#maybe they relate to the cheating (not a dig)

[sysig]

Finally doodled HL Mod Stanley <3 (Patreon)

[weldnas]

Im sorry and i get it if you dont want to get more anons about it but ivy by taylor swift?? furthest thing from straight. dancing with our hands tied? Yes that too. illicit affairs?? betty? please! she has so many queercoded songs for those who are open to it :)

no babe I’m fiiine talking about it! And yes same for me. As I said before I really don’t no much about her and don’t really want to (no beef, just not invested enough and also CANNOT listen to her talk she just sound annoying to me and not even about what she says, her vibe just does not click for me hdhdhdh). But I do listen to her and some of her songs just feel queer to me.

[bloodfiendarling]

𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓾𝓹

— ( do note this ask was sent before my rules post was out but ill let it pass bcz it doesnt break any rules )

ah hello ! !! this is the first time im writing for jingyuan sama ..! hopefully its to your liking anon .. <:D tho i did self indulge a lil much on this ... hopefully you still like it x_x

also , yes .! i love ryona . i dig it a lot .. please dont b scared to req anything with dark themes .. i will be cheering you on !

pair — reader x jing yuan

wc — ~1k

contains — sub bottom char, dom top reader, established relationship, gn reader, possessive reader, jealousy, (false) cheating suspicions, reader is kinda fucked up in the head, size difference (smaller reader), thigh humping, dry humping, reader is pretty forceful

you couldn’t stand it.

the way he would ignore you sometimes, when you two just wouldn’t be able to have some pda for the sake of his reputation. it pissed you off.

you want to love him! show him off, maybe. hug him, kiss him, hold his hand.. all in public. but you can’t — because he has a reputation to uphold here. and what made you more mad is the fact you’d hear your own colleagues talk about him. how they want to get with him.

what pissed you off the most about today, though? you heard someone spreading rumors. dating rumors. not between you and jing yuan, no. (you would’ve appreciated that, really) it was between him and some other woman — one that he’s been working with for a good while.

you clicked your tongue, entering his office. even just from your face it was obvious you were in a horrible mood.

“oh?” he started, with that usual lazy smile of his — “my dear, something on your mind?”

he shifted in his seat, adjusting himself so you could sit yourself beside him — which, you do — letting out a tired sigh. “rumours about you again, love.” you respond.

“mm, it’s the one with that woman, i assume?”

you click your tongue again. just hearing anything related to her set you off — c’mon, now.. it’s not like they’re actually together.. your dearest would never, ever betray you in such a way.

but you see the way that woman was — how she was smiling and all. laughing those rumors off, all while clearly enjoying the attention she got. it disgusts you. it worsens your mood more and more as you thought about it.

the general could sense your frustration — almost as if he read your mind. his expression softened a little bit, this time looking at you. watching you biting on your nail, whilst the other hand was balled into a fist, resting on your thigh.

“hey,” you looked back at him. the frustration was clear in your eyes. even you, yourself didn’t get it. what were you so angry about…? you can’t help but take it out on him. “you love me, right, jing yuan?”

“of course I do.” he replies — it’s short. it’s obvious. but in your messed up little head, it felt like nothing but a lie.

“prove it.”

“wha–?”

“prove it, i said.” you lean into him, a hand against his stomach. the gold part of his belt felt cool against your palm. for a second, it gives you shivers.

“here..?” the general’s voice was filled with uncertainty. “the door is still unlo–”

“that doesn’t matter.” you interrupt, “they’re not allowed to come in, right? locked or not. just tell them to leave if someone knocks. simple.”

jing yuan gulped down, eyeing the door once more before giving in — fumbling with his belt. slowly but surely getting that corset-like piece of armor loose and discarding it completely.

he’s so obedient whenever you were mad…

“c’mere.” you pat on your thigh, inviting him to sit on it — he does, obeying you. you were upset, he didn’t want your mood to go even lower. though, due to jing yuan being bigger than you, he was quite hesitant on putting his entire weight — he knows he’s quite heavy.. but you insist he sits down properly.

he felt shy all of a sudden — putting his hands on your shoulders, nuzzling his face into your neck. you didn’t know if this shyness was a result of the position, or the fact the door was very much unlocked — maybe both.

you had a hand on his lower back, as if inviting for the white-haired general — your free hand decided to run through his hair. it’s so soft… how could you not?

jing yuan lets out a whimper, hips moving on his own. slowly but surely running them up and down your thigh. his own legs shaking. you slip your hand into the side of his pants — feeling around his waist. he jolts at your cold hands, letting out a small gasp. those hands of yours continue to trace through his body, feeling his breath grow a little faster. feeling all over his back, his hips, his waist, him. just him.

you wanted to escalate this, though, you heard something. something he feared. a knock at the door.

“jing yuan, sir?”

a voice is heard, calling to the general. you could clearly hear his breath hitch. “a– ah.. who—nnh–!”

those hands of yours continued to tease him. featherlight touches all over his body, teasing him by slipping your hands into his pants every now and then — watching your darling general explain why the person couldn’t come in — stuttering on his words, trying to reason with them..

you felt mean today. you were in a shitty mood, after all.

he lets out a sigh of release when they finally decide to go — whoever that was leaving his office alone for another time. finally, he gets to calm down.

“i love you.” you whisper into his ear suddenly, “you love me too, right? you wouldn’t go for that woman, right? right?”

why did you doubt him, even?

you don’t know, nor did you care. all you wanted to hear was an ‘i love you, too’ from the general.. your general.

his weight was kind of crushing you.. but you didn’t mind it much. you pressed a kiss onto his neck, sucking into it to form a hickey. then another… and another. it didn’t take too long for his entire neck to be covered by them. you loved it.. marking him up as yours (as if wasn’t already..)

“m’gonna–” his grinding was growing a bit more desperate — damn, already?

“go on. show me how much you love me.” — those words made him whimper, closing his eyes. you pulled on his hair, yanking his head so jing yuan was looking at you — grabbing his face with one of your hands and inviting him into a messy kiss — tongue being forcefully shoved into his mouth.

“i love you, i love you, i love you.. mmMH—!” he said between eager gasps, feeling his orgasm washing over him. you could, too — that warm feeling on your thigh.

he wraps his big arms around you, moans being muffled by the kiss. he just couldn’t get enough, can he? he wouldn’t even care anymore if someone came in and saw him this way. neither did you. at least they’d know you were his.

“i love you, darling. please ruin me..”

hsr masterlist ♥���

[lovemyromance]

So I finished the books of acotar and Im confused, WHAT IS THERE BETWEEN AZRIEL AND GWYN?? I read the bonus chapter of acosf, but that just showed me more of ELAIN AND AZRIEL. Im literally seeing people saying "azriel and gwyn had more chemistry than elain and azriel" LIKE HUH??? like where did this ship come from? I didnt even know about this bonus chapter until I came to tiktok. I thought gwyn was just a side character... I had no idea this was a ship because there is nothing between them that I saw. 😭

Yeah I literally have no idea. I cheated a little when I was reading ACOWAR and looked up fanart before I finished the series. I saw Azriel with this redhead and was so so confused. I thought hm maybe he gets a mate after the war.

Then I read ACOFAS. Was really shipping Elriel but was sad that his fan art was with some redhead other girl. I genuinely at one point wondered if it was Vassa because she was the only other redhead female character I could think of other than Amarantha 😅

It was bothering me so I asked my friend (who was the reason I read the series in the first place). She said she had no idea who that woman was.

