#non-mutuals can like and i'll check you out when possible

[melancholy-menagerie]

(( Going out on a limb a lil in an attempt to write more here and with the aim of writing with more people, so I'm leaving this here w/ the hope of being able to start some new threads and interactions together! 0v0

This blog is a mixed fandom multi: a bit of a WIP / some canon divergence / highly HC-based / all muses (regardless of fandom) adapted for anime RP / & a side-blog~!

-- Muse Fandoms present: ●Game of Thrones (books) ●Hannibal (show) ●Terra Formars ●Hunter x Hunter ●07Ghost (manga) ●The Picture of Dorian Gray (book) ●Akame Ga Kill ●One Piece ●Boku no Hero Academia (My Hero Academia) ●Hellsing (Ultimate & manga) ●K project ●Psycho-Pass ●Black Clover ●Fire Force (Enen no Shouboutai) ●Trinity Blood (manga) ●Dexter (books) ●Kuroshitsuji (anime: season 1) ●Darker Than Black ●Yu-Gi-Oh! ●Juni Taisen: Zodiac War ●Beelzebub ●Trigun (manga) ●Tokyo Ghoul (divergent) ●Buddy Daddies ●Chainsaw Man ●Jujutsu Kaisen ●Tiger & Bunny ●Bungo Stray Dogs

        check out the roster list              ~ muse bios are here ~

Feel free to come interact with me on my other RP blogs too!     ~They vary in activity, and feature Bleach fandom muses~

        ● my (main) Tsukishima blog: bookofaion         ● my Bleach multi: bleach-menagerie

check out my other blogs, and feel free to like this post if you want to discuss plotting/interactions in general on this blog (pls have at least a vague idea beforehand of which muse/s interest you)

-– Ane, the mun ))

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Moving update

I'm grateful to the folks checking in on me and @crowtoed and thought I'd drop a quick update.

We're almost done putting all non-essentials in storage. The many bins are an investment in case we have to do this again. (I have already started researching shipping containers for an overseas move.) I'm going to buy storage unit insurance this week because I have more valuables stowed away than standard homeowners will cover.

My storage unit is almost the same size as the moving truck, which makes it easy to guage if I have to purge/store anything that won't fit. I'm going to hire the biggest trailer from upack.com when it's time to leave. The prices are amazing - less than $4k to move to Connecticut.

The Florida realtor (a condo expert) is viewing my place tomorrow, and with her advice, we'll start on final repairs/refreshes (this place is 23 years old, about when things like windows and tile get rather iffy). My mother graciously gifted me money to cover the majority of the fixes. This move would be a lot harder without her help.

Mom is also letting us stay short-term in her MiL suite a few towns over, so we can sell my condo asap. That means we don't have to worry about timing the purchase of the new house with closing on the old. Plus, I should have a few paychecks rent-free I can sock away / apply towards mutual aid.

We're hoping the condo sells by June or so. Once that happens, I'll use some of the funds towards old debt to nudge my credit rating ever closer to 800 (it's 778 rn, a multi-year project as I used to be in the 400s). Most of the rest of the money will be earmarked for a generous down payment on the new home.

We're still looking in Connecticut and have a realtor there as well. If it's possible, we can afford to fly up a few times to check out houses. The realtor told us our budget for what we want (1500sq ft or larger) is totally doable. The housing market there is weirdly reasonable.

Work is incredibly kind and has said if I need more than 2 weeks to move, I can take whatever time I need. I am fully remote now and blessed to be part of such a progressive company.

We still have some household and personal things to sell, but it's more out of "I no longer like/need this" than an urgent need for money. But thank you to everyone who has offered cash. It means so much to us to have such a strong safety net. If this happened even 5 years ago, we'd have been up shit creek.

Once we close on the new house, we'll drive up asap to move in. This is when we'll know our route and we'll connect with folks along it who have offered to be pitstops for us and the cats. The moving truck will meet us there in 5-7 business days after we leave Orlando.

My HRT Rx also got renewed for 6 months, and with my current stash + a little rationing, I shouldn't have any interruption with my shots, even if pharmacies start refusing me come July.

We're hoping to be all settled in the new home come October, but are dependant on the housing market. But we're stacking as many chips in our favor as we can.

Again, thank you, thank you to everyone who has reached out. I'll update again when something major changes.

[deadgirlwalking91]

I pray to you, deadgirlwalking91. Let Adam blow his shot in Lute and Layla in your upcoming fic Three's Company. Allow Lute to see Layla in a different light. And lastly, please keep Layla happy and satisfied by the end of the fic. She deserves a wonderful time with the two angels she loves the most!

I hope you are enjoying your day and staying well rested to write these fics.

Hey Anon!

Okay first things first, I am beyond excited that people are actually invested in Three's Company! I know OC characters and fics with them as the focus can be super hit or miss, so I'm really excited that people are rooting for Layla (pun totally intended haha). Fic spoilers below the cut:

The good news is, everybody gets a happy ending this fic, including Layla! Adam does too, but it's not about him so it's basically going to be a non-event. There will be a bit of a running gag about him being forgotten/shoved to the sidelines as well.

As for Lute... I think her eyes are going to be opened to a lot of stuff by the end of this fic, haha. It's all from her POV so we get all her inner thought process during this fun little ménage à trois.

Something I do want to preface this with actually is that yes, this fic is possibly going to be one of the filthiest (in a good way, I hope) things I ever write.

B U T

There's also going to be a lot of I guess, mutual respect? that all parties have for one another in this fic. It might be a wild time but that doesn't mean things like consent, checking in and consideration of pre existing relationships go out the window. No one is going to be forced into anything they're not comfortable with. Consent is sexy, y'all.

Also, I'll be tagging everything that goes on in this one, so no one is surprised when certain acts happen.

And thank you! I am have a good day thank you. Sadly not relaxing as I'm pretending to be working but will aim for some writing soon! <3 I hope you're having a great day too, Anon!

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 34- Part 1

So, as usual, the first thing I need to do is check what today's weather is. Just step outside, and…

It's rain! Can I get any new unique events with that…? I don't think so, but that's fine, there are still things I can do to prepare, and they involve going back to Reborn proper.

Still doing this, of course I wouldn't leave a chemical tank behind.

Huh? It's clear now? So even the Wasteland has its own weather system?? Or maybe that gate blocks out more than just toxic waste…

Well…okay, not like that changes too much. In fact, it opens up one extra encounter, starting…here!

There's one specific building to visit, namely this apartment building, and you talk to the guy next to the elevator-

Who is…one of Fern’s old lackeys? From when Xera was trying to get the second Badge? An unexpected return, but…okay, sure.

And now we can use the elevator! Off we go to touch some non-toxic, non-purple grass!

Ah yeah, that's the good stuff. 

Anyways, I see one yellow thing hiding behind the tree up there, but there's a second yellow thing behind the entrance that I wanna pick up beforehand-

Embargo…okay, I'll bite, perhaps that could be used for something or another.

More importantly, the Pokémon I came to find!

Yup, it's Pichu! And…I don't even think I need to do anything to it, I think I can just chuck a Poké Ball.

I forgot to screenshot it, but I named her Jolt. Figured it would work given the association with sudden, light discharges electricity, and that's Pichu’s…thing, so, yeah. 

Next, we return to the site of where STUFF happened- Apophyll Beach!

And I proceed to give myself further psychic damage in the name of expanding Xera's Boxes by re-entering none other than…

So this next event is a bit…weird. It's better seen than explained, I think. The first place I'm gonna go is down to this lava island-

And as you can see, there's a glowing rock over there, despite the lava from the floor above having been drained back during the Team Meteor stuff. For you see, if we use Rock Smash on this alleged rock…

…It's…It's actually just a normal rock…?

Um! No worries! No worries, I just need to go to a different location. With this, we check this other lava island, and lo and behold…

Uhwahbuhhuhwhuhuuuh-???

Okay so I'm gonna have to explain things after all-

Basically, this event is supposed to be one of two possible Pokémon: Turtonator (the first one I checked) or Heatmor (this second one here). They are mutually exclusive, you can only encounter one or the other, not both. This isn't the first time Reborn’s done something like this, like- the special Eggs Xera's found (like where Kirin came from) can be select pools of possible Pokémon, or the encounter where she got Streak the Zangoose could have equally been a Pachirisu instead. In those cases, however, the locations and sequence events are the same, the only difference is the Pokémon you get at the end. Here, however, the locations and things needed for Heatmor or Turtonator are more different, which is what makes this one so interesting.

But I guess none of that matters, because Xera isn't allowed to have either of them! What happened, huh? Some kinda bug or something? No new Fire-types here, I suppose…

…Actually- according to the guide I use for these, the Magcargo you encounter for breaking non-glowing lava rocks also count as special encounters. …Hmmm.

Wow everyone, look at that! Look at that Magcargo I definitely caught from Pyrous Mountain, I definitely didn't evolve the Slugma Xera happened to obtain much earlier in the game, nope! No way!

Next

[radiomurdeer]

These rules are a constant WIP and I may modify or change them at any time

This rp blog is selective and private, 18+. This means I only interact with mutuals and may be a bit picky about who I’ll follow so I don’t get overwhelmed. I do not rp with anyone under the age of 18, 21+ is preferred. Mun is 30+ and goes by Lumen. I'm MST but work nights so it will probably end up looking like I never ever sleep :)

I will not follow back or interact at all if your blog doesn't have an about / rules page stating your age. Making at least a pinned post with such information isn't that difficult.

Askbox is always open, we don’t have to be mutuals for me to answer asks. Right now anon is allowed, but I reserve the right to disable that if needed.

I don't do drama. This blog is for writing and reblogging fun fandom stuff. Asks or messages regarding drama get deleted.

General RP etiquette applies. I allow minor godmoding to progress the plot (eg you can assume if you hand my character something he takes it. or not, whichever. you get what I mean)

In character actions have in character consequences. This applies equally to both muses.

I don’t match length or expect length to be matched. Generally I am a para to multi-para writer, reserving one-liners for spur of the moment crack threads. I only ask that you don’t give me one-liners in response to para+ threads. My reply length tends to change based on what's happing in the thread organically. Sometimes I use special formatting, small text and icons, based on my mood and if I remember to do so. My writing style itself is fluid - I tend to match that of my partner.

I prefer plotting over winging it, at least for initial interactions. Once we've interacted some then I'm more comfortable winging it. I'm really tired of first meeting threads so I don't mind starting after they've met before with a bit of discussion.

Feel free to turn asks into threads. If possible, please make a new post when doing so. If not, I'll do so when I reply.

Mun doesn’t equal muse. Fiction is fiction. Alastor is a bad person and I'm not going to sanitize him, and I tend to enjoy exploring darker themes. Depicting a thing is not the same as romanticizing it. I write from Alastor's POV, and his views do not at all align with my own.

I don’t have any squicks worth mentioning, and I don’t need anything tagged. Generally I only tag by request. I don't tag canon-typical things like violence, cannibalism, gore.

Dead dove content will be on this blog, most likely untagged This can include but is not limited to things like racism, non/dubcon, abuse, hurt no comfort, vore, cannibalism, grooming, necrophilia, platonic hand-holding and more. I have no problem writing questionable subjects. Not to say every thread will feature any of those subjects at all, by default or without discussion - I do my best to stay within each partner's comfort zone for individual threads. Often I'll put my reply under a Read More if it's particularly problematic or graphic. Policing will get you blocked. To reiterate from earlier: I expect my followers/mutuals to have enough media literacy to understand that writing something is not the same as supporting or romanticizing it. In return, I will attempt to make my partners as comfortable as possible and will not push limits and do encourage frequent discussion.

Please hardblock me if you don't want to interact. I'll probably think it was a tumblr glitch or forget and accidentally refollow if you only softblock. No fuss, no mess, just hardblock for any reason at any time. If you softblock, I may hardblock so I don't accidentally refollow.

Ship friendly but Alastor is aroace. That is not to say that ships cannot happen, but there'd need to be plotting and discussion as to what it'd look like. Check the About page to see some headcanons regarding shipping with him. The blog itself is NSFW friendly, though Alastor will likely not react favorably to any overtures out of the blue. 

Duplicate and OC friendly. Sort of crossover friendly? I likely won't be taking him out of the Hazbin universe since it feels weird having him without his radios and overlord status or putting him in another fandom and going 'yes, he is this powerful dealmaker and radio man that everyone has definitely heard about including your muse!'

At this time I don't do exclusives, but I do accept mains, which only means that I tend to reply to them more frequently/first. I only do this if we vibe really well both IC and OOC and have been writing a bit.

I don't often post memes or starter calls but there's no expiration on the memes I post and random asks are always welcome. It's the best way to get something started with me, aside from hopping into the dms and plotting.

I have a tendency to randomly drop threads without warning, especially if we have multiple. If I've been waiting on a reply for a month and we haven't discussed things, chances are I've mentally checked out of that thread. Sometimes I'll forget or lose track of them - if it's my turn and it's been a week please feel free to nudge me!

Discord available upon request. I despise tumblr IMs and would rather chat on Discord tbh. Any mutuals can hit me up for my discord at any time.

All graphics/icons/etc made by me! Some of the screenshots used for the icons are from magpiesicons

[mister13eyond]

Do you have a tag for your one shots and/or more writing pieces about Diavolo & Doppio? :"-) I really have to say I appreciate the way you portray them both & how their weird quirks match together. It's more then just the typical big mean top and little twink boy stereotype.

Also if you ever resume roleplaying, please mention it 🙏

Ahhhh thank you so so much!! That's an honor to hear? I definitely think these two have such a rich possibility to be such delightfully weird little men, and to enable each other in some ways- they've spent their whole lives covering up for each other, and it's a mutually protective relationship, so I don't think either of them has ever felt the need to hide their weird quirks when it comes to each other, you know? Who can love you better and more unconditionally than the person who's lived inside your heart your whole life?

I don't have a set tag yet- I should probably change that!! I'll have to go back and add it to my previous drabbles/headcanons, but for now here's links to the ones I remember/can find:

Domestic DiaDop ft cooking

Slightly Better Dads Pink Family

Doppio Infodumps About Insects

Caring For Each Other While Sick

As well!! I also have some work on my AO3- i will bashfully admit a lot of it is NSFW, but I'll mark which is NSFW and SFW here:

He'll Find Him Waiting Like A Lonesome King- future NSFW, but SFW if full of Sexual Tension right now. Diavolo begins scheming a way to see Doppio, if only for a little while.

i'm gonna kiss you (like the sun browns you)- NSFW, explicit; fluffy, transmasc diavolo & doppio; stone top diavolo & lots of gender euphoria & body feelings & loving yourself via loving your trans partner t4t magic

double. - semi-NSFW; non-explicit, but delves into sexual awakening & exploration during their mutual puberty & will eventually contain some non-explicit Donatella/Solido. A study on how Solido Naso became Doppio & Diavolo; warnings for religious trauma, dissociation and all the gnarly canon-compliant contents of Diavolo & Doppio's backstory

they fit together like two hands- SFW! A quiet, peaceful little study about a post-separation Diavolo and Doppio making their way through their daily life, knowing that they'll never really stop dealing with paranoia, dissociation or mental health crises- but helping each other through them, because it's still better when not carried alone.

that's the kind of love (i've been dreaming of)- NSFW; explicit! tooth-rotting fluff and kink all rolled into one. post-separation, diavolo struggles to sleep because he can't keep his hands off Doppio. Doppio comes up with a simple solution: diavolo can do whatever he wants to him while he sleeps.

