#pseudo dragon age fanfic

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

Rilian Royce + Roycegaryen siblings? I feel bad for making them an only child but c’est la vie. Or Mabel Waters +/x any ocs?

(Shhh, I am the outlier here by giving Rhea & Daemon multiple kids & that's so many moving pieces. Do as I say & not as I do by keeping your shit simple)

Welcome to the world, forbidden 4th Roycegaryen sibling I sometimes joke about in unhinged AUs! Honestly so much would change for Rillian's story by having these 3 as their siblings & who's to say if that's good or bad. At the very least, they are protected 😌. Also, Lady Rhea really said "I cannot have a straight child, but I can make them on the same sexuality spectrum twice. And I can make the 2 youngest ones look like me." Iconic of Mother™ .

Also, I'm gonna be so real, I'm not 100% sure where they fall in the sibling birth order, so I'm gonna do my best while also maybe being a little general.

Ella, congrats on having the sister (more or less sister, anyway) that you always dreamed of. They aren't named "Rhaena" after blorbo from your family history, but they're cool! Those 2 are definitely out in the training yard doing archery & sword fighting, & it's honestly really silly & sweet & wholesome & Rillian will get their own personal OC for Ella's Age Of Heroes Self-Insert Fanfic. Also, Ella will tell the kitchen staff if Rillian asked for no pickles. And every single gremlin mode crime they want to do will not only be encouraged, but joined in on.

Yorick, the guy who gives Rillian the freedom to not have to be Lady of Runestone at, like, 14/15 or having to get immediately married 🩷. There's obviously the issue of "he grew up in King’s Landing & then went off to war & wasn't back permanently till he was nearly 18," but honestly I don't think that would hinder a whole lot. For how reserved he is, Yorick does love his family & would make sure he bonds with Rillian in whatever capacity they need. He's fiercely loyal & protective & maybe a little unwell about it, but you don't escape your dad being Daemon Targaryen unscathed (everyone just he glad he picked up one of the 4 redeeming qualities). They would also side-eye & judge people & be cunty together & that's peak Rycegaryen Sibling bonding imo.

Pictured, Yorick & Rillian discussing their experience being on the ace spectrum with only pseudo-medieval language & coming to the conclusion that everyone else is wrong for not finding loyalty easy/thinking premarital celibacy is hard:

Aemon & Rillian would be a really interesting dynamic, I think. They're both carrying around a lot of the same trauma & baggage & Little Haterisms. They're both more quiet types & prefer being alone. They are coexisting silently in the same room & that's hanging out for them. I'm not sure what would happen with Rillian when Aemon is sent to foster with the Manderlys, which I think is in large part due to my not being sure where we're falling un the sibling order, but y'know what, let's jut say they go to be Jeyne's cup-bearer like in their canon. Gotta keep something since for the most part they've got a trio of very tall people surrounding them & protecting them from both harm & their dad!

When Aemon gets back to Runestone, I think that they'd be able to pick up pretty easily from where they left off. Rillian's extra-large goth brother ready to obliterate someone for them if they ask, & Aemon's much smaller sibling ready to show him a cool animal they saw that morning. It'd be very similar to the "we are avoiding getting overwhelmed by people & we are quietly showing each other our hobby" relationship that he has with Helaena I think.

Also, congratulations Rillian Royce for having your pick of dragons to get brought for a ride on. New animal to pet achieved!

[seventhwinterwolf]

Thoughts on 'House of the Dragon'? I haven't watched it yet

I haven't watched it either, aside from when HBO put the first episode on YouTube for free back in August (partially because I don't have an HBO Max account). To me, the Dance of the Dragons was always really low hanging fruit in terms of picking which eras of ASOIAF to adapt because it has huge dragon appeal. That's not an automatic bad thing, though after Game of Thrones ended so horribly it seemed that HBO pushed HotD more due to the easy draw of lots of dragons.

There were a couple of things I heard about the show that seemed to be better changes than in the pseudo-history book, such as having Rhaenyra and Alicent be friends / closer in age, Viserys being featured more, etc.

And there is one major change that I absolutely fucking despise which is ruining the ambiguity on if Rhaenyra's children were bastards or not. This was done worst with Rhaenys' not having her canon Baratheon black hair. It doesn't matter to me that the Velyaron's were changed to have dark skin, it's that the Baratheon hair - mind you is such a huge deciding factor for Eddard Stark discovering that Cersei's children are bastards - was thrown aside for more Valyrian white hair. Even Aemma Arryn, who's hair is not confirmed in Fire and Blood, was given the typical platinum blonde treatment. Though it is plausible for Aemma to have blonde hair from her Arryn heritage and silver from the Targaryen side.

I have thought about doing a small (like 10 chapters or less) fanfic of "What if Rhaenyra and Daemon married earlier?" / "What if Viserys allowed Daemon to marry Rhaenyra and didn't force her to marry Laenor" to explore that fun alternate path. It doesn't break the realistic expectations that as the king, Viserys could order an annulment of Daemon's marriage to Rhea Royce for lack of a child and maybe spin it to consolidate the line of succession. It could also potentially lead to both Rhaenyra and Daemon being Queen and King without one being consort.

[imakemywings]

I really have to stop talking myself into playing Dragon Age Inquisition again. The game is just too long for the number of playthroughs I have on it (￣﹏￣；)

Into the Heart of a Fey Thing by @amethysttribble - This one I actually read last year but somehow failed to bookmark?? Anyway fantastic adventure times in Doriath with Aredhel, Luthien, and Galadriel. A really fun read!

The Carriage Held but Just Ourselves by @starspray - Absolutely fantastic musings on the moment of death for various members of Thingol's line. Really just incredibly done, and the final sentence hits so hard.

Untitled by @slightnettles - Morwen in Doriath. A great look into her character, feels very true to her canon self!

The Passing of a Mother Beyond the World by @carlandrea - A pseudo-historical review of an Elvish play written about Men. I just adore this kind of fanfic and this one feels so real, both in execution and in how the "characters" behave. Elvish misunderstandings about the mortal relationship with death and the Noldor cultural anxiety after the Doom make perfect sense.

Happy Friday, Fellowship! 💛

Fic recs are the best way to help promote someone else’s works! Find some of your favorite fics, they could be WIPs, completed, old, new, whatever you want to share, and rec at least (1) of them for us and your followers to see! Who knows, it might just be the fic someone out there is looking for!

Bonus: tag the author (if possible) and share with us why you are recommending this fic!

[shannaraisles]

Snapshots

A Ko-fi commission fic for @kagetsukai, starring her Hannah Fox and my Poppy Hawke.

---

"Remind me again why we thought this was a good idea today?"

Poppy laughed at Hannah's less-than-impressed expression. They were both more than a little damp, though thankfully not soaked, sheltering under the eaves of a closed cafe in the heart of Kirkwall's one and only city garden. The downpour of rain had came to call a little earlier than either of the girls had expected, resulting in a dash for cover to the tune of far too much hysterical laughter. They were supposed to be distinguished, dignified seniors.

"Because the assignment's due in two days, and we already booked the dark room tomorrow without having any shots to develop?" she suggested innocently, laughing again at the dark look her friend gave her. "Oh, cheer up. It could be worse."

"How?" Hannah didn't look as though she could be convinced.

Poppy sidled close to her, tilting her head onto Hannah's shoulder and batting her lashes playfully.

"Alex could be here instead of me."

To her delight, this did get a small huff of laughter from her best friend. Poppy's twin brother was nothing if not persistent, often proclaiming that the only reason Hannah spent so much time with Poppy was because she secretly wanted to go out with him. Hannah had already put a severe cramp in his flirting techniques at least once, but it just wasn't working. The problem was that her refusals weren’t going to work until Alex saw something else happen - namely, Poppy plucking up her courage to do a little flirting of her own. But how did you go from best friends to girlfriends without losing that friendship? What if Hannah was totally disgusted by the idea? It was a scary prospect. Not to mention their parents' reactions ... Okay, time to stop that spiral before it got out of control.

Hannah was shaking her head, her smile relaxing finally as she looked at Poppy.

"You'd protect me from your brute of a brother, right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Poppy said. "He's only, what, two feet taller than me? I would gallantly lay down my dignity and my life to stop him from badgering you for the hundredth time this week."

"Oh, my hero." Hannah laughed, slinging her arm around Poppy's shoulders as they shivered together in the damp air. "We could be here for hours, you know."

Fine by me. Poppy didn't have any problem with being tucked under Hannah's arm for hours, but she knew her friend's temper wasn't going to outlast the rain if it fell too long. She was just going to have to woman up and deny herself the cuddle she was unconsciously attempting to prolong.

"We can still get shots in the rain," she pointed out. "Besides, it isn't raining that hard. You're just channeling your inner Wicked Witch of the Wilds."

"If my camera gets screwed because "it isn't raining that hard", I will lovingly kill you slowly over several years," Hannah informed her in a tone that, to anyone else, would have seemed like a threat.

"I see no problem with that," Poppy agreed cheerfully, skipping out into the rain and throwing her arms out, tilting her head back as she grinned up at the cloudy sky, eyes closed beneath the peppering of raindrops. "I will lovingly submit to being killed by you any day."

