#and difficult to do for multiple characters

[honourablejester]

It feels slightly odd to be worried about all the cool mystery-solving spells and abilities when presumably your party want to play out a murder mystery and therefore want to have cool abilities to break out and have fun with? Like, the fun with a murder mystery is solving it, and the fun with a D&D murder mystery is solving it with all your cool D&D toys. I mean, that’s half of why I enjoy playing knowledge and divination focused characters. You want to be able to interact with the mystery, and look cool and spooky doing it. That’s the fantasy. Who doesn’t want to step into a cozy murder mystery as a goddamn necromancer who can just ask ‘hey, dead guy, who killed you?’, you know?

But also … the same cool magic that gives you all the fun tools to go digging with also gives your enemies cool tools to make your life difficult with. In particular, the illusion and enchantment schools of magic. Also certain transformation spells and abilities.

You have Speak With Dead. You ask the victim who killed them. And they don’t know, because the killer was invisible, so they never saw them. Or they were swallowed by a pitch black shroud of darkness, knowing only blindness and terror before a blade as cold as ice slid into their chest. Or they heard a strange skittering at night, as if some rodent had gotten into their room, but thought nothing of it, and then there was only pain (fucking druids using innocuous wildshapes to get in places and assassinate people will never not be my jam).

Or, on the flipside, they do know exactly who killed them, chapter and verse, name and occupation. They saw them clear as day. But that person, tearfully and desperately, proclaims their innocence long after the city watch has led them away, and they’re being completely truthful, because the killer was using the very basic first level illusion spell Disguise Self to take out multiple targets with the same knife. (Or they were a changeling. Or a doppleganger).

But, you say, surely Zone of Truth would sort that little snafu out instantly! Ask the suspect if they killed someone, they say no under enchantment, free and clear. The question there is, does anyone think to use that spell? Is your party going to suspect that kind of switcheroo the first time? Does someone get executed for a crime they didn’t commit, on your party’s word, before they realise what’s going on? (Yes, this is cruel, use cautiously).

Also on the subject of Zone of Truth, it only specifies that the person under the spell cannot tell a deliberate lie. As anyone who’s ever tangled with the fey would know, that says nothing about misleading truths and basic obfuscation. A little careful set-up, and a villain can blithely tell absolute truth while breezily skirting around some things that need not be mentioned.

Also also, on the subject of truth, D&D has a little spell called Modify Memory. Which. A person can truthfully say they didn’t kill anyone if they don’t remember doing it. Now, does this mean there’s multiple parties involved, one to kill and one to cast the spell, and if so, what exactly is the relationship between those parties?

Or … do you, as the GM, bend the rules of the spell slightly to allow the killer to have cast it on themselves? Not that I think that’s actually explicitly forbidden by the spell, though it does say you’re attempting to reshape another creature’s memories, but the only limit on that creature itself is that it has to be a creature you can see. I don’t think it’s bending the rules too far to say that could include yourself. So you can easily manufacture a situation where the killer themselves believes they are innocent, and can testify to that effect in front of a damned planetar if need be.

(Granted, if the planetar in question thinks there’s something fishy happening, then one little Greater Restoration or Remove Curse will sort that problem again, but that’s still steps and suspicion that have to happen before we get to that point).

You’ve also got all the nasty little enchantment spells that can influence and command people into doing things they don’t necessarily want to do. Such as messily kill their neighbour. Now, obviously there are limits on most of these, but it still invites complications when it’s easy enough to find the direct killer, but how willing a killer they were and who’s manipulating and/or commanding them is still a very prominent question.

Going back to Modify Memory, holy god that spell is paranoia fuel, especially in combination with other enchantment spells like Geas or Dominate Person. Because when the timers on those spells run out, after you’ve made them murder someone, you can just wipe their memories and they forget why they’re suddenly hostile to you. Which would be a fabulous clue for a party to pick up on, if some kneejerk distrust and horror at being magically forced lingered through the memory wipe. One or two people in the town, completely innocuous otherwise, just mention in passing that they’ve suddenly developed a mistrust and wariness towards someone, but they don’t know why. Maybe it doesn’t mean much, but if your party are in decent mystery-solving form, maybe it makes them take a look or two at that person, especially if one of those innocuous people gets pinned for a murder and is deeply terrified and confused about it, sure of their innocence.

Basically, if you want a horrifying serial killer in your D&D game? Druids, bards and enchantment wizards are great choices. What magic giveth, magic also taketh away. Such as nice, easy answers to murder mysteries. Heh. If you get to use cool toys, so do your opponents.

Also, nearly forgot, I actually remembered a game I played where there was a sort of a 'locked room' type mystery, where something had vanished from a locked box with no sign of what had happened except that a broken piece of lodestone had been found on the floor nearby. Which. Relies very much on people knowing and thinking about how to cheat using D&D spells and rules. Well. You might also need at least one player who chose a component pouch instead of an arcane focus/holy symbol. Because it's such a cheeky little clue, and such an incredibly simple use of magic. Cantrip level, even. Heh.

Magic is not an impediment to the mystery. Magic is the whole fun of a D&D mystery. Both villains and players have a whole smorgasbord of fun toys to play with and make each other's lives difficult.

How would you handle a murder mystery in D&D? A lot of spells would make short work of most mysteries (speak with dead, zone of truth, various command spells, etc). Now of course those spells do have limitations but still.

Does the party you're currently running the adventure for have access to these abilities? No? Then don't sweat it. Part of leveling up is gaining access to abilities that let you circumvent certain types of adventure ( such as teleportation letting you skip minor travel). Mysteries are best run low level when the culprits are mortal with mortal motives.

Agatha Christie It: one of the hallmarks of detective fiction is that due to circumstances, all the suspects of the crime are bottled up in the same location, letting the detectives ( and audience) have a limited number of targets to chose from as they build up a case. Have your mysteries happen in isolated places with a limited number of variables to sort through.

