void-botanist

[void-botanist]

Reminder that I'm still doing commissions for Palestinian fundraisers:

You can get art of your blorbo for as little as €5 (about $5.40 USD or £4.30 GBP)! I'm also happy to try other styles not listed as long as they aren't extremely realistic.

For €15, I will also design and format a powerpoint for you. Just hand me the content and you can outsource the patience it takes to find good public domain images and align everything. Here's a little preview of powerpoints I've made, with some of my art to boot:

Reblogs are appreciated!

#fanart commissions #bg3 commissions #furry commissions #commissions for gaza #commissions for palestine #commissions #powerpoint commissions #undescribed

[void-botanist]

Height gap romance except the shorter one is frequently depicted in situations where they are contextually taller. The taller one sitting while the shorter one looms over them. Both of them lying in bed with the taller one’s head pressed to the shorter one’s chest. The shorter one straddling the taller one’s lap and leaning down for a kiss. The taller one on their knees as the shorter one tilts their head up. Please, it makes me go feral

#yeah this is good stuff #reference

[void-botanist]

April 2024 Camp Day 27

It's true, I did not really write anything for April camp for the last [checks watch] 21 days. I honestly don't care. This is supposed to be fun. It was today!

Project: Derelict Corridors

Word goal: 25,701

Total words: 15,684

Words written today: 2048

Mini excerpt (no long ones for this project because I don’t wanna spoil it):

It was a real metal knife, or it least it looked that way. Impressive.

DC taglist: @vacantgodling @kk7-rbs

#most of those words were smut actually. this excerpt is not from the smut. it's from the dramatic encounter #side note: how is it still April????? #april camp 2024 #wip: dc

[void-botanist]

@kk7-rbs

Pokemon headcanon that once Absol are studied and people realize they prevent disasters instead of causing them, particularly dangerous workplaces get themselves a workplace Absol and it also decreases accidents.

Construction sites and fishing ships and factories will have one that pretty much just lazes about until it just gets up howling one day and knocks a dude down. They almost never figure out what would have happened but they're always like "yes absol thank you absol I am so grateful to be on the floor right now. Can I offer you a treat in this trying time"

#pokemon au #art #undescribed

[void-botanist]

Children of Light✨️

"Created to be free"

So ig next few posts on this page will be dedicated to them, because why not, they're fun to draw and I want to practice drawing things related to them, since they will appear in my webtoon soon.

[Light babies travel A LOT and there are no mount better for that than giant hermit crabs, whom they call raky-gulaky. They are very strong, agile, easy to adapt and to care for. Yeah, they probably aren't that fast, but lighties don't need to rush anywhere either. The most difficult part about owning hermit crabs is to find a new shells for them once in 5 years, but children of Light know the right places.]

#this is so coolllll #I'm so curious about where they get the shells #and what kind of shells raky-gulaky have and what that might imply about their riders #nameho #etestru #art #undescribed

[void-botanist]

update: I noticed Quaquaval the other day and Emma has to have one:

OC Pokemon teams tag: AOM

I'm taking an open tag from @kk7-rbs for this one! I chose these for the main AOM players based on vibes and also story potential.

Also an open tag!

Sid

He doesn't really favor any type, and that shows in his team. He evolved the Sirfetch'd from a Farfetch'd that fought him for an onion, the Goodra from a Goomy he found in the garden (his parents did NOT want him to take it inside), and the Alcremie from a Milcery he caught with the smell of his baking (it's probably a different variant than the one shown but he let it pick out its candy). The Mimikyu showed up when he was cleaning out the attic, and he feels like they have a lot in common actually. Donovan gave him a Galarian Yamask and fully believed it could never be evolved, but Sid figured out how to evolve it anyway. Emma gave him the Froslass when she got a shiny Froslass, and he had to retrain it to be less slappy and bitey.

Donovan

He loves ground and rock types more than anything but those alone are kind of a weak team, so he's diversified. He's a big fan of Pokemon that are Shaped, hence the Shelgon and Gastrodon. Unfortunately he has never met someone who was fooled by the Sudowoodo. The Mudsdale is his hard hitter, the Trevenant is his favorite, and the Sableye he picked up from a cave because it reminded him of Sid (then a small child). Through no fault of its own it got most of Donovan's care and affection (RIP Sid) and is kind of a spoiled brat.

