#there's more fun to answer when I can be wordy

[alisvhikasu]

Alis gets weirdly competitive about games.

Okay so, the through-line starts a few decades back when gambling became her hyper-fixation. For a bit, she was just enjoying the thrill of it, but it didn't take long for her to try and become good at gambling which. Well, you get good at gambling by looking at the stuff just outside the game: card counting, then catching patterns in roulettes, then using your massive rabbit ears to listen to the dice to know when and how they're cocked...

Anyways long story short she is banned from most non-Gold Saucer establishments by the time of the ARR, but she still keeps up her habit of over-analyzing any game she gets into, whether or not it involves chance. It's more fun when everyone's playing their best, right?

Ironically? I think that means she and Estinien in the WoL-verse get along weirdly well. I don't remember where the post was of headcannoning dragoons as being the most autistic of classes due to them looking at dragons and saying "I'm dedicating the next few years to learn a skillset specifically to counter you" but I'm taking that and applying it to board games too. When Estinien and Alis get into a game, you know the both of them are pulling out their spreadsheets and somehow have "techniques" for throwing dice to ensure they always get the roll they want.

...

I think whether or not this is annoying is entirely dependent on how much you're okay with just listening to someone spend at least half the game time puzzling over the rules in order to find fun loopholes.

Another day, another WoLQotD! I got a nice one for you all!

I'm curious to hear about your WoL's funny quirks! Things that make them, them. Actions that are so on brand, that when it happens, everyone around them goes "yup, that's our WoL for you..."

Could be cute, funny, mysterious, etc I just would love to hear about it!!

[tadc-harlequin-au]

Hello! I, once again, have three more questions for you to answer, hope you have fun with ‘em!

:)

1. These “Charms” Miss Azures collects, do they have special magical/alchemical properties to them?

2. So… Guns right? I am aware that Kingr has access to firearms, however he is reluctant to use them. But what about the others? Would they use a firearm if they could? Or is it a personal choice that they don’t use guns?

3. Since Caine is Enlightened, he would have stuff like Organs and Blood right? Has he ever studied himself?

(Sorry if this is a bit wordy, you don’t have to answer all of them)

Charms:

yes, they can heavily vary from one another too.

Guns:

I initially didn't want to add guns to this AU, but I'm quickly realizing that it would not make sense to not have any. So;

Pomni can have mechanical arm gun upgrades.

Z can have a gun arm too, but it's not used on any boss. Mainly, it's just for self-protection when they're out and about.

Jax is BANNED from even having guns. You know why.

Ragatha freaks out about the thought of having gun parts, she thinks it's unladylike of her.

same with Gangle.

Caine doesn't really have a gun, he's fine enough with his magics.

Organs and blood:

Eh, I would say he has some, but they're very weird and absolutely do NOT look like anything that is human anatomy/biology. They are, after all, just attempting to recreate what organs Caine used to have, using the very mechanisms that his mechanical body is made up of.

His blood is black. The consistency is like a weird combination of ink, oil and blood.

Caine is very weirded out by his body's evolution, canonically. My boy cannot stand the idea of his features becoming so unrecognizable and inhuman.

He's explored and studied the evolution that his body has taken to an extent; He did modify himself heavily after all, but he can only do so much with no way to keep pain at bay (without downing a strong alcohol).

This was a very fun ask to answer!

[markrosewater]

Happy Saturday Mark,

I really enjoyed listening to your Drive to Work podcast on stickiness. It was one of my favorites in months! It was an interesting look behind the curtain design wise and the factors you consider when designing mechanics.

I definitely prefer mechanics that are sticky.

You mentioned that you still think it's worthwhile to design mechanics that aren't sticky but I don't think you really explained why the benefits of this outweigh the counterintuitive nature and memory issues that complex mechanics that aren't sticky create.

You mentioned that Magic is a complex game and that's part of its charm and intrigue. I think that's true, I also think it's true that everything can't be done by memory but I don't think going out of the way to create mechanics that are overly wordy and aren't sticky in a game that is inherently very complicated is helpful to the player. I think there's a fine line between tic-tac-toe and overly complex where it strongly goes against player intuition and memory bandwidth.

I also think you've proven that for 30+ years, Magic can make designs with new mechanics (and reuse existing ones) that appeal to players without going out of the way to make excessively wordy, complex and unsticky mechanics.

By the way, this doesn't mean there isn't merit or value in designing individual cards at higher rarities that are less sticky. Most planeswalker designs aren't sticky and they are often dynamic and interesting cards, although they almost always appear at high rarity and are only a small handful in a single set rather than them being full fledged mechanics that appear at common.

For example, Gemstone Caverns is a fun and dynamic card design that isn't particularly sticky and is fairly complex. That's okay but that doesn't mean it would be a good idea to keyword the mechanic, right?

I feel nearly every time there's a keyworded mechanic that isn't sticky and has memory issues, these mechanics are controversial or divisive. They seem to never be overwhelming popular (i.e. Mutate, Tempted by the Ring, Attractions, The Initiative, Day and Night) and they create so much more baggage and mental load issues compared to sticky mechanics.

I also find it counterintuitive that you acknowledge and understand that more people are playing Magic in eternal formats that are backwards compatible (i.e. Commander) but you seem to highly value creating mechanics that are highly words, complex and not sticky. In my experience, those types of mechanics overwhelm players more in those types of formats compared to less popular (but still very fun) formats like Limited Sealed.

I guess my question is that for most of your podcast you highlighted why sticky designs are a great thing and that while every mechanic can't be as elegant and sticky as Flying, it's important to make mechanics as intuitive as possible to help players, if that's the case, why do you sometimes create mechanics that are very anti-sticky?

Keep up the awesome work and have a great day!

You're conflating "wordy" with "unsticky" and those are not synonyms. I'll use one of the mechanics you listed as an example - daybound/nightbound. The issue with the mechanic wasn't a lack of stickiness. The idea of there being day and then there being night, and things caring about it is pretty intuitive. Players got the gist of what the mechanic was up to.

Day/night's issues had to do with creating inconsistencies (mostly with Werewolves) and having tracking occurring when it didn't matter. So yes, there were play problems, but not because players couldn't wrap there brain around what it did.

Haunt, as a counter example, wasn't particularly wordy, but was very hard to remember.

I believe your question is really "why do we make complex mechanics?" And the answer is there's an audience that really adores the complex mechanics, and we're trying to find a good balance to allow every player to make Magic the kind of game they enjoy.

As to complex mechanics having a bigger burden on eternal games, I agree they do, but I believe that's what players sign up for when they play an eternal format. We're not going to simplify modern day Magic for all the other players that are enjoying the many other ways to play simply to keep eternal formats, which are already highly complex, slightly less complex.