Magic can only go so far. Any society that knows about magic is likely to have laws about when/how that magic can be used, especially in matters of law. Cornered your likely suspect and used dominate person to force out a confession? A) the party aren't lawmages recognized by the magistrate, that confession isn't reliable in court B) someone ensorcelled could be compelled to say anything, so enchantment isn't trustworthy. C) Using magic against someone in that way is tantamount to threatening them with a weapon, hope your party is prepared to also go to court.

A good mystery is all about piecing together incomplete information, meaning that no one person ( and thus no one spell) contains the complete truth. The dead person won't necessarily know what killed them, just who they suspect, and any good killer would know they needed an alibi/decoy in order to throw off witnesses. Having your party pick through these clues is the fundamental fun of solving mysteries.

Likewise, it's not enough to know that someone did the crime, the party has to PROVE it, which requires gathering more evidence than just a magically compelled confession. Sure a spellcaster could kit themselves out for solving crimes, but that just means the murderer is liable to take a swipe at them while the gang is split up and searching for clues.

[cheekytv]

no words mean something too - h. c. g. lewis MDNI you and harry have a... certain connection. most of the time the connection is physical and in absolute secret.

pairing: harry x f!reader genre: smut, and a bit, a hint of angsty stuff if you squint warnings: multiple sex scenes, p in v sex, unprotected sex, creampie, degradation (usage of words "whore", "slut", "fucktoy", "stupid", “useless“), lowkey dumbification, cum play, cum eating, masturbation (f), blowjobs, squirting, praise ("good girl"), dom!harry (even tho he isn't from the start and he breaks character once), sub!reader wc: 2.1 a/n: ... this is the filthiest thing i have put on this blog. before you ask, i am pretty sure i'll write a part two. enjoy.... i dedicate this to my gal @pretendyoucantseeme as it is my first ever harry smut. ily wifey.

it’s becoming a thing with you and harry. somewhat a habit. a habit that makes your life more difficult and exhilarating at the same time.

the first time it happens is when everyone is asleep at a big shoot in a warehouse. 

you feel him before you hear him. 

“you still up?” he whispers. his hard cock is pressing against your ass and you almost feel offended by it.

“what the fuck, harry?” you whisper back, looking at him over your shoulder. it's dark in the room, only the faint moonlight outside serving as a light source. and conveniently it’s cloaking harry in the most beautiful way. eyes dark, but still so perfectly blue. hair a mess. skin glowing. you swallow.

“look, i don’t know what’s going on but like- i could need some assistance.”

assistance in a room full of all of your friends at a sidemen shoot?! he must be out of his god damn mind!

well, so are you apparently because not even three minutes later, his cock is stuffed inside your pussy, his hand on your mouth while he ruts his hips against you, his own mouth pressed shut. 

fucking hell, he’s great at this. 

it annoys you that harry is good at sex, it truly does. good at just fucking you like a maniac under sheets, the sound thankfully getting drowned out by the layers of blankets on top of you.

“god, you’re tight. so fuuuuucking good, fuck.”

his voice is a sultry whisper in your ear and for whatever reason your pussy spasms and your orgasm hits you like a truck - all with eyes rolling back and desperate moans getting suppressed by only his massive hand on your mouth. it’s like he put a bloody spell on you.

“oh shit, oh shit, did you just cum? fuck, that’s so hot, o-oh f-fucking bloody hell!” harry cums inside you for the first time right then. 

it certainly wasn’t the last, though.

whatever is going on with you becomes something like a… blur after a while. any kind of event, a shoot, a party, a pub crawl or golf, no matter where you and harry get invited to separately, you somehow end up being together in at least… one way. it truly doesn’t matter, you and harry make it work every single time. 

a cramped bathroom stall, a room in an abandoned hostel, behind a not so abandoned five-star hotel at night, in a hot tub when anyone could walk back down to the yard. no matter what - harry and you end up fucking. 

and for some reason, no one has caught on yet. 

hide and seek is supposed to be a children’s game. harry and you have officially changed it to an 18 rated film. at least it’s in a bedroom this time. 

…

sure, in a closet inside a bedroom, but still a bedroom, right?

“fucking hell, how are you always this tight and wet for me, baby?”

your frontside is pressed against the cool wood of the narrow closet, your jeans and panties pooling at your ankles, harry’s cock outside his fly and briefs, buried inside your aching cunt.

“f-fuck me so good!” you cry pathetically. 

see, this is a thing that happened. harry has somehow gotten you to a point of patheticness and stupidity. with all the fucking you’ve been doing, the man has fucked you utterly and entirely stupid. when you’re with him you are nothing but a dumb slut, meant to be fucked by him and nothing else. hungry for his cum, hungry to cum.

“yeah, you like how i fuck you, my perfect little fucktoy.” harry is relentless. whispers the naughtiest things into your ear in the softest voice, all while his cock pounds into you like a sledgehammer. 

it’s quick and hard and everything you’ve ever wanted and a part of you fears you’ll never be able to have sex with anyone else ever again. harry fucks you exactly how you like it, treats you how you like it. the stupid seventh member of the sidemen had literally turned out to be the man of your wet dreams. 

“mhmm, n-nothing but your f-fucktoy, harry!” your drool is dripping down your chin, hands pushed against the wood and your orgasm comes closer with every pain strikingly good thrust of harry’s hips.

“i know that’s right, baby. come on, cum for me, show me how good i make you feel.”

when harry lewis tells you to cum, you do. it’s a spell, it must be a spell. a spell that has you climaxing around his cock in no time, pathetically crying his name and telling him over and over again to pump you full. 

and he delivers every time.