Also BONUS! If you like my work, check out the gothic horror AU tag, where I leave my art and thoughts about my DiaDop Gothic Horror AU. And if you REALLY liked it, all the works are arranged into a pay-what-you-want PDF on itch.io!

WHEEZE and that's all the DiaDop I have properly written out!! Thank you SO so much for the kind words anon- I love these two a lot! It's fun just taking them at face value as a babyfaced twink and a big mean goth, sure, but the reason I'm so drawn to them is how much depth you can read into them, the ways they have much more possibility beneath their surface... I just love them a lot a lot! ;0; and if I ever start another RP blog up, I'll 100% share here so y'all will know!! Thank you again!!!

[kwaggysshardmindemporium]

I feel like explaining what went down with the latest MtG bans to my non-MtG mutuals. For some reason.

So, what is likely to be the single most controversial ban announcement in Magic the Gathering history just dropped. They banned four cards: Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom.

All these bans are for the Commander format, which for our purposes if you don't play just means "the actual popular format where if some rando asks if you play Magic this is probably what they mean."

Let's start with the one that ISN'T controversial. Nadu, Winged Wisdom was a design mistake. It came out in a set aimed at one specific tournament format (Modern), immediately turned out to be both wildly overpowered, unfun to play against, and caused games to drag out into these slogs where the Nadu player is sitting there twiddling with their thumbs doing the same one or two game actions over and over again but targeting a different one of their guys. It was quickly banned in the very format that set was designed for, and that banning came with an article explaining that he was straight up a mistake and they hadn't tested the version of the card as it went to print before they had to push the set out the door. The ban yesterday was banning it in MtG's most popular format, Commander, where basically anyone who hadn't gone out of their to buy the card wanted it gone for the same reasons Modern wanted it gone. He was overpowered, but the actual problem is just if you're looking to play a one or two hour 4-player game, the Nadu player took an hour and a half of it to themself and didn't necessarily win because of it.

Now, into the controversial ones. Mana Crypt. Mana Crypt is a staple of the highest power decks in the Commander format. Many, many people have said if your deck has this card in it, it cannot possibly be below a 8 or 9/10 on the power scale. The cheapest printing of this card, before the bans, was roughly $200. It was one of the biggest gates you had to pass through to play "big kid" competitive Commander is getting one of these fuckers. This card has no in-game cost to play, and effectively reads "immediately accelerate your game plan two turns forward or more, but there's a 50/50 chance you take a trivial amount of damage every turn." It's pretty good. If you play any turn based game, you can probably guess how good skipping past the need for setting up for later more powerful turns can be. It's now banned, and has lost more than half of that price tag immediately and is still dropping. A lot of people's collections just had a chunk of their value go up in smoke. There's gonna be a LOT of people for whom this was the most valuable card they owned.

Jeweled Lotus. This card is very similar to Mana Crypt. A little more context about the Commander format: it's named that way because every deck has a "commander" that you can always play, and your gameplan is generally centered around that commander. Jeweled Lotus essentially says "play your commander specifically three turns early one time." Obviously, this is good for the same reason Mana Crypt above is good. Skipping the setup and getting straight to the action while your opponents are still getting into gear? Obviously good. It was about $100 before the ban, and is now about $40 and dropping.

And lastly, Dockside Extortionist. Dockside comes down sometime around turn 2 or 3 based on his cost to play, and basically says "when I come into play if your opponents are doing okay in their gameplan, put your gameplan ahead by about 4 turns. If your opponents are doing WELL, blast off on a jet of value so insane that you should probably quit Magic if you fumble this win." So it's both a punishment for your opponents' having dared play the game, AND good for the same reasons as the previous two cards. It was about $90 before the bans and I'll be honest I can't be bothered to check now.

These three cards were, collectively a few vertebrae in the spine of competitive Commander decklists, which probably tells you a lot of what to expect in that space: decks looking to win fast or die trying, willing to throw absolutely any card at you regardless of how much that card COSTS. There's plenty of other cards that do similar things to this, but these were three BIG deals in that space, which means that players now need to seek alternatives to fill the holes in these deck lists. High power Commander decks, as a whole, just got a LOT slower in how many turns they take to win the game on average.

And I couldn't be happier. To be clear, I own a copy of every single one of these cards besides Nadu. I have competitive Commander decks. My collection has lost value and I have had to try and figure out replacements in the decks running these cards. But forcing the foot slamming down on the gas pedal to lighten up a little bit sounds like something the game could actually use. I'm eager to see what the competitive meta looks like in the coming days. What do people gravitate towards? The meta isn't basically solved anymore. (I mean, it kind of is because the cards that actually WIN the game in the most efficient way didn't get banned, but hey they at least take longer to do it now.)

[hateshinaii]

hello all!! this is an indie, fandomless oc rp blog for my oc himura rei, written by milk. on my pinned post, you'll find all relevant links/info here for my blog. if i'm not here, you can probably find me on one of my other blogs: @blastintriumph @uravityplus @impishsensei @muryonokansei @fatuispolaris @balemccn.

please be sure to read my rules before interacting/following.

carrd || interest check || wishlist (wip) ||

for ease of access, my rules are also placed under the cut!

 001  DO NOT interact if we are not mutuals. this includes liking my posts and sending me messages. it makes me uncomfortable. for personal blogs: please do not follow/like/reblog my posts. doing so will result in an immediate block.

 002  DO NOT pester me if you follow me, aka, don't follow and unfollow then follow again to get my attention. if i haven't followed you back yet, it's likely i haven't noticed. if it's been over a week and i'm constantly active and still haven't followed back, sorry, but i probably don't see us interacting and won't be following back.

 003  i am very unlikely to follow if you don't engage in typical tumblr rp etiquette. i don't care if you use icons or not, because i likely won't use them often myself. i mean stuff like tagging and cutting your posts. heavy amounts of ooc posts (like 10+ a day in an hour) is also something i don't like to see. if you do this, please don't follow me. i don't mean to sound like a bitch but tumblr is super broken and a clogged dash makes it harder to navigate, especially when it's so easy to miss notifications.

 004  if we're mutuals and you're gonna unfollow me for whatever reason, please softblock. i'm not your fan and i'm not gonna interact with people that aren't interested in interacting with me, so please and thank you!

 005  i heavily prioritize chemistry. my blog is multi-ship, so any relationships my muse develops will take place in separate verses unless stated otherwise. although i love shipping, rei is hard to ship with because he's extremely non-committal. i'm not opposed to making pre-established dynamics, especially for au plots. if we talk and something sounds exciting i'll be up for it lol. i just don't want something forced out of nowhere. flirting between muses is fine.

 006  i personally have no triggers and don't need anything tagged. if you have any that might not be as common, please let me know. i will cover dark topics in my writing. there will possibly be mentions of murder, child abuse, human trafficking, blood/gore, toxic/unhealthy relationships and so on featured on my blog. i will tag what i feel needs to be tagged.

 007  i’m okay with one-liners, crack, multi-para, novella… everything! feel free to send in any ask memes if we haven’t roleplayed before.

 008  if i haven't replied in two weeks and i'm not on hiatus, that means i probably lost our thread or it’s sitting somewhere in my drafts and I haven’t noticed it, so please message me to remind me. i drop roleplays sometimes out of a loss of interest but please don't blame yourself. i’m always happy to start/write more regardless of dropping previous threads.

 009  typical dni stuff applies, you already know the drill. ALSO, i ask that minors DON’T follow my blog. i don’t want to be the reason anyone sees something inappropriate for their age. if you’re a minor & i accidentally followed you, let me know & i’ll unfollow you immediately.

 010  DON'T involve me with drama OR send messages telling me to reblog callout posts or anything like that. i don't care for getting involved with petty roleplay drama. if it's something actually serious, i've already seen it on the dash and taken note. seriously, i will hardblock anyone that pesters me with this nonsense.

 011  there will very likely be nsfw content on this blog so if you’re uncomfortable with that just blacklist the the following tags, as i tag all my nsfw posts with the following: “cw nsfw”, “nsfw //”, and “( nsfw. )”. feel free to ask me to tag anything you need tagged. i am 27, so if a roleplay should ever come around to it I will only write smut with partners that are also of age & that i feel comfortable writing smut with. If you’d rather not roleplay smut publicly, I’m cool with continuing roleplays on discord. I’m also open to just private RPs (not necessarily smut) on discord too, just ask/lmk you’re interested!

 012  i don't practice reblog karma so idc if you get your memes from me, but i do ask that you please reblog from the source and not from me!

[sidestcriies]

Aɴ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ sᴛᴜᴅʏ ɪɴ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴsʜɪᴘs. A tentative concept for a blog, born from a desire to elevate my friends and bring a smile to their faces. Someone whom will sit beside you when you are down and laugh with you when you are happy. Mused by Sinmenon and sideblog to @cantillat .

ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ - ᴍɪɴᴏʀs & ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟs ᴅɴɪ

Aʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪs ʙʟᴏɢ:

This blog is meant to be for incidental and side-characters in a muse’s life. Maybe you want to have your muse to interact with a classmate during an after-class club or there isn’t anyone actively roleplaying your muse’s best friend.  Or maybe you are a pokemon trainer and wants to interact with one of your pokemon and you don’t want to be the one controlling both of them. A rival that pushes your muse’s buttons and challenges them. Perhaps a quest-giving NPC to get an adventure going or simply to make a thread focused on character development that you feel awkward in hogging all the spotlight of the thread. Every experience will be tailored for each and every partner that engages here. It is highly unlikely there will be a “muse list” because it isn’t their focus. I'll try to provide a few icons but it is likely some of the replies will be iconless or have very little in the way of a psd. You can check a non-comprehensive list of the fandoms I'm familiar with here. I also have some "permanent" OCs that are meant to assist your muse to have unique adventures, check them out here. Because of the nature of this blog (as in: a supporting role) there won’t be any active romantic ships. You are free to discuss shipping with my main muses over my blog.

Rᴜʟᴇs, ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏʀᴛ ᴠᴇʀsɪᴏɴ:

If you have any problems with me, talk to me. Don’t give “hints” or be indirect. Don’t assume things. Don’t wait to tell me if something bothers you, sometimes it is hard to pick on subtleties through text. Message me and I’ll get to you as soon as possible. My discord is always available for mutuals.

Mun isn’t the same as muse. I don’t share the same opinions as the muses.  If an antagonist is requested, this doesn’t mean I have anything against you or your muse. Still, if it makes you uncomfortable talk to me, your consent can be rescinded at any time if you want to.

This blog won’t be engaging in romantic relationships.  The purpose of this blog is to be a supporting role to my roleplay partners. If they wish to interact with a classmate, teacher, friend, family member and so on. It is an opportunity to muses to interact with characters that are relevant to their lives but don’t have any active representation on tumblr or my partner would like to do some workshopping and development in a safe environment.

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[alicelufenia]

If it's angst and interparty conflict you're after, might I introduce you to The Ultimatum™

aka currently inaccessible content that requires game file wizardry to access. But as you can see, there is indeed a fully voiced, and animated confrontation between them, complete with a dialog tree where you have to choose.

I say inaccessible and not CUT content, because almost every patch has added on to this scene, even as it remains untriggerable in game. Patch 4 added the dialog but no voiced lines or animations. Patch 6 added the animations, what we see above.

This was going on alongside the changes to Minthara's recruit options, the knock out method being officially added (with very finicky requirements) in patch 5, and refined in patch 6 to work like a normal person would expect. At the same time, her reaction to being knocked out appeared in a similar way, first dialog only in datamined files, then inaccessible animations and voiced lines, until finally officially added in patch 7.

The way all of this was going, I was pretty confident that either patch 7, or the patch after, would add the ultimatum too. Since there's still at least one more content patch coming, I'm still holding out for it being added.

As for whether it SHOULD be added, well. I'm ambivalent about that honestly. I can see WHY they'd choose to make them mutually exclusive; fewer chances for bugs, and less work they'd have to put in to adding banter and reaction dialog to each other.

Or, they could leave it as is, where fans just kinda accept that they will just exist without acknowledging each other. I know plenty of people who still ship them on the reg despite that lack of in game interaction. Plus some of their bugged/unintended interactions are already hilarious, like Halsin progressively getting further kicked out of his tent spot, and Minthara adopting Thaniel. Yeah sure I'll add that to my headcanon.

There's also the possibility that they don't make them mutually exclusive, and they add, I dunno, a persuasion check in that dialog to get Halsin to chill out. This is the one I'm thinking they'd WANT to add, if they add anything, because it's the least contentious, at the expense of cheapening the choice between them (but then when has Larian ever shied away from cheapening their own story to appease fans).

As it is, I LIKE that this scene wants you to choose, because it flips the "good and evil" choices on its head, where siding with the "evil" character is arguably the morally/ethically correct option. Don't get me wrong, Halsin fans can—and have—argued that actually it's perfectly Good to condemn Minthara to a fate worse than death because... I dunno, bg1 had characters leave if you recruited someone too good/evil for them? That's probably the least Yikes take I've seen on it, but trust me they can do SO much worse.

Anyway, I don't have lots of confidence that an actual "you can have both" option will come if this Ultimatum DOES get added in the future, only because non of the other datamined additional scenes came with stuff added onto them when they finally appeared in game, so why would this be any different.

I guess for now enjoy that they're just living in awkward silence lol

I know you’re basically supposed to have either Halsin or Minthara in a playthrough, not both, but since Minthara acknowledges that you knocked her out instead of killing her with patch 7 I wish they also included some kind of reaction from either of them about the other. Not necessarily to the point of an ultimatum like in the datamined dialogue, but at least some reaction from Halsin that the drow who tried to raid his grove is now their ally, or something from Minthara defending herself like she does to the player that she wasn’t in control of her actions and wouldn’t have done it if she was. Something like the scene between Jaheira and Minsc the first long rest after saving him, maybe have a persuasion check in there somewhere, idk I’m not a developer but I just think that since knocking Minthara out is a canon option now, they gotta hash it out a little bit.

Or maybe I’m just a slut for angst

[the-daily-scrommit]

January 15, 2023

Jan 15, 2023 - Eleventh entry

Today was a good day. It didn't feel like a good day, but it was. Today was productive and a representation of my healing with everything I did. I made it to work fine, though tired, and got through the day like it was no problem. I took time for myself after to rest before leaving to do more work at a friend's house for my own personal adulting adventures. Said friend and I then went to the gym and I pushed myself enough to feel fulfilled but not enough to cause myself unnecessary strain or harm.

I made plans with a new friend for tomorrow. This will be interesting, because this is someone I've interacted with so few times, yet still continuously considers me a friend. Tomorrow will be our first time interacting alone, away from the mutuals who originally brought the two of us together; I expect the interaction to be nothing less than pleasant.

I've thought about my ex-partner so little today; they are slowly fading from my mind in a way where they have so little control over me now. I miss them from time to time, yes, and a part of me does still want to date them again (and probably always will have that desire), sure, but they no longer rule my every waking thought. I haven't cried over them in days, haven't felt unbearable amounts of jealousy, or even felt the desire to respond to their text from last night. I don't know if I'll ever respond to that text in particular. Not that it was bad in any way; in fact it was a nice text to receive. Unfortunately, this text from them doesn't feel worthy enough of a response from me. If I had responded, there would be the possibility of my response being taken as an argument, though that wouldn't have been my intention. Of course, had I responded, that may not have happened anyway. Either way, what I would have sent them in return wouldn't have been much, and sending that text would have felt like a waste of breath.