She heard Hannah's laugh, and the familiar click of a shutter snapping, opening her eyes to find her friend smiling a very mysterious - very beautiful, she privately added - smile at her as she lowered her camera. The heat in her cheeks had to be visible, but with any luck, Hannah would think it was because she was chilly and damp.

"Last time I looked, I wasn't a tree," she pointed out, bouncing in triumph as Hannah finally stepped out into the light rain with her.

"No, you're an addictive substance disguised as a flower," Hannah said, throwing an arm around her shoulders and squeezing. "C'mon, let's find something stunning to take terrible photos of."

Laughter and determination overcame the rain, and even with drops wetting hair and skin and getting into their eyes, the two girls spent a very enjoyable hour getting into some very damp positions in the hope that their composition would be enough to garner good grades in their shared college class. Poppy had to admit, she was thoroughly enjoying their afternoon, soggy as it was. She always enjoyed spending time with Hannah, though it was always tinged with just a little regret at her own cowardice. But better a coward than alone, right?

"Oh, hey, look!"

Poppy gestured to Hannah, her attention caught by a tiny daisy that had decided to grow, not on the grass of the park, but up between the cracks of the paved walkway. Standing over it, she was utterly charmed by the minute flower, with its white petals bleeding to purple thanks to some impurity in the soil where it had taken root. She pointed her camera lens at it, squinting to get a decent picture as she felt Hannah come up beside her.

"No, not like that," she heard her friend murmur, and felt those familiar, longed-for hands take hold of her, gently shifting her position until the growing sunshine warmed her forehead above the camera.

Hannah's foot tapped between her own, encouraging her to widen her stance, her friend's body molding to her back to push her into a straight bend, hands gripping Poppy's hips to keep her from spilling forward on top of her new subject. And Poppy didn't think twice about trusting the hands that adjusted her position, hands that promised she wouldn't fall so long as they held onto her. She'd trust Hannah with a lot more if she found the courage to express just what she felt.

"Got a good view?"

Hannah's voice was warm against her ear as Poppy tried to concentrate on getting the shot of the little daisy. She could feel her hands shaking, forcing herself to calm down and steady, taking a deep breath in and snapping the picture as she exhaled.

"I got it!" she exclaimed, perhaps a little too loudly, straightening a little too fast in the process.

She felt Hannah stumble as the back of her head connected with her friend's chin, the hands that had held her safely grasping for purchase on her windbreaker and tugging her closer as both girls staggered for a moment. Hannah's arms wrapped about Poppy's waist as they found their footing, her voice once again against Poppy's ear with an audible laugh.

"Honey, if you wanted to be in my arms, you only had to ask."

Poppy did not know what possessed her to do it. She twisted, looking into Hannah's gorgeous dark eyes, admiring the damp dark hair drying wild and untamed, the sparkling mischief, the smile she'd seen so many times before, and the words just ... blurted.

"Yes, please."

She had never seen Hannah go from confident laughter to startled delight so fast in her life. In fact, if she hadn't known her best friend as well as she did, she might not have realized it was delight. It looked a lot like stunned astonishment to a casual observer. In fact, Hannah was apparently so surprised that her arms actually tightened around her friend rather than let go.

"What, seriously?"

Poppy winced, exaggerating the expression to try and laugh it off.

"Only if you really want me to swoon," she said, hoping her friend would shrug it off and forget about how fast she had declared her desire to be this close all the time. "Because, I mean, you're - look at you, you're all statuesque and beautiful, and I'm -"

Her self-descriptor never saw daylight, cut off by the sudden sensation of laughing lips touching her own. Her eyes blinked wide, shock and awe and incredible happiness pouring through her so fast she thought she might melt. But over too soon; Hannah pulled back, raising a brow as she smiled back at Poppy.

"You look like a blow-up doll that just got a look at your new owner's package," she informed the other girl.

Poppy shook herself, snorting with laughter at the warm description, and swatted at Hannah's arm in a very measly attempt at defending her gobsmacked expression. Her friend chuckled along with her, not yet letting her escape the wrap of her arms. Rolling her eyes, Poppy forced herself to relax in that embrace, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation even as she shifted to face Hannah properly.

"So ... you did that on purpose, right?" she asked, gesturing with a finger from her lips to Hannah's and back again. "You didn't just ... forget how to interrupt me being an idiot with words?"

"Poppy ..." Her name was a drawled expression of resigned amusement as Hannah hugged her just a little closer. "I love you, you know? You're my best friend, but I think it's deeper. And I think you feel the same way. Don't you?"

Nothing could have stopped Poppy's smile from breaking over her face like the dawn rising over the Bone Pit, a gloriously sunny expression of sudden, absolute contentment with the world and everything in it. She loves me. For a long moment, all she could do was nod, her free hand diving into Hannah's loose hair, cupping her neck, pulling her into another kiss - a proper kiss this time, no surprises or mumbling, just lips on lips, touching, tasting, sealing unspoken promises with certainty.

"Mmm, could you repeat that?" Hannah muttered as they parted, reaching up to skim Poppy's hair from her brow. "I don't think I quite got it."

"Void yes, I love you!" was Poppy's fervent reply, drawing a loud cackle of laughter from Hannah as the two girls hugged each other tightly. "I only have one question, though ..."

Hannah leaned back, tilting her head to look at her askance, curiosity burning in her eyes even as she looped her arm over Poppy's shoulders to resume their walk. Poppy grinned, hugging her own arm about Hannah's waist with the possessiveness she had been trying very hard not to express for months now. Walking together, she glanced up at her friend ... her girlfriend, that familiar imp of mischief tickling at her smile.

"Who's telling Alex?"

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

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Hello Mojo, hope you're doing well and that you had a good break! I wanted to signal boost the MDZS May Diaspora event collection on AO3, and point out my favorite fic from there: 归心似箭 | Longing to Go Home by dragongirlG! It's both tender and bittersweet and it features such mature writing. The author got some hate for it when it initially got posted so I wanted to counter that and give it some love instead! [Who would do such a thing?!  @dragongirlg-fics I’m sorry that happened to you, and here, have *so many hugs!* I’ll try to do a thing just for the diaspora event, but meanwhile, I’ll just treat this as a follower rec.]

归心似箭 | Longing to Go Home

by dragongirlG (M, 8k, wangxian)

Summary:  The destruction of the Yin Tiger Seal does not kill Wei Wuxian; it ages him instead. He takes shelter in a cave expecting to die, but instead he lives, slowly learning to embrace life with each new day.

Thirteen years later, a young man with a Lan forehead ribbon stumbles into the cave. His name is Lan Sizhui.

~*~

Hi Momjo!!! I recently read the most *adorable* fic, and I loved it so much that it dragged me out of seclusion (read: social anxiety cave) to rec it. It's called 'Covered in Bees' by ScarlettStorm in which the Cloud Recesses is an apiary, and Wei Wuxian has suddenly found himself host to a swarm of bees. ~ @akyra-talanoa

Covered in Bees

by ScarlettStorm (T, 8k, wangxian)

Summary: “Cloud Reccesses Apiary,” says a toneless, deep masculine voice, with zero question in it. Wei Ying doesn’t care, because whoever possesses that voice is probably going to come save him from bees like a fucking hero while wearing like, a suit of armor. That’s what you wear to catch bees, right?

“I have like, so many bees outside my front door right now,” he says, mouth running out ahead of him before he can even begin to think about reining it in. “It’s like a sandstorm of bees out there. There are so many bees. I got out of my car and there were just bees and I don’t want these bees. Do you want these bees? Please tell me you will come get these bees. I can’t leave my house and I have enough food for maybe a week but then I’m gonna have to learn how to cook dry beans and no one wants that, especially not me.” Wei Ying runs out of air, takes a breath, and belatedly adds, “My name is Wei Ying. Hi.”

Or: The beekeeping AU that no one asked for.

~*~

Hi, you are a bless to this fandom. Your blog feels like a library, so thoroughly arranged and always within hand reach. [Thank you, wow!]  Recently, I was going through Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn is a Wēn tag and came across a fanfic, it has 3 chapters till now and is so intriguing that i thought to recommend it to you. I don't know if I can recommend or if you have already checked the story, The legendary Phoenix and his Dragon by Devipriya. I am in love with this story. I hope you will enjoy it too, do check it out

The legendary Phoenix and his Dragon

by Devipriya (T, 7k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wen Wuxian, the essence of who he is, he is a naughty child, a prankster, an enchanting dizi player, a graceful dancer, an irresistible lover, a truly valiant warrior, a ruthless vanquisher of his foes, a man who left a broken heart in every home, an astute statesman and kingmaker, a thorough gentleman, a righteous individual of the highest order, and the most colorful incarnation.

He has been seen, perceived, understood and experienced in many different ways by different people. Different people saw different facets of who he is. For some, he is God. For some, he is a crook. For some, he is a lover. For some, he is a fighter. He is so many things.

But the phoenix, seen from the eyes of time was just a playful man. A man who plays with his awareness, with his imagination, with his memory, with his life, with his death. An individual who does not just dance with somebody. He dances with life. He dances with his enemy, He dances with the one he loves, He dances even at the moment of his death.

To taste an essence of who is Wen Wuxian, be with me in the journey of exploration, NO! playful exploration of life of a playful man.

