#their main language is medieval english but mostly use modern english so no one is confused about what he saying

[kr9vorebeazt]

When ur Regretevator OC is a draconic version of a default Xbox Roblox avatar

Anyways, behold, and witness, the dragon who keeping the whole treasure since their medieval ages

[thenightling]

Explaining the four main characters of The Witcher (Netflix series) for newbies

Here I am going to explain the four main characters of The Witcher as simply as possible for people curious about The Witcher and don't want to watch it just yet but don't feel like scrolling through Wikias. Note: This is *SPECIFICALLY* in regard to the Netflix versions of the characters. This is not explaining The Witcher novels. It is explaining the Netflix TV show characters. I am also going to try to keep things as simple as possible so I will limit what characters I mention and locations. With that in mind let's proceed.

__________________________

Geralt of Rivia - Geralt of Rivia AKA The Witcher is a man of indeterminate age though he has a certain older world weariness about him. He has yellow wolf-like (or cat-like) eyes that give him an inhuman look. His hair is entirely white and it is indicated that his hair has been white since he was a little boy. Geralt was trained since childhood to be a monster hunter. The word for a monster hunter in the original Polish novels was Wiedźmin. Andrzej Sapkowski (author of The Witcher) wanted the word Hexer for the English language translation but "The Witcher" was the chosen English language title and it stuck.

Because of alchemical modifications done to Geralt as a child he does not age as normal people do. And he is sterile (unable to biologically father children) much like the immortals of Highlander. The process of training him to be a monster hunter required magical and alchemical mutations, including giving him his inhuman golden eyes and the consuming of potions to enhance his strength, senses, agility, and healing abilities. It was one of these quasi-unpredictable potions that made Geralt's hair grow in white. He cannot die from normal diseases or old age. Geralt wears a silver wolf's head medallion that vibrates when a monster is near by. A monster cannot touch this medallion. He also carries one sword made of iron and another made of silver as these metals are the most common weaknesses for supernatural threats. The golden eyes, white hair, and wolf's head silver medallion gave Geralt the nickname of "The White Wolf." Because Witchers are transformed to make them more efficient monster hunters, many people do not trust them. There are also false rumors such as the claim that Witchers do not feel emotions. Geralt does not correct these claims but those close to him know that he actually feels things and feels things very deeply. Geralt has a horse named Roach (Not named for the insect. It's actually a type of small fish and it's meant to be similar to naming his horse "small fry" or "Tiny.") Geralt wanders the countryside of The Continent (a Europe-like landmass in a medieval-style fantasy world). This is not our world. It just resembles our world in the middle ages. Modern words like "Okay" and "mutant" creep into the vocabulary. Sidhe (known as elves in this lore) used to be the dominant race in this world before humans came along and many humans in power want them to be subjugated but some actually think their world would be much better off if the Sidhe were in power again. Geralt wanders this land of empires and micro-kingdoms, fighting monsters for pay (and sometimes just out of pity) but usually not lingering any place too long because people are fearful and suspicious of Witchers. Sometimes Geralt sides with the supernatural creatures if he feels the humans are the ones in the wrong. He mostly only involves himself if he knows innocent lives are in danger and it doesn't matter to him if those innocent lives are human or non-human.

_____________________________________

Jaskier - Known as Dandelion in the English language versions of the novels and "Buttercup" (Jaskier directly translates to Buttercup) in the original Polish. Jaskier is the stage-name of a very flamboyant bard. In the world of The Witcher a bard is more of a troubadour or minstrel who performs songs at inns for profit. They are mostly treated like low to mid-level rock musicians. Jaskier eventually earns the fame and success of a medieval-esque equivalent of a mid-level rock star. Jaskier is a very pretty and youthful looking forty-something. Jaskier "is in his forties, looks thirty, thinks he's twenty and acts like he's ten." Jaskier befriended Geralt of Rivia though Geralt was very reluctant to accept Jaskier's friendship at first. Jaskier composes songs about Geralt's adventures. Jaskier does this for profit for both himself and Geralt and also to make people more comfortable and trusting around the mysterious Witcher (Monster Hunter). Over time Jaskier becomes more than just a slightly self-absorbed musician with a persona named for a flower.

Geralt's sympathy for the outcasts and outsiders has a major impact on Jaskier.

Jaskier starts to sympathize more and more with the Sidhe and others who have been wronged or oppressed. He creates a new persona for himself of The Sandpiper. He uses his free range of wandering as a bard to help smuggle people out of dangerous situations and into places of safety. Most people do not know that the semi-famous, and flamboyant, bard, Jaskier, is also the infamous Sandpiper a bit like Percy in The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Jaskier is a little hot-headed and often doesn't think before he speaks. He's also a bit promiscuous and this gets him into trouble. Geralt has had to rescue him repeatedly.

It is heavily implied that Jaskier has an unrequited crush on Geralt (See the song "Burn Butcher Burn") which even Yennefer noticed was about Geralt. Jaskier would follow Geralt to the ends of the Earth if he asked him.

_____________________________________ Yennefer - Yennefer is a sorceress. As a child Yennefer was a physically disabled hunchback with beautiful violet eyes. She had bone and spinal deformities that made her suffer as an outcast. Yennefer started to show magical potential near puberty. Yennefer is actually part human and part Sidhe, which is why she has such potent magical abilities and it is why she has such unique, purple eyes. Yennefer got taken to a magical school where many of the students are sacrificed and few actually gain the title of sorceress. Yennefer survives this dark Scholomance and magick is used to transform her disabled body into a beautiful one with perfect posture. She deliberately chose to keep the violet eyes. There was a terrible price for this magical transformation. Yennefer's womb was taken from her. She can no longer bear children. It is not likely that (with her disabilities) she was going to be able to carry a child to term with her original body anyway. Yennefer smells like pure lilac flowers and sweet-tart gooseberries, which just happens to be Geralt of Rivia's favorite scent.

Yennefer is bitter and resentful because she cannot forget how she was treated as a child just because she was different. She ultimately comes to regret choosing to give up her womb, wishing to be able to biologically bear children.

Geralt of Rivia is able to tell what Yennefer was like before her magical transformation and sympathizes with her sense of being an outsider. He starts to fall in love with her, despite himself, especially after she helps him save Jaskier's life after a bad encounter with a djinn (a free Genie). Yennefer's obsession with being able to bear children has gotten her into a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

Because of her own magical powers and physical transformation, Yennefer does not age as ordinary people do, so much like Geralt she is not likely to die of disease or old age. Yennefer is very beautiful but her age is undeterminable.

_____________________________________ Ciri - Ciri is the princess of a fallen kingdom. When Ciri's mother was pregnant with her, Geralt of Rivia accidentally invoked "Law of Surprise" in front of her. Law of Surprise is a sort of magical spell that invokes Destiny itself to intercede and give you something that the other person does not yet know that they have. This can be as simple as a sack of flour the person did not know was in their pantry or a new horse. Whatever the person next receives or realizes they have that they didn't know they owned, now belongs to whoever invoked Law of Surprise.

When Geralt realizes he had accidentally invoked this irrevocable spell in front of a pregnant royal he fled the kingdom rather than take someone's baby.

Twelve years later Ciri was the only survivor when her family castle was sieged. When Geralt found out about this he finally accepted his Destiny and adopted the orphaned princess. Ciri is no mere damsel. She learns about the cruelties of the world and the plight of the underprivileged and she shows a natural inclination to become a Witcher, herself. To complicate things, Ciri is of a rare and unique bloodline that makes her the direct descendant of the very first Witcher (The Witcher: Blood Origin) even though the majority of Witchers are sterile. Like Yennefer there is some sidhe blood in Ciri. Ciri's scream has supernatural abilities and she has other powers she has not yet tapped into. There are people in power who want to get a hold of Ciri for political purposes. Though The Witcher Netflix series is an adaptation of the books and not the spin-off video games, one of the endings of The Witcher 3 video game has Ciri abandoning her royal heritage and choosing to become a Witcher, herself, like Geralt (her adoptive father), and for her this is the happiest ending because this was her own choice and no one forced her into it or used and exploited her. Though The Netflix series isn't likely to follow the same lore as the video games (as the video games made up their own continuity) I still hope for this ending for Ciri. She seems most happy as a Witcher.

[brindlle]

l've had this writing blog for a while but have never actually said anything about my own writing (oops), so I guess an intro post is in order lmao and it only took 3+ years

About me:

I'm an Ashkenazi Jew

I'm 26 and would prefer not to follow or be followed by minors. If you're a minor and you do follow me, keep it to yourself lol. Please for the love of g-d don't tell online strangers how old you are

I live in the US and my first language is English, but I do unfortunately speak French and will sometimes write in it

I'm a cartographer and have been making maps since I was 11. I recently got ahold of some great art supplies and my maps have reached professional levels so if anyone would like a continent drawn from their fantasy novel, l'm your guy!

l'll be going back to school soon to become a librarian and might eventually pursue archiving and bookbinding on top of that

I've been researching the publishing industry since I was 10 and have spent more than half my life hyperfixated on it so if you'd like an extremely in-depth guide on traditional publishing I am more than happy to info-dump at you (l even wanted to become a literary agent as a child!)

About my writing:

I write adult dark fantasy and romantic horror; not smut, but very much not for kids. It's not grimdark so think less GoT or the Witcher, and more like Mexican Gothic and The Fifth Season

I mostly write full novels but have been getting back into short stories, flash fiction, and stories told in letter format (the latter of which I use to piss off the Jehovah's Witnesses who keep trying to get me to join their church). l've also partially written a novella which is a first for me!

I prefer reading adult fantasy, especially when it has a modern setting—absolutely no medieval Europe for me please—but YA covers are just too fucking pretty, man. I also really like reading adult literary fiction and contemporary, as well as adult historical fiction. (Bonus points if historical fiction has speculative elements à la The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.)

Every single one of my works is interconnected by one very specific detail, even though they're all set in different worlds (or in the case of the novella, in many different worlds because it's about a middle-aged dimension hopping couple). They might seem entirely unrelated at first glance but there is always at least a sentence or paragraph connecting the work to all of my others like one giant web, and it all leads back to my main series

I have a fuck ton of pdf files for books on publishing, editing, etc etc so if you want them hmu. I also usually have unused 3-12 month subscription codes for all kinds of writing programs and webinars and am more than happy to give those codes away (for free obv)

Uhhhh yeah that’s basically it this has gotten super long and I’ve written this all while half-asleep so here’s a wip map of a continent from my main series, plus a mountain sketch and a volcano test yeahhh bye

[postmodernbeing]

Shingeki no Kyojin headcanons: 104th training corps (College AU)

Hello, Postmodernbeing here. This time I wanted to write about things that I actually know, since I’m a college student and I’m studing History and Social Sciences I found myself wondering about what would the 104th training corps focus their studies on if all of them had chosen humanities as their career. I hope you find this funny and at least a bit accurate.

IMPORTANT:  I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin, only these HCs are my own. // Might contain a few spoilers from the manga. // English is not my first language and I study uni at Latin America, so scientifical terms/words/concepts may vary. Anyhow, I thank you for reading and for your patience.

Eren Jaeger

He’s passionate about Military History, not to be confused with history of army. Eren’s rather focused in strategies, weapons and semiotics involved in military speech.

First started with books about great wars in modern era. The use of certain weapons took him by surprise due the technological development.

Then he took classes about discourse analysis, semiotics and such, and felt inspired by the discourse reflected in emblems, uniforms, flags, etc.

Eren doesn’t really have a preference between occidental or oriental, North or South, Modern or Ancient settings. He would simply devour all the books that deal with military strategy and warlike conflicts. Although he has more experience and information about great wars in modern era.

He’s fascinated with the inexhaustible human desire of freedom and the extent that it can reach. This fascination might not be very healthy, he concludes.

Also, finds a cruel beauty in violence when showed in freedom and ideals are protected over one’s own life. But he won’t tell his classmates or professors. He knows is a controversial opinion for he’s still aware the implications of massive conflicts and the abuse of power.

One thing led to another, Eren is now taking classes and reading about philosophy in war and anthropological perspectives about violence through time.

He’s so into social movements besides his main interest in college: “No one’s really free until all humanity is”, that’s his life motto pretty much.

Due his readings and researches he decided it was important to develop a political stance about the world’s problems. Eren strongly believes all lives worth the same, but systems and nations had imposed over others and vulnerated other human's lives.

Yes, Eren is anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist.

Mikasa Ackerman

Asian Studies Major / History Minor.

She thinks by studying these degrees, she pays honor to her heritage. Specially to her mother. Her family is the proudest for Mikasa is also the best student in her whole generation.

Mikasa received a scholarship thanks to Azumabito family, who are co-founders of an academic institution dedicated to Asian historical and cultural research. She might as well start working when she graduates.

Although she’s passionate about Japan’s history, she has written a few articles and essays about Asian Studies themselves and the importance of preserving but also divulging by means of art and sciences.

In her essays and research work, she likes to employ tools from many disciplines since she strongly believes all humanities and social sciences serve the very same purpose at scrutinize the social reality all the same. Might as well use demographics, ethnology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, archeology, and so on. For it proves to bring light into questions that history by itself could answer unsatisfactorily (in Mikasa’s opinion).

Even her professors wonder how she manages to organize that much information and pull it off successfully. She might as well be more brilliant than a few PhD’s students.

Armin Arlert

Prehistoric studies / Archeology

He’s so into the studies about the prehistoric humans and routes of migration.

Passionate about the ocean and natural wonders since kid, Armin believed his career would be environmentalist or geoscience related.

That was the agreement he had with his grandad since middleschool, until he read Paul Rivet’s “The Origins of the American Man” book and captured him thoroughly. The way the book explained logically the diverse theories about global migration and enlisted the challenges of modern archeology -for there are numerous mysteries- simply devoured his conscience.

He knew from the books he’d read that most evidence of the first settlements are deep under dirt or far away in the ocean whose level has risen over the centuries leaving primitive camps – and answers – unreachable. 

That’s the reason he is so eager to study and give his best to contribute both archeology and history disciplines. Also, he’ll forever love the ocean and nature, just leave him do all the fieldwork, please.

Jean Kirstein

History of industry / Industrial heritage / Historical materialism

Jean first started interested in capitalist industries and production development in first world countries. Kind of rejected other visions and explanations since he’d read about positivism studies.

His interest in such matters started when he was a just boy. He often found himself wondering how things were made and that question captured him ever since. As he grew up, he realized that machines and industrial processes were highly involved in the most mundane objects creation.

Nonetheless, he learnt that not always the best machinery was used, nor the best work conditions were available for mass production. From that moment he’d started to read about the First Industrial Revolution and his mind just took off with questions. Invariably, he learned about labour struggle and the transforming power due workforce.

