#more coming bc that is who i am as a person

[thekoalapastriesbakery]

CAUGHT IN THE CLUB

max verstappen x male!reader

request: (i haven’t requested anything from you before so bear with me) i’m sure we’ve all seen that video of max almost making out with a guy while blackout drunk (if you haven’t i am begging you check it out bc he was fully gonna shove his tongue down that guys throat). i wanted to ask if you could write anything abt it being max and his boyfriend in the video and they’re worried that people are gonna figure it out when the video comes out but fans are just kinda like “nah he just kinda does that” 💀 idrk but i thought it’d be fun. also wanted to ask if i could be 🐠 anon??

summary: max gets a little frivolous when he's had a few drinks.

warnings: suggestive content, mildly anxious/insecure!max, drunk!max, references to sex tapes, mild jealousy and very mild possessiveness

word count: 719 words

you knew going out with max was risky.

it wasn't that you didn't love your boyfriend or didn't want to celebrate with him—of course you did!—but with the two of you being secretly gay, a little more discretion was required.

max had begged you time and time again to go to a club with him if (when) he secured the championship. he knew you were trying to keep the relationship mostly secret. he just wanted one night to celebrate with his boyfriend. and, with it being a bit of a rockier season than expected, how could you say no?

the night went relatively smoothly. nobody other than max's family knew who you were, and nobody bothered to ask. max managed to keep his hands to himself for the most part. except for a few moments where he had dragged you into a darkened corner of the club to drunkenly ramble between kisses. usually, you were pretty good at noticing when you needed to get him home before he started trying to get you to fuck him in broad daylight. however, with the crowded club and max being passed from team member to team member, it was harder to keep track of just how drunk he was.

all the red bull staff and a fair chunk of the grid were packed onto the dance floor. in the darkened room with strobe lights blaring and music so loud you could barely hear yourself think, nobody noticed when max dragged you into the fray. at least, you didn't think they did.

you didn't know (though you really should've) that there was a camera on the two of you. in your defense, you might've had a few drinks—but even if you hadn't, the noise and lighting would've been more than enough to disorient you. that, and the fact that max looked just about ready to start making out with you right then and there. no way you were paying attention to anything else. you barely had the mental clarity to start dragging your suddenly very publicly affectionate boyfriend back to the hotel room.

the next morning—between winces at the stinging of the long scratches down your back—you discovered the video.

"maaaax," you called out. the stress in your voice caused his name to stretch on your tongue.

a sleepy grumble came from beneath the mountain of blankets.

"love, wake up." you shook his shoulders, but max only whined in response. "somebody took a video of us last night."

he shot up in an instant. a little whimper escaped his plush pink lips at the ache between his thighs, but he brushed it off for the moment. there were more important things to worry about—like your relationship being exposed. all because he begged you to go to that stupid club.

max buried his face in his hands. "i'm so sorry."

"what? why are you sorry?"

"because … because it's supposed to be a secret that we're boyfriends and now everyone must know …" max explained guiltily.

"maxie … being a secret isn't that important to me. and it's not like you posted the video."

"you sure?" he asked, audibly uncertain. "you're not mad?"

"not at all."

how the internet reacted was … it was the opposite of what you and max expected. for starters, not a single person recognised you. thank god for that. so, really, people were only reacting to max looking like he wanted to shove his tongue down the throat of a random guy. which, you had to agree, was in-character and downright hilarious.

"come on, love, it's not that bad," you reasoned, stifling laughter.

max gave you an indignant look. "everyone thinks i'm some kind of manwhore!"

"well …" you trailed off with a grin. "you are a bit of a slut."

"i am fucking not."

you raised an eyebrow at him and, eventually, he relented.

"okay, fine, maybe i'm a bit of a slut. but only for you."

"damn right." you tugged max closer and kissed him. "now i gotta show 'em you won't just look at anyone like that."

safe to say, it was another long night and, if a new video happened to hit the f1 sphere with someone who looked suspiciously similar to four-time world driver's champion max verstappen getting fucked, then so be it.

