//I’ve added a clause to my rules that makes it official that I won’t roleplay with additional siblings, children of my muses (children of other characters from Sherlock are fine, just not Sherlock or Mycroft), parents, etc. without talking to the mun first. I’ve had multiple really unpleasant experiences with additional siblings forcing me into awkward situations because they didn’t compare backstories first. My biggest pet peeve is the siblings who are “just as smart as Sherlock and Mycroft but has more heart.” This is because my portrayals, at least, are hugely emotional and affectionate. They’ve just been really badly hurt in the past and then to put a facade of not caring to protect themselves. Intelligence and heart are not mutually exclusive, and being someone who is slow to trust and not caring about anyone are not the same trait. And I really hate getting put into a box of having emotionless or uncaring characters.
If you consider your character more emotional than Mycroft or Sherlock, that’s fine! Just talk to me about it. If your character wants to work with Sherlock, that’s fine! Just talk to me about it. If you don’t think your character gets along with Mycroft, that is fine, just talk to me about it. I’m sure you’re noticing a pattern here.
I’m not saying I won’t write with any siblings. I write with of-tea-and-cardigans, for example. But we had a long conversation about how their universes would fit well before we started to write them together, and so they work as a family unit now due to diligent research into what they would have to look like to be a family.
I’ve had multiple times this week a sibling I’ve never written with before has responded to a starter without even saying hello first, let alone comparing notes, and I felt uncomfortable and forced into a situation I wasn’t okay with being in. If this continues, I’m going to have to start rejecting more people. I don’t want to. I don’t like turning people down, I really don’t. But this is my safe place, and I feel nothing but anxiety from those kinds of situations. This is about me keeping my coping mechanism for stress and not making it worse, not about me having anything against you or your character.
I don’t wanna come off as intimidating or a bitch or all those other terrible things, but it usually only happens once every few months, and I got a sudden influx in situations like this. And I’d really like to come back from hiatus in a few days and have my safe zone to relax without feeling the stress of having to compensate for not having discussed backstories.
I love everyone who has wanted to write with me, and really, I’m flattered! I just ask that we can discuss things first, and maybe be okay with not writing together if it seems our characterizations are just too different.