#hi blorbos from my activity feed :)

[lemonbubble]

tagged by @gothwizardmagic :D

RULES: put 5 songs you actually listen to, then tag 10 people.

(oh cool it's not "put on shuffle and post the first 5", i don't have to feel conflicted about being picky lol)

The Trail We Blaze - Elton John (i watched the road to el dorado because the theme song was stuck in my head, and i thought it might help and well. it at least got a different song stuck in my head.)

Bad Apple - RichaadEB and Cristina Vee (it just keeps coming up in shuffle a lot)

Cha Cha Cha - Käärijä (yeah.)

The Final Countdown - Algal the Bard (he does REALLY GOOD medieval covers and also original music that is very cool)

Wave Rider Steve - Dj Tiësto (i just think it's neat)

tags: @die-06 @qhazomb @shylittleoctopus @applejuicewerewolf @friendraichu uhhhhh that's only 5, well. also anyone else who wants to do it also

[bengiyo]

Ben's Big BL Blurb

I was traveling for a few weeks, and there's no way I'm doing individual posts for every show I've been watching, so here's my thoughts on all of the shows I'm currently enjoying, in the order I'm most enjoying them.

Twilight Out of Focus

This show is fucking excellent. I'm not that keen on taking a break from our leads to see other couples, but I do like that BL continues to be the way that these guys are figuring out they're attracted to each other. Mao moving so smoothly into his boyfriend era, and knowing how he's feeling, has been excellent. I also really loved Hisashi knowing they needed to not be together all the time.

The Trainee

Jane is so attractive, and I'm so happy for Off. This latest episode was a lot of fun to watch for Ryan, because it's nice seeing him be more actively engaged in things happening around him. Pai seems far more settled now that she knows she has a place. Pah is clearly still a mess. Tae seems like he's good at what he does. Ba-Mhee falling for Judy is NOT IDEAL, and Judy is over the line.

Overall, I'm actually interested in seeing them mirror interns crushing on their mentors with two different pairings as a point of comparison. I also like how every week feels like the work goals make sense.

The Miracle of Teddy Bear

Besties, so much is happening in this show. There is daddy drama, wife drama, dead son drama, and so much more! These episodes are so long, but I'm really engaged with everything happening on this show. Job and Inn are really fucking good in this.

I Hear the Sunspot

I'm so glad that Kohei made his feelings clear, and I'm enjoying seeing Taichi figure out how to respond to them. We once again had a camping trip that did not give me what I wanted, but I did like Kohei being clear that he's still interested in Taichi. Finally, I liked the little confirmations that Kohei is taking to sign, and that Taichi is interested in that journey.

Knock Knock, Boys!

I'm so proud of Best! He has played Peak in this restrained way for so long, and it paid off in this most recent episode. I love that this story started with a gay man running from himself and his feelings, who then realizes that he can't run away from people who care about him anymore because they won't let him. I love that everyone being patient with him gave him what he needed to finally accept himself and say what he needed. I've really loved the way Thanwa tries to support Peak.

I'm also overjoyed for Almond and Latte, and I need them to fuck nasty before this show ends or I will be so disappointed. Latte is quietly one of my blorbos of the year with the way he is always clear about who he is and what he wants even as he is okay with where Almond is in the moment. They're an excellent pair.

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

RISA IS OFF THE BESTIE LIST FOREVER! I will never forgive her for outing Hiroko to Ayaka just so she could ask Ayaka to choose her instead. Also, fuck those Bettys at the bar, who definitely know Hiroko's business, and that she's not out at work. Why talk about her to a stranger who called her senpai?? I'm relieved that Hiroko knows that Ayaka likes women now, and am curious how we move forward at this point.

I also need to know who this woman was who hurt Hiroko, because nothing makes me sadder than when we have to hide from other queers.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

Thanks to @isaksbestpillow I was actually able to start this on my trip. I didn't want to start a show on a trip, but I could not resist. I really love that Ishida is in his late 20s and struggling with direction and purpose after his initial plan blew up in his face. I love that he's recognized so quickly that he's developed feelings for Mitsuya-sensei, and I love that Mitsuya-sensei is open about who he is. It's about goddamned time that we saw an age gap story of this kind, because so many meaningful relationships I've had are with gay men older than me.

Takara's Treasure

This quiet little show makes me so happy every week. I just desperately need for Taishin to figure out what he's feeling, and for people to help him realize what he's feeling. Takara's my favorite kind of pretty boy: the ones who are obviously and poorly masking incredibly turmoil. I love that Taishin sees through this and wants to help Takara. Excited for him to get to take care of him when Takara gets sick.

Century of Love

I've been having a lot of fun with this show, but episode 8 felt like a huge wobble. I love that San was so committed to Vee the whole time, but the back and forth about the stone was tedious. San giving up the stone as a way to signify that he was over the memory of Vad was nice, but we didn't reconcile Vee's theft and the emotional cost of that.

Love Sea

MAHASAMUT!! WE FINALLY BEAT THAT NASTY OLD MAN'S ASS!! Mut trampling over a bullshit breakup and kicking Rak's dad's ass instead was so satisfying that it almost makes up for Mut having little identity outside of his relationship to Rake, or the terrible arc that Mook and Vie are having, over the last few weeks. I have been playing Stomp for the last few hours because I needed them to kick that man. Mut did not hit him enough.

New Shows

There's a bunch of stuff I have to sort out over the next few days. I'm not going back to My Love Mix Up TH, but I do plan to start 4 Minutes. There's also another J-BL in the grey I got some help finding called Sugar Dog Life.

Shout out to @lurkingshan for helping me watch a few things while I was gone, and also @twig-tea for keeping me apprised of which new shows I probably need to pick up.

[crazylittlejester]

This might get venty so def pass over if u want- I apologize in advance😅

Being a Wars fan is definitely exhausting in the lu fandom as a whole, to a degree I’ve never experienced in past fandoms. I’ve been all around, from DC to HP, Undertale to Voltron (shudders), and many, many more. And honestly I can’t remember a time a character was more universally disliked for,, no clear reason? From villains to irritating characters, I’ve never seen this much negativity and, honestly, near bullying of a character. Shipping wars? 10000% yes. But individual character hating? It’s.. extreme.

It isn’t simple dislike either. From being made incompetent to being the butt of a joke, Wars is just.. dogpiled. And at first it was funny, but it’s gotten to a point that I can’t read other fics because Wars is just so poorly treated/portrayed that it’s disheartening. From mocking of his figure, to claiming he’s vain or a womanizer (derogatory), and even ignoring his background all together.

I think part of it comes from not knowing his game, so they don’t have a basis of his character. Honestly though that could be easily remedied by watching a few cutscenes or reading the plot synopsis of his game. I also think that some people just,, look at his vainer moments in the comic and say “this is all he is” rather than the additional moments when he displays his skills, or pulling his weight as a co-leader. Some people just see what they wanna see ig.

