#thank god my friend talk me through it to make my plot more cohesive

[wordsvomit101]

13. Chilled Romance

(1 year after the death of Mr. and Mrs. Lee)

The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm glow over the snow-covered slopes of Elysian Gangchon Ski. The air was crisp and cold, with a light breeze that carried the scent of pine trees. The ski lifts were buzzing with activity as skiers and snowboarders, clad in brightly colored jackets and helmets, zipped past, making their way up the mountain. The snow glistened like a million tiny diamonds, reflecting the sunlight and creating a dazzling spectacle.

The crowd was a mix of families, couples, and friends. Children bundled up in snowsuits dashed about, their faces flushed with excitement. Young adults showed off their latest tricks on the slopes, while older couples enjoyed a leisurely day on the mountain.

The snow-covered trees formed a white forest that stretched as far as the eye could see, with distant mountains dusted in snow providing a picturesque backdrop for the ski resort.

Amidst this vibrant tapestry, Minhyeok and Raon stood out in their matching cobalt blue snowsuits. Minhyeok's brother had already disappeared into the more challenging terrain of the snowboarding course, his reserved attitude thrown to the wind as pure excitement lit up his face.

"Be careful out there, Hyunwoo!" their mom called after his brother as he took off.

Minhyeok's parents glided across the white expanse on their snowboards, wrapped snugly in layers of warm clothing. Effortlessly and with grace, they navigated the slopes at a leisurely pace, their movements synchronized as if they were performing a delicate dance. Despite the wintry chill, their faces glowed with comfortable peace as they kept a watchful eye on their children's progress. Engrossed in conversation, they appeared completely at ease, their quiet laughter mingling with the crisp mountain air. Their demeanor exuded a sense of quiet romance, as if they were on a private date in a bustling crowd, engrossed in each other's company. Their striking appearance, a blend of style and sophistication, caught the attention of onlookers who couldn't help but turn their heads to admire the scene unfolding before them.

Minhyeok was busy giving Raon a snowboarding lesson, guiding her through the basics. While Minhyeok and his family were seasoned snowboarders, Raon was a first-timer, her movements tentative as she struggled to maintain her balance.

"Okay, Raon, first things first, find your balance," Minhyeok instructed, his voice calm and reassuring. "Imagine you're standing on a surfboard on snow." He demonstrated by shifting his weight smoothly from side to side, gliding effortlessly on his board.

Raon nodded nervously, feeling the weight of the snowboard beneath her feet. "Alright, got it. But this feels way different than surfing, and you know I'm not good at that either!" Her expression betrayed her uncertainty, and Minhyeok was convinced she probably already wanted to retreat to their hotel room and bury herself in bed again.

Not about to let her give up, Minhyeok replied cheerfully, "Yeah, it's a bit different, but you've got this!" He gestured for her to mimic his movements. "Now, try shifting your weight from side to side. That's it, nice and easy," he praised as she clumsily replicated him. Her efforts were endearing, reminding him of how his Eomma had taught him.

Taking a deep breath, Raon attempted to follow Minhyeok's next instructions. With each movement, Minhyeok gently guided her, his hands hovering near her waist to offer support. But as she shifted her weight, she couldn't help but wobble precariously and let out a yelp.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy there!" Minhyeok steadied her gently, his touch light yet firm. "Don't worry, it's all part of the learning process. I would've already smothered my face into the snow by now when I was like you, so you're doing great!" He tried to cheer her up and get closer to her just in case. "Try to relax and go with the flow, okay?"

Raon's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she frowned. "Easier said than done... Sorry, you don't have to—" Before she could finish, Minhyeok gave her his most pitiful eyes and pout, a trick he had learned she was somehow weak to. "... Ah... Haha! I mean, I'm willing to give it another shot!" She laughed nervously and looked away from him. He snickered as he saw her red ears but kept it to himself, knowing she would actually throw him down if he called her out on it.

"Hehe, that's the spirit! Let's try again, shall we?"

With Minhyeok's encouragement, Raon made another attempt, this time more cautiously. However, maintaining her balance proved to be a challenge. Minhyeok moved alongside her, mirroring her movements with ease as he provided gentle guidance and patient corrections.

"This is ridiculous," Raon said, struggling to stay upright as she occasionally held onto his shoulder. "Min, how do you make it look so easy?"

"Well, you could say I'm just naturally talented," Minhyeok replied, his tone dramatically reassuring. He laughed when he received a slap on his right shoulder, continuing to demonstrate the proper technique. "But honestly, you just need time and more practice. Take it easy; it's for fun, after all."

Raon let out a frustrated sigh. "But I feel like I'm never going to get it right!... Maybe I should just stick to building snowmen."

"Hey, don't give up just yet!" Minhyeok encouraged, recalling something she had said during a theater play they went to last month with their friends. Flashing her a grin, he added, "Who knows? Once you get there, you might be the one to carry me if an accident happens." He didn't know why she was so interested in making the female characters in her writing the more dominant ones in the relationships or being the "man" in it, but if it was her preference, he wouldn't question it too much. It was unexpectedly beneficial right now when he glanced at Raon's face and saw her excited and blooming expression as if she were promised her favorite book by Santa.

Trying to hide her eagerness, she tentatively asked, "You think so?" Her eyes widened, and her grin grew. It was cute, so he answered, "Yes, so let's try again, okay?"

With that, vigor returned to Raon as her entire body seemed energized just by the thought of guiding him. She proudly nodded. "Alright, fine. But if I faceplant in the snow one more time, I'm calling it quits!"

Minhyeok chuckled and gave her another promise. "Great! Now, let's try that turning technique again. Remember, lean into it and trust your instincts. I'll make you hot chocolate with cream later."

"Deal!" she replied, speeding up and then wobbling again as he caught up to her.

With Minhyeok's guidance, Raon made another attempt at turning. Once again, she stumbled and nearly fell. Minhyeok swiftly moved to catch her, his movements fluid and precise, before helping her regain her balance.

However, Raon's perseverance finally paid off after 2 hours. With each attempt, her movements became more fluid, and her balance more stable. She managed to conquer the slopes one turn at a time, leaning into the curves with confidence as her body responded instinctively to the rhythm of the mountain.

Minhyeok's gaze lingered upon Raon with fondness, noting her newfound fluidity with each descent. A bright smile radiated across both of their faces, unaware of its pleasant effect upon the hearts of the onlookers.

"Look at you go, Raon!" Minhyeok cheered, his voice ringing out against the snowy expanse. "You're a natural!"

Raon beamed with joy at his words as she carved another turn, her confidence soaring with each passing moment, a smug smile upon her lips and feeling the moment.

'She probably feels like those main characters in comics and anime. Cute,' Minhyeok thought to himself.

"Again?" he called out.

"Again!" her once downbeat voice now full of energy.

As they reached the top of the slope and prepared to disembark from the chairlift, Minhyeok's snowboard suddenly hit a small bump in the snow, causing him to lose his balance. He stumbled forward, his arms windmilling as he struggled to stay upright, about to fall back when he felt an arm hugging his waist from behind.

"Geez, look who's the clumsy one between us now?"

As he peered up into Raon's countenance, he could hear his own heartbeat pounding thunderously within his ears. Her lips were curved into a mischievous yet haughty smirk, while her gaze held an odd weightiness as she peered down at him. There was an undeniable attraction to her features, an almost handsome quality that added an intriguing layer to her action... Oh.

'Oh, so this is what she means,' Minhyeok thought to himself.

In a burst of laughter, Raon grabbed onto Minhyeok's arm to steady him and prevent him from falling. Her grip was firm as she started to guide him safely down the path. She looked back at him mischievously. "Hold onto me, my lady. Can't have you eating snow on your way down."

He blinked his wide eyes and could feel the heat rise up to his cheeks. The cold air around them was a stark contrast to the warmth of his embarrassment.

"Mm," Minhyeok murmured quietly, then held onto her hand tighter, looking down at their jointed hands and letting his silence convey his feelings as he blushed. Surprised when she didn't hear his retort, he also didn't know why she continued the silence when she looked back at him.

"..."

"...?"

"D-Do you not like it?" her nervous voice broke the tense stillness between them. She tried to peer up at his face, her own scrunched up in a mixture of worry and anticipation, her height around the same as his so she had to bend a little bit.

"No, no, it- it's not that," Minhyeok stammered, feeling even more silly and flustered by the revelation he had just made. His face turned a shade of crimson that would rival those fresh tomatoes his Eomma bought at the supermarket. His cheeks burned, and his heart pounded like a drum in his chest.

"I... I like it," Minhyeok murmured quietly, his voice almost lost in the crisp mountain air.

Raon's eyes widened in confusion as she looked at him, her cheeks now flushed with a rosy hue, perhaps from the cold. "What?" she asked, her tone laced with surprise.

Minhyeok's gaze briefly met hers before he quickly averted his eyes, a shy smile playing at the corners of his lips. "It's nothing! Let's go back. Come on!" he exclaimed, reaching out to take her hand as they glided back down the slope together.

"Huh? Hey! What did you mean by that?!" Raon protested, her voice carrying a mixture of curiosity and exasperation as she tried to keep up with his pace. But Minhyeok only laughed in response. "Really, it's nothing," his gaze fixed ahead as they made their way down.

"I just thought about making hot chocolate for us, that's all."

"Really? Yay! - Wait, don't change the subject here!" Raon exclaimed, her cheeks flushing with a mixture of excitement before realization hit her, and she looked back at him in annoyance. Yet, she couldn't help but smile despite his attempt to divert her attention. The biting cold of winter seemed to melt away as laughter bubbled from Minhyeok's lips, his eyes dancing with amusement as they navigated the snowy slopes together.

'Let's hope she doesn't pound me too much for an answer this movie night,' Minhyeok thought to himself, a grin playing on his lips.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

End Notes:

Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort is a popular ski resort located in Chuncheon, South Korea. It offers a variety of slopes suitable for skiers and snowboarders of all levels, from beginners to advanced. The resort features modern facilities, including ski lifts, rental equipment, and accommodations. Additionally, it boasts picturesque views of the surrounding mountains and offers various amenities such as restaurants, cafes, and shops. Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort is known for its convenient location near Seoul, making it a popular destination for locals and tourists alike during the winter season.

[aseplant]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers!

I was not tagged,,, but I felt like doing it anyway haha

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 12! I'm not sure when that happened, whoa.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 55,540.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Primarily the Ember Knight, and probably Hand Jumper once it comes off hiatus. I'll branch out if/when the urge strikes, I think.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the price of divinity - Genshin Impact, Jean & Venti (121 kudos)

walk these shorelines with me - The Ember Knight, Nagyunn & Najin (83 kudos)

Mind Games - The Ember Knight, Nagyunn & Zius (72 kudos)

heavenbound laughter, hellbound lies - the Ember Knight, Waron/Zius (57 kudos)

nagyunn’s treatise on scamming important people - the Ember Knight, ostensibly Nagyunn/Tyr; mostly, it's crack (55 kudos)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try my best to reply to every comment I get! It makes me really happy when authors take the time to respond, so I try to make an effort to reciprocate from the other end. Plus: I write primarily for obscure-ass fandoms, and I want it to feel like people can talk to me, not just consume from me, so.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I have been reliably informed that I am SHIT at gauging the angst levels in my own writing. Having said that, I'd vote for the price of divinity, since it's a combination of bittersweet ending + major character death + the cycle continues. (I like cycles, what can I say. That's probably how I ended up in the revenge cycle fandom.)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? morning dew is fluff all the way through!

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have not, probably because I inhabit my own cozy little corner of the internet. I'm glad the fandoms I'm in are so chill.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I used to write insane crack rpf smut fics of my friends in high school whenever they did something stupid (I distinctly recall writing something involving my friend climbing a ladder in heels in order to give another anal?? It was written in response to one of them going dumpster diving for an LED buttplug). I stopped doing this in college, but recently, I have met two idiots dear friends who have been eager to revive this old hobby of mine. Hence, blood red camellia. Among other things.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I do not. They've never really been my cup of tea, and also I'm lucky to have even one thought rattling around in my head at any given moment, never mind two.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of! It'd be extremely unlikely, all considered.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. I might translate some on my own at some point for practice, but that's far down the backlog for now.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? If you know, you know.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? I'm not that pressed about ships in general tbh. I just like dissecting characters, and if someone dies in the process, all the better <3

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Ember Knight high school AU... I actually have a pretty cohesive outline, but for various reasons it's been a difficult fic to write, and many of the main themes are no longer as dear to me as they once were. Still, I hold out hope that I'll get back around to it someday.

16. What are your writing strengths? I want to say characterization? And I guess grammar LOL. I had some stickler-ass teachers growing up, and this is probably the only thing I can thank them for.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Hnrhg plot. Thank god I can write all the character studies I want when it comes to fandom, so I'm sure no one has noticed this tiny little weakness yet.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'd do it in a heartbeat if it was (1) in character and (2) I knew the language/had a friend who could translate for me, because there is nothing more embarrassing than having clearly machine-translated lines. But those conditions are so difficult to fulfill that it's never happened yet.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I wrote like... a chapter and a half of a Harry Potter fic when I was in, like, 4th grade? We don't talk about it. It's gone. I hope. I did not seriously try my hand at writing again until I got into Genshin Impact back in 2021, which is what I generally consider the first fandom I wrote for.

20. Favorite fic you've written? This one is hard... I think walk these shorelines with me is the best-executed, but I'm partial to Parallel Lines despite it not being executed quite as well as I would have liked.

It's late and I don't remember which of my mutuals write off the top of my head... I'm gonna tag @quiets-cradle, but if anyone else sees this and wants to join, feel free to! In fact, I am begging you to.

[ddarker-dreams]

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID THE TRUTH.

I admit that i enjoyed act 3 but it feels like really rushed i have so much complain with that.

The build up until act 2 was so good it give us so much premise but the final blow si meh. Sorry that i want to share thing long rant with you

1. Why the final talk is with yae, no offense to her but we need ei to explain not to mention she witness khaenriah downfall so she can give us more information, i feel like they do it for the plot armor so they can just keep dragging this

2. So many things that quite inconsistant, the shogun is show no mercy to anyone that even did a little thing outside what she think its right, how come she can still have a talk with signora, when sara is falling like that, and also there is no clarification about sara right now.

The traveler was so done at first they refuse to help thoma and ayaka at the beginning. But they seem so happy and forget everything how come they are not RAGE ( okay maybe this is to bias and personal) when this nation provide nothing about our siblings information and also why they are not mention anything about their problem in ei stroy quest. Its nonsense! She is right in front of youu, ask about your siblings, ask about khaenriah, ask about ukmown god!!. How come they can just forget like that. Also mihoyo really waste the potential about twin things i thing ei will give us so much help bcs of the sympathy that we both rn lost our twin but noooo.

3. Kokomi seem lost some brain cell, she make a very succesfull grand intro but she become meh in act 3, how come a great strategist like her let the sus sponsorship slip just bcs they are desperate, not to mention her screen time is really small and her role seem so unsignificant and it feels lile she is a plain npc.

4. The awesome world quest that we have done doesnt get any mention at all! Inazuma owe us so much with cleansing sakura, thunder sakura, tatarigami, obarashi quest. It has so much potential that yae or ei or anyone else aknowledge what traveler has been done but nooo.

cracks knuckles... i suppose it's time for my promised dissertation. interestingly enough, you touched on a lot of the main issues i had with chapter III.

i think that if i had to pin the main issue, it's a lack of overall cohesiveness? we were jumping all over the place without the chance to ever flesh things out. inazuma is a smaller cast, but i feel like we didn't get to see any of them shine. since i'm most interested in the genshin characters, i'll break down my problems by going over everyone and their (lack) of impact on the story.

was ayaka not questioned or placed under suspicion for being close to thoma before his escape? i wanted to see her broken up over her duties as they relate to the yashiro commission, paired with having someone she genuinely cares about in danger. it would've been an interesting struggle if she was forced to choose one or the other. instead she just kinda took a back seat.

speaking of thoma, i don't even have anything to say, because he just... was there? for .0001 seconds. said "lol this sucks ig" and that's about it. i know we're going to get a story for him in the future since he's a 5* but i'm not getting my hopes up 😭 then in the raiden shogun's character story, man is peachy keen! be upset with the raiden shogun! have some inner conflict! even if it's just using loaded language because he's under surveillance for going against the raiden shogun, that'd be so cool. saying something like,

"Traveler, what's with that expression? Oh please, there's nothing to worry about. We're under the Statue of the Omnipresent God's protection. Nothing bad has ever happened here." *wink*

i also don't know what to say about gorou. he was... there....... i think. what is he fighting for? what are the stakes for him? what makes him place so much trust into kokomi? i'm out of things to say about him because i don't remember anything he did or said.

kokomi... oh kokomi... i was so hyped. so excited. i thought that maybe we could see a foil to the raiden shogun. that she'd have a moment where she's forced to realize, just like her opponent, sacrifices must be made that will hurt people who will never understand why she made them. or maybe something to show her military prowess. but instead she just accepts a mysterious patron's help (?), sees her people aging like the grateful dead from JJBA, and goes oh well. that sucks. what can ya do. oh bye traveler i guess, good luck with that. ????????????? HUH... similar case to thoma where she's gonna get a character story but like. she won't be the leader of the resistance anymore. that was her whole shtick. they took her shtick away. also she forced me to interact with more NPCs whose names i've already forgotten so i'm tilted about that still.

KUJOU SARA... AN INJUSTICE. A DISGRACE. a slap to my woman loving face. the build up was there. yae miko's comments about sara probably knowing the tenryou commission is involved in shady dealings, but is choosing not to think about it. sara being forced to confront reality and challenge her adopted father with the truth. being able to blaze a new path for herself in the process. when she started running to the raiden shogun i was ultra hyped up. sara, a devotee to the shogun for so long, was about to see her god interacting with the same people who led inazuma to this awful state. how would she react? would she stay ignorant, like yae miko so coyly said, choosing to look away in favor of following her god's footsteps? or would she be forced to recognize the raiden shogun isn't as divine as she once thought, and challenge her belief system?

we open the door to see the raiden shogun. the loading screen ensues. the camera pans to the ominous room, clouded in darkness, hinting at the ominous confrontation that is to come. the music takes a serious timbre. and then...

well fuck that potential character arc i guess. (we still don't know what sara made of any of this since she poofed out of existence from the story at this point)

kazuha also was handed a similar treatment. we've been with him for a while longer now. he is our introduction into inazuma, the one who first gets us emotionally involved by regaling us with the bittersweet tale of friendship that led him to becoming a wanted criminal. a kind soul who loves nature yet was dealt a cruel hand by fate, forced to watch his home nation turn into a hostile place, where his dear friend ultimately perished as a result. we get the scene with his friend's vision lighting back up. he parries a block from the raiden shogun, in the same area where his friend was killed by her. the parallels. the drama. except this time, he wasn't too late. he protected the traveler where he "failed" to protect his friend in the past. did he feel redemption at this? or was it a bittersweet reminder of what could've been?

