MxM Pal's search for DRAGONS or supernatural small-town mysteries

[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 always 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!)

✦ About Me​

• My Writing: Quality over quantity. Replies where there's not much action can average at around 600-1200+ words. Action or transition scenes might be on the lower end (300-500+) so they feel fluid and snappy. Third person, past tense.
• The Pace: I try to reply once a week, and I’m more than happy to wait a week (or more!) for you in return. I don't like being pressured to respond faster and I won't ever pressure you either.
• Characters: I'm only interested in playing male main characters right now. 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.
• Romance & Dynamics: I'm a bit of a sucker for romance, whether it’s the main focus or a side dish. I only play MxM. Regarding dynamics, I want to avoid the "weak little thing x dominant brute" archetypes - I dislike sticking to strict dom/sub dynamics, and prefer characters who have a personality outside of the position they take in bed. Beyond that, I’m down for almost anything!
• 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.
• Fandom: I'm not interested in doing any fandoms right now. OC only.
• Face Claims: I use realistic face claims, written descriptions, or sometimes my own art. Please, no AI or anime (big-eyed, young looking) face claims.

✦ What I’m Looking For
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I’m only looking for partners who are 20 or older, due to the nature of the stories I'm into and for my own comfort.​

• I’m looking for a partner who wants to be an active co-creator. I love lengthy 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.
• If you’re not having fun or want to change directions, don't be afraid to let me know! 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 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​

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 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 and imprints on one or both of them. Overnight, they become the most wanted men in the kingdom, and not everyone hunting the hatchling cares whether 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.
• 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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Small Town Dread​

I’m craving something paranormal and small-town, set in the 70s or 80s. Suburban ennui, cliques, paranoia and class divides, all with a dash of something sinister creeping under the surface. I'm very flexible about the specifics of this, but here are two possible skeletons we can build off of:
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Option A: Our characters are in their early twenties, but the freedom they once dreamed of as teens has led them into a cold, indifferent world that they aren't prepared to navigate. Without the structured routine of high school or the safety net of their old friend groups, they find themselves adrift. Everyone else seems to be moving on–moving towards something better–while they're still spinning their wheels in the exact same place they'd been left in at graduation. They slog through their monotonous, low paying jobs, loiter in the empty park at night and spend the rest of their free time at home or wandering around, unable to make any new connections in a town where every face is already familiar.

As they wrestle with the grief and uncertainty of growing up, a creeping, otherworldly presence begins to stir at the edges of their quiet little community. Soon it will disrupt the monotony of their lives and draw them together, but they may come to regret the price of their newfound connection.​

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Option B: Our characters are older now, in their late twenties or thirties. Years ago, something terrible happened in their town. The locals chose to conceal or forget the event and move on with their lives, unaware that what they buried wasn't quite dead. Whether one of our characters moved away while the other stayed, or they both hightailed it out of there as soon as they could, something they cannot name draws them back to their hometown's mystery... and to each other. (Got an RP for this one, only looking for Plot A now)​

I want us to focus on the characters and their slowly developing relationship to each other, and to explore the suffocating boredom and isolation that many people, especially those on the fringes, can feel in such small communities (as well as how good it can feel to finally find someone who understands you). I’d also love to weave in a subtle strangeness and sense of unease from the start, slowly ratcheting it up as our characters start poking their noses where they don't belong.

I'm interested in playing around with a clash of personalities, too. Former jock who peaked in high school and is now floundering, paired with a rebellious outcast who refuses to clean his act up (both clinging to a rose-tinted past in their own ways). Or maybe even two lost people who'd barely interacted before, brought together by necessity and developing a bond neither of them realised they'd been missing. I've got an angry, burnout loser who I'd love to pit either against another outcast or someone who has (or seems to have) their stuff together. :-) For reference, here's the song that made me wanna do a plot like this, hahah.​

✦ 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.​