Minionlady

Fanfic Proofreader for PallidMoon and Paganwitchisis. Bg3 and Lads brainrot. (Age-29)

[alyssac9]

Ahh! PallidMoon @fangsandfracturedhearts you are absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for my render of Faralie and Astarion! It is absolutely perfect! She made a render of the night Astarian turned her and he is waiting patiently for his Bride to wake up, while cleaning her up☺️😊

[trashcatsnark]

Idk if this is a hot take or whatever but I think people who say sylus is absolutely not a dark dom mafia daddy and purely a simpy wife guy are low key missing the point as much as people who say hes just a dom daddy TikTok fantasy

Like the point is that he's both, like he is essentially a mob boss and is rough around the edges and he is pretty chill with murder and is introduced to you by turning a man to gore in front of you, the man who forced you to shoot him to prove a point, the man who had a wanderer set upon you to try to force you to resonate and maybe just maybe remember him

And he is also the man who plays video games with you and his adopted sons/employees and lets you put ponytails in his hair as punishment when he loses. The man who's eager for an at home spa day to tell you how pretty you are. The man who'd take care of a dove just because you asked real nice. The man who's way too eager to sing karaoke with you despite being a shit singer.

He is all of these things and thats the point. Over and over the world has tried to shape him into a monster, the need to survive the only way he knows how has pushed him to make violent choices and he accepts that as his reality. But even now, so many years and possibly lives later, he hasn't let go of the tenderness that was once let into his life. He hasn't let go of the softness he learned he could show to just the right person, he has held on to the fact that he can be both because so many lives ago in his isolated dragon hoarde/nest someone showed him he could be both.

And the thing I love most is that hes not ashamed of either. Hes not ashamed or afraid to admit that he is a violent and dangerous man, that you probably deserve better but guess what- you got me. Nor is he ashamed to admit/show that you make him soft, that you affect him, that hes at times domestic and corny- yeah he'll wear the cat hairpin out with you because he lost kitty cards, no he doesnt care who's laughing at him as long as you're smiling too

[mwphisto]

With the way Caleb cooks? You’re bound to put on a couple of pounds even with your rigorous work schedule.

You’re grumbling one morning, an early workout session before you go on with your day. The number on the scale is a bit higher than it was last week… it bothered you.

Not because you feared the weight gain but because you couldn’t understand how it was happening.

“What’s up, Pips? You look bummed out.” The pout is still present on your lips as you look over your shoulder. “I’ve gained weight.” And for a split second, you swear Caleb’s eyes light up. “That’s not a bad thing. I’ve been pushing you with weight lifting. It’s probably muscle.”

But you want to scoff, you hadn’t been gaining muscles. No, you’d been gaining fluff. Your belly had gotten a bit softer, your curves a little curvier. You couldn’t tell if you were upset about it or intrigued by your new shape.

“Not true at all. Look!” You poke at your stomach, and Caleb’s mouth waters. "Don't be ridiculous, pips. You look great." It's like reading an open book. Your eyes narrow as you stare at him, the cogs in your brain twisting and turning as you put two and two together.

"Caleb Xia." and the look that flashes across his face confirms your sneaking suspicions. "Have you been over feeding me?" It sounds far harsher than it really is, he simply makes good food and always puts seconds on your plate before you can even utter a word.

He just wants you to be well fed, is that so bad?

"Yes, it is!" Oops, must of said it out loud. "What in the world are you putting in your meals that I'm gaining all this weight despite working out and being a damn hunter!?" And the towering 6'2 man seems to shrink in on himself. "You've got an appetite, Pips! I'm just feeding you until you're full!" Okay, maybe he also likes you being fluffy.

There's just... more to grab. More to hold, more to kiss and bite and love on. More for him to knead, to bury his face into, to get a grip on as he pounds... shit shit shit his cover just got blown and he's daydreaming? "Caleb Xia, answer me!"

He can't, he absolutely can't. So, instead, he stalks forward and buries his face into your neck. "Caleb!" But he's holding you tighter, grabbing the plush of your waist and grounding you to him.