These last few days, I've become very comfortable with the idea that my ex-partner and I may never actually be friends after all of this. That seems unlikely, from both perspectives the last time I checked, but still certainly possible. My ex-partner is someone I would love to keep in my life in whatever way I am able to, but I know that right now, they have more unlearning to do before they can feel comfortable being a friend to me. While my methods have led me down a different path in my healing and moving on, I understand where they are coming from and why they feel the need to process and proceed the way they are.

Until they show me that they are ready for a friendship with me, I don't feel much of a need to reach out to them. This is certainly something greatly influenced by the users on r/breakup preaching about non-contact, but maybe these people have a point. The last few days, I haven't been filled with dread over them not talking to me or anxiety trying to fight off my desire to talk with them. It took me a bit to get to that point, sure, but I'm there now. They are not my friend right now. They have no obligation to respond to me, just as I have no obligation to respond to them. I am here if, or when, they are ready to reconnect as friends, and I will have their back, friendship or not. This is in their hands now, and I have given up my control.

So much is looking up for me now. I'm taking better care of myself: eating more, talking with more friends, talking more gently and casually with my support system, feeling less of a need to rely on my support system, feeling more artistic again, and so much more. I'm looking forward to wherever this leads me in the near or far future.

Until next time friends, goodnight and take care; I am sending you love <3

[dom--minnie]

Three’s a Party

Summary: There aren’t supposed to be secrets in relationships. Unfortunately, Felix currently has three. One is let out with no problem. The second creates complications no one could have foreseen. The third, unknown to him, he isn’t the only one that holds the same secret.

Word count: 9.3k

Genre: fluff, smut, angst

Content: non-idol au, established reader and felix, gender-neutral afab reader, felix is nervous, chan is a bit of a dummy, felix wears skirts, threesome, switch! reader, switch! felix, dom! chan, mutual pining, slight lack of communication, threesome arrangement with kink and safeword discussions included, daddy kink, piv, protected sex, unprotected sex, MxM intimacy, (slight) size kink, (slight) strength kink, hand kink, finger sucking, praise kink, pet names, creampie, slight voyeurism and exhibitionism, accidental confessions, polyamory negotiations

Taglist: @solistired @hyunsluvv​

a/n: I only technically lied about the release date. Yes, I said Saturday but I also said the 18th which is today for me still, so it’s fine! I hope I made the wait worth it for anyone interested and for everyone else, voila

Relationships aren't meant to have secrets. Felix technically has several but he keeps them under wraps. The most damning one... one that he would never reveal except under the direst of circumstances. The other ones are far less destructive but are arguably more embarrassing. 

You live in blissful ignorance of all of these, at least for now. Until Felix decides he should tell you something, considering how often he thinks about them. So one day you walk into your shared bedroom with Felix he's wearing a short, blue skirt. Your face is neither positive nor negative and Felix spins, skirt flaring, staring downwards still. 

"And what's the occasion here, darling?" You question. 

Felix makes a confused noise in his throat and looks up to you just a little more. 

"Why have I received such a beautiful gift today? You look amazing, Fe."

Felix leans forward to kiss your nose and giggles when your hands roam under the skirt and squeeze his cheeks. 

"I've wanted to wear a skirt in the bedroom for a while, but wasn't really sure how you'd react." 

"Awwww baby, never be worried about anything like this. I might be confused but I love you so I'll never react badly."

Your comforting words are genuine and Felix wonders how far they truly reach. Would you say the same if he wanted to have a threesome with one of his closest friends? Or said he had a crush on, was practically halfway in love with, said friend? It's not what tonight is about and the thoughts fade when your lips connect.

You're so, so gentle with him and Felix sinks into you. Felix's wandering hands spur your own and suddenly it's like you're horny teenagers again that can't get enough of each other. Your hand slips back under the skirt and the easy access is fun, especially if he plans to wear nothing under it like he is now. Easy access to start jerking him off, and you happily do so, keeping your mouth pressed against his. 

Even with the anxiety Felix must have been imagining a number of situations with how hard he is in your hand. A sigh leaves his mouth as he rests his head on your shoulder. With one bite in your neck and only one sentence all of the power in the situation flows back to him. 

"I want you to sit on my face and then ride me, doll."

Any stress you may have had is gone after that.

Similar situations happen several more times over the next few months. Felix either has a skirt on and is obviously wearing nothing under it. Or he changes into a skirt with nothing under it when it’s clear you’re going farther tonight. Each time you’re caught a little off guard by how truly pretty he is. Lee Felix is sunshine, rainbows, and starlight of course but it’s like the skirt gives him a little extra confidence to shine brighter for you. 

So one hurdle down, only two more to go, great. Felix has never been so glad to have incognito mode with the number of phrases he googles related to 'how to bring up wanting a threesome with your significant other.' 

It's honestly not that useful, as the so-called advice was generic things he could've gotten from anyone. 'Trust them and they'll trust you' or 'do it with someone you both trust' like thanks he knows all of this already. 

Your next take-out dinner and movie night brings some strange behaviour from Felix. He's quiet where normally he'd be commenting on these extraordinarily stupid characters. When one of them completely ignores the obvious thing and Felix doesn't react in the slightest you know he's not paying attention at all. 

He certainly pays attention when you stop the movie and straddle his lap. Your hands cup his face and your forehead rests on his while your eyes meet. 

"What's on your mind, Pixie? Don't try to avoid it either, I know." 

Your gentle compassion almost makes Felix want to spill everything. It all bubbles up to the tip of his tongue but then he thinks of the possible disgust or heartbreak and pushes most of it back down. 

"You know how you said I don't have to be uncomfortable bringing up anything about... bedroom life?" 

You giggle at the euphemism and how adorably shy Felix gets about it when not in the act. Regardless, a hum of assent vibrates your throat. 

"I've been thinking about having a threesome." He blurts then squeezes his eyes shut, not allowing your reaction to reach his eyes. 

The small boop your finger leaves on his nose leads him to open his eyes. Nothing about your expression is negative and you look at him as fondly as ever.

"Do you-"

"Chan." 

A bright, fond laugh bubbles over your lips. 

"Sorry love, you just answered so quickly. Sure, we both trust him. We can talk to him about it and... arrange a day." 

Arrange sounds more formal than you intend but that's what it is. With the weight off of his mind, Felix is able to make fun of the new characters not seeing the plot right in front of them.

Chan knows this is a bad idea, he even cares that it's a bad idea, and yet he agrees. Backing out at any time is always an option, neither of you will be mad. It doesn't matter because he won't. Even if it hurts he will take the one chance he may ever get to screw around with both of his crushes. 

There was no pretense of a normal hangout. You texted Chan that you wanted to talk about something. When you all sit down Felix ends up doing the talking about it since it was his idea in the first place. You both want to have a threesome with him. 

It takes all of Chan's willpower not to coo at the blush that spreads across Felix’s face and ears. Also, a significant amount of brainpower to agree with the right amount of excitement. Not too little that you think he's unsure or doesn't want it wholeheartedly. But not too much that you are suspicious about any underlying feelings or motives he could have. 

Really, you're just thinking about your boyfriend and how cute he is. Not anything against Chan but you love Felix with every cell in your body and it pours out of you often. He can see it from a mile away and doesn’t mind because he’d love to be doing the same thing. Looking at Felix with all the fondness in the world that lets each side know that everything’s going to be ok. But alas, a threesome will have to do for now. Or forever, honestly. 

Then the fun part of it comes: interests. What does Chan have that he likes to do, and would like to do with you. Vice versa, what are you comfortable with and want to do with a sudden, if trusted, third-person present. 

"I'm wearing a skirt," Felix says. 

You smile at how easily he's able to say it, a stark contrast to before. You know that it will give the same confidence on the day of all of this as well. Surprise flits over Chan’s face but he just nods and doesn’t say anything more. 

"I want to dominate both of you." Chan brings it up first, any type of power play and dynamics. 

You and Felix look at each other then back at him and both nod excitedly. Chan already has strong leadership qualities, especially around all of the boys so really this makes sense. It will be very attractive for him to be giving you full orders and expecting them to be followed. Even thinking about it makes your brain work overtime and you have to physically shake yourself out of it.

"Felix and I… we'll just see how it works out. But we’ll both listen to you, for sure. Sound good?" 

You have to check with Chan if he's going to be in charge of both of you. A quick look between both of you and then he nods. 

A moment goes by and you look at Felix with a smirk on your face. He frantically shakes his head before you turn back to a visibly confused Chan. 

"Felix over here has a strength kink. Wants someone to manhandle him a bit." You drawl and Felix doesn't even mock tackle you. 

"Yeah, well you have a size kink! Wanting someone to look down at you and hands fitting around your limbs."

Felix sticks his tongue out at you as you feel your cheeks heat up to the temperature of the sun. Perhaps Chan fits you better than first anticipated. Strength and size in one, not to mention some other interests he slots right into. 

"Any kinks you both have and aren't about to expose to me?"

You and Felix easily speak in unison.

"Praise and hands."

The moment you say that Chan reaches his hands out and lays them vertically so you can see the incredibly veiny backs. Imagining those fingers in any of your wet holes has you readjusting your legs and you can hear Felix do the same next to you.

Felix clears his throat in an obvious attempt to quickly move along from that. 

"Anything you have in mind, Channie?"

The nickname is affectionate and if you didn't know better you'd think the tips of Chan's ears are flushed under his curls. 

"Praise for me is good, no matter who’s giving or receiving it. I like nicknames or pet names, titles as well."

When it becomes clear Chan isn't elaborating you both lean forward in a clear gesture for him to continue. 

"Ok. Baby, bunny, angel, beautiful. For myself? I dunno, choose some. Particular titles especially." 

You all have flushed cheeks as this is becoming a reality, hearing Chan say these things out loud. Hopefully, you'll both be saying some of them as well. One title sticks in your mind and you’ll just have to test whether he’s into that or not. 

"Safewords." You state and both men nod. "We use the colour system generally. Green, yellow, red.”

"Sure," Chan easily agrees. It only slightly surprises you that he knows, and has probably used that exact safeword system before. 

You lean forward to rest your cheek on your palm. 

"I mean... I think that's everything? We can have a phone call or hangout if there's anything else."

Okay but... when? When are we gonna do this?" Felix points out.

It had gotten lost in actually arranging but the goal of this was actually enacting it all so that fact was a bit important. 

"Like 2 weeks from now?" Chan says. 

You consider it, a fair amount of time to go but not too far either. Enough time to mentally prepare but not to freak out fully and leave the country. You look at Chan then Felix who voices his agreement. 

"Alright then, Saturday in 2 weeks. Come over for dinner, Chan. We can ease into it that way."

You stand and Felix follows. Heading to the door you both give Chan a hug, Felix longer and tighter than yours as usual. 

You step out and turn around to face Chan again. 

"See you later, daddy." You wink.

Felix purposefully makes his voice lower and repeats the playful words. It's obvious he tries to hide it but Chan shivers at Felix's voice. You only knew to look because he has the same effect on you.

The two weeks pass entirely as normal. A couple hangouts with various groups of the guys and knowledge of the future threesome doesn't invade your mind. The day before you thought Felix would be visibly stressed already but he seems entirely fine. 

He seems fine to you, but Felix is good at hiding his emotions if need be. And he is freaking the fuck out. There came some point where it really settled in that this was a plan, it was happening, and it was going to be tomorrow. From that point on it had hardly left his head. Hiding his feelings while fucking around with the man? Is that even possible for a Lee Felix? It doesn’t really matter because it’s already happening, so really something is going to happen and he is determined not to ruin it. 

To calm himself down there’s a number of things he can do, yet he chooses the one that wouldn’t make sense to most people. Calling his best friend, the slight hyperactive squirrel man, Han Jisung. Jisung is adept at the two things that can bring Felix out of almost any type of nervous state, whether with genuine comfort, or with chaotic distraction. 

Yet when he calls, Jisung seems to know something is different. 

“Soooooo, what is up my dude? How have you been?” Jisung sings.

“Ah, just a bit nervous for no reason and I know you’re not doing anything.”

Jisung is silent for a couple moments longer than the normal, puzzling. 

“You sure it’s nothing? You’ve been…. extra. The past week, especially.”

Felix goes over the last times they’ve hung out together, especially as a group of 9. There’s nothing out of the ordinary that he thinks Jisung may count as ‘extra’, whatever that even means. 

“Extra what, Ji? What are you even talking about?” Felix laughs, assuming Jisung will too and they can just move on. 

“You’ve been staring at Chan like way more than usual, dude. I thought it was ridiculous before, but now… he’s either denser than a brick or ignores it.”

Felix’s mouth drops open and he’s silent for nearly half a minute. Other people have noticed how often he stares at Chan? Jisung noticed how much he stares at Chan? This is an entire disaster. And if Chan ignores his stares, then what does that mean. Actually, no, if he goes too far down that route then he’s going to chicken out of all of your plans and he wouldn’t dare ruin it. 

“Are you the only one who noticed?” Felix asks hesitantly, mouthing please in hopes that if someone else has noticed as well, that it’ll just go away.

“No… Jeongin and Seungmin are wayyyyy too observant for that, the little demons. Minho, too. I haven’t heard from the others but if I’ve noticed then…” Jisung trails off. He’s not the least observant in the group. That title goes to Felix and Chan themselves. But he and everyone else would put him low on the list, so if he knows then almost everyone else probably does too. Well, shit.

“I’ll only tell you if you promise with your whole heart not to tell anyone else.” 

Felix’s heart is pounding and it thrums loudly in his ears. Is he really about to tell someone else about this? Jisung, no less. 

“I’m concerned but yeah, of course. Unless it’s a crime.”

Felix forces out a laugh, and he knows Jisung can tell but neither of them comment on it.

“So… maybe I have a bit of crush on Chan. It’s fine, it’ll go away eventually and I can just move on, but for now. I have crush feelings.”

Jisung is silent and Felix has to check if he hung up at some point.

“So you stare at your ‘just crush’ like he put the moon up himself? Not believing that or a second. But I understand now, so whatever. You gonna tell them or…?” 

Felix lets out a real laugh this time, then scoffs like Jisung’s proposed robbing a bank tomorrow. 

“And have them break up with me? No thanks, I’ll just live with it.”

This time its Jisung scoffing so hard his throat will be sore.

“You’re an idiot. If they love you, and we both know they do, then it’ll be fine. Be honest about your feelings, it’ll only make you stronger.”

Felix considers it, turning the idea over in his mind. Inevitably, his mind turns to your possible reactions. His dreams come first, the ones where you somehow like Chan as well and Chan likes you both. Or the ones where you’re ok with it. Or any of the ones where Chan even likes him back. But of course, the more likely reality. Where you’re uncomfortable or disgusted. Or want to… nope. 

“I’ll think about it. Thanks Ji.”

“Sure man, anytime. Popcorns going so I’m gonna dip. Good luck.”