WELL i guess we'll never know because we didn't get to talk to him again 😭 idk who got a bait and switch worse, him or sara. jesus christ mihoyo.

then we have signora. why is the raiden shogun talking to her? does she know about the gnosis being taken, and if she doesn't, what was her plan to get it from the archon? what does she think about scaramouche? and oh, okay, we're fighting here now. good fight + god tier music. pog pog. okay, now we've beaten her up, and raiden shogun wyd— wait no not signora her lore is still on CUPS not YET raiden shogun and— ah she's dead. okay. non nerds who didn't read artifact lore are going to know nothing about her. signora has such an interesting story, and yet... well. ok.

then we get raiden shogun redemption (?) arc. i was hype for this as well, though at that point, idk why i bothered being hype. i knew they were gonna do a cute power of friendship something or another, and i'm good with that, so long as it's executed well. what i was envisioning was like seven different buffs to correspond with the seven different visions, the dreams of those whose ambitions were stolen serving as the spear to penetrate the raiden shogun's heart of stone. maybe a hydro vision giving us extra healing for a time, with the voice acting over it being like,

"Even if the rest of the world forgets us, let our will carry you through this one final time. Succeed where we couldn't, Traveler."

so on and so forth.

but instead we got— you get the idea at this point. why bother spelling it out anymore.

at that point i was surprised the raiden shogun didn't go "oopsie woopsie!! we made a fucky wucky!!!" because that was the vibe i was getting. i love ei, don't get me wrong, but i wanted to see her challenged with what she had done to inazuma in the past year. maybe meeting NPC #2345259 who lost her sister to the vision decree or something, reminding ei of the love she held for her sister... being forced to come to terms with the extent of what she's done in pursuit of eternity.

anyway. please for the love of god mihoyo hire better writers for the main story. that is all i ask. thank you.

[generallypo]

in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh. 

------

anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding! 

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes.. 

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way. 

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ. 

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically. 

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that. 

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you. 

yeah fucking right.

------

and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him. 

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]] 

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself. 

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

------

and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise. 

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines. 

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

------

now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios  and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out.  i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah. 

------

(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

------

and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

[ahsokasanity]

A Court of Shadow and Ribbons

My First Post - ACOSF fanfic

I have only just discovered fanfiction and some of the stuff here and on AO3 is addictive. Big thanks to sarah-bae-maas, TrashForAzriel, MusicalMassasinsXxx, hey_itsjoanna and Chele shutupeccles for your inspiration.

Have about 15 chapters written, but will post slowly so that I can keep up with the story. No doubt if I haven’t finished a cohesive story by this time next year, SJM will have blown all of my plot lines out of the water, but that’s OK too, she is a legend and can do whatever she likes and I will love it!

Set after the special Az chapter of ACOSF. Attempting to fit in with the rest of Silver Flames and set us up for more Gwynriel. Hope you can handle the build up! SPOILERS. Do not read if you have not read ACOTAR up to and including ACOSF and the extras

Chapter One

Azriel noticed the glint of gold as it swung out of the top of Gwyn’s fighting gear the following day. He suppressed a smile and his shadows gathered tightly around him.

Why was that moment so pleasing to him? She knew the gift was from a friend, why wouldn’t she wear it? It set off her copper hair and looked as though the chain had been wrought directly from her very being. Could she have any idea that Az left it for her? Would she be dismayed to find it was from him, re-gifted in-fact after the failed attempt to please Elain? Az gritted his teeth. He remembered all of those enticing few moments with the beautiful Archeron sister. Finally he would find out if she was truly made of porcelain, or of the tougher stuff that the inner circle had glimpsed a few times during Nesta’s recovery.

Rhys. His timing was disastrous, his timing was annoying. Perhaps his timing was fortuitous. Why would The Mother provide mates for his brothers after all this time and leave him out. He guessed it was his luck, his destiny to be so left out of the family.

His relationship with Mor was better. They did not get to spend time together these days and she seemed happier. He didn’t think that it had anything to do with him. For the first time in a few hundred years that thought did not make him want to slash something. For the first time in centuries, he simply could be with Morrigan and not need more. He’d thought that it was Elain. Rhys dictated otherwise.

The snow was swirling around the training ring and the priestesses were doing a very good job of ignoring Nesta and Cassian’s scent and eye movements in between bouts of decidedly trying to hack at each other with an axe (Nesta) and a cudgel (Cassian). This would deteriorate into something messy soon as Nesta began to feel the weight of her weapon and struggled to aim the cutting edge where it would do the most damage. Azriel could see the humour in Cassian’s eyes as he too saw the fatigue begin and the blows become clumsy.

He glanced down at his scarred hands and missed the swipe by Cassian at Nesta’s exposed side while she ducked and came up with the blunt side of the axe at his waist. The gathered trainees gushed and Gwyn and Emerie clapped as Cassian surrendered his cudgel in return for a light brush of Nesta’s lips across his. He grasped the axe in his free hand and removed it to the weapons rack while Nesta was congratulated by the others. Gwyn stood back a little, she fingered the golden rose around her neck and glanced quickly at Azriel. He shrunk back into the water table and found his finger nails needing a cut, and a clean for that matter. His gaze lifted moments later to find Gwyn’s back to him as she returned to lunges with her practise sword.

Az cursed himself a coward. He really needed to visit one of those pleasure houses that Rhys had basically ordered him to go to. His libido was on a hair trigger and this Elain/Gwyn, should he shouldn’t he was the most difficult situation he’d found himself in that was not life threatening. What was sex without feelings. A relief he reminded himself. It would be a God’s damned relief.

 Cassian had arranged the troops (they were not all Valkyrie or even qualified Illyrian fighters yet but they were certainly something) in formation of four lines of three. They began their cool down exercises and Azriel was able to revert to his normal strategy of walking the side and back of the group while Cassian instructed. The women had originally been uncomfortable with his presence, especially behind them, but he had learned to stay a good distance and using his softest voice, make corrections here and there. Sometimes he would ask one of the others to help by touching or directing the person having trouble with a move, but he never touched them himself.

Nesta made a suggestion that the group could use some chanting and humming to get in time with each other’s moves. Gwyn agreed to lead, she sang in a low undulating voice that seemed to carry out around the training ring and back to all of those repeating her words. Az found himself splaying his wings a little as if they wanted to absorb the sound. His shadows quieted until they were nearly flush against his whole body. This. He thought to himself. This is what he needed to calm and maybe get some sleep. He found his throat closing and emotion washed through him with the pure sound of Gwyn harnessing the breeze and the replies of the group.

Cassian punched him lightly on the arm.

“You really are a brute brother” Azriel shook his head and smiled at Cassian

“Interestingly brother, I get the impression that you liked that cool down and maybe could do with some more of that…” he looked over his shoulder at the water station where Nesta and her besties were sculling water and encouraging each other in what looked like teasing.

“……….relaxation”. Cassian did not let the tone deny what he was inferring.

“I could kill Rhys” Azriel grumbled

“For what?” Cassian was obviously shocked, “Rhysie did not tell me anything that I have not already guessed at, so whatever you’re talking about, you’re going to have to explain to me at some point”

Azriel shifted his feet and wrapped himself in shadows and wings.

“Just your average, you know five hundred year old male watching his brothers mate successfully and wondering where he fits into this family these days” He thought that he had diverted the conversation just enough to get Cass to concentrate on things that might upset Az and get him off the topic of horniness. The trouble with being friends with someone for five hundred years is that they can SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU.

Cassian clapped his hand between Azriel’s wings and shot into his ear at a level that none of the ladies could hear

“Things get tight sometimes Az, and I believe that Esther from the Sidra Salvation would be VERY pleased to see you again”

“Fuck Cas, keep it down. You know what these females have faced”

Cassian merely looked intently at his discomforted visage.

“As do you my friend, as do you”

Game Cassian. Azriel knew then what had been obvious to his friend, the wanting the lust. Gods, so long as he was not showing that side to anyone else. He couldn’t be, he didn’t even know what he felt. Except rung out, unsatisfied and weary of the machinations of outside influences who wanted to thrust Prythian back into conflicts that it could little afford.

Azriel spread his wings and nodded to Cassian

“I’ve got places to be” as he shot straight up on the wing, then disappeared as he winnowed as far as he could in the one jump. He winnowed to Mor

                                                                       *

Chapter Two

[crowsent]

a fuckton of things i want in da4

a few words censored bc tumblr will swallow this in the void if i dont. long ass fuck list ahead

a romanceable dwarf

more romanceable elves/qunari

more elf/qunari/dwarf companions

consistent writing for once

more nb representation

good hair. please just give me good hair options. give me long hair. give me luxurious flowing locks. give me braids. give me good fucking hair options

let me shittalk the chantry

dalish elf npcs that impact the plot in unique ways

dalish elf companions that are proud of being dalish

if it is set in tevinter maybe uh. maybe address the issue of systemic oppression (and slavery) of elves???????

a return of the friendship/rivalry system in da2 but improved. maybe instead of a friendship rivalry sliding scale its friendship/rivalry/animosity sliding scale. bc rivalry is more like. two people pushing each other to be better than they were before. friendly competition. hes an idiot but hes my idiot kind of deal. animosity would be just regular disapproval. i liked the crisis cutscenes in dai so high animosity would be the same as low approval and might make the companion leave still, but theres more variety with high approval. high approval “friendship” would be the “were best friends and we share many opinions and agree on almost everything” while high approval “rivalry” being “we disagree on almost everything but goddamn it youre my friend and ill follow you into the fade if i have to” so you can have a high approval with someone instead of being a kissass

actions and choices having consequences again

multiple endings again (epilogue slideshows dont count)

dialogue wheels with descriptions that match what you actually say

characters from rivain, antiva, anderfels, etc

gifts. bring back the gifts. i want to give my companions gifts

maybe. maybe a focus of non-andrastian religion for once?

let me shittalk the chantry

i know its a stretch, but maybe. diverse skin colours. please?

nd characters that are written respectfully and treated w dignity

please bring back the talent wheel from dao and da2

more bi romance options

more wlw romance options

more mlm romance options

ace romance options

nb romance options

background romances

let me shittalk the chantry

far fetched but maybe a polycule?

i lowkey LOVED the fast-paced feel of da2s combat so maybe bring that back in some form? maybe improved to mesh with the tactics of dai to give players absolute freedom of playstyle whether they want to be like me and rush into every encounter or play more strategically

companions with unique companion abilities

would be nice to explore cities

would be nice if the open world were a little smaller so it doesnt feel empty all the gd time

more mage spells. mages felt like just another class of fighter to me in dai. they dont really have any awe-inducing wow factor like in dao or even da2. if the narrative wants me to believe that mages are powerful and dangerous and that it takes multiple templars to hunt down an apostate, maybe show that? give me strong mages

remove the jump ability. its pointless

a narrative that addresses the oppression that the chantry and templars perpetuated please

bring back the attributes

make the choices in dai matter. mages governing themselves? i wanna see that

let me shittalk the chantry

please bring back the healing magic for fucks sakes

multi-class system between rogues and warriors?

multiple specialisations that feel like specialisations and not just skill tree+

player-only skill trees

hardening

companion quests that affect their abilities and further dialogue

actual morally grey choices instead of this stupid mage freedom vs templar oppression narrative that is in no way morally grey but is presented as such and thus leaves the conflicts and narratives set up by dao and da2 to be fucking meaningless

bring back the tactics

would be nice to have an origins-esque prologue again. maybe one that would determine future events in game just to give your character better narrative cohesion with the plot

an approval/disapproval system but for companions with other companions. bringing certain companions together may bring them closer or make them pissed off with each other which affects banter maybe quests maybe combat

give me a fucking mabari bioware. give me back my fucking mabari

day/night cycle

a nightmare mode where you have to finish the main quest on a time limit. it is absurd that dai expects me to believe that i have all this time to do wartable missions that can take literal real life DAYS to finish and still thwart corypheus’ plans in time. bullshit

that said. no more wartable missions. waiting for a countdown to finish isnt very fun

let me shittalk the chantry

kal-sharok. ive been hearing about it since dao let me fucking see kal-sharok

dwarven politics

politics in general. my fav dao quest was the succession crisis plotline in orzammar/the landsmeet and wewh in dai

npcs i can talk to. even with generic dialogue like in dao. makes the world more alive

using the environment to your advantage. far fetched but i would love to be able to pull down boulders if were in the mountains or freeze water to get to places as a mage

home base customisation but the customisation choices you make actually. mean something. and do something. or at the very least give more companion dialogue/banter/approval change

laconic and ergonomic codexes. like. sorted by what kind of codex it is, etc etc but then you just get a brief summary of the codex and the option to read more about it so i dont spend eternity scrolling through cards looking for a specific codex entry. cool aesthetic dont get me wrong but real irritating to deal with. also. maybe. the pc making comments about the codex if you do read more about it? like a dalish elf saying “they got it all wrong” when reading a codex about dalish elves written by a human??? that would a) give character to the pc b) incentivise people to actually read the codex to see what was so wrong about it c) summarise the codex for people who want to learn the lore but dont want to spent the entire game reading text

maybe have the merchants in your home base close to crafting stations so you dont have to take a fucking hike if you miscounted the amount of elfroot you need?

let me shittalk the chantry

avvar companion maybe??? interesting lore right there

bring back stat requirements for weapons and remove the class restriction for most shit. obviously a dagger would be better for a rogue than a longsword and a mage would do better with a staff than a sword and shield but its not about efficiency. its about the roleplay. its about the options. give me the option to make a mage with wildly inappropriate stat distribution

bring back sustained mode abilities

traps. bring back traps. bring back the option to stealth into an area, trap the fuck out of it, and go from there

have the three available classes in kind of a rock paper scissors scenario. warriors do real well against rogues who do real well against mages who do real well against warriors. so you can plan your party depending on who/what youll face AND how much their approval will change during the quest you take them on

let me shittalk the chantry

actually resolve the plot points introduced in dai

a more threatening villain. the inquisitor thwarted every attempt made by corypheus in dai. he was not threatening at all

queer characters. background, companions, etc. queer characters

mounts were meh in dai. maybe. make them faster? or less cumbersome? or have your companions on mounts too so theres still banter?

i liked the armour tinting. let me have armour tinting from the beginning

i would really like mages to move and attack at the same time bc lowkey standing in one spot is uhhhhhhh kinda boring

let me check companions friendship/rivalry levels

would be nice if the narrative acknowledged that elves suffered greatly at the hands of the chantry and stopped victim-blaming them

more taverns. specifically like tapsters in dao where theres a dwarf just reciting something in a language i cant understand and if you look its a ballad/poet about dwarven culture and that was a real nice touch let me have that

dalish elf clan. dalish elf clan that does not get murdered please and thank you

meaningful quests. more cinematic dialogue

make found gear / quest reward gear more valuable than crafted gear

game modifiers like in dai were real nice. i want more

let me shittalk the chantry

quests that can be resolved in multiple ways. like connors fate in dao. and for those ways to impact further quests

companions with varying moral alignments

companions that are mutually exclusive (like alistair and loghain) but are both good companions so itd really make you think

a pc that IS NOT a “chosen one” vanilla da2 is my fav dragon age game for one reason and one reason only and that is because hawke is just some random refugee who escaped lothering. no chosen one magic at all. just an ordinary person who is a real good fighter. and that appealed to me more than this “you are the only one who can do it” narrative

let me meet more elvhen gods

if the setting is in tevinter, GIVE ME FUCKING ARCHITECTURE. give me the high spires, the archways, the buttresses, give me statues lining city gates and magic infused into the buildings. tevinter is a land ruled by MAGES give me magical architecture. give me floating buildings. give me fire floating as orbs above the streets like lamps. GIVE ME ARCHITECTURE

SHALE

let me shittalk the chantry

PIERCINGS GIVE ME FUCKING PIERCINGS BIOWARE

more main quests, longer main quests

if it is set in tevinter maybe. maybe address the fact that tevinter has been at war with the qunari for a while? on and off war is still war. and maybe give us the option to influence the outcome of that war?

more voice options. instead of just american voice or british voice, do the thing in dao again where there are multiple voices of different tones to further cement the pcs personality

more armour designs

biased but uh. can. can taliesen jaffe va a character?

i already said qunari companions but specifically saarebas companions

blood magic

FINISHING MOVE ANIMATIONS

please do not let it be as long as inquisition. inquisition was a SLOG in later playthroughs

body sliders. what if i want a tall but lanky qunari? what if i want a buff as shit elf? body sliders

more eye options

let me call out companions

btw bioware. if you really wanted cullen to be a good guy. maybe handle his fucking redemption arc a little better instead of retconning all the terrible and creepy shit hes done in the past k thx

can female walk/run animations not have. so much swaying hips? no one moves like that

personality dialogue that affects future dialogue like in da2 but meshed with the wider range of emotions introduced by dai

keep the race/s*x lock on romance candidates like in dai. keep the fact that some characters can only be romanced by certain races or s*xes

nb and genderqueer options for the pc

cutscenes of companions interacting

ngl i lowkey liked the random encounters of dao so maybe bring that back

my fav quest in dao is the landsmeet / orzammar succession crisis questline but you know whats my second favourite? the rescue mission if the warden gets captured and you have to play as your party members. give me that again

more creepy/dark shit. dai was too lighthearted for me esp after da2 and dao

let me shittalk the chantry

broodmothers. in hd.

red lyrium broodmothers. in hd

companions with different backgrounds. different faiths. different statuses. different families. etc

maybe make the pcs appearance make an impact on the story? like how bull says he likes redheads, but even if you are a redhead, he says nothing about it????? maybe keep track of which slider the player picks so that can affect the story?

i love my inquisitors but maybe. dont. bring the inquisitor in as anything more than an advisor/npc in this game? let me fall in love with a new pc???

if theres gonna be a homebase like skyhold where youre not in armor. maybe give us better clothing?

