#i wanna explore both of them in terms of characterization and also just them interacting!

[gothsuguru]

is there such a thing as TOO much fluff & romance 🤨

[alevolpe]

So I just read your HCs, and I love how you characterized Ami as having autism. She was always my favorite character-- we even share a birthday-- and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who sees her as being on the autism spectrum.

I'm also not ashamed to admit that I teared up a little reading what happened to Luna. I love the relationship Ami and Luna have, both in the actual show and in your headcanon.

Thank you so much!!

I love that more people are open to the autistic Ami hc now. It was always a bit of a no brainer to me, but I understand why some people pushed the idea away.

That said I love her. I've mentioned before that even back a year ago Ami was prob my 4th or 5th fav, but getting to draw her and write her more and more (and a bit of Makoami magic lol) she has srly grown on me. She's still not my fav, Mako my beloved, but she has a serious soft spot in my heart, I go back to her a lot for comfort.

So I'm always so super happy when people tell me they like my characterization of Ami.💙

Her and Luna's relationship is something I srly wanna explore more.

I see Ami as an outcast, but not really cause her peers actively dislike her, but cause Ami has chosen to distance herself from them, deciding to focus on her studies and academics instead.

This lack of interaction with people her own age has made it difficult for her to relate with them, being actually much easier to interact with people older than her (since that level of informality is never broken and that's where Ami is at her most comfortable).

I see Luna as a middle-aged woman at least and for her, connecting with Ami was easy since the beginning, even if it took her a bit for Ami to warm up to the idea of this 'new reality'. Ami does not want to do this. She said it to Luna since the beginning, initially refusing to aid her and turning her back on Luna's offer to become a senshi.

Though Luna stuck around, not only cause this is her mission, but also because she saw a loneliness within Ami (despite Luna's mission being JUST to reawaken the senshi, she couldn't overcome her maternal instincts). Ami is initially perplexed by this, but slowly starts to warm up to Luna, enjoying her company, her talks, her advice, her compliments, affirmations..

I can see a conflict within Luna at this point, coming to care about this girl, but feeling extremely guilty about her behavior, being very easy to be read as, well, grooming, for a lack of a better term. Tho Luna genuinely cares.

I think multiple factors influenced Ami to finally try being a senshi a go. Seeing someone being attacked by monster (which had Ami initially just simply ran away from it, Ami's but a simple human, powers or not, she's scared), an odd sense of responsibility put on her (Ami being an extreme people pleaser, if an authority entaskes her with something, she feels a sense of duty and drive to make the person proud), but ultimately I think the major factor was Luna.

Luna is the primary reason Ami became a senshi (refresher to the join order of the girls in my AU: Ami awakens first with Luna, then Rei joins, then Usagi). It's not easy, in fact it puts a severe strain on her, both physically and mentally, but Ami pushes through, for Luna. Eventually made easier (and harder in some ways) by the avdent of Rei joining the team.

Loosing Luna is something that will keep resonating withAmi throughout the series. It's like loosing a second mother, especially since Saeko has been fairly absent through her life (though Saeko will be more present, suspecting something is up with her daughter and she will genuinely try to "mother", Saeko is a disaster, in many ways more than Ami herself).

She will start asking herself why she is even doing this anymore, since Luna's not here, who is she even fighting for anymore? It's a very selfish question, she's aware, but I think it's a form of coping from her part.

Despite asking such a question constantly, she never makes to leave, she would never, she knows she can't, cause she cares too much about her friends. She knows she's now fighting for them too, but this would be the first time such thought would be a conscious reflection in her mind, having had Luna be such a central staple on her mind for so long.

Unknowingly, Luna had eased her among loving peers. It was never all easy, they had fights and they will have more, but Ami finally belongs. It's a bitter sweet feeling for her.

Ami loves her team.

At this point, she cares so much about Usagi, being the first to show her how to "friend". Starting as just an odd aloof girl that joined her team, to seeing her as a girl who always strives to make others happy. Bringing cheerfulness into team since the very first day, something that Ami became so accustomed to, she would never realize how much she would miss it til having to go back to an empty apartment, color seeming to drain along the walls in the lack of her presence. A simple genuine smile, something that seems so simple, yet so rare, Ami cherishes it so dearly.

And Rei.. Rei's complicated, she likes to make herself as such. Ever since the beginning, Rei seemed cold, refusing Luna's offer like Ami had done prior. Though this time, Luna just seemed to run in a wall every time she went to the temple. Talks, explanations, pleads, bargains, nothing seemed to work.

"I can talk to her if you'd like"

She really didn't want to, but for Luna, she will. The talk went as well as you expected it, an incredibly frustrated Rei trying to deal with recent accusations of her temple attracting mysterious attacks on students. Despite that, Rei didn't try to physically ward off Ami like she did with Luna many times (Luna is still pretty scared of that broom).

"Did that dumb cat send you? Listen, I have a job to do here, so you either get to the point or you get out of my way."

...

"So?"

"My name is Ami, Ami Mizuno" offering her hand to Rei to shake.

...

*Sigh*, Rei unashamedly pinching her nose in frustration. "If I shake your hand will you tell that dumb cat to-"

"Luna"

"What?"

"Her name is Luna"

"Yes! I know her name! She's been harrassing me in my own house for the last 2 weeks! Alright, listen. I don't know what kind of program you guys are a part of and I have no interest to know, but let me put this into clear terms so that maybe an actual 'person' might understand this better than a stupid cat. NO! Now scram, I'm busy!"

.. "..." "ok" bowing and turning to leave.

That night, something akin to guilt seemed to boil within a restless Rei Hino. She knew it wasn't due to how she confronted the girl, she had all rights to be angry! Tho a seemingly related vision of the girl with blue hair, lying perfectly still in a pool of what seemed to be her own blood stuck with her.

Rei will tell herself that she joined the team to get Luna to stop harrassing her and that the team NEEDS her. Like, come on, how is such a team meant to go on without the grandiose Rei Hino leading them to victory?! Earth would have no shot. HA!

Rei would never admit part of the reason she did join, was Ami, seeing the girl get hurt, or possibly killed, haunted her. She blamed Luna for this. Ami should've never been a part of this. Ami's weaker, almost fragile combat figure seemed like a cruel joke to Rei. Seeing the girl even shivering from her powers (Ami's not immune to her own powers), the small girl curled up into a ball in a desperate attempt to keep herself warm in a relatively cool night. With a loud sigh and exaggerated movements, Mars made to cup Mercury's hands.

Ami, being obviously perplexed and put off by this, but almost too weak to pull back, finding comfort in her companion's warmth after having to endure numerous and stressful post-fight recory sessions with nothing but the comfort of helpless Luna offering her kind words of encouragement.

It would take a while for both Ami and Rei to fully come to terms to the idea that they were 'friends'. When the newly recruited Usagi asked, Ami had no answer ready, which is extremely unusual of her. 'Friends? Are me and Rei friends? We're companions, teammates, we never really hang out outside of missions or just studying silently at the temple', though Ami enjoyed her presence. Except when Rei was needlessly rude to Luna, Ami enjoyed being around her. It didn't feel quite as lonely, even if they never openly spoke about their lives, hobbies, families... 'I guess we're not friends'.

Ami hated being so logical at times, but she couldn't help it.

Throughout the season and into season 2, this relationship between the two grew stronger, especially due to the 'Usagi' phenomenon LOL. Making it so effortless to bridge the two into more intimate moments outside of uniform. A mission to check on an amusement park became a fond memory for Ami. A picture taken of the 3, looking so much like the pictures she'd see of her school piers sharing among each other of their 'hangouts'. Funny how that worked.

Rei and Ami's friendship would def have its highs and lows, mostly stemming from Luna and how differently each girl would see her. Ami being very capable of holding a grudge toward Rei's treatment of her. All of it reaching a terrible boiling point at the moment of Luna's death and discovering about Rei vision. Again, Ami was absolutely blinded by rage and grief. She loved Rei. Rei's no murderer, but she let her primal emotions take over and with the events of season 2 after that, the two never got a moment to grief or a moment to reconcile. Rei still holding a massive grudge toward Ami, refusing to even speak to her outside of sailor business, while Ami is eaten by grief and guilt.

Mako being her main source of comfort at this point (Usagi tries, but she also has her own demons to fight still). The previously mostly unknown, if nice, tall girl that joined her team late, seeming to take steps to take care of a broken Ami, offering support, food, and and a shoulder to cry on.

Luna's influence will be felt by the team and not forgotten. Ami especially will carry her momery forever.

Idek why I wrote ell this LOL. I feel inspired at times , srry 😅.

Thank you for the ask <3.

[joyandthephantoms]

oh man i want to know them alllll tbh but how about the first 4 and the last 4?? if that's not too many lmao

aaaa thank you B! you're the best :)

from these

1. what's the fic you're most proud of?

Ooooh I wanna say the Luke vs possessed Nick guitar battle, just mistakes with different names. It took me a long time to get it written exactly how I wanted it, but I feel like I did ultimately accomplish that, and I'm really proud of both the things that I consider my standard strengths (Luke POV/Characterization, Nick, exploration of complex feelings, etc) and the parts of it that were much bigger challenges for me (Caleb's voice, getting the action and pacing right, writing more than 2k in one fic lol). Genuinely I think it's the best thing I've ever written and near-perfect by the standards I tend to apply to my work.

2. what's a fic that took you to an emotional/dark/hard place?

So the realest answer to this is something I never really published, (though I did send it to a couple of friends, and B you're welcome to DM me if you wanna read it), which is some Luke angst/juke hurtcomfort building off of "you said 'we're cuffed to the past,' you found the key."

In terms of things I've actually posted, the hardest one was the Nick & Carrie sickfic; a lot of what I was writing about their relationship hit pretty close to some feelings about an ex-friend of mine.

