#stephanie ro

[laoshi88]

Stephanie Ro

[sosthemortalcoil]

i feel so goddamn ridiculous for asking this, but im really curious about what are the ROs favorite genre of *adult films*? 😖💦 do they even have time for that??? idk dude

I don’t really know what is entailed by genre of adult films. Most of the cast doesn’t like watching them. (See here)

For the ones who would watch, a little more below.

1. Alice: She’s here to poke fun at it, so whatever

2. Stephanie: She doesn’t watch them on her own and hasn’t watched any before so she has no idea where to start.

3. Charleston: You’re not watching for him. He’ll watch if you put something on but that’s on you.

4. Leo: Not interested on watching on his own time and doesn’t want to watch with Gabriel either but will if they enjoy it.

5. Ramiel: Doesn’t watch for himself, doesn’t care.

6. Iro: Not anything humans produce that’s for sure. She has contacts though, knows how to get the good stuff if you’re into it. On her own? Why watch a record when you can watch actual people?

[sosthemortalcoil]

Can you romance Stephanie with a masculine nb Gabriel even if you chose a dfab body?

Yes. When it comes to being a nb!Gabriel, you can choose to be masculine, feminine, or other inclined. If you are masculine inclined, you can romance Stephanie and Charleston. If you are feminine inclined, you can romance Tom and Tadea. Physical characteristics of your body are irrelevant in terms of whether or not you can romance someone. I have talked about this before here.

[sosthemortalcoil]

To the ROs that never had a relationship before (except Michael, for obvious reasons, so Stephanie and Leo?). What if things are getting serious between them, and Gabriel says that before they get into a commitment (like marriage, for ex), the RO should date other people (since Gabriel had plenty of time to do that), just to try different things before settle down. Kinda like the movie "Permission".

I’ve never seen the movie “Permission,” but I understand what you’re getting at.

Stephanie has gone on dates before, just nothing recently or serious, and frankly, she’s insulted that Gabriel would even suggest such a thing, like she is incapable of understanding what she wants. You’ll have some groveling to do to get back into her good graces after this.

Leo would be hurt. He doesn’t want to date anyone else, but if Gabriel insisted, he would try… and be miserable every step of the way, waiting for Gabriel to determine what is enough experience before they can get back together and generally not doing anything except taking people out on failed dates.

[sosthemortalcoil]

Steph, just uh, um, asking for a friend who thinks you're the most amazing person ever, how would you like to be asked out? Romantically. I mean of course romantically *cue nervous laughter and Gabriel being redder than Iain*

Stephanie frowns. “Oh. That’s sweet that you’re asking for a friend. But Gabriel, I know all your friends. I don’t want to date any of them.” She reaches out and pats you on the arm. “You’re a good friend for asking for them. Try to let them down gently? Thanks! You’re the best!” 

She plants a kiss on your cheek in thanks and goes back to her work, completely oblivious.

[sosthemortalcoil]

As a nb person i feel profoundly.... weird about people being essentially reduced to their shells gender. It feels incredibly reductionist to see things like 'stephanie is STRAIGHT but she'll go for dmab nb people because hey they're MEN right?' I understand its a complicated issue and not every nb person minds that, but it felt super uncomfortable to me to see that...

1. Thank you for sharing you feelings. I appreciate it. My goal is to make people feel comfortable, and in no way did I mean for it to be reductionist. I do not think, nor do I want it to feel like, that I am saying“stephanie is STRAIGHT but she’ll go for dmab nb people because hey they’re MEN right?“ That’s not okay, and not at all my intentions (Seriously, reading this makes me upset because I made you uncomfortable, to the point that I can’t work on the game until I find a resolution for this). I do not want to, nor am I trying to, conflate gender with physical characteristics. I would like to explain my thought process and see if that clears things up; if not, I would love to discuss other solutions.

Putting the rest below a readline (if it works) because of the nature of the discussion (physical sexual characteristics are brought up) and because of length.

