#byrd writes

[icannotgetoverbirds]

so you go to the train station in a us city right. and there's an old man sitting there, waiting for the train. the intercom announces that the next train will be there in five minutes. really odd since you just missed the last one and they usually go through in thirty minute intervals.

except the announcement says it's an evil train, and that's even weirder. you look at the old man, confused, and wonder aloud what could possibly make a train evil.

"Well," he begins, "the Evil Train comes every five minutes, and the drivers are paid a six figure salary, and every car is air conditioned, and the seats are extra wide with no armrests, but the cost to ride is a one-time payment of your immortal soul."

You stare at him, unsure if he's joking or not.

"Course, most people only have one soul, so that one time payment allows you to ride the Evil Train anytime, anywhere after your payment, however many times you want."

He says all of this in such a matter-of-fact manner that it leaves no room for doubt that he believes what he says, wholly and truly.

"How... How do they collect the payment?"

"Oh, that's really fascinating. See, those ticket booths have an option to sign a contract for an Evil Train pass, giving away your immortal soul. But there's nobody enforcing against fare evasion on the Evil Trains, so technically you can use them for free if you don't mind committing a crime that you'll never be persecuted for."

"Huh."

The old man leans in close. "Some people say that the reason they don't enforce it is because they're doing research on who's willing to commit a petty crime they know they can get away with. I think that's a load of bull, since they don't have any way to track the identity of the riders that evade the fare."

You can hear the train approaching. It's triple digit heat outside, and you don't have time to sign the contract before this train gets here. Then again, the next one should get here in another five minutes, but you don't know how long the contract is, or how many Evil Trains run before the schedule returns to normal trains that only run every thirty minutes, and the air conditioning in those is always broken, and the seats are so narrow you'd swear they're made for children.

Edit: this is your reminder to reblog for sample size.

[rebouks]

Previous // Next

Hi Alex!

I don’t think it’s stupid or cheesy to miss someone, I miss you too! Going back to normal after being on holiday is always horrible, especially after this one, and especially having to go back to school, I’m not a big fan! Do you go to school too? I wanted to ask if you did but I couldn’t… it’s nothing personal, by the way, sometimes I just can’t speak to people and I don’t really know why. I thought it was my decision if I did or didn’t before I met you but maybe not. My parents n’ the teachers at school call it selective mutism but I won’t bore you with all that crap.

I can’t see your new teeth but they grow fast so maybe next time! If they don’t maybe you could get some gold one’s like your dad has, unless you don’t wanna look like a pirate lol.. my littlest sister has four teeth now, and I have all my big teeth! I haven’t counted the twins though cos they’d probably bite me if I tried haha!!

Ava is the tiny one with the blonde pigtails! She’s cute but she still sleeps and poops a lot haha, she’s sorta chill though and definitely doesn’t cry as much as Wren and Byrd used to (have you noticed we’re all named after birds yet? I guess my parents thought it was cute since our last name is Finch) Wren’s the ginger one with plaits! She’s pretty funny but she’s super grumpy sometimes and likes to bite and kick (not me though, she loves me) I think it’s cos she’s tired a lot cos she never sleeps at night, kinda like dad.. they’re twins but Byrd is way different, I couldn’t get a picture of him cos he kept running off, he’s crazy like that but he’s super snuggly and loves playing doctor! He likes to pretend to break my legs so I can’t go anywhere then fix them for me haha. Brothers and sisters are fun but they can be a pain in the butt sometimes! We have a cat called Lou too, his full name is Toulouse and he likes to bring us leaves from the garden and scream about ‘em, and he loves stealing food when you’re not looking.

Dad’s been teaching mom how to cook cos she sucks at it (don’t tell her I said that though cos I always pretend it’s not THAT bad) she’s sorta getting better though so I suppose the whole practice makes perfect thing pays off eventually. I got a school project to make a lame volcano that I didn’t wanna do as well, but my parents made me do it anyway.. we all know that real volcanoes aren’t full of baking powder and vinegar though so I dunno if there was much point to it but they seemed to think it was important so I did it anyway, at least I got a picture of it “going off” I guess. No one likes homework, even if it’s supposed to be fun, right?!

It’s cool you set Amber free!! I’m sure she’s happier wherever she is now so I guess you could just think of that when you miss her? The rocks are way cooler anyway! My aunt Aspen has loads of crystals too, sometimes she even charges them in the sun or the full moon.. I keep forgetting to ask her why but I’ll try and remember so I can tell you next time!

Hahaa your poor dad with those birds! I’ll definitely keep the picture cos it’s hilarious, Wren found it the funniest but don’t worry, I’ll keep the picture safe from her sticky hands! I have a hiding spot in the attic for all the stuff I don’t want them touching. I guess birdwatching is sorta fun sometimes but you’ve gotta be quiet (easy for me I guess.. hah!) I’m not sure there’s any other birds round here other than seagulls since we live right next to the sea, those are the ones you can hear the most anyway cos they never shut up! My dad jokes that he used to be a seagull in a past life cos he’s loud and greedy like they are lol.. he’s been building me a treehouse too, I bet that’d be good for birdwatching!! It’ll be super cool once he’s finished but it’s taking ages cos he mostly does it all by himself, I try n’ help sometimes but I’m still too small to carry or lift most things.. I wanna be as strong as him one day, he can build and fix almost anything (he swears a lot during it though haha!) Do you ever think about what you wanna be when you grow up? I don’t really think about that sorta stuff cos working sounds boring, especially if it’s as lame as school!!