I was writing both of those fics at the same time, and somewhere in the middle of that decided to temporarily ban myself from writing any Luke or NIck angst, which I think was a good call but did briefly leave me going "okay . . . wtf do I do with myself then" lmao

3. what fic are you emotionally attached to?

Literally all of them, most of my writing is very solidly rooted in my own feelings and it all matters to me, but for now I'm specifically gonna say make a wish and hold it tight. It's not even 400 words lol, but that specific warm feeling of people coming home is really important to me and applying it to Willie is also important and it reminds me of the people I currently come home to and the people I'm looking forward to coming home to in the future <3

4. what fic of your own do you read for comfort?

A bunch of them honestly, but probably to find someone you're safe with (nickjulie studio studying) more than anything, because I specifically wrote that one because I'd had a terrible week and wanted a. to make something nice for myself and b. to thank Lilly for being there for me through it, and like . . . it worked! mission accomplished, I feel better <33

17. What’s the best engagement/interaction/feedback you’ve received from someone who’s read your work?

People are waaayyy too nice to me for me to be able to pick out one single thing; I hope everyone who has Ever said something nice or encouraging to me knows I absolutely took it to heart and it means the whole world to me.

But to highlight one specific thing: @ri-jane said in a comment that the guitar battle fic was a "compelling and compassionate piece and beautifully told" and I will never ever be over that because that's always the Entire goal, like what a lovely and kind and succinct way to summarize everything I'm ever trying to do, and to tell me I'm succeeding at it?? I'll cry

18. Do you only write when you’re inspired, or do you try and sit down at specific times and write no matter what?

lol I'm very solidly an "only when I feel like it" person. tons of respect to people who will write even when they don't feel it, and I absolutely see the value in that, but for me personally, writing is a thing I do for fun, and it stops being fun when I try to Make myself do it.

19. If you could write an ideal fic, what would it include?

This one's tricky and I'm not even sure this quite answers the questions asked, but my priorities, roughly in order, are that it does a good job expressing the idea/feeling I'm trying to articulate, that it's in-character, it flows well, and the language is pretty (more "high hopes tiptoes" shit, you know?). If I can hit all of those things in one fic that's amazing and ideal. I'd also love to write the girls more often, I'm not always as confident with portraying them but they are so important to me <3

20. What’s the greatest gift you’ve gotten from your writing?

oh god. I think just having something in my life that lets me feel like I'm putting something meaningful into the world is really really important to me. Not everything I write has to be life-changing or even matter very much but some of it does matter, I think, and that means a lot on a personal level--that I spend my life, like, collecting up pieces of art and poetry and stories that resonate with me and affect me and are worth carrying in my heart, and that I'm not an artist or a poet or a Serious Writer but I still get a chance to put something out there and contribute a tiny little piece to other people's heart-collages . . . it's so much.

[frienderbender]

(Metalrat) I’m required to ask about Pickles or Magnus for the character breakdown game. XD Hope work goes well today! :)

i can do both! :] and thank you, work was ok today. better than last week anyway.

ill put it under a cut since its two characters and it will get a little long haha

PICKLES

How I feel about this character: i love pickles sm i think hes such an essential character not just in terms of being the drummer but really with his personality. i love how the others confide in him and i just love how hes arguably the most emotionally intelligent comparatively. just a cool dude. if i had to pick one member to hang out with, it would be him

All the people I ship romantically with this character: as ive said, im really casual about shipping in general and will probably enjoy just about whatever with him, but i do like pickles and nathan, and if i had to pick a favorite charles/band member ship, it would probably be him and pickles? maybe? that said, i feel like my fave pickles relationship is still him and magnus?? but preklok, obviously. i dont think they would ever fully reconcile or get back together, and i really enjoy the dynamic of them as exes. that said...i do still find myself feeling a little warm when i think about them being sweet and madly in love before everything went down.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: LOVE pickles and tokis friendship. wonderful. fantastic. perfect. i think toki took to pickles really early on and often went to him for advice or comfort. good stuff.

My unpopular opinion about this character: uhhhhhhh i dunno. i cant say ive really seen anything so often that rubs me the wrong way when it comes to like, characterization or whatever. ive definitely read some fics here or there where i was kinda iffy on some stuff, but in general i cant say theres anything big that comes to mind. i feel like people seem to be generally on the same page with him, which is interesting

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i really wish we got to see pickles during his snb days! like actually during the height of their popularity yknow?? i wanna see the band perform back in the 80s and all that. also i really would like to see more family stuff, but that goes for everyone tbh...maybe see him when he ran away and all that. ALSO. ALSO. i NEED to see him interact with his nephew its important.

pickles just has so much to him and i just wanna explore it all!! hes such a fantastic character

--

MAGNUS

How I feel about this character: i love you grandpa. nah but fr though i think magnus has so much potential, i think hes fascinating

All the people I ship romantically with this character: like i said, him and pickles. man. just super interesting. i think him and mma is really funny too but like in a one-sided "so what are you doing after this ;)" way that ends with mma just impaling him yknow. purely for comedic purposes lmao

My non-romantic OTP for this character: man i wouldve done anything to see him and toki actually hang out. on my ever growing list of episode ideas ive written, at the top is an episode of him and toki hanging out at mordhaus and the rest of the members just trying to avoid him lol

My unpopular opinion about this character: uhhh idk i think hes both a goofy villain and also deserving of more analysis? if that makes sense? i think being both is possible; i know a lot of my faves from other things fit into that exact box. i also think there was a time when the original dethklok really did love each other. i think magnus really did care about them. he wouldnt still have that photo if he didnt, right?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: more screen time...please.....and my absolute dream episode would be a whole episode about them before they were famous, so magnus would be there too. give it to me now‼️‼️

i just really enjoy magnus and he has one of my favorite character designs. just deserved more to him i think! i feel like all the stuff was there to do more but we didnt get that and its a shame! maybe he will reappear in the new movie, but im not getting my hopes up haha

[eri-blogs-life]

Tales of Vesperia is a game about how bitcoin is bad

Okay, not really. But kind of. Hear me out

Now, this write-up is gonna be full of spoilers, I just love the Tales of series and always feel a lot when I finish playing one, so I wanna get my thoughts down on “paper”. If you wanna know my overall thoughts on the game in a spoiler-free way, here they are: It’s really good and I liked it a lot

So, the Tales of series has always held a special place in my heart. I played Tales of Symphonia when I was in middle school and high school, and I played Tales of Symphonia a LOT during that time. Eventually I found Tales of the Abyss on the 3ds, and I also played Zestiria on PC. When I heard Tales of Vesperia was getting an enhanced port to the switch, I was so excited!! When it came out, I picked it up right away and played it... But after about the first major story arc, I set it aside to play something else and didn’t return to it for awhile. But, finally, a couple weeks ago I got back into a kick of playing big RPGs again, and Tales of Vesperia was a perfect candidate! So I marathoned it over the last like 2 weeks.

Story: Story is usually the core of a Tales of game. They’re big, they’re grand, and they usually have some kind of stance to take on an issue with society as a whole. Plus they’re called Tales. That’s literally just story.

Tales of Vesperia’s story was good. But, at least to me, it fell a little flat later on. Act 1 felt really strong as a standalone piece, but then it felt like the game’s theming started falling apart a little as it progressed, switching from an individual story about our protagonists to a grander story about the world. I don’t think the latter parts were bad, necessarily, but from Act 1 I felt the game was going to have a much more personal story when it ended up becoming a much more worldly story.

The game doesn’t break itself into “Acts”, this is just a way I’ve been thinking of the game myself. That breaks down into this sort of story summary:

Act 1, Introduction: Yuri leaves his home because their aque blastia got stolen and they need to get it back. Along the way, he has to make the decision that in order to deal with those who the law cannot touch, he has to become a vigilante, killing corupt politicians and other figures himself rather than letting the law attempt (and usually fail) to reach them. Act 1 ends with Yuri accepting that he can’t necessarily do all the vigilante work on his own and he joins up with Karol and Judith to form the guild Brave Vesperia.

Act 2, The Buildup: With Princess Estellise as their first client, Brave Vesperia is dragged all over the world on a quest to learn more about Estelle’s family history. Eventually, we learn that the ancient people awoke a dangerous monster called the Adephagos, and it has the potential to be reawoken if the world continues to use blastia (a technology in the Vesperia setting). As Act 2 wraps up, Commandant Alexei and his swarms of unquestioning soldiers activate an ancient weapon so Alexei can rule the world. But oops! It’s not a weapon, it was a barrier meant to keep the Adephagos out of the world. Alexei is killed.

Act 3, The FInale: With the Adephagos threatening the world, Brave Vesperia has to find some way for the people of the world to get by without access to blastia, as even if the Adephagos is killed, continued use of blastia will cause the world’s aer to go out of control and create a new Adephagos. The party finds a solution in the ability to turn ancient creatures known as Entelexaia into Spirits, elemental creatures that have the ability to manipulate and preserve the world’s aer, keeping it from going out of control. Meanwhile, a figure called Duke has determined that the best solution is actual to kill all humanity, because they will always find a way to pollute the world’s aer or in some way ruin the natural world. In the end, the party defeats Duke, and Duke decides to actually help the party stop the Adephagos in the end, allowing for humanity to live on and find new ways of surviving without the blastia technology they have relied on for so long.

So... I felt like the game really neatly fit into this three act structure, but each Act feels like its own distinct story, with different themes throughout, rather than a single unified story. Act 1 focused on trying to answer the question of “How do you deal with people who the law can’t touch?”. Act 2 focused on the question of Is it okay to blindly follow a charismatic imperialist leader? And Act 3 focused a lot on the question of How do we deal with our own technology causing problems with the natural world? So, it felt disconnected to me

The game���s “Characteristic Genre Name” is “Enforcing One’s ‘Justice’ RPG”. So presumably the game’s story should have a theme of enforcing one’s justice. And Act 1 focuses heavily on that with our main protagonist Yuri. I think an argument could be made that Act 3 focuses on that with the duel between Brave Vesperia and Duke showing the two sides trying to fight for their own “justice” in their view of how the world should be. Act 2 then feels a little disconnected, but I think an argument could be made that a lot of its focus is on Estelle learning to make decisions for herself rather than just be pulled along with whatever it is that other people put in her way, so she is learning to enforce her ‘justice’.

