#this is just for a silly fantasy OC why do i care so much about accuracy

[silver-oneshot-is-transmasc]

ok the internet is not giving me the answers i seek time to make shit up

[mdhwrites]

I’m honest to god baffled that fantasy shows like Steven Universe, Amphibia, Star Vs The Forces Of Evil, and Gravity Falls have an abundance of memorable human characters with memorable locations that make you want to live in that human community while The Owl House BARELY has any of that.

Camila, Jacob, and Masha are probably the only human side characters that are memorable and have a impact on the story, and Gravesfield is too forgettable and full of not so good people (which even then is questionable considering Luz’s antics) that it makes it hard to want to live there.

It’s almost as if TOH is desperate to want people to want to live in the demon realm and forget about appreciating Earth and being human, which ends up making it even more immature compared to other shows that at least TRY to express how important it is to appreciate your human side and it makes the main human characters much more likable cause they know being human is just as important.

If Luz doesn’t bother to appreciate her human world more, why should I care about her?

This isn't a bug; It's a feature.

(Before I begin, just as a reminder: Fuck JK Rowling. I hate how much I have to praise Harry Potter for this.)

There is a LOT to say about TOH wanting to be the Harry Potter for a new generation. The concept that all of humanity is worthless so you should escape into our other side of reality is a big thing there too. Part of why Harry Potter, and ESPECIALLY Hogwarts, means so much to people that they literally can't give it up is because of the escapist fantasy involved with it. The story made one believe anyone could be whisked away to a fantasy realm where they were important. Where they could face the bullies and win. Where they could be so much more than reality made them feel.

The Isles is pretty clearly meant to feel similar. It's the ONLY explanation for why Belos' tyranny isn't actually present besides to make being an apprentice to Eda even cooler than it normally would be. The Coven System could be inspired by a lot of things, like D&D, but it's hard to deny that Harry Potter is the easiest example, especially with The First Day reinforcing that even the school is divided up by these covens. There is ZERO bigotry, of literally any sort, even magical preference, because that would make the Isles unappealing. It wouldn't be somewhere anyone would want to escape to because the world would be too much like our own.

This is further reinforced by how Harry Potter has the Dursleys while TOH has just implied repression of Luz... Except that it DOES have more, doesn't it?

This is part of why I think TOH fails in this regard. Why we don't see a lot of TOH OCs, or Hexside OCs, minus future kids which is just mashing the canon characters together. It's too insincere and too modern a work in order to actually be the escapist fiction it wants to be. Again: There are MAJOR storytelling concessions to make it more attractive as escapist fiction but it won't commit.

This is why we have Camila as our main representative of humanity. The 'trope' is to make her awful. The worst person imaginable. The Dursleys fit that after all. But modern writing trends are too self aware for that sort of thing. They need to try and twist tropes to look clever (I would date the start of this somewhere around Frozen) or else they look silly and are to be thrown away. So instead of the evil home life to run away from like in Harry Potter, where that gives Harry permission to only care about the new world he's entering, even if it's just a secret society, we instead have Camila. The saint. The one who is first wronged by Luz and never really gets made up to by Luz because, well, that goes against the fact that Luz is clearly meant to, even by the end of S1, want to choose the Isles over humanity EVERY TIME. Why she starts an entirely new life there without even thinking about things like, I dunno, how the fuck do I keep dating this witch when I go home. Amity and her never do have a real conversation about the promise because that's inconvenient to the escapist fantasy.

This attempt at being 'clever' over being sincere is also why Hogwarts is a much more magical, literally and figuratively, setting than the ENTIRE ISLES. There is magic and secrets and interesting discoveries at literally every turn at this one school. Meanwhile, TOH wants to be able to make modern social commentary despite the fantasy land its in, and also wants to be taken more seriously than fantasy often is, so it needs to be grounded and mundane and mostly like our own world because otherwise they might actually have to make a world that's interesting. It fits into modern writing trends that give Twitter easy fodder to talk about THEMES, regardless of how well those are actually tackled, but get in the way of being escapist. Of creating a world that you'd actively beg to live in.

This is actually something I'll give modern isekai and is a large part of why it's so popular: It is extremely escapist. Even the more serious ones still make the main character be the biggest badass ever and the 'dark' elements actually conform just to make him a bigger badass. To give him more than he already would have by genre convention. They do that mostly through sincerity of concepts. By going "This is what we're doing, this is what we're giving the audience, FUCKING GO."

TOH never has that unity of purpose.

BUT

This lack of unity of purpose also meant that while PLENTY of anime are bigger, more popular and more influential than TOH, as far as western media goes, it was a strength. Like I said, it leans into current trends with writing. It is unique, even amongst anime, for having an explicitly LGBTQIA+ main character, adding to the escapism for those specific groups. All while packaged as a kids show for those who don't like kids shows, much like how Avatar for many is anime for those who don't like anime.

Now this is where I might talk about the other shows you brought up, especially Amphibia but, well... None of them are going for such pure escapism. Bare minimum, their main influences aren't pure escapism. They're more rooted in old isekai or just straight aren't influenced by isekai or Harry Potter. They're genuinely more complex about the relationship between the worlds because for their stories, both worlds actually matter. Neither is meant to be entirely abandoned like TOH wants to abandon the human realm.

There is a reason why Luz ends the series only learning about magic after all despite claiming to live in both realms because she has no interest in the human realm. There's a reason the villain is pro-human realm. It's all meant to point to not just wanting to run away but encouraging it. That's not even always a bad thing. I've written porn for god's sake, the last thing I can criticize is the desire for escapist fiction. It has its place.

TOH would fill that place better if it would just be honest about what it was. I'm still glad it comforts those who need it to be their escape though. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[papercupids]

and cut!

pairing -> director!reader × ex!mingyu ft. (ateez) actor!yunho + a heck lot of ocs

summary -> never take an artist seriously when they say their work is inspired from their "imagination."

or alternatively, where to get over mingyu you write a script about you and him.

warnings -> angst, drinking, there's a scene where the reader is drunk and there's profanities too.

a/n -> finally a one shot after constantly putting out <500 words blurbs/drabbles (?) i put my yunho/mingyu agenda here and hopefully someone will actually relate to it!! as usual feedback is v v appreciated <3

word count -> 4.5k

"come on, come on, this is my favourite song!" he's jumping up and extending his hand out to you as the speaker is playing some song which goes a bit like "dum da dum da dum da dum da dum," and you don't like it, but looking at his face, encouraging and eager for you to join him, you get up and slowly join mingyu.

the apartment was quiet, save for the soft music and the sounds of bare feet touching the floor, but no one cares, it’s summer. it’s sticky but the air conditioner's on. he spins you around and then when you turn he places his hand on your back trying to silly dance as much as he can to make you laugh.

maybe you love him, you think. but you don't want to say it out loud and risk a withdrawal from him.

and you laugh at him, he's pleased with himself after that, but he keeps on making you jump and spin and the laughing, it all is making you choke a little so you stop suddenly and try to catch your breath, still laughing. and when he stops, he's looking at you and laughing too except he's coming in closer and closer until there's no gap between you both and he's wrapping both of his arms around and leaning in to kiss you and then touching his forehead to yours afterwards.

"i love you," you whisper lowly.

"what?"

"i love you," you declare as you cup his face gently, and you don't mean to, but your voice shakes a little bit.

“AND CUT!” the producer yells, making you snap out of your fantasy in a second, and shake your head. the actors that were in front of you break character and get away from each other desperate to get to their vans and have a break.

seungcheol put down the microphone at your table and then gives you a fake grin, “earth to you, our beloved director,”

you close your eyes, “i was watching the scene, okay, i was just thinking if we could do something to-“

“save it,” he leans close, “look, babe, as much as i love you, we need to be on track, okay? we can’t afford to lose time, not even a little bit. you know the fans have been waiting for long, ” you nod. you knew how important this project was for you, after 2 years of radio silence and nobody to support your script except seungcheol. maybe that was why it was called 15 minutes of fame, because when it was over, nobody really cared.

but the response had been overwhelming when it was revealed to the fans that you were actually coming back with a film, and on top of that writing and directing your own story, it had a lot of hopes resting on it.

but what people or seungcheol did not know was that, the script was personal to you, as any piece of art to an artist, and it resembled a time in your life when you were truly happy, not the career high you felt when your first film got 80% rotten tomatoes, but a different, serene kind of happy. a happiness which could only exist there, and only with a certain kind of person, who was kim mingyu.

as the schedule for the day wrapped up, you sat on your computer at home, reviewing the footage from the past few days. the days after your college was over, moving in with him, dancing around the apartment… it made you pick up your phone, as it did since the day you thought of the script, or wait, scratch that, since the day you left him hanging there at the restaurant and you went to his contact.

your calls and texts were long since blocked by him, which was valid, ofcourse, but you desperately wanted him to know, you wanted to shout from the top of mountains if that could make him hear it, but you wanted him to know that "yes, mingyu, i miss you, and i made a mistake, but i don't know how to make it better, please help me!"

but nothing of that sort would happen. this was real life, not some sort of hallmark movie.

so when nothing resonated with you enough to write a script about, the idea came to you in a dream, to write about him. and you did, even if the probability of getting funded was about 20-80, you went ahead with it. and one of the top producers in the industry, known for his last two streaks of movies that were ranked number 1 on letterboxd, seungcheol decided to go through with it.

in his words, the story was raw, unique and heart-wrenching, it would make for a great contribution to a genre that closely resembled an indie movie type thing but also did not have the iconic manic pixie dream girl. he liked that.

the next scene was the aftermath of a party, of a new year’s party to be precise, and the feeling of a new year hadn’t quite settled into the both of you because you were too busy cleaning up the confetti and beer cups left by your drunk friends.