“good girl, such a good little whore for me, mhm, what’s that? want my cum in you? of course you do… stupid little slut, all you want is to be bred by me, isn’t that right?” 

he fucks you through your orgasm and when you whimper that, yes, all you want is to be his little breedable whore, he finally gives you what you need.

and no one ever ends up finding you in the closet together. 

you never really talk about it. what this is. he never questions it and so neither do you.

which makes it so strange when you get jealous over him flirting with some random girl you’ve never seen before. 

you down your vodka lime and turn to pour yourself another one. not to drink it, though, no, no. that would be too much of a normal thing to do. and right now, you are anything but normal. 

the contents of your cup end up on the girl’s shirt, your faux apology not fooling harry in the slightest. 

when the girl runs away, all embarrassed, harry smirks knowingly.

“oh, someone’s jealous then?” he says. you scoff.

“in your dreams. this was obviously an accident.” you roll your eyes at him. harry’s eyes darken.

“did you just roll your eyes at me, sweetheart?”

your pressed against the wall and you gasp when you feel his hands on your hips, digging into your flesh.

“harry, wha-,” 

“coming over here and spilling a drink on a girl i spoke to for five minutes like a jealous little brat, hm? and then rolling your eyes when i call you out? you wanna get in trouble, don’t you, baby?”

your thighs press together almost automatically. 

the sink isn’t comfortable to bend over but it’ll do. 

harry is drilling into you, cock hard and veiny, dragging along your walls. he’s hard and reckless and your hair is wrapped around his hand, holding you up and staring at yourself while he fucks you.

“look at you,” he spits, “look at this jealous useless whore, hm? scared i’ll find another cunt to pump full, baby?” he smirks wickedly and your pussy throbs around him, several whimpers escaping your throat. 

“pl-please!” you don’t even know what you’re begging for.

“shut the fuck up,” his other arm is wrapped around your waist, pushing you even harder against himself. “i’m gonna show you what happens to misbehaved sluts like you, yeah?” 

he fucks into you once, twice, cock vibrating with his nearing climax, only to pull out and spin you around, pushing you onto your knees and finally climaxing all over your face.

“fuuuuck, look at all that cum on your pretty face, shit, that’s so hot.” harry squirts another wave of cum onto your face, mouth hanging open. he kind of got lost in how much he enjoys seeing you full of his cum and forgot all about his role of the mean dominant man. adorable.

but now you’re covered in his seed and your own orgasm has never been further away. and harry isn’t moving.

“touch yourself.” he commands, back in his element and your eyes widen, cum dripping from your chin down to your cleavage. harry’s spent cock twitches at the sight. 

“what?” you stare at him.

“you heard me, darling. touch yourself. make yourself cum.”

your hand moves down. you don’t even really know how or why. but harry is the puppet master and you do whatever he says. kind of a… difficult situation if you think about it. not that you do. no, not when your fingers sink into your pussy, your legs spread and the cum slowly drying on your face. 

harry watches you in awe, how your fingers pump into your cunt over and over, how your hips chase the feeling, how his cum looks on your fucked out face. 

harry realises then he needs to make sure everyone knows you’re his. 

he just doesn’t know how to bring it up. 

“go on, love. cum for me.” 

there it is - the harry lewis spell. 

his words make you tumble over the edge, coming hard on your own fingers, his name like a prayer on your lips as you fuck yourself through it. 

he helps you get up and cleans your fingers by sucking them into his mouth hungrily. 

then, he leaves the bathroom first.

and after you’ve cleaned yourself off his essence, you follow suit.

once again, no one knows a thing.

everyone knows harry hates driving. 

but at one of the next sidemen shoots, he gets put in a duo with you and ends up driving. 

the production crew drives ahead and you and harry are alone in the car. 

he turns off the camera when you end up on a road in the middle of nowhere, the productions team car three cars ahead. 

your mouth is on his cock as he drives, his hand in your hair.

“yeah, baby, take it all, come on, know you can.” his head is leaning against the headrest, teeth sinking into his bottom teeth as you bop your head on his cock quickly.

your mouth is perfect around his cock, so fucking perfect. not as perfect as your pussy though. 

“gonna make me cum, darling. wanna swallow it all, don’t you?” he pushes your head down, concentrating on his surroundings to the best of his abilities all while thrusting up.

“take it- f-fucking take it, ch-choke on it, y-yeah like that…. f-fuck!”

after you swallow all of his load, you sit back up and turn the camera on again. 

he parks the car at the side of the road thirty minutes later when a crazy thunderstorm breaks out. the production team is already far ahead and you are now on his lap in the driver’s seat, bouncing on his cock like a woman starved. 

his head is in between your tits, sucking and licking on your skin while you fuck yourself on his cock at rapid speed.

“n-ngh, h-harry’s cock s-so big and go-good!” you are back to being a pathetic little slut and harry loves every second of it. his hands are on your ass, squeezing it tightly, smacking it every few seconds.

“yeah, baby, bounce on my cock, what a good girl.” he sucks your nipple into his mouth and you cry out, hands on his shoulders while you pick up the pace. 

for whatever reason, harry’s cock is your actual perfect fit. dragging it along your walls, having it hit your sweet spot over and over, it feels like a dream. a perfect wet dream. your sounds are borderline pornographic and you wonder if maybe you’ve chosen the wrong career. but then again, no one has ever made you sound like that. only harry.

“pl-please c-can i cum?!” you cry out just as harry finishes a beautiful purple mark on your right tit.

“such a good slut asking for permission. yes, darling, cum for me.” 

and that you do. you cum and you squirt all over his lap, his groans growing more worked up as he notices.

“fuck, i love it when you squirt, my own personal dirty little whore, fuck.” he grabs your waist with both hands now, holding you down as he fucks up into your, head thrown back. the wetness between your legs is absolute heaven. he fucks into you over and over, no control left whatsoever and finally climaxes, thick spurts of cum landing inside your spent pussy. you whine, nails digging into his shoulders, mouth hanging open and eyes are closed. he fucks you and him through your orgasms and you finally collapse on top of him, arms wrapped around his neck and head on his shoulder. 

his hands caress your back softly. 

your sweaty forehead leans against him, chest heaving. when you raise your head, your eyes and his meet. 

and then he kisses you. not like he does before you fuck. 

he has never kissed you after you’ve fucked. 

it’s sweet and soft and desperate and so telling. 

but neither of you says a word. 

neither of you tells. 

