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homenum-revelio-hq · 5 years ago

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Welcome (again) to the Order of the Phoenix, Iyla!

You have been accepted for the role of non-biography character MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER with the faceclaim of Tom Payne! We’re so excited you’ve decided to apply for a second character, as Caradoc has brought so much to the game! We really enjoyed how you included the differences between Caradoc and Mundungus and how that will affect writing and plot. Also, the slang terms were just delightful!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME:: Ilya

AGE: 32

TIMEZONE: GMT+1

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I’m pretty much still in the same situation as before. I don’t have yet a set schedule, but lately I’m trying to be more consistent with the time I dedicated to replies. I still fully intend to aim for more than a post a week!

ANYTHING ELSE: No specific triggers or squicks!

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Mundungus Fletcher

AGE: 31 (June 17th, 1950)

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Demi male. He/Him pronouns. Bisexual.

Mundungus doesn’t have a problem with the gender he was assigned at birth, but if he were to be perfectly honest he wasn’t sure it fitted him perfectly. He sees it more as a well-worn dress that while it won’t sit comfortably it is at least familiar.

As for sexual attraction, he noted from a young age that he was attracted to more than one gender and has never made a big secret out of it. But he knows when he needs to be discreet about it.

BLOOD STATUS: Halfblood

Officially, Mundungus is a halfblood. That’s what one would find written on his Ministry file, and that’s what he says when anyone asks. But he has Goblin blood on his mother’ side, making him a half-breed (¼ Goblin).

HOUSE ALUMNI: Slytherin

ANY CHANGES: Low Level member of the Order. Previously an Affiliate.

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

‘But when all is said and all is done / Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.’

Far from being Aaron Burr, nonetheless, this passage came to me when I first thought how to describe Mundungus’ personality and it stuck because of the simple fact that Mundungus is the opposite of Caradoc.

Where Caradoc has a strong sense of morality and personal responsibility, Mundungus has little to no morals. He is ultimately someone who has no care for society and its rules, be it laws or social conventions, and has a somewhat cynical view about life.

Yet, he never lets this stop him from fully enjoying life. If anything, seeing the ugliness in the world makes him do everything he can to savour the good and beauty in it with a carefree attitude. In a way, he shrugs everything off because in the end he won’t let himself be tied down by things that are of no consequence for him. And thus makes interacting with him, when being on good terms, a fun experience, if somewhat chaotic.

Because of his lack of regard for social conventions and laws, he often acts antagonistic towards law enforcements and people that work for the government and in general showing a rebellious attitude when it comes to respecting authority.

He’s also far from being the crusader that Caradoc is. Fundamentally, he is a coward, always looking to save his own skin. Looking for any way to avoid pain, imprisonment, impoverishment, no matter what he has to do for it. Even, say, rob the dead or sell light drugs to teenagers or jinx someone in the back.

On the other side of that coin is loyalty. While he would never stake his life for ideals, for a group of people like Muggleborns or Goblins, not even to avoid living in a world run by Death Eaters, he would for that one person he is loyal to. Bound to fealty, one could say loyalty gets in the way of his cowardice more than the other way around.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

A sound mistrust of wixen and the name he was stuck with was all that Dardanos Datchery, manager of young witches with talent and too much trust for their own good, contributed to his son’s life. Mundungus has never known his father aside from the tales he heard from others, and no matter how pink his mother’s glasses were with which she looked back on her past with the wizard, it was clear he was a piece of dragon dung and someone better not to have in his life.

His grandmother, Cleometra Fletcher, was his role model and teacher. She taught him all he knew about conning people and picking pockets, and the two were thick as thieves—pun intended. Despite being a witch herself, she also taught him to mistrust anyone and everyone and to rely solely on himself to live his life successfully.

While officially, she was an ‘artifact dealer’, everyone in the underworld, and a few figures in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement knew that many of the artifacts were stolen and part of the illegal deals. Still, she lived to be a free old witch, still pulling a smuggling stint now and then.

More than a decade ago, his mother, Calypso Fletcher, had been known in the Wizarding High Society and all those theatre-loving wix, as Kallisto Datchery. A stunning beauty and astonishing actress, London had fallen in love with her. Wixen desired her and when all their attempts were rewarded only by smiles and giggles, maybe the occasional cheeky kiss, then rumours started floating around that maybe it was all a trick. She had to be a Veela; that was everyone’s guess, incapable to accept she could be a common witch or better: that she was actually part Goblin.

She had left that world behind, finding it too fake and her part in it a role too suffocating to carry without killing a part of herself, and exchanged it for an old rickety theatre that had seen all of his chairs empty and her family. She taught her son the love of theatre and being on its stages, but most importantly she taught him about courage and family when she chose to reconnect with her own mother and to be one to Mundungus. A mother who was there for him, always, and would teach him about life and its trick, even if it meant to leave behind her fame and the man she had loved for so many years. It was worth it, and she proved it to him—always making sure he felt loved and safe.

