#but it fucks up my roleplay and relationship with that companion

[immawraffle]

Picked the wrong conversation option in a companion quest while exploring all my choices and the conversation ended before I could exit out and fix it

[shadowlord420sgf]

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ Abandoned & Aching

⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ xxXShadowl0rd420Xxx | Skips x reader ୭ ˚.

⌗ summary: You left Skips waiting, aching—now that you’re back, he won’t let you go until he’s felt all of you again. word count is 1.6k

⌗ warnings!: female reader, fingering, p in v, missionary, creampie, established relationship, porn with feelings, everyone & everything is desperate, skips is kinda emotionally deranged, fucking on the floor (sorry florence!), i think: hurt + angst with comfort

⌗ author’s note: (you can also read this on my ao3!)back with everyone’s favorite sad emo boy ☹️ thanks for all the support I’ve received on my fics it actually means a lot to me and i love everyone!! like and reblog if you would peg skips 💕 also my irl friend: @funnygirlwriter104 gave me the idea for this fic, check out her dirk one!

It had been some time since you’d last paid Skips a visit. You two had left off on a high note, he asked how you slept and told you about his efforts of keeping the silverfish away. Cute. However, you couldn’t help the excitement you got from speaking with other objects around the house. The dateviators just made you so curious that you didn't notice how you strayed away from the person, or shadow, who loved you the most...

Your ignorance wasn’t on purpose though, so many objects were really so entertaining! You especially liked helping Maggie solve cases, or going on extreme adventures with the Hanks. But none of that changed how you felt about Skips. If only he knew that, instead of assuming that you’d left him for good.

So, when you focus your dateviators on the shadow of Gaia one morning, what you find is a bit unexpected. It’s your beloved Skips, obviously, but something seems to be off with him.

“Hey you.” He greeted, looking a bit surprised that you were in front of him. “I was wondering when you’d come back to see me.”

You winced internally. It couldn’t have been that long since you spoke to him, right? Either way, you felt terrible for being the reason his voice sounded unsure, and a little hoarse like he hadn’t used it in a while.

“I—I know, I’m sorry,” you said gently, stepping closer to him. “I didn’t mean to be gone for so long. I just got caught up with everything—”

“It’s okay,” Skips interrupted quickly. A little too quickly. “You don’t have to explain. I mean, you’re here now, right? That’s all I wanted.” He gave a shaky smile, eyes flickering across your face like he was trying to burn it into his retinas.

He gazed at you like that for a moment before speaking, barely loud enough for you to hear, “I just… I thought maybe you didn’t wanna come back. Like Benji and the others, you know?”

Oh my god, you’ve fucked up this time. You’d left him alone for so long that he compared you to his old friends from way back in his Thiscord roleplaying days. You knew how important those memories were to him, and how hurt he felt as his companions drifted away. You never wanted him to feel like that again.

You stepped even closer, and he didn’t move away. He never would.

“Skips…” you started, finding the words to apologize, but you didn’t get far. He surged forward and wrapped his arms around you like he couldn’t stop himself, pressing your warm body against his cool one. He buried his face deeply into your neck, breathing in. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t miss this. You missed being in the comfortable darkness and silence around Skips. Everything was just so natural with him.

You hugged him impossibly tight, and it still wasn’t as hard as he clung to your body. Your hands tangled into his hair and he made a let out a noise that you swear was a sob. Oh Skips… His voice was muffled against you, “I really fucking missed you. I kept thinking maybe I did something wrong, or maybe you found someone better. Or maybe you just—”

He cut himself off with a shaky breath. “But you’re here. You came back. You came back for me.”

His words made your heart shatter inside. You pressed a kiss to his cheek. “There’s nobody like you, Skips. No one.” You whispered, not a hint of dishonesty in your voice. “Of course I’d come back for you, I love you.”

He paused hearing those last three words. You’ve said them to him before, and always meant it of course, but it changed something in him at this moment. There was a beat of silence, and then his lips brushed your jaw. Then your cheek. Then—finally—your mouth.

It wasn’t a careful kiss. It was desperate, uncoordinated, messy. Like he was scared you’d vanish again if he didn’t taste you right now. His hands were everywhere—your neck, your waist, clutching tight, tugging you closer like there still wasn’t enough of you against him.

You groaned at finally feeling his lips on yours again, after so long. “I need you,” he gasped between kisses, eyes half-lidded, voice wrecked. “I’ve been needing you every single night and—I didn’t think I’d ever get to touch you again—please…” Skips was practically whining for you.

You nodded, touching and kissing him all over just like how he was doing to you. “Ah…Need you too, Skips.” He groaned again hearing your sweet voice that he missed so much.

“I need you,” he rasped again, grinding his hips against yours with a frustrated moan. Oh how he wishes your clothes weren’t in the way. “I need to feel you. Now. Please—just—let me have you.”

“You always have me…” you mumbled against his lips. “I’m yours—fuck—I promise.” You both needed each other more than it was possible. It would never be enough.

“O—Okay, can you uh…get on the floor for me?” Skips panted, barely getting the words out. You obeyed him with a smile, pulling off your shirt in the process. Shit, everything you did drove him crazy. Skips did the same before slotting himself in between your thighs, where both of his hands gripped. You felt like melting under his gaze… His dark eyes were actually staring into your soul.

Skips moved his hand higher and higher up your thigh, until his fingertips met with your clothed core. Your back arched up a little at how the small touch sent heat throughout your entire body. Skips chuckled, “So wet already, huh? Knew you missed this as much as I did.” Moving your underwear to the side, he pushed a finger into your wet cunt, and groaned as you did.

“Missed touching you like this,” he started pumping his fingers in and out of you, and you cried out his name. “Missed the way you whine for me when I touch you just like this—fuck.” He always knew exactly what to say.

“M—Missed it too—” You couldn’t bother to answer him properly, not when he was so close to making you come all over his fingers and make a mess. “Ah.. Skips, I’m—I’m close,” you managed to blurt out, hips squirming under him.

Just then, he pulled his fingers out of you. “I know, Penumbra… I always know,” he was right, “And you know I’ll make you finish— But it has to be when I’m inside you. There’s nothing I missed more than that.”

His words alone could’ve made you come undone. They made you forget how close you’d just been, made you wetter than you already were. “Yes—Yes, please I need you… need to feel you, Skips.” You mewled, hands reaching for him on instinct & dragging him down into another kiss that was all tongue and teeth and desperation. He kisses you back with more force than you gave him. He’d never ever let go of you.

Skips was quick to slide off his pants along with his boxers in one impatient motion, allowing his hard length to spring up. You couldn’t help but moan a little at how perfect he was. He gave himself a few quick strokes before positioning himself between you again. “Are you ready, my Penumbra? I sure am…” You nodded, voice too broken to say anything except a “Please…”

With that, he pushed into you, agonizingly slow. You both gasped at the feeling, the familiar stretch of his cock and the wet warmness that enveloped it. You two stayed like this for a bit before you whimpered, “Skips… y-you can move, please I need you.”

“Right. S-Sorry, I just missed this—missed you— so much.” Before you could answer in agreement, he crashed his mouth against yours again, hips rocking into you as he began to move—deep and slow at first, like he was savoring the feeling of being inside you again after so long.

You wrapped your legs around his hips, digging your heels into his lower back as he hit that perfect spot in you again and again. You were already so close, pleasure building fast, curling deep in your belly like it had been waiting for him this whole time.

Your moans turned into soft sobs, overwhelmed. “Skips—fuck, I’m gonna—I’m gonna—”

“I know,” he gasped, voice cracking, hips stuttering, “Me too—just… come with me, please. I need it. I need you.”

Before you knew it, your orgasm ripped through you like a wave crashing, sharp and hot and all-consuming. You cried out his name, clinging to him like your life depended on it as your walls clenched around him, pulsing hard.

Skips let out a broken, guttural sound—his body trembling as he followed right behind you, spilling inside you with a low groan pressed against your neck. His thrusts slowed but didn’t stop, like he couldn’t bear to pull away just yet, even as the continued thrusts made you both twitch and whimper.

“Don’t leave me like that again. Please don’t.” Skips begged, still panting. You kissed him yet again, breath heavy. “Never—I’ll never leave you Skips.”

Later, Skips had you tell him what objects you were hanging out with, giving his own input on them. He scoffed when you mentioned that you had to talk to Scandalabra, who Skips refused to interact with. Something about the light contrasting with darkness? It didn’t matter.

There was really no one like your Skips.

[paragonraptors]

YEHAW DA:V REVEAL THOUGHTS BELOW!!

