#if i liked worldbuilding i would do so much of it

[wardensantoineandevka]

I won't get around to writing a properly developed post on it, but speaking generally and assuming broad good faith, I personally think the anachronism in Veilguard is fine. I know it's a deeply held bit of style for a lot of people, and many hold the directive about no anachronism as important to things feeling properly Dragon Age.

Personally, I never felt it THAT important. I roll my eyes at nitpicking about historically accurate costuming too, and I pause to wonder what IS "anachronism" in fantasy. I think a lot of the style of the games leaned so hard on it that, in some places, it was a substituting this rule in place of developing stronger individual style or voice. I love this series, but I don't feel like characters (notably once you got past core cast), locations, etc. always and consistently had a strong sense of voice, both in terms of diction but also in visual direction. I feel like even the music gets this a little bit, since Veilguard feels more musically interesting to me than many of the prior tracks because, I think, the soundtrack is allowed to feel a little less like vaguely European medieval heroic fantasy.

There's always been anachronism, but I think the strict reliance on adhering to a particular conception of what A Fantasy Story looks and sounds like really hampered, at least for me, the development of style identity. Veilguard's voice and style broke from that in a way that did feel successfully more specific and striking for the story and characters it's trying to dress. I think being released from this directive does—because there's no longer what we bring ourselves to the table from our familiarity with the genre and pattern recognition—however, magnify flaws in how Bioware always has treated the setting as just the backdrop against which these dramas play out. But that's outside the scope of my thoughts here. I'll just summarize that with: that's a consistent Bioware problem, and I don't think it's inherently wrong to approach worldbuilding as merely dressing the set for your story, though perhaps that isn't always the most successful approach here and I know many fans are very invested in the setting itself and its development, so that would put us all at cross purposes.

Don't get me wrong. There IS a place for that sort of directive, a rule against things that scan too modern. But then, I think for it to work, you have to have a very firm idea of your own voice, of your individual style and direction working with that directive, and frankly, I don't think Bioware EVER really had a super strong grasp of it here.

I do think the character design especially, character voice, and visual identity suffered SO much in many earlier instances because of this directive. Meanwhile, I think it's interesting and striking to have things like, for example, Neve clearly drawing from film noir and how that informs how I approach and think about her as a character and how appropriate it feels that Lucanis and Illario end on the stage of an opera house. I feel like being released from having to worry about anachronism has, for me, produced some of the strongest instances of style and voice in the series in a long time.

And I know a lot of people feel the OPPOSITE, which is a matter of personal experience and taste, but for my own, it always felt like the series was weighed down by a notion of needing to properly emulate The Genre. (We've all looked at the infamous browns and muds of Origins, a game I am fond of. This is why it looks and sounds like that, in my opinion.) This fear of being too anachronistic or too modern often left the series not really feeling, to me, like it's really had a firm sense or idea of what its style or voice was, of what made it sound or look like itself, because it was always afraid of being too modern while also feeling afraid to not look enough like a heroic epic fantasy.

I think getting rid of that and no longer fearing it has done a lot for developing a stronger voice with a look, sound, and feel for Veilguard that feels more specific and conveys story and character so much better and more confidently. Because, in the end, that's supposed to be what this is all in service of: conveying character and story. I feel like Veilguard, in being released from this restriction, has developed a stronger voice with which to do it.

[bonefall]

I was thinking about your tags, and while I understand the caution, it feels like it would still be a stretch to baseline equate common traits among the clans with eugenics. I know that humans can rly quickly go from everyone has biological differences = there are innate qualities that are "good" and "bad", and there's a quality of fascism in that, but when the clans are fairly isolationist, it seems like it'd be natural for there to be trends among its members.

this is also just me prompting for your thoughts on biology and politics surrounding that, since i appreciate your thoughts on fascism in warriors overall.

I think you're missing a piece in your takeaway that I'm more conscious of-- it's not that I'm wary of population genetics and natural trends; it's that the Clans have an obsession with "blood purity" paired with that.

When you introduce "subspecies" Clans to that, cats who are truly biologically suited to a particular environment, you are inevitably narratively connecting the rhetoric to this worldbuilding fact. Unless you're going to massively overhaul the theme and setting of Warrior Cats, to me it's like looking at xenophobic characters that say "mingling with out-groups is bad" and announcing, "I AM GOING TO GIVE THEM PHRENOLOGY BUT REAL."

Even canon is wise enough to not do this-- Graystripe shows in TPB that it's the oily diet that makes RiverClan's fur so water-resistant. WindClan's lanky legs never get more extreme than a general population trend; enough Clans have skinny warriors that you wouldn't "clock" mixed cats like Jayfeather and his siblings.

But in making those Clan differences MEGA extreme, suddenly, you have taken the irrational social bigotry and turned it into a potentially legitimate practical concern about adeptness in an environment. Not just against an individual, but against that individual's population.

As an example of what I mean, imagine if RiverClan had special, extreme adaptations to living in water. Let's say they're webbed-foot cats who can close their orifices like seals and their coat is twice as thick to keep the water out.

Outcrossing to another Clan means hybrid kittens display the opposite of hybrid vigor-- hybrid depression.

Without webbed feet, other cats are always slower swimmers than their counterparts

Hybrids have thinner fur, making them lose heat in cold water much faster, requiring them to eat more to stay healthy or get sick more often.

They may not have the same muscles to close their orifices, meaning they're more likely to damage their senses by swimming in dirty water.

You can reduce disadvantages with accessibility technology in a more advanced setting like BB, but... they are still born significantly disadvantaged, compared to a ""pure blood"" RiverClan cat.

Doing this also says something you might not have realized you've said at all; Your population is proof of evolutionary pressure. Highly specialized genetics like this (not just trends but HIGHLY specialized) implies there's been something preventing the genetics of other Clans from intermixing with RiverClan.

Which has two implications;

The hypothetical RiverClan cats achieved a positive goal by self-inflicting a selective breeding program onto themselves. (...eugenics. that's eugenics.)

The hypothetical RiverClan environment is so harsh and demanding that it will naturally, swiftly eliminate unfit phenotypes. (The river totally cancels out any secret outcrossing)

(as a side note, ppl tend to misunderstand evolution. Darwin wasn't totally right with "survival of the fittest," I prefer Bill Nye's description of "survival of the good enough." But that's a topic for another time)

Either way, I find those implications DEEPLY unfitting for BB. This is a project which has major themes of exploring bigotry, showcasing its irrationality and digging into how it's perpetuated and exploited in spite of that.

