#also We Are Playing Pretend

[elftwink]

saw a video about 2 player ttrpgs and one of them was like "this one's about a pretend marriage" and i was like oh? and i looked it up on itch (eyes on the prize, fyi) and it's 50% as of right now and i was like OH? and i bought it immediately & ive read most of it and i am a big fan. and i KNOW that i have friends who would have fun playing it (it's a 2 player or 4 player game; the 4 player variant has 2 fake couples) but asking them is going to be so cringe. yeah we're gonna make up people and pretend to be them and then pretend to pretend to get married and the characters when they start their pretending they're gonna be like "oh we don't have any romantic feelings towards each other this is strictly plot" but then (get this) they will start to develop real feelings for each other. and we're gonna act it out together and pretend to be them but don't worry! we have no romantic feelings towards one another. this is strictly plot. when WE (irl) pretend to be in love it's actually platonic, unlike the people who we are pretending to be to each other. so do you have like 2-5 hours you wanna dedicate to that next week

and the worst part is that's 100% what i want. like i have roleplayed romance before with friends it is literally not a big deal because the whole point of roleplay is that the character ISN'T you. but with a fake relationship the crushing weight of dramatic irony hovers behind me

#i do want to play it though it seems fun. i actually think it would be more fun to do the 4 player variant #just bc like. to me fake dating is all about the audience. the way you act alone vs in public #it's about the drama. the show. having other people to bounce of off in rp i think benefits that #eh. im overthinking it i'll get over myself & bring it up. i at least wanna talk about it to people even if we don't intend to play it #i also kinda think you could use the game as more of a writing prompt than a roleplaying game if you wanted? #like. ideally you're still have 2 or 4 people who have a character they mainly control #and you'd like. co-write a story by hashing out responses to each card (which is the main game mechanic) & writing it down #but you would lose some of the imo more like... silly (affectionate) parts of the game? #because some of it is really about the improvisational aspect of both ttrpgs and the fake dating trope #but i still think it would be really fun. and i have done a lot of text-based roleplay before #so i am biased towards it just in general. #i also think you could probs play with 3 players with slight bending of the rules and in and out of game acceptance of polya relationships #esp because the setting is like. vaguely period piece fantasy nobility. you go to fancy parties and shit #i feel like those people had very complicated love lives i think a throuple would be fine #also We Are Playing Pretend #good idea generator #unrelated but did wtf when did they update the post editor the tags are so ugly LOL

[moeblob]

So does he, Gallagher.

#honkai star rail #hsr blade #gallagher #i based this off of how many times i used funny soda man to help be a healer with his poppin soda pop in SU #and then blade constantly just being blade as usual #its normally him saying unnecessary to my actual healer but #i kept forgetting gallagher heals and i kept healing when i didnt even need to so TECHNICALLY yeah it was unnecessary #but the amount of times blade was the recipient...... #i cant use like most of my newer units in story bc i cant ascend or i run out of leveling mats so i just #get them and toss them into simulated universe for funsies cause i can match their levels better #so thats where i tossed gallagher and he is genuinely fun to play as ? like i love his punches and kicks to start the battle #funny soda man is funny (to me) and im really behind in plot still #but last time i tried to play it on my laptop and got a kickass cutscene my laptop lagged and i couldnt even see it RIP to me #so now that its like ... me trying to play it on desktop ? #i mostly get on desktop for comms and if i do much else i feel like im slacking off even if i would take a break anyway #one day i can play more story plot stuff and actually meet the funny guys #also in case you know me for Not Having Boys in HSR i need to point out #i did pull Gallagher however same 10 pull got a 4 star girl copy for someone i never use and she is at e4 now cool #and i didnt even think of the irony as i started this i just like drawing blade and i wanted to draw gallagher #so when i already had the dialogue planned and am drawing i was like OH WAIT haha im funnier than i thought #(no i am not but we can pretend)