Between his readings and university classes, he’d knew more about labour movements, unions. And in the theoretical aspect, he'd learned about historical materialism analysis.

One could say that Jean possesses a humanistic vision of the implications in mass production under capitalist system along history and nowadays.

Marco Bodt

Royalty's history / Medieval Studies 

I wanted to keep his canonical fascination to royalty and the best way to do that was including Medieval Studies.

Marco would study since the fall of Roman Empire until the latest gossip of royal families all across Europe.

Might get a bit of Eurocentric with his essays but in real life discussions he’s always open to debates about decolonization. He has even read Frantz Fanon books and possesses a critical thinking about colonial countries and their relations with the so named third world.

Nevertheless, Marco finds a strange beauty in the lives of monarchs and he’s interested in study from their education, hobbies, strategies, relationships, everything.

I’d say that his favorite historical period is probably the establishment of the descendants of the barbarian peoples in the new kingdoms such as the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Vandals, Huns, Saxons, Angles and Jutes (holy shit, they're a lot).

Because this would transcend as the beginning of his favorite matter of analysis.

Sasha Braus

History of gastronomy, development of cooking, antropology and archeological studies.

Sasha’s interested in the history that shows human development of food and cooking. She finds wonders when she inquires into cultural aspects from the first farming till modern artistic expressions that would involve food.

Such as gastronomy. But her attention got caught in literature’s food representation too, with its symbols and allegories, also in paintings that belong in still life movement, but also Sasha finds interest when food is used as rhetorical devices (for example: the apple in Adam and Eve’s myth).

She’s curious about primitive systems of irrigation, cultivation, food distribution, adaptation of wild species; as well as the domestication of animals, the diversification of the diet and its link with sedentary life, as well as the subsequent division of labor once the need for food was assured in humanity’ first cities.

Sasha’s convinced that alimentation is the pilar of civilization as we know it. For it involves cultural, artistic, economic, emotion and social aspects. Food is a microcosm of analysis of humanity.

Sasha hasn’t a favorite historical period or setting. But she definitely has a special fascination for first civilizations and their link with alimentation. Also, she likes to study the development gastronomy in occident world around different regions, social classes, and time.

Although, let’s be honest, Sasha would devour (lol, couldn’t help it) ANY book about agriculture, cattle raising, cooking or gastronomy. 

Connie Springer

Micro-history / History of everyday life.

Connie loves his hometown, has a deep respect to his family and traditions. That’s why he finds himself wondering about the most ordinary events that developed in his dear Ragako. 

The book “The Cheese and the Worms” by Carlo Ginzburg changed the way he used to understand history and capture him into meaningful discussions about what he learned was called micro-history.

His favorite quote from that book is: “As with language, culture offers to the individual a horizon of latent possibilities—a flexible and invisible cage in which he can exercise his own conditional liberty.”

Once deep into studying the Italian historians and their works, he decided to give it a try, and ever since he’s mesmerized with the mundane vestiges craftsmen that worked in his village left behind.

Connie’s parents are so proud of him and his achivements, but mostly because he became a passionate academic over human and simple matters, (so down to earth our big baby).

His attitude towards his essays and research works truly shows his great heart and humility. Connie is aware that academic works have no use if they are not meant to teach us about ourselves too and current times.

Empathy and hard work, that’s how one could describe the elements that integrate his recently started academic career.

Historia Reiss

Political History / Statistician

Her father’s family pressured Historia since she was a little girl into studying History just like his dad. For he’s a very famous historian that had made important researches and books about the greatest statesmen of Paradis.

She thought in numerous ways that she could sabotage her career or study any other career without her family’s consent and end with her linage of historians. But she ended up enrolling in tuition and so far, she is trying her best in her studies. Historia swears this is the right path for her.

But don’t let the appearances fool you, even thought she studies her father’s career and the very same branch of history’s discipline, she has her own critical sense and she’s so talented on her own, very meticulous with her research papers.

Definitely wants a PhD about women, power and politics. We stand a Gender Studies Queen.

Her complementary disciplines are Political Sciences. Historia also has a talent for philosophy and owns a diary with all her thoughts about them. She hopes one day she would write a book or a manifesto about an innovative methodology for research and teaching History of Politic Thinking.

Ymir 

Religion’s History / Theology

Just like Historia, Ymir was pressured into studying History. And if she’s totally honest, she still has some doubts about it. Even if she couldn’t imagine herself studying anything else.

Anyways, Ymir thought that she could build her career around topics that she enjoys. So, she finally chose theology for unusual reasons.

Her classmates had grown up in religious families or had experience studying the doctrines they practiced. But she, being an agnostic, found satisfaction in unraveling belief systems in different cultures and time periods.

Albeit she studies in Paradis’ University, she currently has the opportunity of taking an academic exchange at Marley’s University. This only made Ymir more conflicted about her future, for she wants to stay (near Historia) but she’s aware that Marley would offer her more academic opportunities for her specialization.

Nowadays she’s working in some collaborative research paper with some people from Mythological Studies from the Literature department. She’s nailing it, writing some historical studies about titans in Greek mythology and its impact in shaping neoclassical poetry. Her brains ugh, love her.

Reiner Braun

Official History / Biographies of heroes and great wars.

His mother convinced him with numerous books about great national heroes, but mostly because she knew that would mean sure job to her son. All political administration in every level requires of an official chronicler. 

When he started his college courses, Reiner felt motivated and he was actually convinced that he had the vocation. But the more he read the less sure he felt that the academic world was for him. He wondered if he made the right choice. If he did it for him or for his mother.

Stories and myths about heroes have always cheered him up. That gave him purpose and consoled him when feeling down. Or at least it was like that when younger. Reiner truly didn’t feel like himself when regretting his choices, but he couldn’t help it for he was changing in more than a way.

That’s why he decided to experiment with other disciplines and with time he would find joy in historical novels. He would analyze them just as good as a litterateur and research about historical context in the written story AND study the artwork’s context itself.

His favorites theorical books are: “Historical Text as Literary Artifact” by Hayden White and Michel de Certeau’ “The Writing of History”.·        

Heroes stories would always accompany him, just differently now.

Bertolt Hoover

History of mentalities / Les Annales

Intimate relationships, basic habits and attitudes. / Culture

Bertie has always been a much reticent and shy guy. As he grew up, he consolidated his sullen personality, but maintained a friendly attitude towards anyone who needed him. That’s why he thought that the priority in his studies was to be at the service of his classmates.

So, although he was passionate about research and was a fan of the French Les Annales current, he considered his mission to be in the Archive. As a cataloger, organizer and curator of ancient documents.

But the ways of History are always mysterious, and Doctor Magath showed him that other way of being was possible. Before Bertolt picked his specialty, he met Theo Magath, a professor who recently had finished writing a book: “The Idea of Death in Liberio’s Ghetto in Marley During its War Against Eldia (Paradis)” (long-ass titles are historians specialty btw). After Magath ended his book’ presentation, Bertolt reached him. They talked for hours and finally, he felt inspired into pursuing his true passion. Magath gifted him “The Historian’s Craft” by Marc Bloch as a way to reminding him his way.

By the time Bertolt took History of Mentalities as optional class, he already had some basic notions about Les Annales, Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, Jacques Le Goff and such. 

Being the gentle giant he is, Bertolt finds joy in reading about different lifestyles in diverse cultures. He constantly wonders about the origin of social constructs and the way they shape thinking as much as identity.

This boy is a wonder, he might not be the best in oral presentations or  extracurricular activities but sure as hell he’ll graduate with honors.

Annie Leonhart

Oral history, about institutions. Particularly, police and justice system in early XXs.

Albeit she got into the same University than Bertolt and Reiner, even shared classes and hopes, Annie regularly felt disconnected from her studies. With time she realized it wasn't due her career itself but rather because of the currents that her professors had suggested her taking. Until now.

Talking with Hitch and Marlow about their doubts concerning subjects and departments it came up the topics of history and present time but also oral history. She’d never heard something like that before. So, that very same week, Annie started searching for information about that.

She ended up with more questions: is it all of this just academic journalism? Or maybe sociology? When we can talk about regular history and when it starts being present time? If she introduces interviews due oral history, then that makes it an interdisciplinary work? Which are the best systems for analyzing data? Definitely, she’ll need help from anthropology and sociology departments if she wants to keep going. 

Contrary to her initial prognostic, philosophy and history of historic writing became her new allies, and the text “Le temps présent et l'historiographie contemporaine” (Present Time and Contemporary Historiography) by Bédarida among others, provided Annie another perspective. 

Regarding her favorite topics, she wouldn’t say that she selected them freely. They were just practical preferences. For institutions own extensive archives and numerous functionaries. One way or another, she ended up tangled in judicial system and police issues.

With new tools and object for studying, one could find Annie having a blast as detective too. Even if her academic essays focus on institutions’ history and configuration, she’s also working in corruption and more. She doesn’t do it because she believes it’s the right thing, but besides, the thrill of the tea is spicy. Although she won’t admit it. 

[genshinconfessions]

I ship klc but recognize people won't like it (more than other ships) but tag it all the same so people can avoid it (I also have a secret side blog for it as well, so it's not even on my main blog at all). I think some people on both sides are really weird about it. There was one twit thread I saw that their relationship based on the Chinese texts wasn't set in stone and that they, as a Chinese speaker in China, said that people could see it either way, based on subconscious internal factors basically. I think it's like when you go to a museum with a friend you met in college from a different city or country and they interpret a painting or art piece different than you. There's no "solid" or "correct" way to interpret it, and even the creator's intent can get lost or removed from their work, or be dismissed altogether (like in death of the author), so that's not even correct.

I don't see klc as brothers, adopted or not, because I didn't grow up with any adopted siblings. To this day, I don't even know anyone irl who is adopted or who has adoptive siblings. But someone who was adopted might be predisposed to seeing them of the more familial nature. Neither interpretation is right, but neither is also wrong.

So I think with Venti Jesus anon talking about it that way, it can go either way. Perhaps the Chinese culture of Mihoyo influenced the way the characters are written, even with Mondstadt being based on Germany (if you've never experienced the culture firsthand for a very long time, in any sort of writing, about anything, you won't grasp it and will make mistakes, and let your own personal bias, good or bad, influence the situation), but like I said, death of the author.

Also, "blood oaths" are a similar concept to sworn brothers, albeit performed differently and weighted differently. They're probably less in use than sworn brothers in the modern day, but they were definitely a thing. I feel like medieval Germany would have had such a concept. The other thing that comes to mind are rituals to be sworn in as a member of the yakuza in Japan, or the mafia in Sicily or America. All these aren't exact 1:1, and none of them have the cultural nuance as large as sworn brothers does in danmei, though.

Like you said, the translation in English is pretty bad. As someone who is a hobbyist fan translator, and has friends who are professional translators, I feel like they were given the bare minimum information and were probably worked to death for little pay. A lot of places will outsource to non-native English speakers but where English is a major language (my friend, for instance, lived and worked in South East Asia, where English is not spoken mostly day to day but many are fluent in it "enough" that it's cheaper to go to them; she's told me before that by nature of me being a native speaker, my JP->EN translations will sound more natural on a first pass than hers ever will). While I understand the probable work environments, it still leads me to be disappointed in it. I play with JP voices now in order to get a more robust feeling for a scene (I'm not that good at CHN yet). Regardless, this will also lead to some misinterpretations of anything or people taking the English translation as gospel since they can't speak any other language to let them think critically.

A lot of what the Genshin fandom does is in bad faith. Maybe it's a modern fandom thing, but an overwhelming majority of people seem to assume the worst in others at all times, too. Like, yeah, there was drama and stuff back when fandom was genuinely niche. With the movement of fandom to more mainstream, and especially with the advent of social media where fans can talk to creators directly, though, I feel like everyone is trying to fuck everyone over. It's no longer "it's just the vocal minority". Like people scrolling through years and years of tweets intentionally searching for something problematic (and even if the person in question genuinely apologizes, they get mad at that too).

I've sent a few asks in about this before (and also the suspicious food being fed to Zhongli ask, maybe I'll be Suspicious Zhongli Anon), but I seriously think people just need to respect boundaries and such. The last part isn't a commentary on other certain changes, I should add. I think change is good. I think holding people accountable is good. But I also think people need to understand that a lot of people, including them, who are very polarized in their opinions will not listen to anything, even facts. There's a lot of things people do that make me uncomfortable, but I try to block and forget about them, knowing that that's better than arguing with them constantly and exposing myself to more upsetting material. (This isn't even just with fandom stuff, either. People just want to feel morally superior with anything they do.)

TLDR: klc is up to interpretation and we should respect each versions.

i want to emphasize one thing that suspicious zhongli anon said:

an overwhelming majority of people seem to assume the worst in others at all times

BOY if this isn't true. just because someone doesn't ship jeanlisa or beiguang doesn't mean they're homophobic! just because someone ships kaeluc doesn't mean they support or engage in incest!

and i think a LOT of anons have said this before, but it is super important to realize that genshin is fiction, and fiction is never as simple as black and white.

the main point is this:

TLDR: klc is up to interpretation and we should respect each versions.

- katheryne from liyue

[willowgast]

Hi, i couldn’t find anything on ur blog about this but sorry if you’ve already answered something similar to it

I love that you’re taking medieval language studies, it’s so unique! I’d love to take courses about that too in the future because it seems really interesting. I’ve never seen anyone study such a niche discipline before—maybe medieval studies for fictional literature, but not specifically medieval languages. May I ask what you plan to do post-university? Like what can you even do/what jobs can you have with that kind of degree?

Have a great day!! :)

Heya, thank you so much for this ask!

It is a very niche field, but my degree/course/whatnot isn’t limited to medieval languages - it’s interdisciplinary and covers a range of aspects of medieval studies. So, I am taking papers in Old Norse (language & literature), Old English (language & lit), Medieval Irish (also both language and lit in combo), Scandinavian History (specifically Viking Age), Old English History (pre-Norman Conquest), and Palaeography & Codicology (studying old manuscripts, handwriting, how they were made, etc.). So it isn’t quite restricted to just medieval languages, but they form a sizeable part of the course and the field is still very niche.