Felix is left in the silence of the bedroom to ponder. They both know he won’t do it but the wonderful fantasies make it seem possible. Some wonderful fantasies can come true, somehow.

The stress explodes in the morning. Felix is out of bed when you wake up and when you exit the apartment is practically sparkling. From top to bottom, you’d believe this house had never been lived in if your pictures and souvenirs weren’t everywhere. There's also a wonderful cookie smell coming from the kitchen, and it draws you in. Whenever Felix bakes it floods through your apartment and makes it seem like a home. Cheesy, yes, but it’s really what he does to you. 

Felix's back is to you when you come in the kitchen and you wrap your arms around his stomach. He lets out a small squeak of surprise before giggling, face lighting up at you being awake finally. 

"You do know Chan's been here before right? You didn't have to do this."

Felix sighs and turns to face you, leaving a kiss on your forehead. 

"I know I didn't have to. I'm just nervous and all this kept my mind off of it for a bit."

You coo at your adorable boyfriend and peck his pink, pouting lips. 

"No matter what happens he's just Chan. You're still you, I'm still me. It'll be ok, Fe." 

The sigh Felix lets out has a different meaning to you both. You assume it's clearing his mind and re-centreing himself. Really it’s thoughts of how, at the end of the day Chan is never just Chan for him, but this is reality and not his ideal world. He doesn’t get to have two attractive partners to come home to every day. The timer goes off behind him and the reminder makes the smell of cookies flood your nose and mind again. 

"Join me on the couch when you're done, baby. I'm gonna work on some stuff for a bit." 

The reminder of cookies existing every timer goes off is delightful, and really the only reason timers should exist ever. Most of the way through the batter, Felix dances into the living room and feeds you one, delightful as always. He’s beautiful like this. The lingering stress showing on his face from the morning is entirely gone. The blinds are finally open for a reason and sunlight reflects off your sunshine.

The day passes easily once it begins and Felix is done practically vibrating out of his skin. In the early afternoon, he even falls asleep with his head in your lap for a while. Looking at him is like looking at a sleeping kitten, curled up and peaceful. 

It gets later, a bit darker and you pull up the recipe on your laptop. The kitchen barely fits 2 people but you and Felix work well enough together that there are few problems. It’s nice to just… coexist with someone else so peacefully and naturally. The door rings and you and Felix glance at each other, for just a bit too long before he patters away. 

They both pop their heads around the corner and Chan joins you both, squishing the kitchen space even more. He gives you both soft kisses on your foreheads, smiling and greeting you quietly. As soon as he does you and Felix look at each other and nod, kissing his cheeks at the same time. His cheeks flare bright red and his eyes widen but he quickly recovers. Expression settling and laughing, even if his ears and cheeks don’t stop burning for quite a while. Then you notice the box, probably a dessert that you won't be getting to tonight. Or… you will get to dessert technically, it just won’t be any of the typical sugar. 

It proceeds normally, you may even forget what your plans are for a minute. But as plates start getting emptier Felix is the first to tense up. Chan follows soon after but you manage to stay the calmest, at least on the outside. 

Chan puts his hand on your knee first and you stand. Suddenly, Felix's grasp comes from your other side and tugs you towards him. He looks so… innocent that you just can't help but tangle your fingers together. At the same time, he tilts his head up towards you, waiting for a kiss. Your hands tangle in his hair and press your lips against his. 

You both turn to Chan after and he's sitting up, completely straight and still. You round the table and he puts his hand on your hip. It doesn't escape your notice about how much of you it covers and you resist looking down to see it. 

"Can we kiss you?" You ask, breath fanning across his lips. 

He should say no. Say no, say no, saynosaynosay- 

"Yes." He says with false ease. 

You lean in and he lets you lead it, simply resting his hands on you. Felix comes up behind you and rests his head on your shoulder, watching. 

Chan briefly bites your bottom lip but you pull away before too much happens in the kitchen. Before you can move Felix switches places with you and throws his weight against Chan. It's like he was prepared and his hands go around Felix's back. You take a good long look at them before playing with Felix's hair and taking your own turn to watch them. 

"We should go to your bedroom." Chan pants out, eyes blown wide when he opens them. 

"You heard him, baby boy. Follow him." 

You giggle when Felix whines at the pet name. 

"You're our baby boy tonight, aren't you?" You tease. 

Chan feels something flare inside of him when you use such possessive words, especially "our" anything. In any other situation, he knows it would be "your" and it kills him. He wants so much more, but he cannot either of you entirely in the way he wants so much. It's not a controlling type, simply a statement. Felix is yours as you are his, and neither of you are Chan's. 

The moment you reach the room the door is closed and you are pinned onto it. You watch Felix disappear to change but Chan makes sure your attention is back to him quickly. He kisses you again, but harder this time. 

Felix feels like this is a dream. Maybe he's finally achieved lucid dreaming. Because he's standing in the bathroom changing his skirt and about to have a threesome with his significant other and best friend/crush. That can't be real. So he's ready to wake up and tell you about the totally wild dream he had. But not the feelings, because those are still very real. 

He never wakes up. Instead, he pulls the skirt on and walks out to see you pinned against the door and Chan nipping at your neck. 

When Felix appears your attention is immediately split between them. It goes back to Chan pretty quickly when he starts whispering in your ear. 

"I certainly know what I want to do. First, I'll watch the 2 pretty kittens in front of me for a while. A pretty picture being painted right in front of me. I'll keep the rest to myself for now. Go kiss your pretty boyfriend and give me a show, alright sweetheart?" 

He backs away slowly and you go to Felix, whispering in his ear as well. 

"He's going to watch and wants a good show from us first. So let's give him one, huh?" 

Felix throws his arms over your shoulders and nods. Before you can tug him in he looks at Chan who nods as well before pulling out your desk chair. 

Your kiss with Felix is already heated and messy, the extra thoughts of an audience and pleasing that audience in mind. It moves faster than you normally would when in the bedroom. Though the tension of the whole day, and especially of the dinner may be enough to make up for that. 

Your hands roam furiously around each other and each time your lips break apart you each let out a gasp before diving back in. Felix starts walking you towards the bed with slow steps and flips it around so you fall onto his lap. Before he can do anything you fall to the ground on your knees. 

When you flip up his skirt and see nothing underneath you can hear Chan groan from his spot. Immediately you sink your mouth down, gagging just slightly as he hits the back of your mouth. Taking a second to breathe, you look up at Felix who already has his eyes closed. When you stop his eyes flutter back open and his hands go to your hair, resting there with no intention of pulling. You bob your head slowly, not taking him all the way in every time. A couple times you try to glance at Chan in the corner but he’s moved farther than what you can see. So, your attention is focused on Felix who’s very entertaining and responsive on his own. 

It starts as low moans that tell you he’s feeling good but you’re already looking for the high whines that you know he gives out. You hollow your cheeks and swirl your tongue in that way you know he likes, and the low groans turn into higher moans. They’re quieter than normal and you can tell he’s holding back, which is understandable, but you want him to let go. 

Your head gradually bobs faster and faster, with Felix’s moans getting higher and more frequent. With one particularly deep dip, he hits your throat and a loud whine breaks free. You do it again and again, letting Felix lose control. His hands twist in your hair, still not enough to cause any pain to you, but his hips stay still to let you set the pace. You know Felix is close and you both want it and are both ready to receive it, even so early in the night.

“No, no, little one. He’s not cumming yet.” Chan suddenly speaks, tone firm. 

Felix whines and you make a disappointed noise and slow down, not giving him enough of anything anymore. 

Felix pushes you off of him with a shuddering breath and a poorly concealed whine. After a moment of confusion, you switch places with him. He’s on his knees and starts peeling off your pants, with the noises of Chan shifting in the background. With every inch of skin that is revealed under your pants, he makes sure to kiss it, all the way down to your ankles. He pulls down your underwear after, with less reverence and more impatience this time. 

Before he can dive in, as he so clearly wishes to, Chan clears his throat across the room. 

“Felix.” Said man perks up and turns towards Chan, eager to please. “Turn them towards me and let me have a look, won’t you baby?” 

You obediently don’t move and let Felix turn your body, spreading your legs as well. Even without looking down, you know that you’re soaked already. Chan’s groan confirms it and you shift impatiently. Felix waits though, until Chan nods, before turning you back and getting his mouth on you. 

All things considered, he’s gentle but the build-up and tension makes each bit of pleasure like a shot of electricity through your body. He licks eagerly, tasting you and making you twitch. Your hands go his hair less nicely than his did before. You tug at the strands, which only makes him moan into you which makes your hips buck into his mouth. Each small sound from Chan makes you want to see and feel him but you wait, indulging in Felix as is. 

Felix knows exactly how you want it and with every minute that passes your whines get louder and with each flick of his tongue your brain gets fuzzier. Chan is taking a relatively hands-off approach for now but even with his seemingly infinite patience, he must want more. It’s hard to focus on that when Felix is eagerly slurping at your wetness and making you want to ride his face. You test the waters by rolling your hips once, twice, three times. When neither man stops you, you roll them incessantly. 

With no prior experience, Chan somehow seems to know exactly when to stop you from getting too close.

“Felix, stop.”

Felix eagerly obeys, and you whine loudly in disappointment. One look from Chan cuts you off and you resolve to not protest again when he finally walks over. He stands above both of you but looks down with fondness and not scorn. 

“How should we do this, pretty pets?” 

You don’t even look at Felix before boldly speaking to him, knowing it was mostly a rhetorical question.

“Fuck me! Please?” Your sudden boldness is tempered by the way that Chan looks at you and you dip your head down.

Felix visibly brightens once his fuzzy brain puzzles out that he’ll probably get to be back in your mouth. He’s the first one onto the bed and you follow, Chan coming up behind you. Your kiss with Felix is interrupted by Chan tugging your shirt over your head and shoulders. He pulls it off and you turn around to pull his own clothes off, bringing Felix over as well. 

Chan laughs when you both eagerly tug at his own clothes, trying to pull everything off at once.

“Slow down little ones. You’ll get it all soon.” 

You and Felix stop and stare when his shirt comes off and you are suddenly very aware of him. It isn’t that Chan hides how muscular he is, just that you didn’t pay too much attention to it before. Now, you’re certainly paying a lot of attention. It’s broken when Chan goes to Felix’s shirt and you’re as excited as usual to reveal what’s underneath. 

Just the sight of them alone nearly has you drooling and your hands run over their bodies at the same time, hardly believing they’re both in front of you. There’s hardly a chance to admire them as they both want to see you as well and pull your shirt up, one hand on either side. 

Chan’s hands get on you and dip lower, lower and all the way down to between your thighs. You shiver and watch his face, waiting for his next move. Felix’s hands go up, to your nipples. His warm hands on you makes you shiver but still, you watch Chan who just is not moving. It makes you want to whine and beg but you know, almost for sure, that he’d disapprove. So you wait. The light touches on your nipples makes you whimper and moan occasionally and Chan watches you. 

With a slowness that makes you want to scream, he pushes one finger inside. Even the barest feeling of being full makes you shudder and sigh in relief. After a few thrusts of his fingers where he meets no resistance, he pushes a second one in. You make a high noise in your throat and lean back against Felix’s chest, who takes the easy opportunity to kiss along your neck and shoulder. 

The sensitivity of being so close from Felix’s mouth is still there and it has you moaning louder than you normally would. One of your hands reaches out and grabs Chan’s hand that is laying on his thigh. He doesn’t stop you so you bring it to your mouth and suck on two of his fingers. Felix lifts his head and groans at the sight, Chan’s pretty hands in your beautiful mouth. 

Both men seem to thoroughly enjoy just playing with and teasing you, and it feels so good that you honestly don’t want them to stop. But you’re also craving so much more. With reluctance, you pull Chan’s fingers out of your mouth and whine at him.

“Daddy, please!” 

He raises an eyebrow at your insistent tone and pushes another finger into you. It makes your head fall back onto Felix’s shoulder but also increases the need of being filled by Chan right now. 

“No~ need you to fill me up, please.”

He slams his fingers into you, hard and deep and it makes you gasp. 

“Do these fingers not fill you enough? They just aren’t good enough for you.”

Felix behind you huffs then laughs, clearly caught between finding Chan’s teasing amusing or exasperating on your behalf. 

“Don’t make me say it! You know what I want.”

Felix finally starts sucking marks on your shoulder and it makes you sigh happily, a good distraction for just a moment before Chan speaks again. 

“I wanna hear you say it, sweetheart. I want to hear you beg.”

Chan’s tone makes even Felix gasp, his mouth disconnecting from you and a sudden, hot breath caressing your sensitive skin. You shiver from the many sensations on your body and the sudden addition of his clear order. 

“Want… want your dick, please. Daddy, fuck me!” 

After you’re done speaking Chan puts his fingers back in your mouth, letting you suck on them contentedly. If you’re going to get what you want you have to leave what you have and Chan pulls all of his fingers out of you at once. You know better than to whine so you hold it back, but your eyes screw shut in displeasure. 

“All fours, doll. Come on now.” Chan coaxes, and Felix also sighs when he has to disconnect from you. Chan takes that time to get a condom, and when he turns he just admires you and Felix on the bed. A perfect picture, but one that he’s also involved in tonight. 

You get on your hands and knees then just wait for them to touch you again. Felix knows he’s still a bit sensitive and waits for Chan to start. Chan with infinite patience that is now absolutely killing you. His hands are feeling you up, down your ass and thighs and back up again. When he notices how obviously impatient you both are he finally lines himself up with your entrance and pushes in. 

It makes you sigh. The opening of your mouth prompts you to look up at Felix who smiles down at you. You push your neck out, wanting him in your mouth and he pets your head. His fingers lift your chin and make you look up at him again.

“Be good for us, baby. Make us feel good.”

You eagerly nod and he finally moves closer. Once the tip of his dick is in your mouth, you start swirling your tongue around it. The moment he thrusts in you open your mouth wider and let him use it. It doesn’t take Chan and Felix long, as close and in sync as they are, to set a rhythm where when one of them pushes in the other pulls out. Chan’s thrusts push you towards Felix so much that his cock is nearly always in your mouth fully. 

At some point, you can feel the drool starting to drip down your chin and Felix coos while he wipes it away. 

“So messy, baby! Drooling all down my cock.” 

All you can do is hum in agreement and hope he hears it. Being absolutely ruined with him in your mouth is always a fun experience and having Chan behind you improves it quite a lot. Speaking of Chan. His hand has come around and two of his fingers are feverishly rubbing your clit. It makes the long-awaited pressure build-up and he groans when you clench around him. 

“Such pretty pets in front of me. Wet holes dripping down our dicks and making everybody messy. You just can’t hold it in, can you little one? That’s ok, we know you’re enjoying it.”

Chan’s voice is raspy when he speaks and it bolsters your confidence to know how good he’s feeling, too. It’s not as if you can say or do much about it. Especially not when you can feel an orgasm building and he thrusts so hard to make you dizzy. 

Felix broke back into high whines a minute or two ago. When he speaks, it’s strained and he can barely get more than a few words out at a time if he can think them at all.

“Gonna cum. I want you to- to swallow it. Holy fucking shit, your mouth is so good, honey.”

You open your eyes, when did they even close, to look up at Felix. Attempting to get across how good he feels and how badly you want it. His chest rises and falls with quick, harsh breaths. Chan is so good behind you, rubbing your clit in small circles and long length filling you up better than you dared to hope. Your own peak is building but can barely focus on that for now, no matter how badly you want to. 