[moonshynecybin]

Coming to the scholars to share some thoughts on vale and shibari lol. I’ve been watching videos on it recently and there’s been multiple mentions of emotional caretaking without the constraints of language. which. Vale being able to show his care with minimal words and while maintains a high degree of control over the scene?? This is how we get rosquez reunion

you ever get an ask that you don’t think you are smart enough to answer… SORRY it not my wheelhouse i will try my wordy best…

i don’t know if i can say anything NEW about this, except that i think rosquez have lots of emotionally fraught if extremely sexy fun figuring out the boundaries of their control over one another through sex. like if we are operating under they are in love and obsessed with each other even now conditions (WHICH WE ARE…), then this sort of decade long give and take where marc matures and clearly wantssss vale in his life but refuses to be entirely subsumed as a dependent part of vale (a man who is putting his own number/iconography on bikes he is not riding…..) is part of the problem between them AND is deeply sexy in a sort of… erotic frustration kind of way. wanting marc as subordinate but finding it attractive that he won’t ever allow himself to do that. which i think extends to their weirdo sex life where vale wants to do all this stuff that allows him control at least a little bit (and marc tbh likes to get manhandled/pampered) but i think part of the reason it’s so good is because total control is elusive. marc is always gonna surprise him. even when marc is pouring himself into vale’s hands like i want you to take care of me he’s always gonna surprise him, he’s so HEADSTRONG… and vale LIKES surprises !! it delights him it annoys him it scares the shit out of him it gets him off. the rosquez experience. like he likes the TRYING more than the HAVING. so idk i don’t especiallyyy lean bondage for them in the roleplay of it all because i like more of a give and take i think… and then there’s the ARM, which makes everything more complicated…

idk maybe i can see them trying it out shibari post reconciliation and then having to be veryyyy specific about the knots in a way that pisses marc off lmao so he’s like if you do not make me feel fuckable up to my extremely exacting standards/make me feel like the last ten years did not happen i will fuck off into the ether to idk. call alex and bitch about you to him (not said but nevertheless understood) and vale does NOT want that he wants to be the only thing marc can even THINK about, so he has to get more out of his head and instinctual (harder to do with shibari i think!!!) and THATS what breaks the seal. like he drops to his knees and takes marc in his mouth and his old man knees hurt but marc is whining and twisting above him with all of the pretty knots all over his skin and one good arm behind his back and vale is hard enough to pound NAILS and it’s still kind of like HOW DID HE MANAGE TO GET ME HERE…

[specialagentartemis]

@consolecadet:

Some of these are obvious to me (of course scientists! of course linguistics! topics you are interested in) but I'm curious if you have a sense of why you favor dialogue, em-dashes, and desperation

I started thinking about this and writing an answer and then it got Long, haha.

Regarding dialogue, I know exactly where that comes from: listening to a lot of audio drama podcasts, and especially Wolf 359. That one really shifted how I think about characterization! In an audio-only medium, everything has to be conveyed by either soliloquy or dialogue—and it makes every single thing inherently and necessarily a character moment, because everything that is happening is filtered through what a character thinks about it, what a character says about what they think, and how they present it to whoever they’re talking to.

It means that for a long time I’ve operated on the principle of,

Rather than have a character think something, have them say it; rather than have them say what they’re thinking directly, have them talk around it.

When I write too much thinking, it can get very static and navel-gazey. Instead of having a character think something, they say it, and it becomes something much more dynamic, because they have to say it to somebody, who will respond!

so my stories often end up very dialogue heavy. Partially also because I feel like I don’t know how to write scene setting description all that well, and action is no fun if it’s not super character-y. And plot is hard, lol. I’m still working on that one. So dialogue ends up doing a lot of work. and listening to a lot of audio drama podcasts has made me really appreciate just how much work it can do.

As for the isolation/desperation bullet point… there are definitely elements of the depression/grad school experience I could psychoanalyze myself about hah, but also a big part of that comes from my fascination with the dramatic tension and heightened emotions of what people do when there are no good choices. The desperation and the isolation go together, it’s about being trapped and a physical location or a dilemma with no third option. It’s the Kobayashi Maru thing. It’s my long-standing love for the sci-fi plot where a small crew goes to a strange and distant planet/star/deep sea trench/Antarctica, and get their shit wrecked by what they find there. It’s about the small scale tension of running out of air, running out of food, knowing there are monsters at the door, knowing that no one is coming to save you or if they are, they can’t come in time—what do you do then?

Partially it’s also the influence of my long-standing love of wilderness survival stories, something I’ve loved since I read Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins as a kid.

And these things kind of reinforce each other—small casts and high tensions in an isolated environment, or dealing with a singular overwhelming unsolvable no-win-scenario, means that a lot of the drama gets conveyed through dialogue. Which I like writing XD

And for the em-dashes. I am simply a wordy fuck who loves my long sentences 😅

[ruelin024]

What does the neutral mean?

Heyo Anon, this is not specifically targeted at you, okie╰(*°▽°*)╯

I will answer you and others for this post. 👌

[Neutral shipper: Typically refers to someone who does not want to participate in proship versus antiship discourse. Can be considered 'proship' by default to some.]

Quoted off from This Carrd -> SHIPPING GLOSSARY

Now, this is for all the other anonymous in my inbox that keep asking me "what I am", "who I am part of", and "why I call myself Neutral."

I deleted those asks since; I will be answering y'all questions here.

First off, it felt funny/weird being asked "What am I?" Like lmao. I'm just Rue/Ruth, I draw :3 I like Undertale, I'm tryna learn how to socialize better and improve my art, so wassup.✨o(*^▽^*)┛

This post is meant for those who are open-minded and respectful plz and thank you. (^^ゞ)

Long Wordy Personal Post Below

(CW/TW regarding ships, I curse a bit sorry)

None of this is meant to offend nor dismiss anyone’s opinion, experiences, or feelings. Understand, this is just my rambling and thoughts. I'm also not calling out anyone! AND PLZ do not harass anyone from the links.

Some of my quick research:

-> SHIPPING GLOSSARY -> so what does ‘ship-neutral’ actually mean? -> 👑yorse backyorse friends the backyorsigans🐝 — Sad how "proship is the neutral side" is kind of... -> Proship, at it's very core, is a combination of four general principles-- -> Proship is, at the very core, very simple! -> Curating your online and fandom experience includes: -> They have links about "Fiction and Reality" -> Other short discussion on Proship

I am usually not one for drama or negative vibes, but it would be nice if I can stop getting asks pertaining to proshipping and anti-shippers.

And the fact I'm okay and Welcoming to ALL is really because I am Neutral, my personal thought process has always been, "I do not wish to bother nor be bothered."

I am told/warned by very close peers, I am quite desensitized or apathetic to things, but it's due to some personal trauma I will not discuss publicly for my safety. It's one of the reasons I don't care to bother with troublesome things. Dw I'm working on it and healing.

This means "this" will be the first and only big important post I make regarding this topic.

And if I happen to be a bother, plz tell me or do block, and unfollow me okay, for your sake. ╯︿╰

I do not have a dni for many reasons. Though the main bare minimum I shouldn't even ask of anyone is to just be nice, respectful, kind and open-minded. I will not tolerate harassment, insults, or threats around me or for those around me.

Anyway, the Proshipper and Antishipper community arguments are bothersome but is quite an entertaining read.

We all have our own opinions, thoughts, view etc, if you actually don't like something, then just stay far far away from what you find/consider problematic. And you'll see life is so much calmer.

I for one am living as satisfied as I can.

I am a simple person. I just like art and doing/making what I like such as exploring Undertale content, creating fanart for friends, conversing about OCs and AUs, participating in DTIYS, all that fun exciting stuff! I get to know others; I get to draw more and improve on myself! Win-win! ♪(^∇^*)

Tumblr is my first ever social media when I turned 18, literally 2023, last year. I anxiously decided when I became an adult, I can finally do instagram, discord, tumblr, etc, to share my art because I am usually a nervous wreck both irl & online.

Yeah, internet still paranoids me, but I'm getting though it cause school requires me to. *sigh*

(Uh. to my friends, reading this, that I've bothered multiple times to help me use sites and my phone/computer, 😭 you cool, also sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry) My bad. 👌Y'all patience is immaculate.

So, I for one am not knowledgeable about, well, "the internet" as others may be at my age. I never knew the art community had more issues other an ai, art theft, and tracing, like whoa.

So lemme tell you something, when I was recently first confronted about if I was a proshipper, I went to research, and there's not a way I can word this nicely, but "I do not care what other people think, like, do or say" especially on the internet, unless it's being shoved down my throat forcibly, but you know what, no one can exactly do that online, since I and everyone else has the power to block, unfollow and curate their own internet experience respectfully.

And if you can't, I insist you take care/be kind to yourself and chill off your device OR learn how to block certain people, content labels and tags, etc y'know.

