right at the end! It hurts, highly recommend

Tenderhearted Trust by infaredlove Jacq focused oneshot. SV introduced the best cast of side characters (the teachers) in the history of this franchise and some valiant authors took it upon themselves to just make banger after banger all about them. This is honestly a recommendation for this author's entire catalogue of work because I adore how they characterize the academy staff, Jacq especially. The prose is great, the feelings are tender, and who doesn't love seeing some nice stories about the adults in the room?

kids and their newfangled lingo by rentaldragon Rika/Geeta oneshot. This one is less than 1k words and as cute as it is funny. It needs no introduction, it's got silly lesbians in it!!

Up the Creek by neutralize Arven oneshot, focused on his failed attempts to heal Mabosstiff. Another ouchie of a fic. This one stings real bad, and the depth of emotion in this one is an absolute killer. The ever increasing desperation here and the ways that Arven's own trauma prevent him from reaching out or getting help for his own mental state are absolutely brutal and an incredible way of illustrating the pre-canon events. This one is rough but it's a very worthwhile read

YOUR _____ APPEARS ABNORMAL. by johnchurch Larry oneshot, Geeta POV. This fic is absolutely genius and even if you don't like either character you have got to give it a shot. It's such a fun and clever way to integrate in-game glitches to an in-universe headcanon. Genuinely delightful. Also watching Geeta slowly lose her mind is more fun than I initially expected

Cool, Cool, Cool by Chumpy Arven/Giacomo oneshot. Really and truly who is doing it like rarepair shippers. They are the backbone of fanfic society and I mean this. This fic is pretty lowstakes in comparison to the others on this list, but man is it cute. I love the characterization, the realism of teenage dialogue and all its awkwardness, and just the way the relationship progresses during the story. Sooo cute, give it a read!

Perennial by Seasonal Penny twoshot. Fics that are canon to me. I'm not even sure how to properly articulate how much this just feels like a legitimate explanation of canon events that happened offscreen. This fic is perfect and also canon. Real to me.

The Fellowship of Glimmora by dragons_tree Geeta multichap, unfinished. This is THE Geeta fic to me. The prose is incredible, the characterization is incredible, the worldbuilding is incredible. If you read one SV fic today make it this one, it will leave you with so many new thoughts on Geeta and her relationships with the gym leaders. Genuinely so so so good I think I would kill to get this fic to update again

Ortega's Drag Race by MimeOfATime Team Star oneshot. This fic is canon in my brain. This is so real to me. The characterization is perfect, the worldbuilding is perfect, begging you to read this fic Right Now. Pls. For me.

Push by agendergrim Professor-focused oneshot. This one is short and also just cracked my brain wide open. SUCH an interesting take on what happened to the other professor and well-written to boot. Do yourself a favor and read this one when you have a few minutes

Historical Perspective by n7punk Sada/Raifort exes oneshot. No one understands Raifort like this author I stg. The characterization of everyone here is absolutely fantastic and is filled with concepts and ideas that feel so authentic to the story of the game. I too love disaster lesbians so this fic was an absolute delight

regret, reflected in crystal by Emolga Turo and Arven focused oneshot. This one is INSANELY rough, big tw for child abuse and an absolutely gut-wrenching internal monologue about it. This fic is really heavy but insanely good, I had to sit down for a while to process it all when I was done. I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a fic to blow them away, the author is insanely talented and a master of their craft, but also OOF.

oh, just one more question… by pistachiosoda Penny focused oneshot. Such a sweet Team Star character study, it's really neat to see the unique ways that each character speaks and reflects about the boss and how it serves not only to characterize Penny, but them in turn. This genuinely feels like it could be dialogue ripped from some DLC of the game. If you like Team Star def give this one a look

irony by mousewritings Penny and Arven oneshot. This author REALLY understands teenage dialogue. It feels so real it's almost painful, so if you want something that's really gonna captivate you, give this a read. There's something about the way the characters fumble that feels really natural, and this author is extremely talented when it comes to dialogue and attitude. I adore this fic

Endearment by Sarajaye Penny focused oneshot. Centers around Penny's feelings about her dad-- it's like 400 words and super sweet, just do yourself a favor and read it right now. Click on the link and go for it it'll take like two minutes. You'll thank me later.

Glimmer by WolvZephyr Geeta focused oneshot. Good Geeta focused fics are few and far between, so it was fantastic to see one that really delved into her philosophy and attitudes and personality. This is one of those fics that really puts so much depth into a character that it feels like a natural extension of everything in game. Whether or not u think ur a Geeta fan, read this, because it'll absolutely give you a fresh perspective on her

Patch Up by ColourfulVoid Nemona and Miriam focused oneshot. This might actually be one of, if not my absolutely, favorite fic I've read about Nemona. It so perfectly captures the masking she does and the ways that the adults in her life WANT to help but can't because of all the fronts she puts up. This is filed under lists of fics that changed my brain chemistry. Read it

hues by aukai Nemona and Jacq focused oneshot. Similar to the above, this focuses on Nemona's unhealthy habits and masking and I just absolutely adore it. It's a brief glimpse into her pre-story school life and really adds depth to everything happening offscreen. Nemona my beloved

If you don't wanna use a tumblr post for the links, I have all these bookmarked on my AO3 Vex_ation, which is linked here

[bstroobery]

Tips for writing trans characters from someone who was afraid of writing them wrong:

Write their narrative in a way that makes sense for the characters.

For example, my character Dex Dieunarrah discovered he was trans very early in life (after entering kindergarten). This makes sense for his character because he is someone who knows what he wants and doesn’t stop in pursuit of it. He knows who he is and is extremely self-confident. So it makes sense that he knows he’s trans early on in life.

My character Currant Numerfein’s story revolves around how much her life changed after a traumatic family accident when she was young, and revolves around self-discovery and free will. She discovers more about herself and family history through others. So Dex was the one who explained what his experience with gender dysphoria was like and why he socially transitioned when he was younger. Currant decides to give it a try, and finds she much prefers living as a girl instead of a boy. So she sticks with it. It also affects her brother Leno, who is having difficulty moving on with the trauma but loves his sister anyway, despite how much he wishes to return to the past. Furthermore, after noticing how much happier his sister is now that she’s socially transitioned, it helps him realize that the past was actually worse for the people he cares for. I would also like to add that Currant does face a lot of transphobia throughout the story, and biphobia as well since she is also bisexual, which is a major part of her story as she fights to have the freedom to choose for herself in her life instead of allowing others to choose for her.

Another tip is to not bring too much attention to the trans-ness of a character unless it fits in with the narrative.

