#also the binary tool is fun to play with sometimes

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #414

My brain is doing its level best today to try to convince me that I am not lovable and that everything is pointless.

I can also tell, by a variety of other cues, that it's getting closer to the next time I'm supposed to bleed.

...I now know that these two thing are related. I don't need to allow hormone-induced feelings of apathy and worthlessness get the better of me. I can tend to myself properly in the here and now. I'll make sure to hydrate and eat properly.

I made a tea when I woke up – the biscuit-flavored one. I sweetened it with honey, molasses, and mascarpone. But I didn't think to get a picture. Sorry about that.

J wanted me to accompany him on the way to the little airport; he wanted to try flying his little plane on a very breezy day, and today was that day. He wasn't prepared to take me up with him, what with the breeze being like this, so I chilled out in the little office building and worked on my weird crafting project. At the same time, some new person from the friend-making app who lives in Russia decided to message me for reasons I don't understand.

The conversation was pleasant enough. Though, he asked some very specific questions about the structure and flow of my relationship with M and J, which I was not opposed to answering. Still, I guess I get surprised by the number of people who imagine that what I have going on is some kinky, freaky sex thing rather than a mostly ordinary marriage with an atypical number of people.

To be sure, our main focus within our relationship is on who we are as people, how well we treat each other, and how effectively we communicate. I am intimate with them, but... that's not really where the focus is. The focus is on spending time with each other and making sure we understand each other well. We're people, not toys for each other's entertainment.

...It's actually kinda frightening, the number of people who don't seem to understand that other people aren't just fun toys to play with or mere extension of their own will. It's frightening, the number of people who don't understand that a healthy relationship between people looks like “two or more loving, consenting adults doing their best to meet the needs of everyone involved”, not like “an adult putting up with the quirks of their live masturbatory aid(s) in order to get that fresh hot nookie.”

I am NO ONE'S convenience object. Not anyfuckingmore. And never, EVER again.

...And neither are you, you know. You're no one's weapon, tool, or machine. You are you. Start acting like it, okay? Or at least work on becoming someone who can act like it. And if you need help, pop by my house and we'll teach you. Because we don't treat people like objects in my house. We'll show you what it means to be treated like an ordinary human being. Because you are an ordinary human being, underneath all those layers of pain you carry.

That one immigration lawyer that we got help from sent along a request by some Canadian radio show place to talk to trans folks who are seeking to escape the United States in favor of Canada. I am a non-binary human – a woman in the same way that a tomato is a fruit. I am mostly happy with my current reproductive equipment, but... I feel like I'm “missing bits”, if you catch my drift. Essentially, I have only half of what I feel like I should be equipped with, and it bothers me sometimes.

I was emailed by this radio show place. And then I was called for a preliminary interview. I struggled to keep my thoughts organized over the phone, but... I guess I did a good enough job, according to the person who spoke to me. I guess I'll be summoned via an internet meeting software called Zoom at some point tomorrow. I guess lots of folks will hear me.

...This scares me. But... I gotta be brave and use my voice for good things whenever I can. I have to try to do... something. Anything.

...Y'know. Sephiroth. I really didn't wanna hafta live through “interesting times”. And I'm sure you didn't wanna hafta do that, either, over there in your world. Really, I just wanna eat tasty snacks and sing and make cool things and play video games and go swimming and take naps with the people I like. I'm sure you can relate to this – this desire for an ordinary, wholesome life.

...Let's both do our best within the timelines we live in anyways, though, okay? Let's try to do good things. Let's try to be kind, and let's try to make gentle, loving choices so that we can inspire others to do the same.

...And hey, who knows, maybe if... maybe if I eventually get scooped up into a prison camp and executed just for being myself... maybe somehow I'll get to go see you. And I'll say hello and tell you how you saved my life when I was a teenager and how much I love you just because you're you. And maybe I'll tell you all about the stories that happened to me before you came into my life, and everything that happened between then and now. And maybe... just maybe... one full human life, existing in stark defiance of all that tried to snuff it out, can be enough to show you that you are a good thing, and to inspire you to make choices in light of that belief.

In the meantime, I guess I'll figure out something to eat, and then I'll smash up some zombies in Hades. You can come chill with me if you want to:

I love you. Stay safe. Be good. I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[hregos]

Intro: The Project

In creating this weird ecopunk ttrpg, the goals are: Setting & Gameplay.

GAMEPLAY: This will likely take a lot different iterations. But there are several goals I must keep in mind when creating the type of game that I would most like to play.

Light. Rules and text. If possible, to fit onto a single page, or a zine at the most.

MOST ideally: Should be playable on the go, in a car, at a campfire, or with any set of tools, even just a coin or rock paper scissors. Or not even that, perhaps. This would require a mechanics not necessarily bound to numeric dice results, but to qualitative differentiations of binary "successes".

Enjoyable character creation, worldbuilding through meaningful choices made about one's own characters (the way most players are likely to engage with the world)

Easy to jump into. Any opt-in complexity should come AFTER. Perhaps even "preset" Origins/Paths, ala Elden Ring, but with subchoices ("pick 2 out of 4", etc) of abilities or items within that. But this should just be starting, not a set class for the game. Most should thus have more physical and more "magical" options on the table for different playstyles.

The stats/skills/choices/powers should build a specific world of engagement with the setting, not generic rpg. ("Rust, Bone, Spirit, Storm" etc.)

+ Possible that abilities are gained like items, through learning skills/empowerments from others.

But NOTE: Too much interpretation/openness of skills/ can be much more troublesome in play than a fixed set of skills that each open situation can work with, even more than a "list of powers" approach that players may "play their sheets" rather than character/world. So neither full openness or full "list of powers". A set list of attributes/skills may be best foundation.

Must be conducive to multiple/alternating gm shared settings, episodic, campaigns, "west marches", etc.

+ Perhaps have gmless cooperative game mode as well, or primarily.

+ Communal advancement? As well as or primary to individual advancement.

+ Lineages & Legacies are always fun, players can thus shape the world over time as well as create new possibilities for new players to connect with the longer game precedents.

+ Alignment as both mechanical element, meta-faction, and "directionality" towards competing futures.

ETC. There are many other important things throughout my notes, to expand upon later.

A METASETTING:

The metasetting must be usable both for the specific game, but also for use with any/most other games and setting. System agnostic, but also, to some extent, setting agnostic. It is a palette and toolbox for a type of world, for GMs and players to imagine places with. It should be compatible as well, with other concrete settings, so to bring elements into other ways. (Example, using our places to build scifi or fantasy setting locations, or wargaming factions, for other games).

+Compatibility & Bringing a specific vision are sometimes hard to juggle, but I think the key is to build a rich past, while the present may look like anything.

+Soft worldbuilding. The past should be rich and deep, with a specific experiential vision, but not laid out explicitly as in hard worldbuilding, with a long history. The history must be implied through layers of things that can be interacted with in the present. Ruins, artefacts, architecture, ambience.

+ This also must allow a wide variety of not always consistent perspectives on that history. GMs and players must be able to imagine new histories and events with the palette to fold into the shared world.

+Use small to imply big. Inspire and spark, don't list out. Often, lists of examples prevent people from imagining outside of them. So giving a scaffolding of inspiration that demands further imagining, allows for each perspective to expand the world rather than shrink it.

+ ENTROPOCENE. Real tensions, embedded in Anthropology + Ecology + Politics + Technology + Religion, from my own background and work. (Tensions between different lifeways, ideologies, civilization, extraction, authority, empire, collapse, revolution, etc.) Naming these tensions and problems explicitly - but without contemporarily labelling them, to do away with the pseudo-knowledge and preconceptions that people may bring to the table. Most importantly, this is a game & setting meant to engage and imagine with the very real problems of the entropocene, while providing a playground for weird mythic science fantasy.

+LORE & MYTH: Within the essentials of the metasetting, must include the chance to create mythos. Ages of gods, titans, and heroes, esoteric and jungian and shamanic symbolism woven into the fabric of the world. I wish to bring the esoteric tradition back to its prehistoric animist roots. Important too that the mythbuilding is *soft*, not "hard", allowing for implication and different stories to be told from different perspective, for collaborative imagining, rather than laying out a concrete history and world. Think most of all real life animism, polytheism, and mysticism, as well as the fictional weird mythic histories of The Elder Scrolls, Elden Ring/Soulsborne, Runequest/Glorantha, Conan/Hyborea, Hellboy, Lovecraft, and my first beloved fantasy world, Earthsea.

+With that, taking Animism seriously. Nature and mythos intertwined, both in a mythic way (stories told) and perhaps in a weird way (actual supernatural phenomena). If I make it purely mythic, can fit into a pure sci-fi setting without issue, left ambiguous, or unexplained. Psychedelic and trippy.

+Alternatively: Actually taking place in a weird astral psychedelic spirit world, making the "powers that be" have reality and myth intertwined in a real way. Not bound to "science fiction" then. A likely compromise between the two is taking the mythic worldview seriously, but not making the supernatural explicit. But this is one thing I am still not 100% certain of.

+A MICROSETTING: A specific place, a cluster of places, using the palette of that metasetting, that might be played on its own or as a modular adventure space in almost any rpg setting. Most likely in the format of a weird megadungeon zone-crawl below a small city (With that ecopunk vibe. Fallout, Disco Elysium, Cyberpunk, plus real "write what you know" inspiration, all atop the mythic underworld), on the creative side allowing a deep exploration of a fictional culture and history, and a flexible playground for adventure and story. Each zone, level, or neighborhood, perhaps left vague enough to change in each iteration, with consistent key points and contents noted. Because it is system agnostic, any adventures should be built where there are always possible "no-roll solutions" to navigating the world. (Or at least paths not tied to specific game mechanics.) Not too unlike a choose your own adventure gamebook, or that Maze puzzle book, or countless atmospheric exploration games, like Sable, Journey, etc.

+A TOYBOX: Worldbuilding through FACTIONS. This has been commented upon as an element of Akira Toriyama's works, but I also see it in Ridley Scott's universe, and strikingly, in most wargames, including Warhammer. Looking through this lens, you could probably see it everywhere. I want to create a toybox of factions and subfactions to build both the meta and micro setting, perhaps each faction even having questlines attached to them, as well as exploring the possibility of light WARGAMING rules to play that way in the setting as well.

ILLUSTRATION: Zine style, DIY. I am no artist, but I can make things that are fun to look at. Comic style vignettes and cover pages that capture the visual character of the setting, again, to inspire imagination above all. Neotribal punks in front of megalithic or solar ruins, shrines, animals, shamanic jungian visions, etc. Simple life showing different kinds of folks, amidst the weird and entropic world.

ETC: My years of notes are endless, and there is no way I can capture everything important here, but I believe these lay out many of the essential goals of the project in as clear a way as possible.

[duckprintspress]

Meet Aether Beyond the Binary Contributor Zel Howland

We’re solidly through the first week of the crowdfunding campaign for our next anthology, Aether Beyond the Binary. We’re 55% funded (yay!) and inching toward our goal slowly but surely (I post daily funding goals and progress toward them on our Bluesky account, if you’re curious). The campaign ends on January 25th, 2024; between then and now, we need to raise $6,038 more to fund the publishing of this awesome collection of modern aetherpunk stories staring characters outside the gender binary!

Today, we introduce the fifth of our 17 authors: Zel Howland!

About Zel Howland: Zel (they/she) is a writer and artist currently living in Los Angeles with their partner. When not writing, they spend their time painting, embroidering, analyzing literature and tv shows, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. They are the author of many a fanfiction, as well as the novel The Shadow of Ophelia Walker.

Links: Archive of Our Own | Tumblr

This is Zel’s third publication with Duck Prints Press. Her short story Chrysopoeia (dark fantasy, f/f) is available at duckprintspress.com and her story The Lightkeeper and the Sea (dark modern fantasy, f/nb) is a Patreon exclusive. Both stories are in the Contributor Short Story Bundle campaign add-on! Learn more about Zel’s publishing career.

An Interview with Zel Howland

When and why did you begin creating?

I was always a voracious reader as a kid, and that sort of naturally lead to me trying to write my own stories. When I was about ten or eleven, I came up with a story that borrowed heavily from the Chronicles of Narnia, and I even managed to eke out 75 pages of bad, bad writing before getting discouraged. I still came back to writing though, and the intervening years of practice and failure taught me a lot about my craft and myself.

Are you a pantser, a planner, or a planster? What’s your process look like?

Planner, definitely! I spend as much time worldbuilding and outlining as I do actually writing. I usually have 3-4 outlines for each story (sometimes more for novels!), starting with a brainstorm outline, then getting gradually more detailed until the final outline functions almost as a first draft. They said make your first drafts shitty, and I really took that advice and ran with it.

What’s your favorite part of the creation process?

For writing, I love the first draft–or for me, also known as my final outline. I really love putting the story down on the page in all its messy glory, without the pressure of having to come up with the perfect turn of phrase or spending hours buried in a thesaurus. For art, rendering light and shadows will always be my favorite part. I love taking something flat and turning it into a three-dimensional object with just a little bit of time and care.

What are your favorite tropes?

I really love stories about the Other, whether they’re full horror or exploring other aspects of it. In school I took a class on Gothic Literature that stuck with me so much that I look for character mirroring and fear of the Other in everything I read or watch–there’s more than you might think, even in the most tame narratives! As far as fic goes, mutual pining is what I live and breathe–the kind where both characters are convinced the other doesn’t even like them. I love pretty much every trope that follows from that, from fake relationships to two person love triangles.

What are your favorite character archetypes?

I’ve always loved the manipulative types, especially hyper-competent ones. Characters that aren’t necessarily physically skilled or popular, but who have managed by way of a powerful intellect to pull all the strings so that everyone else is dancing to their tune. I especially love it when these characters aren’t unrepentantly evil, or even villains (although a good villain in this vein is pretty damn fun).