And a dni list might sometimes not be read, personal experience:

I happened to accidentally disrespect a friend's dni list because at the time I didn't know I was a person that had opinions that were against what their thoughts/views were and didn't know/realize that they had an issue with "Fiction doesn't affect reality." Purely accidental, they were one of the first asks and friends I made, so I followed without reading their blog thoroughly cause I was just happy to make more Undertale friends. And didn't know if I should randomly disappear from them, up until they confronted me about it. Anyway, I think that issue was solved, hopefully.

Now I have friends who were proshippers, friends that are nice antis, friends in-between and friends that are neutral like me. And those I still consider Friends who have blocked and unfollowed me.

Along with some who didn't wish to hear me out and decided to make their vile assumptions of me, and others who were kind and open enough to listen to my own words and remain a dear friend.

Being Neutral to me is not having a strong enough opinion for or against. Cause not all proshippers are badshit mental, not all anti-shippers are death threatening fancop messengers, and not all neutrals are hypocritical.

Something around those lines. Btw, I enjoy platonic ships for the most part, also consent and boundaries is highly important in my book. I do not support sick shit and know just because someone is associated with people who draw that, doesn't mean they support it, I for one know my reality and know where fiction stays fiction. That's my opinion and thoughts. If you can't differentiate and you let something like fiction rule your life in a bad way, I hope you work on yourself more and be kind to yourself. 😔 I had a moment of struggle like that after going through certain experiences, until I learned and disciplined myself to not give a flying fuck anymore. Cause I found it to be very draining and stupid to keep dwelling on it. Now I don't get triggered easily for my well-being! Inner Peace type shit! 👈(ﾟヮﾟ👈)

Also, regarding the frans question cause of the ask about the "Sooner or Later You're Gonna Be Mine" post I made a few days earlier. Uh yeah, as long as characters are being depicted as adults, it also applies to aging up a child canon character, then it's fine, both are depicted as adults. That's their view, their drawing, their writing, their thoughts. And I will respect them for depicting their ship as adults if that's what it is.

In my opinion, I'm just glad they didn't do child x adult stuff in the frans ship in their fanfic. And even if they did, I'd cringe then just scroll off far far away and not bother with it anymore for my mental. OR I can just easily, replace the characters I'm reading on, with my own characters. I wouldn't spread hate nor harass anyone over it for being problematic. Cause I don't wanna bother, they probably get enough shit from others anyway, cause many types of people exist whether we like it or not.

I had someone tell me in a discussion once, where in their Undertale AU and drawings, their Frisk was an adult, and just know there's people out in the world that have a version of Frisk that ages with them, and is their specified identity despite canon Frisk being a nonbinary human, and that's their choice, not my business fr. Also, another talk with a friend, was that it was weird you'd still see an aged-up Frisk as a child, I dunno if this makes sense, but you view them as a child, despite them being drawn as an adult as depicted in certain frans drawings, that's odd, I guess and it was funny they told me, and I summarize quote them, "That means adults can't have romance(seggs)! We are basically aged-up children!" -So anyway, either you're protective of canon frisk and you simply can't see them in other's people's respective view or you just something else I dunno.

When I see a ship, I don't like, my way to view it is just replacing the characters in my head and scrolling off, simple. Well simple for me. I'm not sure about y'all? I'm in my head a lot, so I have a lot of imaginative power up there lol.

And my favorite color blue and green-ish blue. (✿◡‿◡)

Hopefully, I answered most of the asks. IF anyone needs some clarification, just be open minded and do you own research, go explore, don't just listen to close friends' opinions, have fun and discover your own opinions. That's how I gain my own perspective on many Undertale ships deemed common/problematic and being a Neutral. Understand, definitions are skewed overtime, find more than one source, learn from others, and then decide your own views.

This whole thing ain't mean to change your views or anything.

I'm not sure if I missed anything. I don't wanna proofread this again. This was tiresome to make. ╯︿╰ If I worded something wrong, comment it or something I will try to clear it up later perhaps.

I apologize to those who's view of me changed due to this post. Really sorry.

In conclusion, you do you, I do me, peace. (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

[cheekinpermission]

Happy 500 followers!!

How about 1 and 10 for the ask game?

Thank you for you participation, anon! Ask game is here! Send them in if you want <3

1. Who's hand did you first grab? Why? Would you choose someone else if you could do it over again?

I grabbed Idia's hand! When I first got into TWST, I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into so I really just went based on which voice actors I recognized LOL. I know Kōki Uchiyama from a ton of different anime (JJK, Buddy Daddies, Haikyuu, BNHA, Yuri on Ice, etc.) so I just went with his character. While Idia doesn't crack the top 5 for me, I don't think I'd choose again. The only reason I would is if it impacted the story somehow but I really doubt it will. I'm COMITTED.

10. Top five favorite characters?

Grim occupies all top five spots. BUT since that's boring, so I'll limit my choices to the main cast lmao. (My love for the dire beast is PROFOUND) I got VERY wordy here so here's the short answer: 1. Riddle Rosehearts

2. Vil Schoenheit

3. Malleus Draconia

4. Ruggie Bucchi

5. Kalim Al-Asim Explanation below the cut! (I got very excited to talk about my favorites and wrote a lot so I figured I'd condense it for people who didn't want to scroll through it all lol whoopsies.)

1. Riddle Rosehearts - I have no explanation for this?? He's pretty much the opposite of my usual favorite characters so idk what happened here. I've always been drawn to the Alice in Wonderland aesthetic so maybe that has something to do with it? He's got such great character writing, too?? Everything about his personality just makes sense when you know his backstory. When we learn that Riddle's tyrant of a mother was strict and controlling over him, the pieces just seem to fall into place. His whole life was just following her rules and studying like a good little boy, and when he stepped out of line even a little bit he was reprimanded harshly for it. Of course, he's going to the exact same thing once he's in a position of power. It's all he knows. He's just another version of his mother. Not only does he uphold the tradition of punishing rule breakers rather severely as he was when he was younger, I think there's also an element of fear there as well. Like, his mother just instilled an innate fear of breaking rules because bad things would happen if he didn't follow them exactly. I really do see Riddle as a scared little boy who is suddenly realizing that he was set up for failure by his own mother. And THEN he makes an honest effort to improve himself post-overblot?? His transformation after the fact is one of the more obvious ones and I'm just so proud of him. A THOUSAND HEAD PATS!! Okay, I'll stop rambling about him lmao I love Riddle sm (Also want to make clear I'm not saying Riddle was right for anything he did, only that I appreciate how his character was handled. Added for legal purposes so people don't come after me :c ) 2. Vil Schoenheit - This one comes as no surprise to me. Pretty boys who challenge gender stereotypes are RIGHT up my alley. Like Riddle, I think Vil has some great character writing is one of the more complex characters in the game. He just feels so compassionate to me?? I don't know how to explain it - he just gives such nurturing vibes. I'd trust this man with my drink at a bar fr fr. And then he tells Epel off for saying ballet is too "girly" for him?? Thank you TWST for bringing me this man. I pray at the altar of Vil Schoenheit. 3. Malleus Draconia - Doesn't Malleus top everyone's lists LOL I think my favoritism for the dragon man is more to do with his relationship with Yuu than anything else tbh. He's like one of three characters that actively engages with the main character and I think they've got such a fun relationship. Two people who feel very alone in the world finding friendship (or something more for you malleyuu shippers) in each other is so beautiful. I'm glad they can be there for each other like that. Side note: I adore romantic Malleyuu for sure, but I think it's equally as endearing if all of Malleus's flirtatious lines were never meant to be romantic but he's just really bad at communicating his feelings in a platonic way. Like, he doesn't mean to flirt he's just socially inept. 4. Ruggie Bucchi - Gremlin hyena boy is just too good for words. Ngl, I started off not really liking Ruggie all that much because of what he did in the Savanaclaw book. My mans was basically shoving people down flights of stairs?? I'm not really sure where the turn around happened tbh. Mischievous personality types do tend to draw me in in fiction so that probably has a lot to do with it. I also felt really bad for him at the end of the Savanaclaw book when Leona was ready to Thanos him out of existence despite everything Ruggie had done for him (and continues to do for him). I appreciate his work ethic, I can respect the hustle, and he's got such a cute little laugh. I wanna pet those big ole ears of his. Leona - pay this man more smh 5. Kalim Al-Asim - SUNSHINE BOY!!