Such is the case with Ghost Long. He discovered he was trans relatively early on in life too, but he’s a character from a completely different culture as well (one completely fictional btw). He’s been around trans people his entire life, because he lives in a culture that is extremely accepting of a lot of things, and where gender identity is explored very early on for children and it is encouraged that you try out different things at a young age. So of course it makes sense he knew he was trans since he was little. When he decided to socially transition, his parents didn’t even bat an eye. They just said they would accept him and moved on with their lives. A major part of his character is the massive culture shock when he arrives on Earth, because it’s so different from where he’s from.

Then there’s D’Ghala Kanabo, a genderfluid alien who knows who they are, but hides it constantly until they finally feel comfortable around the main cast and embrace their full identity, including their quirks and bad parts of their history. It’s a major part of their character, since they try to hide their kind’s history and pretend it never existed and a huge part of their character is learning to accept that part of their heritage.

The final trans character I want to mention is Squid Fisk. They’re nonbinary, and absolutely refuse to elaborate on what they were identified as at birth. It’s no one’s concern. They already know they’re nonbinary when the reader meets them, and the reader never finds out their sex. Because it doesn’t matter. Their character struggles with trauma and depression, but their past remains mostly a mystery to everyone but their fraternal twin brother Pallet. No one else learns of this, because they deem it unimportant as they attempt to move on from the past at every turn and accept that what was will never be again.

With those three characters, they’re mentioned to be trans and the narrative brings that to a focal point only when necessary, such as when D’Ghala breaks away from their toxic ex-friend group and proudly expresses that they’re genderfluid because now they’re no longer tied down to the expectations had on them by others.

Sometimes you don’t need to write in how a character figured out their gender identity. You can just have them start off that way and never explain it, but give hints here and there. Sometimes you can write about a character discovering that they’re trans. Just remember that the story should fit the character. Don’t force the representation. Make it make sense to the character that you are writing.

Have a great day!

-🍓

[corpsentry]

SORRY i keep coming here to yell !! you got me thinking about cdramas (& t dramas) i enjoyed and then forgot about :"] i watched 如果奔跑是我的人生 earlier this year and the ending lost me, but i was quite captivated by its 20+ episodes before. it centres around parental relationships (asian) and, i don't know much about dance at all but a main character is a dancer and her story made me feel things. the performances were sick, in my unprofessional opinion! I'm Fine is a gorgeous ost track. btw.... i've started rewatching 不良执念清除师 again and i CANNOT RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY ENOUGH. i've been thinking about it (on ep 5 LOL) and i actually don't think the ending dropped the thread or ball or 链子 or however that saying goes (im fever SORRY.... i think it was cathartic and beautiful in the way a galaxy is— i just could not get enough of those guys T__T 不良执念清除师 is about sulky teen (??) guys moving through the world with so much heart. it's about LOVE and ART and how the living go on after tragedy, it's about how. how (PARDON ME....) we get to keep everything we've ever loved for even a fraction of a moment & what we are doing is worthwhile even if it is very small !!!!! it is a show that is, in Voice from IMBD's words, an outstanding Taiwanese drama that excels in every aspect, because it was made with so much care and love...(meta!) also, gay people

first of all No Apology thank you for coming to yell!!! you have a big heart full of love for the world and it moves me!!!! i went down this rabbit hole on m*dramalist after watching 我们的少女时代/our times (2015)-

(tangent incoming) this movie Shook the secondary 2 scene in singapore when it came out everyone and their dog was sobbing about it and i listened to 小幸运 Religiously despite never seeing it myself. Having Seen It Now, it is a sweet little thing and it makes me feel desperately old. it also made me CRY, what can i say i’m a sucker for distances and ships passing in the night and i was soooo happy when liudehua appeared and then adult xutaiyu showed up and he Fuck Ass Hair. my lord, his hair looked like SHIT. PICKLED SEAWEED……… i couldn’t cry after that because i was so busy clenching my asscheeks out of sheer despair FUCK HAIR AND. AND!!! A TOO SHORT BLACK BLAZER ON SKINNY JEANS??? I MEAN REALLY??? I KNOW 2015 WAS NINE YEARS AGO but i don’t recall fuckass hair being the in thing then…. this memory i do not have…. you have to understand how emotionally devastating this was to me…… (tangent end)

(tangent part 2) (please look at the way they styled this poor man’s fuck ass hair. i don’t care how earth shatteringly sweet they were in high school if my first love turned up ten years later and he looked like this i would simply walk away)

(tangent end)

the point is, that i then went through vivian sung’s acting history to see what else she’d been in bc she was soooooo lovely and realized that 不良执念清除师 was in said history and then remembered this ask! and your heartfelt words about its story! and i was like Oghey, i watch—

just finished the first episode and mein gott yiyong is such a Teenager…… man i look at 18 year olds and i’m like i don’t remember being like that but i Know i must’ve been, once upon a time. but the range of emotions the script wrung out of him in one episode was kind of insane and his actor is kind of vibey as hell (perhaps this is my sign from god to finally watch your name engraved herein…) and vivian sung is still epic as hell and sooo goofy and i’m excited! i think of u in my head for some reason as the epic tight as hell short chinese dramas anon, i Trust your eyes. they’re good eyes. i’ve also locked down the first 20+ episodes of the other drama you mention here, especially because yang chao yue is in it and she was Breathtaking in the double T T T thank you for the recs! where do you find all of these? i don’t know but you must be doing good out in the world. be well anon. meet a chicken

[its-chelisey-stuff]

The Legend of Anle eps 21-30 (thoughts& feels!!)

I don’t know why they released this happy poster that had nothing to do with these last eps lol they tricked me! I feel tricked!

What a rollercoaster. Even if I don’t exactly like the direction the drama took, I have to admit it got the plot moving a lot more than the last 10 eps. So let’s recap: Prince found out the truth, got a little cheeky and passive-agressive about it, throwing hints left and right. He went on a date with Anle. The two fell into a trap and off a cliff, then took care of each other (arguably the most romantic eps of the show so far), then they forgot about returning home and stayed there for a few days while everyone else was worried sick looking for them hahaha

And then they got rescued against their will and things went bananas. Anle revealed herself as Ziyuan and everything went angsty weepy sad eyes. Dowager Empress died. HanYe got emo and depressed, then he snapped and killed someone and now Luo MingXi knows Ziyuan’s brother is alive, but because he’s truly the worst, he still won’t tell her hahaha I mean HanYe not telling her is one thing, I guess, but LMX? why? cuz he sucks! and his love for her is conditional. If he can’t be the one to present her with the solutions or the shoulder to lean on, then he won’t give her something that makes her happy, because in his eyes he’d be indebted to someone else that’s not him and he cannot allow that. He said it himself, he’s selfish! He cannot die soon enough.

A list of things I loved the most no sad Crown Prince on my list btw:

Ziyuan&HanYe living together in some magical valley where days looked fake af and nights looked like fairy tales. They should’ve made out at the very least, by the look of things we won’t have a kiss until the last ep, if ever.