Felix hits your throat once then twice more and with a small cry and jerk of his hips he cums. His whole body quivers and trembles as his seed shoots down your throat. You cough on it for a moment but swallow it down. The convulsion of your mouth projects a high-pitched whine from his own. 

The moment Felix leans back, and your mouth is still left open, Chan drives into you roughly. A noise of surprise that you barely recognize comes from you before you start moaning, feeling your own high so presently. With Felix no longer in front of you, Chan holds your hips and pulls you back, slapping against your skin even louder every time he thrusts in. The continued stimulation on your clit is almost overwhelming in its intensity. 

Felix can see the grunts and groans leaving Chan’s mouth but can’t hear them due to your own keening moans. To everyone’s surprise, Chan cums before you do but doesn’t dare stop or slow down his pace, even when it overstimulates him. The movements of his hips are less fluid but it doesn’t make you feel any less pleasure. With each thrust, he had learned to hit nearly any spot you needed him to. 

He’s left panting but is rewarded when you let out a gasp and something that sounded like ‘gonna cum’. Your whole body shivers when it washes over you and even still Chan thrusts which makes shake that much more intense. Eventually, he stops when it becomes far less pleasurable for himself, he has a limit, but still rubs circles on your clit. A distraction shows in the way of Felix who climbs onto his lap. The relief and pleasure are still coursing through you and you flop to your side, curling your legs up and inwards. You watch them kiss through blurry eyes and how Felix submits to him so readily. 

“Lixie~ one more? Inside?” You pout. 

Chan coos and runs a thumb over your puffed-out bottom lip. It’s always a bit of extra fun when you let Felix cum inside. It’s a bit messy which neither of you really wants to deal with afterwards. Tonight’s special so why not add an extra little bit of a reward for him? 

Felix turns to you and gasps. When you don’t laugh it off, he moves in front of you.

“Can you ride me? If you’re not too tired, I mean, of course.” 

The way he nearly spits out the words, like they just can’t come out fast enough is adorable. You prop yourself up on your hands and look at Chan over his shoulder, with wide eyes just barely seen by him.

“Go ahead, pets. I’ll join the show again in a bit.” 

You giggle and nearly tackle Felix down by his shoulders. His hands go to your hips out of instinct but you sit on one of his thighs first. Sitting on his thigh, you nearly want to grind and ride on it, looking at Chan’s thighs makes you fully pout again. Those are some good thick ones that you’d love to sit on. Felix chuckles when sees what you’re staring at but tugs you forward by the hips to try and get you moving. 

You make a noise of recognition and easily sit down fully on his dick. The familiar fullness makes you let out a small mewl. 

“Does he feel good, kitty?” 

“Mmh, yes. Really good, daddy.” Your voice is breathy, different from the fully voiced moans from when Chan was railing you before. 

“Ride him then, doll.” 

The order that you were actually waiting for comes and you bounce, slowly. Chan is intending to let you go at your own pace but when a fair amount of time passes, with a fair few whiny moans from Felix, he tsks. 

“You can do better than that. Faster, harder. Make him feel good.”

You place both palms flat on Felix's chest and spread your fingers wide. Your thighs flex as you ride him and the slide makes you gasp. After you’ve set a steady pace for yourself you take your hand to your clit, starting a bit slowly but going quicker as the stimulation doesn’t quite satisfy you as you need it to. Felix watches you, enraptured. You try to look back whenever your eyes are open but it’s overwhelming and they swiftly screw shut again. 

Felix is back to his low groans that you can nearly feel and it’s nearly unbearably unattractive. Chan thinks the same if the small noises he, unintentionally, lets out are any indication. He tries to mumble praises to you but more often it’s Chan who takes the lead. 

“Such pretty little babies, putting on a good show. Only for daddy to see.” “You both look so cute and small. I’d be able to ruin you both so easily.” 

His words and encouragement make you clench and Felix jerks his hips up into you more than once as well. It’s good and you want to keep going but soon your thighs are a bit sore and tired and you begin to slow down again, whining in disappointment. 

“Looks like kitty can’t quite keep up anymore. Why don’t you do it instead, Lix?” 

The familiar nickname used in such a different context makes Felix suck in a sharp breath and his eyes widen. He’d really like to get used to that but as it is he holds your hips and starts pumping. Felix just manages to hit different spots inside of you when he does it himself and he has you moaning loudly within a minute. 

When you look back over at Chan he’s jerking himself off in time with Felix’s movements. He’s not sitting close enough for either of you to reach but his eyes flick all over both of you, taking it all in. Looking down at Felix, his eyes are completely closed but his mouth is open to let you hear his low moans. They get a bit louder and you can tell he’s getting close so you turn on the begging.

“Lixie, baby. Cum inside me, please. Want you to make it all messy and I wanna see it drip out.”

Felix grunts and starts cursing under his breath. In less than two minutes he spills inside you and the warm spurts of cum fill you up more. Your breath is heavy as you get closer again yourself. Chan finally joins you again, fingers replacing yours. Felix still jerks his hips into you as much as he can, but he’s too sensitive for too much of it. Still, Chan’s hand just works and you roll your hips into his hand to feel more. He barely has to do anything honestly. Still jerking himself off with the other hand you can tell he’s holding back by how tight his voice is.

“Use Lix and my hand to get yourself off, kitten. I’ll do it with you, too.”

Your mouth falls open and a long, loud moan comes out. Your second orgasm feels like an overflow of the senses, so much so that you barely even notice Chan spilling over yours and Felix’s legs. You come down with a shiver and your legs and fingers are left with the most shakiness. 

“Up, sweetheart. We wanna see it drip.” 

Felix’s voice is low and rough but not stern. You nod and slip off of him, laying down and letting them both see. It’s nothing you can see yourself but from both of their low noises, it’s very appreciated.

You’re all left panting, sweaty, and shaky. You stay on your back and throw your legs on top of Felix’s. Chan stands and shuffles off to find towels for you all first. It makes you recognize that you need water and you grumble and sigh before standing. Felix hears you and jumps up to get you on his back. Just as you get onto Felix’s back, Chan returns.

“Why don’t we dry ourselves off first, okay cuties?” 

You both sit back on the bed and look up at Chan with wide eyes. He continues to take care of you both as best he can and it makes you even sleepier, eyes drooping occasionally. Felix keeps you awake with small jabs and pokes. Everything you all need is done and Chan has agreed to stay for the night. All the buses have stopped, Ubers seem sketchy, and any other arguments he may have are shot down. As well as the argument for him just sleeping on the couch. Felix wiggles himself in the middle and shoots a firm ‘cuddle me’ at Chan before snuggling happily down and going to sleep.

You and Chan share small glances of bewilderment before settling in as well. It’s hesitant but you can feel how Chan eventually moves in, centimetres at a time, to do something that could be considered as cuddling Felix, if you really want to stretch it. The bed is full but instead of feeling crowded you feel comforted, knowing two of your favourite people are the ones there with you.

Chan wakes first but doesn't move in a way that would indicate he's in anything but deep sleep. Once he's sure neither of you are awake he sits up and gazes at both peaceful, sleeping faces in front of him. You're both beautiful in the throes of passion but there is something about the peaceful light of day that pangs his heart differently. 

Surreptitiously, under the blankets you and Felix hold hands but lay with eyes closed as you feel Chan looking, observing. He takes a heavy breath in that makes you want to sit up and ask, comfort him, but something about the stillness in the air stops you. 

"Fuck," he curses lowly, but in a different way than the last night. "You're both so beautiful, I wish every morning could be like this." 

You stay quiet, even if thoughts race through your mind, but sensitive Felix gasps, no matter how hard he tries to muffle it. Chan leans back against the wall to create as much distance as possible. 

Felix sits up slowly and you follow a moment after. Chan lets out some nervous, forced chuckles. The confidence of yesterday has melted away, leaving the usual, shyer Chan sitting here instead. 

"Channie?" He shudders. "What did you mean by that?" 

He stutters and fumbles, trying not to lie but also keep feelings intact. Eventually, he just stops and freezes everything for a moment. Then before you can even think, he tries to leap off the large bed towards the door. Felix is fast and grabs one wrist while you rush to stand and grab the other to push him back down.

There is no fight, only an acceptance to sit back down. 

"Channie, please." Felix chokes out the words and when you look at him he's on the verge of tears. 

Why is unknown, but it's clear this is going to be a difficult conversation. 

Chan sighs and runs a hand through his hair, flipping his head to look at both of you. 

"I never thought this was going to happen, any of this. Last night, everything this morning. But whatever happens, don't let my words affect your relationship."

He looks at both of you separately to receive an agreement. 

"I really like you both, romantically. Maybe even love but I've tried to avoid the thoughts. For obvious reasons."

In the silence of anticipation, Felix's tears had dried on his eyes but now they sit, teetering on the edge of his eyelids.

"Lix. Are you ok? You look like you're about to burst." You speak gently to Felix because he looks like a terrified little animal. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was never going to tell you." 

Your confusion only grows at his vague words and you can't see Chan from the way he's turned his head. 

"I understand if you wanna break up with me. I'd probably want to if the roles were reversed."

A gentle hand on his knee prompts Felix to raise his head and look at you.

"It's ok, love. I'm sure we can work this out. Just tell me the whole story first."

"Chan and I have been best friends for so long, years before I thought about dating anyone. He's seen all my highs and lows. Then you came and changed that a lot and we started dating. But still, somewhere along the way I... I developed feelings for him." 

Felix curls himself so small it seems impossible and leans away from both you and Chan. You sit in stunned shock and try to make sense of everything that just happened. When your eyes focus again Chan's eyes are flicking between you and Felix. Felix. 

You mentally curse and lunge towards him, embracing him in a tight hug. 

"Can you look at me, my love?" You coax gently. 

He sobs harder at the loving, familiar pet name coming from your mouth but obliges. Somehow still the prettiest man you may have ever seen, but that's not important.

"It's ok." You say simply. 

Felix looks at you in confusion, sobs still wracking his body periodically even as he tries to hold them back. 

"Your feelings for Chan, they're ok." 

You can hear the small, confused noise Chan makes from his spot behind you but mostly you hear the loud whimper of Felix in front of you. 

"What? Are you joking? How are you ok with knowing your boyfriend has a crush on someone else. His best friend, as well. One of the people you're both closest to. And you're ok with that?" 

The points Felix is making aren't completely out there. But there's something that flares up in your chest, something amazing, when Chan and Felix interact so tenderly. Their normal banter is what you expect but when it's quieter or later they get softer and so do you when looking at them. 

"I am. I like that you two have an incredible dynamic completely separate with me. Of course, I love talking to you both as well. I can't explain it, but it's there. So yes, it's ok." 

Felix launches himself onto your lap and buries his face in your chest. You focus on him, nuzzling your nose in his hair and rubbing his back. To the point where you almost get lost in your own world completely. Of course, almost is the key word. 

Chan watches in envy as you both drift off into a comfortable affection and closeness. There was just a whole confession but he can’t help but feel like he doesn’t fit perfectly, not yet anyways. He wants to hold you like that, or Felix, or both. Maybe later, not today. Today he needs to go home and let you have a day to yourselves. 

Chan is off the bed before you can even speak and you and Felix look at him, puzzled. 

"Haha, um, I just don't to y'know intrude on your morning routine or anything. You don't need to get up I'll just go, yeah. We can talk more another time." 

Your deadpan look to Chan somehow increases as he says 'intrude' and you're sure Felix has pulled out his sad kitty look. 

"Chan. Bang Chan. Christopher Bang. Sit down." You order.

Felix laughs when he follows your order, almost dazedly, and sits back down to fiddle with his hands. 

"Can I kiss you? For real this time." You ask, Felix moves off your lap in anticipation.

Chan looks up at you with his jaw hanging down. He nods then closes his mouth and clears his throat.

"Yes. Please." 

You're half on his lap with your arms around his neck before he pulls you in. After a dizzying minute or so you pull away. 

Felix would be mad you got to kiss Chan with feelings first if it wasn't so damn attractive. When neither of you moves he whines and does grabby hands in that general direction. 

You move out of the way and watch as Chan goes to Felix without hesitation. Chan is wider and could probably cover Felix up entirely from the right angle. They're so soft. Chan's hands are barely touching Felix's waist and Felix's hands are moving up Chan's arms and shoulders. They’re beautiful. Absolutely stunning. When they pull away from each other your hands go to rest on each of their shoulders’ and you level Chan with a stern look. 

“Just listen until I’m done. No interrupting. Just listen.”

He has the presence of mind to just look slightly sheepish and nod.

“Me and Felix have been dating for a while but that will make you no less of a valued or important member of this relationship. If we’re going to do this then we all need to communicate our feelings to each other. So, Chan. If we ever, ever, make you feel left out in any way, you need to tell one of us. That goes for all of us in any situation.” 

You sit back but Felix catches you and pulls you into his side. Chan follows his lead and moves in front of you, putting his long arms to use and hugging both of you. You all sit in peace and adoration for a bit before stomachs begin to grumble a bit. Chan is the first to disentangle himself and the look of disbelief that crosses his face all over again is almost comical. 

"You're... This is ok?" 

You giggle at his still present disbelief. Hesitantly, you reach one hand towards him and he grabs it and moves toward you. While still making eye contact he gingerly presses his lips to the top of Felix's head. 

"It's real, Channie. I promise." You giggle then whisper.

Chan pulls his hand back and looks at both of his palms in shock. You give him a few moments then he reaches his arms back around both of you as best he can and buries his face in Felix's shoulder. 

"Thank you." He mumbles. 

"Three's a party, not a crowd for us.” You reply, leaning on Felix as well.

Felix is the glue that binds you two together, and the one that got you here in the first place. For not the first time and not the last, you're happy to have met him. 

[gendercensus]

On plural inclusivity and "plural they"

In the Gender Census feedback box and elsewhere I have frequently been asked:

to make the annual Gender Census survey more inclusive of plural participants, and

to add "plural they" to the checkbox pronouns list alongside "singular they" in order to be inclusive of plural participants.

It's a rambling topic, so I'll address them in sections in that order.

~

INCLUSIVITY RE: PLURAL PARTICIPANTS

I've been inviting plural people to take part in a short survey about the Gender Census, asking questions that help me get a feel for the issues involved and asking about whether people feel included in the survey (and why or why not). At the time of writing there have been 139 responses, I will leave it open for ongoing feedback, and I'm unlikely to be publishing the spreadsheet of results in full because the responses are off-topic and very personal. However, I will refer to some individual responses as well as my personal experience discussing inclusion with plural systems.

Here's a graph based on the responses so far:

I'm asking for direct feedback about this issue because over the past few years plural folks have been one of the more consistently vocal groups in the feedback box of the survey and elsewhere, which would usually be fine, but I've been finding it very overwhelming and confusing. I think that's because the advice/demands/questions have been unusually inconsistent, often to the point of being in direct opposition to each other, and the result is that I have no idea what to do.

Before now, most plural people have understood that it's quite a nuanced issue. When asked I would explain that if they felt that filling it in once for the whole system made more sense they should do that, and if individual system members felt strongly that they should participate alone then they could do so.