OCCUPATION:

Mundungus’ dream was to become an actor, and once he graduated from Hogwarts he was sure he’d make acting his career. Only, it didn’t turn out quite like that. He spent six months auditioning, both in the Wizarding and Muggle world, but each time he was passed over for someone else. When he tried improv and little open shows, he was booed out of the stage and ended up banned by the manager from ever going back because of how bad his acting was.

Still, not wanting to give up, he worked as crew in the theatre for a while before being thrown out for substituting a sick actor and causing the whole show to get what is considered the worst review on The Daily Prophet since its first publication.

After that, he found help in Aberforth Dumbledore that let him work at the Hog’s Head Inn as a bartender for a while. But that job, too, ended when Aberforth discovered that Mundungus sold alcohol and other illegal substances to Hogwarts students. He was fired and banned from ever entering the pub again, a ban still standing.

So, he made crime his primary job. From pickpocketing to little cons, from burglaries to elaborate con schemes. All while still trying to audition, sure that one day he’d get his break. Other jobs, bartending, shop keeping, all were part-time, just something to give to the Twiggies* and the Minnies** when they questioned him about some inquiry on criminal activities. “I ain’t anything to do with that, guv. I was doing me job.”

Since coming back from Paris, in the summer of ‘81, he’s back to holding just a part-time job. Right now he’s looking for a new one, someplace he can be helpful to the Order.

*Twiggies = slang term for Aurors. **Minnies = slang term for Ministry Employees.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

Low Level member. He used to be an Affiliate.

Albus Dumbledore started approaching him early on, before the Order was the proper organisation that it is today. Mundungus refused back then. How dare a pureblood wizard approach him for help, not even offering anything in return?

But Dumbledore tried again, after he ended up in trouble with Aberforth Dumbledore and got banned from the Hog’s Head Inn, only to be turned down once more. And then again and again and again, but each time the Order of the Phoenix was something that Mundungus wanted to have nothing to do with. What good could wizards do, anyway? So he would return any favour he owed Old D and then parted ways.

Then came 1971 and things truly got dire for Mundungus, Albus helped him once more. This time, he didn’t know how to repay him if not by working for the old bag of socks steadily. Mundungus ‘joined’ the Order in an affiliate capacity, taking orders given directly by Old D and him alone—he wasn’t going to be ordered around by any other wizards, thank you very much.

As the years passed and the war escalated, Mundungus found a new motivation to be in the Order.

In May 1981, he went to Paris and considered staying there, enjoying life away from the war. But he found that while his instincts told him to rebel against Old D’s rule—why should he take orders from him and do anything he said?—loyalty commanded him that he went back. So, when everything turned a mess in France, he rejoined the Order with his loyalty to Albus Dumbledore going hand-in-hand with the feeling that the war had now grown personal.

So he, begrudgingly, moved out from the shadows of being just an affiliate, to take a deeper and more meaningful step into the Order of the Phoenix, deciding that he’ll show them, he’ll show all of them—Death Eaters, Order and Ministry alike—who was better here.

His role is to gather information from the Wizarding underworld about Death Eaters and anything of interest. He also provides the Order with illegal items, or things they want to keep under the radar of the Death Eaters and the Ministry, much like his counterpart, Lucinda Talkalot, provides for the legal ones.

He is also very skilled at undercover work, though, sadly, every time he tries to show someone he’s just rubbish at it. Yet, he still comes from tales he could have only heard or seen if he had been in the room where it happened.

SURVIVAL:

He is squatting at 133, High Holborn Street, London, the old building of the now abandoned British Museum Station of the London Underground. Having fitted the building with all the spells necessary to make sure no Muggles or passing-by Wixen could find him, Mundungus is the only person living inside. The only other tennant is the Egyptian ghost of Nefertiri, who resides in the old tunnels underneath but sometimes pops up just to scream at him when she feels particularly cross or happy or bored.

Mundungus Fletcher would be the last person one could see risking their own lives for something like the Order of the Phoenix, and this is because he hardly ever appears to stick his neck out for anyone but himself, often disapparating out of a situation at the first sign of danger. He is vocal about his lack of care for society at large, and he has never let his air of indifference break in public.

He also knows how to lay low and disappear when needed, along with knowing how to make oneself useful. When it comes to criminal enterprises, he doesn’t discriminate against clients. After all, making sure his hands are on multiple pies is how he gets the Order the information they need, and how he gets his cake and eats it too.

It helps that people underestimate him. He is notoriously such a terrible actor, banned from numerous stages, that no one would ever think the witch in the corner of the Leaky Cauldron, seated strategically close to hear a very important conversation, is actually Mundungus Fletcher.

