#while threads are obviously focused on arcs both muses have

[sworntoprotect]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat. Long post!

MUN NAME: Pie     AGE: +25       CONTACT: IM, Ask, Discord (mutuals only, by request)

CHARACTER(S): Cullen

CURRENT FANDOM(S): Dragon Age

FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR:  I have a modern verse for everything not Dragon Age, but I might add some actual alt verses for other fandoms

MY LANGUAGE(S): English (native), Spanish (intermediate), Korean (baby lol beginner), bits and bobs of other languages (namely French and French Patois)

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP: FANTASY / SCIENCE FICTION / HORROR / WESTERN / ROMANCE / THRILLER / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / EROTIC / CRIME / MYTHOLOGY / CLASSIC / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / ANCIENT / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD / APOCALYPTIC / GODS / SPORT / MUSIC / SCIENCE / FIGHTS / ANGST / SMUT / DRAMA / ETC. (I started this and realised I’d be bolding almost everything, so: EVERYTHING)

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH: ONE-LINER / 1 PARA / 2 PARA / 3+ PARA / NOVELLA. / ALL

ASKS CAN BE SEND BY: MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS.

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?: YES / NO / OCCASIONALLY   - only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE: CRACK / CASUAL / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK. / ALL

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:   YES / NO.

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. (after my paper is submitted, yeah sure)

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. (irl makes coping difficult sometimes)

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?: 24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ WEEKS / MONTHS / YEARS. / DEPENDS ON MOOD AND INSPIRATION, AND IF I’M BUSY 

I’M OKAY INTERACTING WITH: ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / A RELATIVE OF MY CHARACTER (AN OC) / DUPLICATES / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / SELF-INSERTS / PEOPLE WITH NO AU VERSE FOR MY FANDOM / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?: IC / OOC. (I strive for more IC over OOC, but my queue does a lot of work too)

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING:  Talk with me over IM, asks, or Disco. I’m down for almost anything as long as I see it’s feasible.

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER:  Transparency. If you have an idea, let me know! If you’re stuck, let me know! If you want to start something new or scrap something or whatever...LET ME KNOW! I promise I don’t bite and I understand.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?:  I’m not very good with coming up with plots myself, so I’m typically the weak link when it comes to that. Sorry! But you bet I’ll pull up a plot generator and start throwing things down to see what sticks haha.

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?:  I’m all about equal opportunity, so I try not to leave the plotting work to my partner. Let’s negotiate and find something that makes both of us happy. That’s the point after all.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - AND WHY?: If you want to drop a thread, I’m completely fine with it. I want to know so that I don’t end up replying to something you have no interest in anymore. Saves both of us the time.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?:  If drafts eat it (as they are wont to do these days) or if I feel it has reached a natural conclusion. I rarely, if ever, drop a thread in the middle. I’ll just let you know I’m going to finish it on my side and allow you a chance to finish on yours if you’d like.

WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU? YES / NO. - AND WHY?: You don’t need to chat with me every minute of every day, but I like knowing the people I’m writing with. Discerning your personality and your approach to your muse gives me a much stronger understanding of how to write with you, and what vibes between us. Plus, it’s easier to remember different people’s boundaries if I talk with them a lot, too.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: I am all for constructive criticism. Even if you think it’s nitpicky, it’s going to be a great help. Good crit allows us grow as writers and as people in general. However, I am not for baseless accusations, childish name-calling, or outright insults under the name of “constructive crit”. Remember the “constructive” part: we need to build each other up. 

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY? YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: I love a good story. While I don’t agree with everything Cullen does (and no one should, for anyone real or imagined), his story is intriguing. He’s a deeply flawed, deeply broken man. I love to take on a character, toss them in every situation I can think of, and watch them evolve and grow.

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS:  A real redemption arc, for one. A realistic struggle with substance abuse and recovery. A future of happiness.

