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nashibirne · 3 years

Text

Painkiller - 6

(It feels a little strange posting this right now, with the real Henry just going public with his new girlfriend, that looks exactly like my fictional (!!!) character Kelly. And I swear it's a coincidence that I chose the Daily Mail to reveal the pictures in my story...So if you feel uncomfortable with all this, don't proceed!)

It's time for the next chapter of "Painkiller". I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger, so here we go...

Pairing: Henry Cavill x OFC (Ella)

Summary: Henry has to explain a lot to many different people, Kelly is taking advantage and Ella is a kinky girl

Warnings: RPF! Angst, mentioning of daddy kink, a little sex talk, nothing serious, but still 18+

Unbeta'ed, as usual...all mistakes are mine, English is not my mother tongue, so consider yourself warned...

Credits: Pics for the moodboard are from pinterest, I don't know Henry Cavill, not a bit, this is all fictional, fantasy and wishful thinking!

Parts 1-5 can be found here: nashi's masterlist

taglist: (please tell me if you want to be added or removed)

@hell1129-blog @lunedelorient @inlovewithhisblueeyes @willkatfanfromasia @summersong69 @omgkatinka @legendarywizarddetective @mis-lil-red @agniavateira @taebfada @xxxkatxo

~~~~~

Like every day Ella entered the store a good hour before opening time. It still felt strange to start the day without Katie who had decided to stay at home with little Lenny half a year before returning to the world of work. They had hired a help, Mr. Meller, who was the epitome of a middle aged bookworm and it worked perfectly. Ella got along with him very well, he reminded her of her father a lot, and the customers loved him. He wouldn't arrive until a few minutes before nine so Ella had almost an hour to have a coffee and prepare the shop and the cafe for the day. As usual she unpacked the stacks of shrink-wrapped newspapers and started to place them on the counter and the coffee tables in the cafe area. When she took a closer look at the headlines of the Daily Mail her heart skipped a beat before it started to clench. The pain that began to spread in her chest was dreadful and she felt sick all of the sudden. She sat down on one of the barstools at the cafe counter with wobbly legs before she looked at the pictures again.

Henry. He had a girlfriend. A girlfriend he showed up with in public. A girlfriend Ella didn't know about. A girlfriend that was apparently beautiful, young, sexy, curvy...not flat as a pancake. Ella swallowed hard and forced herself to read the little article underneath the pictures.

Henry Cavill was spotted with his new girlfriend yesterday by one of our readers, who sent us the pictures of the happy couple he was able to take in Kensington. "They seemed to be very in love." Our source reports. "Kissing and hugging all the time. Cavill couldn't keep his hands off of her and she kept gazing adoringly at him." It seems A-Lister Cavill has found a new love after a few years of being single. The actor, best known for his role as Superman, who is very discreet about his private life, has a long list of ex-girlfriends but -as he said in an interview lately- is still waiting for the one to fulfill his biggest dream: to start a family. Maybe the wait is over now and Superman has found his Supergirl. But who is the mysterious bombshell? Nobody seems to know…

A loud knock on the door interrupted Ella. She flinched when she saw Henry standing outside. Shit. She got up and walked over to the entrance with knees that felt like jelly, her heart racing at double speed. She took a deep breath before unlocking the door.

Get your act together.

"Henry, good morning. What are you doing here?" She was surprised that she managed to sound so normal.

"Hey. Good morning. Can I come in?" His voice was tense and he seemed to be nervous, tugging on his sleeve repeatedly with a sheepish smile.

"Sure." Ella stepped aside to let him enter the room. He glanced around and his eyes found the newspaper, the pics of him and Kelly staring right at his face.

"I'm sorry, Ella." He turned to her with a frown.

"Sorry? For what?"

He pointed at the Daily Mail. "For not telling you about Kelly."

"Kelly, huh? Well, there's no need to be sorry. This is none of my business, Henry." Ella took the newspaper and looked at the pictures with a nonchalant smile she had to force upon her numb face. "She's very pretty…"

"You're my friend. I should have told you. I didn't want you to read it in the papers…"

Ella just shrugged. She didn't know what to say without sounding jealous or disappointed or both. She felt incredibly empty inside.

"It's not even something serious...I mean we're right at the beginning of our...whatever. I didn't tell anyone about it…"

"A secret affair? How exciting." Ella winked at him when in fact she wanted to scream.

"Not really secret but it wasn't supposed to go public."

"Well, you should have taken her to Gianni's. I heard they are very discreet there." Now her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Ella…"

"Henry, listen...as I said. This is none of my business, okay? But I'm happy if you're happy." Ella clenched her teeth to prevent her eyes from watering. She was sure he could see her jaw work.

