#defira does a meme

[defira85]

Who, Me?

Thank you for the tag @flamemittens 💜

rules: make this picrew and put your name in the incorrect quote generator!

I don't know who has been tagged for this one so far (apologies if you've already been pinged!), but let's try @rdekarios @optimisticgrey @faeriiefire @tociminna @saylofwaterdeep (NOW I know you did one for Tavrin, did you do one for youuuuu?) @darkfeanix @robinyourcreator @sleepytimegrrl

Hey that's RUDE incorrect quote generator, stop sounding like my mother

[defira85]

NSFW Question Tag Game

Credit to @thesanguinesonnet[post] ❤️✨ for creating this tag game!

I got tagged three whole times friendos, @saylofwaterdeep @perpetualmaladaptivedaydream and @rdekarios so I think that means I need to do this for at Rhyme AND Kass AND Carmela, yes? That seems logical to me. General trigger warnings for a lot of the implied canon nastiness of the Dark Urge

What’s an idea, dynamic, or trope in your current work that feels naughty or self-indulgent? (Spicy answers 100% encouraged.)

Rhyme - who's ready for me to answer with stupidly emotional answers! (this is what happens when you let the asexual play these games). Rhyme's whole deal is sort of a play on my own fears relating to undesirability and being a burden to a spouse who you feel is being held back by you, the terrified vulnerability that comes from chronic health and dependence... that's such an unsexy answer. Rhyme is canonically bad at giving head, and that makes me cackle like a hyena, how's that

Kass - SHE'S FAT AND SHE'S SEXY!!! SHE'S THE HOTTEST BITCH IN BALDUR'S GATE AND SHE'S FAT!!! SHE'S AN OP KILLER WHO CAN MOVE FASTER THAN THE WIND AND SHE'S FAT!!! SHE'S SO HOT!!!

Carmela - she's demisexual, and she was a virgin until she met Astarion, because I enjoy writing fully realised older women who lead rich, detailed lives that have nothing to do with their sex lives. That these women aren't lacking anything for not having had sex, for not seeking out sex, and having sex later in life isn't life-changing or a game-changer for them, it's just another experience in the tapestry of their already full lives

Is your OC a virgin, blushing maiden, or sexual fiend? or aro/ace? or something in between?

Rhyme - Rhyme is actually startlingly limited in her sexual history. She was going to marry her childhood sweetheart, then Everything Happened So Much, then there was hate-fucking with Gromph (they never even kissed), then there was a long gap that we won't talk about (because Lolth and Mephistopheles and other high ranking devils in Cania who like torturing victims, again, not sexy!!) AND THEN THERE WAS GALE. She is so wildly fucking horny though, hands down, the horniest character I've ever written, Gale has his hands full good thing he ends up getting help from Gromph

Kass - sexual fiend. All the nasty pre-canon Durge stuff? Yes. But startlingly monogamous with Gortash otherwise

Carmela - already answered, she was a virgin. She was almost 40 when joining the Tadfools, she's a celebrated paladin and the former protégé of the most recent Chosen of Torm, she was more than fine never having had sex. It wasn't a religious celibacy thing, she just never had the itch until Astarion came along and aggressively tried to woo her

What’s your OC’s “I shouldn’t be turned on by this” trigger?

Rhyme - degradation talk. It's a thrill having a drow man talk down to her, control her, push her around. She's strictly a sub, which is again, culturally an oddity in the drow, and really likes being controlled sexually when she trusts her partner. Gale feels a little uncomfortable about some of this given her extensive history of sexual abuse, but Gromph is more than happy to indulge her

Kass - She actually really gets hot over Gortash being possessive over her, whether it's regarding other lovers, or when he thinks he's in a position to challenge Bhaal, she goes wild for it

Carmela - all the blood stuff with Astarion, easy.

What’s your OC’s hard NO?

Rhyme - consensual non-consent and rape roleplay. It's sometimes a hard line to walk with her degradation kink

Kass - pre-canon, it's the L word and any sign of tenderness. Not out of disgust, but out of fear. She's so afraid of Bhaal taking away things she cares about, especially after the resurrection. Post-canon... hmm. She's probably never gonna call Enver Daddy in bed, ever

Carmela - shocking absolutely no one, Carmela is incredibly vanilla so she's probably not interested in MOST things. BDSM? Nope. Mommy/Daddy kink? Nope. The blood stuff is quite enough, thanks

What is the most debauched VP/Art you have ever created?