Overall: Feeling so excited for this game. I'm climbing up the walls. I can't believe that was 20 minutes, it felt like 10. Need this in my hands yesterday.

What I liked:

-Holy fuck wow wow wow the hair looks like nothing I've seen in a video game before.

-Combat seems very different but also a natural progression of gameplay past. Real-time turn-based was always a little on the clunkier side, and while it never really bothered me, moving towards something more ME-style was expected. Very excited about being able to aim a bow. Would like to know what difficulty they were showcasing bc I'm considering jumping right into a Nightmare run.

-Now that I've been soulsborne-pilled the prospect of a parry mechanic has me buzzing.

-I feel like people are gonna dunk on the "stiffer" animation, but I prefer it so much more than the BG3/HZD constant wobbling. It'll make the key performances stand out instead of mostly jangling keys in front of a baby and letting the big moments get lost in the sauce. (Not that the aformentioned games didn't have good animation, just. If your characters don't need to move their whole body to convey dialogue I'd prefer if they didn't.)

-The sublety in the facial animations is CRAZY.

-The roleplay dialogue seems really reactive!! And the cuts to inject the unique dialogues feels smooth. I'm sure there will still be moments where it's easy to tell, but still cool. Seems like they're gonna be paying more attention to your personality type like DA2 too.

-So excited about Harding and Neve as companions and can't wait to meet everyone else.

-Neve's staff/wand makes me excited to see what kinds of focus options we'll get as a mage AAAA.

-God the costumes have so much swag. One of my hottest of many BG3 takes was that the costumes were overall flavorless. (Really hoping they didn't change the Grey Warden uniforms though that would really disappoint me.)

-Cinematography looks fantastic. Lots of well set up shots.

-NGL I felt something when Solas showed up. Wasn't expecting that. And while not perfect, I liked his interaction with Varric. Their relationship from Inquisition really slips under the radar if you're not bothering to look.

-Varric has never gotten over the trauma of what happened with Anders and it breaks my heart in a good way. God you could see it in his eyes!! [chef's kiss]

-However, I definitely have to kill Solas now for what transpired in this preview.

What I'm iffy about:

-The voice peformances feel a bit stilted. Not really what I'm used to from Bioware and I feel like it's important when the animations are more subdued. Hopefully this feeling will change when I get more of the game.

-The dialogue also felt a bit dumbed down. "Solas is doing his ritual!" "Yes. Solas' ritual. The ritual that we have to stop." Again, hopefully this is symptomatic of a tutorial level/trying to onboard newbies quickly and not the whole game lol. While I prefer this to dialogue that tries to sound smarter than it is, I'm really hoping we see an overall improvement from Inquisition.

-Sort of wish they went with the Andromeda dialogue system instead of bringing back Inquisition's, but I do like that it seems all dialogue options are getting tonal indicators again and they're not as easily conflated with morality. (Though I imagine people will STILL interpret it that way.)

-A little confused about them introducting Minrathous' panopticon shit and then immediately swerving into Solas' ritual. Would have liked some breathing room on that kind of worldbuilding.

- While I'm generally open minded about the change, I Do Not Love not being able to switch to playing companions. Might turn around on this if your ability to issue them commands opens up the closer you are to them/the more you grow into a leadership role. I do like that it seems you will eventually be able to command when they use abilities a la OG Mass Effect bc that was my biggest beef with the Andromeda gameplay, esp on Nightmare/Insanity difficulty.

-Not crazy about the new Pride demon design where are their leggies.

-Not really a Criticism, but they are definitely setting up for Varric to die and while I get it, narratively, I'm NOT HAPPY. Dragon Age has been almost allergic to scripted deaths so it's also gonna feel like being dunked in an ice bath. EVIL STUFF. IN DENIAL.

[arcandoria]

tagged by @baldursghaik!

Favorite Companion: I've been a Shadowheart simp from the start and I don't even romance her. I'm not immune to "god's favorite princess and the most interesting girl in the world" vibes. I suppose I'm also kinda biased because I got to know her the fastest with Nathrae in my first run, and I love that it only really happens if you give her space rather than push for interaction.

Favorite Act: I was really torn between Act 1.5 (Underdark) and Act 2, but I think Act 2 comes above just because overall it has the most development from the companion stories I like (Shadowheart's and Halsin's), my favorite boss fight, etc. From a roleplaying perspective, it's where Nathrae's story starts to push her towards development, too, so it ends up with a special place in my heart.

Favorite Class: Again, full bias, but I've genuinely had so much fun playing as pure Rogue Thief, even if it's considered weak in comparison to what you can do to other classes or if you multiclass. A lot of my gameplay came down to talking my way out/around shit, or being smart about how to proceed with quests, and it fits the aesthetic of the class a lot.

Favorite Storyline: I think Zevlor is the one who got most of my attention from the tiefling stories, mostly because his development relies on things going wrong, on him being a bit of a coward, on him failing as a leader because there was no way to be successful as a leader under the circumstances, and then rising back up because he comes to terms with all that and becomes a better leader in spite of it.

Favorite NPC: I almost picked Dammon, but because a lot of his involvement is dependent on Karlach, I decided to go for Raphael instead because he's so fucking great. The dude walks into your business, badly elaborates, he makes fun of you for being friendly with the Emperor, and he sings his own fucking boss battle song. I love him.

Favorite Villain: Had to pick between Ketheric and Orin, but I decided to go with Orin because it's really rare for female villains to be so gratuitously unhinged and fucked up as Orin is, and all the background story regarding her as well, so she ends up at the top for being delightfully insane and making me pee a lil' sometimes.

Favorite Romance: I know Larian (and some fans lol) keep treating Halsin as the weird plus one of the other base relationships but I <3 him tons even if most of it I had to strongarm through the power of my own brainrot.

Favorite Animal: I love this silly little cub so much. He's so fucking shaped. Also the fact he admits you smell delicious but he loves you too much to try eating you.

Tagging, no pressure: @otherpigeon @rellanas @pavus and @sammysilverdyne. Template under the cut!

[lisbeththefirst]

I am wondering: How would be the Story of BG3 without Tav/Durge or especially without a player that influences the Companions?

1. Which Companion would walk their good/evil way?

2. Which one would be the leader of the group?

3. Who would be part of the group?

4. Which allies would join?

5. Most important: What are their sexual/romantic preferences? Realistically they are not all bi or pan. The Companions are Player-sexual. But in real-life they would have preferences.

(Please don't kill me for that take. I think it's okay that we can romance everyone with every gender, age and race. Nobody is left out. It's just my opinion that preferences would add extra spice in roleplay aspect)

Therefore question 6:

Who fucks who?

My Take:

1. They save the tieflings and would destroy the absolute. The emperor would digest Orpheus. No gith revolution.

Shadow Heart: Without the player she would struggle much but would betray Shar. Deep down she is a good person, that wants to help people. She wouldn't the tadpole.

Lae'zal: As much I love her rebellion- storyline. She would obey Vlaakith. Wouldn't use the tadpole, obviously.

Karlach: Thats tricky. She is kindhearted as fuck, but without someone helping her regulate she would blast. But Wyll exists anyway, so she will find her way. But she would never go back to hell. Without post game solutions, she would die. Would try to use the tadpole to control the engine and beeing close to people.

Astarion: He would follow the leader just to be save. He would hunt down and kill every threat, helping people just for "manipulateling". He wouldn't be evil, but scared as fuck. But I think he would open up to the others. Especially Karlach, Gale and later Wyll. He would kill Cazador and every other vampire. He wouldn't accent if he has got different options. (What he does in my head canon) Without them, he accents without hesitations. He would use the tadpole for himself.

Gale: He would try to humble mystra until he knows about the crown. He would try to become a god, just to be a better one than mystra. Just out of spite. He would at least use the crown for himself and to help his friends and loved ones. He would use the tadpole out of curiosity.

Wyll: The goodest of them all. He would destroy himself on his journey just to save everybody else. He even would go to hell with klarlach. He sacrifices his father, not because he wants to be free, but because means he will not harm others anymore without the contract. He would become archduke. Again not because he wants to. He will hate it, but he does for the people.

2. Wyll or Gale would take the responsibility. I think Wyll would be more trustworthy.

That's why I think it would be a "good" run.

3. Everybody would be in the group, but lae' zap would join later because she would head for the creche.

4. As Wyll would be the leader in my canon, they would have the conventional good allies. Halsin, Harpners, Dame Aylin, Gondians etc. Nothing special.