He's such a breath of fresh air in this game LMAO. As much as I love the fact that most of the cast are unapologetically flawed, it's nice to have a few characters that are genuinely good people. His VA (Kazuki Furuta) absolutely kills it imo. I can hear his laugh in my head as I'm typing this - it's just so warm and happy :D He also breaks the sterotype of most rich characters in media by just being a nice person? He's not evil or greedy (although naive and entitled) and he just wants to be bffs with Jamil. Break his heart Jamil and we're gonna have WORDS. Also just like FORGAVE JAMIL??? His bfffl yeeted him across the desert, brainwashed him and admitted to wanting to get him kicked from the school and Kalim didn't really hold it against him. He was so understanding and sweet about everything AHHHHH

[little-gui-official]

❝ Hello~ Hello~ Can you hear me? Good evening fam! And welcome to Little Gui's stream~ ❞

« My name is Guinaifen! "Gui" means wood, "Nai" means to exist, and "Fen" means fragrant — rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? I usually do juggling performances on this side of Exalting Sanctum. Remember to come see the show when you have the chance~ »

(OR: An indie ask+roleplay blog that follows Guinevere (a.k.a. Guinaifen) from Honkai: Star Rail! Info below the cut; good luck, and have fun!)

(As always, credit to @/cafekitsune for the dividers~)

MUSE INFO !

NAME - Guinaifen!

PRONOUNS - She/They!

FACTION(S) - The Xianzhou Alliance!

TAGS & ANONS !

To avoid making this post comically long, you can check out the tags over here, and the anons right here.

RULES & NOTES !

➣ As always, any sort of racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, and/or transphobia will get you blocked.

➣ THIS BLOG IS SFW - NSFW FOCUS BLOGS, DNI. (Suggestive jokes are allowed, but watch yourself.)

➣ OCs, AUs, and crossovers are allowed! (If I am roleplaying with an OC, make sure I have context for them beforehand.)

➣ Anons are not only welcome, but very much appreciated!~ I'll roleplay with silly or serious asks! (Yes, you can have a tag.)

➣ Do not send links in my asks. (The exception to this is if its to an RP response or something of that nature.) More likely than not, I will not answer.

➣ Mod is new to the Tumblr RP scene (though not RP in general.) Please, be patient :')

➣ Mod uses any pronouns!

➣ Mod doesn't have a set style of RP--I'll match yours. However, I tend to default to more wordy replies.

➣ I'm down to roleplay storylines! If a fellow mod wants to work something out, DM me!

➣ That being said, only DM if you are another mod, please. (I do not and will not RP in DMs.)

➣ ...use common sense.

(NOTE: this is a sideblog! If you see a mysterious creature by the screen name of @mynameisnotabby, that would be none other than the mod behind it all~)

[gurugirl]

if someone is looking for a good classic romance which one of your fics do you recommend?

This is an interesting ask! It's difficult to say which I recommend based on it being a classic romance. And because I'm quite literal when I'm thinking about this I'll just mention right off that the basic elements to any "classic" romance are in most of my series (long or short) as well as in my longer one-shots.

Examples from my masterlist are (not linking bc it's too much - just peruse!):

ALL of my long and short series

bfd!harry

ex bf dad!harry

I Guess You're All Mine

The Long Weekend

Mixed Signals

Tell Me You Hate Me

The Handyman (tho we have very little angst/push & pull in this one - it's a soft romance)

Sex Tutor

Baby Daddy

^ And that's just on Tumblr. I have more on Patreon.

Please forgive me for the following. I got wordy about the romance genre. Also, this is my very literal brain answering you. Ignore if you like.

A classic romance usually contains the following elements (this is what I like to use - obviously this is a basic structure but you can bet most romance will include this):

(eventual) Lovers meeting (the meet-cute) - this can be a whole section or just the intro to the story - are they enemies at first, is their attraction forbidden, how did they meet, what steps got them to know one another, were they childhood friends, are they current best friends (so many options)

some kind of denial or push and pull (maybe he or she thinks the other couldn't possibly be attracted to them or even something bigger and deeper that keeps them apart at first - like he's not single or she's a company rival, or they live in different countries - lots of options here)

a "thing" that makes them keep coming back together while still being cautious about the relationship (they work together, their kids go to the same school, they wind up at a party together and are drawn to one another, etc.)

then we get to the relationship exploration part - where there are difficulties to overcome as they get to know one another on a deeper level, setting the groundwork for a more stable relationship later (depending on the level of friction you want this can be drawn out a bit - including a whole 2-steps forward + 3-steps back scenario - OR not) - don't forget to include massive tension

sometimes it's fun to throw in some elements that keep the lovers apart - something that really makes them see how much they love the other person and how they want to be together - but this is the angsty part with tons of tension if you want to include angst - which most romance has

then they come back together - an outside force may bring them together or one of them does something to get the other one's attention - here you can have them falling in love or maybe it happened earlier on - but they'll be in love and wanting to be together by now

you can add another falling out or some kind of sacrifice that needs to be made if you like - something to just infuriate the reader or engage them further (LOL) - but definitely have them making up again and accomplishing some kind of goal that you might have set for them at the beginning to make the extra angst worth it (the extra angst is not necessary but it's in a lot of romance where there's like one last fallout - or something that keeps them apart before realizing they can't live w/o the other)

and of course, the resolution and the Happily Ever After!

xoxo

[burnt-to-cynders]

Alright, time to actually make one of these for real, since this is looooong overdue. Hi! I'm Cynthia! I'm...a lot of things, and I struggle to describe them without it feeling inadequate! I play games, I write software for a living, I write non-software things for fun occasionally, I'm wildly horny, neurodivergent, a massive nerd who constantly wishes she knew more about everything.

Property of: @synthbang and @stalesweetrolls

Owner of: @voiddragonnova

Let's start with some ID stuff, I'm a transfem(Feb 5th tranniversary), I go by she/fae/it pronouns. My friends call me any fun variation of my name they can come up with, like Cyn, Cyndy, Cyndicate, etc. If we're mutuals, we're friends :3. I'm white, American(New England), poly, t4t, atheist, wildly sapphic, and physically, but not visibly, disabled.

As for interests, I've got literal dozens. Gaming, anime, manga, movies, writing, reading, music, pole dancing, ttrgps, game design, hiking, conservation, activism, fashion, just to name a few, each of which splinters into dozens of little sub-interests. Ask me a dragonball question, I dare you.

Actually, ask me any kind of question. Asks are open all the time and so are anons. Go wild ya horny fools

FOLKS WHO ARE NOT WELCOME (DNIs)

Minors

Seriously, minors, this blog is very horny

Ageless blogs

Sissy kink blogs

Race and ageplayers

SIDEBLOGS

I have two sideblogs atm, although in actuality there's just one that's even remotely active.

@den-of-cyn is where I used to do my hornyposting. The big thing that's there now is the pinned post with a list of my kinks, for those of you interested in the horny side of the Cynner. The account got flagged as NSFT and I haven't been able to get that revoked yet, and moreover I decided to stop worrying about it and just started posting horny on main anyway. There's quite a few good ones on there that I haven't reblogged to here, and a few pics I haven't reposted, so if you somehow don't get enough horny nonsense on this page, you can always go there to see some vintage Cyn >:3

@thebookofcyn is my writing sideblog. It's where all my original stuff will one day live, when I get the spoons to put all my old stuff on it. It is SFT FOR NOW, IT WILL NOT BE IN THE FUTURE! Soon there will be a pinned post there explaining my tags and how to find stories. I'm hoping to post more there as time goes on and I actually embrace this hobby more.

