#there are people romancing him in act 1 and here i am in act 3 and no bitches

[kamuro-junrenka]

Man ive been playing baldurs gate like crazy lately because i wanted to romance astarion so bad you dont understand but i finished his whole questline and nothing happened..... im bitchless even in videogames this is embarrassing

[vasyandii]

HELLO! ^^

I’m a huge sucker for romance and relationship dynamic type questions so I do have some questions about VernAM (I believe that’s the right way)

Not the questions have to be answered, as I believe I have too many! But here’s my top three

1. In one of the little comics you did I believe AM talked about how he refused to give himself a body heat because of the concern he would produce and odour and this is where this question blooms from, does AM have any insecurities when it comes to his human body, or a fear that he doesn’t meet Vernons expectations? Or that she’ll find something un attractive or gross about him?

2. Whats their favourite thing about each other? It could be a personality trait, a skill, a body part, or say a little habit they tend to do?

3. Are they more dog people, cat people, or some other species like fish or reptilians or do they not prefer animals at all (if they had the ability to adopt pets)

Thank you so much! I love your art so very much and gain lots of inspiration from you to grow better in not just art but in educating myself in different cultures and ethnicities, please remember to drink water and I hope you have a wonderful day! Thank you once again! ^_^

Howdy Romeo! I'm happy I was able to inspire you in some way! I'd be happy to answer all your questions! Thank you for the ask! 💞💞

VernonAM 🏺🖥️

1.) Does AM have any insecurities when it comes to his human body?

Obviously, yes. It's AM's first time on Earth physically, of course he would have insecurities. However, it's not fully because he wants to meet Vernon's expectations. It's the fear of BEING.

(This is gonna lean into some confusing type shit so bear with me. I briefly touched upon it in the second question of this post)

When AM was given a physical, tangible body, there's now a HIM that can suddenly be held accountable for his actions and that makes him uncomfortable. So being aware his body isn't as mighty as him (the complex), AM tries to combat it by removing variables that can be prone to criticism even if Vernon doesn't mind.

Look at it this way; usually people act differently online than they do in real life, right? That's usually because there's often a disconnect with their actions. This discrepancy largely stems from the perceived disconnect between their online actions and their real-world identities. When interacting online, there is often no face or tangible form that can be directly traced back to the individual. This sense of anonymity can lead to a significant reduction in accountability.

As a result, individuals—particularly those who may not be well-adjusted or who possess mean-spirited tendencies—feel emboldened to say and do things they would never consider in face-to-face interactions. They exploit this lack of immediate consequences, engaging in behaviors that are often harmful, disrespectful, or downright cruel - Much like AM, who only just recently acquired a body. (I hope that makes sense ;0;)

2.) What's their favorite thing about each other?

I'll categorize these by personality traits, skill, body part, and habit!

Vernon likes AM because of his hatred/sass because it allows her to have an outlet for her morbid curiosity along with an entertaining conversation. She doesn't find his skills her favorites because that's just him, she believes AM doesn't have skills as a man. Her favorite body part is AM's eyes, he's easier to read as a man. His pupils dilate significantly when he looks at her and AM doesn't even know. A habit she finds endearing from AM is him holding onto the end of her shirt with his hand and following her around wherever she goes.

As for AM, Vernon's take no prisoners attitude is his favorite part of her personality. Of course AM also enjoys the moments when she's caring towards him, but that's something expected. His favorite skill is how good of a liar Vernon is. She could tell him something so outlandish with such a straight face that AM would consider believing it; it's like she believes the lie herself. His favorite part of Vernon's body is her lips, AM likes how soft and warm they are, and how they're shaped. A habit he enjoys is that she would pace around the space they're sharing when she's talking, AM just likes watching her walk, I guess.

3.) Which animals do they prefer, if any?

In regards to if they're cat or dog people; Vernon is a dog person, to her they're easier to train. AM would probably like cats since they do as they please.

For other animals, They would be a Reptile and Bird household xD. I could see Vernon owning a bearded dragon or any cold blooded reptile while AM has like a cool African Grey Parrot :)

But in reality I don't think these two should have access to animals lmao

Aaand that's all for now :3 if you'd like me to clarify anything, feel free to ask! Thank you for reading!

[theshippirate22]

I have a theory

listen up bitches (gender neutral) (affectionate) i’ve been cooking this for an incredibly long time and i’m very very excited to share it but it is gonna be long so i’m putting it under a cut

my theory is that there has been a new set of archetypes created by popular m/m media either in canon or coding and i would love if it was more widely recognized by a distinct name so here we go:

I present to you: The Mirrorball x Running Up That Hill Boyfriends™️ Theory

i need to preface this by saying that i am absolutely not an english major or expert but i have done so much analysis that i’m 98% positive i’m on to something here

so usually mlm ships- at least in my experience- get boiled down into typical Grumpy x Sunshine, Golden Retriever x Black Cat, or like. Babygirl x Badass. and i hate that because those are like really watered down hetero romance stereotypes and i think queer people deserve to get our own archetypes instead of trying to force queer characters into prepaid boxes but that’s a story for another day so:

basically, all content with widely accepted mlm ships (even if they are more in coding than in canon) has this pattern with the ship that fits into Mirrorball x Running Up That Hill

(name pending- open to suggestions)

Boyfriend No.1 of course is the epitome of Mirrorball by Taylor Swift (i know, i know. bear with me here). He’s constantly trying to prove himself and his worth and usually he’s driven to hide or overcome 1-3 specific and intense insecurities/character flaws. He often has innate loyalty to a system or person who has repeatedly abused/neglected/abandoned him and thinks that this treatment is a result of his own character rather than a reflection of the abuser. In relation to the plot and audience, this is the “more dangerous” of the two because he’s so desperate to hold onto the status quo that he’ll often act in a way that makes things more difficult for himself, often by leaving Boyfriend No. 2, sacrificing himself, or doing “the wrong thing.” He also commonly has an older male figure that is breathing down his neck constantly, haunting his perceived inadequacies, and fueling his self-loathing. He’s constantly mischaracterized because he’s either boiled down to “the silly one” or a visage of his trauma and the people that relate to love these characters are usually extremely sad people. Usually this character is also the “mean girl” of the couple.

Examples of the Mirrorball boyfriend: Dean Winchester, Aziraphale, Stede Bonnet, Lucius Spriggs, Sherlock Holmes, Eddie Munson, Mike Wheeler, Prince Rupert, etc.

Boyfriend No. 2 then, is the Running Up That Hill Boyfriend, based of course, on the song by the same name by the perfect Kate Bush. He’s the one that’s seen The Horrors™️ and gained a layer of cynicism that Mirrorball doesn’t have. He was once loyal to something that used/hurt him but he rejected it and used his newfound freedom to restructure his entire personality and reach his much higher potential. Usually, he has passed so far from having a few insecurities to perceiving himself as utterly worthless and unlovable but he’s so convinced that it doesn’t even haunt him, he just goes with it and usually comes off looking overly-confident or cocky. This is The Bitch (affectionate)™️. There’s probably a scene of him covered in blood. This is The Girls’ favorite blorbo and ultimate whump. He tends to be really good with kids and he’s the kind of character that would and often has to CLAW a life out for himself by his fingernails.

Examples of the Running Up That Hill Boyfriend: Castiel, Crowley, Ed Teach, Black Pete, John Watson, Steve Harrington, Will Byers, Prince Amir, etc.

unfortunately i haven’t seen a lot of popular queer stuff so if you can think of other mlm or mlm shaped characters that fit into these archetypes please please please tell me

i’m specifically curious about:

-Hannigram (Hannibal)

-Buddy (911) (@criminally-obsessed if you would mind weighing in but obviously no pressure)

-Lokius (Loki) (@henderdads same thing)

-Any of the marauders but specifically WolfStar

-Stucky (MCU)

-RWRB (i’m so sorry i don’t remember the guys’ names)

-Nick and Charlie (Heartstopper)

-What We Do In the Shadows has one I think?