RELATIONSHIPS:

For all Mundungus’ indifference and dislike of an entire group of people, when things get on a person-to-person level, he can grow quite attached to people without meaning to. Yet, this still doesn’t stop to sometimes take advantage of them or drag them into his own schemes, no matter how ill-advised that is. He is a mischief-maker, though he prefers to be backstage of his own tricks most of the time when it comes to pranks—all to avoid the possible ire of his victims.

Because he is never one to wallow on bad and sad things, he often tries to cheer people up, even if it’s just so he doesn’t have to be around misery, and tries to always find something to laugh about. He cares little to nothing if he is the focus of ridicule, since he has learned to let insults wash by him without having his pride or feelings hurt by them.

While in the past he kept his distance from the other members of the Order, now that he has committed to being a member, he doesn’t keep himself apart any longer. If anything, he’s compensating a bit, trying to get into people’ spaces so they know he’s not going anywhere.

Albus Dumbledore: Mundungus has mixed feelings about Old D. He’s grateful, of course, for the favours the old wizard has done for him in the past and especially the latest one, that allowed him back in the British Isles and back into the Order. But it’s a resentful kind of gratitude, even now. Still, even with the resentment, the distrust he still feels towards the man and being a coward himself, he is never going to betray the man. He can’t promise he’ll stop stealing his socks, though.

Lu Travers: It had all started with an “I owe you.” Lu got him out of a very sticky situation with the French and ever being one to stand this sort of debt, Mundungus found himself helping them get into the British Pureblood Society and passing for one of those old sacks of entitlement and perpetual stink under their noses. At first, he hated how that shiny world got another Muggle-born to fall for it, but then he found himself drawn into this way past what he had owed Lu. Truly, it was beyond him what they saw into that shiny world, especially because despite (and because of) the quarrels, jabs and insults, he was growing to like them. But a promise was a promise, and this might turn into his best con yet.

Other possible connections:

Adonis Carrow: It happened and still does, that from time to time, Mundungus comes in possession of some fine artifacts which he would much rather not have found on his person. The thing is, often he needs someone to tell him what they are and how much they are worth, and maybe even help him find someone that might be interested in buying them.

Alice Longbottom: One might say it’s a side effect of being in line of work that Mundungus and Alice are to ending up crossing each other paths. He was used to getting stopped, now and then, to make sure he wasn’t somewhere doing something that law said he shouldn’t be doing. Sometimes the person on the other side of the table was Alice Longbottom, and he was always amused to play the part of someone that didn’t know what this twiggie got up to when off the clock. Just as she had to pretend not to know what he did for the Order. Still, he really didn’t want to test her acting skills, if she ever were to catch him for one his personal missions

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: I don’t have any set ship. Like for Caradoc and as a general rule, I do prefer to ship chemistry. But I do want to point out that no matter how it can come off, I am categorically NOT shipping Mundungus and Dumbledore (either brother).

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Since childhood, the whispers and rumors of what he was have followed him along with all the chosen insults that were hurled his way. Half-breed. Half wizard and half-anything they could imagine, anything that could be demeaning and hurtful.

His grandmother taught him to not to care much for those insults and to take revenge by making fools out of those wizards.

Because of those past experiences Mundungus has a lot of prejudices against wizardkind: they all think themselves better than any other kinds. The one exception that he makes are muggle-borns, which he sees more as fellow half-breeds. Until, of course, they also get corrupted by that same thinking. Just as some Squibs have been.

He tends to use his own prejudices as reasoning and justification for his cons. If wizards are so much better than others, they ought to prove it, don’t they? How can they be better, though, if they keep falling for his cons?

These heavy prejudices are reinforced by the one privilege that Mundungus has in the Wizarding World: being able to pass as a halfblood wizard. His looks are not so distinct that they draw attention, and his Ministry file reports ‘halfblood’ in the field ‘blood status’. While, of course, some still think themselves better than Mundungus, it’s impossible not to notice how differently they behave with him when it’s halfblood instead of halfbreed.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?

As I mentioned, I usually avoid Marauders Era RPs but Mundungus was my first love. Especially because I like to challenge people’s idea of who he is. Yes, he’s the amoral, cowardly thief we see in the books, but I also think that Mundungus is someone that has lost a lot. Lost friends and probably lost himself.

Watching the movies we tend to forget how young the marauders were when they met their demise, and how many of those that were in the Order died or disappeared. Who was left? Mundungus was, and I think surviving took its toll on him.

I look forward to playing him during the war with a destiny that is not set in stone. Maybe someone could teach him some morals, or give this Cowardly Lion a bit of courage. Who knows.

PLOT DROP IDEAS:

In terms of character-related plots, I’d love for Mundungus to start becoming loyal not just to Dumebledore but others within the Order. Seeing his cowardice tested time after time by this newfound loyalty, too.