©thekoalapastriesbakery :: please do not copy or rewrite my work on any platform !!

author's note: that video was insane and honestly i had lil fic ideas in my head since i saw it but i wasn't planning on write anything about it until i got this request. and yes, you can absolutely have that emoji anon <3

comments + reblogs appreciated!

taglist: @raizelchrysanderoctavius @crispysoup318 @op-81-lvr-reblogs @ncrsbrg @spoonfulofmilo @justaf1girl @widow-cevans

[ghouljams]

i feel like konig and simon have become quite mainstream (on tiktok especially) in a way where a lot of young teens (i say young teens bc its very rare i see a person over 23 years old gaf about what other people r doing with fictional characters) latched onto them as their big strong protective military boyfriend which is fine, but they go absolutely mental when god forbid other people write them as weirdos or creeps

literally just block shit you dont like and leave people alone wtf 😭😭

I've noticed that as well and I think it's from none of those people ever having interacted with the source material, they only know Ghost (and Konig) from whatever cod related tiktoks they're consuming and never actually play the games or read the comics. Which makes it hard to then talk about Ghost and the things that are absolutely in character for him without someone going "no he wouldn't!!! He'd be so nice and treat me like the specialist princess in the world, tiktok said so" ok will I think he'd be popping percs while choking out a random bird for his own violent sexual gratification, and here's the evidence behind my headcanon straight from the comics.

Like I understand that we want out favorite characters to love and protect us but sometimes I will get asks that are fishing for a kindness that I genuinely cannot imagine any of these men providing. This is also where I think a lot of the "virgin/shy/not confident/inexperienced!reader" comes in, there's this infantilization of the reader that I see more and more and I am trying so hard not to say that it's because it's appealing to children but y'all... come on...

Sometime I get in a mood where I want to give my honest to God opinion on how I think these men would act in canon, because I genuinely do not think any of these men are good people. That's why I like them, they're complex and terrible, and I think they could learn to integrate into society but it would be like those people who keep wolves as pets. Eventually they're going to snap and bite someone, it's just instinct.

But yeah God forbid I say that Konig would be unphased by tears, the man has probably interrogated enough people that you crying does nothing except bore him at best, and at worst turn him on.

[scapegoated-if]

you STILL love leon after chapter 1?!...

....what, like it's hard? (i'M KIDDING)

i get this reply is largely a joke. but also i want to babble to you about your own character LMAO

but seriously: yes. and im not even the person from the Ask this quote is from, so that is twoooooo people who still love leon

did i get annoyed for him being hypocritical? yeeesss, but we got to be sassy back and he took it on the chin. good man

but also? he stayed the whole time to make sure the MC was okay. him and shiloh doing that meant a lot to me. (which is why i do a lil wish we could be angrier at vince in a romance, bc i played it platonically and romantically and i think platonic had closer to the anger and hurt my MC felt? but im fine, the romance variation of the scenes was still fire)

plus, him calling dibs for vince for the telegram? so cute. i loved that (anD VINCE WANTING TO THANK HIM, AH)

leon also admitted to not hating vince back. he urged that vince is not replacable. i like how he praised MC too (i would have also praised shiloh myself but leon went for comedy and i respect that)

i like that he got mad in the mc's name about the higher-ups. that felt deserved

i diD NOT LIKE THE POSSIBLE FORESHADOW OF LEON GETTING BAD LUCK MAYBE, YOU KNOW, WITH THAT UMBRELLA. NO MURDERING, NO OUTTING, HE'S JUST A BOY (/tone indicator - i am being overdramatic for comedic effect, do what you want lol)

the 30 min wait was alright all things considered. we were entertained. he was busy getting busy. he got back on work. he tolerated the reprimanded sass. esp if the MC chose to be "brazen", which was my favorite variation of those possible scenes lol

he stayed in contact with the mc arguably the most. if you let neil in your house, you dont get that cute phonecall with shiloh. so, leon is kind of the most consistent person as a result in making the MC a priority regardless of player-choice. i really like that. i wish we got more shiloh, ngl, shiloh's phonecall is the sole reason i am tempted to take neil to the tellphone booth. but even then, im a lil sad shiloh calls vincent so much more often than the MC. i am envious in my MC's name for more shiloh attention. and also more leon, always more leon, but also, again, he is the most consistent so far with how much he contacts the MC and that CAN put leon on top as "in contact the most with the MC" over shiloh (depending on MC choices), and that does deserve praise in my book

i also like that he implicitly trusts the MC so much. with french-MC loaning him a book, or any MCs who fix his eyeliner, or even MCs who walk in on him getting "centered" (he's not worried about getting outted! he knows MC is safe). he's just chill and implicitly trusts those kind of MCs. that is endearing