The interdisciplinary aspect does however provide a better foundation for postgraduate options than I think just medieval languages would. People have graduated from my course going into museum work, schools, politics, libraries, even switching fields entirely to do their MA in STEM subjects! Many work in the arts, too, especially theatre and writing (one recent grad works as a playwright and drag king, another is rumoured to use their degree to write gay Odin fanfiction that I’m desperate to track down and see with my own eyes). Studying medieval literature attracts a lot of creative types, so that isn’t too surprising! A few others have gone into archaeology (in my course, we can borrow a paper from the university’s archaeology department in our second year), and some more have switched to modern languages for MA and gone into translation and interpretation work. One of my friends has plans to get into the publishing industry, and another is interested in journalism! The biggest field for alumni, though, is to just stay in academia - my department is tiny, so all the undergrads, master’s students, PhDs, and lecturers are on close-knit terms with one another, and a great many of the older department members just stuck around after finishing their undergrad course here. Four of my lecturers are graduates of this particular course/department, three of whom were all in the same cohort together and two of them now married to each other, and loads of the PhD students did either their undergrad, MA, or both here. Personally, my main plan is to just remain in academia, probably specialising in something to do with Old Norse literature or Scandinavian history. There’s a really great two-year MA course in Iceland that I’ve considered applying for (although I’m still only in my first year, I have a fair bit of time to go yet before I settle on a plan!), but that’s open to change, and academia definitely isn’t the only thing I’m interested in. Journalism and work in a library or museum have both appealed to me in the past and I may yet decide to go into one of them instead!

I hope that this has helped somewhat to give an idea of what kind of work is available with a degree in this field - it’s mostly confined to work in the arts, academia, education, and culture & heritage, but those are all fields that appeal to me, so I’m quite content with my future prospects even if I don’t currently know quite what I’m going to do. Finally, here is a link to the careers page on my department’s website, which has some links to profiles of past students and a list of past PhD graduates & what they’ve been getting up to in the academic world.

Hope you’re having a great day!

[rhyanneee]

World’s Literature

A. Southeast Asia

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ―  J.R.R. Tolkein

Southeast Asia is composed of eleven countries of impressive diversity in religion, culture and history: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Based on my research, the predominant themes of Southeast Asian arts have been religion and national history. In religion the main interest was not so much in actual doctrine but in the life and personality of the Buddha and the personalities and lives of the Hindu gods. In national history the interest was in the legendary heroes of the past, and this theme appeared only after the great empires had fallen and the memories of their glory and power remained. The Buddha image, which went through various stages of development, remained the favorite motif of sculpture and painting. The depiction of scenes from his previous lives in fresco and relief sculpture also had the purpose of teaching the Buddhist ethics to the people, as the Jatakas emphasized certain moral virtues of the Buddha in his previous lives; it also gave an opportunity to the artist to introduce local color by using, as background, scenes from his own contemporary time. The depiction of scenes from the Hindu epics also had the same purpose and gave the same opportunity to the artist. Many figures from the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures, such as gods and goddesses, heroes and princesses, hermits and magicians, demons and dragons, flying horses and winged maidens, became fused with similar native figures, and, gradually, folklore plots became merged in the general religious themes.

B. East Asia

“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. According to my research, some of the themes in East Asia literature are Immortality, Unfaithfulness, Disrespect in the Society, Abused Marriages & Families, Religion, Traditional Practices, Traditional Beliefs and Social Class. Some of the books in East Asia were concerned of the ethical practices that were common in their society. Some of them are about “respect.” Respect is one of the most cherished virtues in the society, and many of the East Asian literatures have always expressed this in different ways, especially the need to respect the elderly and those in power. Another common theme that comes out of the books focuses on the abused marriages. In the two cases, we witness marriage partners engaging in abusive acts against their wives or husbands. There are so many books which possesses such styles and themes in literature.

C. South and West Asia

“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.” ― P.G. Wodehouse

South Asia or Southern Asia is the southern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The West Asia region comprises of 12 member countries; Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, State of Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Based on my research, the peoples of South Asia have had a continuous literature from the first appearance in the Punjab of a branch of the Indo-European-speaking peoples who also settled all of Europe and Iran. In India this branch of Indo-Aryans, as they are usually called, met earlier inhabitants with different languages and no doubt a different culture—possibly a culture akin to that of the Indus Valley civilization, which had a script, and perhaps a literature of its own, of which nothing is known. Certain to have been settled in India were peoples who spoke languages of Dravidian origin, as well as other languages, called Munda, now preserved only by aboriginal tribes, which show affinities with the languages of Southeast Asia. In the Hellenistic period literature and culture flourished in Western Asia. Traditional literary forms such as lists continued to be produced by the native population and were adapted by the new rulers. While there is little evidence for the creation of new narrative literature, which may in part be due to the fragmentary nature of our sources, existing epics, wisdom texts, and folktales were retold, rewritten, and transmitted. Greeks living in Western Asia created historiographical, ethnographical, and geographical works about their surroundings, inspiring in turn the Babylonian priest Berossus to write a reference work on Babylonia in Greek. Much as during the Persian Empire, political instability and changes in power led to a diverse and independent culture of writing. Continuity in all genres, writing systems, and languages remains the most important characteristic of Western Asian literature at least to the beginning of the Christian era.

D. Anglo-America and Europe

“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.” ― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

Anglo-America most often refers to a region in the Americas in which English is a main language and British culture and the British Empire have had significant historical, ethnic, linguistic and cultural impact. Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Based on my research, like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a half, America was merely a group of colonies scattered along the eastern seaboard of the North American continent—colonies from which a few hardy souls tentatively ventured westward. After a successful rebellion against the motherland, America became the United States, a nation. By the end of the 19th century this nation extended southward to the Gulf of Mexico, northward to the 49th parallel, and westward to the Pacific. By the end of the 19th century, too, it had taken its place among the powers of the world—its fortunes so interrelated with those of other nations that inevitably it became involved in two world wars and, following these conflicts, with the problems of Europe and East Asia. Meanwhile, the rise of science and industry, as well as changes in ways of thinking and feeling, wrought many modifications in people’s lives. All these factors in the development of the United States molded the literature of the country. Western European literature could be viewed as a parade of movements—Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Futurism, Structuralism, and so on indefinitely. European literature refers to the literature of Europe. European literature includes literature in many languages; among the most important of the modern written works are those in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech and Russian and works by the Scandinavians and Irish. Important classical and medieval traditions are those in Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse , Medieval French and the Italian Tuscan dialect of the renaissance. European literature, also known as Western literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as several geographically or historically related languages. Diverse as they are, European literatures, like Indo-European languages, are parts of a common heritage belonging to a race of proud nations which boast the likes of Homer who wrote Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil who wrote the Aeneid, Dante who wrote Divine Comedy, Chaucer who wrote Canterbury Tales. These, and other literary masterpieces form part of what we call as Western Canon.

E. Africa

“Literature is a textually transmitted disease, normally contracted in childhood.” ― Jane Yolen

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.3 billion people as of 2018, it accounts for about 16% of the world's human population. Based on my research about Africa’s Literature. Afro-Asiatic and African languages together with works written by Africans in European languages. Traditional written literature, which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is most characteristic of those sub-Saharan cultures that have participated in the cultures of the Mediterranean. In particular, there are written literatures in both Hausa and Arabic, created by the scholars of what is now northern Nigeria, and the Somali people have produced a traditional written literature. There are also works written in Geʿez (Ethiopic) and Amharic, two of the languages of Ethiopia, which is the one part of Africa where Christianity has been practiced long enough to be considered traditional. Works written in European languages date primarily from the 20th century onward. The literature of South Africa in English and Afrikaans is also covered in a separate article, South African literature.

F. Latin America

“Literature is news that stays news.” ― Ezra Pound

Latin America is a group of countries and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere where Romance languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French are predominantly spoken. According to my research about Latin America’s Literature. Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Emerging Literary Trends. The Latin American wars of Independence that occurred in the early nineteenth century in Latin America led to literary themes of identity, resistance, and human rights. Latin American literature, the national literatures of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere. Historically, it also includes the literary expression of the highly developed American Indian civilizations conquered by the Spaniards. Over the years, Latin American literature has developed a rich and complex diversity of themes, forms, creative idioms, and styles. A concise survey of its development is provided here. For a history of literature written in Portuguese in Brazil, see Brazilian literature. Latin American literature refers to written and oral works created by authors in parts of North America, South America, and the Caribbean. Latin American authors usually write in Spanish, Portuguese, English, or a language native to their specific country. Latin American writers working in the United States can be classified as writing Latin American literature too. Latin American literature has a rich history starting in the Pre-Colombian period and working all the way up to modern day. With each period of Latin American history, came a genre that dominated the field. In this lesson, we will look at the main periods of Latin American literature, the genres that fueled those periods, and authors who are well known in Latin American literature.

Source: 

Wikipedia, Britannica, Google and Online Library.

Saunar, Rhenz Rhyanne 11 - St. Alypius

[lcnguor]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all have witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

Mun Name: Mik      Age: 26       Contact: IM, discord, smoke signal, whatever.

Character(s) I rp: Nora, Spike. Which muse(s) inspires you the most atm?(for MM): Nora, most likely Current Fandom(s): Fandomless Fandom(s) you have an AU for:  pretty much everything I find around and hop on. My language(s): spanish, english.  Themes I’m interested in for rp:   Fantasy / Science fiction / Horror / Western / Romance / Thriller / Mystery / Dystopia / Adventure / Modern / Erotic / Crime / Mythology / Classic / History / Renaissance / Medieval / Ancient / War / Family / Politics / Religion / School / Adulthood / Childhood / Apocalyptic / Gods / Sport / Music / Science / Fights / Angst / Smut / Drama / etc. Themes/Genres you have an AU for: modern without supernatural, I do have some fantasy set up but eh. 

Preferred Thread length: one-liner / 1 para / 2 para / 3+ / novella. Asks can be send by: Mutuals / Non-Mutuals / Personals / Anons. Can Asks be continued?:   YES / NO   only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO. Preferred thread type: crack / casual nothing too deep / serious / deep as heck. Is realism / research important for you in certain themes?:   YES / NO. Are you atm open for new plots?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Do you handle your draft / ask - count well?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. How long do you usually take to reply?:  24h / 1 week / 2 weeks / 3+ / months / years. I’m okay with interacting: original characters / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / my fandom / crossovers / multi-muses / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / canon-divergent portrayals / au-versions (as main or only verse). Do you post more ic or occ?:  IC / OOC. Are you selective with following others?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

Best ways to approach you for rp/plotting:  ask, IM, discord, singing telegram, smoke signals, messeger pidgeos -- whatever dude. I will most likely talk and ramble a lot, I do like plotting and I squeeze my brains out to think in ways to rp with ppl. and I really suck at approaching others. really...

What expectations do you hold towards your plotting partner:  Ideas and somewhat more enthusiasm than me. I tend to shy away or feel very much awkward right off the bat if the person approaches me with not much to say or give. And honestly, some people really intimidate me because I am too hard on myself, so giving a bit of a pat on the back makes me relax more. I deal with a lot of anxiety and I know people run away the second I show it. 

When you notice the plotting is rather one-sided, what do you do?:  Mostly when I am doing the talk or coming with ideas or looking generally more interested. It takes effort for me to get on things and actually do stuff but if it’s not the other way around I end up thinking they got bored of me. I am one hell of insecure person. As for what I do, if after many tries of trying to reach another person and end up feeling rejected or ignored, then ... I stop. What’s the point of insisting if the other person would just be awkward or not spare you a word?

How do you usually plot with others, do you give input or leave most work towards your partner?:  well, I usually ask first what the other thinks or have in mind, if nothing, I either suggest or start brainstorming with the other person. I know some who have dealt with me at first I seem like a dettached person but not having ideas really makes me feel like I have not much right to talk. I want to give yet without impossing or letting it twist my arm. I know for a fact nora’s lore really doesn’t help shit for most things. 

When a partner drops the thread, do you wish to know?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: if the thread was meaningful and we were really into it , then I would ask but as for the most, I don’t really bother with it. Sometimes people just lose muse, and even if I was enjoying it, I don’t have the right  to force someone or ask why they stopped. thread dropping is normal, i guess.  - What should your partner do when dropping a thread?:  whatever they want. telling me or not is up to them, I don’t really mind. RP is not something SUPER serious like it should be just perfect. I try to convice myself of this a lot.

What could possibly lead you to drop a thread?:  either because it was old as fuck, I couldn’t find muse or because it was lost in the void of tumblr’s amazing tracking system. - Will you tell your partner?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

Is communication in the rpc important to you?   YES / NO. - And why?:  if I do not have some idea of who am i rping with and what they have in mind, then it’s nearly impossible. being purely IC is really uncomfortable and could lead to a lot of misundertandings. - Are you okay with absolute honesty, even if it may means hearing something negative about you and/or portrayal?:  yeah. mostly yeah -- I mean, I will feel bad, I do have feelings, but I will take it with water. - Do you think you can handle such situation in a mature way?  YES ( but I will feel bad anyways ) / NO.

Why do you rp again, is there a goal?:  connect with others, ramble a lot about characters, have fun. I’ve been rping since i was 12 ( back then it was not big deal your age apparently ) and having to connect with other people by making these plots and stories and just having a fun time is something that brings me joy. There’s so much that can be done. And exploring my muses with other muses influences is really helpful to fill the holes left due indecisiveness.

Wishlist, be it plots or scenarios:  I wish people joined my lore more. Having muses that could be in the same story department as Nora in particular, would be hella and inspire me more. There is so much I have. Explore nora’s power is also something I want but it’s hard -- it’s very invasive and not many would really like it, feeling it’s meta. For now, I don’t really have other muses and Spike has her little crew outside tumblr.

Themes I won’t ever rp / explore:  umm, it’s hard to think in something in particular. But mostly stuff that collides with nora’s story/character. but there is a lot I am willing to explore.

What Type of Starters do you prefer / dislike, can’t work with?: casual starters are my fab. It’s easier to figure out how  to go or stop and think. plotted ones also work. as for what I dislike or cannot work with, things that force my muse to not act how they would? not giving me something solid is hard to handle. 

What type of characters catch your interest the most?:  I really like out of the norm muses, something that you see and say /oh , look at that/. Aesthetically, story wise or personality wise, something that goes out the usual troup most would use. I do have a guilty pleasure for opposite to my muse characters --- something that would really show the contrast with one another.

What type of characters catch your interest the least?:  Very basic ones? or those who try TOO hard to be special. A character that doesn’t fit in the context they are in, esp. in fandoms. HEAVILY divergent characters that just basically turn them into OCs. I know I sound like a bitch but I am the type who respect canon and the actual author behind the character too much. Also those that I don’t know much about? as in, the fandom never managed to catch my interest or smth in that line.

What are your strong aspects as rp partner?:  I know where is the line between fiction and reality. And that what your character does it does not reflect as the person you actually are. I am pretty laid back and I understand people’s views and reasoning. idk. I draw a lot if I am super invested ?

What are your weak aspects as rp partner?: I am super sporadic and can go from being super active to flat out dead for weeks. my mood swings a lot with the amount of attention I get, as horrible as it sounds. I am very anxious as a person for reasons ( not IRL mostly, just bad experience from previous partners ). I promise a lot but do little? honestly I will just bad mouth myself if I keep writing this.