"You don't look happy." Henry's voice was almost a whisper now, a whisper that crept into her ear, through her veins and right into her hurting heart. She turned around abruptly and went straight to the coffee machine to clean it. She wasn't able to answer when she had to look at him.

Fumbling with the water container she finally was able to pull herself together.

"I guess I'm just a little disappointed that you haven't told me about her." She said as calmly as possible. "I thought you'd trust me."

"I do trust you, Ella." Henry leaned on the counter looking at her with a frown. "It's just...I didn't really know where this was going and I didn't want to bother you…"

"Bother me?" Ella turned around with something close to a smile. "You can bother me whenever you want with whatever is on your mind, Henry. You know that. That's what friends are for." She almost choked on her own words. Fake it till you make it.

Henry just nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You can tell me now. How did you meet her?"

"Well, that's kinda funny. She dialled the wrong number when she tried to contact a friend and so she had me on the phone and we had a pretty funny conversation and then we talked again the next day and texted and then we met and...yeah...well." Henry grinned and he felt like a fool.

"Oh...meet cute." Ella said and her heart clenched again. She couldn't help but think about the night she'd met Henry for the first time and the memory helped her to fake another smile.

Henry shrugged and let out a snort. "Yeah, guess so. A crazy coincidence at least."

"And now you're dating her."

What was he supposed to say? He wasn't dating Kelly. He wasn't in love with Kelly. He just had sex with her. But he didn't want to go down the rabbit hole and get confronted with more and more questions he didn't have an answer to. He simply couldn't talk about this with Ella without revealing his feelings for her. So he decided to choose the allegedly easy way out.

"Yes. I...we...want to take it slow though. We're just getting to know each other better."

"That sounds good, Henry. I hope you find what you're looking for. Can't wait to meet her." The lie tasted like acid, burning on her tongue. When Ella heard the door she was relieved and expected it to be Mr. Meller, but to her surprise it was Jax who stood in the doorway, holding the Daily Mail in his hand.

"Good morning."

"Morning, Jax." Ella and Henry said in unison, staring at him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something." He joined Henry at the counter and threw the newspaper on it with a thud. "Congratulations on your new girlfriend." Jackson smiled at him.

Ella was sure Henry wasn't realizing it but she knew Jackson good enough to know he was pissed. The way his eyebrow twitched gave it away.

"She's not…" Henry sighed and shook his head. "Forget it...thanks I guess."

Ella couldn't stand this anymore. She just wanted this conversation to be over and get rid of Henry. She couldn't look at his ridiculously handsome face right now, didn't dare to look into his eyes and she absolutely wasn't able to be in the same room with him any longer without bursting into tears.

"We were just talking about how much I want to meet Kelly.

"Oh really? Kelly..." Jax raised his eyebrows in an odd mixture of surprise and annoyance.

"What about dinner at my place on saturday, Henry? You, Kelly and I? Jax, can join us…."

"Yes, sure." Henry was much too surprised to make up a spontaneous excuse.

"Great. Jax?"

"Count me in."

"Fantastic. Ok, that's settled then."

She clapped her hands and turned to Henry.

"I'm sorry but I really got a lot of work to do…"

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna leave you to it." He gave her a nod. "Talk to you later?"

"Sure." Ella gulped, avoiding eye contact.

When Henry had left she let out a deep breath and turned to Jackson who hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Elsie." Ella sobbed into his chest unable to say anything. Jax kissed her head tenderly before he took a step back. "Listen, sweetie. I know you're hurting right now and you just want to hide in your bed with tons of crisps and chocolate but you have a job to do. So keep a stiff upper lip and be strong for the next 9 hours, okay? And tonight you come to my place and we'll have as much junk food and sweets and cherry coke as you want and you can break down and cry and moan and mope. And I'm going to listen and dry your tears. And tell you that I was right, of course."

He winked and Ella let out a grunt that was half sob and half laughter. "Okay." She wiped her eyes to dry the tears and straightened her back. She even managed to smile.

"That's my girl." Jax gave her a thumbs up and when Mr. Meller entered the store Ella was sure she was going to make it through the day.

****

When Henry looked at his mobile on the way back to his car he snorted with frustration. There were countless missed calls and at least a dozen messages. From his manager, his assistant, journalists and his family of course.

Wtf, brother. Is that your way to win Ella's heart?

Charlie had texted and his friend Corey seemed to be confused too.

What's going on? U have a gf? Call me!

He was going to take care of them later. Now he had to call Kelly to give her some instructions.

He got in the car and dialled her number. She answered almost immediately.

"Morning, Babe." She sounded way too enthusiastic. "Have you seen it? We're all over the internet!"

"Yes, I have Kell. And that's nothing to exult over. This is a worst case scenario."

