#if gale has no fans that means i'm dead

[magnetic-rose]

seeing people defending gale in the tags.

[aliquistis]

On Mystra and Gale

Okay I gotta say it.

tl;dr: Gale is too old to have been groomed by Mystra (unless you headcanon him as 30 or younger), bc she was dead until 1479 (game year is 1492). I am not defending Mystra. Mystra is a mess. Her (FR) writing is a mess. But for this at least, the timeline doesn't add up.

Disclaimer: there is absolutely nothing wrong with people disregarding/tweaking lore for fan works/fanfic. God knows I do it all the time when I GM. That's your story now and you can do whatever you want with it, including exploring problematic relationships like what if Gale was groomed by Mystra? This is just a post for general information. Write what you want. Explore those dark recesses of the human heart. Fly free, you beautiful butterfly.

Too long but still gonna read explanation under the cut.

Let me preface this again: This is not a post in defense of Mystra. I have, in fact, been very loudly complaining about Mystra since long before Baldur's Gate 3 was even hinted. This is simply pointing out timeline discrepancies that it seems many newcomers to Forgotten Realms aren't aware of (totally understandable! You should not need to ingest 30 years of lore to enjoy a game and I'm not saying you do.) Additionally, FR literally kills Mystra every new edition and it gets dumber every time.

Anyways. It is highly unlikely that Gale was groomed by Mystra. This is not a statement of morality, it's a statement of timeline. Mystra died in 1385. She was in pieces (like bits of her magic were still in artifacts/her Chosen, such as Elminster in lore that I absolutely despise) and that, as far as I can tell, is how magic subsisted until 1479, when she was reconstituted by Elminster (in lore that I absolutely despise) This is a gross oversimplification of an event called the Spellplague. I am open to correction on how magic worked here because I moved to Pathfinder during the 4e era and you could not make me read those Elminster books if you put a gun to my head.

Regardless, from 1385-1479, Mystra was dead/missing/asleep. BG3 takes place in 1492. If Gale is 40 years old, he was born in 1452. This means, if Gale is 40, the youngest he could have been was 27 when Mystra contacted him. This lowers, obviously, if you think Gale is 35 or even 30. If he's 30 then Mystra could have contacted him at 17. Yes, a 17 year-old is a child and this could have led to grooming, but Mystra wasn't at full strength when she first returned and she most likely wasn't seeking new Chosen until the next year, 1480. Regardless, this is the reason I put grooming as Highly Unlikely instead of Impossible. I personally believe Gale is older than 30 (I say this as a person in their 30s), I believe he was written with the intention of being a man older than 30, and I cannot see him being in his 20s. (more power to you if that's your headcanon, he's an archmage, he could be 600 for all we know, fly free, etc)

OKAY THAT SAID. Would she have groomed him? Fucking probably! Mystra is a mess. I have been playing in Forgotten Realms in tabletop and video game settings for going on 25 years now and let me tell you. Mystra is a mess. I could make a whole long ass other post on all the many problems I've had with her writing over the years. Even without the "Mystra banged a minor" angle here, there is a serious power imbalance and very obvious manipulation on her part. And I'm here to tell you Gale isn't even the first wizard she has done this to! She's done much worse! Mystra has a ton of flaws (I could write a BOOK on Mystra's flaws) but it remains highly unlikely that grooming Gale in particular is one of them.

If you'd like more FR lore this person has some amazing lore write-ups that I really enjoyed reading during EA. And here is Mystra's forgotten realms wiki page, already linked to her death and return.

(my friend told me to post this after I kept bitching to them about Lore on discord and They Know Who They Are)

[chaifootsteps]

Been playing BG3 again (I stopped at a certain point because I disliked enough of it to shelve it) but I'm back at it to actually form a good opinion on *why* I dislike it, since the refund period was already well out the window by the time I was fed up the first time around.

Why am I coming to you about this? Because I noticed something while playing and doing some digging on the other romance routes that I will not be doing. Astarion and Stolas are incredibly alike. It's fascinating to me, Astarion literally admits to the player that he manipulated you so you wouldn't ever cross him, but only after *he* fell in love does he decide you get agency. Which sounds very similar to how a certain owl treats a certain imp.

Honestly the more I play the game and do some digging on the fandom the more BG3 feels like Helluva Boss. Both stories had initial premise (for BG3 it was the Early Access, for HB it was the pilot/season 1) but fell into just being romance or focusing on the writer's pet (for BG3 this is Astarion). Both stories handle abuse abysmally (Wyll and Gale are both victims and yet their abuse isn't treated as serious? There was even a 'patch' where the PC could pressure Gale into group sex and he still expresses being uncomfortable the entire time, Wyll's abuse is... A fucking lot to get into) and both stories are just. Flat out racist? HB has the whole... Imps and Hellhounds metaphor going on (that gets conveniently forgotten about when we need to focus on how sad Stolas is) and BG3 also has fantasy racism (playing as a Teifling apparently has NPCs call you slurs right out the gate) but also just has normal, everyday racism in the foundations of the game (Wyll is the most lacking companion in content while Astarion gets more and more content, the lack of options for POC to make a character that even looks like them). *This* was 2023's GotY?

I'm so, so tired of mediocre at best pieces of work being propped up as 'the best thing ever and if you disagree you're a bad person' by fandom at large. I wish people were more critical of the things they consumed, I wish stories about male victims of abuse were treated seriously and not just made as wank fodder or without the author constantly implying that the victim 'deserved' it.

Apologies in advance if this is heavy, I generally try to form my thoughts about these things more constructively as I believe it's important to establish *why* something is flawed, but I'm so frustrated. It's hard to be charitable and kind all the time when it feels like doing so is coming up against a dead end. It also goes without saying that if any fans of BG3 see this, I don't hate you, I don't think you're a bad person for liking this game I despise, I'm just... Tired.

(I'd also like to request that this ask, if you decide to answer, is paired with the suggestive tag due to the language I've used. It's a personal preference, thank you in advance.)

Haven't gotten around to playing BG3, but between the resemblance to Stolas and the terrible flashbacks to actual worst character Iron Bull sleeping with your Inquisitor as a means of spying on them and then "catching feelings," I'm thinking I might have to skip romancing Astarion. At least there's plenty of other fish in the Baldur's Gate 3.

[thedawningofthehour]

My doth theory is that this whole exploding collar thing will backfire real soon and someone important on Draxum side will end up in it (or perhaps someone from turtles side will get stuck in it?? Idk someone important will get stuck in it). Reasons why I think that:

1. Putting a bomb ON A COLLAR feels like something important. Like collar is such a visual way of doing it. It draws attention to itself

2. Idk I rewatched Evangelion Rebuild movies maybe like 3 months ago so Explosive collars made me think of it and DSS chockers so now I'm overanalysing these stupid collars

3. Tiger Claw did describe Gale getting kidnapped as "Prople wanting to see him in a collar" or something like that so maybe????