2. To begin with, I should probably update the character’s sexuality and explain that it’s not a rigid I’m straight/I’m gay and more of a “I’m not attracted to the same/opposite sex.” This is probably going to be the first and last game I’ll do through hg with sexual preference, due to the many headaches and me feeling like I’m running around in circles and being an insensitive arse while doing it. This is also unfamiliar territory for me; I have tried to research and discuss with others, but at the end of the day, I am not nb and therefore may say or write things that are not as they should be. That is one of the things I value most about the CoG community, the general willingness to provide feedback and work with authors on correcting these things. This is a WIP, and I am more than happy to make these changes, but I cannot always identify what/how to change them. This is where feedback, like yours, comes into play.

I want to balance character representation with actual balance–i.e. the number of romances available to a single person. Especially because trying to write anything about being attracted or not attracted to a certain genders calls into question what about that gender is attractive to a character.We all have a preference, but for these characters it’s a very, very broad preference.

The way I am currently planning on approaching these four characters is that there are two components of their attraction to the player. One component is the attraction to how you present yourself to the world. For that component, Stephanie isn’t interested in females. The second component is physical attraction. Now, way, way back (and this is no longer the case) she was only going to be available to cis-gender males, because she is not attracted to female sexual characteristics. This was changed, because it did not respect afab characters who identify as males. Now, with that case, Stephanie is not attracted to them physically. That doesn’t mean this is now an asexual romance path, but rather that she will discuss what is and isn’t within her comfort zones when it comes to intimacy, should the player choose to pursue her.

Stephanie has only, in the past, been attracted to men. She (and the other three) have never dated a nb person. I did not want to eliminate these four as an option for an nb Gabriel, especially when I see asks like this one and this one. With a nb Gabriel, she values that they are not male or female, but it is new to her to be attracted to someone who doesn’t identify as male. An nb Gabriel with a physical body that she isn’t attracted to is just one step too far outside of her comfort zone. She hasn’t explored her attraction to non-binary people, and doing so with a body she is not physically attracted to isn’t within her interest. She won’t be attracted to their body, and she isn’t sure of her attraction to their representation, which, currently, means she wouldn’t be interested in them overall.

Now, something I do have planned that might further reduce the choices but I feel is better, is that anyone playing as non-binary will have the chance to further specify their identification. You can choose to be male-aligned, female-aligned, or neither. (I know the spectrum is broader than this, but for the sake of scope I am trying to keep it simple. Adding genderfluid, agender, and bigender, for instance, increases the scope quite a bit). Now, with this further specification, Stephanie would not be attracted to someone who is nb but female-aligned, regardless of physical characteristics.

I’m quoting some of my conversation with another nb fan who was kind enough to take some time and discuss with me, though in that conversation we were referring to Tom, not Stephanie.

“That also helps, knowing that it’s less “I’m straight” and more “I’m not into men”. The question of a male-aligned Gabriel could still be a bit iffy, but I know I, for one, don’t expect people to justify why they aren’t attracted to me. It just happens or it doesn’t. It’s when you start trying to put labels on it all that it gets messy, because language is imperfect and experiences and identities are diverse”

At no point in the story will the characters say I’m not attracted to you because you aren’t male/female–this is in code only. The rejections will be along the lines of “Thanks, but I’m just not interested.”

Frankly, at this point, the other solution I’m considering is to just make them as not available for a nb Gabriel, period. That’s not an equal balance number, but at this point, I feel like I’m really reaching for a better solution without significantly increasing the scope of what is already a massive game. I welcome thoughts, and at this point, I am not comfortable enough to continue writing until I feel this has been resolved. ((Honestly, at times, I’ve considered just cutting them as romances period. I hate feeling like I’ve been disrespectful and offensive to someone, and I’m NOT making all the characters available for everyone. Part of the reason is that I want people, potentially, to play as someone they might not normally. If every character is available to every Gabriel, then I feel that there is little incentive to play as a different character.))

[sosthemortalcoil]

Gabriel: Hahaha I am Gabriel, Fallen, and son of Lucifer! There is no love in my heart! Daniel and Stephanie: *being cute and friendly towards each other* Gabriel: *clutching chest* WhAT THE FUCK

“Language!” Stephanie shoots you a glare and covers Daniel’s ears. “Honestly, there are children present!”

[sosthemortalcoil]

Hey Stephanie! What tea did you make when your boyfriend was accidentally turning you on?

A soothing chamomile. With honey and a touch of lavender.