Debauched is such an interesting word for it lmfaoooo and also, what are the parameters? Art made FOR me, I have plenty. Art I'VE made? Less so. I did paint @flamemittens's Morgayne and Enver in flagrante delicto but never posted it, that was a present for them, so I suppose the only one I've posted would be... this

Or we do have sexy pinup Kass or the Three Bhaalspawn Girlfriends I did a few years ago as a riff on the Three Weed Smoking Girlfriends with Kass and @elinorbard's Ta'av and Flamemittens's Morgayne

What is the wildest NSFW smut you have ever thought up? Did you write it?

Absolutely not, it was an idea for swtor after they announced that Khem Val could be "romanced" by the Sith Inquisitor, it will never see the light of day lmfaoooo you can't get ME monsterfuckers.

For Baldur's Gate... I suppose the two that spring to mind are I had a thought about Gortash and Kass doing some kind of Red Wedding type thing against his rivals when they were younger, but Kass was wearing a sexy maid's outfit while she served dinner and killed them all. The other one was about Rhyme in a few hundred years time, a widow after Gale and Gromph have both passed on and living happily as a professor and seeing all her (living) children and grandchildren and great grandchildren etc, but then two Hot Bois turn up at her house one day and are like hi honey it's us, we've been reincarnated, and now Middle-Aged MILF Rhyme has to deal with two hot-headed horny young men who insist they're her deceased husbands because I think she deserves a lot of hot sex

Do you have any crazy projects for the future?

Yeah I need to go back to Advanced Magical Linguistics: Or, How Wizards Express Love as a Mathematical Constant. I put it on hold because I realised it contained a lot of spoilers for Rhyme's long fic, and now that I'm close to finishing Rhyme's long fic... I guess it's time. There's not much crazier than the most powerful drow archmage in the world trying to insert himself as the third in Rhyme and Gale's marriage, right?

Gently perverted tags for @elinorbard @flamemittens @nadas-dirthalen (listen now is your time to go ham on Karaathyr) @infernaldaydreams @angelicfangirl @robinyourcreator @sleepytimegrrl @gloura who else made it this far into my ramblings and wants to play?

[defira85]

Tag Game: Questions for OCs and Creators

Rules: First, pull up this ask list. Then, for ‘Questions for Your OC,’ whip out a random number generator. Whatever number you get, that’s the question you answer. For ‘Questions for The Creator,’ roll a d10 and answer the question for the corresponding letter.

I was tagged! By the lovelies @gloura @rdekarios and @kt-catt! Which I believe means I can either answer 3 separate questions, or answer for all 3 of my main girls, or something something? I'll tag @elinorbard @flamemittens @nadas-dirthalen @sleepytimegrrl @darkfeanix

2. How easy is it to make your character laugh?

Rhyme - Honour Mode difficulty, at least at first. The story is called A Heart as Cold as Ice for multiple reasons, after all

Kass - she'll laugh at anything. Is she laughing with you, or at you? It's so hard to say, but you laugh along with her anyway because you're too nervous not to

Carmela - not to say that Carmela is like Raymond Holt and has measured the exactly appropriate length of time and volume for a laugh to take place in each given situation, but... okay she has.

A) Why are you excited about this character?

(wow I rolled low on both of these)

Why am I excited to see a beautiful sunset? Why am I excited to meet a friend for dinner? Why am I excited to have a favourite song pop up on the radio?

Rhyme lets me explore aspects of tragedy and the less attractive side of mental health struggles, while still allowing her to be loved and be treated as valuable by her peers and loved ones and the narrative.

Kass lets me see a fat woman being treated as competent, desirable, efficient and dangerous, as well as dabbling with chronic health issues that again, don't diminish her capacity for love or her importance to the narrative and her loved ones

Carmela lets me have a woman who is comfortably middle-aged, who has a career and who has established who she is and what she stands for, but who still has the capacity to learn and grow and find new things to experience and new ways to engage with the world around her. Some of those things are humbling! And it's okay to be humbled and not have all the answers, even when you're comfortable in yourself and believe that you know yourself!