“i’m never hosting a party ever again,” you declared, picking up polaroids that were discarded being labeled ‘unsatisfactory’ this specific one was of vernon and seungkwan with the former crouched down to be shorter than seungkwan as he poses with an open mouth, it was attempted to look like seungkwan eating vernon’s head, but it had ended up as a hilarious mistake as seungkwan looked to be doing nowhere what he’d intended to. this was one to show them tomorrow sober, so you quickly put it in your pocket.

“i’m just thankful they left, it looked like some of them had plans to sleep over,”

“not a chance in hell,” you responded. you loved your friends, but they were probably making a mess of their sinks by throwing up, judging by the amount of alcohol they had.

“hey, wait, wait,” mingyu left the plastic bag he was collecting the trash in as he came walking to the living room, “do you hear that?” he went to the speaker which was set to the lowest volume. it was one of the songs that was in the first ever playlist you’d made for him.

he walks over to you, and you already know what’s coming, but you’ve long since accepted these impromptu sessions, so when he takes your hand and spins your around, it’s graceful, but afterwards, it’s just slow dancing in the living room.

“happy new year,” he wishes you.

“happy new year, my love. to this one and to so many more we’ll spend together,”

“CUT!” this time it’s you, not seungcheol. you were close to tears, the set, the music it was too familiar and it felt like walking on glass.

“great job, yunho!” he smiles as he walks up to you to monitor the footage.

he watches intently as you review it. he’s satisfied with it and you honestly couldn’t have had anybody better to portray mingyu.

“you’re perfect, really, you’re bringing the story to life really well,” you compliment him.

“is it, though?” he takes a chair and sits next to you, his assistant brings him a fan and he silently accepts it, keeping his eyes on you.

“is it what?”

“a story, i mean. either you have a intricate imagination or it’s a lie, it has actually happened,”

thankfully, to save you, your phone rings, you excuse yourself as yunho just smirks.

“seungcheol?”

“how’s it going? i wanted you to remind you to not get too deep into it, it’s fine if we need to push it back, just don’t overwork yourself,”

“aw, where’s this change of mind coming from? ah, i should really make you go home more, your wife is clearly the more rational one. i knew she would give you a piece of mind,”

“it’s me, yuri, how are you, baby? i hope seungcheol is not being too harsh on you,”

“ahah, no, no, he’s just giving me the push that i need, it’s alright,”

“what’s next on the schedule? i was thinking of coming down to watch the magic happen myself,”

“ofcourse, ofcourse,”

today’s shoot is about the time when you both first met.

you’d been new in town when your friend, alice had taken a quick liking to you and you’d both hit it off too, becoming the best of friends in no time almost.

but there’s one thing about that you absolutely dislike, her boyfriend vernon. they seemed to be perfectly alright with each other a minute and fighting the other, with the fighting mainly consisting of alice talking vernon’s ear off about how he didn’t value her as much as he should and how he never texts her, and vernon, constantly trying to make amends, i’ll be better, i’ll text you more.

one of those days though, the fight had ended with alice in your bed, passed out while crying and someone rung your bell - a tall guy with a fang-y smile that he didn’t hesitate to show even if he was here to solve a serious issue.

“i’m mingyu,”

and he’d tell you later on that he was determined to make the two patch up after that to get an excuse to hang out with you, to get to know you, and to keep you close. and he patched them up so well that they actually ended up getting married.

“wait, cut,”

you command and instantly, the actors turn to you and you walk over to yunho.

“we need a little teeth in the smile, please,”

he grins awkwardly.

“yunho, please,” the whole set has stopped to look at the conversation, and you talk in a lower voice to not let everybody hear you pleading.

“why does that even matter? i’m doing what i would normally to people when i’m introducing myself. isn’t that natural?”

“you don’t get it-“

“do i not smile like him?” he whispers, and you throw him a glare as you walk back to your chair, “rolling again,”

“oh god, i love it!” yuri exclaims after the last shoot is done, she’s in awe of the plot of the simplicity and yet intricity of it.

you wrap things up as she talks to you. “let’s go somewhere for dinner,” you’re tired but you nod, “okay,”

the first thing she does as you both sit down on your booth is lean in, her elbows on the table and her face leaned in, “now tell me, what inspired the script!”

“not this again,” you groan.

“it’s definitely something and i need to know, for science,”

“can we at least order first?” she giggles, “yes, okay,”

almost 2 hours later, as she scoops out the last spoon of her ice cream, you’ve finished your story.

she quietly enjoys that one bit and then comments, “i don’t think you’re to blame at all,”

“how? i was the one who left him,”

“well, because if you didn’t you wouldn’t be here right now, and i’m not talking like being with me here but this,” she points to the bag where the script is cozily snuggled up. “you wouldn’t have had this. and i’m not saying it’s his fault, because, ofcourse there’s nothing wrong with what he wanted either, it’s just that you both were different people who wanted different things. it was, simply put, circumstantial,”

she makes sense, but it doesn’t feel right to just blame the time when you’ve gotten so used to blaming yourself for choosing to leave.

“but it must have been beautiful, your love,” she puts a hand on your shoulder comfortingly, “i’m glad you experienced something like that and you can portray it so gracefully too,”

“and, um, yuri, don’t tell seungcheol, please,”

the movie was coming along exactly on time, all the actors were cooperative and the weather didn’t meddle much, seungcheol came around often and advise you about a particular scene should be reshot but he did not push a lot, something that you should probably thank yuri for.

and soon enough it was the day that filming would wrap up and you could finally shove your feelings in a movie and not look back, as much as it had been a dream to relieve it all again, the grave realization that these memories might be the only ones you would ever share with mingyu made you breakdown a lot of times.

yuri came down again, to congratulate you and she sat beside you for the last scene in the movie as well as shooting.

this scene, you could truthfully cross your heart and say that it’s fictional.

in this scene, they bump into each other once again, hopeful to start where they left off, looking at a stranger with a knowing smile, you knew him before and maybe, just maybe you’ll know him again.

but real life wasn’t anything like that, the film goes into post production, and you still haven’t gave up on your habit of lying on your side and scrolling through your phone looking at his photos and some screenshots of your chats (you had long since switched through multiple phones and had way too many drunk nights where you swore to get over him) but it was no use, every night ended the same, with your heart feeling hollowed out as you dreamt of his laughter and his touch, how was it that you had to go through your entire life without it now? it made you cry all over again.

“when are you going to come home?” the aspect chilled you but you decided that if you wanted to do something about it then you had to go home, and you had to face him. even if going home wasn’t necessarily that because your parents and mingyu lived on the opposite ends of town and had cut ties with each other after the way you ran away, enough time has passed for you to try and make amends, or just at least check up on him.

“mingyu?”

he’s sitting in the cafè where you used to frequent during your time together and you look at alice who encourages you to go talk to him as the said person turns and stands up after he recognizes you.

and it’s obvious, you run to him, throwing your arms around him.

“i’m so glad you’re back,” he looks into your eyes with the same hope he got down on one knee with. maybe this time you can say yes, your movies have been doing well and you’re no longer struggling and but he doesn’t want to get out of this town and-

the alarm rings, and you’re at home, miles away from the previous title holder of home and even farther away from mingyu himself. and who were you kidding? how can you even expect him to welcome you like that? you yourself didn’t deem yourself worthy of a normal conversation let alone a hug and a hopefulness to start over, the movie bit was really getting to you.

the time read 8:00 am, the premiere was today, if things went smoothly you could ditch after a few interviews and be on the way home and as early as tomorrow you could be breathing the same air as mingyu?

“i’m coming today,” you call your mom en route to the venue, and she visibly smiles, you haven’t gone home but home, your parents have been here a lot of times, understanding and empathizing with your choice.

muting the call, she nods to your father, the home was about to regain its fullness again.

“but isn’t the premiere today?”

“well, i can get out as soon as i’m doing with the mandatory obligations.”

“don’t rush and drive safe, okay?”

the lights flashing and the loud voices of the public, the flashy setting with pretentious people and their fake smiles and wishes about “i hope the movie does well,” but when in reality they hoped the exact opposite was too much for you even on normal days let alone the days when you were already itching to get out, and so you did, 2 hours after you entered, and painstakingly, turns out the superpower you’d want to have if someday was invisibility, take that TMZ!

but the very next memory is of the warmest bed you’ve ever known, the smell of the incense sticks your father lights every morning without fail and the country song playlist your mom has to play, what an odd combination.