Emma

Her team organizing principle is cuntiness. She picked Sobble as a starter years ago so she could end up with Inteleon. Pheromosa, Tsareena, and Froslass were all pretty easy choices too. She thinks the Machamp is cute and it has a great attitude (smash all opponents). It actually has not given her the most injuries - the Rapidash has, between its pointy horn and its tendency to get into her head with its psychic abilities. She doesn't super discourage this kind of behavior because any Pokemon that can knock her down can doubly do it to her challengers.

Avis

She favors ghost types (she used to have a Trevenant in her main team but she switched it out when she found out Donovan had one). She loves Rillaboom the most, though, because she's had it the longest - she raised it from a Grookey. Her default strategy is to use its size (it's 6' 11") to intimidate most challengers (including Sorian), and then switch to Dhelmise when it gets a little low on health. Anyone who knows their types will assume she has a grass-based team, at which point she can pull out Kommo-o or Grappleoct to surprise them. Gengar and Dragapult also unnerve people, which is fine by her. She hates it when people point it out but she's very kind to her Pokemon and is far more worried about how good of a trainer she is to them than how powerful they are as fighters (pretty powerful).

Sorian

He loves fairy and psychic types and they love him. Obviously the Ninjask is an exception, but he keeps it in his team just in case and because Horatio gave it to him (he still doesn't understand why Horatio thinks it's like him, but okay. It's cute). He often lets the Comfey stay out of its Pokeball and wears it as a flower crown, which Avis finds infuriating (how dare he have a cute Pokemon like that. fucking asshole). People think Avis will be irrationally pissed off by the Hatterene, since it looks kind of like a human woman, but it just looks like that - why would she be mad? Sorian's favorite Pokemon is actually the Togekiss, which likes to snuggle with him when he's alone but retreats as soon as Avis shows up. His most powerful Pokemon in battle are definitely the Claydol and Musharna.

Horatio

Horatio didn't start out trying to bridge as many types as possible, nor to have only dual-type Pokemon, but once he realized it was happening anyway he leaned into it. He started with the Galvantula, which used to ride in his pocket when it was a Joltik, and ended up with Vileplume when his Oddish would not stop accompanying him out of his florist shop. Edith gave him the Swinub he evolved into Piloswine, and Sorian gave him the Deino he evolved into Hydregion because it looked like him (it did). The Aegislash came from a Honedge that tried and failed to blend in with his gardening tools, and the Gallade - which he suspects used to belong to someone else - he found wandering in the woods when he was studying river plants. It has very little self control around people who are rude to him, and it sometimes gets switched out of his team temporarily when it's being moody.

#id in alt #c: Emma #oc pokemon team tag

[void-botanist]

Congratulations! You are now a Magic-User!!

#if my hands appear frostbitten that's just the magical manifestation of my raynauds lmao #poll o' clock

[void-botanist]

OC Pokemon teams tag: AOM

I'm taking an open tag from @kk7-rbs for this one! I chose these for the main AOM players based on vibes and also story potential.

Also an open tag!

Sid

He doesn't really favor any type, and that shows in his team. He evolved the Sirfetch'd from a Farfetch'd that fought him for an onion, the Goodra from a Goomy he found in the garden (his parents did NOT want him to take it inside), and the Alcremie from a Milcery he caught with the smell of his baking (it's probably a different variant than the one shown but he let it pick out its candy). The Mimikyu showed up when he was cleaning out the attic, and he feels like they have a lot in common actually. Donovan gave him a Galarian Yamask and fully believed it could never be evolved, but Sid figured out how to evolve it anyway. Emma gave him the Froslass when she got a shiny Froslass, and he had to retrain it to be less slappy and bitey.

Donovan

He loves ground and rock types more than anything but those alone are kind of a weak team, so he's diversified. He's a big fan of Pokemon that are Shaped, hence the Shelgon and Gastrodon. Unfortunately he has never met someone who was fooled by the Sudowoodo. The Mudsdale is his hard hitter, the Trevenant is his favorite, and the Sableye he picked up from a cave because it reminded him of Sid (then a small child). Through no fault of its own it got most of Donovan's care and affection (RIP Sid) and is kind of a spoiled brat.