Overall I always try to not dwell on it because everyone is free to love the characters they love and express that, I just wish that it didn’t come at the cost of one of the characters being so plainly disliked and nearly hated. But I swear I’ve seen Dink get more love than Wars, and all we’ve seen from him is a freaking lizard!!!-

anyway, sorry this was so long, my Wars loving self has been holding this in for awhile and I just hate how short a stick Wars got in the lot. He 1000% deserves more love fr

I’ve seen too many fics where people outright villainize Wars in order to create more angst for other members of the chain and that’s INSANE to me. And Wars content has been seriously hard to find, especially last year, which is part of why I started writing so much Wars stuff 😭 He’s my favorite and I gotta feed the other Wars fans

I genuinely don’t get why some people actively dislike him, like am I biased? Absolutely. but i just dont understand?? is there some reason why people can look at like, Wild, for example, and go “OH MY GOD SO ACTUALLY-“ and go into a super deep beautiful well written character analysis but when it comes to Wars people are just like “womanizer twink” and that’s it?

(to clarify: this is NOT a dig at Wild fans, y’all are valid for liking your blorbo. I’m just using him as an example because I’ve seen a lot of really interesting takes on him, some of which are VERY different from each other. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all! He was just the first Link I thought of who has a lot of fans with a lot of theories and opinions alskljskslm. Y’all keep going crazy for your special guy 🫡)

[bri-the-nautilus]

Blorbo Headcanon: The Tragedy of Gurranq

This is one I've been kind of mulling over, but was spurred to devote some serious thought to tonight. Maliketh/Gurranq is adorable. The best, hungriest boi. A faithful shadow, true to the Golden Order. But I think his tragedy extends beyond just feeling like he let Marika down on the Night of Black Knives. To start, we'll need some background.

Farum Azula is a crumbling city in the sky at the center of a time storm. The southern provinces are dotted with debris from Farum Azula, but the city when we visit it is not only reasonably intact, but frozen. Nothing is actively falling. There's no day/night cycle. Passing time doesn't alter the skybox and nothing changes based on when you enter. It's clear that Farum Azula exists outside the normal flow of time, and can even counteract it: when we travel to Placidusax's arena, a destroyed section of the city reforms itself and the Erdtree doesn't exist. Farum Azula is populated by a society of intelligent beastmen, who were blessed with intellect and five fingers as stated by the Cinquedea, Gurranq's clerical shortsword.

Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, is a robed figure who makes his home in Dragonbarrow, protected by a Black Blade Kindred. He guides and leads the Hunters of Those Who Live In Death, who weed deathroot. Deathroot is said to be the source of Those Who Live In Death, and Gurranq eats it. The Stone and Claw of Gurranq incantations say that he once went by a different name, which meant "Death of the Demigods." If the player feeds every obtainable deathroot to Gurranq, he thanks them for being a friend but states that he has "done all he can for this world" and promptly disappears.

Maliketh, the Black Blade, is to Queen Marika as Blaidd is to Ranni. He wields and protects Destined Death. It was he who defeated the Gloam-Eyed Queen in battle (Godslayer's UGS) and he who was robbed on the Night of Black Knives to create the blades that slew Godwyn and Ranni. For a shadow like Maliketh, the feeling that he let Marika down and the tragedy is his fault must have been impossible to bear. He vows that Destined Death shall not be stolen from him again. We meet Maliketh in Farum Azula, where he first dresses as a Beast Clergyman and wields the Cinquedea before unchaining Destined Death and facing us with his black blade and armor.

The game makes it pretty clear that Gurranq is Maliketh. Besides their identical appearances, Gurranq's old name meaning "Death of the Demigods," and Gurranq's sanctum being guarded by one of Maliketh's black gargoyles, as you progress Gurranq's questline he makes repeated references to a "past sin" and speaks of Marika as if he knew her personally.

Upon dealing enough damage after feeding the fourth Deathroot

"Put it away. I won't forget... again... mine appetite... My sin... So please.... Enough."

Fifth Deathroot

"My thanks Tarnished.... Death... My sin... Should not be touched by the hand of man... I shall grant thee... my claws... Feed me... more..."

Sixth, seventh and eighth Deathroot

"I won't forget... again.... mine appetite... My sin... I must have more... I must consume more..."

Ninth Deathroot

"It is... it is all... consumed. Still., I am not sated... Not nearly sated..." 

"Marika... Is this... what it is... to sin?" "Will things... never be the same... again?" 

"..." 

"Tarnished... my thanks... for thy... long labor. But I have done... all I can... in this land. Henceforth, mine appetite shall be my sole companion. Farewell."

Moreover, if you complete Gurranq's quest before challenging Maliketh for the first time, Maliketh phase one has special dialogue where he recognizes you and laments that he has to fight you.

Tarnished, why wouldst thou... Why... Tis no matter. I hereby vow, that Destined Death shall not be stolen again.

On the contrary, killing Maliketh before/during Gurranq's quest doesn't affect the Clergyman's dialogue.

But this leads us to some questions about the true nature of Gurranq and the timeline of Maliketh's life. Other demigods, such as Morgott, show the ability to project illusory duplicates of themselves. The Omen King does this twice: once in Stormveil and once in the old battlefield. One could easily assume that Gurranq is such an illusion. But there's one problem: He exists even without Maliketh. If you kill Morgott in Leyndell before either Margit, the Margit(s) in question won't spawn. If you kill Maliketh before finishing Gurranq's quest, it doesn't despawn Gurranq. Now the question is, when is Gurranq? Where in Maliketh's life does he fall?

My headcanon is this: After the NoBK, Maliketh seals Destined Death in himself. Marika orders him to go to Farum. Outwardly, she says that having him in the Capital where Destined Death could be stolen was a mistake. Privately, she doesn't want him around when she rebels against the Golden order, similarly to how Iji suspected Blaidd needed to be removed before Ranni killed her Two Fingers. Maliketh has dialogue expressing a strong adherence to the Golden Order, so it's safe to assume that unlike Blaidd with Ranni, he would not have been willing to side with Marika over the Greater Will. Maliketh leaves, but he doesn't go to Farum immediately. Yet. Confused? So am I.

Marika sticks her head into Farum, sees a self-loathing ball of fur, and leaves to plot the Shattering.

Maliketh, meanwhile, feels a duty to help rid the world of the evil that he thinks he allowed the creation of. Those Who Live In Death are a new phenomenon. Godwyn being slain and buried caused his influence to spread along the Erdtree's roots, raising the dead. Although he has restrained Destined Death and no longer wields it, Maliketh is both qualified and honor-bound to fight Those Who Live In Death. And as long as he's in Farum in about half an hour when Marika goes to see him, everything's fine.

Adopting the name 'Gurranq', Maliketh heads for Caelid. There, he sets up shop leading a cadre of Golden Order adherents (eventually including Darian and the Tarnished) in weeding the deathroot that allows the dead to wake. When Marika shatters the Elden Ring, he feels lied to and betrayed, but he pushes it out of mind. The Tarnished succeeds in excising every major deathroot node from the Lands Between and feeding them to Gurranq. Gurranq has done all he can for this world, and thanks his truest comrade for their service before they part ways.

Farum Azula is a city out of time, and Maliketh is demigod and high priest of the city out of time. He arrives right after Marika dismissed him, on time for her to see him there. He knows what she's going to do, but has to bite his tongue. There he sits for all the years after the NoBK. Until one day, the Tarnished arrives.