"Why. I don't care if everybody knows about us."

"But I do and there's not really an "us". You know that."

"Yes, I do. Oh come on, don't be so grumpy. It's just two pictures. Just tell the press we're only good friends and they're gonna lose interest."

Henry took a deep breath. "Don't be naive, that's not how it works. This wasn't supposed for the public eye but now it's on the internet and in the papers. The damage is done."

"Is it about Ella? You don't want her to know?"

"I didn't want her to learn about it from the Daily Mail….listen, Kelly, don't talk to anyone about this, okay? Not to your friends and most of all not to the press or some internet freaks or whatever. Can you do this for me?"

"Of course. You know I'm discreet."

"Sure. I do. I just need you to stick to it."

"I promise. My lips are sealed."

"Thanks, Kelly."

"You know what, baby? Maybe this is a sign."

"A sign for what?" Henry had a notion what she was up to.

"Well, maybe we can be more than fuck buddies. Maybe it's time we start dating."

"Kelly…" Henry sighed.

"Yes, yes, yes...Ella. I know. And I'm cool with it. But maybe I can help you to get over her. Just gimme a chance, Henry. Let's date, everyone thinks we are dating anyway."

She had a point, he knew this.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. But let's talk about this later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Oh and I almost forgot...Ella wants to meet you. She invited us over for dinner at her place on Saturday."

"You already talked to her?"

"Sure. I've just visited her at work. To explain…"

"I see. Well, I'm looking forward to meeting her."

"Yeah...so is she. I gotta go, Kelly. Talk to you later."

"Okay. Bye, babe."

After ending the call Henry closed his eyes and let his head sink back on the head rest with a deep sigh. It was just about 9 o'clock and he was already exhausted and done with the day. It fit in the picture that an angry looking traffic warden knocked on his window to point out to him that his car was parked in a no stopping area. He opened the window with an apologetic grin and took the ticket she handed him over with a sour smile.

*****

Henry spent the rest of the day at home on the phone and online, answering all kinds of questions about him and Kelly to his friends and family, his management and assistants. Of course he wouldn't comment on all of this with an official statement. He never had before and he wouldn't start now. Even if not denying it meant that the whole world considered Kelly to be his girlfriend. Maybe he deserved it for being so careless, for going out with Kelly more often after the dinner at the chippy went so well the other day. For taking her with him when he walked Kal. For going to the bloody supermarket with her. He still didn't know how this was even possible. They had stopped by at this supermarket to buy some food for dinner after a short stroll with Kal. Henry had worn a cap and sunglasses. No one had recognized him, he was 100% sure of that. He knew the way people looked at him when they were aware of who he was. He had taken off the sunglasses inside the shop and hadn't taken them back on when they'd left and when Kelly had taken off his cap to run her hands through his hair and kiss him. It was a short kiss. Only a few seconds because Henry didn't want her to kiss him in public. But it had been long enough for some random passer-by to take a picture and sell it to the press. A few damn seconds that ruined everything. It could have been so easy. A casual fling with Kelly, his friendship with Ella…at least if he'd had the guts to tell Ella about it...but now everything felt so fucking complicated. Now he was somehow dating Kelly and jeopardizing his friendship with Ella.

He was just about to call her when a Zoom call from Corey came in. When his face appeared on Henry's laptop screen, he seemed to be worried.

"Hey." Henry waved at him like an idiot.

"Henry, what the fuck is going on? You and your girlfriend are breaking the internet."

Henry took a deep breath.

"First of all she's not my girlfriend."

"Yeah...I thought so...I mean because of Ella."

Henry knitted his brows and shrugged sighing.

"Yeah…"

"So she's not your girlfriend, but…?"

"But she's a woman I have casual sex with…"

Henry told Corey the whole story from A to Z. How he'd met Kelly, how he'd kept it a secret from Ella and all the other shit that had happened lately.

"And you're absolutely sure that Ella doesn't want more than friendship?" Corey asked sceptically after Henry had updated him.

"Unfortunately I am, man. There have been so many intimate situations...and she never made a move."

"Intimate?"

"Yeah...we have been physically and emotionally very close so often. We even had this...I don't know...sex talk...but nothing's ever happened."

"You talked about having sex?" Corey seemed to be surprised.

"Well not about the two of us having sex together. But she once told me about a special kink. Man, Corey...that was a hard conversation...literally…"

His friend chuckled. "A kinky girl, huh. What kind of kink? Spill it."

Henry sighed with a strange look on his face.

"Okay. Let me tell you the story of horny Henry and how he wanted to be Christian Gray for his sweet elf Ella"

Henry and Ella we're sitting on her couch after dinner. Henry had made a vegetarian chili and they were both completely stuffed. They were just debating about one of the big questions in life -cereals or milk first- when Ella's mobile beeped repeatedly, signaling new WhatsApp messages. She took a look at them and a wide grin spread on her pretty face.