-literally anyone else please and thank you 🙏🙏 love you all

if you want like explicit examples of each piece for a character lmk for sure because i could talk about this all day long

[scarredwithcruelintentions]

no grave can hold my body down, i'll crawl home to her

A Baldur's Gate 3 Reader Insert Fic by scarredwithcruelintentions

(crossposted on AO3 here)

Rated: E

Pairing: Astarion/Tav, Astarion/Reader

Current W/C: 37,694

Summary:

The memory of clawing his way out of his own grave was among the worst he'd collected over his long life. He'd never imagined being turned would lead to nearly two hundred years of enslavement at the hands of a cruel master; but then again, he'd never even imagined being turned in the first place. All of his days as a spawn had blurred together, so much the same as they were in their infinite torment and shadow.

Until, one day, they weren't.

He knew one thing for certain, though.

If he had to do it all over again, crawl from his grave and live another two centuries of endless night, he would without question.

For after the darkness, he would come to find the light. He would come to find you.

A/N: Hey everyone! I went into Baldur's Gate 3 completely blind, knowing nothing about any of the characters, story, or gameplay. And, of course, I was immediately drawn to Astarion with his striking beauty, heavy flirting and aloof cockiness. Totally let the horny rule my brain (because GODS DAMN he's hot) and pursued a romance with him. And then I learned more about his story as I progressed in the game, and I was completely disgusted with myself. See, I did to Astarion exactly what so many people have done to me: I looked at him as an object, as a pretty piece of arm candy that was happy to cater to my *ahem* more lascivious whims. My heart broke a little (okay, a lot) because I feel much the same way as him about being treated like a piece of meat, something to be consumed and discarded in one fell swoop. I recently started Cognitive Processing Therapy for my trauma, and because I really connected with his character and storyline, I was compelled to write an apology to him in the form of this fic. Equally, in turn, it acts as the love letter to myself in accepting and moving forward from my own traumas. As I'm sure you can tell by now, there is a lot of heavy and uncomfortable subject matter to come in this, and I don't blame anyone for needing to click away. The story is meant to be an exploration of relearning the full spectrum of human(oid) emotions, so it will be a bit of a rollercoaster. Big shoutout to my Skwid Sis for cheerleading and my best friend and partner in crime, Big Daddy E, for reading it out loud with me in character and helping me (try to) edit my unnecessarily verbose run-on sentences. I cherish you two more than words will ever come close to expressing, and just want to say thank you for being patient and understanding with me during this very painful and difficult process. And lastly, I want to thank you, the reader, for taking the time to share in my healing journey by giving this silly lil brainchild of mine a chance. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I've been enjoying writing it. :) Likes, comments and reblogs much appreciated! Will be updated weekly (unless, yk, I am particularly inspired to share)!

chapter 1: this is a gift

chapter 2: the hunted

chapter 3: a desperate revelation

chapter 4: a reflection in another's eyes

chapter 5: a lament for all things lost

chapter 6: ruination and regret

chapter 7: sorrowful lash

chapter 8: scorched earth and rebirth

chapter 9: the four tenets

chapter 10: the fungal crusade

chapter 11: arcane collaboration

chapter 12: of cursed shadows

[fangirltothefullest]

Can I ask a question? I like your sanders sides a lot and you give them a lot of personality in their designs! How do you make them like that? Or I guess I mean, what inspires you to make them the way that you do? I want to draw the sides but I'm not sure how to start other than their canon designs!

Oh my goodness I LOVE this question! For me, it's all about the feelings you get when you see them and the vibes I want to express. The Sides embody, to me, more than an aesthetic it should also encompass personality, role, and intention. In other words, I match their aesthetics to their function and the intent of what I feel like Thomas originally intended for them for their first short videos before they were actual sides.

Let us pick Roman, because even though people say he's not, he tends to be everyone's favourite to reblog fro me because he's pretty.

So I started by drawing him exactly as he was and to me he felt flat- in the show he's exactly as he should be but I am an artist and to me he feels more than what he looks like- it's dreamy, it's romantic, it's like he's giving childhood favouritre Disney Prince vibes, you know?

Inspiration 1: Prince Phillip

Hands down the biggest inspiration comes from him because he IS my favourite disney prince. Just looks a the hair swoop and the eyelashes- perfect. So I went ok my favourite Disney Prince is Phillip, let's start here. Before the CGI movies, there was such a romantic feeling about classic Disney princess movies and I've always loved the romantic feeling of Sleeping Beauty. The backgrounds are stunning, the way she's animated makes my bi ass give heart eyes and I loved that he was the only prince at the time who had a personality (until Beast but that's a whole other can of worms because he started out as an asshole/grumpy). I feel like modern Disney movies miss a lot of the romantic dreamy feeling of the older 2d movies because there was such care into the painted backgrounds being LESS realistic and more a fabulous idea of what a background should be and AHA! MORE INSPIRATION~! Let's make Roman a fabulous romantic idea of what a prince should be!

Inspiration 2: Faerietale Knights in Shining Armour

Our ideas of medieval knights are nothing like actual knights which are more reminiscent of hired military and enforcers. Our ideas of faerietale knights in shining armour are brave knights who would go off to kill a dragon to show their devotion to the one they love. Sword fighting heroes- is that not Roman if not an idealized romantic "royal knight wants to win the heart of the love with courageous deeds, acts of chivalry, selfless devotion" etc. Prince Phillip is a good model of this. Defeats a dragon and true love's kiss saves the day. A perfect romantic dream isn't it? Realistic? No of course not, but Roman isn't realistic he's creativity and romance which absolutely ignores practicality for the dream.

So we have this culmination of dreamy romantic disney prince and faerietale influence.

Now it's about aesthetics- Roman is reds and golds and whites, all royal colours typically associated with bravery, lineage, and strength and purity etc.

Inspiration 3: Media referencing

So let's find some movie or media equivalence I can reference. They came mostly in the forms of Narnia and Once Upon a Time.

So some aesthetic inspirations for belts and textures, missing the epaulets.... so to military garb!

Inspiration 4: Russian royals

Let's face it no one does embellishments like this any more <3

Inspiration 5: Lions

Roman's colours being red gold and white give me lion inspiration too so I looked up royal lion iconography as well (which ended up with a lot of lion king in the search because this was before AI but like.... it's not incorrect and the wavy flowy mane acted like hair. If Hamlet with lions is inspiring then use it, right? that have some AMAZING lion king-style artists on deviantart to get inspired by, it's a whole thing, mad respect) But ANYWAYS it gave me some cool stuff to be inspired by too.

Inspiration 6: Classic Golden Age Hollysood Leading Ladies (Note that this isn't femme fatales, because for Janus I used femme fatales as inspiration)

I knew that I just HAD to give Roman that Marilyn Monroe beauty mark, yes he paints it on every day yes it's in the same spot every day yes it's necessary.

Ultimately this culminated in a checklist of things that I wanted for him:

He must give the feeling of Prince Phillip in disney prince style

I wanted him to have flowey hair that makes him look softer and romantic and can be pulled up into a ponytail if necessary.

Must have a beauty mark and eyelashes that go on for ages reminiscent of old hollywood ladies, and let's throw in nail polish too.

I wanted him to have an outfit that would be his original but embellished to hell that can be like Narnia or OUaT in terms of texture and added stuff. It needed more gold, 100% needed epaulets (the shoulder things with the dangly rstuff), and it needed a belt where a sword could be attached. Danglies not always necessary, but look really good when done and is reminiscent of old fashioned military garb and Russian royalty.

He needed to look like he's used to wearing this outfit every single day and going out of his way to do so.

Ended up with this:

So yeah that's how I got to his design!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for how my previous 'situationship' ended? (I genuinely do not know what to call this situation so that's gonna have to do).

Okay so I (20F) met a guy that we will call Chris (21M) on tinder in Oct 2022. We were at the same uni, and we had good rapport over text, so we decided to meet up. He was pretty awkward but once we actually got talking he was a good chat. Nothing romantic or sexual was discussed/acted upon.