so like?? none of chapter 1 changed my opinion of leon in any permanent way, i still love the guy

i also love how he threw back "you two sure look cosy" if you said it at him and kai/kaya

though the way he blew up like "a kettle" (i think that was the word used?) over MC and kai/kaya dida make me wonder if he is possessive platonically or romantically of the MC and/or kai/kaya. since he was okay with leaving them alone at the party and claimed not to know kai/kaya that well at the time, i assume any hypothetical possessiveness at that moment was of the MC when i played that moment? idk. but i wasnt mad at it. he got sassily reprimanded for being a brat. its fine

but ngl.... chapter 1 makes me think maybe leon may have had a crush on vince?? like. wanted to impress vince but ended up coming off as too arrogantly pretentious for vincent to see this as flirty (also i wouldnt be surprised if vince just... was dense and didnt realize leon liked guys at all)... also a part of me will very likely always be team leon × my specific MC, esp since you confirmed leon is attracted to all genders. but also my MC is romancing vince, so i do fully ship a little challengers (2024) moment happening, where leon has a crush on both but feels like he cant have either of them. besides, im no stranger to enjoying some, what the kiddos call, "toxic yaoi". or "doomed yaoi". idk. i enjoy that, if leon has a crush on vince, that leon is suffering is my point lol i like tragic romances/crushes. but ill probably build an AU in my head of leon×MC×vince being a happy poly-throuple as MC has two boyfriends trying to frantically make sure she doesnt get murdered

but yeah, [in the tone of the "i get it, youre all without fathers"/"not me. i fucking love my dad" meme:] i fucking love leon. he may have some hypocritical moments, but he's my lil wet meowmeow of a hypocrite. chapter 1 just gave ne new material, it didnt change a good damn thing for me lol

I have nothing to reply to and nothing at all to add, but I couldn't be the only one--other than the anon who wrote this--to read this. I love this anon so much

[ghost-doodles]

arcane!! on ice pt. 3

Episode 3 

As they continue to train Heimerdinger is trying to work with Ekko to get him to his best potential since his skills are evident but his experience isn’t 

He realizes that he might not have put the correct coaching method with Jayce so he is trying to not do bad with Ekko

Ekko is trying to work on putting more emotion into his piece and realizes he isn’t to scared about the change from junior to senior division but is a bit sad that there is a chance that everything might change with Jayce leaving

He knows what its like to be lonely and lose people and while he might understand how precious the memories could be he still doesn’t like change 

Again just standard Ekko and Heimerdinger shenanigans and teaching moments and the occasional taunt from Ekko to Jayce  

at some point Jayce has a pork cutlet bowl level realization about his program which helps him get better

what that revelation is idk but don't worry its just as stupid but adorable as yuuri's was

because i don't know nor do i exactly feel like working it out idk how it changes his whole program right now

Actually I do have an idea that I might work out a bit more later but this is where the “crank it” joke is going to go

Viktor notices Jayce is struggling with slower but technical step sequences so decides to change it to be a bit more simple but powerful and fast

Hence the crank it joke 

Also allows Jayce to show more emotion and confidence 

Viktor wanting to help Jayce with confidence shows him a bunch of his costumes and ask which was Jayce’s favorite (shows him like on his phone he didn’t pull the bullshit victor did with shipping fucking 60 boxes to Japan)

confused but learning its not always worth it to try and question Viktor’s actions Jayce picks one

Viktor then has it sent to the person who makes his costume to have it reworked to match Jayce’s frame and program

day of the competition (well before though, they haven’t actually gone to the rink yet) Jayce is so nervous that right there and then he thinks he might just walk away

while contemplating Viktor comes up behind him and we get the "am i interrupting something" scene sorta

Viktor also managed to find one of Jayces notebook with ideas of routines, music, and skating elements and is impressed by his work and ideas

and it shows as much by him explaining to Jayce that he is a remarkable skater and the world will know it if he just chooses to skate how he wants to

This gives Jayce a bit more confidence to finally get dressed and go get ready for the competition    

Ekko's costume is an old rendition of one of Viktor’s costumes as-well but with a few tweaks in order to make it fit his program a bit more 

its actually inspired by the costume Viktor wore when he first won the Grand Prix Finales

while ekko is also a fan of viktor's more so he is trying to emulate his career of getting good from a young age