Ziyuan told WenShuo he can be her little brother (!!!!! girl if only you knew!!) and also, they bonded a bit more in these eps, yay! Why is HanYe not saying anything to any of them??

Luo Mingxi was arrested and tortured (sorry not sorry, I hate him :P)

My sweet Crown Prince became a hot murderer lol. Made a whole post about it.

Meanwhile MoBei or Lengbei or whatever is planning the most boring and slowest invasion in the history of wuxias, with zero charisma on his side. It’s almost like he got too invested in the whole Anle is Ziyuan drama that he has forgotten his mission with all the tea happening at court. Maybe he is a shipper as well and the angst has completely slowed down his plans. Unlikely? Yes, but not impossible lol 

But we can’t blame him. It happens when you’re not the main protagonist and just a secondary character exclusively invented for the show forced to be the ultimate baddie but writers don’t care enough about you to give you a personality. Also, someone get him away from Anning!!! arghh!!!

I hated to see Crown Prince being lovesick and like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. I mean, technically he had one. Ugh.stupid Gong Jun and his sad puppy eyes But I know that, for every scene I watch of him suffering, I have to push through to see Ziyuan suffer unbearable pain because she took him for granted for far too long.

I remember posting once, when the trailer came out, that at the very least I’d be enjoying how pretty the drama was, starting with OTP. And I got what I wanted, but at what cost? Anyway, I made it this far and I actually watched Gong Jun’s The Flaming Heart (which was truly plotless and the FL behaved like a 10 year old, truly haunting given she was a doctor). In here till the end! lol

[snellyfish]

Obligatory “what did you feel about the new episode” ask 👀💕

HI ive been out travelling and im an old man when it comes to mobile but ill try to gather my thoughts :)

Ace eating disorder represent,,, woo,,,,,, sad party blower sound,, love thst for us,,,, Holds his hand and makes out with him. Also eternally banger voice actor choice for him. Absolutely amazing performance every time he speaks.

Obligatory I love Arei. recently revamped an OC I made 5 years ago and basing a lot of her personality and stuff off of Arei. Just felt like sharing. I love Arei so much I will make her my oc methinks.

THE MOTIVES MADE ME SO FERAL I PAUSED THE VIDEOS SO MANY TIMES AND WAS LIKE AAIOGIGOGOUUGHHHH SO MANY HORRIBLE HORRIBLE FUCKED UP BLORBOS I CANT WAIT TO LEARN EVERYPONY'S SECRETS OM NOM NOM<33 Speaking of which JESUS CHRIST I really feel like the secret motives some ppl held onto, like, REALLY shouldn't have been kept to themselves omg. I'm sure there's been some behind the scenes stuff of characters gaining distaste/distrust/avoiding certain ppl after receiving certain motives;; I'm not entirely sure WHO specifically, but these are like CRAZY things to not warn the rest of the class about. Was David's the one that Arei got? Killed a man with no remorse? Huh? Shoves you pushes you shoves you into locker and swallows the key

The entire time during episode 9 I was trying and failing to open a jar of ice cream so I was a Little out of it, but from what I gather I'm really dumb and not good at mysteries so i have no clue who the hell did it. At one point I asked "alright who killed a man?" but my bestie heard "who killed min?" so I just kept saying that for the rest of the episode and crying of laughter. Guys, be honest, who killed Min- I'm not mad I just wanna know, guys-

Nico continues to piss me off a little. Teruko goes without saying she pisses me off to no end. When everyone started dragging her handwriting I was whooping and cheering and hollering it was so funny GET HER.

I liked how the two main people investigating the corpse were Arturo and Veronika. They really do get a lot of screentime together and it's starting to scare me a little. Is this like subtle ship fanservice or am I about to meet horrors beyond my comprehension as the story and cases develop. I hope one of them kills the other. They're so in love.

I also liked at one point Veronika dragging Ace's ass. They're ALSO in love btw. Yeah I'll ship my top 3 faves together, what else would you expect from me, man

Rose....<3

DAVID!!!!!!<3333 I know his ass was lying about history of depression that shit was so funny be honest bro you have unfathomable sins keep it 100% with us. If you turn out to not be fucked up or morally grey ykno I'll be a little disappointed. Just keep it real with us.

The motive that's like "where do I even start, everything about your life is worth killing for" is so funny bc if that was mine I would be like. okay. not my problem. That's so incredibly vague that means NOTHING. I'm also assuming it's Teruko's tbh, it's the only one vague and weird enough for her to be like "imma keep ot real with you chief idfk which of these are mine 🐸"

What else. I'm a little hungover

every time they brought up the fish I was like haha. like snellyfish. I'm an accomplice in Arei's murder and I didn't even know!!

kinda hashtag don't blame Hu for not telling whose motive she got bc it was a little suicide coded and very personal

That's all I'm done I forget what else happened xoxo love you all I love drdt so much--

I lied I just remembered that Eden lesbian (sapphic whatever I don't care) and laughed really hard at the idea of like. Charles opening the motive without reading the name and just thinking like "I'M A LESBIAN?????" real

Eden/Nico could be real if I didn't have a leaning negative opinion of Nico rn. I am still patient and hearing them out for now tho.

Ok Now I'm done.

[gunshou]

You need to understand that not everything is specifically about you. I was likely bullied more in school for being fat than you were for your nose specifically because youre Jewish. Unless you live in some other country than I do that really hates jews.

Idk what your problem is but being made fun of for your nose a couple of times does not mean the whole world is out to get you. Like I said. I'm over 30 and I had never even heard of this stuff until recently. And it's all over some stupid ass video game or fictional book. And I don't even like Harry Potter books because it's boring as fuck I can't even make it through the movies without cringing a quarter the way through and getting bored.

BUT I have played dnd and roleplay tabletop games for most of my life and not once have I heard anything about goblins being some Jewish hate type thing. Even if they started out as that the thing is that no one fucking knows or cares about it anymore. No one besides people looking for problems has ever made a connection between goblins and jews.

That's the problem here.

It's people looking for problems when there isn't even any. Especially with other mythological beings where jews had zero influence on their appearance or behavior. Which is what the submission was about BTW.

Everytime I hear something or other about Jewish people or big noses it's always about some work of fiction that either has no correlation to jews or people who just want a reason to hate something and feel morally rightious about it go and look for any reason they can to say its whatever *bad thing*.

And ofc YOU as a jew might know about it and the people who did bully you probably looked specifically for something to hurt you for and not because they were taught it. But MOST people don't give two rat asses about it and are TIRED of hearing people with nothing better to do, complaining about some fictional character have a big nose so it's apparently nazi propaganda. It's fucking stupid. It's tiring and I'm sick of having people (in general) telling me I can't enjoy shit because of some dumb fucking reason that no one even knows or cares about anyway, and most certainly don't care even if they DID know about it, because most people have enough brain cells to understand that they can still enjoy things like goblins without supporting their past (or even present) meanings.

