#That is...obviously pushing it and obviously not true

[jarofstyles]

Picture blurb timeeeee. Low key a little sugar-daddy ish because someone sent an ask a little bit ago asking about it so I thought I’d find my way into the dynamic a little.

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Warnings- daddy kink (it’s been a whole), power imbalance (boss x assistant),

“You really want to assist me?”

Sitting with his palm laid on his thigh, the other holding the glass of whisky, Y/N looked up at him from across his desk. The chair was pushed back and away from the expensive, dark stained oak he spent most of his days behind. It was late in the office and Y/N had just helped him finish the last of his emails that had been backed up, but it hadn’t been lost on her that he’d been a bit spacey the whole time.

“Hm?” She looked up at him with rounded eyes from the pile of papers she was trying to clean up on his desk.

“Said, do you really want to assist me?”

Y/N knew that tone of voice. The one that made her quiver, her knees shake. The tone he took on when he wanted her in ways that HR would have a medical emergency over.

“Of course I do, Sir.” Her voice was airy as she stood up straighter, clasping her hands in front of her neatly.

He’d trained her well.

“Of course you do.” He echoed her words with a husky chuckle, placing the glass down on the striped coaster Y/N had crocheted him. “Come t’me. You know where I want you.”

He wasn’t playing around today. There was no hiding it, the hands moving to the arms of his chair as he waited for her to sit on his lap. Apparently, the first attempt wasn’t correct.

“Ah- no. Other way.” He murmured, watching her turn around so she was truly on him now. His chest against her back as he lifted his hands to adjust her the way he liked it. “There. Knew you could listen. You always do a good job for me, don’t you Sweets?”

“I try my best, Sir.”

“Y/N.” He mumbled, brushing the hair away from her neck. “You know what t’call me when we’re doing this.”

“S-Sorry. I try my best, Daddy.” Her voice wavered not because of uncertainty- it was excitement. Giddiness. They hadn’t done this nearly all week. Hadn’t touched like this because they’d been truly busy doing the job they both came her for, and Harry had obviously been stressed.

“That’s my girl. You know how much I like that.” His nose brushed over her sensitive skin, down her neck as he placed a wet kiss to the curve of it where it met her shoulder. “You’ve always had a knack for knowing how t’please me. I’m so lucky.”

Y/N preened at the compliment, leaning back against him as she let some of the tension from the day melt away from her. Harry took care of her. He always took such good care of her, made her feel good, made her feel healthy and happy, and she wanted more. Greedy wasn’t her usually feeling, but he’d not even kissed her in the last two days and it felt like she was finally getting a fix. “I like making your life easier. Making you happy.” She replied, a shuddery breath leaving her as his hands ran over her thighs.

The skirt she wore had ridden up, but that wasn’t a problem. That was exactly what the man wanted.

“And you do. Such sweet little thing. You help me work, you help me relax, you help me thrive. You, my sweet angel… have done everything I’ve ever needed. And that’s why you’re mine.” He’d made it abundantly clear that he didn’t share, and he had no interest in anything or anyone else. It had seemed too good to be true at first given what she’d heard of his prior activities but it was true.

Given the fact she made his calendar, she knew it would be near impossible for him to do regardless.

“I’ve been going crazy all week. Don’t like it when we don’t get to have our time alone together.” He sighed, sliding his slightly cool hand up her skirt. There was no hesitation, no question about it as he teased the hem of her panties, feeling her squirm just a little. Knuckles brushed back and forth over the edge, a happy sound leaving his lips as he felt her tense just the slightest bit at the close proximity to where she wanted him the most. “I know you have been too. S’not fun to be too busy to give you my cock.”

As much as he obviously enjoyed work, the place she saw him happiest was when she woke him up with her mouth on his cock, taking him down the way he liked.

“I do miss it.” She replied, swallowing the moan she wanted to let out as he nudged his hand fully between her thighs to cup over her cunt. There was no doubt he could feel the damp fabric, the way her clit was most definitely pulsing now. Holding it like he owned it, owned her- and he did. Y/N would hand over every inch happily if it meant she got to be his. She had been his since the first time he’d lifted his eyes and asked her to get him a coffee. “I miss when we can’t be close.”

