#shes his teacher she's his mom she's his bestie she wants to steal his identity. she's homoerotically obsessed with his wife.

[princehendir]

I'm Adrianmode, and I don't think you've talked abt her much on the new blog: PLEASE talk about his demon girlbestie. I love her.

YAYYYYYY Self-interest :) you're right I haven't talked about her yet, that's crazy. Bullet points because I like those. Some fun facts below, organized into a rough timeline:

if you asked her, she would tell you that she's Adrian's childhood best friend. Adrian does not know what the hell she's talking about. She is extremely offended that he doesn't remember his dreams from when he was 10, which is when & where they actually first met.

as far as Adrian's concerned, they've only functionally "known each other" since the family left Lothering, which is when he started acknowledging her as being a discreet Being as opposed to just some vague dream-figure that his brain cooked up. He then also proceeded to ignore her for a whole year after that while he was trying to be a Good Mage who is Not A Maleficar and Doesn't Consort With Demons. That ends when he finally decides that he's more interested in finding out what she can teach him about magic than he is in respectability and making his dad proud of him.

Anyways

Her appearance changes as the game goes on, depending on what it is she wants and what in general is going on, which I know I've mentioned but it's my favorite part of writing her lol. The simplified appearance timeline is that pre-game, she mostly just chooses to present herself like a slightly less sexy default desire demon, and then during that first year in Kirkwall when she's trying to get Adrian to acknowledge her she's mostly trying to mimic the type of girls that he likes to date, because she's used to that getting results, and then after that it gets... Complicated. A couple of times it's commented that she's starting to look a bit like Bethany, but whether that's because she's actually trying to mimic Bethany or if she's trying to look like Adrian-but-a-girl and as a result ends up looking like Bethany is unclear. Definitely, she is trying to look like a Hawke. But in an elf kind of way? It's weird.

Which leads me to something that I haven't talked about much yet:

After she meets Justice for the first time in Night Terrors she gets really obsessed with what him & Anders have going on, and starts trying to talk Adrian into letting her possess him. He turns her down or changes the subject every time she brings it up, like never even considers it, and this becomes a major source of contention in their relationship and also the main aspect of her character arc for the last half of da2. Elaboration in next point.

Basically the thing about her is that it is inherently in her nature to Want Things. That's what she is, a creature that Wants and wants without regard for what is outside of her. And the thing that she wants right now is to crawl inside Adrian's brain and wear his body like a cheap suit, but unfortunately, more specifically, she also wants him to want that too. So she can't directly manipulate him into it, and she can't force the issue either. And it's SO frustrating for her. Because she's never wanted something that she didn't know how to get before, or something that requires inherently the consent and participation of someone else. It's kind of... Destabilizing, for her. It is implied that this internal conflict is altering her nature in some way, similar to how the mage/templar conflict in Kirkwall is altering Justice's.

Also she kind of exclusively refers to Justice as "Vengeance" lol. Unless she thinks he can hear her. She's not suicidal.

Merrill thinks she's really creepy btw. She generally stays out of it, because it's Adrian's business, and he generally stays out of her stuff with Audacity/the Eluvian/etc, but she does make it clear that she doesn't trust this particular spirit, and thinks that Adrian is wayyyyy too intimate with her. Not in a jealousy way, just in a "I'm worried you're in over your head and not taking proper precautions" way.

Self-interest LOVES Merrill though. It thinks she's so neat, and goes out of it's way to encourage Adrian to spend more time with her before they start dating.

(I'm not saying that the possibility of being closer to Merrill is part of what Self-interest finds so appealing about the possibility of possessing Adrian, but I'm not not saying that either)

Primarily though, Self-interest's role in Adrian's life is as a teacher. She teaches him blood magic, she teaches him spirit healing. Things that Adrian's father couldn't or wouldn't teach him. And in the case of healing, tried but gave up on teaching him while he was growing up. It was a big source of conflict in Adrian's relationship with his father that Malcolm felt he was hard/frustrating to teach, that he didn't learn well, that he wasn't a particularly talented mage in general, etc. So the fact that Self-interest is enthusiastic about teaching him, praises him when he does well, and tells him that he has a lot of potential, is a huge part of what is appealing about her to him. Soothes his daddy issues. He's normal.

[kikitakite]

@fantasyfictionfables

I was going to reblog some of your posts because I wanted to discuss your takes on Mystra, but then I found out you're a Christian conservative who hates gay people.

No gay person thinks their sexual orientation is their identity, but it's absolutely PART of their identity, just as being straight is part of yours. You can claim otherwise, but it determines who you might love and marry and that person will one day become a part of you and your identity. It's inevitable. As a wife and mother of three, you should know that better than anyone.

But people from groups like yours shame gay people for exploring that part of themselves and that's why Pride Month exists. Pride isn't "propaganda". It's about marginalized people showing the world they exist and they're not ashamed of it. Parades are also a great way for gay people to meet each other. My bestie met her wife at a march 15 years ago and they've been together ever since. It's beautiful. They have two happy, gorgeous children who wouldn't exist without Pride, because their moms never would've met.

Pride also raises money to help gay teens who've been cast out of their homes and gay refugees who've had to flee their country because being gay is illegal there. It also provides support for gay people who need medical help, therapy for abuse, suicide prevention and more. It's a safe space for people who are often discriminated against and even KILLED just for being who they are. So sorry that seems to bother you.

Your take isn't brave, it's just ignorant and hateful. You didn't have to write that post. Nothing provoked it. You just WANTED to to air your allegiances. And then you turned off comments and reblogs lmfao. For the majority of the year, gay people survive just like us straights. They go about their day and don't even mention being gay. You picked the one month in the entire year that's dedicated to them to complain about their existence and call them "deranged". And then you have the audacity to say you "bear no ill will" towards them? Bullshit.

I can only assume the word "pride" scares you because you're a Christian and it's a sin, am I right? Well here's something ironic: lust is also a sin, yet your entire blog not only consists of Gale thirst posts, but you're also stealing Tim Downie's voice to make audio clips using AI. Hmmm, I wonder if God would approve of a married woman posting NSFW content and using a man's voice for her hedonistic writings without his consent. 🤔

And by the way, as a veteran DnD player I can tell you right now that Mystra has done some absolutely VILE shit to her followers. She's not perfect. None of the gods in DnD are. They're flawed and often cruel. I've seen you compare Mystra and Gale to stories in the Bible, but that almost feels blasphemous. Mystra has a history of evil deeds. She orchestrated Elminster's rape, made sure he had kids and never told him about them. She turned Volo into an anchor without his knowledge. She tortured a peasant because he refused to sleep with her, then killed his wife and punished him for crying about it. And don't even get me started on the "daughters" she created. The third Mystra (who has Mystra and Mystryl's memories) is cruel to Gale as well and the game gives so much context for that. Plus ALL the companions agree she's unreasonable and tell Gale to reject her, and if he does it leads to one of his most satisfying endings. He's happy, he's a teacher, he marries tav and everyone approves. Your way of playing isn't the only right way and people aren't wrong for criticizing Mystra. There's plenty about her that deserves to be criticized, as is the case with every god in the pantheon.

Speaking of, I have nothing against Christians, but I do when they use their faith to shame people and act like total hypocrites.