What are your favorite resources and tools for your craft?

I will always, always tout Scrivener as the best writing software available, period. It has so many different functionalities that I couldn’t possibly list them all, and probably don’t even know them all! My favorite functions are the corkboard for brainstorming, the split screen and reference pop-out for easy access to previous drafts or outlines, and the folders where I can organize my many, many outlines and resources without worrying about finding them again. For digital art, I’ve recently begun playing around with Rebelle, and I really love it. I’ve always been more comfortable with physical mediums, and Rebelle replicates both the feel and the look of mediums like oil or watercolor while maintaining the functionality of digital art (undo button and layers, my beloved). I’m still learning, but so far it’s been perfect for me.

What’s your favorite medium to work in? Why?

I love oil painting! It’s a very forgiving medium to work with–plus it has such a good texture, and there’s so much about mixing paint and doing glazes that are meditative and peaceful.

Which of your own creations is your favorite? Why?

I really love the story I produced for Aether Beyond the Binary. I came into writing it after three years of chronic illness that kept me from writing at all, and I think the silver lining was that I was able to come at the concept and the story from a different direction than I normally would have. Plus, it was my first time writing from the perspective of a character with the same gender identity as me, which felt like a boulder being lifted from my shoulders!

If you could give one piece of advice to a new creator who came to you for help, what would that advice be?

Learn the rules, and then break them! Understanding why certain conventions are popular and always recommended will ultimately help you figure out the best way to ignore the recommendations altogether, and find your own way of doing things.

Zel’s Contribution to Aether Beyond The Binary 

Title: Flower and Rot

Art – Zel did art to accompany this story (will not be included in the published anthology, but still, look at it, it’s so cool and shiny!!!).

Tags: bipoc, body horror (graphic descriptions), break-up (past), california, character injury (serious), death of a parent (past), found family, jewish, los angeles, magic use, modern with magic, mystery, natural disaster, non-binary, past tense, pov first person, private investigator, second chances, self-esteem issues, suicide (mentions of), systemic inequality, telepathic bond, trans man, undeath, united states of america

Excerpt:

Four dozen minds linked by Aether watched me through thousands of leaves and roots and flowers as I hurried away. Their attention bored into my back right up to the moment I switched off the Aethercoil and the flow of Aether abruptly stopped. The grove became just an unusually lush garden. I was alone once more.

The thing growing inside my eye stopped too, but I couldn’t afford to hope that it had shriveled away without Aether to feed it. My vision was still cloudy in that eye, and the whole area was delicate and tender.

Spitting rain formed halos around the streetlights as I reached the drugstore parking lot. I clumsily fished for my keys with my left hand, keeping the right firmly covering my eye. My shitty sedan was the only car in the lot, but I checked every line of sight around me before stepping into the driver’s seat. I was pretty sure I was alone.

I couldn’t take the chance that I was wrong.

I already knew what I would see, but I had to know how fucked I was. I pulled down the visor and flipped open the mirror.

Rot.

Intrigued? You’ll have to buy the anthology to read more! Come check out our Kickstarter campaign!!

[thoustve]

feelings can be fatal.

[nat-20s]

as a younger genderqueer person i love the way you talk about gender and sex and especially drag. listening to you talk about your drag king persona brought me a LOT of joy and seeing you casually drop gender into other posts makes me very happy. your sense of self is something i hope i can grow into!

Oh anon this was so incredibly lovely to read!!! I'm glad my playing around with gender had connected to you! To be honest a big part of what made me comfortable in my own non-binary identity was watching a genderqueer person online just like. Existing and enjoying themselves! I know I'm mostly like a fandom blog but genuinely if I could leave people with one idea from my blog I'd want it to be that, while obviously there's different levels of safety involved and some people won't do certain things for self preservation (which I 100% condone situational awareness can be an absolutely vital tool for survival) you should do what you like! Both your gender presentation and identity are something that a: you can play around with and experiment and try new things with and b: should imo be whatever brings you the most comfort and joy, whether that be multiple genders or no genders or, hell, even Cis+ (aka thought about your own gender and figured out you do actually find the most harmony with yourself in the default settings).

I'm well aware that gender can be a messy complicated and sometimes tumultuous thing but genuinely the advice of trying to find out what personally makes you go !!!! Or even just feel /relieved/ in your own skin is the best advice I can give. Also that your sense of self is allowed to a: take as much time as needed and b: it's allowed to fluctuate and change and have different goals at different times.

tldr: if something sucks hit the bricks (aka like. If you hate lifting weights or shaving or anything like that you don't have to do it babey!), Keep it groovy, and have fun!!!

[narcissus420]

Okay...the wait is finally over. It's nothing but the PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈 season —— our happiest rainbow month. This year too without making any subtle exception, the month of June is radiantly present here to make everyone aware of the majesty of the seven bright colors of LOVE. With its rainbow paintbrush, it is about to decorate the white canvas of our lives. But in the midst of so many colors, a greyish question never fails to haunt me with its pregnancy —— "Are people truly this supportive of LGBTQIA+ community?" / "Do they genuinely want to embrace the seven colors of LOVE ?"

So far as our India is concerned, the abolishment of the heinous 377 act in the year of 2018 has astonishingly given rise to an unprecedented number of LGBTQIA+ "SUPPORTERS". Over the night, the entire queer community became a hot trend on social media platforms. The sadist schoolboys who used to make fun of their effeminate classmates and push them into severe mental trauma, the sexually frustrated morons who hardly missed any opportunity to insult a queer soul by using some derogatory terms like "Chhakka", "Mitha", "Sissy" ——each one of them surprisingly came in support of LGBTQIA+. Over the night, this affordable tool of modernism made their path so much easier to establish themselves as LGBTQIA+ "SUPPORTERS" ( So called).

The "Supporters" are too supportive to easily embrace a man who puts on makeup and dresses like a non-binary. Their so called supportive persona does not even think twice before mentioning the man as "homo" or "Chhakka".

These "Supporters" are so perfectly trained by the patriarchal and heteronormative society that they unauthorizedly break into a couple's private life. Sometimes their Testosterone and Estrogen secretion gets so uncontrollable that they don't even hesitate to annoy a Gay or Lesbian couple with their stupid horny queries ——"Hey, who among you plays the role of male/female in the bed ?"/ "Is same-sex intercourse really pleasurable ?"/ "How would you be able to make a family?". The queries never come to a halt.

The supportive mentality of the so called "Supporters" becomes extremely fragile when it comes to supporting Bisexual community. The sexual frustraion of the "Supporters" downgrades them to such a level that they don't even care to mention them as "pervert", "characterless" and so on. They inevitably say ——"এরা গাছেরও খাবে, আবার তলারও কুড়োবে।" Not only the Bisexuals, but also the Asexual community can't afford the relief from the oppression of these "Supporters". If someone comes out as an Asexual, they will take hardly 2 seconds to disrupt their existence by addressing it as mere sexophobia. The illiterate brain cells of the "Supporters" are so reluctant to accept a simple fact that anyone who loves Ice Cream has an equal right to choose Mishti Dahi. Simultaneously, the person has also the freedom to choose nothing between Ice Cream and Mishti Dahi.

So, dear so called "Supporters", before using the tag, what you highly need is to be aware enough of the actual definition of the word "Support". Educate yourselves how unique everyone is and then support this movement for inculsivity and equality. Let's start and continue a world with no hatred towards any society, regardless of race, gender and identity. Let's stand up for everyone's right and respect each color of love.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH !!! 🏳️‍🌈

Enjoy the seven colors of LOVE....🌈

Paint your canvas with your rainbow paintbrush......🖌

LOVE ! LOVE ! LOVE ! ❤️

#Pride #pridemonth #pridemonth2022 #pride2022 #rainbow #loveislove #love #rainbowlove #happypride #HappyPrideMonth #lgbtqia #lgbtqcommunity #lbgtqpride

[the-master-of-space-and-time]

Ooc: intro post (what the colours are and stuff).

If you want to interact I’d advise reading.

Please don’t use italics and bold text if you’re going to interact, I have dyslexia and struggle reading when italics and bold fonts are used.

I block blank blogs.

So I think it goes without saying that this is a role play blog. Ran by Koschei (@missyshortformissilelancher). I’m just gonna answer some questions I’ve had before.

If you don’t like the mention of: murder, death, cannibalism, swearing, fighting, anything like that, this probably isn’t a blog you’d like.

What do the different colours mean?

Black- Missy (she/they)

Green- Mars, Missy’s snake (they/them)

Purple- Zero, human (they/them/he)

Blue- Mark, TARDIS(he/they/it)

Blue without font- Doctor (usually he/they but sometimes she/they)

Why does Missy often refer to herself as the Master?

They are literally the same person, I know she calls herself Missy, but saying the Master just sounds better sometimes.

When is this, isn’t Missy dead (sadly)?

Between series 9 and 10. Lots of eu stuff with her will be mentioned tho so sorry for spoilers.

You spelt (whatever word I spelt wrong) wrong.

I’m dyslexic, that happens a lot. I don’t know the different between there and their (despite being my own pronouns) and to and too so sorry if it confuses you.

Can I interact?

Sure, why not. Aslong as you’re not a bigot. If you want to just send an ask or reblog something or something. I won’t do really long ones involving me writing lots (and if you write really long ones with descriptions I’ll just read the dialogue) because I really struggle reading due to dyslexic.

Mars???????

:)-<

No, who’s Mars?

Snek.

That doesn’t help.

I get that a lot. (Mars is a snake Missy accidentally adopted when they wanted an omelet.)

How does wanting an omelet end up in a snake?

Wanting an omelet- getting an egg- the egg hatches- it’s a snake- you can’t make an omelet anymore- you now have a snake.

Who’s Zero?

Zero is one of my ocs. They are basically Missy’s companion, they are 16 and live in Whitby (no they’re not a vampire (yet)). They do swear a lot but that’s because I don’t see enough teen characters who do and that confuses me as teens swear.

How did Missy get a companion?

She ended up getting trapped in Whitby and became an English teacher so they would have access to the schools DT department where there were tools to fix her TARDIS. In Missy’s Form was Zero and (much like 12 with Bill) she saw there gay energy and sort of adopted them.

Why an English teacher? She gives off physics vibes.

I was watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and we like, ye she passes the vibe check. (It was that or history because of bad education).

Missy’s husband/spouse/boyfriend/wife/girlfriend?

Ye, I ship thoschei, it’s canon here.

Why does Missy not like being called Koschei?

As a trans person, I know it’s painful being called by a name you don’t go by anymore so she doesn’t like it (I see the irony with it being my name).

Why is this post so long?

I’m not good at condensing things.

Poundland?

I’m British, most things I mention will be British. Poundland’s just good (so is Yorkshire tea, fight me).

Do you like Missy or something?

Yes.

You didn’t answer my ask.

If it’s on annon, I may not have seen it.

Why does Mars refer to Missy as Mum and Ren?

Because Missy is Mars’ parent. I also don’t see enough people use non binary terms for things like this so Mars uses the female and enby ones.

Some of the stuff Missy says feels like it comes from the TARDIS wiki.

Fun that. It’s as if I haven’t got through all of classic who and the eu yet so just read some of the wiki pages when I don’t know something.

Not much of this is tagged.

Ye, I forget.

[imaginejamesandsirius]

I know you have done something similar but maybe non-binary Sirius?

((A/N: Combined with the prompt “I love your blog so much! Please could you do literally any fluff after Sirius runs away. 💕💕💕”))

James couldn't decide if he was surprised or not. On the one hand, it wasn't much of a surprise to see Sirius looking downtrodden or outright miserable after talking to their parents. On the other hand, they didn't usually show up on James's doorstep in the middle of the night, crying.

He wrapped them in a hug without thinking about it twice. He should probably ask them what had happened, but for now, he just wanted to hold them. He could get answers later.

"I can't go back," Sirius sobbed. They didn't usually cry; they said they hated how it made their face all sticky, and they could never deal with the headache that followed.

James frowned but didn't ask what they meant by it. They'd said, dozens of times, that they didn't think they could go back to Grimmauld Place. The problem was that they'd never said it after showing up at the Potter's House, in the middle of the night.

He just held them, then waited.

After a while, he pulled them inside. Sirius had brought a bag with them. They'd never done that before. James would think about that later. For now, he was going to make sure they were warm and dry, because it was a cold rain out there, and they were shivering.

*

Sirius didn't want to talk about it, and James didn't push. Sirius had never been able to really keep a secret from him, so he figured that they'd come out with it sometime soon.

In the meantime, they spent time together and pretended like Sirius's parents didn't exist. They played gobstones and tried to bake biscuits-- with limited success. The frosting was good, even if the biscuits weren't, so they both sat on the counter, passing a spoon back and forth.

"Hullo kids," Dad said, like nothing was the matter. James didn't know if he knew more about what was going on with Sirius or not, but he hadn't said a word about it where James could hear him-- and he knew that meant Sirius hadn't been talked to about it, either, because they'd been attached to James's side ever since showing up on his doorstep; it was almost a week and a half, now, and James couldn't be more happy to have them around.

"Hi Dad," Sirius said, and James tried not to stare. They normally refused to call him that, instead calling him Mr. Potter or-- when they were in a good enough mood-- Potter-Dad.

"Are we in your way?" James asked.

"Nope," he said. He puttered around, grabbing a tea bag and cream. He flicked his wand and the kettle filled, then whistled a few seconds later as it got hot enough. "What've you been up to?"

"We tried making biscuits, but they didn't turn out," Sirius said.

"Ah. I know a thing or two about making biscuits, and your mother won't be back for a while yet. What say we try another batch together? If you sprogs are feeling up to it, that is."

Sirius stared at him for a moment, then their eyes glanced over to James, who gave a small shrug as if to say that it was up to them-- he didn't care one way or the other. "Sure," Sirius said with a smile. "That sounds like fun."