_________

taglist: @pretendyoucantseeme, @abbwhite08, @clarkeysbedchem, @liz140569, @clarkeyscvntymullet, @formulaal, @happyclifford, @wherethezoes-at join my taglist!

[paingoes]

Tag Game: Whumpee Writes a List of Needs

Inspired by this post! Make a post with a list of things your character needs their Caretaker to do (or not do, in terms of triggers to avoid) for them during their recovery - things that it would be difficult for them to say out loud. Could be in-character or just author's description of what they need.

yippeeee thank you for tag @thewhumpcaretaker i love it

uhhh who would be good at this tag game..... @secretwhumplair @lethologick @rainbowsandwhumperflies @horrible-on-main @doumidas-whumps @baphomimi ??? no pressure

honestly open tag for whoever wants to do it and i really encourage you to do it because this is a v cute exercise

loosely in-character lists for both boys below :D

they both have multiple caretakers so not addressed to any particular person and its set roughly within Vol.II time period

Delta

i like being given a choice but sometimes its too much and i trust you to make decisions for me when i cant. not major life ones but its okay for small things

no yelling ever please

please don’t make me talk or tell me to shut up both are really triggering

you can tell me if im being weird. its less humiliating to be corrected at the time than it is to find out later. i wont know otherwise.

i can’t help the verbal tics and its not anything you did wrong most of the time my head is just fucked

please let me stay around even if i am quiet i still want to be near you

please just tell me if you are unhappy with me it makes me nervous when i cant tell

praise is good and i want to be good and i want you to be proud of me

telling me how much you hate my abusers just makes me feel wrong and broken for not feeling that way. i know you mean well but its alienating and makes me feel like a bad person.

im okay about touch. i like being touched. you don’t have to protect me when it comes to that. i know what i’m doing.

please stop me if ive been awake longer than 48 hours or at the computer longer than 12. 

crying or not crying does not really indicate anything anymore. it happens for no reason or it doesn’t happen when i need it to. it’s better to just ask and to believe me.

be patient and gentle during the lapses. you already do that please keep doing it because it means more to me than you know

Paris

warn me before you touch me because my nervous system is all fucked up and still launches into fight apropos of nothing and i don’t want to hurt you

you can tell me to fuck off if im being too aggressive and you can tell me if i need to leave. its okay if you leave too i will try to panic less about it but id rather that happen than keep arguing and say shit i cant take back.

its okay if youre mad at me but can you just reassure me that you are not going to leave forever because of it. or if the time does come when you are going to leave forever will you tell me that too

no drugging ever not even for my own good. i know if its an emergency i wont have a choice but i dont want it.

no matter what is happening to me do not call the cops

also can you give me a heads-up before i have to interact w any of the rebels because it takes me a while to psyche myself up

i can’t always come out of the dissociative episodes but i appreciate you maintaining presence anyway and id be worse off if you didn’t do that. just because im unresponsive doesnt mean i dont want you there. i like hearing you talk.

you can confiscate my phone and sharp objects if im manic but let me keep the cigarettes. you can take the lighter though.

dont talk to me like i’m stupid

dont take pics or videos without asking it makes me paranoid

you can ask me to do things for you no matter what state i am in. i want to help you and to repay you in some way and its good for me to not feel entirely useless. i will do it.

[storiecraft]

i am so jealous of muns who can happily write a single-muse blog and not feel the urge to write 5,617 characters

[kayzis]

what do you meeeeeeeean i can't marry him

[recallback-art]

Instead of doing school work, I've been hardcore binging Shadows Over Loathing. It's such a silly game but I love it dearly, it's so fun and I am gonna do a second run.

But for now, here's the dude I made on my first run! Cecil! They really wish they were anywhere else right now other than fantasy Boston.

[musical-chick-13]

Regarding the previous post, I think the way I approach trying to evaluate a piece of art is asking "Do I think the positive things I get out of it outweigh the parts of it that I don't like?" And when I call something a "guilty pleasure" song/show/book/piece of media/etc. it's really more in the sense of, "Given who I am as a person, the flaws I've found in this should be complete dealbreakers for me, but somehow they aren't, and it makes me feel like I'm having an identity crisis."

[thedevotionaltour]

dont have any super strong opinions on comics karen as a character at current time outside of ah The Period Typical Writing that comes with her (but it also comes with plenty of other characters too so ultimately i'm still trying to cultivate feelings on her as i go through more issues) outside of i really do love her design. i like her sense of style. her hair is cute. they have captured the sweetheart sweet gal vibe they are trying to obtain for her.

[nedconte]

Rules: Choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag 10 people you want to know better

i was tagged by @thistableforone, thank you so much! 😇 (and sorry it's taken me forever!)

I choose:

the terror

a song of ice and fire

the witcher (i'm mostly familiar with book canon and tw3)

the first character you loved:

it took me a while to start recognizing any characters. probably goodsir or fitzjames?

it's been so long i'm not sure. let's say arya, i feel like she's always been my girl

geralt, but i think it still took me a while to warm up to him

the character you relate to most:

...i'm not sure about relate, but i sure project a lot of stuff on dundy and/or edward

brienne has some relatable qualities but she's also like 100x more amazing than me

probably someone like (book) triss because she has some kinda pathetic moments lol (but she also has her sweet moments!)

the character you'd slap

i feel like many of them could be slapped at some point in the story. but i'll choose dundy when he and edward first bring up leaving the sick behind. while james is still alive!!

so many but especially theon in the early books

geralt when he's being a stubborn idiot with the "geralt's company" characters

three favorite characters in order of preference

james, dundy, ned

arya, brienne, theon

geralt, ciri, and uhhh i can't really decide between dandelion, yennefer and milva

a character you liked at first but don't like anymore

idk. there are characters like goodsir that i liked in the beginning, and i just don't really think about him in fandom context, but i wouldn't say i don't like him, you know?