I think BB's themes have a better clarity of purpose if the physical differences between Clans are kept subtle. Never more extreme than what you'd see between ethnic groups-- with frequent reminders about how culture, environment, and politics shape behaviors more than genetics do.

Don't misunderstand me-- I'm not saying that every setting with physical differences between races/sapient species is doomed to this. I actually have good things to say about certain artworks that lean into it (Steven Universe, Beastars, Oren's Forge). I'm saying this specifically about WC and my work within that context.

If you're curious though, I actually have a loose set of "rules" in my head to try and keep my Clans' population differences within my own critiques! I've given a lot more thought to this than I've shared.

There are no "unique" Clan mutations, any trait could appear within any hypothetical kitten.

It's a matter of prevalence. ThunderClan is like 80% Sweetness Tolerant and the other clans are between like 15% - 60%. It's not a sign your mate cheated on you if your kitten likes honey.

But it is something that an accusation can be based on, if your mate is insecure or the Clan's politics are going sour. A "pedigree" RiverClan cat could still have a mane, and it can get used against them.

Some traits do help or hinder ability slightly (ex; thick tails making RiverClan cats better at steering in water), but typically not significantly. I Just Keep It Reasonable.

Most importantly, I just make an effort to have most traits be based on social behavior. Reflect enough and eventually you sorta train your brain to think differently. As a bonus, it helps with cultural worldbuilding.

Related: If you found this insightful, I also dove into fascism and TigerClan in a way that's relevant to this.

[ranticore]

how do your take on pern dragons fuck? genuine question i like to think about sex in specbio stuff even if it's a topic some ppl like to avoid. it's always been my assumption that since in the source material they shit out the very end of their tails (terrible! that is so scary for digestion!! how many dragons per year die of constipation) that it's a sort of multi-purpose-hole/cloacal situation but it seems like yours have more rigid tails so i don't think that would work

fhskjg actually was thinking of this exact thing last night, i don't rly remember if the tailtip hole was said to be a urogenital opening or just for pissing and shitting but i can kiiiinda see it working. and then i realised i was thinking of a different scifi genetically-engineered alien dragon worldbuilding thing i liked when i was younger.. i wish i remembered the name of it but they excreted a liquid mixture of urine and faecal material like a bird. anyway that's what i was imagining with the pern dragons.. stay hydrated and ur good

moving on yeah i think it being on the end of a long flexible tail makes sense for having sex on the wing because that's how they do it and i'm not sure how else it could work. but that is assuming a squiggly tail that could double helix up with another tail and it not have much effect on aerodynamics which is not the case for my ones.

so i propose this mating pose with the urogenital opening on the underside of the tailtip

for golds and bronzes it's canonically done while diving so they're like a beautiful four-winged lawn dart. they could do it on the flat too if they wanted

for greens i guess they would have to either land or be carried because the size difference would be a bit much for it to work. the tails are relatively stiff and kind of springy (rather than solid and heavy) and could flex enough to wrap around one another but idk how comfortable it would be.

in conclusion: i guess the tails could work

[yourlokalescholar]

Worldbuilding idea: a society in which everyone (or near enough everyone) can use magic.

Spells are passed down orally for millennia, resulting in regional differences and localised adaptations.

Different countries and societies that independently develop very similar spells (think, like, the amount of “meat/vegetables wrapped in pastry” foods we have: dumplings, samosas, pasties, pies, gyozas, etc) such as fireball. Of course creating fire is a simple, useful spell that you’d expect any civilisation to have, but it’s approached in different ways across the world: different colours, different ratios of light to heat, some that float and subsist on burning the caster’s magic, some that fly from the hands and burn out quickly unless they hit something flammable…

Children at school have essential spells drilled into their heads the same way they memorise their times tables and ABCs.

Teachers need to memorise spells to detect and nullify all of the common cheating spells such as telepathy, hide writing, illusion, read from afar, etc. Kids are constantly coming up with new spells and alterations on the old ones, and there are always rumours going around about “bypass” spells that the teachers can’t detect.

Magic can be taken from the user’s own internal store or from any other living thing (of course, most people have safeguarding spells on themselves to avoid that; it’s one of the first things they learn at school). It’s replenished with food and sleep, too, but it still requires time in the same way you can’t just eat food and feel fine after working out.

As such, most people have familiars: animals that they take around with them for the primary purpose of using as a battery. They’re bred to have as large energy stores as possible—of course, this means that they have a bottomless appetite, so few have more than one. Less wealthy folk might have unspecialised, non-familiar animals: less useful, but less expensive too.

Plants are another good source of magic, as they don’t move and are less expensive to feed. Some mages would take this too far and let plants and fungi grow on their own body, as a convenient, portable, self-regenerating source of energy. You know how fireproof stuff used to be made out of asbestos and cocaine was in medicine? Yeah, this is the equivalent of that. It went out of fashion soon enough.

Tired, broke college students that skip meals and subsist entirely on magic for much longer than is healthy and use magic to stave off sleep. Bringing back portable plant stores is a common running joke. Some particularly clever, sleep-deprived, and/or desperate folk actually let moss grow on them (“It’s perfectly safe! The roots are shallow, see?”)

Eventually tortoises surge in popularity as a familiar, as they move little and waste minimal energy, and with this comes a resurgence in the use of plants. Tortoises are bred to have thick, concave shells, and portable magic gardens become fashionable. Forums discuss the best plants to use to store the most magic in a small space, and there’s a constant debate between efficient setups, fashionable setups and setups that are best for the tortoise.

Technology that uses runes and written spells and can be recharged by any human, and essentially serves as an easier to use, more accessible version of a spell.

Most people only use the standardised spells they’re taught at school, or follow the instructions for more complicated spells as and when they need them. There’s no shame in it: how often do you make your own furniture, or program your own apps?

Self-taught mages, who make all their own spells and are proud of that fact. Sometimes the spells are unnecessarily dangerous, or terribly inefficient, or accidentally brilliant. Outsiders are horrified and intrigued.

Wealthy noble families who exclusively use their Traditional, needlessly complex, I-Need-You-To-Know-I’m-Better-Than-You magic. Their children need to look both ways furtively before quickly casting “wardrobe portal” instead of “Summon Wraith Servant”, and they beg their parents to let them get a teleport license instead of using their family’s outdated flying machine just to get to school.

Magical disabilities. People with a low internal magic store that are provided a familiar as a service animal, because how can you expect a person to get through the entire day on that little magic? People who are injured or affected by seizures and migraines when using too much magic at a time. And very, very few people who are completely unable to use magic, but every other magical disability tends to get lumped in with them.

Physical disabilities are seen as much less severe. There are spells for blind people to sense the objects around them, and everyone knows one or two spells for silent communication that work for deaf people—even those with walking disabilities can teleport or levitate themselves brief distances.