Your anger is melting fast. It feels... good having him hold you like that. Your cheeks are burning as you huff, holding him with a pout. "I'm going to start loading you up on sweets, say goodbye to that six pack. You'll have a dad-bod by the time I'm done."

And Caleb is 100% okay with that.

This isn't like... feeder content. I hope it doesn't make anyone uncomfortable. I am just a firm believer that Caleb would be a Chubby girl connoisseur. He loves them thick, plump, stretch marked and jiggly.

[aurellas]

Just mentioned this thought on Twitter but bringing it over here too

...There's an implication in Death and Rebirth that Zayne has some influence over the weather, and also a loose implication in Absolute Zeal I think, but both were snow.

Absolute Zeal takes place in winter so it could have just been winter weather, but there was language that kinda suggested the amount of snow that fell that night was unusually high. Death and Rebirth, that snow was definitely unseasonal and supernatural but it could possibly be argued that it's more related to the little boy than Dawnbreaker? It's not clear.

But what if the spontaneous rain and thunder that appears in Fragrant Possession is also him, as a result of his jealousy?

Obviously it could just be temperamental spring weather written in perfect coincidence to enhance the moment, but Master of Fate definitely shows us that Zayne's powers go well beyond just having ice control. We may not know exactly in what way, but his powers generally seem to have some earthy/seasonal/cycle of life themes going on, implying that something happened at some point that every other version we see of him is all ice and dead bramble vines.

MC might have some influence on his ability to (knowingly or unknowingly) tap into the more spring/growth side of his powers. He also has at least two other cards that feature him and MC getting caught in sudden downpours on dates lol.

Not sure if it's just a romance trope/visual motif the writers are using for fun for his character, or if there's something more there.

There's been lots of discussion about Zayne (especially Master of Fate) having a lot of connections to the traditional lóng dragon, which is very related to rain/weather/winds/seasons. They're also usually depicted has holding either a pearl or a ball of jade; we've obviously seen jade connected to him a bunch already, but he DOES happen to have pearls on his shirt in Fragrant Possession, and pearls are pretty specifically associated with dragons, rain/thunder, and also spiritual power in Chinese mythology.

Again, might be a stretch, but I could see some potential connections or bread crumbs there 🤷🏽‍♀️ either way, I'm excited for new myths this year lol I need more lore

Tell me your thoughts!

[aurellas]

Coming back to add to this lmao

I was reminded while running through Abyssal Chaos today that Master of Fate's skills have callbacks to these same things. The resonance skill is called [Orchid Metamorphosis], which then turns into your passive skill called [Piercing Rain]. [Orchid Metamorphosis] gives the enemy the [Shattered Jade] debuff, which triggers his passive skill called [Jadesunder].

I think the Jade references specifically have already been brought up as evidence in the Loong dragon conversations a bunch, but forgot that there was also an explicit reference to rain with MoF as well.

Orchids in Chinese culture are very heavily associated with a disciplined and steadfast pursuit of knowledge and/or virtuosity, they're symbols of scholars and holy men, they very much speak to Zayne's archetype.

On top of that, there's a concept in Chinese tradition called The Four Gentlemen which refer to four plants that symbolize similar virtues, and are also representative of the four seasons.

Orchids and Bamboo are two out of those four plants. Orchids represent virtuosity and discipline as mentioned above and stand in for the season of Spring. Bamboo represents perseverance and humility given its ability to bend without breaking in a storm, and is a stand in for the season of Summer.

The Bamboo is important to note because Master of Fate's Ardent Oath is called Bamboo Mirage.

The other two flowers that make up the Four Gentlemen are Plum Blossoms and Chrysanthemums, representing Winter and Fall respectively. Plum blossoms are associated with perseverance and a strong spirit as well given their ability to bloom in harsh winter conditions. Chrysanthemums are associated with vitality/bodily health due to their medicinal qualities, and also associated with nobility.