And I thought she was just lying to me to avoid telling me spoilers lol so I continued reading. Imagine my surprise when I finished ACOSF, got even more invested in Elriel, and still had no answer.

Then I actually did a deep dive online and found out that it's GWYN they're shipping with Azriel? I was so confused. I asked my friend if there was another book, why is this Gwyn Azriel ship a thing?

She didn't remember who Gwyn was because she read ACOSF immediately when it first came out and hasn't reread since, but that's beside the point.

Then I did some more digging. Apparently a bonus chapter existed which made things more clear? I read it. Still did not understand where the ship came from. If anything, it only cemented Elriel endgame for me.

I said okay, maybe I'm being biased? I made my friend read the BC - she did not even know it existed and she literally has been reading the series since it came out in like 2015 or whatever

But again, that's beside the point.

And before anyone even argues, she was a strong Elucien supporter and would argue with me "no they are mates Elriel is not a thing". I made her read the bonus chapter and she immediately switched to Elriel. She said "yeah ok - there's no going back from that one". She also, did not view the Gwynriel interaction as romantic in any way.

I really don't know where Gwynriel came from. Like I've said over and over again - I understand Elucien. They are canonically mates. A mating bond is all they have, but until disproven, it still counts.

Gwynriel doesn't have that. They barely even interact on the page.

I don't know if it's because people hate elain, or they ship Azriel with themselves and they can't relate to Elain so "hey, here's another attractive straight girl boss I can pretend is me", or they ship Elucien and need Azriel out of the way 🤷🏻‍♀️

Gwynriels literally KNOW there is nothing romantic between the two currently. Their entire ship is based on this concept of "well it could happen" or "what if". That's why I don't take it seriously. They have very limited info about both Gwyn and Azriel and they have allowed their imaginations to fill in the blanks. Then the ship gained popularity and their imaginative scenarios got repeated enough that people began to think that was actually in the books. Then they got confident and began to yell their made up scenarios louder in the fandom.

Most of Gwynriel is rooted in imaginative headcanons. They saw any mention of Gwyn or Azriel and began to fill in the blanks themselves. Aka Azriel trying to excuse himself by saying "I have to go over daggers with Gwyn" suddenly wasn't just an excuse and actually a secret planned date between the two where she got "private dagger lessons" and they talked for hours or whatever. It became real to them even if it didn't exist in the books. They didn't do any fact checking before repeating their HCs over and over until it became the truth to them. And then they went on other shipping posts and started fights over their fake recollection of canon.

Literally just last week, I saw a post about how Gwyn only blushes for Azriel she has feelings for him. That never happened. She blushed for Rhysand, not Azriel.

But the thing is, just because you say something louder than someone else, doesn't mean you are correct.

I really don't engage with Gwynriels because half of them have admitted they haven't even read the books, just the bonus chapter. Or they've just read ACOSF.

Either way, I just see it as a crackship. If they ship it because they find it cute, sure whatever. If they're more active in the fandom, I just scroll past their posts and don't engage. I don't see where they are coming from and they're not going to see Elriel so there's no point trying to convince anyone at this point.

[undeaddove9]

NSFW related// contains genderbend AU with wlw charmoree and ♂ Manon (their names stay the same), cunnilingus, squirting, cheating (Rody and Manon have not broken up yet)

I'm writing this just because I needed to write some culinary yuri... and because I love listening to this song it reminds me so much of them :3

"Me and your girlfriend playin' dress up in my house, I gave your girlfriend cunnilingus on my couch"

Her crush couldn't stop yapping about how sweet and caring her boyfriend is.

Ughhh, why was this stupid redheaded puppy talking about some guy that she's clearly not interested in listening to? ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

Was there ever a way to shut her up?

Suddenly, a very great idea pops into Vincent's head.

YURIKA!!! ☝️💡

And with that, she's decided to make Rody forget all about her precious boyfriend, Manon. How exactly, you may ask? Well...

"Ngh! Hah—AH! VINCE!!" , Rody lets out a loud moan as her boss was hungrily lapping up at her sensitive folds and clit.

The woman was shakily sitting, now almost slouching, on Vincent's couch in her apartment, with thighs spread wide open, making access for the chef to devour the swollen cunt in between her legs. Her fists were clenching for dear life on the couch cushions near her.

She never expected this, in all honesty. She had an assumption that her boss was just being nice and sweet when welcoming her into her house. She never expected to end up in a heated situation with the younger woman.

Her face looked so fucked out right now. She's sweating like crazy, with her eyes rolling back into her head and her tongue lolling out. Maybe she should just let Vince do her thing. No, she wasn't supposed to enjoy this!

But...

"Hah- holy shit... Vince, please. You can't... I— AH! I'm in love with Manon- nghHH!... I'm not supposed to do this with you haaahh..." , she continued with her stammering words, hoping that her boss would at least consider putting a stop to whatever she was currently doing to her.

Unfortunately for Rody, her words were completely futile. Instead, she received a harsh nibble and tug on her twitching clit, making her scream in sudden pleasure.

Oh god, she was seeing stars at this point.

Vince looked up sadistically at the heavily panting woman and led out a chuckle in response. "Oh, mon cœur ♡ You don't have to lie to yourself. Your voice may be rejecting me but your enticing body is telling me otherwise. You don't seem like you ever want me to stop, so..... ♡"

That was all she said before continuing to thrust her skillful tongue back into Rody's soaking wet pussy. Only this time, she's doing it roughly, occasionally sucking on her pretty clitoral nub and creating even more stimulation towards her trembling employee.

The auburn haired woman had no choice but to submit to the ongoing pleasure that her body was receiving.

It was driving her crazy. She can feel the pooling heat in her stomach. Her nails were digging deeper into the couch cushions, almost tearing the fabric. The ravenette gave her clit one last suck and... Oh fuck. She's about to...

"VINCE! I'M GONNA CU—haAAAAAAAA!!!", the waitress' words were cut off as she finally came and squirted her juices into Vince's awaiting mouth. The chef lapped up every single drop of her beloved waitress' fluid she could get.

Rody then plastered a satisfied grin on her face with her eyes still rolled back into her head from the aftermath and her thoughts were very much clouded from the intense orgasm she had.

She couldn't even think straight anymore.

Vince, on the other hand, can't help but smile at the older woman in front of her, carefully getting herself up from her previous position.

"So... How was it? Did I treat you better than that Manon of yours, mon cœur?"

"Huh?? Eh? Wh... Who...??"