[defira85]

If Your Tav Had a Unique Background, What Would It Be?

I was tagged by @saylofwaterdeep thank you my lovely

What if your Tav (or even Durge) had their own unique background, just like the Early Access companion unique backgrounds?

What would be its name, icon design, and description?

What vanilla background goals would it use or drawn inspiration from?

Unique Background

F r o z e n O n e

You've heard of the Haunted One, now get ready for the Frozen One! Now available with 20% more angst!

Symbol: A cracked and frozen heart with an icicle staked through it. I attempted to draw it quietly at my work desk without anyone seeing, it's sort of a vague combination of the symbols for Hex and Ice Wall, but with sharper details. The spell symbols tend to be a lot more rounded and less well defined, so the edges are far more jagged on the symbol

In terms of the vanilla origins/backgrounds, she has a few that apply to her. I think specifically, Guild Artisan, Charlatan and Acolyte make the most sense for her - I ummed and ahhed about Criminal as well, but her need for deception and trickery is somewhat... imposed upon her? If that makes sense. She's not a career criminal.

Inspiration points that specifically land for her are usually related to self preservation, embracing power, and respecting higher powers. Not dissimilar to how Astarion behaves in a lot of situations, really. She also appreciates any acknowledgement of drow and drow culture as nuanced and not a black and white "leather dommy mommies all bad, every boy good and innocent". She disapproves of hiring Nym and Sorn. She will go into the camp chest and eat the tadpoles if you don't keep an eye on her

Guild Artisan:

Art Endures: Craft something in the Adamantine Forge

The Finest Ingredients: Create a masterwork from Sussur Tree Bark

The Spider's Gift: Identify the drow armour near Waukeen's Rest

Touring the Sights: Correctly identify all of the Devil's Fee's relics

Acolyte:

Acolytes of the Demonweb Pits: Persuade the spiders in Grymforge to remain faithful to Lolth

Cerimonia Alārum: Release the Nightsong

Tragic Love: Witness Yonas' funeral

A Wounded Open Heart: Side with the close-minded priest

Charlatan:

A Better Offer: Convince the pit spiders to attack the goblins

Always Trust a Dishonest Person: Betray a recently forged alliance

Unique approval points include a massive spike for killing Malus and the nurses, massive disapproval for dealing with Raphael, and massive disapproval for asking her to deal directly with Karniss - a unique dialogue line pointing out that he might obey her since she's a female drow will absolutely tank your approval with her, and potentially close any romance flags. She likes it when you're nice to spiders, and she doesn't like talking to devils at all

WHOMST has not played this yet, I shall tag @nadas-dirthalen @rdekarios @kt-catt @thesanguinesonnet @archduchessgortash

[defira85]

Valentine's Cheese Tag

I got tagged 3 times to post the cheesiest romance scenes from my fanfic! By @rdekarios @archduchessgortash and @optimisticgrey, whom are all lovely and talented supremes. By my reckoning I now have to post three cheesy scenes, is that correct?

Let's start off with Gale and Rhyme...

He lay on his back on the cavern floor, Ryme'dra lying beside him, and he conjured the best impression he could of Ched Nasad, the City of Shimmering Webs. Her city, her home, alight with magic thanks to her tireless efforts. He heard her gasp audibly when she realised what it was he was doing, which he took to mean that he'd managed some degree of authenticity in his recreation. "Oh my gods," she whispered, after a long, agonising moment of silence. He took a deep breath. "I can't bring you back the people you've lost," he said quietly. "I can't give you back your home, or the years that have been stolen from you by powers far beyond either of us." He turned his head to the side, to look at her. "But I can give you happiness, for a time. If you'll let me." She had a hand pressed to her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes once again. He pressed onwards. "You know I'm in love with you, Ryme'dra Ulutar," he said. She nodded, the motion jerky. "I know," she whispered, hiccuping over the words. There were tears burning in his eyes too. "Would you... would you let me make you happy?" he asked hesitantly. "Even if it's only for tonight?"

Then we'll move onto Kass and Enver...

