#we need to explore why in a healthy manner

[raywhitfield92]

I might get a lot of hate for this, but I want Helluva Boss to explore the myriad of reasons cis women get abortions. I want it to be explored in a healthy way

Because I feel in the current climate (especially politically) people don't want to ever think of the possibility that a woman won't want children. Millie isn't happy about this news.

And I'd absolutely love for Millie to not tell Moxxie she had an abortion, I want her to feel guilty about it and talk to Blitzø about it, worrying that if Moxxie knew he'd hate her.

And I want Blitzø to convince her that because he loves her he would support her no matter what. And when she tells Moxxie he just says "it's your body so it's your choice, but next time let me know so I can help you through this."

Not all cis women want nor can physically have children. We need to talk about abortion in a much healthier way than the current climate allows.

[spxllcxstxr]

Being a Maia Witch and in the Fellowship • Headcanon

(Gif not mine)

Request: Hi, if you're taking requests, can I get headcanons for the Fellowship? The reader is a Maia witch and is sort of a colleague of Gandalf's but he's also a bit of a mentor. Just interested to see how you think everyone would interact with the reader :) thank you so much and I hope you stay safe, happy, and healthy — anon

Warnings: reader is one of the blue wizards, mostly gender neutral though you are called a witch, mix of book and movie canon

A.N: Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you enjoy these hcs, I really enjoy writing about the fellowship!

•

Since stepping foot on Middle Earth you had always been a wanderer

Of course you had spent time with the other Maiar; though you had your own specialized magic, Gandalf mentored you a lot

You always felt closer to Radagast the Brown; he cared deeply about nature and the living world that you lived in

You had been known to almost vanish for years at a time, exploring some deep cavern or somewhere high in mountains, it was always on a whim

You were elusive--all the races of Middle Earth had their own names and tall tales about you

But as the Age of the Elves starts to dwindle you start to ease down on the amount of adventures you have

Until your dear old friend Gandalf the Grey shows up on your doorstep out of breath with and almost crazed look in his eyes

A hobbit has the One Ring

So much for not traveling

You join the Fellowship at the Council of Elrond--no one opposes having another magical being in their midst

You try to get to know the other members better, it has been some time since you have interacted with people so your communication skills are a little rusty

Gandalf trusts you, of course, he is thrilled you have agreed to join them

He confides in you about the quest and the situation; things he would not tell the others

You two understand each other in a way no one else in the Fellowship can

The two of you, to fill the time, talk about your own travels and the history of Middle Earth

"You have been gone for too long, (Y/n), Middle Earth has suffered in your absence."

"Oh Gandalf, I needed to see everything before it was too late."

Boromir is a little wary of you, in Gondor they believe your presence is a bad omen since you do not show yourself too frequently near Minas Tirith

He warms up to you while travelling to the Mines of Moria because you and Gandalf exerted so much power trying to save them

"You are not the ill portent my father has talked about, witch. Why did you avoid Minas Tirith for so long?"

Aragorn has probably seen glimpses of you throughout his life and because of his travels he has heard many stories about you

Honestly he's very intrigued and asks many questions about what you have seen

He really trusts you almost immediately, you were welcomed in Rivendell, showing that Elrond trusted you

In Lothlorien Galadriel also holds you in high esteem, she's surprised you're in the Fellowship; not because you do not care about the fate of Middle Earth, but because you never tend to stay in one place long

"You must guide me, (Y/n). With Gandalf lost...I cannot proceed without council..."

Legolas is all over you--endless questions about the world and the time that has passed, but in like a subdued manner

He trusts you, though in recent years your reputation has been tarnished by his father, who is of the thought that you and the other wizards should have helped them fight against the spiders. He believes the Greenwood fell to darkness due to the negligence of the wizards

"Do you believe the Greenwood will be cured after we destroy the Ring, (Y/n)? I have missed my home..."

Gimli goes through the motions of meeting a witch only a handful of people have encountered in your lifetime

He's the one that discovered your sense of humor and loves joking with you

You ask him about recent dwarven culture, dwarves are wary of outsiders so it has been a while since you have seen their tools and creations

"Just you wait, lass, what we have created is unlike anything you have ever seen!"

Merry is genuinely delighted that you joined them

He feels a lot safer with two wizards, even if you’re not that experienced with fighting

Merry trusts your judgement and certainly looks for your approval just like he does with Gandalf

(Also please show him magic he loves Gandalf’s fireworks and he wants to see what else magic can do since Gandalf doesn’t really show anyone that stuff)

“Can you make Boromir’s shield disappear, (Y/n)? Or perhaps make Legolas’ hair a different color?”

Pippin is like Merry on crack

He wants to know every little detail about everything but at the same time he is chewing your ear off

Honestly he’s probably telling you his life story too

He enjoys your company, like Merry he feels a lot more secure in this quest and he also comes to see you as a friend

Wants to see your magic, even if you just create sparks at your fingertips

Probably your number one fan

“Can I see your staff (Y/n)? I promise not to use it to singe Gandalf’s beard!”

Sam is very shy around you and is very protective of Frodo

Sure Gandalf trusts you, but you’ve only ever been a fable in the Shire

He knows nothing about you, what have you been doing this entire time?

He does warm up to you, though, once you prove to him that you are truly there to help them succeed

Learns a lot about herbs from you, whether they be for cooking or medicine

“Tell me about the Elves, (Y/n). You must know so much about them. Rivendell was so beautiful…”

Frodo is highly suspicious of you for quite a while

It is mostly because he is afraid of the Ring and its influence

He doesn’t know you like he knows Gandalf so it takes him a bit to trust you

Bilbo has only told him rumors of you

It isn’t until Gandalf dies that he really starts looking to you for guidance

He takes to you mostly at night when everyone is asleep because he is away from prying eyes

“This quest leads me to my death, doesn’t it witch? I do not know how to even begin to understand that…”

Overall you guys learn to bond and grow together throughout the quest

You have never been so happy to be around people despite the circumstances, and you start to understand why Gandalf has always been so involved with the people of Middle Earth

•

[k0yaz]

Hi K0yaz♥️ Love your writing so much!

May I request Dom! Shinobu x a fem! reader? Shinobu just taming an adorable brat by sitting on her face or something else with that soft smile on her lips while she tells them she’s got something that noisy mouth can do that’s useful (*≧∀≦*)

Please don’t feel pressured to write this or anything, I understand it’s a busy part of the year starting up soon. I’m drowning a bit too lol

Stay well and healthy!★彡 XOXO

disobedient brat.

Pairing(s): shinobu kocho x fem!reader

CW: nsfw, brat taming, face sitting, afab reader, cunnilingus, dom!shinobu, cum swallowing, slight tit fondling, tongue riding, idk if this is even a warning but lots of thigh mention ig?? (Put this one for shits n giggles please-)

A/N: I promise that I’ll try to write a bit longer next time but I hope you don’t mind a slighter shorter fic! I’m glad you understand how busy it’s getting this year, and I appreciate it <33

Strained gasps left your lips as your fingers dug into the sides of Shinobu’s thighs, keeping them spread apart as your tongue flattened against her sopping cunt. You growled under your breath slightly, only for it to be replaced by a moan when Shinobu pressed herself back down onto your tongue, a soft but assertive gasp escaping her feverish lips as she smiles down at your arrogant expression.

“My, look at you.” She whispered, her smile still kept on her lips as her hips rolled up and down your face, her need for friction becoming evident. Her gaze trailed down to your face between her grinding, her fingers tightening into your scalp as you felt tears prick at the corner of your eyes. You roughly dug your fingers back into her thighs as you pulled her back down, your tongue making its way back into Shinobu’s pulsing hole.

The persistent, bratty expression remained plastered to your face as you continued to feel her spongy walls tighten around your tongue as she bucked her hips back and forth. Moans spilled out of both of your lips as Shinobu pressed herself up against you as best she could, her fingers slipping under the collar of your shirt as she unbuttoned the delicate fabric roughly.

The erotic movements of her body continued as you shook beneath her, fingers digging into her thighs as you jerked your head away, albeit in an aggressive manner.

“Alright, you’ve had your fun. Now there’s no way I’m doing any more- hmph-!”

You were cut off by Shinobu’s lips slammed against yours, hands tightening around your half buttoned shirt’s collar. Her tongue traced the lining of your mouth, teeth pulling down onto your bottom lip roughly, as the kiss grew more heated with her exploring your mouth. Breathy whines and whimpers escaped your lips as you gasped for air while gripping onto her small frame. She guided you back onto the mattress, before pulling away and gasping, as her purple eyes pierced into yours. Her index finger and thumb slipped beneath your chin, tilting it up slightly so you can meet her gaze. Fuck, even though she was so short, it didn’t seem like it in this moment.

“Y/N, who said we were done, you brat.” She purred. Despite her harsh wording, her voice remained soft spoken and calm. Her lips ghosted your exposed neck as you felt her warm breath run up and down your skin, sending goosebumps across your body. Her palm pressed against your bare chest as her fingertips toyed with the straps of your bra, dragging it out with her fingers, then letting go and slap back onto your skin, causing you to yelp slightly.

You felt her soft thighs rest on either side of your own as she pushed you down onto the bed, your back flat against the mattress below you with Shinobu straddling your lap. She leaned down, placing a surprisingly chaste kiss onto the end of your cheek below your ear, before pressing her plump lips onto the shell of your ear.

“Since you like to be such a disobedient brat, why don’t you do something useful with that noisy mouth of yours~?” She breathed out, leaving your eyes wide and your bottom lip trembling slightly as her face drifted closer and closer to your lips.

Shinobu finally closed the distance when her lips slammed onto yours, allowing you to savor her taste for a bit longer as your hand tangled through her hair, and your tongue glided along hers, swiping it against her bottom lip in an almost desperate manner.

She pulled away suddenly, leaving your slick coated lips feeling lonely, causing you to whine slightly.

“Don’t worry, your lips won’t be so lonely after your tongue is mine.”

Without hesitation, she slammed you back down onto the mattress, her fingers curled around your wrists tightly as she buried them deeper into the plush of the mattress. Shinobu almost immediately took her place above your face, as she descended down onto your mouth and moaned out slightly. Her fingers trailed down to your shoulders, rubbing them slightly before digging her fingers into your shoulders, her soft thighs now straddling your head as she began rocking back and forth against your rough lips.