I can't recall any mentions of either of these flowers in any of his cards, but I could be forgetting something. Chrysanthemums are very much in season during his birthday though so maybe we'll see them come up.

I know both Chrysanthemums and Loong dragons have associations with the number 9 as well, which has some significance in Chinese culture but I'm less knowledgeable on that. As far as I know, it has a connection to longevity or eternity and is considered a good luck number for that reason, but there might be more to it than that. Either way, it also made me think that Zayne's birthday falling in September might have been on purpose (and now kinda makes me curious about potential numerological meanings of all their birthdays lol).

Just really interesting to see all the symbolism layered in here! I'm sure a lot of it is just for aesthetic, but I'm a lore fiend, and with new myths on the horizon, it's fun to speculate on little Easter eggs. If nothing else, they're very fun and pretty motifs lol

[d0rothydraws]

I NEED sylus next myth go be him as a vampire. I need fangs. I need long hair. I need a regal and slightly flamboyant outfit. I need him to hunger for me but he falls in love and refuses to drink from her. I need her to sacrifice herself so he doesn't waste away. I need to see him in disarray as he drinks from her body. And I need it on my desk by 5pm next Friday.

[only-cat-memes]

[marielle555]

[alyssac9]

Well I had to dsay goodbye to my sweet little rescue Zoey yesterday. I got her 13 days ago the day she was born. Her mom left her under my carport. She was also a preemie, she was way to small to be fully developed but I took her in because that's what I do even if its a long shot for them to make it. I've had worst kittens that have made it so I figured I would try. And she was doing so well! She seemed and looked healthy. She had her own little personality even though she was so young. And once i got past her first week and she hit her first milestone of opening her eyes I thought I was in the clear. Oh how wrong I was. Yesterday I fed her a bottle at 1130 and when I went to put her back in her carrier so I could get lunch at 12:15 she was gone. She died so suddenly. There was no signs that she was distressed or that she was fading she was just here one second licking and sucking on me and then she was just gone. Im assuming her heart or lungs just stopped working because they would have been underdeveloped since she was a premie but its still not easy having to let go. I mean through the sleepless days and nights, the every two hour bottle feeding, and all the other things to care for a kitten its very easy to grow attached and I do that with all my rescues. And telling them goodbye for them to go to their forever home is completely different then having to say goodbye because they passed away. I still feel like I failed her somehow even though I know I did everything in my power to save her. But her is a few pics I took of her. And sorry I know I usually don't post about my rescue stuff that I do but I just needed to get this off my chest because I miss my Zoey and I feel lost right now not having to take care of her 24/7. And i just needed to vent.

Just a few pictures of my time with her. I hope these pictures of her can make someone smile because she brought me so much joy. As hard as rescuing is and as hard as losing them is I wouldn't have it another way. I love rescuing and saving little lives. And at least Zoey felt nothing but love her 12 days on earth. I will eventually stop feeling like I failed her and be able to look at these pictures without crying but for now im going to go cuddle the ones I was able to save and try to figure out where I went wrong.

[haverdoodles]

heel 🩸

— (sylus)

.

🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛

[aerosarrow]

ZAYNE LI (my ride is here!!)

[rapturedmaw]

Based on this.

[xinyuehui]

First Encounter ♡ Happy 1st Anniversary

[stealingpotatoes]

there is not a single task on earth that's more important than cat cuddles (source: my cat told me)

[dawnbreakerbrokeme]

These men 😵‍💫

Im just gonna let this sink in..*inhales.

~Artist-Pintrest: @shou_gu_tou

[artofelicia]

MY HUSBANDS

[glassandhoney]

i want to eat him munch munch

self promo go visit my twitter: @riviasass 🩷

[marielle555]

Anti-AA headcanons and gaslighting. Taking apart the online mythology around Ascension. Part 1.