This year it got to the point where I had to make a decision and write unambiguous, easy-to-follow guidance about how plural people should fill in the survey, because I had one system submitting dozens of responses and giving the exact same three points of feedback, paraphrased, over and over - making it look like many unconnected people felt strongly about these particular issues, when in reality it was all this one system. I decided that, to be as fair as possible, plural people should fill in the survey once per body.

When I posted about the "once per body" policy on social media I received very little direct feedback, which leaves me in the position of not knowing whether that's because I did it right and you have no complaints or because you've all jumped ship! The statistics and comments from the plural feedback survey are very helpful in this regard:

It seems that plural participants, on the whole, are fairly understanding about it all, often supportive, and are still able to participate. ("Unknown" and "no strong feelings" together are a much higher proportion than I expected.) Some positive feedback included appreciation for the ability to select as many gender identities and pronouns as one wants. Common arguments against the policy include feeling that system members are not treated as people in their own right, which is understandable; the Gender Census is designed to present practicable data about nonbinary people for use within a system that assigns one identity per body, socially and bureaucratically. A "once per body" policy makes sense when prioritising nonbinary people, but adds to the list of crap that only plural people have to struggle through when they're not the main focus of the research.

I was surprised that only a couple of people pointed out that some systems have amnesia between members, and so some systems may participate more than once per body unintentionally. (I understand that this is unavoidable, and I certainly wouldn't be upset about it. Sometimes non-plural people participate more than once by accident, too! On the scale we're talking about, I'm unlikely to even notice it happening.)

Back when I first started to get requests to make the Gender Census more plural-inclusive, my first move was to ask people what exactly they felt excluded by. Responses to this have been continuously nebulous, to the extent that I don't think I have ever made any design changes to the annual survey at all as a result. I also asked what they would do to improve the survey and help them to feel included, but this has yielded very few viable ideas for how to move forward, just because so many of the ideas that people suggest are mutually exclusive.

As an example, I spoke to one member of a system who expressed, understandably, that their experience of themselves as plural inextricably affected their experience of their gender(s), and after some discussion they concluded that the two were so intertwined that it made the most sense for it to be included in the identity question, e.g. a checkbox called "plural" alongside nonbinary, genderqueer, trans, etc. I explained that I don't arbitrarily add things to the checkbox list, but it would be counted if it was typed into a textbox underneath, and if it went over 1% I would consider adding it to the checkbox list. They became increasingly angry. The only way this situation would make sense for them moving forward was if I added "plural" as an identity checkbox option immediately. Conversely, just a couple of weeks previously I had spoken with a member of a system who was very vocally distressed at the idea of plurality being conflated with gender, and wanted to make sure that I never added "plural" as an identity checkbox option.

As another example, in the plural feedback survey when I asked people how they felt about the "once per body" policy, a member of one system was against it and said "it feels like this policy doesn’t recognize us as separate people", but a member of another system was in favour and said "we're encouraged by our therapist to think of ourselves as dissociated parts of a whole. So we're all one person, just not directly connected like a singlet [non-plural person] would be. From that perspective, it makes sense to keep us as one person in the gender census, no matter how many genders we have." It's not possible to reconcile these two perspectives.

From the very beginning up until now, the unifying theme for feedback from plural people and their allies is "please be more inclusive of plural people." That's a really good start! After that it becomes a plate of tangled spaghetti.

Here are some themes I've managed to tease out, and my thoughts.

"Each system's alter should be able to participate in the survey individually if they want to." Some systems have literally hundreds of alters, and several systems have acknowledged in the feedback survey that this is probably both impractical for many plural people and unfair on singlets.

"We're okay with taking part once for all of us in the system, but we're just checking all the boxes that apply to at least one of us, and some of those are explicitly disliked by at least one of us. This is uncomfortable." I think that's... probably okay, actually. Other subcategories of participants whose identities fluctuate that strongly (e.g. a genderfluid person who is sometimes very male and sometimes extremely not male) or whose pronouns are context-dependent are also in this predicament. Participants often express a desire to rank their identity terms by importance, accuracy, fluctuation or frequency. The survey aims to collect broad and fuzzy data about a very large group of people, to monitor trends and let people know what language we're comfortable with on the whole. This survey just isn't looking for that kind of nuance.

"We're okay with taking part in the survey once for everyone in the system, but there should be a way to separate out responses about different alters within that one response." It's literally impossible to program the survey to have infinite subsections for each alter, but if it were possible, what would I do with the data? I think the most likely approach would be combining into a list of identities etc. "per body". The participant would feel better for being able to enter different words for different alters, but it would be more work for them, and it would be more work for me to process responses from plural people just to have them be counted like those from non-plural people.

"There should be a 'plural' checkbox in the identity list so that we can express that our gender is influenced by our plurality." I consider adding terms to the identity checkbox list when they're typed into the textboxes by over 1% of participants. There are some situations where I'll make an exception to that rule, but it's unusual and this isn't one of them. Whether you enter a term using a checkbox or a textbox makes no difference to how well-represented you are in the results.

Maybe just a question that asks if you're plural, with a checkbox? What would this checkbox do? Plurality is beyond the scope of the survey, along with things like height and eye colour. It would allow curious people to analyse the responses using plurality as a variable, but I wouldn't include it in any analysis in an annual Gender Census report.

That last one is particularly interesting, because it's what I actually did in the supplementary survey. I wasn't 100% sure in advance whether or not I would need that information for the singular vs. plural they issue, so I included an "I am/we are plural" checkbox just to be on the safe side. As far as I could tell, the survey was no more or less materially inclusive than the annual Gender Census survey. There were a couple of interesting patterns to report in the statistics, but the main things I noticed were:

Feedback saying that the survey wasn't inclusive of plural people was non-existent.

Several people thanked me in the feedback box for making the survey plural-inclusive.

Several people promoted the survey on social media by using its plural-inclusivity as a selling point.

Again, the supplementary survey didn't take a different approach. There was no particular difference in language, there was no indication that whether or not you're plural would be integral to the reporting of the results or even used at all, the only difference was the existence of a checkbox that let participants declare their plurality.

That's all it took to cause a complete U-turn in feedback. A checkbox that doesn't relate to gender or connect to any of the other questions in any way, and isn't particularly statistically useful based on the supplementary survey. It doesn't make the survey more inclusive, it just acknowledges that some participants are plural, and gives them a way to declare it.

Whether or not participants are plural is beyond the scope of the Gender Census, which aims to collect broad data about how we as nonbinary and otherwise genderly-interesting people want the world to see and describe us. It just doesn't make sense to include questions about plurality in future surveys. But I'm honestly amazed and a little confused, because until the "once per body" policy was added it seems that there wasn't actually anything about the Gender Census that prevented plural people from participating, at least not more than anyone else whose genders change significantly over time.

~

SHOULD "PLURAL THEY" BE ADDED TO THE CHECKBOX PRONOUN LIST?

This is something that participants often ask me to do in order to make the survey more plural-inclusive, so I decided to seriously consider it.

The first draft of the supplementary survey asked over 1,000 participants about this issue, but I had to scrap those responses and then redesign and restart it because, even though dictionaries are fairly clear on what exactly "singular they" is, a lot of survey participants who are not dictionaries seemed to be in disagreement (or confusion) about what singular they and plural they actually are. I have been unable to find any academic or reference articles online using the phrase "plural they" at all.

Here are some of the things people have told me recently:

"Singular they" is when you use "they" with singular verbs, e.g. they is a teacher.

I can't say that I use "singular they" pronouns because I always say "they are". "They is" just sounds wrong to me.

"Plural they" is when you use "singular they" pronouns to refer to a system/someone who is plural.

"Singular they" and "plural they" are grammatically identical except for the name.

"Singular they" and "plural they" are functionally the same and should be combined into one option called "they" in the annual survey.

Let's start by stating what we do know for sure.

~

THEY VS. SINGULAR THEY

For the record, "singular they" is defined by its purpose and context, not the specific words used.

Wiktionary says:

they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or, singular, themself)

It then goes on to specify three use-cases:

third-person plural, referring to two or more people

third-person singular, referring to one person

"indefinite pronoun" - people; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker. E.g. "they didn’t have computers in the old days."

So we've got "they" (groups), "singular they" (individuals), and "indefinite they" (an "other" that is ambiguous in number).

Again, I have never found anything academic or, er, dictionarical (lexicographical?) that calls any of the forms "plural they", so my first job is to find out whether what Gender Census participants are calling "plural they" is the same as what the dictionary just calls "they", which is defined as the set used to refer to two or more people. For the purposes of this article I will call it regular "they".

~

WHICH WORDS MAKE UP SINGULAR THEY?

Even though most dictionaries will state which words make up singular they, and it's usually they/them/their/theirs/themself, if you change individual words within the set or even around the set it is still called "singular they" if it is used to refer to only one person. This might happen due to regional or cultural variations. So whether you say "they is a writer" or "they are a writer", whether you say "themself" or "themselves", if you're talking about only one person, it's still singular they.

In the annual survey, singular they is consistently chosen in the checkbox pronoun options by the most participants, usually more than twice as popular as the next most popular option. (I use the dictionary-provided set, and I've checked it's still the most commonly used in several polls and surveys along the way.) In the annual survey, singular they is presented as:

singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself (e.g. "they are a writer")

~

WHICH WORDS MAKE UP PLURAL THEY?

I had never heard of "plural they" before people started asking me to add it to the checkbox list in the feedback box of the annual Gender Census survey, but it seemed clear from the name that it is meant to be contrasted with singular they, and I wondered if perhaps everyone else had been calling regular "they" (for referring to two or more people) "plural they" this entire time and I just hadn't noticed.

It was specifically presented to me by participants as a pronoun that a plural system could claim, and that a plural system might prefer over singular they. This tallied with my initial assumption that "plural they" may just be regular "they" referring to groups, since a system is a body containing two or more distinct individuals, so if they wanted to be referred to as a group then singular they would be inappropriate and regular "they" would fit.

I went to the pronouns spreadsheet of the 2021 Gender Census, and took every pronoun set that was named and copied it into a new spreadsheet. I ran a query to list all sets that contained both the words "plural" and "they" in the name field. There were 71 results, out of ~44,500 total responses. I ran another query to find out what these people were entering in the reflexive field, and here's what I got:

themselves - 61 (85.9%)

theirselves - 3

them - 2

themself - 2

themself (plural) - 2

theirself - 1

So I think it's safe to say that the set that people are calling "plural they" uses "themselves" as the reflexive, which is consistent with dictionaries' reporting of regular "they".

I conclude that most people do mean regular "they" when they refer to "plural they". "Plural they" seems to be they/them when used to refer to two or more people, including the plural reflexive "themselves".

As in "singular they", if you change individual words within the set or even around the set it is still called regular "they" if it is used to refer to two or more people. This might happen due to regional or cultural variations. So whether you say "they is writers" or "they are writers", whether you say "themself" or "themselves", if you're talking about two or more people, it's still regular "they" (or plural they).

~

IS PLURAL THEY GETTING SMUSHED INTO ANOTHER PRONOUN/GROUP?

I recently explored the (apparently unintentional) overlap of Spivak (e/em) and Elverson (ey/em). In case you've not read it, here's a brief overview: I found that it might be that Elverson (not on the checkbox list) is many times more popular than Spivak (on the checkbox list), even though it isn't being written into the pronouns textboxes often enough for it to reach the 1% threshold. Since the two sets are identical except for that one letter in the subject form, it is very likely that many of the people who use Elverson (ey/em) pronouns are choosing the Spivak checkbox option in the annual survey because they don't realise the spelling is different, or they think that they are minor spelling variants of the same set. I concluded that in order to get a fair count of both sets I will need to list both in the checkbox options next year, even though Elverson hasn't been typed in by over 1% of participants yet.

It's possible that the same thing is happening with singular and plural they. I ran a couple of Twitter polls, asking people whose pronouns are they/them which set they prefer, and presented answers like this:

a) Singular they, referring to only 1 person: they are themSELF

b) Singular they, referring to only 1 person: they are themSELVES

c) Plural they, referring to 2+ people: they are themSELVES

Here's the results, with 927 usable responses:

The results of this poll are really useful, because it allowed people to choose between singular and plural they AND themself and themselves, in combination. We can see that of the people who call their pronouns "singular they" (referring to only one person), the majority prefer "themself" as the reflexive, but a respectable proportion prefer singular they with "themselves", even when presented with the option of "plural they" (referring to two or more people).

(I have a policy of providing the most popular word choices in checkboxes, so I will continue to provide a they/them checkbox option that says "singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself", but since singular they is consistently the most popular pronoun this is something I like to keep checking in on.)

If we apply these proportions to the 2021 Gender Census responses and imagine that everyone whose pronouns are they/them chose "singular they - they/them/their/theirs/themself" regardless of how accurate that is, this would mean that 3.7% of all respondents would check a "plural they" box, which is well above the 1% threshold for adding something to the checkbox list. Why not add it to the list, the way I'll also be adding Elverson to the list? This graph may help:

I generally consider it unwise to make big decisions based on Twitter polls, because the sample is much smaller and more biased than a standalone survey. Twitter requires membership, Twitter membership is skewed younger, and younger members are more likely to use Twitter often and see polls when they appear.

However, even I can't deny that there is a very clear mandate here for Elverson to be added to the checkbox list. When given a straight choice between the Spivak, Elverson, both, and neither/something else, participants were over six times more likely to choose Elverson over Spivak. (For context, Spivak got 4.3% in the 2021 Gender Census as a checkbox option.) Even if this poll were somehow put to the entire Gender Census participant group, it's hard to imagine a scenario where the results shift enough that Elverson gets a lower percentage than Spivak.

4.7% of a smaller sample of younger Twitter members just isn't enough to push me to add something to the checkbox options. I really hope that everyone whose pronouns are "plural they" takes the time to type it into next year's survey as a pronoun distinct from "singular they", so that if they do end up being over 1% of participants I can add "plural they" to the checkbox options.

~

IN CONCLUSION

As far as I can tell, the Gender Census doesn't particularly exclude plural participants. Systems are still able to take part, so it is at least as inclusive as any other survey of a similar nature, maybe even more so thanks to the ability to choose multiple gender identities and pronouns "per body".

There isn't sufficient evidence to support adding "plural they" to the list of checkbox pronouns at this time, and systems can be represented in results by typing any plural-inclusive terms and pronouns that are not on checkbox lists into some of the many textboxes provided, as any other participant would be expected to do.

The "once per body" participation policy is uncomfortable for a significant number of plural people. However, due to the intensely varied experiences of plural people, any policy on that issue that I impose would make some plural people uncomfortable - and it turns out that I chose the "side" that plural people are more likely to agree with. The survey isn't intending to collect or convey the more nuanced information that plural people (and others) have said that they would like to provide.

A separate question that specifically asks participants whether they're plural makes systems feel seen and acknowledged, but is beyond the scope of the project and doesn't add value to the data or analysis.

So, I will not be making any changes to the Gender Census at this time, based on the information I've gathered so far. However, I welcome further feedback in the plural participants' feedback form, which will remain open, anonymous and private.

~

Edit: Follow-up.

[rpbetter]

hello! this might be a very simple question, but how do you deal with mutuals ( and non-mutuals too ) who very clearly have not read your rules? asking because I’ve had this happen to me multiple times and I frequently get newcomers who comment on my posts and send in ic starters without giving me a chance to actually check their blog and see if I want to write with them. that and my rules state very clearly that I am mutuals only and for followers to not interact with my posts if we are not mutuals.