5 an 6

Shadowheart is a girls girl. In every sence. She's a lesbian and would go for Karlach first and would have at least one hatefuck with lae'zal. Wyll would calm them down. No one dies. Maybe she would end up with her.

Lae'zal is horny for everyone who can kill with a weapon. Is that Pan? Don't know. She would like to fuck Wyll and Karlach. She hates that she wants Shadow Heart too.

Karlach (again don't kill me for my option) is hetero. I bet she was at least a little bit in love with gortash, thats why his betray hurts so much. He wouldn't date anyone even if she falls in love again. She knew it would break a heart when she dies. Maybe she goes for comfort sex but not romantic anymore.

Astarion is difficult. He is drawn to power, but for security not for sex. I think he would prefer not to have sex at all. He is able to have sex with every gender but he doesn't like it with anybody. Romantic attraction on the other hand... I would go for homoromantic orientation.

He clearly had an affair or relationship with Cazador and feelings for Sebastian. It sets a vipe.

I think he would try for Wyll, since he is the leader but going to settle with gale. He is easy to manipulate but very powerful. Even without a tadpole he could provide solutions. But he honest love would let Astarion fall for him.

Gale: I think Gale is Bi with preference for woman. But if there is the right guy who knows how to push his buttons, he is head over heals.

Wyll: Yes I make him even more generic. He is hetero but goes for bad girls.

[daviesroyal]

Okay, so I have a lot of thoughts about Dragon Age as a franchise and EA/BioWare as companies, but there's something that's been bothering me about the new game's romances that I haven't seen anything about yet.

The devs have confirmed that all the companions are pansexual and that while there's no ace companion, they hope to have more ace representation in the future. This leads me to a very important question about the roleplaying aspect of the game:

Can you play as an asexual Rook?

In most games, if you romance someone, it's at the very least implied that you also have sex with them. Whether or not that's shown depends on the ratings. But I haven't seen many games, and certainly no Dragon Age games, where the player is allowed to say "I don't want to have sex with you (or anyone. Ever)" and it doesn't damage the romance or isn't phrased to be a "I'm not ready to have sex with you yet but maybe in the future haha" option.

Companies can't seem to separate sexual attraction and romantic attraction. You can be an asexual panromantic, or a pansexual aromantic, or any combination, really. Yes, a lot of the time the orientations do match up, but it always makes me feel like shit when I, the player, have to fuck the character I'm trying to romance because that's the "natural progression" of the relationship. Refusing sometimes gets me disapproval, or the character will dump mine, with varying degrees of viciousness. The player isn't allowed to be attracted to a character romantically but not sexually, or even vice versa, without the game punishing them for "not romancing right".

Anyway. I don't have high hopes for this changing in Veilguard either, because BioWare/EA has made such a big deal about "all companions being pansexual so you can romance them all" which definitely conflates the two orientations. It's disappointing that roleplaying games are still assuming certain things about how the player wants to play, instead of actually giving us options. Hopefully, that "future ace representation" the devs talked about will include the player.

I won't hold my breath, though.

[orkbutch]

Your kink posting has got me questioning 🤔 do you have head canon kinks for all the companions? ( or at least the hot girlies )

To a point yes, but they are still being formed. I do think there are certain characters that are just Less Kinky, not because their personality means they CAN'T be kinky but, idk... for balance, and because it seems less Likely. My thoughts on the companions so far: Shadowheart: Very kinky, true sadist / masochist (both equally). I think she'd enjoy a LOT of things, but the classics: bondage, impact, knives, wax play, degradation, worship, roleplay (especially religious, training and corruption themes), edging/denial, CNC... I also think that she would really enjoy rigging, if she ever got the time and setting to practice that. Perhaps she would adapt it from Sharran torture methods similar to Japanese rope techniques used in the Edo period to extract confessions. I think that she would enjoy the slow ritual of it, I think she would enjoy its elegance, and I think she'd enjoy how excruciating but euphoric it can be. Again, she'd be into many things, and very adept at turning most kinks into something she can engage with via the right dynamic and context. Lae'zel: Also very kinky in a completely different way; much more about the power dynamics than the methods. Biggest thing would probably be Primal. Possessive. Defs messy; BO, sweat, blood, tears, spit, piss probably lmao. Would love contests of strength, causing controlled damage to bodies and enduring pain. I think with more trust and affection established with someone, she would be able to enjoy another layer of play; immobilization, sensory-focused play, degradation/humiliation, fear play, care giving/receiving, overstimulation... still very much into possessiveness in play, but with an emotional element that made it even more intense.

Karlach: I think Karlach would do plenty of kink without being deeply invested in it; she wants a good time and is up to try anything once. An element of Karlach's character that I think is very relevant to her relationship to kink and sex in general is that Karlach basically Never feels physically vulnerable; she knows that she's usually the biggest, toughest badass in the room. I think that would make her very sexually adventurous because she simply wouldn't fear much. What she struggles with is intimacy, and her building emotional trust would be the most significant element of her relationship to kink. All that said; I imagine her favourite kinky fun would be rough fucking, manhandling, wrestling, skin-contact sensory-focused play, temperature play, leather (because its badass and feels good), and honestly?? Oonga Boonga caveman brain misogyny-tinged degradation. Just feels right for her. The simple pleasure of a little lover under her saying how big she is and how hard she goes and begging to be knocked up would absolutely send her. I just FEEL it

Gale: I don't have many well formed thoughts on Gale's kinks. I suspect he'd be into like... Tantric Embodied Karma Sutra stuff, with a lot of wizardy bells and whistles. Creating an experience of non-duality as a kink. Basically, that guy at the Crystal Rainforest Festival that is suspected of being a cult leader and has VERY good drugs for sale. The kind of kink he does, Gale probably does

Astarion: Hmmmmm. I can see him, over time, coming to a place of comfort with non-sexual kink as a way to engage with power difference (Astarion forming a healthy identity as a dominant would be really good for him I think) and experience grounding, safe sensations within his body. I think kinky sex would take longer, but submission would be extremely difficult and vulnerable for him; forming a responsible dominant identity could be quite healing for him. On the other hand, choosing to submit to a dominant that he actually trusted and who took care of him could also be very very healing, just... I think that would be difficult for him to do safely. It would take a great deal of time to get there.

Wyll: Probably a less kinky person, but man, I think he'd be a great pampered sub. Worshipping, being treated like a bit of a boy toy. Would love mutual possessiveness. That'd be hot frankly. But I'm still figuring his kink vibe out! I gotta play his romance.

Minthara: Freak. Proper freak. Terrifying freak. Snuff kink freak.

Halsin: Wholesome freak into surprisingly intense shit. Exhibitionism, primal, breeding, rough, biting. Wants a lot of stimulation in every way.

[lordgeneralsix]

so I'm wondering what the general consensus is on the companion relationships bc from what ive seen so far they're so lackluster compared to the previous games.

(putting the rest under the cut bc this got unintentionally long...)

and you know what? yeah, I will compare it to bg3, bc I vividly remember so many developers, including bioware ones, being against bg3 being the standard. maybe they meant graphically or scale wise, but it's obvious that we meant the diversity of choices and quality/depth of the companions. larian made it a point that they wanted the relationships to be complex, it wasn't about pressing all the right dialogue for approval, and that sometime you have to challenge your friend's beliefs, sometimes you have to argue w loved ones. and when it came to romance, it was especially stressed that sex wasn't the end goal like so many other games have treated romance.

so yeah, the veilguard companions are disappointing, because it is a massive step backwards from their previous complex companions. you can't be friends, you can't be rivals, and you certainly can't have any kind of deep or complex romance. you don't even have a say in recruiting these people. there's no options for any kind of player, because bioware clearly only had a very specific player in mind. no matter what you do, it forces the illusion of friendship with characters you might not even like, it forces you to be nice and supportive no matter what, stripping the player of the agency and roleplay we were promised.

and there's the part I'm the most sore about. if bioware wanted a more linear game with a more fixed protagonist, fine, but 1) da2 exists and there was still more choice there, and 2) don't fucking lie about it. bioware lied up and down about this game for ten years straight and everyone just accepted it right up to release day. we shouldn't have to accept the bare minimum, especially from a $90cad game. that's money most people don't have to spare anymore, the least you could do is be honest about what people are paying for, especially when those who will buy it are faithful dragon age fans who thought this game was going to be faithful back and finally give them answers about the world they cared so much about.