"That's what I thought ♡"

[writermask-0807]

“winter’s eve,” or: “and the cold of your embrace.” gojo satoru x reader

Warnings: wrote this in a weird mood and a banging headache, so that's probably why it sounds so shitty lmao (😭) there’s also some stuff that doesn’t add up so there's that. angst with no happy ending (dont come for me yall), implied cheating, swearing (like one f bomb lol), also the title literally has nothing related to the fic in itself (except maybe one paragraph 😭). uhh that's all, I think, but lmk if I missed anything!!!

he comes home late, your satoru. late enough that it’s early, actually, with the pale rim of the sun trying to push weakly through the bruise-colored clouds purpling the night sky - late enough that you think he’s not coming, like most other nights. 

but when he comes stumbling in, staggering off to the side as he giggles, drunk, with pink in his cheeks either from the cold or the booze, you think it might’ve been better if he didn’t come home at all. and it sounds cruel, doesn’t it? knowing why satoru, your satoru, who can’t really be called yours anymore, (from a god to a worshipper, did you really think that he would love you like he actually, truly meant it?) is like this. why things are like this, really, but it’s getting harder to bear, these days. 

and as tears fills your eyes when your mouth parts open to speak, you wonder when it’s changed to bearing, and not loving satoru. “where were you?” you ask him, and it’s a broken, whispered thing, no longer being shouted with explosive anger, wrapped in vicious hurt and dripping venom. 

it comes out resigned. tired. you’re tired, and maybe he sees it, for once; (and you want to scoff at the irony of it all — because even with his all-seeing six eyes, satoru has always been blind to you. or maybe he chooses to slide a rose-tinted film over them, and honestly, at this point, you don’t know which one is worse-) maybe he sees the harsh shadows in your eyes and the halo of dark circles, the bitten lips and the messy hair. maybe he sees that he’s the root of all this, because he stops. 

there’s a pause - a sobering quiet, and you think he knows what’s coming. there’s something in the air, something cold and stinging, something tight enough that when you finally breathe his name, it feels like a thread snapping, something falling apart at the seams — like blood oozing through the stitches of a wound, scabbed over and over and never quite healing. a beat too late, you realize that that something is really you and satoru. you and me, he said. we. us.

there is no us, satoru. there was never an “us” and that fucking hurts.

and now it’s all gone, snowed over by satoru and his frost-cold eyes and his freezing voice and his icicle-sharp words, cutting so deep that you’re afraid you can’t dig them out, especially with your winter-numbed fingers. in hindsight, you really should have seen this coming. 

and he must see it too, now, because satoru is a man called god - mighty and powerful and all-seeing - and he truly plays the part. and so he smiles, wide and nonchalant like he doesn’t know this is ripping you apart. like he doesn’t know that this is the end. like he doesn’t even care, and you hate him for it. 

“oh, you know. out.” 

he says lazily, throwing his shades off as he stumbles his way towards you, arms wide open, grinning all the while. you flinch as he steps into the moonlight, reaching out for you, those cruel, cruel eyes holding the stormy brilliance of the skies, glimmering in the weak light — and you think that cuts through the fuzz, the haziness in his mind - sobers him up.

satoru stops, only a breath away from you, close enough that you can smell the alcohol on his breath and the scent of another catching in his clothes and his hair and his skin, see that the smile has slipped off of his face, see the shimmer of his cold eyes, the gaping emptiness in them - a void, that, no matter how much you give of yourself to him, that can never be filled. 

“you’re leaving.” he breathes quietly, soft. broken.

you remain silent, tears clouding your eyes, spilling over your cheeks like a dam burst. because you’d expected yelling, screaming and even cursing, or the cold indifference that satoru has always used to freeze you out, and this - this vulnerability hurts so much more. you wish he would just - just - 

a trembling hand comes to cup your cheek, cradles your jaw, lifts your eyes to meet his, full of melted ice, desperate and searching for something, anything to hold onto, but it’s been ten long, painful years of breaking and fixing, hurting and healing until you’re so scarred over that there’s nothing else left to wound, and by god - you’re so, so tired.

you bring a shaky hand to cup his, curled around your face, tears trembling on your lashes, unable to bear that look of heartbreak in those damned crystalline eyes of his. did he see this, too? 

“i love you. i love you so, so much, don’t you know that?” he murmurs, voice catching, forehead knocking against yours, and you stifle a sob behind gritted teeth. because you know. of course you do; it’s why you’re here now. it’s why you’ve always been here for so long. 

“i know, satoru. i know, but this love of yours is only killing me.” you tell him in a broken whisper, and you feel his grip tighten, feel him shake against you. 

“don’t say that. don’t say that. please…�� satoru never begs. he never has had the need to, but now - now he wonders if anything would have changed if he had. he would have fallen at your feet, begged you with all that he had and meant it with his entire chest, baring the tender heart inside for the entire world to see. but it’s too late.

he’s always too late.

“please…” he murmurs against your mouth, lips brushing against yours in one last desperate attempt - and it’s helpless and bitter and wet from the salt of your tears — yours or his, maybe. you don’t know anymore. 

he kisses you and you kiss him back just as hard and wanting, fingers curling into the moon-bright mess of his hair as you tug him down, nails digging into his back and his mouth crushed against yours and it’s desperate and rough and messy, and it feels like the last time and the first time in a long time but this is it. 

this is the end. 

and when he finally pulls back, panting and breathless, you think he knows it too. 

“i’m sorry, satoru.” 

you tell him, and even without the tears in your eyes, and the waver in your voice and the ache in your chest, he knows you’d mean it all the same. you’ve never been as selfish as him, even now, even when it’s your right to be. you could never be as cruel as him. and maybe that’s why this is goodbye. 

and so gojo satoru is selfless for once. he doesn’t chase after the warmth of your mouth when you press your lips to his one last time, a parting gift - a lingering curse. he doesn’t have it in him to look up even when he feels you glance at him one last time, your eyes tired and mournful and full of tears. 

and worst of all, he doesn’t hear the faint “i love you,” that lingers long after you leave, silent to his ears, the door to his house left open, but his home long gone.

FIN-

[mamayan]

Hello ml✨ CONGRATS

I'm dumb asf because I didn't understand the Russian Roulette thingy for a good minute but I wanna request Shota w these numbers-(I hope to God I'm doing this right)

20, 37, 59, 68, 97

Uhhh fem reader- pop off✨

Bang! … No bullet was shot—

Shota Aizawa

“You’re pathetic, you know that right?” || Sleep || Nightmares when sick || Step!Parent

tw: NSFW • Implied Cheating • Fem! Reader (18+) • Fingering (F) • Taboo Considered Relations • Use of the term Daddy

wc: 790

He’s alone again.

The right side of the bed is empty, not even a warm hint of his wife having returned home from work. She’s working late again, though Shota felt a roiling in his gut telling him it wasn’t work she was staying out so late for.

She’d been distant, though that wasn’t too shocking considering their relationship was hanging by a thread.

He couldn’t leave though. Not if it meant he’d lose something even more precious.

You, who he already noticed was creeping into the room, light sleep set hiding hardly any of your body from his dark gaze as he tiredly sighs aloud. Like a sweet dream you appear by the side of the bed, crawling onto the mattress like a predator on the prowl. Sweet features illuminated by the moon, you smiled down at him.

“I can’t sleep Daddy…” you were too old to be calling him that, and the way it made his cock harden beneath the comforter only confirmed how inappropriate this all was. He didn’t stop you though, not when you revealed more smooth soft skin for him as you tossed your top somewhere into the darkness, breasts free of any bra to hinder them from his view.

“Fuck,” it’s impossible not to lose it as you straddle him over the covers, bottoms still in place as you plant your hands against his chest.

Shota isn’t a man who allows a brat like you to get away with whatever, no matter how cutely you act.

The retired-pro hero has you beneath him in an instant, shirtless torso draping over you as his dark hair falls to curtain over your faces.

“You can’t sleep so you make sure I can’t either?” He’s not angry despite his words, easily slotting between your thighs as he nips your bottom lip. He doesn’t miss how you shiver and arch for him, he grunts as your cunt shifts to grind up against his hardened length still tucked away in his boxers.

