#lucrezianoin

[sineala]

Hi!! I used to be big into superhusbands till about the whole international iron man by bendis (i abandoned there..Tony was too different)... I was wondering, do you recommend current marvel comics? Are they still ridiculously interrupted by crossing over and events?

I am actually really, really enjoying current Marvel comics! I also think now is a pretty good time to hop on board.

If you want specific recs, I have lots of them.

Current comics:

We just got a brand-new Avengers run -- issue #2 just came out this week -- and although Steve isn't on the team (Sam is), Tony is there, and Carol is the team chair. Many of us, myself included, have been really looking forward to this run, because it's being written by Jed MacKay, who is a relatively new writer to Marvel who in my opinion writes comics with very well-characterized characters and a lot of love for the source material. (He is also currently writing what has now become my favorite Doctor Strange run.)

MacKay especially writes a very good Tony; he did an Iron Man annual and an Avengers annual back in 2021 (part of the "Infinite Destinies" series of annuals. The Iron Man one had some very good Tony characterization, and the Avengers annual instantly became everyone's favorite because about half of it is Steve and Tony hanging out at home together, and the other half is Steve and Tony punching robots.

So there's not really a whole lot to say about the new Avengers run yet, but I am excited for it.

(Jason Aaron recently ended a five-year Avengers run. I would recommend skipping it, except for the issue where Steve, Tony, and Thor all go skinny-dipping together in a hot tub. It is the highlight of the run.)

We are seven issues into a new Iron Man run, being written by Gerry Duggan (whom you may remember from 1872), and I swear this is the best Iron Man ongoing comic that has come out since I have been in this fandom. Every issue is actually good, and he's absolutely nailing the Tony characterization, and he's clearly done all the reading. And also Tony is getting whumped hard. I really love it. Every time we get a new issue I am excited to read it because I know it's gonna be good.

(You have missed a couple of Iron Man runs. The Dan Slott run was not all that great, but it had some very sweet canon Tony/Jan and also very pretty art by Valerio Schiti. Then we got Christopher Cantwell's Iron Man run, which was the worst Iron Man run I have ever read in my entire life and featured Tony being a privileged and out-of-touch billionaire asshole who then got addicted to morphine, acquired the Power Cosmic, murdered most of his friends (and, I mean, brought them back, at least), and then decided that he should maybe go to rehab so that he could learn humility which apparently he did not have? My least favorite moment was the bit where Patsy Walker tells him he has no idea what it's like to be suicidal and Tony -- a person who has had at least two on-panel suicide attempts -- agrees that, no, he has no idea what that's like. Anyway. You should skip that.)

I have been kind of meh about the current Cap run (other than the fact that it appears to have given us canon Steve/Emma femdom) because a whole lot of it is basically "CATWS but what if 616" and also they killed off one of my minor-character faves and I am very bitter. There is one more issue left in this run, so you might as well just wait a couple more months and start with the next run, which will be written by J. Michael Straczynski. I know a lot of people have strong feelings about JMS' comics work but I have been a Babylon 5 fan since it started airing and I am excited that JMS, the guy who gave us the "no, you move" speech, is going to be writing Steve. (JMS also wrote Bullet Points, if you liked the Steve in that one.)

(Cap runs you have missed include Ta-Nehisi Coates -- it was fine but for the most part Steve was wildly OOC -- as well as a very short run by Mark Waid whose first arc you should check out because it was absolutely amazing and had great Samnee art. I think you've also missed Nick Spencer's run, which. Uh. I don't even know where to begin with discussing that.)

Recent events:

Comics are still going to be comics, so, yeah, there are always events. Some of them are pretty good, though. If you haven't been here for a few years, you've probably missed AXE Judgment Day, Heroes Reborn, Empyre, and War of the Realms. Possibly also Secret Empire, Civil War II, and Standoff.