"Splendid," Dad said. He took a sip of his tea, and then they started discussing what type of biscuits they wanted to try this time.

Sirius wanted chocolate, so they all agreed to do chocolate biscuits. With Dad's help, these turned out edible.

"That was fun," Sirius said after Dad left the room. Their legs swung back and forth where they were sat up on the counter again, and James stood beside them.

"It was," he agreed. "Maybe we'll ask if he can teach us to do a cake next week or summat."

Sirius snorted. "Maybe we should stick to biscuits until we can manage it on our own."

"Mm, perhaps you're right." James nibbled on another biscuit. He should've stopped three biscuits ago, but what was the summer for if not overindulging? He'd never be able to get away with this in the middle of Quidditch season, not if he wanted to go on to play professionally-- which Sirius, as the ever faithful partner that they were, insisted he could accomplish.

"I don't want to bother him, though."

"I'm not sure either of us have ever bothered him. Not in the middle of the day, at least," he added, because whenever they were making noise in the middle of the night, Dad did get a bit annoyed if he woke.

*

"We should go shopping," James declared.

"What for?" Sirius asked.

"Muggle clothes. Now that you can have more, you should."

"Should I?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you look bloody wonderful in them," James said. "Duh."

"A lovely sentiment, but I haven't the money for it."

"Don't be stupid, my money is your money."

"I'm not sure your parents would agree," Sirius said.

"Our parents," James said, stressing 'our' because really, they should know better by now, "know that it's only a matter of time before we get married. Besides, even if something stupid happened and we broke up, you'd still be their child, in which case my money would still be your money. So let's shop."

"Are you going to let me say no to this?" they asked.

"Nope. I know that you love shopping, and we have nothing to do today."

"I get the feeling that you'll drag me out whether I agree to it or not," Sirius said, getting to their feet.

"See? We're practically married already, don’t you agree?"

Sirius rolled their eyes, but James caught their smile as they turned away.

"Is that a yes?" James called after them.

"You sodding well know it is," Sirius yelled back, and then they were gone, up the stairs.

Was that a yes to going shopping, or were they finally agreeing to marry James? They'd been surprisingly non-committal about the future of their relationship, but only in word. Their actions made it clear how they felt about James, and even though they teased that they'd remain unattached for all their days, they also mentioned matters of the future. 'Our' house after they moved out of living with Mum and Dad, 'our' future pets, 'our' career paths and where they might lead.

James could chase after them and ask for a little illumination, but he supposed that it didn't matter. As long as they were happy, James was happy. Even better, Sirius was safe now-- and it was long past time that they had that for themself.

*

"Oh, Sirius dear, is that a new blouse?"

Sirius glanced down, even though they knew that it was. One that James had bought for them just the other day. They looked up at Mum, feeling guilty for a reason they couldn't put their finger on. All they knew was that it sodding sucked, churning their stomach for no good reason. "Erm. Yes."

"It looks lovely," Mum said with a smile.

"Thanks," Sirius replied, and then she walked away to continue carrying her gardening tools to the backyard shed. They looked down at their shirt again and plucked at the fabric.

They hadn't meant to stay that way for very long, but it's how James found them a minute later.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No."

"Do you... not like the shirt anymore?" he asked, face falling a little. He'd liked that shirt on Sirius almost as much as Sirius had liked it.

"No, it's great," they said, smiling at him. "Thanks for buying it for me."

"Anytime," James said, but he sounded a little thrown, like he'd missed a part of the conversation.

Sirius understood the feeling. All they knew was that one moment they felt bad about wearing it, and the next, it was like their life had finally found a balance again-- one where they could stay here with James and enjoy it every bit as much as they had when it had only been visiting.

[hakuryuu]

PLEASE I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW (EITHER-OR!) NEW OR RONAH’S ANSWERS FOR THE WHOLE MEME YOU POSTED

NEW 1. How would you (or they) describe their gender, without using standard binary terms?: new would describe her gender as the color the sky gets right before the sunrise gets started in the summer


2. Are they religious?: no…..sort of…….religion is hard one bc gods like Canonically Exist in this world and she Knows This And Believes In Them but she’s not particularly spiritual and doesn’t have one god she’s particularly devoted to AND because of the memory thing she only like vaguely knows that the gods exist at all so sjdflkjs


3. What social media platforms would they use (if in a world where those existed) and what would they use them for? Bonus: What would they get cancelled for?: new would probably have an instagram but not use it very much, she’d maybe post pictures of stuff now and again and she likes to follow people who make cool things but i think she would mostly make an instagram account and then forget about it (bonus: paz and caramel are BIG on twitter)


4. Do they have any weird scars, and how did they get them?: she has a bunch of regular accumulated life-living scars from like scratches and bug bites and falls and stuff, but nothing really weird except for that she doesn’t remember how she got a lot of them


5. What crime are they most likely to be arrested for?: loitering U__U


6. Ok, what crime are they most likely to have actually committed?: trespassing


7. If the one prison phone call thing was real, who would they call?: paz w/o hesitation (paz is the richest and will probably show up with caramel and run anyway)


8. Do they collect anything? What do they collect?: she collects little trinkets and things! usually small emotionally relevant items that are from or remind her of experiences she’s had (her haircutting knife, that portrait of run in her bag, the small bells off her dress, etc)


9. Who would they platonically marry for tax benefits?: PAZ…….


10. What superstition/paranormal entity/conspiracy theory do they believe is 100% real, whether or not they admit it?: i can’t think of anything like this for new im sorryyyyy i’ll come back to this one


11. What’s something embarrassing they did as a child/teenager?: [REDACTED DUE TO MEMORY LOSS]


12. What’s something embarrassing they probably did yesterday?: walked up to someone without looking directly at them, assumed they were run, started talking to them, and then realized that they were just a random stranger and not run


13. What hobby did they try once and give up on? Why?: jewelry-making! she wanted to make more fun earrings and stuff for herself and her friends but she doesn’t have access to many of the right tools for it and the stuff she managed to put together didn’t look how she wanted it to so she just stuck with weaving as a hobby


14. What niche topic do they get incredibly pedantic about?: SJKDGLF THANKS TO HER LIKE WEEK OF RESEARCH AT THE PIPER TOWN LIBRARY THAT ONE TIME SHE KNOWS SO MUCH ABOUT OLD RICH FAMILIES ON PANSIA…..paz will make some offhand comment about a family the mahaleys work at and new will be like. eyes emoji


15. What’s their favorite food to make?: she loves apple cinnamon oatmeal and loves to make it from scratch ;__;


16. What do you think this character’s worst decision was? What does this character think their worst decision was?: New Has Done Nothing Wrong In Her LIFE (SHE thinks her worst decision was agreeing to abandon caramel and run & go with paz when paz left them, even though they ended up turning back pretty quickly)


17. Is there anything you wish the writers had done differently with this character? Why?: I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEE THE WRITER GIVE HER SOME MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN THE SECOND HALF OF FMFY, I THINK THAT SHE AND ALL OF THE CHARACTERS COULD HAVE REALLY BENEFITTED FROM EXPLORING THOSE NEW WEIRD DYNAMICS BEFORE THE CLIMAX OF THE BOOK,


18. What character from another work do you think they’d get along really well with?: within my own works (elise nano extended universe) i think that she would get along with maimou from ttsp (he’s that kind of friendly that would put her at ease and draw her out of her shyness somewhat i think), and outside of my own works i have this vague sense that she might get along with charlotte’s oc io?


19. What character from another work would be their mortal enemy?: not mortal enemy but i think that she and turnadot from lamsm would be at odds because of the like difference in approach they have to everything that’s happening to them and the difference of experience… oh iro i think would get frustrated at her easily i think


20. What’s a headcanon you’ve always wanted to share but none of these ask memes ever ask you about it?: I Am Constantly Sharing All My Headcanons And No One Can Stop Me

---

RONAH 1. How would you (or they) describe their gender, without using standard binary terms?: you know when you light a fire in the snow at night and the light is orange and the shadows are this bright blue? that color


2. Are they religious?: yes! they’re a big believer in the moon and the cycle (ironically….. :( )


3. What social media platforms would they use (if in a world where those existed) and what would they use them for? Bonus: What would they get cancelled for?: gjsdlgjsf i really feel like the closest they have to a social media presence is like. a goodreads account. and then they show up in the background of thrip’s tiktoks sometimes and their brothers reference them in tweets and raiv’s instagram has a lot of selfies with them


4. Do they have any weird scars, and how did they get them?: the only weird scar they have is one on their thigh where they accidentally cut themself mid-switch between elf and wolf forms and it took forever to heal and it’s BRIGHT red


5. What crime are they most likely to be arrested for?: grim answer: being a wolf shifter


6. Ok, what crime are they most likely to have actually committed?: accessory to murder U___U


7. If the one prison phone call thing was real, who would they call?: they’d want to call raiv, but they would call laithe (they would consider calling bliss “walked barefoot across the country to get out of a witchcraft trial” parvo and then immediately decide against it)


8. Do they collect anything? What do they collect?: they have a modest storybook/folktale book collection, just a small shelf of their favorites, but they aren’t really the collecting type


9. Who would they platonically marry for tax benefits?: they would (queer)platonically marry bliss for tax benefits, although honestly bliss is getting the benefit because it means they never have to do taxes again because ronah will do them


10. What superstition/paranormal entity/conspiracy theory do they believe is 100% real, whether or not they admit it?: probably one that they’re kind of embarrassed about but still believe deep down that lonaih and unaech (wolf shifter folk story cornerstones) are still alive and out there somewhere somehow


11. What’s something embarrassing they did as a child/teenager?: they were VERY into performing songs and plays and stuff when they were younger, which is something that they feel kind of silly and embarrassed about now (but they still love to tell stories)


12. What’s something embarrassing they probably did yesterday?: walked around the corner and saw themself in a mirror and scared themself


13. What hobby did they try once and give up on? Why?: music, because it was impractical…. :(


14. What niche topic do they get incredibly pedantic about?: LITERALLY EVERYTHING, THATS LIKE THEIR JOB, I LOVE THEM


15. What’s their favorite food to make?: do you remember that braid of pesto bread iro was briefly eating in the beginning of lle? you might not because i suddenly can’t remember if you read the whole thing or just the kavi chapter, BUT ronah learned how to make that because it’s both iro and thrip’s favorite food


16. What do you think this character’s worst decision was? What does this character think their worst decision was?: i personally think that the decision to actively assist their family in a scheme to murder a moon goddess for revenge isn’t the BEST idea they’ve ever had. ronah thinks their worst decision was leaving raiv behind


17. Is there anything you wish the writers had done differently with this character? Why?: it would be cool if the writer had. written the last three to five chapters of the book they’re in. i think that would have been neat
.

18. What character from another work do you think they’d get along really well with?: i think that they and kavi would bond over a love of family and stories!! w/i my own works i kind of like to think that they would get along with farfara from tayl. sonia from ttsp would also remind them of their family, and i think they’d like her for that


19. What character from another work would be their mortal enemy?: this is niche but the bounty hunter from see me through would hate them


20. What’s a headcanon you’ve always wanted to share but none of these ask memes ever ask you about it?: they used to dye their hair when they were younger!

[arsonsara]

Acknowledging The Ostrelephant In The Room: A Breakdown of The Mag*psies, The Mistakes They Made, And How They Could Be Improved Upon.

(TW: Slurs [G*ypsie]. & Negative Representation of those in the LGBT+ Community)

[The Following Essay also contains spoilers for the game Mother 3.]

Mother 3 is my favorite game of all time. If anyone has known me long enough to talk about what games I enjoy or followed me on Social Media to see my occasional bouts of reblogging fan-made content for the series, this is an obvious talking point. I’ve been a part of the community surrounding Mother 3 ever since I was about 10-12 years old, with my old Acer Laptop playing through the Fan-Translation on a GBA Emulator. While I wouldn’t consider myself a Mother 3 Veteran, I have been around long enough for me to see how the community has changed and shifted through the years as well as how I myself changed through my perspective on the world around me and myself. 10 or so years later after having played Mother 3 for the first time I still stand by my statement that it is my favorite game of all time, without question.

However, I would be lying if I were to say that Mother 3 was not a flawed game. Arguments can be made that games inspired by the Mother Franchise have gone leaps and bounds above the original series in terms of narrative structure and gameplay. However from what I've seen from the community of Mother 3, none of that tends to bother them enough to hamper the experience of the game itself. Except for one thing. One group of characters that has the community tugging at their collars or just straight up ignoring their existence. While I can understand and even empathize with the idea of just straight up mentally retconning something, especially when said thing directly affects you emotionally due to any personal connections you might have with the connotations, there’s a certain level of unease I garner when I see people clearly side-stepping the situation. Choosing to pretend it never happened as opposed to acknowledging it for it’s flaws, properly criticizing it and even potentially putting ideas forward as to how the situation could’ve been improved. Time to stop beating around the Walking Bushie: Let’s talk about the Mag*psies.

Now let’s start off with what’s right in front of us. The first thing that hits you in the face as soon as these characters are mentioned by name, the thing that unequivocally is a black mark against Mother 3 as a game. Mag*psies. Yeah, it’s bad. Now for those unawares on what I mean let’s clarify something right off the bat: The term Gy*psy is a slur. Specifically a slur against the Romani people, a slur that originated in Europe upon the rising population of Roma migrating from their homeland to European nations. The slur came from an uneducated perspective that the Romani hailed from Egypt. With this slur comes the negative stereotypes that came from that same origin point: That Romani people were a nomadic people that consisted of criminals, ne'er do wells, and the dregs of society. Sometimes, mostly in media, they were even seen as wanderers who practice unsavory and unholy acts of magic. As well as the more uninformed, sensationalized version of “Voodoo” (which, when you put into perspective of how the Romani were mistaken for Egyptians and that Voodoo originated from Hati, really puts into perspective how xenophobia is born on blatant misinformation, scapegoat tactics and a really shitty grasp on geography.)