You couldn’t hold back anymore, the feeling of her clit bumping your nose over and over, while her drooling pussy was right there—just right there for you to taste with just one flick of your tongue. Your thighs pressed together at the thought of her taste once again, the damp spot in your underwear growing wetter as you wanted to taste her now.

It wasn’t just an order this time, you simply wanted it.

You immediately pulled her down by her thighs onto your mouth, making her yelp slightly. You stuck out your deprived tongue, rolling it against her slit as you continued lapping at her juices hungrily. Your tongue ran up and down her cunt, collecting her slick onto your lips as if it was some sort of love nectar you craved.

Although you couldn’t see her face, you could tell that Shinobu was wearing that signature smile of hers, even through breathy moans and gasps every time your tongue made contact with her hot clit. All you could make out was groans and whines of the phrase, “Fuck baby, you’re doing so well..” as your tongue continues to circle her smooth bud.

Her slick served as the perfect lubricant for your tongue to make its way into her entrance, licking at her heated core roughly. Shinobu moaned out in a high pitched voice at your tongue entering her throbbing pussy. Her walls twitched and pulsed around your tongue, as you smiled against her drooling cunt. Your tongue continued to explore inside her, pressing and licking the soft and spongy texture of her inner walls closing in and tightening around your tongue.

All of a sudden, Shinobu’s movements quickened as she grinded herself against your tongue, hips rolling up and down your lips quickly, and her fingers planted firmly into your shoulders. The squelching of her cunt was all that resonated in your ears as the erotic actions overtook both of your bodies. You also continued to meet her movements, occasionally kissing her clit as you continued moving and thrusting your tongue into her, no matter how badly your lip muscles ached.

Shinobu’s hips suddenly jerked, pushing forward into one long, but quick motion as she pressed herself onto your tongue, allowing it to go as deep as it possibly could into her. Before long, her cum spilled down onto your lips, slightly trickling down from her pussy onto the corners of your lips as you swallowed her creamy liquid without hesitation. You pulled Shinobu off of you gently, hoisting her up by her thighs off of your face before wiping your climaxed lips with your unbuttoned shirt.

When you allowed yourself up and off the bed, you suddenly felt a pair of hands wrap her fingers tightly around your inner collar, pulling you back down and shifting your positions once again even if she remained on top of you. A light pink blush dusted your cheeks as you looked up at her with widened eyes, opening your mouth to say something before Shinobu hushed you with a finger against your lips. Her hand moved to rest under your breast slightly, along with her freehand dipping down between your legs and into your heated core.

“Now, Y/N. Who said I was done with you~?”

A/N: BRO IM WRITING THIS NEXT TO MY MOM AT 2 AM PLEASE HELP-

Anyway this was actually so fun to write omg

[morgana-ren]

Kindly requesting that you elaborate on the hard dom thing, please. I love your writing!

Since I previously elaborated on why I believe he's a hard-dom, I'll use this as the second part of it and explain what he does and what he prefers in terms of... er... shall we call it 'bedroom etiquette' while skirting a lot of the dirtier details-- unless that's what you were looking for lmao. I'm never opposed to writing filth ever, I just like to make sure it's exactly what you're looking for before I send it.

Astarion is still capable of being quite charming and seductive, albeit not in the same desperate way that he was when it was a survival tool. Now it's more the suave moves of a man fully coming into his confidence. A man who knows what he wants and how to get it. He fully intends to have a relationship with his consort, with a lively and active sex life-- headed by him. Normal sex was something that he was denied. It was never his way, and even when he had a partner that loved and supported him, his traumas got in the way of a healthy intimate relationship. It was never a problem with Tav, but it's obviously something that he is insecure about, as evidenced by several lines when broaching the subject.

It's a man that knows the rules of intimacy well, and can maneuver that aspect remarkably well. You can feel like you have a choice and are being seduced, but in reality, the choice was never yours. You are being told what he expects. The more you push this 'kindness,' the more demanding he will get until he will simply force you to do it.

When he slips his hand around your waist and licks up your neck, whispering softly those well-practiced honeyed words, he knows well the effect it is going to have. You're going to get weak in the knees with a pulsing ball of heat building at the base of your spine.

But... that's where his expertise ends.

He is remarkably skilled at the physical aspect of sex, but keep in mind, it was always what his partner wanted. He was a glorified tool, never allowed to indulge himself with someone he wanted, what he wanted, and how he wanted it. Well, now he fully intends to.

He might ask you to do something, in a manner of speaking. When he says "On your knees, darling" he is offering you a choice. A choice that consists of "You will do this or I will make you." In reality, it's the same choice he had so long ago, which is to say, not really a choice at all.

He is still very much capable of pleasing his partner, as he knows the intricacies of sex and all it entails, but now, it is about him. What he wants. If you get something from him, you are likely being rewarded for obedience or loyalty, or he is manipulating you. I'm sure gifting pleasure is as effortless as breathing at this point, but it is no longer the point.

He may very well ask you for something that you do not want to do. Maybe it's humiliating, maybe it's painful, maybe it's just bizarre. Maybe it's very blatantly something that makes him feel like the big and powerful lord he is. It is something that you will do, because the alternative is having what little control you do have torn away from you. And he will do it. He makes that clear the first few times you have the audacity to tell him no.

Basically, I feel like Astarion is going to finally explore his sexual interests and inner depravities. Keep in mind, this is a deeply traumatized man, and trauma, when ignored, has a way of manifesting. It is a deeply obsessed, possessive man that just sold his soul to the Hells. The lack of control he had before might emerge as a need to be obeyed. He might become cruel and enjoy inflicting pain. He might enjoy eliciting a response from you, such as weeping or begging or squealing. He might enjoy humiliating you for sport and pleasure as a way of inflicting his own inner turmoil upon someone close to him.

He is going to experiment-- and you are going to help him.

If he tells you to kneel before his throne in plain view where anyone can walk in, it's best to just grin and bear it. If he 'finds the wrong hole,' again, you can make him aware, but you are running the risk of spiking is interest. If he wants to hurt you, you can pray that he will be semi-considerate and tend to you after. If it is a punishment, you can expect a level of cruelty that you never would have seen had he not been ascended.

Astarion is a man in pain, and when you take the humanity away, hurt people tend to hurt people. He demands control, and he demands obedience. Perhaps he will tell you to do something simply to test whether or not you will. Just how far your loyalty to him extends. Perhaps he will hurt you, whether it's striking you or biting too hard or squeezing so hard it manages to bruise, and you might find that the wires in his brain have been crossed, and it's arousal that this elicits.

Depending on how depraved he gets, you might be surprised at the things he asks. He might have a few... things... he demands to be called. He might like things that you had no idea a man could like, depending on just how imaginative you are. My guess is that you can bet on it being something that, in a way, victimizes you and leaves you at his mercy.

Perhaps he starts out easy. Fairly generic sex with his name and things you know he likes. But rest assured, it will get far more... degenerate... and rapidly. And he will tell you what he wants with a smile on his face, body language expectant and relaxed, already anticipating your swift action. Now that he is capable of taking that pleasure, he fully intends to.

Astarion, in his ascension, has a terrible relationship with sex. Same as it was for him, it is a punishment that he will use to enact his will and teach you a lesson. It is something that he uses to assert his dominance and take his pleasure, perhaps regardless of what you have to say about it. Remember, he is the lord of the castle. You are his loyal consort. Your body is his. Your mind is his. If he wants to abuse them, he will-- and he shall. Both for his pleasure, and your obedience-- or maybe humiliation.

I have no doubt he is into some things that are utterly wild. Maybe he finds whole new parts of himself. Maybe he gets very strange with the names he likes. Honestly, I can see almost anything working with him. I could literally twist anything into being something he's into. That's the bittersweet positive to Ascended Astarion. You want him to spank you and make you call him daddy? I could see it. You want him to choke you or slap you or tie you up and go by big brother or professor or master or literally anything else? I could see it. Maybe he gets some exotic new tastes. Maybe you walk into the bedroom one day and he's sitting there with a placid smile and some very ominous looking things lying about. Maybe it's a knife. Maybe it's a candle. Maybe it's a whip. Maybe you spend the next four hours partaking in the most humiliating thing of your life while he is utterly gleeful. His body and soul have been twisted and submerged into the black stygian waters of depravity.

It comes with the 'beholden to the hells' territory.

[spicybylerpolls]

i'm going to have to totally disagree with that poll about el's sexuality. the issue isn't her orientation or ability to have sexual attraction, but rather her emotional support system. a healthy understanding of the physical and emotional consequences of sex is an important learning curve for anyone, but for her, who has been abused and grown up in a lab, much of her formative years being skewed and used for ulterior purposes?

she's got a lot to learn, and s3 was clearly a breakout moment for that teen girl normality with her and max. they brought this back for s4 too, with the memory callbacks and max being the memory that was associated with el at the end. stupid boys, etc. this surely is what el's whole emotional arc/family arc/autonomy arc is about.

we also have el responding in a very child-like manner to max's comment about happy screams. yes, it's girlhood naivete, but MBB plays up the slowed-speech with El at times, and i think it's to show that certain topics really go over her head.

but sexuality is also innate and can appear very early, so i don't think it's a case of her needing to be older or whatever. its just that the duffers arent exploring el's sexuality in a way that's about discovery, like mike and will's, but rather about a girl who was sexualised too young (mainly by brenner, accidentally by mike - i mean he kissed her out of the blue for god's sake and she looked shocked af), and who needs to now move away from sexuality and romance for a while.

whether she's ace etc is part of her self discovery, and i think the show wants you to root for her taking her time to function as an emotionally stable young woman, not care about romance and love. that's a joy that can come later for her, but it's not going to be her endgame.

i really dislike it when mi-levens say its ableist to suggest el has special needs, meaning literally has special requirements to function in society. of course she does, and why is that bad? if anything, to remove her access to specialist support after her traumatic upbringing is toxic and damaging. mi-levens deny el the support she needs in order to fulfill their ship, saying that it's rude to suggest love and romantic companionship is weak. of course it's not weak - all humans need love and wanting romance is not weakness. but el needs time to figure out what she wants and who she is outside of the lab. she even says in s3, mike is just her first boyfriend. the show could not have worked harder to show us that her and mike don't work (which is a way of saying that el+romance doesnt work right now). what else do they have to do to convince people that el's arc isn't about romance or her sexual orientation??