“so, um,” sitting at the breakfast table, you can sense an odd shift in the atmosphere after you’ve settled down in the household and it’s almost tense, the bread and butter doesn’t seem appetizing now.

the look that your parents give each other is unmissable.

“okay,” your father clears his throat, “we’ve been beating around the bush and avoiding anything that’s related to mingyu or anything but,”

“but?”

“um,”

“he got married,” your mum says quickly and shoves food into her mouth, all the while they both look down at the dining table, the pattern become very interesting to them at that moment.

three words and it’s enough to slash your heart into two, but to be honest it hurt less compared to the times you’d thought of the possibility, you thought you’d be more hurt, the scene would be more dramatic, and everything. but it was a numb kind of pain, the kind that is in the next room, sleeping and you have to open drawers quietly to not wake it up, but still numb.

it’s okay, when you were out there you were desperate for a piece of home and found it in your memories of mingyu, but when you’re here, you realize that more than mingyu there were a lot of other chracters in your story.

speaking of characters, there were alice and vernon who had long since gotten married, had a kid recently and there was so much to catch up on.

“we go to the movies only for you, really. because it’s so hard to get this guy,” alice points to vernon who is sprawled on the sofa with his baby on the side, “out of the house,”

“hey, it’s not my fault that you can literally do everything without moving a finger out of the house,”

they hadn’t changed a single bit since college and you were glad, it was unbelievable that these were the same two people who were breaking up every 2 days a few years back, that was a great story to tell the baby about.

when you mention mingyu, they share the same look your parents did, “it’s okay, guys, i know he’s married. jeez, did everybody collectively know i was still pining over him?”

“it was obvious,”

“i wish you could have worked out though,” alice sighs. “i mean, his wife is great, we see them once a month but it would have been different if it were you, right?”

“are you sure they aren’t home?” mingyu whispers as he climbs in through your window. and you’re too tipsy to care if they are or not.

‘i don’t know!” you announce in a voice that was sure to wake up the neighbours enough.

mingyu wanted to laugh, the way you were swaying and struggling to walk straigh was adorable and so was the look in your eyes, that you could achieve anything, but he noticed it even when you were sober, the look which said, i know what i want and i’m not afraid of going for it. it scared him sometimes, but it was that very thrill that had attracted him to you in the first place.

“mingyuuu,” your voice dragged, thankfully and luckily your parents were either asleep or really not here.

“baby,” he place a finger on your lips, “you need to be quiet, okay? people are sleeping,”

“hmm,” you walk over to sit on your bed.

“mingyu,” you call his name out again. he looks at you with a smile on his face, your voice has dropped to a whisper, mocking him.

“come here,” you pat on the space beside you.

“here,” he sits down and grab onto his arm softly, snuggling into his chest.

“i love mingyu,” is the last thing you say when you drift off beside him, and you’ll never know that he said it too.

“i love you, always and forever,”

on the same bed, you sit alone now, the review are pouring in, people love the rawness of their love, people hate that it’s too slow, people love yunho’s acting, and people call out “loopholes” and it gets overwhelming to you at some point so you stop looking at it and decide to go out to clear your head.

the grocery store is a perfect place to do that and as soon as you tell your mom that, she has an entire list of things you need to get for her, ready.

and thankfully, just as you’re in the first aisle of biscuits and snacks, the caller id shows yuri’s number.

“i love how it turned out so much,”

you smile as you push the shopping trolley, that was one of the only opinions that matter.

“so you’re home?” she asks.

“home sweet home after like 6 years,”

“wow, that’s a lot.” she’s a little touchy around the subject but you know what she wants to ask.

“nope, yuri, i haven’t seen mingyu,”

“oh, haha, yes i wanted to ask that,”

the chips, and the nachos and now the sauce section. but you had to get some detergent for your mom, where was that aisle?

“but i’m actually thankful for that.” you take a deep breath, “yuri, he’s married.”

“shit…” she quietly mutters. and shifts her phone to the right ear, “are you okay?”

“yeah, i’m.. fine, it’s not something that i didn’t think about so it’s okay, i was prepared for it,”

a small girl is reaching up for a bread in the baked goods section and you have an involuntary grin plastered on your face, it suddenly reminded you of a time when you were like the same little kid.

“here, let me help,” you reach up for it and give it to her, but she gives you a blank look and runs away.

and you’re suddenly reminded of the whole stranger danger campaign your aprents used to do for you, maybe the same is for her parents.

but just as you turn and push your cart, still looking for the damned detergent, someone calls out to you.

“excuse me,”

and you turn before the voice registers itself in your brain.

mingyu.

and the kid from before, hiding behind his legs.

he’s looking down at her, “i’m sorry, normally she does say thank you. haneul, baby, say thank-“

and he looks at you.

“..y/n?”

“uh, yuri, let me call you back in a bit,”

nothing could have prepared you for that one moment, no matter how much you think about it in the shower, or try to practice a conversation.

shortly after your little reunion in the baked goods section, his wife follows, “should i get this or…?”

and thankfully, it wasn’t awkward (read, kinda awkward) but you greeted them formally and his wife seemed to know about you but she made the little girl greet you as her father's friend.

"how have you been?" he asks, and the wife, who introduces herself as hari, grabs his arm.

"come over to ours, i'm sure you both have to catch up."

and that is how you end up in the same house that well, you used to be practically living ij but out of respect for both haneul and hari, you shake off the memories, you had the rest of your life for them.

"haneul, can you go upto your room and make a drawing for your father's friend?" hari brings three cups of tea into the living room as you make small talk with mingyu, turns out his parents had both tragically passed away in a car accident 2 years ago so now he lived here.

and you don't even know what it means because you don't even live in the same rented apartment in a different city for too long, you couldn't imagine having a family in the place where you wete born, there was nothing wrong with it, but it wasn't what you wanted.

"we watched one of your movies together," she admits, "it was actually our first date and he said, the director is my ex, and i just laughed i couldn't believe him,"

and the conversation went on, scratching at the surface but not really going in, it was like catching up with work acquaintance.

when haneul called out for her mother, you took that time to tell mingyu that you want to be excused.

"i'll walk you out,"

and as soon as you're on the porch gate, you turn to him.

"i'm happy you got what you wanted, mingyu."

"i wanted you, y/n. this is what i needed."

"right, yes," it gets awkward for a bit as memories resurface.

"for what it's worth, i'm really sorry for that day," you confess. "i've never stopped thinking about what could've been if i didn't leave,"

he looked away, not wanting to go down the lane and be reminded of all of that again.

"it's alright, i wouldn’t have haneul and hari, and you wouldn't have another hit movie under your belt either,"

it stung a little but he was right.

a little hope inside you that was still alive even after all of these years died down slowly, like a candle wick melting out along with the wax, it ran its course, now it's time for another candle.

you exchanged goodbyes and you watched him go inside and the muffled squeals and laughter of him and his daughter, and then the door opened again, this time, it was hari.

"uh, i'll get going now," you signal to your watch, "it’s getting dark, i should reach home before that,"

"wait, but i made dinner for you,"

she was such a sweetheart, you were so glad that they'd both found each other. the kid would grow up to be such a gentle person.

"thank you so much, but i'll come by next time, maybe, i promise,"

she stands on the porch until you take your car out of their driveway, waving lightly.

there was no next time, for the sake of your mental health, it was the last time you would ever see kim mingyu.

[laugtherhyena]

What are some of you're favourite Sprite edits you've made Whether that be this year, or any over years you've been in the sprite editing business

Ok so I've made A LOT of edits over the years so it took a lil while for me to sort out the favorites and why exactly, but here it is so get ready for some rambling!

First things first i gotta say this isn't really organized from the one i like the most and least, i like all of these edits a whole lot and i really don't think i can pick one or two to be the favorite.

So let's start from the start (sorta) i have to give a spot to my Fantasy Au twins edits, it would be illegal to not put them in this list

The Sdra2 Fantasy Au was one of the first things i made in the fandom and i was attached to it for a long while. These are actually the 4th version of their sprites, out of all them only the 3rd had a full gallery of sprites and trust me they were complex since on top of posting i even made different tails and ears to move around depending on the emotion of the sprite.

Even tho i never finished this 4th take on them I'm pretty happy with the redesign (since as i grew older i realized some of my choices were questionable and i really should have thought more before just going with it, just keep in mind i was a dumb 14-15 year old then) and the improvement on graphical quality because not only does it show how much i improved in editing but also because editing the fantasy twins were my first really hard edits and i was always happy with how well i was able to translate their weird little designs to sprite form.

The Fantasy Au as a whole had a lot of edits with a bunch of complicated details that i never finshed and although I don't like them as much as the twins i do feel like they deserve to be shown somehere so have this pile of lizards, undead firemen and two human girls.