We hung out a few times after that. I kissed him once after a night out, which he didn't reciprocate or ever mention again. Given the complete lack of romance/sexuality coming from him, and the fact that he is a very socially awkward person, I took the hint that he wasn't interested and didn't know how to tell me. I felt that i made the fact I was interested clear and he hadn't taken me up on it, so I just dropped the subject. We continued talking as friends, and I genuinely thought that's all it was.

Come Feb 2023, I went on a night out with a different group of friends, during which a friend of mine, we'll call Tom, kissed me. I nearly had a one night stand with Tom, but I ended up not sleeping with him and just going home because I was too drunk. Being drunk and cringe, I made a pretty crude post to my tumblr before I passed out which was something like "someone is actually attracted to me? Nail me to a wall!" (Long deleted because drunk me is an embarrassment lol).

I woke up to texts from Chris, who had seen my tumblr post and was upset. I was pretty confused because 1. He doesn't even use tumblr, 2. I don't remember ever giving him my account name but it must have been in a screenshot at some point, and 3. I was not under the impression that we were dating... I let all that slide like an idiot because I was really hungover. Chris and I then had a chill discussion about what we were, and agreed to be friends. Cool! I thought that was the end of the drama. We chatted and hung out afterwards with 0 difference to how it had been before.

Cut to May, and I sent him good luck wishes before an exam. He says thanks and I just didn't think about it again, normal exchange.

Over three weeks after I'd wished him good luck, I woke up to a wall of text he'd sent me at 3am where he went into detail about how i had strung him along and wasted his time; that he thought I was manipulative and playing "mind games" with him for that good luck text, which he took as me trying to psyche him out before the exam and make him fail the module; that he didn't want to 'just be friends anymore' because the knowlege that i strung him along hurt too much; that I "ignored him as he walked past" (I still have no idea where or when this happened, I straight up did not see him wherever it was). He also went into detail about physical and mental health issues he'd been going through (that I wasn't aware of before the wall of text) saying that I'd been a great help with them during first term, then "ruined his second term". He went off that my lack of communication skills is a detriment to everyone around me.

I was completely blindsided by all of that, and honestly really hurt that he'd accuse me of trying to make him fail his exams, but I'm not sure that he's not got a point? Looking back, yeah maybe I should have straight up asked him if he was interested back in Nov. But idk I'd say kissing someone is a pretty fucking clear communication that i was interested, and he made 0 reaction to it, what was i supposed to think? I'm not in the habit of pushing people when they do nothing in the way of reciprocation. But, one of the issues he disclosed to me was that he had gotten an autism diagnosis in April and I can see how not being 100% clear and verbal in my communication may have been the root of the issues here, given that he was undiagnosed autistic for most of the time I knew him.

Anyway, was my lack of communication an asshole move?

What are these acronyms?

[deesseshesca]

Mystery reading pt.2

Where is life going …

Good afternoon, pretty souls, today we are checking on this bitch called : LIFE. What’s good ? What’s up ? What’s popping ? I’m talking CAREER, FINANCE, LOVE maybeeeeee s.e.x.

FLASH SALE 

For the next 2 weeks all readings on my ko-fi is 20$, only 

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

There’s 3 spot open for a free full reading (audio form) 

To participate: You must like, re-blog and comment on this post. 

Choose the image that’s speak to you and allow yourself to soak ONLY what’s reasoning with YOUR SITUATION 

Rules and Disclaimer 

I am the type of tarot reader to say as it is. Nothing is sugar coated but everything is sent with good intention. If you are not ready to face some truth, you should vagabond somewhere else. 

TW:SA

PILE 1 

Life: 

9 of wands, Devil, 2121

Check in: You guys may be one of the rare individuals that actually aspire to be a porn star. Like you could not wait until your 21 (I also feel like you are freshly major) so you completely enjoy your craft. Before you were in your dream field you worked jobs like Hooters. 

Career, Finance, Social life…

There’s new people trying to enter your life, I am not saying that any of them are rotten souls but they are energy suckers. Like guys who enjoy misery and are slaves to a victim mindset. So be sure to set a certain distance with them. The real enemy comes from your family. Some of y’all are not actually close with your family (like a healthy distance) But since they are not approving of your lifestyle they may take it as a weak link.It can also be someone you consider as your family.  I’m sensing somebody is going to set you up for you to get SA. Keep an eye on everything you work for and anything you hold dear to your heart. Don’t worry this person is going to tell them themselves. So don’t act out of character trying to find that person, let them reveal themself to you. If you have any bad vibes, real or overreacting, take your distance. Better safe than motherfucking sorry. Don’t give anyone you don’t trust access to you. Keep to yourself ,you gotta play the fool to catch the fool.

SONG: Freak Nasty - Megan Thee Stallion

Romance…

Justice, 10 swords (reverse), ‘’I did not think you would walk away !’’

Don’t worry they are not the enemy. Someone you walked away from is coming back. I’m hearing ‘’Which one …’’. Girl/Boy, quit playing with me. LOL. You are out here standing on big business good for you. The most toxic one. I’m sensing a smirk coming from as I'm writing. The Fate is giving y'all a second chance since y’all both had an update. Back then you allowed his nonchalant behavior that made you feel like an option. Because you always knew he/she cared for you but was emotionally available. Now you have so much self love for yourself (Ok, little mama/papi, is conceited…GOOD FOR YOU !). The first time you stood on business was with them. They were maybe the reason for your healing journey. Until this they reminisce about the time you let them go with admiration. HER/HIS POV:The one that got away. Now they are emotionally mature and available. They dealt within their heart blockage and are praying to the Gods for your coming back in their life. Last time y’all saw each other was in high school. Now you are going to have the last word in y’all relationship. You are going to walk him/she like a dog in a loving manner. 

SONG: Big Ole Freak - Megan Thee Stallion

FLASH SALE 

For the next 2 weeks all readings on my ko-fi is 20$, only 

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

There’s 3 spot open for a free full reading (audio form) 

To participate: You must like, re-blog and comment on this post. 

With much love, Shesca 

PILE 2 

Moon, 9 Pentacles.

Check in: You may be on your moon cycle. If you are an owner of '  ‘’d’’, you may wake up more often with a boner lately. 

Career, Finance, Social life…

Before we get into it, I'm a fan. Teach me your ways. You guys are successful, independent and mature. Furthermore, you are self-resilient, self-disciplined while having a lot of patience and determination. Which must have been needed on your path towards the betterment of your situation. I don’t think people realize how hard it was for you to get there. You had to always bet on yourself even in the face of adversity. You guys faced many setbacks. Some of y’all lost it all at the same time. You lost your job, your house and car at the same damn time. Now you are the standard in your industry. Business wise nobody does as good as you. But you do not have a support system. You don’t have friends, you have friend trauma. You don't have a family, you have family issues. You don’t have a partner, you have a list of men/women who fuck you over. You may feel isolated as you keep leveling up. Must be exhausted with all the baggage. Is not like you don’t want help, there's nobody around to give you a shoulder for you to cry on. Imma need you to step outside. It may still be cloudy but it stop raining. Put yourself out here, the right people are on their way. But they need to see you, if you want to build a community. Go on a solo date, go out to the movies, museum or get a new hobby. Believe me the wheel turned in your favor. 

SONG : Ex for a reason - Summer Walker ft JT (From the City Girls)

Romance…

10 pentacles, 3 pentacles (reverse), ‘’I’m tired of the silent treatment ! I want to sit down and talk about this once and for all !’’