[dreamofbecoming]

listen i know we all love steve “completely ignorant of queer culture to the point that bisexuality is a surprise” harrington being roasted and educated in turns by robin and eddie, yadda yadda, good stuff. i read “they made a horror version of rocky?” in a fic recently and cackled. also a big fan of “he knew he was bi from the start and just never talked about it” as a trope, love it excellent well done

but what about steve who realizes after starcourt that the most important person in his life now has this thing that’s a major part of her life that he knows nothing about, and what if he fucks it up? what if he says something ignorant or rude by accident, and hurts her? what if he loses her because he didn’t know the right thing to say? what if he can’t keep her safe because he doesn’t know what to look out for? absolutely fucking not, this steve says

and listen she’d never say anything, because she can tell that he can tell how much she likes teasing him and teaching him things, so he plays dumb, and she thinks it’s very sweet. but she notices when the zines she keeps under her bed that she buys at that one secret bookshop in indy when she can sneak away on family trips start going missing, always one at a time, and replaced in a few days with another disappearing. and she finds the new ones he must have gone to buy the weekend she was at her aunt’s house hidden in the back of his closet when she goes to steal one of his sweaters. and she notices when he slips more of her queerer movie recommendations into his personal take home pile rather than the movie night stack when he thinks she’s not looking.

she doesn’t notice when he drives to indianapolis after she tries to explain to him why she can’t just ask out a cute girl, tries to impress on him the fear attached to every moment of attraction that he simply has never had to feel, but later she finds a crumpled receipt from a diner in one of his jacket pockets when she’s looking for his keys, and the address is across the street from the bar the gorgeous woman at the bookstore told her about, the one she memorized the address of but hasn’t worked up the guts to think about visiting, and she knows he must have gone looking for a place like that, must have been trying to understand, must have been scoping it out to make sure it was somewhere she could feel safe, after she told him she never had.

so when eddie nearly pops a blood vessel when they clock each other and she mentions that steve is the only person she’s ever come out to before, her hackles come up. because she gets it, she does, he’s only known king steve until recently, so it makes sense that he would be afraid, be concerned for her safety.

but steve is her person, and no one- no one- has ever made her feel as protected or as cared for as he does. no one has ever tried as hard to understand her, no one has ever put so much work into making her feel safe and seen and loved. and she thinks maybe even if no one else ever does, that’s ok. because she has steve, and more importantly steve has her, and that means no one gets to question his ally credentials in her presence without a dressing down to remember, no matter how well they mean or how recently they helped save the world.

(and maybe she’s not as surprised as she could be when he figures out bisexuality all on his own, because she’s been reading all the same pamphlets he has, after all. and she’s seen the way he looks at eddie, i mean come on. maybe no one else has noticed, but then, nobody knows steve harrington like she does.)

#stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #platonic stobin #steddie #(if you squint) #this got away from me #i just really love love giving steve a bit more credit yk? #like yes he’s very stupid and he has a history of being self absorbed #and we love that about him #he’s very flawed and that makes him interesting #but i really feel like one of his defining traits is his need to be useful to the people he loves #combine that with his abandonment issues and i really feel like he would be scared of fucking up and losing robin #and yeah he would play dumb like he does with dustin and d&d #but i don’t believe he knows nothing about d&d after all this time and i don’t believe he would let himself know nothing about queer culture #i’m just so so attached to the idea of steve who knows that teasing him for being dumb is his friends’ love language with him #so he pretends to be dumber than he is so they have chances to explain things to him #also stobin sharing clothes is so so so important to me just putting that out there #anyway i just think they’re neat #my writing