I’m ten, by the way! How old are you and when’s your birthday? Mine’s February 22nd. I don’t think I have a favourite food, anything my dad makes is amazing cos he’s a good cook and my mom makes the BEST pancakes! We’re always stuffed after dinner but dad says (lies) that pudding goes in a different part of your stomach so there’s always room for cake haha.. I think I like it best when he makes spicy food but Wren and Byrd hate it so he doesn’t make stuff like that too often. It’s fun to see how much you can eat before your mouth feels like it’s on fire and I’ve decided I’m gonna beat him one day so he better watch out!!!

I didn’t know what to write at first but I guess I sorta ended up writing quite a lot since I had some catching up to do! Are you and your dad on holiday in the tower or are you living there for now? It sorta sounded like you’ve been there a long time, where do you usually live? What kinda stuff does your dad dig up for work? It’d be cool if he dug up dinosaur bones!! I watched something like that recently and they were HUGE!

It’s hard to think of questions on the spot but you can talk about anything you want too! I probably owe you a million answers as well so you can ask anything you want too! I had fun reading your letter and I’m glad we can be pen-pals even if we don’t get to see each other! Maybe next time we meet in person I’ll be able to say something, but writing would still be fun too so I guess it doesn’t really matter, right?

Love Robin c:

ps. I’m keeping the funny photo of you yelling at your dad and there’s nothing you can do about it!!

pps!! I don’t have a way to print out photos yet otherwise I’d have sent some new ones. Dad gave me an old polaroid ages ago but it’s still broken, his friend said he might be able to fix it though so hopefully I can use that next time. Mom said you can have some of our old ones and the ones from her disposable camera whilst we were on holiday for now though so I’ll send those to you as soon as they come back!

[midchelle]

Album art by Eve Babitz | 1967 - 1974

[pitter-patt-art]

Ace Attorney AU August (halfway progress update!)

Okay technically it's the 16th (lol, 17th by the time this is done) so a little over halfway actually, but still I thought since I haven't had anything finished to post the past few days this would be a fun alternative!

I've been going a little nuts (affectionate) over @augustwritingchallenge's AU-gust prompts list this year so August has been a wild ride (about 40k words of one, in fact. so far.) but seeing as I will get attached to even the jokiest of AU ideas instantly, I've completed* a whopping 5 whole fics of 16, lol. Considering the shortest of those is over 3k and the longest is over 12k, I think the problem with not finishing these in a timely manner is entirely on my verbose foolish thick skull, haha, but I'm still having a blast with it.

Here is my ao3 series where I'm posting!

And a rundown / progress report / quick teaser of all the AUs including those I've yet to finish, if anyone's interested:

(*by "completed" I should note two of the already posted fics are basically assuredly going to be continued past the challenge, but let's say "completed enough to post and be on theme")

1. Canon Divergence - complete - 4.5k words ("For the Murder of Mr. Wrong" link)

Mia POV, gen. What if Dahlia succeeded in poisoning Phoenix and framed Doug Swallow instead (and then Mia defended him in court)? Basically a 3-1 rewrite. Fun Fact: I only came up with this AU because before I even remembered AU-gust existed at all, I'd come up with like 4 totally separate AUs in which I poison Phoenix in various ways With Real Consequences because it amuses me, lol, but he survives all those other ones and I eventually realized I hadn't even considered straight up killing him off yet so I figured I should try it at least once, haha.

2. Colorless - complete 1st chapter - 3.2k words ("Grey Matters" link)

Phoenix POV (for 1st ch --prob alternating after), wrightworth. "You can't see color until the first time you touch your soulmate"-soulmate AU. 1st chapter is their first meeting as kids (skipping the class trial itself). Fun Fact(s): I really love a color soulmate AU! Big fan of the "only see the color of their eyes" type of one too but uhhh on top of that working better for things that have wild anime eye colors, you could not pay me enough to try to figure out what the HELL is going on with Ace Attorney eye colors at any given time lmfao. (Also--spoilers for what i haven't written yet but hey if you're here you earned it--this IS one of my very many "teehee what if i poison Phoenix just a smidge as a treat for me" fics. NOT my fault the man ATE GLASS. That's on him.)

3. Dark Academia - complete "1st chapter" - 4.4k words ("The Spirit of the Laws of Magic" link)

Mia POV, lanamia. Magical boarding school setting featuring corruption and missing-student conspiracies and a most likely overthought system of magic with hierarchies and prejudices in societal views of academic/formulaic vs folk/innate magic. Fun Fact: I really thought for SURE i was going to skip this day entirely, lol. (foolish.) I don't think i've actually ever personally read anything "dark academia", technically--so if this doesn't read EXACTLY that way, there you go, but i did my best. I also then thought I could live with keeping this vague but I accidentally thought about it too long so... plus at least two people on top of myself at this point have expressed interest in more of this and so I have some semi-concrete Plans™ now.