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE:   Rape or sexual assault, unless being spoken about as a past event (as I truly believe that Cullen was sexually assaulted at Kinloch along with the other psychological and physical torture he endured). In-game racism is baked in, unfortunately, but it’s not something I seek out to roleplay as a PoC myself. Finally, while I play Cullen as canon-straight, I will not play out homophobia and most definitely not transphobia. If he rejects your muse for hitting on him, it’s not because he’s being homophobic: he’s just not interested. That also doesn’t mean he’ll never be interested; people can and do change, and I ship chemistry overall. He doesn’t hate your muse for their gender, orientation, or sexual preferences. I feel like I really have to spell this out for people who don’t understand. If you feel personally insulted by this somehow, feel free to address me directly, off anon. It’s probably an issue of fuzzy wording that I’m 500% willing to fix and talk about.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: I love starters that set the scene and provide plenty to work with, be it in terms of interacting with the environment or with the other person. If your muse shows immediate disinterest in communicating (and I don’t mean argumentative, which is perfectly fine), I am not going to respond. I might politely ask for more if I feel like it’s a salvageable interaction.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?:  Stoic soldier types, bubbly short girls, and semi-mad scientists.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?:  Characters that come across as Mary-Sue / Gary-Stu types. No flaws and barely any room to grow. 

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I'm very easy-going and I have an unearthly level of tolerance for almost everything. I try to provide partners with as much to work with as possible IC, and will pretty much support your very existence OOC. I believe in open communication so you’ll know what’s going on with me and/or our threads. Also, I typically reply within a week or two. Currently I’m tethered to finishing a big paper so I’m not a good example of that right now.

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I can get overwhelmed by too much which slows my pace down considerably. I’m also a bit distant and do shut down on occasion; that’s usually no fault of my partners, though. Just my brain being a dick.

DO YOU RP SMUT?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. (the closer we are OOC, the easier getting here will be)

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. (it’s not going to be XXX but it will be descriptive)

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN, FADE TO BLACK?: YES / NO.

WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?: I prefer to write smut for character development and to mark a progression in a relationship. Plus Cullen is not a “one and done” guy so getting to the smut stage will take a bit of build-up.

ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?:  Hmmm things that he personally wouldn’t go for I guess? Honestly I don’t know. And obviously, no rape/animal abuse/predator nonsense.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO Ships are a great way to further explore a character and their motivations. People do not exist in pure isolation, so I don’t believe characters should, either.

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?: YES / NO. I bolded both because the focus of the blog isn’t ships, but this thirst trap guy is really easy to ship with other people I tell ya hwat. I am severely picky with romantic ships for Reasons, but I don’t eschew any other types of ships. I encourage them!

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF.

ARE YOU:  MULTI-SHIP / SINGLE-SHIP / DUAL-SHIP  —  MULTIVERSE / SINGLEVERSE.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: Characters who challenge Cullen into revising his point of view and force him to be a better person. Also, characters who understand his past and they are in no ways obligated to forgive it, but do recognise that he’s struggling very hard to mend whatever mistakes he can and is willing to pay the price for his decisions.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  - Be a good salesperson and I might buy it.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: Cullen is a massive stick in the mud, which means it’s incredibly easy to taunt him and get him flustered all at the same time. He’s loyal, he’s intelligent, and he’s largely self-aware. He likes swords and using them. Anything your character hates about him, he most likely hates about himself 100 times more.

WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?:  Those from the start that show absolutely no interest in speaking with/interacting with him. Mun and muse are going to struggle to stick around. I’m not going to fight for attention and neither is he.

WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, WHAT IS THEIR GOAL?:  Redemption. He wants to be a better person and make up for the past as much as he can.

WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?:  He can sniff out a fellow Templar a mile away (or several miles, in the case of Samson). 

WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?:  Honesty, a strong will, devotion (not necessarily to the Maker or the Chantry, but to a just cause that focuses on protecting others).

WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?:  War stuff, chess, books, trebuchets, dogs.

WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?:  Lectures about anything. He did his time in Azkaban in the Circles. No more. Please no more.