For them, it's been just days.

For Maliketh, it's been centuries.

Maliketh was betrayed by Marika. He spent centuries simultaneously laboring to repent as Gurranq and sitting alone in a lost city and blaming himself for what went wrong as the time-displaced Black Blade. He had one companion who shared his mission towards the end of his time in the Lands Between, but they parted ways and Maliketh lived all that time again alone. But now, his truest of comrades has returned to kill him and steal that which he swore would not leave his side again.

A second betrayal, more painful than the first.

[otemporanerys]

A playlist for my species swap Shakarian fan fic set during Mass Effect 2

The playlist | The fic

Liner notes below the cut (tw discussions of suicide)

Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Breeders

I always like to start my playlists with something to set the mood - this is definitely an atmosphere song. I also like using covers for species swap, and a different one kicks off the ME3 playlist lol if I ever get around to writing that. The defamiliarisation sets up the AU

2. In the Wake of Your Leave - Gang of Youths

OK so technically tracks 2 and 3 are cheating because they're actually for Interregnum, leave me alone

Anyway! Sad bangers are my jam, and I wanted something that conveyed the grief of losing someone, but giving the energy a bit of a kick after the Breeders song

3. I Don't Smoke - Mitski

I'm a basic bitch who loves Mitski, what can I say?

No, this song is for the Gareth sad spiral (TM) and for the fact that sad smoking is cool, actually (don't @ me)

4. Peel - Weakened Friends

This is a Shepherd song, you know, the beginning of her terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad nervous breakdown.

There was an earlier version of LBEL which was much more actively about Shepherd trying to bring Cerberus down from the inside: but actually now I think the lyrics speak much more to Shepherd feeling like she always has to fit the mold of the pragmatic, practical soldier

5. Toy Soldier - The Menzingers

This is thee Garrus song, sorry I don't make the rules. The lost friends! Carrying on despite that loss!!! Dutyyy

6. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Gareth is kind of an old soul, which is why his songs lean slightly more retro - and just the deep well of yearning in this song always gets me. It's very much his feelings after Shepherd saves him, loving her and wishing he didn’t

7. Born to Lose - Sleigh Bells

I primarily associate this song with Shepherd being discarded by the Hierarchy and the struggles she has with knowing protocol is to kill herself

8. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles

Gareth: conceal, don't feel 😢 I have always loved this song and it's very much Gareth knowing that he can't be open about his feelings

9. Quitter - Weakened Friends

More good mental health time for Shepherd, excellent. I don’t mind repeating artists in my playlists but I do tend to keep it to one

10. Bullet with Butterfly Wings - The Smashing Pumpkins

The one thing I am actually a snob about with playlists is not using too many "popular" songs, but I did like this one for Horizon. Shepherd's really starting to spiral here, folks

11. Anybody (Stripped) - Dead Sara

Horizon sex, Shepherd POV. She's so lonely in this fic, really longing for connection, and this song is the words she doesn't know how to say

12. Baby I Got the Death Rattle - Los Campesinos!

Horizon sex, Gareth POV

This is one of those songs that doesn't start as a blorbo song, but if you tell me you've heard a lyric that's more "Garrus Vakarian down bad" than "Baby I got the death rattle and baby I got it bad | I've been digging my own grave for quite some time when I'm not digging up the past" then I would love to hear it

13. Bedroom Eyes - Dum Dum Girls

One of my favourite bits of LBEL is the quiet intimacy that Gareth and Shepherd have when they're sleeping together, and this song reflects that

14. Hopeless - Screaming Females

Shepherd dumping Gareth because she likes him too much 😭 I'm fine. The lyrics and the vocals are so plaintive, again the emotions Shepherd won't allow herself to express

15. Something Bigger, Something Brighter - Pretty Girls Make Graves

This isn't a terribly literal inclusion, it's a good angsty-sounding song for where Shepherd's at post-breakup

16. Heavy Metal Heart - Sky Ferreira

This is just. Shepherd's song 💖 I love it, and her

17. Apocalypse Now (&Later) - Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers

This is a great Mass Effect 2 song more broadly but man is it perfect for Gareth and Shep reuniting just before the suicide mission!!!

18. The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

Fuck Cerberus, part 1. There just is not a better song for being done with someone else's bullshit

19. Search and Destroy - Peaches

Fuck Cerberus, part 2 (or, how Shepherd got her groove back). Peaches always has such brilliant swagger and I adore this cover - Shepherd coming back into her own power and recognising how dangerous (and unpredictable) she can be

20. I Would Find You - Oceanator

I adore this song, the softness and kindness at the end of the world. It's really the thesis statement of the fic, and a promise for Gareth and Shepherd going forward, even through the hard times. It was the perfect grace note to end on

[cubedmango]

hi!! i just wanted to let you know that i started reading cherry magic in july last year after seeing the anime announced on toyota-sensei's twitter! i couldn't even rlly translate the announcement myself without the help of google translate LMAO but her illustration of them looked so sweet i had to snoop around. more than half a year later. i am no longer normal and my brain is fully rotted over and i think of those two nearly every waking moment!! your art, along with so many others feeds me and your translations are So Appreciated thank you for doing gods work. i usually don't get super involved in fandom or w/e other than consuming fanart or fics so the fact i find myself actually drawing them is so new to me...idk cherry magic really is so refreshing and it's just nice as an adult to see a mature relationship between two working adults. there are callbacks to childhood or childlike behaviors or interests sprinkled throughout the manga's dialogue and i always appreciated how they weren't seen as embarrassing or immature to embrace or learn from as an adult, but encouraged or seen as a valuable part of balancing work, life, and love. idk it's def one of the more subtle and less expanded upon parts of it but i love how adachi's and kurosawa's love of manga, though seen as a children's activity (from how kurosawa thought people saw it) was actually one of their first mutual hobbies. it's also interesting to see how many things about kurosawa's psyche are remnants of ideas probably for a lack of better wording, were taught to him from an early age. his self-image, how he tries to uphold certain societal standards, etc etc. im glad he found refuge in adachi that way. im sorry for rambling for so long but i've just been thinking about these two so much ldks

anon pls u never have to apologize for rambling abt my fav guys of all time, u should actually talk w me about them more i want to hear ur thoughts !! the eng speaking fandom isnt that big (or at least i dont get to interact w a lot of ppl personally) but its fun making art and doing the translations for my blorbos so im happy other ppl enjoy it too 🥺

and yess everything u said abt the childlike/immature stuff krdc enjoy like the fact that their interest in manga and stuff is never made fun of or anything (which would be ironic anyway since theyre In a manga themselves fdkjskf) but actually one of the things that gets them closer is So good augh?? (also spoilers for the radio drama if u havent seen it yet, but to me one of the best changes they made was changing the port scenes setting to an anime con instead like Yeah!! theyre little nerd guys of course theyd attend a con!!!! that plus how they both like watching animated movies and playing games too like its a very specific thing to Me but that relatability w stuff i do myself makes them both feel a lot more human? if that makes sense)

also w kurosawas whole deal its Definitely a longterm thing hes had for a while, and in canon its mostly been his friendships/relationships that affected him (probs the most clear in ch45 my beloved) but from the way the meeting w his parents went theres for sure a lot of parental/family pressure involved too?? this is going into hc territory but i have like a whole Thing brewing in my head about kurosawas and maris relations w their parents and how that affected their self image and all growing up too and i rlly wanna make stuff for it someday (idk if anyone would be interested but id probably do it regardless so fkdjksjfk)