4. Zombie Apocalypse - conceptualized (but not started)

Concept: probably gen and Phoenix POV, but also because I'm me and they're them, at least a little bit wrightworth even if it isn't necessarily explicit in any meaningful way bc they are Not Normal about each other lol. A little sketchy on how much of an "AU" this counts for, since it could probably be argued to be canon compliant somehow, but basically just: Universe where they make a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-type Steel Samurai reboot movie thing (featuring, you guessed it, zombies), and Miles comes over and forces Phoenix to watch it with him just to have someone to bitch about it at, and then during that time Maya blows her way into Phoenix's apartment as well with the exact same intentions except her "day job" isn't quite as time-sensitive-strict so she's already finished watching it earlier and knows all the spoilers. Honestly a good chance Phoenix and Pearl (who came with Maya) end up hiding out in the kitchen together to let Maya and Miles rile each other up in front of the TV, but I'm never exactly sure where they'll take me once I wind them up and set them loose on the page, so who knows. I also hadn't necessarily determined the exact time frame yet but for it to make sense as a reboot-type movie/special episode/whatever it probably should be 7yg-or-later so Trucy may or may not be there as well. (That said, in my struggles to complete an actually short one-shot, I probably shouldn't even include Pearl let alone Trucy, lol.) Fun Fact: I also thought I'd skip this day bc I'm not the biggest zombie guy in the world, and to be fair, I managed to do Way Less with it than the dark academia prompt so, yippie?

5. Chess Players - incomplete (currently 3k word WIP)

Miles POV, wrightworth. Miles is a chess grandmaster and back in Japanifornia for the upcoming world cup tournament, but his greatest challenge is actually to FINALLY best Franziska in their annual who-can-get-the-best-Christmas-gift competition. Luckily, he just so happened to hear of an artist who makes bespoke chess sets, so the plan is to get a custom board made for Franziska without her finding out. The plan is not to get trapped in a weird art collective labyrinth with some model-photographer named Cindy who keeps hitting on him but also happens to be protective of the artist he's there to see because "she and her boyfriend kinda-sorta owe him big time", but this is what he gets for coming here without doing any extra research into the artist besides seeing his work and hearing only "his name is White, or, eh, something like that, you know how those artist types are" from Mr. Amano. (AU where we replace law with chess and no I don't think Phoenix could necessarily hack it in the top-world-grandmasters-level of chess tournaments HOWEVER have you considered he DID go to art school so what if he just tries selling custom chess sets until somehow that reconnects him with Miles. Is that somehow a more insane plan than studying law? Maybe. Did Manfred still shoot Gregory but now it was over fucking chess? Maybe. Idk. But I did let Greg live this time at least!) Fun Fact: we can all DEFINITIVELY blame my lovely, terrible, very wonderful friend Ben (shameless friend plug! she's an outstanding writer and has some AA fics of her own too!! @kindlystrawberry on tumblr!!) for making a total joke about "well what about au where they make chess pieces instead" while i lamented not knowing enough about chess to write an actual match and spawning this ENTIRE concept. It is her fault. 100%. She is the guilty party. (I want to finish this one VERY BADLY. Save me.)

EVIDENCE!!!!! Guilty.

6. Reality Show - incomplete (currently 700 word WIP)

Phoenix (& Franziska) POV(s), background wrightworth wedding planning going on as set up but it's also definitely just one of my many excuses to set Phoenix and Franziska up as bitchy worsties who can't admit they enjoy each other's company and will cut you down if you suggest it as such. So far I've only written the quote "set-up" section which is in Phoenix's POV, but that was SUPPOSED to be like 5 paragraphs and cut away and then lead into my actual plan for the main body, which was to be in Franz's instead, so. This is very similar to the zombie one in that it's them watching reality tv instead of being contestants on a show (I don't personally like or watch a lot of reality tv so my creative well was somewhat dry on how to make that work) and then I accidentally thought about Phoenix and Franziska watching something just to judge and tear apart the decisions of every person on it and that was too fun to not consider further, haha. Basically the plan is just they get left alone together and don't know what to do with that and end up wine-drunk and making fun of some reality dating show of some kind and Miles and Trucy come back to them losing it together over something stupid and are like "......uh. what's happening." Fun Facts: I really love the thought experiment of Franziska somehow discovering how often Phoenix's internal dialogue/reads on situations and especially people can be So Bitchy And Judgey despite his affable complexion, and her unfortunately finding his opinions to SOMETIMES be somehow slightly okay. Moderately correct, even--occasionally. I know the section she follows you-as-Phoenix around in T&T is really not long at ALL, but I adore it. There's something about it that so badly makes me want to force them into proximity more (to both their chagrin, I'm sure).

7. Farm/Ranch - complete - 12k words ("Two Little Dickey Byrdes" link)

Gumshoe POV, gumbyrde (tho i still think dickeybyrde is a funnier ship name). 5+1 things--except more like maybe 7-or-8+1 to be honest--so it's more: over 5 times Dick and Maggey sit on a wall together and 1 time they find someone else there instead. AKA: Dick runs his family's small farm (think fantasy farm like in a farming sim or maybe horse girl novel type of thing that has nothing to do with what a real farm is like lol don't worry about it) and Maggey starts working at the next farm over as the latest of her many odd jobs. Fun Fact: oh god this one got so far away from me. it was not supposed to be this long lmao. it's literally the elaborate set-up to a very silly Nursery-Rhyme-I-Didn't-Even-Know-About-Prior-To-This -based punchline!?! still, i was pleasantly surprised by how happy i was with this once it was done... two sittings and about 16 total hours later. haha).