And if say that I made something specifically like that (I wouldn't) but didn't say it's about hating *xyz* and a bunch of people loved it. People would still be allowed to enjoy that thing and are capable of separating it from it's hidden meaning if they ever found out. I mean that's what most of the Harry Potter Fandom did with jkr and her books. They separated the art from the artist. And anything that's bad is just coincidentally that way and doesn't actually mean those things at all.

It's not fucking impossible. Cast aside your victim complex and touch grass. You'll be a lot happier when you stop thinking every little thing is some slight against you.

Well, I'm fat too, so there you go.

It's not about me, and I'm not the one taking this personally. You can like what you like, literally no one is stopping you. But the fact that you're a grown adult who doesn't know basic world history isn't the flex you think it is. You really came into my house here to yell at me that because *you* never personally heard of something in your vast experience playing DnD then hundreds of literary analysts must be wrong. That because you never heard of something it doesn't really exist and people who do know about it are just being stupid. That your weariness at being told a fact is somehow more burdensome than actual antisemitism and so you don't want to hear it anymore. I don't think I'm the one who needs to touch grass and maybe broaden my experiences.

Absolutely people can separate art from artist and like problematic things. I do that all the time. Go enjoy your goblins and have fun! I don't know where you picked up the idea that I feel persecuted by fiction, but I didn't write the original submission - I don't even know what it said.

Go be free, gobbo. Enjoy your day! May you be unbothered and blissful.

[stillhavetodothat]

Replaying Nancy Drew without Cheating - Part 8: Danger on Deception Island

I’m going to go ahead and argue that this game, this charming, riveting, addictive game, is the start of a series of 3-5 games that are universally beloved by the Nancy Drew community. I don’t know many people who don’t genuinely have a nostaglic love for this game, me included. In fact, I would have considered this my second favorite for many many years, right after Treasure in a Royal Tower, which can never be replaced in my heart.

I’m also going to go ahead and tell you: this was the first game that I didn’t feel like I needed to cheat even once. The only thing I slightly struggled with was the anagram puzzle from Hilda (BTW, I have a bone to pick with Nancy’s “handy dandy Anagram Buster.” How is this thing handy dandy? I can do what it does using a sheet of paper. It doesn’t bust anagrams at all. Who would have made such a useless piece of software?) Overall though, I don’t think the puzzles are particularly hard, and there’s always something to do next, so there is very little aimless meandering about in confusion. I’ve also played this a fair number of times, so there’s that too.

This is a classic and will always be one of my absolute favorites. It has some of the coolest, most unique elements out of any game, not to mention a top notch soundtrack, and I can guarantee that I will be replaying this game for many years to come.

Some of my thoughts:

1. I think one thing I like about this game is that it is a lot of looking around/snooping/figuring things out by yourself; the game does not rely on having a bunch of conversations with the suspects. In fact, in this play-through, I was surprised at how little Nancy actually does chat with other characters. There were times I was CRAVING some human interaction, but all I could say to people was “It was nice talking to you,” despite the fact that I hadn’t been TALKING to anyone at all.

2. Weird that the first thing Nancy does in this game is get obsessed with a random piece of driftwood that she finds in the water. Who even is she. I relate less and less to Nancy with each passing game.

3. Once again, fuck Nancy’s anagram buster. I hate anagrams, and I hate false advertising.

4. Katie Firestone will never not be a knock-off, more boring Joanna Riggs to me. She is so whiny and boring that giving her food poisoning actually gives me a goddamn dopamine rush (also, WHY does she have some much expired shit in her fridge anyway? The woman JUST went grocery shopping). Despite the fact that you never actually see her do anything wrong, I don’t blame the town for disliking her. I’d love nothing more than to grab my torch and pitchfork and run her out of Snake Horse Harbor alongside clam chowder queen Jenna Deblin and dungeness crab daddy Holt Scotto.

5. Speaking of Holt Scotto, someone go and check that man’s cholesterol levels. He must be slowly eating every male dungeness crab within 10 miles of Snake Horse Harbor, based on how he takes all the crabs visitors bring him and cryptically says that he’ll “take care of that crab” for you. 

6. The whole storyline of the tunnels under the town and the history of shanghaiing was the best part of this game. Wandering around underground, actually figuring out on your own (without having to be explicitely told) that the burglars had to have been using the tunnels to rob all the local businesses, finding your way into the sea caves - all very fun gameplay.

7. As cool as finding the orca in the sea caves is, I can’t imagine how scared shitless I would be in real life.

8. Why is Dr. Predoviciu casually the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen? Girl, TELL ME YOUR HAIR CARE ROUTINE!!

9. After winning a whale watching tour with Andy Jason and taking a bunch of photos, Nancy thanks Andy for letting her use his camera. Uh, is she getting these pictures at any point? Is he going to send her a USB flash drive or some shit? Why didn’t Nancy have her own camera (as a supposedly semi-famous and always prepared amateur detective)?? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

10. Why do we then basically have to force Andy to give us a keychain after the tour, when the keychain probably costs about 50 cents? The sign says the keychain is free to “everyone who takes our whale watching tour,” NOT to “everyone who PAYS for our whale watching tour.” What a crock of bullshit. For some reason, I had a crush on Andy Jason as a kid (that curly hair! that weirdly buff body!) but this playthrough made me realize that I actually loathe him to my very core.

11. Therefore, there is nothing more satisfying than this moment (not even making Katie Firestone throw up over the side of her boat):

12. Speaking of the ending, this game may have the best (or at least one of the best) ending sequences of any game. The fact that Nancy goes up to a RANDOM ASS FREIGHT BOAT, in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, CLIMBS ABOARD, has to STEALTHILY HIDE ON DECK TO NOT GET CAUGHT BY POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SMUGGLERS, and then FIND KATIE TIED UP BELOW DECK??? Fucking genius. Amazing. It might be the stupidest thing Nancy ever does (the only person she tells her plan to is ANDY FUCKING JASON, after all, so there is no one who would know where to look should she go missing), but it leads to a high-stakes, adrenaline-pumping last several minutes.

13. Hilda. Hilda MF Swenson. The fact that she calls Nancy the millisecond that Nancy finds whatever she was looking for is absolutely hilarious. Hilda is literally spending her life just watching Nancy’s every move through her binoculars, and giving her convoluted, long-winded puzzles to solve for absolutely no reason. Hilda is a more entertaining character than all the others put together.