Yes, yes, that's the one. Who hasn't encountered this nonsense about “Ascended Astarion becoming the second Cazador” is probably only someone who hasn't played BG3, or has been practicing exceptional online hygiene all this time, staying in a blissfully happy world of pure own perception. For the rest of us, this headcanon about how destroying your enemy and using him as an ingredient for a ritual automatically magically transforms you into an absolute copy of him, has surely gotten sick of it by now.

Complete rebuttal:

And here:

Astarion doesn't follow any of Cazador's “rules”.

Cazador forbade spawns to drink the blood of thinking beings - Astarion gives his blood to Tav (“Don't you worry. You have supped of my blood. It will be no trouble to extend a fragment of my protection to you”). Astarion allows Tav to drink his blood. (“Of course I will, and you'll drink mine. I can't wait to taste your lips after you've tasted me.”) In the game, you can bite Astarion and drink his blood.

Cazador was demanding total submission - Tav doesn't listen to Astarion, refuses to take control of the Brain, and destroys it. Astarion makes plans to take over the city, Tav wants to travel instead - and Astarion happily agrees. (“Then you shall. We'll travel the lands together, tasting everything Faerun has to offer.”)

The spawns could not leave Cazador without orders - Tav could leave Astarion and go with Karlach to Avernus without Astarion's consent. (“I'm not some controlling monster out there”).

Astarion even genuinely sympathizes with Tav, who agreed to willingly give their body to Haarlep and received consequences because of it - the incubus now has power over their body (“I heard that moan. It's the incubus, isn't it? Enjoying your body? Gods, though I've become untouchable, my precious treasure has been violated still. I know what it's like to lose control over your own body. It's a wretched thing.” “I know what's done is done - you made your vow. But I'm sorry all the same.”)

Astarion uses the words “we”, “our” very often, which suggests that he perceives himself and his consort as one, as a real united couple. ("My consort, we are so close to our triumph, I can almost taste it.") Who will say “ours” about triumph, referring to their “property”? “We are sovereigns. My sole endeavour is to make this world yours and mine alone." - again, “we” and “the world for the two of us.” And even first “yours” and only then “mine”. “I wish we could retreat into our palace already, and spend a decade in each other's arms. But first we must manage the trifling matter of the brain. Perhaps it will listen to us. Perhaps it, too, will serve.” And right after the ritual is complete: “I did. We did.”

“It can be ours, my love. The whole world - we only have to take it.” “And as you're my consort, that makes us the most powerful people in the world.” (with special emphasis on the word “us”). “Together, we can do anything. The world is ours for the taking.” “We could be together for eternity, ruling this world side by side. We could have it all.” Because: “I may have power, but it would be nothing without you. You complete me. And together, we are unstoppable. So Heavens help the fool that tries to get in our way.”

Ascended Astarion sincerely, truly loves Tav - and offers an conversion because of love, just to be together forever. Tav-illithid senses the love hormones emanating from Astarion. Astarion wishes to protect Tav. (“Don't worry - if anything happens, I'll protect you.”) Astarion was intimidated and lived in perpetual fear as a spawn of Cazador, and now, after the Ascension, he is no longer afraid, and he seeks to protect the Tav, to make sure they have nothing to fear. “My pretty consort, I don't like to see doubt cast upon your face. Fear not: you are mine.” “You need not fear anything.”

Amellysan's prophecy states that Astarion and Dark Urge will love each other until the end of the world (the same will be true with Tav - “Aeterna amantes. Lovers forever, until the world falls down.” Same for both Tav and DU).

If the player fails a manipulative Persuasion check: “This power will trap you, just like it trapped Cazador,” Astarion responds, “I'm not him, and I will not become him. Please! I can't do this alone.” What is this line of persuasion even based on? What is this “trap”? Where is any factual evidence that Astarion falls into the “trap”? All we know about the ritual are Raphael's words: “If he completes the rite, he will become a new kind of being - the Vampire Ascendant. All the strengths of his vampiric form will be amplified, and alongside them he will enjoy the luxuries of the living. The arousals and appetites of man will return to him, and unlike Astarion, he will have no need of a parasite to protect him from the sun.” Where is the “trap?” Also note that Cazador never managed to get into this “trap”, only dreamed of it - Cazador didn't perform the ritual and we can't say anything about what would have happened to Cazador in that case - simply because it will never happen.