So, back to my catcher line at the top, no, Tales of Vesperia is not directly about bitcoin being bad. But it has a heavy focus in the latter parts about technology causing problems with the environment, in much the same way that our own technologies like bitcoin mining create pollution that causes our own air to be polluted. The Adephagos, being a creature that breaks through a barrier in the atmosphere when Terca Lumeiris’s aer is polluted, feels like a pretty dang good metaphor for global warming becoming a problem once our ozone barrier layer depleted as air pollution has increased on Earth. 

Characters: Tales games may be big on their stories, but the thing that really sells how good Tales of games are... it’s the characters. Tales games have really strong casts, and do a lot of optional characterization for the characters in ways that you really don’t see in any other JRPGs. Tales games give you the ability to watch Skits, which are just little dialogues the characters do, sometimes about some kind of story beat that just happened, but a lot of the time the Skits just focus on the characters interacting in some mundane way, and it really helps give you a stronger sense of who these characters are. And honestly, when it comes to a lot of Tales casts, there’s usually someone I feel pretty meh about. While I liked her story, Presea in Symphonia wasn’t very interested as a character to me, for example. But the main Vesperia cast is really strong and I really liked them all. So I just wanna talk briefly about each of them:

Yuri. The main character, the POV character for most of the game. Yuri starts out searching for a blastia and trying to bring a thief to justice, then becomes a vigilante killing corrupt politicians, then eventually becomes the leader of a guild whose stated goal is to enact justice and help people. Yuri was a really fun character to explore, even if I felt like a lot of his character development didn’t feel very strong after Act 1. 

Repede. The second character we’re introduced to, Repede is Yuri’s friend who also happens to be a dog. Or at least look like a dog. Repede doesn’t have much of a story going on, but god damn is he a dog. And has an alternate costume in the definitive edition that’s a 「J O J O   R E F E R E N C E」

Estelle. Princess Estellise is the driving point of a lot of the plot. She’s part of an ancient race of people who have magical powers without the need of blastia. But her people were mostly wiped out stopping the Adephagos a long time ago. She starts out as just this quiet little princess who’s trying to warn Flynn that people are hunting after him, but she really starts to grow to be her own person by the end.

Flynn. He is a knight, and struggles a lot with how to deal with those the law can’t touch, much like Yuri. Flynn and Yuri are very much foils of each other throughout the story. They’re old friends, and both tried to join the knights in order to change a corrupt system from within. But Yuri left the knights when they weren’t producing any results, becoming his vigilante self we know and love. But Flynn stayed in the knights, and between both of their opposite approaches to the world, they’re able to eventually change the world

Karol. The leader of Brave Vesperia, Karol is just a child. He starts out trying so, so hard to do cool things so he can impress people, but by the end he learns to work together with others to help people. And hey, that’s the coolest thing you can do.

Rita. A genius blastia researcher, Rita is integral to the plot, especially later on as it focuses more on the dangers of blastia. Rita has to come to terms with how the thing she loves above all else, blastia, might actually be hurting the world and shouldn’t be used.

Raven. Raven’s a neat character. He’s the classic Tales trope of the character who betrays you halfway through. In Act 2, it’s revealed that Raven is also the knight Schwann, and he’s been working both with your party, but also as a member of Alexei’s army. He has to deal with how he is just a pawn of Alexei, blindly following a characteristic imperial leader, and eventually he throws away his old identity as Schwann and becomes just Raven, a member of Brave Vesperia’s crew.

Judith. I love Judith. She’s all about destroying blastia. She knows they’re a problem, but doesn’t know why until joining up with Brave Vesperia and adventuring together for awhile. Like Rita, she’s gotta deal with a lack of purpose later on in the game, as once blastia are no longer used, her life goal of destroying blastia becomes pointless. She’s a really fun character, but I don’t know that I have the words to describe in what way.

Patty. She’s an interesting case. She’s the new character added in later updates to Vesperia, and wasn’t there in the original game. She starts out as an amnesiac who believes herself to be the granddaughter of the legendary pirate and outlaw, Aifread. But eventually it’s revealed that she is Aifread. And that brings up a lot of questions about why is she so young if she was a legendary and feared pirate captain? The optional late-game dungeon provides one explanation for this, in her having taking a sort of drug that allows one to extend their life, and the effects on humanity may be more drastic than just extending life. Patty’s a weird character. But, overall I’d say that I think they did a great job of incorporating her story into the overall Vesperia story, I think. Though oftentimes she feels very gimmicky and one-note, being all about pirate-y things and the sea. 

Gameplay: So how’s the game stack up, mechanically, to other games? Well, it’s got that great Tales style gameplay, a mix of RPG mechanics and a sort of 2.5-D fighter in its combat. And it’s noticable, being an evolution of the mechanics I loved in Symphonia that were expanded on in Abyss. Vesperia really feels good to play. 

One of my favorite things in the Tales series is how there’s usually this big cast of characters and you can have any of them be your player-controlled character. There’s usually like, your default character, Yuri in this case, that the game normally gives you control of. And Yuri was very fun to play as! But I also enjoyed trying out everyone else, and I put together a team that had me playing as Judith which was my treasure-hunting/gald-grinding team. I really liked Judith’s acrobatic high-flying combat style.

My Final Thoughts: Tales of Vesperia is really good. I think I’d rank it as my third-favorite Tales game that I’ve played so far, out of 5. So in terms of the Tales series, it’s middle of the road from my experiences so far I guess? But the Tales series is consistently above-average in my experience, so... Tldr it was a really fun experience and I’m glad I put the time into playing it.

[quilloftheclouds]

beep bop I’m an anon from writeblr and I’d like to know your favorite writeblrs? here’s a chance to give them a compliment to make their day. ☀️

hhhhhhhnnnnnnn I HAVE SO MANY BUT NOT ENOUGH ENERGY TO COMPLIMENT EVERYONE. But I’ve been wanting to make a post like this for a while, so thank you for the excuse! I’ll leave a list of an absolute ton of marvelous folks at the bottom, but here’s a few that I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to interact with more!! (In no particular order~ ^^)

@pens-swords-stuff ONE OF THE FIRST WRITEBLRS I FOLLOWED. Undine should be like… a staple of every writeblr’s follow list. This lovely has a friendliness and compassion that knows no bounds, hosts so many supportive writeblr events, has masterful writing that inspires awe, and has so much heckin’ good advice stuck in that there brain of hers that I dunno if she’s even human anymore.

@mvcreates Also one of the first on my following list! Mina has jaw-dropping gorgeous art and graphics, handles her writeblr like an elegant professional, has a poetic type of writing so deeply steeped with symbolism that it makes me faint it’s so good (and such a personal inspiration!! WOW I WISH I had an eighth the skill), is honestly one of the main blocks of writeblr’s foundation with how much she reblogs and reviews other people’s comments, and is just genuinely such a generally fantastic person!

@lady-redshield-writes Lady Red’s writing. I just. It’s indescribable how heckin’ stellar, amazing, gorgeous? Marvelous, wonderful, brilliant, INSPIRATIONAL it is. Lady Red your skills should be illegal what the heck??? STARS ABOVE I have learned SO MUCH from reading your writing, you convey character and environment and worldbuilding in such a fluid and engaging way it is just. Magnificent. Holy stars. AND IN ADDITION TO THAT. Lady Red is one of the biggest rebloggers of other people’s content in the community, and leaves the most bestest of thoughtful comments! This writeblr has literally been the reason behind why I found so many of my favourite wips~

@abalonetea I remember being afraid of interacting with Katie because I was so intimidated by her absolutely masterful manipulation of words and fonts and sentence structure and I just. I was so in awe of her ability to do so much, so well, that I actually didn’t start interacting with her until a fair length of time after I started my writeblr. ^^’ But stars am I glad I did. Not only? Is Katie’s writing and worldbuilding and art just gorgeous and breathtaking and thousands of other wonderful adjectives, but she’s??? Such a genuinely nice person??? The events she hosts are so lovely for the community, too!!

@bookenders 🌵 friend!! Gorgeous writing. Wonderful worldbuilding. Adorable and relatable and marvelously well developed characters. Absolutely amazing poetry and prose both. And such!! A fun and kind and friendly and lovely person to talk to!! Enders is on a bit of a hiatus at the current moment, but they have so much content already up that I highly recommend you take a peek at!

@livvywrites FUN FACT. I WAS ACTUALLY. SO INTIMIDATED BY THE VAST AMOUNT OF WORLDBUILDING AND DEEP LORE THAT YOU HAD FOR YOUR WIPS. THAT I didn’t interact for a good long while. Why. I dunno. I am so heckin’ thankful I did though. Beautiful writing, stellar characters (who I’m love too much), worldbuilding that is so heckin’ deep that Livvy must be spying on a parallel dimension or something because it’s just so amazingly well thought out. And such!! A wonderfully creative, brilliant, kindhearted soul that is just so genuinely fun to chat with~

@dove-actually I’ve only really recently been reading into Dove’s writing but! I can already tell that it is all spectacular. I heckin’!!! LOVE DOVE’S CHARACTERS SO MUCH. Her worldbuilding is absolutely GLORIOUS, her dialogue is hilarious and emotional both, it’s just!! So amazing!!! And that’s not mentioning anything about how fantabulously supportive this lovely is! Dove leaves the most thoughtful and caring comments, and is just such an inspirationally kind and delightful person. 💖

@dogwrites A brilliantly clever and creative writer who knows just perfectly how to tear your heart out and throw it to the wolves (shh puns). Dog’s writing is so chock full of glorious description and inspirational characterization and I just. I need to find time to read more of it ahhhhHHHHH. BUT IT’S SERIOUSLY SO GOOD. And Dog’s aesthetics and graphic edits are always beautiful and so wonderfully fitting, too, ahhhh. AND DOG ALWAYS LEAVES THE NICEST AND MOST IN-DEPTH COMMENTS HOLY STARS. Anyways. Go read Dog’s stuff. Yeah.