i can't really think of any

again, i'm not sure there are any

a character you did not like at first but now do

probably all of those guys i didn't recognize at first?? i also can't remember what i thought about fitzjames when i first started watching, but i could see him going in this category

i think i was kinda lukewarm on sansa but i appreciate her these days. also possibly theon, but i've loved him for so long that i'm not sure anymore

cahir! he's soooo poor little meow meow material, i love him. but i definitely didn't expect to start liking him

three OTPs

fitzier, fitzconte, joplittle

arya/gendry, jaime/brienne, theon/robb

i've mostly read geralt/emhyr and geralt/eskel fics. i'm also kind of intrigued by the enemies-to-lovers possibilities of ciri/cahir

no pressure tags:

@zaegreus @homosneksual @saintdundy @maedhrus

@fredoesque @charlesdesvoeux @flyingbodysymphony

@joondemiel @norsevibes @thedailylifeofafailedvodkaaunt

and anyone else who wants to do this! ✨ (also, i know some of these are side blogs, feel free to do this on whichever blog you'd like)

[bibipeatea]

I made enough characters that I could create a whole franchise around them, but how am I supposed to draw over 600 characters quickly enough for some designs to not expire all because little Mao is going to grow up in the meantime?

[quibbs126]

I came up with some ideas for X AU Prima yesterday after making the Alpha Trion post

I don’t have a design yet, I just wanted to list random things since he then came into my mind last night

So basically

Was the previous owner of the Matrix before giving it to Alpha Trion

Almost definitely died

Was Alpha Trion’s something, but I can’t decide if their relationship was romantic, familial or just platonic

AT might have named Optimus after Prima?

The Star Saber is basically like Guts’ Dragon Slayer; that thing is MASSIVE, bigger than Prima, and really heavy. Prima just really liked oversized weapons

Originally I was thinking Prima was male, but now I’m realizing I could make him not that. Why can’t he be a woman?

Maybe got visions from Primus, probably got the similar name from somewhere

The Matrix was either white or gold when Prima had it. It changes its light color depending on who owns it (OP is blue, AT was pink)

I don’t know, I’ll probably delete this once I have an actual Prima design, but I wanted to share what I thought up

[byjove]

I hate it when actors talk about an animal they had to work with on set and it’s obvious they were not patient with the animal at all. You especially see this with non cat people who had to work with cats and are like “Working with that cat was the bane of my existence, never on cue, scratched me once, always seemed afraid of me.” Like yeah, she’s a cat. She could probably sense you hated her. It’s hard enough to be an animal in the entertainment industry without some guy being a dick to you. Are you that uncharitable with human costars (and particularly child actors) or do you just hate animals?

Conversely, it’s so heartwarming when an actor speaks positively about an animal they worked with and/or there are behind the scenes stories of the crew genuinely trying to make the animal comfortable and giving them grace.

One of my favorite examples of this is Mad Max 2 (1981) which was made on a budget of $4.5 million AUD (about $13.5 USD in today’s money). They ended up casting a dog from the pound that was scheduled to be put down and by all accounts the dog was a nightmare to work with. But most of the cast and crew loved him. The dog’s name was Dog so his character’s name was also Dog. He was difficult to train but super food motivated so they kept writing dog food into scenes for him. He kept freaking out on set and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Eventually they realized part of the reason he kept acting out was because he was terrified of the sound of cars and motorcycles so they had special doggy earplugs made. His character was supposed to be aggressive but real Dog was very affectionate and could not be made to behave aggressively so they had to use selective editing to make him seem more menacing. When filming was done multiple crew members wanted to adopt him because he was such a good bad boy. He was adopted by one of the stuntwomen and got to live out the rest of his life doing actual blue heeler things. That was his only film role.

[autism-corner]

kinda epic

[0rionz-belt]

…

fine. maybe i’ll do art fight.

[amplexadversary]

I did mention before that I wanted to make a Bones fandragon, and rather conveniently, I just got the final dragon for two of my projects.

The broad idea of what I want to go for with Dr. Brennan is shown above: upper blue range primary that I can most closely match to the Jeffersonian lab coats in the show (pictured: Indigo), a secondary color around the border of the gold-brown range (pictured: caramel), and Ghost tertiary gene in a color that's one of the shades of white or yellow which is close to any shade you get from actual bone.

Obelisk because I think an Earth breed is appropriate, wind eyes because she has green eyes on the show, haven't decided on primary or secondary genes, though hopefully there are a few color/gene combos that could look good because that would allow me to be less picky about exact colors.

[creatingblackcharacters]

“On Human Dignity.”  Blackness, Gender & Sexuality

Two things:

As usual, there’s historical and social context that I need explain! This lesson is not what sexuality is, or ‘how to write being gay while Black’. That’s… not that different from you. What this lesson is, is context on how Blackness plays a role in our presentation and understanding of gender and sexuality (as well as your perception of it), and how that’s something you should consider in your characterization, writing, and character design.

I DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING! The reason this took so long was because I read multiple books and wallowed in my remaining lack of understanding. I cannot join The Tumblr Discourse so do not ask. I tried to be as inclusive as I could, but I learn something new on this app every day, so if I miss something- and I’m bound to- I apologize in advance. Please have grace with me.

TW: Sexual assault mention, homophobia, misogynoir, cannibalism, misgendering

“That’s that White People Shit"

I’m putting the hardest part first; walk with me, you’ll be fine!

I will be honest: this section here, while I do think you should know, I don’t really expect nonblack people to incorporate it in depth. Not because it cannot be done, but because it is a sensitive topic that we ourselves are still struggling with. If you have struggled with anything else while writing Black characters up to this point, this one certainly isn’t for you to touch. Just keep in mind!