Of all of these, I would have to say that AXE Judgment Day (written by Kieron Gillen) was my favorite; it featured the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals all coming together to save the world from a Celestial that was trying to judge all of humanity and then destroy the planet. You know, the usual. I thought it was pretty well done and had a lot for Steve and Tony to do. They got to be on the same side, for once. Steve got a whole bunch of speeches and everyone got a massive amount of angst; there was actually an entire issue devoted to the Celestial's judgment of Tony. So yeah, it didn't have a whole lot of Steve & Tony together but they both definitely had starring roles for the event.

Heroes Reborn (yes, it would kill Marvel to think up a new name) was an event where Phil Coulson sold his soul to the devil to make the Squadron Supreme have always been the best superhero team on Earth. Coulson has been wedged into the comics from the MCU but Jason Aaron clearly committed hard to making him the most evil person possible.

Empyre -- by Slott and Ewing, art by Schiti -- was probably my second-favorite recent event. It once again featured heroes fighting villains, as is right and proper. Steve and Tony weren't the stars of the event or anything but they did, you know, get to help out a bit. It was a bunch of Kree-Skrull stuff and everyone fought some tree people whose names I am blanking on and it also ended in Billy and Teddy's Big Gay Jewish Space Wedding, so obviously you have to appreciate that.

I remember very little about War of the Realms. It was one of those Asgard things.

You probably missed Secret Empire? And possibly the lead-ins to it, Avengers Standoff and Civil War II. This was infamously the event where Steve was replaced by an evil Hydra version of himself who decided to make America into his own personal fascist state. (Standoff was the event where he was secretly replaced although we did not know this at the time; he spent all of Civil War II -- a Carol vs. Tony event, this time with Tony ending up in a coma at the end -- gaslighting all the heroes pretty hard.) Public reaction to Secret Empire was, as you can imagine, very very bad (they decided to promote this as "this is the real Steve and he has been evil forever" rather than, like, "hey we're doing a villain AU for the next six months") and they ended up concluding the whole thing much faster than they had originally planned to, presumably because the sales tanked hard. They basically did a very, very bad job with this one.

Secret Empire has mostly provided a lot of source material for fandom to pick apart and improve upon -- especially the people who like villain AUs -- and its major highlight is a lead-in one-shot, Civil War II: The Oath, which is a villain remix of The Confession in which Hydra Steve addresses Tony's comatose body and, among other things, tells him that the real Steve loved him, and that he always loved him, even when they fought. So, you know. We all enjoyed that page.

Other fun things you might have missed:

There have been a bunch of fun relatively-recent miniseries!

The thing you will probably be most interested is Captain America/Iron Man, which is a five-issue miniseries by Derek Landy of Steve and Tony teaming up to take down a villain (who is, of course, one of Tony's exes). It has some lovely character moments. The collected edition of this is called "The Armor and the Shield."

Jed MacKay -- yes, the guy writing Avengers -- also previously wrote a run of Black Cat that had a lot of Tony cameos, and then decided to write an Iron Cat miniseries in which Felicia & Tony team up to defeat both of their ex-girlfriends who have decided to try to murder them because apparently, yes, they both have terrible luck with relationships. (In Tony's case, this is Sunset Bain.)

We're also currently getting an Ayodele & Akande miniseries, I Am Iron Man, which is set at various points in Tony's history and I have to admit that I have literally no idea what's going on here but at least it's clear that they really like Tony, and it's sweet.

In what I can only assume was an attempt at some kind of MCU synergy, we just finished getting a second Secret Invasion miniseries (written by Ryan North of Squirrel Girl fame) which was an extremely clever series in which basically nothing was as it seemed, and also Tony was one of the major characters. I really, really liked this one.

If you like weird AUs, we also recently got a (Tom Taylor, I think?) miniseries called Dark Ages, in an alternate future where electricity has stopped working. It did have Steve and Tony.

It is not specifically Steve & Tony related but we just got a Wasp miniseries by Al Ewing, which is Jan's first solo book ever. Yes, ever.