Ugh, what a fantastic game. The only thing that is keeping me going after finishing is the knowledge that the next few games are equally as brilliant, so I know that I have much to look forward to. On my way to get screamed at by Shorty for picking a slightly underripe green bean. <3

[judgementdaysunshine]

Hiii again! I just wanted to do one more ship if that’s alright!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN BTW!! 🌲 + Marvel fandom and LOTR fandom (idk if you write for Sherlock Holmes fandom, but if you do, Sherlock Holmes fandom, too) (male character preference) + I’m a 30 year old queer woman (she/they) who is Graysexual and Biromantic. I’m 5’1” with a peaches and cream complexion, dark green eyes (tho my right eye has a blue film over it due to blindness), long dark brown hair, and an almost hourglass figure. I’m a Hufflepuff! I’m compassionate, stubborn, get frustrated easily, silly, happy, cute, passionate, have OCD, Dyscalculia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I’m Autistic. I studied general studies in school (I switched majors a few times). I’m ethnically an Ashkenazi Jew and was raised both religiously Roman Catholic and Jewish. I am trying to be more religiously Jewish. I love animals a lot. I love reading (especially history, romance, myths/lore, anything about Judaism/being Jewish, and fiction), botany, space, cats, my faith, playing games, dancing, singing, traveling, and naps. When I get frustrated/upset or despondent, I tend to belittle myself and think that whatever is wrong is my fault even when it is not.

Anything for you my sweets 👉👈

First I ship you with Bruce Banner! 💚

He knew what it was like to be anxious and not wanting to be around people so anytime you were anxious he would take you in his or your room getting away from everyone

He always calms you down when you're frustrated telling you that it was okay to have these feelings and would stay with you even when you'd just stared at the wall despondent because of it

He loves how your eyes were different from everyone's you eyes reminding him of space with all the stars floating and a milky way just floating within an Andromeda planet making him just stare and smile

He had known many people of different cultures including middle eastern heritage so when he found out you were Jewish he soon learned and amazing jewish meals plus learning Hebrew and customs making you fall in love with the man even more

He always loved seeing your hair down but whenever you had it in some type of braid it made his heart swoon telling you that to him the braids brought out more of your features and the beautiful complexion of your skin

He always stops you when you're bashing yourself telling you all the things he loved about you and what made him fall head over heels for you from. The moment the two of you met

Your body was like a temple to him full of beauty making him go in awe every time he sees and touches anywhere on your body always showing you how much he loves you

Now I ship you with Arwen Undomiel 🤍

She can never not love the complexion of your skin having never seen anyone with your skin tone alot or ever with sparkles shining in her eyes

She will always tell you how beautiful you are and how much of an angel you were in her life and how you helped more than you could ever know whenever you are letting your self hate get to you

Anytime she sees your body she will trace her fingers all over feeling the smooth and softness of your skin and kissing any spot she wants to show extra love and care to

She always did your hair in beautiful styles that brought out your face and eyes always making sure to have a small strand hanging on each side

She always sings elvish music to you when you're anxious always telling you the story after singing when you're much calmer

Your tattoos always made her smile that you had permanent art on your body even getting one of the even star on her upper chest where it was covered under most clothing but when it was showing you were the only one to see it in it's beauty and glory

She will just hold you with one hand around your waist and the other on the back of your head in your hair when you are depressed always hugging her tightly

She knows people of many cultures and races asking you questions and researching with things you bring to Rivendell to teach her more of things in the world she didn't know including the Jewish religion and culture

She soon learned all of Jewish customs,when and how to celebrate holidays for Jewish people,making and trying meals from the culture making her smile in bliss and joy after taking the first bite,learning to speak Hebrew and read the bible,and wearing traditional Jewish clothing when you would bring extras for her to try and keep

[theamityelf]

I read your post about how Audrey and Evie are portrayed when it comes to girliness, and I just want to ask: Why must you and so many other people blame all the problems in Descendants on racism? BTW, I'm black, and I'm only letting you know this because I feel like I can't send in a question on race on anon without people assuming I'm white.

Sure, yeah, I have nothing against you stating your race.

The disconnect I think we see here is that people who ask this question seem like they're operating with a misunderstanding of what is meant when we say that there is a problem of racism in the franchise.

I think a lot of people interpret that as an accusation that, in the writers room, someone had the idea to insidiously plant negative depictions of black women. Which isn't impossible, but I wasn't in the writers room, I don't know anyone who was, and I don't necessarily care what they were thinking. They could have been twirling their mustaches thinking about how much they hate black women, or they could have been happily scrawling out the movie of their dreams without a single thought given to race. It doesn't matter, because we're referring to racism as it manifests in the finished product, not the imagination of the creators.

I say there is racism at work because the observable narrative components of the series trend more negatively for black characters. Even if the screenwriters had the most innocent of intentions, the product they created has an observable bias against the black characters.

Why are Audrey and Uma treated as villains while Mal is treated as a misguided/misunderstood hero despite having no moral high ground over either of them? Because the series isn't very well-written. Because the series has protagonist-centered morality. But the effect of that poor writing is that racism was done. Every black girl in the series is written as a villain. (Celia is the weirdest case, because she doesn't do anything wrong in the whole movie, but she's still painted as a trickster, marketed as a potential main antagonist, and gets introduced BY MAL with a line about how she could use Remedial Goodness.) Every white girl in the series is written as a hero. Even though Jane and Lonnie (Lonnie is not white, but she's relevant to this conversation) were as prejudiced as Audrey in the first movie, they are treated as friends to the VKs and Audrey is treated as an enemy. The black girl villains only cease to be villains when they befriend the white protagonist and stop holding any of her actions against her. Mal being passive aggressive is charming; Audrey being passive aggressive is proof that she's a villain. Mal teasing Uma is funny and heroic; Uma teasing Mal is mean and menacing.

Why is Audrey's girliness vilified and Evie's girliness celebrated? Because they decided early on that Evie is a protagonist and Audrey is an antagonist and were operating within that cognitive dissonance that anything Evie enjoyed should be celebrated and anything Audrey enjoyed shouldn't. Because they want to appeal to the girly-girls by giving them Evie to emulate and buy merch of, but they also want to use the narrative trope that mean girls wear pink and girls who wear pink are shallow and vain. But because they made those choices, the effect is that non-black girls in the story have their interests celebrated and black girls receive scorn for the same interests. That is contained in the product they made.

Prejudice of any kind is a passive filter on one's perception of the world that requires activity to overcome. If you're writing something without giving thought to race, racism will likely appear, because history, and the history of filmmaking, is full of so many racial stereotypes that taking a mental shortcut has a good chance of veering you right into them.

(Also, people's tolerance for meanness from black characters tends to be lower than their tolerance for meanness in white characters, and writers are people. The Black Best Friend trope and the Magical Negro trope creates an expectation that black characters should be selflessly loving to white characters, and there is discomfort when they aren't.)

