The importance of romance

Let’s talk about romance for a sec. 

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, when the Inquisitor sees Cassandra reading some smutty literature, she’s initially embarrassed but very quickly she gets over it and quite belligerently defends her love of romance. She then says the following quote:

“Romance is not the sole province of dithering ladies in frilly dresses. It is passion. It is being swept away by the pursuit of an ideal. What is not to like about that?”

I love this quote for a lot of reasons. First of all, that it comes from Cass: a certified grade-A badass woman warrior who takes no shit and gets shit done. Strong, competent women love romance too, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Cass might be unfair to those dithering ladies (such as Josie’s sister Yvette), but the main idea still stands: that romance is not a frivolous, silly thing to be scoffed at, but rather, it’s the concept of optimistically pursuing an ideal – of searching for a happily-ever-after not only in love, but in life in general. 

For this reason, I resent the fact that romantic storylines or romance stories tend to be viewed as less serious or less valuable than non-romantic storylines. In the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games, the romance arcs are a major part of what makes these games compelling and emotional for many players. The best romance stories strike at the heart of human nature and allow us to dig into the deepest parts of the characters’ personalities. Romantic relationships are transformational. They can lift you to the highest heights. They can make you a better version of yourself. They can force you to change for the better or worse. They can ruin you.

This is not at all to say that non-romantic stories are less valuable. Some non-romantic stories (like Horizon Zero Dawn) have no romance element and are absolutely incredible and transformational as well. All I’m saying is that romance stories have serious value, and do not deserve to be scoffed at.

Feel free to yell this at the next idiot who laughs at you/tells you off/rolls their eyes at you for shipping any characters in any fandom. 

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Smutty July prompt challenge – join in!

makocartwheels:

I’ve had messages from a couple of people interested in joining July’s (porn without plot) prompt challenge. If you’re interested, send me a message and I’ll send you the list I’m using. We can do an impromptu group challenge! 

If you want to make a smutty request, I’m posting the list to my blog on 29 June at 7:25am EDT. It’s 250 items long (I can’t take credit for this one) so it’ll be reposted a couple of times. Asks will be answered from July 1-31. No plot, just smutty prompt fills 100-1000 words long.

If smut isn’t your thing, filter the tags nsfw, july 2018 prompt challenge, and smut. (Although if it isn’t your thing, why are you following me? It’s pretty much all I write xD.)

ATTENTION  EVERYONE: JULY 2018 WILL BE SMUT MONTH 

Following @makocartwheels’ lead here, I’m going challenge myself to write a bunch of smut oneshots in the month of July, including for ships (and even maybe fandoms?) that I haven’t written before. 

I won’t promise to fulfill requests per se, but I will repost Mako’s prompt list, and I am very open to… suggestions? *wiggles eyebrows* 

Here’s my list of ships that I’m thinking to write. Mostly Dragon Age as per my current obsession, HAH: 

  • Aloy/Nil (DUH)
  • Aloy/Avad (will be interesting to try my hand at this pairing!)
  • Aloy/Stealth Keeper Aziv (a very fond reprise!)
  • Ser Barris/female Trevelyan
  • Reyes Vidal/Aria T’Loak (another fond reprise!)
  • Blackwall/Arya Lavellan
  • Solas/Elia Lavellan
  • Cole/female mage Inquisitor (this will be a major challenge!)
  • Cullen/female Inquisitor
  • Fairbanks/female Inquisitor
  • Abelas/female Lavellan
  • The Punisher (Frank Castle)/Karen Page
  • Takeshi Kovacs/Kristin Ortega (from Netflix’s Altered Carbon)

I’ll use the tag #smut month for this. 

Anyone interested? 

Fandom Females Meme: FEMALES ARE STRONG AS HELL

Thanks @makocartwheels for the tag! What a great meme.

Rules: List your 10 favourite female characters from 10 fandoms, and tag 10 people. 

I just wanted to point out that it took me a long time to make this post because I had to reset my thinking about my favourite fandoms from “favourite character” to “favourite female character”. My instinctive fave characters are usually males – probably largely because I have a lot of fandom crushes HAHAHA – but I think this probably also speaks to which characters are considered the most prominent and most important in a fandom. All the more reason to do this meme. 

With no further ado, and in no particular order:

1. Mass Effect OT: Tali’Zorah vas Normandy

Those hips. That dance. THOSE MAD TECH SKILLS. DRINKING THROUGH AN INDUCTION PORT. Need I say more?

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2. Mass Effect OT again: Aria T’Loak

“Don’t fuck with Aria.” Again, need I say more?

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3. Dragon Age Inquisition: Cassandra Pentaghast

“Romance is not the sole province of dithering ladies in frilly dresses. It is passion. It is being swept away by the pursuit of an ideal. What is not to like about that?” This quote is everything. 

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4. Harry Potter: Hermione

Always always

always

prepared, not cowed by bullies, constantly having to put up with Harry and Ron’s Boy Shenanigans? This is one strong-ass woman.

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5. Black Panther: Shuri

Smart-as-a-whip young female scientist with hella sass? YES PLEASE. As an aside, if this gif isn’t the best fucking thing on the internet right now, I don’t know what is.

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6. Game of Thrones: Arya Stark

“Stick ‘em with the pointy end.” And so she did. ALL OF THEM. (Seriously though I love Arya. Marches to her own drum and never cowed by anybody.)