a kind of gear skin mechanic similar to ac:odyssey where you can change how the gear looks but keep the stats. so you can equip that higher level armour and keep the look and aesthetic of your old armour and you unlock the skins/looks of the armours you discover/make so you can be both powerful AND aesthetic

i enjoyed the nobility/underworld/arcane/etc knowledge in dai unlocking more dialogue options so maybe keep/expand on that but make it more accessible by side missions or companions or something that isnt the abysmal perk system in dai

let me shittalk the chantry

customisable walking animations. does the pc walk straightbacked? slouched? with a swagger? please

since there will undoubtedly be an obligatory fade sequence, maybe have an option for nightmare demons that ARENT spiders. thank you

slap on subtitles and conlang some languages. i want to hear elvish. i want to hear tevene. give me the languages

more dragons. esp if they look vastly different

more bard songs

i am completely biased here, but i would like to hear laura bailey as a va for a character. preferably a voice option for the pc

hey maybe have the true ending actually included in the base game and not in a dlc (tresppasser cough cough)

better val royeaux

please remove the had to do it to em idle animation tis distracting

on that note, more idle animations. maybe some unique to companions?

very trivial but. unique stair climbing/descending animation

bring back talking to companions on the road. maybe with some dialogue that can only be said on the road???

if banter is interrupted, make like rdr2 and pick up where the banter left off

more vallaslin designs please?

if theres another formal scene like dai maybe. give us. decent clothing. or better yet, decen clothing OPTIONS. i wanna decide how i look in a ball full of haughty orlesians

mage vs templar conflict resolved and addressed please. it is NOT resolved in dai. what we got was sequel bait and a slideshow. resolve it please

let me shittalk the chantry

a pro-mage anti-circle circle mage companion like anders

religious person who doesnt victim-blame elves in the codex or in game or anywhere please

characters more like leliana who question the chantry and acknowledge its corruption and greed

unapologetically sapphic companion

idc if its tevinter i dont want to fucking see queer people being disrespected

a true tal-vashoth companion, one who escaped from the qun

have quest decisions affect whether or not a companion will turn hostile to you or not

if IF solas will be redeemed, please do the redemption arc right

more horn options for qunari

an apostate mage who doesnt use me for their personal agenda whilst hiding something from me (morrigan, anders, solas) thanks

i really dig the whole “leader of an army” thing dai was trying to go for. but you didnt actually. lead. anything. would be nice to have that option. command soldiers. send them places that affect further quests. would even use the wartable for its intended purpose. planning wars. battles. like. you get sent word that there are bandits harassing villagers. you can set up an ambush with your soldiers or confront them headon, and theres a new mini-location on the map like the manor you meet vivienne in where you can go deal with the bandits and depending on your choices, there are actually soldiers with you in a field, or traps in a narrow pass, or even in a city. id rather the wartable shit dont return but if they have to, at least this way youre not just waiting real life time for a bunch of text to appear

i am real fucking excited for the possibility that da4 companions can just fucking die on you. good shit. give me that angst

missions that certain companions would refuse to go with you to. you know. so you actually have to use other members of your party instead of the same 3 (three) people all the goddamn time

disabled characters (i want a character who suffers from the same chronic bad leg disease as i do is that too much to ask)

kinda touched on by the da2 combat point but let me do close combat damage with the staff

no multiplayer. and if there is a multiplayer, dont tie it with achievements

let me fucking explore weisshaupt

(i dont think solas will be the endgame villain of da and i dont think da4 will be the last da game but still) again. for emphasis. resolve the plot points dai brought up

full-body scars and tattoo options

companions and npcs changing their opinions about things over time. eg: a pro-circle mage wanting instead for circles to be abolished after a specific side mission or a main quest decision etc

keep the multiple companion quests. and maybe change what kinds of companion quests are available further down depending on choices made in previous companion quests

please for fucks sake give us more characters of colour

let me shittalk the chantry

[sarahlevys]

hi! very curious how co-writing a fic works? especially something as long form as your bachelor fic? do you guys take turns with certain chapters? certain scenes? brainstorm together? how do you make sure it sounds cohesive? any insight on the process would be super interesting.

thank you so much for reaching out, we're glad to know you're enjoying bachelor fic! ❤️ @anniemurphys and i felt it would be appropriate to co-write this response. 

our co-writing process absolutely begins with brainstorming together. we do a lot of talking through the concept to make sure we're both excited and into the idea. 

no matter the length of the fic (one-shot or multiple chapters), we outline a general skeleton/outline of the idea first in order to ensure that we know the arc of the story and what we want the characters to accomplish. this process usually begins with someone throwing out an idea (“what if twyla and alexis were on the bachelor together;” “hey have you heard ariana’s christmas album;” “okay, so about this one scene in season 5”) and then devolves into excited yelling (“OH MY GOD WHAT IF - ”; “twyla’s definitely going to do X”), and we gather all those excited thoughts and then fill in the blanks with any missing details/plot points to complete the outline.

from there, we usually then plan how we'll divide and conquer. singsongsung typically writes alexis and i (doingthemost) write twyla, so we determine if we're going to alternate chapters by POV like we did in our holiday gfs fic, by sections within the one-shot like we did in this alexis-gets-twy-a-ghost-for-christmas fic, or by sections within a chapter like in bachelor fic. if we're going to do multiple POVs in one chapter, we'll figure out if we're going to do a strict order (like in bachelor fic), or if it'll be seemingly-random (like in a WIP we have). 

from there, depending on the complexity or length of the fic, we may do additional outlining of scenes/sections so that the other person can write parts that come later without the previous sections needing to be already written.

then we start writing – sometimes in chronological order, but sometimes a little more random, based on what strikes us. we read what the other wrote, give feedback/suggestions/comments/etc, beta each other's writing, then give the whole chapter/fic a once-over to make sure it works together.  

if we're struggling with a section, phrasing, or even an ending, we may leave notes in [brackets] for the other to help with, although we also use brackets for ourselves, so we can come back and fill things in later. but part of the fun of having a co-writer is to give them things that you don't want to deal with anymore. 🙃 (such as the ending of this post, which justine very rudely left to me. - ria)

regarding keeping it cohesive, this isn’t something we think about all that much, to be perfectly honest. some co-writing relationships just really ‘click’ and we’re lucky to have one of those, but there’s also something to be said for how you adopt your friends’ linguistic habits. when one of us starts a fic and the other continues it, it’s decently likely that the second writer will sort of blend into the first writer’s style/vibe, if that makes sense? also, for us a lot of the time, it’s moreso that we’re trying to stay true to a certain tone in a fic. 

one last thing that’s important for us in terms of cohesion is that we have very similar and closely-aligned understandings of the characters we’re writing. we never end up saying to each other, “wow, twyla would never do that” or “alexis wouldn’t say that.” we’re pretty much only ever suggesting tiny tweaks, like, “i think twyla/alexis is a little more upset here.” we’d say it’s important to (a) love your co-writer’s writing and (b) trust their judgment/decisions/sense of the characters! 

hopefully this answers your questions and thanks for reading our fics! we promise that we are nice if you ever wanna chat about twylexis feelings with us!

[tooshytobeabooktuber]

Song of the Dryad by Natalia Leigh Book Chat *Spoilers*

This year I have been trying really hard to expand my horizons as a reader. So, I’ve been seeking out books that aren’t widely discussed on book blogs and book tube. I have also been trying to read more books that are self published because I think it is really important to support indie authors, as an aspiring writer myself. 

Well guys, if you’re looking for a new indie author to support I have just the one. Anyone mildly familiar with the author community on Youtube has probably come across one of Natalia Leigh’s videos. As I begun my deep dive to find indie authors she was one of the first ones I stumbled across. So, I bought her book. And I have A LOT of thoughts. 

Overview- 

Song of the Dryad is a contemporary young adult fantasy novel set in a fictional Colorado town. The protagonist, Charlotte Barclay, lives a typical life with her family. That is until one day her mother is kidnapped by fairies (that’s right you heard me) and she is whisked into their world and sent on an adventurous quest to get her mother back and restore magic to the fae. I gave this book four stars, I really really loved it. However, I will explain later why this didn’t quite make it to five stars in my opinion. 

Writing- 

One thing Natalia Leigh did excellently was establishing and maintaining the atmosphere. The perpetual fall setting gave the book a very cozy and quaint vibe that I LOVED. The prose were cohesive and relatively clean throughout the whole thing. I could tell that this was really well edited. However, one *teensy* criticism, there was a lot of pointless exposition in the very beginning that felt a little tedious. I understand that the story had to be set up correctly or the reader would have been totally lost, but it felt like Leigh did the majority of the heavy lifting and didn’t let the reader infer or come to understand anything about the characters. Other than that, there were several moments when figurative language and imagery were done really nicely (and I CAN’T STAND dumb figurative language so kudos to her). Overall, it read fairly easy and had few pacing errors. 

Plot-

Okay, this is where I think the story lacked the most. The plot had a very small scope, which isn’t necessarily an issue, but I felt like there were some moments when things just didn’t quite add up. For example (SPOILERS AHEAD) shortly after Charlotte’s mom disappeared the news was broadcasted on television to the entire town. Her best friend, Melanie, found out about it from seeing it on the news. This caused one of the major conflicts for the contemporary plot and I thought it was a little dumb. Your best friend’s mom goes MISSING and you’re mad??? at her??? for not telling you right away? I feel like this conflict could have been replaced with something a little more fantastical, or at the very least interesting. Also, I felt like for the first 40% of the book, there was NO sense of urgency. HER MOM WAS MISSING AND SHE WAS DILLY DALLYING AROUND FOR THE FIRST HALF FALLING IN LOVE. But, I must say, the romance was very cute. This sense of urgency did pick up later in the book, but I feel like it could have been handled a smidge better. (By presenting these criticisms I am in no way attacking the author. I really respect her as an artist and I overall really loved this book, but I can’t shy away from talking about the few issues I did have with this book). 

The things I really liked about the plot were the Wiccan elements woven through the story and the side characters we got to follow. I thought those were real strengths of the novel. The magic was pretty low key for the majority of book but when it was shown I LOVED LOVED LOVED how whimsical and cute it was. The way the subplots were woven into the main plot was also handled extremely well imo. I loved how things wrapped up and I was basically sobbing by the end so go Natalia!

Characters- 

As previously mentioned, this novel had a lot of interesting and diverse side characters. I enjoyed Charlotte and the love interest (Arthur). But, I think characters like Aspen and Freddie (a f/f couple might I add), Mrs. Nolan, and Loreena?? (Is that how it is spelled?) all brought unique and exciting arcs to the table. Also..... the damn naiad.... super cool. Just saying. I don’t have many complaints about characterization EXCEPT for Melanie. 

Fuck Melanie. 

She’s officially on my shit list. I don’t think this is really the author’s fault, but GOD I hated her. I did feel like her characterization was a wee bit weak, but the reason I disliked her was because she was so damn hard to root for. I don’t think she was a good friend to Charlotte until the very end and there wasn’t really a strong resolution to the conflict between them (but that is a plotting error). I thought Melanie was incredibly shallow throughout the majority of the novel and then did a complete 180 when it was convenient. Yeah, that was a no from me. 

Some final thoughts-

 This book tackled a lot in regard of theme. I really enjoy the trope presented in this book where, as a result of actions done by the humans that negatively impact the environment, magic/the magical world is somehow jeopardized or even begins to fight back. I LOVE THAT. I think it ties fantasy with problems facing the modern world in a relevant and interesting way. I loved that aspect of this book especially considering the good guys won in the end against the evil company tearing down Greenwood forest. This book had a really happy ending and the set up and payoff was SPOT ON, but it still left room for a sequel (I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS NATALIA WHERE IS BOOK TWO???? haha just kidding). Overall if you’re looking for a really fun and cozy contemporary fantasy with a guaranteed happy ending, I 100% recommend this book.

I hope you enjoyed my first book review guys! If you read the whole thing you’re a real trouper because I talk A LOT. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. If you’ve read Song of the Dryad and have additional thoughts please feel free to leave a comment. I would love to discuss it further with you.

Love and Light always :)  Florence <3   

[missfaber]

author interview

I was tagged by @orangeflavoryawp, thank you so much! 

I already know I’m going to enjoy this way too much, writing is such a lonely endeavor and I just love talking about it, sooo... I apologize in advance for rambling. 

name: Madeline/Maddie 

fandoms: this is complicated because there’s fandoms I very much consider myself a part of because they’re just a huge part of my life, even though I don’t contribute content to them, and then there’s fandoms I do create content for. So idk where the line is drawn! 

fandoms I contribute/ have contributed to: Avatar the Last Airbender, Game of Thrones, Merlin BBC, Once Upon a Time, Legend of Korra

fandoms I haven’t contributed to but are so dear to me: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (my two favorite things ironically lol), and lots more 

where you post: AO3, used to be ff.net and livejournal too

most popular one shot: by kudos, it’s as if death itself was undone (zutara, atla: katara wakes up to azula in their house and wants to find out a) why she is welcome b) why zuko is acting so weird) 

most popular multichapter: by kudos, it’s soldier, go bravely on (jonsa + gendrya, got, complete, rewrite of the last episode of got with sweetness and angst and action, and may i say some common sense?)

favorite story you wrote: fuck omg this is difficult lol! because I both criticize and love all my stories in equal measure, I honestly don’t write anything that i don’t love, that doesn’t give me butterflies / actual chest pain (from angst). I feel like I’m being asked to choose a favorite child lol. so I’ll try to justify these picks somehow... 

closest to my heart: soldier, go bravely on (also mentioned above). this is the fic that brought me back to writing fic, and to tumblr even! I was on hiatus (that I didn’t know was a hiatus because I had no intention of coming back) for six years before writing this fic. I wrote it so quickly after the got finale, it was such a passionate and fevered few days and it just sucked me back in to everything I used to love as a teenager. It was also a nice stretch out of my comfort zone, because of the dialogue (which was so tightly planned it’s ridiculous, I wrote the whole fic as a screenplay type thing first to make sure there wasn’t a single dialogue word not needed) and tv-episode style. It’s also such a wish-fulfillment fic that I can’t read certain parts without getting a bit teary. for all those reasons and more, this fic will always be so special to me. 

most proud of: wolf, circle north (jonsa, got, alternate season 7 & 8). this is the longest fic I’ve ever attempted and the number I’ve hours I’ve sunk into it is astounding and i should be ashamed.  It’s going to be obscenely long (my outline is 70+ chapters) and when I pull it off, best believe it’s going into a bound book so I can look at how thicc it is and be like, “I did that!” lol. The range of POVs is one of the most challenging but most rewarding part of this fic, and why I’m so proud of it. This is another wish-fulfillment fic for me, not just because it’s another fix-it fic but because I have been writing bits and pieces of this fic for about three years. I kept thinking of jonsa scenarios and little scenes I would have loved to see after season 6 and writing them in a little secret doc, just for me, as I never thought I’d write fic again. After writing “soldier” i had already broken my hiatus and I realized this fic was an actual possibility, so I put it out into the world. I couldn’t be more happy that I did that. Not only did it give me the chance to be in such an excellent, lovely fandom, but the feedback I get is so validating after having this be my secret little project for so long.  

most formative: Coffee & Cigarettes, (merthur, merlin bbc) I’m ashamed to list this and the merthurs reading this 100% want to kill me for having the audacity because it’s incomplete and hasn’t been updated since 2013 when there’s only one chapter left so what’s my excuse?  I call this the most formative for me because until I published this I didn’t really have a fic that people followed and liked, eagerly awaited updates for, and commented regularly on. I was writing a lot of one-shots and atla stuff on tumblr (I used to RP lmao I was like 15 ok?) This was the first time I experienced so many fic-life things, like being excited to get AO3 emails, etc. This was the first time I started to really focus on character which is so important to me now, my writing is completely character driven. Not to mention Merlin and Arthur’s dumbassery and sheer attraction and denial is just... *chef’s kiss* 

guiltiest pleasure: my recent foray into nedsei, who am I??? one more word and you won’t survive, just international hate sex

story you were most nervous to post: ummm idk I’m usually excited not nervous, since for me fic writing is just fun, I write things I’d enjoy reading and that I’m proud of. I read my own fics more than anyone else does, I guarantee it. am I a narcissist? who knows I guess I’ll say “soldier” again because I hadn’t posted fic in six years.

how you choose your titles: wow the hardest part of fic writing for me!!!!! thanks!!!!! lol. Okay so for my work titles, which are always terrible and I literally regret them immediately after posting, it’s usually just some words I play around with and string together that are somewhat thematic and related to the work... they’re always terrible lmao, I hate making titles. I mean, look at “soldier, go bravely on” and “wolf, circle north” for god’s sake, I hate them lmao. But I have to pick a title to post, so!!! For chapter titles and one-shots I’ll usually go with a song lyric, and especially for my chapter titles I spend so long seeking out the perfect one that reflects some thematic or emotional content of the chapter somehow. I’m very proud of my chapter titles for wolf, circle north. I have a doc on my scrivener just for chapter titles that I created in the very early stages of writing it, where I just dumped HUNDREDS of song lyrics that I thought I might use. Then by them I wrote some scenarios where they could work. here’s a screenshot:

It’s so helpful now. Sometimes posting an update will take an hour more than necessary because of me going through that doc, finding the perfect lyric. 

do you outline: OH, DO I OUTLINE... Hell Yeah, I outline. I couldn’t live without outlining. I love outlining. My outlines have outlines. I’m a planner centric, calendar centric, bullet-journal bitch so of course I love outlining. In all seriousness though: I write out of chronological order. I feel my writing is best when I write the scene I’m in the mood to write- unfortunately this scene could be ten chapters down the line from the chapter I’m gonna post next. This is the biggest reason outlining is necessary for me. If I didn’t have an outline, my story would be a non-post-able mess. 

I wasn’t kidding when I said my outlines have outlines. For wolf, circle north I have, um, a few. Character/location centric outlines where I bullet every scene that needs to happen for that plot to happen cohesively (these were all more or less completed before I even started writing the fic), then a “loose” outline that I copy everything from the other outlines into for some semblance of chronological order, then a Polished Final Outline that I write from. I know that sounds psychotic. It’s how my brain works. Some photo evidence/explanation:

And here’s a screengrab of my Final Outline, this is pretty much how it is all the way down- The POV character is italicized in the front, I talk to myself a lot in there, let myself get carried away, will sometimes write out whole segments of the scene if they come to me while outlining. Spoilers for chapters 1-3 of w,cn I guess!!!