The little smirk on your lips is irritating, but your next words light a spark.

“You’re pathetic, you know that right?” The way your chest presses against his own as you breathe the insult against his mouth makes him groan, able to taste the sugar on your lips from whatever late night snack or drink you’d been consuming. “Getting hard for your step-daughter is just—ngh,” you’re stopped short when he grabs your throat, his smile dark and promising as he copies your earlier actions and speaks right up against your mouth, not quite kissing you. “Is just what, hm?” He grinds harder against you, smearing the slick in your panties as you moan, hands quick to tangle in his thick loose hair. “Remember you’re in my bed brat,” he chuckles at your responding whine.

“I can’t sleep,” you say it again as if it was his problem to solve.

Maybe it was, since he doesn’t hesitate to slip a calloused scared hand right into your cute sleep shorts and easily locate your puffy clit to rub. He watches your eyes roll back, the quick access to pleasure and pressure you were eager for granted without much of a fight tonight.

He was eager for touch too, hands grasping and groping in the minimal light, lips quick to connect with yours in a sensual embrace, tongue slipping in without resistance as you whimper beneath him.

“Daddy I need more—,” he groans, thumb moving off your clit to dig two inside your tight heat, stretching you open and doing quite the opposite of helping you sleep.

“Be quiet, you’ll disturb the neighbors,” he chides lightly, lips trailing to your neck where he’s tempted to mark you up. He doesn’t, only licks and nibbles too soft for any capillaries to burst are littered on your sensitive skin.

“I want your cock,” it’s needy and desperate as you writhe, hips unable to still as he works his fingers inside of you, curling in your gooey walls and making you see white as your orgasm builds.

“You want to act like a brat, be good and cum on my fingers first.” His gruff tone leaves no room for argument, though you might’ve managed had he not had you so close to your end.

His lips silence the cry you release as your core tightens, body wracked with tremors as you come apart for him.

A noisy squelch echoes as he drags his messy fingers from your bottoms, holding them in front of your face with a dark brow raised above sleepy eyes.

“Thank you Daddy…” it sends chills down his spine at your sweet whisper, eager and happy to clean your own cum off his fingers while watches with a hungry gaze.

Post dividers/@cafekitsune

[samhatch]

Things I would put in my ACOTAR fixit fic:

Stone Heart

ABOUT: When I first read ACOTAR, I thought this was unique to Tamlin. I don't recall it being said in the first book that it was related to Amarantha's curse, so I thought this was just something about Tamlin's past that we would learn later.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE: I'd really like to take this in a Howl's Moving Castle or Odin direction, that Tamlin had to sacrifice his heart in order to gain a powerful ability. I would make that his shapeshifting ability. Making this ability something he gained on his own, rather than something he inherited, would be so much more interesting! It would also mean that his true "high lord beast form" is something we still haven't seen, and is an ultimate form even Tamlin is afraid of using. This would also mean that when Feyre gains abilities from all the high lords, she does not gain the ability to shapeshift, which could solve some plot issues down the road. Also, also: this would mean that his heart is stone forever, and cannot be healed by breaking the curse. He made a faerie deal, and those can be unforgiving.

2. Feyre's Mother

ABOUT This line from the book has always stood out to me: “Didn’t … ,” Tamlin interrupted, his deep voice surprisingly gentle, “didn’t your mother tell you anything about us?” I prodded the table with my forefinger, digging my short nails into the wood. “My mother didn’t have the time to tell me stories.” I could reveal that part of my past, at least. Lucien, for once, didn’t laugh. After a rather stilted pause, Tamlin asked, “How did she die?” When I lifted my brows, he added a bit more softly, “I didn’t see signs of an older woman in your house.” (Page 79-80.) WHAT I WOULD CHANGE I want to make Feyre's mother fae. Specifically a Selkie, that Papa Archeron would have kidnapped on one of his sea voyages when he was young. He hid her cape that allowed her to transform back into a seal, and she was forced to marry him and have his children. Because she was in human form when she had her daughters, they would all be 100% human, and not fae, despite having a fae mother. This also explains why Feyre's mother was so bitter and disconnected from her family. She only ever wanted to go back to the ocean. But eventually she died of heartbreak and homesickness. This is also why Feyre is so hung up on her promise to her mother, even though she wasn't treated very well: it was a fae contract and unbreakable, without Feyre ever realizing it. I think it's also possible that one of her mother's relatives (or maybe Tamlin, since she would have been one of his subjects) would have cursed Papa Archeron for not returning her to the ocean, and that's why all of his fortunes changed so drastically and suddenly. It wasn't until Tamlin lifted that curse that her father was able to make money again. (I also like the idea that her father is genuinely a savvy businessman who was cursed to make bad deals, and all the riches he earns after the curse is lifted were earned by him and not just cash that Tamlin magically threw at him.)

3. Illiteracy

ABOUT Feyre being illiterate is important to her character as a human, so I wouldn't change that, but I would change how she gains literacy in the second book. WHAT I WOULD CHANGE This might be cheating, but I would just have her gain literacy after the high lords give a piece of themselves to resurrect her. Give her pieces of their knowledge about each court as well, and it helps bridge the uncomfortable age gaps, fast tracks her literacy, and gives her important strategic knowledge of the whole of Prythian. This way, her becoming a leader feels more legitimate, and that it's a position she could actually command with genuine competence. Is it cheating? maybe. Would it change her character completely? probably. But no more so than her character already changed form book 1 to book 2 I think.

4, The Trials

ABOUT I know this was some folks' favorite part of the book, but for me it was the opposite lol! The first half felt whimsical and magical, and the second half felt rushed, anticlimactic, and disjointed. To this day, I don't understand why Amarantha made a deal with Feyre, when she'd already won! There was no benefit to this deal for Amarantha, she could have captured and tortured Feyre to her heart's content. It's lazy writing, honestly. WHAT I WOULD CHANGE Amarantha needs something from Feyre that she can't get on her own. I don't know what that is yet, but I'll figure it out (maybe it's her mother's selkie coat for some reason, or maybe there's magic protecting Feyre that prevents Amarantha from killing her outright, so she puts her in a no-win-scenario aka: the trials.) I would also change the trials. I hate the worm. It felt so lazy to me, like a Dune worm? Really? If there is actual faerie-lore to back this up, I'll accept it, but it just felt like SJM was throwing in the kitchen sink of sci-fi cliche's. I would nix the worm completely, and redo the trials. The only trial I liked was the one where she had to read, because it felt like there was actual build up to that in the books, and the cost of losing being her friend's life rather than her own felt like the stakes were really high. Too bad she only won by cheating. :/ I would craft the trials in a way that force Feyre to think outside the box, and really understand the fae's love for wordplay and cleverness. Here's how I would construct the trials: 1. A Hunting Trial - where Feyre has to hunt a mythical beast. She thinks it's going to be a terrifying monster, but isn't prepared for it to be a pucca that looks like her mother. Trauma ensues! :D 2. The Riddles Trial - I wouldn't change anything about this! It forces Feyre to come to terms with her stubbornness and unwillingness to accept Tamlin's help when he first offered to teach her to read. 3. Embracing Tamlin - keeping the inspiration from the Ballad of Tam Lin, Feyre needs to hold onto Tamlin while Rhys reaches into his mind and forces Tamlin to take all kinds of terrifying shapes that hurt Feyre. Feyre never lets go, and passes the trial despite all the harm it causes her. Feyre passes the trials, but at the cost of her life, and Tamlin has to hold her dead body, knowing that his shapeshifting killed her. :'(

I'll reblog this and add to it as I get more ideas! Let me know what you think! I'll write out an actual fic at some point, but I feel like I need to finish reading the first three books to do it justice.