“God, you’re fucking sweet.” He shook his head in disbelief, his free hand curling over her breast. It seemed he truly didn’t get how he had her devotion at times, but it was easy. For as prickly as he was, he treated her right. After a string of awful circumstances when it came to dating, he managed to blow them all out of the water. “I’ve had half a mind to bend you over every time you entered the office. To get you under the desk and suck. But we were too busy. I think that we’re going to take a break.”

A break? That had her curious.

“What do you mean, Daddy?” She turned her face to look at him, smiling slightly when he nudged his nose against hers.

She loved when he smiled back at her. His dimples. His teeth. The way his eyes softened just for her. It wasn’t often she got them, but she was seemingly the only one who did.

“I think that I need an entire week t’have you all to myself. I don’t want anyone interrupting. I don’t want phone calls. I just want you.” Harry’s fingers tugged the panties to the side, the little mewl she let out when his thumb slipped over her clit making him hum. It had swelled, hot and slick underneath his fingertip as he played with her pearl. Just how he preferred. “We’re going to Italy. The coast. Rented a pretty pink boat for us, because I know you’d love it.” It had taken him a bit to find a pink boat that would fit his needs, but he’d done it for her. He’d buy it at the end if that’s what she wanted. “Going to have you as much as I want, as much as you want.”

A getaway wasn’t something she’d done with him. It was something he mentioned in passing but the actual plans had her giddy. “Really?” Her words were breathless as his other finger slipped into her cunt, making her squirm. “We’re gonna… we’re going?”

“Mhm.” He nodded, connecting their lips in a chaste kiss. “We’re leaving here, going to let you pack a bag, and we’re taking my plane. You’re going to sleep with my cock tucked up into you, and by the time you wake up we’ll be there.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” She grinned widely at him, only letting it fall as he curled his finger the way she liked. “I-I’ll make you so happy. I promise.” The concept of spending all that time with him alone was a reward in itself. A man who never took a real day off going off the grid to a yacht he booked because she liked the color of? It was far more than she’d expected.

“And I’ll make you happier, darling. Just wait n’see.”

[letmeoutofthebasementt]

Felix Possessiveness

SKZ Possessiveness series pt. 3: (when they're in a serious relationship do they get possessive at all? What makes them possessive if they get possessive? How do they act in a relationship? What's their response/behavior when possessive? How do they handle it?)

Felix can be the possessive type, but it's not obvious, nor is it a side of himself he really gives the time of day. He trusts his partners a lot, and is generally optimistic about certain things. He also knows his worth. That's literally what I got, 'I know my worth'. At the end of the day, anyone who would do something to risk losing him isn't worth having? In his mind. He's more possessive than jealous though, I will say.

He feels lucky to have his partners when he has them. Like they're a dream come true, or some divine gift.

His work-life imbalance definitely amplifies those feelings though. Because he's on the other side of the world and his partner is back wherever they are, and it stresses him out. Because he's someone who likes having his partner near. He likes knowing what they're doing, he likes being in the loop. Obviously, they're allowed independence, but he's also in general someone who likes being close to his loved ones or it gives him anxiety, because he feels like he has to look after them and make sure they're OK and safe. So when his partner is away, it stresses him out a lot.

He's the type who's constantly stalking people's locations on Find My. Like checking every five minutes. Probably texts the other members when they're at chipotle with his order saying he'll pay them back, and they're just like 'WTF?'.

That's what he's like. He likes keeping tabs on people and generally just...Knowing everything about them. He's very nosey.

He also just doesn't like competition. Not in a jealous way but in a possessive way. Like 'We're supposed to be together and you're supposed to be devoted to ME. We're supposed to belong to each other so why TF are you letting this person encroach on MY PLACE in your life?' Shit like that. And then he gets pissed and blows up, and you argue about it.

And Felix is stubborn. One thing about him, during arguments he is never wrong. NEVER. He can AND WILL argue for hours, tears streaming down his face, until he wears you down and you're just like 'whatever', something gets in the way of it continuing, or you give in. It very rarely happens, but when it does he's gone. And he's a loud arguer.