Do you rp smut?:  YES ( tho mostly on discord ) / NO. Do you prefer to go into detail?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Are you okay with black curtain?:  YES / NO. - When do you rp smut? More out of fun or character development?:  both? - Anything you would not want to rp there?:  ehhhh, idk -- i don’t do as much to know what I don’t like here.

Are ships important to you?:   YES / NO / RELATIVE. Would you say your blog is ship-focused?:   YES / NO. Do you use read more?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES. Are you: Multi-Ship / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  Multiverse / Singleverse. - What do you love to explore the most in your ships?:  the very nature of human relations. I am talking about Nora big time here -- there is a lot to explore in her relations and how she reacts and acts towards someone is very very contextual. How much she fakes, how much she is sincere, how much she struggles or how relaxed can be. force her to show her real self, which is very hazy even for her as a task. Be very poetic deep and also very shallow. I particulary see her as a character that REALLY depends on her relation with the other muse -- but generally speaking for any of my muses: I love to explore them as a pair and as individuals. - What is your smut tag?: the unfamily friendly. ( new tag (?))

Are you okay with pre-established relationships?: YES / NO. - And what kind of ones?: Anything? I am open to anything honestly. As long as it makes sense.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- What could possibly make your Muse interesting towards others, why should they rp with this particular character of yours now, what possible plots do they offer?:  Anyone who is denying their feelings, are peculiar as an individual or anyone who needs an insight of themselves and the world around them. Nora is a mentor type of character, she is here to be a support and help others explore themselves and learn. Also if you are a minor, she will most likely try to get close to help -- one must protect the good sad kids.

- With what type of Muses do you usually struggle to rp with?:  Stubborn, very fixated with things. Who would not open themselves to other perspective without thinking someone is trying to change them. Also she would struggle a heck lot with psychopaths and sociopaths, or anyone that “doesn’t have a face” for her. - With what type of Muses do they usually work well with?:  Curious people, struggling ones, kids in general -- people that are willing to listen to her opinions and try to improve in a positive way. Also those who are quirky in a way. 

- What interests your Muse(s) in general:  rabbits, literature, interesting people, the unknown, learning, relationships of all natures.  - What do they desire, is their goal?:  Live long without letting her particularity ruin her -- for her kind nobody makes it past the 50s and she wants that , to conquer her ability and prove that even with something like she is ( they are ), it’s posible to live and be happy. have a family of her own, yeah she is that cheesy. - What catches their interest first when meeting someone new?:  Their actions and the emotions that they are carrying on their back.  - What do they value in a person?:    sincerity, willingness, enthusiasm. - What themes do they like talking about?:  a lot of phylosophic stuff, deep topics -- as well to casual things of life. about people and society. - Which themes bore them?:  excuses and avoidance -- people who are willing to drop everything and give up.

- Did they ever went through something traumatic?:  the attempt of suicide of her mother. and the successfull suicide of many of her peers. - What could possibly trigger them?:  any sort of threat or violence towards someone who does not asked for it. esp. her peers and family. - What could set them off, enrage them?:  Immoral ones. Those who are willing to stomp on others just to success in their goal. - What could lead to an instant kill?:  is not killing, but touch a hair of her family and you are done. same for her friends and protegees.

- Is there someone /-thing they hate?:  gorgers, suicide, her tired face. - Is there someone /-thing they love?:   her family and dear ones --- to a fault. rabbits or anything related to it.

Is your Muse easy to approach?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  any way is okay as long as is not threatening. - Where are they usually to find?:  during the night, in the streets -- during the day is either her workplace or her house. maybe a park near her apartment/location if she is feeling stuffy.

Something you may still want to point out about your muse?:  she is not a good person , she is willing to manipulate people and is constantly trying to impose her morals. but she is also very sensitive even if she doesn’t show it --- Nora does look tired for a reason , and one of them is because she cries a lot . 

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  @skyvar​ Tagging:  @batoushoujo​ , @obtainedloss​ , @lorddiiavolo​ , @evanesense​ , @sunpierce​ , @necrotrigae​ , @maljefe​ , @ethaeria​ , @calpio​ , @veiliisms​

[bleachintothemultiverse]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME. First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all have witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat Mun Name: Phoenix (Pho) (can also be called blaze-bc of my discord username. though i use that name for a oc)  Age: 17 (18 in august)     Contact: Discord, ims

Character(s) I rp: Aizen,grimmjow, Uryuu, renji, Byakuya, Kusaka, Hanataro Which muse(s) inspires you the most atm?(for MM):  Aizen, Grimmjow, Byakuya and Uryuu Current Fandom(s): Bleach, fullmetal alchemist,  Yugioh Fandom(s) you have an AU for:  Fullmetal alchemist : Brother hood, Yugioh My language(s): English, spanish //Kinda- im learning it// Themes I’m interested in for rp:   Fantasy / Science fiction / Horror / Western / Romance / Thriller / Mystery / Dystopia / Adventure / Modern / Erotic / Crime / Mythology / Classic / History / Renaissance / Medieval / Ancient / War / Family / Politics / Religion / School / Adulthood / Childhood / Apocalyptic / Gods / Sport / Music / Science / Fights / Angst / Smut / Drama / etc. Themes/Genres you have an AU for: Modern.

Preferred Thread length: one-liner / 1 para / 2 para / 3+ / novella. Asks can be send by: Mutuals / Non-Mutuals / Personals / Anons. Can Asks be continued?:   YES / NO    only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO. Preferred thread type: crack / casual nothing too deep / serious / deep as heck. Is realism / research important for you in certain themes?:   YES / NO. Are you atm open for new plots?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Do you handle your draft / ask - count well?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. How long do you usually take to reply?:  24h / 1 week / 2 weeks / 3+ / months / years. I’m okay with interacting: original characters / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / my fandom / crossovers / multi-muses / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / canon-divergent portrayals / au-versions (as main or only verse). Do you post more ic or ooc?:  IC / OOC. Are you selective with following others?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

Best ways to approach you for rp/plotting:  message me either on ims or discord. ^^ I am open up to any idea that you may have What expectations do you hold towards your plotting partner:   Uh knowing what muse they want to interact ahead of time.  Normally I can create a plot if they already know what Muse they want to rp with. How do you usually plot with others, do you give input or leave most work towards your partner?:   I say it kinda 50/50 I tried to build the plot equally with the rp partner.

When a partner drops the thread, do you wish to know?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?:  I know some things happen- so its okay if you don’t want to tell me if you are- I normally figure it out after weeks of not responding. (Unless you are a low activity blog- then i figure you are just busy ^^) - Will you tell your partner?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

Is communication in the rpc important to you?   YES / NO. - And why?:  Because communication is important, especially for plots we are winging mostly. and if they have any questions about how i portray a certain character. - Are you okay with absolute honesty, even if it may means hearing something negative about you and/or portrayal?:  I wanna say Yes. It really depends-  If its about me. I want to know why you say that especially if you don’t know me well and we could possibly clear up a misunderstanding or something. But if it for a character Yea sure. As long as it done explaining what they don’t like on it or if  there is something I could improve.  - Do you think you can handle such situation in a mature way?  YES / NO.

Why do you rp again, is there a goal?:  to explore my muses and expand on the more complex ones. (Like Aizen for example) Wishlist, be it plots or scenarios:   TYBW stuff. more Pendulum arc stuff for Aizen.   Muken Aizen related things.  What Type of Starters do you prefer / dislike, can’t work with?:  I can work with basically any type of starters? As long as it has a clear way to make interaction happen.

What type of characters catch your interest the most?:   Characters i’m familiar with. Characters that is well done (Especially Oc’s).  What type of characters catch your interest the least?:  Characters that seem way to Mary or gary sue. (More Oc related things).  Characters who are just- evil because they can be.

What are your strong aspects as rp partner?:  willing to learn about different fandoms. Open to literally anything. gets invested in ships easily.  What are your weak aspects as rp partner?:  Being to anxious to communicate. Forgetfulness. Loosing track of threads (Because threadtracker hates me-) Do you rp smut?:  YES / NO. Do you prefer to go into detail?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Are you okay with black curtain?:  YES / NO. - When do you rp smut? More out of fun or character development?:  I don’t rp smut.  - Anything you would not want to rp there?:  N/A Are ships important to you?:  YES / NO.

Would you say your blog is ship-focused?:   YES / NO

.Do you use read more?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES.

Are you:  Multi-Ship / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  Multiverse / Singleverse.

- What do you love to explore the most in your ships?:  Relationship building. Having moments that can be expanded on between the characters. Having relationship conflict. Even know i don’t rp smut- There is so much that can explored with ships that is more then just sex related things.

- What is your smut tag?: N/A

Are you okay with pre-established relationships?: YES / NO. - And what kind of ones?:  Familial, Friendship. 

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

//you said to pick my favorite muse- so here we go xD// - What could possibly make your Muse interesting towards others, why should they rp with this particular character of yours now, what possible plots do they offer?:  Oh jeez- he is the main villian of the series. One of the most unpredictable muses that I have. Possible plots- depends on the time line. If its in the pendulum era. Literally anything can happen. There is a large gap of time (9 years) of things that could of happen but the anime or manga didn’t show. The same goes with his Captain era. We don’t really see much then or anything relating to his time in Muken. There is a lot of different situations that could happen with the right other muse.  

- With what type of Muses do you usually struggle to rp with?: muses who are hopelessely romantics. muses who don’t have much to work with in a plot.    - With what type of Muses do they usually work well with?:  muses who has similar mind set as him or could be as unpredictable. . Characters that could possibly catch him off guard or catch his interest because of the way they act.

- What interests your Muse(s) in general:  evolution, Science related things. hollowification experimenting. becoming a god.  - What do they desire, is their goal?:   Their goal . It depends most verses  its to gain access to the royal realm and become the one true god, and change the soul society. - What catches their interest first when meeting someone new?:  The way that they handle them selves, there intentional personally.   - What do they value in a person?:    Loyalty. Hard working.  - What themes do they like talking about?:  he likes when people talk about themselves. He can learn more about them. But he also likes talking philsophical debates about existence and morals.  Or anything that would relate to his mindset about life. - Which themes bore them?: anything to romantic. He does not like that.  like full on fliriting. He doesn’t do at all.   

- Did they ever went through something traumatic?:  Yes //though it can be debated what is consider traumatic to a adult who causes there own trauma mostly// //But like- he had to have seen some stuff in his childhood that would make him more desensitize to murder and killing fellow Shinigami// - What could possibly trigger them?:   Experiencing the feeling of dying. Sensory deprivation. //after his 20,000 years in Muken. Which is underground. away from most sounds and sights and feeling// - What could set them off, enrage them?:   Making him question his motives. Making him actually feel something. making him loose his goals.

- Is there someone /-thing they hate?:  Urahara, Shinji.  - Is there someone /-thing they love?:   //Romantically- in most verses no// Platonically : Hiyori (only in pendulum arc). Hougyoku.  his self.

Is your Muse easy to approach?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:   catch their attention. Literally just talk to him. don’t go trying to challenge or question his ego.  Literally just talk to him with any amount of respect .  depending on the verse- his responses may very. but other then that- He is rather easy to approach depending on your intentions to be approaching him. - Where are they usually to find?: His office in division five, hueco mondo, (Specifically in Los Noches), Muken. The forest near rukongai (only really applies to pendulum verse).    

Something you may still want to point out about your muse?:  he is nerd with a god complex.  he deserves a more flesh out back story then what the Manga gave him.  I try to keep him as close to the manga, keeping all of the things that happen in the manga and anime as canon. Only changing his child hood and early divisions days- as that isn’t really shown and expanding his relationships with some of the visoreds.  I also portray him as Aro/ace in most verses so its very Awkward if you try to ship with him in most verses unless discussed in ims or discord.  tagged by @skyvar​ //thank you for the tag snow uwu// tagging @rukia-kuchiki-divided​ @redeyeschaosdragon​ @kaibacorpbros​ (any bro) @viciousvizard​ @hirako5hinji​ @bookofaion​ @gentleshinigami​ @goofyshinigami​ @windstormwielding​ @cxb3r​ @nightbeat-cat​ @world-duelists​ / @loyal-to-chaos​ (if you want ^^) and you! if you want to do this uwu. 

[pacifv]

HE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all have witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

Mun Name: Mik      Age: 26      Contact: IM, discord

Character(s) I rp: Eden ( in bleach ) -- I have other ocs but that’s another story Which muse(s) inspires you the most atm?(for MM): Eden... ? Current Fandom(s): Bleach , so far Fandom(s) you have an AU for:  more fantasy esque ones?  My language(s): spanish , english  Themes I’m interested in for rp:   Fantasy / Science fiction / Horror / Western / Romance / Thriller / Mystery / Dystopia / Adventure / Modern / Erotic / Crime / Mythology / Classic / History / Renaissance / Medieval / Ancient / War / Family / Politics / Religion / School / Adulthood / Childhood / Apocalyptic / Gods / Sport / Music / Science / Fights / Angst / Smut / Drama / etc. Themes/Genres you have an AU for: fantasy , religious

Preferred Thread length: one-liner / 1 para / 2 para / 3+ / novella. Asks can be send by: Mutuals / Non-Mutuals / Personals / Anons. Can Asks be continued?:   YES / NO   only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO. Preferred thread type: crack / casual nothing too deep / serious / deep as heck. Is realism / research important for you in certain themes?:   YES / NO. Are you atm open for new plots?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Do you handle your draft / ask - count well?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. How long do you usually take to reply?:  24h / 1 week / 2 weeks / 3+ / months / years. I’m okay with interacting: original characters / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / my fandom / crossovers / multi-muses / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / canon-divergent portrayals / au-versions (as main or only verse). Do you post more ic or occ?:  IC / OOC. Are you selective with following others?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

Best ways to approach you for rp/plotting:  IM since this is pretty much new . just slap me with that and if you have some ideas , better --- if not let just brainstorm with what we have in hand . 

What expectations do you hold towards your plotting partner:  some minimal idea of the context and eden’s character . some ideas if possible . more than often I have gotten people straight up jump with no clue of what even is going on in my side character wise . 

When you notice the plotting is rather one-sided, what do you do?:  depends , most likely really stop trying or let it sink . I’m not much of a person who would pressure for ideas when they don’t even come naturally for me in these kind of situations . 

How do you usually plot with others, do you give input or leave most work towards your partner?:  First of all , ask what they particularly want and if they read the bio . and of course , have their bio as well ( if oc or any relevant hc on vague canons ) . I am honestly a bit shy on the input but if I found a ground to start letting my imagination loose ( like , something in common between characters or something that clicks well with my muse ) I can suggest several things . but in any case , I’m pretty passive and it’s a lot of gives and takes . 