Emma

Her team organizing principle is cuntiness. She picked Sobble as a starter years ago so she could end up with Inteleon. Pheromosa, Tsareena, and Froslass were all pretty easy choices too. She thinks the Machamp is cute and it has a great attitude (smash all opponents). It actually has not given her the most injuries - the Rapidash has, between its pointy horn and its tendency to get into her head with its psychic abilities. She doesn't super discourage this kind of behavior because any Pokemon that can knock her down can doubly do it to her challengers.

Avis

She favors ghost types (she used to have a Trevenant in her main team but she switched it out when she found out Donovan had one). She loves Rillaboom the most, though, because she's had it the longest - she raised it from a Grookey. Her default strategy is to use its size (it's 6' 11") to intimidate most challengers (including Sorian), and then switch to Dhelmise when it gets a little low on health. Anyone who knows their types will assume she has a grass-based team, at which point she can pull out Kommo-o or Grappleoct to surprise them. Gengar and Dragapult also unnerve people, which is fine by her. She hates it when people point it out but she's very kind to her Pokemon and is far more worried about how good of a trainer she is to them than how powerful they are as fighters (pretty powerful).

Sorian

He loves fairy and psychic types and they love him. Obviously the Ninjask is an exception, but he keeps it in his team just in case and because Horatio gave it to him (he still doesn't understand why Horatio thinks it's like him, but okay. It's cute). He often lets the Comfey stay out of its Pokeball and wears it as a flower crown, which Avis finds infuriating (how dare he have a cute Pokemon like that. fucking asshole). People think Avis will be irrationally pissed off by the Hatterene, since it looks kind of like a human woman, but it just looks like that - why would she be mad? Sorian's favorite Pokemon is actually the Togekiss, which likes to snuggle with him when he's alone but retreats as soon as Avis shows up. His most powerful Pokemon in battle are definitely the Claydol and Musharna.

Horatio

Horatio didn't start out trying to bridge as many types as possible, nor to have only dual-type Pokemon, but once he realized it was happening anyway he leaned into it. He started with the Galvantula, which used to ride in his pocket when it was a Joltik, and ended up with Vileplume when his Oddish would not stop accompanying him out of his florist shop. Edith gave him the Swinub he evolved into Piloswine, and Sorian gave him the Deino he evolved into Hydregion because it looked like him (it did). The Aegislash came from a Honedge that tried and failed to blend in with his gardening tools, and the Gallade - which he suspects used to belong to someone else - he found wandering in the woods when he was studying river plants. It has very little self control around people who are rude to him, and it sometimes gets switched out of his team temporarily when it's being moody.

#oc pokemon team tag #tag games #id in alt #c: Sid #c: Horatio #c: Donovan #c: Emma #c: Avis #c: Sorian #wip: aom

[void-botanist]

It'll be a PhD in library and information science but my actual field is more book history - historical typefaces. If I thought 19th century design had changed my font catalog hoo boy I'm just getting started

Also the second polycule ask I got might require charts because I gotta explain why everybody is halfway terrible at communicating

bc i've been out of the loop lately, what've y'all been up to?

#rb chat #vacantgodling

[void-botanist]

Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

#space

[void-botanist]

Poll for writers and artists

Whether you write fanfic or original works or paint/draw, be it fan art or original work or whatever else - I have to know, because I have a feeling this is going to be very decisive:

Please reblog for sample size!

#I would love to see fanwork but you don't have to ask to do it #but I don't care whether you ask or not: feeding my work into AI is a dick move #poll o' clock

[void-botanist]

#THE CHARTS ARE SO HELPFUL IM SAVING THIS #rip pirianus but kiatcarmen just sounds like an asshole why do you care so much 💀#also i do hope heith sticks around :((( let marcus be happy :((((

I was like, "am I doing too much for these charts" but obviously not!!

Pirianus is the funniest fucking thing to me because I started out like "hey everybody! Thade is a selfish asshole!" and then the more things percolated the more it turned out that Pirianus is the one who actually acts like a selfish asshole still. He should not care so much about Kiatcarmen and yet. he actually married her at the worst possible time, which was when she was less of an asshole because she was having her fairytale romance with Jimmy, and then fell for her and decided that he could fix her (he can't) and that he needed her to need him so bad (mistake). The real question is what does Thade see in Pirianus but I think the truth is A) Thade is hard to bother and B) he's long been convinced that Pirianus's demeanor is a facade, and tbh he's not wrong.