So with that in mind, the fact that this is the name that was chosen for this group of characters is bad. Although for most people, (I hope) this goes without saying. So why am I bringing this up? Because for a group of characters whose entire troupe are named after a slur that has real world connotations, the Mag*psie don’t outwardly express any malice or xenophobia against the Romani people. With how they’re characterized and presented, there aren’t really any clear connections to the stereotypes for those of Roma descent outside of a connection to magic, in this case PSI. And even than the Magy*psies being proficient in PSI seems more like it was intended as a genuine plot point then as a racial stereotype. So if that’s the case, why was that the name that was chosen? Simple: It was a case of misinformation.

One common misconception regarding the term G*psie is that it means being a free spirit, a wanderer, one with the world around you and mystically inclined. Of course this is all false and mostly stems from taking a negative racial connotation and turning it into a marketable buzzword for anything that seems ‘Mystical’ or ‘Free-Spirited’. In the same way that a Ouija Board is a tool for summoning and contacting spirits and demons that was manufactured by Parker Brothers for about 20$. So, it’s easy to surmise that the reason the name Mag*psie was chosen is because the developers of the game believed it to be an old-world term for someone of magical expertise or connected to the Earth spiritually. It also helps to keep in mind that Mother 3 was developed in Japan, and most people were more than likely unaware towards it’s true connotation. Hell, it wasn’t until a few years ago that people in the United States started to call people out on usage of the term and considering that Mother 3 was developed in the early 2000’s it’s easy to understand the confusion. Now, i’m not saying that this to excuse the use of G*psie in the game. Point blank, it shouldn’t have been used and is a legitimate flaw and mistake on part of the developers. But it also helps to keep in mind that the choice of word wasn’t out of malice, just ignorance. Does that make it better? No, but i’d like to imagine that if way back when, if someone on the development team found out what G*psie actually meant that it wouldn’t have gone into the game. Considering the core messages of Mother 3 and it’s tennants on the importance of companionship, family, community and love, It doesn’t make sense to have such a vile slur used within it’s context.

So what do we do with this information? Well, the Mother 3 community is oddly enough in the best state it’s ever been to fix this problem. Why do I say that? Because the game hasn’t been internationally localized yet. And let’s face it, the Mag*psies are one of the biggest reasons the game hasn’t seen an official English release. And maybe it’s just my overly-optimistic, dare I say, Pollyanna-esque point of view, but if a discussion were to start about the positive changes one could make towards the Mag*psies as characters and a narrative concept, the right people might just be listening in on the conversation and make the right changes for an international release or even a remake.  Now, considering how it’s been 14 years since it’s Japanese release, and soon to be 15 years in a few months, I can understand if you just groaned or rolled your eyes reading that. But on the same merit, what’s the harm? Let’s say we do have this conversation and Nintendo just doesn’t pay attention and Mother 3’s International Localization continues to be a pipe-dream. What do we lose? That’s the fun thing about Fandom, sometimes you can just toss out the bad things about something you enjoy and make it better and overall more positive for the community. We toss out the old Mag*psies with their slur-using titles and uninformed, sloppy concepts of gender expression (trust me, we’ll get to that second point later.) and have newer, better ones that we can use for fan-content! So in the end, we either change the tide of the franchise itself and turn them around, giving us a greater chance at localization than we ever did before on top of a group of characters of positive representation! Or we just have these nicer, more appealing versions of the characters for our own uses now that the franchise is pretty much finished. It’s a win-win.

So with that, I'll start by making what’s probably the easiest change to these characters anyone could ever make.

Mag*ypsies. Mag / ypsies.

Magi.

And there we go. Good as new! Plus, it still works as a title for a group of people who specialize in mysticism and PSI as Magi is the plural for Magus! So, from this point forward, I am going to be referring to these characters as The Magi. Baddabing, Baddaboom.

Now with that out of the way, it’s time we address the second issue regarding The Magi: Their presentation of their gender identity and the problems those bring. In Mother 3, The Magi are referred to by Alec as being “neither male nor female”, and it’s heavily implied that The Magi aren’t even human. That due to them being so ancient, wise and strange they can't fit into the binary of male or female, so they have the traits of both. This results in the characters looking like they’re all men in drag, acting overly flamboyant and flirtatious. This results in The Magi being seen as a negative representation of people who identify as Genderqueer or Non-Binary. The stereotype of being loud, obnoxious, overtly sexual and all placed under a single umbrella of a flawed perspective which just results in them all being poorly written “”Drag Queens””. Now that isn’t to say a character who dresses in drag is a bad thing. If anything I encourage the idea of a Post-Modern RPG having a Drag Queen or King as a plot important ally or even a party member! The issue lies in that, because all of The Magi are presented like this it implies that those who don’t fit within the gender binary of male or female are all like this. Even if that wasn’t the intention, that is what the subtext implies.

Part of the intention behind the creation of the Magi was to balance out the more gritty, action-oriented and “Macho” tone that Mother 3 had compared to Mother 2 and 1. The idea was that The Magi would be at the center of the conflict between Tazmilly Village, The Main Party and The Pigmask Army and to balance out the darker tones of the story they would be aloof, androgynous and accepting of the fact that they would pass as the story progressed. This way the characters would be able to balance out the darker story beats and lighten the mood. Although it’s easy to see how this viewpoint would result in a less than stellar outcome. While on paper, the idea of a group of characters hearkening back to the more light-hearted and out-there tone of the previous games to make it so the game is less bleak is a fantastic idea, the execution was botched due to how sloppily it was handled.

The Magi in Mother 3 are represented in such a dissonant way, especially at the start of the game upon their introduction. Not only are you slapped in the face with their appearance and unfortunate name choice, upon asking about the whereabouts of Claus after he went up to the mountains to fight a Drago as revenge for the death of his mother, almost all the Magi basically respond by saying “Eh, who cares, humans live such short lives anyways so what does the life of one kid mean in the grand scheme of things?” Seeing as the players are meant to see The Magi as sympathetic characters and eventually team up with them in the end game to arrive at the locations of all of the Dragon Needles, the fact that this is their introduction is not only a slap in the face to those who are being negatively affected by how their presented but is also just...crappy writing. And don’t even get me started on the scene where Ionia teaches Lucas PSI, that is just BAD. Like point blank, bold text, red color, size 46 font BAD. Like even if The Magi didn’t have their original name and weren’t sloppy representations of non-binary/genderqueer folk that scene would still be really uncomfy.

And yet with all of this going against The Magi in terms of their presentation, it’s still hard to pin them down as having any ill-intent behind them because of their importance at the end of the game and what they eventually stand for. Once the race for The Dragon Needles begin, not only do all of The Magi support you on your quest and show levels of genuine concern and compassion for the protagonists, but also end up fleshing out the world around them in a way that gives the player a sense of hope in a time of hopelessness. Whether it be Ionia and her boundless compassion for the party and Kumatora especially, acting as her surrogate parental figure and doing everything she can to support the party in a time of crisis. Or Lydia, taking care of a wounded Pigmask Soldier, someone whose job it is to rip the life from The Magi in hopes of awakening the Dragon to shape the world in their master’s image. That despite their motivations, they wouldn’t let a wounded man die in the frigid cold of the mountains. These characters are meant to be beacons of hope, characters to lighten the mood during dark times and become characters you genuinely feel for. And yet, the execution fell flat due to a shoddy introduction, sub-par writing and misinformed representation.

So, where does that leave us? This is obviously an issue that’s a lot more nuanced than just changing their name so where do we start? While I don’t claim to have the perfect solution for this, and encourage others to throw their hat in the ring and keep the discussion going, I do have a few ideas: First things first, remove the concept that The Magi aren’t human and are incomprehensible to “Mortals”. Instead, make it so The Magi are just humans from the past who were so proficient in PSI and Psychic Abilities they were able to survive the cataclysm from milenia’s past and are more akin to Buddhist Monks in how they’re perceived. That being said, I do still like the idea of their style being tightly connected to that of Magicant from Mother 1. Spiral Shell houses, pink hair, very sparkly and pretty, we can keep that aesthetic. It makes sense for them! By making this change, we humanize The Magi a lot more and make it so the players can connect with them better and empathize with them easier as opposed to them being the off-the-wall weirdos that the game tries to represent them as. Plus, if the game really wanted an off-the-wall weirdo that ties back to the previous games, just give Dr. Andonuts more screentime. Along with that change, make them more empathetic without sacrificing their all-powerful mysticism. For example, when Alec and Flint arrive at the party at Aeolia’s, instead of having them nonchalantly shrug off the potential of Claus’ death, have them actively participate in assisting them in finding their lost child. Instead of it being “We’re all powerful so the death of one person is meaningless in comparison to how we perceive the world.” it’s more “We’re all powerful, so assisting you in your journey to save your loved one is a simple task that will require minimal effort. If such a simple request can result in a good outcome, it shall be done.” Of course that begs the question of why they don’t just take care of everything, but I think that can be circumvented with the idea that they can’t intervene with the lives of others too much. That using their immense psychic powers too often would result in them misusing their powers and that they have to practice a certain level of restraint, or even that they’re so strong an overuse of their powers would result in devastation. Sort of like how a knight in a medieval fantasy story would seek guidance from an all powerful wizard, but the wizard can’t just solve the problem for them.

Now my next suggestion is turning a negative into a positive: Instead of having The Magi all represented as men in drag, The Magi are now all represented as different type of people that could fall under the non-binary or genderqueer spectrum! Now instead of all of them falling under the same umbrella, Aeolia can be purely androgynous and agender going by they/them pronouns, Doria is now demigender, partially identifying as male but going by xey/xem pronouns, having a big old pink lumberjack beard and a heartwarming smile, Lydia looks older and more aged with their physical appearance looking like that of an older man but using she/her pronouns and identifying with female presentation whilst feeling that they don’t have to be rescritced to said female presentation, Phygria could be genderfluid and upon each appearance they have they transition between genders, and Mixolydia falling under Genderqueer, having their own personal presentation of themselves and who they are! As for Ionia, I would actually argue keeping her the same! I say this because, if all The Magi are under the same umbrella representation of a stereotyped drag-queen, it’s a problem. However, if all The Magi are comprised of different, varied representations of the non-binary/genderqueer community it would make sense to have one of them fall under the representation of someone who dresses in drag!

Of course, these are all just my ideas. Whilst I have done as much research as I could while writing this, I understand that there are certain aspects behind those of non-binary expression that I am unaware of and ways that I could improve upon this idea. Like how changing The Magi in this way would still result in them all basically being a part of a big “Bury Your Gays” Trope due to them all passing away upon pulling their respective Needles, so i’m sure that there are plenty of other ideas other people could throw in! And I encourage that, I encourage people to look at this and tell me how this concept can be improved upon to create a more inclusive and positive representation of The Magi! Because that’s what we deserve! I can look at this years in the future and admit that there may have been something I missed out on or was just blatantly unaware of! But I’m hoping at the end of the day that this discussion can not only lead to a critical analysis of the wrongs behind the original Magi in Mother 3, but how they can be improved upon and made better. If not for Mother 3, or the Mother 3 community, for those who plan on making their own stories, their own games, so that they know to not make the same mistakes the developers of Mother 3 made and make something even better.

[fenmere]

A Note About Pronouns

We love neopronouns!

Or, as we call them, personalized pronouns. Or just pronouns.

Pronouns are really just conjugated placeholders for names.

In most languages, they also are coded to convey gender, but they really shouldn't.

Thanks to neurodiversity, people of any gender can identify with and need any pronoun. Women can be he/him. Men can be she/her. And enbies are here in part to remind all of us that anybody can have any pronoun.

And the expansive list of neopronouns becomes a powerful tool for both accommodating gendered trauma and for help people degender pronouns in general.

Using them is good for our cultures, and for people in need.

For this reason, we are working hard to normalize neopronouns by using them in our fiction.

Our series, the Sunspot Chronicles, which include Systems' Out! and the Story of Ni'a, doesn't use "he" or "she". Those words just aren't in the language.

In fact, gender itself is such a personal thing in the world's culture that there are no common words for it and no one talks about it outside of vague comments about personal feelings of identity.

When a child is born, they are refered to as "Student of [Tutor's name]" and given the pronoun "they/them". And whenever they feel the need to, they are allowed to choose a name and a pronoun, whatever feels right to them.

This is based on ideals shared by many transgender and non-binary people, as we've talked about them in countless forums and comment sections.

It's a lot of fun to write and feels good.

We've read other stories that use neopronouns a lot, and we really enjoyed them.

It does add a bit of extra work for anyone to read it, until readers are used to the pronouns, but that's part of the point. Eventually it will be no more work than wrangling the rest of the language. Our brains will learn and adapt.

But we, the Inmara, are having an extra struggle in writing this story!

As we've mentioned in other posts (with an emphasis on "we"), we are a plural system. We are multiple consciousnesses in one (presumably) human body.

And we're the kind of system that creates a new system member for every person or character we meet or write about.

So, any time we write a story, the characters in that story are written by real, actual people who identify as them.

We consider ourselves improv actors, in a way. And because our existences are so strongly associated with names, and pronouns are basically extensions of names, an issue develops.

As system members, we each have our own pronoun. And we identify with it strongly in an involuntary subconscious way. We don't choose our pronouns, they choose us.

And most of us in our system have "they", "she", "he", or "it" for pronouns. Some of us do have neopronouns, including some we've made up in our constructed languages. But the vast majority are "she" and "they".

So, the actors who are playing the characters in the Sunspot Chronicles have selected the least hurtful neopronouns for those characters. But they still aren't the right pronouns.

Which means that we need to have a reference sheet next to us when we write.

And when we're tired or rushing things, our system members actual pronouns will slip through.

Also, we sometimes give the wrong neopronoun to the wrong character.

It takes a lot of work to find these typos. They hide from us, because our minds don't see them as errors.