~*~

Hi! Thanks for running this blog, it's helped me find so many fics. For your next follower recs post, I wanted to rec "This love like a flood, a fire, a fear" by natcat5. Its summary is vague (which I suspect is why it isn't better known) but it is a beautiful retelling of canon from LWJ's POV with slight canon divergence. I love the author's characterization of him and the prose is gorgeous. It is easily my favorite fic in the entire fandom, and I don't say that lightly. ~ @nyanja14

This love like a flood, a fire, a fear

by natcat5 (M, 57k, wangxian, lan wangji & lan xichen)

Summary:  “I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence, and as justice loves to sit and watch everything go wrong.”   - Lemony Snicket

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i came to this ask to rec this baseball one called "Waiting for Spring" by thievinghippo on ao3. It somehow made me care about baseball soooo 'nough said ~ @scifikimmi

Waiting for Spring

by thievinghippo (E, 131, wangxian)

Summary:  “It is a well-known fact across the major leagues that one does not smack Lan Wangji’s ass.”

Wei Wuxian rolls his eyes. Everyone smacks everyone’s ass in baseball. It’s how the game is played. Lan Wangji does not get to be exempt from this most sacred of baseball traditions.

Wei Wuxian will make sure of that.

Or, a Major League Baseball AU

~*~

hi mojo! i wanted to rec Something Good by boxoftheskyking (a loose sound of music/canon divergence au) and also MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (immortal wangxian modern au where they gotta solve a mystery and save china, featuring jiang cheng/lan xichen)

Something Good

by boxoftheskyking (T, 43k, wangxian)

Summary:  "That Wei Wuxian, you know he used to be such a promising cultivator. Head Disciple of the Jiang Clan, can you believe it? You see, juniors, the punishment for traveling the path of demonic cultivation. No golden core, not so much as a whisper of spiritual power."

As a punishment for real and imagined crimes, Wei Wuxian is sentenced to work at Cloud Recesses as the lowest of servants. When a surprising reassignment lands him with eleven children to care for, everything changes again.

A Sound of Music AU

MDZS: The Golden Engine

by iffervescent (E, 82k, wangxian, xicheng)

Summary:  In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.

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Hi Mojo! First of all let me just tell you that you are amazing and this blog is like a gift from the gods! Bless you and your endless patience and hard work. [Oh, thank you so much!]  I know that you have just accepted follower recs and I have missed miserably but I still wanted to write and bring attention to a writer by the pseudo Xiao_Hua on ao3, I think they are quite good and I just recently found the account with so much content. If you do have the time to check them out, I'd rec catfish, my fox or the red ribbon.

The Red Ribbon

by Xiao_Hua (M, 21k, wangxian, TGCF crossover)

Summary:  Wei WuXian died but not before saving HanGuang-Jun and A-Yuan, leaving so much more behind than just his ribbon.

My Fox

by Xiao_Hua (E, 13k, wangxian)

Summary:  Once he headed to YiLing that all changed for him. His priorities have been mingled with and ordered in complete disarray even without him noticing as he was left heavily influenced by a creature.

Or one where Lan WangJi is a dragon-spirit and he finds his mate in the form of a fox.

Catfish

by Xiao_Hua (E, 15k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wei WuXian has a common sense that believes it has a nine-to-five job while Lan WangJi finds that incredibly hot.

Or one where two catfish realise that neither of them truly catfished.

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Hi Mojo i'm recommending this amazing fic it is called song of joys and regrets. it's a time travel AU it's amazing. And your Blog is a Godsend Thank you! [Aw, you’re so sweet!]  ~ @highgoddess

Song of Joy and Regrets

by HelloKitten (not rated, 59k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  The Archery competition at Qishan this year has hit a snag. As the Sects face the wrongs perpetrated by their future selves, Wei Wuxian finds himself adopted by half of the cultivation world who are determined to save him from himself.

Baby Wangxian suffers. Adult Wangxian's job here is done.

"I'm starting to see a pattern to all his plans..." "Do they all involve him being bait?" "Yes" came deadpanned responses.

~*~

Here’s a 2021 Reverse Big Bang entry, in time for Father’s Day; [Oops, my bad, sorry!]  Under a Blanket of Black Wings, by ChaoticAndrogynous (#31398395); LWJ, recuperating from the 33 lashes, tells A-Yuan a series of fairytales about a heroic monster and the brave little boy he befriended. Vampire! WWX (in the framing story as well as the story-within-the-story); happy ending.

Under a Blanket of Black Wings

by ChaoticAndrogynous (T, 19k, wangxian)

Summary:  Lan Wangji tells A-Yuan a bedtime story about a beautiful monster and the brave little boy who was his friend. Thirteen years later, the monster returns.

~*~

Hello Mojo! Have you read ‘Key Differences’ by Pupeez4eva? Its a MDZS!WWX meets CQL!WWX and its really good! [It’s on my list!]

Key Differences

by pupeez4eva (T, 6k, wangxian)

Summary:  “I don’t understand,” Wei Wuxian said, while his alternate self continued to stare at him with almost a look of hurt in his eyes. There was longing in there too, which Wei Wuxian would have easily recognised if he paid enough attention. “How could you not get together, after everything. What even went on in the Guanyin Temple if you didn’t confess?”

“The Guanyin Temple,” Wei Ying repeated incredulously. “You’re asking me if I confessed at — honestly, a lot went on that day. It was a life and death situation. There was no confessing.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him, appalled.

(Wherein Wei Wuxian ends up meeting an alternate version of himself who, much to his horror, never married Lan Wangji. Obviously he has to do something to fix this).

~*~

Hey Mojo i would recommend this fanfic if you already haven’t, it’s called “ take me back to a time “ by DizziDreams. It’s sooooo good

take me back to a time

by DizziDreams (T, 144k, wangxian, 3zun)

Summary:  Wei Ying has a lot on his plate right now.

It’s finals week -- which isn’t so bad. He’s never had to study much to do well in classes. But that just means that things are that much more tense with Jiang Cheng, who, as far as Wei Ying can tell, only takes study breaks long enough to glare at Wei Ying where he sits on the couch playing video games.

It’s not studies that have Wei Ying stressed out. It’s everything else. It’s the recruitment for the research trial he’s coordinating. It’s jiejie and her impending marriage to His Royal Douchebag Jin Zixuan. It’s the volunteer work at the palliative care facility. It’s Wen Ning’s worsening condition. It’s Wen Qing working herself thin to care for her brother and Wen Yuan. It’s the way Wen Yuan never seems to have enough food.

So, yeah. There’s enough on Wei Ying’s plate already, meaning it’s not entirely welcome when he comes home and finds a man standing in his bedroom. A man in extravagant white robes, a ribbon tied around his forehead, long hair gathered into a topknot, fist clutching a sword at his side, who asks him, “Where am I?”

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Idk if this has already been rec’d (I’ve been off the grid for a while now), but there’s this absolutely incredible fic called Restitution by an anon on ao3 people should definitely check out!

this one?

on restitution

by Anonymous (M, 78k, wangxian, jin ling & wei wuxian, lan sizhui & wei wuxian, WIP)

Summary:  When Wei Wuxian regains consciousness, he is in a bed. A real, proper bed, not the slab he called a bed in his cave in the Burial Mounds.

Jiang Cheng is glowering above him.

Wei Wuxian doesn't die during the siege of the Burial Mounds. Rather, he is captured in secret and confined at Lotus Pier. Things change accordingly.

~*~

Hi momjo! I feel like every time I come to your blog there's twenty more new and amazing fics for me to read. Thank you for everything you do for this fandom!  [Thank you, sweetie!  And yes, I think there ARE 20 new fics every day out there in the fandom.  It’s amazing!] Today I come bearing my own rec to you. I've recently read this and it's IMO one of the best fics out there. It's called Lapsteel by carriecmoney and it's a modern stormchaser AU featuring country songs and coming home. ~ @manaika-chan​

Lapsteel

by carriecmoney (T, 42k, wangxian)

Summary:  Now and then, I think about you now and then...

It's been thirteen years since Wei Ying ran for the prairies, leaving behind a family in shambles and a secret on the Pacific wind. What happens when the storm he swirled catches up to him?

Modern AU with country music star Lan Zhan, stormchaser Wei Ying, and shared crossroads.

~*~

[makjangcandy]

Postfeminism, Choices and our OCs

Yesterday on DA day, I decided to hang out on a Discord VC. On this server, it is notably common practice to hangout on VC to celebrate and/or lament the lack of DA announcements and minimal DA content. As I hopped in on the VC, I noticed that the conversation went to the subject of: “why do we only have choice A & B, and are not given choice C?” “Why don’t we get option X on the character creator?” Some of these are fanfiction writers.

Such questions are not wrong. I myself am annoyed at some of the options the DA games have provided me with.

But those discourses around choices reminded me of a couple of things.

One: It reminded me of that thing that happened in 2012 over the Mass Effect 3 endings. While I was disliked the original endings too, I remembered the gamer outrage over the ending choices—the hashtags, the cupcakes and many others that came out of it. Because gamers were wronged and gamers vote with their money like some kind of pseudo-social movement borne out of neoliberal capitalism.