[the-butch-of-blaviken]

ok, so. Long overdue Lambert post

I've been thinking about Lambert as a dad, or rather not exactly as a dad but responsible for a small child that primarily depends on him (as opposed to Ciri for whom he could be the fun uncle since Geralt was responsible for all the dad stuff)

I realize this may not be anyone's cup of tea, but what's fun about blorbos is you get to put them in situations they would never logically find themselves in and think hard about how that would work, right? So, why is it compelling to me personally:

as with most things, he can't avoid comparing himself to his brothers' respective experiences with fatherhood: Geralt as the ultimate dad of a princess/literal hero of a prophecy who literally travels across the world and an active war zone to rescue her, and Eskel as the brother who ignored his destiny for as long as he could until it came back to almost literally bite him in the ass

like i said before, he doesn't want anything to do with fatherhood; in fact, i believe he carefully avoids using the law of surprise to avoid finding himself in this very situation among other things. He doesn't believe in destiny (or at least, he doesn't believe in destiny having anything good in store for him) but after what happened to Geralt, who claimed he didn't believe in it either, you can't blame him for being paranoid

plus all of his available father figures range from shitty to extremely shitty, to the point where he's terrified that his very blood might be tainted and that he might be physically incapable of not reproducing what has been done to him

if he ends up caring for a child, it'd be in spite of himself; it would have to be an accident he would have no choice but to go along with, not primarily for the child's sake (that’ll come later) but mainly because he has no way out of it. So he has to be tricked into caring for the child (rubbing my little writer's hands together)

imagine the influence on his character development?? The healing process. The growth. This child embodies a sort of second chance by proxy: back when he was a kid, all of his choices were made for him, so he's going to make it so that this child can choose for themselves what they want (and, as a consequence, i believe he wouldn't tell anyone about them, especially not his brothers. He doesn't trust them not to get any ideas about feeding the child homegrown mushrooms like they did to Ciri)

also, i don't think he would consider himself to be the child's father, more like their caretaker or something equivalent. In fact, i believe being called "dad" is the best way of making him run away as fast as possible, being father is fundamentally associated to something negative in his mind. So he'd be there – he'd watch over the child and worry for them and teach them how to defend themselves, but he'd categorically object to being called anything close to "dad." (maybe it would also be an opportunity to establish a more horizontal relationship between him and his ward, as oppposed to the traditionally more vertical relationship between a parent and their child? Because he's so averse to authority, he'd probably hate representing that very notion in anyone's eyes, especially someone so vulnerable)

[greypetrel]

What is the first thing each of your OCs does when they wake up?

Hi Mo! ✨

Ok, this got me thinking a little and it's become a morning routine description, oops? xD Alyra on top and the rest under the cut!

(hi, if you're reading, feel free to ask me about my blorbos! :3)

Alyra: Grabs the knife under her pillow better. Just to be sure, she checks she's alone in the room. She found out three assassins this way, don't blame her. She gets up, get dressed, has a quick breakfast up to her room as she reads her mail and reports. Cleaning up takes longer, she has a very precise routine (she's the one that in a modern AU will go fully Korean routine), carefully braids her hair so by the time she walks out she's in pristine condition. If she's with Morrigan, the first thing in the morning is greeting Kieran and teach him to wield a dagger. Mages can use some self-defense too, keep that dagger straight, you don't want to cut yourself. (it's a real dagger? Yes. He'll pay more attention like this). If she's with Alistair, the ritual includes waking him up when she's done with her hair. "You can't braid anyway, why would I wake you up sooner?" "You're so romantic, my heart is melting." "Don't let it trickle on the carpet, please."

Raina: Rolls over, groans loudly, begs Beowoof to let her sleep and to go to her brother (but scratches his ears anyway because he is a good boi). When said brother arrives and free her from the dog, she falls back asleep for some times more, if she's not particularly stressed or anxious. Stays in bed anyway. When she wakes up for real, it's a kiss to Merrill and one to Bela, and then she goes kick Fenris out of bed (he's very happy about it, yes, only besties threaten each other of very painful deaths. "Yes yes you can take my uterus first, please do if it'll free me of periods. Here, I'll raise my shirt for you, suit yourself.") and get some exercise together. He was the one to train her with some better form with her daggers, they kept the habit. By the time Garrett is back, everyone is ready for breakfast.

Garrett: Stretches and smiles to the new day, kisses Fenris good morning, dresses, retrieves Beowoof from Raina's room. Goes jogging as he walks the dog, enjoys the city in the hours of dawn when just the bakers and fishermen are up and about. He won't really miss Kirkwall, but he will remember fondly running around with the dog, greeted by the early workers and enjoying the sky painting in nice colours, enjoying the quiet and be able to think better than in the house. Plays some with the dog, buys some baked goods for everyone and then heads back home for breakfast.

Aisling: Rolls over and cuddles the person she sleeps with as she rests for 5 minutes more. When she's alone she fights her maid, Frida, that gets her out of bed each morning and scolds her because she stayed awake to the wee hours again and she is surly and groggy now and she left her room a mess. The scolding task was officially left to Cullen with a relieved sigh when he moved over to her room. A pity he sleeps as little as her, so poor Frida now has to wake up TWO people who slept to little and are groggy. After then it's breakfast time. Post Trespasser, she'll walk the dogs and go feed the animals as Cullen cooks breakfast for them.

Radha: She wakes up naturally each morning at the same hour. Doesn't stand too long in bed and gets up. She's very grumpy when she's just awake, and the first thing is always going to get some tea to wake up, which she sips while reading. After she has her tea, she is functional and can be spoken to and can properly start with her morning activities. The clan knows she's even less talkative in the morning, she makes herself scarce in Skyhold until she's functional. Solas learnt quickly that every greeting before tea is only met with a "No." (he finds her cute).

Max: Switches off her alarm clock, wakes Liara up if she's there with a horribly cheesy pet name. She uses a new one each day. Feed the fishes and hope they won't die, feed the hamster and then some light exercise, a shower, get dressed and fix her make-up. Then she goes to the kitchen to brew some coffee herself because nobody is allowed to touch her moka pot anymore after Gardner washed it with soap, and coffee is the only one thing her petty-italian gene will run strong about (she eats pineapple on pizza and breaks the spaghetti, would live on junk food and fizzy drinks, but coffee? Espresso or death). A cup of coffee, some biscuits as she reads the news, and she's good to go to.