There’s an idea I’ve heard before on both sides that Black people are more likely to be homophobic, that queerness itself is white. That is a ridiculous belief, but the root of it ends up right back where you think it would: slavery! I’m sure that you saw me post while I was reading The Delectable Negro by gay Black author Vincent Woodard. I shared those increasingly uncomfortable quotes on purpose! If you have a desire to understand Black culture and Black thought, that means being willing to acknowledge Black pain. How can you avoid stereotypes if you avoid learning their source?  

While I will be using quotes from the entire book, the specific chapter of “Eating Nat Turner” is a succinct explanation of why admitting to the presence of homosexuality, gender fluidity, and queer identity within the Black community is so difficult for my people. While I highly, HIGHLY recommend reading this chapter yourself, it essentially comes down to how admitting to such a potential vulnerability in the armor of Blackness, in gender identity and particularly Black masculinity, would allow white supremacy to destroy us as a people, to do validate doing even more cruel things to us when in a position of power over us. It’s a defensive reaction based in trauma that disregards and discards the queer members of our own community as a threat, a liability when it comes to fighting against the ubiquitous presence of white supremacy.

“Intuitively, Black gay men understood the issue of homosexuality during slavery as a complex phenomenon shaped by a number of factors, including the nation’s unresolved relationship to the legacy of slavery, Black liberatory ideology dating back to slavery, and, most importantly, the maintenance of traditional notions of family and community that originated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The legacy and memory of slavery had a powerful effect that left many Black gay men feeling isolated from and rendered invisible within Black communities.

Joseph Beam said it first and best: “I cannot go home as who I am. . . . When I speak of home, I mean not only the familial constellation from which I grew, but the entire Black community: the Black press, the Black church, Black academicians, the Black literati, and the Black left… I am most often rendered invisible, perceived as a threat to the family, or am tolerated if I am silent and inconspicuous.” … As Philip Brian Harper has noted, the Black homosexual functioned in the twentieth century as an index for Black masculine anxieties. These ranged from the very personal and painful anxieties of lynching, castration, and the denial of civil rights to a larger set of anxieties rooted in historical erasure and cultural genocide.”

“Sex and gender they also conflated with homosexuality, made out to equal effeminacy. Many Blacks linked homosexuality to castration and the recent history of Black men who had been lynched and Black women who had been raped in the Jim Crow South and in the North. Homosexuality, in its metaphoric power, had an exhaustive function: It is equated with the absence of family, hatred of Black people, estrangement from one’s kin and culture, and all of those horrific aspects of Black experience about which Black people would rather not speak.”

An example of why nonblack people should consider the depth of such a topic- and their place to do so- before incorporating it into their story comes in the form of Styron’s Confessions of Nat Turner, and the backlash he faced from the Black community for such a sensationalized story from a white author.

“The ten Black male contributors [who wrote Ten Black Writers Respond] coupled cannibalism (overtly and covertly) with homoeroticism and effeminacy. For these Black men, homoeroticism became a way of circumventing and projecting their experiences and pain onto certain “effeminate” Black men: the consumed Black man these Black men equated with the homosexual man. Homosexuality served as a means of containing certain unwieldy and historically difficult topics pertaining to Black masculinity, such as the need for intimacy, gender variance, sexual and emotional vulnerability, and violation. It was as if, in this very powerful and discursive moment, threads that had been all along winding through history wove together in a manner that illuminated the past as much as they clouded and blocked full access to its complicated meaning.”

“On the surface, at least, I do not disagree with these Black men and women. I think their analysis regarding historicity and the diminishment of Black communal ties was mostly correct. Styron’s novel was historically inaccurate, depicting Turner as raised by whites rather than the Black parents and grandmother Turner spoke about in his original “Confessions.” Styron depicts aspects of Turner’s sexual life that are not validated in any documentation coming from the time period, and Styron’s exhaustive probing into the racial hatred and self-hatred of Turner clearly reflected something in his own psyche and white identity that he felt compelled to project onto Turner. Black men were put on the defensive by both the novel and by the institutions (literary production, the media) and individuals who supported Styron as an authentic interpreter of Black historical experience. Many Black men, like Bennett, felt that Styron was waging a literary war that paralleled the contemporary political and police state war against Black men…”

The problem with this mindset and approach within the community is that, while it attempts to protect our community, it silences both the prosperity and the pain of an entire section of it, as well as shutting down important conversation that needs to be had even by nonqueer members. And it’s doing it all to fight against a force- white supremacy- that is going to commit violence against us regardless! Respectability politics forces many Black people to stay silent, to not speak up on things that may rock the boat- but the boat needs to be rocked! Blaming fellow victims of racism is not going to save us!

“That was the irony of this moment. Black people invoked the cannibal discourse that could have freed up and complicated Black male perspectives on everything from social consumption to homoeroticism only to defend Black masculinity and Black culture. Black men were not interested in, nor capable of dealing with, the complex legacy of cannibalism and homoeroticism that so powerfully shaped their responses to Styron’s novel.”

But that does NOT mean that it’s a nonblack person’s place to make that argument! While I cannot stop you, I do want you to keep in mind that- as always with sensitive topics- you may have to face Black people who may rightfully be offended by your depiction if not done with care. Styron studied James Baldwin himself- who faced backlash on his end for saying that it was time for the Black community to face such a conversation- and even then, he still projected his white pathology and opinions onto the story of such a prolific hero in our history. Tread lightly!

“Well they don’t seem gay to me.”- A Eurocentric Standard of Passing

How many times have you heard this about a Black character? And if you’re Black and LGBTQ, how often have you heard it about people (or maybe even yourself?) How do we ‘not seem gay’? What is gay supposed to be? There’s this denial, almost, of Black LGBTQ folks, based in a complete disconnect of understanding of our own forms of gender expression and sexuality.

It’s extremely bizarre, because so much of pop gay culture as we know it is from Black LGBTQs (please refer to my infamous AAVE lesson), but… when we imagine an LGBTQ person, they're white.