Please note that the purpose of this blog is not to be creepy or to make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I created the #spicy byler tag (I will tag all polls with this). If you don't want to see this blog or anything related to it on your feed, please block that tag. Not everyone is comfortable with this sorta stuff, and that's okay.

[jinxedshapeshifter]

I think we need to bring back ship and let ship tbh (and yes I am referring to ALL ships here. There is no "but what about..." because I am referring to EVERYTHING here). This is always going to be my philosophy. If I don't like something I literally either block or ignore it. Nobody is responsible for your own online experience except for you.

It's nobody else's job to deal with your squicks and triggers; that is exclusively on you. You don't know why someone ships what they do or creates the content they do. They could be coping with trauma. They could be trying to work through something in a healthy manner instead of taking it out on someone else. They could just want to explore darker themes. You don't know the details of why someone creates or consumes the content that they do and it's your responsibility to avoid content that you might find triggering.

If you don't like something, nobody's forcing you to read it, and if you don't like a ship, ignore it and/or block it. Stop trying to control fandom spaces, curate your own experience. Nobody else should have to be afraid of harassment because of conservative views on content and people who don't know how the fuck to curate their own experiences.

(We also need to stop telling people to stop shipping crakships, rarepairs, OC x canon, etc?? That's a staple of fandom culture lol)

[akiraa-aa]

For Those of Y’all who need this <3

You. Yes you, reading this post. I am proud of you. Yes, despite your flaws. There are still things to be proud of and live for. If you are hurting, talk to someone sweetie. Even your online pals. Just sharing and spilling your beautiful feelings is a healthy way to cope. It doesn’t matter whether or not you are fat or skinny, have a mental illness or just don’t fit in with the world. None of us were made to fit in. We were all made to stand out and be ourselves. Live our own lives, and explore our passions and desires. To be ourselves and never doubt that we are anything below perfect. This may seem like a fever dream to many reading this, but I learned that in just a few simple words, you can change someone’s mind. You can inspire people. You can change the world. And if you want to change the world, you have to be the good change. Not the bad change. Yes, there will always be people that pull you down, and make you feel like you are drowning in a sea of hopelessness. But there is still hope. For you. For me. For everyone struggling with mental health or other issues. No matter what, it will always be important how YOU see YOURSELF at the end of the day. Not how others peering in from the outside see you. Set boundaries, explore your hobbies, defy the odds and prove the haters wrong. Like you are supposed to do. Harming yourself (in any way) is like ripping a petal off of a flower. And once you rip all of the petals off, what is left? Nothing but the stem. And a stem can only stand for so long before it gets squashed. The world makes it hard, but you have the power to change your mood and to change your point of view. You have the power to be stronger, to be your authentic self. Think about it: Why are you here? To thrive. To be YOU. This is only the beginning, sweetheart. You can live and be happy. Because you, whoever you are, wherever you came from, and whatever you are. You are a beautiful and unique individual who doesn’t fit into the stereotypical manners of society, and that is completely OKAY. We are humans, not robots, darling. I want you to grab some paper, a pencil a pen. Or open the Notes App on your phone. Or even Google Docs. Or even this app and reply to this post with it. By writing down things you dislike and like about yourself. Whatever those may be. And name REASONS why you like and dislike those things. Look back at the dislikes, and think: Is this me being pessimistic and doubting my abilities, or is this an actual flaw of mine that I can improve? And have that growth mindset. Because no matter what, no one deserves to feel like they can’t speak up. To feel trapped. To feel like they can’t get better. Because you can get better. And change and recovery is possible, even in this messed up world. ❤️

I am making it my goal to inspire as many people as possible. To help as many people as possible. To care for as many people as possible. To show people that there is still light in the world. I am offering a safe spot for those dealing with horrible feelings of pain and harshness. A community here on Tumblr, hopefully YouTube and if you join I will start up a Discord Server to help the struggling beauties in this world. Please know that you are loved, you are appreciated. You are valid. Your identity, hobbies, pronouns, height, weight, origin. Those make you YOU. And there is nothing to be ashamed of, darling. Because we are all different.

But that is what makes us all special. 💜

(Message me here on Tumblr, or on my Discord Acc that_one_aakaria)

I love you all ❤️

[lemonhemlock]

bg3 anon!

i would have replied sooner but... well, you know. i didn't want to be on any sites at all, truthfully, so i've basically only been playing a bit and looking at build videos, some limited stuff on the bg3 subreddit, that sort of thing. i'm just... so tired.

anyway. i'm currently out of the underdark and investigating rosymourn monastery. i did all the underdark quests (i think) but did not take the elevator to Moonrise Towers because i wanted to explore as much as i could.

" Yeah like with all due respect because I don't want to sound offensive or god forbid try to diagnose people I don't know in real life, but many Astarion fans (plus a few others in the fandom) need to seek out a good therapist. It's clear many use this character as an emotional crutch to cope with the problems and traumas they have which in theory should be fine but after interacting with them it's obvious they are not doing so in a healthy manner.

It's understandable to identify with a fictional character and it's normal to use fiction as escapism but they take it so, so far that they just can't differentiate the actual canon between what they projected onto him anymore. Some unfortunately also have the habit to (un)intentionally trauma dump onto everyone else and constantly use phrases like "As a survivor…" likely to guilt you in order to sell their own interpretation of the text as the only valid one. After all, if a survivor tells you something it means it must be true and moreover, it's shitty of you to contradict them, you know? If you try to politely argue against them, they lose their marbles and hit back with "just say you hate survivors". It doesn't even matter if you are also a survivor who may or may have not decided to come out as in a fandom space (why would we though, many of us are private persons).

I had witnessed similar behavior in the HOTD fandom where antis were employing similar tactics when trying to harass people for shipping incest, claiming they are were a danger to real survivors like themselves without knowing that many of those who were targeted by their horrible behavior were also survivors who simply chose to interact with problematic media because it's a safe environment that allows you to control the outcome. Not everyone is the same nor are survivors a monolith, in the end it's on your own responsibility to curate your fandom experience.

So, so true. The weaponisation of trauma survival as a means to lord over people in fandom spaces is such a creeping blight in online discourses and serves no one. It alienates fans and traps the perpetrators in an echo chamber from which they themselves might have trouble healing. And this whole nonsense is not even about enjoying the Ascendant storyline or writing fic about it (anyone can do that and entertain themselves or find a form of catharsis), simply about insisting on it being the good and non-abusive ending. The bar is in hell!

The self-insert nature of the game doesn't help either, you can tell most of them self-insert into their Tavs. This isn't a problem in itself, but when you express a negative opinion about some of the things you can do it in the game, they will take it as a personal attack because that's what they would've chosen to do had the situation been a real scenario (hope this makes sense!). I know this sounds crazy and again it's more of a personal opinion, but I think it explains a lot of their behavior.

I get what you mean and I do think there is a strong urge at play here to "justify" oneself and one's choices. Similar to how, in the HotD fandom, we had so many people siding with Rhaenyra automatically because she is a woman and of course women should get to rule and are not wrong ever.

But, in truth, I actually wager that some of them would truly, really NOT make the same choices if this were actual real life somehow, they're just blending fiction with reality in an unhealthy way. Like, if a fey creature showed up and asked to drink their blood, pretty please, they would most likely say no, like any normal person in that situation. Because the threat would then be immediate and not diminished by the safety blanket of fiction. "Realistically"-speaking, this is a strange man you don't know, who threatened you with a dagger at your neck just a few days ago, who's not even particularly nice to you and is rather obviously out for himself. No, I don't really believe even the wives would be so eager to indulge him if this were a real scenario. So, it's all the more embarrassing to be stirring shit up and making discourse out of nothing.

And, you know, it's FINE if you want daddy dom Astarion to ravish your delicate flower self and what-not, but there's really no need to find ethical worth in a horny fantasy, nor is that something achievable! Nor does it have to reflect back to one's moral character. There's no shame in finding the handsome vampire hot! Just have fun with it.

But these wives are forgetting that, just because someone is charming and dandified, it doesn't translate into sound judgment or moral worth, not in real life and not even in fiction. He can be very charismatic and still unable to make the best choices for himself.

Also, while there isn't a definite canon in BG3 since it's an RPG game and your playthrough is your playthrough and what someone else chooses to do in theirs doesn't mean it's something that applies to yours, when analyzing Astarion (or anyone else) as a character you have to take all dialogue options into consideration to reach an informed, valid conclusion. You shouldn't cherry pick the dialogue option(s) that's more likely to validate your preferred interpretation, that's now how it works. The AA situation is a good example of it: it's true that by choosing the loving options where you don't cross him, you can perhaps say he is loving partner but it's also true he will be awful and show his true colors if you go against him. Likewise, just because you do not choose to break up with him, it doesn't make his refusal to let you go away after the tadpoles are gone ("your future is mine to decide") is any less valid. In conclusion, yes, he does become abusive if he ascends. Constantly stepping on eggshells around your partner and only saying what he wants to hear from you is a sign of the relationship turning abusive, if it hasn't already.

Yeah, this is so true and I've had one of these lines already. The first time in the goblin camp I refused to give him a tadpole and he went all feral cat on me (and this was after he came onto me!! the knave!!). But when I did my second playthrough, I thought I'd make Mirta a little bit of an avatar for the Beholding / Eye (since I already gave you The Magnus Archives podcast link, it's one of the fear entities the show is about. this one in particular deals with things like scopophobia, the absolute terror of being known, of being judged or the pure experience of fear or of the unknown). So, she'd be a little like "oh, so you insist on being an absolute idiot? Might as well get a little entertainment out of this" and hand him just enough rope to hang himself with (you know, the kind of morbid curiosity that lends itself to terrible things sometimes). And so, I told him he could have the tadpole and he was all polite smiles and smug demeanor. Pompous prick!!! 🙌

It does seem to me that this part of the game is kind of broken, or at least not integrated enough, because 1. I don't think it's fair that you can ingest even a couple of extra tadpoles with no consequences (this is my understanding at least) and 2. I didn't get any approval or disapproval points from him. He just said that he'll pop one out of my backpack later. Now, I know he's not going to rummage through my stuff and steal it, like, I actually have to make him take one mechanically if I want his Illithid menu activated, so it was purely for show. But it feels rather empty, still.