4. That's it I'm used to the fact that if it's a collar then it's propably important and if not, then at least they will let the main character wear it for a while. Like it's both visually striking and propably looks not that complicated. Perfect and easy to remember. Ofcourse you would want to put one of your main characters in it, so now people buy chockers made to look like it on ali express for cosplay.

I doubt that will actually happen, like litearlly my only lead that it will is one line that most likley means nothing, and I'm more than anything just joking about how putting something on a collar feels like a memorable visual that propably will be at least a bit imporant. And main character will wear it for a hot second to make it cosplay worthy (like litearlly in evangelion in span of 2 movies, three different main characters wore it, one at the time with the last one not even leading to much as it got just removed off her. Like she could just put her mech on autodestruct or something for it to be turned off, but nope. Collar)

Explosive collars are a pretty common trope-it even has its own TVTropes page. (not linking for people like me who will lose whole nights to it) Battle Royale used them too, and if you're a fan of The Hunger Games (new movie just came out, anyone seen it yet?) Battle Royale is absolutely a fun read.

The ones I was thinking of, however, are the slave collars from the Fallout series.

(I mean, are you fucking surprised it's Fallout-inspired?)

In the lore of Fallout, these were used in prisons and detention camps, especially on Chinese prisoners, and potentially developed for use on laborers to keep them working and obedient. (hey, it's good satire if it hits close to home) After the Great War, they were quickly co-opted by slavers. They function as an in-game enslaving mechanic, so the game doesn't have to script a whole slave-driving sequence of you leading your slaves back to slaver HQ-you literally just slap the collar on and they'll deliver themselves. It's kind of a chilling aspect of life in the wasteland, the casual cheapness and disregard for human life. Oh, and the whole Dead Money DLC where you get a bomb collar and have to navigate a resort and casino while dodging corrosive gas and radios that will interfere with your collar and set it off prematurely.

The collars that Draxum wants aren't as shoddy, and he would mostly want them for people who are around his son/responsible for keeping him safe when he's out of the house. Because he's going to have to do that at some point. He can't trust anyone's loyalty or bravery-but he can trust that they'll do everything in their power to protect him if they know their heads will be blown off the moment Galois's heart stops.

And yeah, the visual is important. The symbolism is important. A collar is inherently demeaning, demoralizing, a literal grip around one of the most important parts of your body. There's actually a guy in New Vegas that will talk about how he intentionally puts slave collars on a little too tight so it bites into a slave's neck and constantly reminds them what they are.

But at the same time, it's a barbaric tool. It would not be good PR for everyone to see Draxum's minions with these around their necks, nor would it particularly endear said minions to him. Also worth noting-slave collars are common in art and fiction because they're effective symbols of slavery, but in real life slaves usually didn't wear collars. Because slaveowners didn't want their slaves seeing how many of them there actually were and rising up against their masters. For those of you who've read ASOIAF, remember that Astapor (and to an extent Meereen) did not fall to Dany's forces or even her dragons, but to the very slaves they trained and sold.

(Draxum's heard way more about Game of Thrones than he ever cares to know)

In short-Draxum knows what he's doing, and he intends to use this tool sparingly, but wisely.

The way you phrase this implies that someone is going to cosplay my shitty fic. Though I do feel like it will be fanart opportunity.

[osterby]

Baldur's Gate 3, via Osmosis

So I think I played the first Baldur's Gate game for like an hour at a friend's house back in college, and all I remember about it was how delighted I was by the miniature giant hamster. I didn't even know there was a second game until I started hearing people get excited about the third one. That's about the sum of my knowledge of this franchise.

So without more ado, here's what my tumblr dash has taught me about these blorbos (I got @malaloba to huck the screenshots at me, so I didn't spoil myself on the names)

I want to say this one is Shadowheart, but that's too on the nose. She's probably .... Mythrin... Mithras... Mithotyn... Nope, I haven't got it.

She looks grouchy, and like she has a very good reason to be grouchy, and I would assume she's a combat class from her armour, but that's all I've got.

Gale (or Halsin) I know this one! He's the one who turns into a bear in The Cutscene that broke the internet for a few days. That means he'd be a Druid, right? I think he cross classes or something, though.

I hope the furries are having a great time drawing him as an anthro bear with a very large weenie.

Astarion! This vampire twink was all over my dash long before the game was released. Apparently he has a tragic backstory and is a jerk about it in a way that is either annoying or endearing, depending on the player's opinion of vampire twinks. His main role in the game, however, seems to be comically failing to pick locks. This means he's a Thief. Apparently the thing with the bear just had Astarion as the player character, and he isn't canonically dating the bear guy. Oh well.

Halsin (or Gale) The Other One who is Not a Bear. I would have said Bard for his class, but he's glowing a bit much for that here, so maybe a caster? I feel like he's more popular in areas of Tumblr that don't cross my dash.

Karlach or Karlak or something (not Karkat, that's a Homestuck thing).

Lesbians love her! She is large and angry and apparently really easy to romance just by approving of her chopping things with her axe. I think she was a child soldier? I see a lot of jokes about her crappy ex. I think her ex is actually her god and not her ex, though. Anyway, she seems like a prototypical Barbarian, good for her.

EDIT: I just remembered that she has PLAGUE, and is on a quest to Stop Having Plague. This is apparently her ex's fault

Laz'el. Lae'zel. La'zael. Something along those lines. I've seen treatises on her backstory and characterization, and she sounds like a really interesting character. Grew up in a cult of some kind, got dead or something, got abandoned by a crappy god (who might have also gotten dead or something), and is now wandering around trying to figure out how to exist in a world that isn't a cult. Apparently Other Players don't like her and dont't get what's up with her, which is a sore point for her fans (It's very possible that I'm mixing up portions of her backstory and fan reception with Karlach's) Her nose weirds me out (some uncanny valley thing between a skeleton lack-of-nose and a nose-nose), but I think she's pretty neat.

Ok, so if the blue lady at the top of this post isn't Shadowheart, then this one is Shadowheart. When I first saw the name Shadowheart, I thought it was someone's OC, and then I thought it was a generic name for the player character. From what I can gather, she's Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way with the stupid scraped off. She seems to be younger than most the other characters; she and the red tiefling are the kiddos of the group (Astarion doesn't count, because vampire). I think she grew up all sheltered in a weird little cult, too. Did ALL these characters grow up in weird cults? Is that a theme? Did I hear one backstory and apply it to a dozen different characters?

I happen to know for sure that this guy's name is Wyll. Good for me.

I don't know beans about him but I suspect he might be my favourite character when I do finally get around to playing, just from how his peronality is conveyed in fanart.

I get the impression he's the Only Sane Man to all these characters who grew up in cults and divorced dead gods and got vampire'd and whatnot, but he also has horns in like half the fanart and screenshots and is clearly Haunted (metaphorically, figuratively, literally, probably all of the above), so who knows.

As for the second figure here, I know the premise of the game is you've all got brainworms, who are in leage with a mindflayer con man who you can bone but who is also running some sleezy marketing scam, so maybe that's the brainworm made manifest?