"What?" Henry asked curiously.

"Jax just sent me a link."

"And what's so funny?"

"It's a video called "Henry Cavill reads thirst tweets"."

"Oh that...let's see." He grabbed her phone with a quick motion.

"Hey." Ella protested laughing.

Henry looked at the screen

Look what Hunter sent

😇😎

😏

https://youtu.be/fHS2cqjijIk Henry Cavill reads thirst tweets

"Who's Hunter?" Henry asked and Ella took her phone off his hand.

"Jax's brother."

"He knows about...well...that we're friends?" Henry looked at her with a frown.

"Obviously. Don't worry, he's not even...he's trustworthy." Ella gave him a wink. "So let's take a look at Mr. Cavill reading his fan's dirty fantasies."

"It's really not that spectacular…" Henry rolled his eyes, feeling a little awkward.

Ella shushed him, laughing, before she opened the link and the video started to play.

"Do you get called "daddy" a lot?" A voice asked while an extremely good looking Henry, dressed in a gray suit, his white shirt a little unbuttoned, showing off his chest hair, fished a piece of paper from a plastic container. A snort, a smirk. "On the internet. Sure."

Ella gave him a glance and a lewt smile. They watched the rest of the short clip and Ella laughed a lot, admiring Henry's funny, quick-witted answers.

"This is hilarious." she shook her head, still grinning. "Daddy."

"Oh, come on. Spare me…" Henry gave her an awkward smile. "I really don't get this daddy stuff. I mean...daddy in a sexual context...that's gross, isn't it?"

He locked eyes with Ella searching for approval. "Not really. I used to think the same way, but I learned that it's not about, I don't know… incestuous fantasies or something. I'm not an expert, but you don't imagine being with your father or your daughter. It's a roleplay and it's more about a difference in power between the sex partners. The daddy dom is in charge, dominating the baby girl and she's agreed to obey. The daddy dom is not an abuser. He takes care, is a protector and teacher, and when the little one acts like a brat he's going to discipline her...yeah...something like this." Ella cleared her throat and bit her lip, a little embarrassed now. Of course her cheeks were dark red.

Henry tilted his head with a mischievous grin.

"For not being an expert you know a lot about it."

Ella shrugged, pretending nonchalance.

"Is that your kind of kink?"

"I...well...yes, sometimes. You know, I had some kind of affair after Craig and I broke up and my lover...he showed me a new side of love. Of sex."

"New?"

"Yeah, the rough side, beyond Vanilla. Stuff I hadn't done with Craig. He showed me that it's great to be in control but that it can be even better and very relaxing to let go of control from time to time. To stop thinking and just do what you're told. To let someone take care of you, reward you, praise you and sometimes...well...punish you."

Henry had no idea why, but hearing her talk about this turned him on a lot. His dick twitched at the thought of Ella acting submissive with a dominating partner.

"Are we talking about S/M?" He realized that his voice sounded hoarse and he looked her in the eyes longer and deeper than usual.

"No. Not really. It was more a little 50-shades-of-gray-ish. Nothing extreme, all very playful, but different to what I knew. I learned a lot about me and my sexuality with him. He opened my eyes in more ways than one." Ella held his gaze and Henry felt like his skin was on fire all of the sudden. He felt jealous of the guy...of her Christian Gray...of the things he assumed they'd done together.

"And what happened? Why did the affair come to an end?"

"He had to leave London. Moved to Berlin for his job."

"I'm sorry." Henry moved a little closer to Ella shifting his position, turning his upper body to her. She did the same before answering.

"It's no big deal. As I said, it was just an affair."

"Shortly after the break up."

"Yes."

"So you were ready for a fling back then but not ready to date me?"

This caught her off guard, Henry could tell by the way she flinched slightly.

"I did date you…."

"Yeah. Once. And all I got was a rejection and a peck on the cheek." He smirked, played it cool, but his heart was racing like crazy. They had never talked about this before.

"You mean I owe you a goodnight kiss?"

"Yeah...isn't that what good girls do? Kissing daddy goodnight." Henry felt his heart pounding in his throat.

Ella raised her eyebrows. "If daddy tells them to. Of course."

Their eyes were still locked, breaths going fast, hearts racing and they started to lean in slowly.

And at this point Henry's anecdote ended.

"Hey, wait...what happened next?" Corey wanted to know with a curious look on his face.

"Then you cock-blocked me." Henry laughed.

"What? How's that?"

"I'm just kidding. My mobile rang and the moment was over. You were the caller."

"Shit. Sorry, man."

"Nevermind. I doubt that something would have happened. We had quite a few moments like this and she never kissed me." He shrugged. "It's pointless thinking about it anyway. We're friends. I'm with Kelly now. Full stop."

"You could tell Ella you love her. Maybe she just doesn't dare to make a move after she friendzoned you."

"No, I can't. She doesn't want me. Not the way I want her." And Henry's tone left no doubt that he was done with the topic.