8. Nomad - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Apollo (or possibly Klavier) POV, klapollo. Sort of Jove-Thalassa swap adjacent, but basically: AU where Jove survives the Khura'in fire but loses his memories for [contrived convince sake reasons]. (And also possibly loses some or all of his eyesight just to really go for the parallels?) Therefore: Jove and Apollo stay with Dhurke and Nahyuta and the Defiant Dragons for a time, while Jove recovers, but eventually they leave and head out on their own, just the two of them, and do the traveling musician thing, both because it's dangerous in Khura'in and Dhurke already canonically didn't want Apollo to get caught up in it and potentially get hurt to begin with and because with a functioning actual parent Apollo doesn't need to be taken in by him--and also Jove from what little we know seems like he prefers to be on the move and was already a world traveler anyhow, so even amnesiac maybe he gets a little antsy stuck in one place too long. And so like amnesiac Thalassa, Jove thusly becoming a renowned mysterious musician--and then Apollo, sweet tone deaf Apollo, becoming the sonager of all time (like a momager but...you get it) because he's not that into music but he IS into arguing for better conditions/making deals (contracts!! international legalese!! woohoo!!) with venues and promoters and stuff. And then--oops dang Lamioir still exists and now they have a meet-cute (2 electric bugaloo) (but by then it's later enough Trucy still exists because it will be a cold day in hell when I don't find a way to make her work) and they do music collabs or join up to form a group or whatever and OOPS this means now that Apollo and Jove are with Lamioir when The Gavinners / Klavier specifically meet her and get her to come to do the Guitar's Serenade concert eventually. And Apollo and Klavier ofc thusly also have a meet-cute and then talk and bond etc etc. AND THEN the au STOPS THERE and I DON'T think about how without Apollo Phoenix is totally getting convicted of Zak's murder because there's no way that trial works out as well for him with some other attorney and I also don't think about how reasonable it would then be that maybe Trucy ends up helping Valant with his work setting up the trick for the concert afterward on account of the one father in prison and the other being dead and having left behind a notarized confession clearing Valant's name of suspicion, etc. AND I DEFINITELY do not think about how i could then still so easily get everyone in one place at the concert for Turnabout Serenade and/or any possible funny Sibling (And Thalassa) Reveal that could happen i dont i dont i do not--

9. Accidental Baby Acquisition - conceptualized (not started)

Gen, possibly my weakest / least defined idea on this list, but basically: Phoenix kind of already lives this in canon, lol (insomuch as an 8yo counts as a baby) so I thought, well, how to take it a different direction, then? And I thought, I don't usually go for a Phoenix Fey kind of au because I personally really love the relationships he has with all the Feys as-is in canon and so it's not quite as funny to me as, say, a Miles Fey AU where like Misty and Gregory are married, or any of the ones in that bent, because I'm sorry but that's just SO funny (and sad, but mostly funny) any way you slice it--plus his NAME is RIGHT THERE mia-miles-maya he FITS--anyhow, that completely aside, there are just a lot of reasons I really love the platonic relationships the Feys already have with Phoenix and I don't think it NEEDS to be made specifically familial to still be so very important, y'know? BUT. That said. AU where Phoenix is idk abandoned as a baby or maybe his parents die young or something and it's like a Thing to leave babies at temples or churches or whatever, right? So like--Phoenix adopted by the Feys AU but only because the more i considered it the more i thought it would be WILD for him to literally know Maya her entire life, and it's fascinating to me to consider a Maya who ISN'T basically left all alone to her own devices (and Morgan's) and who has someone absolutely in her corner in the village the entire time even after Mia leaves (who isn't a baby when Mia leaves, love you tho Pearls), AND also and perhaps more importantly, the ships-passing-in-the-night-ness of a scene where, like: Morgan does something sketchy or whatever and Phoenix wants to keep Mia updated but for whatever reason decides to go down to the city and actually tell her in person and so he's waiting outside the courthouse or something (possibly part of or perhaps Most Of the reason he goes in person is because he knows her first courtroom trial is that day and he wants to see her + hear how it went) and when he gets there she's in a heated argument with some asshole in a fancy over-embellished jacket and once that guy leaves Phoenix is like "Sheesh, what's his problem?" You know???? And maybe he really would never even know!!!! Bc he grew up in Kurain!!!! And has no reason to care!!! About some random prosecutor who was mean to Mia!! Aaaah!!! So that, and on top of that, Diego would be there too ofc at that point, and I feel like he would ALSO be quite a funny interaction in this scenario. ("Wow, someone's popular, kitten, you have all sorts of guys waiting on a chance to talk to you, heh?" "Uh.--I'm sorry, WHAT did you just call her")

10. Enemies-to-Allies - incomplete (currently 370 word WIP)

Ema POV, faraskye. Cyberpunk AU where Lana is still under Gant's thumb and Ema, with no other way to stay close to her and getting rejected from any of the sorts of jobs she really wants to do, decides to just join the security force (or cyber police or w/e I decide to call it) and is tasked with hunting down the Yatagarasu, guerilla hacker supreme who is threatening the sanctity of the capitalist overlords. Except Ema's squad gets ambushed and she's captured and tied to a pole, and with her useless fop partner seemingly not coming to rescue her (if he even noticed her absence), she does some quick cost-benefit analysis and decides she didn't really like that job anyway and maybe there's another way she can get her sister back in her life. So she breaks free of her own handcuffs (which she definitely didn't modify into incidental ineffectiveness she's still testing for bugs) and helps fix the "Little Thief" device her captor seems to have broken despite how obviously valuable and impressive the tech is, and they eventually come to something of an agreement. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and all that. Either Ema as the hardware-engineer one and Kay as the software-programming one as the two sides of the tech coin, or else Kay can just be like doing the physical sneaking kind of spy stuff only--or maybe she knows a little about software but not so much she's a pro the way she is with infiltration and such. Possibly toying with the idea Kay herself is just completely an android, but if not, I think she has some cybernetic cyborg things going on regardless. Possibly from or inspired by her father? I also like the idea that Gant did something maybe more drastic with regards to having dirt on Ema to get Lana to do his bidding--like maybe Ema has a whole cybernetic hand because instead of just her handprint on a leather jacket, Gant has some sicko jar with her entire hand in it in his office safe, or something. I don't know why this would be useful to him but it is certainly an image. I also find it funny if Miss Fingerprint Powder Enthusiast doesn't actually have any fingerprints of her own anymore somehow in this AU, lol.