I also see a lot of talk about character called Dark Urge, and the fan art doesn't look like that, but if Dark Urge is a manifested brainworm, then it could take various forms.

[illegiblewords]

Heavy stuff, venting.

I'm having a really, really awful time right now and it just sucks a lot. Things have been tough offline on a lot of levels lately. I don't share much of my creative stuff with people IRL, but it's one of the things that can give me a lot of joy through the day even when things are hard. Creative stuff can mean stories, or designs, or analysis. Even just poking around seeing what other people have done will cheer me up. I've been taking a break from FFXIV for a bit. I didn't play the most recent patch or holiday stuff. Some of the pacing and directions feel like missed opportunities. I might try again in Dawntrail but at this moment I'm taking a break to do BG3 for a bit. I've been interested in DnD for years, and I actually have a million ideas and things I find exciting tied to the Forgotten Realms. Haven't gotten to do more than the very beginning of a campaign because schedule hell but I'd really love to. BG3 has been a chance for me to actually interact with the world on my own terms a bit and it's been a big source of joy for me lately. And I love that Larian put as much thought and layering for the characters psychologically, overall. I love that they generally haven't shied away from stuff either. If I try to look at tags for say, Gale though? Mostly instead of other people making things, I've been getting people who are absolutely furious about how devs talked in a recent interview. I've dealt with characters I love to bits being treated in horrifying ways before. People who were with me when I did Spidey stuff will probably remember some of it. Shit was genuinely incredibly upsetting. I don't think the things people are mad at Larian about are intentional by Larian in the way they're being interpreted. I think this could probably be resolved just by explaining concerns assuming it was unintentional, without rage or accusation. They seem to really care about their fans and given the story told I think they care about their own characters too. Business bits aside. I haven't talked about any of this on tumblr or twitter because like... right now people seem to be a kind of angry where if you aren't angry the way they are, then fuck you you piece of shit basically. But if I'm just trying to make things, or find other people making things, or do analysis? I've just been wading through the anger from other people. It's more stress when I just don't need it. I've tried to find BG3 or DnD discords. I haven't found one for BG3. The DnD ones, I think there's a combination of them being kind of dead and... not really a place for what I do or how I talk. I have two homebrew monsters and a homebrew item I'd love to keep refining but I have no idea how stats work, and I can only really go so far on my own not having done a campaign in any way. Someone suggested I make my own discord community, and I could try, but idk if anyone else would be interested and being in-charge makes me anxious. Same time I'd be really nervous about whether discords run by other people are chill. I desperately, desperately want to avoid drama.

And stupidly I went to the official forums for lack of knowing where else to go. I was surprised that people were nice initially but one person came in and has been making weird personal attacks, backhanded compliments, talking like they're the authority on all things (lore, morality, storytelling as a whole). If you have a different opinion you are wrong and a bad person and stupid too. I genuinely think this person might be a narcissist and they are setting off every possible warning bell with me. Like I'm actually freaked out by how out of touch with reality they are. This person is making shit up that was never discussed, gaslighting like crazy, twisting words, and going into rages claiming I went nuclear when my whole point was 'why the fuck are you being mean to me and trying to boss me around???' I was very much not happy with the person but I was fucking careful not to insult them. And now I think this person doesn't want to leave me the hell alone. And like, I straight up said I don't want to talk to them further. When the user had a MASSIVE GODDAMN TANTRUM full of personal insults and accusations, I didn't reply. I thanked one other person in the forum for mentioning they read the message as hostile too, mentioned my 'leave me alone' message wasn't taken in its intended spirit, and touched briefly on why the accusations hit a particular sore spot. Then I apologized for derailing and switched to discuss character interpretations again.

Lunatic is like 'oh these replies to my message are so interesting, I'm going to answer you all once the website stops glitching'. And I swear to fuck I can hear the strings from Psycho going off.

I don't really trust that forum moderators will intervene. It's been a whole day since my first attempt to report, when the initial message happened. The second message was much worse. I generally don't trust people to take it seriously if harassment like that is happening. My assumption is if it's criminal I need to go to the police but otherwise like... no one is watching out for shit. And there is no block system on those forums.

I AM JUST TRYING TO MAKE CRAP MAN. I CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. I CARE ABOUT AND INTERPRET CHARACTERS IN A WAY NOT EVERYONE ELSE DOES. I DON'T NEED PEOPLE TO AGREE BUT FOR FUCK'S SAKE LET ME MAKE AND TALK ABOUT SHIT IN PEACE. If I touch on a heavy topic, it's because I think it's warranted or adds a layer to the narrative that explains things or otherwise makes sense. I'm going to navigate heavy topics with care and empathy because I am very aware people get seriously hurt by that shit, a LOT of creators are actively cruel to victims, and! I love the characters! People are allowed to tell stories that cover the darker parts of human experience, not just the ones a single specific person approves of! And if you don't fucking like how someone else interprets or makes shit, DON'T READ IT AND MAKE YOUR OWN CRAP.

This was probably horrible interneting in the sense that I shouldn't have replied at all, but what the everloving fuck. How do you go up to random strangers and lead with condescension like that? How do you go through life just assuming everyone different from you has something wrong with them? EDIT: Person has escalated. Not sure what to do. Have reported a lot but no action yet. FURTHER EDIT: Mod showed up and said 'people are allowed to disagree, be nice, there's a hidden ignore button on a separate webpage'. The personal attacks are allowed to stand and TOS seem to be meaningless. Another user pointed out that the lunatic had been recognized as aggressive by two people and that my analysis wasn't unreasonable or uncommon even if they didn't subscribe themselves. Person private messaged with me and was pretty reassuring. I'm just on the page of 'fuck those forums I am never coming back' at this point, with the added understanding that if I tried to talk again at all the lunatic would 5000% continue trying to harass me. I just hope they get distracted and move on/forget basically. Fuck that shit.