It is unheard of for Heith to do something like go meet a guy's secret polycule on another planet instead of dumping his ass when she finds out he has a secret polycule at all (a polycule is fine. a secret polycule is wack and not fair). Once she relaxes a bit I expect she'll stick around. I also wouldn't be surprised if she also gets pulled into Yera's orbit, at least insofar as becoming her lover.

let’s start with 1-5 for all the polycules! -@vacantgodling

This is gonna be a long one lol. But first, a little note on these polycules for those who don't know: they're legally mandated for the royal family (Kiatcarmen, Marcus, and Minaya) and have at least one of each sapient species in them. That's why Jimmy was replaced in Kiatcarmen's polycule when he died, whereas in an organic polycule, that likely would not happen.

1 - How many members are in the polycule? How are they related to each other? Feel free to draw a flow chart.

Kiatcarmen: there have only ever been five at one time. But those members have shifted twice, when existing members died. Kiatcarmen and Ashmalo are Marcus and Minaya's parents.

First set of members:

Second set of members:

Third (current) set of members:

Marcus: seven, technically. It remains to be seen whether Heith will stick around. With the exception of Heith, it's safe to assume they're all friends. Gren only knows OF Heith, since Marcus met her on another planet. Yera and Hossan recently had a baby. Also they don't actually have non-cow ears I just couldn't rally myself to make updated picrews for this post.

Minaya: six, all pretty much friends. Dawn is currently pregnant with Arbores's baby. Lanya is permanently annoyed with Arbores because his state of being is sort of to just disappear into the woods and not engage that much with the administrative/royalty things he, Minaya, and Dawn manage.

This isn't all the existent relationships in these polycules but it is all the most notable ones.

2 - Did the relationship start polyamorous, or was it a monogamous relationship that eventually opened?

All three of these started as technically polyamorous relationships, though they grew little by little. But if you look past the legal requirement it's a little more complicated. Kiatcarmen's polycule has always been a mess, and to be honest she would have been just fine having just Jimmy.

Yera and Hossan in Marcus's polycule started out as a functionally closed couple within the whole (they don't actually restrict each other to this but that was how it was anyway) but a couple years in, Marcus married Gren and Gren became besties with Yera. Over time this morphed into Gren being their third partner, but Gren is still very mobile between the different members and divisions of the polycule.

Minaya's polycule, once completed, was functionally three parallel couples (Minaya and Lanya, Dawn and Arbores, and Lucy and Ramona) until Ramona fessed up about her crush on Lanya and those two couples merged into something like a quad.

3 - If it started monogamous, how did the process of opening the relationship go?

Marcus: for a while it wasn't clear whether Yera and Hossan's relationship was going to open - maybe Yera just had a new fuckbuddy. But Gren and Hossan spent a lot of time together incidentally, and Gren also wanted to be friends with him too, and over time Gren just sort of got absorbed into their dynamic. There was a little jealousy they had to work out (Hossan was very used to being Yera's singular obsession), and there was a conversation at some point, though, when Hossan realized that he no longer thought of Gren as a separate external addition. He still doesn't think of himself as polyam but considers Gren in the same breath as Yera.

Minaya: opening her and Lanya's relationship felt easy. For a while, though, it was pretty much just sexual. That was easiest for everybody, especially with Lucy and Ramona being away for training and competition a lot. But over time it's developed into a more romantic dynamic, which has been fairly smooth, despite Lucy's defensiveness and Lanya's counter-defensiveness. There is some uncertainty about how things will change once Minaya ascends the throne, though.

4 - Are there any mono-poly relationships in the polycule?

Kiatcarmen: sort of. Despite having a sexual and quasi-romantic relationship with Pirianus the only person she's ever considered her partner is Jimmy, so in essence she has always been the monogamous person connected to her own polycule through her very popular spouse.

Marcus: no, but only because Heith isn't monogamous.

Minaya: Lucy teeters on the edge here. She's never outright decided she's monogamous, but she also doesn't have a lot of patience for maintaining multiple romantic partnerships.

5 - What “shape” is the polycule? A triad, a “V”, a straight line of metamours, or incomprehensible?