[heartorbit]

a fool and a sinner

#heyy WATCH REVUE STARLIGHT[TRAIN PASSES OVERHEAD] I SAID WATCH REVUE ST [FOGHORN] [SIRENS] #revue starlight #revstar #hikari kagura #kagura hikari #shoujo kageki revue starlight #Girl you're so damn dramatic get your ass up and continue the cycle #STFU AND START ONCE AGAIN BUILDING THE TOWER THAT WILL INEVITABLY FALL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #i'm back in my bimonthly revsta haze. Oh my god starry session revival was SOOOOOOOOOO. #i missed seeing kukugumi performing together. And oh my god mayanana sirius. OH MY GODDDDDDD #PRIDE AND ARROGANCE WAS ONLY SUPPODE FTO BE KAORUKO AND THEY WERE LIKE THATS CRAZY CAN WE MAKE TOXIC YURI OUT OF THIS? IKUTERU GET UP THERE #i screamed. all i can say #semester AMOST OVER assignments MANAGEABLE status: ALIVE #pretend i didnt post a drawing of myself coughing uo blood on twitter 24 hours ago. teehee #i need to rewatch gekijouban. Will be a little treatfor me after my last assignment gets handed in #Also theres this rpgmaker game ive been following that finally came out this year and inknow it will give me brain worms im so excited to #play it. ALSO I HAVE AN EMU TO POST I DID AN AGGIE WITH MY CLASSMATE but i gotta clean her up. maybe tonight after homework. amen #its her n cinnamorolllll so cutessss SOOOO CUTES

[sunderwight]

Thinking about the weird camaraderie that exists between demons but not angels in GO.

Have we ever seen two angels who are actually friends? Or even friendly to one another? We have met angels with a capacity to be friendly in general, but I think the closest we've come to two angels actually getting along would be Gabriel making a point to laugh at Sandalphon's terrible "can't have a war without War" line in S1.

Most scenes between the angels actually seem to have an undercurrent of absolute hostility. Teeth-clenched teamwork. No wonder it took them so long to notice that Aziraphale wasn't on the same page as the rest of them! The rest of them are barely on the same page as one another, either! When Gabriel goes against the majority vote, no one bats an eye at demoting him and wiping his memory. Michael and Uriel immediately begin vying for his job. The only times we've seen angels team up is when they're working together to bully someone else, like when they're trying to intimidate Aziraphale in S1 or going to the aftermath of the bookshop raid in S2.

Saraqael's overall neutrality towards Muriel is the closest we get to two angels in Heaven getting along, and it's more a lack of hostility than any kind of friendliness. At least until Gabriel loses his memories and Muriel shows up to spy on Aziraphale, and Aziraphale decides to be kind to both of them.

Demons, on the other hand, actually seem to form alliances and even friendships among one another. Hastur and Ligur are awful, but Hastur seems genuinely distraught over Ligur's death, not just fearful of suffering the same fate. Shax and Furfur conspire together and even though the 1940's investigation into Crowley's fraternizing doesn't work out for Furfur, it's not due to any double-crossing on Shax's part. Unlike the angels, who stick almost exclusively to making threats until the Metatron decides to try dangling a carrot at the end of the season, demons actually offer rewards to other demons when trying to work together. Beelzebub offers Crowley a promotion if he can bring them Gabriel, Furfur offers to back Shax up politically if she goes for the Duke position opening, and Crowley successfully stalls Hastur in S1 by pretending everything was a test and he's going to be put in charge of a legion as a reward for passing. They're still not great at socializing, but they're significantly ahead of the angels.

Of course, it's a fact that demons are awful to one another (Eric's treatment is really bad, they throw that random demon into holy water just to test it, "it'd be a funny world if demons went around trusting one another", etc) but they still seem more capable of forming friendships than the angels do.

I think that's because Hell cramps and crowds everyone together to try and increase their suffering and hostility, whereas Heaven isolates angels to decrease the odds of questioning or rebellion. Hell's methods are unpleasant, but it still ends up putting demons together, and some of those demons inevitably forge alliances and make friendships. Because as Crowley and Beelzebub demonstrate, demons are still social creatures with the capacity for love and affection, even if it's strongly discouraged and buried under nine million layers of trauma and a cultural mandate against kindness.