Ekko goes first and his program is supposed to be a slower but powerful piece to help him work on his tempo and to show he has the capability to portray emotions well

initially his program is going well but towards the halfway point he get mad about everything that is happening and starts to speed through prematurely 

while he did well overall landing his quads and spins but he knew he wasn’t going to win if Jayce could get his shit together 

and guess what… Jayce got his shit together… hurray  

like Yuuri he didn’t quite land his quad but he did do well and with the improved step sequence he was able to really get into the program which was what Viktor wanted any way

Yes the whistle did happen bc Viktor is a little shit 

Honestly not much on a technical scale change much between the prior season and this one but everyone was able to tell that there was a difference

Mel was definitely happy with the outcome of the competition and was curious to see how well this duo was going to be for her and the rink

Heimerdinger ends up apologizing to Jayce while also saying how proud he is of him and then both him and Ekko leave back to London (Ekko already left the venue Yuri style)

After everyone had left and cleared out and the rink has closed Jayce decided to go back and just freely skate for the night 

He likes doing as much because the top of this rink has window panes so with limited lights it gives this blue lighting while shining off the specks in the air making it seem like he’s skating amongst the stars 

Yes this will be a reference to the floating scene kinda 

As he’s just messing around he hears another set of skates enter the rink and is flabbergasted that Viktor is skating up to him slowly 

Viktor is smart enough to not go doing anything crazy (but he’s still fucking stupid please do not go on skates unless your fully healed and healthy)

Jayce of course gets worried but Viktor waves him off saying he will be fine before showing him an article on is phone

Its about Jayce and how impressed everyone is with him, and even with the step out on his quad everyone is excited to see more of the “Golden boy of Spain”

As he is reading the article he feels something else press into his other hand and sees its a small gear

Viktor explains that it was his good luck charm and that he wants Jayce to have it even though he believes Jayce doesn’t need it at all

This is all being said with a fond look on his face as well

This causes Jayce to start to giggle cause it seems like the first proof of the remarkableness of his skating career, and it just the fact that its also being done with Viktor 

Viktor hearing Jayce giggle causes him to laugh as well and all in all its just a good night 

Arcane on Ice AU: (Prev/Next)

[teabiscs]

ANYWHO. saw one (1) funny tweet from this account and went through some of it. and here we are.

[blackbatcass]

listen I know it’s kind of corny and inaccurate to act like every single person in the dc universe knows each other and is besties but it IS endlessly funny to me to follow the web of connections and see how many degrees removed from each other everyone is.

like look at the arrowfam okay. ollie and dinah are together, ollie is homoerotic best friends with hal, dinah is homoerotic best friends with babs. roy is dating dick, has a kid with jade, and is basically an adoptive father to both grant emerson and rose wilson. connor is dating kyle and is constantly followed around by eddie fyers. mia is friends with a lot of the second gen teen titans kids, had an on-again-off-again thing going on with steph for a while, and is currently dating sienna. emiko is besties with courtney and some of the other recent teen titans. sin has a small army of protective aunts from the birds of prey. the real question is how far does it go before ollie puts a cap on the number of people who are invited to family brunch on sundays

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

perhaps my most #cancelable videogame take i can post on this website is i think that the kind of people who say that anyone who picks the "morally wrong" or "mean" options in video game dialogue should, as a player, feel bad about their own choices/morals in real life. is that those people are just another flavor of the kind of dudes who play Disco Elysium and get mad for not being rewarded for picking the facist options. both of these groups are reducing games to "a thing I want to agree with me and everyone else who doesn't either suffers or does not have the option to play a character who behaves otherwise" rather than "a medium where you get to (or even Have to) explore different kinds of characters in order to experience the full depth of the story and characters in it."

When I want to pick options in a game that are mean, negative, arrogant, or ignorant, it's because I want to explore what would push a character into becoming that kind of person. Sometimes I want to see how the NPC characters who I-The-Player like/agree with react to someone who is fundamentally different from them. I think it's GOOD actually when the narrative allows you to push limits and especially when it has the option to then punish you for it in some way, such as losing options/routes later on, or companions straight up abandoning you for your choices. It DOES often make me deeply, viscerally uncomfortable to make choices in a game that are so counter to my own, but it means I get to experience that discomfort in an isolated environment and also think about what it means, what would push the character or even yes a real person into actually feeling those things. And I get to play with what ways the narrative could challenge them/make them grow over the course of the game--or on the other side, it can let me make a character who does start off more open/accepting but let the events of the narrative push them into being more reactively closed-minded instead.