[crqstalite]

now tell me some about your bg3 blorbo kallista!! 👀👀

oooo thank you!! similar warnings for minor (act 1?) spoilers below :) im not actually super well-versed in baldur's gate lore, so some of its vague for the sole reason i have zero idea what i'm talking about lmao

her full name is kallista fortuna raeburn. she prefers the name kalli though usually. or 'the caster'. or 'the artisan'. or 'that tiefling down the road with the weird magical abilities'

she's about 27, turning 28 mid-campaign. 5'6", asmodeous tiefling sorc with a penchant for electricity and of course -- fire <3

( the wild magic bit doesn't help much )

grew up in a semi-major town outside baldur's gate. she worked primarily as an artisan at the request of her house mother after leaving the orphanage she grew up in. she loves to make things with her hands.

on that thought, she ended up in an orphanage shortly after her parents disappeared. kallista has never found out what happened to them, but it is part of her sub-story. her parents were adventurers, not unlike who she'd eventually become, and often took off on long trips. however it was unusual when her father didn't return after a particular excursion, and her mother went after him -- never to return again. kallista believes them dead, but has never really stopped looking. they left her with a pendant that would direct her back to the matching one her father wore, but finding it crushed and buried at seventeen certainly didn't help matters. her mother's is still out there, keeping the pendant warm, but she's never had the means to find it when it lead out to open ocean.

her father was a seldarine drow while her mother was a tiefling.

with the others often not-so-well-veiled distrust of her because of her tiefling background, kallista became a bit of a wily one early on. she's a little too dexterous for her own good (her claws allow her to attempt lock picking), and a bit of a charismatic smooth talker. it allowed her to sneak in and out of the orphanage, lie and often persuade others to give her what she wanted. usually she was rather benevolent, it just could get destructive if she forgot details (like what she told whom or how she had gotten in/left the night prior). high dex/charisma score v. low wisdom/int score troubles

very much a 'react first, ask questions later' person. easily spooked. not a good idea to sneak up on her. however not so easily grossed out (collects specimen off battlefields like it's nothing. likely is always covered in...someone's blood. not always her's.)

she's actually incredibly smart in the arcana, even with her avg. intelligence score. she has a crazy photographic memory, and if she's experienced the spell firsthand, it's way easier to remember the history attached to it and the grimoire it was in.

very chaotic good! she's always down to help someone...but that doesn't mean she'll do it right. or legally. but you lived right? stop getting bogged down in the details.

her closest party members are likely halsin (her RO), lae'zel (she has a weird amount of respect for her...and is terrified of her), shadowheart (similar reasons), karlach (she had a major crush on her early on before it waned into 'no, i just really respect and like you around' ) and astarion (the only person she organically got to know without being scared of him)

not so much a fan of gale, and largely academically curious about wyll. of course, he's her friend, but she's never met a warlock prior to him. she likes to learn, even if she's a little nosy. actually, yeah, she's similarly academically fascinated by gale and his problems with mystra. she just thinks he's a little odd (and perhaps pretentious...he's a proper wizard to her wild magic sorcery)

( sorry weird amount of astarion & kallista content...ivelina's run will be romancing him bc im not normal about him )

astarion is a weird case for her because unlike the others, she didn't immediately clock him as a threat. yes, he did try to sink his fangs into her and suck her dry, but after the initial 'holy shit youre so very very lucky i did not fireball you into next week' wore off, oh boy astarion got bombarded with so many questions. he thinks he would've been better off had she tried to stab him.

( she's a sciency gal at heart )

still, she likes his sarcastic nature and his willingness to be vulnerable with her later on. they become rather quick friends (well, she calls him a friend the day after he bites her, it takes him a while to get past 'pest-like woman who won't leave me be')

she regularly lets him drink from her, it takes him a while to come around to actually, well, even coming close to enjoying it, but somewhere after kallista stops flinching everytime he does it they have a nice amount of comradery. there's some fleeting romantic interest that isn't reciprocated by either party, but it isn't unusual to find them sitting by the fire later, the pair of them discussing the days events...and maybe astarion making sure the all-too-nice tiefling doesn't pass out from blood loss.

they nitpick at each other quite a lot. usually in good fun, in the wiity, dramatical way he does and the sarcastic, innocent-but-not really way she does. if astarion wasn't incredibly pale and kallista did without the horns and tail, it wouldn't be all that bad of a guess that they were half siblings in another life.

on that note, she is...not good with boundaries. unlike koda this appears more as her inserting herself into everyone's problems and lives. mostly because her own is such a mystery and her feeling like she's never belonged turned her into a social chameleon. she needs people to like her. after all, if she's all-knowing, it means she can control what others think of her...and if she stays in their good graces, they won't leave her, right? if she becomes a fixture in their lives, they have to stick around. right? yeah. yeah...

( her parents disappearing + her rough childhood in the orphanage did...wonders for her self-perception )

in the "best" sense of the word, she doesn't really know when no means no. and it takes just about everyone (but especially lae'zel post vlaakith reveal) to get her to back off and relax. she struggles immensely with the lack of stability in her life, and getting tadpole-napped did not help matters. on the outside it shows more as her just wanting to be "helpful", but in reality she subconsciously wants to give you a reason to stay around her. to need her for something. it's manipulative -- she doesn't know it, but i do.

is learning how to navigate her new relationship with halsin. while she is monogamous, she respects that he is not, but perhaps gets a little forlorn thinking about the after...and how he may not always be around. or that her little tadpole family may not be either. it keeps her up at night.

living in the here and now is hard with so many emotional loose ends for her. but halsin does his best to sooth her worries, and peppers her with enough affection to garner attention from the others. kallista never minds this. wyll has not slept peacefully in a minute.

their dynamic is very much that she's the spitfire short girlfriend who has to remind the barkeep her beloved teddy bear of a boyfriend did not want pickles and so help her hells if they didn't take it off his sandwich--

has been to baldur's gate a few times on trips for the business she used to work for. however in-game, it's her first time going by herself...and so much has changed.

has a scar on her face after accidentally slicing open a part of her face with a paring knife when she was practicing telekinesis as a teenager.

thank you for asking im incapable of shutting up <3333

[sybaritick]

2+6+7! :3

(for my unusual questions for writers ask game. thank you!)

2 - What is the most experimental or bizarre thing you've written? Share it here (or a quote from it).

I have said some unusual stuff in my songs! From one of last year's:

I saw that big concrete mouth has been shut: would this all go to rust if we left it at last? the bed’s never been drier On the rubber band, taking my turn like the bow is the stern and it’s my job to learn when the smoke means there’s fire I could put milk in my tea if I weren’t a coward, and I could hide nothing– white toast and nothing– is there ketchup, or something–?   I’d resolve that I could try it tonight, like a symbol at least, but if I grit my teeth, then I know it's lost function

6 - Name three writing inspirations: one dead published author, one living published author, and one fanficcer/fellow amateur writer.

For the dead person I would have to pick Ursula Le Guin, who is an amazing science fiction author of two of my favorite books (The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness).

As for a living author, I'll say Seth Dickinson, for the Masquerade series (The Traitor Baru Cormorant)... I haven't read his newest book (Exordia) yet though, maybe I'm a fake fan!

For a fanfic writer... it's incredibly difficult to name just one person but I will say @prometheuspoint undoubtedly has to be one of them, for many years now. They will write fic for fandoms I'm not even in and I'll still read it just to enjoy their craft.

7 - Quote a bad joke/groan-worthy pun/intentionally silly line from your writing.

I'm not usually too funny in my fics, but here's a silly one from Certain Talents, where Gale discusses the matriarchy of Menzoberranzan while Astarion is trying to get him to admit his obvious thing for femdom:

“Yes. It’s not a simple difference. There are particular positions in which males are permitted– which confer some honor, of course, but no formal power compared to that of even a common-born woman.” “Mm. And what position do you imagine yourself in?” Astarion answered. 