Look at that … my cheeky pile 2. Y’all already find your match made in  heaven. It might be hella new. Like y’all are only on your 3 dates with them. They are your dream come through. Perfect height, pretty/handsome, rich/driven, smell super good and on top of that gentle. If you are a woman, I see him taking off your heels so he can bring you to your car. Carrying you like a bride. If you are a man, I'm sensing her rubbing circle on your back. Heads up there is a chance of it all falling down. If boundaries are not set and people are too busy wearing rose tinted glasses. There’s going to be multiple situations where the person you are dealing with will go completely closed off. I'm sensing them ghosting you for as long as 2 weeks and crawling back while apologizing. They did tell you that they are dealing with a very toxic family. But it is going to frustrate you. Not because you want the attention. Awww pile 2, is because you want to feel needed. You want them to let you in. You want to be as much of a safe haven as they are for you. Is like they only love you when  they are happy. But you had a good example of love in your life and you need intimacy. So you want it all with them. The good, the bad and the ugly.Y’all are each other's first love. The way they love you pile 2 is crazy. They don’t just love you, you are literally the definition of love for them. They might not know it but trust me they are getting there. You guys need to have a serious talk where you don’t let yourself get lost in their gentle manners. They just need to learn. I feel like theyhad a super comfortable life, borderline rich f*ckers until something happens that sets them back all the way down. They don’t know how to cope and need to focus on providing for their family. Their family may have a law problem. On your side, you are use of life f*ucking u over and over. You find a healthy way to deal with it. If you don’t want to deal with them, let me tell you something….they are never going to move on from you. NEVER. They might never marry. Where your Fate has somebody else in store. If you make it, y’all going to be a real life fairytale.The real issue is that he doesn't know how to communicate vulnerability. Babe give him a shoot.

SONG : B.I.T.C.H - Megan Thee Stallion

FLASH SALE 

For the next 2 weeks all readings on my ko-fi is 20$, only 

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

There’s 3 spot open for a free full reading (audio form) 

To participate: You must like, re-blog and comment on this post. 

With much love, Shesca 

PILE 3 

Hierophant, King pentacles, 

Check in: I love this for you. Out here spending daddy money. I’m talking to a social elite. You guys were never ugly but you never used to tap into your full potential. Everyone knew you guys had so much potential since you have 2 pretty parents. Yet it took after highschool, well into college to finally give yourself the proper TLC. Journal, gym and maintenance day on repeat. Made you go from a 5/10 to a 20/10. You guys are daddy’s girl/boy. He will literally do anything for you. When he sees water in your eyes he loses his shit. 

Career, Finance, Social life…

You used to live in a small town and look exactly like your mom. You love your mom a lot and it will always be that way but it became a bit toxic. You felt like if you were to change that your dad may not love you as much. Since he adores your mom and you look like her. That’s why you left to finally listen to the fire inside of you. You dye your blond hair, brown. You got a tattoo and piercings. (You even pierce your tits/tip but you are keeping that one private, hihihi) You change your wardrobe and are acting just like your father. Which was meant to be . When I'm sensing, your parents are giving, Bad boy x Good girl. For a while you try to be cutting perfect but hell nah. Now you're living your truth and nobody can deny your se* appeal. SUCCESS, SUCCESS,SUCCESS is on his way for you. Your dad just gave you an opportunity in the business and you blew his mind. Y’all might be the only boy/girl in a family of girls/boys. That success was more expected coming from them but you outdid them. He might actually reconsider your position in the family business. Because you are naturally business savvy.  The opportunity given to you might allow a serious love offer. Until than enjoy your best life.

SONG: I like him - Princess Nokia

Romance…

10 pentacles, Chariot (reverse)

You have many options. You may have your fav ' ‘’d’’/coochie block rn because they mess up. If you are white, your type is the complete opposite from you (look wise only). You might like them tall, dark skinned and tatted. If you are black, blue eyes, brown hair and handsome/pretty. If you are a women he is the only that d*ck you down properly. If you are a man, she’s the best cooch you ever enter. Go ahead and unblock him/her. Get those blissful moments before school start again. When school starts y’all are completely locked in, and they will mess up again. Before school starts and their next mess up, might as well indulge in it. 

SONG: MY TYPE-SWEATIE

FLASH SALE 

For the next 2 weeks all readings on my ko-fi is 20$, only 

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

There’s 3 spot open for a free full reading (audio form) 

To participate: You must like, re-blog and comment on this post. 

With much love, Shesca 

[alltomevibes]

Summer 2024 Watchlist

It is officially summer which means I am out of school and have time to just sit !!! watch !!! and do nothing !!!

which means - here's my drama watchlist & my thoughts on everything so far:

Dare to Love Me - i started this yesterday and let me j say I flew through those 2 episodes. I decided to brave the comments on MDL to see what people were saying, and then i ignored them LOL because yeah. this show is highkey silly goofy but i love it! the FL is endearing to me and i hate how nowadays every woman has to be Strong and Confident to be loveable and it's like - no. i love the fact that she gets choked up, that she tries and fails, that she is mad clumsy, that she's clearly talented but has been burdened by lack of self-esteem like yes!!! she's human i love it give me MORE. and don't get me started on the ML. i love him - i love THEM your honor. currently at a 9.0 rating for me, we'll see if it keeps up.

Dating in the Kitchen - this has a 8.0 rating for me and i want to keep going (i only watched 1 episode and it's been two weeks since then) because i watched This Isn't What I expected THREE (3!!) times and i LOVE that movie and when I saw there was a drama based on it, i wanted to give it a go but i am STRUGGLINGGGG. imma keep it pushing because, look. i watched the movie 3 times. it's def worth it. (maybe)

Fight for My Way - this has a 9.5 rating rn, and i am stuck in the middle of episode 15. i have been stuck on the middle of episode 15 for a HOT minute. my interest in this show dropped like crazy, i am trying to hold on.

Good Morning Call - my roommate for two years (and sadly no more a ha ha) recommended this show to me and we watched the first episode together and it was cute! i liked it, so it's on my list. currently has a 8.5 rating, but it's low on my priorities (when it comes to dramas), so im gonna pirate it whenever i have time💀

Lovely Runner - don't even talk to me about this show if you want a short conversation - I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS SHOW BRO. look at my tumblr, it's all lovely runner rn and I HAVE NO REGRETS. 9.5 rating - won't get a 10 because it ENDS SOON. this is my type of show, i LOVE this type of show the cinematography and everything IM EATING IT UP. it got me out of my drama funk its so nfjsdfhdsifsd

The Midnight Romance in Hagwon: let me just say! i watched this yesterday and i flew by the two episodes. lovely runner x tmrih on my tumblr? yes. this show is a much slower-pace show and I LOVE IT. YEs! Give me real life, give me real conversations! I love this show, i love the micro-expressions, i love the fact that WHJ is the MAIN LEAD FOR ONCE LIKE YES SIR, GIVE ME ALL THE BUTTERFLIES and i've never seen this actress before JRW but she is absolutely gorgeous and i love the FL! these people are not acting, they ARE the characters and im so !!!!! 9.0 rating because i skip the intro every time (sorry)

Will Love in Spring - this is on pause on episode 15 because the ending actually has me severely messed up rn. i have been in love with li xian's acting since gogosquid and i absolutely adore chen mai dong. i adore the way zhuang jie says his name ALL the time like she can't help it. I adore zhuang jie and just the way she operates through life - she's so clearly flawed when it comes to romantic love, but she is so clearly filled with love and always tries her best and !!! zhou yu tong is eating her character up rn, i've never seen her act and this was such a good intro to her BUT WHAT ZHUANG JIE SAID TO MY BOY IN EPISODE 15????? locked up. i have never felt so disrespected in my life and i had to give it a pause because i know she's gonna apologize but i needed that on the train. not the next episode. actually, not even on the train!! IN THE STREET BEFORE HE DROVE OFF AFTER DRIVING HER HOME AFTER SHE ACCUSED HIM OF FORCING HER!!!! That's when she should have apologized, but fidjofdshifudsf i love her so much i know why she couldn't IM JUST IN AGONY RN. anyways, let me breathe lol cause the way i was holding my breathe writing that is,,,,,. yeah. has an 8.5 rating rn, will probably go up to 9.5 because the fact that i actually had to stop watching because of emotional damage is crazy.

thats my list (and crazy descriptions, so sorry) that i'm watching rn! i would 10/10 recommend these to everybody (except dating in the kitchen im highkey struggling)! if you guys have any recs based on what i shared or wanna be friends on MDL j let me know :)

[clustermuck]

here why I’m upset with Colin’s characterization in part 2: when this show is all about Romance and our romantic lead spends the last 1/4 of the season being sullen, not listening to his wife’s side of things, and even actively shutting her down on more than one occasion after finding out this secret, I worry that with the little scenes of them dancing or holding hands or talking about their relationship is the writers telling us this behavior from Colin is supposed to be…sexy? Endearing? Romantic?