Two: Writers on postfeminism pointed links to capitalism on discourses of choice. Rosamond Gill (2007) describes postfeminism as a “sensibility” (p. 148). Noticeably, in referring to it as a sensibility, Gill hearkens to cultural studies traditions such as Williams’ “structure of feeling” (2014). These terms come from older studies about cultural hegemony especially on how “common sense” or dominant ways of thinking are almost always in the process of being formed (Williams 2014). Thus, its function is also ideological. As a sensibility, Gill defined characteristics such as:

“the notion that femininity is a bodily property; the shift from objectification to subjectification; an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a makeover paradigm; and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference” (p. 147).

There are of course, updates to this. In a more recent article, Gill (2017) also notes how postfeminism intersects with other intersectional issues such as racism, how postfeminism is not exclusively heterosexual, and how postfeminism implies increased self-monitoring and self-optimization.

Regardless, on the earlier piece, Gill (2007) writes:

“Notions of choice, of 'being oneself', and 'pleasing oneself' are central to the postfeminist sensibility that suffuses contemporary Western media culture. They resonate powerfully with the emphasis upon empowerment and taking control that can be seen in talk shows, advertising and makeover shows. A grammar of individualism underpins all these notions -- such that even experiences of racism or homophobia or domestic violence are framed in exclusively personal terms in a way that turns the idea of the personal as political on its head” (p. 153).

I bring this up because there is a pattern on the way many fanfiction writers and large parts of Dragon Age fandom talk about choice as if choice is the end all in discussions about agency.

There are, of course, several things that can spur one to write fanfiction. But it is common to hear someone say, “I wrote [insert title of fanfic] because the game did not give me X choice” or “I wrote this because I want to have Y representation that is not in the game.” Not that there is anything wrong with that. In some fanfiction spaces (Discord in particular), I’ve seen several spaces dedicated to OCs. I’ve seen particular admins deal with community problems with more spaces to talk about OCs as if the ability to talk about one’s OCs is the answer to everything. In some spaces, one of the worst sins one can commit is to imply something negative about another’s OC or represent another’s OC in ways the writer would not want.

When these happen, I try to resist the urge to virtually hurl a volume of Barthes on someone’s head. Regardless, in the world of fanfiction, authors do not seem to be dead.

Of course, in a world where social and cultural capital are easily convertible within our platforms (Postigo 2014), OCs are forms of cultural and social capital. While it may not be as easily monetized, it leads to certain promises of it.

But choices and OCs should not be the end all in discussions of agency and representation. I want to believe that agency is a lot more than that.

This is why I will always cringe at such conversations. Because my agency is a lot more than the choices I make. Because my agency goes beyond these neoliberal structures.

If there’s something I can wish for on Dragon Age Day, I hope that someday, the wider fandom would understand this.

References:

Gill, R. (2007). Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147-166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898

--------. (2017). The affective, cultural and psychic life of postfeminism: A postfeminist sensibility 10 years on. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(6), 606-626. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417733003

Postigo, H. (2014). The socio-technical architecture of digital labor: Converting play into YouTube money. New Media and Society, 18(3), 332-349. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814541527

Williams, R. (2014). From Preface to Film (UK, 1954). In S. MacKenzie (Ed.), Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures (pp. 607-613). Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520957411-171

[neversidefaerie]

Just wanted to get this out there...

I had a conversation on YouTube yesterday with someone who seems convinced that the She Ra writers initially intended Entrapta to be 16-18 and then aged her up before season 2 so they could eventually pair her off with Hordak. Just...what? 😲

They also made the bold claim that the showrunners are "glorified fanfiction writers" and thus wouldn't really care if they actually paired off a barely legal girl with a much older man. They couldn't really come up with any proof for this big accusation, just their own word.

Where do I even begin with this? 😧

Well, for starters, there is actually evidence to suggest the contrary. While Entrapta may look young, her voice sounds much too old for a 16-year-old. It's reasonable to believe that the writers chose someone who obviously sounded like she was in her 30s, and of course that would have been before they even started animating the series. While it is possible that Entrapta had been intended to be 16 during the early planning stages, this would have been changed long before She Ra went into production.

I don't think the series is being made up as the writers go along, as this stranger's argument seems to imply. It was likely planned out intricately from start to finish before the actors even started recording. Or at least, that is the most ideal way to write a series like She Ra!

Also, doesn't this person seem to think that just because someone's a fanfiction writer, that doesn't necessarily mean you're accepting of controversial relationship dynamics? As someone who's a fanfiction writer and wants to be in a similar position to the She Ra writers someday, I quite frankly find this an offensive generalisation. Yeah, there are plenty of fanfic authors who would pair off a 16-year-old with a 45-year-old, but what evidence does this person have that any of the She Ra writers would find this acceptable? I have a deep suspicion that the Crew Ra would be pretty horrified if someone suggested they'd do such a thing, like most people would.

While I'm on the subject, I'll mention that this is not the only person I've seen who says that Entrapta looks underage and apparently merely making someone LOOK underage is problematic? Why do so many people think this? While this argument could work for anime, as some 18+ characters look very childlike, Entrapta is short but nubile and hardly "childlike" in appearance.

Someone else on YouTube said that apparently Rae Geiger tried to make Entrapta look older by adding lines on her face, but it didn’t look right so this design was scrapped. (Can someone confirm this?) The thing is...sometimes in animation it's difficult to make someone look the age they're supposed to be. For example, I initially mistook Claudia from The Dragon Prince for being in her early 20s and was actually pretty surprised when I found out that she was supposed to be just 16. As someone who is 22 but looks 14 (yes, really!), I can assure you that this is very possible in real life too!

Despite the fact I don't know enough about any of the Crew-Ra enough to make firm judgments about their characters, I honestly think it's unlikely that pseudo-child fetishisation was the intention of the showrunners. While there have been people involved in kids shows over the years that have been caught engaging in inappropriate behaviour towards minors (i.e. Jim'll Fix It, Twelve Forever), this is rare. I think that people are just looking for problematic elements in places there weren't intended to be any, without considering this as a possibility.

[script-a-world]

Pylon Bios (An Update, with New Pylons)

Hello, lovely followers of script-a-world!

Please allow us to introduce ourselves! We haven’t had any sort of about-the-bloggers page available before, and now that we’ve added more to the team, we’re seeking to remedy that!

First of all, we call ourselves Pylons. What the heck is a pylon? Well, outside of this blog, it’s an upright structure for holding up something, usually a cable or conduit. When this blog was started more than a year ago (whoa), the group chose the word Pylon to describe ourselves collectively, as a fun little nickname. Whee!

Without further ado, meet the Pylons (and Mods)! (in alphabetical order)

Brainstormed: Hey there, call me Brainstormed, and you can find me at @thunderin-brainstorm. Any pronouns will do. I'm a student, illustrator, and world traveler. My home is in America, but I'm rarely there for more than a month at a time, so feel free to ask where in the world I happen to be! Worldbuilding has been my hobby for quite a long time and I'd love to give you some tips and tricks that I've learned, or take your idea and turn it on its head to perhaps show you a new perspective. The many projects I've developed have been lifesavers for me, as they allowed me to harness my Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder and use it as a positive tool for creativity. Aside from drawing and daydreaming, I spend a lot of time biking, hunting for cool rocks and bones, binge reading any scholarly article that catches my eye, and memorising completely useless random facts that I spout at any given moment in lieu of remembering actual important information.

___

Constablewrites: My name is Brittany, and I'm a California girl living in the Midwest. I use she/her pronouns. I've always loved stories with rich and detailed worlds, whether in movies, books, games, or something else entirely. I'm the kind of writer who will spend hours researching to confirm a minor detail. Naturally, I not only write SFF, but my recent projects have all required worldbuilding on more than one axis (like multiple types of magic, or time travel on top of historical) because i am apparently something of a masochist. I'm a walking TV Tropes index and a whiz at digging up random useful knowledge, both of which come in handy as a Pylon. Other random facts: I'm a trained actress and singer, I used to work at Disneyland on the Jungle Cruise (among other attractions), and a laptop held together with duct tape is responsible for my day job in tech support. I blog about writing as @constablewrites and about random things that amuse me as @operahousebookworm.

____

Delta: Hi! I’m Delta and I can be found @dreaming-in-circles or @thedeclineofapollo (writeblr), and I love sci-fi. Like, a lot lol. I work in NEPA compliance for a civil engineering firm in the USA, and have a lot of experience with infrastructure, bureaucracies, biology, and space (for unrelated reasons). I spend a lot of time haunting the astrophysics wikipedia pages, and my current all-consuming project is a novel that is angling to be about 150,000 words (at current projections). Can’t wait to hear your questions!

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Ebonwing: Hi, I’m Ebonwing. I’m currently studying IT in university. I’m a writer and worldbuilder, and sometimes a worldbuilding writer or a writing worldbuilder. I gravitate towards fantasy, though I’m not going to say no to the occasional stint in scifi, and as I’m also a giant language nerd, I enjoy making conlangs for my creations. Other than that, I’m also an artist and indulge in any number of other crafting hobbies, and if I’m not doing any of those things, I can probably be found playing video games.

___

Feral: Hi! I'm Feral, and you can find me @theferalcollection (if you enjoy feminism, socialism, or over-analyzed fiction) or on my writing blog theferalcollection.wordpress.com. I'm a Southern girl who likes fancy dresses, mint juleps, big hats, and using being-underestimated to my advantage. I work in the interior design industry and am currently in school for industrial design. I have previously earned degrees in comparative literature and theatre & drama. I'm a big nerd who really likes school. I've been world-building since before I knew it was a thing and writing almost as long. I’ve written mostly fantasy but the past couple projects have been science fiction. I'm ridiculously in love with the idea of being an astrophysicist but don't feel like learning calculus, so I just read about science a lot. My hobbies include martial arts, drinking too much coffee, and tabletop games.

