The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikakaiser]

I read fanfic sometimes and it has made me deeply aware of how many people think they are good at writing banter and are, not

This insufferable writer take brought to you by how many times I've seen someone writing their Tav having a conversation with Astarion and my mental reaction being "oh my god both of you shut up already"

yeah, that

but yeah there's a certain .......self-awareness? like I can feel the writer making the characters yap, versus the characters having their own voice, and it gets exhausting when two people just call each other doo-doo heads (or equivalent) back and forth with no end in sight, and especially when I'm expected to appreciate that as the beginnings of enemies-to-lovers or something like that

[erikakaiser]

I feel confident enough in my dialogue writing abilities to go ahead and Give an Opinion which is you can't write good banter until you learn to let the characters be quiet for one goddamn minute, and that "banter" as a concept isn't outright just people being pointlessly mean to each other over and over again

[erikakaiser]

also sorry I am in my thirties so I do not find it surprising and edgy when a character has porno magazines, the opening chapter really wanted that to be some kind of stinger and like............ I don't know man I'm too old for this shit

[erikakaiser]

I feel confident enough in my dialogue writing abilities to go ahead and Give an Opinion which is you can't write good banter until you learn to let the characters be quiet for one goddamn minute, and that "banter" as a concept isn't outright just people being pointlessly mean to each other over and over again

While I'm rambling, I think in general I don't tend to love the way people write "mean" characters, especially femme ones; it ends up either cartoonishly sexualized or extremely crass with no in-between, and often there's frankly not enough consequences for someone acting like an utter ass to everyone at all times. Kinda the Sherlock Holmes thing, in a roundabout way, where in tertiary content his rudeness/lack of social grace tends to not have as much impact as it did in the original stories (imho &tc)

anyways!

It's my Friday, I'm sleepy and Chicago is a nightmare of drunk white dudes right now due to St Patrick's Day shenanigans, I'm gonna play D&D and hide until tomorrow

[erikakaiser]

My weekend comes to a close!

I got my chores/tasks generally completed and played a lot of Monsty Hunty! I made my OC Rex, who is a pretty good fit in the Monster Hunter universe, and they had a reasonable wavy/curly hair for him which I was pretty excited for:

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I got to the high rank hunts and am currently doing fishing quests, because have you met me, and it's a good and familiar grind. In Monster Hunter World I was big into the insect glaive but I've been messing around with sword/shield and then the hammer as Rex's main weapons, since the insect glaive is usually kinda difficult and it had been long enough I wanted to ease in.

Aside from that, next week on Thursday my pal Masque is gonna come visit me for a few days so I started deep cleaning in preparation! I'm just gonna do a little bit a day and then save the bathroom + changing bed linens for last, since Masque is nine thousand feet tall and gonna sleep in the bed while I, being uhhh slightly shorter than that, will take the couch. We don't have a super specific schedule or plan and I think are gonna mostly play it by ear, but we do want to check out a games/card store, possibly get lil matching tattoos, and see if any of the museums/aquarium/etc nearby have anything cool going on.

okays it's time for me to wind down for bed since I do have to work Tues/Wed/Thurs and am gonna be a little busy after work with chores/errands each of those days, so I wanna make sure I'm not a sleepy bitch on top of it

[erikakaiser]

I showed my Monster Hunter screenshots to a server where someone called Rex a "twink" and I reiterate my previous (from many months ago) complaint that people on the internet will call literally any masc-presenting person a twink at this point

[erikakaiser]

It's kind of how "found family" has just become "there are characters who speak to each other"

[Sorcyress]

I showed my Monster Hunter screenshots to a server where someone called Rex a "twink" and I reiterate my previous (from many months ago) complaint that people on the internet will call literally any masc-presenting person a twink at this point

I should be able to break a twink with one hand. Words have meanings!!!

[erikakaiser]

I have engaged in several merriments!

On Thursday, Masque came by and proceeded to stay for a bit! I took Friday and Saturday off work for it (right now Sun/Mon is my normal weekend, so I already had those off) and we had a really nice time. Thursday we got Chinese food and just kinda hung out, then on Friday we went to a fancy local game store to buy some Magic packs and generally peruse the wares. We cracked our packs while hanging out long distance with Greggo, then aaaaaaaaabsolutely started hyperfixating on Stardew Valley couch co-op which we persisted in doing in-between other activities the rest of their stay.

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We got some Ethiopian food, I got a tattoo (!! my first one! it is of my D&D character's pet water slime, Plimpy), we drank fancy coffee from the hipster coffee place, we had D&D with the pals. We Stardewed many Valleys, and it had been long enough since I played that a lot of things were brand new to me; I think there's been at least one, maybe two major patches since the last time I played, so there's new events and uhhhh one day it turned green and there was moss everywhere in some new weather event, which was exciting.

It was wonderful! Mostly we just enjoyed each other's company and I think it was a much needed brain break for both of us.

This morning they headed back to St. Paul and I did a quick post-guest clean (altho Masque is a very tidy guest so this didn't take long), so now I'm gonna sit, catch up on some YouTubes, and recover social spoons. Masque doesn't socially drain me very much but I am a simple creature that requires a good sit down after exciting things happen. Also I'm in my thirties, so I made sure I have an extra day of just Me Time (tomorrow, in this case) to catch up on chores and quiet time if I need it.

ok gonna watch m'shows and ponder a nap byeeeee

[erikakaiser]

I did more than ponder the nap and now I'm pondering whether it's too late to have a coffee because I am sluggish