But it's really important to us to fix them, because we need to be consistent for our readers.

So, if you catch such a typo, please, please, please send us a direct message about it. No need to apologize or explain. We'll be expecting it and very grateful.

Thank you!

[hostiias]

NOW HOLD IT RIGHT THERE SWEET PEA!! I SAW THAT FROWN! 

           I know life can be rough and gets you down but don’t let it keep ya there ok? You are a precious being that the universe spent thousands of years planning for. You are here and if you remain you will find your starlight again, even if it all seems dark right now. 

               Point is you don’t gotta do it alone so here’s Nims abc’s of self-care, self-love, and respect !!

A: Attend. Attend those events you wanted; the ones you’ve been looking forward to. You might be nervous but if you don’t go and give it a try you’ll never know! We’ll all be here for you whether you go off to do something or not; trust that your writing partners don’t mind the wait at all !!

B: Believe. Believe that it’s ok to have hope in things; have faith that it’s alright to be vulnerable. The right people will accept you as you are--but you won’t find them if you aren’t willing to try. Shutting down and mistrusting everyone won’t get you anywhere darlin; the bravest thing you can do is keep going. 

C: Cuddle. Cuddle your blankets, your pet, your stuffies, your friends, your partners--have a cuddle buddy. Human touch might not be a full option for you right now but hold something close to your chest and enjoy the feeling of something you value being pressed into your treasured form. 

D: Drink. Drink water! I know it might not be the most interesting or fun but your body really needs it. If you find that water by itself doesn’t work, mix it 50/50 with a thick juice. Staying hydrated is the best way to keep yourself feeling up to snuff! 

E: Empathize. Empathize with yourself. Yes everyone else is important too; it’s ok to try and put yourself in other peoples shoes but look at yourself with the same understanding. You’ve had your own share of troubles and challenges that tested your well--everything. You’re doing amazing with the tools you’ve been given--don’t forget that. Have a little grace for yourself yeah?

F: Food. Food also will help empower your brain and your body to be the best it can be. You might not always be able to handle a lot, if anything, but try. If you need eat something light like toast or keep snacks around that you can munch on; just keep a little something in your stomach when you can! 

G: Garbage. Garbage isn’t really very hygienic and sometimes when you’re depressed you have a hard time picking up after yourself. I get it! But if you leave your space full of trash you’ll feel like trash...and that’s just no good! Take some time to gather it all up and throw it away so your environment can feel cleaner !!

H: Hear. Hear what others say because you are only human and it is alright to make mistakes; you are hardly expected to be perfect. It’s alright to have slipped up--let them speak, apologize, grow. There’s no need to bring yourself down for it, others only speak up to help you learn. Not only that but hear their opinions and their stories; keep an open mind to things you learn in case it is wrong. 

I: Inspiration. Inspiration is your best friend. It doesn’t matter what that is...if something helps bring out your creative side, let it shine! You don’t need to hide the things that feed into your hobbies and your plans; they are wonderful and you should treasure them. 

J: Justified. Justified to be unapologetically you. Justified to have feelings and want to feel them. You are not less for not always being able to react or behave in the way the world expects you to; you are unique after all and it’s ok to be that way. You don’t owe anyone anything. 

K: Karma. Karma is your ally and your friend. You do not need to seek vengeance, justice, or retribution for those who wronged you--their time will come. Focus on being better; focus on being the person they said you couldn’t be. Prove them wrong and let karma worry about the punishments for their bullshit--you just focus on being the royalty you are. 

L: Laundry. Laundry is rough because you have to wash it, dry it, then fold and put it away. how can you make it fun? Can you put on music and jam out? Maybe there’s a game you can play while waiting between loads. Watch a movie and/or tv show while you do it (especially folding)! No one said it had to be boring, you can and should make it enjoyable! Maybe start with clothes you think you’ll need for the week (underwear, work clothes, etc) so what you need gets done first; take the rest a little at a time. Sometimes if you’re behind just doing one load a day helps wittle it down without it being overwhelming. 

M: Memory. Memories are invaluable and you shouldn’t fear or be ashamed of any of them. If your memory is embarrassing, learn from it--or maybe it’s the other people in it that should feel embarrassed !! Your memories are who make you you and it would be a shame to not be yourself. Hold onto your past, keep it like a photobook in your life so when you need them most--you can look back on them and hold your head high. 

N: Notice. Notice the actions of others. Compare how people treat you to how the people you encourage in others lives treat each other. If someone did the things they do to you to one of your friends, would you encourage them to stay in contact? Or would you tell your friend to get the hell out? Sometimes we accept less than we deserve and tell others to expect more--but you deserve just as much respect as they do. You are not less for being you. 

O: Open. Open up about your past when you feel you can trust someone; to your counselor or the parent figure in your life. Open your heart to the possibility of change. I know it’s scary and you feel like a burden but the more open you are, the stronger your lasting relationships will be. Communication is key!

P: Plan. Planning is no ones favorite thing and yeah you know sometimes they change, but it’s ok to have a course charted out. Sure life might tell you that your plans need to change and throw you in a way you didn’t expect--but no one said plans had to be set in stone! Just like the outline for your paper--a plan is an outline for your life, not the whole thing. You’ll get where your going one way or another--just set yourself on the right course and the rest of it will work out. 

Q: Quiet. Quiet is so demonized because as humans we are used to being surrounded by noise and sometimes your depression makes you afraid of silence. But then while being left alone with your own thoughts is hard it’s not bad if the quiet is by choice. Choose to go out for a walk, get out of town for a few days, expose yourself to the quiet of nature; a gentle white noise. Maybe a good book would be a nice change of pace; just the rustle of the world and pages. It’s ok to revel in the silence--however you do it. Quiet is not always bad, it’s ok to seek it out. 

R: Respect. Respect is earned not given--bullshit! Respect is given but can be taken away. You should always respect others as they should respect you! But if they abuse that respect? Oh hell nah honey you yank that shit away. Respect is given, but they have to keep earning it every day. You’ve earned that shit already, but that doesn’t mean other people have earned it from you. Don’t forget that !!

S: Shower. Shower because you need it. I hate them as much as the next person but a clean you feels a lot better inside, trust me. Have a clean set of clothes waiting for you so not only your skin--but your clothes feel clean. Or you know, just revel in the feeling of your own skin; I’m not here to judge. Plus you know hot water feels really good on sore muscles !!

T: Tea. Tea is my favorite thing in the world! Do you like it too? There’s so many options both herbal and non-herbal! I really like black tea with a spoonful of honey and some milk--but I really like my stress-reliever herbal tea. There’s nothing more soothing than holding a warm cup in your hands and just letting that heat soak into your bones--speaking of you probably have a cup waiting for you !! (could be coffee or cocoa too, we don’t bring that debate here!)

U: Undefined. Undefined is you, my dear. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how long you’ve been around--it’s never too late to figure things out; to change how you see yourself. My mother is 65 and going back to school--learning she is non-binary. You don’t need to figure it all out now; you don’t need to have all the answers or labels. You can keep changing, keep growing, keep redefining yourself--because the only person who gets to say who you are or who you aren’t--is you. 

V: Victory. Victories are hard fought, no matter how small...and you should celebrate them !! Even if it’s just a little dance--celebrate it !! You wanna gush about this seemingly insignifigant thing? Hell yeah, do it !! Did you get out of bed this morning? Victory !! Did you brush your teeth? Victory !! Did you say something positive about yourself instead of using self-degrading language? VICTORY !!

W: Wish. Wishing on stars was something you heard about a lot as kids--well it’s ok to still do it !! Who said you had to stop wishing on stars? Who said you were too old? It’s ok to have dreams !! It’s ok to have child-like wonder and ideas. You don’t have to be bored and cynical about the world just cause others say you do. If a kids hobby/show/book/etc makes you happy? Fuck how old you are, you can still enjoy the thing !!

X: x-pect. Expect that you should be treated well; that being with someone makes you feel at ease and at peace (yes I know I’m cheating with this one shhh). Who said that all the cheesy things you see about friendship and romances in movies can’t be true? Like yeah ok it isn’t always like that and there’s hard work that goes into it...but that doesn’t mean it can’t be true !! You don’t need to doubt someones sincerity just because it reminds you of fiction. Reality is what inspires fiction after all, is it not? It’s ok to have a life sound track and it’s ok for your relationships (platonic or otherwise) to feel larger than life !!

Y: Yell. Yell for joy, yell out of anger, yell just cause you want to. I don’t know who made you feel like you needed to be quiet all the time but that’s just not true !! I mean there are times to keep your voice low and times to be mindful of your volume, but it doesn’t have to be all the time. You can be loud !! It’s ok to be !! Sometimes it’s the only way you feel heard and sometimes you’re just so PUMPED that you gotta let the whole world know--so do it !! Be loud and be proud !!

Z: Zen. Be at peace with yourself, darling. I know that things are hard and sometimes you have to fight like hell to stay--but it’s gonna be ok. It doesn’t have to be ok yesterday, today, or even tomorrow. It can sting and you can let it weigh on you. You can take up space--you can ask for a shoulder to lean on--because there is so much space out there and that means there’s more than enough for you in the world, and here in my heart. 

Remember that you are loved, that I love you and we’ll get through this together--one letter at a time !!

[you-can-write-this]

Character Creation Tip: Archetypes of Interest

If you’re having trouble formulating your cast of personalities, or your characters are feeling nebulous, then try this: begin with an archetype, and then complicate it or subvert it.

Arguably, the most efficient strategy is to begin with your character’s interests, and/or their chosen subculture. (This list is not exhaustive, and it spans a variety of styles and genres. Ignore the concepts which are too exaggerated or too bland for your reality.)

These are just a few ideas to get you inspired! Have fun, and be sure to absolutely ruin the archetypes you select-- don’t play them straight! In other words, these are all stereotypes, and it’s up to you to shift away from these stereotypes!

Rock - A passionate musician who feels more than they think. They list band names just to show off, and they hold extremely strong opinions on obscure controversies (e.g. slap-bass is best thumb-down). They can be talented or terrible. Stereotypically, they are slackers in almost every subject: they refuse to try in school and prefer unemployment to hard work. However, when they are passionate, they don’t recognize that they’re working. With their instrument, they are persistent, and may even become skilled. If they like the idea of pulling up in a flashy car, they’ll learn how to drive, and they’ll do it well enough. But if driving is a chore, they’ll be homebound or hitching rides.

Related interests: Even if they are characterized by their interest in rock, they are likely to have similar feelings about other, lesser interests. Common examples are comic books, D&D, and other nerdy media. They’re likely fond of tv & movies from the 80s and 90s. They may have an appreciation for some other genres, such as hip-hop, but will select genres to hate in order to establish an out-group (commonly classical, country, or radio pop). Stereotypically, they have an aversion to mainstream media and intellectualism; both make them feel inferior.

Dark counterculture - Goth, emo, and all those unlabelled. They are angry about something, but don’t know what to do with those feelings, so they choose society or authority figures as the target of their anger; they might seem very justified, or they might seem completely silly. Some brandish weapons, such as aesthetically pleasing knives, as a symbol of rebellion, but (usually) not as a tool for malice. Similarly, they gravitate towards dark iconography, which to them reads as “truth”-- satanic and violent imagery seem to call attention to the actual darkness they perceive in the world, a darkness often hidden away (although they do not believe in the devil, and do not necessarily advocate violence; if they do, it’s probably all hypotheticals, and never actions). Despite all this, most have personable, friendly, and often cheerfully childlike mannerisms by default, at least when socializing within the in-group.

Related interests: They probably have personal idols who they latch onto. Musicians are most common, but any celebrity is fine, as long as they can classify as a personal symbol of rebellion. A superstitious attitude has taught them to trust tarot, to believe in ghosts, and maybe even to practice casual witchcraft. They cope with internal pain through their vices, primarily drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. Particularly among girls/women (according to stereotype), they also may have a strong liking for childlike or “pretty” media-- Disney movies and children’s shows, for example, although older/nostalgic media for teens & adults may also make the cut. They are averse to mainstream media by virtue of it being mainstream, but older mainstream media, particularly from the 80s and 90s, can appear left behind and forgotten, and regardless of gender, the character may seek to protect this forgotten & broken toy, thereby developing a great fondness.

The idea of America - This trope only applies to Americans, as it describes American nationalists. They love symbols of America, including the flag, the eagle, the army, the police, and sometimes the fire department. In appearance, they have a high level of self-confidence, showing off their toughness and their perceived moral integrity. They are probably politically conservative, if not libertarian or independent. This type is proud to be loyal-- they are proud of how they stand by their family, or their clique, or even how they stand by their own self-- as a result, they resist changing social groups on principle (breakups are especially hard), and they may be willing to make great sacrifices in order to prove their loyalty (e.g. putting themself in danger). Personal sacrifice, to them, demonstrates their heroic nature. They are similarly loyal to America. Country music probably appeals to them, and so does mainstream media, such as pop music and action/superhero movies. In some areas towards the south, these characters are popular jocks, and may have brains as well as brawn; their futures may be promising, and they are well-liked. If younger, they may party, and if older, they are a parent, beloved by other parents in the area, possibly coaching a little league or joined to a PTA. In some areas towards the north, these characters are rebellious and countercultural. In this case, expect spiteful & defensive behaviors, paired with a distrust in authority; they will still have mainstream tastes, but they might be wary of the charming and well-liked. They may find themself stuck, on a loop, talking about leaving town or starting a business, but they mistake their own dreams for goals; it will never happen. In contexts that frame them as rebellious, others may describe them as annoying, childish, or aggressive.

Regarding gender: Not all of them are men. Within this archetype, many pride themselves as “tough ladies,” but be wary that they are not feminists. The men will be loyal to their families, and the women will be loyal to their husbands. Both men and women will place great importance on their gender role as a symbol of tradition, a loyalty to their upbringing and to each other. Women of this type may be proud gun owners, or may be athletic in the realm of “feminine” sports, such as tennis or softball; almost never football or basketball. If these women/girls are countercultural & rebellious in their context, expect them to spite well-liked women for being vapid, superficial, or boring.