[ravnloft]

i'm on a bit of a writing break and i won't be publishing any fic updates until september at the earliest. BUT. i am constantly microwaving my blorbos. so you get some meta (°◡°♡)

something i can't wait to delve into more explicitly in wt. is. the way amma sees her relationship with astarion.

it starts transactional and manipulative (exploitative, even! She Is Not Nice!). he entertains her, and she keeps him alive. she entertains him, and he keeps her alive. they clue in to each other's evil nearly instantly and go (handshake emoji) tactical alliance sex

and then he helps her kill the lolthites...

and she's like. okay. maybe this is a little bit more than just a tactical alliance. i kind of respect his prettyboy grind. maybe we're like, pals. maybe even... friends? ew. disgusting. i need to walk this back

she tries to walk it back and he's like. what the fuck is wrong with you. amma says "i need to chill" and astarion is like "why are you chill? you've never been chill. i didn't fall for you [lying] because you are chill." and he still meets her halfway in the dynamic-- tries to proactively make sure she's happy/safe, instead of just being sexy and distracting-- because in his mind, she's losing interest, and he has to dig his claws in and cling to her for dear life. and there definitely isn't any deeper meaning to that impulse. sure, gale helps him get better at magic, and lae'zel hasn't killed him for being annoying, and shadowheart heals him, but that could mean anything. those other three aren't as important as her. she's the most advantageous one to have a tactical alliance with, because she doesn't care about anyone, and he doesn't need to dwell on why that makes him uncomfortable.

while on the other end, amma is like. yeah, i don't care about anyone. except i care about you. and i care about shadowheart. doesn't everyone care about shadowheart? she's the most care-about-able girl in the universe. but also, i care about you more than i care about shadowheart. that is not a good thing. i only know how to care about killing. if i care about you, i will end up killing one of us.

but he's already dead. :^)

SO SHE STARTS TO LET HIM IN*... she decides that if they're both pretending so hard to be in a relationship, then maybe they're just in a relationship. she starts trying to meet him halfway, too. and she uses the communication avenues that they're used to. she kills people, she feeds him, she sleeps with him. and he freaks out!!! because if SHE (moral vacuum whose ability to survive is a negative character trait) is in love with him (alive) and HE (guy who was degraded past the point of wanting anything to survive, including himself) in love (finally reminded what it was like to enjoy being alive) with her (still alive) then WHO'S DRIVING THE "I'LL DIE FOR YOU" PLANE

they both panic! they start trying to give chances out! astarion sees the weird attraction amma and shadowheart have (is it romantic? is it platonic? is it motherly/daughterly? is it damned4savior?) and tries to prick that open and make it bleed. he tries to kiss shadowheart. he tells amma that shadowheart is in love with her. and he likes them both!!! he can barely handle caring about one person with whom he is actively fucking (in every sense of the word!), let alone a little goth nunlet from downtown who won't even feed him if he is starving!!!**

anyway. thanks for coming to my ted talk. here is a compilation of amsteriart (I STILL NEED A GOOD SHIP NAME FOR THEM OURUGHGUFUGIGHUGHGH) art for you <3

*she tells him "you have me" and she tries to make him feel happy and safe and taken care of, like he's done for her so far, even though she knows he was doing it to manipulate her... ourgh. waugh. they're both leaning so far into trying to "tactically seduce" each other that becomes simultaneously a sexless psychodrama and an erotic rivalry. otherwise known as falling in love.

** to be read in the exact tone and seriousness of the popular tweet, "jail for mother for one thousand years!!!" (miette et al, 2019)

[asbestos-11]

i'd like to think ratio has both autism and ocd and that both feed into each other in the worst ways.

disclaimer: cw for discussion of ocd rituals (i try to not get into them too much just bcs they can be triggering to some). i have both ocd and autism and this mostly stems from my experiences with the two and yours might not be the same, so please be respectful. and lastly none of this is canon (even if i used canon as a basis) and is just my headcanon.

1st of all my reading of him as having ocd comes primarily from his book cleaning idle, his hobbies voice line and his about headpiece voice line (the latter also supporting the autism hc). is it a stretch? yes it probably is. but is it valid to read him that way? yes it is.

i specifically think ratio would have contamination ocd and a little bit of checking behaviours (as in having to check if you've closed the stove and doing so multiple times otherwise something bad will happen). so my reading of him stems primarily from these two types of ocd (that and i also personally struggle with contamination ocd so it's also projection).

in any case i like to think he has a set rigid routine for himself partially because it's comforting having predictable days and partially because if it were to change something bad would happen to him.

his headpiece both serves a self regulatory function and as a way to stop the contamination from happening. only really taking of the mask at home where it's "safe" and near trusted people.

i like to think that he's a nightmare to cook for because of his sensory issues stemming from autism and his ocd rearing it's ugly head. food must never touch each other, otherwise it's poisoned and it's now inedible. separate cutlery must be used for different courses. all the while his sensory issues fuel his compulsions thus making it all worse.

he cleans himself religiously, often spending several minutes just washing his hands, while his baths are unreasonably long (as it's his one activity that brings comfort and offers him a chance to relax fully). as a consequence his skin on his hands is usually irritated and cracked and hand creams help only minimally (the damage too extensive to be repaired by creams).

his compulsions directly feed into his autism and his tendencies in turn fuel his ocd. and so it goes in a cyclical manner until he has a meltdown and it all comes crashing down on him.

on that note i would like to say that ocd and autism are often comorbid and if one is already neurodivergent the likelihood of having an anxiety disorder does indeed get higher. as autistic people are more likely to face anxiety from their needs not being met (ie they aren't allowed to stim freely as it's seen as weird) and the general experience of masking. ocd is an anxiety disorder, one that preys on your fears and makes you act in irrational ways to soothe the fear. obsessions leading to compulsions which directly alleviate anxiety but in the long run cause harm to the individual. your compulsions, due to their ritualistic nature, feed into your autism as they become a routine, thus making you not want to deal with them. thus a feedback loop is made and congrats you're now fucked.

and think of the good doctor who helps others, being stuck in his own form of hell, unable to help himself overcome is, as it would feel like ripping himself apart. imagine how it would feel to at the same time be overstimulated and in the throes of massive anxiety, but not being allowed to self regulate and/or being barred from engaging in compulsions. to at the same time having to deal with a world that doesn't understand you and oftentimes activelly hurting you.

in any case he's one of my favorite characters so he gets to be blessed with my own neurodivergencies. ah veritas ratio blorbo from my game i am very proud to bestow upon thee the honor of being a true aucd warrior. fly high king

[charmtion]

🍎🍈🫐, please!!!!

🍎 is there anything you straight-up won’t write?

there are certain things I wouldn’t write explicitly, but dealing with the implications & echoes that affect life in the aftermath of death, violence etc. I think is important & interesting, as long as it is articulated sensitively; aside from the usual heavy topics, I don’t write fluff as a rule because I find it boring

🍈 who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favourite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics?

increasingly, carmy berzatto aka the saddest, angstiest boi in the universe; the two most favourite headcanons universally accepted across all fic media & in all my stories with him in it: he gives good head & he can’t get out of his own—seriously tho, the anxiety spirals are suffocating, he’s needy in the nicest way without acknowledging that he’s needy at all, he likes making breakfast for people but hardly ever eats it, maybe he’s teetotal most of the time but then sometimes he sinks rotgut whiskey till his molars hurt & nights like that he’s locked in his brother's old office or in some shitty bar replaying familiar traumas of paralysis by perfectionism; he wants to be a good son, he loves his mom but he hates her too; women sort of scare him & he kind of gets off on the idea of being subordinate to them but most of the time he’s too keen & active a participant to do as he’s fucking told—give him a hug & he’ll either run for the hills or give you the world . . . or maybe just a lukewarm breakfast bagel

🫐 what’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom?

why are there not more irish stark fics is what I want to know, thistle; why are there not thousands of stories filled with lazy stereotypes like bare-knuckle boxing, memorial mass, whiskey-drams, vengeance, questionable moral codes, lamplit streets, gravel drives, bovine shapes in the fields, oak trees that stand stout, voices speaking phrases that sound straight out of the bible?

feed me fruit

[undead-potatoes]

I wanna ask that question right back! Which of your OCs is most like you? I'm curious!