Felix is the type to walk away to cool down after an argument, and actually think about what he did/said and your side. So he can calm down and collect his thoughts and be rational. And that's when he realizes 'Oh, i'm being overly possessive right now' or whatever the argument was about.

But if YOUUUU walk away? He starts tweaking to the highest caliber. Because in his mind, in that moment you're trying to walk out on him, and so he'll 100% try and stop you. Because he's like 'Well why don't you want to be near me?' Because when he gets genuinely really angry he's not necessarily thinking straight. All he's thinking about is getting his point across.

But I also think those arguments would effectively stop those behaviors, at least in that specific relationship? Because it's line 'damn, I almost fucked it all. up. And for what?' Like, that moment of self-awareness after is revolutionary for him.

In general, he doesn't like how possessive he can get because it conflicts with the rest of him. He's a more light and fun and happy and optimistic person. He's more floating on cloud nine, detached, doing his own thing. Which always makes the fallout worse because he's having this internal conflict every time those feelings come up.

So, nowadays he doesn't show it at all. He used to when he was younger and more immature, but now he pushes down and ignores that side of him, and is trying to grow from those behaviors.

[kerink]

alex said that the "punishment" he intended for bill was to put him in a position where he can't escape unless he feels true regret for the pain he's caused others and learn to grow as a person (and the horror comes more from how bill personally would experience being confined). which makes sense as an end-goal, since the theraprism is meant to clear people of their bad karma so they can reincarnate with a clean slate.

i'm not sure where you're getting the source material not treating the idea of inpatient hospitalization with due sensitivity. is it because of the solitary wellness void? because isolation is used in some cases in some hospitals, so that's real. and if someone in maximum security managed to sneak out a manifesto trying to get people to break them out, that's a reasonable use of isolation because it shows the patient is at risk of harming others. a conversation can be had about the morals of this, but that would be the thought process and justification behind using such an extreme measure.

i would strongly push back about saying it's okay for people to call it a prison as long as they're not conflating it with MH hospitals, because that's impossible to do. it's the theraprism in dimension 5150 with orbs of healing light called dsm. especially since alex cut tying bill's hospitalization to the criminal justice system. (which is different from bill and his fellow patients feeling like it's a prison or in-character calling it a prison.)

obviously people can do whatever they want, but the point i was trying to make was that this is a serious issue that affects real people, and affects real people who are in the fandom, and i want people to think critically about how they approach and discuss the topic. because yeah it is a fantasy alien institution, but it's rooted in legitimate systemic issues. people broadly saying "oh the theraprism would do this or that" need to think about what's motivating them to believe or assume that.

i even take umbrage with calling it a punishment. giving someone the chance to work through their trauma, reflect on their actions, clear their bad karma, and reincarnate from a neutral place doesn't sound like a punishment. in my personal opinion, that's kindness, this is a favor the axolotl did for bill. it being a punishment is in it being forced on bill and how he responds to the treatment itself.

since it seems i'm being a bit of a hater this morning i'll say this too: it's really obvious a lot of the GF fandom has no idea about institutionalization and forced mental health hospitalization. the vast majority of what i've seen, and the way a lot of people talk about it, makes me think the prison system is the model that's being used, and that's not correct.

i'm a psychologist with 13 years of experience in the field, and while i've personally only worked with partially hospitalized patients (e.g., come to the hospital when it opens, spend all day in treatment, then go home at close for 5 days/week) and intensive outpatient (e.g., same as above but 3 days/week), i routinely work with folks who have a 5150/5250 history. i also know someone in my personal life who has been 5250'd.

every single time i talk to them about their experience i make sure to ask did they find it helpful, harmful, or neutral. for involuntary hospitalization, almost everyone says it's harmful or neutral, very few people involuntarily hospitalized say they found it helpful. and the people who were voluntarily hospitalized are about a 50/50 split on finding it helpful or harmful.

the primary reasons people cite as it having been an unhelpful experience were:

1) the patient didn't think they needed to be there. (typically this is because there was a misunderstanding/miscommunication between them and either the police or their healthcare provider, so they ended up appearing higher risk and more acute than they actually were.)