Of course, being physically disabled sucks out magic quickly, so accessibility spells need to be used sparingly, but the average person assumes it’s not nearly as hard as it is.

[zzthekaiju]

Best of the Reptiles in Media - 6 - Tyrantis

And here I am again at this! And this time, we're going to the wonderful world of independent literature!

Let me set the scene: Imagine a T-rex, except he's the size of a large building, fights like Heart from a few entries ago, has the personality and love for fighting of Son Goku, and the mannerisms of Showa Godzilla and Gamera?

You get the star of The Atomic Time Of Monsters (A.T.O.M) by William Cope (better known as @tyrantisterror), Tyrantis!

(all art here is by Cope)

For context, the world A.T.O.M takes place in is an alternate history in which most dinosaurs are the ancestors of not birds, but crocodiles. Thus, they all look like the large, lumbering scaly beasts that went out of date around the 70s. And as if that wasn't enough, they're referred to as Retrosaurs. Already, we have an exceptionally tongue-in-cheek bit of worldbuilding to get us excited. Even as someone who loathes seeing outdated depictions of dinosaurs in modern media, I'm always a-okay to see it as an actual intentional choice instead of a lazy one (*cough* *cough* Jurassic World *cough*).

Anyhow, Tyrantis is one of those Retrosaurs. Specifically, a Manospondylus Gigas (based on the outdated look of T-Rex). However, like Godzilla, he's a mutated version. You see, A.T.O.M is a throwback/affectionate parody of monster movies from the 50s, albeit one that turns several of the tropes on their heads. One that it plays a bit straighter is how nuclear testing unleashes monstrous creatures from their slumber. Here, that happens, and it unleashes a huge earthquake that opens up caves leading to an unforeseen hollow earth, where Tyrantis lives.

And this is where the story officially begins, with an underdog female paleontologist named Mina Lerna finding Tyrantis within Hollow Mountain, Montana (there are a LOT of shout-outs in this duology).

Tyrantis had me sold as a character right from the start. You see, several scenes are written from his point of view, and instead of some mindless killer of man like so many giant movie monsters were back in the day, he is instead an inquisitive, naive, and downright kindhearted fellow who's first instinct upon seeing a screaming human in his presence is to try and cheer her up by taking her back to her "herd" (with limited success).

This kaiju is, overall, adorably awesome. Despite his size and power, he approaches almost every creature with one or both of two questions on his mind: "Can I fight it?" and "Can we be friends?" Both books are 90% Tyrantis running into one kaiju after another, and either befriending them, getting into fights, or even both. And it's a joy to see most of the other kaiju (such as Gorgolisk and Tricerak) come around and see him as their friend too. My favorite interactions are between him and the massive spider Bobo, who's this world's stand-in for Mothra.

But Cope doesn't just stop at making Tyrantis a big friendly kaiju, though that would already be enough for him to warrant an entry in my top ten favorite characters ever. Sprinkled into Big Green's mannerisms are tics that you would expect from a reptile. The most prominent of these are him moving his limbs in a circular motion as a sign of hospitality. It's so cute to imagine such a big and intimidating creature doing that. It also helps Tyrantis avert the "all animals are dogs" trope that seems to follow every non-conventional friendly animal in fiction. I mean, I don't mind that too much, but it's a nice change of pace.

Of course, Tyrantis wouldn't be a perfect kaiju if he couldn't fight as well. Every battle he gets into paints him as more than just a bite-happy bruiser (though that's certainly a go-to strategy for him). He's surprisingly capable of strategy at times, albeit while in the middle of a fight instead of before. And yes, he has a breath weapon (fire, specifically). Also, as one might guess from his personality, he's a great team player.

But ultimately, it's his relationship with main character Lerna that brings it all together. For our constantly underestimated heroine, Tyrantis represents everything the people of yesterday couldn't ever seem to see: that making brash judgements based on a first glance is wrong. He gives her the ability to prove her mettle as an amazing scientist and the bridge between our understanding of the amazing kaiju. And on top of that, he's just a really good friend to those tiny little things that seem to like him more and more with each year. Even the military commander character warms up to him almost instantly (I'm talking about General Sherman, one of my favorite humans in the duology).

A.T.O.M takes the overblown machismo and chauvinistic attitude of the 50s apart piece by piece. Aside from having human protagonists who rebel against the status quo, Tyrantis demonstrates how being tough is sometimes necessary, but being empathetic and kind as well is what really makes a strong creature. By being his charmingly and adorably good-natured self, he makes more friends than enemies, and they all have his back throughout all the increasingly crazy adventures they have.

Plus, he's got his own theme song in the second story. Someone outta make a cover of that already!

(And maybe an animated adaptation? Please? Maybe we could make it the next big indie animation thing? Just putting that out there.)

(art by me)

[laauranenn]

I agree with many points in your response especially sugishita/ tsubakino part

So the most jarring part About the absence of Sakura's backstory is that nii himself mentioned he has no framework of sakura's past until now , like he has no idea how to start it, he had clear ideas for the side characters backstories " umemiya & tsubakino" but not for Sakura's , I don't understand how can we say "he is setting up Sakura's backstory" when he still doesn't have clear idea for it

So far there’s 160+ chapters and we still don’t know anything about Sakura’s past. Usually when it comes to main protagonists in manga, it’s the opposite but Sakura is such a mysterious character. He’s a 15-16 year old kid who lives by himself out of town. Who are his parents? Is he an orphan? Did he get abandoned and disowned by his family? It leaves me with so many questions

He gave us so many unnecessary flashbacks during fights. Umemiya ,suzuri, tsubakino and kaji received too much flashbacks and lore , Sakura didn't have any flashbacks except the tight rope in ch 56. Umemiya had an entire arc " chapter 88 to 97" about his past with solo volume cover, i believe Sakura won't receive the same treatment like umemiya

Aside from the lack of Sakura's Lore,also the worldbuilding is so bad where are the police why are these KIDS the police?? hello irresponsible adults?? the world feels so empty , the antagonists are lame , endochika get off so easy.They basically caused a war that got many people injured & traumatized all so Chika could have a fun birthday it’s a lil more fucked up

Glad to hear you agree with my points!!

I didn't actually know that about Nii not having a backstory planned for Sakura! When/where was this said? Not that I don't believe you, I'd just like to see it for myself as well! I haven't looked too much at Nii's official Twitter, mostly because of it not being in English. I really should look through it more huh.,

That definitely changes things though, and it makes me understand your frustration a lot more! Though I think it's typical for authors to not have characters fully planned out when writing? I'm not 100% sure about that, but it sounds right to me. I can't imagine having every character fully planned out. The most we can do is trust that Nii has it all figured out! I've really enjoyed the backstories of other characters and the worldbuilding, so I trust that he's got it handled.