It isn't a very simple question! It's just an unfortunately common one that isn't simple (or fully possible) to fix. How do you fix something when you're the only one playing by the, very literally meant and otherwise, rules while everyone else is determined to flout them?

What I do probably isn't especially nice, I'll be honest, but can be effective. So long as you're aware that this is almost certainly not going to result in them turning around and reading the rules, apologizing for the mistake, and becoming awesome mutuals with you. Which, you probably are aware. If this is an ongoing issue, I'm sure you have, at some point, had to bring it up to one of them. Thus, you know that very few people react well to being told, no matter how politely, that they've got to follow your rules.

I message them via tumblr's IM and say something as to the effect of, "Hey, I see you commented/tagged me in a starter/sent a starter to my inbox. Have you read my rules?"

The answer is usually an astonishing "yes."

Which...could not be more glaringly false. I'm also mutuals only and both specify and remind in my rules that I require plotting first, so, I don't accept random starters of any variety.

Though, there are occasionally some people bold enough to not lie. Instead, they outright tell me that no, they didn't read "all of them" because "they're too long." On the one hand? Yeah, I do appreciate honesty. On the other hand? Are you kidding me? Exactly no one in the RPC ever has said it's fine to treat their rules like it is a toppings bar at a frozen yogurt shop, and even if they did, it definitely doesn't say that anywhere in mine. It would still behoove someone to read something as critical as how another RPer accepts mutuals and begins writing with them. The added attitude problem as though one should be incredibly thankful for the attention despite the great inconvenience of having rules, that's just a bonus.

Most of them, however, will claim to have read your rules. That gives you the right to say something like, "You say that, but you're already breaking them. I am mutuals only, we are not mutuals, but you are trying to interact with my posts and send me starters. Sorry, but I don't want to write with someone who not only refused to read my rules first but also lied about it."

You can either block them at that point or stick around for them to go absolutely, holiday style, cooked ham on the egregious wrong you've done them. Just blocking is definitely better, you don't want to convince them to read the rules, do you? You don't. And that is why I am fine with approaching it in this way - I don't want this person as my writing partner, this is the worst foot possible to start on, it isn't going to get better from here on out if they're already disrespectful and lying to me about it.

For the record, there was exactly one instance in which I tried to give someone a chance when they claimed that they just "followed so many blogs" that they thought they'd read my rules but were mistaken and now would, immediately. Even while doing it, I was regretting the decision, wondering if I would ever be able to feel like this person wasn't being deceptive, if they'd only proceed to do more things like this, and if I really wanted to write with someone prone to following so many blogs at once they couldn't remember whether they read some of the rules. No spoiler alert necessary, I think you know how this ended. The behavior was consistent, yes. I'd have to remind them that I do not write x or that doing y OOC wasn't alright with a near daily regularity.

If another mun does not feel like your rules are of value enough for their time at any point in your involvement, it doesn't really matter why or how it happened. Ultimately, it says something about how they view you. You exist as a piece of their outlet-hobby-entertainment, not as another person who has boundaries and needs. It doesn't matter if it is a hobby, any time you make a choice to interact with other people, trying your best to be aware of their boundaries and needs is necessary, period.

So, again, you don't actually want these people around. You're trying to have a good time here, too, and have requirements that allow you to do so just like everyone else does (even if those requirements appear to be...no requirements). You certainly don't have to try to talk to them, it's not going to benefit you anyway. I do it because, quite irrationally probably, I feel like it might benefit either them or someone else they try to interact with down the line. They'll be pissed off at me, they'll very likely call everyone with legitimate rules or the requirement of being mutuals only "elitists" for a while, but maybe they will mature a bit in the future to understand. Hell, maybe they'll just have an easier time of knowing at-a-glance-style what blogs they're not really going to mesh with, and as such, will avoid them for a better time for all involved.

Breaking rules immediately like this is one of the times I'm totally fine with advising that someone just block, though. This isn't a situation where you've established communication with them, agreed to writing with them, or any such thing. Your sole basis of interaction is them not reading your rules and doing whatever they want at cost to your comfort. So, if you want to handle it by blocking? Block away.

The only thing you can truly control here is what you do, try to look at what could be causing this to be an easily repeating situation and work on that. You are never going to stop everyone from doing this sort of thing, but you might be able to trim it down to one a year or so, and that's a win!

So, what can you do?

Take a look at your blog and rules. I'm sure you already have "mutuals only" in your blog description, but just in case you don't, make sure it is there. Additionally, make sure it is visibly there. Don't bury that kind of thing under a lengthy character quote or other information, that gives people an excuse not to see it. Try listing that it is a multi or the muse's name and immediately after that put your blog requirements. Age needed to interact, mutuals only, and then other information like selectivity type, activity level, and one-liner/single-para/multipara/novella. I know that this isn't the height of aesthetic value, but your blog has a lot of great places for those bad ass, evocative quotes, and so long as it isn't going to be inaccessible, you can make this information visually appealing still.

You just really want to be sure it is right there when someone floats over your URL and gets the preview or gets the dash-view on desktop or mobile view of your blog in the app. Consider strongly how it looks on the full view of your blog, as well. While visits to the full blog aren't extremely common anymore, they tend to be more so when someone is first following/thinking of following. You want this information to be clear, not obscured by the blog's theme aesthetics!

Be sure you are providing no excuse for the rules not to be read in other ways as well. Your blog theme really should be one that transfers easily to mobile viewing, in and out of the app, but regardless, even if the theme's mobile version does have a menu for accessing pages, provide a link in an easily accessible and difficult to ignore place. Put it right in your blog description, "*read rules* before interacting" with the words between the * * being linked to your rules page/post. Make a pinned post where (in addition to reiterating that you only accept whatever age and up, are mutuals only, etc.) you have links to your most important pages, the rules page being the first one there. Make that link stupidly big, put some arrows by it, be obnoxious, just make sure it is there.

Even if you are not mobile-friendly from an interaction standpoint, someone is likely to come across your blog, sooner or later, while they're bored on the bus or a lunch break. This gives them no reason to not go ahead and read your rules before they follow you, and additionally, can cut down on potentially missing the people who won't follow without reading, but who forgot your URL by the time they got to desktop again.

It isn't necessary to do anything more elaborate, either. If you want to do a Google Doc or Carrd, go right ahead, but that is literally not necessary and shouldn't be a thing that holds you up with being yet another demand to make something Really Pretty But Accessible. Linking to a damn rules page or post works just fine on mobile, especially in the case of a post, like...if your mutuals cannot view a post from you, I don't know you're writing with them outside of doing so in real-time. So, again, if that's a creative endeavor that appeals to you, make yourself happy with it! If it's stressful or seems redundant to you, make yourself happy by not doing it.

In your rules, be mindful of how you are organizing information. The problem is that people are not reading the rules, so, they're probably not even getting to this point, but for the portion of muns who get to the rules only to skim them, this is a good thing to consider. Like the blog description, make sure you are not unintentionally burying the most important information to have at a glance. Yes, you do want people to read all of it, but you cannot assume they're actually going to. When that is the case, the best preventative measure you can hope for is putting the information that might tell them your way of interacting isn't for them upfront.

These things are all those already touched on in your blog description and pinned post, but with things like "mutuals only," you can expand a little in your rules as to what that means for you. It seems like a very clear thing to me, but I know that I've seen confusion about this and other common terminology like "selective." The whole point is to make this as unquestionable as possible, no guessing for anyone if they've made it to your rules.

Something like, "Mutuals only. I only write with mutuals, don't send or tag me in starters or start up interaction of any sort on a post until we are both following each other, please."

You can even explain that you need to look at their rules as well, that you can't be sure you will work out together otherwise and do not want to get anything started until then. The important thing is to reiterate that you're mutuals only and what they should not do until you've followed back. If you're not comfortable interacting OOC until that happens, be sure you state that as well, this is something that leaves some people feeling anxious about what they should do. Some muns are alright with non-mutuals messaging them or even sending in memes meant to be answered OOC, while other muns are not.

If people are determined to forgo your rules to this extent, nothing you can do is going to stop that, but you might catch a few by being certain your requirements cannot be missed.

Other than that, what can you do?

If it's happening a lot, this is a problem with where you are, or in some other way, the sort of people you're attracting to your blog. Somehow, you're getting muns who are viewing RP differently than you are. If you can figure out how this is happening, you can cut down on the number of incidents by changing this aspect.

You might want to consider how you're advertising your blog, if you are at all, and the mutuals you have in common with the new followers. They're coming from somewhere, and it might be a significant part of the problem.

Gaining new mutuals through existent mutuals is great when it works out. I think that's one of the best ways to find new people you might work out with, but unfortunately, not everyone involved is looking at it that way. Some people are always going to look at the people their mutuals are writing with and disregard any reasons why they shouldn't write with them as well, just seeing that if my friend writes with this mun, I can and should. This is especially true if you are either a more popular blog or have a more in-demand canon character. You sort of become a commodity, other muns act like it is criminally unfair that you have requirements that might prevent interaction, if they bother to look at all.

If you have a handful of mutuals who have no similar requirements to yours, are non-selective/non-private/will accept and immediately begin RP with anyone who approaches, they could be the problem. This is unfortunate and a bit uncomfortable, they're not problems in and of themselves, but their approach is attracting people less respectful than they are. It is giving other people, especially those newer to RP, the wrong idea about everyone else they interact with visibly.

This can be true when we've branched too far apart in how we RP as well. There might be mutuals from when you first started years ago who are still happy with that approach, while you no longer are. Most people, when they first begin RPing, do simply want to maximize the fun and interactions. The cultivation of space begins to be necessary after they're around long enough to experience some problems and to want more lasting interactions, begin to feel comfortable with writing a particular way, and generally, get a feel for what they do and do not want and enjoy. For a few people, though, that never changes. (And that's fine if everyone is being respectful.) They tend to be excellent places to start for newer RPers, they've got experience but are still incredibly accessible to newcomers. Unfortunately, that means that their mutuals are likely to end up being a sort of testing ground as well when they didn't sign up for it.

It isn't these mutuals' are doing anything wrong, it isn't their fault, we cannot (nor should we seek to) control the actions of everyone on dashes, but as you are the only person you can control, you may need to assess what is best for you if this is what might be happening. You might need to consider who you should kindly part ways with while you continue to cultivate more mutuals who have the same basic requirements you do. Kindly. You certainly don't need to tell them that the muns coming through them to your blog are causing you issues, just that your styles have changed a lot and you don't think it is working out any longer. Unless, whoever it is happens to be a good friend who is capable of not taking that personally and hatefully, then, yes, by all means, tell them. They definitely deserve the right to make changes if they wish to do so! But, if it is someone who this information is only going to bring to anger or self-chastisement, that isn't a very nice thing to do when the issue can be resolved otherwise.

You can even make a polite announcement on the dash about needing to change a few things in order to cultivate your space better. You very much appreciate all of your mutuals, but there are some things that, the longer you've been established, are beginning to take a toll. In order to continue enjoying RP and feel less stressed, you're going to have to be making some changes, you want everyone to know none of this is personal, but you're forced to part ways with some threads and mutuals.

And then, please, for the sake of the good people you are interacting with, don't just unfollow and/or block without saying a word to them. That can be incredibly upsetting to folks to suddenly have happen when they thought everything was fine, and it should be considered that nearly everyone here has some manner of mental health situation they're working with. People can feel like it is ridiculous all they want to, the reality is that doing such a thing to people who suffer from RSD, for instance, is really, honestly, kind of mean as hell.

So, don't be that person! If you are not capable of approaching the mutuals you do write with that you need to let go of to warn them and be clear that it is based on nothing they've done, it is simply that you are going in different directions, don't go this route. If you aren't able to answer any (non-demanding, non-hateful) questions they might have with kindness and patience, don't do it. Because, I promise you, someone will ask. It'll be too nebulous for someone involved, and it's actually a good thing when people want to know if they're doing something wrong so they can fix it in the future, we shouldn't discourage that, right? Right. Unless, again, they're doing it in a demanding, hostile, nasty way themselves, refusing to accept your decision and all that. Then, yeah, no. You just go ahead and stop engaging at that point, you're done.

Additionally, if you feel like you do need to do that, please don't leave a vague-seeming (not vague as in Vague, the normal, non-tumblr usage) post like that up for days without taking any action. Make it as clear as possible what you are intending to do and when, and stick to it. No one deserves the anxiety of wondering if you're going to drop them and why. Make the statement, reblog it in a few hours, and take action that day. Make sure you have the time and mental energy to deal with it first! You know, insofar as possible, we certainly cannot predict when something offline is going to suck our time or energy unexpectedly. Just try to be mindful of others, remember that they're not the actual problem, just the vessel thereof.

Sometimes, this problem can resolve itself less directly, too. Many people who have this sort of approach frequently move blogs or go on long hiatuses...and then move blogs, fandoms, muses, and so on. You're not obligated to follow anyone, let alone repeatedly. If it might help to start phasing out this blog-type and phasing in those more like yourself, it really can be as simple as not following them to their next iteration. Again, if they take the initiative and follow you or send a message prompting you to follow or explain, be nice about it while being firm. Go through your followers for those who have been on long, long hiatuses, their blogs pretty much abandoned at this point, and unfollow them. It can be a bit of a shock anyway when you forgot all about someone from five years ago, but now they're back, have revamped, and want to write with you exactly like they did five years ago! That's fine when you're both still at that same place, but a lot of the time, you're not. It's a great way for prolonging situations in which we no longer mesh and are encouraging cross-over mutuals who mesh no better.

So, while I don't advocate ditching people who keep mutuals up to date on their hiatus status or going through one's followers every month to nix those who haven't replied in two weeks, I do advocate keeping up with your followers list for this reason. If it has been years? It might be years too long depending on how you've changed. And because I am the worst, apparently, none of that means it is wrong because I don't personally advise it. This isn't a case of something as extreme as harassment, it is definitely a difference of how muns want or need to run their blogs. It's too extreme for me, but if that is something made clear in a mun's rules that is necessary for them, it's their prerogative.

Cultivating mutuals more like yourself will, additionally, act as its own counter-signal of sorts. With people who are going to hit follow just because they like your muse and you exist, it isn't going to matter - they don't care enough to be looking at your interactions with others, after all. It's a system of see-follow-interact for those muns. However, it absolutely does cut down on those who actually visit your blog or might pay attention to your interactions through a mutual of theirs. At this point, any sort of cutting down is good! And, again, the more people like yourself you have as mutuals, the less likely they are going to be bringing polar opposites to the party with no invite.

No matter how tempting, don't follow people/follow back if the blog isn't mutuals only. Don't do it anymore. It doesn't matter if they have that one muse you want to interact with really bad, their portrayal is perfect, and they adhere to other people's rules (such as being sure to be mutuals with you when you are mutuals only and they are not). They are a cracked door for less reasonable muns to come in. That sounds extreme, but until this problem lessens some, you really do have to look at what potential partners are bringing into your time negatively as well as positively.