____

Lockea: Hello! I’m Lockea. You can find me all over the internet as @lockea or LockeaStone. I’m a leaf on the wind who currently enjoys the SoCal sunshine in Los Angeles where I work as an engineer and data scientist. I love street fashion (especially Lolita) and making jewelry. I have two kitties, Theodore and Cecelia, and I volunteer at the local animal shelter as a cat handler and adoption counselor. I know way too much about cat behavior, honestly, and will yap your ear off if you let me.

Worldbuilding wise, I have a deep affection for science fiction and I’ve consulted professional science fiction writers on developing technology and worlds through the explanation of science and engineering. My engineering specialization is extra-terrestrial  robotics, so if it has to do with space, planetary science, or robotics -- I got you. I’m also a fan of politics and really like developing political and socio-economic systems in fantasy and sci-fi worlds.

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Miri: Miri here, with my main tumblr @asylos and my writing tumblr @mirintala. I am a Canadian Pharmacy Technician by day and a small time ePublisher and gamer of many types by night. Mostly wandering around the Internet helping to organize events in the FFVII tumblr fandom (modding at @ff7central and @ffviifandomcalendar), and stumbling around within the Borderlands of Pandora. I use she/her pronouns.

—-

Symphony: Hey, I’m Symphony! Use whatever pronouns you feel like, any work. I’m currently living in Michigan with my fiance, and in-between jobs but I want to go to nursing school ASAP.  My favorite genres in fiction are horror, sci-fi, and really anything that holds my interest. In my own worldbuilding I've always felt myself most interested in developing societies on the macro level (politics, diet, customs, stuff like that), and the more esoteric, strange parts of my world. I like to make a place feel lived in, with secrets that may never be found and people who seek them out.

——

Synth: I’m @chameleonsynthesis on Tumblr, but that’s a mouthful, so just call me Synth. Any pronouns work. Born and raised in Canada, but living in Norway as of autumn 2007. Looking back, I’ve been worldbuilding since at least the age of four (in my early thirties now, so yeah), with a predominantly science-fantasy bent. I’m of the artsy creative type, with way too many projects on the go at any given time, and enjoy long walks through Wikipedia and getting caught in TV Tropes. The best thing is when I stumble across some strange factoid that can justify aspects of my many weird alien species. Stupid Synth facts: I have dual Canadian and Norwegian citizenship. My legal name contains a letter that does not exist in the English alphabet. I can curl my tongue into a cloverleaf shape, and wiggle my ears. My day job is musical instrument repair. I play French horn in a concert band, trombone in a jazz band, and don’t practice my flute or piccolo near as much as I should. Outside of band rehearsals and my job, I volunteer at the local cat shelter, work out at a gym, and attend events at my city’s newly established makerspace.

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Tex: I'm Tex, and you can find me on tumblr @texasdreamer01. Most of my hobbies are centered around fandom and worldbuilding for it, though I also like cooking and reading up on fiction and non-fiction whenever I have the time. I'm currently studying biochemical engineering, with a slant in nanotechnology and its medical applications, so I need to know a bunch about the different types of sciences, as well as projecting for the development of future fields.

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Utuabzu: Hi, I’m Utuabzu, I previously was part of ScriptMyth (RIP) where I tended to take the lead on Mesopotamia and Egypt related asks. I’m most of the way through a Bachelor of Linguistics, e parlo italiano und ein bisschen Deutsch. I have a deep and enduring interest in the history of the ancient world, particularly the ancient Near East, and I’m also a bit of a nerd for politics, which is helpful when it comes to worldbuilding. My random 2am research binges have resulted in my knowing a lot of odd things. I enjoy travelling and experiencing other cultures, however as I am Australian this unfortunately requires flying, which I hate a great deal. I expect to one day be crushed beneath a pile of my books. It is a demise I am ok with.

_____

Wootzel: Hi, I’m Wootzel, or @wootzel-dragon! I use she/her pronouns. I’m a recent college grad trying to figure life out. My favorite thing about worldbuilding is making things as realistic or pseudo-realistic as possible, and finding a justification for everything. Sometimes, this is also my least favorite thing about myself, because it can make things very hard! But, it can also be really rewarding when I get things to work out in a way that I enjoy.

My other hobbies include reading lots of fanfic while neglecting physical books, starting ambitious sewing projects on a whim, and wondering where all my time goes on a daily basis. I have changed major a few times, and I am still unsure about what I want to do with my life, except that it’ll always have writing in it somewhere.

[she-toadmask]

Sword playthrough 1, a normal playthrough: normal protagonist, sad to leave a teammate behind when they’ve been around for so long but did a couple of times anyway

Sword playthrough 2, a grass first-form run: more eccentric, got a few gifts from friends of rarer grass-types she likes, also shuffled her team around some to accommodate gifts, hesitant to dynamax, aside from the Kabu battle when her team agreed because that was the only way to win (might have dynamaxed against Leon? I don’t remember though oops)

Sword playthrough 3 (in progress), a first-form dragon pseudo run (literally fighting Kabu as I write this so may or may not dynamax against Opal because fuck): really stubborn, probably will have obedience issues eventually (canonically because dragons are hard to train, in-game...I was dumb so I had to hatch all the eggs on the file that bred them instead of on the actual play file. Hasn’t come back to bite me yet, knock on wood, but I am very sure that I will inevitably run into obedience issues), they will not take anyone’s shit and are kind of a dick but they’re still pretty cool

Also my Max Raid escapades are not canon, I dynamax all the time in those and I really just do those because I like them and they get me candy so I don’t have to grind against wild Pokemon

Unwritten fanfic trainer 1: Close to whatever the canon age for SWSH trainers is, really really enthusiastic about battling and getting along with her Pokemon, probably Dynamaxes at the same time as her opponent, just really excited to be here and wants to win because battling is fun, tries to win battles with energy and force

Unwritten fanfic trainer 2: Probably around Nessa’s age, maybe a little older, very serious and strategic, battling because clearly it’s what is being done and it’s an interesting pursuit, tries to win battles with pre-planned strategies, Dynamaxes accordingly (sometimes goes early if that would set things up well for the rest of the battle, otherwise she Dynamaxes at the same time as the opponent to hold her own)

Unwritten fanfic trainer 3: Age in between the two other girls, kind of tired and going along with battling (she does still try though) because it’s what everyone expects them to want to be doing, battles more for the sake of their Pokemon and thus kind of strategizes her training by how the Pokemon wants to battle (hence getting their female Kirlia who is very sad she can’t be a Gallade an Everstone and training them to fight more like Gallade than Gardevoir), like the other two doesn’t have official nicknames on record but does have unofficial ones she calls them (Blipbug eventually Orbeetle is ‘Nerd’, Rookidee eventually Corviknight is ‘Brat’, Ralts quickly Kirlia is ‘Kid’, Mimikyu is ‘Buddy’), honestly the viewpoint of the latter three because they’re more of a mood and also I just really like how I want her to interact with Bede and Hop, also never Dynamaxes because she doesn’t feel great about it and their Pokemon don’t really have a desire to (And like they really hate Bede’s guts because he’s a dick and deck him when he gives Hop his BSOD and go to help Hop, she isn’t great at it but it helps a lot; also after Bede gets his challenger status stripped, he’s really fucking upset and he gets his dynamax band taken and she’s just like...you know what fuck it and challenges him to a battle and says whoever wins decides who gets to keep her dynamax band, the other girls are shocked but she tells them to shut up, Bede agrees and borrows her band for the battle; they win anyway and tell him to keep it because they said the winner decided what happened, not that the winner kept it; they eventually win the challenger’s cup and Bede gives them their Dynamax band back right before his intrusion challenge (Opal gave him one of his own) and tells them that they better Dynamax so he can beat them and prove he’s better and she does it with Orbeetle and he Gigantamaxes and it’s really cool and Bede finally admits shit and it’s just great I don’t know how to write Dynamax and also just...don’t want to develop characters n shit but damn I have good moments for them she’s the main character in the unwritten fic for a reason I guess) (Also Nerd is her starter, they woke up late and didn’t get one of the three starters, they went out to Route 1 and sat there and she saw a Blipbug getting attacked by a Rookidee, the others caught up and, after 1 misses two throws entirely, pick up the balls and catch the two herself. Something like that it still involves her seeing a Rookidee bullying a Blipbug on Route 1, followed by them catching both. Also that’s why Rookidee is Brat because when she first saw him, he was being a brat. I need two more team members for them, the other two have no team aside from 1 getting Grookey and 2 getting Sobble because final form vibes match really well like...energetic loud with the most energetic, strategic and cool for the sternest, and Hop gets to have a fire starter like his big bro!)

[fandomsnerd24]

Review of The Witcher S1E1: “The End’s Beginning”

Warning: spoilers ahead! 