Halsin called on them to exchange rings, and as Kass slid the silver ring onto his hand for the second time, she met his gaze. "I should have married you a long time ago," she said quietly, "and I'm sorry it took both of us dying for me to realise that." Enver's eyes looked ever so faintly brighter than they had a moment ago, and he laughed softly under his breath. "I, ah..." He picked up her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth over her knuckles. "I always thought you were the cleverest, most brilliant woman I'd ever met," he said, just as quietly, and when he met her gaze again a single tear escaped from his eye despite the smile on his face. "But it wasn't until recently that I realised that your most ingenious act of cunning was convincing me that I wanted to live for you, rather than die for power." From behind, she heard several happy sighs, and at least one person miming gagging - it could have been Heron, but it was more likely to be Sceleritas. She ignored all of them. "Oh, Enver," she whispered, the tear on her face mirroring the one on his. His hand was shaking ever so slightly when he put her golden ring back on her finger, and he'd barely pushed it into place before she was throwing her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely enough to steal the breath from his lungs.

And finish up with Wyll and Karlach

Her finger was aimed directly at a small, faint glow several inches above the horizon. "That's my star, I'm pretty sure," she said. "It ain't fancy or bright or nothing, but... yeah. I think I did the star chart right." He sat up more carefully, squinting his eyes as he looked towards the horizon. The star in question was a pale, yellowish-orange, the colour slightly more pronounced than some of its' fellows who were far sharper and more pronounced in their brightness. But it was soft, and it was constant, a beautiful soft warmth on the curve of the horizon. Wyll looked back to Karlach, and his eyes slid down to her chest. To the soft, yellowish-orange glow that resided beneath her skin, sometimes surging like an inferno, sometimes blazing like a star, but always, always a comforting light in the darkness that he could always turn to without fail. He looked back up to her, smiling. "I think it's perfect," he said quietly, leaning in to kiss her softly. "It suits you just perfectly."

I won't tag anyone else since we're now past Valentine's Day but there you have it. Whilst I do love to write the most angst filled tragedy porn, I do enjoy a heavy dose of sigh inducing cheese as well

[defira85]

8, 9, and 10?

Oh you want me to be spicy right out the gate huh nonny? From the Fandom Violence Asks here

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about?

See this is a difficult one because I have friends who have the opposite opinion to me on this topic, and we have fantastic and respectful conversations about our differing approach in our canons, but in the greater fandom...

Mystra did not sexually abuse Gale as a child. Mystra was dead until 1479, at which point according to canon obtained from Idle Champions, Gale would have been 22. Yes, the Spellplague is canon in BG3, there are references to it in game. Yes, the Second Sundering is canon in BG3, there are references to it in game. Gale knew Elminster from the age of 8 - he did not know Mystra until he was an adult. That doesn't mean their relationship wasn't a problem! That doesn't mean there aren't aspects of it that were abusive, adults can still be groomed and abused! But he wasn't a child.

9. Worst part of canon?

Karlach's engine I hate it I hate it I hate it how does it work, you can't just open your rib cage without catastrophic loss of blood pressure, how does she breathe, where do her lungs fit, how does her blood pump, how does the machine assist with oxygenation, WHAT IS GOING THE FUCK ON WITH THAT, NO I WILL NOT ACCEPT "BECAUSE MAGIC"

10. Worst part of fanon?

How spicy do I feel like being, mhm... I already said the bit about Gale and Mystra... I will never reblog art that says anything nasty about Mystra, no matter how good the art itself is. Also hate it when fandom just has One Guy and 90% of the content is about him and nothing or no-one else. Astarion in BG3, Garrus in Mass Effect, Solas in Dragon Age, Heinrix in Rogue Trader... god forbid you ever want to enjoy a woman who was curt once...

[defira85]

"No one will believe you..."

This is my answer to the "What does your OCs name mean to you" tag from @optimisticgrey and the two characters with the most thought put into their names are my Dark Urge twins, Kassara and Heronus

So. First things first, I failed my Greek history, because I didn't know until a few years ago that the famed Cassandra of Troy, doomed prophetess, had a twin brother

I don't even remember why I specifically decided I wanted to have Dark Urge twins - it struck me as the sort of thing Bhaal would do, if he went to the trouble of siring dozens or hundreds of children during the Bhaalspawn crisis, that doesn't strike me as a man who likes putting all his eggs in one basket, so to speak. Putting all hope on one child, one perfect Bhaalspawn? I was absolutely certain that he would have a backup. A spare heir, so to speak, and thus I came to the conclusion that he would make two Dark Urges. His heir, and his spare.