Having Mundungus create a bit of ‘innocent’ chaos, by helping people with pranks and agree with any conspiracy theory it comes his way: the more absurd the better.

ANYTHING ELSE?

He’s a Gemini and a Slytherin: https://hp-aesthetic.tumblr.com/post/146954905907/gemini-slytherin-moodboard-slytherin-geminis

EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS:

PAST:

Growing up with his grandmother, a thief, Mundungus came to learn everything there was to know about surviving on the streets of the Wizarding Underworld, while his mother, a stunningly beautiful half-goblin actress, taught him to love the theatre. His dream was to become an actor, but alas every time he tried, he ended up botching the part so badly that even today, people are still recovering from the failure and second-hand embarrassment they’d felt that night. Yet, away from the limelight, Mundungus was a master of working under cover. He could transform himself completely and pass for a whole different person, conning people out of their money and any valuable information for future schemes. Unfortunately, because of the secretive nature of this particular stage, no one would ever know how great of an actor he truly was. Being, in fact, so good that, but for a few exceptions, no one ever even noticed they had been conned by Mundungus Fletcher. His face stayed a plain one, easily forgotten, and never associated with any of the many aliases he used. Never, until: Albus Dumbledore.

Flattered by the recognition but holding too much distrust of wixen, Mundungus turned down each of Albus’ offers to join the Order of the Phoenix and worked for the man only sporadically, when a favour was owed. The cause he believed in, why wouldn’t he want a fair and equal world? But because of his resentment against Dumbledore and those wixes pretending to care about the lives of halfbreeds, he only showed up to take his orders and carry them out—seemingly—reluctant. Nonetheless, whenever he succeeded in one of his missions, he couldn’t help feeling relieved and satisfied. Almost proud.

PRESENT:

After almost a decade working for Dumbledore, something big happened. Something that could cost him his freedom, perhaps life. Albus offered to help him—in return for a favour. A big one. Bigger than any other ever before. So it became clear to Mundungus that it was time to call it quits. Time to leave Britain, to take his mother away from all this violence and to give her the life she deserved. Paris seemed a much nicer place, despite the French, and it offered new opportunities. Yet, much like Leprechaun Gold—even though at first it had felt good to be out of the oppressive shadow of war—the world there felt lackluster. The novelty of conning French fools soon wore off, and Mundungus became sloppy with his work. For the first time in his life, he felt bored and nostalgic. And the Order and its cause simply wouldn’t leave his mind. The threat of Death Eaters and their vicious plans for the Wizarding World had not reached Paris at that time, it didn’t affect him, but still he couldn’t shake the memories of his time as an affiliate for the Order. Yet for a man with little pride, he had just enough to stop him from taking the first Portkey back. He couldn’t go back to Dumbledore and the Order, no matter how he missed them both. Hence, when a young Muggleborn needed his help to con the Pureblood Society of Britain, he gladly jumped on the opportunity to go back home. To his mother it was obvious that Mundungus had only waited for such an opportunity to arise, an excuse to finally accept Albus’ offer after all, but Mundungus insisted that he was being selfless, and solely doing this for the young Muggleborn in distress. Either way, he returned to Britain, let Albus wash his name white and in return paid his debt: he joined the Order of the Phoenix.

FC CHOICES: Tom Payne. Taron Egerton. Michael Socha.

I like how Tom’s face has this youthfulness about it despite his age. I like to think Mundungus’ face has this same quality of looking old and young at the same time, making it a little difficult to guess his age.

#harry potter rp #hp roleplay #hp rpg #marauders era rp #marauder rp #homenumaccepted

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bullet-pointers · 6 years ago

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The application is the first part of the process. Occasionally with the aid of a hopefuls chat, it’s how mods get to know muses and muns before the group is finalized. Both the mods’ design of the app and the muns’ filling out of the app are pretty important to making sure a good roster can be put together with minimal pain.

Not all apps have the same sections to fill out or the same requirements for each section. Sections like Character Name or Backstory are pretty much on every single app, while other sections such as Likes/Dislikes and sometimes even Personality may not always be on there. It’s up to the discretion of the mods.

Mun Info

What Is It?: A section for information on the mun. Generally includes name/handle, pronouns, and triggers, and may also include time zone (for scheduling purposes), blacklist/greylist, and squicks.

Notes

Yeahhh, this section is pretty much necessary for all apps. It would be really awkward to not know who’s actually writing these characters. It’s also useful for lowering the odds of OOC drama.

Different groups treat triggers and squicks differently. Sometimes squicks are avoided in the OOC chat and triggers just need to be tagged, sometimes both need to be tagged in posts, and sometimes both are just lumped together in a masterlist. Obviously it’s important to note however they’re handled if you don’t want to make people unduly uncomfortable or worse.