So tonight I decided to settle in and watch the new Netflix show Henry Cavill is in because I miiiight have a teesnsy, tiny crush on him. But you didn’t hear that from me. Anyway, I decided to watch the first episode of The Witcher. And let me tell you. Wowza! There is so much to unpack with this show. It’s based on a book series which was also made into a video game series. If that’s not a wild enough back story for this series, I don’t know what is. 

Moving on before I get even more off-topic! So even though I’m still a bit confused by the universe this series is set in, I really enjoyed watching this first episode. If you can’t handle blood and guts, then this show is not for you, my friend! So much blood and guts. So much. 

I seriously got Batman vibes from the character that Cavill plays-Geralt. It works, oddly enough. Geralt is what people call The Witcher. He apparently has magic, is a badass with a sword, and fights monsters. What the hell else does he have?? A horse named Roach. What else does he do or why do people not like him? Hell if I know! What strikes me as funny is that apparently regular old witches are very respected in their communities. They seem like the wise old men that the community turns to for aid. So I’m not completely sure why Witchers are hated as much as they are. I’m hoping that this will be cleared up as I keep going in the series. 

At one point Geralt goes to talk to the local witch and the witch lives in a literal fortress. A fortress which basically looks like Zeus’s wet dream. Naked girls everywhere (tits that Tumblr has deemed “inappropriate”) lounging in a beautiful garden, picking fruit, and having a merry old time. I will say that the garden was stunning and I love whoever did the hair of all the ladies in this series. Their hair is fabulous and I wish I knew how to braid my own hair half as well. But. Moving on. 

Next, we’re introduced to a princess named Ciri played by the lovely Freya Allan. After her entire family is murdered and she does some weird pseudo-dragon screaming (which, might I add, seriously reminds me Black Canary’s cry. just saying) that can do some serious physical damage. I don’t really get it either. But Ciri is pretty much a badass too and I’m excited to keep learning about her story and how her destiny (ugh, this word) ties her to Geralt. Geralt, who had a weird dream where a girl, who he just had sex with (probably, I mean they don’t show it, but it’s implied in several ways. but I may be wrong, but then I digress), tells him that his destiny is tied to the girl in the woods. Normal, right? Nothing odd or mystical at all... Then she tells him again when she’s dying in his arms because he stabbed her. Ya know what, it was an hour-long episode and they covered a lot of ground, so if you want specifics, it’s really just easier to watch the show. 

There was a lot going on. I think I understood everything that happened and was able to stomach the copious amount of blood, beheading, and stabbing (good god the graphic details of all the violence!). Speaking of graphic- the graphics and visual effects are super cool! I’m constantly amazed by how far technology has come and by how natural all the fighting scenes and magic looks. 

I am definately going to watch the next episode. It’s intrigued me and I intend to follow through until the end of the season! Yes, Cavill brought me to the show, but the interesting plotline has suckered me into watching more. If anything, I’ll claim I’m doing “research” for my next Superman fanfic because we need more Middle Ages/Magic AUs in this world. 

[nemainofthewater]

For the fanfic author ask game: 25 and 14

First of all, thank you for sending in a message! this is the first time I’ve done one of these, and I am very excited about it! 

14. Do the people in your life know you write fic? How do they feel about it?

Quite a few people know that I write fic! My family all do and have since I started when I was twelve. My grandfather used to print out my chapters as I posted them and call me up to talk to me about them! My dad was subscribed to my ff.net account (he would never tell me his username) and I remember him once teasing me about a typo I made in the summary of a Vampire Diaries fic I wrote 😂 I remember when one of my stories got relatively popular, my parents would have me bring up my ff.net stats page and show it to family friends which was a bit embarrassing, but it was nice to know that they were (and are) proud of my writing? 

A lot of my close friends know that I write fic as well! @lesmiserabiliad in particular is my housemate and one of my best friends and is the key reason that I got back into writing so much last year. My other friends know, but I don’t really speak to a lot of them about it- I still feel vaguely embarrassed I guess? I’m not sure why. I just try not to bring it up. 

25. Of all the fics you’ve written, which is your favourite?

This is a hard one! At the moment I am working on a Witcher fic called Shining wherein the reason Jaskier isn’t ageing is that, unbeknownst to him, one of his parents was a dragon and that he is as well. I’m really enjoying myself! I’ve been managing to post a chapter a day, and I am so awed (and slightly confused) by the response I’ve been receiving! 

In terms of favourite thing to write: I tend to have either a lot of humour or a lot of angst in my fics (and sometimes both!) I’ve been writing a Turn round robin murder mystery fic with lesmiserbiliad for almost a year now with I’m pretty sure only the two of us really read and it’s been incredibly fun! 

If we’re talking about which fic gripped me tight and wouldn’t let me go until I got it down on page- I think that one has to be a Magicians pseudo time loop thing called the violence that we do to ourselves where Henry Fogg accidentally becomes close to Eliot Waugh in all several timelines from 23 onward and then has to deal with failing to save him every single time. It is almost 8.5k words and I wrote it in its entirety one very intense evening (six hours straight of writing!) and then immediately posted for validation. 

Honestly, it really depends on how I’m feeling, which of my fics are my favourite! It’s hard, it’s like choosing a favourite child and since I have 121 posted on AO3 (and some upcoming challenge ones that are going to revealed soon) that’s a lot of children to choose between! 

Thank you for sending the ask in, and I hope that I answered the question!

[rheaitis]

Things to watch/read now the #GameOfThronesFinale has aired:

If you're here for something with the most tenuous connections to history & canon, but with more agentive PoC and a relative lack of casual sexual assault, may I interest you in #TheMusketeers.

If you want queer people and pirates and PoC and hyper-competent women and politics and platonic inter-gender friendships, please turn your gaze towards #BlackSails, and its iconic Unburying of the Gays, with added straight-baiting.

For polytheistic pseudo-Europe with queer people given a patron god, nurturing and non-creepy older men, visions, hallucinations, mentally-ill middle-aged women with a destiny, dynastic curses and marriages, please read #LoisMcMasterBujold's #Chalion series.

For three-planet dynastic politics, a disabled hero in an ableist world, personal and political loyalties, spy-masters and diplomats, badass and tactful and quiet and heroic women, and a canonical bisexual military hero and politician, read the #VorkosiganSaga by the same author.

For a disabled, acrobatic, quick-witted hero, a heroine I couldn't but read as Dark!Sansa, coups & conspiracies, irritated nobles, impending invasions, the sweetest boy to ever ascend a throne, gods & their chosen ones, the theft of earrings & empires, read #QueensThief+sequels.

For Stone Age mysticism, children on quests, telepathic wolves, and dark magic that threatens humanity, please read @MichellePaver's #ChroniclesofAncientDarkness. I know it's kidlit, but it *haunted* me for weeks. (Paver's Dark Matter and Thin Air are amazing spec-fic/horror stand-alone novels written for an older audience, beeteedubs)

For an exploration of medieval England & administration, religion, the consequences of war, the occupations of women beyond wife & whore, monastic life, aristocratic pursuits, the Crusades & their impact, please read #EllisPeters/#EdithPargeter's #BrotherCadfaelChronicles. (You can also watch these with #DerekJacobi in the lead role, if you can get hold of the 94-98 ITV series. Fewer episodes (13) than novels (20) but otoh Derek Jacobi!)

Staying with detectives but moving back in time to ancient Rome, read #LindseyDavis' #Falco series: a twenty-book romp through the length and breadth of the Roman Empire under Vespasian with crackling wit, historical accuracy, and gruesome deeds to spare.

If you'd rather have politics, please try #ColleenMcCullough's sprawling #MastersofRome, which takes you from #GaiusMarius all the way to #AugustusCaesar and made me fall predictably in love with the vicious, brilliant, queer #LuciusCorneliusSulla who I fancast as Ian Somerhalder

Or stroll back another three centuries for #MaryRenault's lush and amazing Ancient Greece novels, all the way from #Theseus to #AlexandertheGreat and then some. Complicated, queer, mystic and political, and the tiny bit of misogyny won't even register after Game of Thrones.

But I'm straying too far from dragons. @naominovik's #Temeraire series reimagines the Napoleonic War with dragons, and you should read it for stubborn & honourable, tactful & wounded, loyal & furious heroes, warrior women, a delightful Wellington, human & draconic politics.

Also, back to YA, but #MaggieStiefvater has a fabulous quartet of books with dead boys, living boys, magicians, oracles, dreaming trees, prophesied kings, a houseful of witchy women, queerness, friendship, & a goat-girl. Read #TheRavenBoys & wait for the sequel trilogy.

For queerness, politics, swords, assassins, family, love, magic, academia, and above all chocolate, please please read the amazing @EllenKushner's Swordspoint, its sequels & the prequel series Tremontaine. I know I talk about it often, but I feel like I can't talk about it enough

I feel certain I'm missing out on someone I love reading and will be sorry later. I assume everyone knows and has read #UrsulaleGuin #OctaviaButler @Nnedi, @zenaldehyde @kuangrf @tashadrinkstea @nkjemisin @seananmcguire? Good. Good. 

Plus the amazing @Miminality @emilyenrose @her_nibsen, & all the free-to-read SF/F/H mags. if you haven't please check out @anathemaspec @PodCastle_org @LightspeedMag @fyremag @FiresideFiction @BCSmagazine @UncannyMagazine @strangehorizons. There's so much out there, just read.