Could you elaborate on your opinion on "unnecessary" flashbacks and lore? For characters like Kaji and Suzuri, the flashbacks give us a clearer idea of the themes the characters portray, as well as give us insight into how they think.

For Kaji, we get his struggle with his anger, as well as the way he dehumanizes himself, and the way he learns to cope with it. We find out more about him as a person, and about his relationships with his vice captains and Hiragi. I think Kaji is an incredibly interesting character, and I enjoyed learning more about him. Though if he isn't a character you care for, I can see why these scenes would feel unnecessary.

Kaji also plays a similar role to Umemiya, where he's someone in the same position as Sakura/ in the position Sakura is aiming for.

(Since Kaji is a grade captain like Sakura.)

I've also seen something about parallels between Kaji and Sakura? Though I haven't looked into that too much.

As for Suzuri, the flashbacks and lore we get for him are important for the fight. Suzuri serves as the primary threat in the Roppo Ichiza arc. He's the person leading Gravel and goes against Tsubakino in the fight. The fight wouldn't be able to play out the same had we received zero backstory or lore for him and the rest of Gravel.

As for the specific chapters, not to hit you with the "Erm, actually!" but the tightrope is ch. 60 I believe? As for Umemiya having chapters 88-97, I'd say 88-92 are more about Furin's history and Endo's war declaration. They include Umemiya since he is the one who united Furin.

Chapters 93-97, however, are about Umemiya. But that is to be expected, considering those chapters are his backstory.

I'm not exactly sure what the solo volume cover thing is about? A lot of the manga covers feature other characters.

It's true, that typically in media we get the backstory of the main character, as well as other relevant info about them fairly early. And this is something that makes Wind Breaker stand out, which I like a lot.

Sakura is mysterious, but I think that's part of the fun! It makes us curious about him, makes us want to learn more! Though I also understand that knowing so little might make it harder to connect with Sakura. It's fun thinking about how he's made his way to Makochi, about where his parents are. He's clearly not got a lot of money at his disposal, if the state of his apartment is anything to go by. But he also owns a phone? Based on how little he's used it (He has no apps, is bad at texting, only has a single contact on his phone), I'd assume someone else got it for him.

If I were to guess, I'd assume he's got the same cold treatment from his parents as he has from the rest of the world. Though a guess is the best I can do on that front.

There is a lack of parents in Wind Breaker though, except like Umemiya's dead ones and Sugishita's absent ones.

The lack of police is an interesting point though! This is also something that I can only make theories and guesses about. The police likely aren't active in Makochi, or if they are, they aren't helpful at all. This post also mentions the lack of police! It's a mix of headcanons and predictions, but I agree with the idea that the police might've left the town after the fights got too out of control.

The lack of police is also why teams like Bofurin and the Roppo Ichiza are left to defend sections of the town. I wouldn't say it's bad worldbuilding, as it shows why there is a need for Bofurin in the first place. The lack of police explains why these kids are defending the town, because nobody else is there to do it for them.

As for the world feeling empty? I don't agree with that. The character backstories, the relationships, the extra pages showing us the menus and layouts of different locations all make the world not feel as dull. The different teams all have their own clothing styles, their own territory and values! It all makes Makochi feel like an interesting location!

I don't think the antagonists are lame, but that's subjective. Endo and Takiishi are some of my favorite characters, the Noroshi in are interesting and I think Keel and Gravel were interesting too! But again, that is purely subjective, something I find interesting might not be interesting to you!

As for Endo and Takiishi getting off too easy? I think that's likely rooted in how Bofurin works. They don't really do the whole "punishment" thing. Hiragi says Bofurin is defensive, not offensive when Sakura asks about getting rid of other teams before they can stir up trouble. Umemiya ends the conflict with Shishitoren by declaring them friends and leaves Choji and Togame to clean up their own mess. And when they tell Sakura they'll accept any punishment he sees fit, he leaves it at telling them to change and not be so lame next time. With Bofurin, losing the fight is already considered punishment enough. They don't stick around to inflict any punishment beyond just the fight on those who have harmed the town.

The whole situation with Endo and Takiishi is also a little more complicated than just giving Takiishi a fun birthday! I'd love to get into that sometime as well!

I'm happy to keep the conversation going! Tell me what you think of what I've said here! I'm also curious on if you have other characters you enjoy other than Sakura! ^_^

[nothinggold13]

I’m of the belief that Father Christmas would have come to Narnia regardless of the English institution of the holiday in order to lead a celebration of who Christ is inside it!

I mean, there’s no indication in the books that Father Christmas is real in "our" world; he is the fictional embodiment of Christmas which children might believe in, but isn’t actually active— much like the “gods” who make appearances in Narnia. But Narnia was intended for people from our world to lead! So when they find themselves in a world of magic, they also find themselves coming face to face with legends and myths and fairytales from their own world! But real! And alive! And, most importantly, under the sovereignty of the One True King!

Father Christmas is one of these: a myth in our world which speaks to the magic of the Narnian world.

I absolutely think Frank & Helen contributed to the Narnian traditions of Christmas, too, of course— I have an ancient fic on that very subject! But in my fic it is not them who institute Christmas; Father Christmas comes because it is his time to come, and they join the celebration.

Do I think Lewis necessarily had all of that planned or remotely thought out when he had Father Christmas appear in LWW? Probably not; LWW is a very closed book in terms of worldbuilding, and the purpose Father Christmas serves in it doesn't affect the other stories in the same way. However, I don't think it was a sloppy decision to include him either! Consider the following: 1) Father Christmas signifies the Witch's spell breaking; winter is passing its darkest point and spring can now follow. 2) The books were written for children. Children like Santa. 3) For C. S. Lewis (Christian author) to write The Chronicles of Narnia (series based on suppositional Christianity), it makes perfect sense for his fantasy world (which is also Christian) to include Christmas (a Christian holiday)... especially once he wrote The Magician's Nephew and explained that the original King and Queen of Narnia were (Christians) from our world. He may have added that worldbuilding far later than he first set it up, but it does actually wrap that element up quite nicely.