Anyway, this is also just a game at the end of the day and its complexity is limited in that it can mimic real life, but not truly represent its quagmires, because character development is not linear for living, breathing people. So, I definitely agree that AA harping at Tav and biting back whenever he encounters the slightest resistance is meant to be a Red Flag, but irl sometimes, when you navigate a difficult situation with the "right" conversation, it allows the person to calm down and even grow from that experience. Like, they can later reflect on their bad behaviour and how wrong they would have been to lash out if they didn't hear what they wanted in that moment. But this is obviously something that doesn't really translate that well to becoming an immortal vampire lord with superpowers or whatever - like, by that point, they're too far gone to be able to interrogate their wrongs. But it could, perhaps, apply to Act 1 stuff when everything is still very raw from their trauma and still indulging in unhealthy coping mechanisms.

I want to add something rather surprising I've noticed about some wives. There are a few of them in the fandom who even claim to have degrees in literature (one is even teaching English literature at a university) and complain constantly about the state of media literacy in the fandom, the puritan culture that's been sweeping up fandoms lately…yet when you see their take on Astarion, ugh, they are the types who genuinely believe the ascension is his good path and that he 100% turned Tav into a vampire bride. Like how??? I won't elaborate further but yeah…I'll just add that your average gamerbro who likely hasn't read more than two books in his entire life never had such issues in getting the actual message of Astarion's story. They may not like his character (quite the opposite) or paid any particular attention to him and his romance, but at least they immediately understood ascension isn't his good path.

Yeah, when your garden-variety basement-dweller gamebro has a better understanding of the basic "good v evil" divide in a piece of media, it's time to rethink the tuition fees you paid for that literature diploma. :))

Ridiculous to think because, even IF Ascended Astarion was the consummate gentleman and the most loving waifu on the face of the earth, how is it helping anyone to bring another vampire into existence? By definition, vampires prey on other living creatures, it's parasitic and hurtful and frightening. They bring misery and problems into any community. Why would you even want to become one? And, again, even if it's like a fantasy kink or something, it would be detrimental to everyone else living nearby! We used to live in a society! It's just so harmful to your fellow man!

All of them have some baggage but he's certainly the one with most of it. It gets worse when you realize that's all he has ever known considering he can't remember his life as a mortal/elf (he "died" at 39 years old), having lost most of his memories because of the amount of torture and trauma (although in D&D lore vampirism itself could be another cause behind the memory loss). He can't even remember his face or the color of his eyes. When you confirm/ commit to the relationship with him in act 2, if you decide to friendzone him he'll tell you he's happy to have a friend because he can't remember ever having one. :( Being with Tav is really his both his first actual friendship and/or romantic relationship if going forward that route. I'm sure he had friends and lovers when he was alive, but it's irrelevant since all those memories are lost.

Yeah, this is what I mean, he's really had an awful turn. Two centuries of that! It's admirable he still has his wits about him and can function. But he needs A LOT of therapy (or the Faerun equivalent). He told me about not even remembering the colour of his eyes or what he even looks like anymore. Which ties a lot into the loss of personhood. If you don't know anything about yourself, what kind of life is that? What would he even like to do in a normal life, if given the chance? The only thing he knows is that he wants the pain and degradation to stop. Or to know that no one in your former life cared enough to try to help Elves, for example, live a very long time, even in DnD and he "died" very young for an elf, so his parents must still be alive. Where are they? Do they even care that their son is condemned to eternal torment? (I know they're probably absent because the writers wanted him with no attachments for story reasons, but, still, if you want to RPG properly, it must suck to think about it).

Which by the way, some Astarion fans hate it when you say that perhaps he needs a friend rather than a lover. It's okay not to vibe with his romance anymore guys!! But they've treated some people so awfully when they dared to say they prefer this option, as if everyone's opinion was in bad faith (the "you are just infantilizing survivors" type)…they should realize not everyone wishes to roleplay a character who got themselves into a situation where someone only started to have sex under false pretenses (he wanted protection so you wouldn't throw him away like you correctly pointed out), nor should they feel guilty into going forward with the relationship just because Astarion will feel bad about it. He's also happy if you remain friends! Just because he is now in a relationship with Tav, this doesn't mean all his issues will disappear, nor will they go away once Cazador is dead. You don't heal in an instant from centuries of constant abuse, torture, mind control and sexual trafficking. Also, just because he doesn't ascend and remains a spawn doesn't mean his relationship with Tav is actually 100% healthy and without issues, at least not from a modern POV or perspective.

Absolutely, not everyone wants or knows how to offer that kind of help to a romantic partner, and feeling way more comfortable to do that for a friend is understandable. It's OK to also have romance goals for your Tav, everything doesn't have to revolve around Astarion. :)) He is obviously very confused about the whole issue himself.

And, fuck buddies or not, it does sting to think that he only slept with you because he wanted your favour, because he goes out of his way to make it seem like he's over the moon about you and finding out he really doesn't rate you is unpleasant. Because it was never presented like the exchange he sees it as; not that Astarion presents it as true love or anything either, but he insists on it hinging on Tav's allure or attractiveness. And that's a delicate topic for people - no one wants to think that having sex with them is a chore.

No one's love life is something that they must sacrifice in order to "help someone out", like, that's not how it works. Your body is your body, not an instrument to cure someone's mental illness. I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, but it's fucked up to expect that from people. Like, this person is just pretending to want to have sex with me and I'm supposed to not feel any kind of way about it? :))

Also, this is anoter fairly sensitive topic and I would not like to overstep, but I would urge anyone who is identifying with Astarion because of various disabilities or mental health issues and may feel further isolated or hurt by seeing people uncomfortable with romancing him and appeasing him to please not conflate their condition with vampirism. I think these comparisons can work to some extent, but only up to a point. I get the dependency aspect and needing a strong support system in order to manage their affliction - those are reasonable similarities that can help people identify with his character.

But vampires literally suck their victims' blood - it's not reasonable to expect the people within a settlement to be willing to offer their bodies up to feed the resident village vampire. Media often sensationalises this topic (and it's hard not to, since it doesn't exist IRL and there's really no way to tell how it could be managed by real-life people), but it doesn't take a genius to understand that it could very well be a frightening and painful experience for any such blood donor. It's often portrayed in fiction as this quasi-erotic, pleasant experience, but, as we all know, sexual acts especially can quickly turn extremely uncomfortable and traumatic in the absence of consent. Even if the person involved would theoretically consent, for the good of their community, they may very well not desire it at all and it could leave them feeling violated regardless.

This is why it's crazy for me to hear that some wives will accuse you of being 'ableist' if you'd want to find a cure for Astarion's vampirism and that you should just 'accept' him the way he is. Those two things are not the same at all! Let alone any kind of situation which leads to bringing more vampires into the world.

"Gale is most definitely NOT approaching godhood in any capacity. I could not STAND this mediocre white man overpowering ME! I am, though, debating on whether I should let Volo perform brain surgery on him. Mayhaps I will!" I think Volo's eye gives you the "See Invisibility" ability? It's useful but later own you'll find plenty of scrolls and potions of that kind. But if you want to sacrifice Gale's real eye just for the sake of it, then go for it!

Gods above, I did it for the morbid curiosity and it was just awful. Not even Gale deserves that, so I reloaded. I figured that it would be absolute blasphemy for the Beholding to take out one's eyes, so Mirta would not be on board with this. I booted Volo from my camp after I got out of the Underdark, because I wanted to at least give that fumbling idiot a living chance at least. For RPG reasons (I know he leaves anyway after the "surgery" wherever you set camp).

And, anyway.... *drumroll*... I respecc'd to lvl 4 wizard and lvl 2 bard and now I have fairy fire, which allows me to see invisibility anway so I don't need Volo's Trojan horses. Being a bard is so fun, you were so right about this, I can now play the flute(!) and have bardic inspiration as a bonus action. I also got annoyed at how much damage I'd get during fighting and switched Mirta's class to Abjuration - now she gets a cool spherical shield around her when she's hit and it's so much better!

Don't be so sure about Gale not approaching godhood! With Gale, the choice on whether or not he will become a god depends on certain dialogue options you will choose and 3. Unlike Astarion who can be convinced with a persuasion check, with Gale there's a point system behind his decision so the more options you check that lean in one direction, then that will be the result. Quite a few players actually thought they picked the right dialogue choices that would result in him not ascending to godhood but they still woke up with God!Gale in the end. We call it Sneaky God Gale lol. I won't spoil you too much, but you kind of have to push really, really hard against his stupid ideas even if he gets mad and gives disapproval.

He gets more infuriating the more I learn about him! I watched some romance scenes with him from Act 1, out of curiosity, and, gods above, he is SO smarmy. I could never. 😂

"Even if it were manipulation, I’d still do it for his own good. Dumbass needs all the help he can get. " See, if you were to post this opinion in pro AA space, the consorts would've canceled you. How dare you say you know better than him? He says he wants to ascend, do you not get that?

Here's to being his no 1 bully, first and foremost 💪

I know, right? I see where they are trying to come from when saying that it's beautiful to accept him just as he is, drawbacks included (the vampirism) but accusing people of ableism is just not it. Also, the idea of curing him and getting to live the remainder of his life in human years…I LOVE THIS. I don't think I've ever seen this headcanon from anyone!! Anyway, posting it in an Astarion fandom space will likely get you some angry fans who will say it's toxic and abusive lol.