Arguing whether or not racism is to blame for the problems in the franchise is, in my opinion, a pretty tedious choice of argument. It isn't a question, because racism is there as an observable effect of either an active malice or a passive prejudice or just carelessness. The series treats its black girls poorly in very cut-and-dry ways; each of them is pretty much a carbon copy of a lighter-skinned character, but with less sympathy given to them. Uma is an altruistic version of Mal, treated with less sympathy. Audrey is more privileged Evie, treated with less sympathy. Celia is Dizzy, but a tRIcKsTeR!! Treated with less sympathy. I enjoy the characters, and I enjoy the movies, but the dissonance in treatment for these characters is obvious and the effect is racism.

[dulcewrites]

What is your opinion on show Aemond? In books he was basically psychopath, in show not yet, but I wonder what do you think of him besides the things you said before like he is arrogant. Btw, you are probably the only person who sees his arrogance and inability to rule (despite having Vhagar, being great swordsman and studying history and philosophy) because I swear to God, every Aemond stan views him as perfect and not arrogant at all and perfect material for a king. And you know what is the funniest thing? That they only acknowledge his traumas when they are comparing him to Daemon, you know, Daemon is the bad guy from episode 1, groomer and many other things but Aemond is hurt and insecure and disabled, but when confronted, they all view him as perfect. You know, just because he has traumas means he is perfect. But it never crossed their minds that any sort of trauma affects the process of thinking, self confidence, perception of people around us and does it in not positive way. And no, just because Aemond is traumatized doesn't mean he will be good father and husband because how in madieval world would he have any opportunity to even acknowledge that he has something called trauma and then starting to work on it, slowly realising how this worked and made him the person he is now?

It's 2022 and people are talking a lot about mental health which is great, but seeing how many people not even understand how Aemond's traumatic past shaped him and thinking it won't have negative effect is really sad.

And maybe the reason you got this terrible anon message because his stans really have no clue how his past will affect him and people close to him. They focus on how a good and dutiful son he is, but in fact he is parentified child. I also am one and believe me it could be great for strangers, me caring about my mother, but they don't know how hard it was in childhood when I was the one to take care of her where it should have been other way around. And my relationship with her is not a testimony of any kind of strong bond, but the fact I was burdened by her problems and needed to find solutions to them, because she couldn't. And in episode 9 when Alicent says If anything has happened and her panicked expression, it reminded me of my mother and everytime she relied on me.

You are basically the only person I saw admitting that he is a piece of work. Others believe that after all he has been through he would be perfect father, husband and king. No one sees how his past shaped him in bad way. Because it's like knife that cuts on both sides, sure, after losing an eye he became full of determination, dutiful, but also full of anger and having many repressed feelings. And this will affect all his relationships, but his stans doesn't see him as flawed character, they point out Daemon wrongdoings and use it to put Aemond on pedestal. And once saw one of them saying Aemond will get rid of his traumas once Viserys and Luke died. So thank you for portraying him in realistic way, I know it was request to write his wife being killed over a lie, but you captured his essence in such amazing way.

Well I appreciate that you like my different interpretations of Aemond. To be fair/honest, the way I write him in fmo or even in that request is not how I personally would want him written in the show. I don’t enjoy seeing women, regardless of the context or nature, being treated so poorly. There are times where it makes me sad when writing. But I’m also an admittedly sensitive person lol. Those anons I got, while complete weirdos who need help, I see as outliers compared to a lot of people who enjoy hotd. It’s just when you are in a large fandom, the wronged opinions tend to be the loudest. I do a lot of people misinterpret characters but they also have the good sense to not harass people.

I think that all the layers that make up show Aemond is why he is extremely compelling. He can be messy or arrogant, and probably a bad king/Prince regent. But he can also be a young man who had to deal with a losing his eye, a neglectful father, a mother who takes on a lot and probably projects a lot onto him bc he is so dutiful and kind to her, and having unique sibling relationships. And that does not even mention the possible piety or the strained relationship with intimacy he may have. I do think a lot of writers on here know and understand show Aemond but maybe choose to paint a prettier picture bc why not. Like I don’t plan on writing Aemond as a terrible father or husband in everything I do. I have some stuff in the works that is the opposite actually. He can be a lot thinks at once bc most people are. You just have to pick your threshold of what you can tolerate, irl and when you engage with media.

As for how I feel about show Aemond. I like him. I wouldn’t take the time to write about him if I didn’t. There are certain changes that I think the show did well, and I would argue and say his characterization is one of them. It also doesn’t hurt that ewan plays him extremely well. Older aemond could have fell flat if they did not have someone as talented playing him. So much of that charisma is not the text, it’s ewan acting his ass off. I’d say that’s the case for all the Hightower/targ kids. Phia, Tom, and ewan did the best with what they got, especially Tom and phia

[wyldblunt]

Have a lot this time because I am chewing on these ocs when I'm not thinking of my own XD ~🌸Chrysallus

50 for Bowyn

42 and 43 for Glyn

39 for both Merrit and Lorelei

10 for Alan

18 for Clooney

29 for Callas

36 for Lisk

oooh, thank you for all these, this is a bunch of good ones!!! (for the ones abt marina's characters i've either consulted him, or it's something he's already written out in rps before :) )

50. Do they have original characters of their own?

yes, actually!! in a few different ways... before meeting rhys, bowyn's main source of income is con jobs. they have a looot of fun planning out their cons and they like to have entire storylines and put a lot of thought into their roles (heavy inspiration from the character stephen in 'the brothers bloom,' btw), so i would say the roles they dream up for their cons count as ocs. they don't go as far as method acting for these stunts, but they do take it pretty seriously, and they end up caring about the 'narrative' of the con landing as much as they do about the money.

once they meet rhys, bowyn ends up... kind-of-sort-of "going straight"...? not for moral reasons but bc they have, uh, A LOT of debt and they've made a lot of enemies and they're sick of having to dodge around and avoid certain parts of tyria etc etc... when they were alone it wasn't an issue, but now they want to be able to travel around with rhys without worrying about it. so they start trying to kind of clean up their act and get their shit in order, and they pivot back towards regular acting and eventually towards writing plays of their own! a lot of their work is romanticized political stuff focused on sylvari history + current events, but they gleefully bastardize everything so much that frankly everyone whose image they're exploiting might as well be their ocs. typing this out is making me realize that i think bowyn and snargle goldclaw and probably besties

42. If they have siblings, do they like any of them? Would they rather be an only child?

glyndwr has a sister -- farmer, my friend finn's commander! they weren't born at a similar time or anything, it's one of those sylvari chosen-family bonds that developed naturally over the course of their friendship.

glyn is actually startlingly warm with her (though in this case "warm" means "not actively unpleasant." but still, startling) and people who watch them interact are usually pretty taken aback by it. farmer can do stuff that would get anyone else's head bitten off, and glyn will mostly shrug it off without complaint. she's also the main reason glyn and caithe have kind of come to an unsteady, chilly truce -- they both tolerate each other for farmer's sake.

he loves her a lot. she unlocks a really soft, tender spot in him that most other people don't have access to -- i think farmer gets to see a part of glyn that even his other closest and most loved people, like merrit and alan and canach, never see.