(and don't get me wrong, larian isn't perfect either and I've made a lot of posts criticising them too, but bg3s success shows that people Do appreciate depth of choice and complex companions (see astarion's success))

to me, it feels like they only included romance bc the previous games had it and they knew people wanted it, but they didn't really care for it or just ultimately had no idea Why these romances worked. I don't get any feeling of care or effort went into these relationships (minus emmrich, but especially with lucanis') and it continues to puzzle me as to why writers even bother writing stuff they don't like or care for. and I don't want to assume it's just for money, bc I want to hope people actually do care about the work they do, so im not saying that, but it definitely doesn't feel good. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I would rather have a few characters with depth in friendship/rivalry with no romance, rather than ones that clearly have depth but is never explored. it's so frustrating to see wasted potential and it's even more frustrating to have my time and money wasted.

[jazzmckay]

davg day 11:

another roller-coaster of a day! this post is looooong

started with an outing with davrin and assan :> assan helping the sick halla was so sweet ;w;

blessed

the ending discussion about peoples nature and if they could change was really nice. considering rook's backstory, she relates to both davrin and assan and was definitely in support of the idea that people can change <3

then jumped into some main story stuff--i still had some companion quests open and i was nervous about accidentally cutting them off by progressing too far but hoooo boy, i had to keep going after discovering the dalish were going to be ritually sacrificed, yikes!! i have to say, davg does a good job of making certain quests feel urgent. it's the complete opposite of skyrim where i completely fuck off for 50 levels worth of gameplay and then go "right. so. the dragons. guess i should see what thats all about" lol when intense stuff happens, im like oh SHIT i cannot afford to wait!!! even though games will generally tell you if there will be consequences for taking too long. but i get so immersed and i really CARE about what's happening, about my companions too and how they feel about it all, so i really do feel that "we gotta take care of this NOW" vibe.

and this story mission was fucking awesome. one of my favourites :> being sneaky, getting to see what "business as usual" is like for the venatori, and then when shit hit the fan, it hit epically hard.

rook: oh shit, we gonna roleplay about this later? ;)

honestly amazing this crew was able to sneak in like this. two qunari, two elves with vallaslin, a dwarf? how'd we pull this off LOL but it didn't exactly last long anyway

ANYWAY THATS A BIG FUCKING DRAGON

so naive of me to have assumed initially that the 2 dragons who attacked minrathous and treviso were The Evanuris Archdemon Dragons(tm). i already had that cleared up for me, but yeah, uh, elgar's dragon is........ very big. much bigger than those other blighted dragons. am i gonna get to fight that thing later? am i gonna get to fucking fight that fucking thing? [vibrates] im blowing a kiss to davg for giving me lots of big things to fight

and !!!!!

the hype was real...... and it was perfect. solas and elgar'nan fucking WENT AT each other and i was eating popcorn the whole time. im intrigued by the fact that solas called elgar'nan 'lethallin'. i need a full translation for whatever the fuck solas first said to get elgar's attention so thoroughly lol

hehe

maybe ill cry about it ;w; so happy about this relationship development. ftr i do absolutely ship rook/solas, at least this rook. my next one might not feel as much connection, but this one really does. she started to trust him at a steady pace through the story and she reflects a lot on everything she's learned about him, how she relates to him. and this conversation felt like a whole new stage above that. trust and respect babey.

great line

then solas talking about cole, josephine, and cassandra ;w; i wasn't expecting that!

after this, rook finally shaved her hair off :> she's feeling a bit more secure and in control now, between reaching a good place with solas and helping the others with their unfinished business. ooooh yeah its all coming together. solas 🤝 rook, team shaved heads is back together again.

then lace got me emotional AGAIN. twice. first when we talked about how she felt with the titan's anger inside her, and then after when we went to visit the kal-sharok dwarves. lace sympathizing with how solas must feel under the weight of his sorrow... augh. it hits even harder with how anti-solas she started out. she has really come around. it means a lot ;w;

did a lil memorial for the shadow dragons we lost :( the viper is really holding on, man, dude has a high constitution stat lmao

some kickass views

😭😭😭 she can't keep getting away with itttt this was so good

FUCK YEA!!!!!

this bit cracked me up lmao idk if it was intentionally a reference to fandom.... but i was like "hehe well i thought it was very likely >:3" (still not over the headcanon becoming canon there omg) emmrich and bellara talking about writing a paper together tho was lovelyyyy.

then i finally got to do bellara's personal quests and she became the second companion to make me cry

oughh. this was a damn whirlwind. thinking we'd have to kill him, then him betraying anaris, then getting flung into the wall so hard i didnt know if he was still alive, and then he was, but oh no not for long AAAA poor bellara

hardest decision since minrathous vs treviso. not the second-hardest decision i've had to make, though... that one is still coming up later in this post. in the end, i went with freeing the archive, but it was a struggle. i just figured that the dalish can carve their own path now, and given time, they can create something even better than what they had in the past, hopefully without the dark parts overshadowing it. there was a good line later, at the funeral, that i liked a lot too--everything the dalish have been through can't be erased, and those hardships shaped them. who they are now means a lot too, even if they had so much taken from them. yknow, its the idea that going through trauma can teach you a lot, can make you stronger. no one should have to go through that, but a lot of people who've experienced certain kinds of trauma wouldn't actually erase what happened to them because it's just too much an integral part of who they've become. it's terrible, how much the dalish lost, but i think looking to the future is a pretty good way forward. i really did consider both though. in bellara's hands, that knowledge could have done good. but it was also a risk, and bellara is just as capable of doing good all from her own heart and mind <3

the funeral is the part where i cried a bit. particularly when neve showed up

criiiiiess. i love this fucking team so much.

i continued on to emmrich's questline. which is where i encountered the second-hardest decision in the game so far lmao

as we're hunting johanna down....

lucanis please loool

good lord this thing... both cool and spooky. reminds me of the human reaper in mass effect 2.

i was compleeeetely blindsided by manfred's sacrifice T_T i didn't even think to worry about such an outcome. bioware how could you!! not manfred!!! baahh the relationship between emmrich and manfred is so good actually...

my heart

thus, the second-hardest decision in the game so far! i felt so unqualified to make this choice. but i thought about it a lot and in the end, i encouraged emmrich to become a lich. this is a choice where im SUPER curious to know what other people did. i may also end up writing some meta about it eventually. it definitely got the thinkpan spinning.

and the teams reaction to it was fucking hilarious.

incredible

and thiiis

is actually SO ideal for me. im also a necrotic bitch and zevran's sword means i've got necrotic weapons constantly. oh emmrich and i are gonna fuck enemies up together.

went onto neve's questline next! i loved the part in the cobbled swan where we were sitting in between elek and rana in this train of people all planning a mission together from different tables. it made me feel like a spy 😂

the blood puppeting was sooo creepy. and i hadn't realized halos was one of the missing people D: hal no! but it was a fun and badass fight.

fear.jpg

but it went okay! neve was badass. the game kinda plays up working with the threads as being some kind of risky, renegade option which i dont entirely understand, honestly! i didn't have a choice because i chose to save treviso before, but i liked it this way regardless. it felt right to work with the threads. waaay back when i had the option to make a deal with them, i didnt even think twice. perhaps i forgot an important detail about the threads haha i know they're criminals but i'm the wrong person to give a shit about breaking tevinter laws. the threads lost just as much as the shadow dragons here, and i VIBE with elek's "this is our city" statements. hell yeah, this is our city, we're both protecting it from the shadows, lets fucking go.

FELLAS....

ohh its so rewarding to see the whole team bonding, even the ones who didn't get along at all initially. my heart is full of love every time i make the rounds through the lighthouse to see what everyone is up to. i'm gonna start sounding like a broken record eventually with how often i gush about the character dynamics but this is just!!! the best shit ever!!!!! and it feels like it never runs out?? mass effect 3 had this as well, but there were only so many moments, otherwise the characters were just in their usual spot and didnt have anything to say. but no matter how many times i go around, there are new scenes and dialogues i cannot believe it... so many!! finally some good fucking food.

so yes. it was a big day :> next time i'm gonna start with taash's questline. so excited for it.

[fallofcyber]

Eighth Doctor Reviews: The Eighth Doctor Adventures; Series One

In honor of me re-listening to the first series of the 8DAs and it being rereleased as a box set I'm going to be giving a little review.

I mostly listen to this at work, and jot down notes and the like pretty quickly.

Also if you are interested in this series it is one of the few that is free on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/704B1LamEbU2wNPDmfwLQ8

Doctor: The Eighth Doctor

Companion: Lucie Miller

#1&2: Blood of the Daleks

Blood of the Daleks is an absolutely amazing start to this range. Quickly introducing a new companion, showing the state that 8 is in and giving us one of the best Dalek stories that Big Finish have ever done.