[deena-bsingh]

A reflection on time

Time how this whole thing started. Then, the anxiety that would ensue a whole week of declutter and ideas of room redecoration. If there is one thing i am good at it's avoiding what makes me anxious! Lucky for me I am reaching the end of a cycle and making the final efforts of transformation.

Yesterday at midnight, I decided I won't sleep... for what possible reasons? I don't know. I guess it's the end of the year and whatever goes. But then out of my million diaries I could write in, I choose a piece of paper, yes, loose freaking piece of paper to finally do a word vomit on time. So here we go!!!

Is time linear or cyclical?

In modern times, we strictly adhere to time being linear: a time for every phase and everything really and while there is nothing inherently wrong with this, emotionally we're stuck elsewhere. Maybe it's in childhood or maybe it's with that ex lover that betrayed you so bad and you vowed to never love again. Some societies those with a very conventional view would even go so far to chastise you in a way, I mean seriously expect a mother of projection to come your way.

Oddly enough, in ancient times some cultures, i'd even dare to say most culture viewed time in a different way than we currently do. They tended to view time as cyclical or even a spiral. In Hindu cosmology, the four yugas are a metaphor for spirit and materialism, in the final and darkest cycle, the spiritual richness is now stripped away and all that concerns the collective is materialism.

While this cycle fits the collective, it can also be used as an inner metaphor to keep you aligned on different levels. Maybe you believe in god, maybe you believe in the universe, or maybe like me you believe you're the creator of your reality, whichever you adhere to elevates your sense of self in a way. It's no longer about me or what I own but something bigger than myself. This puts you in a position to understand your personal cycles...are you still living your inner child woundings? Has the generational shadow casted upon you been ruling your sense of self?

So how does that even relate to time.. well if you understand your patterns you understand your cycles, then you also understand that despite being an adult a repressed part of you, something hidden from the privy eyes of others, something you forgot along the way still lingers. And now you understand that yes, you are an adult but you are also living in an old cycle.

The Mayans had a laser focus on time, they called their 394 year cycle b'ak'tun. They viewed time as a fractal and larger cycle that harbors smaller cycles within it. They emphasized on the relation between celestial events and human activities. Time back then wasn't counting your grey hair, it was a dynamic process that allowed the people to understand themselves deeply.

What would all this even mean to you? Well, when you view time as fluid (with a touch of self understanding) you are more prone to demantle your cycle.. Remember Sharon who cheated on you when you were 16 and since then you only met Sharon's in your life, perhaps digging deeper you might understand Sharon represented something darker, should it scare you? Hell no, you're basically one step of everyone else just by realizing this, you're closer to shutting down that projection into your present and past. So simple and yet can unleash a crescendo of transformation onto you.

You no longer need to see the past, present, and future in chronological order, you understand the tapestry of time and how each layer of time is interwoven together to create your present self. You no longer feel the need to race against the clock, you understand your own rhythm and respect your cycles. What you do with that information... well it's really up to you.

[masterthespianduchovny]

I do not dislike Michelle Keller, formerly Michelle Lasso, but I do dislike how the series and most fans either refuse to criticize her or defend her.

I understand that fans, esp women, are compelled to defend Michelle because she’s a woman and women are overly criticized and dragged unnecessarily at times. I get that. However, there would be think pieces about Michelle is she were Michael. And I truly hate this current trend of pretending everything is different when it’s a woman involved.

It’s quite strange how people are so sad for Ted being made to feel like he’s too much—hmm, I wonder who made him feel that way—and are rooting for him to have a happy ending with someone who accepts him as he is. Then when you directly criticize Michelle, it’s a ton of excuses about how separation/divorce is hard, Ted wouldn’t be transparent with her, and so forth.

While this is true, intentionally or not, Michelle still hurt Ted in a major way. And, I don’t know about you all, but I believe you should still apologize for hurting someone even if it wasn’t intentional.

Michelle became short tempered with him and had an issue whenever he tried to do things for her. While her reaction wasn’t malicious, there’s nothing wrong with, “hey, I know you meant well. I just—it’s hard being around you and having this life with you when I don’t even feel like I know you. I shouldn’t have lashed out. You didn’t deserve that.”

Boom!

This NEVER happens.

Michelle never has to take any accountability for the things she’s down, which we know has a major effect on Ted. Essentially, people are arguing he deserved that treatment all while saying, “poor Ted.”

Michelle making Ted feel bad for saying “I love you.” I understand Michelle was going through her own shit, but Christ! Would we defending her if the genders were switched? I’ll need to rewatch the episode to really dig into that, but it felt unnecessarily cruel even if she didn’t intend for it to be so.

Someone will correct me on this, but Michelle and ted separate in February and by March of that same year she’s pushing for ted to sign divorce papers. It’s not like he’s a busy man or anything??? Literally most divorces, esp considering how long they’d been married, take a while to happen. Ted fucking granted her the divorce without her even asking and was kind about the entire thing and Michelle is pushing for a divorce within the month.

Is that not strange?

I honestly think this was just a bad writing choice, but my God, I can’t imagine the discourse if Ted was a woman—Thea. And how “Michael” would be dragged for that and people speculating that either they were cheating or wanted to be with new and different women. Not even accounting for how some would relate to “Thea” and how their ex did them dirty.

But again, we can’t talk about that. No matter how fucked up that was, NOPE!

And this recent shit. I don’t even know.

I don’t know if it’s a case of poor writing or not because I don’t think the series is going to go there. Meaning I don’t think the series is going to say Dr. Jacobs groomed Michelle. But let’s keep in mind that he was her therapist originally, and then their marriage counselor. He was the one who fueled Ted’s dislike of therapists and always sided with Michelle. I don’t think Ted even felt like he could be heard.

When Dr. Jacobs realizes it’s Ted, he freezes as if being caught. As if he was cheating with Michelle. Even Michelle is acting suspicious as fuck. There’s no, “I didn’t want him to find out about this, he may take it hard.” It felt like they’d both done something they were supposed to be doing. Both come off as guilty as hell.

Do I think the actually had an affair?

No.

Or maybe it was an emotional affair.

But people love to skip over the shit Michelle does (or inadvertently blame Ted) and it’s fucking annoying. Not necessarily because they don’t pay attention to her, but because the discussion around her behavior when they actually engage with it is either brushing off what she does or defending it.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

my fav byzantine fact is when they would destroy everything that had to do with pagan religion and even killed people who weren't christian <3

Did you forget that Polytheists oppressed, persecuted and killed Christians first, for THREE HUNDRED years.

Hiding in the catacombs, getting murdered, honoring the Christian martyrs... you think Christians did these things as a hobby? 😂In the Roman Empire policy towards Christians was that they would be punished if they refused to worship the emperor and the gods. Christians were actively forced to worship gods they didn't want to worship. By the Polytheists.