AND SO, as far as the "etymology" of Narnia having, literally, "Christmas," I think it is quite simply 1) that Father Christmas is named Father Christmas, and he comes as a herald of all things Christmas celebrates, and 2) The first King and Queen of Narnia also would have been familiar with Christmas.

one must wonder what the etymology of Christmas is in Narnia. I believe jrr Tolkien also had this question but he was much angrier about it

[dravidious]

How's the writing going? Well I've written over 2000 words and I'm questioning if I'm spelling "our" correctly, so you know

[puppyeared]

littlest furth shop

@laikascomet

[icewindandboringhorror]

I made a few new wax seal stamps out of clay (like the ones I did for my worldbuilding stuff forever ago), this time just of random symbols that I thought might look good done in the style of painting over the raised part of the wax or etc. :0c Some of them aren't carved deep enough to really show up that well, but overall they worked okay for being clay lol

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Been having some ISaT tech level and timeline (as in 'when backstory things happened') thoughts and want to ramble a bit:

Tech

ISaT's setting is based on your classic sword and sorcery fantasy JRPG so its easy to assume that tech wise everything is 'fantasy medieval' and call it a day but consider:

Body Craft is at bare minimum is magic sex changing surgery (earliest known equivent in our world dating to 1930) that any old person can learn to do safely on themselves in only a few months, and more likely has many many broader applications like regular old surgery, the 'combat healing' Mira and Sif use, etc.

Cameras and photos are rare enough that Odile comments on it (namely she's happy the group get a photo in the House due to them being 'so rare') yet are also common enough that everyone in the party knows about them and doesn't question the existence of a camera beyond being surprised that the mirror was one. (In our world cameras date back to the 19th century, with the earliest manufacturing of them being in 1839). 

Printing presses and ways to make plenty of paper to feed those presses given absolutely everyone in this game can read, expects everyone else to know how to, and both mass produced book series and newspapers are a thing. (Note: Printing presses have existed since waaaay back but it's the mass paper manufacturing that makes newspapers and The Cursing of Chateu Castle possible that really has my eyebrows raised here, especially since neither Siffrin or Odile find either odd in any way, indicating such things are common everywhere, and while newspapers have been around since 1604 in our world, mass produced fantasy books didn't really take off until the start of the 20th century).

Food production and storage: despite being in the middle of a national disaster that almost certainly cut off trade networks and access to most suppliers for literal months now, Bonnie, a small child, is able to easily get their hands on fresh Pineapple, curry ingredients (for samosa), potatoes, plantains etc with no issues or anyone commenting on this being unusual or lucky. Oh and the only character who even brings up the concept of potential starvation is the Fishing One, and only in a sort of 'we're not at risk now but sooner or later...' kinda way due to noticing that the fish they fish up for fun are disappearing and likely being frozen. So yeah, that heavily implies Vaugarde has very good food storage tech/Craft (possibly better than ours), and likely also good food production and harvesting tech/skills also.

The Island's incredible knowledge of the stars: while the oldest known orrery in our world is dated from around 205 to 87 BC (ancient Greek, earth centric model), the fact Sif -who would've learnt this as a child/teen- is so very certain that stars are big balls of fire made up of gas is interesting as that's something our world couldn't prove the theory of until around the 1900s (note: it'd been theorized a LONG time but Sif talks like its complete facts to them . Additionally the earliest existing record of a telescope in our world dates to a 1608 patent and we see one of those in game.

Post posting EDIT: A wonderful user qds-place pointed out that Mirabelle has anti-anxiety medication in her room. This is in both ISaT and SAaP and though we're not sure what form the medication takes (pills? Valium? Megitech esc Craft boosters???) the fact they specifically have 'anti anxiety' medication at all (as opposed to idk dragging Mira off and drugging her through the gills) is kind of impressive and if it IS modern anti anxiety pills those could be as recent in creation as the 1950s! So um. Some high levels of tech implied in chemistry there <3

So... yeah. All this, plus the fact that the highest tech implied area, The Island, literally specialised in the study/Craft of turning wishes into reality (for a long enough time period that Wish Craft is culturally so ingrained in the King and Sif that they do it without thinking and it seems intertwined with their nation's religion) has been completely erased from memory to the point anything heavily associated with them has been forgotten, and also we only ever see Dormont aka a little village well away from the cities, it's not hard to conclude that you can basically justify giving the ISaT world any level of tech you want, so long as you lock any of the truly 'setting breaking' stuff like planes and rockets behind The Island's forgetting curse (I would've said trains too but thinking about it trains were invented in 1802 so it's honestly easy to imagine that they totally exist in the ISaT setting/Vaugarde but aren't ever on screen because rail is way too dangerous to consider using while the Curse is active and potentially time freezing things on the tracks).

Side note: We know absolutely nothing about Vaugarde's transport system but as a fan of fantasy RPGs it is honestly a travesty I have yet to see a fic that has flying dragons/wyverns or other fantasy mounts in setting. Like, ok yes, the party would probably have wanted to use those but maybe they don't like the Curse and fled? Maybe the King's Curse targeted them first? Maybe all their handlers dropped the heroes off in Dormont and said 'Well Saviors it's been fun, but well me and Scales here are off to Poteria until things wrap up so best of luck to you' before buggering off?

This isn't really a serious complaint just. Me reminding myself/potentially other fanwork writers out there that there's a lot about the setting we just don't know about and limiting all travel to walking, horse drawn carriage and boat is not actually required. (Also please mix up travelling to the Island. Boats are a wonderful classic and have great thematic vibes for Sif's original leaving of the Island but like. Imagine the sheer in-universe wtf of the memories of The Island suddenly coming back and people on the north coast suddenly realising there's a massive bridge, subway or underwater tunnel leading there that everyone just forgot about - potentially filled with all kinds of Sadnesses that need taking down. Or Warp Panels in a House of Change, idk XD).

Timeline

Canon notes first:

Bonnie is a preteen (8 to 12), Mira and Isa are in their early to mid 20s (with Isa slightly older), Sif is late 20s to 30, and Odile is 40+ Nille is stated to be around 18 to 20.

Siffrin ran away from home when they were a teenager (13 to 17? 18?) and this is heavily implied to be when the Island was Forgotten.

Bonnie (in ISaT specifically*) says that Nille told them that when it happened all the adults were talking about it, hence why they think The Island is close to their village. *In Start Again a Prologue, Bonnie says that they themself remember the adults talking about the Island disappearing, which er. Is a bit impossible given they likely weren't even born yet when that happened but that can be explained away by AU differences, InsertDisc5 still finalising details between SAaP and ISaT, and/or OG Siffrin having been in the loops so long they weren't actually listening when Bonnie was talking and just 'scripted' in their head something 'close enough' to what Bonnie was saying to get the idea (note: mentioned that idea before in my post here on the differences between the House and King in Start Again vs In Stars and Time for anyone curious so er please feel free to give that a read if you haven't already).