Lets talk about Lucie Miller, I absolutely love Lucie Miller. She instantly endears herself to the listener, and her 'antagonistic' relationship with 8 is, "Chef's Kiss". She has that Rose Tyler energy but without the melodrama of season 2. In short Lucie kicks ass.

This is a great jumping on point for anyone at all interested in the 8th doctor and has seen the new series. This was made for people who were watching Doctor Who in the RTD era.

This story has that super interesting contrast between two factions of Daleks that I loved in Remembrance of the Daleks. Also Hayley Atwell (Yes Agent Carter) plays the villain in this and is just killing it.

I really recommend this story, It's free and just one of the most amazing places to start.

fun quotes:

"More Beans please" - The Eighth Doctor

"FISH AND CHIPS FOR ALL!" - The Eighth Doctor

Rating 9/10

#3: The Horror of Glam Rock

A just fine adventure set in the 70s. The name is a cool play off the Horror of Fang Rock. I love the Glam Rock/Bowie vibes of the music. Bernard Cribbins plays an asshole music agent, and it is super weird to hear Wilf shit talk people. We get to meet Lucie's aunt Pat who seems super cool. I love that even though we can't meet Lucie's family in the modern day we get to understand her more through her connections.

The monster in this one is kind of lame, and the constant whining of Tommy Tomorrow is exhausting

Rating 7.5/10

#4: Immortal Beloved

Now this one is super interesting, an extremely Shakespearian story. It's very obviously taking a lot from Romeo and Juliet. I'm not sure why but this one really spoke to me, I love the fusion of Greek mythology and future technology. The whole twist of the piece is also super engaging from a moral standpoint. Also the guy who played Winston Churchill in NewWho plays the antagonist Zeus and is delightfully evil, like really despicable.

Rating 8.5/10

#5: Phobos

This listen through is actually my first time listening to Phobos, I skipped it on my first listen through of the 8DAs season one. I just hate this story and it's the only one I might actually call bad. It's the least fun kind of goofy and follows a far too Scooby Doo type plot for Doctor Who. I do like the idea of this world being a travel destination for thrill seekers to visit, that was a cool bit of world building.

Rating 6/10

#6: No More Lies

When I first listened to this one I thought I had skipped something because of the fact that it starts en media res, but it really works in this story. Zimmerman is a really interesting character. I'm always happy to see a time loop when they pop up. The vortisaurs from Storm Warning reappear and are always a lovely bit of world building for 8. Also the song sung in Hungarian is just wonderfully haunting,

Rating 8/10

#7&8 Human Resources

We finally get some resolution to the mystery of Lucie set up in Blood of the Daleks. The concept of what the company they work at is so fucking cool, like absolutely *chef's kiss*. I always love when the Doctor is thrown into a mundane situation and him roleplaying as a big shot office worker is so fun. Lucie and Karen also have a very funny dynamic. We also get the full introduction of the character of the Headhunter who has been trying to track Lucie down through the whole season. I always love when the Cybermen are handled well and this one does some great things with them. There are so many twists and turns in this one that I simply cannot spoil, but I am in love with this story. Also fuck Straxus, all my homies hate Straxus.

Rating 9/10

Overall this season struggles in some places, but for the low low price of free on Spotify I cannot recommend it enough. Lucie and 8 have an electric dynamic, and this season is tailor made to get NewWho fans into both the 8th Doctor and Big Finish in general, and the two two parters that feature the Cybermen and the Daleks present themselves as real standouts of the whole set.

[unreadpoppy]

Overall thoughts/review of Dragon Age Inquistion

So finally I finished all three main DA games and per tradition, here are my thoughts on it.

I will say, out of the three games, I think this is the weakest. Not to say that it's bad, but just that the other two captivated me more. However, I do see why many people who began playing with Inquisition love it so much.

I think the best aspect of this game is the character writing. The companions are really intriguing, their personal journeys can be very compelling and touching, and their interpersonal relationships were a huge highlight of the game for me. Their banter is really really good and some of their relationships with the inquisitor were very sweet, like Dorian and the Inquisitor being besties.

The story itself has its moments. I really liked the whole thing with Divine Justinia/the spirit during the Here Lies the Abyss, and the whole thing with the elves was really interesting to me, and In Hushed Whispers was a very fun quest. However, there are some parts that were a bit lacking to me and that's mainly to do with Corypheus not being that interesting as a villain and the inquisitor's journey.

In fact, one of the problems I had with the story was that I barely felt connected to the inquisitor. I think it has to do with two factors: Lack of a properly established backstory and that the Inquisitor. imo, is too special and powerful too quickly.

In DAO, you get to play a little prologue that very quickly establishes a few things about your character. Where you come from, your social standing, and maybe even your friends and family, but there's still a lot of stuff you can make up for your character. You can define how the character acts while still seeing what is their relationship with other characters. In DA2, Hawke has an even more established backstory, but you can still define their personality and decide how they feel about certain things. In DAI, you get a small paragraph about your overall background but everything else is left to you and that's what got to me. Like, idk, sure I'm first to the keeper but I wanted to see that keeper, and be able to establish a relationship instead of that being done in random dialogue options (because I didn't feel like I was choosing out of a roleplay perspective more of a 'i guess this one')

And while the game is visually gorgeous (besides the ABYSMAL character creator), I was very bored of doing exploration. The main quests of certain areas, like dealing with the dead in crestwood, reclaiming suledin keep, were fun to do, I got very tired of 'collect x amount of thingies.' It did not help when I had to do a thousand of these while waiting for the war table to be done with stuff. Actuall, the time thing and the power system really bothered me (and wicked heart wicked eyes what a godawful quest).

The other thing I didn't like was the combat system. Something about it felt really mindless. Fights took on forever, not because the enemy was particularly good at fighting and I had to figure out a stretegy, but because they had too much health. Like the final battle with Corypheus was very boring, where I just pressed down on the attack button until he was dead (seriously, the DA2 Legacy fight with him was more entertaining). Also, why the fuck did they get rid of spells like 'heal'. I hate barrier so much.

I will say, the final dialogue between solas and the inquisitor in Trespasser was a huge highlight for me too. See what I mean when I say the character writing in this game is the best part?

To sum it all up: the game has good characters and it's beautiful, but the gameplay system and some of the overall story arcs left something to be desired.

[abigailmoment]

Live Action Baldur's Gate

"Fucking hell," Karlach moaned. "Why did I make a character with full body paint?"

"Because you are committed to your craft," said Lae'zel, who was carefully patting down the seams of her prosthetic nose so that they lay flush with her skin.

-

The companions are getting ready play Baldur's Gate: a local live-action roleplaying game that has been running for three years.

-

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, LARPing, Live Action Roleplaying, Implied toxic relationship, extremely niche idea I had, Karlach & Lae'zel, Lae'zel/Shadowheart, Astarion/Cazador, All Companions

Words: 2,772

Full text below.

Full Text On AO3

-

"Fucking hell," Karlach moaned. "Why did I make a character with full body paint?"

"Because you are committed to your craft," said Lae'zel, who was carefully patting down the seams of her prosthetic nose so that they lay flush with her skin.

"I mean sure," Karlach said as she dabbed a makeup sponge back and forth over her arms, painting them bright red to match her already vivid face and chest. "And I'm real excited about how it's going to look. But I didn't really think through how being red would mean I'd have to, you know, paint my entire body red."

"These efforts are the sacrifices we make on the altar of fantasy." Lae'zel left her nose to dry and started mixing her face-paint to the precise color she preferred for her skin. "In embodying beings from another world, we become beacons by which others recognize they have transcended. The essence of a new reality lives on our skin."

Karlach glanced down at her. "Do people ever tell you you're kind of intense, Zel?"

"Yes," said Lae'zel.

They were standing side by side in front of the long mirror in the upstairs, gender-neutral bathroom of the main lodge. It was the best place on the campground to do your makeup, especially if you had a complicated costume. There were four sinks--plenty of room to spread out. Lae'zel had a two-tiered makeup-box full of powder, face-paint, glue, ears, scars, and extra noses. Her brushes were laid out in a row, sorted by size. She had taken out and set aside all the paint-colors she needed for her skin.

On her the other side, Karlach had a red bottle of liquid body-paint and a bunch of makeup sponges. She'd already put on her horns. They looked awesome.

The upstairs bathroom was also a great spot because it had a pair of big, double doors that were always propped open. The hall outside ran along the second floor of the lodge and all the other doors led to bunk-style bedrooms where players slept. So people were always going back and forth, carrying bedding and props to and from their rooms. And often they'd stop to chat with the high-makeup characters doing themselves up in front of the mirror--a process that could take a while and get lonely without company.