(one more farmer fun fact: she regularly brings glyn random rocks and leaves and sticks as gifts. glyndwr pretends that he throws these things away but in reality a hidden triple-locked drawer of his desk has carefully organized albums/boxes where he keeps every single one of them.)

43. What do they think is their worst quality? What is their actual worst quality?

if you ASKED him, glyn would snap at you for even daring to HAVE a question like that. obviously he is impenetrable. there are no weaknesses. there are no flaws. who the hell do you think you ARE, to even BROACH the SUGGESTION of criticism like that. glyndwr thinks that if you want to have the right to imply there is anything wrong with him you should have to be able to kill him. and good luck with that.

as for what he actually thinks... i don't know that glyn actually lets himself dwell on the idea that he has a "worst quality" so much as, like, he's never ever convinced anything about himself is enough. as confident and self-assured as he is, he's also constantly dissatisfied with where he's at, and his mind is always darting to the next thing he can do to "improve" (which usually has nothing to do with actually becoming a better or happier person and is more about being More Lethal and Efficient.) he doesn't ever SAY he dislikes anything about himself, but he also never sees fit to actually celebrate anything about himself, either, other than swinging his weight around for the sake of asserting his authority over other people.

and, of course -- his actual worst quality is his ego/pride. it's the source of all his other distinct flaws and is the number one thing that prevents him from being honest with himself and with others, and the thing that most often gets in the way of him making the right choices.

39. Can they drive? What vehicles are they licensed to operate?

as in actual vehicles? noooooo. i think merrit could figure a vehicle (like a charr tank or a skiff or whatever) in a pinch, but he'd hate every second of it and potentially psych himself out bad enough to make a mistake. lorelei would be an absolute disaster no matter what (and would bring none of merrit's well-earned caution along with them.)

HOWEVER, the two of them are very proficient with mounts!! merrit particularly has a way with raptors and is really quick on them -- he often is the one sent out when urgent messages too sensitive for pigeons/communicators need to cover a lot of ground. lorelei just loves all mounts in a standard ranger-animal-companion way. together the two of them spend a Lot of time frolicking around on their mounts, including racing each other!

10. How do they decorate their living space?

alan is all about comfort and opulence. gentle lighting, nice smells, soft seating, gauzy dreamy decorations like sheer drapery and shimmery fabrics. he's dabbled in shaping, and while he's not particularly fast, he can eventually coax together a pretty lovely little space from surrounding plantlife wherever he goes, and if he settles somewhere for long enough he'll eventually end up embellishing it with flowers and vines. (for example, his quarters in the vigil keep started out pretty basic, but over time he's built out an entire homegrown balcony/terrace.) he loves entertaining and showing hospitality to others, and he'll usually always have a few lush fruit plates/platters of cheese and nuts/pitchers of wine laying around at the ready. there's always a vague sense of "how did you know i liked [insert specific refreshment]/how did you have all this ready so quickly???" in a way that is flattering but also... maybe a little weird?

18. What was their worst injury?

clooney had a pretty close call, from combined issues of Lacerations and Blood Loss + Nearly Drowned + All The Gore (Even If Plant Gore) In The Water While You Nearly Drowned Attracted A Bunch Of Sharks, while trying to have insane tipsy sex with a largos. he learned absolutely nothing from this experience and would do it again in a heartbeat, though luckily another opportunity has not presented itself

29. What video game would appeal to them the best?

callas would looooove the sims. but what i mean by that is callas would love to stick sims in the pool and then delete the ladder, and to set sims on fire, and to build sims into little windowless boxes and watch them go crazy and starve to death, etc etc. also all of these sims would be modeled after people who have mildly annoyed her in real life but i figured that was probably implied

36. Do they wear makeup regularly? If they don’t, would they consider wearing any?

if mud and blood and campfire soot count as 'makeup,' then yes, lisk is smearing that crap all over her face pretty regularly

[ideas-on-paper]

Gamescom 2024 résumé

It’s that time of the year again when Gamescom has come to an end after 5 intense days of playing Steam demos, and after sobering up from my "gaming beano", it's finally time for me to collect my own thoughts - or, at least that’s been my usual experience of it in the past few years (I haven’t been there in person since 2019). While I did my “mini reviews” for indie games that I tried out on Mastodon, I’ve decided to publish my general résumé on Tumblr this year, since I have quite a few thoughts that I wanted to take the time to address in detail (and frankly, I just didn’t want to put up with Mastodon’s character limit and a mile-long thread of posts). So, without further ado, here are my impressions of Gamescom 2024.

First off, let's start at the beginning: Opening Night Live. My opinion on this year's ONL is essentially the same as the previous years: pretty okay. I should mention, however, that I don't really care about modern triple-A gaming - the stacks upon stacks of open world graphic marvels with a maximum of uninspired game design just bore me to death.

The only thing that could've made this showcase potentially interesting to me would've been an announcement of the Lies of P DLC - however, since Neowiz wasn't even among the exhibitors, any hope I had for that deflated before Gamescom even started. (It's strange, actually - Gamescom would have been the opportunity to announce it if they're sticking with the release window of late 2024.)

One good thing that ONL did though was reminding me to check out Ara: History Untold. I was already intrigued by it when I heard about it during last year's Gamescom, and since the game will release soon in September, they finally showed some more extensive gameplay. It's strange that despite being such a big strategy fan, I've never played a Civ game before (except the Nintendo DS variant I had as a child where I lost horribly due to trying to play the game as a pacifist), but I'm actually very tempted to give this one a shot - a grand strategy game with environments rendered in an amount of detail comparable to Anno sounds really great. (One of my favorite things when I was playing Anno 1503 as a child was to stop for a brief moment and just look at everything that was going on.)

Also, I'm really intrigued by the feature that you can create your own leaders. I used to say “the moment I'll pick up a grand strategy game is when I'll be able to play as Vercingetorix and absolutely blow Caesar to kingdom come” - and even if Vercingetorix isn't in the game by standard, I can simply create him. I kid you not when I say that I could cry every time when I think about how the Gallic Wars were essentially just instigated by one person to gain political power and money - Rome itself wasn’t even interested in conquering Gaul, and Caesar had enough enemies in Rome who would’ve loved to see him fail in his self-staged glory campaign. A Gallic victory might have even inspired other peoples and nations to push back against Roman expansion and Romanization, leading to a more diverse European legacy as a whole (fun fact, btw: a lot of “Roman” inventions were actually just taken over from other cultures). Now, this is an alternate reality that I would love to see - plus, I’m always open to bullying some Romans. Who knows, if I’m really getting to rewrite history, maybe Carthage can join in the fun too. (Bring me those elephants, Hannibal!)