DID THEY EVER WENT THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?:  His parents died trying to escape the Blight, he was tortured for weeks/months on end by blood mages, almost all of his friends died because of it, he was manipulated and brainwashed by his superior, he was forced into a near-debilitating substance addiction by his workplace... yeah just a few things.

WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?:  Darkspawn and abominations. 

IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?:  Darkspawn and abominations. Blood mages on principle. Regular mages (but he’s working hard to remedy this extremely bad and prejudiced thinking). Himself.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO.    - BEST WAY TO APPROACH THEM?:  Just be polite and he won’t turn you away. He’s guarded, yes, but not impossible to talk to.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: You’ll find out by writing together! ;D

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

tagged by: pirated tagging: anyone who actually read this

[bestdefender]

@bestdefender​‘s plotting guide

-captain america voice- so, i liked your plotting call. or you liked mine! either way, plotting is hard, especially figuring out where to start. this is a little cheat-sheet that will hopefully expedite the process! these are just some plot ideas that i’d like to explore with tony, organized by verse/timeline, and it’s by no means comprehensive. also please note that while some of these are more tony-centric, i’m also perfectly happy to do threads centered on other muses -- but obviously tony is my muse and i can’t account for everyone else’s! please don’t be afraid to hit me up if there’s a specific plot you’d like to do and would like a partner for!

mun

name: annie pronouns: she/her preferred contact: ims are fine! asks too but those are more unreliable. i’m also on discord, currently at emotional support goblin#4595!

muse

TONY STARK / IRON MAN is a canon character from MARVEL’S CINEMATIC UNIVERSE. genius inventor, futurist, part-time superhero, full-time rich kid, likes long walks on the beach and holding babies in his free time. his armor is an impressive feat in technology, and beyond that, he’s tony stark. he’s in the news and in magazine covers, both in and out of the armor, his name carries weight. he walks around like he owns the place. he’s very, very easily recognizable, and even for anyone that’s out of the loop, his expensive suits and confident stride make him very, very eye-catching.

timeline / verses

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ PROLOGUE. timeline   →   set prior to iron man (2008). setting   →   this is the verse where he’s a dick. he’s just a weapons manufacturer, goes to all the celebrity galas and events, is too busy partying and being enabled by stane to really look at what his company is doing. plot hooks   → �� honestly i have no idea he’s such a dick at this point. casual flings where he definitely gets more attached than he should?

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ ARC I. timeline   →    set between iron man (2008) and the avengers (2012) setting   →   tony’s still living in LA after having outed himself as iron man. the events of iron man 2 happen in this time -- with tony’s behavior growing increasingly erratic, the random car race in monaco, and pepper taking over stark industries. towards the end, he’s spending more time in NY, overseeing the construction of stark tower. plot hooks   →   newly formed avengers team interactions, slice of life, getting to know his new teammates

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ ARC II. timeline   →   set between the avengers (2012) and captain america: civil war (2016) setting   →   tony rebrands the tower as avengers tower after the battle of new york and moves in, along with housing all his new teammates. they maintain the tower as their NYC headquarters even when they expand to the compound upstate, and tony doesn’t leave the avengers, though he does take a more managerial position instead, and focuses on designing and manufacturing their equipment. plot hooks   →   post aou bonding with wanda, vision, and other new members of the team, hurt/comfort/angst regarding post-im3 tony’s mental health, butting heads with shield agents?