Then, because scrivener is awesome, I get to see this outline in the corkboard view (I input every scene as a card) and so I get to see every part of my outline as a Synopsis on the right hand side of the doc where I’m writing the scene:

The POV and status tags (which are completely customizable) on the lower right are helpful too. This post is just a scrivener ad. 

complete: 9 works 

in progress: 4 works

coming soon / not yet started: I have so many fics in the works, I’m an indulgent person so if an idea comes to me I usually go with it for a time. I’ve had a very not-serious Jonsa PLL AU I’ve been writing on and off since summer. I have three different fairytale AUs (also jonsas) I’ve been working on and one time travel AU for @sunbeamsandmoonrays. I can’t say when or if any of these will see the light of day, because my priority is my WIPs and my original writing. But the most prevalent are my Halloween fics (one jonsa, one gendrya, one merthur) which I really want to be able to put out this month, but only if I meet some other goals. I’m trying to rein in my indulgent ass, ya’ll. 

do you accept prompts: no. sorry! but I do workshop ideas with friends, for example the nedsei fic happened that way by talking with @flibbertigiblet. But I don’t take writing prompts in my inbox. 

upcoming story you are most excited to write: my halloween merthur fic. it’s witchy, sassy, and I’m so excited to get back into the heads of these characters.

Tagging! @uchihabat @anniebibananie @noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth @sailorshadzter @vivilove-jonsa and any other lovely writer soul who wants to do this!

[naruhearts]

OKAY SO I've just spent the best part of an hour scrolling through your blog and reading a bunch of your destiel meta and I HAD to message you... I was one of the many people who STRONGLY believed destiel had a chance of being canon after season 8 (more like season gr8 am i right), but throughout the years I slowly lost all hope. However, S14 has made me 110% invested in the show again and YOUR META IS GIVING ME HOPE FOR DESTIEL, which is TERRIFYING. Your writing is wonderful and I'm STRESSED.

Got back from Washington late last night!

Oh my gosh @alovelikecas, your message really made my day and I’m SO glad you enjoy my meta xox (even when most of my meta looks like, to me, sloppy-ass writing, haha! I’ll probably make an end-season meta post after 14x20 — if I have the time — that touches upon SPN’s current and repeating themes since Season New Beginnings S12/Dabb Era, not to mention I have, like, some more unfinished meta in my drafts >.>)

Yeah I mean, I didn’t join Destiel land until Summer 2016, and before that, I was late to the Season 11 party, so I basically had no narrative context for anything, and I’ll copy-paste what I said here: 

Looking back, one significant thing I recall? S11 gave me a sense of Destiel’s true narrative validity (as not a ‘fanon’ ship but organically developed in the canon) when I perceived it as a season that was ‘missing something’. Keep in mind I had no idea about Destiel yet while watching S11 at the time.

I was literally asking myself — repeatedly — why Dean/Amara seemed to contain odd narrative holes, considering A. Dean explicitly said that the non-consensual attraction he felt for Amara was NOT love and “it scares him”, B. Amara told Dean that ‘something stops you - keeps you from having it all’, C. Djinn!Amara stated that she can: ‘feel the love [Dean] feels, except it’s cloaked in shame,’ and D. Mildred’s iconic ‘You’re pining for someone’ —> which did not logically correlate with A and C, meaning: since Dean doesn’t freely love Amara and thus isn’t possibly pining for her — with female love interests as currently non-existent (I remember crossing off the dead/gone girls on a piece of paper lol) — who the hell was he pining for, then?

Originally posted by elizabethrobertajones

Obviously, without writing long-ass paragraphs of meta about it again in this post, S11 made sense as soon as I watched it within the Destiel context (especially after I read up on some grandiose pieces of Destiel meta (@charlie-minion was the very first person who inspired me to write meta; I followed her once I joined the fandom Oh my god, here we go, holy crap this subtext – I’m invested in this godforsaken ship because they’re in love with each other and I’m not getting off any time soon. The rest is history.

I’m aware that I do come off as positive (and I’m still Destiel-positive; whatever happens in 14x20 this week may or may not change that), but I hope you don’t mind if I use your lovely ask as an additional opportunity to clarify my meta standpoint: no one’s saying Destiel WILL become text. 

The general Destiel meta community (all subfactions: Destiel-positive, -negative, -neutral, and in-between) is not the Most Holy Canon Word, and we aren’t SPN writers, and again, we can’t actually speak to the veracity of Destiel as guaranteed-gonna-go-textual, but we — a diverse pool of critical thinkers from all walks of life: particularly those who have some degree of experience in literary academia/English literature studies (fun fact: I was actually pursuing a Minor’s in English until I changed my mind - my first love’s Health Science/Biology, which I stuck with, but here I am doing lit-crit analysis on the side *wink*) — can speak to the veracity of Destiel as a real, palpable, and ever-substantial long-running romance narrative aka the love story between Dean and Cas IS THERE. I see it. We all see it. We didn’t pluck it out of the random ether one day. It naturally evolved across the show’s overarching narrative like some vast spiderweb, linked together by numerous character arc amalgamations of Dean Winchester and Castiel as separate individuals who were then brought together — who brought themselves together, by the sheer force of free will and choice — and are now inherent parts of the other’s story (and respective character progression).

I say this too many times to count: the entire point of writing meta? Personally, it enables me to appreciate the literary gorgeousness of Dean and Cas’ relationship as, first and foremost, a tentative alliance offset by the very moment Cas raised Dean from perdition (it’s a poetic beginning). Their alliance then inevitably proliferated into a rocky — at times, necessarily turbulent — friendship, then a deep profound bond…one that crossed platonic boundaries since S7/8 and is, ultimately, indelibly rooted in romance. Together, Dean and Cas build up each other’s strengths, complement each other’s flaws, and narratively motivate the other to self-introspect — to become the best version of themselves that they were always meant to be: self-actualized entities who let go of their painful, horrifying, psychologically/emotionally destitute pasts.

These above reasons and more are why I think Destiel belongs right up there on the shelf of Ye Olde Classics, similar to epics by John Milton, Shakespearian tragic dramas, Homeric characteristic cruxes, and the great Odyssey journey: a legendary journey, fraught with circumstance, that finally ended with Odysseus (now an enlightened man) returning to Penelope, the love of his life.

Channeling the scope of Homer’s Odyssey, Destiel is an incredible storytelling feat of obstacles, both internal and external, romance tropes, mirroring, foreshadowing, and visual cadence/emotion, enhancing SPN’s already character-driven main plot in that Dean and Cas try to make it back to one another; like Penelope, their love holds true despite everything. If Destiel were an M/F couple, we all know their love story would be absolutely undeniable to the GA.

I do understand the bitterness S14’s fostered in some viewers, though. I do understand that Dean and Cas seem distant (and yeah, it’s a noticeable difference compared to S12/S13), but I believe the Destiel subtext is still heavy and holds steady.

Right now, at this point, there remains multiple personal issues for the characters to solve, you know? Dean and Cas aren’t talking properly; their love languages stay mistranslated, although we’re persistently shown that they still understand each other on a certain level that no one else can, and the visual narrative keeps framing them as on-the-nose solid counterparts: a domestic-spousal romantic unit independent of Sam.

Originally posted by incatastrophicmind

They want to be there for the other. They need to quash the final remnants of their respective internal loathing (Dean’s self-worthiness, Cas’ self-expendability) before they’re able to give the other 100% of their time, efforts, attention, and love (as flawed and complicated but compellingly beautiful as it can possibly be). During the times Dean and Cas do try to talk shit out, extraneous issues continue to get between them.

As other friends/meta pals discussed with me, S14 is like S10 in that it’s confusing the cast/audiences. And exactly: S8, besides S11/S12/early S13, also belongs in the close-to-canon serious Destiel narrative transition! I can discuss the showrunning/writer problem of SBL (Singer + Bucklemming; @occamshipper hits the nail on the head) that tugs subtext – especially subtext linked to Destiel – back and forth, sometimes in the weirdest nonsensical ways, but I won’t go too far into it here. I agree, however, with the recent idea that Jensen does seem a bit confused as to where he should bring Dean emotionally this season (don’t get me wrong, I do NOT believe Dean is OOC; OOC is a completely different concept vs expected character behaviour). And if Dean’s consistently romance-coded past interactions with Cas are any indication, Jensen would also — in the same vein as all of us — want Dean and Cas to start getting their shit together. Long-running fictional characters like Dean and Cas, conceived over 10 years, are so well-written to the point where you, the author, can predict what they’ll do even if you just plop both of them inside a room and give them no direction, and I personally feel that nowadays Jensen is prevented from achieving Dean’s further internal growth/unsure how to act in the moment because of some dumb SBL scripts saying one thing while his character’s heart says another. Wank aside—

Season 15 should hopefully convey a much more logical subtextual perspective e.g. unbelievably amazingly cohesive Season Destiel 11 that aired after choppy S10. Not all hope is lost!! I also want to clarify that I personally LOVED Season 14 in general. It’s been mostly Emotion-centric constant, with Yockey, Berens, Perez, and Dabb usually making my top-rank SPN writer list.

Currently the narrative’s still allowing pretty significant (imho) wiggle room for the lovers to fracture apart and get back together, where their miscommunication comes to a dramatic head. We just saw Dean and Cas argue over Jack’s well-being in 14x18 and 19. Dean — besides putting Cas at the top of his You’re-Dead-to-Me-Because-You-Lied-but-I-Still-Love-You-Goddammit hitlist (for clear spousal-coded reasons) and taking Cas’ actions to heart (he’s the person he trusted the most who lied to him) — no doubt blamed himself for what happened, and Sam was, like I said, the mouthpiece of truth. TFW were all culpable. They all failed Jack in some way, shape, or form.

I’m not expecting anything for 14x20, but I’m nervous either way! Thanks for sticking with my long answer

[taesthetes]

Hello! I reread tuou today after a while... and I don’t think there r words to explain how I felt once again. Just a wave of emotions every time I read it... and it’s just incredible how 21k words and a superb ability to write can make a person feel. I wish I could convey how I feel to u bc I feel like u truly deserve so much recognition and love beyond being a writer on tumblr. But on a different note, when u write, do u feel the emotions that ur readers do? I’ve never written something (1/?)

and felt like sad or happy bc of the story… sry if my question is confusing. Like if u write angst, do u also feel the heart wrench or r u just like nah whatever I expected it? Thank I for always being so kind when answering all of ur asks. I’ve seen some pretty talented yet rude writers out there, but u seem to genuinely adore every compliment and ask u get. I always feel comfortable talking to u :) Oh yeah, and one more question. What writing platform do u use to write? I’ve always (2/3)

(I forgot what I wrote previously) I always use docs , but it feels too much like a school assignment when I do that. What I’m writing on and the visual aspect matter a lot to me, so just thought I’d ask u about it bc ur my favorite writer on here. Sry the ask is all over the place! Again, thank u for being kind and inspiring me w ur stories. I hope u have the most amazing rest of the day, pick up a twenty dollar bill, get 10 hours of sleep, meet an old friend, and take care of urself !!

hello, honey bee! you are truly making my night with this, oh my gosh, thank you for reading my fic! i’m so so grateful that you read it already but then you decided to read it again? you are incredible, and i don’t deserve such a lovely reader 💗💗 aslkdjfhlasdj it’s my goal to be able to actually make people feel something with my writing, so hearing this from you means the absolute world to me. also, “superb ability to write” and here i am, being a crying and blubbering mess all over again :’) i’m going to put the rest of my answer under the cut because it got long oops

ah, can you believe that nearly a year ago from today, i was writing tuou? it all started because of some silly dreams i had and me wanting to procrastinate on studying for my final exams, even up until the last hour before my exams started. and now, it’s almost one year old!! but also, this message is more than enough, and honestly, i wish i knew how to convey to you just how thankful i am to receive such thoughtful and kind words 💞 my heart is bursting with so much happiness right now 💓💓

as for your first question, there are scenes that when i write, i’m like, “oh my god, that’s so corny….. let’s keep it.” other than that, i don’t really feel much when i’m writing, unless i’m writing for tae. with tae, i get really upset when i have to write him with a sad scene or something where he isn’t happy. on the other hand, i am unaffected when i’m writing about other members. i don’t feel the heart wrench when i write angst because yep, i’m just like “nah whatever i expected it.” unless, of course, it’s for tae, and i was completely torn over this fic i wrote called saudade. i wanted to scrap it because the entire angst plot comes to life because of taehyung’s death (wow, the irony in this sentence). 

with tuou, after writing it halfway through, i realized it seemed like the oc was cheating on tae with jungkook, so i was about to trash it or change taehyung’s character to jimin. but in the end, my friends convinced me to continue writing and keep it the way it is because they thought taehyung fitted it best. (this is also why taehyung gets the happier ending at the end because i can’t stand to see him sad)

and no worries, your question isn’t confusing at all! and omg you write stories, too? what kind of stories do you write? what’s your favorite genre? :D and thank you for thinking so 💝 i love every ask i receive because it’s so wonderful to know that someone thought of me and my blog and actually took some time out of their busy day to tell me so. and it’s only fair that i dedicate my own time too and fully show my appreciation!! ah, i think some writers might be more introverted than i am. i understand that there are people who just aren’t comfortable with showing their emotions and have a harder time expressing themselves, so their responses may seem a bit off putting? nevertheless, i’m very happy that you feel comfortable talking to me!! 💞💞

in response to your second question, i feel the same way as you do about docs! i only use google docs for group projects or partner work for school. i did use google docs for the collabs i did though since it’s so much easier than emailing back and forth all the scenes and parts. but primarily, i like using microsoft word for writing! but i often find myself writing at 3 am in bed or when i’m walking to and from class, and i type it all out on my phone in a saved email draft. it’s so much easier for me to transfer my writing onto my laptop that way because i just need to log into my email on my laptop and then copy and paste the email draft into microsoft word. what writing platform do you like to use? :D

paeyfaiushdflas you really just shot cupid’s arrow through my heart because favorite writer on here??? i must be on cloud nine, thank you so much 💘💘 and you don’t have to apologize!! your ask was perfectly cohesive and easy to understand :D thank you for sending me in the loveliest messages ever, and it’s an honor to give you inspiration omg!!! and thank you for your well wishes :’)

it was an amazing rest of the day because i was free after taking a final today (well, free until my next three finals next week) and i didn’t find $20 but i did find a dime and caught and leveled up a bunch of my pokemon ahah and i’ll be getting ten hours of sleep tonight!!! and finally, i have a break over the weekend from pulling allnighters to cram study for finals. and i actually met an old friend a few days ago askjdfhlas anyway, i hope you have an amazing day/night, sweetpea, and please take care of yourself, too! i hope you’ll have a good weekend / are having a good weekend! 🌷🌷

[savrenim]

I'm so jealous of your gay elf murder bachelorette campaign that I now desperately want my own. Any recommendations on how to find people to play D&D with? I have several friends who are interested, but none of us have any questions experience (between my secondhand experience of reading about your adventures) so we don't know how to get started

oh gods so apparently I have A Lot Of Opinions and it got really long, so under the cut, also thank you for reminding me that I should probably properly type up the finale of Gay Murder Elf Bachelorette Campaign Book 1 because it was freaking epic and this is the one campaign that I can properly rant about on tumblr without worrying about spoilers

(I’m in three campaigns right now) (by complete accident) (on the one hand it’s a bad life decision in that I have zero free time anyways with grad school, but on the other hand it has become my sole social interaction with anyone ever and also coping mechanism for the stress and one good thing I do for me and, like, they’re not all weekly campaigns, so hours-per-week I’m devoting isn’t ridiculous) (and I miss my friends and it’s re-connected me with them and also has introduced me to upperclassmen in the department) (but sometimes there are character secrets and people who potentially follow me on tumblr so I can’t post the super long dramatic things about a character that I really want to)

OKAY SO HOW TO GET INTO PLAYING

I will be real, the three campaigns that I am in right now are the first time I’ve played DnD for anything that lasted longer than a week and a half at a summer camp type deal, like, arguably, this is my real first time playing DnD….ever. That being said, I’ve worked at gay theater camp for….six years now? And they do super intense super in-character LARPing that is far more roleplaying-heavy than mechanics heavy and has trained me to both have very good story instincts of, like, “this is how you make decisions that both fit with your character and support the narrative instead of oppose it, and either do not tear the party apart, or tear the party apart but for a very good and fitting narrative reason (i.e. if there’s going to be strife, make it mean something)” and in my opinion it is when you bring those sorts of instincts to a DnD game that you get the most satisfying story out of it. Character creation, team cohesion, and story and world development are all things that I do feel super comfortable speaking about because that is my literal jam outside of my math jam which is paying for me to be alive and stuff. So here we go.

There are a couple of questions that you need to immediately answer, the first being, “do you want to play Dungeons and Dragons, or do you want to start with a mechanically less complicated system?” Because there are a lot of pretty good systems out there that are high fantasy even (i.e. Dungeon World) that are a lot more streamlined in terms of “you don’t need to be as familiar with a set of rules in order to play.” That being said, Dungeons and Dragons is classic and is fantastic and I freaking adore it. (I will be completely honest, the only other two systems I know right now are Dungeon World, which is fantasy, and Mech Noir, which holy shit you are playing noir style detectives except in a SCI FI SETTING WHERE YOU PILOT MECHAS and the entire game system is around applying “adjectives” to people like, if you successfully roll against an enemy, you get to pick any adjective you can think of ever from “grappled” to “trusting” to “confused” to “located” and it just makes for such interesting storytelling)

which vaguely brings me to my first piece of real advice: you learn how to play best by witnessing playing happening. if you are a podcast person, I highly recommend either The Adventure Zone or Friends At The Table (or, honestly, if you have the time, both). The Adventure Zone plays DnD, 5th Edition, and it is a super quality family who are goofing off and having fun together and then the plot that arises is like “oh shit I am crying about a wizard named Taako, pronounced taco, how did this happen to me” and it’s great. The Adventure Zone is 100% the reason why I reached out to friends and was like “yoooo is anyone starting a campaign because TAZ has made me want to play again.” Friends at the Table starts with Dungeon World and it is some of the best storytelling and worldbuilding I’ve ever heard? And you will learn so much about how to set things up and go with the flow and the DM talks a lot about his process as offhand comments and you will learn so much. I’ve heard good things about Critical Role, but haven’t listened myself. But get out there, listen, and then don’t be afraid of copying things that you admire. Best way to learn.