Lae'zel's makeup always took a particularly long time, so it wasn't surprising that her girlfriend stopped in to check on her.

"Hi," Shadowheart said, peeking around the side of the door. "I have cupcakes. Would anyone like cupcakes?"

"Fuck yeah," said Karlach, who wasn't the one being checked on but would absolutely accept an open offers of cupcakes. And it was definitely an open offer. Shadowheart was an absolute sweetheart, right up until she got in character.

Shadowheart put down a tupperware of small, clearly homemade black and purple cupcakes on the counter between Lae'zel and Karlach. Karlach picked up a purple one and immediately ate it. Lae'zel selected a black one and put it on top of her makeup box for later consumption.

"Can I kiss you?" Shadowheart asked her.

Lae'zel nodded. "Be wary of my nose."

Shadowheart's care made it a chaste little butterfly of a kiss. Karlach still whistled at them, which made Shadowheart giggle and smile.

"You are insipidly cheerful right now," Lae'zel observed fondly.

"It's because I love you," Shadowheart told her. "And I have to get all the smiling out of my system before game starts! I have such an awful backstory. You have no idea."

"I do not," Lae'zel confirmed. "You have told me nothing."

"It's a secret!" Shadowheart said, clapping her hands together. "You'll find out. It's horrible."

She sighed happily. Then she tapped Lae'zel's cheek.

"Your nose looks great today," she said.

Lae'zel made a pleased noise as she started to paint over the prosthetic with mottled green. Shadowheart turned her happiness around on Karlach: "And you! You look amazing!"

"Thanks!" Karlach held up her extremely red makeup sponge. "It's a headache and a half!"

"It's absolutely going to be worth it," Shadowheart assured her. Then something occurred to her. She turned back towards Lae'zel.

"Will you do my ears?" she asked.

Lae'zel grunted. It was an affectionate grunt. "Sit down."

Shadowheart did, perching on the edge of the trashcan in the corner to lower herself and make her head more accessible. Lae'zel cleaned the shells of her ears with a makeup-wipe. Then she unfolded the top-tier of the prosthetics case and sorted through ears until she found a pair of the only slightly pointed, half-elven ones. She painted Shadowheart's ears with spirit gum, and gently tapped at them to make the adhesive tacky.

The entire process felt, curiously, much more intimate than the kiss. So Karlach backed up a bit to give them a bit of privacy. She leaned against the door-frame, dabbing paint onto her wrists and the back of her hands. She noticed someone coming down the hall.

"Hey!" she exclaimed brightly. "It's our refugee from vampire the masquerade, slumming it in fantasy land."

She reached out with a vague intention to hug, but Astarion danced away from her hand.

"Don't touch me," he told her tartly. "This is hand embroidered, and I do not want you smearing red all over it."

"Oh. Shit. Right." Karlach dropped her hands, put them behind her back. She grinned apologetically down at the much smaller man.

"Look at you," she said. "You so fancy."

"True," Astarion said smugly. He twirled to show off the complete effect of his handmade costume. Blue leather and plum velvet with touches of gold embroidery. The car keys dangling from his fingers jangled incongruously.

"Are you going somewhere?" Shadowheart asked curiously. Lae'zel growled at her for turning her head, and adjusted the ear she was attaching.

Astarion made a vague affirmative noise. "Cazador left a few props at home. I'm just off to fetch them."

"Uh," Karlach hesitated. "Don't you live like, two hours away?"

Astarion made another vague noise, glancing away, down the hall.

"You'll be late for lay on," Karlach said. "You'll miss like, all plot tonight."

"I don't care for the plots on Friday," Astarion said airily. "Never enough combat. But you have a lovely time, darling. Ciao."

And then he was gone. He could disengage from a conversation very quickly when he wanted to. Karlach watched him vanish down the staircase.

"I guess that's a pretty nice thing to do for your boyfriend," she said, slowly and rather uncertainly.

Lae'zel grunted, also peering after him. Her expression was much less uncertain.

"It is an absurd request to make of someone already in costume, so soon before game begins," she said.

Karlach liked that she'd said that, because Karlach had kind of been thinking it, just not quite confidently enough to say it out loud. Lae'zel was good at being confident enough to say things like that out loud.

"Correct me if I'm mistaken," said Shadowheart, and she suddenly sounded a lot less chipper and a lot more in character. "But now that I'm thinking about it, I barely ever see Astarion on Friday."

"You are not mistaken," said Lae'zel.

Shadowheart started to turn towards Karlach, but this time Lae'zel held her head, hissing at her that if she wanted ears, she would hold still. Shadowheart huffed and stayed in place. It only took Lae'zel a minute to finish the process.

When she was free Shadowheart got up and tilted her head from side to side, getting used to having larger ears. Then she walked over to her tupperware of cupcakes and rested her fingers on its edges. She looked thoughtful.

"They came in together, right? Astarion and Cazador?" she asked Karlach, whose gregarious tendency to talk to everyone meant that she tended to know such things.

"Yeah. They're from that classy vampire game," Karlach reported. "Crimson-something. The one that runs out of a mansion."

"I see," Shadowheart said.

She drummed her fingers on the sides of the tupperware. Up and down the edge, around the pretty baked goods. Then she picked up the lid and closed the container with a decisive click.

"I am going to see if he wants a cupcake for the road," she said resolutely.

She marched out of the bathroom, down the hall, and down the stairs. When she had passed beyond the range of earshot Lae'zel sighed wearily.

"What's wrong?" Karlach asked.

"She is going to make friends," Lae'zel told her. "So I will also be expected to make friends."

She sighed again, long suffering. But then consoled herself: "At least this one can fight."

She applied herself to drawing intricate patterns of black dots on her face. Karlach finished her arms and started spraying on a generous coat of barrier spray. That would hopefully do something to stop her from turning everything she touched red.

But even after the spray had dried, she was still leaving paint everywhere. The countertop around her was all marked up with red flecks. The sink she'd been working over looked like Lady Macbeth had been by to wash her hands. With a concerned mutter Karlach knelt down to dig some gloves out of her bag. She left her bag a little redder than it started. At least with the gloves she'd be able to clean up the sink.

Across the bathroom, Lae'zel had almost finished with her dots when she spotted something in the mirror. She pivoted around and pointed out into the hallway.

"Gale," she said. "I have need of you."

Gale accommodatingly paused and walked over to her. He was carrying a bag of potatoes. Probably headed down the kitchen with that. He was one of the volunteers who handled making the communal meals. He was in costume, except that he still had his real-world glasses on. So he looked like a wizardly accountant.

"How can I help?" he asked pleasantly.

Lae'zel slid a sheet of paper out from under her makeup-box. She handed it to him.

"I have leveled," she told him. "Advise me."

"Ah!" Gale's eyes lit up. He put the potatoes down on the counter and took the paper from her. He adjusted his glasses as he read over her character sheet.

"Level three. Now that's an exciting time. And I see you've selected Battle Master. A fine subclass. A very solid choice. Which means the question at hand is maneuvers, yes?"

"Yes," confirmed Lae'zel.

"I see you've penciled in Menacing Attack." He tapped the line in question. "A good selection. Damage is damage, after all, and the status effect is nothing to sneeze at. That being said, Distracting Strike is, in my opinion, the stand out among your options. However! It does require coordinating with other players. You'll need someone who can take advantage of it."

"Hm," Lae'zel said thoughtfully.

"I might also consider Riposte," Gale said, manifesting a pencil seemingly out of nowhere and tapping the paper with it. "It would give you a nice defensive option."

"And it allows me to punish the failures of my enemies," Lae'zel observed.

"Ah. Sure," Gale said, open-mindedly. "Another advantage."

Lae'zel reclaimed her character sheet.

"You have advised me well," she told him.

"Glad to hear it," he said. "Let me know what you decide on? I'm always interested in how builds work out in play."

He recovered his potatoes and then came to the sudden awareness that there was another person in the room. Karlach was just finishing using paper towels to clean red paint off of the sink.

"Karlach!" Gale exclaimed. "Hello. I'm sorry I didn't say hello earlier. Goodness. You're certainly very red."

"Yeah," Karlach said morosely.

Gale paused. Then asked: "I assume that is intentional?"

"Oh, yeah." Karlach nodded, tossing the paper towels into the trash can and leaning against the counter.

Then she sighed and got more paper towels to clean the marks she'd just left by leaning against the counter.