Sorry to offend your little uwu cute ancient polytheists but 1) they did bride kidnappings 2) they threw "deformed" kids off cliffs 3) religious stories and depictions of rape were A Thing, endorsing a Rape Culture in many ways (I had a whole post with scientific papers about that) 4) pederasty (with young boys!) existed 5) gay men were literally called "those who drag shame with them" 6) cheating was socially acceptable for Greek men while the less the woman came out of her house, the better 7) slaves were far lesser than them compared to when Christianity came 8) oh and... THEY KILLED PEOPLE WHO WEREN'T POLYTHEISTS. Aka the Christians.

Don't get me wrong, persecution of any type is abominable. I want people to let other people worship in peace. I just listed all the above because you seem to ignore there was great hostility between Polytheists and Christians (which ultimately led to many deaths) for a reason. And the Polytheists started it. The first religious persecution ever in the Helladic area was that of Christians. By the Polytheists.

My point is....Before you completely cancel another group for doing something, maybe consider if "your" group has done it too, and maybe... did it first? Christianity has a long list of bad things but Hellenic Polytheism has a grim past, too, filled with the same crimes if not some more. There was a reason people were becoming Christians in droves*. Underprivileged groups finally saw the prospect of a better life compared to the Polytheistic faiths they were in. The first European to get baptized was a Greek young woman.

*It's estimated that there were fewer than 10,000 Christians in the year 100. Christianity grew to about 200,000 by the year 200, and then to almost 2 million by 250.

I said that I hate that people were killed for their faith (!!!), and this goes for Polytheists too (!!!). I also detest any destroying of buildings and manuscripts (which indeed happened). But, in this case, what would you like me to do??? Start beef with the long-dead Leonid dynasty or something? 😂 Which dynasty do you want me to spank? Tell me and I'll dig them uuup

Okay, hear me out... I will throw away the whole of the Byzantine Empire for the Polytheists it killed if you throw the whole Roman world away for the Christians it killed. Let's cancel EVERY culture for killing Polytheists, Hebrews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Muslims. (note: Persecution of Christianity is still going on in some countries, and it never stopped) Yes?

Also, no, Christians did not destroy everything related to Polytheism. Did you seriously come to my asks with the knowledge of a bitter scorned 16 y/o who read one single sentence from their history book?

The reason ancient Hellenic Epics and other classic works have survived is mainly that Christian Hellenes passed them down and copied them in their libraries and monasteries. The Greeks/and Eastern Romans they were actively reading and discussing the ancient works, and based their own research and philosophy on them. Arabs in the middle ages translated tons of still-existing (!) ancient manuscripts from Greek to their language. The reason Europe remembered these works, too, was the Hellenes who brought the still-existing (!) ancient manuscripts with them in the freaking 15th century to Europe after escaping Constantinople.

[fumblingmusings]

Your writing is so faultless to me i love your portrayals of evryone but if its alright me asking do you have any outside inspirations for your writing from historic books or documentaries? You seem so involved in historic events often I feel I'm right there with you when you describe things but at the same time I'm not from the west and i have no idea where to begin to get a grasp on things. do you have any resouces in particular?

That is absolutely not true regarding my writing I have clunky syntax and I was re-reading a chapter and saw that I accidentally made Gilbert change genders randomly so... typos. You never catch them all... Congratulations Gilbert on transitioning. But thank you. You're so very kind to say so.

I am sorry if I misunderstand, so you're asking about what inspires my writing that isn't taken from history? Because the honest answer is not much. I do genuinely get inspiration from moments in history. I love period dramas. A lot. I don't read as much fiction as I should, and when I do it's historical fiction. I don't really watch much tv... I read Wikipedia pages in my spare time about huge overarching things like International Relations between 1648-1814 and then go down rabbit holes because I then go 'Oh I wonder what Arthur and Francis would have thought of each other at this time'. I like the occasional fantasy and anime. I'm a big DC comic book reader and write fics for one unpopular pairing on my main blog - that's where I got all my writing practice from; I started fanficcing in 2019 really.

In terms of formative 'I am watching one thing but thinking of Hetalia whilst doing so' pieces of media at the moment. Currently it's good old Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, books and tv both. I am also thoroughly enjoying Trigun Stampede at the moment (a series about one twin with a mother complex who doesn't know he has a brother complex and the other twin who has a brother complex but doesn't know he has a mother complex).

I do cheat. I work for a University Archive so I have full access to the course readings and the library resources for the taught courses. A lot of Universities actually have their reading lists online. So I just pretend I am a student and have a wee nosey and see what topics and themes I want to read more about, which ones catch my eyes. I may also borrow the books from the University Library itself. I may in fact be that asshole who has your essential reading for that seminar out because oooh isn't Adam Ferguson's opinions on man as a social creature fascinating. I have a particular love for International Relations, so I automatically go towards those topics rather than things like social history. Neither is bad, it's just something I've learned I enjoy after so many years of studying. The former just tends to make for an easier narrative driven read, that's all.

Having said that. A lot of unis also just list books that they think are interesting and that people maybe would like to read. Rather wholesome. Many also make available their specific readings for their courses. For example, I like to go to UCL's website and see what History topics they cover on their website.

Then get very excited, for example, when I see say Transformation of Britain, 1547-1707, so I follow the links and see what they recommend. The University of Reading also has a very good list, as does the University of Edinburgh. These things make me go nuts - they lay it all out for you, and you don't have to pay a penny for the lists. Teach yourself ha!!! Some of the sources are available online, some you may have to dig around and see if a library has them. Some you sigh mournfully and only imagine what kind of information is contained within.

This is probably so unhelpful orz. Forgive my babbles.

EDIT: Oh! Music! I'm such a dumbo. I do use music quite a lot for inspiration. I don't have playlists but I do have songs and scores that I associate with certain characters for sure. They help a lot with moods and ~vibes~

[kaythefloppa]

WK S7 Prediction: Race to Goat Mountain

Episode 3 of Wild Kratts's upcoming 7th season is titled Race to Goat Mountain, featuring mountain goats.

Chris and Martin, off to explore mountain bio-zones of Goat Mountain, bump into Paisley Paver. Paisley reveals her hideous plans for a development dubbed "Asphalt Ascent". The brothers are horrified. Thinking fast, Chris challenges her to a race to the top of Goat Mountain. Whoever gets to the peak first decides the future of the mountain ecosystem. Is there any creature in these steep slopes and dizzying heights who can help Chris to victory? Enter the mountain goat!

HOLY FUCKING SHIT OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!!! MORE PAISLEY PAVER SOLO EPISODES. LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I'm like, 90% sure that Chris wrote these episodes. Between this and the premiere episode, we're having a lot of Chris-centric stories. Is this maybe to compensate for how many episodes Martin wrote/had his 2D-animated counterpart under the spotlight in the last 2 seasons? Either way, I am fucking DIGGING IT {I do hope they don't oversaturate this though like they did with Zach last season}

The premise seems like that'll be very similar to the Cheetah Racer episode, but to be frank, that episode was about Zach capturing an animal to help him in the race. This episode inversely is about Paisley racing so she can threaten animals. It's good to know they're not 100% rehashing stuff from older episodes [which was one of my main problems with Season 5, and to a lesser degree, S6].