If you’re going with Dungeons and Dragons, start with 5th Edition. 0th, 1st, and 2nd are all ridiculously unbalanced, 3 is “actually everyone uses 3.5,” or a combo 3.5/Pathfinder. While 3.5/Pathfinder is a great system and is what we’re playing both in gay murder elf bachelorette campaign and in the math grad departmental campaign, and was the game that I learned on, 5e is a lot more streamlined and they’re aren’t super picky exact rules for every tiny thing you could think of doing, which means you don’t need to be familiar with a vast system full of loopholes and counters and counter-counters to know how to effectively play the game. we don’t talk about 4th edition

Decide who is going to be the DM. There are sometimes comic stores that’ll run weekly or biweekly or monthly games of DnD, but those are almost definitely going to be less story-based and usually are one-shots? And if you’ve got a good group of friends, I recommend just playing with them and not trying to find an external group that you don’t know. I’m vaguely assuming that you’re volunteering to be DM because you’re asking? But if there’s someone in your group of friends who likes writing things or likes managing things or is interested, or if people want to take turns trying stuff out, go for that. The department group rotates DMs (and rotates games) just based on who has something written that they’re excited to try out.

You also might want to ask around to see if there are any people that you vaguely know, or that are friends of friends, who play. You’d be surprised how many people do. I’ve also seen blogs on tumblr sometimes going “hey, I’m running a Skype campaign and I need two or three more players, if people are interested fill out this survey and then depending mostly on times people are free but also what you say about what you’re looking for from a game I’ll pick the players?” or if y’all are in college there is almost always a DnD club somewhere, hidden semi-secret on campus, on the register to get club funding but under the radar because nerds. But you and your friends who are semi-interested will work just fine, as long as semi-interested means they’re actually willing to commit for a bit. So how do you get started?

Get the Player’s Handbook, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and read them cover to cover. If you’re playing and not DMing, eh, skip this step, and have the DM do it instead, but the Dungeon Master’s Guide especially will walk you through how to set up things mechanically very well and if you’re going in blind it will be good to have gone through and read it all once. I’ve read the 3.5 DMG cover to cover several times, haven’t read 5e yet, I know that I didn’t like their storytelling tips, but read through it once to get an idea of what mechanics might look like, it gives very good starting mechanical advice.

1. Speed and smoothness of playing are important, which means that sometimes, if you don’t know a rule, you want to make something up on the fly and deliver it with a completely straight face. Everybody does homebrew. Rules are great because they keep things from devolving into chaos and they can settle disputes, but also, sometimes you’ve just got to make a call, and if you make it while looking like you know what you’re doing, everyone will believe you. Similarly, don’t make the same rolls, or the same number of rolls, for NPC characters as you would for PCs. For example, in gay murder elf bachelorette campaign, when Iria was both directing a full assault on a hobgoblin fortress as well as had put herself on the special strike team that was going to sneak in and open the portcullis, the DM made ~one or two rolls~ to see how successful the Caedic units were at each of the points of Iria’s plan, instead of rolling a full battle between ~40 hobgoblins and ~80 elves. screentime is important; if you’re spending too much time on not-the-players, it gets boring for the players, so roll enough dice to decide what’s going on with a tad bit of luck and so it seems like other characters have rules that they have to follow, but you don’t have to let the rules dictate every single thing that happens in-world. you dictate that.

2. Character creation is how you set yourself up for success. Do not underestimate the importance of party dynamics. You don’t all have to be playing best friends or even people who get along–in Spelljammer, Marian and Djin had the character backstory of “ten years ago we were captain and co-captain of a vessel and for Reasons got into a huge fight over nothing and split and Marian took half the ship with her and she thought she’d never see him again but now oops they’ve both ended up jobless on the same station and Marian was already pooling as many resources as she could to try to put together a new ship and Djin arrived a couple months into this and needed the work so joined this ragtag democratic crew, but there’s a shit ton of tension.” This worked because we were snippy to each other in dialogue, when push came to shove, Marian is professional enough such that her whole deal is putting personal feelings aside always no matter what, and Djin takes the passive in passive-aggressive super seriously, so it never meant that the party was sitting around arguing for hours or refusing to cooperate. Meanwhile, I’ve seen and heard of campaigns falling apart because “there are two thieves and one really wants to get to do all the sneaking so they argue all the time over who gets to do cool stuff” or “the evil fighter literally just wants to murder everyone which means everyone else can’t get stuff done.” You can have intra-party strife and have it be interesting, but only if players are doing it cooperatively instead of being at each other’s throats irl. Rule of thumb: if the party dynamics are frustrating the other players, you are doing something wrong.

2.5 That being said, if a party starts to develop into bad dynamics, it is fixable without betraying character! For example, in the department campaign, I’ve been playing a super sheltered youngest child elf wizard from a super established Elvin wizard family (of, like, oh the arcanic postlines that let mail be sent around the continent? Grandpa came up with that theory. Schools of magic identified and classified originally? That was the Maewels) so Seraph is a tad bit privileged and a tad bit sheltered and is uppity sometimes. There was a fighter in the party who liked his alcohol, once missed a huge battle that the rest of us had to cover for him because he’d seduced two women at the inn we were hanging out at before the town was attacked, and typically did things like walk around in the morning with no pants on. And he proceeded to interpret Seraph’s increasing shock and disdain for him (or rather specifically, how upset she was the first time she saw him pantless) as “yeah all women go for me.” The party was vaguely splitting into “Seraph’s side and Silas’s side” so I decided to aggressively interpret one of the battles we went through together as a bonding experience and lo and behold Seraph’s feelings started to change over the next couple of weeks to “you might be an inconsiderate asshole but you’re OUR inconsiderate asshole so only we are allowed to rag on you” and she became one of his biggest supporters esp when they got to his hometown. All you really need is one super solid, proactive player in a party to make sure that things are resolved in a solid manner, so if you’re not the one DMing? Be that player.

2.75 Okay but if you’re DMing, have the conversation with your players as they’re designing their characters about point (2) because good party dynamics are easiest when you get it from the start.

3. Design encounters around the party. You don’t need a traditional setup of “a tank, a mage, a healer, and a thief” to have an effective and fun party. Maybe everyone wants to play a thief, great, design the scenario to be “you have all been contracted by the thieves’ guild to sneak into this party and assassinate this noble, you have three days to prepare and these resources, make a plan” instead of “this is a traditional dungeon crawl where you are fighting big scary monsters despite the fact that none of you are melee fighters.” Similarly, figure out what sort of stories and settings and aesthetics your players are interested in, and then play that game.

4. Make it personal. Ask people about their backstory and then incorporate stuff in. Notice what they become invested in and adjust your plans to include more of that. Give characters individual arcs that fit vaguely into the overall story, but also that they are the semi-protagonist of. Right now in Spelljammer, we’re all dealing with “so there are weird tears in the universe that Password, this Extinct AI we found and befriended, says are reminiscent of literally the entire universe ripping apart at the seams and are possibly why the Extinct went extinct, oh and some random lady gave us this artifact called the Eye and told us to hide it from the Blind King? And now his servants are hunting us? We are literally scav elves this is so above our pay grade.” Except going on as subplots, Algol is being hunted down by this evil overseer of whatever place in Echoside he originally escaped from, Leif got a stone that gives her prophetic dreams, Kimi has been super close to Password and Leif dreamed about them stitching the universe together, and Marian is dealing with an "oh shit I’ve accidentally adopted these three kids even though I don’t do personal” along with “oh god have I literally become the captain of this ship because I AM THE ONLY ADULT LEFT” along with some old friends from her past trying to reconnect just after we got a prophecy about how the last thing the Blind King would send to steal the Eye was someone we loved turned against us. So yeah, sure, there are big Adventure Plotlines going down that involve the entire party, but we’re not doing things just to do them, everyone is personally invested in this for their own reasons. So when you plan a big adventure, both plan places where individual party members get to start both for who they are and what they can do, as well as along the way keep an eye out for things that you can tie in for them.

5. Consequences matter. And not just stuff like “Iria got stabbed really bad first session and nearly died, now every time she goes into rage at the end needs to roll a fortitude save to not fall unconscious, and whenever she rolls a one same deal.” But also consequences like “you were really rude to this person and now they don’t like you and they are friends with the owner of the apothecary, who now also doesn’t like you and marks up prices behind your back” or "you let one of the patrol escape and now the whole army knows that you’re coming” or “you saved this kid’s life even though you were in enemy territory and now five years later he recognizes you even though you’ve been captured and is making sure that the party is taken prisoner instead of killed.” Make NPCs (non-player characters, ie characters the DM controls) recurring characters instead of people that you meet once, and have the way that the NPCs feel and then interact with the players change based on how prior interactions go. Have them care about things and have them remember. It makes the world feel a lot more real.

6. Preparing for a session goes petty much "how much do you like improv”. If you’re chill improvising, you want written down the stats of the monsters/enemies your players are potentially going to encounter, and probably a vague idea of goals, and then just play it by ear. Jeremy (the person running gay murder elf bachelorette and spelljammer) has I think at this point 13 “Books” written for gay murder elf bachelorette campaign, will write long descriptions of characters, settings, has maps drawn, has customized his own random encounter tables, has made his own homebrew system for how spaceship mechanics works specifically so that we could better piece together our spaceship with fantasy duct tape during the Death Races, and overplans every last detail all the way down to “has different musical themes that he’ll swap out and play at different times.” like, Iria has a Trauma theme that is played every time her wound starts acting up. He has collected music for books in advance. He has multiple different theme songs for each of the players in spelljammer. He writes notes about what NPCs are thinking so that he can reference it later. But that’s because he knows that he prefers the things he comes up with when he has time to plan things out, instead of when he’s surprised. He knows his own storytelling style. “eh, an outline and some monster stats” would not work for him the same way that I’ve seen it work for other people. You don’t have to put a ridiculous amount of prep work and writing time into being a DM, you need to figure out how much prepared material you need to run something comfortably, and then prepare that much.

6.5 Understand no matter what you plan, bits and pieces will probably be derailed, and be okay with that. Nothing is more upsetting than when a DM does not respect player autonomy and invalidates the clever things they think of, because it goes against their own plans. I think being a DM/running a story is sort of halfway “you’re writing a novel” and halfway “oh shit except this time the characters ACTUALLY have minds of their own” and striking a balance instead of dominating the narrative makes it fun. Also, it means you can throw in problems that you have no solutions for. During the Death Races in spelljammer, our battery started running out of plasma, which meant that the pressurization was getting all wonky, Leif immediately goes over and says “I have a spell called Reduce Object, can I cast it on the internal casing to try to up the pressure of what little plasma we have left” and Jeremy goes “uummmm sure if Kimi is over there to help you rewire the rest of the battery on the fly because you are SHRINKING HALF OF ITS PARTS” and then that held for three minutes until oh shit it was still low on plasma and Marian ran over and went “wait a second guys I have a Flaming Sphere spell except Jeremy, Jeeeeremy, I’m technically a plasma variety of Light Cleric, my ~god~ that ~gives me my divine magic~ is the collective of star dryads which live in balls of plasma, we’ve established prior in this setting that some of my fire spells are actually plasma spells, not fire, Jeeeeeremly can shove my hand into the empty battery casing and cast a flaming, 10-foot in diameter ball of plasma to try to give us a fuel boost” and Jeremy went “okay fuck it, stick your hand in the battery and cast a flaming sphere of plasma to give the ship a fuel boost, Leif, make another concentration check to hold the pressure.” and it did and we won the race the end we’re the coolest space elves ever. moral of the story: your players will come up with clever things. Sometimes clever things that mess up your plans. Let it happen, it’s more fun that way.

(Iris has come up with a truly heinous but potentially really effective military tactic that gay murder elf bachelorette campaign is actually a bit more delicate because it’s set in a larger world that Jeremy is running multiple other campaigns in and I’m still not sure if Iria is legit going to be a villain that I face off as a good PC one day, or if she’s a historical figure, or even whether or not this campaign is set in the past, but either way the history of this world matters? and the idea that I came up with has the potential to re-shape history? and I told it to Jeremy and he was quiet for a very long time and then thanked me for telling him and so Iria told Talvus in-character and we’re going to see whether or not in a couple of books this ends up changing the entire history of the world that he runs multiple campaigns in or something drastic like that, but hey, player wants to do something you haven’t thought of, “I didn’t think of that” is not a good enough reason to not let them do it.)

7. Decide if you want to write your own adventure, buy/find online a pre-written one, or vaguely do something in the middle. If you’re going for something pre-written, edits bits and pieces as you go to personalize it to your characters. I have a friend who just wrote and published something for DnD 2nd Edition? And it looks great? http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229248/War-Wizards-of-the-Wasteland Even if you don’t play a pre-written adventure, reading a bunch of them will give you an idea of what preparing for sessions is like and what sort of information you should have on hand.

8. Don’t be afraid to make up home-brew mechanics, either for the whole party or for an individual player. Jeremy ran a vignette session called “Flight of the Kalla Tukal” in which we were playing a trio of orcs that had fallen through a tear in space and had just managed to get back and were searching for our tribe, which left without us. Except in his setting, orcs are a super psionic almost hivemind race? You meet orcs outside of radiation space sometimes, but they’re usually Not Coping Very Well with the fact that they’ve been cut off from their community. But the Kalla Tukal were still all linked together so we weren’t all going mad. then the other part of being psychic orcs meant that we could at any point attempt to do telekinesis or mind-control something, and the way that it was determined whether or not that worked is roll a d20, except we’re not trying to get 20, we’re trying to roll as close to each other in number as possible. There was one dramatic moment when two of us rolled 4’s or something and it was a critical success. but it was so cool to have that weird drift-comparability mechanic, and, like, the more people in our group that wanted to contribute, the more likely two people were to roll the same number. it was just?????? so cool??????? so if you want your party to all be psychically connected and be able to throw stuff with their minds I totally recommend that.

on a more personal/one-player level, in the department campaign, it has developed that Seraph really wants to be a research wizard like her family before her, and so the DM and I had a long conversation about the topics that she would want to research and a particular narrative impetus for her to start researching, and he came up with five or six new spells that Seraph will be able to invent over the course of the campaign, except because it’s experimental magic it’s going to start out with a 40% partial-to-total failure rate that will go down the more she tries to cast the spells, because hey, she’s working out the kinks. to me, it’s more than “oh this is a cool new mechanic,” it’s the DM cared enough to take the time to work with me and put what I thought was interesting into the campaign. and you have a lot of room to do that by adding your own rules and conventions and what-not. don’t be afraid to experiment, see what works, and then keep those mechanics around.

9. Start small. Don’t try to start with a whole huge epic campaign, you want to start by running a bunch of mini-arcs in different settings so that you get a feel for how to play and how to run things. This also gives you a chance to figure out how your group of friends plays, who is going to be the person that gives you the most scheduling problems, some of them might like the fighting parts more than the “come up with clever plans” or “interact with NPCs” parts, and this will give you an idea of who you actually want in a long-term campaign. Because long-term campaigns go on for years. Like, gay murder elf bachelorette is probably going to be a year and a half if Jeremy and I keep going at this pace? and that’s vaguely on the short side for something that Jeremy runs. A proper full epic campaign can be a huge time commitment, so start out with mini-arcs just to have fun and get used to stuff and because that is something that people will actually be able to commit time to.

I interrupt this long list of advice for another list of advice of potential ideas for miniature campaigns you could run for your friends. or one of your friends could run, if they’re interested in DMing:

COOL IDEAS FOR ONE-TO-FOUR SESSION MINI-CAMPAIGNS THAT I CAME UP WITH RIGHT NOW OR STOLE FROM FRIENDS WHO CAME UP WITH SUPER COOL THINGS

  —as mentioned in a previous bullet point, “you’re a group of thieves planning an assassination. this is how much money you have. each of your characters has one character connection in the city who can help you get items or forge a document etc etc. this is what the castle looks like. this is what you’ve figured out about guard shifts and security for the party. you have a week to plan. go” and then, like. somebody wants to try to pretend to be a noble to get in? fantastic. someone wants to try to seduce a guard? fantastic. sneaking in the traditional way? fantastic. all three at the same time. faaaantastic. it’s fun, it’s short, the way that you would prepare this is you would think about guards, defenses, patrols, maybe some of the nobles at the party are trained in magic or have weird special teams of guards and maybe have agendas of their own, and then what the actual ball itself would look like and maybe make a castle map, but the fun part of this scenario is the players get to be as creative as possible and I guarantee they will think of the coolest things and then you get to figure out how to react to those things in interesting ways to figure out whether or not they work.

  —okay this is a one-shot I have only heard legends about but everyone was playing a rock band of monsters who were about to give a super huge concert in monster city and I think someone had stolen a drum set or a guitar or something and they were trying to dodge paparazzi and get their instruments back but it was also ridiculous sex drugs rock & roll culture and a comedy one-shot that apparently was the coolest thing in the world, but you can’t go wrong if you start with “crazy monster rock band superstars”. during the sequel they went on tour to the human lands and I think wrecked a couple of cities.

  —this one is stolen from TAZ but fantasy WWE, the intro plot setup that is exposition in the first 10 minutes was “a friend of yours who is a famous wrestler just had her partner assassinated before the biggest match of the year, one of you has been asked to fill in for the match, another as the manager, and then the rest of you are trying to solve this murder mystery super quick because your friend is worried she’s the next target”

   —honestly any sort of “huge gladiator/fighting tournament but there’s drama and foul play going down behind the scenes” makes for a really good short arc. there’s a game that actually Jeremy invented that is played irl at gay theater camp called “bloodrush” which is such a ridiculous game, it’s….vaguely fantasy football except everyone also has daggers and swords and stuff and you are allowed to stab members of the other team but only when they’re holding the ball, although cheating is basically a requirement when the refs’ backs are turned, oh, by the way, the refs are vampires. there have been cases at camp where teams waiting in the bleachers for the next match enemy teams have crept up behind them and slit all their throats with foam daggers while the refs were watching the game, or poisonings, or just. anything you can think of, it’s gone down. my little brother once jumped on the biggest baddest counselor’s back, stabbed him in the shoulder, snatched the ball from him, did a front roll, and ran off, and scored a goal and that is one of his proudest moments of his life to this day, basically what I’m saying is you can’t go wrong with “bloodrush tournament” or whatever your own crazy fantasy sportsball game you want to make up and play.