Only follow or follow back if the blog is mutuals only, and for good measure, only if they seem to have the same basic expectations and priorities that you do as well. That should become easier, too. Cultivating your space is an ongoing effort, it can be thought of much like cultivating a garden. Initially, it is a great deal of work and might seem to yield minimal rewards, but as it becomes established, your caretaking starts to perpetuate itself and you'll see easier and more plentiful rewards for what you're putting in. The effort you're taking right now might not immediately stop the issues, but eventually, surrounding yourself with the people you want to write with and suit you better will bring the same through them. Just like it works the other way around!

You might need to step a bit out of the box, though. It's very possible that your fandom is seeing an influx of newcomers to RP, or has grown very small, with a heavier influence of one type of RPer. Looking outside of your usual spaces and muse preferences might be necessary. It's always uncomfortable to step into new things, but it could be rewarding in more than just slowing down this problem for you!

In any case, some fandoms, and corners thereof in the case of huge ones, act as a transition point every now and then for RPers who have "graduated" from being minors in minor-dominant/intended fandoms. They're looking to move into more adult spaces, and while that is great, their experience isn't always the same as ours. Very few rules and maximum number of interactions seems to be a common issue there. If the fandom(s) you RP in happen to be popular with a new release of media recently, this might be a factor in what is happening. This can also be the case with "comfort" fandoms that have a mix of adult and minor RPers that they used to RP in or love the material within, so, they are now returning to it.

Absolutely no fandom to RP in is without its issues, but there are areas of the larger ones that are predominantly adult, experienced RPers, and some fandoms are all around that way. You might want to consider checking out other places of interest to see if you can find a group of people who are little more serious about rules, and if you do, making a crossover verse for your muse to participate.

Other than trying to find those more on the same page...

Some RPers like to use a password, but the issue you're having isn't that you need to know muns have read them. You already know they haven't. Putting a password in your rules isn't going to make anyone read them, so, I don't know what the point would be in you doing so.

If that is something you'd like to do, of course, you can. You should know it can be a bit of a perennially hot button issue, however. Some muns are extremely for them, some are outright volatile about others having them. Personally, I've had people quote pieces of my rules and talk about them with me, clearly having read them, but this did not stop them from doing a variety of things breaking those rules. I do not see that adding a word or phrase would be any different - people are either going to read and adhere or they're not going to. So, it isn't something for me, but if it makes you feel like it is added security, you should go for it!

You could have in your rules (that they won't read, but it's good to do anyway) that if someone follows you without you following back to become mutuals, you will softblock to force an unfollow from now on. Or, if they aren't mutuals with you and try to interact on posts, you will hard block them from this point on. Then, obviously, do that. If they're not going to read your rules like this, you're not missing out on anything or being mean by enforcing your boundaries. They were warned in the rules they wouldn't read. This would at least stop the same people from trying it repeatedly.

This is such an annoying issue, and a little more, really. If they're not reading your rules while trying to start up interactions with you, who has not read theirs or has read them and do not feel alright about the situation, both sides of the equation could be exposing each other to things they need and want to avoid. It's really not cool, and I'm sorry that people are being so disrespectful. Try to figure out where they're coming from and plug that hole, handle the ones that are doing it with a block. I hope you find something that helps some!

[timep3tals]

Ooooh if you're doing drabbles, something from i swear i'll come back to you universe where we have a very overprotective and stressed tony and peter just trying to drive properly that somehow results to a minor accident?

this ask makes me so happy ;-; im so glad you’re enjoying i swear, i’ll come back to you, enough to ask for a piece of that universe!!! i hope i do it justice

also, a link to the full story (which I will update hopefully in the next two weeks or so!): i swear, i’ll come back to you

—-

Two weeks have passed since Peter’s unexpected, non-zombified return to the land of the living. In those two weeks, Peter hadn’t seen anything beyond the same old compound walls. Tony decided the best course of action (without consulting Peter, mind you, who’s the one who came back from the dead in the first place) was to lock him up at Avengers Compound, send all the workers on their unexpected but very well deserved paid vacation time, and settle down for constant Badger Peter Until His Ears Bleed time.

Bafflingly, May agreed with Tony.

Everyday she made the hour or so long trip from New York City to upstate. May wouldn’t even consider taking him back to New York until his quote-unquote “issue” had been “resolved”. Peter was of the opinion that his issue (being dead, that is) had already been resolved, and he would very much like to get back to his life, please and thank you.

Unfortunately, they still hadn’t figured out why or how he’s back, so… yippee, hooray, he’s a walking, talking mystery. Doctor Strange visited fairly often, Christine in tow, to poke and prod at Peter with shiny needles and sparkly magic. Peter couldn’t really tell you what they were looking for — he was alive. It’s not as if death could linger on him.

At the very least, Tony tried to keep Peter entertained. If left to his own devices, Peter would likely sneak out as Spider-Man (or at this point, even plain ol’ Peter would suffice), so he figured it was probably for the best Tony insisted on spending as much time as humanly possible together doing everything the genius could concoct, all the while under the compound’s watchful eye. Or FRIDAY’s watchful eye. One in the same, really.

One of those activities was finally making good on the promise of teaching Peter how to drive. Really, he was more terrified than excited anymore. 

Especially because he was currently behind the wheel and Tony was bossing him around from the passenger seat.

God help them all.

“Peter, Peter,” Tony said. His hand was tight on Peter’s arm as he steadily drove the car around the compound. He’d been panicking for most of the ride, and yeah, sure, Peter gets it. New driver and all, but the new driver already had anxiety and he didn’t need Tony Stark adding to his hysterics. “Slow down.”

“I really can’t go much slower than this,” Peter complained. “I’m at fifteen miles an—”

“Fifteen?” Tony clasped a hand to his chest, and Peter might’ve cried had he not been able to hear Tony’s steady, albeit quick, heart beat thundering in his chest. “My god, kid, are you trying to kill us?”

“What? No!” Peter groaned. He gripped the steering wheel even tighter than before. The plastic began to warp under his brutal grip. “This is slow, are you serious? You drive around at like, a hundred plus all the time.”

“I’ve also had years of experience,” Tony pointed out. He eyed the nearest pole, some twenty feet away, with fear and disdain. “Thirty-seven, to be exact. I can speed if I damn well want to, but you’ve never driven anywhere before in your life.”

Peter bit back the automatic retort of, Because I died. Otherwise he would have well over a year of experience, but he didn’t think Tony would take well to a reminder. So he bit his tongue, despite the overwhelming urge to scream and fight.

“I’m driving around a building,” he said instead.

Irritated at both Tony and his own inability at driving still, Peter pressed down on the gas pedal a little harder. The speedometer inched higher until he was hovering around twenty-five. Tony’s heart rate jumped up in time with their speed, and he reached over to grab onto the wheel.

“Peter, stop!” he said urgently. “Let me take the wheel.”

“Will you quit?” Peter snapped back. “I can handle twenty five miles an hour!”

Tony looked between Peter and the outside world as the car jerked and swerved under their mutual grip. “Stop the car!”

“No, get off!”

“Peter, the tree!”

The car jerked as the front end slammed into the tree. The airbags didn’t deploy, but Peter felt momentarily choked by his seatbelt before he rocked back into the driver’s seat, stunned. Tony scrambled to unbuckle himself, sitting up and leaning over as he began to check over Peter.

“Are you okay, kid?” he asked. “Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me—”

Peter knocked Tony’s hands away, sick of his constant fussing. Tony sat back in his seat, startled at the sudden show of force.

“Knock it off, Tony!” he shouted. “You’re driving me crazy, and I can’t take the constant nag, nag, nag. I know what happened, I know how much time has past but you have got to let me breathe! I’m just as scared as you are but you’re going to suffocate me before anything else kills me! I don’t want to die either, you know! I’m constantly afraid to vanish again but never know it because there was nothing while I was dead! Nothing but emptiness — a void I-I know is there, but it’s just nothing! So please, stop trying to smother me and let me live again!”

By the end of his rant, Peter was heaving for air. Tony’s brows nearly touched his hairline, staring at Peter as if truly seeing him for the first time in two weeks. Frustrated, Peter jerked his head to look out the driver’s side window and wrapped his arms around himself.

A hand brushed through his hair. Peter didn’t fight it.

“Hey, kid,” Tony said, quiet. “I’m sorry. I forgot this is all just as difficult for you as it is for me. I’m not trying to suffocate you, I…”

Tony took a deep breath, sounding as though about to cry. Peter turned his head back to his mentor, heart aching.

“I already know what it’s like to lose you, kid. I never, ever want to experience that kind of pain again. Losing you took away everything I thought was good in this world. All I want to do is protect you.”

“I know, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, “but you gotta let me be my own person again. I love you, I do, I love you so much, but I can’t live wrapped in bubble wrap.”

“And you shouldn’t have to.” Tony studied Peter’s face before opening his arms. Peter unbuckled and eagerly dipped into the hug. No matter how angry he was, he’d never refuse a hug from Tony. Especially not when every hug now came with guaranteed hair-playing. “I’ll try to back off. No promises, but… I’ll give you some space. Some, Peter. You’re still going to have me hovering over you as often as I can, but it’s because I love you.”

Peter’s eyes burned. Tony had never said I love you out loud before.

“I love you, too.”

“I know.” Tony scratched his fingers along his scalp, and Peter shived with the pleasant sensations. “You’re a great kid. The best.” He patted Peter’s shoulder, and when he spoke again, he sounded like he was smiling. “Now, you wanna send a text to those nerd friends of yours and see if they want to come up for movie night? No hovering, I promise.”

Peter pulled back. “Really?”

Tony nodded. “Sure, kid. Besides, someone has to fix up this car now.”

Oh, yeah. Yikes. Peter grimaced. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Tony reassured him. “Now get out of the driver’s seat. I’m driving us back to the garage.”

Absolutely beaming, Peter eagerly jumped out of the car and let Tony take the driver’s seat. Movie night with MJ and Ned was only the start, but Peter felt as if it was the first step to getting the life he’d known before back. And he couldn’t wait.

Tag List: @keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars @riseuplikeglitterandgold @just-the-daydreamer @roaringgay @serendipity–goddess @tony-wheres-my-supersuit @baloobird @spider-beep @swagfictonreadingnerd @tcny-stcrks (If you want to be added or removed, just let me know!)

[violetclarity]

consent fest anon here! :) i honestly like them all so I guess I'll give my favorites. Hmm I love forced proximity, secretly dating, getting together, slow burn, post war/8th year. Either is fine. Def explicit. I'm not huge on casefic atm but I don't even know if that applies here? I love a good background rarepair. Pansy/luna, pansy/ginny, Blaise/Ron, pansmione, honestly love them all tho. Hope that helps? This was harder than I expected..

Hi nonnie! Thank you for giving me some more details, it was super helpful in putting this list together :) I tried to do a range of length but a lot of them ended up being what I’d call medium. They are listed alphabetically!

(Keep in mind I haven’t read all the CF fics yet, but I dearly loved all the ones I have read - would totally recommend everyone check the fest out and I’m happy to do more short rec lists like this if you send me some specifications.)

A Gift for Draco by @norelationtoatticus  33k - E

Though their new relationship is going well, both Harry and Draco have trouble communicating and are holding back from taking things to the next level–both emotionally and sexually. When Harry decides he is ready for more, he stumbles over how to start the conversation, but figures out a plan with the help of his friends. He comes up with the perfect Valentine’s Day gift to show Draco trust, commitment, and desire: sexy pictures of his naked arse. Thankfully, Pansy Parkinson has a camera and is willing to help…

Eighth year, Harry and Draco are together but Harry asked to take things slow and doesn’t know how to reopen the conversation. No side pairings, but lots of awesome friendship moments with side characters, including most notably Pansy taking sexy photos of Harry so he can give them to Draco for Valentine’s Day. It’s not a traditional slow burn because they’re together the whole time, but the slow build throughout the fic is really fantastic. Also did I mention Pansy taking sexy photos of Harry so he can give them to Draco??

It’s Been Draco For A While by @oceaxereturns - 15.5k - E

What harm can a love potion do if you’re already in love?

In which Harry finds out that it’s not a love potion but it can do quite a lot of harm, and Draco finds out how fiendishly difficult it is to fend off his flatmate’s advances when all he wants is to give in to them.

I love me some good pining, and this story takes pining to new levels. Seriously. It’s written in a combination of 2nd person and epistolary but even if that isn’t your thing I would highly recommend you give this a try. There’s a forced proximity aspect in that they live together, so Harry can’t get away when the love potion starts affecting his behavior around Draco. It’s not a traditional slow burn but it gave me some slow burn feelings for sure. Again: new levels of pining, holy shit.

Mixed Drinks and Crossed Wires by @korlaena - 16.5k - E

Draco is a handsy drunk. Harry is okay with it, really. They’re friends, so it doesn’t mean anything.

A post-war fic in which the Gryffindors and the Slytherins have all become friends and go out together regularly…and Draco gets drunk and flirts with Harry…and Harry assumes it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t think it’s a spoiler for me to tell you that this is a getting together story. It also has side Ginny/Pansy and really awesome communication.

Orbit by @henrymercury - 52.5k - E

“The classical problem of celestial mechanics, perhaps of all Newtonian mechanics, involves the motion of one body about another under the influence of their mutual gravitation.”

*

They don’t like each other. They’re not friends. There’s not even a ceasefire of any sort because they’re fighting as much as ever—but there’s definitely something different about it. An added layer of self-awareness they don’t dare identify, but which colours every Scared, Potter? and Do your worst; each You wouldn’t dare and Then prove it.

This is a long one, but it’s so good. It’s got side Luna/Pansy as well as a ton of other really well written side characters. It’s an eighth year story in which McGonagall puts a spell on Hogwarts that prevents anyone from doing anything (sex, fighting, etc.) with someone else without the other person’s consent. Unsurprisingly, the students have things to say about that, and this story handles all of that really well. It also features Harry and Draco being stuck in detention together every week after they get into a brawl during Herbology, and then slowly getting to know each other and acknowledging their feelings. This one ticks a lot of your boxes and I’d really recommend checking it out!

Proper by @violetclarity - 8.7k - E

Draco sighs. “What kind of absolute twit has the chance to have sex with the Chosen One and can’t go through with it?“

In which Draco studies with Gryffindors, learns a new spell, and navigates the difficulty of being in a not-so-casual secret relationship with his childhood nemesis.

Eighth year fic with a side of secret dating - Harry and Draco navigating their new (sexual) relationship while also keeping their relationship under wraps, and how that affects them both. No rare pairs, but some awesome Pansy and Draco friendship moments.

Say The Words (Say Them Out Loud) by @goldentruth813 - 18.5k - E

When Draco gets assigned as the Auror to guard Harry Potter day and night, he is sure nothing good will come of it. But as the days go on Draco is forced to evaluate himself and things he thought to be true about Potter and relationships. Sometimes it’s not love at first sight. Sometimes, first, it’s miscommunication and misunderstanding. A story in which Harry and Draco learn to accept the things they want from themselves and from each other.

You say you like forced proximity? Such as, for example, Draco having to live in Harry’s house while he works as his bodyguard? As they dance around the possibility of being mutually interested and also learn to trust each other? Another one that, while not a typical slow burn, has some of that feeling for me because of the pining. I also love the Auror Draco with non-Auror Harry dynamic.

This was fun to put together, I hope you enjoy these recs nonnie! Please feel free to come scream w me about them if you read them. Also remember to leave the authors a kudos or a comment if you feel so inclined :)