@ardawyn Oh my stars!!! SOPHIE’S DESCRIPTION. MAKES ME CRY IT’S SO VIVID AND GORGEOUS AND I CAN ALWAYS FEEL RIGHT LIKE I’M THERE. I love it so so much. And then!! Her characters are lovely, so full of personality and just!! Her writing style is just so elegant and beautiful to read and I just. I love her writing so much mate ahhh. AND THEN HER GRAPHICS???? [Insert ten page essay about why they’re so amazing here.] The colouring the textures the images the formats, how well they all fit. Her aesthetic edits are simply a dream. And that’s not even mentioning how SUPPORTIVE and KIND and FRIENDLY this lovely is!! Her comments give me LIFE. I loveeeee

ANYWAYS YEAH. That’s a lotta text and I wanna actually finish this at some point, so unfortunately that’s gonna be all for this time in terms of the longer comments. Sorry folks. ^^’ I still love all of you immensely, though. Here’s some more absolute inspirations to both me and I’m certain a whole huge part of the writeblr community!

@ditzysworld @tenacious-scripturient @waterfallwritings @milkyway-writes @roselinproductions @royalbounties @stardustscribes @sunlight-and-starskies @reeseweston @holotones @surroundedbypearls @erinnharper @llesbianwrites @radley-writes @vhum @half-explored @emdrabbles @evelyns-spilled-tea @cirianne @popovs @chauceryfairytales @eluari @beanenigma And many others I’m likely forgetting!

I know I don’t interact much with some of you (I just... love too many people’s stuff for the free time I have in a day >n

[slo-liveblog]

Witch’s Heart: Bonus Stage Final Thoughts

Hello hello! Honestly I can’t believe I finished Bonus Stage after all this time... took me quite a few months, oof. Many thanks to the handful of you that stuck around during all that, and to the few new people who popped in too! Hope you’ve all been taking care of yourselves, and don’t mind the long post.

CHARACTERS

Claire: After finishing the first game, I didn’t know it was possible to love Claire even more. I was absolutely wrong. The way she took charge at the end was incredibly powerful and I’m so fucking proud of her, even if it’s sad as hell. I really really like how the game both criticizes and respects her unconditional empathy, I think there’s definitely room for both conversations and they’re both incredibly fascinating. I do think she suffers from some of the most writing pitfalls out of everyone, though. Like I said while playing, there’s really no reason given why she wouldn’t confide in Leon, or at least acknowledge that he’s likely the person there she can trust most. In addition, I found it really bizarre that Claire just... never tried to talk to Reynaldo or Sirius after learning about their pasts. Like, at all. I understand why the emphasis on Ashe was important, but it was jarring and kind of unsatisfying to see Claire act so uncharacteristically by not even really acknowledging them after their stories were over. It’s more of a story problem than a character problem though, I think, and I understand why it had to be that way especially considering the conclusions will touch on a lot of the missing pieces- I just wish there could’ve been more of a justification for it. The way her personality was explored through her interactions with everyone, and how other characters were depicted based on their reactions to her ideals, was incredible and I would die for her.

Ashe: Oh Ashe. Fuck Ashe. I do appreciate the depth given to his character, he’s definitely far more complex than I expected and kudos on that. I don’t really empathize with him as much as I do the other four mains, but I do think his writing is incredible and his relationships with Leon and Claire continue to be some of the most interesting to see play out, if not THE most interesting. Star shaped carrots man. Fucked up. Super excited to see how his dynamics with everyone continue, and he’s probably the character I’m the most interested to see make decisions going into these conclusions. His arc feels the most... unfinished, he’s never really reached any sort of closure at any point of the story so far and especially not bonus stage so it’ll be cool to see where he ends up.

Reynaldo: MY BOY. I’M SO FUCKING PROUD OF HIM... going into bonus stage my expectations for him were pretty much rock bottom from the moment I realized he didn’t have a single line in the opening scene outside of saying his name. Like, I kinda made my peace with the possibility that the writer just wasn’t that interested in developing him, and would rather spend time on the rest of the mains. But holy SHIT did he pull through in the second half of the game. The subtle but noticeable build to him deciding to side with Claire was so, so well done. I still wish there was a little more solidity to his characterization- I do have to reach way further to understand him than I do any of the other mains- but I think what we DID get for him was wonderful and god, I appreciate him so much. Definitely the character that improved the most for me from the first game to bonus stage. I can’t wait for his conclusion, here’s to hoping we do in fact get it this year. The way his similarities with Claire were set up makes me SO excited to see how their relationship develops when it’s actually the focus, and how he’ll be fleshed out more in general so we can finally have a clearer picture. Because to be honest, as much as I like the development he was given in bonus stage... there’s still a LOT of gaps to fill in with him.

Sirius: continues to be the perfect human being 1000000/10

Leon: Sweet baby boy whose expressions always make me cry. Leon is still a character I’m sort of on the fence on. Like, he’s very well written and easy to sympathize with. But I realized I’m always far more interested in how OTHER characters react to HIM than the other way around, though. He’s not really a character I personally would find interesting in general, he’s a little simple for my tastes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not 100% invested in seeing him end up happy... eventually. Something tells me it might be a while.

Charlotte: I feel like Charlotte definitely got the short end of the stick in bonus stage, moreso than any other character. Her only memorable scenes that I can think of off the top of my head were when she told Leon he could kill everyone but Claire, when she thought about how Ashe probably can’t be saved, and when she reacted to Claire after the completion of Ashe’s backstory. None of those scenes even come close to hitting the same level of intrigue or emotion as the sparse Charlotte scenes had in the first game, even if that last one does have some interesting bits in it. I said at the end of the first game that we’d only really scratched the surface and I was interested to see more from her and, well, my opinion hasn’t changed. I don’t think there was much I would’ve wanted out of her here anyway unlike the boys, so I’m not especially disappointed. Just hoping we get more excellent Charlotte moments somewhere down the line.

Zizel: I would’ve liked Zizel’s deal to be... a bit more built upon, to be honest? I could just have missed things along the way, but her triumphant moment is a little harder to get in to when we know almost nothing about her or the way she thinks beyond stuff reveled about her in the same scene. I could definitely see that her siding with Claire was being foreshadowed, but I think there needed to be juuust a bit more characterization given to her for that particular development to have the impact it seemed to be going for. Still, it was a good moment, and I think it definitely made up for a lot of the sore lack of Zizel in both games. Can’t wait to see what she does from here.

Lime: Goddddd. Okay look, I still love Lime probably more than I reasonably should. She’s wonderful and I love her design and her personality and her backstory and her motivations but... yea she’s a very very bad person. Bonus stage did really make it clear that she’s not just lashing out occasionally, and this isn’t anywhere near harmless teasing. She’s full on the primary villain of the game, in some ways, and has been doing pretty horrific stuff knowing (and intending for) exactly what she’s causing. Which we sort of knew in the first game anyway, but now it’s very explicit. And like, damn dude... I do wanna see what’s gonna happen with her. It’s tough, wanting to see a character get their comeuppance and stop hurting others while simultaneously just wanting good things for them. this really is how y’all ashe stans feel huh

Side Characters: I gotta say, I really loved a lot of the smaller characters introduced in bonus stage and the way their presence added to the development of the mains. Dorothy and Nicholas, the old dude and the thief woman (I didn’t actually realize until just now but nobody in Wilbert’s backstory had a name, huh. It may not have been intentional but considering that he might literally just not remember that far back I actually really like that decision.), and Ashe’s family and friends were really smartly integrated into the story’s themes and I appreciated that a lot. also lucy and coco rights

Overall This one gets a fucking 10/10 from me chief, some small issues certainly but as close to perfect as they get, in terms of the kinds of stories I like.

STORY

I debated breaking this up into chunks, like I did in the first game with the scenarios, but I feel like the writing quality is more or less consistent throughout the game so it would be a little redundant. I definitely need more time to think on bonus stage before I have a really solid opinion, but at the moment I kind of think the story was even better than the first game? My only major issue was the aforementioned use of Claire’s character, where she’d only really react to the boy’s backstories as she finished hearing them, with the exception of Ashe’s. And her not confiding in Leon. But other than that, it was a constant rollercoaster, with pretty much every scene being jam packed with 3000 layers of character development and relationship building with lore sprinkled in. The elements that were amazing in the first game, like the fun dynamics between the characters and the subtle and unobtrusive exposition, are nothing but improved upon. I do wish we got to play more with the idea of the demon girls living alongside the mains, I think that aspect was severely downplayed almost immediately after it was introduced, but I’m crossing my fingers those potential dynamics get some time in the conclusions. Once again, my biggest gripes with the story are just that I feel like there’s so much more to explore and I can’t wait to see how the rest plays out. still giving this bitch a 10/10 on this one it was everything I wanted and more

GAMEPLAY

Combat: This was kind of... not even really utilized in bonus stage, which I didn’t actually realize until just now. There weren’t any real “boss battles” in the way there were in the first game, the closest thing to it would I guess be Dorothy’s showdown. Considering I didn’t even notice, I think that was a perfectly fine decision. The climax worked well without any actual fights. The battle mechanics continued to be functional and everything, just... not much of a thing.