Some apps may have a slot for blacklisted muns, and some may just figure you would list anything like that in an Other section. Either way, if there’s another mun you don’t get along with for one reason or another, be sure to list them. It may affect your chances of getting in, but it’s not worth getting into a group if you’re going to spend the whole time worrying about that other mun. IMO, having a specific blacklist section makes cross-checking apps easier for the mods.

Core Muse Info

What Is It?: The name, gender, appearance, talent, personality, bio, and central beliefs of the muse. This is what sets muses apart from each other and is the central part of the application. That being said, some parts of this section can still be added or subtracted if deemed appropriate.

Notes

Different mods will be more or less worried about appearances when it comes to app judging. It can be hard to compare across apps due to (completely valid) differences in drawing ability, image quality, only having a written description available, etc. Having a clean, detailed image and/or an appearance that reflects important aspects of the character or just like a really cute DreamSelfy can leave positive impressions, though.

Some mods prefer to limit numbers of muses with aliases or foreign origins on the roster. The same goes for fake talents, but including a lot of those can get a little weird, especially if someone’s fake talent is the same as/similar to someone else’s real talent. In general, you really don’t want duplicate talents, possibly with the exception of Reserve Course, which isn’t acceptable to all RPs, anyway. Some mods also like some kind of gender balance in the final roster, so sometimes you might get a liiiittle better odds by watching the hopefuls list and applying a rarer gender, but this isn’t always true, either. Just make sure the FAQ covers these sorts of things.

The personality section can be of different lengths and detail levels, and some RPs may accept bullet points or require specific personality aspects or details. Sometimes this section is nixed altogether if mods feel the other app questions should give them a good enough impression of the character’s personality, though I wouldn’t recommend this personally. Just be sure to provide the information asked for, and make sure it makes sense in the context of the backstory.

The same pretty much goes for the backstory/private bio. Just make sure it makes sense with the personality, and hopefully at least one of the two is unique enough to generate interest. There’s nothing wrong with plain/normal kinds of OCs, but you wouldn’t expect to see several of these in one roster. Also be sure any mod triggers listed on the blog are tagged in these. If your backstory has triggers for every mod, you might be better off apping that muse somewhere else, where someone can actually read the whole backstory.

Public bios have been popular but are still not on every app. These are pretty much always paragraph form, and different groups ask for different lengths. They can be a pain to come up with sometimes, and they can get pretty sticky in cases of fake talents or ???s, but they can also be helpful for conveying information that other characters could be expected to know and get an impression from before the game starts. If you put this section on an app, just be sure they’re eventually actually public on the blog/in the chat somewhere or they’re pretty much pointless busy work.

Muse Miscellany

What Is It?: A smattering of questions with less complex answers than personality/backstory. There’s definitely no golden standard for these, though questions related to motives and Monomachine items are common. Also includes likes/dislikes, favorite things/words, and who knows what else. Filling out some of these may be optional.

Notes

These usually aren’t as tough as the other parts of the app, but they can still be a pain if the app requires a ton of them. It’s best to keep this part fairly short, though it should still ask for anything the mods foresee being important in that specific game.

Some of these, like strengths/weaknesses and likes/dislikes, can be good for making the mun think a little harder about their muse. This can make poor characterization more obvious, but a lot of the time this isn’t super necessary information.

Monomachine items are in most apps and can be tricky to come up with. They’re good for revealing lore that your muse may not voluntarily bring up, for providing something that might brighten your muse’s no-good very bad day, or just for memeing. A lot of the time, activity at the Monomachine or local equivalent tapers off much more quickly than activity in general, so it may be better to require a smaller number of these so the interesting ones have a chance to be released into the wild.

It’s also good to have questions about common motives or unique motives the mods plan to use in the RP (most important person/item, biggest secret, etc.). It can provide mods with a good idea of what motives might be effective for a good portion of the roster. Especially when muns may be slow to respond OOC, it’s good to have this information already on hand.

On that note, it may be a good idea to ask for smaller details (shoe size, hand size, etc.) that may be relevant for investigations with bloody footprints or things like that. It is very hard to get this information from everyone later if it happens to come up, but sometimes people get a little confused or don’t really know what to put for such specific details on the app, so it’s a mixed bag.

I personally (and I’ve seen it on other apps, too) like to include a question about whether a muse is more likely to be a killer, victim, or survivor and why. If you’re trying to keep the app short, this could be cut, but it’s good to have a balanced roster that isn’t all innocent babies who would never hurt anyone or all seasoned criminals who will probably kill someone before the KG is even announced. It’s also good for when volunteers aren’t forthcoming and you’d rather make sure murders can be IC than just 100% random/fair.

Sometimes this kind of information is to be answered IC, like in an interview. In these cases, you might want to make a note if the character’s answer is truthful or not and why.

Prompts

What Is It?: The bane of muns around the world, it’s a section of questions requiring longer, paragraph answers written in third-person like RP posts. Sometimes applicants are provided an array of prompts and can choose from them, sometimes specific prompts are required, and sometimes this section consists of only one prompt or is absent, though this is rare.