Regarding moving: Someone who has grown up in the south well-liked for these qualities will still be confident & sociable in other cultural contexts. In the case of a countercultural rebel, it may depend. 

Broader queer community - Not all queer people integrate their queer identity into their lifestyle-- but some do. Without an enormous subversion, this trope is better off written by queer writers. (This admin is queer in many respects.) Social politics engage them, invigorate them, and infuriate them. They’re a leftist if not center-left, and they have probably gained a lot of their knowledge & wisdom from social media, to varying degrees of accuracy; they’ve spent long hours scrolling through socio-political facts and opinions, lighting a fire in their stomach. According to stereotype, legitimate distress has left them spiteful at a young age, and they are quick to anger, quick to correct others. Friendships within the queer community bring them a sense of comfort. When comfortable, they are energetic and indulge in childlike behaviors; speaking too loudly, bursting into song, offering inappropriate emotional responses, etc. They are openly affectionate and may even enjoy cuddling with friends or openly cuddling with a partner(s). After previously feeling limited at a younger age, they are now desperate to express themself through any medium, and therefore gravitate towards wacky/colorful clothing, talk constantly about their queerness, and may decorate their houses/rooms with bizarre, sometimes queer, paraphernalia.

Related interests: If they’re invested in a tv show, podcast, movie series, book series, or other piece of media, they are probably very deeply and passionately invested. This media will usually be current, and will usually be just outside of the social norm-- for example, serious-toned animated shows, but not quite children’s television; if it’s live-action, then it’s science fiction or fantasy with a distinctive lore. Their chosen media falls into three categories: A. media with canonical lesbian relationships, B. media in which two or more men have a warm, positive relationship (which doesn’t always have to be interpreted as romantic by fans), C. it’s a YA story in which a vibrant cast of characters come together as a team or clique. They spend significant time talking about, thinking about, or writing about their favorite media. 

Female celebrities - They have a vast knowledge of their favorite female celebrities, and keep closely up to date through social media. They are fiercely loyal to these celebrities, and take any spite towards these celebrities as an ethical offense. Unconsciously, they’ve developed a very strong sense of importance towards the gender binary, and for their own reasons, believe in supporting (certain) women, and distrusting men. Unconsciously, they imitate their favorite celebrities, and learn how to behave from them-- because of this, their world has a high bar for fashion and presentability. Their clothes are a perfect fit, style, and shape, and if they’re a woman/girl, their makeup is a wonder; in this way, they, too feel a little bit more like the women they admire. Stereotypically, if they’re a gay man, they probably imitate their favorite female celebrities consciously more than unconsciously, dancing along to the choreographed dances and attributing these imitations of femininity to their own homosexuality. In any form of imitation, their obsession with celebrities informs their norms, and informs their sense of self. Because they learn to view themself externally, comparing their own behaviors and presentation to that of celebrities, they will become experts in their own presentation, and as a result, become very well-liked, with many friends. Their lingo is very much up-to-date. They’re a fan of male celebrities as well, but they do not make it a hobby; it holds much lesser importance.

Related interests: In general, their tastes sway mainstream. They like watching celebrities because they like people, and so socializing and partying are their primary pastimes. With their heightened empathetic skills, they could relate to those in the out-group, but have trained themself not to, in order to feel most comfortable in their in-group. So they spend time with people similar to themself, and avoid or even act cruelly towards those they don’t immediately understand.

Classical music (for characters below 30 or so) - Their classical tastes span infinite times and locations. However, they take separate interest in European (or Ancient Grecian/Roman) history, and in this regard, they are probably fixated on a particular country during a specific period: for example, the Italian Renaissance, Soviet Russia, or Classical Greece. They’ve read a lot of classic literature from and outside of this setting. They feel disconnected from contemporary society and mainstream media, although their complaints may be diverse. They do extremely well in school, and heel to all authority figures. They relish in their ability to follow the instructions of teachers, bosses, and elders, and when they lack ability to fulfill commands, they become anxious and panicked.

Related interests: When they connect to contemporary culture in their own way, however, their hearts swell with pride-- maybe they make memes about classical art, and tote this as a character trait. Humor is a common way to show off that they don’t take their obsessions “too seriously,” and it often becomes central to their self-expression. Otherwise, they may have any number of interests, but it’s common for contemporary media to be handled with humor and irony.

School - Bookish, quiet, and unhappy. Stereotypically, this archetype is guided first and foremost by authority figures. They feel pressured to do better than anyone, and have either limited or failed to incite their social life. Since success in social relationships remains unquantifiable, friendship always ends up on the back-burner, even long after they’ve realized their mistake, and long after it’s too late. They get straight As most of the time, and feel proud of their ability to do better than anyone else. But they can’t write essays because they struggle to form their own opinions; if they get better at writing through shear hard work and perseverance, they will still struggle when an upper-level English teacher tells them to “cultivate your own unique voice,” because as far as they can see, they don’t have any voice of their own. They don’t know themself and are not sure how to learn about themself. Their actions follow the instructions of others. If they’re a college student, they’re having trouble picking a major, or have picked a major for pragmatic (not emotional) reasons.

Related interests: Poetry is a likely interest, whether it’s Instagram poetry, printed poetry, or the act of writing poetry. Even if they never seem to know who they are, if they write poetry, those poems seem to write themselves. They may also have nerdy interests, such as kpop, children’s tv shows, or anime. They aren’t explicitly averse to mainstream culture, either. Because they study so often, they’ve probably tried, at one point or another, studying with music on, so they have developed music tastes. They probably know their musical niche very well, whatever it may be (and no genre is necessarily off limits).

Academia - Perhaps a professor, or just as likely, a wannabe. They have some knowledge in many fields, and specialized knowledge in one field or a few. However, they will proudly bare their broad, shallow knowledge on the subjects they’re less familiar with. They form strong opinions on hardly familiar subject matter, and become domineering in conversation. They probably think that psychology is a nonsense field made up of unprovable, and therefore irrelevant, theories. Others will constantly be Googling the obscure words they speak. Lateness and disorganization illustrate the disconnect between their deep thought and a pragmatic reality. However, in their private life, they may exhibit extraordinarily silly or childlike mannerisms, in their own adult way. Such mannerisms appear to be a disclaimer to their personalities-- that they are not serious all the time, which makes them feel a little cooler, or at least, a little less cold, insociable, or nerdy. But in fact, they are indignant about any silliness which contaminates art or academia, and thus, they section off maturity (thoughtful, logical, serious, rigorous) and childishness (pointless, for entertainment value only, not strictly beautiful or strictly grotesquely beautiful). They are serious about serious matters and silly among silly matters. Contrast to the young fan of classical music, who approaches the mature, academic, or artistic as a form of entertainment worth joking about. According to stereotype, both the young classical listener and the academia enthusiast use humor to disarm their perilously serious interests, but the academic is much more cautious to distract from beauty or knowledge.

Related interests: They have a strong appreciation for the arts & culture. Classical music is the highest form of music to them, and hip hop is “not real music.” They are deeply moved by literature, sculpture, and painting; the older it is, the more they like it.

Skateboarding - Relaxed and sociable, this character can be seen skating from class to class on an outdoor college campus, or trying tricks with other skaters in back of the public library. They are fascinated by appearances, and are very careful about their presentation in regards to fashion (probably includes a beanie), their language, and the tastes they share with other people (in movies, television, etc.). Therefore, they may slip into superficial behaviors, judging others by first impressions or even just their appearances or their social status. They are aware of how others perceive them, and are both conscientious and self-conscious. The skateboard itself is an aesthetic flare taken very far, reflecting their strong sense of nostalgia. Their nostalgia shows up in their other interests as well: they watch television & movies from the 80s and 90s, they started playing D&D after “Stranger Things” came out, and they genuinely enjoyed reading The Catcher in the Rye. Their tastes and tendencies may be nerdy and subversive, but because they are conscientious about how others perceive them, they are great at forming good relationships with others. They are sociable and know how to be likable. Sometimes they try to simplify themself for the easier consumption of others, and they definitely hide some of their stranger interests & ideas.

Related interests: Music is important to them, but that could take the form of hip hop, rock (likely punk), radio pop, or the generally alternative & obscure. Whether they’re smart or they’re stupid, they probably have at least one significant academic interest, such as literature or history, and they don’t care if other people know.

Musicals - Loud, eccentric, melodramatic. The theater kid is so boisterous that even they can’t deny it, and with full self-awareness, they break from social norms. They usually have trouble taking things seriously. They don’t take rules or laws seriously, and will stand on tables while authority figures demand that they get down. They first and foremost chase their bliss, against odds, threats, and authority. If a loved one passes away, they will become somber and cannot contain their pain, sobbing every waking moment, and they will cry suddenly at birthday parties, (understandably) calling attention to their latest thoughts and feelings for all to hear. However, if an unimportant or disliked acquaintance passes away, they may be stealing away with a friend to the corner of the funeral home, whispering jokes about something else and laughing inappropriately. They will speak sexually explicitly in church and laugh as they catch the glares of a passerby. They are not themself without friends, because they need someone to be in on the fun, on the joke. However, unlike most of the archetypes on this list, they primarily target people within the in-group. Like their friends, they are feeling, and highly sensitive. But like their friends, they are not conscientious of other people’s boundaries, and they don’t like to be told what to do. They make enemies of other theater kids, and can be genuinely aggressive, scheming, and villainous. They feel no shame when they talk behind people’s backs, which is one of their pastimes. But most importantly, you can always expect them to burst into song at the absolutely wrong time. Expect very intensive knowledge about their favorite musicals, but probably not their inner workings-- they can recite scenes from memory, and they know the names of all the original performers, but they are less likely to know names of writers, and they tend to care less for trivia. They may know some music theory and how to play piano, but otherwise, they will remain in their lane, focusing on performance aspects.

Related interests: If they are of high school age or younger, they can party without any drink or drugs; otherwise, they modestly drink alcohol and then trick themself into thinking they’re completely hammered. Assume they first tried alcohol at a young age. Despite how loudly they talk about sex & drugs, they may be inexperienced & naive about drugs. If they do drugs frequently, though, they do party drugs at parties, or try out drugs at other social gatherings to feel hip & cool.

Furries - No, they don’t want to fuck real animals. They want to fuck cartoon animals, but more importantly, they want to be cartoon animals. Like the theater kid archetype, they are bombastic, emotional, and sociable, but unlike the theater kid archetype, they lack any social awareness at all, and they are strictly countercultural. Theater kids read the room and don’t care what they see; furries can’t read the room at all. Amongst the in-group, they are childlike: loud, offering inappropriate emotional reactions, and constantly crossing other people’s boundaries. They can be very inappropriate (sexually & otherwise), regardless of the setting, and regardless of other people’s reactions. But more importantly, they are fiercely affectionate. They hug strangers of the in-group, and otherwise actively pursue physical contact. When a loved one gets attention, they are quick to become jealous, and they pursue their loved one’s attention overtly or covertly; they become angry and demand attention, or they show off their sadness and hope their loved one will notice. Amongst the out-group, they expect others to limit their true self. They are either quiet, or they become overtly rebellious, treating the out-group as the enemy who will stifle them. When rebellious, they try their best to be obscene: they curse & insult haphazardly, they feel proud when authority figures come down on them, and they gravitate towards obscene gestures and lewd implications. They are either proud of their sexual experiences, or shame others for their sexual experiences. Self-expression is extremely important to them, so they wear edgy, suggestive, or brightly colored clothing. However, they only care about bringing the inside to the outside, and they’re not very aware of the gaze of others, so they may not take care of their hair very much, and they don’t wear makeup; these are superficial matters, not matters of the heart. They are attracted to the cute and to the dark, sometimes simultaneously, so it’s common for them to flirt while using childlike language (and perhaps to use childlike language in general). Stereotypically, they have an aversion to "basic” types and to intellectualism; both make them feel inferior. But from the “basic” types-- in other words, people who are well-liked with socially acceptable interests-- they are mostly averse reflexively. They may insult others for being vapid, prudish, and mean (even without cause), but they expect such people to look down on them, and become defensive in preparation for cruelty.

Related interests: They party. They lost their virginity at a young age, have tried every drug, and may cope with their problems through drinking and smoking. They talk a lot about the demons they’ve struggled with (usually mental illness, trauma, or feeling like an outsider), and they blame their bad behavior and these demons. Whether these demons are lesser or greater, they feel unequipped to deal with these problems; their demons haunt them incessantly and, usually with full awareness, run away from their problems through drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. They are also deeply involved with rave culture. Although they get high while they rave, they do not rave in order to cope, but in order to express themself. Being a furry is not the only thing they want to express about themself, though, and they probably have many, many labels they very closely identify with. These labels may include any of the following: leftist, nazi, communist, emo, e-girl/e-boy/e-they, gay, bisexual, pansexual, nonbinary, trans, punk, clinically depressed, clinically anxious, etc. The more controversial the personal attribute they have, the more closely they identify with it, and the more they seek to express it within and outside of furry culture. 