And it has nothing to do with Steve and Tony at all, but I feel like people who don't ordinarily read Guardians of the Galaxy might really enjoy Ewing's run on that, because it is incredibly queer. Phyla-Vell and Moondragon are main characters, Billy and Teddy come guest-star for a lot of it, Avril Kincaid (the new Quasar, who is also gay) is there for a bit, and also the overarching relationship plot is "Peter, Gamora, and Rich decide they all love each other and are all going to be in a relationship." This is extremely heavily implied. There are multiple love confessions and the run ends with them embracing. So yeah, Pete/Rich is canon now. It's great.

That's all I can think of for right now.

[archonfurina]

Your gifs are amazing!?! I'm mesmerised!! I was wondering if I could ask you what scene was your astarion gif 5?

Thank you so much! That scene is actually Lae'zel talking to Zorru in the Grove, I just changed her to Astarion using this mod :)

[cynicalclassicist]

Well, at least they have manners.

wave politely

[rpgchoices]

More on Davrin's past, arc and journal (part 2)

Part one where I wrote down all the banter about Davrin's Dalish past is here!

I wanted to put all codex (I could find) in order, divided by topic! (Also I wanted to say I will post more Davrin stuff on my personal blog @lucrezianoin haha to not fill this one with just Davrin!)

This is divided in:

Davrin's past and his feelings of guilt for the Dalish clan

Weisshaupt being the only home he has

Meeting Assan and the griffons (and naming Assan)

The Warden vs Nature choice for the griffons

Other (stuff on the Gloom Howler etc.)

Davrin's past and Dalish clan

Just a bit more here on Davrin's guilt for leaving his clan and we do get the confirmation that Davrin has not seen Eldrin since his kids days, and contacted him thanks to a chat with Rook.

Also interesting that the way Davrin was treated by Eldrin is very similar to the way Davrin treats Assan at the start. In the quest we also find out Eldrin was quite harsh (making him eat Halla food as a way to learn, which led to hours of hallucinations and sickness, and kicking his butt when he felt Davrin was wrong).

We don't really get that deep into it, but I like that while Davrin firmly believes in "Throw yourself at it, if you don't learn you get hurt" for himself, he squanders that idea pretty easily when it comes to Assan, even going so far as to start wonder if there is a "non fighting" future for Assan.

I will put this codex later on but I also wanted to show it here for Davrin's past, in "The Nature of Griffons" Davrin says: "Talking to Rook about Assan's insticts got me thinking. Can you change something you're born with? Or are we blank slates who can make our own way? Was I born a monster hunter, destined to do this job, or did I have a choice?" which makes me scream because I need to know what happened in his clan.

From the banter and his personal quests we know that Davrin hunted everything, and then started going to Eldrin's during the summers and he learnt to hurt darkness (monsters) and things that threatened the forest. Did he have a drive to hunt that Eldrin needed to re-direct, where were his parents? Were they the ones sending him to Eldrin? And why is it that a talk of nature vs nurture and his Dalish clan makes him think only of Eldrin and not his parents? (We realistically can imagine Davrin's mother is alive, given that during the gym scene Taash insults her and Davrin says "She can take it" when Taash apologize).

Weisshaupt (and the fall of Weisshaupt)

Davrin often talks about Weissaupt with affection and jokingly but the code really expresses that Weissaupt was his only home.

When Davrin leaves to follow Rook we find out that he knows the First Warden would not take him back. He describes the fortress in detail (loved the "libraries of books I'll never read, getting bruised and battered while sparring etc." as some nostalgic positive thing - miserable and exhilarating). And of course "It's the only home I got", which is telling knowing how he feels about his clan never taking him back if he asked.

And then the heartbreaking entry for Weisshaupt fall.

There are a few other entries:

Which also has a bit about Assan: "I have been thinking of Assan as an assignment: something I need to protect until he finishes his training. But we're in this together now, and it's time to lick our wounds and move on. I'm all he's got, and in some ways, he's all I've got."

How Davrin got to work with Griffons and meeting Assan

My favorite entries are about how Davrin got his assignement and how sweet he was on Assan (unknowingly!!) since the start!