Cazador is a broken, mangled individual, a “trained psychopath,” who has had “rules” hammered into him by years of being on the stake. He wasn't that way from the beginning - he was broken by Vellioth. But he was broken long before the ritual. Astarion isn't broken, he's kept his personality, unlike Cazador, yes, he has trauma, but he's kept himself. Strength of character keeps the trauma from consuming the personality. Astarion is mistrustful, because experience has shown that you can't trust anyone. And yet he has a seemingly paradoxical desire to trust. But not so paradoxical, because he is a strong person. He's not broken, even though he seems that way. Vellioth's second lesson is that power comes from solitude. To share with others is to be weak, and to be weak is to fail ... and die. Astarion breaks this rule completely. Astarion and Tav perform the ritual together, Tav helps him, and Astarion shares his power with Tav. “I'm willing to share all of this with you. What's that if not love?” They are sharing everything and doing it together. “We share a palace, share power, live lives eternal in each other's arms.” Strength is not in loneliness, strength is in unity. A united pair. “A vampire and bride who truly love and trust each other make a team that is exceptionally difficult to defeat!”("Van Richten's Guide to Vampires"). Cazador had no beloved.

Cazador, Vellioth's broken puppet, is a rule-following psychopathic maniac, “fixed” by Vellioth, and he also tried to “fix” Astarion. There are no other Cazador in the game other than the original. Astarion NEVER tries to “fix” Tav, does not try to change them, Astarion loves and accepts Tav as they are, sees only “perfection” in them.

AA:

"You were already perfect before. It's hard to improve."

"You are perfect, every time."

Cazador:

"I strove for perfection in all things – even those as imperfect as you”.

AA:

“Terrifying and brilliant.”

“I'm so lucky I crash-landed next to such an intelligent creature as you.”

“I always knew you could do it. I always knew that together, we could do anything”.

Cazador:

«You are week, my child. You are a small, pathetic little boy who never amounted to anything”.

“I fondly remember your empty boasting, your tired jokes, your endless prattle…”

“Because he is incapable of anything else”.

Cazador also infantilized Astarion to make him a victim. He called him a boy, considered him a child. Doesn't this resemble attempts by some people in the fandom to portray Astarion as an infantile, emotionally immature “elf child” (relying on the age listed on his grave - 39), and themselves as some sort of “life teachers”? Claiming that he was “blinded” at the moment of the ritual, even though the plot makes it obvious that he had been preparing for the ritual long before.

Ascended Astarion is the exact opposite of Cazador. Cazador continues the “cycle of fixing”. Vellioth was able to fix Cazador, breaking him and reshaping his personality. Cazador tried to fix Astarion but couldn't, Astarion proved to be stronger. Astarion never tries to fix Tav. Only fans of the story: “I can fix him” keep doing it to Astarion. UA looks depressed, like he's suppressing his true nature. He has to hide part of his personality in order to be accepted by his lover and other “good” companions. He's been imposed with someone else's view of the world, and he kind of “should be grateful” to them, and do what he did under Cazador - adapt and pretend, “be convenient”. Ascended Astarion says he used to be “pathetic”. Adaptability is his survival mechanism, that's the consequence of his trauma. He doesn't like it, he's disgusted by the necessity of it, it's a survival mechanism, and it's precisely the real reaction to the trauma. Astarion was a nobleman and a magistrate, I wonder how he behaved before, before his conversion to spawn?

It's a pity there's so little info about Vellioth - that is one true psychopath and maniac. His very rules speak to that. Cazador looks like a wannabe, and a pretty weak wannabe compared to Vellioth. “Manic fantasy” and “creativity” (if we can call it that) was Vellioth's alone. Astarion doesn't follow these rules at all, he doesn't want to be in their “system”, he's not maniacal at all. He has cruelty, but his cruelty is an expression of anger, and his inner pain as well. It is not maniacal cruelty. Bloodthirsty and a love of killing, but without cruelty for cruelty's sake. All in all, a classic fantasy trait of vampires. And in the world of Faerûn, where necromancers operate freely - nothing supernatural.