Angels are the same, but isolation makes is harder to form connections than overcrowding. Muriel and Jimbriel are both so eager to make friends, but Muriel's spent the past millennia shut in an empty office, and Gabriel has been distanced from his peers both through his position and also through Heaven's culture of fear and surveillance. He only breaks away from it when he finds something that's stronger than "choosing sides" (stronger than the fear of being rejected by Heaven and Falling, in fact strong enough that Falling seems worth it if he gets to be with someone he loves). Both Muriel and Gabriel are only able to start forming connections when they're away from Heaven.

I just think it's interesting that demons, despite being supposedly devoid of love, have an advantage in forming relationships compared to angels. Angels are supposed to love, but have far fewer opportunities to actually do so. Demons aren't supposed to love, but they make connections anyway.

#good omens #ineffable bureaucracy #both angels and demons are suckers for a bit of kindness too #even if they pretend otherwise and even if there are exceptions to the rule #like yeah you're probably not gonna win over the likes of hastur or michael with a nicety #but according to word of god furfur would be highly susceptible to a kind word #and well we see how it is with muriel and jim #i think this is why shax also weirdly toes the line between getting crowley destroyed and being almost-friends with him #that's just how it works in hell when you don't actually despise somebody #you can't be nice to them but you're still also kind of helpful and non-hostile a lot #don't let it interfere with your goals but sure deliver their mail and get their help with your boiler issues why not #maggie took the wrong approach to confronting the demons #if she'd been nice instead of telling them off they wouldn't have known how to handle it i bet #they're USED to being mocked and yelled at #should have given them jim's tray of canapes and offered them tea and stuff #not that I expect anyone to intuit that under the circumstances just that it might have actually held them off a lot longer #bunch of demons sitting outside of a bookshop passing around a tray of tiny little dinners and listening to records playing from inside

[presdestigatto]

GUYS????????

Looking at the timestamps, this was one month before Max’s first f1 race, and they last karted together in 2012 3 years prior. I have so many questions, like, were they cool at this point of time? Clearly they were friendly enough for Max to joke like this, but you can also notice that Charles only replied to Esteban LOL

#lestappen #it’s quite interesting to try to mentally put together how Charles said they used to hate each other #but also their admissions that they talked a lot/things like this #like when did the hatred stop and when did they decide to grow up? #it also makes you realise that their rivalry was really played up for the cameras lol #imo this also plays into max’s tendency to pretend grievances simply don’t exist #like when he said he and charles were totally cool after austria 2019 even though we all saw the unfollowing #lastly: its wild how most of the grid are childhood friends/acquaintances #thank u to the person who rt-ed this onto my tl ❤️

[chthonicillness]

i love ttrpgs they really replicate the childhood playdate experience because ill be standing there in the scheduling channel of my friends' discord server holding a soccer ball like hey do u guys wanna play with me :) and theyre like sorry my boss said i cant today :(((

#also because in reality the games i played with my friends as a child involved very little soccer #and a lot of pretending we were different people or beings or creatures of some sort

[jimjamoff]

At the stage of Copium where I pretend nothing is wrong and they're all okay

(My partner helped draw! @loverboylen-art )

#off the game #dedan #zacharie #off game #off dedan #off japhet #off zacharie #off hugo #off enoch #off mortis ghost #off batter #batter #off #finished the game once (we will play again yay!) and have come to the #stage where I pretend they're all buds #no sour intentions over time #no battering the hell out of anyone and anything #just the fellers being good chaps to one another #ALSO LITTLE BABY HAVING NO ATTACKS FUCKING DESTROYED ME BUT OK #THANKS IG??? HATE THAT. UGH. SOB

[puppychase]

Everyone writing mirage as cool and seductive is so wrong. He calls his bf “bro” and “dude” and he’s always unserious. One earnest moment and he’s turning into a Porsche and driving away out of embarrassment