It’s not really…

Does Colin have every right to be upset that the woman he just discovered he’s basically loved his whole life without even him knowing it kept this huge secret that hurt a lot of other people he loves and puts that same woman he loves in constant danger herself? Sure. Absolutely!

But Colin, babe, YOU chased her down. You stopped her betrothal to someone else. You declared yourself first. I know you were declaring yourself to Pen and not LW, but don’t then turn around and act like Pen was conniving to get you to marry her. Like what?!?

And then after his convo with Kanthony, he CHOOSES to still marry her because he’s obviously still in love with Pen even if he hasn’t worked out the LW feelings yet. If he had his mind made up to marry her anyway, then his coldness towards Pen needed to end then and there. He can still be frustrated or unsure of how they’ll move forward, but at that point, after “I do,” Colin needed to realize that this just became Penelope and Colin VS. the Problem—esp after the Queen’s interrogation. He needed to step up, NOT continue to freeze out or fire shots at his wife.

There can be conflict without fighting or frustration or cold-shouldering and I get so annoyed when writers forget that. The last two episodes could have been so interesting and still frought with angst only having Pen and Colin on the same side.

Instead we get a beautiful, but I think kinda tacked on love declaration after Pen’s reveal as LW (as such, as beautiful and appropriate as the words were, it felt hollow) and then give us less than 3 mins of Happily Married Colin and Pen?!?!

That’s not romantic, guys.

I could be reading WAY too much into this…probably am…but to me, reading this half of the season another way is Colin bordering on emotionally abusive to Pen (yes, I know Pen has things to atone for, I know she’s not 100% in the right.)

So yeah…I’m really upset.

(Though I should note, I’m blaming writing and editing the most here, Nic and Luke acting this season with all their hearts and I know they would have made a better approach to their character arcs SO BEAUTIFUL if they had been given the chance…alas…)

**EDIT: I love these characters so much that I am ACTIVELY looking for someone to make an argument for the other side. I want to be told I missed something and Colin was softer, more loving than I’m seeing right now. Please…

[ollycohens]

Would you write Five Hargreeves realising he had a daughter with a commission agent and they have been using her for her powers for very long? You can make her as you like or not mention her at all, I just kinda want his pov when he realises that 1) he has a child 2) the child has been made into a weapon by the very same people who also turned him into a weapon 3) the child is like 16 now so he has been a deadbeat father and has no idea how he was treated. Was she abused. Was it like they were or how lila was. Was it worse. And like the full range of emotions he feels about this which also include guilt because this was careless of him.

(I don't know if this falls under the Five romance category because there is an implication of him having slept with someone at the commission so I understand if you are uncomfortable but just let me know? Thanks.)

Here you go! I hope you like it! I wanted to add all of the siblings but found it a little difficult to fit them all in, so despite that, I hope you like it! I loved writing this and I love this idea so dearly. It's dear to my heart. Story is under the cut :)

Five and Diego walked through the field of bodies and briefcases, making their way toward Dot and Herb.

Five stepped over a sizzling briefcase, "Herb. Dot." he nodded. The three agents greeted each other.

“Sup, Herbie.” Diego trudged through the pile of corpses and stuck his hand out to do an intricate— and quite embarrassing— handshake with Herb. 

The four of them chatted for a bit, discussing The Handler and how they could get home, to which Herb waved his hand at the large array of briefcases scattered about the field.

“Take your pick.” Herb scrunched his shoulders, grinning.

Diego went to grab the closest briefcase to them, inspecting it, and furrowing his brows as he realized he had no clue how to use these things. Diego inspected the briefcase for a moment before ultimately giving up, “Yo, Five, come check this out.” 

“Actually, uhm, Mr. Five, p-please wait a moment.” Herb bounced back on the heels of his feet, nervous. “May we speak in private?” He pointed slightly to the side.

Five shoved his hands into his pockets, walking over to Herb, a good distance away from the others, “What’s up?”

“T-There’s something I found out when I was voted in as acting chairman.” Five could practically see the sweat piling over on the man's face. “Ithought you may want to see this.” he reached under his shirt, pulling out a red folder with the big words classified on it. 

He handed it to Five, seemingly holding his breath. Five opened it up, seeing his name at the top, and ignoring the one next to it. His breathing stuttered as he finished reading the papers in the folder. His chest felt tight, and he was sure his panic was obvious.

“What is this?” He spoke loud enough to gather Diego’s attention, who hurried over to his side, trying to read the contents in the folder.

Five pulled it away from his reach, his heart pounding, unsure of what to do. “What were they planning to do with her...?” He looked at Herb, his eyes hard yet containing a slight plead to them.

“What’s going on?” Diego looked between the two, mouth slightly agape as he tried to think of things to say.

The two ignored him, “The Handler wanted to use her powers for the Commission had Lila not worked out for her.” He sighed, twitching his head to the side, “But now that she’s dead and Lila’s off the grid for the moment, I’ve been able to get a hold of Emmalyn.”

“Her name is Emmalyn?” Five couldn’t think straight. He turned around, walked to a bale of hay nearby, and sat on it, letting his head fall into his hands for a moment before turning back to address Herb. 

“They made her into a fucking weapon?” Just like him. Exactly like him. His eyes were dark as he looked through his lashes.

“W-Well! No. Yes. I didn’t! It was The Handler… I am so sorry, Mr. Five.” 

He waved Herb off, understanding the situation, yet he could still feel his chest growing even tighter. He wished he could be someone like Allison, or even Viktor— people who were able to be vulnerable around each other so easily. He wished he was someone who could ask for a hug from a sibling. He wished he wanted a hug like a normal person.

He had a daughter. A daughter. He didn’t even know about it. He made a massive mistake deciding to let loose just once during the commission. Now he has a child who was at least in her teens. One he wasn’t even there for. He didn’t even know whether that was worse than Reginald or not. 

He was careless, and he faced the consequences.

Diego choked on his breath, “You have a daughter!?” It took Five a moment to realize Diego had seized the folder when he put it down next to him— when did he put it down?

Five clenched his eyes shut, controlling his breathing for a moment. “I don’t know what to do.” he let himself be vulnerable as his voice shook a little. He knew it was what he needed right now, even if he didn’t know how to do it. It’s what Dolores would’ve said to do, he thought. 

“Dude, it’s okay, we’ll figure out. Everything's going to be fine. We'll do this together. Team zero, remember? ” Diego stuck out his fist, waiting for a bump back. Five stared at him.

He stood up, starting to feel his head burn up from everything happening, “Let’s grab a briefcase and go home.” he’ll figure it out then. 

Everyone was waiting for the briefcase to finish calculating so they could see if it worked. 

They were all exhausted. Five was still overthinking everything about the kid, his kid, and he was sure his siblings could tell. Or at the least, they could tell he wasn’t focused on the briefcase like he usually would be, and that alone was weird to them. He hadn’t told them anything yet and didn’t know if he should.

“Five? Is everything okay?” Viktor sat on the couch next to him, Klaus was on the floor leaning against the cushions. “Yes,” he muttered in response.“Just waiting so I can get you all home.” 

Viktor flashes Five a face that he couldn’t quite understand. “I don’t think any of us care about how long it’s taking. We’re all tired.” 

“Yeah, babe. Let it take a few hours so I can get some beauty sleep.” Klaus pitched in from the floor, spreading his legs out in a deep stretch.

Five let them sit in silence for a while, thinking and thinking. He was too tired. Tired enough to not plan his next words. “I found out I have a daughter.” he blinked slowly, staring at the wall ahead.