When a partner drops the thread, do you wish to know?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: depends on the thread , the time and the interest . things that go downtown in the excitement scale are :/  and I can’t blame anyone for dropping a thread . not all the time you will have muse for them , tho , if it was a relevant thread I would ask at least . - What should your partner do when dropping a thread?:  pretty much free to tell me or not . I’m no one to judge.

What could possibly lead you to drop a thread?:  losing muse , interest , time ... pretty much the same . feeling like my muse is going too OOC for the sake of the other muse or smth .  - Will you tell your partner?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

Is communication in the rpc important to you?   YES / NO. - And why?:  I am very old school and having some OOC interaction to at least know how things are going , it’s as much as I can ask here .  - Are you okay with absolute honesty, even if it may means hearing something negative about you and/or portrayal?:  I mean , I should . it can turn me off a bit but it’s just natural ? there’s no way something can be perfect or be of someone’s taste . plus I am not that smart to be fully aware of all the things around the motif and IRL information I use on my muse . I’m no book , buddy. - Do you think you can handle such situation in a mature way?  YES / NO.

Why do you rp again, is there a goal?:  development , exploring the muse , seeing what works and doesn’t work . often new blogs for me are basically prototypes , they are and will  most likely have minor or major modifications as my imagination starts working and getting excited . besides , in the basics , you can hardly manage to cover all ( if anything ) of how one’s muse would react to X situation .

Wishlist, be it plots or scenarios:  a lot of quincy lore , come up with more personal connections with other quincies , fully develop a backstory and a post war scenario . cultural exploration  --- relationships of all kinds . 

Themes I won’t ever rp / explore:  pretty much I am fine with anything as long as we don’t cross the gross line . but I’m not afraid of the dark .

What Type of Starters do you prefer / dislike, can’t work with?: absurdly basic and with no context given . not even have an idea of what is the deal between muses . I can squeeze my brain but there is as much as i can do with little information .

What type of characters catch your interest the most?:  quirky ones , conflictive ones , most likely muses with specific motifs that spark my interest -- deepness . Aesthetically interesting ones . but overall , those who have out of the normal personalities . 

What type of characters catch your interest the least?:  personalities that doesn’t work or do not harmonize with the context of their characters . that’s all I can say .

What are your strong aspects as rp partner?:  I am.... creative ? gdi I did this meme already but it’s hard to reply these two ones. I am easily excitable . if we end up in a ship , expect me to be pampering af . I really enjoy the exploration of relations between people , emotions and psychological stuff tied around it . I do like casual and also very deep things . I’m not afraid of dealing with heavy topics . I like horror ???? also I am very into the secondary character role , as in : my muse is here to help your muse to grow or insight . that stuff . not much of a protagonist role in RPs. 

What are your weak aspects as rp partner?: I’m .... very.... sporadic . My mood is annoying esp when I’m “new” blog around kind of thing . I’m shy , even if I don’t seem so --- I get pretty anxious over details . I am impatient --- with myself . I want to do so many things at the same time I end up overwhelmed . 

Do you rp smut?:  YES / NO. Do you prefer to go into detail?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Are you okay with black curtain?:  YES / NO. - When do you rp smut? More out of fun or character development?:  mmmmmmmmm , both. Depends on mood and context tbh . - Anything you would not want to rp there?:  nothing I can think from the top of my head.

Are ships important to you?:   YES / NO. Would you say your blog is ship-focused?:   YES / NO. Do you use read more?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES. Are you: Multi-Ship / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  Multiverse / Singleverse. - What do you love to explore the most in your ships?:  again , I’m big mood for interpersonal relationships ( romantic or not ) , the pros and cos of certain traits , ideology clash , personality clash , anything that comes in a relation that could make it come and go .  - What is your smut tag?: unholy.

Are you okay with pre-established relationships?: YES / NO. - And what kind of ones?: all are hella okay for me . pre- est is my jam bc jesus christ the awkward first encounters make me go blue screen .

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- What could possibly make your Muse interesting towards others, why should they rp with this particular character of yours now, what possible plots do they offer?:  the fact she is basically a “religious fanatic” , with a quirky personality and a questionable morality , considering she has an inner conflict between the wellness of her race and her loyalty towards yhwach . At least pre war . post war , she has a flipped personality were she is mostly bitter and more angsty but will go from fanatic to straight up hater . 

- With what type of Muses do you usually struggle to rp with?:   bland personalities ? not sure myself , Eden is pretty much ready for anything since her personality is pretty laid back . I guess I would say shinigamis in general --- since she basically is stuck inside Silbern . - With what type of Muses do they usually work well with?:  Quincies , ofc . and people who are willing to put up with her crap .

- What interests your Muse(s) in general:  the prosperity of the quincy , doing a proper duty , order , tea , annoying the fuck out of people . being eerie ....  - What do they desire, is their goal?:  the ideal world as thought by Yhwach --- later on simply for her kind to survive after losing the war and being left to their luck . - What catches their interest first when meeting someone new?:  mmm , appearance  and reactions to her witty or narcisistic comments .  - What do they value in a person?:    loyalty , uniqueness . - What themes do they like talking about?:  most likely about the order of the army , tea stuff , herself (?) , but she is also a lot for debates and insight . - Which themes bore them?:  rebellious , silly thoughts . justice related topics . anything that critics her loyalty/life style . 

- Did they ever went through something traumatic?:  the first war was enough ? most likely losing comrades --- yhwach sacrificing the quincy for power later on .  - What could possibly trigger them?:  the simple sight of anyone laying a finger of the quincy for being against their views .   - What could set them off, enrage them?:  nothing. she cannot literally , physically get angry or enraged . but if we are talking bitter , that would be completely post war and it’s just the mention of yhwach’s name or those who went to god’s palace with him .  - What could lead to an instant kill?:  invasion of silbern , chaos . 

- Is there someone /-thing they hate?:  chaos , rebels , shinigami , anyone against the quincy . - Is there someone /-thing they love?:   her race , her pride , herself .

Is your Muse easy to approach?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  just .... come to her and say hi . she is literally wandering around silbern all the time ( quincy speaking tho ) . for others , eh ... good luck . and wait post war (?) - Where are they usually to find?:  Silbern ... then Siberia . 

Something you may still want to point out about your muse?:  She is no saint , clearly . She has a questionable sense of things like loyalty and preservation of her race . she is honestly all over the place

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  honestly stole from @skyvar​  Tagging:  no one in particular.

[senboago]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all have witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

Mun Name: Abby / Kitty      Age: 24       Contact: pm, discord

Character(s) I rp: (canon) Candice Catnipp, Haineko, Mizuiro Kojima, Retsu Unohana, Yachiru Kusajishi; and them I have about 8 ocs. Which muse(s) inspires you the most atm?(for MM): Elsabeth, Naomi, & Haineko. Current Fandom(s): Bleach (and one One Piece oc) Fandom(s) you have an AU for:  Bleach (Mizuiro’s shinigami au) My language(s): English (natively), Japanese (elementary level) Themes I’m interested in for rp:   Fantasy / Science fiction / Horror / Western / Romance / Thriller / Mystery / Dystopia / Adventure / Modern / Erotic / Crime / Mythology / Classic / History / Renaissance / Medieval / Ancient / War / Family / Politics / Religion / School / Adulthood / Childhood / Apocalyptic / Gods / Sport / Music / Science / Fights / Angst / Smut / Drama / etc. Themes/Genres you have an AU for: history, mythology

Preferred Thread length: one-liner / 1 para / 2 para / 3+ / novella. Asks can be send by: Mutuals / Non-Mutuals / Personals / Anons. Can Asks be continued?:   YES / NO   only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO. Preferred thread type: crack / casual nothing too deep / serious / deep as heck. Is realism / research important for you in certain themes?:   YES / NO. Are you atm open for new plots?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Do you handle your draft / ask - count well?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. How long do you usually take to reply?:  24h / 1 week / 2 weeks / 3+ / months / years. I’m okay with interacting: original characters / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / my fandom / crossovers / multi-muses / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / canon-divergent portrayals / au-versions (as main or only verse). Do you post more ic or occ?:  IC / OOC. Are you selective with following others?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

Best ways to approach you for rp/plotting:  Pms, mostly. If you have me on discord, even better. I have both apps on my phone too, so I’m usually good about replies; granted if I’m not busy, left my phone somewhere in the house, or am asleep.

What expectations do you hold towards your plotting partner:  Well, I tend to be the type that actually fails at coming up with plot ideas. It’s not that I don’t think of anything, but that I’m either too shy or my brain is too exhausted of ideas. So I guess just enthusiasm works for me, since it gives all the same energy! Especially when talking about ships (including platonic and hate ships) between our muses ‘cause that usually helps lead into some potential plots, as I’ll always be up for discussing new stuff for them; like how we want to develop them, where will they go, when will they get there, etc.

When you notice the plotting is rather one-sided, what do you do?:  I’m a bit of too quiet to say anything really, kinda like a pushover. But if I can gain the confidence, I’d prefer to ask what’s going from my partner’s end. If it turns out they’re really not interested then, and I hate to do it, we’ll just drop it. I want us both to be having fun, and if they’re not into it, then it’d be too selfish of me to try and continue it.

How do you usually plot with others, do you give input or leave most work towards your partner?:  Again, I’m pretty terrible at it, so I’m usually a go with the flow type person. So unfortunately, that leaves most the plotting to them, unless my brain decides to wake up. But when I do have an idea and have the courage to, I’ll pitch it to them. Usually my plots end up starting out as some random headcannon between our muses and their ship, and then it falls into the fascination of ‘I wanna rp that now’, just to see it have a story.

When a partner drops the thread, do you wish to know?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: I get anxious easily. So whether or not I was really into it, it’s nice to know, and easier on my nerves if it was something I was really into. However, it’s not entirely and outright demand that they do all the time. - What should your partner do when dropping a thread?:  Not required, just preferred that they just let me know.

What could possibly lead you to drop a thread?:  Two things. Disinterest is one, and pretty self-explanatory. Then there’s if I just lack the energy for a certain amount of time, after several attempts to actually reply. I usually hate to drop threads. But if I feel there’s absolutely no way I’ll be able to reply, then I’ll either pm my partner directly or make out a post and tag those I’ve dropped threads with, if it’s multiple. - Will you tell your partner?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

Is communication in the rpc important to you?   YES / NO. - And why?:  Even though I’m terrible of communication, I still like to hear from my partners every once and a while. It’s kinda why discord is easier to get a hold of me ‘cause, since I have two servers there I mod/admin, I usually check it and will answer there more often. - Are you okay with absolute honesty, even if it may means hearing something negative about you and/or portrayal?:  I wanna say yes, but there’s that anxiety in me that says no. It’s a hit or miss with me. I usually try not to get defensive, and most the time won’t. It’ll just end up making become a bit more cautious, confused, or reclused, depending on what it is; and that’s all ‘cause of anxiety. - Do you think you can handle such situation in a mature way?  YES / NO.

Why do you rp again, is there a goal?:  Mostly to have fun. Also so I can explore my muses and work on my creative writing. When people like what I post too, it makes me extremely happy and excited, wanting to pour out more! So really, not much of a goal other than just share my thought process and ideas.

Wishlist, be it plots or scenarios:  To roleplay and post more stuff for Mizuiro. And to build more relationships of all kinds for my muses, especially my ocs. I’d also like to explore darker themes for a few muses as well, though that’s a bit of a tall order... Not too people can handle or are willing to deep dive, so I’m not sure if that’ll happen really.

Themes I won’t ever rp / explore:  I don’t really have any hard limits. However, I usually refrain from a lot simply for the comfort of others. So I guess there’s quite a bit I won’t ever get into, though I’d like to.

What Type of Starters do you prefer / dislike, can’t work with?: i’m usually good with just about anything. If I’m not, then I’ll inform my partner.

What type of characters catch your interest the most?:  Better question is; what type am I not into? Though truthfully, I’m really into characters with a lot of development, an establish backstory of any kind, and just about any that can capture my heart (which isn’t hard to do btw). I’m not picky and I have very few I truly hate, except for their person rather than the character.

What type of characters catch your interest the least?:  Flat, one-dimensional types with very little development or their own story. I like seeing the ins and outs, the positives and negatives of a character. I want them to put me on a roller coaster of emotions, since that’s life in a nutshell. If they can’t, then I’ll lose interest quickly. Also mary sues/gary stues. Characters that just don’t make sense or follow the universe’s logic are also a major turn off.

What are your strong aspects as rp partner?:  Oh boy... I guess my dedication and love for my muses’ ships. It’s not much, but only thing I can think of. I also try to keep an open mind, be as understanding as possible and to support my partner wherever I can.

What are your weak aspects as rp partner?:  My inability to reply to drafts that have been sitting for a couple of weeks. I want to reply, and yet, as soon as I open the draft and get to work, my brain blanks. It’s really frustrating.

Do you rp smut?:  YES / NO. Do you prefer to go into detail?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Are you okay with black curtain?:  YES / NO. - When do you rp smut? More out of fun or character development?:  Just about whenever, as long as partner is up for it. And it’ll be for either or, depending. For certain ships, such as Kaede and Kenpachi, I feel it is part of their character and relationship development, seeing as they’ve managed to grow a deeper bond with each other through it. For other muses, such as almost anything with Amaterasu, it’s usually out of fun. - Anything you would not want to rp there?:  Eh... not really, unless partner is uncomfortable with it.

Are ships important to you?:   YES / NO. Would you say your blog is ship-focused?:   YES / NO. Do you use read more?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES. Are you: Multi-Ship / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  Multiverse / Singleverse. - What do you love to explore the most in your ships?:  The growth between them. Just literally anything between that. Watching the couple’s bond deepen, how much they learn about each other, and the trust that strengthens over time. - What is your smut tag?: nsfw mention

Are you okay with pre-established relationships?: YES / NO. - And what kind of ones?:  Just about any; romantic, sexual, platonic, hate, family, etc.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- What could possibly make your Muse interesting towards others, why should they rp with this particular character of yours now, what possible plots do they offer?:  Usually that’s up to the other’s interpretation of the character. But Kaede has some potential, developing surprising friendship despite her division’s reputation. She’s bit of an opposite from her captain and co-lieutenant, probably being the most patient and kindest of the three, as she’s the only one to pursue any friendships. I would say I’d love to find more plots in reference to her backstory, whether some random character she befriends or is enemies with finds out her birth, or she feels to rekindle a past friendship.

- With what type of Muses do you usually struggle to rp with?:   ... I dunno if I really have an answer for that. Kaede’s one of my easiest going muses, unafraid to interact with anyone. She tends to fit in just about anywhere. Though I’m sure this partly due to her being my most developed and being well established. - With what type of Muses do they usually work well with?:  Honestly, I think just about anyone, depending on the scenerio and who they are. That also determines how she approaches and interacts with them.