If you’re Black and queer, you have to be this stereotypical, flamboyant RuPaul-esque figure. Can’t be regular degular. If you’re gay, you gotta be Uber Gay™. If you’re trans, you better pass with Complete Gender and Pizzazz. If you’re nonbinary, you’re not ‘androgynous’ enough. If you’re intersex or asexual, you��re practically not real. If you don’t fill this (white, western) mold, you must not be right. When all you have to be in order to be gay… Is be gay.

I shouldn’t have to put on extra performance to qualify as queer in your eyes! Do you know what looks are considered “androgynous” in my community? What behaviors are deemed “masculine” versus “feminine”? Do you know anything about my queer culture, or are you subconsciously comparing it to your own?

I want you to recognize that whatever image of queerness you have in your mind for your favorite or original characters, if Black people of all shapes and sizes aren’t included, there’s a problem! Because what are you seeing in others, that you’re not seeing in us? Is that, perhaps, a you problem? And why are we not worth the added effort of queer layering that others are?

THAT SAID!

“Oh I know what that’s like, I’m gay-”

This one mostly- if not always- comes from white queer folk. I’ve linked The Last Interview with James Baldwin. It’s so short. PLEASE take the time to read it. I’ve always adored how James Baldwin expresses himself, and while I could never stand so close, I have studied how he conveys his thoughts. But there’s almost nothing I could say that he doesn’t say better.

“A Black gay person who is a sexual conundrum to society is already, long before the question of sexuality comes into it, menaced and marked because he’s Black or she’s Black. The sexual question comes after the question of color; it’s simply one more aspect of the danger in which all Black people live. I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, into a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality puts them in danger, unexpectedly. Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to the sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society.”

The idea that “I know what it’s like to experience this oppression as a Black person because I’m gay” is not true. It’s like saying “oh look at my tan, I’m as Black as you now”. Stop it. Think back to that first section on history we discussed- no, you and I are not the same. We can discuss our existing connections, our intersection and have sympathy and empathy with one another on human dignity. We don’t have to act like we’re the same to do that! So don’t go headstrong into your writing (or life) saying “oh I get that completely, it’s because I’m queer”. There are more tactful ways to express your intent of solidarity.

'Queer' vs 'The N Word'

We’re gonna nip this one in the bud, because we’re leaving that argument in 2024. You know the one- “saying queer is like using the N-word- as a reclamation/slur!” What this argument reveals, used by EITHER SIDE, is how y’all don’t actually have community with Black people.

It implies that either “we don’t like it” or “we do”. Yet another binary that does not exist! There are plenty of Black people that despise that word, regardless of context. That think it brings us down. And then there are those that use it as a reclamation of an identity that was used to demean and dehumanize. Either way, one party is not going to walk up to a stranger and force it on them- that would cause an actual fight! It’s not improving your argument. As a whole, I would say stop using Black politics in general to improve your arguments when you are unaware of the overlap, or maybe the lack thereof, between Blackness and queerness in your argument. It shows. I’m not your tool; I’m not your Negro!

I’m not here to tell anyone whether queer is a slur or not. I don’t use it as one, but I recognize when people are uncomfortable, when it is being used as one, and I will use different language when I am speaking directly to someone who says “I do not like that word, describe me as __”. I am just here to say that we’re leaving that argument behind.

Black =/= Gender

Blackness and the concept of Gender have a fraught, confusing history. Not human enough to have rights, but human just enough to fail to meet Eurocentric standards of gender.

One example of this is the term “stud”. Studs are an example of Black women traversing gender presentation, the origin of which is because Black people are perceived as having “lesser sexual dimorphism”- i.e. you can’t tell who’s a woman or not. It’s an in-community joke that doesn’t make sense spoken outside of its historical context (thus, no, your white butch is NOT a stud within this context).

Another example: Megan Thee Stallion is one of the most stunning, feminine women I have ever seen… And her entire career, people have called her a man. Because she’s brown-skinned, Black, confident, loud, and openly sexual, she’s deemed manly. I can’t stand it. Plus her height- and mind you, Taylor Swift, of the same height and probably a higher number of bodies over the years, has never once been called a man or lost any of her “feminine” charm despite it. Why is that? If one of her men had shot in the foot, trying to kill her, there would be an uproar. Why is that?

There is an internal contradiction that being a Black woman is being inherently “gender nonconforming”. The first reason is that I will never be allowed to truly be a “woman” because to be a woman is to be white while doing it. White Tears, Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad is an excellent book on this dynamic in all women of color, and Black activists like Angela Davis and Kimberle Crenshaw have written and discussed the topic as well.

The second reason is I have to play the role of whatever ‘gender’ is expected to get me through this life. I have to be more ‘masculine’; strong, assertive, and proactive, a hard worker willing to sacrifice it all every day, in order to protect my family and myself in a world where a lack of resilience might kill me. I cannot allow weakness to stop me from taking care of my community, because Black women are supposed to show up and save the day. Find a Black woman! they say. She’ll fix it! And odds are, I do know how to fix it because I’ve probably had to address it before.

But then I’m acting ‘out of a woman’s place’ by being so ‘hard’ and expecting people to listen to my authority. So in order to play a Black woman’s place, I have to balance that with… Somehow not intimidating people by being more ‘feminine’, submissive, vulnerable, sweet and motherly (because if I’m not a good breeder and mother, I am a bad woman). I scare people if I don’t. If I don’t do that, then I’m not a good Black woman. But if I don’t harden myself and be strong and assertive to protect everyone, and tough through everyone’s problems with infinite sacrifice, then I’m not a good Black woman… You see how the cycle gets confusing! (The Delectable Negro and Black on Both Sides also speak on this, and how this is rooted in the creation of the Mammy!)

I spoke about it earlier, but that same inability to be defined as a human, defined as white, haunts many Black men in their goals to be seen as ‘equal’ to white men and receive equal treatment. By seeking to fit a standard of whiteness, they are never going to attain it (and often, that comes back home in not-so-good way)! E.g.: this is the original issue that Louis had in AMCs' IWTV- Louis never actually wanted to be a vampire, Louis wanted to be treated like an equivalent human- and that was unattainable to him not because he wasn’t a human being, but because he wasn’t a white one!