I like that we have invented a medium where you can play a game multiple times and experience it differently depending on the character you play as. Books and TV and movies are all static--the greatest draw of games to me is the ones that are responsive, that can tell a slightly different story every time--when other characters in the game respond differently to you because of it, or some paths open up and others don't. And so yes it did disappointment me when a franchise that previously had these elements, Dragon Age, did not include them in the most recent installment. I don't think games should have options where you get to just hit a button to say something racist with no consequences or exploration into why a character would do that. but like, if i can only ever play a game as an upstanding person who is morally right all the time in basically the same flavor for every dialogue. I only get to truly play that game Once, you know? And I only get to see the way the companions react to someone they like and trust. And never really go deeper than that.

So like... I just sit and think about the scenes you can get in Inquisition. with Cassandra breaking down, because she fears she placed a would-be tyrant at the head of a powerful organization--that she searched and searched and chose wrong. Of Varric who is desperate to convince you not to become a monster, like the last person he feels betrayed him. Vivienne intentionally pissing you off because she wants to see how far you'll go when angered, how much she has to worry about your reactions. They say so much about the companions, what they fear most, and where they will draw the line. And especially in Inquisition, at these crisis points--you don't have to double down. Your character can have a come-to-Andraste moment where they go "woah... is that really how people see me? is this what i want?" and I think that kind of option can do way more for encouraging actual players to examine the choices they make in stories, more than locking the player into supportive, non-aggressive options does.

now. do i think all games execute these flavors well? no. writers and devs will have their own biases and blind spots, even if they are otherwise well-intentioned. and I don't think the ends of the scale need to extend from "absolute angel" to "horrible bigot", because the real complexity of course lies in the middle. I am not asking for games to let me be bigoted at every turn, what I want is games that let me make the protagonist deeply flawed in one or more ways--fearfully closed-minded to things outside their upbringing, or afraid of change to the status quo, or who want to advance their own aims regardless of consequences to others. I actually agree that the game was correct not to include any options for disrespecting Taash and their personal journey for example, but I do wish... idk maybe that we could have had a scene where if for instance the player character avoided outside-world missions relating to clearing away blight, they could confront us on how this might devastate the natural world and its creatures like dragons, and push us into trying to resolve it. Or in the other direction, if you spend the (currently meaningless) time giving money to background NPCs begging in the cities, Neve could could have a special cutscene thanking you for your attention to people otherwise beneath notice. You know?

And of course not every game can do this, I can write those sentences up there that represent hundreds of hours of dev time, of course they can't do it all. But the prior games usually did have at least a little of this, and that was enough to make me really fall in love. I KNOW the tumultuous development cycle, restarts from scratch, interference from higher-ups all contributed to why Veilguard was unable to hit those same marks this time. And we probably won't ever know how much of the loss of options/reactivity was intention vs a side effect of these things. But I wish people wouldn't frame players who miss these aspects as insane/morally corrupt. When for most of us it's because we genuinely enjoy challenging and exploring these aspects of reality in fiction in a way entirely unlike what we actually support in real life. i fully acknowledge not everyone desires to play this way. and that's fine!!! i am glad people can enjoy doing a "good" run each time that brings them joy. but for me it really limits the potential bounds of my enjoyment i guess. I like media that is complicated and messy and makes me think, and extra so when I get to see how playing that way impacts the greater story around it.

[lovelyrotter]

ill probably delete this in a minute but ive just been fuckin boggled by what ive seen across tumblr in the last few days in particular. its why i havent really been around. like holy fucking shit, its really like some of yall just dont want a chunk of the trans community to exist. like some of yall are thisclose to saying it verbatum. way too many already have. 'shut up sit down be quiet and smile for us' type shit, gee where have i heard that before. oh yeah my entire life cause i was forcefully gendered as someones daughter. shock horror i know. you might be surprised to remember and/or learn that very few trans folks know theyre trans before we're 5, or even 10, and that that gendered experience stays with all of us in both/either small or large ways. either bc we literally dont have a solid identity yet (bc we're very small children), dont have the words, we're repressing it out of fear from how others will treat us, we're actually enjoying or enjoyed being another gender in our childhood, or we just genuinely didnt fuckin know until shit lined up later in life. weird isnt it that transmascs dont pop out as 6'1 brick shithouse cis men when we're born so yall know for certain that we're confused lost girls/women oops i mean big dangerous scary men. its almost like we're transgender too. none of yall actually know what intersectionality is or means

