#i love secondary worlds

[eachmostremembering]

like i have a lot of projects right now that are very romance-focused; there's the romance novel, the bear fic, the bear fic 2, the bear fic three, the bear fic 4, the a6 stuff i fuckin needed to finish two years ago, etc.

but like ngl the bear (and paterson) really got me renewed my belief in love again and that's great

[cerealmonster15]

images that bring me peace. u simply dont understand. !!!!

[jahiera]

speaking strictly from a plot & writing perspective here, not a commentary on characters or who or who is not my favorite blorbo (they all are). it's gale time and I wanted to get down everything I thought about this go around with his romance & the writing before it escapes me.

so I once again had a ton of fun of course, the game is still a blast, and several arcs were way more satisfying this time around simply because I ... did not skip the creche, unlike my very first run (I was an idiot) (I didnt think it would be that important) (it really really was). love it 10/10. I cannot WAIT to do my gith run & really focus in on that because the lore there is just, so cool, and that subplot was really rich & rewarding this time around since I had someone who was not orpheus become a mindflayer instead.

as for Gale, Thank Fuck I started before they bugged him up again too much. but let's deep dive into The Material.

shoutout to Tim first of all, he's a legend, dreamboat, superstar. there are so many lines delivered so effortlessly when they would sound ridiculous in anyone else's mouth. he gives gale so much soulful intensity and subtle, nuanced gravitas befitting someone like gale; with enough of Gale's own moments of silliness, cheekiness, wry wit & understated sarcasm, to outright flabbergasted at times, I was Giggling every conversation fr. I'm not usually prone to the "I LOVE YOU" Romances that come earlier rather than later, but ohhhhhhh tim gives each line with all the weight & agony that you can feel inside Gale when it comes (the looming death; not knowing what the end may bring; not wanting to leave any regrets behind) so like. MWAH to him. MWAH MWAH. all the kisses in the world.

okay mandatory compliments to the actor aside. I came out of the whole thing with breadth of new appreciation for Gale as a character in terms of the... concepts, threads, that make him up, and act 2 is where he REALLY shines overall.

I didn't necessarily come away from it with the same... weepy...... done-no-wrong? interpretation of Gale that I've seen floating about. he's lovely. he's intense. he's got soul-crushing devotion on his mind, no doubt. but for every fracture of tenderness, raw sincerity, & off the cuff soliloquy, he's got a lot of interesting flaws/characteristics I'd love to unpick with a fine-toothed comb on some replays or rewatches. Still trying to turn over in my brain exactly what that is, but it's there, and I love it. will say I'm really glad I played it mostly in a vacuum rather than getting too into others' thoughts on him, because What I Had Seen on the Webbed Site had near put me off entire (seeing someone say he's not prideful or pompous at all... when he self-describes as pompous?) -- maybe it's my tendency to focus in on what makes a character tick, when are they sharper, or harder, or meaner, and I enjoy watching that play out a lot, but? yeah. I didn't come away thinking him a super soft mushy mwahmwah -- ROMANTIC, yes, but overall as a character not nearly so lovesick and in desperate need of some protector. in fact when you tell him you don't want to be his crutch, he says as much too -- you've helped him, but you're not the sole focus of his person or the only thing keeping him alive.

there's enough of the humanity in his cheekier moments (stop licking the damn thing!!) and plenty of tear-jerking aside all of that. gale my canon-depressive-episode, mildly suicidal, chronic pained up, still-kind-of-full-of-yourself king. I adore you I love you I cradle you softly in my arms. he charmed me entire! I think that the themes hey were trying to tackle are really interesting and nuanced and I do have some thoughts on the success of the game in actually tackling those, what is there is really wonderful. some gorgeous writing in act 2, especially, and it was sold so well by the voice acting & sincerity in the writing I was just like. PERFECT. 10/10. NEED TO WRITE 98 FLUFF PIECES RN. which does not happen often, to me, as a person.

with. some exceptions, going back to critiquing act 3 as a whole.