- What interests your Muse(s) in general:  There’s a list of things. Gardening, social gatherings, her division... She’s also into new experiences, things that are foreign to the Soul Society. - What do they desire, is their goal?:  She simply wants to make her mother proud, to better society if she can, and continue to aid and serve her division. - What catches their interest first when meeting someone new?:  Body language. It’s a trained type of thing, trying to read them by how they hold themselves. How approachable they appear, their intent, etc. - What do they value in a person?:  Depends, as she understands everyone is different. But mostly their determination, honesty, and dedication, even if she’s not the receiver. She can still respect them for it. - What themes do they like talking about?:  Eh... Just about anything, aside from herself. Anything gardening or about flowers is where she’s the most enthusiastic. - Which themes bore them?:  Idle chitchat or small talk. She likes to carry an actual conversation. So trying to ask her about the weather, she’ll more than likely walk away.

- Did they ever went through something traumatic?:  Sort of? There’s a couple things; the discovery of Azashiro’s imprisonment and his crimes, the sudden disappearance of Yoruichi and Kisuke, and the brief encounter with Yhwach’s clone during the war. - What could possibly trigger them?:  Both Azashiro’s imprisonment and Yoruichi and Kisuke’s exile have been resolved, so no. Though to ask her about Azashiro, she’ll be guarded and, depending on the person, defensive. The incident with Yhwach was a literal flash, leaving her physically scarred, but otherwise unfazed. - What could set them off, enrage them?:  Azashiro, yes. Depending on who the person is, obviously. Kisuke is the most notable target of this rage. - What could lead to an instant kill?:  Again, Azashiro, depending on who brings it up and what’s brought up. Mostly, if it targets her mother and threatens to expose them, including her adopted father.

- Is there someone /-thing they hate?:  Yhwach and Aizen. Both have caused a degree of grief in the Soul Society, and even for those outside it. She also hates those that use their position of power for selfish reasons. - Is there someone /-thing they love?:  Her mother and adopted father, and the Shiba clan as a whole. Her division, and her current captain and co-lieutenant, along with her former captain and her brother Yuushirou. She also loves, though won’t admit it often enough, Askin (verse dependent). Kenpachi as well (verse dependent). Any and all her friends, including Kisuke. There’s also a huge soft spot for animals of any kind.

Is your Muse easy to approach?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  As long as you’re not a sworn enemy to her or the society, just about anyone’s good to go. Just strike up conversation, ask for a spar, to drink, etc. She isn’t one to simply ignore or dismiss anyone, so long as there isn’t any bad terms between them. - Where are they usually to find?:  In the second division offices or training grounds (sometimes in the onsen), at her home, or strolling or patrolling through the Seireitei.

Something you may still want to point out about your muse?:  Eh... nothing I can think of off the top of my head. Except that, no matter how kind a face she has, she can still be a merciless killer.

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  @skyvar​ (thanks for the tag, though not sure if I should really be thanking you ‘cause this about drained me!) Tagging:  you reading this.

[ilusionis]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all have witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

Mun Name: vinn (or ila, for close friends)     Age: 22       Contact: IM, discord

Character(s) I rp: aizen sosuke on here, askin nakk ke vaar (@ levaer) and lille barro (@ firstritter, sideblog) Which muse(s) inspires you the most atm?(for MM): all of them actually. Current Fandom(s): bleach. Fandom(s) you have an AU for:  none. i’ve been debating about making a modern au but i wouldn’t be sure what to explore in it. within the context of bleach, though, i’m very interested in developing a bunch of AUs. My language(s): i’m only confident in writing in italian or english.  Themes I’m interested in for rp:   Fantasy / Science fiction / Horror / Western / Romance / Thriller / Mystery / Dystopia / Adventure / Modern / Erotic / Crime / Mythology / Classic / History / Renaissance / Medieval / Ancient / War / Family / Politics / Religion / School / Adulthood / Childhood / Apocalyptic / Gods / Sport / Music / Science / Fights / Angst / Smut / Drama / etc. Themes/Genres you have an AU for: none.

Preferred Thread length: one-liner / 1 para / 2 para / 3+ / novella. Asks can be send by: Mutuals / Non-Mutuals / Personals / Anons. Can Asks be continued?:   YES / NO   only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO. Preferred thread type: crack / casual nothing too deep / serious / deep as heck. Is realism / research important for you in certain themes?:   YES / NO. Are you atm open for new plots?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Do you handle your draft / ask - count well?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. How long do you usually take to reply?:  24h / 1 week / 2 weeks / 3+ / months / years. I’m okay with interacting: original characters / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / my fandom / crossovers / multi-muses / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / canon-divergent portrayals / au-versions (as main or only verse). Do you post more ic or occ?:  IC / OOC. Are you selective with following others?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

Best ways to approach you for rp/plotting:  if you want to plot, it would be best to send me an IM and ask me, then we can definitely move to discord if you’d rather. it’s possible to approach me for rp without plotting first, best way would be to send me a meme when i reblog them or simply an ic ask, which i will answer, while memes might get lost. ic asks are good ice-breakers, we can continue plotting from there.

What expectations do you hold towards your plotting partner:  i need my partners to be as interested in our plot as i am. it would be great if you already have an idea, but it’s still good if you don’t, i get that coming up with ideas can be hard sometimes; mostly, i require honesty. you can definitely tell me that you got no ideas and i will do my best to help, ask questions, try to spark something. i do require the feeling of having that commitment reciprocated.

When you notice the plotting is rather one-sided, what do you do?:  i tend to straight up drop the conversation lmao. no hard feelings, but if i get the feeling you’re not interested, i will take my distance - i won’t waste my energy on a plot if my partner doesn’t share my enthusiasm. still, you can always approach me again, if you’re feeling up to it / have new ideas / whatever. nice thing of online convos is that they don’t have an expiration date lol.

How do you usually plot with others, do you give input or leave most work towards your partner?:  i always ask if they got any ideas to begin with. if my partner already knows, more or less, what kind of dynamic they wanna build with my character(s), that makes it infinitely easier to build something meaningful. it’s still fine if they don’t, i will usually ask a lot of questions regarding their muse’s opinions / feelings / etc., and try to navigate from there. a question i usually ask is: is there any aspect of your muse you’d like to explore? i think that’s a pivotal point in any interaction. 

When a partner drops the thread, do you wish to know?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: if they feel like telling me, why not. but usually, i don’t warn when i drop a thread, so it’s not expected of my partners ever. - What should your partner do when dropping a thread?:  nothing in particular tbh. they can tell me or approach me to start a new thread if they wish to, but it’s not required.

What could possibly lead you to drop a thread?:  i might lose interest in a thread, especially if i feel like it’s going nowhere or if the inspiration for it simply doesn’t come. it’s never happened so far that i had to drop a thread because it was making me uncomfortable, but that could still be a reason for me to. in general, though, i would approach my partner in that case. - Will you tell your partner?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

Is communication in the rpc important to you?   YES / NO. - And why?:  absolutely. i’d rather avoid awkward situations or misunderstandings of any kind; if something’s up, tell me. i also like to communicate with my writing partners (be it in the tags of our threads or in IMs), makes me feel like the enthusiasm is not one-sided and i find it generally pleasant.  - Are you okay with absolute honesty, even if it may means hearing something negative about you and/or portrayal?:  sure. we gotta stay polite, but honest. - Do you think you can handle such situation in a mature way?  YES / NO.

Why do you rp again, is there a goal?:  to have fun, to cultivate my writing skills and my english, and to explore my favorite characters. 

Wishlist, be it plots or scenarios:  i want to develop aizen’s wandenreich verse, because i’m deep in quincy hell and i think his dynamics with quincy muses could be super interesting. anything involving the intricacies of bleach politics is super interesting to me, be it with aizen or with my two quincy muses - who, btw, are also good to explore dynamics between quincies / their culture / relationships etc.

Themes I won’t ever rp / explore:  i won’t write anything pertaining to sexual assault. 

What Type of Starters do you prefer / dislike, can’t work with?: it’s gotten difficult to work with starters such as “you summoned me / do you need anything / did you call for me” etc. i used to receive that kind of starters all the time with aizen, and i can’t come up with something new every damn time. i also have a hard time working with starters / replies that already feel like a closed conversation and don’t give me anything to reply to.

What type of characters catch your interest the most?:  i’m not sure i have a type. aizen is pretty much an exception, the only example of an already well-built character i write, since i tend to gravitate around minor ones that don’t have much material and that i can work on and expand without being affected by the fandom’s opinion or whatever. somehow i always tend to rp tall guys-

What type of characters catch your interest the least?:  children and teenagers don’t interest me for the most part. characters who don’t have a shred of an opinion or can’t offer any interesting conflicts. overly friendly, mushy, affectionate and flowery characters are really not my cup of tea either. 

What are your strong aspects as rp partner?:  oh god i have no idea. i’m very laid-back, i guess. i’ll never pressure my partners for replies, i don’t think i’m owed a reply in the first place because we all have lives offline,  so i’ll never take it to heart if a partner drops a thread. if i really feel like our roleplaying styles don’t mesh, it will be at my own discretion to do something about it. another strong aspect i have ....... i think i have a decent grasp on all my muses? especially aizen. of course ur free to disagree lol. also, lately i’ve been p active, so that’s it. 

What are your weak aspects as rp partner?: i’m really slow. i might speed up for my closest friends, with whom i plot / rp regularly, but usually i take quite some time to reply to random unplotted threads. i probably have a thousand other flaws as a rper, but this is the biggest one that comes to my mind rn. 

Do you rp smut?:  YES / NO. Do you prefer to go into detail?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS. Are you okay with black curtain?:  YES / NO. - When do you rp smut? More out of fun or character development?:  i don’t write detailed sex scenes. sorry lmao they’re just not interesting to me. however, i’m super-ok with writing anything around it, like intimate scenes etc. in fact i find it somewhat soothing.  - Anything you would not want to rp there?:  the nitty-gritty part is already a no, but i guess also sexual violence and shit like that. it’s a no.

Are ships important to you?:   YES / NO. Would you say your blog is ship-focused?:   YES / NO. Do you use read more?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES. Are you: Multi-Ship / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  Multiverse / Singleverse. - What do you love to explore the most in your ships?:  all my ships are with snow 8′) and ur never bored with her. in general, i love being able to explore the muses’ relationships, their conflicts and their peaceful moments, especially in relation to canon events! - What is your smut tag?: nsfw / ........ my n*sfw posts are rare anyway.

Are you okay with pre-established relationships?: YES / NO. - And what kind of ones?: to an extent, i prefer pre-est relationships to first meetings - which they can get a bit dull after some time. i’m ok with mostly anything, and only more selective when it comes to relationships that might severely alter my muse’s canon / past / overall character. 

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- What could possibly make your Muse interesting towards others, why should they rp with this particular character of yours now, what possible plots do they offer?:  not to stroke my own feathers but aizen offers a perfect chance at character development to any and all bleach characters. he’s the main villain, he holds some wild opinions, and whether you agree or disagree with him, he leaves no one indifferent. aizen is the main cornerstone of bleach, and if you want your muse to questions themselves and the system / world around them, interacting with him is the best way to start. also, aizen interacted with a fuckton of people, knows practically everything there is to know, is responsible for significant amount of canon events, so you see ... whatever character you write, aizen has the full potential to be extremely relevant in the course of their development.

- With what type of Muses do you usually struggle to rp with?:   children, ordinary low-ranked shinigami (i find it hard when it’s out of the blue, even in aizen’s captain and lieutenant verses ... because interactions would likely be only work-related, and won’t go far), characters whose personalities really have nothing to do with aizen. unfortunately, he’s not my easiest muse, and i don’t want to force interactions with him.  - With what type of Muses do they usually work well with?:  characters who have opinions, some political involvement, in general characters with whom aizen had a dynamic in canon. 

- What interests your Muse(s) in general:  reading, calligraphy, philosophy (especially in-world philosophy), science (again, mostly related to the specificity of the bleach universe), the very careful crafting of his plan- - What do they desire, is their goal?:  kill the soul king and take its place, destroy the institutions of soul society, subdue them. and then rule, as the soul king never did before. - What catches their interest first when meeting someone new?:  the idiosyncracies in their behavior, the particularities, their possible weaknesses.  - What do they value in a person?:    very little, usually. he may appreciate a resolute personality, strength, and intelligence. - What themes do they like talking about?:  speaking mostly of mundane talks, he likes conversing about his interests. it takes a lot for him to share any personal information, though. - Which themes bore them?:  anything about the greater good, friendship, love, very human topics.

- Did they ever went through something traumatic?:  seeing the soul king, in all things like a ghost stalking his dreams, and well ... spending his early life in rukongai as a whole. being forced to consume other souls in order to survive. the first times his reiatsu killed anyone who tried to get near him.  - What could possibly trigger them?:  it’s rare that he will outwardly show signs of distress, i’d say almost impossible. the few times the soul king still appears in his mind, greatly upsets him though. - What could set them off, enrage them?:  the soul king gets him particularly heated. urahara, as we witnessed. after his defeat, ichigo, to an extent. - What could lead to an instant kill?:  kubo was a coward who didn’t dare let him kill any relevant character, but actually aizen kills very liberally.

- Is there someone /-thing they hate?:  the soul king, urahara. he has a strong disdain for yamamoto, and that joke of C46. - Is there someone /-thing they love?:    himself. tousen

Is your Muse easy to approach?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  he’s only really easy to approach for bleach characters, who, depending on who they are, have different eligible verses to further facilitate the interaction. humans / powerless bleach characters can’t really interact with him tho. - Where are they usually to find?:  soul society or hueco mundo. i have a verse set in the wandenreich.

Something you may still want to point out about your muse?:  aizen is not a particularly easy muse, but it’s part of his overall mosaic to be somewhat unapproachable and distant. i’m not out to make him someone he is not, so forgive me in advance if plotting with me turns out to be difficult in a way or another. he’s very dear to me, and i try my best to do him justice! while my main headcanons may not affect our interactions specifically, i still ask my partners to look them up (they’re linked in my about page) because they’re essential to my portrayal and it makes me happy to have them acknowledged. i think that’s all lmao. come visit me over at my quincy boys too.

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  @skyvar​ I DID IT AT LAST. Tagging:  i don’t know who has been tagged so, you know what to do.

[thesffcorner]

S.T.A.G.S.