11. Retail Worker - complete - 6.7k words ("The Bake Anything Boulangerie" link)

Apollo POV, gen. Phoenix gets a job at a bakery instead of the Borscht Bowl Club during the 7 year gap, and Apollo happens to stumble across it and ends up meeting the Wrights while he's still in high school. He becomes a regular at the bakery and is already close to them by the time "Shadi Smith's" murder comes around. And also, yes, sibling reveal right away--at least as soon as Phoenix realizes and can reveal it. As a treat. (Other reveals, though, I might put poor Apollo through on a delayed basis. Also as a treat, lmao, just not one for him.) Fun Fact: I'm being redundant bc this is also in my a/n, but, Baker Phoenix lives rent-free in my brain because Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright was in fact the very first Ace Attorney game I ever played, technically, and Maya and Phoenix semi-brainwashed in that bakery was literally one of my first impressions of them. ........followed immediately by starting a let's play of Justice for All (which i watched through the first case, after which I was like oKAY fine maybe i DO need more context here, i should probably figure out what the actual first game is, and went back to start the series properly at the beginning hahaha). What do you MEAN i have a disproportionate fascination with amnesiac Phoenix, even if I have yet to finish and publish one of my myriad AUs that utilize stupid, unrealistic, plot convenient re-temporary amnesia?? Hm???? Idk what you're talking about. Also everyone who complains about 2-1 is wrong lmao it's objectively (okay subjectively is what i'm saying yes BUT objectively) such a funny place to start without knowing broad plot strokes, it's great. I both knew so much and absolutely shit-all nothing about Maya after PLvPW and 2-1, LMAO. god.

12. Animagus Wings (Joker) - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Miles POV, wrightworth. Angel/Demon AU, except I'm playing super fast and loose with the rules on that because all my knowledge of Christian-mythos comes from firstly and unknowingly the Chronicles of Narnia and more recently and cognizantly Lucifer (Netflix) and Good Omens. I know that's probably more or less what we're all doing with this kind of AU but still, I'm not even sure I want to refer to Heaven and Hell here, I'm kinda on the fence about maybe just keeping it all very vague? I also accidentally semi-worldbuilt more than i intended incidentally on account of "But Then How-Why Names If Angelic Creatures?" Format-wise it would semi-follow gomens s1 where it's hopping through some meetings between long stretches but also a kind of pre- and post- Fall type of thing? And potentially à la Lucifer becoming, like, these are My Mortal Humans and i will be Spending Time With Them, screw you celestial duties, I'm making my own Free Will, etc. And i mean i guess Lucifer is also a crime procedural lmao maybe they still solve crimes in the end too. Fun Fact: I didn't want to do the original prompt for several reasons, and sure fuck jkr is one of them but even before I knew about her I still wasn't really the biggest hp person in the first place? So i wouldn't know/don't remember at all the way it works without having to do the specific research and i...don't want to haha. Hence. And I know the prompt seems to be using it loosely / might just be borrowing the word and not actually referencing hp specifically but tbh either way human-animal shifter things just in general I can be somewhat picky about haha. (Okay okay plus full disclosure the ONLY idea I have for this sort of thing actually ties into my day-3-dark-academia-extended-au-verse and i COULD make my life simpler by just connecting the two days but Heh who would I be if I simplified things for myself... *sigh*) All that to say: I saw "wings" on the wild card list and I thought, ooh, well that's still sort of a related concept! Let's tag that one in! So it's still kind of day 12 prompt-adjacent, if you squint.

13. Found Footage - incomplete (planned/outlined)

Video Transcript POV? Is that a thing? Possibly capped by a little Phoenix POV (but i don't want that to get too long), wrightworth. Larry's new girlfriend of the month bakes weed brownies and Larry does not realize this and swings by the Wrights' apartment to beg some kind of help off Phoenix and forgets the whole tray there somehow (because it's Larry) and they leave to deal with Larry's thing and by the time they figure the brownies out, in some twist of fate Miles and Trucy have been hanging out (last minute babysitter/adult supervision? but she's at the very very least 14 or 15 here and most likely older, and Nick clearly isn't the most strict about like uhhh supervision in general lol sooo idk. he's helping her with a project or smth. it doesn't really actually matter; he's THERE, that's the important thing.) The point I'm very clearly getting at is they accidentally get incredibly high (not dangerously so because I'm not going that far haha but also, neither of them has actually been high before, so they are Affected) before Phoenix finds out what was in the brownies and tries to warn Trucy and hurry home to like, dispose of them or at least put a warning label on them or whatever, but he is too late lol. By a lot. Definitely an underage drugs tag on this bad boy because it's definitely sometime 18-or-earlier for Trucy, let alone 21. (idk about other places but as a Californian I can tell you Japanifornia "LA" could theoretically have it legalized at 21 for anyone (like alcohol) and 18 with Dr's permission--which Trucy definitely does not have in this AU lol.) Basically, Phoenix grabs Trucy's phone to get photo evidence so he can let them never live this down (after making sure they're okay lmao), but he ofc doesn't get technology so he doesn't realize he leaves the phone still recording when Trucy asks him for something / needs his help, so the recording just keeps going and captures a lot of tomfoolery and eventually some inebriated-to-Extremely-sober Feelings-Adjacent confessions (or maybe more like allusions). Idk, this was actually a fic I thought of before August and wanted to use as an excuse to try a Weird Format for fun, but then i saw this was a prompt on the list and...well. Fun Fact: Cannabis was legalized in California on November 8, 2016 (the first election I could vote in!!! ......uh, rip. lol. but yeah babey I helped legalize weed at least!! gotta remember the positives), which means it was legal right in time for Miles' case(s) / Turnabout Goodbyes!!! Yay!! I mean, I suppose that's genuinely seriously one way to try to mitigate nightmares and manage insomnia--not that I think Miles Edgeworth would ever deign stoop so low as to use an aid to manage his severe PTSD and trauma symptoms, psshaw, who do you take him for? (Get these people some help lol. They all need so much therapy.)