Kiatcarmen: currently, a cul-de-sac. Kiatcarmen only considers Pirianus anything close to a partner, Pirianus has complicated relationships with her and Thade, and Thade, Caladea, and Orvi are all just vibing with each other. In other words: almost entirely metamours and meta-metamours from Kiatcarmen's perspective, and something resembling a cohesive whole from Thade's.

Marcus: in Marcus's absence, it became kind of a bow tie, with Gren in the middle between Yera & Hossan and Umedes & Pali, and Marcus and Heith as a separate island. Upon his return, it expands into more of an anglerfish - Gren is still the point of connection between Yera & Hossan and Umedes & Pali, but Marcus has joined Umedes and Pali, and also has a connection to Heith.

Minaya: it's more or less a quad (Minaya, Lanya, Ramona, Lucy) with an orbiting couple (Dawn and Arbores).

#c: Thade #c: Pirianus #wip: iecunem #c: Heith #rb chat #vacantgodling

[void-botanist]

let’s start with 1-5 for all the polycules! -@vacantgodling

This is gonna be a long one lol. But first, a little note on these polycules for those who don't know: they're legally mandated for the royal family (Kiatcarmen, Marcus, and Minaya) and have at least one of each sapient species in them. That's why Jimmy was replaced in Kiatcarmen's polycule when he died, whereas in an organic polycule, that likely would not happen.

1 - How many members are in the polycule? How are they related to each other? Feel free to draw a flow chart.

Kiatcarmen: there have only ever been five at one time. But those members have shifted twice, when existing members died. Kiatcarmen and Ashmalo are Marcus and Minaya's parents.

First set of members:

Second set of members:

Third (current) set of members:

Marcus: seven, technically. It remains to be seen whether Heith will stick around. With the exception of Heith, it's safe to assume they're all friends. Gren only knows OF Heith, since Marcus met her on another planet. Yera and Hossan recently had a baby. Also they don't actually have non-cow ears I just couldn't rally myself to make updated picrews for this post.

Minaya: six, all pretty much friends. Dawn is currently pregnant with Arbores's baby. Lanya is permanently annoyed with Arbores because his state of being is sort of to just disappear into the woods and not engage that much with the administrative/royalty things he, Minaya, and Dawn manage.

This isn't all the existent relationships in these polycules but it is all the most notable ones.

2 - Did the relationship start polyamorous, or was it a monogamous relationship that eventually opened?

All three of these started as technically polyamorous relationships, though they grew little by little. But if you look past the legal requirement it's a little more complicated. Kiatcarmen's polycule has always been a mess, and to be honest she would have been just fine having just Jimmy.

Yera and Hossan in Marcus's polycule started out as a functionally closed couple within the whole (they don't actually restrict each other to this but that was how it was anyway) but a couple years in, Marcus married Gren and Gren became besties with Yera. Over time this morphed into Gren being their third partner, but Gren is still very mobile between the different members and divisions of the polycule.

Minaya's polycule, once completed, was functionally three parallel couples (Minaya and Lanya, Dawn and Arbores, and Lucy and Ramona) until Ramona fessed up about her crush on Lanya and those two couples merged into something like a quad.

3 - If it started monogamous, how did the process of opening the relationship go?

Marcus: for a while it wasn't clear whether Yera and Hossan's relationship was going to open - maybe Yera just had a new fuckbuddy. But Gren and Hossan spent a lot of time together incidentally, and Gren also wanted to be friends with him too, and over time Gren just sort of got absorbed into their dynamic. There was a little jealousy they had to work out (Hossan was very used to being Yera's singular obsession), and there was a conversation at some point, though, when Hossan realized that he no longer thought of Gren as a separate external addition. He still doesn't think of himself as polyam but considers Gren in the same breath as Yera.

Minaya: opening her and Lanya's relationship felt easy. For a while, though, it was pretty much just sexual. That was easiest for everybody, especially with Lucy and Ramona being away for training and competition a lot. But over time it's developed into a more romantic dynamic, which has been fairly smooth, despite Lucy's defensiveness and Lanya's counter-defensiveness. There is some uncertainty about how things will change once Minaya ascends the throne, though.

4 - Are there any mono-poly relationships in the polycule?

Kiatcarmen: sort of. Despite having a sexual and quasi-romantic relationship with Pirianus the only person she's ever considered her partner is Jimmy, so in essence she has always been the monogamous person connected to her own polycule through her very popular spouse.