The only “proof” for this headcanon in the game is that Tav can say “Now you're just like Cazador”. How is the possibility of a certain line supposed to convince someone of anything? The game is full of rude lines towards companions, not only Astarion. Does that mean that all companions are accurately described by those rude lines? If you wanted to, you could make a great portrait of each “good” companion using Tav's lines to do so, it would probably come out very funny.

Also presented as an “argument” is Astarion's reaction to these words, full of anger and pain. The line “You're like Cazador” are words suitable for a roleplay of an extremely cruel and emotionless character, these words are aimed at hurting Astarion, nothing more. Astarion is a character with PTSD (PTSD survivors can have very aggressive and even lightning fast reactions to such things, if you tell a soldier, who has experienced torture in captivity, that he is just like the one who tortured him, nothing good will come out of it). Astarion was a victim of terrible violence, he's been a victim for 200 years, I don't think the authors of “cazadoric” headcanons, or anyone in the real world in general, can fully envision that. Astarion reacts more than adequately to cruel, insulting, traitorous words from the one person he has unfortunately only just begun to trust. And this reaction only validates Astarion's feelings for Tav - that he doesn't react like that soldier in the example above, nor does he lash out and attack the one who compared him to his tormentor.

To compare a person, who has gone through such suffering as Astarion, with his tormentor (“You're like Cazador”) - in reality, a narcissist or a psychopath could also say such a thing in order to cause emotional damage to their victim. An abuser would behave very differently and show real cruelty in response to the line, “You're like Cazador.” But Astarion's response is one of anger and hurt, not violence. Just put yourself in Astarion's shoes, imagine that this “You're like Cazador” is addressed to you (knowing that Cazador tortured him for two hundred years, and Astarion hated this creature more than anything else in the world), then you will be able to appreciate this situation in all its colors.

BG3 | Comparing Ascended Astarion to Cazador - Is his anger an overreaction or is it understandable?

But six months later, at a party in the epilogue, Astarion responds to these attacks much more calmly. In the epilogue, in response to Tav's line, “You're like Cazador,” Astarion says: "Try to wound me all you like, but I'm so much better than he ever was." This is the reaction of a strong person, an example of the behavior of a person healing from trauma. Astarion doesn't let Tav hurt himself. And this line also suggests that Astarion understands the motives of Tav, who compares him to Cazador.

I've always been curious, where did this strange interpretation of “Astarion - Cazador 2.0” even come from, how can one person suddenly turn into another in such a magical way? It seems to me, that the premise of the “cycle of abuse” lies in the fanfiction of the non-con genre. The very idea of this “cycle” lends itself perfectly to such stories of suffering and violence. This idea was later hyped and used by “preaching harpies” - “agenda” activists in games, who really wanted an example of a “toxic relationship” and a “white abuser” to shove their “new ethics” into games and “teach” adult RPG players their rules for “healthy relationships”. And they decided to use the image of Astarion for this purpose. One of the propaganda techniques - the method of multiple repetition works in such a way, that there is some “truth” that has no proof, and if it will be repeated without end by many people, then for other people, and people are rarely inclined to double-check information, especially if it is not very important for them, it will be perceived as truth objective, normalizing this idea in the eyes of others.

P.S. The following posts will also deal with all the other headcanons of haters and examples of gaslighting around Ascended Astarion (“AA is losing his soul”, “AA doesn't love Tav”, etc. etc.).

[mrhrns]

Saving this to myself, thank you for your efforts. It always made me ick how people perceived this line "You're like Cazador" like something completely normal, and then, after Astarion surely bite back, they say "ooh, look at him, so bad and evil, ascension is a no-no, so abusive, tHe CyClE oF aBuSe", no shit.