act 1 & 2 are both strong, really nice. however this romance definitely needed at least one or two more scenes in act 2 to pad out the space between awkward flirting at the party to "I like it when you're sweaty and bloody-- sorry who said that" to "I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU." -- these scenes should've elaborated on Gale's personal feelings; of mystra, of what's been asked of him, of Tav. they should've set in threads of Gale's anger earlier, rather than the jarring shift from late act 2 "yeah I'll kill myself" to "actually... mystra fucking sucks! lol!" in act 3 at sorcerer sundries. yeah babygirl, mystra DOES fucking suck, wish I could've listened to you as you arrived to these conclusions rather than connecting empty character lines between act 2 and 3. and act 3 desperately needed more space to talk gale in or out of the crown. because by the time we get to the end, if he's really into the crown, he's into it beyond the focus of all else. but in the scenes where you talk him off that particular ledge, it doesn't even take very long to do so, and leaves kind of a weird... gap of intention.

I feel like they wrote themselves into a bit of a corner, honestly. because Gale's personal quest literally cannot be resolved until 5 minutes before the end, any climax wouldn't have much space afterward to pad the aftermath. so the solution to that would've been more character focus scenes, more flavor text depending on how you've influenced gale, something that actually makes the choices feel rewarding -- some hurdles to cross too, checks of some kind. but there really isn't any of that, and so the conflict is almost nonexistent. you squirt gale with a water bottle and he gives up the crown with no real additional dialogue. or you tell him "ma...maybe???" and he's suddenly a power obsessed little freak (complimentary) with no recourse, and in either case, we never got much dialogue to get some insight into his personal thoughts on it. this doesn't make Gale a bad character, but it does leave the narrative to be lacking in some regard.

like, for example. Astarion gets dialogue changes depending on the quest outside of character-specific moments (such as a spawn Astarion changing his dialogue after you help Aylin with Lorroakan), post-quest conversations, PRE-quest conversations with his siblings, moments where he reveals more of what he thinks (such as "You're... you. no one is like that.") etc., Gale gets None of that. the only other characters who really do are Lae'zel and Shadowheart; everyone else is either shafted or resolved in the last few minutes too. I came out of this most satisfied as a player overall with LAE'ZEL'S conclusion (also at the end of the game!!) because we had gotten a few more moments where her focus is obvious and her motivations are clear.

anyways, those are just general writing issues. Act 3 overall is the weakest, most agree, and that's still true here. Sadly it kind of takes some of Gale down with it in this case, because his personal quest is both so removed from the overall plot (despite him being a literal fixture as the only character who knows anything about the crown & was decreed by a literal god to take out the absolute).

however none of this is related to Gale as a guy. as a guy I'm Fucking Obsessed With Him. taking him with me everywhere was so rewarding especially in act 1 / 2. his commentary & insights, when they were there, ranged from funny as fuck to genuinely insightful & interesting for the overall plot. the ideas behind him, the glimpses we get of the life he led before, and the life he wants to lead after with Tav -- or what he alludes to wanting to lead with Tav, thinking that he'll still probably die at the end of this -- are lovely, interesting, TOUCHED MY SPIRIT. he's such a neat version of how to do a character that is as endearing as he can be foot-in-mouth, and as intelligent as he can be a little belligerent. I looooved every moment I could talk with him about magic in act 1, see his passions (beyond mystra), argue with him about how to do something (I'M the magical wonder here actually and I get to make the shadowlantern), all of that really MADE the romance for me in the lulls where his Silence or the gaps in his writing were more clear. 10/10 would kiss that fucking wizard again and cry a little bit thinking about exploding with him aboard a giant alien brain while one of those "ITS YOUUU I LIE WITH" songs plays in the bg

[anxiously-sidequesting]

My favorite school will always be Storm because it's my aesthetic and I vibe with it more than anything else but from a narrative standpoint Death is my absolute favorite. Like almost all the interesting Wizard101 NPCS and the two major arc villains we've had all come from there, and everyone sans Penny has some sort of trauma associated with their school of choice due to the very magic they're practicing, or the individual that practices it. There's so much going on in that area where everyone inside it and outside is affected, even the world around them.

Even death itself is an interesting topic irl, and also the fact that Death is feared even in the wizard world opens so much content for multiple stories RIGHT THERE, and then you have internal problems such as Ambrose himself seeming to keep his biased opinions close to him and keeping necromancers at an arm's length, and that perspective then bounces off on other people (Morganthe, which starts her villain arc; Duncan, who was persuaded to switch schools even BEFORE he became a villain; Dworgyn and Mortis, who are left behind). It's just story after story after story. All the interesting characters and their stories are right where Death is and if Storm wasn't my absolute favorite it would be Death. Necromancers seriously rock and they're so cool in every single way

[strawberryghostlight]

hey!! i just looked through like your whole into the woods tag because im going crazy rn but i was curious if you knew or had any thoughts about why rapunzel’s melody stayed the same or the symbolism behind it? specifically during the different parts where everyone else’s kind of phrase changes (the slotted spoon holds no soup -> the slotted spoon can catch the potato). like, why doesn’t she have a phrase at all? only singing?

First of all omg thank you so much for talking to me about Into the Woods!! The obsession is realll

I think Rapunzel embodies an interesting space where her story doesn't give her room to change. She doesn't have an "I wish" or "I've learned something" moment the way the main cast does, though she is undoubtedly the main character of her own fairytale to the same extent that Red, Cinderella and Jack are. The main difference seems to be her lack of agency- She doesn't venture into the woods, but instead was brought there as a baby and now lives there. She doesn't seek out a prince, but instead is found by one who takes advantage of her position. Things happen to her, but she doesn't do much on her own. Her story not having a lesson (or rather, having a lesson for Mysterious Man and Baker) sort of positions her as this pawn at the whims of surrounding characters, and I think her wordless tune in the Act 1 midnights staying the same reflects that. She is unchanging and unmoving in her tower while the woods play out around her.

In Act 2, though, I'd argue that she does change. Instead of hearing her lovely rendition of the Bean Theme streaming in from offstage during other scenes, we hear her cries and screams. Once removed from her tower and brought to the castle she experiences the same mobility and freedom as the other characters, and from that vantage point she sees a) how messed up her life has been and b) how dreaful the outside world can be as well. We see that the prince is a manipulative cheating scumbag, and Rapunzel is taking care of twins now as well. I think once leaving the tower she's more trapped than ever, hence why she runs from her prince in a direct parallel to Cinderella fleeing her prince in Act 1. I really like the original version of the script where Rapunzel's prince shows up in Act 2 scene 2 during the big conversation with the Giant, and so when she runs into the Giant's path it's because she was cornered- her prince on one side and the Witch on the other, leaving Rapunzel no choice but to flee both (unfortunately leading to her demise). Later versions omit him from the scene so she's only running from the Witch, which also works but is easier to misread imo. Her next appearance is repeating the Bean Theme once again in the finale, bringing her back to where she began- not that different from Jack still being mothered, Red still being overlooked, and Cinderella still cleaning someone's house. The Baker begins the story again, and Rapunzel becomes a stagnant character once more.

[lostintherealmsofthefandoms]

I love mxtxt but I highly disagree with her (and presumably mostly danmei authors) when comes about "only one couple cause is unrealistic this amount of gay people" and I know many people agree, I've seen those kinda of comments under shows like kinnporsche.

The reason why I don't agree is cause no one complains when there's only straight couples, which you know is also unrealistic and happens all the time, like those series of books The Bridgertons, over 10 books, each a couple of the same family or surroundings, no one is gay, that's not realistic, but straight romance fans don't complain about it. Why should we complain or try play "realistic" when comes to non straight couples??? So to me everyone on the damm world of the show/book can be gay, bi, pan and have a homo relationship that I will be okay with, is far better than if they were all straight, which again, happens all the time in mostly stories and no one complains about!!!! So, yeah...

[clownjacket]

MARK BITION RESOLUTION!!!!!

[coffeebanana]

Hot take but I think Adrinette was always more likely to get together in a pre-reveal situation than Ladynoir. And this isn’t about preferring one side of the square to the other (they are! the same people!). I just think that Marinette is a lot more set in her ways when it comes to Chat than Adrien is when it comes to Marinette. And there are reasons for that. Like sure, we’ve read hundreds of fics where the issue of Chat Blanc is talked over in varying degrees and then set aside, but it’s still really real for her?! (And to be honest, I want PRPR so like...I don’t really need ANY side to date pre-reveal ahaha. but the love square...not necessarily reversing but becoming a line or whatever...really makes the journey more interesting)

[katabay]

Do you have specific fiction authors that you like to read? What aspects of a story make you want to really dig your fingers in it? Is it horror?

I’ve got a couple! Keigo Higashino for sure. anything Naoki Urasawa does: I will be reading it. Priest (Guardian and Mo Du are all time favorites). also KJ Charles and Andrew A Smith!

ngl I don’t really have a concrete list of favorite fiction writers, I spent several days thinking about this one: like, I have favorite books for sure, but I don’t often find myself considering an author to be a favorite just because their book blew my mind. I’ve only read three of Andrew A Smith’s works, but he’s here because he gave an interview years that changed my entire approach to storytelling, and I still revisit it whenever I start editing a story.

honestly the big thing is that I like character!! I like compelling characters (extremely varied definition of compelling, it doesn’t have to be much, but it does have to have something) I like it when something goes full throttle into whatever it wants to be. I’ll watch a slow paced slice of life romance with the same amount of enthusiasm that I had for Devil Judge, and the 1vs10 beat down in Ipman takes up just as much space in my brain as the ‘let’s not see each other from now on,’ breakup in the Heirs (but for extremely different reasons lmao)

however. if I have to pick something more thematically specific: I like seeing people in power get what they have coming to them, I like explorations and confrontations of political and social injustices. kingdom is one of my favorite shows, and the horror is great, but it was the political-class-power aspect of it that solidified it as a memorable watch to me. kamen rider build did something fundamental to the circuitry of my brain. etc.

[camping-with-monsters]

The preposterous Pied Piper makes it’s heinous debut!

With an intimidatingly permanent jolly expression to it’s face and a constant knack for laughing and giggling, it’s no question why this meticulously designed specimen is quick to make others flee! But don’t be deceived by it’s raggedy, silly exterior! For inside this humanoid build is a great multitude of… rats! A seemingly hive mind of an entity, inside of this soft sentient shell is the internal makeup of countless vermin it commands! Like seriously. They’re nothing but rats inside it. It has no other make up inside. It’s just. Rats.

But deep down, this whimsical, giggly entity has a darker origin to it’s motive. That old Mother Goose— yes, the very one after our pregnant protagonist Einin— has piqued this entity’s interest to the max. Joined along a small band of it’s equally sadistic allies, The Pied Piper has set it’s sights for control of that beastly bird with quite the cult-like obsession. Why? Who knows! Perhaps recognized power, or maybe it seeks alliance to carry out more wicked deeds alongside each other? And Einin…? She’s the utmost perfect bait to allow them to get ahold of that creature… if bait means sacrifice, in this case.

It would pull just about any trick in the book to get exactly what it wants. With a trusty smoking pipe along side him that it blows an oddly wispy essence out, it can easily lure in just about whatever it wants if the mind is feeble enough to fall impressionable to the falsified truths they will whisper. To him, nothing dare stand in it’s way of it’s cultivated goal… not even a backstabber.

———

A MASSIVE THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO’S HELPED PUT THIS DESIGN TOGETHER!

HUGE thanks to @menthum-mint who came up with the concept and @gongedtornado for creating the original design concept art!!

And also huge thanks to @shroingushour, @pazam, @aggresively-doesnt-know, and @pizzabits who all helped contribute to design tweaking, ideas, further input, and many more details that helped bring this character to life! I think this is the largest amount of people I've had collaborate with a single character design/concept and l'm so happy that this came out so perfect!! This is seriously one of my favorite designs for the story.

And of course, thank you to everyone else who's been helping with further design and development! Y'all are real ones <3

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Guess what?

I just came up with more

Fantasy politics

💖💖💖

[aquitainequeen]

Would be that my favourite adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen is the space opera which is basically Dune if it was on a ocean planet instead of a desert, 'Gerda' is the 'Snow Queen's' clone, she and 'Kay' are on a quest to become sibyls (basically Sense8 several decades early), 'Kay' becomes the 'Snow Queen's' consort and is known as 'Starbuck'

(it was the 80s and the massive coffee chain was yet to come, but still, yeeeah...)

'Gerda' has to battle her way across the galaxy to get back to 'Kay'...except that she doesn't really do anything except transported from place to place, 'Kay' slaughters a whole bunch of sentient sea-dwelling creatures for their MacGuffin blood, and 'Gerda's' secondary love interest is the book's equivalent of the reindeer who helps her escape from the Robber Girl.

Bet you didn't expect that last bit.

[crabknee]

crab I would love nothing more than to hear about war of the elements….. do regale me with your wisdom

OMG YIPPEE OK OK OK OK

ok so the main idea for the world/story (gonna call it the story from here on out) is that people can conjure weapons from elements (or at least some people can, haven't really figured out the criteria yet) What element their weapon is conjured of depends on their heritage/what country they're from. I haven't figured out a lot of countries yet, but there are two major ones that I have figured out. The japanese inspired kingdom with the element of light/sun and the german inspired kingdom (might branch out to some other central european countries) with the lightning element. By the time of the story these two countries are at war with each other and have been for quite a while (thinking about making it a 100 year war, seems like it would be cool)

Archer lady is a high ranking general in the sun nations army, and she wields a sun-energy Yumi (which is a traditional japanese bow that is very tall) Another great drawing of her below that I'm very proud of

The entire sun kingdom has a whole bird motif going on so that is encorperated in her design with the feathers on the yumi. She is also, like, early to mid 50's in age

There is also another character that I have yet to draw from the sun kingdom that is just stuck in my brain but I love her. She is the kings right hand woman and she will wield a long kind of katana (have to figure out which kind exactly) I also want her to have a helmet with a bird motif, somewhat like this (ignore fake png please)

Also, the way I want sunlight weapons to look somewhat like this, with a white light in the middle surrounded my a warm soft orange (ignore that this is lightning which is litterally their main enemy, in my defense this is sunlight spear from dark souls which is both sun and lightning)

But neither of these to people are the main character, the main character is this guy

He is also yet unnamed but my irl friends (aside from pie) have taken to calling him john lightning (NOT HIS NAME) do with that information what you will

anyway, notice that he has a katana (japanese) that is lightning (german)? huh how curious, wonder why that could be...

To make a long story short (you can find his story in more detail under my save tag on my blog if you want, this post is just for an overview of the story, my save tag is "save" archer lady is also there as well as a demon slayer oc) His dad is an emmigrant from lightning kingdom who fled to sun kingdom after [something I have not decided yet] and fell in love with mcs mom and they had mc. Dad died when mc was pretty young but he lived a happy life with his mom until one day the lady with the bird helmet came to their village and slaughtered all the villagers because of a rumor of a lightning kingdom spy. She then kills mcs mom right in front of him and mc charges out from their hiding place full of anger to kill. The lady is surprised, but very interrested in mc because of his mixture of the cultures, which is a thing that almost never happens, especially between sun and lightning, and therefor decides to let him live, but she does cut of his arm as a warning. Then he ran. he ran far. he ran until he couldn't see the village anymore. And now he was alone.

After this I haven't really had his story as set in stone, but I want to things, I want him to rebel against the sun kingdoms tyranny and I REALLY want his story to follow maslows hierarchy of needs in some way, I think that would be very interesting.

That's about all I have so far, the sun kingdom is definitly the most fleshed out so far since it's where it all takes place, but I also really like lightning and german weapons and will definitly be expanding that at some point.

The things I also want to include are things like

A middle eastern inspired nation (the middle east has some sick weapons, especially their curved swords, fucking love middle eastern swords)

A fire kingdom (obviosly)

An extensive lightning kingdom noble family

RETAINERS FOR THE NOBLE FAMILY!!! FUCKING LOVE RETAINERS AND UNDYING LOYALTY

possibly a spanish/italian country, they have some cool weapons that I could do something with, also france, but I need to research their weapons more

A water place (MAYBE with ice but that might also be sepperate)

Extra lightning guy pic here

really proud of the arm on this one, I also have a few others, but they are from before his outfit got a major overhaul so I don't like them, and another one that I LOVE I can't really show because it was made by a friend and I haven't asked for permission and I don't want to disrespect my friend even though it would probably be ok

Anyway suggestions and feedback greatly appreciated!!!

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AYO WHY MATTHEW DADDARIO TRENDING

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

No one I talk DND with seems to care about the mechanics and this is sad because I love mechanics so much actually I love building characters from a stats basis and not a character one I love combat so much idk why but my brain has decided that this is my favourite bit I could literally read about subclasses for days.