2) the ward was too broadly mixed between high acute/risk and lower acute/risk, such that folks who were lower risk/acute and more willing to receive treatment did not get treatment because the folks with higher baseline needs were given more attention. (which makes sense, people with more baseline needs have more baseline needs. this is more a comment on how wards should be better segregated and hospitals need more resources.)

3A) there was no individual therapy, or patients couldn't receive individual therapy unless they took medications.

3B) patients are often coerced into taking medication. i've heard all sorts of horror stories on this from being denied release, to being given other people's medications, to having horrible side effects which get misconstrued as symptoms which escalate their perceived care needs, to never being told what they're taking or why.

4) group therapy is unhelpful both because of the wide mix of presentations but also because of the mix of folks who want treatment and those who don't. (anyone trained in providing group therapy would know that you cannot do this, it's a contraindication for every form of group therapy and completely tanks its effectiveness.)

5) patients are often denied visits from their primary support people (e.g., parents and partners) because anyone who is conceivably a trigger is denied visitation.

there are obviously as many reasons people find it unhelpful as there are people in hospitals, but in my experience these are the most commonly cited ones. typically the main reason folks find it helpful is it gives them a break from their stressors or gets them away from their abusers, which is such a no shit sherlock statement it doesn't even get a bullet point.

if you're going to write about the theraprism, i beg you to research what MH hospitals are like and what patients have to say about them. while also understanding that whatever source you use is going to be biased (remember: the people who write reviews are either 10/10 or 0/10).

additionally, i encourage you to think about how employees at MH hospitals think.

pause for a moment and consider me, keri, hi how are you. i'm anti-institutionalization both for prisons and MH, i picked a career where my goal was to help people, and yet one of the legal requirements for my job is that i institutionalize people under certain circumstances. how do you think that makes me feel? what do you think i have to consider when working with high risk/acute individuals? what sort of mental workflow must i have created in order to provide the maximum level of care with the minimum level of suffering? how do you think it makes me feel when i have to call in welfare checks for folks i think are going to hurt themselves?

i don't even work with any level of inpatient anymore, just outpatient. imagine how folks on inpatient wards feel, how they think, how they have been worn down by a system that doesn't care and won't pay for it. where the only goal is keep people safe and sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to do it. can you imagine looking another human being in the eye as you strap them down and force medication upon them as they beg you not to? what does that do to a person, what mental gymnastics do they have to do in order to do that?

when you come from the position that every person in the system, from employee to patient, is a human being with their own thoughts, feelings, emotions, and goals, you can build a richer, more humane story.

the theraprism is not an evil institution that seeks to torture those with bad karma because they deserve it. it's not hell. but is it possible that due to poor training, provider burnout, outdated science, under funding, overpopulation, and working with beings who don't want to be there and are very dangerous it could lead to people being tortured? even if that's not the goal or the mission statement? or hell, even if that was not the intention of the treatment; one man's exposure therapy is another man's needless cruelty.

do the employees, who are all medical and mental health staff, see themselves as guardian angels? as jiminy cricket? guiding the multiverse's worst of the worst into being healthier? kinder? giving them a second chance at a softer, more gentle, more loving life? but people don't want to be told how to be, and they certainly don't want to stop being themselves. would you be willing to change everything about you? especially if you know that if you do you die at the end of it?

the theraprism can be a kind, loving, gentle place of healing and second chances and also a cruel, unforgiving, inconsiderate, house of horrors. because it's actually neither of those things. it's a hospital.

medical hospitals are exactly the same: understaffed, underfunded, with providers who think they know best. some patients accept the help their given, understanding they need it to get better and know less than their doctor does. some people want to control every aspect of their treatment, want to know and understand, want to have a say, will accept some aspects and reject others. some people are just scared of hospitals in general and even if they know they need to be there, being there is psychologically damaging.

hospitals are neutral, treatments are only approved if they have proven efficacy and fall within certain ethical guidelines. that doesn't make them good or bad, because something good to one person is bad to another.

that's why in MH we work in a provider-patient collaboration model. my personal philosophy for treatment is i know the books and the patient knows the experience and the patient and i meet in the middle. they teach me the experience and i teach them the books.

but what happens when a patient doesn't want to participate? what happens when they have to participate? what happens when the provider has to participate?