   —“we are a bunch of archeologists who have a little bit of combat or magic training but not too much because mostly we’re archeologists and someone poked a button in a pyramid and oh god we’ve accidentally summoned an ancient race on monsters that feed on human souls, which also apparently there’s a secret military conspiracy that has been watching this site to try to stop these monsters and have come here to contain them but oops also are ready to murder ALL OF US because WE have human souls, now we’re trying to run and hide from both groups and figure out if we can find anything to banish the monsters again” (this is 100% stolen from a LARP written by a friend of mine) (I’m pretty sure same one who wrote the monster band one-shot, actually) (they’re a really good writer, okay)

   —PRISON ESCAPE. Think Guardians of the Galaxy 1. You can’t go wrong with a prison break game. character design will be so fun. I swear I thought of stuff like this separate from Jeremy. Jeremy’s writing a prison break game and has promised that I get to play Captain Jennijack, a genderfluid space pirate who totally woke up in this prison a week or so ago and doesn’t for the life of them know why they are here, there are, like, eight or ten possible things they could think of but they’re not sure which one they’ve technically been convicted of, and I am holding him to that.

   —Honestly, you have a book that you like? A movie? A TV show? One that you haven’t convinced your friends to watch yet? (or one that you have and they will recognize halfway through.) STEAL THAT, write and run a fanfiction game, it’ll be fun.

ADVICE PART 2: PREPARING FOR A LONGER CAMPAIGN ONCE YOU’RE COMFORTABLE DMING AND HAVE FIGURED OUT THE GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE GOOD CHEMISTRY AND DYNAMICS AND WANT TO STICK AROUND. I’m assuming you want advice for getting something vaguely like gay murder elf bachelorette to run, so I’m going to talk about broad story-based things that I think are important for setting up good stories?

10. Scheduling is key and what is most likely to mess you up. Pick your players carefully, pick people who are invested and who will turn up. If there are people who didn’t get along during your mini arcs, or who just had very different expectations of what the game should be like re fighting/mechanics and roleplaying balance, don’t put them in the same party. Picking a party isn’t about picking your friends, it’s about picking people who work well together as players, and whose playing style matches your storytelling style. You’re better off with less people but who are super quality players and share a vision with you and get along, than letting someone into the game that’s going to mess stuff up for everyone because of outside-of-game social politics. It’s just not worth it. Not when this might go on for years.

11. There’s something really powerful about a story that isn’t about the Chosen Ones, but instead you’re just a group of people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and now oh shit it’s on you to save the world. Epic campaigns generally become epic, like, you invest that much time and energy into something and by the finale you usually are saving the universe, but be willing to start out not special. Let specialness develop.

11.5 There is also something really powerful about there sometimes being problems that magic can’t fix. Or that just aren’t fixable. If you haven’t read the Young Wizards series go read it and cry.

12. Write in arcs. This goes along very well with starting small, but have there be different parts of the campaign that are semi self-contained as you slowly build up to something bigger, this is also where you start dropping in personal arcs. Arcs also allow you to change up the feel of the game and keep things interesting and keep people on their toes. The Adventure Zone does maybe the best example of how to have self-contained plot-driven arcs that build to something eventually cohesive, all arcs with their own unique setup and flavor. (The Adventure Zone: Balance is a really great game and I really do advise you listen to it, it’s ~70 episodes but it will get you used to the mechanics of 5e, and holy fuck is it a story.)

13. Don’t be afraid to steal plot points from your favorite things. Hell, don’t be afraid to steal the entire plots of your favorite things. Especially if you’re worried about your own writing skills or creativity or whatever? Fanfiction is freaking great, and it’s fun; some of the best games I’ve ever played have been fanfiction of super obscure things that the writer has afterwards told me what it was fanfiction of and it was so freaking fun to go read/watch the original after I’d already played an even cooler version???? It’s also pretty easy to start out fanfiction and then through developing personal arcs and following party interest, ending up with a story by the end that is entirely original and you. So write fanfiction if you don’t have any ideas, or honestly, if your fanfiction ideas excite you more than when you sit down and try to write with a blank slate.

14. You’re not limited to a high fantasy setting. Honestly, standard high fantasy/dungeon crawl stuff has gotten pretty boring for me? (although the department campaign is pretty cool, but that’s only because it’s high fantasy but we slip in jokes like “Seraph marches downstairs in her pajamas and channels her mother to start yelling at the innkeeper about the utterly terrible customer service of getting poisoned, non-consensually, and that she would like to speak to the manager of the local thieves’ guild to lodge a complaint” because even though it’s high fantasy, it’s funny. TAZ does really good high fantasy too because of how they weave a whole bunch of other stuff in.) but, like, YOU CAN DO DND IN SPACE. you can do modern urban fantasy. you can go post-apocalypse. you can go post-high-fantasy-apocalypse. you can play a supernatural style game. it’s your world, make it whatever you want.

14.5 It is possible to play things that are mechanically the class in the book, but have a different interpretation in the setting. Or just to works differently in the setting. in spelljammer, elves don’t have gods, and I vaguely developed over the course of a couple of months an old belief system that was pretty old even when Marian was a kid that she just pseudo-learned and didn’t quite believe but is now revisiting, and the difference between divine casters and arcane casters is actually just “magic is vaguely a part of physics and most arcane casters are tinkerers who are doing it via weird cool gadgets or are pseudo-scientists/engineers in their training and approach to magic, while for divine casters it’s more of an internal, feelings-based thing.” I’m also very very excited because I have developed a super intense and specific lore that is canonically what elves used to believe and what Marian believes, but might not actually be how the world and death specifically works at all, so I’m bouncing up and down on my feet waiting to discover what’s going down behind the scenes with gods in that campaign, instead of it just being “oh yeah choose your gods from the gods in the book.” in the department campaign, Seraph is from a family of wizards and thinks that she is a wizard even though she is actually an arcanist, because the world doesn’t have words different types of casters esp niche types of casters yet. the DM and I are planning for it to be a huuuuge surprise now that she’s leveled up enough to have access to “arcanic exploits” which are at-will abilities that wizards don’t have, and it is going to be an in-character process of her discovering that she can do something that according to the known laws of magic she shouldn’t be able to do, and now oh shit she has to research it. even though mechanically, we’re going pretty much entirely by the book, the book doesn’t exist in the world! characters don’t know what players know! make it interesting to discover things that you as a player might otherwise take for granted!

14.75 make magic and fighting sound cool, and design how you describe it to be specific to the setting or the culture. in gay murder elf bachelorette campaign, the way that Caedic casting works is you first have to draw a rune in the air that then hovers there all glowy, and then you “thread the needle” which is projecting power through it in a very specific manner, I’m pretty sure that Surrians cast differently, magic works different in different parts of the world. having a melee fight scene? describe how people exchange blows back and forth or let them choose how their killing blows will look or just make them feel like badasses whenever they try to do a cool thing because it’s cool. I am used to playing magic/caster characters just because I generally am more familiar with magical mechanics than fighting mechanics and magic has always been more interesting to me but holy crud I have never had a fight scene so fun as the one when Iria had led a researcher from the Black Lotus Labs to a fae font that she’d found scouting in the woods and this seaweed creature eventually attacked them and she did a badass holding it off with her scimitar an then Vennikus, the researcher, tried to throw a cold iron knife at it but missed, and so Iria, who had been training in two-weapon fighting, saw the knife, did a front roll underneath the monster’s next swing, picked up the knife, exchanged a flurry of blows with the thing now two-handed fighting which eventually ended with her doing this super badass throwing both weapons in the air and catching them to switch hands, leaping on the things back, slashing so deep with her scimitar that it finally got through all of the seaweed and cleared it before it could get back to a weird, pulsating green heart, which then she drove the cold iron blade into all the way up to its hilt. which was so much cooler than “oh shit I rolled a crit on my scimitar hand and confirmed it and I guess that deals enough damage for this thing to die,” nah, I drove a cold iron knife into that thing’s pulsating heart and so that’ll be a scene that I never forget. Even when I miss Jeremy makes me sound cool because then when the enemies miss he talks about how good my footwork is or how well I’ve drilled to block these exact kinds of blows so the Surrian had no chance because my training kicked in type deal. it makes fight scenes more than just rolling dice, and thus easier to get engaged in.

14.8725 I swear I didn’t start out this essay as an “I’m going to sing the praises of Jeremy for several thousand words”

15. It’s always interesting when you have mechanical reasons for players leveling up. Or for what their classes are. That’s always a tricky one to balance, and it’s one that I’ve been doing aggressively as a player? And to be fair, if your players start out with young and fairly inexperienced characters, “I am gaining experience at doing a thing” is a perfectly good narrative reason to level up. You want to play an older character? One of my friends is playing a 150-year-old orc who was a Great Adventurer back in the day and retired to take care of great-great grandkids and is back in an adventuring party now but wheeee is starting at level 1 because they’re out of practice oh, and they have bad knees. There’s also always the option of “I hurt myself real bad and I’ve been recovering,” leveling up isn’t ~gaining new experience~, it’s slowly getting better through whatever your injury is. or just you can write this off as an unavoidable mechanical aspect of the game, eh, not that important, I just love it when tiny details match up. This isn’t actually an important point, I’ve kind of moved on to the “picky details that I care about” second of this advice rant.

16. Make the unexpected important. JEREMY GAVE ME THE MOST ADORABLE PET SPACE OCTOPUS AS A FAMILIAR AND I HAVE BEEN ASSUMING THAT VELO IS JUST VELO AND THEN JEREMY MADE SOME SORT OF A SIDE COMMENT ABOUT “YEAH VELO IS NOTHING LIKE YOU’D EVER HEARD OF BEFORE” AND YEAH DUH BECAUSE THE LIL’ BUDDY WAS SUMMONED THROUGH A MYSTERY SPELL IN A MYSTERY PIECE OF EXTINCT TECH BUT NOW I’M FREAKING PARANOID OUT OF CHARACTER THAT VELO IS SECRETLY AN EMISSARY OF RAT JESUS OR SOMETHING. but also just, like, nothing is cooler than “oh that tiny thing that happened when you were level 1 that you didn’t really think much of and it’s just been vaguely a thing you’ve carried with you for the adventure? turns out it was the most important thing in the world!!!!!” just. good foreshadowing. unexpected foreshadowing. it’s great.

17. Your players will invent stuff, either as a part of their backstory or as something that they’re interested in. Let them, especially if you don’t have a previously established canon opinion on the thing. This is 100% a self-serving thing of what I wants DMs to do when I’m a player of, like. I really love getting to write stuff into the setting, but also it’s because good improv means go with the flow. Someone says something? Work it in, oops, it’s canon now. This can be both on-purpose or accident; in the department campaign, I wanted to write in-character letters to an NPC in my backstory from the beginning, except goddamnit I didn’t want to have to deal with “and it’ll take a couple of months for the mail to travel across the country to get to them,” so I made an offhand reference in the email that I was sending the DM the letters of “can we say I just threw them in the arcanic postlines,” which then, like. After doing this about five times I sat down and wrote out the exact magical theory about how arcanic postlines should work considering how we’d said that they function in-game and the DM went “okay, sounds great, that’s consistent with how we’ve been dealing with these letters for the last two months” and that is why the fantasy world of the departmental campaign has a highly functional postage system. On the improv end of things, there is a beautiful moment in The Adventure Zone where the wizard just, in-character, teases another wizard about “ooooh, don’t want to burn your spell slots,” and the DM just went with it and suddenly it became canon that instead of spell slots being a behind-the-scenes mechanical thing that doesn’t exist in-world, it was a legitimate way that wizards referred to how much magic they could cast a day. Which I love so much, that’s so interesting for a high fantasy setting. Letting players add to the setting will bring in cool new things that you didn’t think of, and you should be open to it.

18. First priority is everyone should be having fun, and communication is key for that to work. Debrief sometimes after sessions. Ask people what their favorite parts are. listen to them chat about their theories. follow up on actively developing framework for the things that people think are fun. ultimately DnD is as much about friends getting together and having a good time as it is about telling a huge, epic, intricate, interconnected story, and the huge epic stories are a lot more fun if you’ve been having fun the whole way along.

All that all being said.

Don’t expect your campaign to look like gay elf murder bachelorette campaign, the way that I am playing in gay murder elf campaign is…..a bad way to play in a party? Being a conscientious player means being aware that the overall story arc isn’t just about you, it’s weaving together about everyone and there is always a part of me that is thinking about “is everyone getting equal screentime” and going “I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS NPC JEREMY SHE’S SO GOOD AT FIGHTING OH MY GODS THAT MURDEROUS LOOK SHE GETS WHEN SHE’S FACING OFF AGAINST SURRIANS AND SHE DOESN’T THINK ANYONE IS WATCHING JEREMY I AM IN LOVE” and, like, actively going over to try to talk with her any time I had the chance to ever and insisting on sparring with her any time we had free time and insisting on having a bunch of scenes with Talvus of “oh my god Talvus help she said three whole words to me what does it mean” which made all this the gay mess that it was would have been something that I wouldn’t have done if there were other people in the party with other agendas; gay elf murder bachelorette campaign gets to be gay elf murder bachelorette campaign specifically because Jeremy and I realized “….wait, there are only the two of us, we can get as ridiculous with this as we want” and have decided to commit. Fully. But that’s not the sort of shit you want to pull if there’s a whole other group of people who just kind of have to sit and watch every time you want to go over and flirt with your murder-rival-who-will-maybe-one-day-be-your-murder-girlfriend before they can do the stuff they want to do.

(As a secondary warning note if you’re doing any sort of roleplaying and are playing a fictional character in love with another fictional character being played by a friend of yours, you better be on the same page as your friend as, like, one of you not having a secret crush on the other in real life because shit gets messy and then real life and character stuff starts to blend and it’s just. I have been there and done that when I was a 17-year-old Gay Mess and I feel like it is my responsibility as a 22-year-old Slightly More Responsible Gay Mess to warn you against that. Jeremy and I know each other very well and have for years and know each other’s boundaries and talked about triggers and boundaries before starting this campaign, which to be fair was more because as a villain campaign dark stuff is probs going to happen but we have talked about fictional romance too , but I would not play this intimately with someone I didn’t trust intimately. So keep that in mind when designing things?)

ALSO THAT BEING SAID

if you want a gay elf murder bachelorette campaign, there is a game called Monsterhearts that I have never played but heard about friends playing and they all freaking love it and there are a lot of undertones about dealing with mental illness and being queer and in the closet and the entire setup of the game is y’all are monsters in high school having love life drama and everything I have heard about this game is how remarkable it is combined with stories about the most ridiculous teenage drama, sooooo possibly after I have ranted for 8000 words about how to set up a functional Dungeons and Dragons campaign which the party and DMing advice still I think applies to any game Monsterhearts might be the game that you want to start with.

BONUS: ADVICE FROM JEREMY.

[spaceorphan18]

Finding Kurt Hummel: Thanksgiving

Masterpost

4x08: Thanksgiving

The first half of season 4, I think, struggled a bit -- but despite some of the flaws (the Newbie unbalance, New York not fleshed out as well as it could be) -- it’s beginning to get a little more cohesive.  And despite there not being a whole lot of Kurt these days -- man, does there seem to be more to talk about.  It’s kind of nice to have long discussions instead of picking out background shots in the choir room.  

Dynamic Duo

So - Kurt wasn’t in the seventh episode of the season, and there’s not even much I can pull out of it to talk about.  But I will say -- it’s still a fantastic episode, and one where Blaine is able to start forgiving himself and move forward with his individual story line, which is great progress.  And as much as I missed Kurt in it, I think it’s better that he wasn’t in that particular episode.  What?!?! No, I know -- but I think his absence is really highlighted, actually.  Which makes the battle over Blaine’s soul even more thrilling.  So yeah - no Kurt, but superheroes and Blaine development and crackiness.  So -- go back and watch it.  And then come back to this one. 

Not Home for the Holidays

A lot of this episode revolves around the previous year’s seniors, and how they come back to Lima for a sort of reprise.  When they’re all at Breadstix talking -- the mention that Kurt and Rachel are not there to join them.  And there’s something a little sad about this moment.  I’ll get into what’s actually up with that in a second, but I’ll say, while I understand what the narrative is going for here -- I still miss them back with the old crew.  And interestingly, Mike, who is still in touch with Blaine, awww, says that Kurt’s not responding to Blaine’s outreach.  It not only sets up plot for this -- but shows us that the Klaine narrative has moved little since last we saw it, even if Blaine is making progress. 

So - we pick up with Kurt and Rachel walking in New York.  And hey, this scene was actually filmed in New York - outside the library.  So, yeah, a lot of things packed into this little scene.  

First of all -- Kurt’s put in his NYADA application.  As an aside -- this episode kind of connects with Swan Song almost like a two-parter.  Anyway...  

Kurt and Rachel are staying back in New York instead of going home. And Kurt, he laments that he isn’t going home, because he knows his friends are there, and he misses his dad, probably Finn, his family.  A city can be really huge and lonely and empty when you only know one other person in it.  (Thank god - Kurt knows someone else...) And I kind of love that while Rachel’s totally happy and /fine/ with this decision, Kurt’s somewhat talking himself into it.  He’s unsure, and a little sad, and a little lonely. 

I would like to say -- too -- that your first holiday way from your family, especially in a new place, can be extra hard.  Especially when you’ve never been away from your family -- and I think that adds into Kurt’s melancholy over staying in New York. 

Rachel is dealing with her issues a bit differently.  She has this idea in her head that instead of looking back at failures -- you move forward with life and latch on to the fact that they’re in this inspirational city, pushing forward with their dreams and careers.  Forget about boys, forget about pain, they have each other, and they’re trying to be adults, so who cares about anything else. 

God. Rachel.  

And Kurt, feeling emotionally exhausted and finding it easier to be swept away in Rachel’s ideology than to go against it, goes along with Rachel’s mentality.  But it doesn’t mean he necessarily adopts it.  

So, a couple more things about this scene.  For one, Rachel’s line that Kurt’s the only significant other she needs.  Gah!! That line annoys me.  Stop using Kurt as your emotional validation, Rachel! Plus, despite all her ‘I’m an independent woman’ cry, Brody’ll be back on the scene in about five minutes. 

But here’s my thing about Hummelberry that’s both frustrating and fascinating.  They’re so not on the same page, even if it looks like they are.  Kurt likes the idea of forgetting about everything and moving forward with his life.  Rachel’s ideology is appetizing.  But it’s not something he can adopt as easily as Rachel.  (As I’ve said before, Rachel’s better at compartmentalizing her feelings - but her doing that also means she’s not dealing with anything either.)  

