MxM Pal's search for dragons or gothic fantasy romance!

[Palimpsest]

♥︎ Hey there. I'm Pal, and I'm looking for a new story to get lost in!

I first started roleplaying on several now-defunct forums in the 2000s, and RP has remained one of my favorite hobbies since (with breaks here and there). I'm usually drawn to slower, character-driven plots, and my main stomping grounds are historical/fantasy settings with eerie and tragic themes at the forefront. That said, I'm not completely married to the macabre; I'm down for a classic high fantasy romp or some urban fantasy. (And I will always have a soft spot for schlockier, b movie-type of horror!)​

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✦ About Me​

1. My Writing: Quality over quantity. Replies where there's not much action can average at around 500-1000+ words. Action or transition scenes might be on the lower end (300-500+) so they feel fluid and snappy. I could also do rapid-fire, two paragraph minimum replies, but not all of the time. Third person, past tense.
2. The Pace: I try to reply at least once a week or every two weeks if I'm busy, and I’m more than happy to wait a week (or more!) for you in return. Really, I can wait up to a month or two as long as you let me know you're still interested in the RP. I don't like being pressured to respond faster and I won't ever pressure you either.
3. Characters: I'm only interested in playing male main characters right now, unless I get a really good plot hook that would fit another character better. 20s or older, and I’m really into writing characters in their 30s and 40s! I prefer to have one main character, but I love coming up with various NPCs to keep the world populated.
4. Romance & Dynamics: I'm a sucker for romance, and always like to include some. I only play MxM, but I am willing to do FxF if you've got a good plot hook for me. Regarding dynamics, I want to avoid heteronormativity and dislike sticking to strict dom/sub dynamics. My guys will usually be vers unless another role fits them best, but they will always have a personality outside of the position they take in the bedroom. Beyond that, I’m down for almost anything!
5. Explicit Content: I’m open to explicit scenes if the story leads there naturally, but I don’t like to linger on the smut for too long. I’m also completely fine with a tasteful "fade to black"! On the other hand, I'm a total gorehound. but I'd be willing to tone things down at your request.
6. Fandom: I'm not interested in doing any fandoms right now. OC only.
7. Face Claims: I use realistic face claims, written descriptions, or my own art (I love drawing my characters and prefer this, if you'd be willing to wait a bit for me to whip up a portrait). Please, no AI or anime (big-eyed, young looking) face claims.
8. Other info: I rarely like playing conventionally attractive supermodels unless the RP really calls for it. I make characters who have unique and varied features, as well as occasional "flaws" (scars, pockmarks, formerly broken noses or other crooked features). I do not expect the same from my partner (I would never control what your character looks or acts like), I'm just mentioning this so there's no surprises halfway into our plotting.

1. Important note: I have insomnia and chronic migraines, which can sometimes make me go AFK without warning (for a few days at least)–I usually try to give a heads-up when I realize that I'll be out of commission, but in the case of my migraines it is sometimes out of my hands. If I go quiet OOC for a while, it's because of this, and I'll always come back to inform you if the RP is still on or not.

✦ What I’m Looking For
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I'll only RP with people who are 20 or older.​

• Mainly, I’m looking for someone who wants to be an active co-creator. I love plotting, worldbuilding, and just generally yapping about our OCs and the trouble we get them into! I appreciate flexibility and someone who’s happy to toss ideas at the wall with me to see what sticks. I won't expect you to match my energy 100%, but if all I get are one-liner replies and if I have to do most of the setup myself, I will lose motivation to do the RP.
• If you’re not having fun or want to change directions, don't be afraid to let me know! I'm very flexible and believe that we can always work something out. And if you ever need to drop the RP or take a break, no hard feelings at all; a quick heads-up is all I ask.
• I usually go in-depth on research for my RPs, especially for historical settings. I do not expect my partners to be experts on the period and location we choose to RP in, and I am not strict on accuracy unless it's absolutely central to the RP. However, I tend to lose steam if my partner isn't also at least a little interested in research and worldbuilding as well. That aside, I won't mind anachronisms and playing loosey goosey with the setting and accuracy if that is what we decide on at the start of the RP (especially in a fantasy/supernatural RP).
• I am LGBT+ friendly (being, well, gay myself) and even though I usually play cisgay men as my MCs, I like to populate my worlds with a variety of characters, including trans and nonbinary people. I do not mind at all if you choose to play a trans MC (I have been asked by partners if this is ok with me in the past, so I thought I'd clarify here). I will not RP with anyone who uses fetish terms to refer to trans people, or is in general homophobic, transphobic, racist, etc.
• I also ask that you don't use AI to generate your replies to me. It's disappointing when I take the time to write something from scratch and my partner has AI generate their response in seconds. I do not care if your writing isn't 100% perfect, or if your grammar slips sometimes, or if you make a typo here and there, as long as it's written by you.

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✦ Stories I'm Itching To Tell (Stars on the ones I want to do the most right now)

✧ Romantic Fantasy ️️️️​

I really, really want to do some cheesy romantic fantasy/bodice ripper shenanigans (but gay)!