Odile mentions remembering 'when it happened' as well and has been 'travelling for years'.

The King 'appeared out of nowhere' sometime in his adulthood, and lived in the city of Corbeaux for a few years before he became the King.

The King became the King as was freezing people in time long enough before his attack on the House of Dormont that everyone inside knew he was coming, there were a wall's worth of newspaper articles about him, and everyone was expecting Euphrasie to defeat him.

Mirabelle's quest began 'almost a year ago' and Sif lost their eye 'recently'.

Thoughts on the above:

Calculating when The Island was forgotten:

Sif being mid 20s to 30 and having run away from home as a teen means that The Island has to have been forgotten somewhere between 9 to 17 years ago with nine only possible if he ran away at age 17 and is only age 26 now, and seventeen being the far opposite if he ran at age 13 and is currently 30.

To narrow down the timeline: Given Sif ran away from home because he 'didn't want to eat his veggies' and 'just wanted to scare [his] parents a little bit' it's probably safe to assume Siffrin was likely on the younger end of the teen spectrum (teens run off all the time sure but with loving parents and over veggies? That screams 'kid who has not yet learned that freaking out the parents will get their ass grounded and/or yelled at a LOT and is therefore best saved for doing fun forbidden stuff that ideally the parents will never find out about' XD) Additionally given Siffrin can't remember his age/birthday etc but Isabeau outright says near the beginning of the game "But you're older than most of the people here?" meaning Sif must be visibly older than Isa or Mira, so he's probably closer to 30 than not.

Those alone would imply the Island likely disappeared closer to the '17 years ago' side of things BUT Nille (tops 20 years old) told Bonnie that "[the Island's disappearance] was all the adults would talk about for ages" and kids usually can't remember anything prior to 4 years of age so with that in mind...

I'd say The Island most likely disappeared between 13 to 16 years ago.

Nille stuff:

This is more a general mention but. Nille is tops 20 years old. Bonnie is between 8 and 12 and doesn't remember their parents at all.

This means Nille ran away with Bonnie and gained emancipation and custody of Bonnie (if Vaugarde has formalised that kind of legal stuff) while she was at most 12 years old herself and could have in theory been as young as 6..!

Regardless, it's very likely the original home situation was that bad, Nille deserves a ton of credit for raising Bonnie as well as she has and I'd say it's very VERY likely she had a lot of help from villagers in Bambosche and/or the local House of Change in doing so. ...But also Bonnie is very adamantly 'my sister and village' and not 'my sister and [specific names who live with us]' so there's clearly by the time Bonnie was 4 or so they were living in their own place so... Yeah. Lotta drive for independence there too it seems (so the party might have more trouble adopting Nille into their group post ISaT than Bonnie might expect).

King stuff:

Already an adult 13 to 16 years ago so at bare minimum 33. Given his vibe probably much older though.

Newspapers get printed pretty quick though for there to be so much speculation and research done into his background so quick, either Vaugarde has some form of fast messaging system (something like a Chappe telegraph on top of the Houses of Change? Odile I think does mention that they'll have a message sent to let Nille know they'll be returning Bonnie...) or the King was freezing stuff for IDK around a month or two before reaching Dormont? Alas can't find out how long it takes to walk across all of France out very easily (I'm sure the numbers are out there but my brain is pudding rn) but if we had those numbers we could probably make some guesstimates based off the rough sketched map of Vaugarde InsertDisk5 did... Which I would link but apparently the tumblr post I had it linked on has been deleted???? 'wails at this very unhappy development'

Mira's journey and Sif's eye:

We really don't know a lot but almost a year ago gives us somewhere around 9 to 11 months to spread the journey out along and after eye removal surgery the patient can out and about as soon as 2 to 6 weeks after, maybe sooner with magic healing (though full recovery/growing used to the changed spacial awareness -which Sif clearly does not have- probably can't be sped up and takes around 3 to 6 months) so um. I'd guestimate Sif's eye injury is really recent; like two months ago tops recent. ...Which sorta explains a lot of why Bonnie is not dealing with it right now and also why the others might be trying to avoid bringing it up (since Sif clearly loves avoiding the issue but they haven't yet realised that maybe they really should bring it up even if it annoys them anyway?)

Odile with some Ka Bue speculation:

When it comes to The Island, how did Odile, presumably living in Ka Bue at the time, remember 'when it happened'? Was the Island well known enough even on the other side of the world that it's disappearance made waves? Or was Odile herself or someone she's close to paying attention to the region? (Like maybe her dad or a friend is/was into politics or trade, keeping up with overseas news and got concerned it could happen to Ka Bue? I'd say 'I remember when it happened' line implies it was more immediate knowledge than being informed by a messenger much later though...)

As for Odile's 'years of travel' I have to wonder, what's left behind for her in Ka Bue? She brings up going back there quite a bit, might just miss home and possibly her father if he's still alive, but given it took her years to get here for something so personal rather than idk 'materially rewarding' I think Odile might have some kinda family estate or something back in Ka Bue... Something she wasn't worried about potentially losing while far away, but solid enough to want to return to, beyond her father who she'd definitely want to see again if he's still around. (...But given how open she is to chilling about Vaugarde a few more months with the others, I really don't think he is alive, since well, given their respective ages and travel between Vaugarde and Ka Bue apparently taking years, there'd definitely an uncomfortably high chance of him passing away while she's gone and that seems like the thing that'd stress Odile out so... Yeah. Probably got an estate in Ka Bue she'd like to take the Family to visit/possibly sell off if she decides she'd like to live with them in Vaugarde so... Just my off the cuff headcanoning here and hoping that gives others ideas or something).

---

Anyway that's all the ramble I've got in me so... yeah! Hope this was interesting and useful for those needing a bit of a 'possible tech'/timeline calcs breakdown for the Island + a few more vague things and um. Probably will post a long winding ramble about my attempt at a ISaT Selkie AU fic I've been working on next <3 (Not to be confused with looped-140-and-counting's already existing and quite wonderful Selkie Siffrin AU which already has a completed oneshot fic, a snippet of sequel, two snippets of prequel/Sif flashbacking and I believe a comic too, all of which I highly recommend <3)

[rileys-battlecats]

girl help I started writing down oc thoughts and have started contemplating the logistics of how a city carved into the walls of a ravine would have access to fresh water

[mohntilyet]

not to mention the entire antaam fleet like 😭 that was the PERFECT moment to show off what the lords could do!!! The antaam fucked over rivain, theyve been a thorn in the whole nations side for a long time now, they would not pass up a chance for payback via full scale naval warfare so that the veilguard can do what they need to!! Sure dreadnoughts are dangerous but at this point they probably have tricks up their sleeve, thats one of the few things they have!

also wouldn't it be personal because does solas not try to blow up kont-aar because he's trying to 5d chess tevinter and the qunari into destroying each other. like. i know technically this would not be incredible widespread news because the attack was stopped, but i don't think the wonderful citizens of kont-aar would have missed the tsunami that nearly hit them and the shockwave that actually hit them. rumors go around. and i assume irian/vadis tell varric. who i think would tell isabela. who would tell the group she leads. who would care because ofc, they LIVE IN RIVAIN, and now know that solas and his followers thinks they can trade rivaini lives* to further his plans.