Notes

This section takes a lot of time, but it’s the best indicator of a mun’s writing ability for the purposes of the RP. They can be a huge pain to fill out, and some common prompts may be difficult to write a juicy response to, so it’s best to ask for the absolute minimum. Zero-prompt apps exist and can work out, but I wouldn’t care for that as a mod.

Execution prompts in particular can give muns a lot of pause, and I can personally say I’ve given up on an app that was otherwise finished just because I couldn’t come up with an execution. It may be reasonable to cut this prompt to save a lot of pain; however, it’s really best to have these on hand from the start. They can be very hard to get later, and they’re kind of important to DR games.

MM/traitor prompts should be required for those applying for that position. This kind of question might fit in a different section so it doesn’t have to be written like an RP post, but in general it’s hard to pick out a mastermind if you don’t know the deets of why they would start a killing game. You don’t necessarily have to ask for an MM speech, but you should at least know if this would be a satisfying plot twist and/or fit with the game’s lore.

The ability to choose from a list of prompts can help when a mun doesn’t feel very inspired to write about, say, the muse waking up in such-and-such location with no idea how they got there, or when filling out that prompt doesn’t convey the muse’s personality particularly well. On the other hand, asking for everyone to fill out the same prompt(s) makes it easier to directly compare hopefuls.

On that note, I like having less standard prompts, like reactions to not getting a Starbucks order right or how a muse would deal with a crazy roommate. While these can be tricky to come up with if you don’t want to just rip them off from other apps (which you prrrrobably shouldn’t without permission), coming up with unique situations can help muns more easily demonstrate the personalities of their muses instead of blandly answering the same old questions. That being said, these can be a little weird to work with if the muse would never go to Starbucks and/or leave their house in general.

Conclusion

No two games have the same app, and no two should. Applications are important for getting to know enough information to put together a roster that’s going to work out both IC and OOC. They also gather information for later use in the RP, when muses may be harder to get ahold of or have less time to answer questions. Mods just need to ask for what information they think they’ll need, and muns just need to try to provide it. It’s impossible to foresee everything you’ll need, but asking for every piece of info you could possibly have use for would make a longer app than anyone would be willing to fill out.

Click [here] for a listing of all guides!

#dr rp #dr rp oc #dr oc #dr oc rp #danganronpa oc rp

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motorcyclegirlfriends · 8 years ago

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Sense the SDCC thing, I've been seeing a lot of art and fics that are dragging Kara/Supergirl. Like I get that some people are upset at the actors but the characters have nothing to do with any of this. I started watching the show because I read the comics when I was a kid, I just loved Supergirl as a hero. It's really kind of upsetting. They're treating a character like shit because they don't like something the person who portrays them did.

So this is a long dissection of the current Supergirl fan behavior, but if you’ve been wondering what the hell is going on, you might be interested in reading these concepts.

I understand why you’re upset. I am too, because Kara is such a wonderful character. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a character as much as her.

But there are two things you should realize when seeing this:

1. They never really cared about Kara to being with. Your loved Kara-focused content isn’t changing or leaving, because these people were not making the Kara content. They were likely initially making Supercorp Lena-focused content.

2. It’s not even about her.

I think what a lot of people who are newly joining this SDCC homophobia discussion are missing is that a lot of the most vicious backlash is not from people who are uniquely upset over this issue (though there are certainly people who are- and understandably) but from people who have had consistently overzealous reactions of hate toward actors and characters alike, save their fave (pretty much Katie Mcgrath/Lena Luthor).

On tumblr, and very noticeably in this fandom, there are sections of fans who seem to genuinely enjoy hating things. It’s a sport.

They’re having fun sending the most hurtful things they can think of to actors, and are the quickest to begin making vicious memes and jokes surrounding a negative event, before there has been a consensus within the community of how bad the “sin” was.

The “punishment” begins before the jury is out, and trying to defend those in the situation feels like trying to put a bullet back into a gun after it’s been fired.

(Maybe it’s more like stepping in front of a bullet, because once these few have decided that the target is guilty, they won’t stop, and anyone who disagrees with them is guilty, too. Blogs and actors alike.)

This is partially why my discussion of the SDCC event had a “are they homophobic” slant (other then that I believe the nature of the event itself- if it was homophobic- hinges on the feeling behind the words, unlike most other instances of homophobia. It’s complicated and some people understandably disagree so far, but it’s really how I see it and I’ll be talking more about it a little later in different posts).

People started calling Melissa and Jeremy homophobic right away. Started targeting Kara as a character. Started “spite shipping” Lena and Reign.

Or alternative to these options- immediately fan re-casted Kara as someone else to still be able to ship Supercorp.