All the tropes you can think of, I want them: forced proximity, enemies/rivals to lovers, only one bed, Beauty and the Beast-style imprisonment in a labyrinthine gothic castle, danger and drama, silks, jewels and velvets, emotional constipation, power struggles, being afraid to touch each other for fear of losing control, all-consuming passion, elaborate courting rituals, secret passageways and ancient libraries, decadence and debauchery, billowing nightgowns, shirts being ripped open and buttons flying everywhere, a ball with fancy clothes, brooding byronic men and troubled tyrants, both characters thinking their love is unrequited–the works! Please. I will owe you a life debt if you do this with me.

I want us to push this to truly operatic levels, and have fun playing around with the over-exaggerated drama of it all. If we can inject some gothicism into it, even better. Mausoleums, blood oaths, cursed familiars, cold candlelight, houses that almost seem alive, eerie greenhouses/gardens filled with strange flora and fauna, ancient rituals, dark magic, bloody red roses in the snow, etc.

• Even though I don't want to focus strictly on D/s dynamics and the characters I play are usually vers, in this case, I'd like to play the character who is being pursued/courted (at least initially). I often play characters who are more proactive/dominant in romance RPs, and I wanna see what it's like on the other side! Don't expect me to make a completely passive damsel in distress, though; my preference for making characters who are personality first, role in bed later still stands. My guy could give just as good as he gets, if that's what you'd like.
• However, if you'd really, absolutely prefer the play the character who is being pursued, I can be persuaded to play the one who pursues. I've got some ideas for what kind of character I'd like to play there too.
• As the RP progresses, I would like for the dynamics to start to shift and become more muddy (that "power struggle" concept coming in). So, really, our characters would each hold and then lose and then hold power again regardless of how things start.
• I'd like this to be a historically-inspired setting, middle ages or all the way up to the victorian era. We don't have to set it in the real world, though, and I'm open to creating a unique fantasy world for it.

Besides all that, I'm willing to work with you on the specifics until we come up with a plot that we're both happy with!

I read The Silver Devil by Teresa Denys last year and I've been thinking about doing something like this ever since [diabolical, horrendous book and not required reading at all for the RP. I've already described the general vibes in the trope list above].​

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✧ Dragons!
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I've been watching a bunch of sword and sorcery movies again. No relevance to the RP, but they've got me in a fantasy mood all of a sudden.​

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Dragons have always been a fascination of mine, ever since I was a kid (I'd do nothing but draw dragons all day–not one family member or friend left our house without one or a few dragon drawings). I'd really love to do something, anything involving dragons and dragon riders/slayers/shapeshifters.

I don't have a fully fleshed out plot for this one, but I'm open to coming up with something together or hearing any of your ideas. Off the top of my head, here's some hooks we can use to start (we can mix up or merge any of these to make something new, too):​

• In a world where true fire-breathing dragons are exceedingly rare, our two characters come into possession of a strange egg. However they acquired it, and whatever they intended to do with it, the egg hatches unexpectedly and the hatchling imprints on one or both of them. Overnight, they become the most wanted men in the kingdom, and not everyone hunting the hatchling cares if they survive along with it.
• A single dragon bonds to two riders. Maybe they tolerate each other, or maybe they loathe each other. Maybe they used to be friends, but something soured their relationship terribly. Either way, the bond forces them to cooperate, or fail, together. We can toss in a shared telepathic link to make this arrangement even more fun/tense.
• In classic Dragonheart fashion, one character has their soul/heart magically bound to a dragon’s in order to save their life. The problem is that the dragon already belongs to another rider. Alternatively, a dragon slayer is after the dragon, and the soul bonded character joins them in their hunt because they have no idea that their life is linked to the beast.
• A dragon imprints on the wrong person, someone untrained and absolutely not meant to be chosen. Since the bond can't be broken, they’re placed under the supervision of an experienced rider and his dragon, who are tasked with keeping them alive and out of trouble (and also coaching them so they can serve their kingdom, whether they want to or not.)
• An injured rider and his dragon is found by a peasant/hermit/minor lordling who takes them in to nurse them to health. Complications ensue.
• A beauty and the beast scenario where one character is a dragon shapeshifter and the other is... there, for reasons we will figure out. Heavy on romance and angst.
• Dragons have been extinct for millennia, but two independent scholars or students at a magical academy (20+) are secretly working to uncover a way to bring them back. What they succeed in awakening is something neither of them fully understands, and the consequences of reviving dragons prove far more dangerous and far-reaching than they ever anticipated.

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✦ Other Themes I'd Love To Play With:
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• Settings: Gothic castles, magical academies, declining empires and apocalyptic ages, spooky road trips.
• Tropes: Dragons, knights (the mercenary type), monsters and monster hunters (and/or lovers), royal decoys, cursed magical objects, court intrigue and drama, necromancy, body horror, fame-seeking band members making a deal with the devil and regretting it.
• Dynamics:
  • Scary attack dog x the "handler" holding the leash.
  • Rival magical scholars (lots of pining and tension).
  • Arranged marriages.
  • Childhood friends to enemies to lovers.
  • Classic enemies to lovers.
  • Older characters finding love later in life.
  • REPRESSION. I love repression and internalised self-hatred and characters who fight tooth and nail against what their heart desires.

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If any of this sounds like fun to you, please shoot me a message! I’d love to hear about what caught your eye and start throwing some ideas around.​