Yeah!!! I'll give him the best human years of his loser ass life! Wizards live longer anyhow (from what I understand), so there's more than enough time for marital bliss. 🤡

"I’m also thinking I’m ready to change the difficulty to medium now (I heard I can do this mid-game). The goblin battles weren’t really challenging on easy and I am intrigued by multiclassing, which I can not do on easy. Dror, for example, was SO easy to kill, I just put Lae'zel and Karlach nearby and they made quick work out of him, he was gone by the third turn max. Elixir of Bloodlust on Karlach is insane." I think it's worth it. The game isn't hard at all on medium once you learn the basics and the multiclassing is worth it. If you want to get into that, I suggest multiclassing Astarion into Rogue/Ranger. For Rogue, I would suggest getting 4 levels in the Thief subclass because you get an extra bonus action for choosing it. The Assassin subclass is also good, but just avoid the Arcane Trickster one. Put all the rest of the levels into Ranger, specifically the Gloomstalker subclass. As for feats the most important ones for him would be +2 DEX and Sharpshooter. You can look into this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBREg0F0TCc - I suggest checking out his other ones as well if you need some help with other companions. You don't need to follow his exact stepts but his builds are a good starting point.

Oh, yeah, I had watched videos like that and thought it was a good idea so my Astarion is currently a lvl 3 rogue and a lvl 3 ranger. I also got a mod that gives you a feat every 2 levels, so I'm not worried about battles anymore. I'm not really one to use potions too much and I'm not going to activate the tadpole powers, so it's whatever, I'm not some overpowered demigod either way. I mostly just want to have fun during battles. So I was able to spare an Alert feat for Mirta and now she & Astarion go first almost every fight - who's a cute wittle power couple?? 🎃

" Also, there is a barn in the Blighted Village where an ogre and a bugbear are having sex. If you go there BEFORE entering the goblin camp and let Astarion interrupt them*, you get 5 bloody approval points in one go. Crazy. After that, he made his advances towards Mirta and then the sex scene triggered when I hit long rest.

*you will have to separate yourself form the rest of your party and just knock with him at the door" I thought you did that already!! Did he not ask you to let him open the door? Because when I played and romanced him he asked my Tav when she was about to open the door "please, let me do it!" . Perhaps they patched it out and now you have to do it separately with only him.

No, I had missed this! This particular barn is somehow a little off from the rest of the houses and I went past it completely. That's one of the reasons I reloaded - so many easy approval points, it was a shame to waste. Also, it was pretty funny.

"If nothing else, Halsin will be nice to have for some added flavour and the ability to play with a druid. Minthara, too, because she is a paladin and I have none in my party. Pity you can’t make Volo a companion!" Sadly, even in this regard he's not unique as you will be able to recruit ANOTHER druid in act 2 at about the same time when you can officially get him to join the party: Jaheira. She was one of the companions in BG1 and BG3 and far more interesting than Halsin. There will also be Minsc who is a ranger in act 3, another former character in the previous games. She and Minsc are good friends and they have some good content in act 3.

Unless they fixed some of this in patch 7, he is also very bugged and many of his dialogues are flagged as "flirting" despite them being innocent. At the tiefling party when talking to him you can pick any non-flirty dialogue option you want to and it won't matter. The next morning, if you talk to him again at camp you will have the option to apologize for coming so hard onto him at the party the evening before. Lmao, like when did I do that??? Later, if you later ask him how he fares at your camp he will say something about books, to which you can answer with "you'll find plenty of books, I come across them everywhere"…yeah, that's considered flirting and so is the other option if I recall correctly. And this can go on and on all the way throughout the game…In my case (and it happened to lots of other players, there are tones of complaints about it on the internet) when he finally confessed his love and I rejected him he hit back with "I thought you felt the same way, are you sure???" & "you saw to my needs at camp with the care of a lover, not a host" oh my god just go away dude because I did NOT treat you like a lover lmfao. In this instance he reminded me of those type of guys who think that just because you were nice one time, you must be attracted to them and down to fuck if given the opportunity, but when rejected they complain you were the one who led them on in the first place lmao.

In patch 6 they supposedly introduced a friendship/platonic path for him due to all the complaints but for most players it barely works considering how easy it is to accidentally flirt with him lol…very few people have managed to avoid all of this apparently by not talking to him AT ALL except the quest he gives you in act 2 and by avoiding all the dialogue options that give you a lot of approval.

Gale had similar problems at launch where he took ANY interaction with the player character as flirting, which eventually led him to confessing his love to you unprompted. It was hilarious. Fortunately they fixed it quite rapidly in the next patch which begs the question, why are they not doing it with Halsin...unless he's intentionally coded like this.

Now back to serious matters…Halsin can have a purpose in act 3. Without spoiling too much, there will be a kidnapping plot and he is one of the characters that can get kidnapped (don't worry, you'll be able to easily save anyone once you find the location). The other kidnappable companions are Gale, Lae'zel and Minthara, plus a NPC kid who will potentially join your camp. Also, no romanced companion will be taken. You can metagame your way into getting whoever you want kidnapped by leaving at camp the character you want to get rid of while having the rest in your active party. The thing is that Gale and Lae'zel have major quests in act 3 so you'd best want to keep them in your party if you don't want to fuck the result to those quests, Minthara has a past with the character who does the kidnapping (it's her former abuser) so you'd want her in your party when you go to confront them. As for the NPC…if the kid gets kidnapped, her cat will get killed no matter what you do. And that is unacceptable because no innocent animal is going to be harmed. Which leaves us with Halsin. Considering he really has nothing going on in act 3, he's the best candidate for this. Currently most fans have him kidnapped just to send him to horny jail. Many even kill him then, but I chose not to do it because if he stays alive he will take care of and raise some orphans and I don't want to take that away from them. It's a cute ending for him.

It's a pity because his character is okay if you ignore all of the issues and the fan service around him. Sadly, all Halsin does these days is ending up being a subject for discourse every two weeks or so…he also has a few annoying fans who will try to gaslight you that none of this is happening and it's your fault if you flirt with him (as if it's so easily avoidable) so…that's that.

I'm beginning to see what you mean about Halsin. I've had him in my camp for a while now and he does nothing, just stands there like a weirdo. He doesn't even have his own tent (neither do I, and I'm still salty about it). Doesn't interact with any other companions. And I can't even play with him! It really does feel like he was added as an extra thought.

I got the same experience in talking to him re: flirting. I spoke normally with him at the party because I wanted to lock my second night of passion (😂) with Astarion and the next day I had the option to act all embarrassed for flirting with him. Crazy. Now he's giving me moon eyes. :)) I don't really mind it that much since I do like him, he has a kind of rugged charm, but he's definitely not integrated in the best way in the game mechanics.

"I am so looking forward to hear her dunking on Gale." Minthara also has some nasty banters with Astarion. She says he would make a good pleasure servant in Menzoberranzan which is icky given his past lol. In another party banter she jokes about him probably having some STDs due to his decades of philandering. She is really vicious.

He'd better not have anything though!! :O Just kidding, I doubt vampires can contract and get sick from diseases.

I am so curious to see them together, since Minthussy is bound to be a dommy mommy who'd eat Astarion alive for breakfast. She should be scaring the living daylights out of him, given her background as a former Lolth-sworn drow. I learnt that they really don't treat men nicely down there. :))

In relation to this, I wish there was some options to explore the character of True Soul Nere more, since he abandoned Lolth for the Absolute and comes from a society in which he'd be a second class citizen. At one point, in one of his racist remarks, Astarion even says "I understand saving a drow, but gnomes?" And I was itching to reply something like "really? A male drow? Shouldn't they be considered weak underlings judging by your standards?" or even instill some fear of God into him, since he is also a male elf. 🫵

"Frustratingly enough, Lae'zel and Karlach have me at the lowest approval ratings in the party :)) 31 and 29, respectively. But we’ll do the creche next, so I’m hoping they’ll grow." Once you get to the Creche with Lae'zel to advance her personal quest you will gain A LOT of approval. Don't worry. But yeah Karlach was a bit hard for me, not gonna lie!

"Yes!!! Thank you!!! And, in any case, I think you can fight Raphael even if you didn’t take his deal, so I’m not missing out on anything. I think Mystra is equally lame for cavorting with (and discarding) a human like that, but groomer? Let’s bffr." You will eventually fight Raphael depending on your choices, don't worry…but you may want to deal with him in act 2 in order to help a certain pale companion, just saying! Make sure you have Astarion in your party when you reach the Last Light Inn. If you're now romancing him I guess you have him all the time, I assume?

You know, I was ready to switch him out regardless and leave his ass at home to fulfill the rotation, but he is really fun to have around, so I haven't had the heart to leave him in camp (*he was a punk, she did ballet, what more can I say* 🤡)

"Gale is NOT autistic coded, what the hell? If anything, he is privileged rich kid coded. " Fans will try to woobify their favorite characters, what's new. And yes I think Gale is indeed rich? Not filthy rich but well enough for sure.

I think I'm starting to see why they are rushing to his defense with this diagnostic - he has a tendency to ramble didactically on any given topic without stopping and I guess that COULD be interpreted as having a hyperfixation or a special interest? But Gale does possess good manners, because he can access them on a whim, apologises and stops. IDK, there's this tendency to pathologize any normal behaviour and turn it into something resembling neurodivergency that I don't think is necessary sometimes. People can just be arseholes! FFS, Gale introduces himself as Mystra's fuccboi and he will not let you forget how special and talented he is to have slept with her. Who does that??

"I did get Harold and managed to trade with the merchant. I tried to make the painter make a portrait of Astarion, as I figured it would be a nice gift for him to be able to see himself, but I could only free him. (Of course, Astarion disapproved both that and me giving him money for the road)." NO WAY YOU GAVE HIM MONEY! I REFUSE!!! I'm sorry but had you refused to do it, he would've told you he actually intended to spend the money on getting drunk. Lmaoooo. Sorry!

!!!! I thought he was going to die on the road if I didn't give him money?? 😭 You can't trust no man!!! ☠️

You will meet him again in the city though! If you successfully complete his future quest he can make you a portrait. But no companion will react to it. As for Astarion, yeah it's a missed opportunity that we can't show him what he looks like. However, Ascended Astarion will be able to see himself in the mirror and react accordingly…fuck him anyway.