~~~~~

tbc

#henry cavill #henry cavill fandom #cavillry #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill x ofc

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rpbetter · 3 years

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what's the nicest possible way to tell a close friend their roleplay blogs suck and if they want followers and interaction like they keep complaining about they have to actually put effort into it instead of just making blog after blog and slapping a character on it like that's they need to do. I've tried to suggest this to her before by comparing other blogs that play her muse but she just feels inadequate instead of inspired to emulate them which I understand but it's very frustrating when I suggest a million ways to make her blog better and she brushes them all off for one reason or another and I don't want to say anything because she's like a sister to me. sigh.

Unfortunately, the short answer to this is that there really isn't any way you can make her see this unless she's ready to see it.

But, I don't like giving those sorts of answers, they feel hopeless and shitty, so, let's try this...

Understanding what the problem with your friend and her connecting with this information is, is important. It might help in talking to her about the issue.

What I find in these instances, and a lot of similar ones, is that the mun is unhappy about the results but quite happy with the process. She's enjoying some part of this, it's just not the lack of interaction, obviously. It's the very things she's doing to turn people off of her muses.

I think a lot of people get kind of addicted to new muses. I mean, the entire process of having a new muse:

interest to outright fixation, no matter how short-lived, in a new, inspiring muse

who is almost certainly in a new fandom, and probably, one that is very busy and popular at the moment

"someone stop me" phase, even though they've already decided

picking the perfect URL, creating the new blog, making the graphics and batches of icons

reblogging All The Content about the new muse, at least, the visual content and maybe, a couple of "oof, right in the feels" style short meta posts

plugging the new muse on the old blogs, through friends, etc.

mass follows

new mutuals! Shiny new meme asks in the inbox! New threads!

It's about the newness, the excitement, and the irrationally promising feeling that damn it, this time, the blog and muse is going to be successful, popular even, beloved, the actual favorite iteration of the character in the RPC. Like anything exciting, it's addicting for people. And like anything addicting, it can take hitting rock bottom and going several more feet down, a few times, before they're over it and want to change.

Which is, of course, where you come in with your as-yet failed RP interventions.

What makes what you're trying to do here very difficult is that there isn't a total bottoming out she's going to reach. There will always be something new and exciting coming out with a new and exciting muse that'll fix the problem, in her mind. There will always be the option and availability to create another blog, slap another muse on it, rinse and repeat. With shampoo and conditioner that never runs out.

You definitely had the right idea by trying to get her to contrast between why what she is doing isn't working the way she wants and why what someone else is doing is working out that way. It's just, as you found out, often not the best idea, no matter how well-intentioned it is. With her blogs constantly failing for reasons she refuses to believe, it's incredibly likely she's already done some comparison in all the wrong ways, ultimately going back and forth between blaming the other iterations, finding nothing but errors in the way they write the character and set up their blogs, and feeling depressed that she's not good enough, but they are.

So, you might have unintentionally inflamed all of this! She could be in a place where she's even more likely to believe that what she's doing is great as a defense mechanism for being hard on herself.

I'd also like to say that I'm aware the "right" advice here is, "there's nothing you can do, you'll just make her feel bad, people have a right to RP however they want." But, you're also her friend, and you have to be around the complaining and upset when this just keeps happening.

Furthermore, when we have very close friends like this, we automatically keep trying to fill in the gaps for them at cost to ourselves - every time they make another blog/muse, we get roped into writing things we know are just going to be dropped, making them things we know are going to left on a deserted blog, and so on. Eventually, it makes you feel bad about yourself because your efforts aren't good enough, either. It can really ruin the hobby for you, sucking away enjoyment and creativity you could be spending elsewhere.

I don't think you're wrong in trying to help both her and yourself.

Keep being honest with her. When she complains, be honest about why this is happening. And you can, indeed, be kind and honest!

Let's say that she says something about how she wrote all these opens and no one is going for them.