"Put a lot of work into it," she added.

"It's quite nice," Gale said. "Very vivid. You sound rather sad, though."

"I've just realized I'm in a bit of trouble," Karlach said, throwing away the new paper towels and leaning again, this time carefully keeping her arms off the white counter. "Because, you know me. I'm around all of you. And I like all of you. And I only get to see you once a month! And I'm gonna want to hug you."

She spread her arms to illustrate this fact. The beginning of a hug. Then she gestured up and down her body.

"But I've got red paint all over me. I'm gonna ruin everyone's costumes!"

"I see," Gale said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "That is a conundrum."

"It is a danger," Lae'zel, veteran of makeup, acknowledged. "It is why I wear full plate and never hug people."

"I'm no good at not hugging people," Karlach all but moaned.

"Well. Actually. Here's an idea." Gale said, inspiration lightening his tone as he pointed at Karlach. "You could bring this in character."

"What do you mean?" Karlach asked.

"There could be some reason in game as to why people can't touch you," Gale suggested. "It could be a spell. Or a curse."

"Gale of Waterdeep has a suggestion that involves magic," Lae'zel deadpanned. "What a surprise."

"Oh, hush," Gale told her.

"I see what you're getting at," Karlach said, crossing her arms and nodding thoughtfully. "That way I'd remember not to do it. Because, like, it wouldn't be just paint. There'd be, like, in-game consequences."

"Precisely," said Gale, clearly excited by the elegance of the idea. "And we could support you in remembering, because, presumably, we would suffer those consequences! Where are you coming from? In your back story, I mean?"

"I'm fresh out of Avernus," Karlach told him.

"You should talk to Mizora before coming into game," Gale suggested. "She manages all the infernal plotlines. I'm sure she could think of something to suit this."

"All right," Karlach said. Then more enthusiastically: "All right! I'll do that. Thanks!"

"Happy to help," Gale said, and he sounded it. He shouldered the sack of potatoes. "Now, I should get these down to the kitchen. I'll see you both in Baldur's Gate!"

"Indeed," said Lae'zel.

"It's a date!" Karlach called after him. Her mood had bounced back up to excited and she hopped from foot to foot, thinking of cool, infernal reasons why someone might not be able to hug people.

From down the hall she heard voices:

"Hey Gale. Opening announcements in five," someone said.

"Ah! Marvelous," Gale said. "Thank you, five."

Moments later Wyll leaned into the bathroom and announced: "Opening announcements in five!"

"Thank you, five," Lae'zel and Karlach echoed back together.

"Ah. Lae'zel." Wyll said, actually registering who was in front of the mirror. "After announcements. Could I trouble you to give me a bit of help with my horns?"

"Why does no one but me know how to use spirit gum?" Lae'zel snapped, brandishing her makeup pen like a little lance.

"Have pity," Wyll said, leaning around the door frame. "I've only ever played humans. I was planning to play a human. And then Mizora happened to me."

"I'm about to talk to Mizora!" Karlach said, still excited. "I need her help with my backstory!"

"Do you?" Wyll asked, smiling because Karlach's happiness was infectious. "Well, you're in for a ride then. Her plots are wild."

"You would know," Lae'zel said, looking at him narrowly and sidelong. "You're something of her pet player."

Wyll sighed and shook his head.

"I know it's not a good look," he said. "And I'm talking to her about it. Favoritism from storytellers does the game no favors."

Lae'zel grunted, but it wasn't a very aggressive grunt. It was hard to doubt Wyll's integrity. And there was only so much one could do about the whims of the people running game.

"And a good next step will be her paying some attention to Karlach," Wyll continued, gesturing to Karlach and bringing the conversation back around so he could ask: "Would you like me to come with you when you talk to Mizora?"

"Yes!" Karlach said.

"And you're coming in from Avernus, right?" he asked. "My character's been there many a time. Would you like to have a character tie with me?"

"YES!" Karlach said.

And then she hugged him.

And then she said: "SHIT!"

"It's fine! It's fine." Wyll was laughing. "We'll pretend they're bloodstains."

"Come over here," Lae'zel said, sighing and pulling out makeup wipes.

By the time they had Wyll cleaned up five minutes had passed, and it was time for opening announcements.

****

Thank you for reading! Here are some other stories like this.

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[chowtrolls]

what’s the best way to read all the paenit and jodiah stuff chronologically?

Oh god this whole arc's being going on for almost a year now. holy shit. okay! so :) In chronological order:

Homesick

Jodiah reflects on his past. We see glimpses of who he used to be, his past relationships, how he's changed. We learn why he joined the Fleet- to find his missing kismesis! (Her name here is Tianel- it later changes) Important note: the commanding officer in this writing is NOT Paenit- it's a violet named Kinder.

Nowhere To Run

Months later, Jodiah discovers the fate of his missing kismesis (her name here is Mezaka- it changed!). This causes him to spiral. He steals an escape pod from his CO, using it to break into the lab where his brother, Palola, works.

From here, there is a gap- the story being told through asks.

Dia gets stuck on the research base he broke into- and he's pissed about it. He's kept there for a psych eval. He's let off with a slap on the wrist- because the CO he stole from likes him.

The Fleet struggles to reassign him to a new CO. But fret not- Commander Almiss swoops in at the last second to take Dia in.

Dia is also fucking pissed about that, by the way. Turns out they knew each other! A lot of stuff from this point forwards happens off-screen, in roleplays between Corpse and I. Notably, Dia curb stomps Paenit's sunglasses, rigs a coffee maker to blow up, and has to tend to Pae's injuries when he gets stabbed in the hand. Dia does the same thing he does with every CO he's ever had- he finds a way to get close to them, sleeps with them, curates a false sense of intimacy. Eventually that intimacy stops being false.

Back on Alternia- Marsie has died, Twitch is off her rocker trying to locate the person responsible. Mondes ends up in prison and Dia is requested to help force a confession out of him. After which, Dia returns to Paenit's ship for a few more months. All is...alright...for a while...until, suddenly, Marsie isn't dead anymore.

Past Tense

Written from Paenit's POV- we learn more about Paenit & Dia's past. We see what happens before and after Dia requests time off to meet with Marsie.

It'll All Decay

As most may know, Twitch does, in fact, die. Initially, Jodiah seems to take the news alright. It hits him slowly, as we see here. Dia shuts down while back on Paenit's ship.

Call My Name

The companion piece to It'll All Decay - written again from Paenit's POV. We see the extent to which Dia grieves, and we see Paenit going above and beyond to take care of him. More than just a CO helping his medic.

How To Drive A Spaceship

In which Mondes finds a way to get back to Dia. He learns to fly a ship, bonding with Marsie the entire time. It takes Mondes five months or so- four of which, Dia spends comatose, unbeknownst to either party. The final month of Mondes' learning, Dia crawls out of his shell, with more off-screen bonding.

And, of course, three months later, ricocheting us into the Yule Ball.

Written in the Stars

Save the Scratches

Come Back to Me

......And that gets us to current day!!!

[shostakovichenthusiast]

Blog for my dw fan characters I want to eventually develop. And rp with. Ran by @koscheicore , more info under cut! (made this real fast I'll add more as I go). Pfp is the sushicore! picrew.

A ✨ emoji next to a character's name means I'm currently roleplaying them, the rest either aren't active or fleshed out enough for me to feel comfortable with doing so yet.

----

In this AU, the Doctor and the Master are the result of a bigeneration, which they don't discover until waaaaaay late into whatever the fuck their relationship is anymore, and yeah it's a mess. This AU came to be by being silly about Doctor Who and inventing plots in recess. Some epic stuff came out of it. Other stuff is pure comedic bullshit. Anyways they've been silly in many weird AUs so djdkdl whatever. Here's them:

✨ The Master - (he/they) Or the Lux Master bcs idk what else to call them yet. Quite the drama queen this incarnation. Loves theatre, salads and torturing the Doctor, of course, because he could never know what it's like to be them, they could never be the same! Oh and they did have an affair with Shostakovich. Also almost died by a supernova. Pretended to be the Corsair once. Too many thoughts and none are orderly! (I will eventually fetch all of their lore I promise)

The Conductor - Renegade Time Lord that's an orchestra conductor and composer. Yeah I have a theme. They've got 3 incarnations so far. Conductor II is... unwell. Let's say.

Tissiri - Usually referred to as Tiss, an artist who used to travel with the Doctor, but ended up travelling with the Master. In another timeline she had to practically become the Doctor.