We find out it was the First Warden (from Weisshaupt) that sent him to the assignment. I am still unsure how it works for a Warden who is a Monster Hunter, but we know from the entries that Davrin lived at Weisshaupt and considered it his home, so I supposed he was just sent here and there? Like a specialized Warden? He also mentions he was sent as a bodyguard, basically, and he seems both fascinated and a bit skeptical (they poop a lot haha, and he admires Lancit's patience).

And then he meets Assan. "There's one griffon, this little guy." From Endril's words we know Davrin used to be small and scrawny as a kid, so I wonder if he saw himself in Assan. "He's a little slow on the uptake, but he's fast in the air." And so Davrin suggests the name Assan for him. And my favorite part "If I do nothing else in this life, at least I can say I got to name a griffon".

We also have these late entries about the nature of griffons and Davrin's realization that they are not "made" for fighting by nature, but taught so. "Can griffons do anything else? Would they want to? I wonder". Also he is such a dad, writing about Assan's first taste of an apple.

About Assan and the halla, Davrin writes "the instincts of a dog herding sheep", and I personally think it is about learning. There is a moment in the dialogue at the start of Davrin's recruital where we find out that griffons learn better in groups, they clearly are very social animals. I fully believe Assan fed the Halla simply because he saw Davrin doing that, he learnt from watching, he sees Davrin taking care of Halla so he learns that is the thing to do and how it is done.

Then we have some notes on Griffon's extinctions, and a note about Assan's love for gingerwort truffles (which Davrin tried and did not like.. we also find out Davrin hates broccoli... please Davrin... I love broccoli...)

Warden Griffons vs Arlathan Griffons

These are the two different notes:

Interesting the "Warden" choice starts with "Deciding where the griffons should go wasn't easy" which is not present in the Arlathan choice. I do not think there is a right/wrong choice, but after reading this I will always lean more towards Arlathan.

"it's time they got a chance to explore nature instead. The griffons are going to love Arlathan"

Other codex

Interesting that he says he does feel sympathy for Isseya.

[ekalita-blr]

I made fanart for the 7th chapter of the amazing BG3 story "Heartbeats" from @lucrezianoin my favorite line of the entire chapter XD

[morgana-ren]

https://www.tumblr.com/lucrezianoin/728289641191571456/for-the-people-who-wanted-to-see-the-other-angle?source=share

The way he kinda hooks his leg up? Can't stop watching it for some reason. The way he crawls? I hate this man 😭

Oh my god he drives me so feral with that. Hands down favorite scene.

This particular scene is super beautiful because the sex is for him. He's not putting on a show, he's not performing, he's not trying to manipulate something out of you. He wants you, and so he acts on that carnal lust with full autonomy. You can see it in his expression and his confidence, and it's like the healing has begun and he isn't doing something he doesn't want to do. He wants this. He wants to be intimate with you.

He loves you, wholly and truly, and has decided that he wants to have sex. It's an expression of his love rather than a tool in his utility belt. It's the first time he's had it when he wanted it with the person he was with.

It's such a lovely scene in that regard. Him taking control for the first time in... ever. He has the power. This is something he wants to share with you, and you give him the control.

I love that the scene fades to black too. It's not a performance even for the player. This is his. His emotions and private moment. He isn't putting on a show, even for the person behind the screen. It's truly lovely.

It's such a good way to express his happy ending, honestly. 10/10 Larian.

[madforhoran]

I felt the need to make another post about this because it's on my mind non-stop. Larian really did a number with Astarion's story. I may repeat things I've already said.

Argument 1: Astarion wants to ascend because that's what he always was and always wanted

Argument 2: Persuasion is manipulation, gaslighting, controlling, taking away Astarion's choice

Astarion learns about the ritual in act 2. It isn't something he always wanted. What he really wants is to be free from Cazador.

When it comes to Astarion's motivations to perform the ritual, there are slight dialogue differences in act 3 when he's romanced or not, however, from game mechanics standpoint the persuasion dice roll value is identical. It doesn't matter if Tav is his friend or LI. Romanced Tav only gets situational advantage on 20 DC insight check but it is not harder to persuade him not to ascend when he's romanced. The persuasion DC is still 18, and 15 after passing 20 DC insight.