(fun fact; i didn't know how to add textures back then so see those scales on the dragons? I made them all by hand-)

Next one on the list has gotta be the Nijiue siblings! Crazy to think these guys are only 2-3 years old like it feels like they've been with me for ao much longer!

These guys where my first try at making Oc sprites since before all i did were Au stuff and they're very very dear to me, as you can probably guess by the amount of spites an different iterations i made of them over the years. While there are a few things i could improve upon them if i were to remake their edits nowadays, i never felt a strong need to do so because as it is their sprites hold up well imo so remaking them feels unnecessary to me.

And you know I can't really talk about them without mentioning the Voidswap Au and a couple tumblr blogs owned by friends of mine. After Voidswap's cancelation i didn't thought I'd ever use these guys for anything so to think that nowadays there's so many people who not only know these characters but care for them a lot out of seeing them in Asoot and Dfta more recently really fills me with joy! I'm glad y'all enjoy my silly siblings so much and obviously huge thanks to the mods for wanting to include them in their stories, I really couldn't be more thankful for that!

And since we're talking about the fam, let me add Mako to the list as an honorable mention of sorts, a i'm still very happy with how i made her adult designs especially the whole closed trenchcoat and open trenchcoat thing she has going on and how i was able to cary out the heart motif on both of them :]

This next one is one of my newer edits + a pretty simple one which is this Irl Sora design i made for mod Bubbles around early this year.

Honestly, I don't even know how to explain why i like it this much? Maybe it's because Sora is one of the characters from Sdra2 i still decently enjoy or because i had a fun time coming up with her design. I had in mind that i wanted something plain and simple just like her in-game one, just adapted to a more adult look. Rolled up sleeves to resemble her uniform's ones and a scarf to bring back the spark of red her old design had, i also gave her the short hair that post game Yuki has because it's still her body at the end of the day + i think butch-ish Sora looks pretty good :]

From simplicity we jump back into weirdness with these last ones because obviously i wouldn't leave my girls out of this list, what did you guys even expect?

Favoritism? Absolutely, by now I'm sure all of you know how much i like these two but focusing on the graphical side for once, I'm super proud of their designs, i think they fit with the weirdness of some of Linuj's design choices pretty well which in turn makes them look kinda legit? In my head at least. I also had a lot of fun working on their sprites, especially Beni's since it had been a long while since i last tried to really exaggerate expressions on sprites of my characters so that was really fun! + I'm super proud of the baby sprites i made of them too, almost as much as i like their standard/adult designs really.

[wetcatspellcaster]

I don’t know if this was asked previously so I apologize if that’s the case, but what was your inspiration for Rosalie? Including her character, class, backstory etc.

Hey anon!

I have answered variations of this before, but I'm always happy to talk about my girl!

The inspiration for Divination Wizard is that it's my favourite D&D subclass, along with Divine Soul Sorcerer 😅

Her character and backstory did not have a specific inspiration, but it did have some clear influences! I've described Rose as an "immune response" before, and it's my best analogy so I'll repeat it here. She was made, in response to other characters I'd encountered. And lord, those characters made me want to double down, HARD.

I had just played a Curse of Strahd game with a bunch of edgelords in the pandemic. Now, people not wanting to play Lawful Good in a campaign is obviously not a problem, and being an edgelord is not a crime, but it was a poorly managed game without a session 0, so a lot of people were at cross purposes, and it made wanting to be good-aligned pretty stressful. I could've been less stubborn about it, but I was wanting to save the world.... in 2020. I didn't understand why this wasn't everyone's power fantasy... in 2020. So we can see why I clung to it till the bitter end. Which is absolutely on me and I'll never pretend otherwise, but the game was also high stakes, so understandably (and irrationally, I quit the game in the end when I realised how silly it was getting) I got anxious every time more obstacles to this presented itself.

And then I got BG3, in early access. Rosalie is very informed by the EA characterisation of the companions. I loved them, but the jokes at the time were that you get bullied for being a nice person - by everyone, not just Astarion (Wyll, you were always a real one). It was very reminiscent of the stress I felt in the game outlined above. It made me feel like "why am I doing this, for fun? why does being good matter to me so much in my silly imaginary world?" I kind of wish Larian had stuck with that vision, bc it led me to think about what kind of person would persist with being nice and doing the right thing in that environment where all your friends are judging you for it... and I realised, it was someone who flat out didn't care what other people thought about them. And thus Rosalie, and a new power fantasy of No Social Anxiety, was born!

As for the agoraphobia - I then took that 'No Anxiety' prompt to an extreme that would give me an interesting story. I met two people in the pandemic who were or had been agoraphobic, and given that it was 2020 and everyone was inside and scared, it was something that fascinated me and that I could also relate to. I am not agoraphobic, but it has since been pointed out to me that I made an OC immune to her mental illness during a period of intense and scary change, when I had a mental illness, during a period of intense and scary change. So I guess that's another inspiration, that I only unpacked afterwards... in fact, I only really unpacked it when I returned to writing her last year, when I'm in recovery and she isn't, and I realised with hindsight what parts of myself I'd put in there.

This is why I don't see Rosalie as a self-insert, but a power fantasy! I will never be her, bc my mental state will never have a magical cure, and I don't think I'll ever be effortlessly nice or fearless. But that's certainly something it's fun to imagine and explore!

[nanamismoonchild]

deceiving the moon

->chapter 11- the pan handler

->pairing: namjoon x oc (persephone)

->genre: greek god, fantasy

->wc: ~1.5k

->warnings: choking, name-calling, rough fingering, power dynamics on both sides, unhinged namjoon and oc (both of them are crazy), Persephone being mean

credits: this fic was beta read by the lovely @augustbutwinter and the header was made by the lovely @birbdae

a/n: somehow i found enough time to write a few words.it's been *checks notes* a whillllleeeeeeeeeeeee since i wrote namjoon and our girlboss persephone. please comment or send an ask my way if you enjoyed it. Or better yet, send an owl with a lovely letter. :D OH OH I hope you all get the reference too!

prev next

also posted on ao3

Persephone had hoped Namjoon would let her explore more of her new kingdom. However, he explained that they had an appointment with a familiar god by the name of Park Jimin. 

To humans, he was Pan. To Persephone, he was a nuisance much like the rest of the gods that she had met so far. The only difference is she had interacted with Jimin more times than she would have liked to admit.  

Her mother enjoyed his company and invited him to help with harvests. He also lurked around the lake surrounding her old home, flirting with the nymphs. And with her. She couldn’t count on her fingers how many times she rebuffed him, only for him to come back the next day.  

In fact, she had a feeling, she already knew what he would say the moment she was in his proximity. 

“You picked him? Over me?” Jimin screeched, damn near tossing himself into her personal space. He managed to sound both accusatory and hurt at the same time. 

“And why on Gaea’s green earth would I ever choose you?”

Sulkily, he replied, “Because obviously I’m the better choice. I’m your mother’s favorite.”

“My mother didn’t have favorites,” Persephone said plainly, hoping to hurt the man’s feelings. “And if she did, she’d be foolish to choose you.”

“You can be such a bi-”

Namjoon huffed and stood up from his chair, swiftly, trying to save his friend from getting slapped into the next century. “If you’re done flirting with my wife, Jimin, I’d like to begin this meeting. I’d like to get some sleep tonight.”

The new goddess of the underworld and the young god of the wild both turned their heads to Namjoon at the same time, and eerily, both said, “You’re organizing?”

Namjoon’s heart broke a little.

“Yes, but that’s neither here nor there with you, Jimin.”

Persephone sat next to Namjoon, easily sliding into her business persona. A persona she didn’t even realize she had until now. Being Queen was changing her, and she loved every single moment of it. 

Jimin scoffed, “Right. You want to hold a ball in this silly dirty-”

“Do not insult my new home, shepherd.”

Jimin braved the intentional insult and kept going.  He was used to Persephone despising every man that walked into her life. From what he’d heard, she had already knocked Yoongi down a couple of pedestals, made Jungkook bleed, and put Namjoon into his place. He wasn’t (yes, he was) afraid of what she’d do to him.  

“I’m sorry. Your lovely castle. You want to turn this place into the finest place ever. With my help. Why not just call Apollo?” “Tried. No answer, “ Namjoon said plainly. 

“Of course. He must be off doing some trials or something. I heard he got into some really bad stuff.”

“Before you two turn into gossiping nymphs, what is this about a ball?” Persephone questioned, turning to look at Namjoon. “This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing and we’ve both spent the night taking care of…errands.”

Jimin didn’t bother asking what errands the two of them took; he felt if he asked his feelings would get more than hurt. 

“Ah, it was a last minute thing. And it’s not really a ball. It’s more of a ceremony for the both of us.”

He side-eyed Jimin. 

“I wanted to create a song for you. And I thought that Jimin would be the perfect candidate to help me. After Apollo of course.”

Namjoon thought he heard a small “whatever” come from Jimin. 

The look of complete disgust was painted onto Persephone’s beautiful face as she realized what Namjoon had suggested. 