TAGS

I layer my tags and usually don't do content tags, and I don't tag reblogs except to do responses. The tags that mean things on this blog are as follows:

#cynposting - Any post by me that has text outside of tags, including reblog replies. Searching this tag will get you everything I've written in text on this blog.

#cynful thoughts - Any post I think is horny. You can filter for this post if you want to see me being a degenerage, or filter it out if you'd rather not.

#pics of the cynner - Any picture of myself, pretty self explanatory. Most are accompanied by #cynful thoughts

#Cyn fits - pics of myself taken specifically to show off an outfit and explain why I chose it for that day.

#I asked - Reblog of an ask that I sent someone

#ask and ye shall receive - Tag for when I answer an ask

#get tagged idiot - Tag for when the only content of a post is me @ -ing someone in the reblog.

#pinned post - Last one, tag for the previous pinned posts I've made. This should be the last one. In theory.

And that's it!!!! For now. Probably. I'm a wordy bitch, so I expect this'll get longer and longer.

[dolceaspidenera]

Vesuvia Weekly: Apprentice and LI Dynamics

Decided to throw my hat in since I came up with so much material in my head about my apprentice, Venere, and then realized I never posted anything, poor girl has been sitting on the bench for so long like “Am I a joke to you?” 

@iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia Thank you for coming up with these prompts, I had fun doing this!

(I also mixed a bit of poetry in these hcs because I love it so much. Unfortunately, I suck at it, so don't mind too much of what I call my wordy farts)

VENERE x JULIAN – In a nutshell? The overly flirty, bisexual disaster that we all know meets a very practical and unimpressed girl (also, tall lanky man x small menace). What could go wrong?

A whirlwind. She’s swept away by it. Masks and play, it’s easier that way.  A feverish dance, a push and pull, like sea waves.  Backtracking, pacing, restlessness. The mind never stops and thinks and thinks and thinks. Where do you see value? You should leave but you are under my skin. Chasing shadows, facing gallows He can only be a martyr, the guilt takes its toll as the bell tolls  The rope is made of faults and the executioner is called love.  Now there are more hurts, and another love turns into flaming anger. How can she make him see? Gentleness, understanding, calm. We are in this together. Always.

Julian enters her life like a hurricane and turns it upside down. She is swept off her feet by his energy, but she is also sharp enough to see through him. 

They have a rocky start. Julian is kind of intimidated, kind of intrigued, obviously his answer is to double down on the flirting.

Venere is… You guessed it: unimpressed. Don’t be fooled though, she is actually quite charmed, she likes Julian, but she needs her time to feel comfortable around new people. In the meantime, she has one of the biggest resting bitch faces ever.

Most of their early interactions involve Julian aggressively flirting and Venere blushing internally while exteriorly maintaining a deadpan expression.

Julian inevitably starts to question everything; does she find him so ugly? Does she find him annoying? Should he hide in the hole and never come up again? The poor man doesn’t know what to do.

Once they clear the air and Venere feels more comfortable, is when her true character starts to shine. She is passionate and has a fiery temper, which is good most of the time, but also means she tends to react with anger to upsetting situations. Julian is much better and practiced at controlling his anger and is a good counterweight to Venere.

This is also when the table turns and Venere starts shamelessly flirting with Julian. The poor doctor is a blushing mess.

She is ready to give him an earful whenever he is acting foolish, and she is not afraid of calling him out on his bullshit, but she also learns to be very patient with him. She is determined to make him understand that he is loved, and she is always there to remind him of what an incredible, beautiful man he is.

He teases her about her magic jargon, calling it her whimsical gibberish, she teases him for his medical fancy terms and most of all his unreadable writing. 

When it comes to their respective work fields, they had to learn to communicate effectively; Julian is more comfortable with tangible and concrete things, while Venere tends to think in more abstract ways. Over time they learned to come together and communicate clearly.

They are actually a very good team. Venere is trying to implement Julian’s extensive knowledge of medicine with her magic, making medicines more effective and trying to come up with spells that can accelerate the healing process.

She is much more introverted than him, so she is always happy to let him handle social situations and let her full glorious resting bitch face shine while he charms his way out.

Their differences in social battery also mean that Venere needs her moments of solitude to recharge. The first few times it happened Julian panicked; was it something he said? After a much-needed conversation, he understands. Now, when she needs time alone, he goes to the Rowdy Raven or stops by to see Portia and Mazelinka.

Venere loves singing and dancing and Julian often accompanies her with his vielle. There's always music in their home.

After a period of travel, they settle down in Vesuvia and adopt a dog. Venere takes over her magic shop and Julian opens his clinic.

Their favourite moment is in the evening when, after a day of work, it’s finally time for a long, relaxing cuddle session. Julian wraps his arms around Venere and gives her one of his all-encompassing hugs and they snuggle on the sofa. They always say they’ll go to bed early but end up falling asleep like this.

RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CHARACTERS:

ASRA 

Complicated. Abandonment. Hurt. Mistakes. Easier to run, easier to avoid. She doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know how to explain.  The past is a heavy burden of memories forgotten and others that would have been best to let rest.  Only a half of what once was whole, but what has been broken cannot be repaired, you learn to live with what remains. You learn to live again.

Her relationship with Asra is very complicated.

There were a lot of hurt and misunderstandings. He kept disappearing without explanation and she never understood.

But the truth runs way, way deeper.

After everything is out in the open, they have many conversations.

After clearing up everything they share one of those incredibly rare and deep friendships.

They are family. They will always be there for each other and always root for each other happiness.

NADIA 

Loneliness. The princess is trapped at the top of the tower, but the dragon is in her head, the dragon is everywhere around her. Judging eyes, power struggles, impossible expectations, who can you trust? Elegance, perfectionism, strength, intuition. She is many things, but most of all she is Nadia. Most of all, she needs someone to see it.

Nadia is… Well, she is Nadia! She is awesome!

Venere’s first impression was of someone very lonely. Although a bit intimidated, she took a liking to her very quickly.

In time, they cultivate a very profound friendship.

They chat about magic, and Venere always knows who to ask for fashion tips. 

Most of all she knows who to turn to when she needs sound advice.

She has deep admiration for Nadia, she doesn’t know how someone can always look so perfect and in control and make appear so easy everything she does. But she is also there to remind Nadia that it’s okay to slip occasionally, and letting go sometimes feels good!

MURIEL 

Gentle, coy, reserved. Violent scars on a delicate soul. Does a tree make noise when it falls in the forest? It’s easier to forget but if everyone forgets, were you even ever there? Long silences can become deafening in loneliness. And yet, when you start to listen you realize there is so much more life around you. Small details you usually don’t catch. It’s always in the details.

Muriel and Venere have one of those friendships that don’t require many words. They are content to spend time together, enjoying each other company in a relaxed silence.

When Venere needs some reprieve, she knows she can accompany Muriel on his walks around the forest and she loves being immersed in nature.

Venere adores Inanna, she gives the best belly rubs to the best of girls.

They spend time enjoying the quiet of Muriel’s hut and he allows her to feed the chickens! One of Venere’s favourite activities.

If someone bothers Muriel, despite Venere being much, much smaller than him, she is the one to fly into a rage and put the offender in their place. Has anyone never told them not to provoke a magician?

Venere often comes to visit him and brings him lots of baked goods to taste. She is still learning to cook decently, so not everything comes out exactly as intended. He still eats everything without batting an eye, probably to be polite.

PORTIA 

Bubbly energy. Movement, flow, a tidal wave. Hunger for adventure, but she is always left behind. There is worth in the work you do but sometimes the work becomes all you are worth. There is more under the surface, you are allowed to slow down. You always have value.