S.T.A.G.S. is a YA thriller written by M A Bennet. It follows Greer, a girl who is a new student at St. Aidan the Great School, or STAGS, a private, Catholic school in Northumberland England. She gets invited to a weekend of “huntin’, shootin’, and fishin’” by the Medievals, the group of 6 most popular students in the school, who practically rule the student body, along with two other students. However, as soon as Greer gets to Longcross, the estate where she’s to spend the weekend, she realizes something is amiss, and she might be in more danger than she ever thought possible. S.T.A.G.S. is a book that is so full of film and pop culture references, that I feel it’s only fitting I myself start with one; this book is basically the Riot Club, except our lead is a girl. If you’ve read the play or watched the film adaptation then you know exactly what kind of story you’re in for, and if you liked either, than you will definitely like this. Let’s start with the setting; I don’t read a lot of books by English authors, and it was honestly refreshing to read this one, because England as a country is both much closer to what I’m used to, being from Europe, while also being entirely different. I didn’t care too much about the meticulous descriptions of the estate and the school, however, what I liked was that this books avoids my pet peeve of having these descriptions being meaningless. This is told in first person, and the way Greer tells the story, is like a diary entry that she’s writing after all the events have already happened. As such, she’s able to give little hints and comments on everything she sees and experiences, like what things remind her off, or why she thought they were relevant to mention. She also makes a lot of remarks on things I don’t often read in these types of books, the main one being money and status. I really, really liked this aspect of the book. Bennet talks a lot about accents, dialects and pronunciation, and how that determines not just what part of the country you come from, but also your social and economic status. Greer is from Manchester, and as such she has a pretty thick accent, that immediately marks her as an outsider in the posh world of high class British society. There are parts of the novel where Bennet writes out phonetically what words sound like, and how their pronunciation is very different depending on who’s speaking. When the Medievals talk, they add r’s in words that don’t have them, and they clip their words so that they never say the full thing. When Nel, another character who is as rich, but she is new money talks, the way she pronounces the word ‘love’ nets her the receiving end of bullying because of her not truly being posh. This discussion of class becomes even more complicated when we take into account religion, race and new vs old money. Nel, who is richer than probably even the Medievals is still shunned and bullied, because she got the money recently, and as such has no class or social standing. The Medievals all come from incredibly rich, well connected old families; their leader Henry has had the land since the 11th century, because of an ancestor who fought in the crusades. Likewise, another character, Shafeen, whose father is a literal Indian Prince, and his family has been royalty, rich and high class for much longer than any of the Medievals’ families is rejected and bullied because of his skin color, and the fact that he’s Indian. This dissection of class, race, economic status and language was so fascinating to me because I never see it explored like this in YA; it’s also a nice refresher for American readers that racism and classism though by no means gone in Europe, operate differently than they do in the US. Another thing about the setting that I really enjoyed was the discussion about what class and rich actually means. Like I said, Nel is rich, but all her clothes are brand new, and everything she does and wears seems to be a little bit off. Though she imitates the mannerisms and even the speaking style of the Medievals almost perfectly, the fact that everything on her is brand new is what gives her away as a poser. There are scenes where Greer walks around the manner and notes how despite everything being incredibly opulent it’s also falling apart; the clothes are old and have been worn, the walls have gold decals that are peeling, the house itself is old. I was reminded constantly of a comment a friend of my family made about how people in England live in houses that barely have modern plumbing just because they are old and ‘traditional’, and refuse or in many cases can’t integrate modern technology to make life easier and more pleasant. Speaking of technology, that’s another topic that’s greatly discussed in this book. I found this was explored less well, and I thought it was a bit on the nose, mostly because it intersects heavily with the reason everyone is going to Lockwood in the first place, so I can’t discuss it without spoilers. I did like that technology wasn’t vilanized and even ended up helping at the end. You might be wondering why I gave this book only 3 stars if nothing I said so far was negative. That mostly comes down to the plot and the ending. I feel like the plot was fairly predictable. Partly because the story is told in flashback and partly because it’s very easy to guess where things are going, I never really felt true tension in the scenes that were meant to be tense. I was worried about the characters sure, but I knew more or less exactly how things would pan out, and I guessed fairly easily who would be the one to die. Even the very final twist I saw coming from a mile away, and since the book has an open ending, I’m not really sure how to feel about it. If there’s ever a sequel maybe it would make more sense, but as is, it feels like the book came to a natural conclusion, and then had a last minute Bloomhouse style twist thrown at the very end that deflates a lot of what made it good up until that point. There were also some issues with the characters. Let’s start with the Medievals. There are 6 of them: 3 girls and 3 boys. I had a lot of trouble telling any of them apart, mostly because they are meant to resemble and act like each other, but also because outside of Henry, Greer has very little interaction with any of them. Bennett tries to distinguish the 3 blonde Medieval girls from one another: Charlotte is the preppiest one, who is the most fake enthusiastic and ‘speaks in italics’. Esme is the fake polite one, who pretends to be friendly, and Lara is the Russian one with the lazy, condescending accent. However, since the interaction between Greer and them is so minimal, I ended up only really distinguishing Lara, because she’s Henry’s girlfriend and Russian. However, the girls have nothing on Henry’s buddies, Cockson and Piers. I couldn't tell u anything about them or who’s who. All I know is that Cockson is also named Henry, but they both like drinking, they are both supremely loud and rude, and they are both indistinguishably awful. This is intentional, but like with the girls, it didn’t really make them compelling characters. Henry fares better in that he’s the only one that has any personality. Unfortunately, he suffers from this thing called informed traits, and this other thing, which doesn’t have a name, but I like to call it Ludonarrative Dissonance, but for books. We are told multiple times, by both Greer and other characters like Nel, that Henry is supremely charming. He knows the right thing to say, he knows how to touch people, how to smile, and in general how to woo everyone into following his orders. The problem was, that I never found him charming or funny, and I never thought any of the points he made were reasonable or smart. Maybe I’m just old and have been trained by the internet to never trust anyone who talks about the ‘natural order of things’ or about how ‘hunting helps cull the undesirable, lesser species’, but no one who says that is a nice or charming person. His whole diatribe about technology was likewise, like listening to an old man yell at a could. There are many valid points against how technology rules people’s lives these days, but having less time for hunting, is really not one of them. There was no real scene where I understood why Greer liked him, other than him being hot and calling her beautiful. I can’t really decide if this is a flaw with Henry as a character (since Greer is pretty dumb and naive), but the fact that I didn’t buy any of the characters traits he was meant to have doesn’t say good things. Even General Zaroff, who is character Henry is so clearly based on, was so much more charming and gallant, and had interesting things to say, even if you knew he was mad the whole time. That’s what I expected; what I got was a bad Lost villain. The lead characters fared much better. First we have Chanel or Nel. I actually liked her fine; she’s rich and incredibly insecure in her place in the world, since she grew up middle class and is forced to quickly adapt and assimilate in a world that is notoriously isolated, hostile and judgmental. She has lots of flaws; she’s superficial, she’s cowardly and she’s easily seduced, but I liked that she overcame a lot of them, and I enjoyed her friendship with Greer. Shafeen was my absolute favorite character. I don’t often read about Indian characters, and I’m not entirely sure how accurate his characterization was in this, but what we get I liked a lot. He was smart, he was opinionated and unlike Henry, he was actually charming. When he compliments Nel or Greer I believed it, and I could imagine him saying it and it sounding enticing. He wasn’t perfect either; he says some nasty things to Greer, and he also holds some ‘problematic’ views on hunting and this world of high class, which is understandable seeing as he’s royalty. Greer was interesting. I can’t say I liked her, but she wasn’t a bad character. She has this tendency to compare everything to films, which I also do, and as such I know first hand how grating it can be. I appreciated that her repertoire was pretty broad, spanning classics, French films, blockbusters and romantic comedies, and the ending bit that involved Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was surprisingly fitting, and actually made sense with the plot of the book. However, Greer was also probably the most dumb and naive character I’ve read from in a while. I don’t mean that as in she’s badly written, I think she’s supposed to be kind of dumb. There were so many points where she lets herself be manipulated by Henry purely because it’s the easier option, and it was grating to read about. I’m not saying I want the character to be a genius, but again, maybe I’m just too old to believe the things she does even for a second. The other issue I had with Greer was that she seemed to not really have her priorities straight. This is hard to discuss without spoilers, but let’s just say, considering what she finds out about Henry, and what nearly happens to her while at the mansion, the guilt that she carries feel ill-placed. Nel even calls her out on her behavior, which makes me think it was intentional, but we never truly have a moment to acknowledge that what the Medievals are doing wasn’t just misguided and accidentally, but sociopathic, not to mention racist and classist. Overall I liked this book quite a lot. I think it was well written, explored some really interesting topics, and had a fast paced, engaging plot. I am confident that I would like anything else Bennet writes, and that with perhaps a slightly different plot, her work could be some of my favorite. As is, I do recommend this thriller, only if you manage your expectation, and have more patience for tomfoolery than me

goodreads

[alizardjae]

lcaito

  Mmmmmm… a friend got me O ctopat h traveler as a...

I’d actually like your opinion on the game if you have time! I’ve been interested it, but not quite enough to buy it at the current price…

M’kay, this’ll be under a read more because it might get long and so people who like the game can choose to ignore this.  I am also writing the name of the game as O ctopat h to at least try and avoid the tag, though I’m not sure how well it will work.

But in summary, I like the RPG elements, not so much the battle system, and the story and art is pretty generic.

Disclaimer: I only finished chapter 1 and started Therion’s chapter 2, so I can’t say if it gets better or worse later on. 

The RPG elements are fun, kind of reminds me of the Pokemon Ranger series, with lots of sidequests that you can come back to at any time and don’t interrupt the main story. Each character also has a “Path action” that they can use on certain NPCs to various ends that adds an interesting dimension and elaborates on the stories of some of them; though the “reputation” mechanic for the “rogue” versions of the actions (stealing instead of buying, etc) is, as far as I can tell, more or less just a money penalty and a time waster.

I despise the battle system. It’s mostly the generic type of fantasy turn-based party battle you’d find in like an RPG maker kind of game with a few bells and whistles such as the “break” meter that is lowered by using super-effective attacks and renders the foe unable to attack for the rest of the turn and the next turn and lowers their defenses for that period as well. On the other hand, it means you’ll be doing pitiful damage most of the time for a turn or two of halfway decent damage at a time. 

You can’t see the enemy’s HP unless one character uses up his turn, and even then you only see what it’s like at that moment, and apparently boss character’s names turn red when their HP gets low enough, but I never noticed it. This means that you can’t really judge if your strategy is working or not. In addition, the bosses can have like twenty times as much HP as your highest-HP characters if you’re at the recommended levels and do two to three times as much damage as you do, with their allies also being fairly more powerful than you. For me, coming off the various Pokemon games and sidegames, Fire Emblem, Ever Oasis, and recently, My Hero One’s Justice, where the challenge comes from the bosses’ strategies, skills, and slightly higher stats, this is really annoying. So far the bosses don’t really have any sort of skill or strategy, they just have huge stats and take forever to fight, even if the whole battle is going well, as a result. The difficulty feels more like a slog than a challenge. I’ve heard the postgame is especially bad about this.

The characters are... fine. Nothing you haven’t seen before if you’ve played a fantasy RPG, but executed competently. Same for the story. The only kind of unique thing is that all eight characters have equal focus and their stories are tangentially related. From the spoilers I’ve read, they could have done a lot more with the “eight intertwining stories” idea. The story and characters are the sort of thing that, if you haven’t played this kind of game before, there’s no reason not to start here, but there’s no particular reason to start here either. All the writing elements are competent, but not spectacular in any way, and most of the plot is fairly predictable if you know the tropes, and sometimes doesn’t even go as far as that and just takes the immediately obvious route (though, I tend to be particularly good at guessing plot twists, so this might be a me thing).

The art is absolutely standard JRPG, with slightly better environments. The enemies have way more detailed sprites than the playable characters get at any point. Personally, I find the “scale and detail to indicate power” for bosses kind of works against the game because it means that bosses that are specifically supposed to look huge lose their impact because human bosses are just as big. The character sprites also kind of remind me of Pokemon Ranger, but not as distinct, nor as easy to read against the backgrounds. The monster designs aren’t particularly original either.

The overworld also has a tilt-shift effect over it that makes the whole thing look like a miniature model and takes away from any sense of grandiosity the game might have had. It’s a cute effect for a game that wants to be serious. This is exacerbated by environment effects such as water being larger for the scale than they should be, and, unlike Ever Oasis, in which the characters are quite small, this doesn’t feel intentional.

Also, don’t play this game if you have serious problems with sexual abuse, forces sex work, or violence directed specifically against women, as it’s a major part of one character’s background and heavily features in her first chapter.

Aside from the difficulty, this is a fairly standard medieval fantasy JRPG. If you enjoy the genre, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you’re new to the genre, there’s no reason other than the difficulty not to start here, but no reason not to start anywhere else either.

I can’t really recommend any alternatives for this specific genre, as this is my first experience playing them, rather than watching let’s plays, but I can offer recommendations for games with similar styles or mechanics that I do enjoy.

For a medieval fantasy setting with multiple characters that have associated plots, there’s always the Fire Emblem series, with turn-based tactics on a map for the main series, and real-time strategy for FE Warriors. Pokemon Conquest has a similar playstyle to the main FE series, but is set in a mishmash of modern science fantasy, feudal Japan, and the Pokemon world. English language Fire Emblem games can be found for the GBA through 3DS eras of Nintendo consoles, as well as one each on the Gamecube and Wii, though be warned that games before the 3DS ones have a permanent death system for your characters, while this mode is optional for later games. A new game is set to come out at the end of 2019 for the Switch. Pokemon Conquest can be played on the DS line of handhelds.

For a JRPG with a main plot and fun little sidequests, the Pokemon Ranger series should work, with a capture mechanic rather than a battling mechanic. “Shadows of Almia” is probably the best one to start with, as it has a medium difficulty and is a bit less frustrating than the first one. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series also kind of fits the bill, and has a turn-based battle system on a map as well, though, as the title suggests, most of the gameplay is in long dungeons with limited save points, and it also doesn’t show enemy HP. “Explorers of Sky” is probably where you’d want to start for this series. The Pokemon Ranger series can be played on the DS line. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series has one game for the GBA, several for the DS, and a few for the 3DS.

For turn-based tactics in random and scripted encounters, the core Pokemon series should work fine, with varied strategies and a noticeable uptick in plot quality with each new generation. Games for this can be found on every handheld Nintendo console, and one for the Switch is coming out about a week after I write this, though with catching mechanics from the mobile game, rather than the rest of the series.

For the 3DS and I think on the Switch as well, I’d also recommend Ever Oasis as a game that doesn’t get as much attention as I feel it should. Ever Oasis is a fantasy game set in a desert, with heavy artistic influence from ancient Egypt. The gameplay is sort of like if you mixed Animal Crossing with Breath of the Wild, as is the art, honestly. The game is fairly short, but sweet and very cute.

And this concludes my thoughts (for now) on O ctopat h traveler and other game options. Remember that these are just my opinions, and it would probably be good to check out other people’s opinions to see what people do like about the game that I may not have covered here or that I personally disliked that others find fun.