The Racist Counterproductivity of TERFs

Sigh. If you are of this belief, but here to better your writing, I feel like I should say this to you. I want you to listen to me. (TBH, I’m going to delete anything asking me for opinions on this because I don’t want to potentially entertain even a singular troll). Besides, my argument is pretty simple and resolute.

The gender binary is rooted in bioessentialism, and bioessentialism is rooted in white supremacy. You know what else benefits from white supremacy? The white patriarchy.

How are we gonna escape from the patriarchy and white supremacy… if the ideology you believe in… is rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy?

And it’s not just the TERFs- look within yourselves as well! How are we going to make the world safer for trans people, including white ones, if you aren’t willing to confront your own racist biases? If you are unwilling to release the shackles of gender essentialism and the benefits of whiteness, none of us are getting out of here. You are reinforcing the very walls you wish to dismantle!

To offer another side of the conversation, Black On Both Sides by C Riley Snorton has been an interesting read! Essentially, the conversation is on how Blackness and transness intersect, how being Black in and of itself can be and is a transitional, gender fluid experience. It, along with The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould and Medical Apartheid by Harriet A Washington, goes into the history of how the Black body was seen as a different species altogether, and how phrenology, biological essentialism, and examples of sexual dimorphism were treated as an example on how we are an inferior group. Yet, this lack of understanding of our bodies (despite the constant access to it) allowed for us to maneuver within such a system.

An example, of how Blackness has an effect on our perception of gender:

"Cobb suggests that this blackening may have been an anticipatory gesture; when James Norcom (Jacobs’s enslaver) published a description of her in the 1835 issue of the American Beacon, he presumed that she would be “seeking whiteness and dressing as a free woman, not accentuating her Blackness” and finding a “cross-dressing” and ungendered mode for escape. Although the description of sartorial arrangements seems to conform to passing’s logic of movement for protection or privilege, Jacobs’s use of charcoal to darken her complexion tropes—by inverse logic—on more commonly held beliefs (and fears) about racial passing.

As “passing” became a term to describe performing something one is not, it trafficked a way of thinking about identity not only in terms of real versus artificial but also, and perhaps always, as proximal and performative. Like a vertical line with arrows on either end, passing is figuratively represented by moving up or down hierarchized identificatory formations. This articulation of vertical identity also coordinates with forms of binary thinking, typified, for example, by the language of “the opposite” sex. …Brent/Jacobs’s blackened blackness gives expression to her condition as fungible within the logic of U.S. slavery, in which the system of colorism, as Nicole Fleetwood has argued, “produces a performing subject whose function is to enact difference . . . an act that is fundamentally about assigning value.”

As it relates to the scene of Jacobs’s brushing past Sands, her status as “it” also indicates how blackness-as-fungible engenders forms of nonrecognition, as Jacobs’s performance elucidates how blackness and going blacker become an embrace of the conditions that might allow one to pass one’s friends and lovers undetected. In this encounter, fungibility sets the stage for gendered maneuvers on a terrain constituted by modes of viewing blackness, in which Jacobs’s blackness and going blacker color her gender as well as her face."

The Black Trans/Nonbinary/Genderqueer Experience

Rather than try to summarize opinions on something I had not lived, I wanted to platform some Black trans, intersex, and genderqueer opinions for you all to consider! I asked three questions, and I’ve typed out the responses and placed them as their own post for the sake of space. I don’t care if it’s long- read them! You want to write these characters; you should hear the perspectives of the people you wish to write about!

The Black Intersex Experience

Nothing I could say that someone that is actually Black and intersex couldn’t say better!

Here is a page on Tumblr that compiles resources on the intersex community and its history that I found; while it’s not Black-specific, I have seen the page post topics related to.

The Black Aspec Experience

An interesting thing about identifying as asexual or aromantic while Black is that from all angles, people will simply not believe you because Blackness itself has been sexualized. I talked about this in my lessons on stereotypes, but one of the ways that the sexual assault and violation of Black bodies was dismissed, was to emphasize that not only were we incapable of being r*ped, but that we were naturally inclined to being hypersexual beings and that if we weren’t controlled, we would bring it onto ourselves. Black women were jezebels; Black men were mandigos, vicious savages that would assault pure white women if not chained like beasts.

Here is a page for Black people (!!!) with these identities to gather. Again, BLACK PEOPLE with these identities. Here's another!

The Bit You Actually Showed Up For

So! Given all that historical and social context: really, it’s just about application! You have to ask yourself certain things to catch when you’re about to dip into a bias or stereotype while you’re writing.

Black Queer Joy- A Conclusion

I know I’ve shared a lot of history here, and it’s not been the happiest stuff. THAT BEING SAID!

I must personally say- I am honored to be Black and bisexual. There’s nothing else I’d rather be. I am so happy to be who I am. It’s hard as hell living at the intersection, but the intersection is lit! There’s so much love, history, culture, creation, and so much power here; I’m standing on the shoulders of cultural GIANTS and my chest is full, my chin is high with pride. I love it here!

Being Black and queer itself is not a miserable experience! Your characters should feel joy, because we feel joy! There’s so much that we have to offer the world, it’s practically blossoming from us. I don’t want anyone to walk away from this going “let me go pity the next one I see and tell them how hard their life is”. We don’t need you to feel sorry, we need you to have solidarity! Either show up and do the work, or leave us alone. You can’t join the party at the intersection and then flee when it’s time to fight for it!

Listen to Black queer people in your spaces- dear god, it never fails how conversations of queerness and gender and feminism will leave Blackness completely out, and then be shocked when none of us want to show up. Like I said before- you will never dismantle the walls barring you from your own freedom until you address ours.

Support Black queer creatives, content, perspectives, and people- when you tag on that “support Black trans women” bit at the end of your posts, don’t just speak lightly- understand what that means, and stand on it! Because it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!