when i was working inpatient substance use treatment it was fucking nightmarish for me whenever i would have to meet with my patient who didn't want to be there but had to. he had to come to treatment, and i had to provide treatment, or we both would be in trouble. neither of us had a good time, but sadly i had to pretend i was. because i'm a professional and that's my job. what do you think that looked like to him? felt like to him? i didn't want to twist his arm or force him to talk or make him listen, but i had to show i did something with our hour.

what is bill's therapist going through? what are any of the therapists going through?

anyway. i don't have an ending point in mind. it's just that MH hospitals are not medical hospitals and they aren't prisons and you can't extrapolate what a MH hospital is like just because you've researched medical hospitals and prisons. they're not the same at all. and you need to. if you're going to play in this space, talking about something so sensitive and something that people do experience you have to honor it, you have to respect it, you have to take care of it.

we can't keep demonizing MH care, it's not good for anyone. and also, we can't pretend that all levels of MH care are good for and effective with everyone in all cases, that's also not good for anyone. people need to be treated as people, regardless of their care needs and regardless of what side of the desk they're on. and saying this person's the good one and this person is the bad one is reductive, harmful, and makes for a boring fanfic.

[disconnected-dragon]

finally finished deltarune Normal Route playthrough so I unblocked the tag. and though I'll probably never bring myself to play through the Weird Route I can't help but ponder.....the implications of "The Girl Finds Love."

because like-- "choices don't matter" is the main thrust of the game, right? regardless of the choices we make, the prophecy will play out in some form or another. however, I think what the game is setting up is that we and Kris do have control of the variation. whether or not "the girl" refers to Susie or Noelle depends on what we the Player decide to pursue.

"The Girl Finds Love" can mean Susie finding literal love with Noelle, something that is highly indicated in the Normal Route. They're highly highly implied to be getting into a budding relationship. They chat together, they play guitar together, Susie even stating to Carol that she's taking Noelle to the festival. Hell I shouldn't probably be stating this, it's so obvious, but they're slowly falling in love. Romantic love. If the Player chooses to not pursue the Weird Route, I think Susie will slot into the role of "The Girl" and sort of become the main character of Deltarune. She's the hero, right, she's the Girl, so she will help lead us to victory. She'll defy fate and MAKE herself into the second hero, come hell or high water, and save her friends whether the world wants her to or not.

But in Undertale, LOVE has another meaning. It's....an acronym. It stands for "Level of Violence." The more violence you commit, the more your LV is raised, and the more people....fear you. IE "Noelle becomes stronger." If "the girl" is Noelle and not Susie, at least in the Weird Route rules, "The Girl Finds Love" could mean "The Girl Finds LOVE". The Player is pushing Noelle into the role of "The Girl", and shoving "LOVE" into her. And the only ones that are able to procure LOVE are those with....SOULs. Every Player of games assumes they are the main character so to speak. So why shouldn't we get to choose which characters do what? Why shouldn't we possibly make another, stronger Player Character? Why shouldn't we be The Girl?

It really just depends what The Player wishes and how much control we allow Kris to exert over the narrative. If we keep things surface level, don't push Noelle, and allow her and Kris' relationship to reform into something different, they and by extension we become closer to Susie. And Susie becomes the Girl, with Kris/our support, depending on the choices we make and how much Kris likes that. But if we lock Noelle into something unnatural, and artificially force closeness to Kris and use her to hijack the narrative. She's The Girl, our Girl, and we control HER. Therefore we will control the narrative, whether the prophecy likes it or not. Which, obviously, clashes with Susie's role. And if Undyne's gone, there's room for a Battle Against a True Hero.

Dovetailing into this, I also have my interpretations abt Carol and possibly the Knight if we're doing Weird Route rules. Maybe Carol knows about it and thinks the Weird Route is actually how the prophecy is supposed to play out. Maybe she wants Noelle to become "stronger" so she will be able to take the prophecy, or maybe she thinks somehow it'll bring Dess back. Or maybe, if I really want to go out on a limb, Dess was sort of groomed to be the original "savior", and wasn't able to fulfill it for whatever reason, and thus became the Knight. But Carol still thinks somehow that her family is supposed to be the one to save the world, which is why she dislikes Susie so much and implies that she's friendly to the SOUL. Idk why but it gives me Iphigenia in Aulis vibes. The killing of a sacred deer to restart the winds to save the world.