Portia is Venere’s adopted little sister. She loves her energy and positivity and is always happy to pass the ball when Julian needs a good kick in the shin.

They have a book club now. They take it very seriously and religiously make time each week to sit down together to discuss stories and characters.

To the delight of Julian, Venere teaches her magic. He has a small panic attack when she accidentally sets a tree on fire. Luckily, Portia is an eager student and recovers very quickly without further fiery incidents.

In return, Portia tries to teach Venere to bake, with varying degrees of success. She is trying, okay? Luckily, most of her culinary experiments are still appreciated by Julian, Asra and Muriel.

When Portia feels like going on an adventure, she always knows who to call for. 

LUCIO 

Cold metal spikes all around. Hurt others before they can hurt him. Mistakes, regrets, there’s much to learn. Pride is always the mask shame wears, covering itself with sparkly meaningless. 

Let’s say that she doesn’t take well of Lucio hurting her loved ones. When she discovers what he did to Julian she is furious.

In an alternative universe, she would be more than happy to be his friend. She believes in second chances and respects his willingness to be better.

Lucio ends up relying a lot on her when he makes an “Opsie” and needs someone to help him fix it.

With time, he gets better at handling his mistakes and learns how powerful accountability can be.

She isn’t one for big parties, but the rare times she needs some tips on the subject she can always count on Lucio.

When she needs to let out some steam, she knows he is the guy to go to. He has always a good monster on the list ready to chase, or some other adventure to go, Portia can come too!

[sinelanguage]

20 questions for fic writers! tagged by @fivedayslater and @bageltopia

How many works do you have on ao3?

in total across accounts/pseuds, 63! so close to 69

What's your total ao3 word count?

660180!! not too shabby honestly

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

lol.... think the last time I did this it was almost entirely Keith/lance.... there's a change in the tide

Stormchasing, Keith/Lance. my fic with lucky timing that will never be toppled

Blind Foresight, Zoro/Sanji Brook POV fic. this is not the horse I would've bet on having the most kudos for ZSZ but it's a pleasant surprise

Surface Tension, Zoro/Sanji get together fic

Same As It Ever Was, Zoro/Sanji (mostly gen) time loop fic. am still very fond of this one and pleasantly surprised it's up here

The Hustle, Keith/Lance, heist fic. this is a fun fic. sorry for having two klance on here

What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily One Piece; it's a very versatile fandom to write for LOL

I have a couple outline for short, genuinely under 5k one shots in Dogsred, but we'll get there when we get there. probably when it's stanley cup playoffs and hockey consume me again

sorry this got wordy here's a read more...

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to!! I do like the conversation in comments, especially for stuff like gen fic, where the fic is very much me probing at / having a conversation with canon. that being said the longer something's been up, the less I remember on what I wrote lmao.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I tend to stick with bittersweet but for some on the bitter end, its time turned fragile (major character death), marionette (it is hurt no comfort but only because it's a prequel), and monster in the mirror (the only genuinely hopeless ending).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I had a lot of thoughts trying to classify something as a happy ending trying to answer this. genuinely have no solid answer for that. I think perhaps my cop out will be demon dog days because it ends at the start of one piece and what is happier than that

Do you get hate on fics?

there's been a couple of rude commenters from time to time who expected things to go in a different direction and adamantly told me about that direction, but nothing I'd consider hate

Do you write smut?

lol. yes. something turned on in my brain when I realized smut didn't have to be super romantic it can just be an excuse to write, essentially, a plotless fight scene with a lot of humor and a very simple conclusion. then i was sold. absolutely I can write smut.

Do you write crossovers?

only one I've written was turnabout heart, a persona/ace attorney crossover. normally not really my thing

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

lol someone reposted my fic to wattpad once, I politely let them know it was rude and they deleted their entire account... sorry wattpad user....

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes! mostly previously with Keith/lance, which was always fun

What's your all time favorite ship?

lol, Ike/Soren, though I've never written it myself. Zoro/Sanji is getting up there just for how fun they are to write

What's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

typically if I'm every like, more than two scenes into a fic I'll finish it eventually. for the outlines with substantial work that have NOT made it:

I have a Reiju clone fic I keep not fully committing to (i.e. Germa clones the siblings, fic POV is from an unreliable reiju clone who thinks she's the real deal). typing it out I know exactly why I have not committed to this. it is scary and complicated and serious fics take me ages to write

im very dedicated to my post-death pact zoro time travels to pre-timeskip sanji fic no matter how long it's been in the oven. it will be wonderfully caramelized when it gets out im sure

What are your writing strengths?

hah, probably comedic timing, it's what I have the most fun with LOL.

What are your writing weaknesses?

my prose is very hit or miss-- sometimes waaay too utilitarian without much pizazz. even with boring prose I have to remind myself to cut down a lot of filler during editing. it still makes it in. oh the weeds i have in my garden.

Thoughts on writing dialog in another language for a fic?

not something I'd do without a beta who understood the language, and it hasn't been necessary for the canons I'm working with.

First fandom you wrote for?

lmao, there are so many definitions of this. first on ao3 is attack on titan, first on the internet is harvest moon, and first in my journals as a young starry-eyed middle schooler is fire emblem

Favorite fic you've ever written?

Monster in the Mirror as probably my favorite concept and execution in terms of efficiency, as well as playing with some story telling devices (flashbacks) I normally do not touch

Heavy Boots as the concept I've thought the most about and somehow executed

Double Overtime as again my longest fic to date and... again.... a really fun concept to execute

if I think I succeeded at a good idea I will think fondly of the fic LOL

not tagging people this time... sometimes the buck stops

[ajarofbees]

Hi! 7 or 15 for the Thorne prompts— whichever Rook you feel would be the most interesting !

Hi!! both ended up feefee but the second one does feature my other Warden Rook, cvetka! a cool dwarf lady who swings around a big hammer and is fiore's Cool Older Friend Who Helps Him Get Into And Out Of Trouble. welcome back, world famous broma brothers. these ended up a little more wordy than prev answers, so its under the cut!

these prompts are a lot of fun and are really helpful getting writing juices flowing--hopefully i can use your other rook prompts to introduce my other losers (beloved ocs)!

7. Rook discussing the Fifth Blight with the Hero of Fereldan or one of their companions

“It’s so cool you know Lady Morrigan—I heard she was at the Hero of Fereldan’s side during the Fifth Blight!” Fiore still hadn’t settled down from the wild witch’s surprise appearance at the Veil Jumpers’ camp, bouncing in his seat like a rambunctious Mabari puppy. Lace had to fight back a laugh at the mental image, letting him be as she inspected the dusty conservatory of the Lighthouse. How plants could grow in the Fade was… a mystery for sure, but she was nothing if not determined and knew her way around dirt.

“Did you hear a lot about Warden Mahariel back in Wycome?” She asked, crumbling dirt between her fingers to get a feel for it. Still pretty dry. Figuring out how watering works in the Fade would be a must.

“Oh yeah, especially after the Inquisitor—” Ah, there it was. Wouldn’t be a normal day if Fiore didn’t bring up Inquisitor Lavellan. The Mabari comparisons never ceased. “—Saved us and made it a whole lot safer. A lot of Dalish clans would stop nearby, you know, with Clan Lavellan around. I know they don’t really stop traveling, but they were around a lot.” He scooted himself a little closer, trying to peer over her shoulder idly, “I’m surprised the Hero of Fereldan’s Clan never stopped by.”

“She’s now kind of a legend—letting people know she’s from your Clan might attract the wrong sort of attention.”

He drooped like a plant left out of the sun, “Yeah… Makes sense… But it would’ve been so cool to meet someone who knew more about her! I was way too little to get anything going on around the Blight, and by the time news got up to us in the Wycome alienage, it’s been through more than a few people’s mouths.”