*while i also think there's probably a divide between kont-aar and the rest of the nation, it's one that the rivaini love to jump across and back over. an interesting comparison to be made here with most of rivain having similar sentiments towards dairsmuid and the chantry. like this is the country specifically mentioned to have a lot of citizens who follow the qun/are non-andrastian + it being MUCH more multicultural and accepting than other nations. any attack on rivain, even if it's a qunari settlement, would fan a lot of flames that solas cannot put out so the idea of trying to him taking multiple steps back because he didn't realise how intensely the qun/rivaini/lords would react is very fun for me. it would have been soo interesting for rivain to be a hub for efforts against solas because of how it's not influenced by andrastianism, how he (or his agents) specifically fucked them over, and (maddeningly for solas) also part of this resistance has spirits who willingly guide them against him. this could have even been a plot device where the door goes both ways and solas finds out rook's plans because he manages to eavesdrop through a seer or something.

and on the spirits. all the stuff where the mourn watch regularly communicates with spirits could have been done with rivain as well, and with different takes on being 'friendly' with spirits. iirc there's a spirit in the hall of valor which is so interesting but it's literally just there for flavour text. THERE'S A SPIRIT IN THE HALL OF VALOR THAT DOES NOTHING BESIDES LIKE. SAY HI. ??? bioware i would have liked to see more spirits and seers and the matriarchal pantheists you have talked about please. and also the idea of the peaceful qunari settlement being pushed to protect the country they are part of and what that means for them as qunari vs. rivaini. taash's storyline could have contributed to this . so A LOT less about choosing a side, more about how kont-aar has developed, changed, how rivain has influenced it and what it means to be qunari. not the qunari agents and fighters that we have seen, but their 'civillian' way of life in kont-aar.

complete waste not seeing any of established lore reflected in the lords of fortune or rivain because i stupidly actually thought we were going to see some kind of settlement and be introduced to a very different cultural norms.. in my beautiful mind i like to think taash is a little taken aback by how badly mages/elves/etc are treated. like they understood it was different outside of rivain (they would have been young when the dairsmuid circle annulment happened right? so they don't 'remember' it themself, they likely heard others talking about it when they're old enough to understand) but until they actually saw what was happening first hand, they had a weird dissonance about it. but what we got was a deserted beach, ties to another faction (wardens are fine!! they are great !!!! the fourth blight is interesting!!!! yet they are not the faction with a lack of info about them!!!!!) and also the hall of valor that exists as flavor text with nothing meaningful behind it besides a pub used in a few cutscenes and a minigame.

[liquidstar]

wait speaking of getting isekia'd via truck, a couple weeks back me and a friend on were talking abt portal fantasy/isekai tropes (mostly bc i was infodumping abt rz again), and it made me think abt a fun concept for an ocverse. tho its possible similar things have been done obvs with just how inflated the genre is, just hear me out OK

story starts in the normal world, with a typical Nerdy Guy going about his daily life, expositing about how he feels bored and longs for adventure and magic, just like in all of his favorite media. as he's crossing the street, distracted by his mobile game, he doesn't notice The Truck(tm) coming straight towards him. except he's not hit by it- he's pushed out of the way in the last second, saved by a passing girl who gets hit in his place. this is who the story is about now.

mc gets sent to that sort of intermediary dimension that some isekai have, where she meets the Goddess Lady or whatever that was in charge of the whole isekai situation. goddess lady proceeds to freak out, because she nabbed the wrong person, and she's going to be in SO MUCH TROUBLE. she starts questioning the mc, only to find out that this kid has a good social life, does well in school, is in sports, and has barely ever played a video game. basically the opposite of the socially introverted, underachieving, repressed, genre-aware guy she was supposed to have reincarnated. for the sake of fulfilling somekinda hero prophesy or whatever. and the mc kinda bargains to be sent to the fantasy world anyway bc, well, its that or death i guess. so the two of them kinda have to team up to course-correct this mix-up.

mc is kinda given a list of tasks to do that basically mirror how a typical story like this Would Go, expected to fall in line with the tropes in order to achieve the ultimate goal, but kinda ends up failing at all of them... or not? failing backwards, maybe. doing it in a way different from how its meant to go- using the wrong formula, but somehow getting the right solution. while sort of continuing to question the insanity of the whole situation, and the nature of this whole fantasy world. just fucking up all the tropes.

but a layer i'd wanna add on top of all that is the fact that the hero prophesy (or whatever) called for a man. so upon arriving to this new world, the mc is basically put into a "gender swapped" body and... doesnt seem to mind. this isnt an uncommon isekai trope either, but i hardly see it tackled with much care to really explore whole Gender Thing beyond gags about the "mismatch" (which can be in poor taste) or the conclusion that "well because their Body is now this gender, their gender identity changes to match" which i feel is a pretty shallow and binary take-away to draw abt bodies and identity.

but i think there can be more to explore w the prospect if you actually wanna get into gender stuff. in this case, i'd particularly wanna get into the idea of imposter syndrome. the main character was not MEANT to be... the main character. seen as a phony fighting tooth and nail to meet expectations, and constantly fumbling. not a real hero, or a real man. but its meant to be an act anyway, so why does that bother her? it was like that back on earth too, trying as hard as possible to be the perfect girl. a good social life, does well in school, is in sports.... but that good girl thing always felt fake too. or desperate. what was she trying to prove? how long as this BEEN bothering her, actually? why does it feel easier to breathe in this body, despite everything? the way this whole act makes her happy is scary, because its fake isn't it? but wait, which part was fake? the before or after? is it all fake? isn't this all just a mistake?

was it really a mistake? who is more heroic; a guy too focused on a mobile game to pay attention to those around him, or the person who risked their life to save a stranger? but the hero prophesy was for a "man," right? what does that even mean?

[reinedeslys-central]

more!! again!! for the nico after blood of olympus fic!! actually I thought of this while writing the last one but I just finished it.

His elbows buckle and he lets himself fall into Will, snorting at his theatrical groan under the weight. They lay there for a second until Will shoves him gently, and Nico lets him manoeuvre them into a more comfortable position.