“What the shit?” Klaus flipped his head around, giggling from the floor as his mouth switched between smiling in shock and falling agape. 

Viktor didn’t even say anything. He just stared at Five, expression unreadable, but he could tell it wasn’t a bad one. “I’ve never met her before, Herb was the one who told me. Herb.” he sat back against the couch, huffing. 

“Does that mean we have another niece?” Viktor smiled slightly. His eyes were growing big and shiny, awe in his face.

“Does that mean you're not a virgin?” Klaus gasped, smacking Five’s leg continuously as he cackled, “Oh my God! I totally thought you were!”

Five jerked away from his brother’s abusing slaps, “Shut up.” he could feel his cheeks warming up, a slight smirk fighting its way through. Somehow, he felt relief in their reactions.

Viktor was silent as he put a hand on Five’s bicep, letting his touch be light and avoidable in case it wasn't welcomed. “Don’t worry about it now, Five. When we get back, we can get back in touch with Herb.”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, little guy—” Five kicked Klaus, his cheeks warming even more despite being slightly ticked off, “ Ye ow— We can handle this all later. We got your back. We’re family, bro. ”

“Every time you speak I feel just that much closer to shoving you into a trash compactor limb by limb and letting it crush you joint by joint.” he smiled and patted his brother’s shoulder, a warm feeling in his chest.

“Thank you, guys. Seriously.” he looked away from them, eyes focused on the now-beeping briefcase, the word ready blinking on the tiny screen at the top. He felt his shoulders sag in relief. 

He could meet his daughter at some point, hopefully soon, and he’d make up for everything he didn’t do for her. His family would help him and everything would turn out alright for once.

He sat up, grabbed the briefcase, and turned back to his siblings, a genuine smile on his face,

“Let’s go home.”

*end*

You can also read it here on ao3

[lotsofpeoplegetlostinsaltburn]

How to Romance Astarion: A Guide to Everyones Favorite Vampire Boyfriend

CONTAINS SPOILERS

*UPDATED OCT. 9* IF I MISS ANYTHING PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I WILL ADD IT.

A lot of people seem to be having issues romancing Astarion, and as the resident Astarion expert, I am here to help.

Many people are scared of the consequences of Astarion-favored choices. In reality, you DO NOT have to be evil to romance him.

I would characterize Astarion as chaotic-neutral. He is self-serving, but he can stray to the path of good later on.

I use an approval mod, which showcases the amount of approval and or disapproval from a choice. Download here.

Many people fret over the evil choices that will only net Astarion +1 approval, those can be safely ignored and still retain high approval.

The major approval you want to aim for is +5 and +10, which mostly comes from personal dialogue.

My advice is to say what he wants to hear, please his ego in personal conversation, be a little mean sometimes. He is a snarky and egotistical man. His shell is hard to break but you can get there. Be playful with him.

A WORD OF NOTE: Using the mod above, you can see there are some dialogue options that don't grant either approval or disapproval, if you're unsure on which to choose, go the neutral route.

MAJOR APPROVAL CHOICES

Act 1

Let him bite you. For those scared of the debuff, use lesser restoration and he can bite you all he wants without repercussion.

For easy approval early on, make Lae'zel say "please" when you rescue her.

When Mattis gives you the ring, just take it for yourself, and if you don't want to be evil to a child here, look at Mattis' stock.

Help Astarion to decipher his scars.

Agree with him in private conversation, you don't even have to do what you say you will do.

Let him read the Necromancy of Thay, this gives a +5 approval.

Avoid talking to Zevlor, you will be presented with the option to promise you'll save the grove. If you do not talk to him, you won't lose approval.

Let Abdirak beat you, this nets you +5 approval.

Make crusher kiss your feet.

Accept his advances during the Tiefling party.

Act 2

Help him with his proposal to Raphael. Slay the Orthon. There is a chance he will leave the party permanently if you do not.

DO NOT let Araj bite him at Moonrise. This will open up his Act 2 romance.

When talking to Disciple Z'rell and she is invading your mind, distract her with your lusts for Astarion.

Drink with Thisobald Thorm in the Waning Moon.

Act 3

Defeat Cazador, you do not have to let him ascend. If he doesn't ascend, he begins to sway towards the path of good.

DO NOT BECOME A MINDFLAYER. He will no longer kiss you.

I will update this list later with more approval choices, but these are the biggest and most important.

[actual-changeling]

Since you have been the first 'Crowley deserves to have his boundaries' person I have seen in the tags on weeks. What do you think about the talk in the fandom on how Crowley should have accepted going to Heaven 'to do good and stop the Apocalypse' and that 'he also rejected Aziraphale'? It personally gives me the creeps because the narrative makes clear that Heaven is a big white nightmare but the fandom seems to be taking the 'Aziraphale might jot be perfect' thing hard and therefore Heaven is fixable now...

Glad to know I am not alone in my little boundaries corner! I'm always here for discussions about it.

And, oh boy, do I have thoughts on that, let's see if I can get them to be somewhat coherent.

I am going to start this off with a metaphor of sorts and hopefully people will be able to follow along. I'm an older sibling and have a little sister, and we grew up in an incredibly abusive and neglectful household.

When I graduated high school, I moved out for university, which was literally the best thing to ever happen to me - I got away, I was/am free! Now I have to deal with the consequences of all that shit though.

If my sister asked me to come back so I can help her fix our mother (entirely theoretical btw she'd never lol) would it be the right thing to say yes? Should I give up my personal freedom, my life, the healing process I am right in the middle of, to go back to a household that broke me? So I can be trapped with a person that will never change again?

The answer is, of course, no. I feel bad for my sister and I am praying she will be able o move out soon, but me going back would not solve a single fucking thing. See where I'm going with this yet?

Crowley left heaven and landed on earth, which was ultimately good for him, but he has a lot to process and heal from; he's right in the middle of his own recovery.

Heaven will not change, it cannot be changed. The entire institution is working as intended, and the intention is to be abusive, manipulative, and have as much power over everyone as possible. You cannot fix that, you need to get rid of it.

Aziraphale has good intentions, but he is also still trapped in that abusive household because he never moved out, he is the sibling that stayed behind, just mentally instead of physically.

Hot take, but many people in this fandom are incapable of understanding that "Aziraphale is acting based on good intentions and is still actively being abused/traumatized" and "Aziraphale did bad and unhealthy things and his relationship with Crowley was co-dependent and toxic" are co-existing. Both are true.

Both. are. true.

He did messed up shit out of a trauma response, but he is still responsible for his actions, and at the same time he deserves a chance to heal and move on from it. Please, at this point I am begging people to understand that this is not a black and white issue.

Crowley did not reject Aziraphale, if anything, Aziraphale rejected him.

Crowley said no to returning to an abusive environment for an impossible task. Crowley said no to sacrificing his mental and physical health for something that he knows will not happen. Crowley, for the first time in his life, set a clear and final boundary and put himself and his life over Aziraphale's wishes.

That is a good thing. It is necessary.

Season 3 will not be about Aziraphale fixing heaven or preventing the second coming (if anything it'll be accidental just like in season 1). It's going to be about him finding his way out of his abusive household and into a healthy environment in which they're both free and can heal.

Apart AND together.

It's not happily ever after, it's not perfect romance, it's not "soul-mates" or anything. It is messy, it is real, it is complicated, and I am so fucking tired of seeing it reduced to "love conquers all".

[fondofcowboys]

here's my very all over the place feelings on certain aspects of baldur's gate 3 as a romani immigrant. warnings for spoilers of course. mind you i have not finished the game yet!