From where I stand, if you can so easily let go of this characterization of Kara, you never really cared about her as a character to begin with. If you don’t know that this was The™ person to play Kara Danvers, you’re likely more invested in the role she plays for Lena than for her as herself.

And regardless of gender, I am uninterested in ships in which one character exists for the sake of another. (Lena existing purely for the sake of Kara’s development squicks me, too)

Recasting a woc as Kara doesn’t sit well with me either, for that reason. It’s a similar concept to how Maggie must exist as her own complex and valued person, apart from Alex, because she is a character of color.

I can’t really read the minds of these people, and I guess I could be wrong, but it’s hard for me to imagine actual Kara fans recasting her in this way.

Essentially, a lot of these people, or at least a very vocal minority, are so quick to accept that something horrible has happened because they want an excuse to hate them.

They like it.

Maybe it’s because they’re upset with the way society is and want someone to suffer for it. Maybe it’s because they have unresolved anger in their lives.

But as it stands, it appears as if these people are using moral rightness and social activism as an excuse to be as mean as they want.

And like @youngbloodbuzz said in the link above, you start to look at their past behaviors in a new light. Were they genuinely upset at characters? Actors? Did they really feel like a travesty was occurring? That someone needed protecting?

Or were they just looking for reasons to call someone a “stupid cunt”?

It’s like they’re genuinely thinking, “It’s okay for me to make fun of someone’s physical appearance, call them intense names, make memes about how horrible they are innately, and send them death threats because they said something problematic once that a lot of people will hear.”

Sometimes they’ll call it “coping”, and maybe some people truly believe that makes it okay. But coping mechanisms are not above reproach.

If I hurt someone because I’m upset about something- even if I hurt someone because they did something wrong- it doesn’t erase the fact that I hurt them. We are still responsible to how we react to bad situations. We are still responsible for not reacting in an overly inflated way.

Sometimes people will focus on how those that they’re attacking have more of a responsibility to be good people. That they are but mere bloggers, screaming into the void. They can’t possibly be accountable for how they behave.

“I’m tired of talking about how bad the fans are, we should be focusing on what they did wrong!”

It creates an atmosphere in which an honest mistake from a well known person is much more crucifiable than the purposeful cruelty of the fans. We’re discouraged from criticizing popular blogs because the person they’re attacking has a wider audience and larger consequences for mistakes, as if popular bloggers don’t reach and influence thousands of people and as if we aren’t allowed to shape the way our own community functions.

Meanwhile, people who genuinely value morality and social activism fall prey to this thinking. They’ll even join in on the action, because they think it’s a moral act.

Rebellion, somehow. Righteous fire.

It’s a twisted mindset that spreads because people are afraid to be on the wrong side of morality.

Even people who really think the reaction is “too far” are quiet about it because they agree with the fact that what the offending celebrity did was wrong, and see that the level of vitriol for them now is overwhelming.

This is how I imagine that people who believe Melissa and Jeremy’s words to be homophobic but who do not think a couple of mistakes makes someone pure evil are relating to the current tumblr dialogue:

“Wow this thing was homophobic!”

“Huh, yeah, I agree. Maybe not intentionally, but yeah.”

“That means this person is homophobic!”

“Uh, well, not sure I’d go that far-”

“Oh and look at this other somewhat problematic thing they did a while ago”

“Hmm well that’s bad, but not everyone outside of social activism gets that that’s a bad thing, so I can see-”

“Wow did you hear that this person also has an opinion about the show that I disagree with! What the fuck is wrong with them?”

“Oh. Well I actually agree with them in that situation but-”

“Omg they think that their character is like this! Do they know them at all??? What kind of terrible actor doesn’t know their character?”

“Well that’s a pretty common way that people are reading this character. Just because you-”

“Here’s some conjecture about their personal life that I imagine happened that paints them in a bad light.”

“Well, you don’t know that, but either way you shouldn’t be diving into their personal-”

“Oh and here’s a totally real story from an anon about someone they know who knew this person in the past and says they were a jerk at this one point-”

And it becomes too much. If you don’t really love the actor, really love their character, you either extract yourself from the group or you ignore the opinions you disagree with.

It becomes quite clear that these people want to feel this way and won’t be changing any time soon.

And the more there seems to be a consensus about the issue, the less willing people are to speak out, for fear of rejection.

The Spiral of Silence theory is a good way to explain it:

To avoid isolation, people tend to refrain from publicly stating their views on controversial matters when they perceive that doing so would attract criticism, scorn, laughter, or other signs of disapproval.

Conversely, those who sense that their opinions will meet with approval tend to voice them fearlessly and at times vociferously.

Indeed, speaking out in such a way tends to enhance the threat of isolation faced by supporters of the opposing position, reinforcing their sense of being alone.

Thus a spiraling process begins, the dominant camp becoming ever louder and more self-confident while the other camp becomes increasingly silent.