Demon Requests: It could just be because I played a lot of bonus stage at a very different pace than I did the first game but the demon requests didn’t feel as frequent or intrusive this time around. I was always really excited to get to the request portion anyway cause of the photo booth and all the cool new areas, I had a super fun time using the deep sea bubble and I think overall the stuff that was added to the fantasy spaces was really neat. also lucy and coco rights

Minigames: Very hit or miss. It felt like the minigames were either so quick and easy they were hardly memorable or so tedious they made me wanna die. Take that with a grain of salt, though, I’m really bad at video games. There were very few of them anyway so it doesn’t matter much, but I guess it would’ve been nice if the minigames were less... Like that. To be fair, they were all still pretty charming or cool conceptually. Can’t really complain about getting to fucking shoot people as Dorothy even if it was hell to play.

Overall The demon requests were actually really enjoyable this time around, but the minigames and combat were kind of downplayed. Not to big of a deal, though, it’s not as if they were a focal point of the game to begin with. 7/10

ART & SOUND

Character Design: Not much to say that I didn’t already say after the first game, but the special bonus stage outfits are absolute bangers and I wish they got shown more often. And maybe I would’ve liked the guys to have a little more variety to their suits. But that’s nitpicking, Claire and the demon girl’s dresses are absolutely gorgeous.

Sprites and BGs: The overall art quality definitely got shaky in places but I gotta say, they pulled out ALL the stops for the sprites in this one. Ashe just fully has an entirely new set of them, and everybody else gets tons of new expressions too, all of which are super super good at conveying incredibly specific emotions. All I’m saying is, this would be a totally different game for me without the sprites, and I was always ecstatic to see new ones and figure out what was going on in the character’s head based on them.

OST and Sound Effects: Again, pretty much the same deal as the first game. I think there was a bit of a higher frequency for songs that made me immediately want to search for them so I could listen to them later though, thank god for that. So many good tracks.

Overall Continued to impress me, and then some. Only a slight improvement from the first game, in my opinion, but even that is pretty impressive since I didn’t have many issues with the first game to begin with. 8/10

So uh, in other words, I really really loved this game. Cannot WAIT to start best boy’s conclusion!!!

[annakie]

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Four

Wherein we make it to the Citadel, and do a lot of running around.

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

So right away, we meet Udina and the Council, way to throw us right into it.  

It’s a brief introduction and gives us an idea what Humanity is up against and who is representing us.  Basically, we’re supposed to get the idea that it’s a lot of bureaucratic bullshit, I guess.

This is also the first time we see Asari and Salarians, and they’re in reddish-brown and white, which really isn’t the best look.

Bioware continues to push the story forward.  We get enough to know that Udina is kind of an ass, and the Council isn’t going to just trust what some guy says even if he is the representative for billions of people.

And finally, after this, we’re set free.

The Citadel I think is one of the coolest locations in like almost any game I’ve ever played.  They do a great job of both making it feel huge, but also accessible.  Enough bridges to get across to places you need to get to, and after you walk somewhere once, Citadel Rapid Transit is great.  I still choose to take elevators about 80% of the time even when I can CRT somewhere, just because I like the squad conversations and news updates. There’s a shorter elevator rides mod that helps, too.

There’s so much to do and see, and having one of the main areas just be such an awesome combination of scifi futurism and lush greenery + water is both trippy and breathtaking.  I think, especially with the updated graphics mods/settings, the Presidium especially holds up fairly well.  I mean it definitely feels more populated and modern in ME3 but, I just consider this to be more of a residential / professional area of the Presidium and most of what we see in ME3 is a more retail section.

It’d be annoying to be a groundskeeper here, though.  Lots of green areas that you’d really need to climb to, or garden on a steep slant. :p

I always found it interesting that the natural first place to head to is into the ambassador’s office next door, where we find some friendly aliens, and one not-so-friendly one.  But honestly, this is a great place to find out the different ways other species view humanity, and how there’s apparently tiers of respect given to various species.

I always kind of hoped the Elcor would feature more prominently into the world in future games, but at least we got Hamlet.  I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about how Elcor like... do things?  We never see it but you have to assume that their hands have opposable thumbs and they’re able to stand on two legs, right?  I want to see what an Elcor ship looks like and Dakuna specifically.  Give us more elcor, Bioware!

BTW, the Mass Effect: Annihilation (aka the book that was supposed to be based on the Quarian Ark DLC that never happened in Andromeda) is totally worth reading just for the elcor character in it.  It’s also probably the best of the Mass Effect books, in my opinion.

Din Korlack’s got a point though, they not only have to share an office, but their view isn’t nearly as good as the human’s.  This is especially bullshit for the volus, who could stand on that railing and probably STILL wouldn’t have a view.

I love how Mass Effect 2 takes her from a completely forgettable character to making me think  “Sorry you’re gonna die in a few weeks, your mom’s really gonna miss you.” every time I see her.

PALIN DESERVED BETTER.

I don’t remember which ME3 mod it is, maybe the Spectre Expansion Mod or maybe EGM, but thank you whichever modder it was who made Palin’s story and death more clear in ME3.  Sorry Udina got you killed.

Also, it was good to get a dissenting opinion on Spectres from him.

Avina is such a good, optional way to get more loredump.  Yes, you can again ask them about Spectres if you want to hear about them again.  But I liked that each Avina terminal taught you a little more about whatever you were nearby, and the state of the galaxy in general and since they were programmed to be information dumps, it felt more natural to get information this way.

Don’t these people have jobs?

I love the Krogan statue, and the Avina terminal nearby telling you about it.  But now every time I see it, all I can picture is Grunt and his buddies climbing it.  So good.

Managed to get a clean shot of the crew without the UI in the elevator, thanks Flycam!  You have about a half a second to get this shot though, because the camera is stationary while the elevator is not.

Oh hell-lo Pailin, who is your charming-looking friend there?

This entire conversation needs to be longer. It’s a nice, quick introduction to Garrus, but, well, let’s spend a little more time with the main characters!!

I mean how can you not just not immediately love that?  Hey remember how bad Garrus’ face texture used to be?  Thanks, modders.

I just really love the Citadel tower.  Absolutely beautiful and atmospheric.

SO the thing is, if you can pretend that Saren isn’t, you know, already half Reaperized, 100% the Council is right to not just go throwing one of their longer-term agents in jail because Shepard had a bad dream and a random dockworker said the guy who killed Saren looked like this.

Honestly though, this and OH A GOOD CHUNK OF MASS EFFECT 2 would be so much easier if Shepard wore a bodycam. :p

Also, I wonder who took the dockworker’s testimony?  Did Kaidan run back real quick while Shepard was sleeping?

This was an embarrassment for humanity, and I agree with Udina that we needed more to go on before making demands of the council.  The council is right to not convict based off a bad dream Shepard had.  Go get some real proof!  Also, do a bunch of sidequests!

And scan some Keepers for this shady guy!

Which is actually good quest design, because you really have to go to every nook and cranny in the Citadel to find them all, though it would have been nice if they showed up on the minimap.   Really gets you to explore and get to know the area like the back of your hand.

This time around, I forgot to grab the one outside Dr. Michele’s office and had to hunt for it before heading up to grab the last one at the docks.

Thank you, though, Barla Von, for telling us all about the Shadow Broker and telling us about Wrex.  See u in ME3.

Bioware please give us diverse-suited volus in a remaster.  Maybe I’m reusing a pic of Din Korlack, you’ll never know! :p

Thanks, texture modders, for really highlighting what the end of the hanar’s noses look like. 

The hanar are another species I wish we got more of throughout the series.  They are probably the most alien of all the aliens we interact with.   I mean, at least we got Blasto.  I’d really love to visit Kahje someday.  I know it’s in the comics, but you know, in-game.

Annnd let’s go visit Sha'ira.

I have very mixed feelings about Sha'ira.  On one hand, she’s clearly very respected, is probably making bank, in control of her own destiny etc.  On the other hand, she’s probably the asari we have the second most interaction with in this game after Liara, and after just seeing Benezia’s boob-tastic clothing and then heading to Chora’s Den soon to see the dancing asari we’re getting a very slanted view of the species.  I think Bioware course corrects in later games but oof this is such a dude-fantasy alien species in ME1 it hurts.  Especially since Liara is almost a born-sexy-yesterday trope.

Also... don’t touch me if I don’t wanna be touched. =\

Noveria advertisements... that just say Noveria.  I guess this is effective marketing in 2148.

Look how great those shadows from the tree are... actual definition in shadow... wow.

Raise your hand if you’ve missed this conversation in a playthrough before and reloaded like an hour or more past to make sure you get it.

It’s one of those little moments that they didn’t have to put in.  Just a little conversation reflecting on humans and humanity, and our place in the world, and showcasing Ash’s wit and Kaidan’s adorkableness.  Also making sure you appreciate all the work that went into this particular view.  It’s a pause in the action and all the things you have going on, and it’s so great for characterization and making you feel a part of the world.  

Speaking of the view... I decided to flycam it.  Warning, I spoil some of the “magic” below.

Pretty quickly, you see that the arms are actual objects, untextured on the non-visible side.

I decided to head for the closest line of “cars” on the bottom center-left to see what those “cars” looked like.

Flycam feels pretty fast when you’re trying to frame a specific shot just right... but when you need to travel a great distance, it feels verrry slow.

It took me probably close to five minutes of traveling to make it all the way there.

What I discovered was... a few of the buildings are real, the rest are a very good painting.

This is how far away the citadel is from the rest of the map. That grid would be that entire view from outside Dr. Michele’s office all the way to the edge of the shops on the other side, plus some extra.

So both the building that those “cars” (the string of white lights) are coming from and going to are... on the painting.  Neither one are physical objects.

Made some gifs.

You can see the lights moving at a mostly-downward angle, while it looks like they’re just heading south when standing on the Citadel.  Also you can see other lights moving farther up the map.

And here you can see the lights “disappearing behind a building” but they’re really just hitting an invisible wall, the dark angle of that building is just a part of the wall painting.   

Looking up from the wall...

So that was a fun distraction.

Emily Wong deserved:

Better.

An entire shirt.

A mention in ME3 after she gave her life on social media defending Earth against the reapers while keeping her cool reporting on the invasion the day before ME3′s release.