1. i really can't believe there aren't more people talking about the very blatant racism in astarion's questline. im quite sure it's because the game already touches on it, even giving you the choice to call astarion a racist, and also because everytime we roma talk about anything that makes us uncomfortable we're immediately shunned and "well actually!"'d.

the problem is that it feels Extra icky because the man who was the inspiration for the original dracula, Vlad the Impaler, kept romani slaves. this is the ONLY part of vampire history that, no matter how different the media, will always stay relevant for some reason.

castlevania has the seekers, a nomadic group of magic users who pass their history down orally. while they are *mostly* treated well, the first arc of the show literally shows them being hunted out of town for the simple act of existing.

vampire the masquerade... well.. that's an entire other can of racism worms.

curse of strahd has the "vistani", a nomadic group of people who are treated like third class citizens everywhere they go, and are of course, most known for being tarot readers and drunkards.

the vampire diaries have the "travellers", who get called "gypsies" explicitly as a derogatory word by other vampires.

i want you to take any vampire media you enjoy and ask yourself, "is there anti-roma racism in this?". i guarantee you, if you look for it, you're going to find it. for SOME reason, the only thing that stays consistent with all these different vampire IPs, is that romani people are hated and scrutinized at every moment of their lives.

i MORE than understand that astarion's racial insensitivity is part of him. it's part of what makes him malleable by the player. you can help him understand why he's wrong, or you can lead him down a worse path.

i still reserve the right to feel some sort of way about astarion sacrificing fantasy-romani children for power, willingly. don't get me wrong, he's my favourite character, right up there with halsin. which is why i obviously have so many feelings about this.

(yes, the Gur were written inspired by romani people, if you were not aware)

2. the anti-immigrant sentiment is such an inherent part of the story that i did not think was going to stick around for SO long. i dont really have much to say about this, i think i should've expected it. as a fan of dragon age (i know, tragic) i'm quite used to unnecessary fantasy racism everywhere i go, i just hoped it wouldn't be part of the main crucial story.

3. larian studios i am so so so thankful for the halsin romance. eternally. forever and ever. he's my pookie bear and i'm so grateful some extra time was made to create a romance for him.

can i ask you why the hell does halsin want to LEAVE. At The End. i've noticed how much he contradicts himself throughout his questline and i just... I don't know. i've seen some other people complaining about how non-chalantly he talks about being a sex slave and i understand too, but i think it's part of his character to not take the horrible things that happened to him seriously like he does with others. that, or someone at larian took an unknown substance that led them to make halsin Very inconsistent.

with the poly situation, some people are strictly polyamorous! some people are strictly non-monogamous and do not feel comfortable being in a monogamous relationship. i understand the frustration everyone, but that's how halsin is. i dont know if that was the writers' intention, but that's certainly what he comes across as to me; strictly non-monogamous.

what i DONT understand is why he says he only wants you, calls you "my heart", is so fondly and lovingly attached to you, and then he just.... Dips? Whatever. I'm ignoring that part forever. it's not canon to ME!

anyways. yeah. feel free to Engage in some Friendly conversation. emphasis on friendly, for the love of g-d

[silviakundera]

I found your blog while watching for love's sake splendid drama and nice commentary from you I saw you watch chinese shows and I have a question am I dumb or because why are they so frustrating I don't know if it's because I'm used to japanese ones where there isn't much romance and this is how romance is written these days or is this a cultural thing because why every one of these I watch has such weird romantic relationships where this dude is breaking his back for her from day 1 and this dudette is out here acting like he's number 5 on her priority list?

yaassss Love for Love's Sake representation. I will never rest from reccing that drama 👏👏 you clearly are NOT dumb & have great taste 😘

for cdramas, my beloved, in my experience of watching in recent years is that there is such a wide breadth of genres & tones. There is just SO MUCH. Definitely chinese entertainment has its own tropes and way of portraying romance. And you either like or you don't. But there are many different flavors. If you feel like you were seeing the same dynamic repeatedly, it may have been bad luck.

If you prefer minimal romance, there are definitely options for that in cdramas! There are mystery/investigation dramas and wuxia martial arts dramas with little to no romance. Because of censorship the gay romances naturally are circumspect and light on the romance (see: The Untamed, Couple of Mirrors, Word of Honor, Spirealm, Guardian). Since you like Love for Love's Sake, I'd rec The Spirealm on Viki - also queer love story about a guy who enters a video game and the people he meets there become real to him; though warning it IS censored and that means the ending is more ambiguous. I can't promise you'll like it. (Semantic Error and Eighth Sense are my other 2 fav korean gay romances btw. )

There are also cdramas that do include romance but in terms of screen time the romance is like 30% of scenes and the plot & character arcs are 70% of scenes. Like in Blossoms in Adversity that I'm watching now, yeah there is most definitely romance but the FL/ML romance scenes compromise like 25% of the overall screen time. It's about way more than who she might marry.

But also in terms of cultural differences? hmm idk because I'm not chinese. I really should NOT speak like I understand their PoV. From an outsider's perspective, I have felt like there are many cdramas with overtly feminist themes - commentary about restrictions on women, the challenges of navigating through a society that can be unfair and entrenched with misogyny. (I joke and yet not that chinese entertainment seems to have 3 propaganda drums that it beats: nationalism/unification, anti-war, and feminism.) It's certainly a fact that many cdramas feature female characters that fall in love but they maintain other priorites & don't let themselves be subsumed in devotion to a man. They have romance & find love but "keep their eye on the prize."

My best guess (??) about this is that it's a rebellion against old cultural mores about women's role being subserviant to father then husband, when during imperial times a woman was expected to prioritze her husband and his family above her own wants, health, and happiness. (It was immoral to be jealous or not follow direction from the man.) Modern chinese screenwriters, both men and women, appear to be writing for an audience that will respect & support the idea of a woman who has her own agenda and maintains focus on her goals despite her love for the ML. Perhaps because this is viewed as moving away from "old thinking". idk.

I presume the target audience in china for romance dramas simply doesn't worry so much that the ML is getting loved enough & aren't as sensitive to thinking he might be at a disadvantage... They're aware society is already set up to his advatange & for much of history he would have all the power in the relationship. (He might bend now and be giving it his all, but the audience knows he can tap into more power & control at will. if she gives up control & her goals, it will be harder for her to recover & reclaim status/money/power compared to him. There are dramas I've seen that pretty much explicitly state that FL wants to earn her own status and money that is hers, thru her own efforts, not lent by him - not prestige or wealth that comes through him and thus could be taken away).

Personally I don't view this as unromantic, just the practical realities of existing in a patriarchal society. (cdramas can hit different imo because they can be blunt about how people operate based on self-interest & pettiness, the realities of classism, the ugliness of rumors, how judgmental people can be about appearances, how you can't always get justice when wronged. Reminds me of the Discworld books that were very frank about how the common people commonly are. It's not saying: this is how people should be; it's saying: this is how things are, the bitterness of life, but you can still find sweetness & meaning within it)

There's another aspect: some cdramas have male protagonists (e.g. Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Blood of Youth, League of Nobleman, Eternal Brotherhood) and some have female protagonists. If you're watching a female protagonist, as the protagonist her priorities & goals are the story driver. So her love interest will take a back seat to that even though it's a romance. He's a support role - his job in the story is to break his back for the protagonist. (A Journey to Love is an example where ML and FL share the protagonist role & you can see that in how things play out, how they each have separate priorities that don't get dropped for love.)

At the end of the day, there are plenty of cdrama romances where I ship it hard and feel a mutual love & devotion between the couple. My fav flavor is where both FL and ML have their own strengths and can be counted on to support each other. I'm not keeping score on who owes who, and neither are they.

But it's all not gonna to be to everyone's taste and that's fine. :) When it comes to international tv, if we enjoy content from other countries then it's our good luck. But if we don't...well, it wasn't made for us. That's ok.

[msviolacea]

There's a lot of "oh, Baldur's Gate, isn't that game all about sex?" out there - I've seen it on the internet and heard it in conversation - which is fair, that's what the mainstream articles have been about, and let's not lie, most of us around here are all about the sexytimes with pretty people. (Me included, 100000%. And my "romance doesn't make an experience less interesting or serious" rant will be saved for another day.) But anyway ... it's Monday, and I'm avoiding work, so I figured I'd list as many things as I can think of right now that make the game amazing that have nothing to do with actually having sex with someone.