That being said, the bros have kicked Paisley's butt many times before, so I don't know why Chris would suddenly challenge Paisley to a race instead of, idk, trying to stall her, or looking for the goat so he can use the Creature Power Suits to keep Paisley at bay: Paisley's been hanging around Zach and the other villains for quite some time now so of course, she'd end up cheating. Then again, I guess Chris might use the suit to try and bpass Paisley's cheat codes:

Wait, now that I think of it, Chris is the climbing brother, so maybe he challenges her knowing he's a good climber and thinking he'll get to the top, but realizing he bit off more than he can hcew so he uses the goat power suit.

Fun Fact; Mountain goats... are not actually goats! They're not in the same genus as other goats despite the physical similarities they're more closely related to gazelle! This is a very little known fact but I'm hoping that this fact is brought to life because of how many people that'll be as dumbfounded as I am. Not to mention there's a lot of potential for a Chrizelle callback, which I would totally fucking DIG. [And it would make sense for Aviva to modify the Gazelle Power Disc for Mountain Goat Power].

[mlynar-nearl]

yo random question but like. can u make sense of whats written in the elite operators files (like blazes) bcs ive been staring at her archive file 4 for days and im just straight baffled

not sure how much what i have to say can help but i'll do my best!

blaze's archive file four and rosmontis' archive file 3 appear to be from the same file kept for all elite operators in rhodes island. my guess from the fact that it's so short is that it's information extracted from the elite operator's in-depth file as sort of a "cheat sheet" for the doctor to look at upon first being authorized to deploy them. the elite operators can only be moved by amiya and kal'tsit personally, and the doctor likely received short profiles in order to inform their decisions when authorized to do so as well. (this is notated by the very end of this section.)

thinking of it as a cheat sheet for the doctor makes the most sense because it makes the phrasing of the rest of it fall into place a lot easier.

point one: infection status- unsurprising considering this is terra and rhodes island.

point two: personality. this is important in a team environment, obviously. probably to give the doctor an educated guess at what they might be inclined to do, say, or think.

point 3: background. blaze's interests me because it mentions her having ties to yan and a diplomatic incident, and both her and rosmontis have a lockdown on deeper digging into their backstory- probably for their own comfort and safety. anything else would be purely speculation, so let's just say that point 3 tells us that blaze has ties to yan and victoria somehow, was involved in a diplomatic incident in her past, and became infected. not necessarily related or in that order.

point 4: status as infected. this appears to be how they view their relationship to other infected, and how they process the politics of the infected. blaze is listed as "follow, identify, serve" which seems to indicate that she wants to help people at rhodes island. to me, this ties in to her "the rights of the infected will only be won through the hands of the infected" victory quote. she's the hands. other people are the brains.

point 5: tactical overview. this is closest to an obvious part of the 'cheat sheet' reading. basically, what are they good at? blaze is good with small teams and assault tactics. it's a little surprising they called her self-disciplined here, but maybe she is in a combat sense. good at keeping herself going and knowing her limits.

point 6: ?? potential. the most mysterious metric here. i'm going to make an educated guess and say that it has to do with the potential of creating a massive disaster or incident, and that it possibly relates to control over arts. blaze is listed as low, and rosmontis is listed as medium. this is probably because of rosmontis' combination of extremely destructive arts and trauma making her a slightly higher risk. it's unlikely that any elite operator goes above medium, because they need to be the best of the best and not a risk.

point 7: type-b assignments. unclear what rhodes classifies as type-b, but probably to do with the type of assignments the doctor deals with, and things in the main story. this relates to my theory about point six by saying that blaze is recommended and rosmontis is permitted "with supervision."

point 8: authorization. just authorization to order them around. only for doctor, amiya, and kal'tsit. doctor is listed last because they're added to that list last, and newest.

[seraandthebees]

OC question (not really a question but whatever): pick a work written in classical Greek or Latin to recommend to each of your OCs! What would they enjoy reading or which works would include valuable information for them?

Ohhh this is a good one!! Thanks Vanamo!! You know me well so you’re not gonna be surprised when this is a long answer 😅

I think Herah would really love the poetry of Sappho. I know this is kind of an obvious choice but I think the personal nature of lyric poetry would suit her well. The sense of community and the performance context are things I think would remind her of her Tal Vashoth community. I’ll probably do a post on this at some point but, since it’s relevant here, I think that the Vashoth probably have an oral tradition given that that’s an important part of almost all communities ever. It’s a way for members of a community to connect to one another over common stories/experiences, a way to impose a moral code, and to define how we ought to treat each other and what happens when that goes wrong. Connecting with those ideas and exploring how another culture is similar/different to her own would be really rewarding for Herah.

Also hearing Sappho communicate directly with Aphrodite, reading her symptoms of love, listening her play into existing myth and look at it in new ways would be really appealing to Herah. The differences in language and metre would also give her the opportunity to get stuck in and do the kind of close analysis that she loves so much. She’d really be able to dig her teeth into it and see all the nuances of word order and emphasis, and admire how compact and economical these poems are.

I know this is cheating but I just wanna add that I think Herah would really love to read some Athenian comedy with Sera. They’d have so much fun with the Cyclops with all its sex jokes and taking the absolute piss out of Odysseus as this self-important war hero whose fame means nothing without a social framework in which to operate.

After much debate, I think I’d recommend to Naerselle the Iliad. She’d really like the close descriptions of battle (I almost said Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars for that reason) but I think she’d really understand the sorrow of Achilles, his attempt to defy destiny, how his action (or inaction) hurt a lot of people, but in time he realises just how much that cost him on a personal level. Not only that though, I think she’d also relate to Hector at times, not because of his nobility (in the moral sense) but because of how alone he is at times even when he has such an extensive family. She and her own family are mostly at odds and I think she sees something of them in Paris making her by extension a Hector-like figure.

Given that she’s Andrastian (probably my OC with the strongest sense of faith), I think she’d enjoy how present the gods are in this text, even if they are perhaps portrayed as ambiguous at times. Her faith doesn’t necessarily mean that she thinks that the Maker has a strong sense of right and wrong which he imposes upon the world. She sees it more as he has an overarching plan (like Zeus’ Βουλή in the proem) which may indeed require suffering along the way.

I know Senna would love historiography so I think I’d recommend Sallust’s War on Catiline or Jugurthine War. Sallust’s style is moralising and very self-conscious as his discussion of events often reveals either explicitly or implicitly where he himself lies politically. It’s also pretty important to him to justify why he’s taking the time to write history when he maybe should be dedicating time to politics. The position of being stuck between personal pursuit and political duty is something Senna could relate to, being at the centre of politics for as long as she can remember. Sallust, in my opinion, has this surface view of binary morality, but also his deeper ambiguity on whether we are right to accept the official narrative (particularly in the Catiline). I think that’d feel familiar to Senna, especially after her exile from Orzammar.

I also think it’d be helpful for her from a rhetorical and political point of view as seeing the shades of grey and how people might do bad things for good reasons or vice versa would give her perspective on how she herself should or could view the world around her. The end of the Catiline is particularly striking because all of the remaining supporters of the Catilinarian conspiracy fight valiantly and to the death — notably within no wounds to the back (ie they didn’t flee from battle). Seeing a political opposition be so sure that what they’re doing is right might make her question her own actions and think about how she’ll be remembered in history.

For Nesiril, I’m stuck between either Euripides’ Medea or Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. I think they’d like to see how gender roles can be pushed and even totally disregarded at times and she’d definitely take the reading of extreme support of the women in these plays in the face of the abominable actions of the men around them. Moreover, I think they’d see Jason and Agamemnon as parallels for the Templars in the Circle — controlling, power-hungry, and neglecting their duties or outright contradicting them.