That day before launch though... was amazing.  Bioware did such a great job on social media with the reaper invasion happening on twitter.  I loved that lots of fans got into it, too, posting photoshops and their own reaper invasion stories.  I remember being at work that day but not actually working very much.  A few friends and I had a google hangout going on to report in on anything we saw happening on social media and keep up with it and to be very hyped together online.  

We reblogged a bunch of it on fuckyeahbioware starting about here and working backwards through numbers.  

One of the ME3 mods, and again, sorry, don’t remember which, does give Emily a nice tribute through an email.  She deserves it.

Okay that’s enough for this post!  Will try to finish up the Citadel next time!

[laughingpinecone]

Yuletide letter!

I am laughingpineapple on AO3 

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (doubly so if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, outsider POV, UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, maps, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night

Any tense, any pov, any rating, plotty, not plotty, IF, canon divergences, non-mundane AUs (space opera! high fantasy! new weird also), deep lore, unrequested characters popping up - please do go wild with the & combos!

Blanket crossover prompt with Untitled Goose Game: set that goose loose anywhere and ruin anyone’s day. Tariq and select Twin Peaks characters who are not Albert (Margaret, Laura...) may hope to tame and befriend the goose; anyone else better get wrecked. Capitalism may also get wrecked while Kentucky Route Zero characters popcorn.gif nearby

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, canon retellings, unrequested ships (I listed all the ships I like for each fandom. Outside of those, I’d prefer if other canon characters weren’t shipped, unless they’re like, canon engaged/married)

Dark Souls 1: Solaire of Astora

I’m only familiar with the first game! It’s probably relevant to mention that I think that linking the fire is kind of a dumbass move, Gwyn is a jerk, Kaathe has his own agenda and there’s no winning move in this world, or at least no obvious one. And amidst all this nonsense, Solaire just shines, pure of heart and dumb of ass like the best of ‘em. I love his kindness in this cruelest of worlds and I love the sad edge he’s got even earlier on when he admits to being seen as weird.

I would enjoy a bittersweet ending for him but I realize both of his endings are deeply entrenched in his themes so it’s hard to make him steer clear of either of those. If you can figure out how to make him not link the Flame or survive the ordeal, I’m all ears! I like a sense of purpose being the thing that can stave off hollowing, and I like characters helping other characters finding that sense of purpose within themselves. Focus on scenery always welcome, and if you want to make up a location, that’s great too!

I’d be super happy with a story set during Solaire’s time in Lordran that simply doesn’t mention his endings, anyway. Maybe he’s the one who helps someone else while his own tragedy keeps looming on the horizon. Striking up friendships in the face of a crapsack world! Meeting people through Lordran’s temporal/dimensional fuckery, where it’s possible to cross the path of warriors who have been gone for ages… could Solaire meet either or both Catarina knights (there’s so much great art about sun bro and onion bro but where’s the fic?), or do the grumpy grump&ray of sunshine routine with Logan, or meet Artorias or even Gwyn before he linked the Flame - or himself? What if he met Kaathe?

Ships: none really? Solaire/Chosen Undead but I don’t really like to read about customizable protagonists in fic so I’d rather not get fic featuring the CU. I’m all about the & character combos here.

Ghost Trick: Cabanela, Jowd

I love Cabanela being fierce and dazzling bright and determined and loyal to the very end, dancing to his own rhythm, so sure of himself and of his ideas that he doesn’t even need to prove to anyone that he’s right. Too sure of the wrong idea, once, and everything crashed and burned. And I love Jowd being the immovable object to Cabanela’s unstoppable force, a suicidal trainwreck of guilt with the gallows humor to show for it, and also incredibly smart (both jerks figured out Sissel’s powers better than Sissel did, that’s... something) and athletic and with an unsuspected talent for stealth.

I am very interested in various characters finding about the erased timeline, but not getting their memories back, and having to live with being told about what they did but never remembering it. Touch-starved Jowd in the new timeline is a surefire hit (or maybe Cabanela if he’s the one who came back and kept the memories of the old timeline). Touchy-feely Cabanela as kind of his baseline with the people he likes.  All what-ifs welcome:what if they managed an acceptable happy ending but didn’t reset the timeline, what if Alma’s ghost stuck around… I’m also wondering about either of them ending up undead via Temsik shard - how would they take these developments (I’m assuming better than Yomiel did but the bar is admittedly low), did Cabanela do it on purpose for whatever sensible-if-you-are-Cabanela reason, what does it change in their relationship, what are the practical pros and cons of the situation here. UFO adventures with Pigeon Man! Lynne teaming up with either of them against the other! Sissel death-averting action if either/both of them die or just regular cat action! Spy stuff! Daring rescues! My forever prompt of Jowd being the one who gets a chance to prove his loyalty to Cabanela for once. Dancing.

Please no Yomiel. Nothing against the guy I’m just getting an overdose of him through RPing.

Ships: Alma/Cabanela/Jowd and all sides thereof, but when it splits the canon couple I only like it when the missing spouse is dead or otherwise unavailable, hopefully with a reset on the horizon. If you want to go for a Cabanela&Alma or Cabanela/Alma who are strongly motivated by a dead or jailed Jowd, I’m good with him not actively appearing in the fic. Alma/Jowd & Cabanela is excellent in all scenarios. I’m good with explicitly non-romantic takes on Jowd&Cabs but please keep their bond strong, and please no conflicting ship for Cabanela. Lynne/Memry!

Kentucky Route Zero: Any (Lula Chamberlain, Joseph Wheattree, Donald kentuckyroutezero, Weaver Màrquez)

(if enough of us request it, will some Murphy corollary guarantee that Act V will come out between now and reveals just to mess with the Yuletide schedule? If it does, I’ll be playing it immediately and probably add a few thoughts and prompts here for kicks, at the end of this section, after a spoiler warning. Obviously feel free to stick to canon up to Un Pueblo De Nada)

I’m all for exploration of any of the game’s themes and for including any staples from adjacent genres - wanna go full-on American Gothic? Dip into surrealism? Take a leaf from Twin Peaks with tulpa / split narratives to explore the characters’ issues? I can’t think of any specific AUs for the disaster trio + disaster soloist here, but I generally love AUs so if you want to sidestep the inconvenience of an incomplete canon that way, be my guest! Or of course there’s Xanadu at the height of its glory, an infinite what-ifs generator. Was Weaver ever part of it, what was this digital Weaver up to? A Xanadu narrative would be great! A good fit for IF, too? I’d love to hear about any new spot along the Zero or the Echo river, or an expansion of some place that’s only mentioned by Will in HATATE or only gets a few paragraphs of text. Lula getting ideas for a new installation, or an article talking about her work? Donald listening to Static between stations somehow (Donald being constantly high as a kite as per this)? Joseph who went back to the surface finds himself near an entrance to the Zero somewhere? A collection of Weaver-isms? Feel free to bring in anyone else from any part of canon.

Ships: “Flipping through the pages, Conway is able to gather that it's a story about three characters: Joseph, Donald, and Lula. It's something like a tragic love triangle, but much more complex. Some kind of tangled, painfully concave love polygon.” 😬 that one, as a full triad, regrettably since they don’t seem too inclined to get reunited and stay that way. If you can nudge them, good. But I’m very open to non-romantic resolutions as well, going past their messy feelings to find each other as friends after so many years maybe. For Weaver, I’m interested in all her & relationships (seriously. Weaver & Cate. Weaver & EmilyBen&Bob. Weaver & Slow Moe Crow.) but nothing shippy. Conway/Lysette, Junebug/Johnny(/Shannon?).

The Last Remnant: David Nassau, Pagus

I’m very interested in post-game exploration, and getting a clearer feeling of any of the cities and assorted places that populate this fascinating world. I like the whole party with their characterization based on battle quotes, red bubble dialogues, and even their unique stat (‘authority’ is a natural fit for David but ‘romance’ tells me something new about Sibal!) Character interaction. Bit of worldbuilding. What’s another festival they celebrate? Do they erect something else instead of the Valeria Heart? Any fun discoveries down in Siebenbur? Where the hell IS Veyriel, anyway, do they go look for it and if so what do they find out? End of an age. Old bonds.

I ache for David who fought so valiantly as a warrior and as a politician only to be slapped in the face with the unexpected loss Emma first and then Rush, right as they were ready to claim their victory and as he would have to start coming to terms with the idea that maybe without the Gae Bolg he wouldn’t die young. At least his Generals are still with him - out of them, all of whom I adore, I picked Pagus because Qsiti are cool. And Pagus in particular is the coolest (”I know that fine qsiti... That large, reticent mouth, the laugh lines around the eyes...“ he’s FINE it’s CANON!). So I’d like to see how David bounces off Pagus in particular, what their bond is like, what he thinks of whatever aspect of Qsiti culture.

Ships: postcanon David/Rush, possibly with an emphasis on Rush’s nature as a remnant? I am also fond of Pagus/Sibal/Maddox, there are more prompts for them in my #letters tag!

Pyre: Volfred Sandalwood, Tariq The Lone Minstrel

Oh the burning found family feelings, the revolutionary passion, the tension between topside social constraints (moreso for liberated exiles, thrust into heroic roles after the revolution) and the kind of freedom allowed by the Downside! I love all the themes, the solemnity, the heart of this game. I’ve been waiting for a character like Tariq all my life, a minstrel who’s otherworldly soft and just a lil bit eldritch. Volfred as well, he just hits my perfect ratio of “noble intentions” to “scheming to a fault”. Like, the percentages in his planner are pointless for gameplay since the ending just depends on the number of Nightwings sent topside at the end - so it’s just there for his characterization, he’s the sort of person who assigns percentages to people, nbd. ...for a good cause! That said, I would die for anyone in that Blackwagon+Dalbert+Celeste, so if you want to write in someone else as well, please do! (otoh if you maybe want to dunk on Brighton or Manley, I don’t like bashing but canon levels of love-to-hate-them would be fun)

Thoughts about finding oneself at the end of an age, as everything crumbles down to form something new. The titan stars. History nerd Volfred, “aye sir, I was there” Tariq. Conversations with Dalbert. Or with Sandra? Any postcanon very welcome with any combination of endings as long as the revolution was peaceful. Please do lean into the xeno headcanons if you enjoy them! Even for gen, I like to read what it’s like to be something other than human and these two are very much not human in different and intriguing ways. Or, Volfred’s zodiac sign is Cancer and Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so there’s that. I also love how they both hold the other in the highest esteem, especially on Tariq’s part since he’s the immortal Herald of the Scribes and Volfred is, all in all, a history teacher, but listen to him and you’d think the roles were inverted. I love my nonviolent canon but could anything happen to either of them that may require a rescue, and/or some good old-fashioned h/c? What’s something that could make Tariq of all people lose it? How’s life 100 years on?