"Hi," he whispers, moving a curl away from his cheek. The greenish tint of the loft window casts a weird shadow over Will's face.

"Hey yourself," Will murmurs back, winking.

Nico rolls his eyes. "You look like Apollo when you do that. Please stop." Will squawks in protest.

"I do not! Also, since when do you remember what Apollo looks like? Actually, no, don't answer that, you can't bring up my dad while we're in bed, Nico, why would you do this to me?"

Now it's Nico's turn to sputter and whack Will in the chest - getting another dramatic oof and a laugh in return - before turning around to face Hazel's bed. He's not sure when he'll ever be able to sleep facing the wall. Will can't do it either.

As Will's arms curl around his waist and draw him back against him, just like they did back in the infirmary that one day, he thinks maybe he'd be okay trying that with him sometime. One day, in a house with gates, no longer wary of monsters.

Will noses the back of his neck, causing him to twitch. "What is it?"

Will's answering smile presses through the rough cotton of his t-shirt. "Nothing, sunshine."

Nico frowns under the covers. "Hey, what do you think of houses with gates?" He whispers.

"Gates? Well, it'd be safer, I guess, but we'd lose the neighbours coming over -"

"As if you want to see random people at the door anyway. What if they're monsters?"

"Oh, come on, darlin', I'm from Austin. Of course I gotta keep space for the neighbours to come knocking."

"…Fences? Actually, hey, why'd you assume I was talking about us? Obviously - Obviously I was talking about random. Random houses. For architecture reasons."

Will muffles his laugh into the back of his neck, again. "Oh, my bad. And I'm only here because you ripped a stitch on the lava wall yesterday."

Nico feels his ears warm.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"..Still."

Will reels him in closer until his back hits his chest and he can press a soft peck to Nico's still-red ears. "I think a fence is a great idea, by the way. We could ask Hazel for help with some ward stones too, like you have in the cabin. Gotta make sure we've got at least one window and standing space in every direction, though, or at least in the east, because you know my dad would sulk if he didn't get to scream me awake in the morning."

Nico's blush gets worse.

"Now who's talking about your dad in bed?" He gives up on pretending. Will sees him through every time, anyway. "Also, shrines, obviously, and we need a spot to stargaze."

"Yeah, shrines, obviously. Maybe just yours, mine, and Lady Hestia's though, or else everyone else is gonna get pissy."

Nico barks out a laugh like it's shocked out of him. "Pissy? Don't let them hear you say that."

Will holds him tighter and settles against the pillows. "Sure thing, sunshine. Now can we sleep?"

"Yeah, yeah."

It's not long after that that Will's breath evens out behind him, his muscles untensing. Nico knows he's got a few minutes yet, so he thinks.

Today was…. good.

Today was nice. Normal, even. Just a day of camp schedules, working in the infirmary, an admittedly short campfire, and this. No monsters, and no mistakes. No deaths, but..

Unbidden, the moments in the infirmary come to mind. He thinks of helping Will scrub in for his one surgery of the day, a kid that had gotten parts of an arrow stuck in their leg a week ago and hadn't noticed til yesterday. He thinks of yesterday during capture-the-flag, stepping in and desperately trying to copy what he'd watched Will do, because Lydia was hanging crooked from a tree and there was no one else around but him-

He thinks of Patroclus tying the straps of Achilles' armour, watching his lover sleep peacefully. He thinks of what Connor had told him about at the campfire weeks ago, of Silena Beauregard taking on a drakon when Clarisse declared the Ares Cabin wouldn't be fighting.

He thinks he might understand.

Lydia wasn't the same (thank the gods), but if there was something to be done that only Will could do right, yet couldn't, and the only way Nico could take up his mantle would be to die trying - then, yeah. He'd do whatever it would take for these kids. To do what Will would do. He's gone to Tartarus already, hasn't he? At worst, he'd try his best and greet his father early if he failed to survive. Nico could even give Charon a tip on the way in for the hell of it, why not?

If there is a luxury that comes from being a child of Hades, after all, it is that dying is not the thing that scares him.

There's a brazier still lit outside the window. Its glow falls in slits across their bed.

Will grumbles, pushing his feet forward until their ankles are wound together. The sheets shift.

Nico smiles into the dark, into the chirping of crickets and the soft glow of the fireflies out the window, and falls asleep.

more for this fic:

scene 0 - prologue-ish scene 1 - the library of social awkwardness or here (or in my heart, 'kidney function is not a right, it's a privilege' lol)

general writing directory

also lmk if you want more lore. I am so down to talk about this fic + the worldbuilding ideas I have for it in the notes it is unreal

[tumblweeds-omegaverse]

random omegaverse thought:

There must be people who experience specific instinct things with indifference or boredom.

Procreative cycle coming up? "Crap, I've got plans this weekend...stupid skip weeks."

Caught an intriguing scent while walking? "But I need to get to work! Shut up brain."

Had a snap response to a distressed sound? "Who was it?! ...right, it's my day off, I can go back to sleep."

Somebody growled at them? "Kid, I'm not a rival, that's my sibling."

Super cozy cuddle session happening nearby? "I'm gonna pass tonight guys, no social battery left, maybe next time."

Group of friends heading out to flirt and check out other singles? "I'm coming with you but only to make sure you all get home safe."

Setting where fated mates or soul bonds or permanent marks are a thing? "Meh. I don't really want one or care if I ever get one."

People in the actual omegaverse would get as bored of their stuff, as we do of ours, you know? It could be interesting to see that kind of vibe in fics. Biological demands faced with all the excitement of paying bills or doing laundry or tying your shoes.

Even if that kind of energy might not drive a plot, it could be interesting to have as a contrast to the people who do have big feelings about them - good or bad.

There's the friends who can't wait til they have a pack of their own, and the one friend who isn't against it but couldn't care less. There's the group in the office who are all about scent compatibility tests and figuring out one's best match and what sprays most highlight it, and the coworker who has no intentions on putting that much effort in. There are parents who hover and protect their offspring by scenting them multiple times a day, and others who don't see what the fuss is as long as it's done in the morning.

...also: packs with introverts who show care by giving each other space. So often, closeness is depicted through physical touch and tactile affection, but comfortable silence is meaningful too. Knowing people are near, but not having to interact until you're ready. Sitting in the same room doing different things, knowing that all it takes is a "hey, look at this" to share what you're up to. People understanding and accepting each other's differing or fluctuating needs for how and when to recharge. Seeing somebody reaching out or sharing space, beyond what's their norm, as a signal of the fact that they care.