[mega-banette]

you know what. if we’re imagining Fox as being 17-19 then offering her french toast was actually a genius move on the Bizzies’ part. because from experience the number 1 way to get a teenager to trust you is to give them free food

[transmechanicus]

I’m being very brave at 1am this tuesday morning, there’s a queer gathering event for my grad school tonight and if i want The Rewards Of Being Known i am going to have to endure The Presence Of My Ex and every neuron i have thinks i’m being hunted by tigers just for saying yes to the invite. We’re not even on bad terms (afaik) i just have no data on how many ppl there will be, and i’m terrified of seeming like a creep just for showing up in the same space as them. Fuck and Damn and Hell.

[mae-i-scribble]

tonight i was thinking about orv’s theme about how yjh as a character, and to a larger extent people, will in some ways always be unknowable. (orv spoilers following, read at your own risk)

i feel like i’ve seen a few posts on here that somewhat take this theme to an extreme, leaning *hard* into that “kdj doesn’t actually know yjh like at all” which while on the right track, i feel completely misses the point. Orv goes out of its way to showcase that kdj actually understands yjh to a scary degree, even once they’re out of the early scenarios and the gap between kdj’s knowledge and yjh’s personhood grows larger, there are still things about yjh that *only* kdj can fundamentally understand. And I don’t think that the novel does anything to discredit that understanding, only says that there is much more to yjh. In the same manner, even if you’ve known someone for years, spent all your time with them, there can and will always be new things for you to learn about them. The danger that orv speaks of is trusting in that assumption, that your understanding will be enough and you don’t have to keep an eye out for more developments. That the person you know will forever stay the same. And this isn’t a kdj problem either, fundamentally a lot of the big disagreements that happen between kdj and yjh in the latter half of the novel are born from both of them misconstruing what the other is thinking, trusting that their understanding of the other is deep enough to base their judgements off of. (Post first murim destruction, divorce arc, yjh thinking kdj scattered his soul on purpose, etc.)

As always with orv’s themes, we can view it in a meta sense as well. Kdj’s understanding of yjh as a character is so complete that it’s nearly flawless- until the story begins to deviate and a yjh grows outside the parameters that kdj’s judgements are based on. Even before then, there was always more to yjh- but as readers, we can only understand a character as much as we see them. What you come away with from a story is your complete understanding, there is no growth outside of those boundaries because then it wouldn’t be an understanding of *that* character, you would be putting your own ideas and such into it. But talk to another person, and suddenly the same character you understand so clearly becomes someone else. Talk to the author, and they say something completely different. And can one truly claim to understand a character when the story will never talk about them in every conceivable way? What does it take to truly understand such a thing? Learning that 1863rd round hsy wrote ways of survival with such limited resources and knowledge on who yjh even is, and yet despite it all, still manages to write a story that captures so much of his essence. As orv readers, we know it isn’t everything- it could never encapsulate all of yjh, but the idea that even when one knows nearly nothing, you can still put on a facade of understanding.

We can get into a chicken or the egg argument with this, as 1863!hsy dictates how yjh acts with her writing, and that yjh in the 1863rd round is the one she comes to know before ever starting this story, but when it comes to this theme of the unknowable in the people around us, I don’t think this sort of debate is worth much. We know that yjh exists outside the story written, and how much of him is determined by hsy’s writing is negligible because no matter what, he always grows beyond it. Whether as 1864 or secretive plotter, it all comes back to that same point of there is always more to see within a person.

I don’t know quite where I want to go with this, only that I wanted an outlet for some of these thoughts inside my head, but one of the best things about this theme for me is how it answers itself. When the people around you become unrecognizable, what should you do? And orv says to reach out. To try. To understand. Kdj loses access to omniscient reader several times but always, always gains it back in orv (as far as i remember), because at the end of the day, he is not someone who stays trapped in his idea of who he knows yjh to be. Yjh too, even at the end of orv, is trying to learn more and more about kdj. Only when you are willing to hear out the other person, to learn about them every day, does this unknowable aspect become something less daunting.