Kurt’s not in the same place as Rachel emotionally, and the thing that gets me, Rachel doesn’t exactly seem to be aware of that.  Throughout season 4 - as close (?) as they’re supposed to be -- it’s obvious that Kurt’s not talking to Rachel about some of his issues.  Part of it is because the stuff with Blaine is private.  Kurt holds his deepest feelings close to his chest and the stuff with Blaine is not something he’s ever really talked about with Rachel.  Part of it is because Rachel will steamroll him anyway, and make it about her.  Part of it is because he’s trying hard not to let it consume him.  There are a lot of things tied up into this. 

Idk - for so long I was resentful for Hummelberry in season 4 - and I think now that enough time has passed, I see it so much differently.  Kurt is much more on his own than you might think on first viewing.  If nothing else -- he at least knows how to think for himself.  At least he’s not blindly letting Rachel lead him around. And that’s reassuring, and also why I can tolerate s4 Hummelberry.

Late Night Chat

So, Kurt’s the last(ish) one at the office.  (Why are you letting interns close the building vogue.com?)  And it makes me wonder -- I do believe Kurt’s the type to get passionate about a project, and work on it until it’s /done/.  But I wonder if it’s easier to sink into the work, too, rather than deal with any lingering emotional issues that he doesn’t want to deal with. 

They have some cute banter about Thanksgiving -- which is set up for her coming later in the episode.  Mostly, I can’t help but think how hard it would be to sit through a full screening of Les Mis and The Hobbit! 

But really -- I love Isabelle.  So much.  I love that she’s intuitive, and understands there are deeper things going on with Kurt.  (Rachel is a little caught up in her own drama to notice -- not that Kurt really wants her to.)  Isabelle is someone he can talk to, a mentor and a friend, and someone who listens to him -- which is why he has so much value in her.  Man - I wish she had been around more.  

Isabelle notes that Kurt is in a better mood.  And I think just by virtue of being around someone who makes him smile, in a place that’s starting to become another home -- and a place where he gets to do something he loves can help him feel a little better.  It’s comforting.  But it doesn’t erase what’s going on.  The minute Isabelle brings up Blaine, he just deflates.  

I’ve seen a lot of commentary about Kurt’s coldness in the episode.  Between the ‘forget about Blaine’ line and his insistence that he’s done with Blaine, sent him a final ‘don’t contact me’ text, and is still (rightfully) hung up on the cheating aspect, I can see how that commentary can come about.  I mean -- I felt very confused myself upon first watching.  But after reading a lot of other people’s meta and knowing the ending and time -- it makes a lot more sense now.  

This is kind of how Kurt tries to deal with things.  And it almost goes back to season 1 Kurt, where he shuts himself off and closes himself off and tries to protect himself.  Kurt appearing cold and easily brushing it all off is somewhat of a front.  Yes, it’s how he’s trying to deal with all of it.  But we know that Kurt feels things deeply.  He can’t just shut down and off his feelings and store them away like Rachel can.  The whole break thing, the will they get back together, should they, what’s going to happen -- has been on his mind constantly since it happened (which is now verging on two months) and it’s got to be exhausting.  

And I think radio silence to Blaine was, at least the thought behind it, a simple solution.  A way not to deal with it anymore.  Out of sight out of mind.  But I think it’s also a way for Kurt to have some distance, and some time to heal.  Because Kurt needs that -- a period of mourning and a period of processing.  

But I believe one of the things that Kurt’s struggling with, as evident by the end, is the idea of not having Blaine in his life at all.  And as mad as Kurt is, and as hurt as he is, he really doesn’t want Blaine gone completely. 

Isabelle - bless her -- is wonderful intuitive about the whole thing.   Most of the people, especially most of his group of friends, don’t see through his thick, shielded exterior.  But Isabelle can.  (Burt and Mercedes are also people who can call Kurt out.) And I find that very valuable.  I believe Kurt does, too. 

Now Isabelle comes with the advice that forgiving will make Kurt feel better.  It’s interesting -- because Isabelle speaks as someone who needed to be forgiven, which makes me wonder about her backstory.  But tells Kurt that Kurt forgiving Blaine, or in essence giving closure to the relationship, will help him move forward.  And she’s not wrong -- but interestingly, Kurt, while he heeds her advice, won’t exactly follow that either.  

Dinner Prep

Kurt is so not having it with Brody.  And I love the disdain he has about Brody cooking the turkey /wrong/.  

But also - I’m guessing the more time Brody spends at the loft, the more Kurt finds him annoying.  Or maybe that’s just me projecting.  I will say -- after Rachel’s big speech about not needing men, I’d be rolling my eyes, too, with the inclusion of Brody at Thanksgiving dinner. 

Also, WTF Brody -- you go to NYADA -- why are you anti-breaking out into song? This makes no sense. 

It’s Turkey Lurkey Time - Let’s Have a Kiki 

So - Rachel’s having a moment -- where she’s reminiscing about her past Thanksgivings with her family, and fearing that those are a thing of the past.  I’m so glad Kurt corrects her on this nonsense.  Just because you’re in a new part of your life doesn’t mean you need to completely disregard and drop your old traditions.  Geez, Rachel... 

Somethings will never change.  Singing at the holiday times is one of them. 

So.  Let’s have a kiki.  ;) The whole orphan dinner starts and Isabelle and all the drag queens arrive.  And it’s delightful.  

There’s a lot of gay culture stuff wrapped up in this performance.  I’m not the best one to unpack that -- but it’s important to note that it’s there. And I think it’s important for Kurt to have this very gay experience -- something that’s wildly different (accepting and celebrating) than what he experienced in Ohio. I also think that this is about the time the show kinda said ‘fuck it - we /are/ that gay show’.  

But anyway -- I love this performance, I love this moment for Kurt.  I love that the song is kind of about throwing worries to the wind and enjoying yourself in the moment.  I love that it’s about letting go and letting the music take you.  It’s just a great, great performance. 

Oh -- and y’all can disagree with me, because I know most of you do, but I adore the Turkey Lurkey portion of it.  It just adds that ounce of insane cracky crack Glee that the show’s gotten really good at. 

Be weary Brody - Hummelberry may eat you... 

Anyway - because I often don’t thinking about these things in a bubble, and talking things out with people is always helpful, I asked @multsicorn for her interpretation of this scene in relation to the phone call at the end and she wrote up a great post here. 

I really love what she wrote, and she’s more eloquent than I often am.  And sums it up nicely with her words her: “The kiki makes Kurt feel both less alone in one sense, and more alone in another, and both of these effects combine, interesting, to make him call Blaine - to make him reach out to talk to Blaine, for the first time since Blaine confessed to cheating on him. “

I also very much agree with the thoughts that in New York becoming more of a ‘home’ for him, and being surrounded by things that are uplifting and good -- it also makes him feel more confident.  And gives him the courage he needs to reach out to Blaine.  

It’s interesting, in general, how much of the theme of home comes up in the first half of season 4 - and how so many of these characters are redefining what that means.  

Phone Call

So - before I get into content, I should mention staging -- and that their placement on ladders, as well as the black and yellow inverse lighting of the scene is all purposeful.  Again - I’m not really the best one to unpack it -- @snarkyhag - you’re much better at this than I am.  But it’s worth noting because the production team often goes out of its way to set up scenes brilliantly (not just Klaine scenes, but I always only notice the Klaine scenes.)  

Kurt calls Blaine.  He makes the first move, because Blaine really has done all he can at this point.  The ball is in Kurt’s court.  And Kurt, after the Kiki, and after missing /home/ reaches out to Blaine.  Because as much as he tries, as much as he logically thinks he should shut Blaine out -- he can’t.  He and Blaine are too deeply intertwined in each other’s lives -- and beyond the romantic relationship -- Kurt misses his best friend, his favorite person.  Someone other than his dad that he considers home. 

Blaine tries to talk -- but Kurt shuts him down quickly, because if he doesn’t say what he’s prepared to say it’s not gonna get said.  And Blaine obediently, and wisely, listens. 

Oh Kurt -- he’s shaking as he talks.  This is not an easy conversation -- it is not easy being emotionally open, especially for Kurt.  

Kurt opens up and admits how much he misses Blaine, something he refused to do with Rachel or Isabelle.  And he let’s Blaine know that he’s still Kurt’s best friend.  And it’s the holidays -- and he’s thinking of home -- and thinking of Blaine.  

He doesn’t really listen to either Rachel or Isabelle’s advice, but instead goes along with his gut.  He can’t forgive Blaine yet, he’s still so angry and hurt and processing.  But -- damn, if he doesn’t miss Blaine, miss him in his life, miss talking to him, miss him being a part of him.  And that -- that is such a life line to Blaine right now.  Omg....  But also, admitting that, opening back up, even just a little, to Blaine is the first step in the healing process.  Because, in a way, Kurt has been stuck for almost two months now.  And by letting it out helps him move forward. 

Kurt mentions they should see each other at Christmas, and jokes a little, even though it’s hard.  And oh Blaine - this is the best thing that could have ever happened.  It’s kind of amazing how little time we spend in Klaine angst land.  The break up stuff is far from over, but they’re now on the path headed towards each other instead of away from....

And this conversation ends on a note that none of us were expecting.  Blaine says I love you.  Kurt says it back.  Kurt still loves Blaine.  Let that sink in for a second.  KURT STILL FUCKING LOVES BLAINE! Do you see how he’s breaking down in tears here at the end, how this is hard, but he can’t not say it because he still feels it to his core? 

And let me make this next point clear. 

THIS PHONE CALL IS THE ONLY TIME IN THE EPISODE THAT HE’S BEING EMOTIONALLY HONEST.

Kurt can hide behind his cold exterior all he wants. He can claim he’s done with Blaine and all that jazz.  But it’s not over.  It’s never over.  And while these two silly boys have a million issues to work through --- the one thing that never stops is the fact that they love each other.  And I think, for me, that’s one of the best parts of this story.  That it’s not about people who fall in and out of love.  It’s about two people who are always in love, but some times life is hard, and hard to navigate. 

Kurt takes a moment before coming in from the balcony.  Just a small moment to collect himself, and his feelings.  

I love that it’s Isabelle -- and not Rachel -- who comes to collect him.  Kurt’s crying now, but that’s good! As he’s allowing himself to feel things fully again.  And Isabelle understands -- bless her and her fairy godmother ways.  I love their hug, and I love her support.  And I love that Kurt is climbing out of the break-up funk that he was in, and just now beginning to heal. 

[exobtsimagination]

Time’s Up Part 4

Summery: How will it be returning to school after your dramatic plea for Kai to date you? Member: Sehun, Jongin (Kai) x Reader (ft. Various Idols) Type: Angst, Fluff, School!Au Length: 2,195 Words

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

I’m really sorry this took way longer than expected. With starting college and trying to get settled it’s been hellish to find any time at all but things should be becoming more normal now. An update on my family health, everything appears to be okay. My grandad has some suspected permanent side-effects due to his accident but is back at work and there has been no alarm since. My aunt is also better now, I’m not an expert on caner/medical lingo but she’s got the a-okay that shes 100% good to go know, thank God, and also thank all of you for your kind words and support over these testing months. It seems things are going better with my family as one of my aunts (I have a lot) is currently in her second trimester of a miraculous pregnancy (she had been trying for over 9 years with no success) and another of my aunts (her younger sister) after proposing to her then girlfriend two years ago on Christmas Day will be getting married this October! I’m a lot happier now and in a much better place with my mental health since starting college so I hope these positive life changes also have a positive effect on me and my writing!

Speaking of writing: I was writing this part on and off for a number of months so I cannot vouch for how cohesive it is but I tried my best! I really hope you all enjoy and I promise to try and have more work up in the near future! This part also sees the official inclusion of 3 new characters and the starts of one of the shorter arks I spoke of, with more to come soon! Please enjoy!

- Admin Kain

If you had thought Monday was bad, there’s always Tuesday. After your little display out in front of school word spread, fast. It turns out that someone making a, admittedly rather melodramatic, plea for one of the most desired guys in school to date them (especially after the seven minutes in heaven scandal) and then proceeds to make out with them in the pouring rain, people talk. You had been in school for a total of seventeen minutes and yet you had already seen three different people grab onto someone's sleeve and mock you by practically crying out “date me.” (It wasn’t that embarrassing, was it?) If that wasn’t bad enough Kai was completely unphased, walking beside you hand in hand, (after he insisted he walked you to school) with a grin so bright the hallway lights were completely unnecessary. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy it, though. There’s something about the feeling of being with him that is beyond comforting. You were probably getting ahead of yourself but being around Kai just had that impact, he made you feel protected somehow.

You felt Kai tug on your hand as walked, turning to face him he was looking down at you with a warm smile on his lips. “Mmm...what are you smiling to yourself about?”

“Nothing,” truthfully, you hadn’t even realised you were but with the comfort you felt being lost in your thoughts and distracted from the world around you, it’s hardly surprising.

“It didn’t seem like nothing,” Kai had that signature shit-eating grin, that was clearly an effect of spending too much time with Sehun on but when he did it you couldn’t help but find it unbelievably handsome.

“It’s just that on Tuesdays the canteen sells curly fries, the best kind of fries” you muttered out with a sigh and a teasing tone. You had caved in and began dating Kai but you were by no means in love yet and you wanted to keep whatever distance you still could until things were settled.

Kai looked somewhat disappointed by your answer but just as quickly appeared to perk up once again. “Hm, I think so too.” He said in a somewhat husky, sultry tone leaning closer.

“Yikes. Just looking at you two makes me want to be sick.” At the sound of the indifferent, monotone voice Kai jumped backwards, thank God, allowing you to step back and create some distance and room to breathe. The voice came from a very unimpressed looking Kyungsoo who couldn’t remove his books from his locker fast enough.

“Speaking of sick, I heard about your boyfriend, all over the bus, gross.” Kyungsoo audibly sighed at Kai’s comment. It appears Kyungsoo has a full day planned of nursing his over-emotional and notoriously clingy boyfriend back to health. His face looked pain stricken as if imagining the crying and pleas for cuddles as we spoke.

After taking a deep breath Kyungsoo seemed back to his usual self seemingly more interested in looking after his boyfriend than feeling sorry for himself and returned to packing his things. “Yeah I know, and the woman sat in front, real charmer I have there. I’m going to leave in a bit to look after him but he wanted me to stay and get the goss on the new girl first.” Kyungsoo laughed out, you could hear his fondness for his boyfriend in the way he spoke. Nothing he said was unexpected, well nothing unexpected except the mention of a new girl, it was the first you had heard of a new student arriving...

“...New girl?” You thought out loud.

It was Kai who responded now. “I’m surprised Bora didn’t tell you? She’s on her athletic team, they’re both runners. Apparently, she’s a real goddess.” Something about Kai’s words gave you a sick taste in the back of your throat and a premature dislike for the girl whose name you didn’t even know yet.

“Cute.” You said as bitterly as possible, Kai seemed to pick up on this giving you a lopsided grin and pulling your sulking self towards his chest.

Judging by the gaze you got from Kyungsoo he seemed to pick up on it also except his eyes were laced with something different, however, was it confusion? Disapproval? You couldn’t quite place your finger on it, maybe you were just imaging the sinister undertones. “So I hear. Well...anyway, I’m gonna go, talk to you later.”

You couldn’t get out of the now awkward encounter sooner and you quickly waved Kyungsoo off “Yeah it’s about time I got to class, sent your boyfriend my best wishes!” With that, you turned on your heels and went off towards the classroom with a list of questions for Bora about this “goddess” friend of hers.

“Wait!” You couldn’t have even taken three steps before Kai was running after you. “Let me walk you,” Kai laced his fingers with yours and he lead you off towards your class.

Your mood swings when it came to Kai were giving you whiplash, thankfully he seemed to be completely oblivious. It was strange though you felt somewhat smothered but his omnipresent nature, and it was only 9 am you still had half an hour until the school day actually began, but at the same time the idea of his attention being drawn anywhere else, such as this new girl, make you want to punch glass. “You really don’t have to, you’re supposed to be in the other building.”

“I want to,” Kai answered hastily with a smile as big as the pacific ocean and somehow you found yourself unable to say no

“Clingy little shit.” You muttered under your breath and he lead you off towards class. Kai insisted on kissing you goodbye at the door, for your entire class to see but there was something sweet in his annoying personality, maybe this is why Kyungsoo likes how his boyfriend is literally glued to him so much? You turned to find five pairs of eyes watching you intently, without a word Soyou pointed to your seat.

As Kai walked through the courtyard on the way to his building he took a moment to really let everything sink in. The soft rays of light warming his bronze skin, the subtle tingling on his lips remembering the light kiss from just moments ago and the bliss he felt so intensely right now. It felt as if he was dreaming, the one person who had occupied his mind for so long was finally his, he finally felt that despite the struggles he had faced things were on the up and even though he knew it was unwise to put all his eggs in one basket he didn’t want to rain on his own parade quite yet.

It seemed however that he wouldn’t be the one souring his mood at all when his eyes locked with Kyungsoo’s icy glare. “I knew you were romantic but I didn’t realise you were also a fucking idiot,” his tone was harsh and unwavering, Kai was unsure whether Kyungsoo was about to scold him or slap him. “It’s not love, not yet. If this true love like you seem to have deluded yourself into thinking it is Sehun wouldn’t have ever been a threat to that so for you to go falling head over heels with little more than a glance in your direction is nothing short of pathetic.”

Kai was taken aback by Kyungsoo’s cruel demeanour. His friend had always favoured the tough love approach and was very no-nonsense but in this current moment, he just seemed mean. “Kyungsoo what? Why are you being like this...”

“People say some crap about kindness and weakness but you’re just naive Kai. What kind of a fool expects happily ever after, after one day.”

“Kyungsoo…”

“I’m saying this because I don’t want to see you get hurt more than you already have been but honestly this all makes no fucking sense, one minute you and Sehun hate each other and he’s plotting to steal your true love next you’re back to being the most homoerotic pair of ‘friends’ I think anyone has ever seen and now you’re walking on fucking clouds probably planning a wedding to someone who was like ‘yeah... I’ll give it a shot, I could do worse.’ and all this only happened yesterday! Am I the only one who thinks this makes no sense whatsoever?” With each word uttered Kyungsoo’s anger rose to the point that it was visible with each contraction of his facial muscles. Before Kai could even mutter a word in response Kyungsoo was storming off towards the front gate.

“DATE ME!” Heechul broke the silence with a whispered shout mere inches away from your face, there was still some time before your tutor showed up and the day began and apparently your friends intended to take full opportunity of that, causing everyone in the room to observe as discretely as possible to attempt to eavesdrop on the conversation at hand. “I AM ILL FOR ONE FUCKING DAY AND YOU’RE MAKING TWO HOT AS HELL BOYS FIGHT OVER YOU IN THE CANTEEN AND THEN MAKING BLOODY LOVE CONFESSIONS IN THE RAIN LIKE YOU’RE THE LEAD OF A DAMNED DRAMA!”