“What about at Weisshaupt? Pick up any fun Warden stories about the Hero of Fereldan there?”

“If I was around other southern recruits—not around the senior Wardens though!” He explained, gesturing enthusiastically, “Senior Wardens and the First Warden thought she was full of it for stopping a Blight without an army and in a year! Like, they didn’t say it really, but you could tell.” A pause as he turned out his memories, frowning hard. Lace fought another giggle. “A lot of the newer Wardens were pretty sure it was all an image thing. Weisshaupt didn’t get a chance to do a big fancy march and the First Warden is mad she made it look so easy.” Just as quickly, his expression snapped back to excitement and the stars were in his eyes again, “Which is so cool! It would be amazing to meet her!”

Ah, cute. Lace thought, which was then rapidly swallowed up by, Oh no, it’s his Inquisitor worship all over again. Not that she could really blame him for having a high opinion of Inquisitor Lavellan, but it had taken her and Varric the better part of a year to work that enthusiasm down to manageable levels.

“Are you sure you don’t know anyone else who knows her?” He asked, “Do you think Lady Morrigan will tell me about her? I heard she was around my age when she became a Warden—that’s incredible, and she went straight to killing an Archdemon! And living!”

Ah, still pretty cute. Lace mentally amended, letting out a giggle at how she could practically see his ears wiggling.

---

15. Rook dealing with a Warden they were close to leaving for their Calling

If Fiore wasn’t with Wardens Antoine and Evka, he was usually passed between trainers and then tossed to Warden Cvetka, who did nothing to quell his enthusiasm or penchant for trouble. When none of them could find him, it became worrying. The last place Cvetka expected to find him was hunched over in his small bed in the barracks, legs pulled up to his chest and his blanket hiding all of him from sight.

“Oh, salroka…” She pulled herself up to sit next to the Fiore-shape, patting the outline of his knee gently, “Do you want to talk about it?”

The blanket-shape fidgeted, shaking the top lump.

“That’s alright. How about I keep you company, yeah?”

Another shake, this time up and down, and then one hand, youthfully awkward but already sword calloused, emerged to hold hers.

The two of them sat like that; every so often, she comfortingly rubbed his hand with her thumb, and when Antoine and Evka worriedly peeked around the doorway, she gave them a nod. Maybe, if Fiore needed more people. They nodded and retreated, but were almost certainly still nearby—maybe Antoine would ‘hear the Blight extra hard’ for a bit as an excuse.

Finally, the blanket shifted, the edge rising so she could see his violet eyes, red rimmed and swollen.

“Hey, salroka. What’s shaping?”

That at least got a sort of hiccup-laugh out of him, “You always make fun of people who try to say that to you.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t say it, right?” She gave him a comforting smile, “You… don’t have to talk. But I’ll listen. Antoine and Evka will too.”

He nodded shakily, but it still took him another moment to start, “… Warden Micah left for her Calling. I… She just left and…” The words failing him, he trailed off. Shifting in her seat, Cvetka carefully reached up to tug the blanket off of his head. He let her, orange-gold hair more of a mess than usual.

Warden Micah had been one of the more ‘easygoing’ senior Wardens that trained recruits; well, as easygoing as a Grey Warden could be. Fiore had taken a shine to the older woman, following her around the fortress when he could with stars in his eyes and questions spilling out. She had always been happy to answer them, giving him advice from swordplay to how to deal with the inevitable nightmares that the Taint brought. Cvetka wasn’t entirely sure, but she swore that Micah had covered for them more than once when a ‘good idea’ turned out to be more chaotic than anticipated.

“I’m sorry, Feefee. It’s never easy to see a Warden leave like that.”

“Is it… is it that bad? The Calling?”

At that, she slowly sucked in a deep breath, “… I won’t lie to you, Fee. If a Warden doesn’t fall in battle, the Calling will catch up. Going down into the Deep Roads for a last stand is meant to let someone choose who they go. While they’re still all there.”

“… In death, sacrifice.” His voice was a hoarse mumble, and she leaned over to awkwardly hug him as best she could with his legs in the way. It was easy to forgot how young he really was at times.\

“It always is. That’s why the living have to remember them.”

[genericpuff]

Hey when im writing a story how to talk about the lore without exposition dumping and why is exposition dumping a bad thing?

Ouu, fun writing question!

There's no easy single answer to just "avoid" exposition. In some cases, exposition dumping isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be used improperly, like any other writing device. Really, your goal isn't necessarily to outright avoid exposition, but to find a way to naturally implement it into the story without grinding the pacing to a halt or creating confusion for your reader.

To name a few methods to implement exposition naturally:

You can have a main character act as the "surrogate" for the audience. Good examples of this are Harry Potter or Final Fantasy X - both of which are plots that involve the main character entering a world that is not their own and having to learn about that world through their own experiences. Now, you do have to be careful with this as, in the case of Harry Potter, using a character PURELY as a surrogate for the audience like that can result in the character themselves having little personality. Harry Potter himself is one such example, in the beginning we find out so much about the wizarding world through him that we never really get to know him. That's why I include FFX as another example - Tidus is a character who has his own personality, his own motives, his own quirks, while being a stranger in Spira who doesn't know how their world works, but they use that to the advantage of his character writing by making him this sorta doofy dumbass who doesn't take things quite as seriously as the people of Spira do (such as the religion of Yevon) but as such, is able to identify all the problems Spira is suffering from specifically BECAUSE he's an outsider looking in and hasn't been brainwashed like everyone else who grew up in that world.

If you don't have a main character who's new to the world, then you have to find ways to naturally implement exposition. Thing is, if your character and the people around them are familiar with the world they inhabit, why would they describe their world at length to one another? This is where a lot of poorly handled exposition dumping happens especially from writers just starting out. They'll have their characters explain things to each other that they really shouldn't have to have explained to them, and as such it can make it feel really clunky and wordy (and makes the dialogue feel unnatural). You can use shortcuts around this, such as taglines like "Did you forget? Xyz..." or "How can you still be confused, it's xyz..." but those are still tricks that can be overused or feel ham-fisted if not used properly, it really only works if the character who it's being explained to is "out of touch" or if there's reason for them to not be privy to the information being explained to them.

As much as your readers will need things explained to them, don't treat your readers like they're stupid - half the fun of experiencing a story is the discovery process. Not everything needs to be spelled out to your readers, some things can just exist and not have to be explained. The only time explanations should be made is if it's absolutely necessary to your plot, otherwise, having something just be in the background or mentioned casually is more than good enough. To go back to the FF X example, Tidus doesn't need blitzball to be explained to him, it's the one familiarity he has in Spira. Therefore, there's zero reason to have Wakka explain blitzball to Tidus as a way to explain it to the audience. Instead, we get an opening cutscene that shows us enough of what blitzball is for us to understand that it's a sport, and later on we get dialogue from Tidus explaining how he's living in his father's shadow and how his dad had this crazy move that he would never teach him and that back in Zanarkand, Tidus was the "star player". We, the audience, can infer enough from what we've been shown that blitzball is a sport in this world, we do not need it to be explained deeper than that, not until we learn the rules of how to play blitzball through the minigame itself, and still those rules aren't that important in the grand scheme of the plot, it's just a strong part of Tidus' characterization and the one thing tying him to the world of Spira when he washes onto its shores. Blitzball is the first thing we see him do in the game and it's the first thing that introduces him to the world of Spira.