I think she’d also see herself in Medea in particular from a gender point of view because there’s this scene in which Medea renounces her femininity and basically steps outside of the gender binary. Given that Nesiril is non-binary, I think she’d find this a really powerful moment and really gender affirming.

[timbrrwolfe]

Ok, as promised I'll do a quick list with summaries of each character build I have in mind to at least try in BG3.

Established characters

Rachel from Animorphs

Basically the idea is that she got plucked from the ending of the series (iykyk) and landed on the nautiloid, trading one mind controlling slug enemy for another. I just feel like there's a lot of meat to dig into mashing Animorphs together with the story of BG3. So much so that I considered and dismissed making her playthrough a Dark Urge one, but honestly? I've been reconsidering that lately. We'll see whenever I end up getting around to playing as her. She'll be a Circle of the Moon Druid, natch. But I may also dip a few levels into Barbarian. Just for flavor.

Harry Dresden of Dresden Files

I just finished reading White Knight, and the iteration somewhere among that and Proven Guilty is the one I've put a build together for so far. Which is only really relevant insofar as that he also gets a small multiclass bump for flavor. Iykyk. Again. I actually specifically jotted down the build ideas for him because I wanted to compare it to where he's at by the time the series ends. Obviously a wizard, and if you've read the books you can imagine what kind of spells he'll be using. Lots of fire. Shield. Some Thunderwave here and there. Probably Gust of Wind. I actually might need to skim what I've already read to get refreshed on all the magic he uses. I waffled about the school for a bit but it'll probably end up being Evocation. If not, then Transmutation. Probably. But Evocation's likely where I'll land.

Alex Verus by Benedict Jacka

This one's actually pretty similar to Dresden. Except British. And he's not much for magic outside of his divination magic (so, naturally, he'll be a Divination School Wizard). Which basically means I'll have to figure out spell choices that are within his limited scope of combat. Stuff like Blur/Haste (because he's technically reacting to things seconds in the future, so he's better at dodging), Fog Cloud (as that's a prepared item he keeps on hand), and I don't even know what else off the top of my head. But once I knock out the library books I have out I'll probably be getting back to this series so hopefully that'll help me figure it out.

Zuko from ATLA

Pretty simple. But maybe surprisingly not Monk. Rather, Fighter or even Ranger, for Two Weapon Fighting so ya boy can have his scimitars. And then probably the rest in Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer (this is what I said it was spoken for in my last post). Because of course. Cheating a bit to mention two other builds that are related. I'll likely do a proper Four Elements Monk playthrough as Korra, rather than Aang. And I'm considering trying to do specifically an Airbender build with mostly monk and maybe a level of Wizard to shore up some Airbender-y abilities that aren't present as Monk. Or just make them Githyanki to take advantage of some racial features for the same purpose. Gotta think on it more.

Jedi/Sith from Star Wars

Gonna put these two together as well since I haven't dug too deep into it. But the Jedi build will likely be Fighter/Cleric, or just Paladin. Dueling fighting style, regardless. Sith will likely be similar, except Warlock over Cleric/Paladin. Or just a different flavor of Cleric or Paladin. Again, I'd have to actually take time to flesh it out more and figure it out.

I think that's about it for established characters, off the top of my head. So onto

OCs

Gladiator Pit Wizard

A build I came up with a while back that I don't know if I ever intended to play so much as use for a story that kind of bloomed from it. A couple levels in Fighter, probably more levels in Wizard (Abjuration School, both because the first spell he cast - by accident - was Shield, and because as a battle mage having extra shielding is generally a smart move.) Basically the plan is for him to be fairly tanky while still being able to deal a good amount of damage. Might also be some spice thrown in the build here or there, tied to the story I may or may not ever write. Maybe a dip into a level of another class. Or a cute feat choice. We'll see.

Pseudo Vampire

As far as I know you can't make a vampire in BG3. At least not without mods (which I don't really intend to get into until I'm bored with the vanilla game. Which. Could be a while.) So instead, when I had a dream featuring a vampire that I then wanted to make in the game, I looked into what I could do about it. The answer, it turns out, was a School of Necromancy Wizard. And some levels in Ranger. Either Beastmaster for some familiar summoning, or Gloomstalker for some shadowy stealth shenanigans. Probably the latter, since I can just use Find Familiar anyway unless I want a Wolf or something. And shadowy shenanigans are about the right level of drama for her. Because she's the first evil character I have in mind (an itch that I've had more as I've done my current playthrough). Though her particular brand of evil is more megalomania "I'm the best and the world is my playground and everybody is my toy. And if some toys break, oh well."

Jaded Tiefling

I'm actually not sure what the build is gonna be here. Probably yet another melee + magic multiclass. The idea behind this character is she ran into trouble as a child due to prejudice/fear/hatred based on the fact that she looked like a demon. Nobody came to her aid and nobody helped her. So she had to help herself. Because of that, her mindset is now of the "if you're not strong enough to save yourself, then perish" variety. So she'll likely be another evil one, in that she won't be saving anyone, just looking out for herself. Of course there's a situation very early in the game that is a bit of a dilemma between her credo and her history, so that'll be interesting to sort out with her. Obviously still gotta hash this one out a bunch. She basically came into existence when I was like "Ok but /who/ would I do an evil playthrough with" when the itch started for that.

Bardbarian

He's a Barbarian. He's a Bard. He's a bardbarian. Half-orc whose tribe figured out how to use magic to bolster their martial prowess. He uses a drum and probably sings in some capacity. Also uses a club or some other blunt weapon both to fight and to beat his drum to call up the magic.

The Halberd Soldier

This one is actually a character I made for a campaign that I played about half a session of once many years ago. (I was very bad about getting dragged into a session by my cousin, taking forever to build a character, and then maybe playing one day and then never returning for that campaign). Basically all three of us were soldiers in some army and I don't even remember what the story was supposed to be. So all I have as far as defining characteristics for her are like. Uses polearms Violently protective of other women ... And honestly that's about it. Obviously gonna start her as a fighter, but the goal is to get the Polearm Master feat and maybe pick up some levels in Paladin or something for extra damage. That said she's very much on the backburner until that feat is actually fixed from its current bugged state in BG3 (unless they fixed it in the latest patch, I didn't look too closely).

It Me

Once upon a time I took an inventory to determine what I would be in DnD. Unsurprising, based on the whole Christian upbringing thing (a rocky relationship but still one I hold to) I scored Cleric the most overall. Then some friends also took the inventory. And then we did a one shot. And then another, like a year or two later. I ended up going with Light Domain over Life Domain because it felt a bit more fitting. Also because AoE Fire and Radiant damage. But that one shot was at like level 6, and I also scored pretty high in Druid, with a couple classes tying for third, so I might do a little multiclass if I make this one in BG3

And then there's

The Incredibly Basic Ideas

which is basically just

Storm Surge (Storm Sorc/Cleric nutty lightning damage build)

Transmutation Wizard

Beastmaster Ranger

Some kind of build that's all about shoving enemies around and maybe having setups that do bonus damage from that

Amoral Merc who will basically throw in with the highest bidder, as another flavor of a likely evil playthrough.

Probably a couple monks

Probably a couple bards

and other sort of more generic ideas that I haven't gotten any further than that with.