#You guys know #also everyone writing Noah confessing to mirage as if either knows what tf they’re feeling #I love it but we both know they’d just drive in silence and mirage would play a romantic song but chicken out and change the station #“What was that” “uh nothing. Hey look over there” #Stuttering ✔️ awkwardness ✔️ chickening out ✔️ being embarrassed (especially in front of Chris). ✔️ #Tenants of Noah x mirage #noah x mirage #transformers: rise of the beasts #original #It takes mirage dying to make Noah realize what he feels so it would definitely take something serious for him to admit it #Like mirage leaving or having an issue where he’s damaged / when Noah is rebuilding him #I’m imaging noah yells at him when he pretends to die again or something while he’s fixing him and mirage CANNOT figure out why he’s so #Upset over a joke

[epicdogymoment]

#leologisms #leography #gintama #for a second can we all pretend like hijikata is pictured wearing tabi more often than he actually is. thanks #multiple things. one. i probably shouldve pushed this one further but unfortunately im relearning how to draw (head in hands) #two. i dont think this image is Real (as in. i dont think that this is something that would happen from what i remember of the dkbk arc. #which is honestly not a lot. but from what i can remember of the premise. combined with followkata followshirou being dedicated to #playing the role hes given. or that he thinks hes been given. i dont think this would happen) BUT i wanted to draw it so what. ever. #the haterisms. may it further embolden me to create what i want to see in the world #ALSO the sword looks like its just coming out of nowhere bwaaaahhhhhhhh <- 🎺

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

actually the way that line should have gone is *record scratch* you. think i'm handsome??

#bold of you to assume liam would be smooth about this instead of short circuiting lmao #also: filed under conversations that would have happened waaay earlier #cus the rest of the convo is pretty on brand! like hey i kinda like you is this sth you'd consider? would xy bother you? #and deciding that yeah maybe given time! knowing that ok cool this is sth that is mutual but we both wanna take our time w it #liams got issues but communication is not one of them xd #not when it comes to things like this anyways #laya plays dragon age #da2 #apri was right there is in fact a mod to show the full dialogue lines! #i opted to not use it after all tho cus sometimes i do like the summary/wheel lines better and i can just pretend thats what he said lol

[idkaguyorsomething]

me tryna explain the shipping implications of the missy comic to anyone who’ll listen

#guys that comic was so so good #okay so of course you’ve got twissy #but also #a big part of the plot revolves around unit and the delgado master #and missy impersonating the doctor to gain delgado!master’s trust #so you have threegado going on #but also missy flirting with another one of her past selves again while she’s doing a shitty impersonation of her boyfriend #BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE #river song shows up out of nowhere to save the day while missy’s pretending to be the doctor #so of course they flirt #then missy and delgado!master hop around their timelines to look for the macguffin #so we get a highlight reel of some of the gayest thoschei moments #including the tensimm junkyard tantrum and spydoc kneeling power play #So that makes uhhh #twissy #threegado #tensimm #spydoc #thoschei #best enemies #doctor who #missy doctor who #delgado!master #gomez!master #doctor who comics #twelfth doctor #it was also just a really good comic too #great art fun writing solid characterization #if you’re a fan of missy or thoschei definitely give it a try

[tea-cat-arts]

On my hands and knees begging the English translators to find a better word for “sworn siblings” other than just “siblings.” I get that sworn siblings aren’t a concept in western media (or at least not in the same way. I know we have found families), I get that they can’t just say these characters are dating because censorship laws, but like… there’s gotta be a better word for this.