I thought about this question for like an hour while trying to sleep last night, and all I'll say is don't do deep self reflection exercises in the dark before bed kids

Also this got kinda long, ops 🙈

Much like you (and I'm sure everyone else) I put pieces of myself into all my OCs, intentionally or otherwise, and so they all have bits of me.

I don't know if it's because he's so fresh in my mind, or if it's because I didn't have too much of a plan going in so he just became a natural reflection of me, but Jay is really high up there on the list.

Loud, talkative, jovial, happiest when he's of help to others, solution oriented and takes most unforeseen problems in his stride. But he's also incredibly self-conscious, and terrified of taking up space or being a bother to someone else, often forgoing his own needs bc it's not THAT important, it's fine. Sorry for existing.

He naturally gravitates towards other people's problems and a wish to help them (whether that's welcome or not), but prefers to stick his head in the sand when it comes to dealing with his own shit. When things get bad emotionally he goes into himself, and can become borderline dissociative, just lost to the void.

He's extremely good at finding stuff other people need but can't find, feeding into this need to be helpful. He's bit of a control freak and perfectionist too, and has to stop himself and call it good enough or he'll go on forever (wow look how topical)

I could honestly keep going but this is long enough as it is 🙈 I have no idea how we ended up here but I guess he's my emotional support self-insert blorbo now, bye.

Still, he's his own character. He's much better with people than I am, especially children, and doesn't have Retsuko-levels of rage bubbling right under the surface at all times. He's more manipulative and mischievous, and small grievances bounce off him easier. I only ignore my problems until I have to deal with them, he actively runs away from his. He's more extroverted than me, and doesn't mind big crowds, while they're the bane of my existence. And so on and so forth.

ANYWAYS this somehow turned into the a Jay post, I'm sorry lmao. His character wasn't really planned at all, I just let him grow naturally from the way I played (kinda like with you and your Aeducan), and once I took a step back and looked at him I was like "hold on a minute, this is just me if I was cool and had extra trauma, what the fuck".

Honorable mentions of pillars of my own personality shoved into other characters go to;

Courier May (F3/NV) - So damn angry all the time about everything, much of it useless and a waste of energy, but it's really hard to turn it off.

Nimri Brosca DA:O) - This applied more to younger me, but I can get REALLY ride or die for someone, like to the point where it becomes a major character flaw.

Pomona Hawke (DA2) - Did you eat? Yes? Are you sure? Are you wearing enough layers? When did you last apply sunscreen? Did you remember to drink enough today? [The mother hen questions goes on for another 5 minutes]. Also everything is always my fault somehow.

Sam Jones (VtM:B) - Just absolutely insufferable about social justice, and the other half of my rage that's an answer to injustice. You've not seen me angry until I've had a whiff of something cruelly unfair.

And because I feel like I've been too negative here;

Ridley (Coral Island) - Hard-working and generous :)c

[doofnoof]

Dw geggy sort of scares me too-

YEAH. Gregory is a FANTASTIC character and I wonder what his motivations and backstory are like to make him that way but there are certain characters that make me feel like a bird got into the house and is flying around erratically above my head. Gregory is one of them.

LUFFY IS GENUINELY SCARY BECAUSE HE'S A SUPERPOWERED 14 YEAR OLD AND HE'S GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS (AND WILL ANNOUNCE AS MUCH BEFOREHAND!!) IF HE JUST DOESN'T LIKE YOUR VIBES OR PERHAPS YOU ARE IN THE WAY OF HIM KICKING SOMEONE ELSE'S ASS. HE'S BATSHIT CRAZY BUT DOESN'T MEAN ANY HARM. HE'S LIKE GOKU, HE HAS A GOAL HE'S GONNA REACH AND IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU'RE IN THE WAY BECAUSE HE'LL EITHER BEFRIEND OR FIGHT YOU TO GET THERE. I DON'T LIKE THAT HIS MOUTH OPENS SO WIDE AND, UNRELATEDLY, THAT HIS GUMS ARE VISIBLE MOST OF THE TIME. HE'S SPOOKY.

GREGGY BOYE WON AGAINST SIX ADVANCED ANIMATRONICS, ONE OF WHICH IS AN ABSOLUTELY GIGANTIC SPIDER, ALL OF WHICH ARE SMARTER THAN YOUR'S TRULY YES EVEN MONTY. YES EVEN MINI MUSIC MAN. We're NOT counting Sun because he wasn't ACTIVELY trying to kill Gregory he's just a bad babysitter. Gregory is also very small and scrawny for his age. AND HE STILL WON AGAINST PROLIFIC CHILD MURDERER PEEPAW WILLY AND HIS SCARY APPRENTICE VANNY/VANESSA WHO IS A TRAINED NIGHTGUARD AND HAS SCARY GLITCH SUPERPOWERS. And did I mention he's even younger than Luffy???? I don't actively fear Gregory but I acknowledge that he's BY DEFINITION a very scary kid. Less Scary than Luffy and Venti, mind you, because he's mostly just scared and trying to survive but his relationship with Freddy is very sweet and I love that in one of the endings he kept Freddy's head and freed Vanessa AND THEY ALL HAD SOME ICE CREAM TOGETHER AND WATCHED THE SUN RISE. I LOVE FOUND FAMILY. HE JUST NEEDS ENRICHMENT IN HIS ENCLOSURE AND THEN HE'LL STOP DISMEMBERING THE GLAMROCKS I PROMISE.

I'M NOT SURE WHY I FEAR VENTI FROM GENSHIN. PROBABLY BECAUSE VENTI IS BASICALLY JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING™ AND I JUST. DON'T LIKE VENTI. ANCIENT GOD-THING LIVING IN IT'S FAVORITE BLORBO'S BODY. ABSOLUTELY NOT. NO THANK YOU. NO HATE TOWARDS PEOPLE WHO DO LIKE VENTI, ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS LOVES VENTI, BUT I JUST DON'T LIKE THEM. I CHECK UNDER THE BED BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP TO MAKE SURE VENTI ISN'T THERE AND CAN'T GET ME. SCARIEST CHARACTER IN THIS WHOLE LIST.