From there, I thought to look for inspiration amongst famous twins of history, angling for mythological influences where possible. Artemis and Apollo? Too obvious. Isis and Osiris? Hmm, closer, and Osiris IS Lord of the Underworld so we've got a cool death angle, but the design I had for them in my head was contingent on Connie Chiu, the world's first albino supermodel, and I didn't feel comfortable making Egyptian gods look super white. Baldr and Hodr would have been quite thematic given that we're in Baldur's Gate, but it didn't feel right either.

I did look at Fuxi and Nüwa for ages, given that Connie Chiu is Hong Kong Chinese, but they also didn't quite feel right for the story that was beginning to brew in my head

Searching for lists of famous twins in mythology, I came across Cassandra of Troy... and her brother Helenus. Her brother? I'd never heard of a brother. Who had the same prophetic doom as her but survived and lived to found a new city away from the horrors of the Trojan War, while his sister lived on in infamy for the immensity of the suffering she endured?

It felt too perfect.

Cassandra became Kassara, and Helenus became Heronus, or just Heron, and their namesakes defined so much of who they became. Kass was the outspoken one, the brash one, the one that everyone remembers. People are almost surprised to meet Heron, because he's quieter. Keeps to the sidelines. Never draws attention to himself.

And nobody ever listens to either of them until it's always too late

Heronus becomes mute at an early age, scarred by the trauma they endure as hated children, and quite literally, no one listens to him. No one bothers to learn his sign language, no one bothers to try and communicate with him. He sinks into the background, watching, silent, unheard. He survives and thrives where Kass sinks further and further into her trauma. He builds a new home, a new family, far from the horrors they endured in Baldur's Gate, and becomes a community leader - just like Helenus

Kassara is easy to dismiss, in the early days. She's too brazen, too sexual, too crass. She's a creature of passion and primal instinct, and whatever intellect she displays is considered secondary to her baser attributes. She is just an insatiable, insensible woman, and it's almost laughable that Bhaal would consider her his heir.

It's easy to talk over her. Enver does it a lot - in a manner he would consider affectionate, but it's there in all of my writing for them. When she's struggling with the Urge, and he simply dismisses the threat she poses to him. When she tells him she's afraid of hurting him, and he mocks the concept of it. If you know to look for it, you can see it everywhere

Carmela, and the rest of the Tadfools, do it a lot. Oh, she has amnesia? How convenient, they scorn. How can we trust someone who can't tell us a thing about themselves? Oh, you don't remember creating the Absolute? You don't remember working with Gortash? You don't remember Orin? How convenient.

She meets Torm. Her Apollo. He does not save her from the immensity of her suffering, despite her service to him. She saves Gortash, and thwarts Bane, and the first thing Gortash does upon waking is refuse to believe her version of events.

Unlike Cassandra, Kassara does get some degree of happy ending

... but does the curse continue? Do people believe her? Perhaps time (and further post canon fics) will tell...

[defira85]

Favourite DA characters!

Tagged by my LOVELY @flamemittens and I will say, I started getting anxious halfway through this when it had thrown Carver at me repeatedly and I hadn't seen Bethany ONCE but the Maker came through for me

Find the sorter here! When you're done, you can use the download button (next to the share button) to get the 10-up and the whole list as images.

Dorian was in 11th place and I would maybe, MAYBE, consider switching out Shale for Dorian if I could manually change the results.... I'd probably put Morrigan in 8th, Dorian in 9th and Merrill in 10th place if I was allowed to- no, wait, hang on, let's put Morrigan in 6th place, Dorian in 8th, Velanna in 9th (wtf is with them spelling her name wrong, that's my wife guys) and Merrill in 10th place

Ironically, if you'd asked me to fill this out 10 years ago I think it would have looked WILDLY different BUT. The Top 3 would still be exactly the same. Some things never change.

I'll tag @thegingerjedi @angelicfangirl @mhara @zeowynda @tiefighter @daggerslesbian who else was in the dragon age trenches with me all that time ago and is still here/hasn't deactivated/hasn't blocked me for my perverse opinions yet????