“I’d rather listen to the cries of the dead as they cross the Styx and realize they’re being rowed away on a boat driven by that idiot you trust so much.”

Damn. The woman managed to insult all three men and one of them wasn’t even in the room. 

“Persephone, my music is not that bad. The Pan Girls say that-”

“Pan Girls,” Persephone rolled her eyes. “They are nothing more than women who have laid in bed with you on more than one occasion. That is the name that common men, such as yourself, give them. It’s close to being called a whore. Please do not ever call the women who idol you that despicable name.”

Jimin felt as if an arrow had been shot and lodged in his chest. His cheeks became warm and red as shame rose up his body.  He had thought it was one of those adorable fan names. 

“And please, no music made by a man has ever made me happy,” Persephone added to complete the reading she had just given the poor man. “Now, if you had asked Euterpe, I would have taken any song by her.”

“Well, she was unavailable, considering she’s one of the nine.” Namjoon gritted out, wanting to add a demand that Persephone stop insulting his friends or he wouldn’t have anyone except Cerberus.  

“Hm, too bad. I guess I’ll take the half goat then.”

Jimin was ready to cry. There were only so many insults he could take, and the Queen may have just found his limit. 

“Namjoon, I don’t think I feel comfortable singing a song for the bitch who clearly does not like me.”

Namjoon sucked in his teeth. Enough was enough. If she was going to be a queen, petty insults needed to stop.   “Persephone.”

“Yes?” Persephone asked innocently, instantly hearing the low tone Namjoon used with nuisances. “Please apologize to our guest.” 

The grin that spread across his queen’s face was absolutely terrifying. It was the smile of a woman who knew she had all the power. And no one could take it from her. 

“Now, “ she started, tracing circles along Namjoon’s arm, “if I do that, it wouldn’t be sincere. And Jimin deserves a sincere apology. Don’t you, Jiminie? ”The tone she used was sultry and, obviously, fake, but that didn’t deter Jimin. 

He loved being called Jiminie, and finally hearing it from Persephone, someone he had been infatuated with for years called him tha,made every insult she had made towards him disappear. 

He was sucked into her charms immediately.

“I do deserve one. Listen, I’ll make up calling my admirers, Pan Girls, by writing and singing the best song you’ve ever heard.”

“You will?” Persephone gushed, still putting on a false performance. 

She knew Namjoon wasn’t pleased but to hell with him. 

The god of flutes nodded giddily and took off before Persephone or Namjoon could say anything else. 

The throne room was empty besides the two of them. Normally, a swarm of servants would come over.  Persephone still couldn’t register the days or nights in the Underworld very well; however, she knew from her the sleepiness that suddenly overwhelmed her, it was late in the night, which meant the servants were also in bed. 

She yawned and stood, aiming to stretch her legs. She became aware of Namjoon sliding next to her; she made the mistake of presuming he was going to offer to carry her as he normally did. 

Instead he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his front. His other hand made its way to her throat. And pressed. Not enough to completely cut her off, but enough for her to feel lightheaded but excited all the same. 

Namjoon leaned in close to Persephone’s ear, so that he knew she was listening. 

“Whenever we have guests, my queen, you will respect them,” he moved the hand that was on her waist to her middle, bunching up the night dress she wore. Almost exposing her. 

“No more of these petty jabs. Business only.”

She decided to mess with Namjoon, “Or what?” 

Mistake. A big one. 

Namjoon whipped her around and pushed her into her throne. The Egyptian cotton stuffed velvet pillow felt like heaven underneath her,  but Namjoon didn’t give her time to enjoy the feeling. He lifted her dress, and slid two fingers inside of her warmth. 

Persephone moaned and began rocking on his fingers before the arm he wasn’t using pinned her thighs down. She pouted, but the onslaught of Namjoon’s fingers didn’t allow her to chastise him. She quickly felt a coil begin to emerge, and couldn’t believe it was so soon. 

Unfortunately, just as soon it began, it ended. 

Namjoon slid his fingers out, her pussy making a shameful wet noise as he removed them.   The sound warmed Persephone’s cheeks as she tried to catch her breath. 

“You keep doing what you’re doing–you won’t get what you want,” Namjoon said, his voice still dripping with the dark vibe. He licked both fingers clean, relishing Persephone’s taste. 

Persephone opened her mouth to complain, but it was promptly shut with Namjoon stuffing both of his fingers into her mouth. She tasted a little of herself, and Namjoon’s own saliva on her tongue.  

“We’re going to go to our room and sleep. You’re not getting that orgasm tonight. We’ll see how you behave in the morning.”

Persephone nodded, reluctantly. 

Namjoon smiled, no, he beamed. It was the same terrifying grin that Persephone had earlier. No one could take away the power Persephone had as the Underworld’s Queen. Except the King, her king. 

[horrendous-bisexual-showdown]

Poll 2

Sorelia Divisav (She/Her) by @dixy

Why Should Your OC Win?

she is a fail woman. she may be a successful underground musician but she is a fail woman. she has a motorcycle but she'll trip getting off of it while flirting & just lay on the ground. also i love her

What is Your OC Like?

Sorelia is the bassist & lead singer in her 3 person sludge/stoner metal band. Shes a 300 year old elf & has been playing music her whole life & somewhat recently took up bass, and loves doing experimental work in her makeshift music studio basement. shes very silly and impulsive & smokes weed on her twin brothers sidewalk. she has a schizospec disorder and gets very paranoid about her likeness being posted online without permission sometimes, but pretty chill & laid back otherwise. shes pretty flirty but has commitment issues in a "i feel uncomfortable labeling a relationship" way. her brother is immortal so sometimes as a prank she waits for him to come down the hallway to shoot him with a crossbow because its hilarious how much it inconveniences him. fashion wise shes stuck in the 90s & wears a lot of grunge, especially big tshirts & baggy pants, or those old fairy tshirts. her gender is bisexual woman specifically.

Solveig (She/Her) by @spellinwaiting

Why Should Your OC Win?

her life is so fucking hard she needs to win something just once

What is Your OC Like?

solveig is my tes oblivion oc and she has just SO many problems. imagine being severely mentally ill in a medieval fantasy setting with no access to proper mental health care. one time someone tried to mug her but then realized she had nothing and they felt so bad for her and the whole state she was in the mugger was like 'ok you need help' and became her friend. shes blessed to have an orc wife who loves her no matter how many times she sprints off into the woods in the midst of a manic episode. what else? she has a horse named 'horse' because she couldnt come up with anything better. she wants to be a heroic knight but is far better at killing people than saving them. her solution to most of her problems is to lie face down on the floor motionless for a while (also the picture is done by my friend whose url is @symbie not by me, i hope thats alright, also i put that here cause i didnt know where else to)

[themythicsages]

Greetings from a very sleepy and bored roleplayer.

Hello Tumblr! I hope the night, or day depending on your timezone, has been treating you well. I come to you today looking for new, long-term roleplay partners for a very small percent of the fandoms that I am currently in and fixating over. I am 21+ and I work most afternoons, so more likely than not my responses will come out later in the night. My timezone is est for reference. Given the few fandoms I'm pulling from for this request, I will unfortunately not want to use ocs since I don't have any real OCS for any of these who aren't just ship children and I personally don't like doing oc x canon, save for specific instances like with BG3 and any other instances with canonized self inserts. While my average reply always falls somewhere between literate and advanced literate, with me averaging between 1 - 3 paragraphs per, I have been known to dip into novella when I get insanely motivated. I only roleplay on discord, and while tupperbox is preferred for this it is not required. Also, being queer myself I have always been more drawn to queer ships since they feel more right to me. And just a given but please don't be afraid to geek out with me in ooc. The whole reason I'm searching for a real person and not just going to ch.ai is because I like being able to shoot ideas off of my partners and just be silly in the background. Also don't just assume that yes romance means yes smut. I don't do that as much anymore.

Now that that essay is out of the way, onto the pairs why don't we?

Jujutsu Kaisen

I am unfortunately anime only, but I do know much of what is to come after Shibuya thanks to how heavily spoiled I was on this series even before I knew I wanted to enjoy it. Feel free to correct me if I get something wrong.

Satoru Gojo

SatoSugu (Romantic. The hyperfix is very real with them.)

Nanago (Romantic)

Gojo + Megumi (Strictly platonic, leaning more familial.)

Yuji Itadori

ItaFushi (Romantic)

ItaJun (Romantic)

Yuji + Nanami (Strictly Platonic, leaning more familial.)

Yuji + Choso (Strictly Platonic. Just brothers being brothers.)

Yuji + Todo (Strictly Platonic. Also brothers being brothers, but different.)

Final Fantasy XV

Prompto Argentum

Promptis (Romantic)

Honestly any ship with him works fine I'm just biased LMAO

Ardyn

Versdyn (Romantic)

Aerdyn (Romantic)

Ardyn + Somnus (STRICTLY PLATONIC. Flashback to when they were young and actually cared about each other.)

Final Fantasy VII

Cloud Strife

Zakkura (Romantic or Platonic. Could go either way.)