Eastern philosophy - Woke, but not really, this archetype is attracted to obscurity. This trope applies to outsiders of the relevant cultures; they are unlikely to be East Asian in ethnicity or nationality. In casual conversation, they make quick and awkward connections, hopping spontaneously from topic to topic. Somehow your political opinions on big business have lead them to go on about chakras. But that lasts only a moment-- now they’re talking about Nietzsche and Kant, and now they’re connecting it back to chakras. You don’t see the connection. They’re well-read and they very much know it; otherwise, they skim books and talk constantly about the couple pages they’ve read. They’re always looking for something deep and meaningful that can bring them realizations about the world around them, but the packaging of information can make or break wisdom. The more distant from their world this wisdom comes, the more likely they are to trust it-- new superstitions from within their country are deceptive, ignorant, and nonsensical playtoys. However, methods of divination from Africa, China, Japan, India, and Indigenous America pique their interest. They find these methods fascinating, beautiful, and artistic. They are either convinced that foreign superstitions are accurate, or they perceive it aesthetically first and foremost, maintaining a respectable distance, and taking pictures for social media. Ancientness, acclaim, and foreignness may all be factors in whether or not they respect a source or a piece of media. They frequently throw out names in European philosophy, but in Eastern philosophy, they have formed a blind trust, and they live their life assuming truth of the third eye, of chi, of chakras, etc. Whatever their preferences and beliefs were in youth, they have moved on. They’re on a constant hunt for novelty, and the familiar is too comfortable, too convenient, to be true. They probably have good ideals-- love, community, globalism-- but they exhibit some egocentric behaviors. To them, the modern is inauthentic (it is plastic, monetary, commodified), and the ancient or foreign is authentic by virtue of it being obscure. In their constant hunt for authenticity, they speak honestly to a fault. They cannot filter their thoughts, and others will become frustrated or disturbed by some of their harsh criticisms. They may also become socially isolated due to their tangents, their rants, their overconfidence, and their delusions of grandeur. For this reason, they socialize with others of their kind, and those with other shared interests.

Related interests: They are guaranteed to have some typical nerdy or mainstream tastes, despite dwelling on extremely unaccessible media. They’ve experimented with various drugs, but they are not the partying type. They listen to experimental music which to most other people sounds only like sound.

Drag - This stereotype primarily refers to drag queens, who dress up in flamboyant exaggerations of women’s clothing. This archetype is very conscious of their appearance-- their sense of self is deeply connected to their physical traits, and as a result, they discuss and amplify the physical traits they closely identify with. This applies out of drag just as much as it applies in drag. If they are visibly non-white, they may very closely identify with their ethnicity, and engage in (probably harmless) self-stereotyping, or otherwise significantly engage with their heritage (e.g. cooking, dressing, speaking the language/wanting to learn the language and never getting around to it). If they are especially skinny, they will dress to emphasize it, and they will carry themself with the confidence of a skinny person who wants to be skinny. If they are especially overweight, they care deeply about body positivity, or in some cases, will purposefully make themself the butt of the joke, and tell fat jokes about themself all the time. A blond/blonde will take extra care to coif their hair, a curvy person will move to emphasize the shape of their body, etc. Other facets of their personality and background may also become the subject of some verbal self-stereotyping (usually of the purposeful, joking kind)-- they may talk about how southern they are, or how “poor” they are, or how communist they are, etc. They may have a (flexible, ever-changing) list of attributes they ascribe to themself, and go out of their way to express these traits, while holding a complex, passive-aggressive relationship with their undesired traits. If they are a drag queen who generally lives as a man, then he wears distinctly male clothing most of the time, but his look is distinctive-- not necessarily fashionable, and unlikely to be flashy, but most certainly distinctive. In this case, he might wear something which represents a surprising, subversive hint of femininity amidst a masculine look: for example, a pair of earrings, or carefully done eyebrows, or a quiet hint of lipstick, or beneath a men’s shirt, a corset. They may not necessarily be extroverted, but they certainly will be sociable and conscious of the feelings of others. If they are rude and obnoxious, then they may be consciously ignoring the needs of others. They have some slight, superficial social justice tendencies, but in being an ally to other groups, they end up with a foot in their mouth. They are not angry for the sake of any minority group; they are merely an advocate, and they are proud to advocate, and when they do put their foot in their mouth, they expose a hidden chink in their advanced social skills. Sooner or later, they will drastically misunderstand the needs of others, because they are quick to project their experiences and ways of thinking and feelings onto others, and in trying to make others happy, they may be seeking out the happiness of an imagined other self; it’s empathy, if a bit misguided.

Related interests: They love pop music, and have had their fair share of drinking and clubbing. Their tastes swing mainstream and they have had strange, adventurous experiences. They are more likely than most people to be superstitious, because they like it when things are simple, stereotypical, and easy to explain; they believe in predictions of the future, and they latch onto astrological stereotypes of other people.

Live laugh love - They have an addiction to inspirational quotes, and it’s beginning to effect their personal relationships. They post inspirational quotes on Facebook. They decorate kitchens with little signs and chalkboards and potholders, inspirational quotes adorning them each. And yes, above all, they worship those three words: live, laugh, love. They are probably a mother in their 40s or above. If not, they have a great and loving relationship with their mother; they openly share interests and hobbies with their mother, and treat their mother the same as a friend. Either way, they live a privileged life. They are financially safe, and they are guaranteed food, housing, and comfort every day, possibly for their entire life. They may live comfortably in suburbia, or they might be filthy rich. If they work, it is not too intensive, and they have a lot of time for their many hobbies and interests. They’re caring and giving with a lot of patience, and they’re quite extroverted, with a lot of friends they meet regularly. However, while they pretend to be adventurous, they are not adventurous; they are aspirational, while remaining comfortable. Their magnetism to inspirational quotes comes from a comfortability with self-love and self-care, which comes from a privilege to take time for oneself, and the privilege of a healthy upbringing.

Related interests: Pets. They’re a cat-lover or a dog-lover. Caring for another creature is an important hobby for them. They love aesthetics, particularly simple interior design, conventional makeup, and plain yet expensive clothing. They probably have an interest in a specific country or region, and cultural inspiration may or may not be respectful. They may be on social media. If they’re young, they’re on Instagram. If they’re on the older side, they’re all about Facebook.

Some primary interests which fit less cleanly into archetypes, or which I otherwise will not be describing on this list: discovering the culture of parents or ancestors, a specific culture unrelated to oneself, being religious (should be specific to religion and sect), true crime/serial killers

Keep an eye out for a second post about secondary interests, and the difference between primary and secondary interests.

[hearthhhh]

Could I get a matchup? I'm older than your usual audience at 33 lol. Non-binary pansexual. I love Mystic Messenger, BNHA, and Seven Deadly Sins. I'm told I'm very sweet and understanding, but I can go full protect mode when needed. I like BJDs, sculpting, reading and video games. I'm a major goth babe even if I'm fluffy. I have green curly hair and green ish grey eyes. I've been through literal hell but keep smiling for my friends because they need me to be their light.

Okay ball jointed dolls look hella cool and I never really knew they existed until this ask. Also I originally paired you with Jirou, but I think you wanted a matchup more your age so I took that into consideration!  

I pair you with…

🥢 This took me a bit... I looked through heroes and couldn’t find anyone, and the second I started considering villains, I thought Shigaraki was perfect.

🥢 I feel like Shigaraki wouldn’t pay attention to anyone that isn’t a villain. Heroes to him are scum, and he has no problem murdering the innocent. So you’d have to be a villain, and eventually would join the league.

🥢 I think you being apart of the Liberation would make this a whole lot more interesting, but I don’t want to risk spoiling anything for you. So I’ll stick with plain and simple, you’re apart of the League of Villains.

🥢 I can imagine your aesthetic mending really well with the League. They mostly dress in cold dark colours, and I feel like your goth babe vibes would fit nicely.

🥢 You’re so sweet I cant imagine you being a villain without a huge reason. You’re doing this to protect someone, maybe a best friend. The League is eventually made aware of this. Dabi’s the one to reveal it, moodily and a bit rudely.

🥢 You’re such a mom to the League. You dress their wounds, try and keep their sleeping schedules in check. I’d imagine you fawning the most over Toga and Twice. You’d try with Dabi, he’s a hot mess, but he pushes you away.

🥢 What’s really important to Shigaraki is loyalty. You create strong platonic bonds and protect your friends really well, so I feel like that’s why Shigaraki noticed first about you.

🥢 Shigaraki would begin to warm up to you after a fight. He sees you mercilessly defending a wounded league member, and Shigaraki’s able to properly see how seriously you take this whole villain thing.

🥢 After this, Shigaraki reluctantly lets you sore on him. He’ll glare, scoff, and sigh in irritation, but sometimes he’ll lean into your touch. Shigaraki would never voice it, but he loves getting his wounds treated by you. He also likes the caring attention you give him, especially due to the significant lack of attention he gets on a daily basis. Shigaraki’s so touch starved.

🥢 So you guys get closer that way, with your protectiveness looming over the league like a protective cloak. You love them and they look up to you. Shigaraki’s admiration for you grows steadily.

🥢 You two play lots of video games together! He hates losing and gets pretty sucky about it, so sometimes you’ll let him win. But you both have fun and exchange playful banter!

🥢 Considering your parental nature , I feel like Shigaraki’s sense of humor would bring you just a bit of concern, but be an entertaining dynamic. He has a dark and offesnive sense of humour, and I feel like you’re softer and a bit fluffy.

🥢 You know that one meme where person a says “someone will die” and person b happily adds on “from fun!”? Yeah that’d definitely be you two, to an extent. While you definitely fight when it comes down to it, especially in self defense, you’re softer in comparison to Shigaraki.

🥢 Getting into a relationship with Shigaraki would be a little difficult. You’d have to know him well to understand exactly what he’s getting at. But then again, also knowing Shigaraki, he’d have to have known you for a long time and understand you like the back of his hand (unintentional pun oop).

🥢 You two don’t ever really confirm your relationship at first. Shigaraki would ask you casually and kinda gruffly to go out, maybe to eat, and that’s all the confirmation you need that this is a bit more than platonic. He’s acting reserved and you can tell the question brought him significant embarassment. Shigaraki even asked you out in front of the rest of the League, who are watching through warry eyes because why the fuck is he acting so wierd? But you get the underlying message, somehow.

🥢 After you two start going out there isn’t really a change in your relationship. Shigaraki looks after you with concern and tries his best to match the parental concern you emit like second nature. He admires that aspect of you and tries to show his appreciation by doting over you to the best of his ability. Others say it comes off as nosey and a bit heavy, but the poor boy tries his best.

🥢 He’s really protective of you. Shigaraki wouldn’t so much as let people look at you too threateningly, let alone raise their voice, and stays glued to your side during missions.

🥢 Shigaraki likes chilling in your room. He’s afraid to touch any of your BJDs or sculptures in case he accidentally turns them to dust, but he likes admiring them from afar. It gives your room a cool vibe and he likes being in there, sometimes wordlessly walking in and finding a place to sit randomly.

I pair you with…

🥢 I’d imagine you catch Merlin’s attention. You’re pretty well known in your village for your sculptures, and she catches wind of your talent. She comes asking for a sculpture for a spell.

🥢 You two get along pretty well. You’re really open with what you do, and Merlin admires your sculptures and praises you. I think she’s also have an interest in BJDs, maybe even have a small collection herself.

🥢 Merlin grows intrigued with you from your first meeting and visits you several times afterwards.

🥢 I feel like Merlin is the type to have a ton of contacts, so she keeps in touch originally just to have you as an acquaintance she can go to for favours. She’s alright with popping by a couple times to help you out with some stuff, and you’d have a magic tool that you use to keep in touch with her.

🥢 It takes a while for Merlin to start to get to know you well. During some of her random visits to your village, she catches you with your friends a couple times. Imagine her literally just appearing behind you, calling out from the weirdest places. Peeking out from a rooftop, sitting at a table that you could’ve sworn was empty when you looked at it a second ago, walking out of a dead end alley. Merlin’s full of surprises.

🥢 But on that note, Merlin likes seeing you with your friends! She thinks you look full of life, and you’re always smiling and just overall so giddy. She admires you from afar from a lot, or pops in and joins you all because she likes seeing you that happy and carefree.

🥢 Eventually you ought to notice Merlin’s interests. So you invite her over for tea, hot chocolate, coffee, whatever you prefer. Merlin isn’t picky I see her liking just about everything.

🥢 But you guys chill pretty regularly after you reach out to her. You’ve opened the door to friendship rather than acquaintanceship. Merlin usually shows up unannounced, but at least comes at reasonable hours, like in the afternoon.

🥢 I bet Merlin would bring small nicknacks from her adventures, and learns after bringing a book that you like reading! She takes that into an account, and now whenever she visits brings one book from whereever she traveled. Invest in bookshelves, buddy, cause Merlin’s going all out!

🥢 Merlin’s definitely a big reader too. I can totally imagine you two choosing one book from the collection Merlin steadily brings you, you two get together to talk about one book you’ve read after the month is over. It’s really cute and casual and overall great bonding time.

🥢 Merlin is definitely the type to sit down and talk thuroughly about a relationship. I’d imagine she literally sets a date for when she’d like to talk, even calling you before hand.

🥢 Merlin tries to be as friendly as possible, and the conversation isn’t as intimidating as you’d think! You two sit down and talk maturely about what you’d want in a relationship, what your boundaries would be, and what pace you’d like the relationship to go at.

🥢 Afterwards there is a noteiceable change in how you and Merlin act. She’s much more romantic and definitely surprises you with flowers a lot. She doesn’t leave a note with them or anything, she’d love leaving them in random parts of your home for you two find.

🥢 Merlin would totally be the Queen of romance. Dates with her are the absolute best and so romantic. She likes taking you to faraway places and spoiling you rotten.

🥢 Merlin loves that parental side of you, and as much as Merlin tries to spoil you, you ultimately win her over a lot.

🥢 Merlin loves when you make her hot drinks and force her to rest and eat. She’s the type to overwork herself to the point of fainting, although she rarely shows anyone. But you can see how tired she is, and how she stubbornly pushes through it.

🥢 Merlin is a sucker for cuddling! It gets her to stay still and rest, too. So really it’s a win win; Merlin’s able to settle down, and you two get to be mushy and romantic.

🥢 You guys aren’t the most mundane, but you guys are spontaneous! There’s always a surprise around the corner when you’re with Merlin! She’s a really exciting and romantic partner.