Since I've been a bit confused that they chose Nefertiti over Hatshepsut as an Egyptian leader*, I would love to play a campaign as her, too - the, according to James Henry Breasted, “first great woman in history of whom we are informed”. Not only that, her rule was so successful (especially in regards to trading and construction projects) that the patriarchal authorities of Egypt saw their worldview threatened, and because they couldn't have any records of an actually competent woman, they went out and erased her name on almost all of her monuments so she was basically forgotten by history for a long time. Well, I'd love to change that - as usual, though, I will wait what the reviews for Ara are going to be like, and maybe wait a little more until I can snatch the game at a good price.

*It's not that I'm unhappy with Nefertiti as a choice, I'm just a little surprised they wouldn't choose Hatshepsut in the light of her achievements. It’s also a little baffling that they announce Nefertiti as “pharaoh of Egypt” when she was just Great Royal Wife (albeit a very influential one) and Hatshepsut literally held the position of pharaoh. (There are theories Nefertiti ruled briefly after her husband died, though this is a matter of debate.) Also, tiny detail, but that Nefertiti starts out with Waset (aka Thebes) as a capital is hilarious to me, since she and Akhenaten demonstratively left Waset to establish Amarna as the new capital during their reign.

One novelty this year was the German Indie Showcase (“Deutsche Indie Showcase”), which took place about one hour before Opening Night Live and focused on upcoming indie games from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Although a lot of them weren’t really “world premieres” in the sense of the word - more like new trailers for already announced titles or new content releases/updates - I still found it way more interesting and entertaining to watch than ONL, in no small thanks to the commentary by German YouTubers Gronkh (whom I’ve been a long-time fan of) and PhunkRoyal.

Speaking of which, some people may know Gronkh as one of the “regular guests” of Gamescom, but this year, he actually didn’t make an appearance at the fair. This is something he announced last year, after he realized that more and more influencers who had nothing to do with gaming tried to use Gamescom as a means to gain publicity. Because of this, Gamescom was increasingly criticized for turning more and more into an “influencer convention” in the past years, which led to Gronkh clearly positioning himself and saying “I don’t want Gamescom to exclusively become an influencer event, and I don’t want my presence to divert attention from what’s supposed to be the main attraction: the games”. As a consequence, Gronkh announced he wasn’t going to be at Gamescom 2024 and instead would organize smaller events for his community. I think this is actually a very commendable move, and that he uses his range to give more visibility to local indie games is something I appreciate all the more.

The German Indie Showcase itself was hosted independently of Gamescom, featuring no third-party advertisements, show acts, or any other useless knick-knack. This is a development that I welcome a lot, not only that we get a special event with a spotlight on local developers, but also that the showcase focuses on what it’s actually about: the games.

After catching up on some of the other showcases after Gamescom (because I was too preoccupied to watch them live), one nice surprise for me was Planet Coaster 2, which I didn’t even know about before seeing the trailer (for some reason, the announcement about a month ago just completely flew over my head ^^'). Frontier Developments took some inspiration from Roller Coaster Tycoon 3's "Soaked!" expansion this time, adding water attractions as the brand-new feature. I would be interested in checking it out if I didn't know I'm 100% going to get stuck again trying to make everything as pretty as possible, which is exactly why I never got very far in Planet Coaster 1. xD

Meanwhile, in my opinion, the indie game division had a lot more interesting titles to offer. Same as last year, I checked out a selection of 20 Steam demos from Indie Arena Booth during Gamescom, plus 4 I already played preliminary. Out of the 24 games I tried out in total, my highlights were:

Moses & Plato - Last Train to Clawville

Songs of Silence

Closer the Distance

Winter Burrow

Goodbye Seoul

Steel Seed

30 Birds

Once Upon a Rogue's Tale

Awaken - Astral Blade

Bloodless

I want to thank all the devs who provided online demos of their games for this wonderful experience - the indie games are what I’m looking forward to the most every Gamescom, and I had tons of fun checking out all the awesome demos, even those that didn’t make it into the top 10. If you’d like to read my full thoughts on all the demos I played, here are my review threads from Mastodon:

Preliminary/New in August

Day 1: Strategy

Day 2: Detective, point & click, visual novels

Day 3: Action, platformers, metroidvanias

Day 4: Puzzle

Day 5: Sim, story, cozy games

In general, I had the impression that way more indie developers provided demos of their games than last year, and some even held special events in celebration. Awaken - Astral Blade, for instance, had a Gamescom Special Demo (it was essentially just a slightly more polished version of the normal demo, but it’s still nice the devs used this opportunity to show everyone how things are coming along) and Goodbye Seoul held a simultaneous Steam giveaway event.

Other games from Hall 10.2 had playable Steam demos as well, including Paws and Leaves - A Thracian Tale, Reka, and We Harvest Shadows. Even some bigger developers followed the trend, with Krafton providing a Steam demo for inZoi’s character editor.

Given that more possibilities to take part in Gamescom online was one of my biggest wishes last year (due to the online section diminishing somewhat after the Covid years were over), I am especially heartened by this development. Due to chronic illness, it has become increasingly difficult for me to travel to Gamescom myself (not to mention the noise level and crowds, which were always a challenge for me as a neurodiverse person), and it’s so great that people who can’t visit Gamescom in person for whatever reason also get opportunities to take part in it. Also, since more accessibility was a huge topic this year, I think online presence can also be used to further improve on that - and since Gamescom 2024 set a new record in regards to online reach with 310 million digital accesses, this development will hopefully continue.

Finally, I’d like to make a brief comment on this year’s “motto” of Gamescom as formulated by the organizers: One of the guiding principles was “games foster democracy”, which, understandably, has caused quite a bit of confusion among some commenters. One German journalist even humorously remarked: “As long as I haven’t formed a conclusive opinion on that, I’d rather rely on the Federal Constitutional Court than Candy Crush Saga.”

While I wouldn’t make a general claim that video games foster democracy, I would like to add that games can foster diversity. If we have a diverse range of games made by a diverse range of people - such as we see in Indie Arena Booth - it can lead to more diversity in the medium, which in turn can increase open-mindedness among the people who consume it, and thus foster democratic values.

Overall, the impression Gamescom 2024 left me with is a very positive one, and I think there were a lot of steps in the right direction.

What’s your opinion on Gamescom 2024? Do you have anything you’d like to add? Feel free to share your own thoughts!