[marypsue]

Beth leaves shortly after Summer heads upstairs to pack. Slams the headset down on the counter hard enough to put a crack in the viewscreen, sick of the nausea curdling in the pit of her stomach at the sight of the empty house, the birdcages dominating every corner of the main room. Sure, it's a dream life. It's also completely out of her grasp. And the darkness of the room is suffocating.

"Can we find another channel?" Jerry's complaining, as Beth makes her way behind the couch to the stairs. "Think we've all seen just about enough of ourselves for one lifetime."

She isn't planning to leave, at first. She's just planning to remove herself from the kitchen, and earshot of her family, and easy reach of the wine. Make it easier for herself to make positive life decisions, to do something constructive instead of destructive, all those platitudes she's picked up from the (useless) marriage counseling sessions. She's better than this, she's better than - she won't let a little (enormous) thing like this drag her down. Beth will rise above, she will be steady in the face of adversity and she'll set a good example for the kids and - and -

There's a thump from down the hall, Summer slamming her closet door, and Beth sags against the wall.

Summer opens her mouth to yell when Beth pushes open her door, but stops when Beth grabs the garbage bag full of clothes and says, "If you can't carry it down the stairs, then you're not going to be able to haul it all the way across the country. And you'll want it to be able to fit in the overhead bins on an airplane or a bus. Don't you have a duffel bag somewhere?"

"Wait, you're...helping me run away from home?" Summer asks, squinting suspiciously and pulling the garbage bag in close to her chest. Beth can't blame her. "You're my mom. Aren't you supposed to, like, try and talk me out of it?"

"Probably," Beth says. "Did you pack a good winter coat? It gets cold in the desert at night, and you'll probably end up spending a few of them outside."

"Oh, I get it. This is some kind of reverse psychology thing where you pretend you're helping me, but really you're just trying to scare me out of going," Summer snaps. "Well, don't bother. Just get out of my room, okay? Haven't you already made enough of a mess of your own life?"

...

It's so much easier than she'd imagined.

Well. No. If Beth is being honest with herself - and she's trying to, she's done with lying to herself - it's exactly as easy as she'd always imagined it would be. She makes sure she has her passport, all her ID and credit cards, her best clothes and her good jewellery. Something warm to wear on cold nights. The taser, from when Summer was little and they lived in that shitty apartment downtown and she'd had to take the bus back from the surgery at all hours.

And she leaves.

She walks straight past the living room and no one even turns around. Nobody notices the squeaky wheel of her suitcase as she drags it across the floor, nobody notices the creak of the hinges when the door opens. A tinny voice from the television makes a lame dick joke, and her father - the father who'd almost miraculously reappeared in her life after abandoning them without a word, after being away for so long that she'd started to think she'd never see him again, the man she's spent her entire lifetime simultaneously longing to have back and yet trying not to become - bursts out laughing.

Beth slams the door behind her on the way out.

Nobody comes running out to the driveway when she starts the car. Nobody appears in her rearview mirror as she pulls out of the driveway and peels off down the street. As far as her family's concerned, Beth might as well not even be gone.

She wonders, in the back of her mind, why she didn't do this years ago.

Beth fixes her eyes on the horizon, and pushes the gas pedal to the floor.

...

She starts small. Paris, Athens, Rome. Cities known for - yes, thank you, Jerry - their sexually aggressive men. And incredible food, and architecture, and art, and history. Their culture. (And wine.)

It’s exciting, for a while. Living like a fugitive, like a libertine. Beth maxes out her credit cards and doesn’t feel a shred of guilt. She’s the one who’s been paying the bills all these years, anyway. Might as well get a little enjoyment out of it.

She lives in hotels and hostels, takes tours of art galleries and medieval towns, visits churches older than her home country and marvels at beautiful frescos of worlds beyond the one she lives in, worlds beyond the mundane agony of earthly life. She eats all kinds of local delicacies and learns to cook some of them. She makes friends with other travellers and locals alike. She does odd jobs - some of the oddest jobs she’s ever done. She learns how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘where is the washroom’ in seven different languages. She swims in the ocean under a shimmering blue sky, so perfect and even that it’s like the dome of an eggshell seen from inside. She pays five hundred euros for a pair of Swarovski-crystal-bedazzled high heels. 

It’s meaningful. It’s fulfilling. It’s everything she ever wanted when she was back at home in her suburban house, on her suburban street, married to someone she could generously call her high school sweetheart, with two children and a dog.

And then one day she’s standing in an art gallery with the beefy arm of a beautiful Norwegian almost ten years her junior nestled around her waist, squinting at an ornate, gilded empty frame hanging in the dead centre of a huge white wall, and something in Beth, something small and vital that’s been straining for longer than she can even know, snaps.

The Norwegian - Nils or Jens or something - is in the middle of waxing rhapsodic about the use of negative space and the artist’s incisive commentary on the emptiness of consumer culture when Beth interrupts him by throwing her wineglass as hard as she can at the wall. It strikes a little right of centre in the middle of the empty frame, shattering explosively and spraying a rather cheap red across the wall. 

Pale red droplets start to trickle down the wall, the only sound in the sudden, shocked hush the slow tap tap tap of wine dripping against the hardwood floor.

“And there’s my incisive commentary on the relative worth of modern art,” Beth says, as the Norwegian draws back, looking stunned and betrayed. The look is mirrored on just about every face around the room.

The crowd parts for Beth as she strides out, snagging two more glasses of wine from a paralysed waiter as she goes. She knocks one back before she even makes it to the door.

...

It’s not raining, outside, just drizzling, a fine foggy mist that turns Beth’s carefully-coiffed hair into a ball of frizzy curls and makes the ancient cobblestones treacherously slick. Beth kicks off her heels, clumsily but carefully peels off her stockings as she wanders down a street that drunken Romans have been staggering down since long before anyone even knew that the Earth was round. She finds that this piece of cultural heritage, which had so awed her when she’d first arrived, just doesn’t seem to matter as much anymore.

What does matter is that somewhere in this city, there is a party, and Beth is going to find it.

She follows flashing lights and the heartbeat-thump of bass to a door in a wall between a narrow stone building with elaborate ironwork and what looks like the crumbling remains of an ancient Roman watchtower. They’d told her when she’d arrived that what Rome is built on is mostly Rome. Ancient buildings and earthworks that, back home, would have been revered as priceless places of immense historical and cultural significance, here get bulldozed so they can put in an ‘aesthetically-consistent’ McDonald’s.

For some reason, this strikes Beth as both hilarious and fitting. She aims a vicious kick at the falling-down tower wall as she passes, but luckily for her bare feet, misses.

The night and the rain blur into sweat and neon and the ear-shattering throb of music, house or EDM or whatever they’re calling the music kids get high and dance to these days. One drink turns into three, turns into a line of shots and a crowd of Italians who look like extras from some television show about high schools of the rich and famous all chanting something in Italian, turns into sitting in a bathroom stall listening to a girl sobbing her heart out on the shoulder of one of the cluster of friends standing around her and blocking the paper towel dispenser. Beth’s knuckles sting from when she thinks she punched some teenager who called her a cougar, probably, the rest of it was in Italian but the winking and the nudging and the pointing and the dropped English word said more than enough.

Her head is spinning when she stumbles back out the door in the wall. She vomits on the cobbles and is reminded that the most brilliant, important, and historically significant human achievement in this whole storied city is its sewer system, and can’t stop laughing. 

“Y’know,” she slurs at the kind person holding back her hair, “I came here to see some real culture. Like havin’ a history that’s based on...bein’ in one place for millennia...means you’ve got anythin’ figured out.”

The kind person hums, rubs her back soothingly.

“I’m an idiot,” Beth says, and the street is so narrow and the light is turning a pale, pathetic grey and her vomit on the cobbles of an ancient Roman street is suddenly not funny anymore. The sky looms, infinite, overhead. “I really am an idiot. You’ve just got more practice at buildin’ gilded frames around nothin’ at all. Where are my shoes?”

“Can’t take credit for any of it, sorry,” the kind person says, in a smooth, delicious accent unlike any Beth’s heard so far on her European tour. Unlike any Beth’s ever heard at all. “Not being from around here.”

Beth forces her eyes to focus.

“You’ve got two heads,” she observes.

“I do,” the kind person agrees, leaning in closer, and Beth suddenly realises why he’s being so kind. “And that’s not all I’ve got two of.”

Beth tries to fix at least one of his heads in her wavering vision, gives up. “Jus’ tell me you’ve got a spaceship or a portal generator or something that can get me off this godforsaken rock, an’ I’m yours.”

Both heads seem to pause at this.

“Well, usually I’m the one who brings that up,” the head to Beth’s left says, “but what the hell.”

...

There’s really no such thing as day or night onboard a spaceship in high orbit, but somehow when Beth wakes up, it still feels obscenely early. She slips out of the bed as carefully as she can, hoping not to set the mattress moving again and wake the two-headed stranger. Who even has a waterbed these days, anyway?

Last night’s champagne has already gone flat, the bottle standing open and forgotten beside the bed. Beth grabs it anyway, and one of the discarded glasses, pouring herself a flute of warm champagne as she pads across the room to the walk-in closet. She’s not sure whose benefit the glass is for. She already knows she’s going to finish the bottle on her own.

The gold lamé robe she finds and wraps around herself is cold, silky and shivery against her bare, goose-pimpled skin. The bedroom is carpeted in something lusciously soft and thick, and the metallic surface of the hall outside meets Beth’s bare feet with a shock of cold. She presses on, though. Somewhere on this flying bachelor pad, there has to be something that can make her a decent cup of coffee.

That’s how she finds herself on what she’s helpless not to call the bridge, staring out the vast window that wraps halfway around the ship’s front, out into the infinite starfield falling away before her. The ship lists in its lazy orbit, and the Earth rises slowly into view, looking small and impossibly lonely against the vast backdrop of the cosmos, one small bright speck in an eternity of darkness.

Beth hears the voice right in her ear before she realises the two-headed stranger’s come up behind her. “Real hoopy view, huh?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” Beth admits, as the two-headed stranger pulls her close, deftly lifting the bottle of champagne from her hand. “I’m - sort of new to all of this.”

Her laugh sounds high, nervous, girlish, fake, but the stranger doesn’t seem to mind or notice.

“You sure seemed like an old pro last night,” he murmurs into her left ear, while his other head nips at her right earlobe.

“No, I - it’s complicated.”

“Hey, you wanted outta there. I got you outta there. What’s complicated about it?”

Beth looks down on her tiny speck of a planet. Down on Earth, the sun is starting to rise somewhere around Asia, lighting up the edges of the planet in a ring of golden fire. The planet flares once, brilliant, beautiful, burning, and then Beth has to look away or have her retinas seared.

What’s complicated about it?

“If I keep giving you sexual favours, will you take me as far as the Horsehead Nebula?” she asks the stranger, who has finished sucking on her earlobe and moved on to her neck.

“Sure, why not,” the stranger’s other head says, before taking a swig of flat champagne directly from the bottle.

Beth lets her eyes slip closed, relaxing into the stranger’s embrace. She’s got time to enjoy herself, indulge herself a little.

After all, she’s got until the Horsehead Nebula to figure out how she’s going to steal this spaceship.

[rovlemhage]

WBJ2017: Day Eleven, Language with a hint of typography.

Due to how all human spread from one land they have had multiple languages at the start but long ago they all coalesced more or less into one single language. The name of the single language is Cradlal, the sub languages are named for the three tribes/clans that used them. Fridua, Varsil and Suritt. (names subject to change).  In modern times when referring to these languages by saying/writing Cradlal-Fridua or Cradlal-Suritt in terms of the actual differences between the languages.  Fridua and Varsil are the closest having gotten their verbs and conjugation from the same tribes.  The main differences is in specific words.  Kind of like how Spanish from Mexico and Spanish from Spain are the same but a few words are used differently or aren’t used entirely and are replaced by a whole new verb.

The Varsil language has the largest difference from the other two. It still shares most of the words in common with Suritt but most of the verbs are different and it has a system of conjugation that is very different from the other two languages. Fridua and Suritt conjugate verbs by actually adding words after them to signify who is doing something, and the tense in which it is happening. Varsil has a system more like English or Spanish where they change the end of the verb in some way. Either adding new letters or replacing some on the end of the word.

The under water nations for the most part use one of the three languages, but over time it’s usually undergone it’s own mutations to become it’s own sub—pardon the pun—dialect, which is usually fairly consistent from base to base in the underwater nation. However in some of the nations that are either more spread out, because they don’t occupy an area of the shallows or their only bases are HomeSubs sometimes each base will have it’s own dialect.

A sign language has developed within the last few hundred years for those who are harder of hearing or for communicating visually when audible communication won’t work for one reason or another. It’s been growing for a long time, and got started back in the tribal days before humanity had even spread out past Cradlal, when those in differing tribes who couldn’t communicate would attempt to use the hand signs/symbols for the gods to try and communicate meaning. Over time this idea was played with and used informally expanded from just using the hand signs of the gods to actually having dedicated gestures for some words, but it wasn’t until recently that several nations got together to come up with a standard, universal sign language, to try and improve global communication.

As for written communication all of the languages may be different verbally and in terms of the words they use, but the one thing about them all that was truly unified is their shared alphabet, which again organically grew from pictographs and the symbols of the gods and goddess and over time slowly morphed into what is known as Formal. Much like the Latin alphabet the characters of the language have heavily changed and loss much of the look of the old pictures, and are heavily abstracted now. However the older more symbolic language known as the Gulun is still around and is used mostly for formal occasions or when one wants class, or for situations where space is at a premium, while it is more stylized, usually being something like the symbol for the goddess of death and a bed to mark a burial site. It’s still usually about a symbol per word, much like several of the Asian languages. And as such it sees much use in the underwater nation’s bases.

As for Typography the surface nations tend to prefer serif typefaces because usually they have more room and their typefaces tend to be more flourished with very noticeable differences between the thick and thins and the serifs are almost always curved or slanted or something. Vs the underwater nations who commonly Gulun tend to go with a stencil or Swiss style for Gulun to keep it condensed square angles and perfect circles. However when they use Formal it’s usually in either a condensed form, or a humanist sans serif.(Humanist usually means it’s less like a machine made it and more similar to what someone might hand write, for example several early humanist typefaces were based on medieval scribe’s handwriting.)

Yes I am a person who is interested in Typography and the only reason I didn’t go deeper is I don’t know what the Formal and Gulun look like written on paper so I don’t really know everything about how they typographically may have evolved. Otherwise I may have gone a whole lot deeper. Or you know if this was about Typography rather than language. Either way this was a fun prompt for me and I hope ya’ll had fun reading it.