14. Princes & Princesses - conceptualized (not started)

So I've been reading a lot (a LOT) of isekai and/or revenge reincarnation romance fantasy manhwas lately (like, oh, too many, hahaha. they're quite good and they're VERY popular in webcomics at the moment.) Soooo. Soft pitch: Apollo already gets slapped into so many wild backstories he's constantly trying to dodge in an effort to be just a Normal Guy, he's honestly, like, the PERFECT protagonist for one of these lmao. And tell me Kristoph doesn't make a perfect "Upstanding Duke" kind of persona, and Klavier couldn't be the "wild rake" younger brother no one expects much from, and all I'm saying is it wouldn't be that hard to contrive a reason Apollo tries to get Klavier to agree to a contract marriage the way all these stories go, lol. And also, something something, Apollo from the "real world" is an orphan/has an absent family (also like so many of these manhwa protagonists, lol) but then he gets to actually have one in his second life!! I'm such a sucker for that shit. Slightly harder pitch, and the reason I did not let myself actually start writing anything (...yet): so what if the actual plot of the "original romance novel" Apollo is familiar with from the "real world (Earth)" is actually about the slightly older generation and something something instead of admiring Phoenix as a defense attorney, it's just that he instead was Apollo's favorite "love interest" character (not, like, for himself, just the one he most liked to read about) in every way except what a blithering idiot he became when the author had him fall for the female lead--but BEFORE that, he's a cool information guild leader guy who seems like he's trying to work toward some way to improve conditions for commoners in the kingdom (but abruptly there are no more mentions of this after he gets involved with the lead, which is annoying). Aaaand... I guess what I'm saying is, Dahlia is the original female lead because she REALLY fits the whole White Lotus trope, and I'm thinking Klavier is the original male lead because A) hilarious, B) fits in with the idea there's more going on in the ACTUAL world Apollo ends up in that is written in such a way as to make things seem different in the novel (like, that Dahlia and Klavier are actually as nice as they seem and that the terrible things that happen around them are just the trials and tribulations of being main characters and not anything they're directly involved in). And Apollo, the character in the novel Apollo, is an adopted prince of Khura'in, but he's the sickly younger prince and of course not actually of the royal bloodline (and also a man, considering Khura'in is matrilineal), so Rayfa and Nahyuta are the ones the public and other nobles actually know and care about and deal with. But wait! As it so turns out, The Wright Anything Information Guild (I feel like the actual guild name CAN'T have their freaking name on it front and center lol but you get the idea) happens to know some other things that aren't really expanded on in the original novel, and might be key to preventing Apollo's death so he doesn't follow the path of the original story, and also idk maybe Apollo and Trucy are half-fae or something like that and instead of like Aw Yay Bracelet in this AU it's more of a secret Iron Shackle Tool That Will Hurt I Mean Totally-Definitely-Help Us Later (still, in a way, passed down to him by Thalassa, but more as, like... she's kind of a secret hostage and does not manage to hide pregnancy number one so Apollo's now also a secret hostage, but she manages to escape so they don't know about Trucy, only she didn't tell Apollo basically anything to "keep him as safe as possible" or w/e, and......) Well, anyway. It got away from me before I even really wrote anything, that's all.

15. Secretly Alien - unfinished (currently 2.6k WIP)

Trucy POV, gen. Apollo gets sick of very consistently always losing the card games they play at the Wright Anything Agency (usually and in the specific instance the fic starts, Bullshit/BS) and in a stroke of inspiration somehow ropes everyone into playing Among Us instead. ("What! It's still a game of trying to lie/trick everyone else--like you like!--but I actually stand a freaking chance, so we're playing this or I'm going home.") Yes. This is my Among Us AU. Hi. They play Among Us. I'm justifying this one as prime AU territory however because A) Among Us has to exist in this universe, and even more pressingly, B) I found a way to force Phoenix to have--for at least a period of time if not moving forward in perpetuity--an actual smartphone instead of a Nokia-type brick cellphone. Which even under the wild but somehow plausible considering Ace Attorney circumstances I contrived, is just automatically a complete AU lmao. Fun Fact: I am so mad this one wasn't just totally finished day-of, lol. Why I ever thought I could give myself run of an entire WAA 4-person conversation and NOT get instantly derailed is beyond me. (And I want to get the prosecutors there, too?? Someone take the characters away from me.) Anyway. No, I have not written ANY of the actual Among Us part yet. Sigh. Also I haven't personally played amogus since like, 2021? maybe? And I know (now) that it's been pretty updated since then, but, ehhh, I'm just gonna run off like, lockdown-era amogus rules and vibes, lol. If I can get to the game part.