Marcus: no, but only because Heith isn't monogamous.

Minaya: Lucy teeters on the edge here. She's never outright decided she's monogamous, but she also doesn't have a lot of patience for maintaining multiple romantic partnerships.

5 - What “shape” is the polycule? A triad, a “V”, a straight line of metamours, or incomprehensible?

Kiatcarmen: currently, a cul-de-sac. Kiatcarmen only considers Pirianus anything close to a partner, Pirianus has complicated relationships with her and Thade, and Thade, Caladea, and Orvi are all just vibing with each other. In other words: almost entirely metamours and meta-metamours from Kiatcarmen's perspective, and something resembling a cohesive whole from Thade's.

Marcus: in Marcus's absence, it became kind of a bow tie, with Gren in the middle between Yera & Hossan and Umedes & Pali, and Marcus and Heith as a separate island. Upon his return, it expands into more of an anglerfish - Gren is still the point of connection between Yera & Hossan and Umedes & Pali, but Marcus has joined Umedes and Pali, and also has a connection to Heith.

Minaya: it's more or less a quad (Minaya, Lanya, Ramona, Lucy) with an orbiting couple (Dawn and Arbores).

#bonus points if you know what one song Lucy and Ramona and Dawn are named after #polycule ask game #wip: iecunem #c: Marcus #c: Minaya #c: Kiatcarmen #c: Umedes #c: Pali #c: Yera #c: Hossan #c: Gren #c: Heith #c: Lanya #c: Arbores #c: Dawn #c: Ramona #c: Lucy #c: Thade #c: Pirianus #c: Ashmalo #c: Caladea #c: Jimmy #c: Orvi

[void-botanist]

Last week I got taken out by stomach issues (if anyone saw my vagueposting about my stomach. yeah I was in a lot of pain and was in bed just scrolling tumblr for a while) and I'm back now, trying not to have the same thing happen again this week. But I did get the news that I'm going back to school for my PhD (!) this fall (the terror is setting in but I'll be fine by September, right?).

Otherwise the only writing I've really gotten done recently is these two smut scenes. Maybe I'll pick back up on Derelict Corridors soon. I'm knee deep in your polycule ask rn because they said I could make a chart sooooo....there's a lot of charts happening 👀

bc i've been out of the loop lately, what've y'all been up to?

#Kiatcarmen's polycule has shifted three times it's a mess #meta botanist #rb chat #vacantgodling

[void-botanist]

ok writeblr i have a question and it does not matter if you answer re fanfic or original work:

do you nerds know what themes you intend to tackle in longer works before you start, or are the themes a fun little surprise you don't uncover until the nth draft?

#I usually have a vague idea of themes. but I start writing before I know the whole story #poll o' clock

[void-botanist]

I saw your answer about not having any official polycules but if you feel like it, 22-25?

~ @void-botanist

ehh sure, why the hell not!

For context, this polycule (if canon) is from The God-Dragon's Wife. Xinya and Yu-Qi are married, Jao is (unofficially) a consort to the queen. Xinya and Jao would be girlfriends pretty much, and Jao and Yu-Qi would be metamours that cross the line into FWB sometimes.

22. Who has the strongest communication skills in the group? Who has the weakest?

I think... Jao has the strongest communication, Xinya is trying her best to communicate but she's just so repressed, and Yu-Qi is the worst because she doesn't think like a human so she has no idea what she needs to communicate and doesn't often care.

23. Who does the most scheduling out of all the members?

You'd think it would be Jao again, but it's actually Xinya. She's a masterful negotiator and not only the Queen of Syo-Lang, but the Queen of Fantasy Excel Spreadsheets. She organizes the shit out of her polycule. It's kinda scary.

24. How do they deal with feelings of loneliness if their partner(s) are spending time with their other partner(s)?

Yu-Qi is far to confident in herself and her relationship with Xinya to feel neglected or lonely, but she does get bored when Xinya isn't around. She passes the time by wandering the palace and messing with anyone who happens to walk by. Sometimes she might even go out into the city to mess with people. The world is her oyster.

Jao keeps herself busy when she's lonely. She has a lot to do as the queen's assistant, which means she doesn't have a lot of time to dwell on her loneliness, but it's still there. When being a workaholic isn't enough, she writes back home to her family, and/or writes in her private journal about it.