[trevisos]

12 and 23 for Xarrai

8 16 and 24 for Ieriyn

for that Tav meme?

tysm!!!

(questions are here)

xarrai:

12. What opinion does your Tav have about the Gods?

the short answer is: not a fan.

the long answer is xarrai sees all the gods as tyrants - look at shar, who demands her followers give up their memories; or mystra, who takes chosen after chosen and keeps them like pets; or vlaakith, who. well. vlaakith. they're cruel rulers who demand obedience and worship from their followers, even those who claim benevolence. as far as xar is concerned, bane is just the only one being honest about who he is and what he wants. they don't really give a shit about what gods others choose to worship but they are silently (or um. not so silently) judging anyone who is particularly devout. every time shadowheart talks about shar early game xarrai is just nodding along like yep. mmhmm. yeah sure. and aggressively rolling their eyes when they walk away lmao. there's an element of bitterness to it too, though. here they are on this adventure surrounded by people who desperately want the favor of their gods but all xarrai wants is to be well and truly forsaken by bane. (at the same time, though, they recognize the only reason they're still alive is because he hasn't forsaken them - bane doesn't suffer fools or failures, after all - so it's a bit of a double edged sword.)

23. What are 2-3 songs that your Tav would relate to?

this is actually the hardest question u could have asked bc i have an almost 40 song (and growing lol) playlist for xarrai LMAO. these are a few i've been really vibing with the last few days, but i don't know that they're the ones xar would relate to the Most by any means.

burn your village - kiki rockwell

metaphor - the crane wives

kill all your friends - mcr

and honorable mention for grey veins by ls dunes. i had this song on repeat for like two days while i was starting to build their character because i picked this game up like right after i saw lsd in concert and it ended up coloring a lot of how i viewed xarrai initially lol

(mutuals feel free to lmk if you want the link to the whole playlist (or my astarion and/or xarrastarion ones) - i'm a dirty apple music user and the playlist has my government name on it so i don't wanna post it publicly but i am down to share)

ieriyn

8. Did your Tav have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like? If no, how did they feel about being single?

yes! he had a couple of boyfriends when he was still in school. nothing super serious, honestly - just your typical teenage relationships and all the drama that entails. in the last few years he hasn't really had many partners - a fling here or there, but again nothing serious. i will say though he has a thing for older men with big brown eyes :3c (gale never had a chance is what i'm saying. it was over for him before it even began. this twink is going to ruin his life.)

16. How does your Tav feel about killing?

not good! as of where i am in the game right now (about to defend the grove from being raided following some #mistakes ieriyn made when talking to minthara) he hasn't killed another thinking creature ever. he really really doesn't want to and has spent half the battles the party has been in so far more or less cowering in a corner for fear of killing someone accidentally if he uses his magic. he's honestly kind of dead weight. but defending the grove is going to change things - he can't sit there and do nothing when this is his fault and he knows he has to pull his weight or the party is going to end up dumping him on the side of the road, assuming any of them survive this. (lae'zel and astarion in particular hate his fucking guts for being so useless and yet trying to take the credit for shit anyway lol) i don't think he's ever going to feel good or even necessarily okay about killing, but i do think he's going to learn to deal with it anyway.

24. What first impression does your Tav give off to strangers?

i think initally ieriyn comes off as a spoiled brat tbqh. he's deeply out of touch with the way "normal" people live and has really never been outside his bubble of wealth and comfort, which makes him difficult to talk to i think. he's also heinously arrogant - sometimes because he genuinely believes it ("i'm a special gifted magic kid and soooo powerful and strong") and sometimes because he's trying to cover up for what he doesn't know or what he's afraid of. this is smth i imagine is going to be extremely different by the end of the game, but as of rn he gives a pretty shitty first impression LOL

[eureka-its-zico]

Hi, I'm back with another essay 😂

I've had a busy week at work and I thank the heavens it is Friday because I need to just sit and stare at a wall for a while and decompress 😂 Also, my week's been fully thrown off since Monday as I did not sleep at all that night so I've been all over the place. HOWEVER, it's been a fairly alright week!

I thought I'd send in an ask to mainly talk video games because Dragon Age, ME AND Baldur's Gate? Especially ME?! I don't get to talk about ME enough!

Okay, so I have to admit that for most of the game, my party was Shadowheart, Karlach and the gith chick, Lae'zel, that you don't like 😂 And I have to admit that at first I was on the fence about her, but she quickly grew on me and even more so as the story progressed. Larian Studios gave each of their characters a great background and amazing personalities. And majority of them have great character progression as the game progresses, imo! (there's some things that happen in that game that I cannot comment about yet, but honestly, Larian Studios are creative geniuses lol)

In regards to Lae'zel, I will definitely want to hear more of your thoughts as you progress through the game!

Also, I cackled at the fact you restarted the game because you found out you missed Gale! 😂 I have to admit though - I would absolutely do the same! Let me know what you decide on him, because I went through the whole game and my opinion about him didn't change 😂

How are you finding the game so far? What do you think of the story and the characters you encountered? Both, the characters you can have in your party and NPC's? Have you tried to speak with any animals yet? 😂

Coming up to Dragon Age and Mass Effect… It's been years since I touched a Dragon Age game, but I remember the first and second games fondly. But Mass Effect… Oh boy, haha. I played the games… I don't even know how many times. ME2 still to this day holds a special part in my heart so when they announced an ME Legendary Edition with all three games reworked, all shiny and pretty?? You bet I got them and played through all three games :D And it felt like playing them for the first time again. Also, Garrus? Yes, please!

Have to admit, I was disappointed at the ending on ME3, both because of the ending they gave Commander Shepard and also because the ending that they originally came out with was… a flop and unsatisfying, though they gave longer endings after a patch because of fan disappointment. And I will forever think that the "secret ending" of Commander Shepard's N7 logo in those ruins actually means they aren't dead (there should also be a new ME game???! And they showed Liara in the trailer??!).

The universe that ME has, with the story and characters is just absolutely mind blowing and those games are beautiful ❤ And personally, I look for games that have a rich and deep story so the fact that we are talking about DA, ME and Baldur's Gate right now? My heart is singing and I am just all warm and happy haha

Another one of my favourites is Witcher 3. AND it was a fave before Henry Cavill became a live action Geralt 😂 I spent a lot of hours on that game... One could even say too many, but if anyone does - they're wrong 😂

But of course, I have to take a moment and scream about "Violent Delights", because excuse me? Where has Enishi Yukishiro been and why have I not seen him?? 👀 I know what I'm watching over the weekend lol I need to find time to go through your whole master list because your writing is like nourishment and it does unexplainable things to me!