Whelp....not on my watch! Not before we give him an anti-vampire vaccine like in the movie Blade. 😂

"I think I completely forgot about the shipment though! That cave is so big and I kind of lost myself picking up everything from the ground, so I don’t really know where it is? Or if I can go back? Was it where Zarys was standing?" You can loot it from Zarys' corpse if you gave it to her.

"Phew! I even had Lae'zel come onto me unprompted at the goblin camp. With 30-ish level approval!! She’s crazy lol. She gave me the “I want to taste you” line. Before that, she asked Astarion at the waypoint why he hadn’t attempted sleeping with her. After he slept with Mirta!! Lae'zel!!! " She came onto me after I killed the owlbear mother in the cave. I never got that banter with Astarion though…a lot of the party banters were bugged before patch 7. :(

Fun fact, if you aren't dating either Lae'zel or Astarion, they will hook up at the tiefling party and sleep together. By the way, if Astarion isn't available she will try to fuck Wyll. However Wyll will only want to talk, leaving her disappointed. There is also a bug where she will say to you she slept with Astarion even if you were the one to sleep with him, which led to some Astarion haters to say "see, he went to fuck someone else the moment your Tav fell asleep". Lmao.

Wyll was such a downer at the tiefling party, I gotta say. I'm having some trouble connecting with his character because he doesn't seem to get involved in anything and I don't really understand how to play warlock. It's gonna be ages until I find his dad, so I don't really know what to do with him lol.

"Yeah, I just made the decision that I don’t want to have the Illithid menu activated, even if nothing will happen if I just take 1-2 tadpoles. But, for RPG reasons, we’re doing all of this shit to get rid of them, why would I add more of them, you know?" I didn't eat any tadpoles in my first playthrough either. But I will indulge in them this time with my Dark Urge bard. He's crazy enough to do it lol. Plus, some of the abilities the tadpoles will give you are pretty great. It's just that indulging a lot in them may have some consequences…

"Right?? It would work so much better if he took it down a notch or two. Atm it’s mainly pantomime. I nearly gagged when he talked about “our mutual ecstasy”." You'll get another offer to sleep with him (but no cutscene this time) and he'll try some new lines! Watch out for them!

"I managed to knock her out and free Halsin so fingers crossed!" I hope she won't end up bugged. Before you rescue her in Moonrise Towers from the prison, make sure to make some saves. There will be others who will need saving as well!

Also I don't get why the fuck didn't Halsin transform into a rat or something and escape from the prison lol. Plot reasons, I gues? But it's stupid nonetheless.

I think I may have mentioned something about some recent Astarion discourse… There is this group of "Astarion is actually gay" fans because he acts flamboyantly and two of his former victims she was forced to seduce and bring back to Cazador were men...For many of them it's just their personal headcanon though, which is okay! But some (as well as a few others) often shit on f/m Tav/Astarion ships, headcanons, fan art and even fan fics bemoaning the fact that he's often mischaracterized in a lot of this type of content. It's also apparently heteronormative to ship Astarion with a woman or something lol, that we are delusional to think he would actually be into some of our female Tavs. Some even went as far as saying that Astarion fulfills some women's fantasies of being with a gay man and that's why we like him. Lol what? At first these people tried to excuse it "we are just curating our own fandom space, that's why we mention our dislike for f/m content and we block it on sight because we're gay!" which I fully get since it's understandable for a gay man to avoid f/m content, you know? Here's the thing though: they keep complaining about it even after supposedly blocking this stuff which begs the question: why keep talking about it so much if you hate it so much? Unless your purpose is to gatekeep the character and make women who like him feel bad about it? Because that's what it looks to me lol.

Of course some of the wives got a bit pissed and one of them even used a slur against gay men in response. It was the one I mentioned about pretending to be into a real relationship with Astarion. Anyway, at this point I don't even care this much about them getting shit and being shamed for liking their f/m Tav and Astarion ship because in the past many of these wives joined fandom mobs against others for silly reasons so in a way, it makes me feel lowkey happy they are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. Fellow wives, please do enjoy being called homophobic!!! Meanwhile think of the times you were throwing "-phobics" accusations at others!

Another ridiculous thing to fight about. :)) I mean, Astarion will sleep with you no matter your gender or race or how you look like, so I'm pretty sure he was always meant to be pansexual, all the companions were. It's so goofy to fight about this, it's in the game mechanics.

But, yeah, I understand the feeling of schadenfreude. 🙏

Now seriously complaining about fanon content it's a bit useless. When it comes to fan fic, Astarion is mischaracterized in most of it, INCLUDING m/m ships. In the end many of these authors are really young and honestly? Most are writing for themselves and what they personally like. You are not owed anything. I don't like several tropes either but I won't complain about them existing you know? I just don't read fics including them.

I also want to clarify that not every f/m Astarion ship is getting dunked on, it's mostly those ships where the woman in question doesn't fit the archetype modern fandoms think a strong, capable woman is supposed to look and act like. You've been in the HOTD fandom for long enough to see what I'm referring to lol...what type of women these fans dislike and consider weak.

By the way I'm having flasbacks to those Aemond/OC fics right now, heeelp! I admit to complaining quite a bit about those during season 1 but man...to think Aemond would betray his family to be with Rhaenyra's daughter? And the incessant Alicent bashing every other paragraph?

Yeah, I have done my fair share of complaining (hello lucemond and Rhaenyra's daughter LOL), but, like in all things, I have always been of the opinion that moderation is key here. It can be a relief to have a space to complain about all the things that annoy you and people should be allowed to talk about what they don't like as well, but, if you find that's the only thing you focus on, it's time to take a step back. I hated the Alicent-bashing myself and I'm glad I talked about it and I'm sure a lot of other things will annoy me in the future and I will also talk about them, but some people do make hateposting look like a full time job, when it's really not that serious.

Speaking of goofy HotD tropes, I was browsing the Astarion/Tav tag on AO3 and, of course, I found Tavs named Rhaenyra and Visenya, if you can believe it. I noped out so quick. 😂

I've also noticed that many BG3 bullies finally moved on to the new Dragon Age game and like I correctly predicted, they are now causing discourse over there. I am interested in the DA series but I'm not touching it as I don't want to share a fandom with these people anymore. Playing BG3 and interacting with the fandom (Twitter, reddit, Tumblr) at the height of its popularity has proved to be really tiring and by far my worst online experience.

Oh, yes, I've heard that game is causing quite a ruckus. I've been watching some clips out of curiosity with my boyfriend while eating, just for the sake of having something on the screen, but, I have to say, the fact that most of these commentators sound like incels who have not known the touch of a woman in a long time (if ever) is not helping the critical landscape. :)) Like, I've seen the ridiculous bharv (?) scene and, yes, it was cringy and I understand the game pauses many times to lecture you, but I still haven't properly understood why the game play is that bad, because they're not focusing on that and are instead frothing at the mouth at the idea that your tav can have top surgery scars, you know what I mean? The companions do sound annoying and it's silly that you can only be a goody two-shoes over there.

BONUS 1: https://imgur.com/a/72SRYya - I hope this is bait for their own sake but why do they always talk as if he is real? Not surprised though. I mean it's common even for those wives who seem normal to pretend he is real and say something like "Astarion would hate you for thinking/believing this" as if he's real. Also, him possibly hating some of my takes would be a good sign if you catch my meaning. ;)

"Tactless" - excuse me? I can't believe the way this is worded, I had to pause for a second there. 😂 "Telling someone their partner is an abuser" - he's not your partner!!! And if your partner were behaving like that, I'd hope someone in your life would tell you! Good Lord.

Yet again I'm having flashbacks to Aemond discourse when antis tried to make Helaemonds feel bad with "He loves her like a sister you freak!!! Aemond would actually hate you for shipping him with her!" yeah Aemond is also not real, hope this helps!

Ah, what a golden goose of a discourse this was! We did have some fun in our time! 🤌

BONUS 2: https://wanderingbardtoys.com/collections/astarion-the-vampire-rogue ;) Astarion inspired dildos lol

Holy godsdamned hellsssssssssssssss 😂😂😂😂😂 Why are they coloured like that????

I do have to admit, though, that these are much better than the oversized tick of a penis that toy statue of his had. The one that looks like what I imagine Jabba the Hut's "throbbing member" would look like if I were to entertain the idea and be completely insane. I was even cursed today to see a thumbnail of it when I opened the YouTube app on my phone.

EDIT: Wait a minute, I just had a look at length and girth.... Is he a man or a donkey???

Daddy's "home" - what home?? He doesn't have a house. ☠️ He's jobless.

By the feel free to ignore this if you don't feel like replying, it's okay if you only want to address a specific point. This got way too long..

No, but I do enjoy our little talks very much. It's just I wasn't really feeling like being online that much these past two weeks. I hope you're well and get to read this! 🫶

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog 10: Episode 6, part II AKA me & Kerubim Crepin gender studies??

I really do think that Kerubim is at his freest when he isn't performing being a macho-man.

He's generally calmer and happier as an old man, with pretty feminine hobbies and mannerisms. He was happier when he pretended to be a woman for Lou. He's awesome in these dancing shoes!

But his anxiety about being liked won't let him loosen up and live how he actually wants to live.

Rethinking the way he presents himself to the world could have fixed things with Lou a little, or at least made his life easier, but he really does need people to like him, and being a really masculine, courageous womanizing hero does wonders for that.

(Not to say he doesn't like being a womanizer, but a big part of his enjoyment is about the image it provides.)

(By the way, an interesting factoid: The guise of Lili The Hairdresser is the first time Kerubim starts wearing green, which seems to be his favorite color to this day.

But we'll talk more about how important that episode to Kerubim's character when we get there.)

I think that the main reason for his insecurities is a mix of being an orphan, Ecaflip's constant belittling of him, as well as being Atcham's brother and therefore knowing what not being cool, attractive, and liked does to people.

It is his worst nightmare, after all.

(READ THE WHEEL OF DESTINY #8 - KERUB CREPIN IMMEDIATELY.)

A part of why he almost loses this match is that he is fighting the ballet shoes, — due to being terrified of losing. He lets himself get worked up over Indie's remarks.

(I love you, Kerubim insecurity moments.)