25. Does the polycule ever have get-togethers or dates where everyone is present? What are they like?

Sometimes! Not a whole lot, since by virtue of living in the same place they're always seeing each other, but when occasionally they do make a night of it. It's usually Xinya hosting a private dinner where no one else is allowed into the dining hall. For Xinya and Jao, it means relaxing and letting their hair down (sometimes literally) after a long [insert timeframe here] of politicking, and for Yu-Qi it means she can get away with doing a little godly dragon magic. Depending on who, if any, are in the mood, they might bang it out right there in the dining hall safe in the knowledge that no one is around to hear them, or take it back up to Xinya's bedroom for something a little less messy.

[try out my OC Polycule Ask Game]

#we stan a queen of fantasy excel sheets #ink-flavored #tgdw #ask rb

[void-botanist]

@vacantgodling I eventually want to do all of these for all three of the Pabatcules but feel free to send me ten million questions

65 Question OC Polycule Ask Game

Do you have a bunch of OCs in a polycule? Do you have the burning desire to answer questions about them? Look no further for an excuse to talk about it!   There are footnotes under the cut to explain some potentially unfamiliar terminology. Remember to send an ask to the person you reblog it from to make sure everyone gets to play!

How many members are in the polycule? How are they related to each other? Feel free to draw a flow chart.

Did the relationship start polyamorous, or was it a monogamous relationship that eventually opened?

If it started monogamous, how did the process of opening the relationship go?

Are there any mono-poly1 relationships in the polycule?

What “shape” is the polycule? A triad, a “V”, a straight line of metamours2, or incomprehensible?

Where do each of the members land on the “solo poly” to “entwined” spectrum?3

Where do each of the members land on the “free agent” to “community oriented” spectrum?4

How did each member realize they were polyamorous? Did they always know, or was there some sort of epiphany?

Do any of the current members practice hierarchical polyamory5? Who are the primary partners?

If the polycule is hierarchical, what differs in the boundaries set for primary vs secondary partners? Tertiary partners?

Have any of the members been in a hierarchical polycule before?

Have any of the members been in a non-hierarchical polycule before?

Do any of the members have a preference between hierarchical and non-hierarchical polyamory?

What’s the craziest polycule drama they’ve experienced so far?

Have any of the members been the unicorn6 of a relationship?

Have any of the members been unicorn hunters7 in the past? Were they successful?

How does each member like to engage with their metamours? Do they want to meet every potential addition, or do they not care at all?

What are their “vetoes” for potential metamours? Do they have any at all?

Which of the members want to live with their partner(s), and which prefer to live alone?

How do each of the members deal with jealousy? How intense is the feeling?

How intense does each member feel compersion8 toward their partners and metamours?

Who has the strongest communication skills in the group? Who has the weakest?

Who does the most scheduling out of all the members?

How do they deal with feelings of loneliness if their partner(s) are spending time with their other partner(s)?

Does the polycule ever have get-togethers or dates where everyone is present? What are they like?

Of the members who live together, what are the household dynamics like? How do they split chores, manage finances, etc.?

Of the members who live together, do they all sleep in one bed too? All separate bedrooms? Something in-between?

What are their sexual dynamics like? Is group sex frequent, or is it purely one-on-one?

Do boundaries shift depending on which partners are involved in sex or romance?

What kind of boundaries exist outside of a romantic dynamic? Are friends-with-benefits considered metamours? Hook-ups?

Are any of the polycule members aromantic? How does that influence their relationship boundaries and their relationship to polyamory in general?

Are any of the polycule members asexual? How does that influence their relationship boundaries and their relationship to polyamory in general?

Do any of the polycule members consider their relationship(s) to be queerplatonic? How does that influence their relationship boundaries and their relationship to polyamory in general?

How have their members’ respective family relationships influenced their polyamorous dynamics?

Were any of the members raised in a polyamorous family?

Are any of the polycule members parents? How many kids do they have?

If there aren’t any kids yet, will there ever be?

How would the polycule deal with one member wanting kids, but another member never wanting kids?

If the relationship opened up after children were already in the picture, how was the change explained to them? Was it explained at all?

Do all members of the polycule raise children together, or are there designated “parent” members?

How does being in a polyamorous relationship influence how boundaries are taught to their kids?