You could say something like, "that sucks. I liked this one, it's the one that feels and sounds like the character to me. What were you doing when you wrote that? You should rewrite the others to be a little more like that, I think people are looking for more of the character like we saw them in the series."

You're acknowledging that she's right, it does suck, it's a shitty feeling no matter how at fault for it she is. While pointing out something she did good (and, okay, maybe she didn't, maybe they all categorically sucked lol but find one that was even a tiny bit better/that has elements you can use to both boost her confidence and show her what is right, not just wrong). Then, giving her an idea - whatever she was thinking, watching, listening to at that time, she tapped into something more like the actual character, and she could do it again. And telling her what the problem is, at least with this, that people don't want a cardboard cutout muse, they want the one they like from the fandom book/show/movie.

No need to actually compare with another active mun and muse, or tell her that it's because what she's doing is terribly and driving you nuts. Even if both are true.

If she's the one that compares herself to another blog this time, seize the opportunity!

"Well, people like that the muse is developed and like the character they know. When you interact with another canon, don't you want them to be like the character you liked? You liked -current muse- for a reason. When I've felt like that, I reminded myself of why I was drawn to the character and worked harder on writing them accurately and getting their voice down. I think this other blog has done that and you haven't yet."

It's a little harsher, but she may very well only be looking for validation from you that this other blog actually sucks and she's doing great. A lot of complaints on tumblr are that - seeking validation, not help. The entire culture of that shit is not at all helpful. You don't want to try to sort of shock her out of it by being too harsh, but you do want to make it clear that you're not going to just give ass pats and tell her what she wants to hear.

You're telling her why this other blog is more successful, that the muse comes off as the character and is enjoyable to write with. Because the mun put in the effort to make them both accurate to the character and a muse that's fun/interesting/engaging to write with in RP.*

*Not all characters transfer over well to RP, either, and this might also be some of her problem. For whatever reason, some people are deeply drawn to the worst possible choices for them. They will find the least applicable character in a whole series, one with a billion characters that spans decades of material, plenty of viable options all around, but no, it's got to be this one. The one that's impossible for them to pull off, boring or disliked by the fandom, is incredibly difficult to interact with (think manic pixie bullshit, villains that are extreme loners, incredibly quiet and reserved characters, or those who are only ever seen in their canon to be bantering with friends and enemies - people they have established relationships with, unlike someone else's muse, even if that muse is a canonical friend or enemy), or is an active turn off in RP, like an outrageously overpowered character whose entire existence is based on being OP as fuck. That's going to be what they go for. Every. Damn. Time.

If you notice she's doing this, she could be compensating without even realizing it by turning the string of muses into identical and empty clichés she thinks people want to interact with, but that she can still handle writing. And unfortunately, your job is even harder, OP, because everyone has a character type...and your bestie's is Fucking Impossible to RP for 90% of the RPC Population Type lmao I'm...I'm so sorry.

Maybe if this is the case, you can get her to try out a different character that has some of the traits you've noticed she seems to always be drawn to, but without the complications. Work smarter, not harder, though! Propose this as you desperately wanting your muse to interact with x. Some people react very badly to being told "you'd write a great -muse name," others are flattered by it. If you don't know for certain that she'd be flattered, or at least not offended, that she doesn't hate this character or anything, do not say this. Just tell her that you love this character, you think she could handle them as a NPC in a thread, could she please try?

And make that the single most interesting thread in the history of threads. Specifically, for her. Give her tons of engagement with this NPC of the sort she tends to want the most. It might stick and reset some of her perspective on the types of characters she keeps choosing.

You're reminding her that she's a RPer, too, which sounds like a crazy thing to have to remind a RPer, but we do weirdly lose track of this. We get very invested in what we're putting out more than what we've successfully been given, especially when we're not being given much of what we want. So, you're prodding her to recall that there are two parts of this equation, she's been on the side of it - she's wanted to interact specifically with a canon muse because she loved the character/ship with hers/whatever, and has, as we all have, experienced both the disappointment of running through a ton of them who just are not that character and also finding the version that very much is.

This helps to put other people back into perspective in a way that isn't just "interactions." (Read as "desired attention." Which isn't a slam, it's true. It's also not a problem, we all are here to interact, we all enjoy having devoted mutuals and such. It's only a problem when we stop seeing them as anything other than a means to an end for ourselves.) She might be able to relate to them, thus, why they don't like her muses, if she can put herself back into their shoes.

You stick with that and transition it into why she picked the current muse. It's the same deal, there was something about the muse that sparked interest, creativity, etc. What was it? Something that isn't there, or there enough, in her writing. In all the excitement of muse-creation, she's probably let whatever it was slide right out the door. If you can get her to recall that feeling of interest and identify for herself what all triggered it, she might be able to stick with it.