I don't know if anyone here watches Dimension 20, but if you do, you may have seen the Sugarplum Fairy from A Crown Of Candy, Dungeon Mastered by Brennan Lee Mulligan. He plays this character very well, and her whole thing is that she's a fairy, but she's incredibly powerful and wise, a very very old creature and her true form seems a little further beyond the average human's capabilites of understanding something larger than them, verging into Cosmic Horror/Biblically Accurate Angel territory. But she smiles and flutters around and pretends to be a very cute harmless fairy, she's ethereally beautiful and wants to help the main cast achieve their goal and is going to help them, thank The Bulb for that.

There's also Baron from The Baronies from the same show, during the Fantasy High campaign. Baron feeds off of one of the character's fears and insecurities, they want to be real but are made entirely from lies, and it torments Rizz Gukgak with Rizz's own words in its odd ethereal way. Baron is clearly something that is not human/real/worldly but is doing everything in it's power to seem real and part of Rizz's world, but is also doing it all wrong. Baron, unlike the Sugarplum Fairy, is not kind and in fact drags Rizz into the mirror world by his neck using strength he should not have in his tiny skeletal frame.

The reason I bring this up is because both of these characters remind me of Venti. Venti is otherworldly and is trying SO HARD to appear human, and while I respect that and understand Venti's struggles on a personal level, I still find him deeply scary as a concept. I would say the same for Zhongli, but Zhongli doesn't seem to be trying to appear human either. He reminds me of Paarthurnax, truth be told. He is a very old and tired dragon man, and wants the current strife he's in to be over so he can go sit on his giant dragon porch and drink some tea. Venti is that "Hello Fellow Kids" meme but Venti is just as ancient as Zhongli and still has Sickly Victorian Era Orphan energy at the same time?? Fascinating character, 10/10 makes my skin crawl.

[hellsitechoosesitsownadventure]

50 page reward

I'm horrible at maintaining a schedule; I'm horrible at forming productive habits; I'm horrible at working on creative projects over multiple days. But I've made 50 entries into this story, it may not have been as consistent as I would've liked but I've done it!

So as a reward to myself and a treat to my readers, for ever 50 pages I'm going to catalog all the missing lore, easter eggs, and timelines.

Thank you to anyone who interacted with my posts. It has kept me in a creative mindset over these last few months.

I voted for you/you for a stereotypical choose your own adventure story but later rooted for we/us

This was the first poll I voted for the majority. Tumblr did end up getting a second pet rock anyway (but it died)

I voted for tavern to try and expedite the RPG nature of the story

I was trying to get tumblr money to spend in the market.

I put seduce the thief to eliminate the seduction option right away

Throuple was doomed to fail from its inception. I wanted to give characters some agency (and giving myself some control over the narrative).

Once again I voted for tavern.

I voted for leveraging the crime to help Freylin divorce Etmund. Seeing lawful good win was shocking, given all the options.

My 6 year old niece actually did provide these answers. She had to be prompted into other answers though because "Panic, worry and scream" were originally 3 separate answers. I did vote with the majority though.

Again trying to offer Tumblr the opportunity to action, although I did vote to work the farm for the resistance.

I intentionally limited the amount of votes so I could actually plan a little bit better here. I voted collect dues.

A chance to build lore, build social connections, and possibly missions. I voted for the mumblypeg.

Dujard and his story are analogs to Full Metal Alchemist. His brother; however, is in fact truly dead Dujard is mentally incapable of accepting this fact, and personifies an empty suit of armor. This plot line has yet to be explored.

I basically guaranteed Quality Earthworks by Ea-Nasir would win. They are not the same Ea-Nasir, though I debated it. I voted for conjuration.

I voted for mingle, because I had no clue where to go from here, and hoped that I could build around some additional character development.

Blorbo was named after the iconic ambiguous gender neutral term for a character one is obsessed with. I also left the option open for a more useful spell. I normally build rogue classes, so I voted for soilfoot.

This is where the boar storyline took formation. I had only planned for Tumblr to encounter a hunter if they chose cliff or creak.

I left no choice but to go with Vaylii, I had to force the polls into social interaction with her. based on later polls this works in her favor.

The WoW option would've been Leroy Jenkins-ing that shit, and oops too late would've found Vaylii attacking without warning, making two of the option not actually sneak attacks.

Each of the spells was programmed to do something different. The winner of the poll genuinely was the right answer.

Hellsight is obviously a reference to Hellsite. Hellsight (derogatory) would've had Tumblr gouge their eyes out and replace them with the boar's eyes.

Vaylii being possessed was genuinely an afterthought. I needed to demonstrate what hellsight was. I'm kinda glad "gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss" one.

I voted with the majority.

I voted with the majority. I love being the little spoon, too. Touch-starved beat out horny!

Voted with the majority. Heavily debated whether or not it would be the resistance or the king's guard.

My streak was broken.

I voted to take Bristkruv shopping to try and develop the characters more, but foraging works. According to Sun Tsu foraging alone is not a sustainable way to feed military campaigns.

I voted with the majority, I was actively rooting against Vaylii.

This was the first poll I introduced skill checks. I was debating if the house would be occupied or not. I voted with the majority.

The well was going to be a reference to the goonies, the ring, or silence of the lambs depending on how it was investigated. I also debated making the wine cursed: I never revealed that it was: but its kind of negligible at this point, if it had been it aided in Vaylii's transformation.

Reimú and Shurmalg got high off mushrooms.

This is where I planned Vaylii's transformation, unless Tumblr played the simple pattern. This is why I voted for stab themselves, which caused a tie. This was the first tie of the story.

I like how this is written to be as fast paced as the characters experience it

I voted for no, despite rooting for yes, because personally I'm in too deep.

I was kind hoping Tumblr would join the resistance after meeting them, and abandon the Vaylii questline.

I did not actually plan for where she went.

This sidequest was lore I had built into a DnD campaign that was never finished.

This played out perfectly.

This too played out perfectly.

Choose your own combat is surprisingly hard to write, it's not like DnD at all.

I was hoping for give it the crown back, but I voted with the majority.

I did plan the basilisk egg but only under the exact conditions the polls chose.

The interactions with this man are loosely based off of my father's herpetocultural education career.

I was absolutely lost her, I planned for none of these options.

I knew secret fourth option would win: I was debating between a secret path or what I ended up going with; I ended up with falling to punish risky behavior. I had plans for all other options as well though. I had planned the entire portal sequence starting here: so I knew how to progress the story towards it.

There is something living in the pool of water.

This was the first tie where the answers were complete antipodes. I had different plans based on each option.

I did not plan for a tie in the previous poll though, which is why this poll even exists, some of these options might have occurred in other timelines of page 47. I'm glad I was allowed to tell my ideal scenario because the unreality of the Nether was amazing to write.

I thought sacrifice boar was going to win, but I voted with the majority. I was the tie breaker for boar and blorbo. So I went ahead and killed off both of them.

The basilisk egg would've been inverted if it got to choose who to sacrifice. Since I planned it's escape, I went ahead and included it in this entry. I also include a reference to the poem “Tiger” by Noah, age 6 herein.

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

So @pilferingapples asked about Blorbos. Warning that this is probably going to get long, and also that this is a 100% OC zone. We've regressed to 10th grade apparently and it's all original fic all the time.

The short version is that there are two main sets of characters taking turns being rotated by my brain. There's the story I've been writing/meaning to write for probably 10 years now, and also a new one that's been in my brain for about three days and if anything happens to any of its characters I'm going to kill everyone and and then myself.