Katherine Addison's #TheGoblinEmperor is both very kind and unflinching: a story of a neglected fourth son who abruptly becomes emperor, and all the consequences spiralling out from that. Featuring the sweetest boy who ever got a crown, version 2.0

Nicola Griffith's #Hild leaves me drunk and reeling every time I read it, and you should too: the life of St. Hilda of Whitby as intricate and detail-drenched as any fever-dream and just: political and historical and queer and feminine and everything the best bildungsromans can be.

All these writers are women, several are WoC, several are queer, some are all three. I got frustrated with GoT back in its first season, so much so I still haven't read A Dance with Dragons. I already read a fair bit of SFF/Hist; I'd read le Guin and McCullough. But at that point I started reading women authors in SFF deliberately and pretty much exclusively, because it wasn't a male genre, and I wanted to read about other worlds and times from a non-masc perspective as much as I could. I also read historical romances & a ton of fanfic.

(Oh. I forgot @Berlin_Marina! You should go read her stuff.)

IDK whether any of the authors I mentioned will get TV/film deals, and as everyone watching #TheMagicians can endlessly tell you, there's no guarantee an adaptation won't take away the things you liked most. So just. Go and read these wonderful worlds by these amazing women.

but uh. For creation & breaking of worlds, kinstrife & kinslaying, murder of innocents, incest & torture, imprisonment & kidnapping, werewolves & wizards, stars & sailors, spiders & demons & seafaring birds, humans & dwarves & elves & gods, turn to the master. Read some Tolkien.

[skyerie]

I posted 1,846 times in 2021

57 posts created (3%)

1789 posts reblogged (97%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 31.4 posts.

I added 92 tags in 2021

#dragon age inquisition - 20 posts

#dragon age fanfiction - 16 posts

#dragon age - 12 posts

#lavellan - 10 posts

#solavellan - 9 posts

#incorrect solavellan quotes - 8 posts

#leilani lavellan is immortal - 8 posts

#hawke - 3 posts

#just randomness - 3 posts

#varric - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 94 characters

#this came to me because there's actually a star wars and dragon age fanfic and this came to me

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

...what did i do?

Or a 'I kinda want a scenario where an immortal elf is put in the uncomfortable position of being found out by everyone around her for specific reasons except for Solas because he's so busy trying to figure out who she is and protect his own skin he doesn't actually figure it out until she figures out he's Fen'Harel which she really doesn't try all that hard to’, and then I happen upon an idea while I’m in writer’s block for my other story, which is also a Solavellan story.

...I’m deep. I’m really, really, REALLY in deep.

8 notes • Posted 2021-01-20 02:39:34 GMT

#4

NA Scene (drill is still the same)

Solas: I am not Corypheus -

Leilani: Thank the Maker for that, he's certainly not as attractive as you, for starters. Also, not an elf.

Solas: Wasn't he your master at one point?

Leilani: ...yes, but he was both /definitely/ human and had these pretty soft brown eyes. Also, he had a tragic taste in clothes, you know. He chose simple linens on the days he wasn't committing ritual sacrifices, then he wore his /good/ clothes on those ritual days. So much cloth, ruined by blood!

Solas: *pinches bridge of nose* By the /Void/, Leilani, those were /people/!

Leilani: I thought we weren't people to you.

Solas: dAMN it

8 notes • Posted 2021-09-13 01:44:12 GMT

#3

Never Again Random Scene (probably not going to happen)

Random Person: So how are you and Morrigan related again?

Morrigan: ...that is a difficult question to answer.

Leilani: We share the same mother. Her mother has my mother's soul in her.

Random Person: But wouldn't that mean you're not really related to each other?

Leilani: Ordinarily, yes. But the rules of blood and soul go all wonky when the soul of an immortal pseudo-goddess decides to take a vacation in your body.

Random Person:...I see.

Leilaini and Morrigan: That's doubtful.

9 notes • Posted 2021-07-16 04:31:20 GMT

#2

Varric: So, what did you say to Bianca?

Leilani: Oh, nothing much. Just told her to enjoy her life.

Varric: *glances at a pale Bianca* Uh-huh. Bianca?

Bianca: O-oh! She just told me to enjoy my life.

*later*

Dorian: Yes, well, considering Bianca threatened her I'm not entirely surprised she threatened Bianca back.

Varric: Yes... Bianca told me as much, but not the specifics.

Dorian: ...best you don't know, then. Tea?

Varric: What did Bianca even /say/?

Dorian: *pats Varric on the back* It's /best/ you /don't/ know. Tea?

11 notes • Posted 2021-10-14 01:07:35 GMT

#1

Solas: ...it was stolen from the Marquis, and it was his family heirloom.

*all eyes turn to Leilani*

Leilani: Oh, really? It's so ugly.

*later, in the room with most of Leilani's material hoard*

Leilani: how the fuck was I supposed to know that was a family heirloom, huh? I stole it in the middle of the night!

*...in the next room...*

Dorian:...she stole it, didn't she?

Solas: In her defense, she IS a dragon.

Dorian: Yeah... but it is really ugly.

Solas: *facepalms* /Tevinters./

Dorian: technically you're a Tevinter, as well.

Solas: *unamused* No.

22 notes • Posted 2021-09-23 16:39:01 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[dalishkadan]

I posted 1,046 times in 2021

67 posts created (6%)

979 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 14.6 posts.

I added 347 tags in 2021

#fanfiction - 47 posts

#fanfic - 44 posts

#dragon age - 43 posts

#dragon age fanfiction - 36 posts

#dragon age fanfic - 34 posts

#dragon age fic - 33 posts

#dragon age inquisition - 31 posts

#ao3fic - 29 posts

#ao3 - 27 posts

#dragon age inquisition fic - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 110 characters

#and i'm hoping one day to rediscover that spark that i felt in the earlier seasons that brought me so much joy

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

oh just a little solavellan angst

13 notes • Posted 2021-03-08 03:33:06 GMT

#4

HAPPY DRAGON AGE DAY!

i've been working on this particular story for a while now, i've shared snippets here and there, and so i'm sharing chapter 1 for dragon age day. :D enjoy!

13 notes • Posted 2021-12-04 20:05:08 GMT

#3

i have officially played fallout 3 too much

i mentioned that televangelist/professional fuckstick kenneth copeland looks like ahzrukhal and at first my husband was confused ... but then i showed him a picture of ahzrukhal and not only did he agree, he immediately knew that he was the ghoul who owned charon before the lone wanderer has a chance to buy his contract.

he has never played one second of fallout 3.

my work is done.

14 notes • Posted 2021-08-05 03:46:33 GMT

#2

kinktober prompt list

so, because i was bored, i compiled a prompt list to work on for this year's kinktober because with my muse being extra fickle, i want maximum time to work on it. if anyone else wants to use these prompts, feel free to. you don't have to tag me if you don't want to (though it would be nice :) ).

---

Day 1 - Medical Kink

Day 2 - Xenophilia

Day 3 - Shower/bath

Day 4- Semi-Public Sex

Day 5 - Striptease

Day 6 - A/B/O

Day 7 - Anal

Day 8 - Creampie/Keeping Quiet

Day 9 - Masks

Day 10 - Lingerie

Day 11 - Temperature Play

Day 12 - Begging/Edging

Day 13 - Somnophilia

Day 14 - Phone/Communicator/Letter Sex

Day 15 - Incest/Pseudo-Incest

Day 16 - Impact Play

Day 17 - Monster/Demon Fucking

Day 18 - Clothed/Making Out/Marking

Day 19 - Against a Wall

Day 20 - Thigh Riding

Day 21 - Protective/Possessive

Day 22 - Touch-starved

Day 23 - Bonds (Telepathic or Empathic)

Day 24 - Choking/Spanking

Day 25 - Threesome

Day 26 - Frottage/Dry Humping

Day 27 - Fingering/Handjob/Dirty Talk

Day 28 - Knife Play

Day 29 - Praise Kink

Day 30 - Blindfold/Bondage

Day 31 - Aftercare

32 notes • Posted 2021-02-28 07:25:56 GMT

#1

don't hate me because it's true

164 notes • Posted 2021-07-22 22:37:16 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[stormears]

Traveler of Mine (snippet)

Summary: While Hyrule rebuilds its civilization, the Champion Link disappears into the wild again, seeking rest, or familiarity, or a release from a century of crushing weight that defined his life. Princess Zelda and Prince Sidon, the royals who stand a chance against him, pursue him, so that they might bring him home. Link runs. 

1,500-word snippet/beginning scene of a 10 - 15k-ish oneshot I’ve been thinking about. I have a fanfic “thing” I enjoy of Charcter A hunting down Char B with pseudo-romantic intentions. Zelda and Sidon and maybe a handful of random other citizens suit up to bring Link home and maybe ask him out or try to win that opportunity by catching him and beating him at his own wilderness-traversing game. Chase scenes, friendship, friendship-to-romance, lots of horse riding and mentions of horsey things, long journeys across Hyrule symbolizing Link’s metaphorical, huge expanse of crushing exhaustion of the burden he’s lived with as long as he can remember. 

The snippet doesn’t get that far into all that, but it’s what I’m going for. 

The people came back, and so she could breathe. It was her secret fear, her spoiled, hopeful one, that when—if—the Calamity was driven back, the city would stay empty, and no one would ever return. Several times across a hundred years where she refused to age and strained her muscles against the Beast enough for fifty men at once, she thought about this and felt something like humiliation. But once again, Link saved her.