“Not to mention the fact I had softball practice” Hani muttered under her breath.

“It wasn’t intentional it all just kinda...happened,” You felt like you were in an interrogation with their eyes fixed firmly on you and Heechul’s warm breath hitting your skin and he whispered venomously in your direction.

“Ordering in when you’re on a diet just kinda happens, a drunken orgy just kinda happens, this is not something that just. kinda. Happens!” Heechul was almost whining as he spoke and with each word his tone became slightly louder and more eyes seemed to be plastered on you. You could almost feel each set as they assessed the situation and tried to find some way into hearing more of the conversation and understanding the hot issue that this situation happened to be to your peers.

“We are all as confused as you are.” An exasperated Hyorin said slumping back into her seat.

Soyou wrapped her arms around Hyorin’s shoulders “I honestly have no words.”

It seemed as if your friends disapproved of your actions and you couldn’t help but feel almost ashamed. Should you have spoken to them before you acted? Should you have waited longer before doing something? “I’m sorry I didn’t mean for any of this to happen I just got so caught up in everything I guess.”

“Oh no, don’t apologise. Kai is one of the better options, I tried to get him into bed more than once but he’s never bitten, much to my displeasure. Now that you are together...I get to know first-hand everything I could ever want and if the need arises and you want some advice or tips I will be more than happy to lend a hand, quite literally if possible.” Heechul spoke with a wide grin and teasing tone and it was in that moment you realised that they had been stringing you along.

You couldn’t help but laugh at your own gullibleness and Heechul in general. “Oh my god you’re actually the most perverted person I know.”

“Takes one to know one, it’s why you love me so much,” Heechul said with a wink.

All six of you settled into your seats then waiting for the teacher to arrive and the school day to begin. Bora was noticeably absent, apparently, she was with the new girl helping her find her way around and gather her timetable. You couldn’t help but to let your mind run wild with thoughts of this new girl, she was a runner like Bora so she was probably in great shape, as well as that she was described as a “goddess” does this mean she has a great personality or is she stunning or even both? With the excitement drummed up around her already, you couldn’t help but feel almost threatened by her arrival.

It appeared that today fate had a sense of humour as you weren’t left to ponder long. The door swung open and accompanying the teacher was Bora and besides her was a girl with cascading ebony hair, large doll-like eyes and figure to die for. It was impossible to decide on one area to focus on since everything about her was seemingly perfect, Her cat-like face shape, her pillowy, pink-stained bow lips even the atmosphere she created was so enticing and she had an undeniable charm about her without her even having to do a thing. “Class as you know we have a new student joining us today this is Goo Hara.”

[gigapoodle]

My Big Ass Long Necessary Rant Post Comparing Persona 3 and 4

Literally the most indulgent shit ever I just beat P4 and I gotta talk about it turn your eyes away unless you care for some reason

Things Persona 4 Did Better Than Persona 3

-The Social Links, oh MAN they were so much better in this game. Persona 3 had some pretty mediocre Links (Tanaka and that one fat cult kid immediately come to mind, also the student club kid who was obsessed with the cigarette). I don’t think any of the links were bad at all? Hell even the ones that I thought were gonna go sour (the Nurse one started off rough) ended up taking a really interesting turn. I also think that P3 relied too much on Social Links for random people I don’t care about, whereas so many of the SLs in P4 were already established, like Nanako and Dojima, all of the investigation friends (seriously P3, why couldn’t I SL Akihiko or Junpei?? What the hell???). It was just so much more rewarding in the end and I loved all of them. 

-To add on to the point above without making the paragraph too long; I like how all of your friends were INVOLVED in the plot before you even get to do their SL. The whole Shadow Self thing was so clever and made the characters so much more interesting. Like Kanji? SO interesting. Struggling with concepts of masculinity and his own self image, and you know all of this BEFORE you even start the SL, so when you do get around to it it is much more interesting and fleshed out. I’m so happy about all of this

-The whole Romance thing. P3 handled it terribly. Apparently in P3 I wanted to date everyone (no choice on just being friends!) and if I talked to too many girls it would screw up the whole system. In P4 everybody still wants to fuck you but at least it doesn’t screw up my other SL links thank God (but I would like it if I didn’t have to be romantically interested in every girl plz and thank you)

-THANK GOD I COULD CONTROL MY TEAM LIKE HOLY SHIT....thank GOD. Now they actually felt like super strong teammates with something on the line rather than robots who I hoped wouldn’t do something fucking stupid. (I’m pretty sure Junpei killed himself literally 10 times during the Nyx fight and I couldnt’ do anything but watch.) 

-P4 protag was still the most powerful member of the team but wasn’t blatantly OP like P3 protag

-Being able to look at what the fuck my skills actually did was a godsend (like I remember the difference between Masukukaja and Marakukaja, jesus) 

-Social events were generally funnier and better. I laughed like 10x more in this game than in P3. (God bless Kanji and Yosuke tbh)

-The individualized dungeons were much more fun to go through. Tartarus becomes a fucking drag around level 150, but jumping from a sauna to a strip club to an underground secret base? LOVE IT

-Music was generally catchier and I found myself humming along too it way too often 

-Way more save points, thank GOD (although they did screw me over at one point so this isn’t that much of a bonus)

-I like that when Rise couldn’t scan the enemy for weaknesses, I just had to figure them out on my own. Made the dungeons enjoyably harder. I also appreciate that healing spells cost less in this game, considering how much you need them. 

-Having the after-battle reward be basically ONLY personas was a smart move. The addiction of the Tarot Card Bonus/Drawback was a super neat feature as well that I absolutely loved. 

-Rise got on my nerves much less as an announcer lady than Fuuka. (Teddie was the worst though. Thank god we only had him for a little while.)

Things Persona 3 Did Better Than Persona 4:

-Even though P4 made a huge improvement with the battle system by allowing you to control your teammates, P3 had a vastly better battle system imo. The three different physical attacks (Slash/Strike/Pierce or whatever) made physical attacks actually feel lie they matter. P4′s system was way too watered down and as a consequence I never used Light/Dark ONCE and it felt a little too easy. 

-Better pacing. There were set dates for when I had to finish dungeons of Tartarus, and I could do whatever I wanted during those times. Afternoons were always free for SLs since exploration was at night. In P4, the fact that dungeon crawling took up an entire afternoon on top of the fact that I never really knew when the fog was gonna settle in made it hard for me to plan out everything. (I ended up having a lot of unfished SLs in P4 which pisses me off.) (P4 tries to make up for this by moving some SLs into the evening but it wasn’t enough.)

-Much better ending. Once you found out who the killer was for P4, everything just felt anticlimatic. His boss battle wasn’t even that bad. And then he turns out to be the opening battle for some weird God eye that I don’t give a shit about. It felt like nothing was really at stake and it was just weird. But P3? You knew your damn destiny. The world was gonna end and you literally had no hope but you fought anyways. The entire MONTH leading up to that felt so somber and powerful. Climbing up the stairs on that final day to battle the Strega members and then finally, Nyx (in a boss battle that took a HOUR AND A HALF on top of some cool symbolic shit where the protagonist literally dies) it as just...something, man. And then everyone meets on the roof as you die, like...it’s so neat. P4 felt like they were trying to live up to that while still keeping the wacky cartoony vibe and it didn’t work out. 

-The theme was much stronger in this game, and holy shit was it powerful. I get that P4′s whole thing was discovering the True Self, but it doesn’t really tie into the ending imo, nor the murder mystery shit. P3′s theme of Death is much more powerful and well written in the story. Everyone in this game has had at least ONE person die in their life, and seeing how everyone copes with it is sooo interesting. And dealing with the futile fact that everyone dies eventually with Nyx like....so fucking cool. And to top it all off, YOU die. The P4 protag doesn’t discover shit about himself (maybe in Golden? idk). Very very cool 

-Evokers are way way way cooler than some fog glasses. 

-Music was much better in this game. It was so damn unique. And it worked! It was weird and kinda glitchy at times but it worked so damn well! 

-More on the battle system - I’m really sad they took away group member healing in P4 because that was so helpful. I’m also sad they took away general healing of everything whenever you went back to the base of Tartarus. That made it so much easier to grind and just get through Tartarus. Forcing me to only heal SP by paying the fox a shitton of money (and man this is the first RPG I’ve played in a while where money was actually on shortage and a problem) made it suck. It took away precious time from SLs that I needed. 

Things They Both Need To Work On:

-Is Japan just super fucky about social issues? It was way worse in P3 but man do I feel played over by P4. Like the whole Kanji thing, CLEARLY his Shadow stuff was alluding to him possibly being gay, but they pull the rug under form you at the last second and throw that out the window. Same with Naoto - there was literally DIALOGUE about how she wanted to be a man but they threw that away too! Why??! They gotta stop skirting around these things. Also why are all of the dudes so pervy in these games? Junpei and Yosuke sucked about that, both games HAD to have a weird men-accidentally-walking-in-on-bathing-girls scene (P3 literally had a MINIGAME baed on it ffs). Also they are really mean about fat people in these games and always make them the butt of the joke. Stop it Persona 

-This Good Ending/Bad Ending shit. WAY worse in Persona 4 but P3 still had it. I think that’s part of the reason why P4′s ending was eh? because even though you face the final boss, of course there’s a TRUE ending where you face ACTUAL God instead of EYEBALL God. Ugh. Also they made it way way WAY too easy to get the Bad Ending in P4. Like you literally have to use a guide not to get the Bad Ending. At least P3 made it very obvious how not to get the Bad Ending and they didn’t do any of that true ending bullshit.... (I guess they kinda did with The Answer but THE POINT IS STOP WITH THESE MULTIPLE-HOUR ENDINGS GOD)

-Please give me female friendships where they don’t end in fucking. It complicates things so much and makes me feel weird. 

Overall Verdict:

I like them both equally and cannot place one over the other. Persona 3 felt more cohesive and satisfying but Persona 4 had a better cast and was arguably more enjoyable. I think that P3 will always have a special place in my heart since it was my first Persona game and it just fucking blew me away, on top of the fact that it took me about 4 months to complete whereas Persona 4 took me like 3 weeks (whoops). I think that Persona 4 tried to tackle too much (murder mystery while also keeping their whole ‘facing god and humanity’s fragility and flaws’ thing) whereas Persona 3 arguably did too little at times. But in the end this game is probably now my 2nd favorite series (behind Fire Emblem) and you can bet your sweet ass I’m getting P5 literally the moment it comes out. I’m almost salivating over it. I’ve already got PQ and P4A to tide me over while I wait so! 

[purplelizardman]

Writing Compelling Character Backstories

I often receive compliments on the character backstories that I write and the DM never skims my backstory. It wasn’t always this way: I used to just think of a cool character and write about it.

But then I’d get into the writing and before I knew it, I had multiple pages about this REALLY COOL character. 

The DM would skim it and none of the backstory would really come up, much to my disappointment.

When you hand the DM your 4 page backstory.

Over time I developed a method to save myself from writing backstory that would go unread and, consequently, save the DM’s time.

A good backstory is:

Brief

Relevant

Connected

If you can write a backstory that does all of these you’ll be in good shape. 

Brief

“Brevity is the soul of wit.” -Shakespeare

People are busy: you and the DM. Be considerate of your time and the DM’s and don’t put a lot of extra detail into the backstory. Instead, crystallize it down into the essential points and let your character’s personality and backstory be revealed through roleplaying. 

Backstory gained at the table is worth 100 times backstory written on paper.

Reducing backstory down to its essentials also serves as the first gateway of quality: if your character backstory cannot be expressed in 3 short paragraphs or less, then your character concept is not well defined.

Don’t believe me? Let’s try a few examples:

One of the Maiar of Valinor, came to Middle Earth to oppose Sauron. Came to Middle Earth as part of the Istari, taking the guise of an old man in the hopes that the kings of Middle Earth would listen to his counsel. Bearer of Narya, the Ring of Fire.

Strained relationship with Saruman because of the gift of the Ring of Fire. On a quest to destroy the one ring and prevent the return of Sauron.

Refuses to be bound by any authority except the Valar who sent him to Middle Earth. Like Hobbits.

That was Gandalf right up until The Hobbit.

Let’s try another one:

Brother was kidnapped and tortured by gods who feared he would one day be their undoing. During the kidnapping, he received a scar from the War god, Aries. 

Was the youngest captain of Sparta’s armies. Received the (super cool) Blades of Chaos from Aries and became his champion, before Aries tricked him into killing his wife and daughter.

Now on a quest to redeem himself by killing the rampaging War god, Aries. Really likes breaking things and yelling a lot.

That was Kratos up until God of War 1.

The examples go on and on. If you cannot reduce the concept down to 3 short paragraphs, then you need to further define your concept.

This leads us to the second part of the method:

Relevant

Everything that appears in your backstory needs to be relevant. This means that it:

Ties the character to other characters, events, or places in the world. -OR-

Develops the characters ‘feel’ either via aesthetics (keep it minimal) or personality and disposition

That’s it. Describe where your character came from, an event or two of significance, their general disposition, and their motivation for adventuring. 

Protip: It’s often helpful to your DM to provide a few ‘hooks’ on the side. A hook is something or someone that your character will pursue. No DM is offended if you hand them three hooks and say “Here’s three things my character REALLY wants and will leap for every time.”

This brings us to the last part of the method:

Connected

Tabletop RPGs are a social game: don’t have an anti-social backstory. Write in events and reasons for your PC to be connected to the others in the party.

DO NOT write a “lone wolf” backstory that gives your character nothing to care about and no reason to adventure with the group. While great roleplaying may allow such a character to develop at the table, that’s rarely how this backstory unfolds.

Instead the lone wolf often makes it difficult for the DM and other players to motivate their character, resulting in bogged down sessions and the character frequently being left out of decision making.

Instead, incorporate the other party members even if it’s just a brief sentence “Likes hobbits” “Values friends” “Unusually enthralled by warforged” etc…

Lastly, if your character is entering the game after level 1, make sure to tie in some motivation that is relevant to the current plot. This could be a reason to pursue the big bad evil guy, a desire or need to seek the plot McGuffin, or (if the others players are OK with it) even a close, personal relationship with one of the other Player Characters i.e. friend, cousin, sister, etc…

  Troubleshooting Tips

Writing is messy work and tabletop games can make it more messy. If you’re having trouble applying this method, here are some tips to make it easier:

What if I can’t write just 3 paragraphs?

Tabletop games are imaginative games and sometimes we can’t constrain our imagination to a mere 3 paragraphs. That’s OK!

When that happens, write your full story and keep it for yourself, think of it as the “Detailed Version” of the backstory that has the details you need if the DM or the other players ask for more information. Then take one sheet of paper and the Detailed Version: you’re going to use it to write a few things on that one sheet of paper:

Appearance – No more than 2 sentences describing your character’s appearance

Demeanor/Outlook/Personality – No more than 2 sentences describing  their personality and alignment

Backstory – No more than 6 sentences describing backstory

Adventure hooks/goals – Write 3 adventure hooks or character goals: things the DM can use to motivate your character

Relationships/contacts – Write 1-3 contacts or relationships that are important to your character. It could be another PC or it could be their mother, sister, best friend, teacher, etc…

If you are still stuck at this part, approach it kind of like writing a dating profile: keep it light, make it interesting. Save the detailed backstory for yourself and use it to build your own character knowledge.

A sample 1 page backstory sheet (click for download)

When you are done, format your 1 page document so that it’s easy to read and hand it to the DM. No DM should consider it too much and most will be thankful to have all this information clearly described on one page.

What if I don’t know who I’m playing with or the major plot?

This is a common problem with new people joining a group or creating a new group. In this case, first work with your DM to discuss what a good character motivation would be, they will usually be able to give you a vague idea without giving away too much of the plot.

If you’re still having trouble, talk to another player and consider having your characters acquainted i.e. friends, cousins, adventured together before, went to wizard school together, etc… this can make it easier to build party cohesion and make character introductions flow smoother.

  A Real Play Example – Zan Zalladar the Insane Mystic

Below is an example of a backstory used in a real game. It was for a character being introduced into a higher level campaign. My previous character had been violently murdered and the party was in the far reaches of the arctic, meaning that the new character would have to come from one of the crew that was manning the expedition along with the PCs.

The character joined up right before the “planar exploration” phase of the game and I wanted a backstory that really reflected the heroic aspects of high-level play. While this is a bit on the longer side, it fit really well into the campaign and provided solid motivation for the character to stick with the party: he was a spy and the party was pursing leads straight to the doorsteps of the gods.

  Zan Zalladar was the oldest son of a wealthy merchant until his vessel met misfortune and sank during a long voyage. Seven years later, Zan emerged from a harbor in the human lands to find that his father had passed and his three younger brothers had taken control of the entire inheritance after presuming Zan to be dead. Eerily calm, Zan chose not to fight his brothers for the inheritance and, instead, enlisted in the navy. He has been serving on various ships ever since.

If you ask Zan Zalladar what happened during the seven years he was away, he will tell you that he was taken to the kingdom of the god of the ocean and there it was that Zan fell in love with his daughter. The god of the ocean did not think him worthy and so, to prove his worth, each day he was given a task to perform; each day Zan Zalladar completed his task and was allowed to stay another day. Love flourished between Zan and the goddess daughter of the ocean. However, no living mortal is allowed in the domain of a god for more than seven years and so at the end of those years Zan was sent back to the surface with the blessing of the ocean god and a promise of betrothal to his daughter should he ever return.

Zan knows there is only way to be reunited with his love: to become a god. Each day Zan works to prove himself, to grow and master and exceed himself. He will be reunited with his love or he will die trying.

  The DM really liked the backstory and ended up tying it one with one of the major antagonists of the campaign (an aboleth). The big reveal, worked out between myself and the GM as the character progressed, was that the character was actually insane and working for the Aboleth who he believed to be a god.

This is one of the longest backstories I’ve used in a long time, but it was worth it to capture the mythic feel as of our campaign. Practicing brevity is difficult and it takes time to master, but if you keep honing your writing skill you will save yourself and the DM a lot of time and unread backstory.

    For more writing tips, custom traps, NPCs, and encounters used in actual play or for more advice about building memorable characters and worlds, subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

    Writing Compelling Character Backstories was originally published on Friendly Neighborhood Lizard Man