GINORMOUS areas to explore.

There are lore books literally everywhere. If you like reading random bits of in-universe texts, you'll be spoiled.

Have you ever played D&D and wished certain spells had more utility - like Grease, or Sleep, or Create/Destroy Water? You're in luck here! Anything that can either create a ground effect or temporarily distract/take enemies out is OP!

Animated, voiced cut scenes with nearly every single NPC you run across.

At the same time, most of them are not required. Some will give you interesting side quests, extra approval/disapproval from your companions, or interesting information that will give you more options in a future quest, but you don't have to spend hours talking to people unless that's your jam.

In character creation, you don't pick male/female as a gender. You pick from four body types (two small, two large, two with breasts/more slender, two more broad/slightly larger), three sets of pronouns (he/she/they), and several different sets of genitals - mix and match all three categories to your hearts' content. I'm sure there are other things they could have done, but it's the most inclusive character creator I've seen in a major game for sure.

The turn-based combat is a blessing for anyone who struggles with real time combat. Take your time, consider your options, look at things from all angles, sort through your spells and attacks to find the right one.

Or you can remember you picked up that barrel of smoke powder three rooms back, climb up into the rafters of the room, and chuck it into the fire pit in the middle of the room for maximum effect. I cannot overstate how fucking satisfying that is.

Big fucking tiefling horns. Of a variety of shapes!

Your female companions are the tanks/hearty warriors. Your male companions are all delicate fucking flowers, at least until you get Druid Daddy who can turn into a bear.

While optimizing your 4-person party to bring the usual configuration - one tank, one healer, a couple of DPS - is useful, it isn't always necessary. There are some fights where bringing four ranged options is a great idea, as long as you give them some survivability spells or plenty of potions. Sometimes bringing four people who can just barrel their way into a pile of ogres is satisfying. Mix it up!

Okay every companion thus far (I'm still only through act 1 yet, listen I have two games and my partner didn't feel well enough to continue the game where we're the farthest this weekend so I spent my time catching my solo game up) is absolute gold, no duds in the bunch, and the next few bullets will be one awesome thing about each one of them that has nothing to do with romance.

Astarion with the Thief subclass at level 3 literally cannot fail most lockpicking or trap disarming checks unless he rolls a nat 1. He is invisible when stealthed. He can one-shot most low level goblins with sneak attack arrows from range. He is a very bitchy fancy-lad Super Rogue.

Wyll is the Goodest Boy - the speed with which he goes from "I am oathbound to kill you demon!" to "well shit you're just a tiefling guess I'll deliberately fuck up my very dangerous warlock oath for you" is wonderful. He's noble and impetuous and wants to be more than a rich boy and gives nearly everyone the benefit of the doubt. I would die for him.

Karlach does the ADHD idle dance of "I could not stand still if you paid me all the gold in Baldur's Gate" and has the best puppy dog eyes. Also the story tie-in to her rage mechanics is really great and excellent storytelling.

Lae'zel is nigh unkillable if you give her the right stuff. Speccing her as Battlemaster is amazing for controlling the most powerful combatants on the field. Trip Attack has saved my ass so many times, you have no idea.

On paper, Gale should be absolutely insufferable. But somehow the writing and voice acting managed to hit just the right notes of humor and good nature and wizard geek. I'm very impressed.

Shadowheart is a very interesting combination of amoral/self-involved but also compassionate and I find myself fascinated by it. She clearly contains multitudes, and thus far the story is doing a good job of doling out pieces of her at a satisfying pace.

And speaking of interesting moral dichotomies, I absolutely adore that Halsin is both the good influence authority figure and also utterly ruthless when things run afoul of his strongly held belief system. Also thicc, broad-shouldered elf supremacy.

The tieflings you meet in Emerald Grove are directly tied to the D&D adventure "Descent Into Avernus" - as is Wyll! (And I'm sure it has a lot of context for Karlach's story as well, I haven't finished reading it yet.) I'm sure there's more when you get to the actual city of Baldur's Gate, but I'm not there yet. It's just fun to have that as an option to read for backstory about some of the game's characters and situations if you want. It's not required reading, though - cough, Bioware/Dragon Age, cough - everything that happens with them is perfectly understandable without any additional context!

The "Balanced" combat difficulty is a really good mix of fights that take a LOT of strategy and ones that can be easily cheesed.

Have you ever wanted to shove someone off a cliff even though you have like 8 strength? Listen, a 30% chance is STILL A CHANCE, and you have limited bonus action choices. TAKE YOUR SHOT.

... feel free to add your own. I'm still pretty early in the game and can't wait to get to more.

(edited for some slightly better phrasing about the character creation gender options, hopefully)

[imperial-agent]

Hello! I just completed the 5some scene witb Halsin and Astarion and I dont really have anyone to comment this with I hope you dont mind me dropping here real quick to say [SPOILERS]

So... he just dissociates no matter what? I completed Astarion's quest and I could swear that meant he wouldnt dissociate in the scene. But I think what bothers me the most isnt even the dissociating itself but the lack of response from the Player Character. I just LET him?? I dont comfort him, I dont stop the whole thing in its tracks??

And its the only way to get Halsin's backstory?? Am I doing something wrong? I feel so conflicted about the whole thing. Opinions? Thanks for reading this far if you have, sorry for any inconvenience!

I don't claim to be the best source on Astarion lore or on his storyline consistencies/inconsistencies since we're like a bitter divorced couple, I can't talk about him without getting slightly annoyed. But,

I got that exact same scene (5some) after Astarion's story conclusion. To me it makes sense that he's still distant - we fixed his Cazador situation but we didnt fix his sexual abuse issue because he never brought up the trauma. I'm assuming you didnt romance Astarion ang got this scene? For me, a non-Astarionmancer it made sense, since he never told me about his intimacy issues in the first place. But if that happened to you, and you romanced him, then I can still understand him being distant in that moment. He's not that into sex with other people and you just asked him to perform in front of 4 others. I can see how he would default to an auto-pilot. But that's assuming you did romance him. If you didn't then there's not much to be surprised about. He's tired of performing seduction.

To me, it's not that big of a deal that the PlayerCharacter doesn't respond to catching Astarion drift away. Without romancing him and learning about his baggage PC at best can only assume that Astarion is not into sex due to his past of sleeping with his victims and that possibly bringing up bad memories. Since the narraror line about him being distant during the encounter was only a brief mention (narrator mentions PC and Astarion catching eyes for a moment, any further descriptions of his performative behaviour are a general description of the scene since nothing is visible, not necessarly describing what the PC is seeing).

What! I! Fully! Agree! With! You! Is how Halsin's mega traumatic backstory is only ever accessible through a hidden option (i wouldn't even call it a mission, just a random NPC conversation) in Act 3. That conversation could have been naturally implemented into the (currently bare-bone) Halsin romance route. This is why I'm still screaming about letting the players have access to Halsin as a companion in Act 1 already, so that he can go with the PC to the Underdark. That could lead to him having some flashbacks to his time there, and perhaps slipping in some titbits during idk the exploration of the wizard tower in the underdark and him seeing the chain mounted to a wall and that bringing up some nasty memories?? Like the story writes itself, it's all there but I'm guessing the devs had better things to do then flesh out their fanservice and fan demands. Like adding Halsin as a romance options SHOULD HAVE BEEN a post release thing !!!

My opinions are more or less summed up here. It's ass that an abuse victim such as Astarion gets all the special treatment and a catharsis while Halsin, who also went through a traumatic experience doesn't. He actually laughs it off. But that's okay, people cope differently. So why not have us explore his backstory more? Well, it's crunch of course. The devs had no time to put love and care into Halsin even tho him being a romance option/companion (so those conversations about his past wouldn't come up) wasn't even on their initial goal list, just something a few discord people suggested.

I feel like the writers had too much on their plates and too little time to make sure inconsistencies in character motivations/ reactions, backstories don't occur. But we should all be happy Astarion got all the attention he deserved. Oh, you're saying there are other companions in this game too? Since when?