[overtea]

I think it irritates Mohan if, when she is talking to people and she mentions that she is a doctor (or more likely she’s talking to people at her job, whether it’s colleagues, patients, or family members/friends of patients), they say something to the effect of her being every desi parent’s dream child due to her profession. Most obviously because it’s not a true assumption, right? I am not South Asian, but I know that like with every culture, desi parents aren’t a monolith. That assumption feeds into the idea that she is only a doctor because that is what was expected of her.

That brings me to the crux of the issue, which is that I don’t think she knows what was expected of her from her parents. She was thirteen when her father died. Did he want her to become a doctor? Who knows. Samira doesn’t know. They probably didn’t get to have those conversations. Even if she were to be pressured or nudged toward medicine (I doubt it), she didn’t get to experience it. All she knows is that her father believed in her no matter what she was doing till the day he died. That’s something she’s not getting back. And the parent who lived—her mom. How is the experience of her husband and the father of their child dying not going to drastically change any and all expectations she had for Samira? Especially with the way Samira’s father was neglected (speculating from what Samira cares about most in her patient care), it doesn’t seem likely she’d want Samira near medicine given the pain it caused both of them.

I think the casual assumption, a stereotype that is painted as benevolent and usually said in that manner, is uniquely painful in that it pushes against the wound of not having her father around so early in her life and completely misreads why Samira went into medicine in the first place—in part because of her father, but not because he wanted it. “Every desi parent’s dream.” Well, he didn’t get the time to want it, and even if he did, he’s certainly not around to see it.

[wonder-worker]

"Among their complaints [in 1460, the Yorkists] specifically blamed the earls of Wiltshire and Shrewsbury and Viscount Beaumont for ‘stirring’ the king [Henry VI] to hold a parliament at Coventry that would attaint them and for keeping them from the king’s presence and likely mercy, asserting that this was done against [the king's] will. To this they added the charge that these evil counselors were also tyrannizing other true men* without the king’s knowledge. Such claims of malfeasance obliquely raised the question of Henry’s fitness as a king, for how could he be deemed competent if such things happened without his knowledge and against his wishes? They also tied in rumors circulating somewhat earlier in the southern counties and likely to have originated in Calais that Henry was really ‘good and gracious Lord to the [Yorkists] since, it was alleged, he had not known of or assented to their attainders. On 11 June the king was compelled to issue a proclamation stating that they were indeed traitors and that assertions to the contrary were to be ignored."

— Helen Maurer, Margaret of Anjou: "Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England

Three things that we can surmise from this:

We know where the "Henry was an innocent helpless king being controlled and manipulated by his Evil™ advisors" rhetoric came from**.

The Yorkists were deliberately trying to downplay Henry VI's actual role and involvement in politics and the Wars of the Roses. They cast him as a "statue of a king", blamed all royal policies and decisions on others*** (claiming that Henry wasn't even aware of them), and framed themselves as righteous and misunderstood counselors who remained loyal to the crown. We should keep this in mind when we look at chronicles' comments of Henry's alleged passivity and the so-called "role reversal" between him and Margaret.

Henry VI's actual agency and involvement is nevertheless proven by his own actions. We know what he thought of the Yorkists, and we know he took the effort to publicly counter their claims through a proclamation of his own. That speaks louder than the politically motivated narrative of his enemies, don't you think?