The prospect of losing Lou always made him come out of his shell and be brave. From going full-ballet mode, to crossdressing. It's one of the ways their relationship was productive, and, dare I say, almost healthy.

To him, not fighting against the shoes also pointedly includes being feminine on purpose as a joke, which, as we've seen, is a crossing between something he's scared of (doing things perceived as lame/girly/cringe/weak) and something he uses as a shield (being a clown).

It's probably a step in the right direction for him, to someday beat The Cringe Inside him and become free.

Also allows him to stop giving a shit about whatever Indie thinks. Good for him, good for him.

I would joke about becoming a polycule fixing things, or them needing to explore each other's bodies, but I think it would actually make things even worse between everyone involved.

...Truly, he is a humble and gentle soul.

I think that, chronologically and logically speaking, this is when Lou first started taking him seriously, as well as his first ever kiss.

No wonder he's so nostalgic about it.

Anyway, I guess considering how bad Simone is at this, he really wasn't lying to Lou when he said he was good at dancing.

Good for him, good for him.

[sniigura-archive]

So about that foot fetish, I agree with what a lot of people before me said. It makes you think, broaden the horizon maybe. And thats why your writing is such a prime example for good fanfiction to me. It's for fun, it's to break out and discover new things. Fanfiction has always been a way to express a shit ton of different things and I feel that got forgotten over the years? everything has to be safe and vanilla and people get way too heated and entitled over canon/ headcanon and shaming others for things they personally don't like. But your writing? it's refreshing, it breaks the conventionally comfortable in a delightful way while also being skillfully written and hot af

AAA THANK YOU SO MICJ FOR YOUR KIND WORDS!!

purity culture really has done a number on everyone’s perception of media 😭😭 censorship is also the worst thing that could have happened to us ngl

there’s one thing if you don’t want to consume something you 10000% aren’t into but that’s what tags, content and trigger warnings are for. which is something nearly all people, especially ones creating dark content, do.

i try to make everything fun and lighthearted since i think fanfiction is for fun. angst and dark content can be fun too!! we need to stop being so serious i mean it………

we need to stop being scared of taboo stuff and be able to explore dark things in a healthy manner. not being able to properly tell the difference between fiction and reality is poison in todays time. it’s all about media consumption

[amourrs]

listen babe I’ve been following you since your very early obx fic days and let me just say i very much agree w you on this whole daddy/little kink regression issue.. like im highly aware that the nicknames “kid” and “daddy” amongst others have been used in media since the early 20th century especially as a girl who loves those types of media, and frankly has no issue with it when it’s utilized in a responsible/appropriate manner (excluding the nickname “dad” specifically, which ofc that’s a personal preference) … but we OBVIOUSLY have a problem w minors infesting the nsfw side of this website (which many smut writers already caution towards/complain about— not to say im in support of it whatsoever cause im 21 and have been on this app for a literal decade so ik how it affects the mind in the long run and am staunchly against that sort of activity but i digress) so i can’t help but find it quite hypocritical when coupled w the fact that some writers are utilizing language that obviously expresses a certain degree of naïveté and childlike thought processes/tendencies that can be triggering for some and if not can otherwise be interpreted as an expression of pandering towards pedophilic behaviors/thought processes, and i want to reiterate my point of it being the OVERALL language of some fics not just a couple nicknames so that no one misinterprets what i mean and gets their panties twisted. i, in fact, enjoy a little daddy/mommy kink here and there but the thing ab ddlg specifically is that it’s never even been considered morally “sound” in the first place and is generally held in regard as an unhealthy correlative coping mechanism in actual psychiatric and therapeutic spaces related to psychosexual tendencies, and I’m not referring to kink communities which are generally subjective in the first place and allow space for people to make excuses for themselves (quite literally majoring in this rn so y’all pls don’t try and come @ me im just reading what the data says). it’s a problem that’s grown out of proportion over the last few months and i think people are allowed to be discomforted about it in a vocal manner just as writers may defend their actions in a vocal manner, because realistically this kink encompasses a minuscule amount of the population and is not commonplace whatsoever so the average reader most likely won’t resonate with it and will notice the red flags regarding its growing exposure on this app; we all share this app and i completely understand why some are offended by the pushback, but unfortunately it’s not healthy and anyone who writes this type of content KNOWS!! not saying it’s everyone who dares to use a simple nickname or two, but a comprehensive look at the overall language and imagery of the fics.. in essentia, y’all should look into therapy ngl.. really explore why ur attracted to the idea of an authority figure making ur “princess parts” “feel funny”, and why u make ur characters so “naive”, “innocent”, and “inexperienced” that they don’t even know what their own CUNT is ! 😀

that’s all, and i thank you for using your platform to continue this conversation because it needs to be said <3

honestly couldn’t have said any of this better myself. also the very early obx fic days is crazy… that’s like over a year at least. genuinely insane. thank you for following me that long i love you 🫶🏽

[girlvinland]

Every year since I was like. Idek early or mid twenties, I’ve kept wishing so much that people were allowed to take life one day at a time instead of feeling immense pressure to plan out each life stage with this absolute assuredness that it’s going to go exactly how they think it will.

For instance,

I don’t think 18 year olds and younger should have the pressure to go to college and know what they want to do for the rest of their life placed on their shoulders so early.

I don’t think there should be a “relationship escalator” that’s like “need to be married by x, need to have kids by x” or life is ruined.

I don’t think the narrative that there is one true “dream job” just waiting out there for you is a healthy one.

I don’t think anyone should read these things and go “oh yeah that’s fine for other people, but it’s never going to happen to me/I couldn’t deal with it if I didn’t have those things”. (I add this last one because I used to think this way. It was fine if other people didn’t achieve these things, but I needed to for some arbitrary reason I didn’t even understand).

It just makes me so frustrated and sad sometimes to watch friends and family (and myself with aspects of it) fall victim to this mindset that you need to do these things, and do them in a “timely manner” in order to have found success. I include my older relatives in this too who never questioned the status quo because they didn’t want to or because they didn’t know how/didn’t know they could, and who still pressure younger relatives to follow suit.

There are so many various priorities you can allow yourself to have, there are so many ways of looking at life and living in general. The more toxic ideas were pushed on me when I was so young and for so long, and frankly, I was too naive and inexperienced to understand that there were any other options.

I just think of my own experience with things and how I often see it reflected. When I went to college at 18, I was supposed to know exactly what I wanted with no prior experience, down to the specific classes I’d want to take four years later. There wasn’t even a question of if I even wanted to go to college (and if so, where) or if I was really prepared for it, so it was just like. This is what you’re doing, this is where you’re going. Have fun paying for it later despite not fully understanding how loans work yet. And I was too controlled and sheltered to have any knowledge that it didn’t actually have to be that way or to go against what my family expected.

When I met the first person I started dating in college, people were asking me if he was “The One” within months. Even my own mother asked something like that after the very first date I had with him. Why….are we doing that to people? This kind of thing sets people up for unrealistic expectations and can potentially lead them to put themselves in situations where they might endure unhappiness or even abuse because they think it’s normal or that the first choice of anything (college, job, person) is the correct one, or the only one they should ever have.

I think to imply that anyone has to do any or all of these things is honestly part of what sets a lot of people up for failure or becoming depressed when something doesn’t go “right”. Life is so unpredictable in so many ways. That isn’t to say that happiness and good fits don’t exist, because they very much do, but I wish there was more of a push on giving people the freedom to explore their options rather than conform. It’s also unfortunate to me that families seem to do so much of the perpetuating the whole mindset around this stuff because they put so much emphasis on their children being a reflection of themselves rather than seeing them as individuals. I look at my younger family members and couldn’t really give a rat’s ass if they do or don’t fulfill certain societal standards as long as they are happy and healthy. Like, their emotional and physical wellbeing come before anything else.

Anyway. You should be able to say something isn’t right for you and grow from the experience without judgement, whether it means dropping out of school to pursue something else or leaving a job because you’re not getting what you want or need from it or ending a relationship because you just aren’t being fulfilled. What is right for one person isn’t always going to work for another person and all of that. I hope that as future generations come along, these expectations will shift and allow more room for trial and error and exploration.

Edit: I want to add a disclaimer that there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting any/all of these things. The problem comes from how prominent the expectations are and how little wiggle room there tends to be or how much judgement people tend to face when they don’t conform to those expectations.

[ameridad-is-the-best]

dad im not going to stop asking you until i get what i want

so i wrote an essay about it

The role of a father is not limited to being a provider and protector but also extends to nurturing and taking care of their children's well-being. One crucial aspect of this care is providing ample nutrition for their offspring. In this essay, we will explore the various reasons why my father should actively participate in feeding me, emphasizing the positive impacts it can have on my health, personal growth, and our relationship.

One of the primary reasons why my father should feed me is the direct impact of nutrition on my health and overall well-being. Proper nutrition is vital for the growth and development of a child. By actively participating in feeding, my father can ensure that I consume a well-balanced diet, rich in essential nutrients. This would not only boost my physical health but also strengthen my immune system, preventing illness and increasing my resilience against diseases.

Feeding is an intimate act that creates a bond between a parent and a child. By taking an active role in feeding me, my father can establish a deeper emotional connection and strengthen our relationship. This shared experience fosters a sense of trust, love, and security, enhancing both our emotional well-being and mutual understanding. These early bonding experiences form the foundation for a strong and healthy parent-child relationship, which can impact various aspects of my life as I grow.

As my father feeds me, he not only provides nourishment but also aids in the development of essential life skills. By engaging me in the feeding process, my father can start teaching me about basic hygiene, table manners, and the importance of healthy eating habits. These lessons will carry forward into my adolescence and adulthood, equipping me with the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed dietary choices and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Feeding me allows my father to assume joint responsibility for my upbringing and care. By actively participating in this daily routine, my father gains a deeper understanding of my dietary needs, preferences, and any potential allergies or restrictions. This shared responsibility fosters a more comprehensive approach to my well-being, ensuring that both parents are aware and actively involved in managing my nutrition and overall health.