✨ Starry - (Any pronouns) Fuck around and find out! • Basically a self-insert, but I'm having plans, you see. The ambassador to this blog 🤷

????????? - Careful when you go to sleep.

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Other characters (not currently rping them):

The Doctor - My friend's fan incarnation! The 26th I think. Who knows. Silly idiot with a red coat and golden hair. Sounds familiar. He's nostalgic for past stuff or whatever.

Dak - A "good dalek". Not so, according to the Master. He's got the personality of a curious child, since he holds the DNA of one of the Doctor's companions when he was younger. He kept him of course. Yeah I have no idea how that happened I have LOTS of questions to ask, also my friend's OC. - Yaay friend gave me permission to rp as this one!

The other Doctor (?) - I do have a vague idea of my own version, idk if I'd fit them into this AU or not but their thing is slinkies and raw carrots. Yeah. Just a self-insert as how I'd play them I guess. I'll think abt them later >:3 also their colour would be orange but Tiss took that one it seems so w/e

[cljordan-imperium]

Hi rule

Multi-part question. Fo you ever see a trope (on tumblr, in media, etc) and think "oh I wanna include that in a story" or "I wanna do a twist on this" and then do you, most of the time, actually include it or just hoard it in your stash for an ambiguous later?

Hi Sweet Sleepy!! <3

I had to think on this because I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. I still cannot think of anything I've seen HERE. Where I do find not tropes, but plot lines, characters, etc is in the media I consume. Most of the time I start the wip, even if it then sits for a bit because once an idea comes, the characters tend not to shut up! LOL I'll give you a few examples below the cut.

Princess of Thieves was inspired actually by a "writing prompt" of - a princess runs away to avoid a marriage and joins a band of rogues. She falls in love with one, who she later finds out is the Prince. - I liked the IDEA, but my characters went - NO, she falls in love with the KNIGHT, but the Prince falls in love with her...and...we have a story.

Behind These Masks took all of my favorite archeology and relic hunting shows and squished them all together into one story. Indiana Jones, The Librarians, The Mummy, and Tomb Raider all twisted and turned.

Tapperhet was inspired by the Rascal Flatts song "Won't Let Go", but instead of a love song, I wanted it to be between friends. That found family, siblings, steadfast love that doesn't bend or break, no matter what comes. The details the characters decided for me from a quote, "I am the daughter of a King who has forgotten my name".

The relationship in The Imperium Chronicles between Leandre and Yael is inspired by Chris Mann's song "North Star". When I decided to add my roleplaying characters into The Imperium Chronicles, I was trying to figure out how to, and adding them as companions to some of my existing strong ones seemed the best way. I had music playing. When this song came on, the characters led the way.

The whole of The Imperium Chronicles kind of started as fan fiction of Cassandra Claire. Me and some of my friends threw out the parts of her world we didn't like (a whole fuck ton) and kept what we did then filled in the blanks with our own ideas. That was over a decade ago, and what I'm writing now has very little semblance of how it started, but it was built on her ideas.

I'm not sure if this is quite what you meant, but this is a lot of how my writing goes. I have a scene written for The Andromeda Effect that was inspired by 21 Pilots "Heathens". It's in the future when Adira has reclaimed her power and who she is, so Caliban and Theron introduce her to the Counsel of Family Heads. The scene played out in my head as I was listening to the music.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Veilguard Romances

I have not as yet got tired of Veilguard. I think it's because it's the same kind of comfort game as DA2 is, honestly. The maps aren't intimidatingly large (I've pretty much got them memorised by this point), the combat isn't too finicky, and it readily divides into tidy little narrative chunks. I won't say that it's my favourite of all four games, but that's largely because I don't have a favourite. Or maybe because they all appeal in slightly different ways. Origins has the better stories, both overarching and side questing, but that memory leak the damn game has makes it a bugger to play these days. (Though I haven't checked the GOG version I bought, which apparently went back and fixed that as best as it can be fixed. I will try that again at some point.) DA2 has the better interpersonal relationships, partly because it is such a tight-knit sort of game on all levels. Inquisition? It has the most scope, ostensibly, but that's not always a good thing, especially not when it's huge maps that are about ninety-eight thousand miles of sweet fuck all with little nuggets of largely fetch quest floating around in it. Veilguard has just enough of all three to keep me playing. Besides, as I said awhile back, it's the only one of the four where I feel like I really want to explore all the romance options.

I will say that I'm glad that they made Neve romanceable if you save Treviso. I have a feeling they thought that saving Treviso was going to be more likely, once they'd actually considered the implications for both zones. I can't speak for everyone, but for me, they're right. I can't do it. I think the only faction I'm hesitant to play is a Shadow Dragon, because I'd feel bad for leaving my faction to its own devices but at the same time ... it's easier to fix political assholes than it is to fix blight spreading across large chunks of Antiva.

Anyway, I guess I got to thinking about why I pick various romances depending on the character I'm playing at the time, and what I picked when I actually wanted to romance somebody. So here's the ones so far.

Molly!Rook (Veil Jumper Mage) - Lucanis. This one was based off one Molly Quincannon, from an old Mage: the Ascension campaign. Through a whole bunch of roleplay, the original Molly ended up with a socially awkward ball of trauma named Nathan. The Rook version was obviously going to end up with Lucanis as a consequence.

Jallira!Rook (Grey Warden Mage) - Emmrich. This one was originally based on my Star Wars: The Old Republic Jallira, who found herself in a very satisfactory romance with a military surgeon with the Republic Marines named Rilus Harridin. I figured Davrin would be close enough. Except once I got to collecting Emmrich as a companion? Davrin's attitude towards the whole thing was kind of a turn-off. Thus I wound up turning away from the "we're in the same basic profession; I just have magic and you don't" similarities and went for the other one - namely the age difference. Hence, Emmrich, who it turned out also shared Rilus' propensity for trying to get his lady to sit down and take care of herself for ten minutes.

Mychae!Rook (Antivan Crow Rogue) - Davrin. Honestly, this particular romance came out of absolute nowhere. While I can definitely see it from either Mychae I've played, neither the TOR one nor the TSW one ever had a relationship quite like the one that this Rook and Davrin ended up in. Though if there had been someone like Davrin in either game, she would definitely have gone there.

Srina!Rook (Grey Warden Rogue) - Lucanis. Might have gone for Harding, but in the end the sunny was too much. But TOR!Srina was with a Mandalorian named Aranar, and the clannishness of the Crows in Veilguard had it fit pretty well.

Astrid!Rook (Mourn Watch Mage) - Emmrich. Astrid was another Mage: the Ascension character originally, played in a cross-system chat-and-forum setting, and her most successful relationship was a Sidhe named Rhys. He was romantic and flowery and devoted and also kind of afraid of the whole thing, if for slightly different reasons than Emmrich's. It made sense, even without the whole thing where the Mourn Watch-specific dialogue made it impossible to not fall for him.

Alisaie!Rook (Lord of Fortune Rogue) - Taash. Alisaie's kind of a new addition to the Character Rolodex that lives in my head. She likes 'em strong and adorkable and slightly awkward - as evidenced by her whole thing with an Oath of Vengeance Paladin named Remi. Of course it was going to be Taash.

As I said before, while I doubled up on a couple, this is already still more romance options than I've taken in any of the other games, and I'm not quite done yet. Currently going with a Neve romance, and it had to be another Mychae - specifically, my TOR!Mychae, whose most successful relationship was with a self-proclaimed "bitchy PI with commitment issues" named Aurrin. So you can see why that might work out, and so far it really has been. The overall vibe of them has been awesome so far, and I'm going to feel really shitty when it comes time to choose between Minrathous and Treviso ... but this Mychae is a Grey Warden, and she goes where the Blight is the greatest threat.

After that, there's just going to be Bellara and Harding left, and those two present me with ... issues that have nothing to do with picking a Rook that would pair well with them. For a Bellara romance, I have to choose between sending my LI to get ganked by Elgar'nan or leave that fate to Lucanis' girlfriend - neither nice options. For a Harding romance, I either let my LI die or lose Davrin ... and Assan. Not that I wouldn't feel bad about losing Davrin - just, he's kind of up for that and has been since not dying when he killed Ghilan'nain's archdemon, but Assan didn't exactly sign up for that. There's also the whole tactical thing where we get three mages but only two rogues and warriors, and I never play warrior so without Davrin, I'm basically going to end up leaning on Taash for most of endgame. Eh, I guess there are worse things. I guess I'll see how motivated I am for either one.

Still, five out of the seven is pretty impressive for me, who back in the days when Origins was all we had was perfectly satisfied romancing Alistair every single fucking time.