Importantly, the spiral of silence occurs only in connection with controversial issues that have a strong moral component. What triggers a person’s fear of isolation is the belief that others will consider him or her not merely mistaken but morally bad. Accordingly, issues that lack a moral component or on which there is general consensus leave no room for a spiral of silence.

Additionally, I believe that if someone does speak out against the (perceived) majority, it is most likely to be someone who is very strongly opposing of it.

A person who believes “It isn’t homophobic at all! They are innocent!” is more likely to voice their disagreements than “Okay I agree with your assessment of the situation but I think maybe we’re being too harsh…”

So the “minority”- who could technically very well be the quiet majority (people with middle-ground opinions just don’t get as many followers)- stays quiet.

They might even change their minds to agree with the ��majority”, over time.

Believing that the mindset of the group that you belong to is wrong is psychologically uncomfortable, so it is not uncommon for someone to try to adjust their thinking to fit those they feel connected to.

So, eventually, the only people who are speaking at all are those “majorities” who hate these people. Or those who act like they do for notes.

And then this thinking escalates amongst those still talking about it (remember: because it’s fun for them and they want to milk it for as long as possible) and it quickly translates to hating their character, once they’ve temporarily run out of material to be angry with the actor for.

So, back to your concern, how long until, “it’s hard to look at Melissa as Kara right now, because of how I fear she might feel about gay people” becomes something like “Mon-El is abusive, but Kara can choke so whatever” ?

(And on that note, one should consider how much they really wanted to protect Kara Danvers’ characterization from Mon-El’s influence, and how much was just a part of their hate-hobby.)

Maybe it won’t go that far. I hope it doesn’t. I hope people come to their senses about this.

But it’s escalated even since yesterday, when I started making this post. The language being used to describe Melissa when she is speaking normally, about normal things that some people have a difference of opinion on, is abhorrent.

So if you’re just trying to enjoy fandom in a peaceful and creative way, I encourage you to watch how the people you interact with react when something negative happens.

Are they disheartened? Crushed? Are they considering leaving the show and it’s fandom? Writing serious essays about how they’re hurt?

…Or do they come alive?

Are they incredibly angry, and then making jokes immediately? Memes and edits and creative content more so than they do on a peaceful day? Do you get the sense that they aren’t going anywhere, for a long time, even though they don’t seem to enjoy anything about the show?

Then you might be better off unfollowing them.

Of course, not everyone who makes a joke about negative things is thus enjoying it. It makes people feel better to make light of situations as well as to express anger, and doing so doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re drama-seeking.

And sometimes people slip into the mob more than they would like to have, retrospectively. Say cruel things that they regret later.

It happens, and tumblr can be a persuasive and pervasive place.

If you follow someone who initially reblogs some slightly overly hateful things, but who then backs off after the first wave, they probably aren’t the kind of person who is fueled by anger.

I’ve seen a lot of people I considered to be level-headed get wrapped up in overly aggressive, black and white thinking during the initial reaction to events.

But then sometimes, a couple of weeks later, they’ll post a tentative “Anyone else still wanna kinda like this thing, even though we said it was bad before?” and they’ll get enough approval via reblogs to feel like it’s okay to go back to normal.

Some blogs quietly sort themselves out, in the end.

And if you’re one of those people who goes overboard occasionally, I get it.

You’re hurt and you didn’t realize that the basis for the fan reaction that you were involved in was morally shallow. That the people you were supporting were not righteously furious, but using righteousness as an excuse to be furious.

But remember the message here: people make mistakes. It’s the patterns that really tell you who they are.

And I think we can be better. Have better patterns, as a group.

In the end, I encourage you to point out when a reaction is too harsh, toward anyone. Even if it’s difficult. Even if you agree that what the person did was pretty bad.

Agreeing that “black and white thinking” is bad can feel like you’re lowering your standards for morality. But I promise, you can still value the things that you value and loathe the things that go against it, without condemning someone’s entire personhood based on a mistake or a handful of mistakes regarding those things.

Even big mistakes.

People are complicated. We are all made up of really good things and really bad things.

It’s easy to believe that someone is wholly bad when they screw up.

The hard part, the part that will ultimately ground you and help you mature, is realizing that someone can have some really bad parts within them and still be good people. (I encourage you to remember that when thinking about yourself, as well.)

The trick is recognizing the difference between when people are making honest mistakes that unintentionally hurt people, and when they’re willfully behaving a certain way because they want to hurt people (or don’t care that they will).

And further, between when people are lashing out because they’re hurt and when people are inventing hurt to be able to lash out.

These distinctions will help you realize who you can guide or trust to work their issues out on their own when they slip up, and who you should distance yourself from.

Some very vocal portions of the fandom are, unfortunately, the latter.

#supergirl #kara danvers #melissa benoist #supercorp #sdcc supergirl #sdcc superfail #Anonymous

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