The first one is the old story. It's about a Prince who is culturally forbidden from touching anyone and his newly immigrated boyfriend who thinks this is an incredibly stupid rule. It is basically the ace pining story of my dreams and features a lot of Forbidden Hugs.

The new story is about a woman who is essentially a retired fantasy protagonist turned NPC shopkeep. She and her best friend/former adventuring partner run a second hand store that specializes in magical objects. She meets a kid (read: probably about 20) who is clearly in the Very Stressful No Fun part of his own fantasy adventure, and basically immediately adopts him and brings him home and feeds him soup. It is about friendship and community building and, apparently, knitting. I do not know how to knit. It has been interesting.

Long version under the cut!

Forbidden Hugs story:

Like I said, this one has been floating through my brain for like a decade, so it's both better developed and filled with weird vestigial elements from the various times I've started writing it and stopped partway through. But the core premise is always the same, which is that in this fantasy country there are very strict rules governing physical contact and who is allowed to touch whom and when. The short version of these rules is that you're only allowed to touch someone who is not of your same exact rank/social class if you are actively having sex with them or if you are a doctor providing them with medical care. It's honestly usually not too much of a problem for most people -- normal people aren't super impacted, since most people they meet are going to be their same social class, and even among the nobility families tend to be large and the Kingdom has an expansive and very permissive definition of what counts as 'actively having sex'.

Unfortunately the Prince of this country is the only child of an emotionally distant father and is also Very Ace. Damien is Not About any Pants business of any kind for any reason, and honestly I think that's very sexy of him. He's also generally kind of stuck because he has what we in our world would call Rampant ADHD and is not good at things like paying attention in long meetings and remembering people he's only been introduced to once and making even medium stakes decisions, and as a result is really not excited about being King one day.

His future boyfriend Erik was raised in one of the neighboring countries and came to Damien's because his brother is a diplomat stationed there and Erik is recently out of school and wants out of his parents' house. Through some political maneuvering by his brother, Erik gets given the position of Prince's Companion, which is traditionally supposed to be the confidant and right hand to the heir but in modern times is basically a ceremonial position with no real influence. But it gives Erik something to do and pays well enough that he doesn't burn through all his savings getting fancy court clothes made up, and it also gives Damien someone in his life who doesn't particularly care that he's the Prince or want anything from him.

The story is structured as a romance, so it's mostly about them getting to know each other and figuring out what they actually want. Erik's country's modern history started with a King abdicating the throne and instituting a democracy to stave off a violent revolution, so Erik's perspective on the whole Damien becoming King thing is, "have you considered maybe just not doing that?" Erik is also of the opinion that Hugs Are Good, Actually, and the First Hug between them gets to play a starring role in the narrative.

Because it's such a longstanding entity in my brain there are loads of side characters and lore snippets, but the core of the story has always been Damien and Erik and their relationship. I love them very, very deeply and one of these days I will actually finish this story.

NPC Shopkeepers story:

Because this set of characters have existed for less than a week, I know much less about them and their world than I do about Damien and Erik, but I'm figuring them out with surprising rapidity given how out of practice I am at this.

The main character is a middle aged woman named Ellie, who spent her youth tangled up in so far undefined fantasy adventures with her best friend Alice. I'm pretty sure there were faeries involved, but I'm also fairly certain that the details won't get spelled out in the actual narrative ever. Now they've retired from that and become NPCs, but like NPCs in a tabletop RPG that the DM can throw at a situation when the party gets in over its head. Their shop attracts a lot of people working through their own fantasy plots, looking for magical items to help them out.

The relevant one of those for this story is a 20-ish-year-old currently going by Jay. He is very clearly in the middle of the No Fun Very Stressful part of a fantasy adventure, and Ellie almost immediately starts plotting to adopt him and feed him soup until he stops looking quite so desperately in need of a friend.

She eventually succeeds in her quest, and partway through a series of events leads to him moving in with her temporarily. This furthers her soup agenda but also puts her directly in the cross-hairs of his fantasy plot. He is very stressed out about this, and she is fairly chill about the possibility, and this stresses him out even more. Jay is not cut out to be a fantasy protagonist. Jay is a nerd who studied magical theory in college and had already been accepted into grad school and was planning to be a scientist for the rest of his life. Jay has asthma and a panic disorder. He is not having a good time. (He grudgingly admits that the soup helps.)

Eventually Jay's plot does catch up with them, but unfortunately for the plot Ellie and Alice are old hands at this kind of thing. The details of how the resolve the problem are still fairly vague, but I'll figure it out. They've been a lot of fun to play with, which is the important part here.

[reptilianmephistopheles]

Fictive/inner world mask self speaking. Experiences and identities the transcribing host body has never experienced or had. My words are my own. 👁️

Agreeing with 80% of the things somebody says about me until they’re like “oh and you also had a romantic and sexual relationship with the daughter of the monarch who lead an active still ongoing genocide against every other nation emergent from this homeland including your own” and it’s… can you please bother to actually respect me beyond my use as an allegory or as your little blorbo. Can you please give me the barest of decencies to trust as much as you trust the sun will keep rising that I would never willingly form any sort of genuine union with femme shitler’s race fetishist daughter. That i am genuinely and truly and permanently repulsed by herself, her family, their occupation, and their god?

“Brief relationship” the 72 hours i spent in her company were 71 too many. “Fond of her partner” who was feeding her mother and cleric council direct information about our attempts to destabilize their monarchy, grant ourselves some second of grace, even a little more peace, a moment of free breath. “Fond” of a man who betrayed his own heritage and his own community for a colonizer’s dehumanizing love?

I was fond of it being over. I am sorry it ever happened. We lost a powerful negotiator and i lost a comrade for whom I’d once held a deep respect. That her eyes and ears could follow him into our councils, and he knew that, he purposely betrayed our trust and cost hundreds of us our lives, not only our combatants but our children, our elders, our healers and orators, how many of us were disappeared into the prisons beneath their castle, the labor camps surrounding it, how many raids did we endure, how many strategies were unmade for us as we seemed to become suddenly and horrifically predictable to them? Do you have any idea how crazy it drove us? How maddening it was? He sat there twiddling his thumbs, defending himself, as we searched feverishly for the mole, watched me as i argued against the idea of an active spy. That anyone who had endured with us all this time could never. The liar he made of me. The light of my faith in my siblings he did his damndest to steal. To get his dick wet? I don’t honestly care if they even could truly love each other. I would think true sovereign love between people must come with a recognition of all people as human in the political function of the word at least. Note she never came to us. Note she never spied on her mother’s and her own regime for us. Note that when she inherited the crown, the genocide did not stop. She is not a poor thing, nor a helpless woman, she did not try her best, she didn’t do whatever she could to fulfill any semblance of what an actual ally would do. She was not a noble nor a commoner, but the direct and only heir to their empire. I am not entertaining the idea she was ever powerless especially after her mother’s death. While i would not expect allied work from her as a child, I have known many children far braver than her at every stage of her life I’ve been forced to be aware of.

Their remains were burned beside each other. That is all the grace i had left to give.