To go on a bit of a tangent, I feel like this is where a lot of fantasy writers in particular tend to struggle. While romances will focus more on the characters and thus not be victim to exposition dumping quite as often (though they can be victim to some... very outdated or otherwise toxic tropes) more detail-oriented genres like fantasy and sci-fi can really tend to get lost in the trees. I've beta-read so many fantasy books that have opened with pages upon pages of world information, from languages the creator invented to the different calendars of the different regions to the races and species and yadda yadda it's literally the worst thing you can open your fantasy novel first because it's quite literally putting the cart before the horse. They get so washed up in the details because they forget their audience is there to read a story, not do homework on fictional dialects and food preparation methods. I feel like this is especially a problem for writers who read books like Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire and see all the supplemental material, but seem to miss the point that the supplemental material came later, Tolkien didn't start by writing The Silmarillion, he started with The Hobbit which was a simple story of friendship and comradery meant for children. Only later as his audience grew more connected to the characters and the world they inhabited was he able to release the supplemental stuff because the people those details were meant for were already invested in the story. You have to get people invested first, then give them the details, and that starts with a simple idea.

Anyways, all that aside, the best way to see good exposition is to just go read books, watch movies, expose yourself to stories that handle exposition in their own way. Again, it's not a bad thing to have to dump information on people, but you gotta find a way to do it that won't overwhelm your reader or bore them before they've even gotten hooked. Start small and branch out from there. Write the details as they pertain to the characters who would be privy to them. Don't underestimate the intuitiveness of your readers, reading and writing is equal parts communication and discovery.

[ren-054]

Hey! Sorry, but I'm curious and I would like to ask u something. I've already asked the same question to another blog but I decided to gather different opinions/feedbacks, out of curiosity.

Do you think Sun, Moon and Eclipse, canon-wise, are a good representation of a system?

I know that many people see them differently, everyone has their own hcs and I do too, but if they were a system would it be accurate in terms of shifting/fronting etc?

I apologize if this question sounds weird or if I come off as offensive, it was not my intention. I don't know a lot about DID, I'm still studying, so feel free to correct me or to simply ignore this ask.

Oooh this question! Hrmmm

Also it’s all good, I love answering questions that have to do with pulling from my experiences :] I don’t mind at all!

TL;DR because I’m very wordy— I think the DCA’s a decent rep of the idea of a system but it still ends up with a lot of the pitfalls of current system rep (like alters framed as evil vs good since it’s a horror game and Moon is an enemy + Sun and Moon’s inner conflict being resolved either through a fusion into Eclipse or simply letting a more stable alter front with little further elaboration on the matter)

So the DCA definitely feel like a system that could exist, but it still reads like that awkward middle stage of media rep where there’s still a dependence on shock factor and spectacle over them just being a system that exists, but they’re overall fine.

I think viewing them as a system is very neat and I love how validating/relatable a lot of the fan works can be when tackling the DCA’s dynamic with each other :] I see little issue with viewing them as a system, if that’s part of the question

Long answer below pfpf

Where do I start…

I think I’m a bit torn? Their canon switch from SB, if we are viewing them as a hypothetical system, definitely felt dramatized because it’s a horror game (but maybe some people experience switches like this! I wouldn’t know)

Also the fact the horror effect is likely coming from having an overall benign doormat of a guy suddenly becoming unsafe post-switch feels a bit iffy to me since it feeds into that othering/demonizing narrative of mentally ill + neurodivergent folk, but Sun’s panic about Moon fronting is still a mood, to be fair. I have my own paranoia about certain alters getting triggered out ajhdks

As for fronting, the DCA don’t really get to express how that works for them, so I can’t say. The only thing I could glean is that,

1, Sun was aware a switch occurred that allowed Moon out but, for whatever reason, was upset enough to still kick Gregory out the daycare knowing he could still be in danger so there’s not much info there, and

2, Ruin Eclipse seemed to have less memories than Sun or Moon given he acted like he just met Cassie when he fronted, sort of reminiscent of either an alter coming back after a long period of dormancy or a much more generally dissociated alter. Sun still talked after Eclipse came back so he’s still in there, and presumably Moon too.

For me, I think I have a lot of internal communication and rarely have hard switches (a switch where there’s only one alter fronting with little interference from any other part) so I can’t say too much about hard switches like what seems to happen with the DCA. Sun and Moon were in a terrible rapid switching and/or fighting-for-front situation in Ruin though, and I feel for them. I’ve been through it and it’s not fun.

I was actually surprised at how much more.. system-coded the DCA were in Ruin but I always had a bit of an issues with it for one reason

There wasn’t a lot of closure for Sun and Moon specifically (only implied through Ruin Eclipse’s calm and more child-friendly nature) so I’d feel a bit weird to say that the DCA as we know them at this point is a great.. summary for systems as a whole? Like you gotta do what you gotta do to heal yknow so this isnt judging how they need to help themselves, but I’m looking at the bigger picture of system rep and the preconceptions of a layman audience.

I know not every system likes the idea of their parts being ignored/shunted in favor of a more “complete” fused hypothetical version of themselves, including myself. But for the DCA, as Sun strongly implies, this is the best solution for them in the moment in order to stabilize so really I can’t judge them.

Sun said thank you, though, so I hope that means them and Moon are getting some well deserved rest away from front. I do hope to see things from them feeling better in the future, but I don’t have much faith that we’d be given that.

[cancerian-woman]

For the ask game...

TVDU 2

Klonnie 15

Bonnie 7 and Lucy 8

TVDU: Bonnie: Twitches is one of my favorite movies growing up that's where it started. Bonnie embodies both of the twins. Camryn has this outgoing confident personality while Alex is stern and reserved. Both are determined through it all. I see all of this in Bonnie. She goes through a lot and still has this sense of light to the world, people and even magic or herself. There's so much fiery determination in her that allows Bonnie to persevere. Rebekah!TO: Seeing less of Rebekah in TO grew her up as a character. In TVD she and Klaus look petty for lingering around s4. I love that she doesn't yield with her emotions, and we see her fight back whether that be torturing Damon or fighting with her brothers. She was still bitchy in a mature sense that she'd only react if she felt threatened too that is. Which what another fave character of mine grows into (Brooke Davis & Hanna Marin). (Okay cause my next answer is long I’m going to leave this at 2.)

Klonnie: I have a longer answer for this one but I’ll keep it simple. If TVD wasn't filled with jealous and racist writers. I wished Klonnie’s relationship started late s2-s4. A slow burn enemies to lovers. Klaus is very arrogant but he isn’t stupid when it comes to strategy. His pride would’ve been hurt knowing a baby witch kicked his ass and almost killed him. Then saved his ass! Katherine and Isobel discussed Klaus taste in witches, tbh it would’ve been in character for Katherine to direct Klaus to Bonnie after Greta was killed. On the pretense that Elena would hate it. Katherine would take joy in that

In s3 after Jeremy’s cheating (should’ve been with Vicki) Bonnie would be reluctant to believe in Klaus advances. Klaus would be attentive to the little things people are missing with Bonnie. (Ex: he canonically mentions bringing Abby back for her after being abandoned again.) HOW did he notice that? Who told him. I’m dead ass serious WHO told him that?!😭 Pretty gowns and drawings wouldn’t be enough to keep Bonnie’s attention especially after heartbreak. Bonnie’s loyalty cannot be bought it needs to be earned that’s what she’d want. Klaus would’ve called out that Bonnie aligns herself with bad people all the time he isn’t any different. Bonnie would call out Klaus for ignoring his werewolf side.

S4 can keep expression!Bonnie but with Klaus making it know how he hates Shane? Or still offering his knowledge to magic. There’s more to say but I wish the writers listened to Joseph’s and Kat’s ideas. It would’ve been more compelling to see Klaus pull Bonnie onto his side. Bring in some seduction and a second chance at love. Bonnie’s just as desirable as her friends. Treat her like it. Period.

Bonnie 7: can’t remember the ep rn but s7 Bonnie tells Alaric she’d rather somewhere else making out with a good guy or not so good. Basically she doesn’t enjoy doing shit all the time. She wants to have fun! But survival comes first.

Lucy 8: bisexual or queer period. Since TVD never told us what Katherine did I assumed they fucked a couple of times💀

Thank you for the ask! Sorry this is wordy as hell! I’m a nerd and overthinker

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