In conclusion, my father's active involvement in feeding me has numerous long-lasting benefits. From enhancing my health and well-being to fostering a strong emotional bond and imparting essential life skills, feeding is a critical aspect of our relationship as a parent and child. As a father, he has a unique opportunity to nurture, guide, and provide for me, ensuring a healthy and thriving future.

if not,ATLEAST get me some marshmallows

thanks dad!!!! <3

“You do know you are adopted and older than me, right? I’m too young to deal with this.” AMERICA said, saying the last sentence in a joking tone.

[lilaceas]

drapped is a very singular manner to explore sides by side off your skin then if is healthy enough to blush & asighttttt from natural like pale & shining & even delicated too fragile if is in inside ur diet inside love for dancing. 💖 a black ballerina is always taller than etnics & thrue the way in on exercises insites strenght in rosy shades bc no optioned laced every body wants lacy that look cool like freezing &

that's amazingly glad if i'd been taking lessons in ballet classteacher 🎻🍸a room full of sizes types of body & less more concentrated if who's new in that if i can be appropriating a coach & never too nervous like a black teacher person be when she's a woman & groeth inside to your toes like every one on same stands up goes... 💌🙀🦋 do you need to staying in all classy attitudes that can go & go & go 'round curving no princess room like polly pocket & plumed room. she smokes cigarettes she's in something & every bare qarning from a white person that is obviously claming only pasion for songs being like super ultra lace a funny hint tchaikovsky to run over late at summer that's dress i've been talking 'bout is peculiar we ballerinas do ever knows that has no colour that dress is just weither than my racist dancer teacher norwayds is there some striptease club for rich ppl @ brooklin then this is new in JLO this is my fashionable & customs that a ballerina off duty isn't on a right place to abomines politics every dance school that can do a proudly customs for entire scenatios tha creats you & what you creates beware sickness without a concern for f world & in right we do serves & slays when shopping when... omg take my money & why off-duty i'm no modelling my big ass & i'm not what i wear as if... a ballerina is being too real when being politic & even for she's sure she know what's knocking her wealth.

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

TW: CSA ment, Abuse, and um i don't know how to trigger one for this but mention of Vagina and Pelvic flooring (not in a detailed or sexual manner)

Hello, I'm sorry if this is incorrect formatting etc as i just found this blog but.

I am here to ask if anyone deals with.. not remembering who did it to them or when or how. I have multiple mental illnesses that could have made me repress on top of it being traumatic.

I know i must have been under seven years old. But thats it. What abuse i do remember affects me but not like this.

The only mental illness I'll bring up is my psychosis, i worry I'm heavily just having a delusion that i was SA'd. But i feel like I'm not. I also know it wasn't my parents or grandparents, or at least I'm 87% sure.

My parents didn't have friends, and i did but they never came over to my house, so i don't think it was like that.

My signs i feel strongly towards why i may have been;

Scared of windows and closet doors. Like deathly so. Like i put things in front of them to make sure even though in my new house we have an alarm system. Also under any beds. In my childhood home i had two closets and two windows.

I didn't have a hymen which i know can be common.

I am constantly aware of my pelvis flooring and vagina. Constantly feeling like people can see me naked when I'm dressed.

I have undiagnoised chronic pain. And lately have noticed odd walking.

Scared of windows and closet doors. Like deathly so. Like i put things in front of them to make sure even though in my new house we have an alarm system. Also under any beds. In my childhood home i had two closets and two windows.

I didn't have a hymen which i know can be common.

I am constantly aware of my pelvis flooring and vagina. Constantly feeling like people can see me naked when I'm dressed.

I have undiagnoised chronic pain. And lately have noticed odd walking.

Jealous with other people having sex even though I'm not always interested in the person.

Have become sex repulsed due to refinding out about this.

There is a lot but i won't keep going.

Any help would be appreciated /gen

-Bad Dog

Hi Bad Dog,

I'm so sorry about what you've been through. Please know that your feelings and experiences are valid. It's not uncommon for individuals to repress or have fragmented memories of traumatic experiences, especially if they occurred at a young age or if there are underlying mental health conditions present, such as psychosis.

The signs you've mentioned could potentially be linked to trauma, as they are not uncommon for CSA survivors. However, it's important to remember that I don't have the knowledge or authority to tell you with certainty that you have endured CSA. It would be best to get the opinion of a mental health professional, such as a therapist, who can provide a safe space for you to explore and process these experiences. A therapist can help you navigate your thoughts and emotions, validate your feelings, and provide appropriate guidance based on their expertise.

Please remember to practice self-care and engage in activities that promote your well-being. This can include practicing relaxation techniques, engaging in creative outlets, establishing healthy boundaries, and surrounding yourself with supportive and understanding individuals who respect your journey.

I hope I could help and please let us know if you need anything.

-Bun

[shantijuniors]

5 Signs of A High-Quality Preschool

Learn the 5 key signs of a high-quality preschool to ensure your child receives the best foundation for learning, growth, and success.

Choosing the right preschool is one of the most important decisions parents make for their child's early education. A high-quality preschool not only nurtures a child’s cognitive, social, and emotional development but also sets a solid foundation for lifelong learning. With so many options available, parents often struggle to identify which preschool will best meet their child's needs. In this blog, we will discuss the five key signs of a high-quality preschool and why Shanti Juniors stands out as an excellent choice for parents seeking top-notch early education.

1. Well-Qualified and Caring Educators

One of the primary indicators of a high-quality preschool is its teaching staff. Highly qualified teachers, who are passionate about early childhood education, ensure a nurturing and stimulating learning environment. Teachers at a top preschool are not only skilled in their craft but also display genuine care and affection toward the children. They observe and respond to each child’s unique learning needs, promoting both academic and personal growth.

What to Look For:

Teachers with relevant certifications in early childhood education.

A low student-to-teacher ratio for individualized attention.

Caring and patient educators who promote a positive learning atmosphere.

At Shanti Juniors, teachers undergo specialized training programs to ensure they understand and apply the best practices in early education. The focus on nurturing each child's unique potential ensures a positive and enriching preschool experience.

2. A Safe, Clean, and Engaging Environment

The learning environment is a significant factor when assessing the quality of a preschool. A high-quality preschool prioritizes safety, cleanliness, and engaging spaces designed to encourage exploration, play, and learning. Classrooms are designed to be age-appropriate, with colorful learning materials and child-friendly furniture that stimulates curiosity.

What to Look For:

Secure and hygienic classrooms, play areas, and facilities.

Child-safe infrastructure with supervised play spaces.

Age-appropriate educational toys, games, and learning tools.

Shanti Juniors takes great care in creating a clean and secure environment for children. Safety protocols are strictly followed, ensuring peace of mind for parents. The engaging and interactive classrooms foster a love for learning in young minds.

3. Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum

A hallmark of a high-quality preschool is a curriculum that balances academics, play, and life skills. The curriculum must be age-appropriate, focusing on holistic development rather than rote learning. A well-structured preschool curriculum promotes early literacy, numeracy, problem-solving, creativity, and motor skills while emphasizing social and emotional growth.

What to Look For:

A curriculum designed around recognized early education frameworks.

Activities that promote critical thinking, independence, and creativity.

Programs that address social, emotional, and physical development.

At Shanti Juniors, the curriculum is research-based and developmentally aligned. The unique I-Cube Learning Ladder Approach blends academics with play-based activities, ensuring children learn in an enjoyable and stress-free manner. Shanti Juniors emphasizes both foundational knowledge and life skills, preparing children for future academic success.

4. Emphasis on Social and Emotional Development

Early childhood is a crucial stage for developing social and emotional skills. A high-quality preschool focuses on fostering positive interactions, empathy, self-confidence, and emotional regulation among children. Preschool teachers play a key role in creating an inclusive and supportive environment where children learn to express themselves and build healthy relationships.

What to Look For:

Programs that encourage teamwork, sharing, and cooperation.

Activities that teach children to identify and manage their emotions.

Supportive environments that celebrate diversity and inclusivity.

At Shanti Juniors, social and emotional learning is deeply integrated into daily activities. Teachers guide children through collaborative tasks, storytelling, role-playing, and group discussions to enhance their interpersonal skills. This approach helps children build confidence and develop a positive self-image.

5. Active Parental Involvement

A high-quality preschool recognizes the importance of parental involvement in a child’s education journey. Open communication between teachers and parents ensures the child receives consistent support both at school and at home. Preschools that engage parents through regular updates, workshops, and events foster a strong parent-school partnership.

What to Look For:

Transparent communication regarding a child’s progress and activities.

Opportunities for parents to participate in school events and activities.

Support programs or workshops for parents to understand child development.

Shanti Juniors maintains a strong bond with parents through regular updates, feedback sessions, and interactive workshops. They value parental contributions and believe that collaboration between parents and teachers enhances a child's overall development.

Why Shanti Juniors is a High-Quality Preschool

Choosing the right preschool can be overwhelming, but Shanti Juniors simplifies this decision by offering an exceptional early learning experience. Here are some of the standout features that make Shanti Juniors a preferred choice for parents:

I-Cube Learning Ladder Approach: Shanti Juniors offers a well-rounded curriculum that combines play, creativity, and academics to encourage holistic development.

Well-Trained Educators: Teachers are trained to understand the unique needs of each child, ensuring personalized care and attention.

Safe and Secure Environment: The preschool maintains high standards of hygiene and safety, ensuring children feel secure and comfortable at all times.

Focus on Life Skills: Shanti Juniors emphasizes not only academics but also essential life skills such as communication, collaboration, and emotional well-being.

Strong Parental Partnerships: Regular updates, parent-teacher interactions, and workshops ensure parents are actively involved in their child’s learning journey.

Also Read : The Preschool Readiness Countdown: Is Your Child Ready to Learn and Grow?

Conclusion

A high-quality preschool is instrumental in laying the groundwork for a child’s future academic and personal success. By focusing on well-qualified teachers, a safe environment, a developmentally appropriate curriculum, social-emotional development, and parental involvement, parents can identify the best preschool for their child.

Shanti Juniors embodies all these qualities, making it a trusted and highly recommended choice for parents seeking an enriching early education experience. With its unique teaching methodologies and unwavering commitment to child development, Shanti Juniors sets the benchmark for high-quality preschools.

Investing in your child's future begins with the right preschool. Choose Shanti Juniors – where learning meets creativity, safety, and care.