How do the kids feel about their parent(s) being polyamorous? Are they supportive, indifferent, or actively opposed?

Have cultural dynamics played a part in how the polycule operates?

Are any of the members keeping their polyamory a secret? Why?

For mono-poly relationships, how does the monogamous partner see and experience their relationship with a polyamorous person? Their relationships with their metamours?

How did any monogamous partners deal with the idea of opening up a previously closed relationship? Was it a difficult change?

Did any monogamous partners discover they were polyamorous after the relationship opened up? How did they find out?

Do any monogamous partners still struggle to cope with polyamory? What gets them through the hard times?

Were any monogamous partners completely fine with polyamory from the beginning?

How do the polyamorous halves of the mono-poly relationships feel about dating a monogamous person? Is it a unique struggle or smooth sailing?

Do the mono-poly relationships have different boundaries than the poly-poly-poly-poly-etc. relationships?

How well do the metamours get along? Do they even know each other?

Do any of the metamours dislike each other? How does that impact their shared partner(s)?

Do any of the metamours hang out when their shared partner(s) aren’t around?

Do any of the metamours have specific dynamics and/or boundaries with each other? Why?

How do the members feel about marriage? Do they live in a society that recognizes polyamorous marriage at all? If marriage isn’t an option, what about legal protections?

What do any monogamous members think about their polyamorous partner potentially marrying someone else (either in addition to or instead of them)?

How does the polycule celebrate anniversaries?

How does the polycule celebrate birthdays?

If one of the members gets sick, who takes care of them? Is there a rotation of caretakers lining up, or designated partner(s)?

Has anyone experienced a particularly messy break-up while in the polycule? How did everyone handle it?

Which of the members, if any, would be happy in a monogamous relationship if having a polycule wasn’t possible? Would any rather be single than monogamous?

How insecure was each member when starting their polyamorous journey? In what ways?

How did each member overcome their insecurities about relationships? Have they at all?

Wild card! Ask anything you can imagine!

[1] Mono-poly: a relationship that contains both a monogamous and polyamorous person; the monogamous person is only dating one polyamorous partner, but that partner might have other partners in addition to their monogamous partner.

[2] Metamour: the members of a polycule who are dating the same person or people, but aren’t dating each other.

[3] Solo: presents to the world as single at first glance; may not want to live with any partner, or if they do, they may not choose to share finances or property.

Entwined: prefers relationships that are more entwined practically, financially, or both; values sharing living space, spending time in close proximity, sharing financial or household obligations, etc.; may see themselves as part of a unit, a single family that shares responsibilities together and approaches life together.

Definitions taken from “More Than Two” by Franklin Veaux and Eve Rickert

[4] Free Agent: values personal autonomy highly, places importance on the ability to make their own decisions, and presents to the world as able to act without requiring permission from others; places responsibility for decision-making, and for bearing the consequences, on each person individually.

Community Oriented: focuses on the interconnectedness of their relationships and their community; decisions are made with an eye toward how they might fit with the others.

Definitions taken from “More Than Two” by Franklin Veaux and Eve Rickert

[5] Hierarchical Polyamory: a kind of polyamory in which the members of the polycule are split into “primary” partners, “secondary” partners, “tertiary” partners, and so on. The higher “ranked” members are given more priority when it comes to spending time together, living arrangements, major life decisions, and overall have more control over the state of the polycule than the lower ranked members. This is in contrast to non-hierarchical polyamory, in which there is no ranking system, all relationships are treated with equal weight, and decisions are made as a group. There is no one proper way to practice polyamory, and both methods can be fulfilling for people who have different needs for their relationships.

[6] Unicorn: stereotypically, a young bisexual woman that is equally attracted to both primary members of a hierarchical polycule or a recently opened monogamous relationship, agrees to give both members equal attention, and agrees to have no additional partners. Referred to as “unicorns” because these strict requirements for a dynamic are basically impossible to find.

[7] Unicorn Hunter(s): stereotypically, the primary members of a hierarchical polycule or a recently opened monogamous relationship who relentlessly search for a “unicorn” to perfect their ideal polyamorous dynamic. Often have very strict requirements of their unicorn, which is why they’re constantly hunting for someone who can fulfill them.

[8] Compersion: the opposite of jealousy; the feeling of joy experienced when seeing your partner happy with their other partner(s).

#polycule ask game #ask games