16 - Hobby Drama - conceptualized

I'm going to go out of order this time to say: Fun Fact: I have ALWAYS wanted to write a Reddit-style fic!!! I absolutely love them and I've read some REALLY, really good ones, so I've always wanted to try my hand at it. So theoretically this is the perfect time to make that a reality and write a r/HobbyDrama subreddit fic, buuut I got stuck before starting because I'm torn on two possible routes to take it (I can easily foresee myself caving and just doing both lol). - Option 1: Steel Samurai fandom discourse, always a fun/funny thing to think about, definitely would enjoy having Maya and Miles post some stuff for that. - Option 2: courtroom law fandom discourse, because come ON, how are those galleries ALWAYS SO FULL. The little wiggling rabba-rabba onlookers have GOT to have investment in this shit. And why WOULDN'T they, honestly. I've seen those trials and I have, in fact, spent a Lot of time thinking about them, not that any posts I've made lately would reflect that in any way or anything. Like I know it's hard to tell, but if I can be invested in the Lawyers Fandom, who's to say the people in the courtrooms aren't????? And I LOVE an outsider POV fic actually, I think they're so fun. So anyway. Reddit fic. You will be mine. Just as soon as I can hone my energy

And, what the hell, since it's so late now by the time I complete this "Heh This'll Be So Quick To Throw Together" post, I'll include today's, too:

17 - Flower Shop - conceptualized (at work earlier today. lol)

AU where Daddy Hawthorne is like, 97% less shitty. And the Hawthornes have a flower shop instead of like a gemstone industry or whatever. And he takes both Dahlia and Iris with him instead of dumping one of his daughters at a fucking secluded mountain temple and seemingly forgetting about her forever. On second thought, maybe what I actually mean is he's like 999% less shitty, lmfao. Anyway, Iris POV, but Dahlia (while not a "nice" person by any stretch) is not pushed to such extremes or nearly as desperate as canon, so Valerie lives, Terry Fawles lives, Doug Swallow lives, and Dahlia gets to live a good life overall--because as much fun as I love using her as a villain, she's really such a product of the absolute worst circumstances and I really do find her interesting so I've been kind of wanting to explore her in a less cartoonishly evil light, haha. (Don't get me wrong, I do love the cartoonishly evil light too, but I like spicing things up sometimes.) Like, she does (more) normal teen rebellion things ("Look at my inappropriately older boyfriend, Dad" "I'm going to talk my way out of speeding tickets and petty shoplifting as a bid for attention" etc.) and she still totally orders Iris around and Iris still totally does whatever she asks very much to her own detriment and has to learn to break away and be her own person. Fun Fact: I have a very passionate love for Iris/Adrian Andrews. Is that. Um. Is that a ship anyone else has ever considered before? Is that just me? I'm not sure but very possibly I'll just make this a rarepair fic as a treat, for me alone, teehee. (Like... it's about the becoming the master of your own destiny it's about breaking out of codependent cycles it's about how I genuinely honestly think they'd be each other's type and have chemistry even though they've obviously never interacted lmao... idk what to tell you.)

AND THATS MY AU-GUST UPDATE POST!!!

If you made it this far, take a sprinkle of my undying affection, and may you be blessed with AU inspiration if you so desire it!! (If you do not desire it, hopefully you are not cursed with it. I do not take refunds if you are. Sorry.)

Wish me luck with completing some more fics soon!!! Unfortunately weekends are actually my least free time because I work the most and the earliest hours so I have less time and am more tired, but also on Wednesday I'm leaving for a family vacation, which will either be the BEST thing to happen in regards to AU-gust or the WORST thing lmfao. If nothing else I have 2 flights, and I actually Love writing on an airplane, so fingers crossed for it being Good. <3

EDIT: Now with part 2 for the rest of the month here!

[paintedscales]

FFXIV Write 2024 :: Day Five

Prompt: Stamp Characters: Nomin tal Kheeriin, Manaka Shimizu (unnamed), Jaydin Byrd (unnamed) Word Count: 606

Master List

As soon as the doors to the establishment known as the ‘Starry Garden’ were pushed open, Nomin felt that rush of warmth envelop her. The crackle of fire beckoned as a comfort that warmed the entire lounge of the venue, the smell of cooking food and baked goods beckoned her in further. As she walked further in, the knob of the door slipped from her fingers, the door slowly clicking shut behind her.

Ishgard was no more now that Nomin was fully within the venue. The floors were tidy, the rugs only holding the barest tinge of dirt from the outside. A gentle bubbling of chatter filled the air -- patrons who were seated to partake of a warm meal or dessert, or those who took refuge from the cold sitting on sofa cushions, sometimes nursing a warm cup.

What drew Nomin in further was the fact that there was another like her, standing behind the counter. Though not marked with scales dark as pitch, she was no less a cousin from that of the Raen. Her skin was as fair as her scales, making them seem like they almost blended right into one another…save for those little hints of opalescent glints when the lights caught her scales and horns just right.

“Well don’t just stand there. You here for a meal, a drink, some refuge?” The Raen’s tone was sharp -- almost as sharp as her piercing gaze.

“S-Sorry…” Nomin started, her surprise slowly wearing off. “I’ve…never been to this part of Ishgard before. I-I mean…I know the, um…the rebuilding stuff…happened. I, uh…”

It was just so…startling in a way to see an au ra such as herself working a job here in Ishgard. Had Nomin been here just a handful of summers ago, the very idea would have had the employer branded as a heretic and most likely slandered.

“Don’t mind her,” came a gentle voice from the other side of Nomin. Another one of the workers was walking by, donning the green apron and holding an empty serving tray. A hyuran woman with her brown hair tied back into a ponytail, and who had the cadence of someone from Ul’dah. “She’s bad at smalltalk.”