And that sneak peek for chapter 7..? Oh fuck. These two petty fools will be the end of me 😂

On a personal note, thank you for your kind words in your reply. I appreciate you for taking the time to reply and share your lovely words with me because they mean a lot ❤

I hope your week has been great, Jenn! And I hope you will have a lovely, restful weekend! Sending you lots of virtual hugs! ❤

Okay so I KNOW you just sent me a brand new ask but I need to answer this one first! I am so sorry it took me so long to reply 😩

How have your weeks been going? It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with one another! I sincerely hope that no technology has been acting up and that your days have been peaceful and content 🖤

DID YOU BY CHANCE WATCH RUROUNI KENSHIN: THE FINAL WITH ENISHI YUKISHIRO?!!??? I legit wrote that thinking it would get him out of my system but it actually did not lol and I’m already just planning on continuing it but it’s just going to be filth. Pure smutty filth and I refuse to apologize 🤣🤣

Right now Karlach is still currently my fav! Her character is just so FUN. She has such a good attitude, and she is definitely the type of person I would want in a real-life crew. I’m torn on the love interest part of it because like…so far I like none of them lol. Astarion is in the lead, but barely, just because he’s a vampire and I’m a whore for love bites 😈 lol but I have noticed that he does have these soft moments through the indifference he conveys. He’s just different from who I usually pick in games. Although, in Cyberpunk I picked Judy but if I could’ve picked Johnny (absolutely LOVE Keanu) I would’ve lol. I love broody men.

I agree with you on ME3!! I’m so glad they went back and added more to it. I think it allowed a lot of us to get the closer we needed when it came to our Commander Shepherds. And yeah, if you chose the destroy option, they hinted that he/she was still alive, but I could never choose that one. I’m such a paragon lol I wanted everyone to get along and if my character had to sacrifice herself to do it, I did it every time (I can’t do that to Eve) 😩😩 except the one time to see if the destroy ending was worth it. I won’t hold my breath about the new DA and ME trailers they showcased a couple years ago, because Andromeda was not a fav lol. I think trying to bring in a new character to take over for shepherd is going to be incredibly hard, but I am interested to see if the continue with the storyline of inquisition for DA!

Baldur’s Gate 3 is just such a breathe of fresh air because I’m such a whore for a good storyline. I LOVE them. It makes it so much more immersive and makes you care about the outcomes of those in your party and your character. Witcher 3 was sooooo good at that too!

I’m still waiting to replay Cyberpunk 2077 from the beginning because of the Sons of Liberty DLC. I’ve heard amazing things about it, and I’m hyped but I got 2 weeks left of Uni work and then I graduate and I’m DONE! I’m so ready lol 🤣🤣

Thank you for always being such an absolute joy to talk to and for the essays lol. For being one of the sweetest humans alive. I hope your weekend is treating you well 🖤🖤 much love

[automatanura]

Theming & Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 definitely feels like one of those once in a (console) generation games that creates new heights for the medium, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, and the original Baldur's Gates before it. I loved it, I'm on my second and a half playthrough, but in loving it I need to give my full opinion on the game's story, especially the ending.

Warning: Massive Spoilers Below. Everything is Fair Game.

As a work, Baldur's Gate 3 feels conflicted in its theming, especially the farther you get into Act 3. This is understandable, as Larian tries to connect three mostly unrelated concepts in Faerûn (the illithid / githyanki conflict, the Dead Three, and the Nine Hells) into a unified whole, sprinkling other bits of Realmslore in to bridge the thematic gaps. In a lot of ways, it works. The Steel Watchers as a product of Gortash's dealings with the Hells, for instance, is inspired, and taps into tropes of hellfire, industry, and fiendish invention, which are then tied to the necromancy and brainomancy of the other parts of the cult of the Absolute.

However, other parts feel disjointed, such as the role of Bhaal. While it makes sense as a continuation of the previous games, and within the context of the Dark Urge, the player doesn't really see a way in which the Bhaalists benefit the plan, especially since they don't show up until the conspiracy starts to fall apart in Act III. The presence of the Zhentarim in Act I lays the thematic groundwork for Bane, as the undead in Act II do for Myrkul, but anything linked to Bhaal is conspicuously absent (again, unless you're the Urge)

The biggest thing which struck to me is the tone of the "good" ending, which mismatches everything else before. I'm already not a fan of "end of the world/universe" conflicts, and prefer things much more localized, but even as you save the world and everyone cheers, what's sorely missing is the acknowledgment of loss and sacrifice present throughout the rest of the narrative. If there's one question I think the story asks, it's "How far are you willing to go to be free?"

We see this conflict in pretty much all the Origin characters, even before the slavery implied by the tadpoling. Lae'zel has to contend with Vlaakith's tyranny, losing her place in her society if she doesn't submit. Wyll is stuck in a fiendish contract, Astarion and Karlach were soldiers/toys in the grasps of their respective masters, Shadowheart is tied so tightly to Shar that she's lost most of herself, and Gale is eventually charged to end his life in the service of Mystra. The Dark Urge, for their part, is bound by both blood and psyche to their father.

And then we have the tadpole, for which the game lets you go to tremendous lengths to rid yourself, with no success.

While everyone cheered, I had:

Inserted multiple alien parasites into my brain to gain the power to survive

Read a book of forbidden knowledge which fundamentally changed me

Made a deal with hag

Killed the Nightsong (because the game doesn't really let you know that keeping her alive still ends Ketheric's immortality)

Doomed everyone at Last Light (including a hero of Baldur's Gate)

Let my lover kill her parents to avoid angering a goddess

Attempt a prison break, which left half the prisoners dead

Advised Astarion to kill thousands of people (including children) in order to avoid the even worse disaster of their liberty

Sold my body to a fiend to gain the means to my own freedom

Allowed my friend to lose her body and soul in order to defeat our enemy

And probably other things I forgot (not to mention the ways loss, sacrifice, and freedom play out among the non-party NPCs)

And so if you take the non-evil ending, the narrative feels…oblivious, to say the least, of the costs, which I expect are still there, even in an ultra-good run (which mine was not).

The game has plenty, plenty going for it (the encounters are interesting, the characters are generally well-written and expressive, and the game lets you interact with it in so many ways. I think it's because of this, that some of the disjunctions in narrative and theming feel so apparent.

[mxanigel]

coming for the fic title game "Putting together broken pieces"

This has been sitting in my ask box forever and I'm so sorry it took me this long! (reference post here)

But now that I'm starting to get swallowed up by BG3, though I'm still in Act 1, I like the idea of this title being related to Vix supporting the companions they're closest to, specifically Shadowheart and Gale.

Vix grew up learning to respect life and the forces in the world around them. (Sometimes learning the hard way, like when their storm magic went out of control.) Respecting life doesn't mean avoiding violence or deadly outcomes at all costs; it means understanding that each life has value, a creature's actions affect that value, and their value must be considered in relation to the value of what's alive around it. But respecting life does mean respecting oneself as part of the ecosystem, and a person can't keep learning and growing and changing if they're dead. Thus Vix isn't a fan of recklessly endangering oneself or pursuit of self-sacrifice.