For a funnier mood, picture Volfred trying to figure out how to flirt with Tariq with percentages, planners and all. He could just ask him but no, it’s convoluted plan or bust. Or, conversely, Tariq’s increasingly direct hints that he’s interested, but they’re still ‘increasingly direct’ for Tariq standards, so, not at all, undetectable even by Volfred who can get pretty damningly indirect himself.

Ships: Volfred/Tariq, Volfred/Oralech, some form of Oralech/Volfred/Tariq (more of a Volfred-centric V but I would like to be convinced of the Oralech/Tariq side of things), Celeste/Jodariel, Hedwyn/Fikani and Pamitha/Bertrude.

Twin Peaks: Albert Rosenfield

Case fic but they don’t find out jack shit, someone disappears, David Bowie was there, it’s complicated. Fragmented, shifted, mirrored identities. New Lodge spaces. The risks of staring into the void for too long. Gentle illusions. Transcendence. The moon. Static buzzing. Any title from the s3 ethereal whooshing compilation used as a prompt, actually. Twin Peaks is all about the mystery to me, the awe of mystery and unknowability and the human drive to look beyond and the risks of getting a peek, and about shared consciousness and trauma taking physical form and about the warmth of human connections in an uncaring world. Go wild with the ethereal whooshing!

I love Albert and he breaks my heart, a pacifist who ends his arc shooting his oldest remaining friend after life sucked all the passion and most of the idealism out of him. Is shooting Diane just to see Cooper come back, get her back and disappear with her again trauma enough to make him split? I’d be interested in reading about it, or any other take on his unwavering loyalty to Gordon which should maybe waver after Gordon’s admission that he’s lied to him for 25 years and the aforementioned unmitigated disaster of an ending. But I’m also very interested in his life apart from the disaster that is Blue Rose and his heartbreaking search for Cooper: did he keep in touch with Harry throughout the years, what did they talk about? Was he ever dragged along for a hike in the woods and did something weird happen there? We know he kept in touch with Diane, what did THEY talk about? Does he go on a journey of his own to find her after the ending? Does Tammy come along, do they see each other as friends other than mentor and protégé? What was Phil like as a co-boss back in the day? Did he get a small victory over Windom at some point (maybe even in the present day, given Kenneth Welsh’s recent wonderful interview where he’s adamant that Windom lives)? Does Laura ever visit him in some ghostly manner? He and Denise look like a great duo for a case and/or office shenanigans. We know from TFD that he’s a big jazz enthusiast, something about that? When does he cave in and just accept some aspects of Coop’s investigative method? Just set him loose on another unsuspecting character and I’ll be happy.

If Coop comes back (and I’d love for Coop to come back), I would like it if he came back on his own thanks to having sorted out his crap. After s3, I am not interested in stories about any other character saving Cooper. Albert’s got his wounds to lick dangit. And he’s got friends who can be by his side! ...I do love his dynamic with Coop so much, though. Sigh. I do miss that bastard. Anyway.

Ships: Albert/Coop/Harry and sides thereof, Tammy/Cynthia, Gordon/Phil, Diane/Constance, Lucy/Andy, Chet/Sam.

Canon-specific DNWs: any singular Dreamer being the ‘source’ of canon, BOB (let alone Judy) being forever defeated in the finale, Judy being an active malevolent presence in the characters’ lives, clear explanations for canonical ambiguities, ‘Odessaverse’ being the reality layer, the Fireman’s House by the Sea being the White Lodge, anything that 4 hours video says is the explanation of Twin Peaks

[ladyfl4me]

A,E,F,G,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z ;o

Okay *cracks knuckles* let’s go! F, M, and S have already been taken from this list, so feel free to send in... B, C, D, or H, I guess. Yeehaw. This is really fucking long.

A: How did you come up with the title to [TMWCIFTC]? -- It started, as many things do, as a bad pun. The novel The Spy who Came In from the Cold was a cold-war spy thriller, about a British spy who goes over to East Germany as an apparent defect, except he’s actually there to spread misinformation and fuck shit up. He falls in love, becomes disillusioned with his superiors, and is shot dead over the corpse of his lover after climbing over to the east side of the wall. Needless to say, this is nowhere close to what happens in TMWCIFTC. I chose it early on because of the literal meaning: there’s a moth(man), he’s coming in from the cold WV weather, boom shaka laka, we have a title. Over time, though, it’s evolved into another meaning. Indrid himself is coming in from an isolated, lonely existence: he’s rejoining the family that cut ties with him, he’s in love, he’s warm and safe. The moth sure did come in from the cold, and hopefully he stays that way.

E: If you wrote a sequel to [TMWCIFTC], what would it be about? -- Hm. Considering my entire TAZ fic career is a tangled hairball of sequels and prequels, I kind of have this base covered. At the moment, TCOS - aka The Children of Sylvain, the sequel to TMWCIFTC - is about three things: a Pine Guard road trip race against time and the feds, the Spanish Sylvan Inquisition That Nobody Expected (least of all Jake and Hollis, who have to set aside their differences and past conflicts to save Kepler - and who knows, maybe they’ll fall in love along the way), and Alexandra the Interpreter getting woke to Sylvan politics and doing what she can from the inside to change them. In other words, it’s going to be a massive sequel that is the finale of the Amnesty alternate universe I’ve created. It’s this series’ Endgame. (That reminds me, I need an actual title for this collection of stories I’m writing. The “Tin Cinematic Universe” doesn’t quite have the ring to it that I’d like.)

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? -- eh, it kind of depends. It’s like a buffering bar on Youtube videos. I outline what I can until I run out of ideas, then start writing, then add outlines to the end, until the outline is complete and I just have to keep writing.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? -- I don’t have one for reading, but for writing, I fucking love structuring chapters around songs. Classical or otherwise, I love music. All my stories play in my head like a movie screen, and I just do my best to describe what I’m seeing in my head with an accompanying score. It’s not so much a guilty pleasure as it is a writing process. Frankly, I don’t think I actually have a guilty pleasure; the act of writing itself is all the happiness I need.

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic]. -- An alternate ending for The Devil Went Down To Georgia would be... interesting. It ended with Boyd-as-Jersey-Devil scaring the pants off some poor broke college kid, who stole his worthless fiddle; then he changed back, and he and Ned went on their merry way to go break into Aubrey’s house and send everything down the drain. If there was one thing that I could change in there, it would be how fast Ned ran. If he ran a little faster, he would have seen the alley; he would have witnessed Boyd turning into the Jersey Devil, or at least turning back into himself; and he’d get a very rude awakening as to what Sylvans are and that his partner (in crime, and everything that mattered) was a fucking cryptid. God, that’d be a fun AU to write. Who knows, I might go do that someday.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? -- At the moment, the only angsty idea that I’m actually conceptualizing is a Hollis/Jake angsty breakup for TSG. (Spoilers, I guess.) I once wrote a very grimdark ending to TMWCIFTC where everyone fell through the ice and drowned. It wasn’t fun. I’ve also mentally killed off each Amnesty protagonist and NPC in various ways, but I never felt comfortable writing them down. I only write angst with a happy ending because those are the kinds of stories I need to hear.

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? -- 9 times out of 10, I just throw it into the void. I write as much as I can in big chunks, and then kind of hope for the best. TMWCIFTC, for example, is a completely unedited, unbetaed vomit draft. I usually do a quick reread of my oneshots to catch grammar and spelling errors, but other than that I just trust myself that it’s fine.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you? -- Can I get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night? Can I please get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night??? I was 14 chapters into that bastard before I a) became a more casual MCU fan and b) discovered TAZ. It was such a niche fic with such a niche structure - LOTR as galactic Asgardian propaganda to cover up Odin’s mistakes - that at some point I lost interest in it. I just saw Endgame though, so now I might get some inspiration for stuff to bastardize.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters? -- Characters. When coming up with character backstories, I can usually find ways to slot their lives together that necessitate a plot. I love character-driven stories, where their actions actually do shit and their words actually mean something, in favor of getting dragged along behind the plot like tin cans behind a car.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?) -- I’m definitely an architect, but in a really messy way. My friends can attest that I do an insane amount of planning for each story - often in their DMs, sorry about that, Fae, Cro, Indy and Aline 😬 - and all that usually ends up in a stream-of-consciousness rant outline on Google Drive. Knowing where the story is going helps me a lot, but the planning I do is definitely just building flower beds in which to sow seeds. Or building a greenhouse. I plan the bare bones of a story, and things get really wild within it, but it does follow a logical plot structure.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations? -- I have a lot of respect for the people who can successfully pull it off, but idk if i’d ever want to do one myself. I get really possessive of my stories and ideas and like to be the one in charge of their execution. That being said, some collabs have produced amazing stories. I don’t mind reading collab fics, but actually being in a collab grates on me more than it should.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence? -- I’m definitely influenced heavily by Neil Gaiman. I read American Gods and Good Omens a lot while I was trying to write TMWCIFTC; not only was it a good brain break, but I was able to pick up a lot of tips on scene pacing, concise yet expressive language, and character interactions. My creative wriitng professors have always told us to read so we know what to steal - not in terms of content, but in execution. 