[sarahlancashire]

i am the most well-behaved risk-averse person you can imagine but i've wanted more piercings than just my ears for years & i just impulsively filled in an online form to for an appointment/ consultation about a nose piercing on the train, got a message offering me one on thursday, and paid a deposit to confirm. very out of character for me but this is so exciting!!!

[lovesickeros]

lord its so dark in here the sahara desert of tsaritsa content you are like a shining oasis. your characterisation of her compels me & mihoyo would be hard pressed to top it imo.!! caaaaan i humbly request yr thoughts on her first meeting w a reader of any kind, or maybe even multiple kinds (sagau, sagau god au, isekai, etc) if you so desire...

it really is like a desert here. being the fan of a character we aren't getting until the last damn nation is driving me up a wall but i will persevere bc if nothing else i support morally bankrupt women in media. we r in a severe drought over here but i do my best. unfortunately nothing i say is ever coherent so pull out your translation notes its abt 2 be messy

also this got out of hand but thats bc first meetings w the tsaritsa are tricky to write + a LOT of her characterization lies in deeper exploration then just surface level yknow...NOT A DIG AT YOU this is just my excuse for rambling. gently pats the tsaritsa she can hold so much complexity i do not have the word count to delve into it completely :]

gonna talk cult au for a bit here though because that's 99% of my content. and honestly? she thrives in sub au's of the cult au like villain au + imposter au. it's basically made for her. i mean, early days, the imposter au had been going around for a little while but one of the first few ideas was the Fatui taking reader in so like. it kinda technically actually was. pretty sure cult au Tsaritsa popped up because of the imposter au. a lot of it's writers kinda left though which. man am i getting old or.

anyway.

there isn't much of a chance her first impression is all that positive. at best it's usually neutral, imo, but rarely if ever positive. specifically because i view the Tsaritsa as someone who isn't as fanatical as most of the acolytes typically are towards the creator. she's not exactly going to worship the ground you walk on unlike a certain geo lizard. which is partially why i think she thrives in the sub au's i mentioned.

imposter au, for example. she meets you at your lowest. there's no gaudy extravagance or pampering from the acolytes waiting for you because your own acolytes have turned on you. for all intents and purposes you aren't a "god" at all. which is why i don't think she meshes well with normal cult au reader. the Fatui are made up of outcasts, basically, and imposter au slots right in just perfectly. you're weak, at your lowest, when you meet the Fatui in the imposter au. and the Fatui can help you, too.

a mutual exchange, really. the Tsaritsa sees a tool she can use to one up the rest of the nations and especially Archons, and she has no qualms about you using her and the Fatui in turn. you both want something out of it, after all. whether you just want to be safe from the rest of the acolytes, or you want revenge, or whatever else..she'll give you the power to fulfill it, and she gains the strongest piece on the chessboard when all is said and done.

the best way i can describe the first meeting is "practical", i suppose. she sees an opportunity in you. the ultimate gamble. because if she "saves" you, and you dont trust anyone else because they tried to kill you, well..she holds all the cards, doesn't she?

but the Tsaritsa, imo, is just as capable of being just as fanatical towards you as anyone else. she just won't worship you as the creator. but as yourself? clawing your way back to your divine power and taking back what belongs to you? the Tsaritsa is, to me, a character who's character flourishes in long-term fics more because she changes a LOT between "just met reader" and after having been with reader for some time. she's practically apathetic at the beginning but a lot of her character, in my characterization, shines through LONG after the first meeting.

[heliomanteia]

Organizing & contamination OCD Will Solace 🤝🏼 OCPD Annabeth Chase friendship forever in my head.

[rosykims]

having a lavellan who is kind of an absolute demon in her own right is so much fun because sure that cut content of "oh solas didnt deserve a happy ending but lavellan did" is lovely and worth centering in the conversation.... but you know what else hits? "oh my god i dont even care anymore" "if this is what it takes for them to both fucking LEAVE thedas then good riddance"

[vimbry-moved]

disclaimer that I don't like the idea of openly assuming things about strangers' identities or their personal lives, especially when you're catching a glimpse of only one part of them they choose to share in the public eye. but it Is very funny when you're reading or watching some interview with a famous person, and they say things that make you do this one comic: