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caligvlasaqvarivm · 2 days

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How do you analyze so good I'm really impressed and honestly wonder if I can learn from you

It's a skill, so the good news is, you can practice and get better at it!

Read A Lot/Gain Context

Analysis often means making comparisons or drawing from external context - one of the best things you can do if you want to be better at analysis is to try to cram your head with as much knowledge as possible. The time period, culture of origin, and where the author slots into those are usually major influences on a work (in Homestuck's case, much of it is a direct commentary on the internet culture it emerged from, and missing that part of it can drastically influence how the story reads).

Also important are the works the author themselves are inspired by. You've likely heard some variation of "nothing is original." We're actually really lucky with Homestuck in that regard, as the work is highly referential, and you can glean a lot by looking at what it references (for example, if you watch Serendipity, one of Karkat's favorite movies, which is titledropped during the troll romance explanation, you will understand Karkat so much better). This applies to things like mythological allusions - you'll hardly know why it matters that Karkat is a Christ figure if you don't know what the general outline of the Christ story is, nor will you pick up on the Rapture elements of Gamzee's religion or the fact that Doc Scratch is The Devil, etc. The key to picking up a lot of symbolism is being aware that the symbols exist.

And last, it helps to read a lot of media and media analysis so you can get a better understanding of how media "works" - how tropes are used, what effect language has, what other entries into the genre/works with similar themes/etc. have already done to explore the same things as the piece being analyzed is doing - and what other people have already gleaned and interpreted. I've mentioned before that many people seem to find Homestuck's storytelling bizarre and unique when it's actually quite standard for postmodernism, the genre it belongs to. But you're not going to know that if you've never read anything postmodern, y'know? I also often prepare for long character essays by reading other peoples' character essays - sometimes people pick up on things I miss, and sometimes people have interpretations I vehemently disagree with; both of these help me to refine my take on the matter.

Try to Discard Biases/Meet the Work Where It Is

Many will carry into reading media an expectation of what they want to get out of it. For example, one generally goes into a standard hetero romance book expecting a female lead, a male love interest, romance (of course), and a happy ending for the happy couple. If the book fails to deliver these things, a reader will often walk away thinking it was a bad book, even if the story told instead is objectively good and interesting. We actually see this a lot with Wuthering Heights, which receives very polarizing reviews because people go into it expecting a gothic romance, when it's really more like a gossip Youtube video spilling the tea on some shitty rich people (and it's really good at being that).

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this when reading for pleasure and personal enjoyment, but it presents a problem when attempting to analyze something. There's a concept called the "Procrustean bed," named after a mythological bandit who used to stretch people or cut off their limbs to fit them to a bed, that describes "an arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is forced." Going into a media reading with expectations and biases often results in a very Procrustean reading - I'm sure we've all seen posts complaining about how fanfic often forces canon characters to fit certain archetypes while discarding their actual character traits, etc.

Therefore, when reading for analysis, it's generally a good idea to try and discard as much bias and expectation as possible (obviously, we are never fully free of bias, but the effort counts) - or, perhaps even better, to compartmentalize those biases for comparison while reading. For example, Hussie talks at length about what they INTENDED Homestuck to be, and, while reading, I like to keep Hussie's words to the side while I try to experience the comic fresh, seeing what choices were made in accordance with Hussie's intentions, or where I think Hussie may have fumbled the messaging. At the same time, I try to let the work stand on its own, set in its proper context.

I'd say this is the number-one problem in fandom analysis. For example, people hear from the fandom that Eridan is an incel or a nice guy, so they interpret everything he says and does to fit that belief, or ignore any contradictory evidence. Or they fall for the character's façade that's meant to be dismantled by the viewer. Some works are fairly shallow and accessible, wearing all their meaning on their sleeve (or are Not That Deep, if you prefer meme-talk), and problems arise when a work is, in fact, That Deep, because someone biased towards the former will discard evidence that a work is the latter. This isn't exclusive to HS - it's happened in basically all of my fandoms - which is a statement to how easy it is to fall into this way of thinking.

Even without knowing that Hussie had coming-of-age themes in mind, for example, characters will talk about being kids and growing up. Knowing that Hussie has explicitly said that that's one of HS's themes serves as extra evidence for that interpretation, but the work itself tells you what it's about - if you're willing to listen to it.

Even If the Curtains are Just Blue, That Still Means Something

This is the next biggest fandom stumbling block - thr insinuation that when things in a work are put into the work without more explicit symbolism, that that means they're a discardable detail. This one is more about making a mindset shift - details aren't discardable, even if they don't appear to have been made with the explicit intention to mean something. Everything kind of means something.

First of all, whether or not the curtains are Just Blue is often highly dependent on the work. For example, in something made in large quantities with little time, staff, and budget - say, for example, one of the entries into the MCU's TV shows - there likely isn't too much meaning behind a choice of blue curtains in a shot (although you'd be surprised how often choices in these constrained environments are still very deliberately made). In a work like Homestuck, however, so terribly dense with symbolism and allegory, chances are, the blue curtains DO hold some special meaning, even if it's not readily apparent.

However, even in cases where a choice is made arbitrarily, it still usually ends up revealing something about the work's creative process. Going back to our MCU example, perhaps the blue curtains were chosen because the shot is cool-toned and they fit the color grading. Perhaps they were chosen because the director really likes blue. Perhaps the shot was filmed at an actual location and the blue curtains were already there. Or, even, perhaps the blue curtains were just what they had on hand, and the show was made too quickly and cheaply to bother sourcing something that would fit the tone or lend extra meaning. These all, to varying degrees, say something about the work - maybe not anything so significant that it would come up in an analysis, but they still contribute to a greater understanding of what the work is, what it's trying to say, and how successful it is at saying it.

And this applies to things with much higher stakes. For example, Hussie being a white US citizen likely had an effect on the B1 kids being mostly US citizens, and there was discourse surrounding how, even though they were ostensibly aracial, references were made to Dave's pale skin. Do I think these were deliberate choices made to push some sort of US superiority; no, obviously not. But they still end up revealing things about the creation of the work - that Hussie had certain biases as a result of being who they were.

Your Brain is Designed to Recognize Patterns, So Put That to Use

So with "establish context" and "discard expectations" out of the way, we can start getting into the nitty-gritty of what should be jumping out at you when attempting to understand a work. One of the most prominent things that you should be looking for is PATTERNS.

Writing is a highly conscious effort, which draws from highly unconscious places. Naturally, whether these patterns are intentional or unintentional is dependent on the author (see again why reading up on a work's context is so important), but you can generally bet that anything that IS a pattern is something that holds significance.

For example, Karkat consistently shows that he's very distraught when any of his friends get hurt, that he misses his friends, even the murderous assholes, that he's willing to sit them down and intervene on their behalf, despite all his grandstanding to the contrary. We are supposed to notice that Karkat actually loves his friends, and that he's lying when he says he doesn't care about them.

Homestuck is very carefully and deliberately crafted; if something comes up more than once, it's a safe bet to assume that you're supposed to notice, or at least feel, it. Don't take my word for it:

Basically, [reusing elements is] about building an extremely dense interior vocabulary to tell a story with, and continue to build and expand that vocabulary by revisiting its components often, combining them, extending them and so on. A vocabulary can be (and usually is) simple, consisting of single words, but in this case it extends to entire sentences and paragraph structures and visual forms and even entire scenes like the one linked above. Sometimes the purpose for reiteration is clear, and sometimes there really is no purpose other than to hit a familiar note, and for me that's all that needs to happen for it to be worthwhile. Triggering recognition is a powerful tool for a storyteller to use. Recognition is a powerful experience for a reader. It promotes alertness, at the very least. And in a lot of cases here, I think it promotes levity (humor! this is mostly a work of comedy, remember.) Controlling a reader's recognition faculty is one way to manipulate the reader's reactions as desired to advance the creative agenda.

But this applies to less deliberately-crafted work, too; for example, if an author consistently writes women as shallow, cruel, and manipulative, then we can glean that the author probably has some sort of issue with women. Villains often being queer-coded suggests that the culture they come from has problems with the gays. Etc. etc.

This is how I reached my conclusion that Pale EriKar is heavily foreshadowed - the two are CONSTANTLY kind to each other, sharing secrets, providing emotional support, etc. etc. It's why that part of my Eridan essay is structured the way that it is - by showing you first how consistently the two interact in suspiciously pale-coded ways, the fact that a crab is shown in both Eridan's first appearance AND his appearance on the moirallegiance "hatched for each other" page becomes the cincher of a PATTERN of the two being set up to shoosh-pap each other.

A work will tell you about itself if you listen. If it tells you something over and over, then it's basically begging you to pay attention.

Contrast is Important, Too

Patterns are also significant when they're broken. For example, say a villain is constantly beating up the protagonist. Here's our pattern: the hero is physically weaker than the villain. In a straight fight, the hero will always lose.

And then, at the mid-season two-parter, the hero WINS. Since we've set up this long pattern of the hero always losing to this villain, the fact that this pattern was disrupted means that this moment is extremely important for the work. Let's say the hero wins using guile - in this case, we walk away with the message that the work is saying that insurmountable obstacles may have workarounds, and adaptability and flexibility are good, heroic traits. Now let's say the hero won using physical strength, after a whole season of training and practicing - in this case, we say that the work says hard work and effort are heroic, and will pay off in the end.

In Homestuck, as an example, we set up a long pattern of Vriska being an awful, manipulative bitch, and a fairly remorseless killer. And then, after killing Tavros, she talks to John and admits that she's freaking out because she feels really bad about it. This vulnerability is hinted at by some of her earlier actions/dialogue, which is itself a pattern to notice, but it's not really explicit until it's set up to be in direct contrast to the ultimate spider8itch move of killing Tavros. This contrast is intended to draw our attention, to point out something significant - hey, Vriska feels bad! She's a product of her terrible society and awful lusus! While it's shitty that she killed Tavros, she's also meant to be tragic and sympathetic herself!

Hussie even talks about how patterns and surprises are used in tandem:

Prior to Eridan's entrance into the room, and even during, the deaths were completely unguessable. After Feferi's death, Kanaya's becomes considerably more so, but still quite uncertain. After her death, all bets are off. Not only do all deaths thereafter become guessable, but in some cases, "predictable". That's because it was the line between a series of shocking events, and the establishment of an actual story pattern. The new pattern serves a purpose, as a sort of announcement that the story is shifting gears, that we're drifting into these mock-survival horror, mock-crime drama segments, driven by suspense more than usual. The suspense has more authority because of all the collateral of unpredictability built up over time, as well as all the typical stuff that helps like long term characterization. But now that the pattern is out in the open, following through with more deaths no longer qualifies as unpredictability. Just the opposite, it would now be playing into expectations, which as I said, can be important too. This gear we've switched to is the new normal, and any unpredictability to arise thereafter will necessarily be a departure from whatever current patterns would indicate.

Patterns are important because they tell you what baselines the work is setting - what's normal, what's standard, what this or that generally "means." Contrast is important because it means something has changed, or some significant point is being made. They work in tandem to provide the reader with points of focus in the story, things to keep in mind as they read, consciously or unconsciously.

Theme

I'm talking about this stuff in pretty broad and open terms because stories are so malleable, and so myriad, and can say so many things. There are stories where horrible cruelties are painted as good things - propoganda is the big one, but consider all the discourse around romance books that paint abusive/toxic relationships as ideal. There are stories where the protagonist is actually the villain, and their actions are not aspirational, and works where everyone sucks and nobody is aspirational, and works where everybody is essentially a good person, if sometimes misguided.

This is, again, why outside context is so important, and biases need to be left at the door. For example, generally speaking, one can assume that the protagonist of a children's cartoon is going to be an aspirational hero, or at least a conflicted character who must learn to do the right thing. However, there are even exceptions to this! Invader Zim, for example, features an outright villain protagonist - a proud servant of a fascist empire - and for a lower-stakes example, the Eds of Ed, Edd, n' Eddy are the neighborhood scammers, constantly causing problems for the other characters with their schemes.

Thus, how do we determine what any particular narrative's stance on a given topic is? It's a difficult question to answer because every narrative is different. If I say something like, "the things that bring the protagonists success in their goals are what the narrative says are good," then we run into the issue of villain/gray morality protagonists. To use moral terms like "hero" and "villain" instead runs into the problem of defining morality within a narrative in the first place. But you have to draw the line somewhere.

So that brings us to themes.

Now, as with a lot of artistic terms, "theme" isn't necessarily well-defined (this isn't helped by the way the word is used colloquially to mean things like aesthetic, moral of the story, or symbolism). Wikipedia says: "In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative," but this is still very broad and hard to work with, so I'll give it a shot.

A theme is what a work says, beyond the literal series of events. Sometimes a theme is obvious - the theme of Boy Who Cried Wolf is that if you become famous for lying, you won't be believed when you tell the truth. Sometimes a theme is one of many - for example, Disney's Cinderalla says that kindness and virtue will eventually be recognized and rewarded, and that cruelty is interlinked with ugliness. Sometimes a theme is unintentional - for example, how Disney's body of work tends to villainize queer-coded characters. Sometimes context and the passage of time changes the theme - for example, Snow White originally held a message of hope for wartime families that domestic normalcy would one day return, but is now seen as anti-feminist as it appears to insinuate that a woman's place is in the kitchen, and her happiness is in marriage to a man. And sometimes a theme is not something you agree with.

In any case, a theme is a meaning to be gleaned from the text, more broad and universally applicable than the text itself. After all, we humans have traditionally always used story to impart meaning; our oldest epic, The Epic of Gilgamesh, contains within it several themes, most famously that of accepting one's mortality. It's startling, really, how applicable the story is to this day, even if specific details have become obtuse or unsavory to a modern reader.

This is, again, why it's so important to engage with a text on its own terms, in its own context, with as little bias as possible. A story's themes are not necessarily apparent, and commonly implied rather than stated outright, and approaching the story with expectations can easily lead to a Procrustean twisting of the facts to fit those expectations. A theme should emerge to the analyzer out of the reading, not the other way around.

Identifying theme gets easier with practice, and largely comes down to identifying patterns within the narrative (alongside looking at context and symbolism, of course). What does the narrative consistently touch base on? Are there any references; is there any symbolism? What does the story deem "normal," "good," or "bad"? How are ideas developed, and why? Why did these events happen, and are those motivations echoed anywhere else?

Homestuck is very complex and tackles many topics at once, and explaining why it's a coming-of-age would basically require a whole second essay, so I'll use a simpler and more popular example (like I've been trying to do) - let's say, Shrek.

The most obvious theme of Shrek is that beauty does not equate goodness, that one mustn't judge a book by its cover. The opening sequence is LITERALLY Shrek ripping out pages of a fairy tale book to use as toilet paper, and the movie ends with Fiona finding that her happiest, truest self IS as an ugly ogre. Shrek's main character conflict is that people immediately judge him as cruel and evil because he's ugly, and the characters' lowest points occur because Fiona is similarly insecure about her ogre half, considering it unlovable.

But there's other stuff in there, too. For example, if you know that Dreamworks and Shrek were founded after a falling out with Disney, then the beautiful, sanitized city of Dulac, with its switchback queue and singing animatronics add to this theme of a direct refutation of traditional Disney fairytale values, mocking them as manufactured, inhuman, and even cruel in the way that they marginalize those who don't fit an ideal of beauty. Again we see the opening sequence - defacing a fairytale - as support for this, but also the way that Dulac is displacing fairytale creatures. There's a moment where Gepetto literally sells Pinocchio, which can easily be read as a commentary on the crass commercialization and exploitation of fairy tales Disney likes to do.

And then, of course, there are lesser, supplementary themes. Love being a powerful positive force is one - Donkey is able to rally Shrek after he truly reciprocates Dragon's love for him (which echoes the theme of not equating goodness with beauty, as Dragon is still big and scary), and it's true love's kiss that grants Fiona her happy ending.

And then there's stuff that's unintentional. There's all this work done about how beauty =/= goodness, but then they made the villain incredibly short, which is a traditionally unattractive physical feature. So, does that mean that ugly things can be beautiful unless that ugliness is specifically height?

Sometimes, authorial intent does not match up with result - but in those instances, I think the most is revealed about the author. Modern Disney products tend to be very cowardly about going anti-corporation and pro-weirdness, despite their usual feel-good tones and uplifting themes - and that says a lot about Disney, doesn't it. That's why I think it's still important to keep authorial intent in mind, if possible, even if they fumble what they say they've set out to do.

Obviously, Lord Fuckwad being short doesn't REALLY detract from the overall message - but it's still a weird hitch in the themes, which I think is interesting to talk about, so you can see where personal judgement and biases DO have to be applied. There are two options here, more or less - either one believes that Shrek is making an exception for short people, who are of the Devil, or one believes that the filmmakers did a bit of an oopsie. Barring an outright statement from the filmmakers, there's no way to know for sure.

We can say a work has very complex themes when it intentionally explores multiple ideas very deeply. We can say a work has shallow themes when it doesn't have much intentional meaning, and/or that meaning is explored very lightly. The labyrinthine storytelling of Homestuck, with its forays into mortality, morality, and growing up, chock full of symbolism and pastiche and allusions, is a work with complex themes - especially as compared to the average newspaper comic strip, although they ostensibly share a genre.

We can say a work has very unified themes when these themes serve to compliment each other - the refutation of Disney-esque values, and love as a positive driving force, compliment the main theme in Shrek of not judging books by their covers, of beauty not equating to goodness. Ugly things are worthy of love, and those who push standards of beauty are evil and suck.

Similarly, we can say a work has unfocused or messy themes when the themes it includes - intentionally or not - contradict, distract, and/or detract from each other. Beauty has no correlation to goodness... unless you're short, in which case, you are closer to Hell and therefore of evil blood. To get a little controversial, this is actually why I didn't like Last Wish very much - there are approximately three separate storylines, with three separate thematic arcs, going on in the same movie, none of which particularly compliment each other - so the experience was very messy to me, story-wise, even though it was pretty and the wolf was hot. This is why we feel weird about Disney pushing anti-corporate messages, when they're a big corporate machine, or why it's easy to assume Homestuck was written poorly if you don't like Hussie - we want themes to be coherent, we want context to be unified with output.

Tone

Tone is somehow even harder to define than theme. It's like, the "vibe" of a work. For example, you generally don't expect something lighthearted to deal with the realistic, brutal tragedies of war. Maybe it'll touch on them in light, optimistic ways, but it isn't about to go All Quiet on the Western Front on the reader. By the same token, you don't expect fully happy endings out of the melodrama of opera, or frivolous slice of life from something grimdark.

Tone, too, is something people often wind up Procrusteanizing, which makes discussion difficult if two people disagree. If I read Homestuck as unwaveringly optimistic, with its downer ending the result of an author fumble, I'm pretty much going to irreconcileably disagree with somebody who reads Homestuck as though it's always been a kind of tragedy where things don't work out for the characters. Since it's even more difficult to define than theme, I'm not even really going to bother; I just felt like I had to bring it up because, despite its nebulosity, it's vital to how one reads and interprets a text. Sometimes I don't have a better answer for why I dislike a certain interpretation other than that it doesn't suit the work's tone. I generally try to avoid saying that, though, because it winds up smacking of subjective preference.

In summary... analysis is about keeping everything in mind all the time! But i swear, it gets easier the more you do it. Happy reading!

#homestuck #literary analysis #critical thinking

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eponastory · 3 days

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Gotta apologize again for practically swimming in your DMs lately, but I remembered why people like 'Toph x Aang', and often cited Toph's honesty and lack of glorification to Aang as a reason why she would've been a better romantic interest for Aang than Katara. And I don't disagree with that, Toph is much more likely to put her foot down to let Aang know when he's wrong, which should urge him more to grow. But despite Toph theoretically being a better love interest for Aang, I have a question:

Would Aang be a good love interest for Toph?

Because since you, @longing-for-rain , and other Zutara supporters described Aang's immaturity very well, I have to wonder if Toph would be happy with Aang, knowing how hurtful he can get (Desert, Ember Island, did Aang even apologize for those instances?). What do you think? Do you think Aang has the qualities to be a good love interest for Toph? Could I ask this question for Ty Lee too? Because I see lots of people believing that Ty Lee would've been a good choice for Aang, but would Aang have been a good choice for Ty Lee? You know what, let's just get every popular alternative candidate out of the way, since people ship Aang with Toph, Ty Lee, Zuko, Sokka, and even Azula and Mai. Run the gauntlet (if you want to). Would Aang make a good love interest for literally ANY of the main characters?

Unpopular opinion, but as Aang is written in the show... he's not a good candidate for anyone.

Wait wait wait...

Hear me out before everyone gets up in arms...

This is where we have to acknowledge that Aang is a fictional character and not a real person (we are not going to count LA Aang because technically that would make him an actual person because he is portrayed by an actual teenage boy) therefore everything is written to be as it is. However, because fiction is subjective, we can debate whether or not to treat Aang like an actual person.

So with that in mind, let's begin this deconstruction of Aang's character and how he is not a good fit for any sort of romance as he is written in the show.

Aang's Selfishness

This right here is glossed over many, many times in the show. What I mean by selfishness is the fact that he is unable to look beyond his nose when it comes to other characters and their feelings. In real life, this is a very twelve year old thing to do, but unlike real life there is no one there to call him out on it. Just the writers, and they don't even do that. That coupled with the fact that he is written to be a child, it really doesn't make sense to me. That and he is the McGuffin and 'The One' of the entire show.

Bryke sets it up to be a good show by giving us the premise right from the start, but as the seasons move on, I don't really see any development from Aang. Only the characters around him.

That being said, because you don't get that development, any relationship going forward is going to feel shallow, like most of the relationships (except sukka) feel. Zuko and Katara progress in their relationship well because there was growth from both of them.

When it comes to Aang, he is more concerned with his views than taking a moment to think about everyone else's. Of course, I applaud those who actively seek peace in their lives and with dangerous situations, but Aang is incredibly naive. He doesn't get any better, even when Zuko calls him out on it. We see Aang struggle with the solution, but then Deus Ex Lionturtle shows up and doesn't really encourage that growth.

Because you don't get that growth and him moving past how HE feels, that is where a relationship is going to fall apart. It's not toxic, but if he doesn't change then it can become that way. Again, Aang is not a narcissist. He is just selfish and naive. These are two big things that cost him.

#i said what i said #you cant handle the truth #zutara #anti bryke #anti kataang

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bloggingboutburgers · 1 hour

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Hi! I know very little about QPRs and I was wondering, what is it like?

I've shared about it several times before but... It's a big relief more than anything. It's not something I could define easily, but it sort of brings me a solution to be left alone in a world where people seem somehow obsessed to put everyone in pairs for some reason – while at the same time never risking to dive into something I feel icky about like sex, or plain don't understand like romance.

It's just great to be able to hold hands with someone, cuddle with someone, roast movies with someone, have pet names with someone, and know they're perfectly content with the way you are together, all chill like this, without "catching feelings" for you or whatever. (God that's such a weird expression. So many heavily romance-coded expressions are so broad for something so specific, it weirds me out.)

People are gonna assume things about you because let's face it, most people probably don't get it, but it doesn't matter – plus, some actually do anyway, or still don't get it BUT also have the decency not to assume things, and that's pretty great.

And it's a great relief from the fear of abandonment that being aro-ace makes me feel – because when you're aro-ace and friendship is like the highest possible level of human distinction you feel, but it's not for other people, you just know you're always gonna be naturally put in the background of people's lives as soon as they get a romantic lover/sexual partner and possibly kids. You're always gonna come AT LEAST second and be left behind in a way. Having a queer platonic partner is having someone who agrees to keep you company and not let you feel lonely, while not putting you in the dead center of their life or on top of a scale of value, because they know THAT wouldn't feel right to you either.

It's letting me be myself, and be happy, and be comforted, without having to make compromises on my very identity. It ticks a lot of boxes for me in a way I didn't think could exist for my whole life until then.

...At least that's my experience of it, of course it's a very personal thing

#but yeah i hope that could give an idea #asexual #aromantic #queerplatonic #queer platonic relationship #qpr #anon

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daceydeath · 1 day

Text

Cigarettes & Cliches Part 9

Pairing: Bad Boy Felix x Reader Word Count: 4.2K Genre: Collage AU, Slow Burn Romance Warnings: 18+, MDNI, Swearing, Mentions of Emotional Abuse, Mentions of SA,

He was the most impractical guy for you to be interested in, the incredibly handsome cliché bad boy who collected girls like trophies. As hard as you wanted to hate him his persistence and hidden softer side just could be your undoing.

You still hadn’t answered Felix, you knew you should have but you couldn’t until you knew what the conversation between your roommates had truly been about and why it related to you and Felix. Your guilty conscience was weighing heavy on you as you walked into work you picked up your apron, slipping it over your head and remembering how Felix had once called it stupid. Greeting your coworkers as you stepped behind the coffee machine to do a quick clean before you started for the afternoon. You had already spied Changbin and Han sitting in the corner deep in conversation so you left it until one of them came up to the counter or waved at you. Binna, your manager for the night came over and gave you a quick side hug to welcome you back and Hana who had been cleaning tables came over to say hello.

“There are quite a few cute boys in tonight” Hana gushed, placing the cloth she had been wiping down a table with on the counter.

“Really I have just got here I haven’t actually looked around yet” you giggled shaking your head at her.

“A couple of them were asking for you, specifically!” she lowered her voice conspiratorially.

“Uhuh” you rolled your eyes at her “wouldn’t happen to be my friends over there would it?” you asked, jutting your chin in the direction of Han and Changbin.

“How did you know? And are they ‘just friends’ of yours?” she countered raising her eyebrow at you.

“They are both single so knock yourself out Hana” you laughed properly at her as her face lit up, quickly returning behind the counter to serve a customer. Han waved at you when you looked back over to them, making you grin and wave back. Chan wandered into your view then sitting himself down opposite Han and smiling at you, his dimples on full display.

“Can I get you on service please? I’ll take over the coffee” Binna asked casually counting how many full tables there were in the cafe.

“Of course Binna” you nodded, picking up the slice of cake and brownie plates she had placed beside the machine.

“Table 6 please” she sighed, swiping to the current order to be made. You made your way to table 6 placing down the food and weaving your way back towards the counter to pick up the next order noting it was going to be a busy few hours. The guys waited for your break which you took grabbing an iced coffee and going over to sit with them.

“Having fun watching me wait tables?” you teased, plopping yourself down in the gap between Han and Changbin.

“I’ll have you know we’re on an important job scoping out the place for people who have a grudge against you” Han defended goofily.

“And what have you found?” you laughed

“Nothing except that your coworker thinks Changbin is cute and that you seem to sell a lot of brownies and lattes” Chan chimed in, making Chagbin’s face turn pink.

“That’s Hana and I can confirm she does” you giggled “I told you everything was fine it was only an empty threat anyway”.

“It still can’t hurt to make sure you’re alright” Changbin shrugged.

“What have you guys got on for the rest of the week?” you pried looking at each of them expectantly.

“Party tomorrow night, we thought we could have dinner another night this week if you want to” Han explained “Should probably do a little bit of course work at some point too”.

“Yeah dinner sounds good. Which night are you the least busy?” you enquired sipping your drink.

“Maybe Wednesday? Depends how things end up after tomorrow but we can let you know” Chan replied “I’ll give your number to these two idiots so we can sort the details out”. You nodded not needing to say anything over the squawked protest from the other two.

“I wanted to ask you guys something actually” You started which made them all turn to you “What can you tell me about the girl who used to live with Seung and Innie?”. They shared a quick look between each other before they silently agreed amongst themselves to let Chan answer.

“Her name is Yoona and she is currently studying abroad. She got into a masters program but I can’t remember which university” Chan explained “Why are you asking?”.

“Seung and Innie were talking about her last night in the car, they made it sound like something had happened to her before she left, I was just curious that's all” you shrugged trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.

“Right well, she was really sweet and smart so I guess you two are similar that way” Chan smiled tightly which gave away the fact he was hiding something from you.

“So what did Hyunjin do to Yoona exactly then?” you pushed lightly raising your eyebrows at them, if they were going to try to hide things from you, you may as well lay your cards on the table so they knew they couldn’t sweep it under the rug.

“Seung and Innie kept Yoona hidden from us to begin with too, like they did with you” Han admitted guiltily “not because they didn’t trust us but because Yoona was so private they didn’t feel like they knew her well enough to just have her hang out with us all”.

“We all met eventually though” Changbin interjected “She partied way more than you and she was out a lot”.

“Anway” Han continued, looking at Changbin dryly “After a while she met Hyunjin and he thought he was in love with her, she had no interest in him and he hated that. He chased her for a while and eventually she gave in and they hooked up” Han finished taking a long sip from his coffee.

“That’s it? She was the girlfriend that he didn’t cheat on? That's the great big secret?” You frowned even more confused as to what this had to do with you and Felix.

“Oh no” Chan corrected “Because it had taken him months to win her over she had begun to fall for him, he had treated her like she had hung the moon, she was his princess so when she agreed to start dating him he pretty much hit it then quit it. It broke her heart”.

“But you said Hyunjin loved her?” you blinked still not putting all the pieces together.

“Hyunjin wasn’t in love with her, he was a bit obsessed with her because she was immune to him, it was all lust and him enjoying the chase” Chan sighed looking at you seriously.

“So that is why Seung and Innie don’t really trust Minho, Hyunjin and Felix around me? Because they think I’m going to fall into the same trap?” you summarized slowly.

“Pretty much, she only applied for the masters program abroad to escape how shitty she was left feeling” Changbin nodded.

“That’s fucked up” you muttered.

“Yep, but that is the man whores for you. They are great friends, but none of us would trust them with any of the women in our lives” Han agreed. You sat in silence for a moment until the alarm on your phone went off announcing that your break was over.

“I still don’t get why she has been kept a big secret” you sigh, going back to the counter not witnessing the look the three friends share between themselves.

Figuring it was all dumb you quickly texted Felix that you would call him after work and got back to the second part of your shift. After another hour Chan, Han and Changbin left much to Hana’s disappointment but you promised to give her number to Changbin when you next saw him which cheered her right up immediately. Exactly ten minutes before the end of your shift you looked up to see Felix walking into the cafe and took a seat by the door, his eyes trained only on you, winking when he saw you looking at him which made you blush. Pulling off your apron and saying goodbye to the others you walked towards the door letting Felix open it for you and follow you out into the night.

“I’m sorry I didn’t answer you last night Lix” you apologized as soon as it was you the two of you on the street.

“Don’t be baby, I know you were overthinking so I wasn’t going to push you” he smiled softly taking your hand in his and kissing your fingers.

“I wanted to ask you about Yoona” you turned your head to look at him “Seung and Innie keep comparing me to her and I don’t know why”.

“Of course they fucking do” Felix grimaced letting out a deep breath “Did you have anywhere you needed to be right now or do you have time to talk?”. The trepidation in his voice was concerning to you but you needed to know the truth that was obviously still being hidden from you.

“I’ve got time Lix” you squeezed his hand soothingly making him nod before hailing a cab and opening the door for you to get in.

“Where are we going?” you asked softly.

“My place, the others are out so we can talk about the whole thing” he replied, giving the address to the driver and wrapping his arm around your shoulder as you took off. The drive was silent but it was only five minutes until you were at Felix’s apartment building his arm around your waist as he walked you inside. You sat on the couch Felix sat himself across from you looking more serious than you expected from a guy who hadn’t been the one to cause Yoona any drama.

“Alright, I’ll explain this the best I can but if you could just wait until the end before you judge us all and never want to see me again” he sighed looking saddened about what he was about to divulge to you “Yoona was the roommate before you that lived with Seungmin and Jeongin, she was another super smart women who was breezing through her courses easily just like you do. Unlike you she liked to party a fair bit and was a little more trouble than Seungmin or Jeongin ever knew, she hadn’t really been to any of the parties we did. She was more into nightclubs but when she did go to parties she was always noticeable. She is a pretty girl, not beautiful like you, but still attractive” Felix took a deep breath and continued “Eventually we met her, she wasn’t interested in any of us which is cool whatever at that point in time none of us had any problems finding other girls to spend our time with but Hyunjin, he ended up obsessed with her. He had a girlfriend at the time as was nowhere near as big a fuck boy as he is now but he broke up with his girlfriend so he could chase Yoona. She blew him off for six maybe seven months which only made him worse until finally after he had been sending her flowers, chocolates and little gifts for weeks on end she gave in and said she would give him a shot”.

“That’s what Chan said and I didn’t get why that was such a big deal” you interrupted feeling perplexed at the idea of you and Yoona being similar again.

“It gets worse” Felix frowned looking at you for another moment before continuing “Yoona made Hyunjin wait at least a couple of dates before she would sleep him and in the couple of weeks that took he lovebombed her hard, she probably felt like she was his queen and that he was willing to do anything for her, when she did finally let him fuck her Hyunjin was like an addict he couldn’t get enough of her. They were shacked up here for weeks at a time going at it like rabbits. Minho and I almost had to move out just so we could get some fucking sleep. But after maybe two months it crashed down when they had a reality check, Yoona thought she had gotten pregnant, she hadn’t but not the point, Hyunjin freaked out and just about threw her out of the apartment forcing her back to your place. After a trip to the doctor she discovered she wasn’t pregnant but it had scared Hyunjin so much he ghosted her, she was shattered he had convinced her that she was in love with him, that they were meant to be together and then he just disappeared from her life. She started partying even harder than hitting nightclubs every night and eventually drank way too much, and got into trouble, she ended up being dropped off at the hospital by some unknown guy, turns out he had assaulted her then took her there when she wouldn’t wake up. She had a bad reaction to the alcohol and the drug he had slipped her so she was there for a week. She decided to apply for a scholarship outside of the country so she could escape everything”. Felix took another deep breath looking directly into your eyes. You could see the sadness and the disappointment that swirled in them whether it was about what had happened to Yoona or what he thought was about to happen with you but it made your heart hurt for both him and Yoona.

“So Yoona left the country because Hyunjin broke her heart and then some random guy assaulted her which destroyed her spirit while she was drowning her sorrows” you echoed his story back to him to ensure you got it correct.

“Yes and I promise that is not what will happen with us. I would never do that to you” Felix swore emphatically.

“I know you’re not going to do that to me Lix” you assured him, he had always told you the truth and had twice stopped himself when he thought he was going to go too far with you. He was careful with you and you knew that he wouldn’t be as careful if it was just about sex to him. “I’m nothing like Yoona though, why do Seung and Innie compare me to her?” you continued, frowning.

“Seung and Innie don’t know she was attacked, they know she was in hospital for alcohol poisoning but the rest only came out when she wrote a letter to Hyunjin after she left”. Felix explained. “Hyunjin showed us the letter so Minho and I know the others might have guessed but only the three of us know the full story”.

“Did Hyunjin blame himself?” you asked, albeit reluctantly not wanting to push too hard about his close friend.

“He still blames himself, he hasn’t been serious about anyone since and I don't think he will for a long time yet. He knows how much of an absolute dickhead he was”. Felix smiled sadly, getting up from the couch and moving over to sit beside you, taking your hand in his again.

“So if you don’t want us to be public knowledge yet I understand and I respect it”. Felix whispered, his voice hopeful.

Turning yourself so you could swing your legs up over his lap you studied him for a moment. His hair was messy now he had run his hand through it a dozen times as he told you about Yoona, and his eyes were still shone with worry that he was trying to hide that from you.

“I would like to be your girlfriend Lix, if you are sure you want me” you confessed feeling your cheeks heat up as the words left your mouth. His grin was breathtaking, lighting up his whole face as he easily flipped his position to lay you back against the couch with legs slotting between yours. He claimed your mouth lovingly, his soft plump lips sliding against yours as you opened your lips to welcome his tongue with your own. His kisses grew deeper and more precise, his hands trailing down your sides giving you goosebumps as they slid beneath your top to squeeze your bare waist.

“You are perfect baby” he murmured against your lips cautiously rolling his hips against yours making your eyes widen and a small gasp to leave your lips. You felt the corners of his lips curl into a smile against yours at your reaction to him. “So beautiful and all mine”.

Your lips met his again for a moment only to be interrupted by your phone ringing in your bag next to the couch. Felix dropped his head to your shoulder for a moment cursing it almost inaudibly before reaching into your bag and handing it to you.

“Hey, where are you? You’re always home by now, did you get held up?” Seungmin’s voice sounded vaguely worried.

“Hi Seung, I'm on my way. I just ran into someone from class and we got chatting. I'll be home soon, sorry to worry you both” you laughed quietly as Felix got off you screwing up his nose at your mutual friends terrible timing.

“I’ll get you an uber baby” Felix chuckled, getting out his phone and ordering one for you “Let go downstairs to wait so we can get you back to the two concerned pains in my arse”.

You giggled letting Felix wrap you up in his arms as he continued grumbling about not getting to have you to himself for even fifteen minutes, occasionally pressing his lips to your neck and making you shiver against him.

“When can I see you again to make up for it Felix?” you tilted your head towards him.

“I’ll text you later when I find out what my two morons are doing and you know what your idiots are doing” he smirked as the uber pulled up. “Get home safe baby” he kissed you chastely, helping you into the car and waiting until you were out of sight to go back inside.

Walking into your apartment you couldn’t help the smile that crossed your face when you heard the violent flap of a tea towel mixed with the faint smell of burnt food. Shaking your head you slipped out of your shoes and made your way to the kitchen to predictably find Jeongin waving the makeshift fan under the smoke alarm as Seungmin pulled a tray of burnt edge garlic bread laughing loudly.

“Hey you can’t blame me this time” Jeognin complained loudly “You’re the one that burnt the garlic bread, I just smelt the burning”.

“I’m so glad that no one was worried for my safety, it was more of a concern that you would starve without me” you teased, alerting them to your presence.

“It was a mix of both, if you went missing I would have to eat his cooking more often” Seungmin continued laughing as you went around to the lounge side of the kitchen bench.

“Innie’s cooking isn't that bad Seung '' you scoffed looking at how cute Jeongin’s offended face actually was. Seungmin stuck his tongue out childishly at Jeongin as you watched him lift the lid of the pasta that he was cooking.

“Are you ready to eat?” he asked, turning to you, bowl in hand.

“Yeah let me wash up while you serve, I'll be back in a second” you couldn't help chuckle at your two roommates, they were constantly bickering like a married couple but would be lost without each other. You quickly went to the bathroom washing your hands and changing out of your clothes into more comfortable sweats so you could lounge around eating dinner in front of the TV with them. Making your way over to the couch you were handed a bowl of pasta and flopped down against one on the couch arms tucking your bare feet under Jeongin’s legs while Seungmin flipped through the channels to find something to watch settling on a variety show that was usually funny. While you ate your phone buzzed in your pocket which you checked while Jeongin was making fun of something one of the guests on the show had just done.

Baby, tell Seung and Innie if you are ready I’ve told Hyunjin and Minho but they will keep quiet under threat of death if you aren't ready today xx

You were sure you must have made an amused and exasperated face because Seungmin raised his eyebrows at you and Jeogin started poking your legs to see if you were still paying attention to what he had been saying.

“What’s happened? Seungmin asked, looking concerned as he put his bowl down on the floor next to the couch.

“I have something I want to tell you and I'm worried I will lose my nerve if I wait”. You swallowed, taking a deep breath in.

“Alright, what is so serious that you have to tell us now?” Jeongin asked “Oh god are you being taken out of school by your parents? Did you lose your job?”.

“It isn't that serious and besides you already kind of know” you admitted looking over at Seungmin who looked like he understood but wasn't thrilled.

“You’re interested in Felix” he stated with no hint of question in his voice “We know he’s interested in you”.

“Close” you nodded pursing your lips “I’m dating Felix, well I’ve been on a date with Felix. I’m the girl who you think is too foolish to know she’s being led on”.

“Shit” Seungmin muttered realizing that you had heard the entire conversation that he and Jeongin had, had in the car.

“Well fuck” Jeongin echoed sounding equally surprised “When did this happen?”.

“Well I went on a date with him the night before we went to Chan’s for pizza, the hoodie I was wearing was his” you flushed when you saw their eyes widen in tandem “I knew you were going to that party so we went out after you left to see a movie. But it started before the University handed down their findings on Nali, the day he dropped in with pastries was the first time he told me he was interested”.

“So you hid it since then?” Seungmin frowned “Why?”.

“Because you guys were being so judgemental about him, Minho and Hyunjin, I was frightened you would kick me out or not want to be friends with me any longer. Then there were a couple of times that Yoona was brought up which seemed hard on you so I didn’t push”. You explained looking at the floor.

“So you know about Yoona?” Jeongin sighed softly.

“Yeah I asked Chan earlier today then when Felix came to pick me up from work I asked him too”. You confessed “I had thought she was the girlfriend that Seung had mentioned to me. I didn't realize that she had been so hurt she felt like she needed to move away”.

“It wasn’t Hyunjin’s fault she moved away, at least not totally” Jeongin interrupted, looking uneasy.

“I know, Felix explained it all to me and told me that we could stop seeing each other if I didn’t trust him to not do the same to me” you continued “But Hyunjin and Minho have figured out that it was Felix’s hoodie so instead of letting them have fun giving everyone clues I thought it would be better to just tell you both”.

“Have you…um?” Seungmin started before stopping himself from finishing his question.

“No Seung, I’m a little harder to win over than a single date” you smirked watching relief cross his face.

“So you have tamed him then?” Jeongin cackled “He would never wait that long if it was just about sex”.

“Eww Innie” you screwed your face up “Can we not discuss my boyfriend's previous sexcapades? Please?”.

“Boyfriend. Well that’s fucking odd” Seungmin laughed “Poor Changbin is going to be crushed, he was sure you would give him a chance”. Jeongin joined in his laughter before pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing Felix.

“Don’t say anything” he smirked at you, covering his lips with his finger to shush you while he put the call on speaker.

“Innie, what’s up?” Felix answered, sounding like his normal self.

“Felix you absolute fucker” Jeongin snapped, the gin on his face making it hard for him to sound completely angry. “We told you to stay away from her, especially after the whole Nali thing”.

“Ah, umm… I guess she told you then. I know you warned me but she’s worth the risk Innie and I don’t care if you and Seung hate me for it, she’s too important to me to give up” Felix replied genuinely making your heart beat speed up.

“Eww, she’s making heart eyes at the phone now” Seungmin announced, making fake gagging noises.

“Hi Baby” Felix laughed, making Jeongin cringe.

“Hey Lixie” you smiled back hearing much louder laughter coming from the background of his phone “Hi Hyunjin, Hi Minho”.

“Look everything is fine as long as I don’t have to walk in on you two fucking on my couch” Seungmin rolled his eyes.

“Like I’d let you see me naked” You grumbled making all of them laugh.

“You tell him baby” Felix whooped making you blush from your neck all the way to your ears.

“That’s enough of that” Jeongin interjected “You better not fuck this up Felix” he added seriously while looking at you fondly. “She’s important to all of us now, not just you”. He hung the call up before Felix could reply, meeting your eyes.

“I guess it could have been worse” Seungmin shrugged, making you look at him quizzically “I mean it could have been Hyunjin”.

A/N: Thank you so much for spending you time reading this I adore you for it and thank you for all the likes, reblogs, comments and support you have given me it means the world to me xx

Taglist (open): @christopher-bangnaldoskzz @armystay89 @damnyouficc @roamingpolar @bakedlilgoonie @shiy @is2cb97 @beautifulixr @skyhold-tara @army-stay-noel @skizzel-reblogs @facelesswrittes @animehideout @mrsseals16 @honey-pop @fawnpeaks @leeknowinggg @uno7 @seungminluv3 @obeythemasters @tanzen-ist-gold @thicccurls @juskz @3rachasninja @reiheis @partyparty-yah @leeknowyah @warren-thedarkangel @highlydestiny

#lee felix x reader #felix x reader #bad boy felix #stray kids #skz imagines #stray kids imagines #skz fanfic #stray kids fanfic #skz scenarios #stray kids scenarios #collage au #slow burn romance #slow burn fanfic #stray kids fic #skz fic #stray kids drabbles #skz drabbles #cigarettes & cliches

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nalyra-dreaming · 2 days

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Hey!

It'll be long post, so i understand if you decide to ignore it, sorry :)

You know, there were a lot of people that were convinced loumand kiss we saw in trailer was goodbye kiss, because of Louis' expression. I was one of them.

Turns out that it's NOT truth and everyone just accepted it and moved to talk how romantic it was and that apparently Louis just has this face when horny or whatever.

And I truly struggled to see it. And at first I felt incredibly guilty because I'm loustat shipper first, other ships appreciator second. I thought my mind doesn't let me see romance in other ship because I'm too loustat centric.

I tried to rewatch that scene and tried to brighten it up to see kiss and expression better (I'm sorry but while almost silhouette kiss is beautiful I'd prefer see character's expressions better in show like this, wish lighting was different)

But still! While during date Louis had more carefree and flirtatious expression, that kiss felt very off. I get that it's after talk about lestat but shouldn't he show more... Joy? Anticipation of more to come? Basically don't look like he does it because he HAS to.

So I thought, well, it CAN'T be jacob slacking, he's terrific at his job. And it can't be that I'm THAT biased, right?

So, let me tell you, I'm SO GLAD to found your post about this kiss! I saw too many people writing about Louis being fucked up to invite Armand to fuck after being threatened, that he loves them dangerous (he kinda does, but that's not the point), that he thinks only with dick, ignores red flags (again he does,but we talk about this particular moment) etc

He knows Armand is interested in him. He knows Armand has power. Armand technically didn't lay his hands on him but he COULD'VE and WOULD'VE if it's not for his affection to Louis.

I truly don't believe Louis viewed this as "I HAVE to kill Louis, you committed a crime, no hard feelings though, that's just my job! You know what?... You're cute so I'll let you go actually"

Maybe I give Louis too much credit but he's smarter than that. He also knows power play intimately, was on giving and receiving end countless times in his human and vampire life.

Add to it that tale Armand told about his old coven killing themselves when he actually threw them in fire. It was 100% to position himself as someone who has way less power over other vampires that he actually does. I don't believe coven can pressure Armand into ANYTHING. And glimpses of him abusing his power over Claudia prove it (CONSENT TO LOOK IN THE EYES? ARE YOU SERIOUS?)

And Louis was THERE to witness all this and I absolutely believe he noticed it. That scene with dreamstat where lestat says he's the only one who Louis can trust made me think Louis is not as blind to Armands red flags as he appears.

And what we know about ep4 confirms it. Lestats "HA!" in museum already indicates that Armand is telling some bullshit and Louis at least subconsciously doesn't believe it. There's also scene in park from teaser "I want you" "You sure about that?" Maybe it's misleading or maybe it goes like this, guess we'll see

I wrote so much, again, i'm sorry.i just wanted to say, I agree so much with your post, and I hope crazy people in fandom already blocked you so you don't get any hate for pointing out that consent under threat of potential death is not really THAT consensual. Hope it won't be repeat about people attacking you like for post about hate sex in ep6

All good. And I wasn't, and I have seen I wasn't the only one clocking in on things (just reblogged a post wrt that).

Jacob is too good an actor to not show the fitting emotion if it was meant to be something positive. But he didn't.

The show went dark, real fast. And they're about to go even darker. A lot.

#Anonymous #ask nalyra #iwtv s2 #iwtv #amc iwtv #interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire s2 #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc

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amorficzna · 2 days

Text

This has annoyed me enough that I need to speak out.

Gamers are, by most recent statistics, about 50/50 between men/women with other identities such as agender and non-binary people making up a small portion of that demographic (hard to say if it's because of generally lower rep, the representation in statistics, bad questioning, etc.)

Okay so anyway there's this thing going around BG3 that the most played origin is Gale and the most romanced character in Shadowheart ergo Gale romancing Shadowheart should make up the majority of the idk... Shipping? Rather than Astarion. And that this is not the case because of the "silent male majority" of gamers.

What male majority???

Even if you look back to the stats of US gamers from like 2008, women make up 40%??? Sure, this may vary from genre to genre, but DnD and RPGs are not a genre that women have been like, historically excluded from, unlike things like shooters where males are the majority (which is a whole other can of worms).

Also as a stats nerd it annoys me because Larian has given NO other information aside from what we've already seen, so you can't even make the assumption to begin with.

All we know is that 1.3 million players have COMPLETED the game, and around 500k players have CREATED a Gale origin (like, they could have just played the tutorial as Gale for all we know). Two very different things.

Removing the fact that players probably create multiple characters, this implies - extrapolating from the fact that 94% of players have created custom characters, and ~2 million players have created one of the origins - that there around about 30 MILLION PLAYERS!! Y'all cannot be surprised that Gale is "the most chosen origin" when origins have been chosen about 6% of the time!! And that only a fraction of those players would have chosen to romance Shadowheart! Like it's such a small fraction of players !!

For example, if even half of players that chose a Gale origin chose to romance Shadowheart, that's about 250,000 players out of 30,000,000 aka 0.83% - which is NOT a lot.

And y'all cannot tell me a good chunk of those Gale players did not want to live out their Bloodweave dreams while still having the full Astarion experience on the other end!!

Additionally, there is no data on the difference between chosen romances - for example, the actual difference in romance percentages between Shadowheart to all the way down to the lowest origin romance may be as low as 1% or less (just making this off the top of my head but I have worked in the games industry and with game data so this is totally plausible).

Like, the difference between a Karlach and Shadowheart romance or even a Shadowheart and Astarion romance may be way lower than you think, even though Astarion is not in the top 3 romanced companions. We have NO stats on the actual variable differences between these romances.

SO all that to say that this assumption removes a lot of variable data such as:

Most people probably playing as Tav. Just because Gale is the most played origin does not mean that there's a lot of people who did that in comparison to playing as Tav...

...and then assuming a correlation exists (ie. Gale origin = Shadowheart romance, or Shadowheart romance in mind means player will play as Gale) where one was never given in the first place.

Assumptions about gender identity of people who play as Gale.

Assumption of gender identity of people who romance Shadowheart. Like we all know the lesbians love Shadowheart and I cannot blame them.

Assumption of who primarily plays games like BG3 - something that absolutely cannot be assumed from pure player behavioral data. There's a reason that, generally, when doing user research studies, we pulled players based on their behaviors and not their demographics - it is more likely to give us actionable results that way.

A plethora of SO SO MANY OTHER THINGS.

And finally this annoys me because I love Galeheart and if ONLY it was as popular as y'all imagine it to be lmao.

This is kind of what annoys me about releasing data into the wild without raw numbers or specific definitions behind words being used.

People will make their own inferences without totally understanding the raw data as it is, or what was done to make us see the numbers we see, which is especially difficult in videogames when working with telemetry and hooks. These hooks have to be really specifically defined. If they're not, the data can be severely skewed. It also means you're working with very context-specific data (hence why they specify the "third act" romances in the OG data they shared, among other things).

Tl;dr stop making correlations where they don’t exist please. Games have been a space for everyone for a long time despite what bigots want us what to believe and the more we assume there is a “silent majority run by men” the more we feed into ideals and assumptions about gaming that are not necessarily true.

#anyway i know im late but im tired #statistics #are important #i love them #and its so easy to assume or mess them up #anyway #bg3 #gale #shadowheart #gale dekarios #baldur's gate 3

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