Clerith (Romantic)

Strifentine (Romantic)

Sefikura (Romantic. Yes I know they're toxic, tell square to stop making them act like a divorced couple and then we'll talk)

Cloud + Yuffie (STRICTLY PLATONIC. The siblings ever.)

Genesis Rhapsodos

GenGeal (Romantic)

SephGen (Romantic)

SephGenGeal (or whatever their poly is lmao) (could be romantic or platonic)

Vincent Valentine

Vincrecia (Romantic)

Valenwind (Romantic)

Strifentine (Romantic)

Vincent + Yuffie (STRICTLY PLATONIC. They give team father/daughter vibes)

Vincent + Young Sephiroth (STRICTLY PLATONIC. He's his father now. Tie them to a Vincrecia family au and my life is literally yours.)

Rufus Shinra

Rutseng/Tsengru (Romantic)

Yuri!!! On Ice

Victor Nikiforov

Victuuri (Romantic. The husbands ever.)

Victor + Yurio (STRICTLY PLATONIC. Could be tied to a family au, perchance, or as an addition to a romantic Victuuri plot to turn it into a full family au.)

Okay so if any of those sound good to you then feel free to like or reply to this post! I look forward to hearing from you guys!

This is Sage, signing out ✌️.

edits: Added Tsengru/Rutseng, Victuuri, and Plat Victor + Yurio. Also fixed some typos.

[nunalyan]

It's just a bad moment.

@minzart twst Oc - Will.

My own twst oc - Lyan.

Just a silly scenario bc I'm gay and sad and I love minzi with all my heart.

The two characters use all pronouns, I mixed it because YES-

- - -

A soft cry can be heard inside one of the rooms of the Ramshackle Dorm, a tired and continuous cry, almost like a newborn baby.

"I... I can't... This is hard... This hurts me so much... My heart hurts..."

"Shhh... I know, I understand it very well..."

Inside the room, the two magicless humans are sitting on the ruined floor, hugging each other in a warm embrace, trying to rid themselves of some unknown pain inside their own hearts. Will was trying their best to bring their friend some comfort, but Lyan looks so hurt and sick of everything that it makes him wonder if their affection was actually helping somehow.

"Why is this happening to us...? Why...? I miss my dad, I miss him so much... The people here aren't bad, but I am exhausted of battles and screams and those damn magical things!"

"Lyan... There's no other one who understands you better than me about this topic, I swear. I know what you're feeling, I understand your pain... But hey, we need to do our best..."

"We need to do our best?! We almost die everyday! YOU almost die everyday! Look at your scars Will! Look at my face! I... I am so scared of lose you too..."

At that moment, not even Will can stop herself from letting the tears roll down her face, tightening the hug even more. They stroke Lyan's hair, but this makes the poor student cry more. The two hide their faces on each other's neck, leaving the area slightly wet with tears of sadness and despair.

"I would never leave you, ever. Those things are nothing compared to what I experienced before. I would be happy to have thousands of scars if it meant that I would continue living with you and the others here... Besides, I need you here too..."

"Me? A useless piece of shit who can't even help when my friend is having an overblot? Oh sure, everyone needs me, of course."

"I already told you to not talk like that. Lyan, you can't see it but we can. You're such a wonderful person, you try to help us even when everything goes wrong! You help me just with your presence! Do you even know how broke I am inside? It hurts me too, but at least I have you! You're the same as me, you need and DESERVE love and care, and... And you make me feel at home, Lyan..."

The tears are getting strong on both sides, the grip getting tighter and tighter as the warm embrace almost hurts them. This is a difficult situation, not only for Lyan or Will, but for the two of them. Lyan softens the grip more, and comes face to face with his friend.

"My eye hurts, Will... I am tired, sick of it... My presence is nothing wonderful to have. I do everything wrong, I can't even help you when you need it. I am just wasting your time..."

"Liar. Don't you see, Lyan? You're helping me now. You're here with me! And that's what makes me feel better! And YES you help me with the overblots, but fuck them! You help me even when you're silent by my side, you help me when you stroke my hair with your soft hand, you help me when you make stupid jokes and puns about anything! Or when you listen to me speaking about some hyperfixation I've had for more than two hours! Believe me, 90% of people stop listen to me when I talk about Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts, BUT YOU'RE THE LOVELY AND ADORABLE IDIOT WHO LISTENS AND EVEN ASKS QUESTIONS! AND GIRL TRUST ME, THIS EYEPATCH MAKES YOU FINE AS HELL OKAY?!"

For a brief moment, Lyan feels his own face heat up a little before laughing at Will's comment. They slowly stop their desperate crying, resting their heads on each other's shoulders, sobbing a little. The silence start to fill the space between them, but it's comfortable, it's warm, like the hug of a mother.

"... Thank you..."

"No need to thank me, it's just the truth."

"No, about... Everything, Will. I'm glad to have you by my side. I also... Feel at home with you. And your scars makes you look fine as hell too."

The laugh that comes out from them is sincere, both the idiots blushing more at their own words. Will stands up, offering his hand to Lyan, who grabs it quickly and stand up too. They quietly walk together, holding hands, with a calm and soft smile after so much painful tears.

"Ice cream?"

"... Ice cream."

"Oh, and... Please, don't talk like that about yourself. That's my best friend you're talking about."

[choccy-zefirka]

15 Dialogue Lines!

Tagged by @druckkugelschreiber ! Thank youuuu, I love being tagged in things, even though I am always so slow with filling out the memes, and am too awkward to tag people back!

The prompt was: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

I chose my forever gal Yvie! She's a half-dwarf, half-elf, so I tag her as Lavellan for convenience. The lines are mostly sourced from just a couple of fics bc I have not actually posted a lot of written content about her! (I had some now-deleted fics about Yvie-like OCs I've since scrapped, but they need to be reworked!).

Imagine all of this spoken with a French accent, because Yvie is, in fact, Orlesian (but from a rural area rather than Val Royeaux; there may be some communication issues when she uses her village's dialect around Vivienne, who is a very studious non-native speaker with impeccable knowledge of the standard Orlesian, as prescribed by the Fantasy Académie Française).

"I heard some Chantry sermons from the humans in my hometown, but I don’t remember the part where Andraste cooked meals for the Maker"

"You see someone half the human height, with ears to match, and your mind instantly jumps back and forth between 'servant' and 'smuggler'… And yet humans are not so quick to let either of my kin learn a trade, no?"

"It is never gratifying to kill people — not for me! I am a gardener, not a warrior"

"My eldest sister joined the Grey Wardens many years ago... After the Fifth Blight ended and the Hero of Ferelden vanished, Empress Celene sent her to Amaranthine, to rebuild. And I ran away from home, all the way from Orlais, to visit her. I was still so young back then, and I thought it was going to be some grand adventure, but — but instead, I saw the darkspawn come back."

"Créateur! Of course I won’t punish you!"

"There is nothing wrong about loving a monster... And trust me, nobody wishes Corypheus was worthy of love more than me."

"I looked into his eyes when he tried to pry the Mark from my hand. I saw how much he had suffered. I saw the pain of wanting to find his gods, to discover, perhaps, what he truly meant to them, to the world; what meaning his life could have… Only to find a cold, indifferent silence."

"[The Architect] is a friend of my sister’s... I met him once, a year after the Fifth Blight."

"I could not fathom what all the fuss was back then. Why would silly Julie fall for [Loghain] a man twenty years her senior, who'd been the archnemesis of her predecessor? But it seems like a weakness for villains runs in the Kader family."

"Experimental nug breeding facilitator. Formulated at the request of Lady Nightingale. Handle with care. Effects on humanoids may be adverse"

"I shared my family’s fruit preserve recipe with [Flissa], though there’s not much fruit to choose from, with snow everywhere!"

"The dwarf side of my family was lucky to start a fruit orchard on the surface instead of getting sucked into the Carta."

"Do you know how flimsy the locks are in here? Before the cells started filling up, I would watch Sera — who is a friend, by the way; do not be hard on her — pick them for sport!"

"I am sorry. In the future... When the Elder One had taken over the world... I — I had to kill you."

"I cannot stop thinking about why every highway robber I 'take care of' chose to do what they did."