Just to for the illustration, these are the differences for romance vs non-romance:

-> as non-romanced, he is trying to manipulate his siblings to name him their new master but he isn't as confrontational with Tav during and after the camp ambush. He later gives a solid argument to do the ritual - to get the power so that he can help Tav save the city.

-> as romanced, when called out about lying to his siblings, he lashes out and afterwards says he's doing it for Tav too, for safety of them both. But that's not really mentioned when he's face to face with his abuser. He just wants to be free and he jumps into his manipulative mode to appeal to Tav's feelings for him..."isn't that what you want?"

What's important to note as well is what he says to Durge on a redemption path - "we cannot let our lives be ruled by fear" and that's what it comes down to at the ritual. Astarion can succumb to those fears or face them head on.

Persuading someone from doing something objectively bad isn't abusive manipulation or taking away the person's choice. Especially when it comes to pivotal moments.

To add to it, persuasion is happening all around Tav and just because we don't see any dice being rolled doesn't mean it's not there. This was also mentioned in the post of my main bg3 dialogue guru @lucrezianoin. We spoke about it quite excessively.

A couple of examples:

-> Dame Aylin is persuading Shadowheart to spare her life.

-> Karlach is persuading Wyll from killing her.

-> Astarion is encouraging Tav to use the tadpoles and control the cult.

-> The emperor (!) is pressing Tav into unlocking their illithid potential or persuading them not to free Orpheus.

-> Wyll is persuading Karlach to go with him to Avernus.

In Astarion's case, persuasion is key in keeping him on the path of not becoming a monster. He doesn't want to be seen like he is one. Not persuading Astarion leads to death and him becoming what he didn't want to be.

-> in act 1 when Astarion attempts to bite Tav, he says "it's not what you think, I'm not some monster, I just needed blood." After Tav offers him their neck and doesn't persuade him to stop, he kills them. If instead he's told to stop, he later thanks Tav, saying "This is a gift, I won't forget it."

-> in act 3 at the ritual, helping him leads to death and eternal damnation of 7000 innocent people including children. When Tav asks if he's bound to Mephistopheles, Astarion says that Mephistopheles created a new monster. If instead he's persuaded to stop, yet again he later thanks Tav with the same words he used in act 1 "This is a gift, I won't forget it." Tav believed he was enough just the way he was, a person now free to figure out what he truly wants.

[tlonista]

Was it @lucrezianoin that posted about The Uses of Illicit Art, because a) wow does it scratch the Astarion fic itch and b) I'm not sure I've outright uncomplicatedly enjoyed a book that much for ages.

[ryttu3k]

While I do think Astarion thinks that choosing freedom is the correct path (I heard that's how it is worded by his thoughts in an origin Astarion run), I think the main reason if you bring Astarion alone to fight Cazador that he doesn't have the option... is that he literally can't ascend without the help of someone else. He needs someone's eyes to show him his back to write the infernal runes across Cazador's back and he literally CANT do that alone.

Oh man I remember seeing a mention, although I can't find a video of it (all the Origin Astarion videos of that scene I can find have party members), that he can remember how it felt having them carved, and recreate it from that? I could see it probably being behind a big-ass skill check and you'd get a game over if you fail, but that'd be one way.

@lucrezianoin you're more or less the Astarion expert on Tumblr, do you know if Origin Astarion can Ascend if he's on his own?

[solanj]

@rpgchoices @lucrezianoin yesssss it is! Rogue Trader, the bane of my existence and the devourer of my poor brain. Go play it! (Or, well, may be wait a bit for more patches if you play fast. Later acts are... a thing. I still absolutely adore this game tho)

[leomonae]

WIP Folder Game

Cheers, @vixstarria and @icybluepenguin !

How to play:

post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

("tag as many people as you have WIPs" lmao not a chance, I will just tag @wufflesvetinari @lumienyx and @lucrezianoin ty!)

Also I will restrict this list to BG3-related WIPs alone as otherwise it'll be at least ten times the length.