*There was some truth to these criticisms. For example, Wiltshire (ie: one of the men named in the pamphlet) was reportedly involved in a horrible situation in June which included hangings and imprisonments for tax resistance in Newbury. The best propagandists always contain a degree of truth, etc. **I've seen some theories on why Margaret of Anjou wasn't mentioned in these pamphlets alongside the others even though she was clearly being vilified during that time as well, and honestly, I think those speculations are mostly unnecessary. Margaret was absent because it was regarded as very unseemly to target queens in such an officially public manner. We see a similar situation a decade later: Elizabeth Woodville was vilified and her whole family - popularly and administratively known as "the queen's kin" - was disparaged in Warwick and Clarence's pamphlets. This would have inevitably associated her with their official complaints far more than Margaret had been, but she was also not directly mentioned. It was simply not considered appropriate. ***This narrative was begun by the Duke of York & Warwick and was - demonstrably - already widespread by the end of 1460. When Edward IV came to power, there seems to have been a slight shift in how he spoke of Henry (he referred to Henry as their "great enemy and adversary"; his envoys were clearly willing to acknowledge Henry's role in Lancastrian resistance to Yorkist rule; etc), but he nevertheless continued the former narrative for the most part. I think this was because 1) it was already well-established and widespread by his father, and 2) downplaying Henry's authority would have served to emphasize Edward's own kingship, which was probably advantageous for a usurper whose deposed rival was still alive and out of reach. In some sense, the Lancastrians did the same thing with their own propaganda across the 1460s, which was clearly not as effective in terms of garnering support and is too long to get into right now, but was still very relevant when it came to emphasizing their own right to the throne while disparaging the Yorkists' claim.

[excarow]

Damian being raised to see himself only as a weapon and later being taught that he's more than that VS Tim being raised to see himself only as a tool and being reinforced of that belief by the same people that taught Damian to love himself is such a good parallel holy shit.

Like, both of them were told that they had to have Purpose™ by their parents, but only one was later told that he could be loved for the sake of being loved while the other was only proved that his parents were right.

[essektheylyss]

I get the vibe, given Hulmes's joke about "Oh I know [I will get insight checked], I've seen the show :)", that Calianna was built specifically to push buttons for this particular party, which is my favorite character creation strategy when bringing in a character to an established party. It's pretty common with experienced DMs who know how beneficial introducing that kind of tension (if not outright conflict) can be (Deanna's a standout for that reason, and you can even see it with Padmund, with his adolescent hero worship in the face of Beau and Yasha's parental midlife crisis) but also with very good players (Tary and Lieve'tel are obviously designed to poke at specific and acute sore spots, and examples like Braius and Reani pick at more general themes that the party has been rubbing up against, but to an extent even Chetney and Kingsley fall into this category).

This isn't to say that this is the only way to handle a character in this scenario—and certainly it shouldn't be prioritized over making a character who can have their own full arc. Both Caduceus and Orym, had Liam brought him in during campaign 1, were built to help ease a loss, which can very much help spur character movement in a different way. But it does illustrate well that in an ensemble cast like an adventuring party, the best approaches to character creation are the ones that leave plenty of opportunity for growth not only of the individual PC, but all of the PCs around them as well.

[maddragonfruit]

Thinking of the implications of pre-aa dukexiety and post-aa princxiety, cause even if it's just a big coincidence at least one person in that dynamic is having a crisis over if Virgil actually genuinely loves and cares for Roman for himself, or if he's just going for the closest thing he can have to Remus and denying his feelings about it because he's too scared of being seen as the bad guy again for who he loves. And I kinda doubt it's Remus.

[utilitycaster]

re the anti-resurrection poison though like. what the fuck was up with that. Like, I can, as a mediocre DM myself and an avid listener to NADDPod D&D Court understand where it came from: you needed a reason why Will and Derrig were still dead despite Keyleth being there, because that was Orym's backstory, which in turn dated back to Liam's concept for a backup character for Vax, ie, someone who had also lost a partner and would be sent to help Keyleth in the wake of a similar loss. So you come up with the anti-resurrection poison. And this also happens to work out nicely for the climactic solstice battle, because it explains why Keyleth can't just rally after Vax intervenes. It also makes sense as a thing the Ruby Vanguard would have, because of the anti-divine magic and the way that the Weave Mind have similar anti-healing powers.

The problem is, of course, that you've introduced this concept - which is, again, actually very good and elegant and fits in seamlessly - but it's out there and you have to either use it or come up with an excuse not to use it. And you can, I think, legitimately make a case for it not being in play in the Seat of Disdain fight because that came up very suddenly. But then it gets pretty weird that when Bells Hells become a consistent thorn in the Vanguard's side, and Otohan moves from "I need to keep the Ruidusborn alive but fuck everyone else" to "I'm just going to kill them all" and clearly knows they have considerable resurrection resources and access to the rare antidote given Keyleth's return to the stage that she doesn't just coat all weapons with it and nerf all healing to drain their resources.