I pair you with…

🥢 I bet you and Yoosung would get along almost immediately!

🥢 You two would obviously bond over video games at first. Yoosung’s very vocal about the interests you two share and is excited that you click so well! You guys would end up totally flooding the messenger, and the rest of RFA would have to usher you two into private text messages.

🥢 If you’ll let him, Yoosung can talk to you for hours. He likes people who are nice and just overall loves your vibe.

🥢 While Yoosung tries to brush of your parently doting, he sorta needs someone to remind him to eat and sleep and basically take care of himself. Yoosung would show his appreciation later, telling you how great he feels and thanking you immensely.

🥢 You guys start to build this really cute friendship. You two bond over the smallest things, and make up the RFA’s cheerleading duo. You guys are both so supportive of everyone else and everyone looks forwards to your commentary whenever they share anything with the group chat. Even if the comments are late, you and Yoosung never fail to share your words.

🥢 No one’s really surprised when you two start hanging out regularly. You guys just get along so well you basically drift to each other’s sides.

🥢 You two become a powerduo that everyone sort of loops in together. Your names are usually in the same sentence. You’re basically the same person.

🥢 Yoosung frequently talks about his lack of success in his love life throughout your friendship. Gradually, you begin to think of him in a different light, and I’d imagine you gain a crush on him slowly. Yoosung on the other hand falls for you hard, near the beginning of your friendship. Except he doesn’t voice anything because he likes being around you so much, he’s afraid to jeapordise your friendship.

🥢 You guys spend a lot of time being friends, and the rest of the RFA tease you two occassionally. To them, it’s pretty obvious you both caught feelings. Jumin even makes it a point to state how pointless he thinks the secrecy is. Why not just confess?

🥢 Yoosung eventually bites the bullet and tries to mention it as casually as he can. But knowing him, this comes out the opposite. He’s pretty awkward about it and stuttering over the phone. Yoosung basically confesses that he has feelings for you, but respects how you feel. He practically prepares for a rejection, he sounds so sad.

🥢 When you tell him you feel the same he’s ecstatic!

🥢 Prepare for daily rants on the groupchats from Yoosung about how much he likes you. Everyone’s relieved you two finally got together, and they praise the both of you.

🥢 Being in a relationship with Yoosung is the absolute sweetest. He’s so supportive of you and whatever you do, and he’s forever showering you with praise. He’s awestruck at the simplest things and loves you so much.

🥢 You’d definitely have to be aware of how he’s handling himself. While Yoosung is pretty vocal about how he’s feeling, that makes taking care of him easier.

🥢 Yoosung is really vocal about just about everything. This really builds the foundation for trust, and you guys don’t really have any barriers when it comes to sharing things. Overall, you guys have a really healthy relationship and you’re just two really sweet babes.

[paradife-loft]

alright, here we go.... did anybody want a write-up on my (initial/current/main) Fallen Hero protagonist? because I sure have got one, and an obsessive need to talk about this game!! :’D

they’re actually more intentionally a self-insert than most characters I play, since I didn’t really have any pre-game time in which I was considering what sort of person to play and what their name/background would be. eyyyyyy impulsivity!

anyway, on with it. some facts, as they were, about one Ishvah Bakker, formerly known as Sidestep...

Basics

Probably mixed race of some sort, or otherwise on the liminal edge of (not?) white - other people’s perceptions are crucial, and more defining than they’d like, for as long as they can remember. (Good thing they’re a telepath!)

Nonbinary and genderless and generally salty about it. (Dysphoria makes every other body-related trauma response even more fun!)

Long-ish dark brown hair, which they usually wear down or in a simple ponytail. Better than needing to think about styling it, anyways...

Aromantic bisexual. Full of angst. (Aren’t we all.)

Supervillain codename: Iconoclast

Says fuck! :D

Psych profile

Generally quiet and watchful and cautious - a thinker, a planner, a tactician, at least as far as their comfort zone goes. Curious (sometimes morbidly curious) as all hell, in a “killed the cat” sort of way. Alas, not much satisfaction has been had. More just worry about what it says about them that their curiosity can “override” alleged basic human reactions like “empathy” or “getting freaked out by gore”.

Despite the control-freak tendencies, the more a situation slips away from, or otherwise can’t be planned and controlled, the more they do Impulsive Shit. Reckless, adrenaline-junkie, can’t-sit-still-because-then-the-anxiety-will-know-where-you-live, self-endangering impulsive shit. Anything to get the situation back under their immediate influence, if not control.

Speaking of which, attitudes toward bodies? They’ve got a callous disregard for physical sensations like pain, & the (temporary) structural integrity of bodies, especially once that aren't theirs.

They’re very dissociated from bodies in general really, their own included; thinking of them as tools, and willing to let them get fucked up in the service of "more important" goals.

(Shoutout to when they had to perform surgery on themself! :D Totally not fucked up or anything. Especially that they hated seeing themself naked, especially through “another’s” eyes, more than they hated having to actually do the surgery. Nothing to see here folks, just a normal person.)

When needing to improvise interpersonally, they try to head for whatever reveals the least about who they actually are & what they're capable of - using others' preconceptions and biases to fill in blanks with whatever they're expecting. They’ll use appearing weak, tired, unassuming as a shield, but it... grates. Still, feels less dangerous and attention-grabbing than being confident.

Relatedly, they do hate losing their telepathy - the lack of sensory overload is nice, but that doesn't outweigh how... naked they feel, exposed and cut off and unsure if they can trust what they see. (Only what they see.) It’s easier in their puppet’s body, Alex, since everyone else just sees an obvious young white man and there’s no need to manage those expectations, but even so, a loss of information never feels good. (Objectively useful to learn how to manage without, but not their emotional preference.)

Yeah, even if their puppet body goes around in a binary gender, they still prefer to have a name that’s genderless to their own ears at least. Alex is common and unassuming. (And leaning into the private supervillain grandiosity in-joke with themself as far as other notable Alex(ander)s is.... entertaining. Hush, it doesn’t mean they need a life.)

They tend toward being perpetually un(der) satisfied by accomplishments as soon as they’ve just come out of the oven, as it were - a restless mind always moving onto the next step, the next thing that needs to happen. They didn’t used to be like this, did they? But it’s better like this now, considering all that’s happened. 

(Perhaps because of that, perhaps in contrast, their personal apartment is done up in a surprisingly cozy way. Soft carpet and dark encompassing furniture, fabric on the walls, understated lamps and indoor string lights, and only a small window in each room. It’s one of the few things they can find calming, especially when it comes with some coffee.)

(Delicious self-medication with minor stimulants~)

And hey, the coziness is probably also nice because of how disgustingly touch-starved they are. Starved and averse all at once, really, which is just the best. (And uh, also sexually frustrated.... not that they let themselves think about that, hahahaha....... Moving on.)

The lack of sleep involved in maintaining two lives? Is absolutely getting to them, even if they don’t realise it. Sure, they think their body is getting all the rest it needs while they're in Alex's, but their brain is still active in maintaining the telepathic link such that the sleep isn't quite as restful and rejuvenating as it otherwise could be. (Well, assuming they didn’t constantly have nightmares.) Hence some of the increasing emotional instability & inability to hide their feelings when confronted with actual stressful situations.

Background

LA was the first place they ever tried to make a home, really. Or multiple different home iterations. They feel tied to the city, not least because of how the change in the place and its name feels like a macrocosm of what they’ve done switching sides themself.

Because this is a self-insert (and I do what I want, Thor), and to provide some justification for their first name, I’m thinking about their first (failed, aborted) attempt at being A Person (after getting out of whatever X-23 situation is getting teased for their origin story?) and joining any sort of community, being with a local shul. Perhaps after being helped out by people involved in a community service program? There’s a fair bit that resonate(d) with them, or at least felt good - the idea of being wanted and cared for and responsible for each other, of improving the world and doing positive deeds, of having a fucking family... They probably poked some feet into the idea of converting...

But that definitely crashed and burned. Half of it was coming to realise just how much self they’d have to put into the community to become a part of it - and they either had no self to speak of, or couldn’t risk, couldn’t feel comfortable, revealing what bits they did have. Peace was hard to come by. Comfort with uncertainty, with simultaneous opposite-seeming truths, never coalesced, and in fact felt actively threatening - as did the idea of being able to achieve any sort of relational parity with a higher power of some sort. It’s in the name, after all - a higher power is something you’ll never be able to live freely under with respect. So as that all came to a head, all the paranoia and feelings of inadequacy, they just... left. Don’t really think about it much now, don’t like to think about it, because it felt perhaps even more naive than trying to play masked hero, but... the name stuck.

As apparently did the desire to Be Good And Make Things Better, despite themself, because there they were back again with this stupid hero scheme, meeting Julia Ortega and making friends, being naive and trusting and thinking the whole damned system didn’t need to be burned down for anything to change. That other people could help protect you, that being part of a system could help protect you even if you weren’t one of the bastards at the top pulling the strings, helping nobody but themselves and their own power and pocketbooks.

Well, that sure isn’t going to happen again. This time, they’ve learned their fucking lesson.

[desertdragon]

Hm, there's a lot of fun questions in that fall ask game, but how about some pie flavors?

🎃🍎🥧

@smart-elec srry I took 10,000 years

🎃 pumpkin: do you have any favorite brainstorming techniques? how do you like to gather ideas for your wip?

I either have a scene or a line/series of lines invade my mind that I need to get out of me in it's entirety immediately or I have flickers of scenes coming in and out there's little in between that's all it is; either it happens on its own in response to a prompt or something around me or at random for no reason or it happens because I'm listening to music or encounter something in media/information/research/reading etc. Rarely, I get started on scenes from strong emotions alone, for all of these my brain will then start making connections automatically

Addendum: I don’t think I was clear enough. Rather than just saying “Yeah I get The Visions” and leaving it at that, a wip is like blacksmithing. Ideas are ores, all distinct in the potential they offer and what purposes they serve for what they can become. I’m then picking what I want to work with and drawing it out into a shape, hammering it constantly and cooling by walking away from it sometimes to come back and hammer again. And not all of them will be the same thing; some are weapons, some are tools, some are decoration pieces etc. Working on works in progress is me choosing my ore (get the idea and its theme), shaping it (writing process/drafting), cooling (stepping away), reforging (editing and revisions/drafting) and working on its overall components/detailing besides the billet itself (misc details, word choice, format and so on) its a hands on process but I tend to get in my own way

🍎 apple: let’s talk about friendship in your wip. do you have any favorite friend/platonic dynamics? any friendships gone sour?

For Gan and Vaste the entire concept around them is serving as direct foils to one another which is why their backgrounds are similar: isolated close knit community, mixed parentage, outcast based on their looks and family, strikes out on their own, raised with one biological parent in the picture, both even have green eyes and aren't physically human etc.; they were also intended to be like when a game gives you protagonist options of picking a boy or a girl, but then Vaste became non-binary so that doesn't matter in the gender sense, now they're like having two characters who are the protagonist and you can pick which route you want to play.

In this wip they don't know each other well yet and are just starting to become friends. I've already decided the main thread here is bonding through the things that have made them odd to others in the past, or tragic situations they share in life, as well as commonalities within their differences. I threw together two guys who are different just enough and force them to look at their similarities until they finally understand each other better and grow for it. Those are my favorite kinds of friendships to write and dynamics in general; the best relationships are boiled down to comedy duos, they can have as much complexity and seriousness as possible but if you strip everything away they should bounce off each other enough with a chemistry that’d make a good comedy duo who know each other in such a way there’s clear logic to the dynamic- they can be thrown into anything or be absurd while getting a reaction from you, and these two have to develop that after not starting on the right foot.

🥧 pie: let’s talk about food in your wip. are there any special recipes or traditional meals? do any of your OCs cook or bake?

This is so funny its like you read my mind, they do cook multiple times in this one. Right now I don’t have specific traditional dishes in mind so I’ll have to research and think on it, but there’s definitely special meals. They start off just cooking to eat and have fallen into the rhythm of that (especially since working out all day and Vaste’s increased calorie need = shitton of food) then as things progress they start breaking out what they enjoyed as children in an effort to understand each other better, as a sign of closeness. They also hunt or shop together, so getting food is an important daily chore that begins to serve as a litmus test for growing closer too (what do they decide on eating, which ingredients do they choose, what tastes do they have to be mindful of for the other person, what cooking techniques do they share, how much how little are they eating because of an outside factor etc.) and I think this highlights between them parts of their personalities.

Vaste cooks very by the book, as close to the recipe as needed only going with her instincts when it comes to meats, herbs, handling organs, and preparing desert fish, since she had experience with all these having to survive on hunts and eating at home. When she started learning Eorzean and other cooking outside of Forgotten Springs, it felt easier to pay attention to directions rather than go crazy making things she didn’t grow up with. She’s very, knows the rules and follows the rules- which is to say her food tastes good and is well seasoned but its lacking the knowledge passion brings. It’s rather technical outside of the areas she already knew and thus feels comfort playing/deviating in. That’s what Langsyth would write about her.

Gan meanwhile experiments, follows his gut, bends the recipe, can substitute ingredients with an expert eye etc. He’s very, knows the rules and can break the rules, even creates new rules using what he observes. He’s in his element and confident about his judgements, which is born from thousands of hours of practice since childhood and a genuine passion for cooking and how it works, even how the animals and plants used in the process are treated. He picks up cooking techniques not just for the sake of making meals but expanding his knowledge and when comfortable, adapting them for his situation. The same passion Vaste has thrown into the spear is his passion for food. Unlike Vaste he isn’t afraid of a mistake, and if he completely fucks up a meal (which is as rare as winning the lottery) then he’ll try again rather than dwell on the failure.

What they can agree on without doubts is that Archon Loaf is fucking disgusting. Dry. Bland. Revolting. Not Aesthetically Pleasing. There are field rations that have been more exciting.

I enjoyed this, this has given me a new way to thinking about writing food.