And you've encouraged her again to give people what they want if she wants interactions by developing her muses. You've also done so, if it all applicable and true, by using yourself here, making it feel like not just a common problem, but one experienced and overcome by someone she cares about and trusts.

She might have an issue with needing a lot of high-interest, high-reward scenarios, too.

This is a high-effort, minimum reward situation for her. A lot of us in the RPC have shit like ADHD that can really make this difficult once we're experiencing it in this way, but even those who don't absolutely fall into it as well. So, you'll need ways to make it fun, but...I think if you can sort of kindly trick her into experiencing the effort as its own reward, it'd go a long, long way.

I can't really say what I do, having this problem with high-effort, minimal reward because I don't tend to experience that in RP. The writing is the reward for me, as much as I lose it utterly with happiness every time a writing partner is loving what I've given them. My reward system is set up around the writing and exploring characters. Hers seems to be set up around the reaction to it and amount of engagement with it. You need to try to use the latter to give her some of the former.

If she likes Halloween or Christmas, Fall or Winter, this could be your way into doing it!

Get her hyped about a seasonal prompt list you're doing. This does, yeah, mean you will have to do it, too lol but in the end, any time you aren't able to produce something daily like these lists usually are set up for, you're showing her that it isn't a job she's got to fulfill - the rules are only as strict as she wants to make them for herself. And if you keep yours short and fun, she'll feel like it's perfectly fine and good to do it this way as well. That it doesn't need to be a damn masterpiece or anything, just fun, something different to show off her muse.

While what she's actually doing, in addition to that, is getting in touch with and developing her muse. Importantly, when we write in a way that is just for ourselves like this, we tend to kind of...bond, for lack of a less weird sounding way of putting it, with a muse. It makes them stick with us longer, raising their importance and easier availability to us.

Let her know you're doing this, pick one out you genuinely like, and don't expect her to be down with it immediately. It's work with no foreseeable reward. Except, it's very hard to listen to our friends be excited, proud of themselves, enjoying themselves without wanting to join in. It'll be especially helpful, though, if you think people you interact with will like the posts and comment on them, or even try to turn them into threads if you include their muses (with their consent, of course, and no pressure). If she sees that, it might make it even more interesting to her. You might also have to pose this as her helping you out, that you don't think you'll get more than two done if she isn't doing it as well, as a sort of a challenge she can hold you to.

Whatever you think might work best for engaging her, you know her well, you can do it!

Be there to help her out with ideas if she goes for it. Throw out some easy, fun suggestions you think she might like, that even give her some opportunity to write something with her muse that she doesn't get a chance to. Pull from the muse's canon, is there something in their canon that goes with the prompt word "snow," for instance? Is it something she enjoyed about the canon story? Suggest it. Thinking about both the muse and your friend, is there something else that came to mind about that prompt you could suggest? Do it!

Again, whatever she's most into, it's an angle. Humor? Her serious muse is forced into a ridiculous, funny situation that involves the snow. Angst? A sad memory associated with the snow. Shipping? A romantic, fluffy scene (or steamy one). And so on.

Be there to express interest and encouragement while she's doing it. Don't do things that are going to come off as pressuring or helicopter moming her, of course! Like, asking how much she's gotten done, did she start working on it yet? That's a bad idea, unless she enjoys that sort of thing. Instead, tell her how much you can't wait to see this, ask about how it's going, tell her about yours to encourage her to talk about it.

And be there to be her audience when she posts it. This really seems to be her highest reward, so give it to her. Like the post, comment on the post, tell her in messages. Not individually, all of those things. If you can find a way to that doesn't mess up what you've got going on with your blog, mutuals, other friends, etc., mention it on your blog.

At this point, people might be both aware of her RP habits and wary of engaging with her, but someone might bite if you're enthused and go like the post. If it's applicable, make some jokes about it on the dash, turn it into a moment of inside joke-like crack for people to see. Mention that she wrote this and you loved it, link it or outright reblog her post. Hell, mention that you and her are doing such and such prompts for whatever holiday or season before the fact, that way, it doesn't come out of nowhere to your mutuals, either. Again, if applicable, you can ask to turn it into a thread.

The point, at this juncture, isn't to attract people to her blog and posts, it's to demonstrate to her that this is fun and rewarding. If you can get people to go like the posts, great, but you can only count on yourself to do it at first.