#honkai impact #genshin impact #bronseele #cynonari #Mihoyo they already kissed each other on the mouth- please stop calling Bronya and Seele siblings #we all know Cyno and Tighnari are married and Collei is their kid- don’t pretend they’re all just siblings now #i was told there was also an example in hoyo’s dating sim game but I haven’t actually played that so no comment #I feel like the easiest way of fixing this problem would be to just use the actual chinese word #there’s just some things that can’t be directly translated #or they could just describe the relationship without putting any label on it #but I feel like this would help make a bigger distinction between romantic sworn siblings and actual adopted siblings #and maybe put an end to the Kaeluc debate #reminder that this is all directed at the English translation and not the main writing team

[larsnicklas]

one thing that is funny about m.arner fans though is that they ARE convinced that he is the first player ever to suffer from misogyny in hockey culture when don c.herry and his ilk have been calling euro players pussies derogatorily for time immemorial

#the culture is bad i agree but we cannot pretend this is an issue new and unique to just your guy lmfao #but of course things like this don’t exist until it happens to a guy you like etc #like i saw a tweet yesterday that said ‘i think mm is the first male hockey victim of misogyny’ please be serious…… #also here’s the thing: yes this does contribute to the vitriol he faces from a certain 🤨 subset of the fanbase #that being said. #his last contract negotiations were a masterclass in pissing away every bit of goodwill he had as the sunny beloved hometown boy. #i know your memories are short but he was genuinely by and large really loved #and because this fanbase can’t survive without some guy to hate it was always william catching heat LOL #but yeah the current climate is like. #some of it is misogyny. some of it is that he’s clearly playing hurt and so he’s bad and people are stupid. #and some of it is that he and his camp actively turned the fanbase against him with the way they behaved #meg.txtpost

[puppyeared]

what if i snapped and made an oc carrd

#i mean.... i could #this isnt the first time ive thought of doing it but i drop ocs so easily its not even funny. so idk if itd be worth it #id consider toyhouse or smth but i dont have money lol. right now everythings on artfight but thats more for drawing purposes #what ocs would i even talk abt... i have some standalones like auggie and ocs i think look cool but dont plan on using #but some others have their own stories.. not like a huge thought out plot but something i pick up and twirl around in my head #like luckys whole deal is being a hiking guide who accidentally gets tied up with some werewolves pretending to be a hiking group to eat pp #and then i have the magician rivals. although i kinda wanna tie theirs with the nightguard and thief story ive been cooking. maybe in the #same universe? it would be pretty funny if they lived in the same apartment complex since a couple stories i have in mind revolve around th #its like some sort of omnibus or anthology to me. kicks my feet #and then fan characters like xin ya and sleight who i want to have their own expanded lore and stuff. i think that would be cool #im making crow a powerpoint of xins updated lore but the assignmence are making it hard. hopefully it turns out good though #i have a hard time writing personality and xins is always the hardest bc theyre probably the least like me. i tend to stick to #characters similar to myself to get in their head. but bc their backstory affects their personality so strongly i have to do some thinking #anyway. hopefully i remember this later #yapping #oc #oc talk #ive also been playing neko atsume recently for nostalgia and why did we as a society ever stop playing it. its so chill #you just take pictures of silly little cats and leave them silly little toys and treats. and the music is cute

[sleepy-crypt1d]

love people making jack this suave sexy put together badass like babe we are talking about a man who canonically wont say fuck and says "yahtzee" when hes excited

#handsome jack #borderlands 2 #everyone needs to play the pre-sequel because he's such a fucking loser i am so in love with him #hes my husband its my job to bring up every embarrassing thing hes ever done #like saying booyah and getting caught pretending to lose connection on a call and getting punched when we first met him #and fucking up the violin bit and not getting sayings right and being so bad at talking and literally WHINING when he wants something #he is a LOSER that is IMPORTANT to his character DONT FORGET THAT #i fucking love him i want to put him in a salad blender and shake him around #like yes hes terrifying and evil and unbelievably well written buthim being a charismatic idiot is part of what makes him such a good tyrant #you CANNOT write him as the actual prowling beast that he is without making him a little silly :3c #yes he is a badass who have killed dozens and will do it again but also hes sooooo silly