Link’s journey upon waking in his shrine to bringing his newly rallied Beasts with him to take back their Kingdom took him five months. The battle took three hours. After they had rested and woke alone in the castle ruins, they explored. They pushed rubble, collected artifacts that had sat on stone floors and collected dust for the length of a Hylian’s whole life. At the end of the first week, some strangers came in. And more came. And the rubble moved.

Now Zelda does not know the feeling of humiliation. She knows about growing, and filing residential deeds and merchant partnerships. Folk coming into Castle Town came with businesses and families and precious heirlooms to put on shelves. And most importantly, they brought crafts to carry these things with. Carpenters came and mixed cement and brought logs and homes rose up. Link was on roofs more often than not, hefting this and aligning that. He made his intentions known well enough even to those folk who couldn’t make sense of his hand signs. Whether they did or didn’t, he was well in demand. Everyone knew him. Half the population had seen him roaming Hyrule these past months, some of them had apparently had errands done by him, sold him groceries and supplies and weapons. Everyone knew the warrior, the horseman, the moblin slayer, mountain climber, savior of races and dragons and things like that.  

When she  gave out plots of land to a group of farmers, another one came up, with a Goron behind him, asking with great excitement, “Ma’am, where is the Champion? Is he in the south quarter today?”

Where is Link, was a familiar question, usually easily answered. “He’s due for a rest day today. He must be sitting on a castle wall somewhere. I’m afraid he won’t be back for any construction assistance till tomorrow morning.”

“I might have the answer to that, miss Zelda,” said the Goron, who raised a folded piece of paper above all their heads. “I passed him this morning. He said to give this to you, uh, ma’am.” And his arm came down over the farmer, to Zelda’s reach. She took the paper and felt a thin magic on it immediately, some fairy blessing to keep the paper shut. An invisibly bump of sorts told her that the Goron had tried to open this letter and failed.

“Thank you, sir. I’m so glad it’s safe and unopened.” She gave him a fine grin and made sure to look him in the eyes as she opened it up. The Goron kept a straight face in front of her.

Zelda did not keep her straight face. The letter was from Link, written in his passable, leaning scratch and saying words she really had not expected to see or read this morning:

Zelda,

I’m leaving for a while. Don’t know when I’ll be back I need to be away Im very tired. Please accept my  apologies. Reconstruction of castle Town is going well I don’t think they really need me anymore. I think I want to, be in the wild again it helps me sleep and I’ve felt heavy and strange since we won the battle again I am sorry. Take care of yourself my princess

At the bottom he signed his name the way he used to, a century ago when he was a trained soldier. The elegant precision and large L seemed to be written by an entirely different hand than the one who had written the message itself. Zelda dared to think ‘Who wrote this?’ as she scanned it a second time. It seemed like a tiny work of fiction. A small handful of collapses in the grammar and spelling. It didn’t matter. Link probably hadn’t written letters for a hundred years. Link had left her without telling her so. Heavy and strange. What in the hell did that mean? She read it again, again. Im very tired.

‘Well, I know that, silly goose,’ she wanted to laugh. ‘You are the most tired man in the land right now.’ But it didn’t feel funny at that moment. That lying Goron was still looking at her.

She looked up with her same smile. “He says he’s gone out for some fresh air. Won’t be back for a while. I say he could use a good long break.” She nodded to herself and folded up the paper into a little scroll and tied it with a spare hair ribbon. She hooked it onto her belt where it would not be taken or read. “The first zone of the town is properly gridded off and our buildings are coming along nicely. We can do without his help for now.”

“Oh nooo!” moaned a lady with a cloth cap from behind them. “I hoped to see him today! I promised him free blackberry wine, you know! He, I think he made a sign saying he’d take it.”

“When will he be back, milady?” asked the man she’d been talking to before this nonsense started, and Zelda told him “Long enough for a decent vacation,” and hoped he would shut up. To assure that he would, she made a show of taking a new set of important paperwork in her hands and walking away. She could be busy anywhere. With the construction, the lake and reservoir diggers, the Zora party asking for trade, that asshole who said his grandfather was a Councilman, some horse association, lots of things.

Zelda made time for many of these things until just after sunset, when construction crews were piling up lumber for the night and lazing about. They left town or took shelter at the one inn that was close enough to complete to comfortably stay in, and any new residents did the same. Several folk during the day had asked about Link, was he coming to this area soon, was he around, did he have lunch plans? Zelda excused him each time, but she knew with each one that her placating couldn’t last forever. Or even for long. This town was growing new life again because of Link. It was all because of Link. He was the one people really knew. Not her, not usually. Even if her name was on everything and she carried the Goddess blood and every person she spoke to was her subject now, people nodded these facts away and asked to see the Champion Link, please. And so did she.

He was her appointed knight and constant companion through every trial and struggle and sunny day. She had known him since they were small. She knew him before he started tying his hair back. She watched him fall and cut himself on grown men’s swords and then wield them on the back of a horse. She told him to stand by her while a great godly demon threatened to swallow them and erase them from existence. She had known him so long, trusted only him by that point, that she could only choose him now. Link was at her side for everything and she loved him for it in some way. His loyalty was stronger than the might of Ganon. He hadn’t even told her to her face that he was leaving her alone.

“Are you all right?” she murmured in her half-broken room that night. She felt she was close to sleeping and dreaming this away. “I know you’re tired. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I need you for everything.” There was no one here to apologize to her, to say it’s okay, or I am always at your side, or some such thing. Link was gone. Was it absurd, that she wanted to cry? That she was crying.

‘If it helps you sleep and rest and finally...feel good again, then you must do it,’ she thought, for speaking was out of the question now. Her lip was wobbling like a soft child’s. She wiped at her wet eyes. ‘I didn’t know you felt heavy and strange. And tired. I’m sorry, Link. I’m sorry! Should I come get you? Do you want me to help you?’ No answer here. There was a light wind outside, delaying the silence.

When the silence was back she thought, ‘You rest, my Champion, and if you are not well or back soon, I will come find you.’

-

This came out significantly more emotional that I first intended. But we’re rolling with it. Eventually Zelda will decide Link’s been gone too long and she’s worried about him and enlist Sidon to help her since I guess she knows they fought Vah Ruta together and Sidon would want to help. This was originally a purely Sidlink idea but Zelda wormed her way in there and we may have some sort of Zelda x Link x Sidon thing on our hands. Or maybe I’ll pick one in the end, eh, I’m not sure yet. I planned this in my head when I was playing BotW to distract me from failing to write other WIP fics that I frankly care much more about. 

And as Link keeps eluding them (he secretly takes up “work” at various Hyrule stables, he’s the one who goes to collect horses off of mountaintops and shit when people ask to “board” them like the player would, so he keeps escaping with both his natural athletic skills and his retinue of infinite horses lmao) Zelda and Sidon will feel less “poor dear Link, we must find him and make sure he’s okay” and more “That clever BITCH, I almost had him, he’s too good, soon I’ll have him in my arms you hear me my dear Link I’m coming for you” 

That’s the kind of fic I’d like to read anyway, so here I am writing it :/ 

[arcann]

@freudiscancelled im an idiot and deleted the ask.

salty ask: 1 (of course), 17, 5, 6

1.  What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Dragon Age: Probably Iron Bull x Dorian? At this moment its a trainwreck bc its received official sanction and now were going to tolerate the fact that iron bull told everyone what dorian did with him in private even tho dorian asks him to stop every damn time. Im just picking some plants in my accursed inquisitorial life and suddenly harassment is happening in my team? Goodbye forever IB youre just in the inquisition bc Krem comes along but I would so kick him out. But then Bioware tells me it worked out alright? With all we know those two and how they treat each other’s culture/religion/race???... geez

SWTOR: whats up with shipping arcann or lana with ls!jedi? 

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

maybe Sera or Solas x Lavellan since i have Huge issues about people i love policing and mocking what i do and don’t believe

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I guess I started to like Hawke x Varric bc of some really great fanfics? Not that I hated them together but nothing about the game really made me ship it. not even the actual flirts there.

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

OH BOY I COULD WRITE BUT I HAVE A THESIS TO PSEUDO START

The “Chosen One” vibes that inquisition gives are scratched. You can say no to being Andrastes whatever and the game respects that. The mage vs templar conflict is actually ? important? same with the orlesian conflict. whole plot happens in orlais bc my tolerance for old england once more was super thin. corypheus is just a side plot and not the main villain? merrill instead of morrigan as the elven expert? flemeth not dying or at least not being killed by solas? someone competent as military advisor instead of mr. “i got the job of the year bc im a white guy” cullen? hawke doesnt get railroaded into dying or going to the grey wardens bc reasons? vivienne and sera’s plot making more sense? leliana not being so easily swayed by the inquisitor? ughgdh this is so obvious and basic but It Is Necessary

((also im writing this in questions bc its like im asking for basic decency from biower))

Also I would delete G*rrett Hawkes mug from existence... or have another trailer with Marian....

For star wars the plot painting kyle ron as an irredeemable monster (more emphasis!!!!), swtor not killing the exile and putting revan in the spotlight, kotfe/kotet and sor never happening, more focus in companions in each storyline similar to kotor...