[1800duckhotline]

vampirism is such a fun topic like i love both the physical chronic blood illness idea of it and the generic fantasy and when people get funky with it and decide it has something to do with bugs maybe not in a parasitic way (like darkest dungeons vampires). its also fun to mix them i have a character that lives in a fantasy world but routinely denies all fantastical elements of it (gods, curses, etc) and treats vampirism like a disease when everyone else treats it like a magical curse . and they end up being half right! idk i love how normally you 'break' curses but with vampirism and lycanthropy its almost always referred to as being 'cured'...

yeeee all of this is very much what makes me so enraptured with the concept of vampirism as an illness. im sure there's some reasons and pieces of media that like influenced my preference for this take on it, but its also why im like, forever going to be tainted in the sense that i dont really see the appeal of the dnd approach to it with sires and spawns etc (it just ends up waltzing in territory idgaf about and doesnt make vampirism as a concept richer. To Me. not that it is bad in of itself, its just not what i would do with it)

i just love the approach to it that is pseudoscientific akin to how comic books approach it sometimes, like superhero comics. like if you follow me since a while im a OG morbiushead (i like morbius IN THE COMICS . i think this should be obvious but im clarifying) and the way vampirism is done for his character is like so fawking cool and sexy etc.

in my lore vampirism is kind of like, fucked up to explain the exact origin of it (like its not ahrd. im just bad with words. lmao) but in my mondoverse (its called mondo vuoto and shit) it is basically a chronic illness you can catch through infected bites - aka folks affected by vampirism driven to madness by lack of blood - or through inhaling accidentally 'angel dust' which is derived from specific special geode rocks that come from antarctica. etc etc etc. again it'll make sense if i explain more but that'd just get long

vampirism in my world is just another condition you ought to live with and it currently has no 'cure'. my OC jenica, who's struck by a more grave degree of it (mind you...their situation is quite COMPLEX to say the least hence the gravity of it) has been battling for it for the best half of their life, and they are disabled to full effect due to the debilitating physical effects vampirism can have on the body, as it is a literal deficit of red blood cells production in the body and to sustain a stable condition, one must receive blood transfusions as often as their unique case requires. this is why there's clinics specialized in taking care of patients affected by vampirism... because it is unfortunately a common thing.

its just fun. i also like the silly fantasy goofy vampirism, but power imbalance has never been my cup o tea so i never go that way

[fuh-saw-t]

Hey!

Little tips for all AU and OC writers (specifically those dealing with magic and power-systems!).

There are two main things you may want to be cautious about when adding onto a world, which can be either adding onto an existing power system (AU fanfiction) or to your own, perhaps in the form of another arc or sequel that adds something not previously mentioned. I don't often care for professional technical terms, so I like to name these myself; I refer to these two things as cohesion and substance.

Cohesion

You've got a pretty well-functioning magic system put in front of you. It uses a form of dust to create magic. This dust comes in different types, is generated from a certain source, and is used in different ways by different people. There is a certain range of things you can use this dust for, but that range is pretty wide. Say, you wanted to add something else to this narrative. What is a cool thing to have in fantasy?

Ghosts, demons, the paranormal! Souls and fire and soulfire and all the like. I love the inclusion of this kind of stuff in fantasy... under circumstances.

The first example I gave was roughly the workings of tinkerbell, but with some changes and interpretive differences. With and without the context of tinkerbell, would these two magic types work together? They don't need to be connected, persay, but I'm referring to the themes and the feel, and how they interact with each other and the setting. If the magic of your 'base' material is quite whimsical or silly or specific, suddenly adding a more gothic, supernatural style of magic that is completely different in themes and workings can create a clash. Unless this clash is dealt with well, I'd advise to avoid the risk altogether, or to marry the magic systems to make them more similar in feel. It can make a change feel out of place, random, and like it wasn't supposed to be there—none of which are feelings you'd want to invoke in your audience. Besides, if one is more powerful than the other, or if one has more disproportionate stakes, why would anyone choose the other option? This leads me into the next consideration.

Saturation

You have magic staffs and portals and potions and demons and aliens and giants and elves and royals and fortresses and time travel and weapons and spirits and ghosts and... when does it stop?

Especially when writing OC fiction, it's important to recognise that you can risk having one fatal flaw: you might not realise when your lore, magic system, and world building becomes too much for a reader to handle. Readers don't have the prior knowledge and understanding that you do. It can sometimes be difficult to have a fresh eye.

Sometimes in OC fiction and AUs, I see when people have a bit too much going on. It often begs the question of what significance each element has, or what the plan is for exposing it to the readers in a way that isn't forced or unnecessary. Over-saturated stories is what I call them. It's usually when a writer—often a newbie—got a little too excited with their ideas. Excitement is a good thing, but be mindful that adding everything at once, or continuing to add more things that can effect the functioning of your world (such as new powers, magic systems, concepts, etc), can make your story near incomprehensible to a new reader, and can open the doors for some serious writing issues.

As I highlighted before, in order to justify multiple ways of doing magic or performing whatever kind of abilities your story allows, you need to justify why each one is used and why people just don't not use it. You need to justify why this is how things work, why something so important may have not been brought up before, and how these elements may interact.

All of these things can be done subtly and without any issue! But, especially for new writers, they should be kept in mind, because adding too many elements to your story and worldbuilding can cause you to lose track, not consider the impact a change may have to your story, and open the door for hypocritical problems and the dreaded plot holes...

[autumnslance]

This is a very silly ask (and feel free to ignore it completely), but do you think any of your OCs would be friends with characters from other franchises? (Fun fact, this was inspired by a piece of fanart that made me believe that Thancred and Leon Kennedy of Resident Evil fame would absolutely be friends. Or at least drinking buddies.)

Hrm, I don't often think in terms of crossovers and mashups anymore--which is funny, as one of my earliest online RP experiences was a multiverse setting where OCs from any and all settings--franchise, gaming, original, etc--could co-exist. Normal mortals teaming up with demigods from novel series and mega-damage users from RIFTS and an array of fantasy and sci-fi and horror characters in between.

I sometimes think about how my OCs in various settings would interact together; how my WoW OCs would get along, or not, with the FF14 crew, or the FF14 OCs with my D&D characters. I tend to lean into certain archetypes (bards and paladins/clerics/priests are favorites), so there'd be some overlap and things in common, and also some frustrations at similarities that grate and clash.

So I don't think too much about how they'd interact with canon figures from other settings, but any OCs I'd have in that realm instead.

Well, the adventuring parties of Actual Play shows like Critical Role (and its animated series spinoffs) is pretty easy; Vox Machina, the Mighty Nein, and Bells Hells are all as chaotic and as helpful as adventurers tend to be, for good or bad. So there'd be eye rolling and irritation, but also understanding and diving in alongside, forming friendships with the weirdos cuz well, adventurers are Like That. They're RP characters too though so might be cheating, or at least easier to figure out for me.

Vax has that sort of noble rogue energy that'd make Aeryn fond of him, while Vex would initially drive her up a wall until they reached an understanding. Scanlan's annoy the heck out of her until they got to sit down and talk for real and she saw under the vulgar exterior. Percy'd be tolerated as Insufferable Noble Trying Too Hard. She'd be patient with Grog and enjoy his overlarge childish glee at everything. And who doesn't love Pike? Literal angel with a chaotic bent herself, she adds a bit of calm when not engaging in sibling shenanigans with Grog. I think Aeryn'd relate most to Keyleth, funnily, and they'd get along decently. Tary, too, would get a lot of sympathy concerning expectations, and also nerding around with his crafts, and may make dealing with Percy a tad easier.

Of the Nein, Caduceus is a spot of calm, aroace energy. Not as right as he thinks he is about many things, but he means well and tries, and that counts for a lot. Aeryn'd have tea with him any day. She'd also be drawn to Beau's bravado and brashness and they'd get into trouble together. Same with Fjord and Caleb, really; there's a level of familiarity in how they approach things with 'let's poke it and see what happens' but also the care they have for others in general. Same with Yasha. Jester's a bright light ball of energy and oh gods her and C'oretta in the same space would be exhausting. Nott/Veth is a bit more complicated; probably depends on when in the campaign, is it before or after Veth's reunited with her family, as she undergoes a shift emotionally once she has her original self back as well as her husband and son. Molly would aggravate and charm Aeryn by turns; Kingsley she'd be sympathetic to and understand too well that living in another's shadow aspect. Essek is fine; he's a wizard to talk shop with, learn from, mess around with spellwork. Luc is a brat also in the shadow of his accomplished mom and adventuring family, and needs mentoring and guidance and a lot of patience oh gosh.

A lot of the Hells would honestly be irritating, especially Imogen's propensity to just use telepathy intrusively; girl needs a lesson in why you don't want to poke around uninvited or casually to get your answers, and a WoL's head is wilder than most. FCG needs mentoring and guidance like whoa. Fearne's also an agent of energetic chaos; fun in doses. Laudna's not so scary, very sweet and fun and sad and likely needs help she doesn't know how to ask for. Ashton's grating in his arrogance and rebelliousness for rebellion's sake (though that may shift given recent things...). Chetney's surface attitude would be annoying, but soon enough he'd be a safe and calming point, given his perceptions. Orym's also just calming and reasonable; maybe a little too much sometimes, and needs to be reminded to cut loose now and then, it's good for you (and your friends).

Dark rolls with it all; she's very easy to get along with. Iyna wouldn't be able to stand most of them. C'oretta would get along well with most everyone but lord her and Jester and/or Fearne in the same place...Terrifying!

That's one off the top of my head, after a long holiday weekend thinking about it off and on, anyway!