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7. Uncharted: Chloe and Nadine 

THEY’RE BOTH AMAZING OK. That friendship (and the ship potential!!), the scoffing about men’s bullshit, the teamwork, UGHHH THIS IS THE BEST

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8. Horizon Zero Dawn: Ikrie

She’s loyal; she’s willing to do anything for the people she loves – even if it means letting them go; she bounces back in the face of adversity, and also UM SHE’S ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL OK. Ikrie is my bae.

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9. Netflix’s Marvel shows (Daredevil, The Punisher, Luke Cage): Claire Temple 

Claire is completely underrated but honestly a true fucking hero in these shows. She has no “special powers” to keep her safe, but she helps all the heroes at huge personal risk. She doesn’t judge, and she just wants this Fistful of Assholes to stay safe. (Also I ship the hell out of her with Luke Cage.)

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10. Assassin’s Creed Origins: Aya

A woman who suffers arguably the worst thing a parent can ever suffer, but keeps moving forward. A woman who’s forced to put aside her true love for the greater good. The Baya ship, and this character, are honestly so underrated. She’s amazing. 

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Again, thank you to Mako for tagging me. Passing it forward to @littlesnowarrow, @problematic-cinnamon-roll, @cylonalyna, @bluegreenketchup, @hellarcanine, @sun-and-shadow-aloy, @contrivedchaos, @vorchagirl – and anyone else who wants to do this meme as well, please tag me so I can see your faves as well!!

OC Meme

Thanks to @himluv​ for the tag! I’m gonna do this for Nil, actually. He’s not technically my OC, but since I fleshed him out so much he might as well be Jabba the Hut, I’ll go for it anyway. 

… that’s a disgusting image. SORRYNOTSORRY

WEALTH  —

$  financial.  // wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty
**Nil wanders around like a hobo but technically he’s royalty so let’s go with wealthy. HAH.

✚  medical.  // fit / moderate / sickly / disadvantaged / disabled / not applicable

✪  class.  //   upper / middle-working / poor / slave / unsure

✔  education.  // qualified / unqualified / studying / other / not applicable in the traditional sense, but he is well-read

✖  criminal record.  // yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but has not been caught yet

FAMILY  —

◒  children.  // has one or more children / has no children / wants children / verse dependent

◑  relationship with family.  // close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no sibling(s) / siblings are is deceased

◔  affiliation.  // orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable / kidnapped / 

TRAITS  + TENDENCIES  —

♦  extrovert // introvert // in between

♦  disorganized // organized // in between

♦  close-minded // open-minded // in between/contextual

♦  calm // anxious // in between

♦  disagreeable // agreeable // in between/contextual
** He’s disagreeable with everyone except Aloy, basically. ❤️

♦  cautious  // reckless  // in between/contextual

♦  patient // impatient // in between 
**He has no patience for idle socializing, but he’s as patient as a stone with pretty much anything else

♦  outspoken // reserved  // in between

♦  leader // follower // in between
** He has been both. He has excellent leadership qualities but wouldn’t consider himself a leader; and obviously he follows Aloy above all else

♦  empathetic //  indifferent  // in between

♦  optimistic //  pessimistic // in between // realistic

♦  traditional // modern // in between
**Doesn’t adhere to societal rules and thus DGAF about what’s traditional or modern

♦  hardworking  // lazy  // in between

♦  cultured  // uncultured // in between
**Really and truly, he’s both. A cultured savage.

♦  loyal //  disloyal  //  in between
**Neither. He’s loyal to himself and to Aloy and no one else.

♦  faithful // unfaithful  // in between

BELIEFS  —

★  faith.  // monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic / it’s complicated

☆  belief in ghosts or spirits.  // yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✮  belief in an afterlife.  // yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✯  belief in reincarnation.  // yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

❃  belief in aliens.  // yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / doesn’t apply

❀  philosophical. // yes / no / sometimes
**When the rare mood strikes, and usually unintentionally. 

SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION  —

sexuality.  // heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual / demisexual / questioning

❥  sex.  // sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable
**Sex repulsed UNTIL HE MET ALOY, AND THEN +++SEX FAVOURABLE ❤️

♥  romance.  // romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable
**Romance-repulsed UNTIL HE MET ALOY, AND THEN +++ROMANCE FAVOURABLE ❤️

❣  sexually.  // adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious / inhibited

⚧  potential sexual partners.  // male / female   / other / none / all

⚧  potential romantic partners.  // male / female / other / none / all

ABILITIES  —

☠  combat skills. // excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

≡  literacy skills.  // excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✍  artistic skills.  // excellent /good / moderate / poor / none

✂  technical skills.  // excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

HABITS  —

drinking alcohol.  // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess (post-Blight)

smoking.  // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess

✿  other narcotics.  // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess

medicinal drugs.  // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess
**This idiot doesn’t take medicine unless it’s forced on him by Aloy. XD

☻  indulgent in food.  // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess

$  splurge spending. // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess

♣  gambling.  // never / sometimes / frequently / to excess
**Although the idea of him entering some kind of gambling card game with Erend and kicking Erend’s ass amuses me now LOL

This was fun – thanks for the tag!
Passing it forward to @hellarcanine​ (tell me about your Quizzies!!), @ladyofthelake91​ (tell me about your Quizzies!!), @mrscullensrutherford​, @spacesquirrel​, @problematic-cinnamon-roll​ (tell me about your Flowershop AU Nil!!), and anyone else who wants to play!