And anyway this is a consistent problem, of like, there actually was the full setup for the story C3 intended to tell in C1 and C2 and early C3, but to make these entirely unrelated characters actually fit into a pretty specific narrative, you had to add in a bunch of complicated additions. And while some of those were a mess, some were actually really well done, like the initial introduction of the anti-resurrection poison and the gray assassins, and then none of it mattered because they were always just additions to make the core plot fit and there were too many balls in the air so they got dropped without exploration, and anyone paying attention was like "hey you dropped this" and it's like you could have juggled 3 or even 4 or 5 balls adequately, but you had to add in 4 extra balls and ultimately some of them landed on the ground and so the act of barely keeping 3 in the air in the end is undercut by the number you dropped.

[stilesinwonderland]

The closer we get, the more I am hopeful that mark will bite tf out of tong next episode and tong will in fact encourage it can I get a hell yeah brother

[dol--blathanna]

I've already spoke in length about Orym's self-sacrificial tendencies in my 'Orym is a rabbit' post, but don't think I've forgotten about Miss Horse Girl giving Iphigenia vibes over here I just have some concerns about Imogen, whether willingly or forced, becoming a vessel for Predathos (you know, the same entity that Orym tried to comprehend for a single heartbeat and began screaming uncontrollably, had to be cradled like an infant by the Wildmother while he sobbed, and now something inside of him is irreversibly broken). Like I just think that letting an eldritch monster of hunger and oblivion possess you is maybe not a great idea?

One is a rabbit pushing his head willingly into the snare, the other is an ancient Greek princess about to be sacrificed on the altar so the war may continue, and I am asking them both very nicely to Please Stop That and Not Die 🙏💕

[peteytheparrot]

Lil messy comic I made for the shits n giggles

[dracoroma]

One thing that needs to be adressed in the analysis of the theme of the Bell's Hells campaign is: what has the Worldbuilding set up.

Stories that feature god as the antagonist usually have it set up from the concept, to the Worldbuilding, to the execution that this is the theme they want to tackle. This is Persona 5, Tales of Symphonia, and Xenoblade Chonicles. These stories start from a theme, build their stories around that theme, and build and antagonist and world to fit that story.

The counterpoint for Exandria is that we have not seen any hint of anti colonial themes in the world until unrepentant terrorist Ludanis D'aleth started preaching it.

Now, to address the schism. The truth of the mstter is, this is a motif in official d&d lore. Rolling with difficulty, another actual play that's set in the planescape of the Forgotten Realms, features a war between the gods and the primordials. This theme comes from existing myths, but they’re all more complex than judt colonialism.

The irish book of invasions is clearly a mythologization of the migration to the island. While the norse Vulspa starts with the death of Ymir, it is unclear how much he represents some sort of outsider or native population. The greek theogony is solely a deal of sucession, from father to son. And Aztec ajd mesopotamian mythology both feature a reptilian primordial antagonist, not a humanoid one.

So, we've established why Matt has the schism in the Worldbuilding, but we also need to talk about the schism itself. Because the Titans worked with the gods to seal predathos, and the gods were refugees. In fact, as far as we know, the titans only started becoming antagonistic once mortals were given magic, which doesn't line up with a story about colonization. And the schism fully started when Corellon, in their infinite (sarcastic) wisdom decided to give mortals MORE magic.

In this regard, the wchism has much more in common with the Godzilla side in Godzilla vs Kong. Where the mortals have this fancy new thing that's bothering the titans (which, are also what the monsters in the monsterverse are called), the titans want them to cut it out, and then the tech gets worse prompting even more aggressive action. In GVK, it was mechagodzilla, in Exandria, it was arcane magic.

[eggsistential-basket]

thinking about the person i could have been if i tried a little harder to find my own way

[bumblingbabooshka]

Janeway in 'Nothing Human' vs Tuvok in 'Resolutions' There's something here I know there is I can almost wrap my teeth around it.