On the fanfic side, @miamaroo is a huge inspiration for me. I’ve been reading Northern Migration a lot recently, and I love how its canon divergence is so worldshaking and so complex, but is still familiar in nostalgic yet terrifying ways. I read it back in October, went, “Huh, I wanna do something that wild. And if miamaroo can do it then I sure as fuck can too,” and I started planning TMWCIFTC during that one month dead zone the McElroys took last year. Northern Migration is one of the best, most coherent, most stunning, and most incredibly written TAZ Balance AUs I’ve ever read, and if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have been inspired to take the fuckall huge plunge into TMWCIFTC.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist? -- Bed sharing and cuddling, hand kissing, wrist kissing, whump, sympathetic villains. Canon divergent AUs are my absolute favorite things to both read and write. Anything that would turn me into Charlie Kelly slamming his finger on a bulletin board screaming, “CAROL,” is a fic I would give my life for. 

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand? -- Not a fan of a) woobification and b) flat villain characterization, to the point where the story is riding on villain tropes instead of an actual person or plot. Character nuance is always something I look for when I read. I don’t usually get bitter about tropes, though; some stuff, when subverted, works really well. I fully subscribe to don’t like, don’t read, don’t write, which is why I don’t write anything that warrants AO3 content warning tags or an Explicit rating, in favor of focusing on plot. Every author has a reason for what they write and how - be it their level of experience, personal preference, or simply the joy of writing something and getting it out there - and I respect that. Within reason, of course.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much. -- 

@miamaroo, for reasons I’ve already discussed. My favorite TAZ Balance author hands down. Read Northern Migration and give it the love it deserves, or I’m replacing all the faucets in your house with silly straws.

@transagentstern. Fae has a bunch of absolutely incredible fics and an amazing grasp on characterization. We come from the same place with AUs, in that canon is but the bare planks on which we put the drywall of our plot an characterization. They structure AUs and character backstories from the ground up in believable and emotionally raw ways. Also they have great music taste. I especially like their interpretation of Indrid in Moth to the Flame; he, like all the other characters in the story, is far from perfect, and his character arc is explored in relatable ways that I love to read. 

@keplersheetz. Aline - theneonpineapple on AO3 - researches like a motherfucker and has a wealth of knowledge/experience/viewpoints to draw on, making author-author interactions with her an absolute delight. She’s also doing the lord’s work with rarepairs. Spin a wheel, find a ship, and she’s probably written for it or at least conceptualized it. Reading her character studies and stories of the old Pine Guard - aka Mama’s original crew, before the current PCs joined - is always a delight. I’ve also hashed out a lot of details for The Children of Sylvain, especially for Mr. Boyd Mosche, guilt-wracked Jersey Devil extraordinaire, with her help. 

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose? -- Not gonna lie, I’m fine with a lot of stuff that’s out there right now. It’s been a hot few months since I’ve actually stopped to read fic, but from what I recall, most of the fics I’ve read have done a good job of keeping things intact.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? -- The vaguer, the better. With really specific prompts, it usually feels as if the story’s been written for me already; with vague, general prompts, I have more agency to explore my own ideas. Some accompanying detail is usually nice, though. For example, the coffee shop/college/flower shop AUs that @transagentstern​ wrote are my ideal prompt for drabbles: premise, a little bit of open-ended detail, clear explanation of what’s going to happen while leaving the rest up to the imagination. Good stuff. If it’s for a long-form piece, though, I prefer full agency, or even just some time to lie facedown in the dirt and wait for an idea to strike me.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer. -- Yes.

Y: A character you want to protect. -- Tim.

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate? -- I do read lots of major character death, yeah, though not always for TAZ. There’s something cathartic about seeing a character die, but sometimes it sits wrong with me in ways that I don’t like. As for writing, I’d rather kill a character for a reason rather than for shock value/for the Feels, though said Feels can accompany the reason. 

[jangyeevns]

eight for the happy meme

modified rp meme — ( accepting )

eight characters i have played.

i’m just gonna put this under a read more because i wanna gush about my soon-to-be revived kids and the ones i miss sdfglkgf

also, don’t drag me for the gifs being different sizes and psds. some of these fcs get Fuck All in terms of resources compared to the others sO —

sage ( herrera - ) buckley

so sage WAS a nina dobrev fc, but with a little tweaking to her ethnicity i’ll use her with a kelsey merritt fc ! she’s a medical student with a desire to work in the lab, unlike her past version who already WAS a working lab tech of sorts, and is a very sweet, playful lady. back in her old rp, sage was super adventurous, loved to travel and try new things so these distractions from the ugliness of the world didn’t really affect her positive, live in the moment outlook ! honestly, she was one of my fave muses before i left the community for a minute to focus on post secondary, and i’m glad that i’m able to build upon her old characterization now that i’m older and more realistic. also shoutout to my old pals gorgeous and dakota bc i wouldn’t have refurbished my sad ass variation of sage if they hadn’t opened southportrpg :/ miss them and their messy muses

odessa fulton/lorelei dorsey

while she’s going by lorelei on my indie, she went by both at one point when i used her in two or three different rps. she’s my lax but passionate photojournalist baby who was a means to become a better researcher with muse backgrounds and helped me to better understand aspects of ptsd. she had been sent to different parts of the world for her job, but was caught up in the crisis in syria i believe — i’m 90% sure it was before the time when we began sounding off about plots and backgrounds based on Real, Scary Events that could be really problematic, otherwise younger!me would’ve changed that to be respectful — and had to deal with the traumas associated with the bombings and unrest once she returned to take on more National or Regional stories; i never went too deep into it as it was a triggering topic and i didn’t wanna use events as severe as that in a tone-deaf or heartless manner, but i did want to explore beyond the safety blanket i had in place for my muses and considering my interest in journalism abroad and a certain movie at the time, odessa/leia came to be

estelle claxton

i didn’t get to do much with her, but este was a part of a futuristic apocalyse rp centred around an artificial intelligence uprising, her being a tech whiz just like her dad; he died during the uprising and her and her family had to either seek refuge elsewhere or become part of a resistance group, and she wound up doing the latter with her older sister. rather than follow that plot, she’s just gonna be your usual grad student with her shit together — which is fucking rare SLDGFJDFKS so you’ll really get to see her fun, witty side without some sense of doom looming overhead !

laure zehner / brigitte sondag

js but i hate how sarah’s resources are primarily with this type of psd and are mostly from her period work. basically, give me her letterkenny and interview clips Thanks !! sgflfjsd

my sweet little french spy.. so born laure zehner, she was used in an rp that was essentially reviving people who died prior to said rp’s present day or decade in some magical, unexplained way. she was the daughter of a wwi veteran in the alsace region and would go on to wish to be onstage, doing so upon moving to paris to become a cabaret performer and adopting the stage name brigitte sondag. forget how i explained it in my mia intro for the muse, but she soon became a spy for the allies after the germans occupied france during wwii and, after years of killing and hiding the bodies of officers, she was arrested and killed by a firing squad in secret. came back to life a good seventy years later and had a Massive modernity shock.. idr what followed but she was truly a badass, i wish i did more with her :/

louisa kent

my little oddball artist :( she was a creative girl who had a bit of a wild child lifestyle, and in the rp that she was created for, she was something of a telepath ?? basically, she wished she could find an easier way to communicate with her best friend, who was serving abroad in the military or something, and suddenly ? she could talk to him in her head ?? it never got fleshed out and tbh i probably wouldn’t fuck with something like that again bc of my perpetual fear of being godmoddy, but she was fun to play — albeit cringey bc past!me was equally cringey with All of my muses — and the rp itself had some cool people :/ i just miss anyone i got along with in the Slightest in the past, okay ? LJGSDFKL

kang miran

the first form hyeran took.. but one i revamped a Good bit when she became the music producer ari and i know and love JFGSKLG miran was a little college dropout with a sugar daddy and a dream to run her own fashion label/boutique, a fucking sweetheart who was ever the hopeless romantic ! honestly, she was either the basis for kerry or vice versa, idr which rp i joined first. but unlike kerry, miran could hold her own a Little better, she had people around her who didn’t coddle her or weren’t always sweet in return after all — but i chalk that up to ker being part of a small mumu of college pals for the Great majority of her ( still ongoing ) run while miran was just used in that rp. anyways i miss many of gangnamhq’s lovely muns almost two years later and it’s where i first met a good few of my mutuals even if we didn’t get to interact ic, so i still think about it fondly fslkdgd

maxime seong

look, he’s up on my indie to be used, but bc he’s only had a proper run in One rp, he counts SLKGDS he’s one of the only males i’ve ever used in a group and for good reason. Bc I Fucking Suck At Characterizing My Own Male Muses. DSFLKSD i’m just insecure and uncertain as hell with them, that’s all. but max was just a scummy hetero fuckboy from france, the male version of the Iconic han yeseul but a little more headassed, and for the latter reason Alone is he Okay in my book. otherwise i’d fucking disown him sdjgfkdsfl he wasn’t used for very long, the rp lost heat and i kinda lost muse for him, but he’s certainly a memorable endeavour of mine

kang saerom

i Loved playing her. so much SGLJSGFD i never really played a Genuinely dark muse until her, as far as i remember anyways, and romy took Some inspo from yeseul as well ( plus they share an fc ) ! she was a girl who had almost done it all in seoul’s criminal underbelly, somehow being corrupted at a young age to Push Her Limits and going from a simple teenage pickpocket to a con artist, to a coke dealer or some shit for some quick cash, to an assassin. with some psychopathic tendencies, she had a substantial amount of self-control when it came to chasing her dangerous highs or when confronted, not prone to genuinely snapping for little or even good reason.... though it would go down the drain if you took the last boston cream doughnut. Watch Your Fucking Back SDFGJKSDF