It's probably not much of a spoiler at this point to bring up Gale's early-game need to consume magic items. But what he shared about why he needs them, what he'd do if he couldn't sate what's inside him... that hit Vix hard. And then he said "If you do not give up hope, neither shall I." Vix isn't exactly a radiant, joyful, hopeful person. But they're inspired to be that for this misfit crew. An inspiration that carries over to their interactions with Shadowheart, one that eventually translates into a love that, honestly, Vix isn't ready for.

[thefinalgirlblog]

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SCREAM 6

THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SCREAM 6 ARE HERE.

So I finally seen Scream 6 and I loved it. Like I enjoyed Scream 5 as well and thought it was amazing but Scream 6 is just way better to me (could be bias since my girl Kirby FINALLY made her epic return to the franchise) and I think the acting was way better for the Sam character. I'm not going to lie in Scream 5 I didn't love her character all that much I thought she did her thing and everything but I was bummed that Tara wasn't the new it girl of the franchise but with this movie I actually found myself LOVING the character of Sam. She was so well written in Scream 6 compared to scream 5. Like scream 6 made me love her character and the actress really brought her all to the role that's for sure.

I loved Scream 6 and it's probably in my top 3 scream films along with the fourth and first. But there is a downside which isn't that big of a deal probably but I just feel it was weird how Chad didn't have more resistance to going for Tara considering that he had lost Liv. Like he was all in with Tara and don't get me wrong I ship them hard now but it makes me feel bad for Liv because it shows that Chad never really loved her in my opinion. Like he didn't even seem fazed by the fact that he has a dead ex.

Like when Sidney lost Randy, Tatum, and Derek you could feel her pain over it even if it wasn't explicitly said. She wore Derek's necklace in the third film still, there were certain moments where you could tell that Sidney missed Randy and Tatum.

But with Chad in Scream 6 I don't get the vibe that he misses or even cares that Liv is dead.

And with Mindy I guess I assumed she'd feel a little bad for how she was treating Liv in the fifth film because she legit spent the whole movie putting Liv down for no reason and then Liv winded up dead so going into the sixth movie I guess I expected a more serious Mindy in a way that was actually feeling horrible because of how awful she was to Liv but didn't get that.

So it just makes me feel so bad for Liv. Nobody misses her and the guy she was with is moving on with one of her best friends. See if Chad had trouble moving on with Tara then I wouldn't feel so bad for Liv, tbh, because it would mean he had actually loved her and that she had meant something to him. But nothing is literally holding him back from going for Tara, it's so easy for him and so I think we really missed out on a great arc for him.

But aside from that I loved scream 6. Sam was amazing and I did enjoy the romance scenes with Sam and her new man, and Tara and Chad's romance as well. I ship both of those pairings hard.

Honestly I was terrified for Gale the whole movie and I was so happy it was mentioned that she made it but it was so weird how it was just mentioned instead of us seeing her like usual but I guess since the focus is no longer on her and Sidney that means if our core four isn't near her then all we get is mentions.

But I was a bit surprised that she was repressed into being the gale from the first movie. That was weird for me because Gale had developed so much because of her bonds with Dewey and Sidney throughout the first four films. Even in the fifth film you could tell she had changed so seeing her revert to movie 1 Gale was bizarre for me. I wasn't really a fan of that but I guess they needed to set up conflict between her and the carpenter sisters. So I wasn't the biggest fan of that but it did seem like she redeemed herself a little with her heart to heart with Sam so I can look past it.

It was crazy to me that the sixth film was the first to not feature Sidney and it makes me feel unsure about how Sidney could realistically come back into the fold because she has a family and she wants to keep them safe so why would she keep running into the fire? Like Gale's line "Sidney deserves her happy ending" makes me feel like maybe it would be best to leave Sidney out of the seventh film which upsets me to say because I love Neve and Sidney and I want her back. But at the same time Sidney lost her mother young and I doubt she wants her children to experience the same.

I probably have way more to say about the movie but for now that's it. I really did love it and think it was even better than the fifth one.

[msookyspooky]

I'm sorry for asking but do you know maybe when you will post next chapter???? 😂😂 I'm so fucking exited for the next chapter!!!!! crawling thr walls, giggling, kicking my feet up

I'm such a fan of billy, stu and yn dynamic!! And I think the reason I'm most exited about it's because next chapter will kind of circulate around it??? Hdjeoeoe billy finally realized how much they care for us because of the almost death situation and stu I think will be a lot more careful around us because he got quite scared too! I know they will be kind of angry bc of our fight after Sidneys dad death but still!!

Also I'm literally so crazy about fights and characters being disappointed in others, so I'm banging the walls of my cage of excitement to see the characters find out we've been helping Billy n stu!!! Like. I want so much to the car photo get out!!!!! I really wanna see (read lmao) the look in Gales face when she finds put shes right!(I mean not really but after something like in her head anything we say is going to be a lie). I can see Dewey being the forgive but not forget type of guy even in this, but he will be so sad!!! I mean he see us as his little sister after Tatums dead, and he will be fucking devastated. And don't even get me started on Meeks! Hes going to blow up like a fuckibg bomb! Hes not going to be sad, hes going to be angry and betrayed as fuck, maybe with time hell listen to our side of the story but till then jdjeiiekendo. In this situation I hope b&s will at least be like "well fuck" for us, and if a situation of every surviver/killer of the woodsboro massacre are put in a room together happens, if they defend us oh godd lmaooo everything will go fucking downhill!!! Fucking love it!

😂😂 sorry for the question and the rant after it! Love your fic! I've been reading it since like the 15th chapter of the first book got out💗💗

Hopefully this weekend! I'm like 7k words in I just gotta add a little more and refine it (Might have to make a pt 2 or another chapter idk bc I was hoping this one would be the final for TT 😬)

No, I ttly understand!!! I have a whole plot in my head and it's urging me to keep going nm how meh I ever feel about this fic bc Randy finding out or Dewey or whoever else I have in mind will be THEE MOST angst ridden heart breaking thing that I'll read over and over after I write it 🥲 Randy and Dewey would be absolutely devastated 💔 And I'm still curious even with my own writing exactly how I'm tying them all 3 together 10 years later while making it beileveable

Thank you sm for the support I adore reviews like this 😭💘 especially since TT has been by far the worst for me to write! Not only did the first chapter happen right when my grandma died this last year that I was extremely close to but this year kind of sucked ass for me and having to write for my least favorite Scream movie with the heaviest plot in the whole series as far as these 3 together trying to solve their problems has been A DRAG. Srsly I never thought this would take me almost an entire year to write when I dished out Set up and Sequels within a few months. BUT I'm really excited for 4, Jill is one of my fav Ghostfaces and seeing their dynamic and playing out what I have in store for Randy and Yn and Dewey etc.

[onewomancitadel]

Love triangles

I loathe love triangles with all of my being. They are singularly one of my most hated tropes in romance and spoil the well for me almost every single time - which is a dead shame because it is unfortunately a rather common conceit.

What I realised when I was thinking about it yesterday - and this is an interesting point from a structural perspective - is that in order to develop the relationships (even if you are guaranteed to only be committing to one), you are effectively halving the development of each relationship in respect to the other in terms of narrative space.