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ ARC III. timeline   →   set between captain america: civil war (2016) and avengers: infinity war (2018) setting   →   after his public falling out with captain america, tony officially moves into the avengers compound and tries to rebuild the team with what few allies he has left plot hooks   →   obligatory post cw angst, tony mentoring peter, running into old teammates overseas, recruiting/meeting new young heroes

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ ARC IV. timeline   →   set between avengers: infinity war (2018) and avengers: endgame (2019), canon-divergent setting   →   tony and nebula manage to find their way back and crash-land on earth after the snap to allow for more threads (although space threads are also a possibility). angst ensues. he’s grieving for peter and everyone else he lost and he’s in a very bad space emotionally and psychologically, dealing with survivor’s guilt and exacerbated anxiety/depression/PTSD. plot hooks   →   obligatory post iw angst since everyone lost people, hurt/comfort, patching things up with his teammates, bonding with nebula, telling aunt may about peter, CAROL DANVERS!!

alternate universes

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ DIVERGENCE: SECRET IDENTITY. timeline   →   set after iron man (2008) setting   →   follows the main timeline, but tony never revealed that he is iron man. the team still thinks that he’s their benefactor and that iron man is his bodyguard plot hooks   →   threads with tony or iron man as different people, finding out that tony is actually iron man

⋮ ▽ ⋮ ❛ DIVERGENCE: CIVIL WAR. timeline   →   set after captain america: civil war (2016) setting   →   semi-616 canon compliant where ross follows through with his promise and has captain america killed plot hooks   →   all that sweet angst, especially with bucky or presumed-to-be-dead steve

extras

if all else fails, memes are a great way to break the ice and build off of! here’s some useful tags/posts:

memes tag wishlist tag starter call tag open starters permanent starter call TBA permanent shipping call ask box

[elizabethrobertajones]

Hi Lizbob! 💕💕 This is more meta wank than anything else: but I was wondering if you think there's any significant reason why both Dean and Cas comment on the water pressure in the bunker? Dean first in 8x13 and Cas says it (I think) in 9x03. Do you think it's a parallel of some kind? Or reflecting on Cas' humanity? All the best!!! 💕

Heya :D

Oh gosh this is one of the older posts on my blog:

https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/94289820218/awkward-fallen-angel-alovelikecas

It’s still hilarious. :D

I think the humanity thing is probably the ~reason~ for it. I was thinking about this in the car today while driving around staring at various mountains in Scotland (I can multitask, shhh… There was a farm belonging to the MacLeod’s so my brain kinda went wandering from Vacation Mode and got here somehow)… Mostly about how for example you always get something like Regarding Dean, at least these days you can pretty reliably expect weird concept stuff to hit Dean and for him to be the one having stuff happening to him, while I guess Sam stuff is about Sam - he dealt with Magda, and the girl in the next episode, as mirrors to his story, and just emotionally reacted to these stories with his own experiences… Dean tends to have ridiculous effects and things hit him… Stuff as far back as Skin where it was him who was shapeshiftered, or like, I don’t know, the episode where he was aged up to an old man or whatever. I guess because Sam had the big myth arc stuff about him, the stuff exploring the sense of transformation and body horror and inner darkness and consent violation etc etc that can slap them on the MotW circuit is already happening to him on a grand scale; Dean as the emotional POV to Sam’s big mytharc has similar things happen to him on a smaller scale where we explore him differently… And that’s a sort of older thing, because Dean was in the focus over the last few years and it’s only this year he’s shifting back to being JUST the emotional POV… 

but anyway, all these little characterisation details seem to hit him - with him being the focus in random moments about domesticity and home and so on. I think going all the way back to how Sam was introduced as the one who’d had a bit of normal life and seemed to have a better understanding and comprehension as it. He might have been raised a hunter as well, but he was still closer to being understandable to the audience because he had lived as a muggle even for a few years. Dean’s never been settled and never had home like that, so anything that makes a deal out of that is automatically more interesting to go to him, just because from a writing POV he’s the most complex mentality to approach from the standing start. Sam craved normality and Dean seemed to have rejected it, always, in his early seasons characterisation. It automatically makes his inner world and desires more fascinating, while Sam initially seems to just want the white picket fence/revenge, Dean has a sort of inside view on hunting and the job, so is aligned much more with the world/mindset of Supernatural. 