[localvoidcat]

I AN PERCEIVING YOUR OCs BOY. household reverie sounds,,, so cool. i would like more story,,, fmr does too!!! ohh and hawthorne chronicles,,, and i forgot the name of the other one with the scientists but!!! !!!!!!!!! rotating your ocs in my mind

HEHEHE okay so. god what can i say about each one. i've got the plots of all of them recently reblogged i think so i'll just put some random info here

household reverie! i've actually been working more on darcy's kids (dean, danny, and daphne). it's very clear that darcy was most proud of dean, being the oldest + the most high achieving of his kids. and then daphne was clearly loved because she was the youngest and she looked like deborah and all that.

this left danny, who darcy still cared about but definitely held to standards that danny didn't feel they (note: danny technically uses they/them, but this isn't acknowledged in the story. until a certain part maybe) could reach those + be like their older brother. however, none of this tension is shown in the fantasy, because that would mess with the portrayal of the ideal family. the more that fantasy gets deconstructed, the more we get to see how everyone was actually feeling which i think is fun

full moon rising. now i've been thinking more about josh and his debt to mortem, and how at first josh. really didnt notice this. his main goal was just to not be killed again, and he disregarded all that stuff about needing to serve his god and all that as just the usual protocol. however, as the years go by, and the influence of the angels and the gods grows stronger on him, he realizes that all that stuff about a deal and debt was actually way more serious than he thought. especially after second arc, where he's carried out his goal of getting rid of salvador, and mortem sees this as a good place for him to end this attempt at humanity and tries to convince him such. by the time third arc rolls around, he's struggling to only choose one path, as living out a human life would mean actively turning against his god, and leaving to serve mortem would mean leaving behind everything and everyone he loves. there's a reason why there's two endings for this.

hawthorne chronicles! i've been thinking about the interactions between the former employees (stanley + isabel + osian), all of which we find through old logs. i think that they were all really good friends, and after osian disappeared, things between stanley and isabel started getting more fearful. after they had their encounters with their respective entities, and things started getting much worse on that front, there was eventually a fight that broke out between the two (now horrifically transformed into something else). the logs end here, but we discover the fate of these two later on after some digging (and some possible sightings on keith or rudy's part). also i think about miguel but that's because i think he's silly

rudley paradigm!! i probably think about this one the least, but i do love harper and harvey (the scientists in question). at the time of their work, they weren't really able to be as open and happy as they both wanted to be, but they were working towards a life where they could get this. unfortunately, it was around this time that the two found signs of an unknown virus, and decided to test out its limits. it's hard to start a new life with your partner when said partner agrees to become patient zero to a horrific mutating virus that turns people into weird bird things. harvey has to learn this the hard way after watching it happen, and shortly before falling victim to it himself.

[tendebill]

I love your silly guys (your OCs) so much

I am spinning them in my brain

WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO RAMBLE ABOUT THEM. I WILL RAMBLE ABOUT THEM (literally just looking for an excuse to infodump!!!!! utilizing your lovely asks bestie, hope you dont mind <3)

anyway im thinking about chapter 1 a lot (and ignoring how chapters 4-6 are barely thought out) and uh um.

So basically Nicolas Nevers can go fuck himself. I created him and he is vital to the story, blah blah blah, I despise him <3.

My intention with him is that he starts out as a kind of... mentor/caretaker figure for Seph & Ellie?? I want the story to start out with a lot of fantasy "stereotypes" that are either flipped/twisted or turn out to be lies, and Nick is no different. He is the reason why Ellie and Seph both have these powers which they were never supposed to have. He lies about it to them and everyone else to cover his ass, makes up a prophecy for them, hoping they wont catch on (spoilers: sephoras eventually catches on), sends them off for "adventures" so they dont cause him more problems and expose his lies and deceptions, the list goes on. His entire career is a very carefully woven, but extremely fragile web of lies, bribery and cashed-in favors, and YET-

Somehow he is never publically exposed for all of his bullshittery. Worse yet, Sephoras isn't even the one that gets the satisfaction of killing him, Huen does (everyone say thank you Huen) at the end of chapter 2.

I actually want to make it a point in chapter 6 (underdeveloped as it is) that, as opposed to David, Sephoras had no real place where he could direct his anger. No way to enact "revenge". What I mean is, when Seph killed David's wife (for context: he wasn't fully in control of himself and he would never have done it in his right mind, but it was OBVIOUSLY enough for David to want to kill him, dead is dead, plus it traumatized them both, David watched it happen too, plus his toxic masculinity and anger issues made it so that there was no other way for him to react BUT trying to kill seph), in Seph's mind, that gave David a free pass to hurt Seph in any way he wanted. Seph was of the opinion that he deserved what he got and had no right to feel sorry for himself or resent David for it. In turn, his guilt made it so that most of the people that had hurt him were "off-limits" to him in terms of getting revenge or anything of the sort. He didn't deserve anyone's forgiveness, empathy and he CERTAINLY didn't deserve to get revenge.

Nicolas was the ONLY person he would have wanted to get revenge against. The only person he felt he could "bring to justice" and whatnot. The only man worse than him. The cause of this whole shitshow (literally, if not for Nick, none of the plot would have happened).

But like I said, Huen was the one to kill Nick in chapter 2, so Seph never got the satisfaction of doing so himself.

HOWEVER. I recently added on to this detail :))))))) I made it worse btw.

Like I said, Nick's reputation remained intact even after his death. No one (besides Seph ofc) really cared to expose him post mortem, and even so, hardly anyone knew the EXTENT of his lies and deceptions and faults. Sephoras knew the most, Huen did too, as he had told her, plus a couple of other characters, but he never really told Ellie the full story, not until MUCH later.

Which is where chapter 4 comes in. Ellie and Seph are trying to gain back each other's trust, but their relationship is falling apart, ripping at the seams in so many ways. They don't know each other anymore, they are not the same as they once were. Seph feels like he doesn't deserve a second chance and so he doesn't fight for it, he doesn't give Ellie reasons to trust him again. Ellie tries desperately to hold onto the image of Seph she had from BEFORE all this shit had happened, when he was still their brother and everything was easier, bathed in Nicolas' lies and their naive belief in what he had told them.

At some point Seph spills the beans about Nicolas, everything he'd done and lied about, how much he'd really manipulated them and Ellie is PISSED. They find out how much they let that man decieve them and they dont know what to do with that rage.

They relize he was never exposed. That he is still hailed as a martyr and a "good man who died a tragic death". They expose him publically on their own.

And so Nick's reputation goes to shit. As does Seph's only way of getting revenge on a dead man. Ellie takes that from him. He tells himself he didn't deserve the satisfaction of being the one to expose Nevers to the public, that Ellie had a right to do it. But it doesn't make him any less angry.

And so, like I said, Seph never really gets his revenge on Nevers. While David was able to take out his anger on Seph all he wanted, Seph was forced to suffer with all his anger directed at a man long dead, unable to do anything about it. The one man that hurt Sephoras more than Sephoras had hurt him. Dead and defamed - no thanks to Sephoras.

i love my sillies and i love their silly adventures and theres so much i wanna say about them but alas i dont want to write 15 essays in one post.

[byjillianmaria]

Ashlyn for the character profile?

Full Name: Ashlyn Jones Gender and Sexuality: Cis Female, questioning? If given time I think she'd id as a lesbian. Pronouns: she/her Ethnicity/Species: White Birthplace and Birthdate: Oh shit I don't actually know... Probably Midwestern, and like... probably a scorpio? Guilty Pleasures: She feels guilty about most things tbh. But I think she really loves cheesy, scene kid fashion of the early 2000's LOL. Phobias: Does not like enclosed spaces. She's incredibly clausterphobic. What They Would Be Famous For: I could see her becoming quite the storyteller one day. What They Would Get Arrested For: Probably something silly, like, accidentally shoplifting. OC You Ship Them With: Azalea! OC Most Likely To Murder Them: The Queen, I guess? Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Fantasy/Adventure! Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: She's not a fan of when mean parents apologize/get better... it's not that she thinks they don't deserve forgiveness, it's just that it feels a bit unrealistic to her. In a similar vein, she feels weird about a lot of hurt/comfort tropes because she feels so awkward about ever leaning on people... Talents and/or Powers: Seems to have a strange connection with this weird world she's fallen into? Why Someone Might Love Them: She's very determined and willful in her own way! She's got the plucky sort of curiosity you'd expect for an Alice-stand-in character. Also, I feel like her retroactive realization of "oh, I didn't deserve to be Treated Like That" makes her very sympathetic and her moments of vulnerability and empathy make for a very sweet character. Why Someone Might Hate Them: She can be empathetic, but she isn't always! She can be selfish and mean and dramatic sometimes! She's spent most of her life repressing her emotions, so now that she's in a place where she Doesn't Have To Do That, she sometimes struggles with dealing with those feelings in a healthy manner. How They Change: She learns a lot about herself and life over the course of the book. She goes on a pretty big emotional journey, but I don't wanna say too much because of spoilers LOL. Why You Love Them: She's just.......................a little guy....................I care her extremely and I think even her worst moments are very understandable considering the No Good Very Bad Time she's finding herself in