That makes for a very difficult task and I feel like almost no one writing a love triangle (sincerely, with feelings for both sides or at least equal consideration given to each, because there IS one caveat where I'm down for a love triangle) realises that this is something you need to be really careful about and, other than my true love soulmates forever inner crybaby demon complaining about competing love interests, is probably the reason it so often ends up falling flat.

Of course it depends on what your expectations are for romance. If, 'Character A has feelings for Character B' constitutes appropriate and believable development then of course a love triangle is not asking you to suspend your disbelief. For me, I do not Fucking Buy It, and when it comes to romance I want to see genuine development of the romance and feelings involved, which means at least one of the relationships is going to be more poorly developed... so why do it?

Love triangles inject ambiguity into a story, which is why they're a common trope and easy shortcut to tension; they divide fanbases into shipping wars which is, from a rather cynical perspective, an easy way to cultivate fan engagement and name for your brand (Team Edward/Team Jacob might be one of the most culturally relevant products of Twilight, despite the fact the presence of the love triangle doesn't make any sense at all and was clearly a cheese on the author's or publisher's part to pad out the series).

If you are doing love triangles for other reasons (e.g. thematic ones: a common YA trope is that the love triangle represents the protagonist's choice between two ideas she must reconcile with, e.g. peace and war (Peeta or Gale)), it is obviously a little more justified but I think that if you want to thematically augment and imbue one of the romances to convey what you mean to convey, it means one of the romances will suffer or be obviously completely out of the competition and inappropriate. So even if it's ostensibly thematically justified, it doesn't make it interesting. Further, I think there's an issue here in that if, say, fans generally expect childhood friends-to-lovers, they're not exactly going to get the thematic message that a character like Gale should be sending, and would be upset about the culmination of his character as a way to forcibly 'end' the romance; obviously controlling fan reaction is not something you should ever try to do, but I don't think the love triangle manages to convey the themes more effectively than not. That's the crucial point.

So if love triangles firstly reduce total romance development (think about the usual space afforded to a traditional romance to make it believable and moving!), and secondly are not necessarily superior vehicles for conveying thematic ideas, then I think the reason they are enduring tropes is because of that artificial ambiguity. We KNOW the character stuck in the middle will end up with one or the other or alone (or all three at different parts of the story), which means it can feel wishy-washy if they work at it back and forth, or ultimately the ambiguity is not worth very much, or the story can feel unfair because sometimes storytellers will value the 'less likely' option e.g. the more poorly developed one, just for the sake of shock value. That is partly why I hate love triangles, because they can feel like a joke on the audience.

I hesitate to say this so declaratively but I feel like love triangles are often a product of lazy storytelling. Not just lazy storytelling but paint-by-numbers romance which doesn't care about romance CONCEPTUALLY. Not just romance as a means to an end but romance as a fully lived-in visceral experience of the characters that isn't just 'who will end up with whom'. I'm not about to criticise it from an unrealistic perspective (who even ends up in that many love triangles!?!!?) but from a perspective of emotional verisimilitude, I find it hard to believe in a story where love is centred and valued that it could be reduced to something that feels oddly transactional or even gameified - Character C cultivated enough Romance Points with Character A so he wins. It just has a tacky feeling in the mouth.

I still feel critically that the sacrifice of romantic development for the sake of two potential romances is the critical flaw, and that's the most interesting takeaway; it doesn't mean they can't be done but it's something to be cognisant of (and I've never seen this criticism before but forgive me if someone's already said it, it felt novel to me lol). It's not just concrete development that has to be split but emotional narrative space (what the character is thinking and doing) and thematic narrative space (which with some examples can be mitigated but nevertheless in this case, one romance will automatically be 'stronger' than the other), which can get messy and exhausting really quickly.

I'm sure there are ways it can be done properly - I think this is true of anything in storytelling, it's almost universally fixable (the one caveat where I tolerate it, if not love it, is when it's only a misunderstood love triangle, and there really is no such one) - but very particular to love triangles, they represent boring and overdone trends in romantic storytelling that thinks competition is more important than actual development and treats them as almost requisite, and love triangles are not a small enough trope to be potentially overlooked because they are a major structural consideration in the story but are treated too casually.

I want to see the full development of a romance, not half.

[gensokyogarden]

@muse-matrix

give me the satori/okuu baby

The inevitable. Here we have Komeiji Bird.

I went back and forth on this one for a while, but given that Satori is a Satori named Satori and Okuu has a void within her brain, I thought it'd be funny if they just named their child Bird. Crow and Raven were also on the table but I've known people named Crow and I felt like it loses a bit of the humor if it's something that can actually be taken as a name.

Bird is the daughter of the happily married Satori and Utsuho Komeiji. Being a Satori-Hell Raven hybrid. Now, this means that she is a half bird and half monkee. Which is a horrid combination if you really think about it.

As with a lot of Satori's fan kids, I do envision her as having a third eye. Though this one is different. While connected on vein-cords just as all Satori third eyes are, it does not have their standard shape. Instead resembling the eye of Yatagarasu on Okuu's chest. This may sound cute but it is really a portent of bad times to come.

For, you see, Okuu absorbed Yatagarasu, which means a part of his essence has just been floating around inside of her. Only for Okuu's body to create an empty vessel for part of that essence to flow into. Bird has had Yatagarasu within her since birth and it has had an impact on her personality and development.

That's not to say that Bird just is Yatagarasu. But rather that, since birth, she has had thoughts and memories that are not her own. Memories of a strong bond with Emperor Jimmu. A figure who was long dead by the time Bird was even born. Yet she misses him nonetheless and has an intricate understanding of Japan's history as a nation.

She, thankfully, has a bit more intelligence than Okuu does. In fact, she takes after Satori a bit in having an interest in mystery and investigation. It just so happens that, unlike Satori, Bird has no responsibilities in regards to managing the Underground. Leaving her free to roam and play detective as she wishes ... as well as seek out more that ties her to Yatagarasu but her parents don't need to know about that.

I've been a bit stumped as far as abilities go, so I eventually decided to look elsewhere. Yatagarasu, in some myth and folklore, is the attendant of the Storm God Susanoo-No-Mikoto. For that reason I thought, what if Bird has the ability to manipulate wind currents to produce powerful gales. And so that is the ability I'm going with.

And an attempt at a picrew

I went with heterochromia on it as a way to fit in the Eye of yatagarasu thing.

Now the issue, of course, is that by starting with a custom design rather than with a good working face claim. I've now made it much harder to find a faceclaim that fits with the presented design. Personally though I'm favoring Bortz from HNK

I find their sharp features to be charming and their sharp dressing to work well for someone whose the daughter of both the Underground's ruler and the person in charge of their nuclear furnace. Also, like, if you look at Okuu's sprite ... her hair hides it but based on where her face stops in comparison to her head size, she's got a lot of forehead space for Bird to inherit.