Again, something they quickly move away from because Sam starts that slide from 1x22 and in 2x02 it’s clear the writers literally swapped their motivations/relationship to the job etc and while I think they drift back to their original spaces, they’re always more complex about their stances after season 2. And of course Sam picking up the powers and demon blood arc gives him an additional thing in his inner landscape which ties him to the supernatural even if it’s again something pushed on him and disrupting/forcing him away from the normal life (and that’s the big emotional reveal in 5x22 - that Lucifer would never let him have the normal life and he’s been surrounded by demons the whole time, so that’s the conclusion of a 5 year arc >.>)

… Could probably keep talking about that for much longer but I’ve been having a hell of a time concentrating and lost the thread 100 times trying to write this in a room with people talking loudly non-stop so I think I was originally aiming at pointing out how Cas as an outsider coming to terms with humanity or just in a wider sense than season 9 being curious and drawn to it and it forming a sort of magnet pull to his story and of course starting from the position of being probably the most utterly inhuman thing they’d met at that point (it’s not until much later, like, Eve or Leviathan, we start meeting other monsters that are implied never to have been human in the same way angels are, while monsters and demons are always human in origin)… Dean’s got the similar path towards domesticity and “normal” things; in the early seasons stuff like Bugs showing him appreciating the hell out of the power shower in the fancy show homes, for example, is teasing the idea of Dean interacting with a normal life AS an outsider in honestly a lot of the same way as Cas. 

I think basically they’re both outsiders/not part of the ~normal~ social order while Sam’s lived there and been there done that as well as has a somehow more normal outlook, as well as doing little things like all the many sources of meta commenting on how Sam eating salads is rejecting the specific structures of hunter social life - diner food and fast food are part of their world and Dean and then Cas are heavily linked to things like burgers or gas station food. 

So I think it’s a whole mix of things like Dean is often the one being emotionally explored anyway because he gets the little stories about him, and his emotional day to day nonsense is often on screen far more than Sam’s, honestly maybe just because he TALKS more even if it’s grumbling about stuff or mouthing off about things or just keeping up a commentary. Sam’s much more the strong and silent type so not likely to venture opinions on food and comfort and whatever, and generally tries to get through their life without touching the sides, while Dean will happily steal from mini bars or use the magic fingers or comment on the porn selection in a motel room and so on and so on. Which all goes to exclude Sam from ever being included in having an opinion on showers or even being likely to bring them up, because though we’ve known for years he became a fancy shampoo guy somewhere around season 6/7 (when his hair became long and glossy rather than just shaggy or fluffy) he’s literally never ever bitched about the conditions on the road that would make his personal grooming a hassle - I mean if anyone would ever have 1001 horror stories about tiny cramped motel showers you couldn’t turn around in and bumped your head on the ceiling… But nah he’s silent on it and Dean gets to have multiple incidents of musing on showering philosophically or indulgently, and we’re just generally in his head more and following him around on the nitty gritty stuff that episodes focused on his immediate shit would turn up (for example Yellow Fever letting him have an epic rant about the quality of life when hunting)… And then Cas follows similar GROUND even if he’s obviously coming at it from totally different directions, learning humanity and so on…

The fact they BOTH comment on the water pressure could then JUST be because that’s how they’re both written, as almost entirely separate thing (until you get back to a root cause and that Cas is mostly a Dean mirror if you have to be crude about his role in the narrative aside from being his own character)… 

On the other hand the “shower sex is complicated” thing is one of the funniest TV conspiracies I’d read at that point in my life, being still a baby to the fandom and not jaded by the daily nonsense that produces… :P 

I mean the fact it’s such a direct repeat of what Dean said, when Cas brings it up, does make it a point of comparison - that they both find a sense of home and comfort at the Bunker, and in both cases it seems like, in a way that they’ve never experienced before. For both of them, the Bunker seems like an ideal happy endgame place to live, and letting human!Cas try out the plumbing seems a great way to give him a real desire and something to tease HIM about it never mind us… That the Bunker is a real promised land of comfort and of course a place he could settle. So it does ACTUALLY tie them together in not crazy conspiracy ways :P