SQUID

No mangrove only hornee (these two names are the fault of @ollysoxisfree to be clear I take no responsibility)

a0 snippets

a7 thy people shall be my people

aN offer me that deathless death (done, technically, but waiting for its time and recieving very minor edits still)

astarion act 1

astarion act 2

astarion act 3

consentacles

danica

drizzt

feredir and eighth shard

illithid tav introduction

mla'ghir

snippets

take me to church

we could have had it all

astarion to tav

future scenes

kringle fic daydreaming

thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife

[funkopersonal]

@lucrezianoin

For some reason tumblr was glitching out (as shown above) and i couldn't post a response to your last message. Here's my final answer: again "I will parse" means I will read. and "if" again doesn't say I meant to respond again. out of the sources you provided only the instragram posts were even valid. The posts about barbie being annoyed about KAN's ribbing is an overreaction at best. All eurovision commentators make jokes and connections, last year the american host made some weird jokes exactly the same. They quite literally were describing it as it is. The instagram posts filming europapa and bambie were out of line, but not enough to get israel disqualified. and honestly, yes i didn't care about this conversation, because nothing would come out of it. You're not going to get the delegation of Israel removed, and we aren't going to geat the delegation of, let's say, Ireland, removed. The situation by then was not able to be changed. So yeah, I didn't care enough. I have exams, I'm a student, I have better things to do than to debate the actions of people i will never know, with people i don't know

[memoiandy]

ppl you'd like to know better tag!

Tagged by @madforhoran - thanks!

Three ships:

Not a big shipper in general but I like it when an interesting heroine is paired with a bad boy who is much more complicated and less bad than it originally seemed. Like Cardan/Jude from The Cruel Prince or Buffy/Angel. Oh and my fav fucked up ship is Negan/Maggie from The Walking Dead.

Last film:

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (it was so much fun and emotional than I expected!)

Currently watching:

Rewatching Castelvania, after then probably The Fall of the House of Usher

Currently reading:

Several Ascended Astarion fanfics because I think the angst is amazing! And the authors don't shy away from the fact that Astarion is just horrible like this.

Currently consuming:

More like being consumed! Astarion has had my heart and soul for the past two years. I will move on my love but not yet.

Currently craving:

Sun and warm weather, sand between my toes and a Mai Tai in my hand.

Tagging @brekkie-e @lucrezianoin @fangsandfeels @lirotation and whoever would like to do this!

[ekalita-blr]

"A bunch of domesticated monsters, that was exactly what they all were." XD Astarion's tent is never empty :-) One more fanart of "Heartbeats" fanfic written by LadyRagnelle @lucrezianoin

[lucrezianoin]

In 508 BC Gaius Scaevola throws his hand into a firey bucket

In 2020, tumblr user lucrezianoin gets obsessed with writing gay orc story

[wincestielfttfwin]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

Thank you so much @leavethepuddle for tagging me!

3 ships I like: xiyao, hualian, and I'm going to super cheat for the last one and say halstarion and/or wyllstarion because BG3 has recently gripped me by the throat (heh), and while my heart said halstarion first, I was then immediately sad about leaving Wyll off the list.

First ship ever: merthur was the first one I was fandom-conscious of

Last song I heard: Dove Cameron's "Boyfriend"

Favorite childhood book: Ooof, that one is hard. IDK, it depended on the year? Or sometimes the month? I had a gorgeously illustrated copy of Hans Christian Anderson's Thumbelina that sprang to mind first, so let's go with that.

Currently reading: I recently finished Sharon Shinn's Troubled Waters, and I haven't cracked into my next non-fic book yet. But the newest fic I started reading is Linnetagain's The Season (AO3)

Currently watching: I just started the ATLA LA (and I am still...undecided in my feelings about it)

Currently consuming: spicy-garlic instant ramen

Currently craving: oolong milk tea (currently and constantly)

Tagging: (with all the standard disclaimers of only play if it sounds actively fun and you want to) @eleanorfenyx, @fridayplease, @scifihobbit, @destielrose, @lucrezianoin, @mrcelleoshkosh, @they-she-gimli, @woobifiedvillain, and @ahundredbutterflies