Most people enjoy those sorts of prompts on their dash from mutuals, though. You're always going to have some who feel like it's annoying because it wasn't strictly a RP reply, but whatever, they're not the majority in most fandoms anymore, thankfully. Point is, it's literally showing her mutuals that she's capable of thinking as her muse and working on her muse. It's showing off good things and making her muse more interesting and uniquely hers in a good way. And it's totally possible that she's going to organically generate likes, people wanting to use this as a plot with her for RP, and mutuals who are increasingly following along with every post made.

The hope is that she experiences the beginnings of more interest in the muse than she does making muses, gain some confidence in doing this with the enjoyment of it, and stick with a muse longer than five seconds so that she can actually end up with the interactions she wants.

There are definitely other ways of doing this, the prompt thing just came to mind because it's major prompt season. You've got a prompt list floating around for literally every popular point of interest right now, from whump to extreme fluff to horror to humor. And it's going to keep going until January. It's also something that can be as short as a paragraph or as long as several thousand words, and that a hell of a lot of people don't do all of. So, it's easy, so long as she's got a reason to find it interesting and stay on course with it even a little bit.

You could also try getting her into doing something like moodboards for her muse but with little additions of writing that go along with them. Nothing major, just things like a quote from her muse or a sentence from a starter, thread, whatever.

So long as you can get her to start refocusing on RP being enjoyable from the inside and not just the outside, it's valid as hell to try it! She seems to be experiencing RP as instant gratification and basing that gratification on things she can't control, like popularity.

Right now, even giving her the sober truth that one can write the best version of a canon muse there is to be found, be someone enjoyable and interesting in OOC interactions, and be an amazing writer without that being enough to garner popularity, or even the plots that are wanted. That being a very popular RPer and having more interactions than you know what to do with (honestly sucks ass) isn't a set of absolute values, but rather, variables that are always in flux and often, totally mysterious. It's usually a mixture of total luck, visual appeal, and both mun being on point with what people want to see right this second and muse being the mixture of fanon that is desirable, also, right at this exact second. It is seriously not within anyone's control, no matter how much effort, quality, or even outright bullshit they have to put out there.

If she's ever going to stick to a muse and not find herself envious, upset, and bored it's absolutely got to come from herself. She's got to be popular with herself, enjoying herself regardless of what others are seemingly achieving or want to give her. It's not going to be recognized no matter how harsh or sweet you are about the problem, unless she's capable of really looking at those problems as problems, and I don't think she's going to get to that point through negatively bottoming out. She might get there through the opposite, though!

It's...just going to take a lot of effort and patience from you, with no expectation of reward yourself.

Because it's still likely as hell it's just not going to happen. And while it seems like you are the kind of friend who would find the effort worth it because you care and are invested in her, please know that there's no shame in merely contemplating this and noping right out.

You've got a life and are trying to enjoy the hobby as well! And if it seems like something that could sour your friendship? It's not worth it. You're better off just accepting that she'll inevitably tire of doing this and move on to another hobby, maybe decide to do fandom blogs or something instead that you can support her in.

It's definitely an unenviable and frustrating position you're in. All you can really do is try not to let this negatively impact the friendship, to keep refraining from just outright telling her things she'd find hurtful, and try your best to show her that it's rewarding to develop the muse and stick with it, not a task. That there are improvements she can make to her blog, and that it isn't a negative reflection on her that they can be made. You can try all the compassionate trickery in the world to lead her there, but it's ultimately up to her whether she brushes this off as well, don't let it hurt your feelings or exasperate you too much!

Also, it's totally possible that even if you met through RP and/or it has been a big part of the friendship, you might have grown in different directions in the hobby.

Growing within the hobby is inherent to any hobby you stick to for long enough, especially if you started out in it young. Some people seamlessly just keep growing to things that make them happy, others experience a lot of growing pains along the way as they're maybe ready for change, but only in select areas they have to discover for themselves. Still others grow in a way that doesn't make them very happy, but they're both not ready (or willing) to approach why and what they can do, and also still too attached to the good times they had to reassess whether it's still something they want to do, or if it's something better moved away from into something else.

That's always very difficult as a friend. Difficult in watching your friends not go the same directions as you anymore, even in something as comparatively silly as a hobby, in seeing them not enjoying themselves, and in the possibility that it could signal the end of enjoying the hobby with them. It's sad and frustrating, and can feel lonely, but if you're close enough friends, you've got so many other things to still be good friends over, so keep that in mind!

She might need to keep doing this with her blog and muse situation until she comes not to the realization that she needs to change how she's RPing to get what she wants, but rather, that she wants to stop RPing. That could be the burnout that happens here eventually, but again, not only can you still be great friends, if it makes her happier, it's good.

#answered #anonymous #rp problems #rp advice

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