“Surely she’s just doing her job…” Nomin replied as the hyuran woman walked past the gate that separated the back of the counter from the rest of the venue and placed the empty tray into a rack with other similar trays. “B-But, um…sorry, I’ve not been back to Ishgard in some time. I was taken aback by…”

Nomin’s gaze went back to the Raen for but a moment, and she then cleared her throat.

“Apologies. It appears there are some things I’m simply glad for,” Nomin concluded.

“I hope one of those things happens to be something we can provide you with?” the hyuran woman pressed, a pleasant smile on her face. A look of remembrance flickered on her face, and she then leaned down. Nomin could hear a drawer being opened and then shut before the hyuran woman slid a card over top and then took a woodblock stamp. Ink was applied from one of the inkwells next to a guestbook, and the stamp was then pressed onto the card before being handed over to Nomin.

“What’s this?” Nomin asked, reaching for the stamped card and looking down at it.

“Something we’re trying out. It doesn’t expire, so hang onto it. Once you have eight stamps on there, you’ll get a drink and dessert on the house,” the hyuran woman cheerfully said, hands going onto her hips. “Essentially, it’s our thanks for being a continued patron of the Starry Garden!”

[stolen-pen-name23]

hurt/comfort dialogue prompts, #26: "You're allowed to need help." Something with Obi-Wan and the 212th?

Hello Byrd!! Thank you so much for the prompt (from this list) and happy early birthday to you!!!

I hope you enjoy!

***

It’s hardly a secret that the General takes on more than any man can physically handle. But Obi-Wan is no man, now is he?

At least, this is what he seems to think of himself.

Cody knows better. He knows his Jedi is flesh and bone like the rest of them. He is strong, yes, but not invincible, though telling him this is only ever met with a scoff at best or outward denial at worst. It doesn’t even come from a place of arrogance. He does maintain an added layer of strength thanks to his gifts with the Force, as long as he doesn’t push himself too far.

This time, things might have gone a little too far. 

Cody sits with his head in his hands, waiting at his General’s bedside. The med bay is miraculously quiet — though the cause of this particular miracle lies unconscious with an IV attached to his arm. 

He doesn’t know how long Obi-Wan has been here — just that he’s been unconscious for hours now. Cody spent the majority of those hours relaying the events of the battle to the Jedi Council and explaining their co- councilor's absence. How he sunk so deep into the Force, it nearly swallowed him whole. How he kept an entire droid battalion at bay to protect his own. How he saved everyone, just maybe not himself. 

How the last thing Cody saw was a quiet look of regret laced with the contented smile of a man who knows his life is coming to an end but does not fear it. 

Cody kept that one to himself. 

The look on Obi-Wan’s face flashes in his mind over and over again. Everytime he blinks, he sees the regret. The acceptance. It somehow unsettles him more than the few occasions he’s seen genuine fear cross Obi-Wan’s expression. 

But neither expression unsettles him quite as much as the stillness. Obi-Wan lays as still as death but not quite so permanent. Cody knows better than most that death shows no mercy once she claims her souls. 

Luckily, she seems to have sidestepped Obi-Wan.

This time.

It terrifies Cody to think that she’ll be back, and maybe she won’t be so willing to turn a blind eye.

He knows exactly what Obi-Wan would say to these thoughts. “Death awaits us all, but through the Force, there is no death. Not really. We let go. We move on. We accept what is and avoid what isn’t.”

He always makes it sound so simple when it is anything but. 

Trapped in his thoughts and worries, Cody is grateful when Obi-Wan’s fingers twitch just slightly. Cody waits with bated-breath for Obi-Wan to rise fully to consciousness. 

It’s slower than waking from a night of rest. Cody knows Obi-Wan is waking from an experience he likely should not be waking from at all, so he remembers his patience as Obi-Wan comes to. 

Shining blue eyes reveal themselves, at first in a squint and then in lazy blinks. 

“Cody?” Obi-Wan croaks, his voice cracked from disuse. 

“Yes, General, it’s me.” Cody still feels a flutter of joy when Obi-Wan recognizes him and each of his brothers instantly without fail. No other nat-borns, save the Jedi, have ever been able to lay claim to such a feat, and the miracle of being known still resonates with him. 

“How did it end?” Obi-Wan murmurs.

“I’m sorry, Sir?” Cody asks in confusion. 

“The battle. Did we win?” 

“Yes,” Cody says in disbelief. “We won. You saved us.” 

“Good,” Obi-Wan says. “Casualties?”

“None. But…”

“But?” Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow. 

“You were almost one. A casualty, I mean.” 

“Ah.”

“Is that all you have to say?” Cody doesn’t bother hiding his incredulity. 

“Would you like me to say more?” Obi-Wan is keeping infuriatingly cool. Even and diplomatic as ever with the undercurrent of a bite. 

“Why did you do that?” Cody asks. The look of regret flashes behind Cody’s eyes again and he winces. 

“What are you referring to?”

“You know what you did. And you knew what you were doing when you did it. I saw the look on your face, you cannot look me in the eyes now and tell me you didn’t know what you were doing on that battlefield. Like you didn’t know the risks.” Cody’s latent anger rises ever closer to the surface. 

“The men were losing. They needed help.”

“And what about you? You needed help too.”

“I am a General and a Jedi moreover,” Obi-Wan says, strength returning to his voice — the voice that calms the innocent and frightens the evil in equal measure. He shoves his titles at Cody like an excuse. Like it separates him from his own humanity. 

“You’re allowed to need help, Obi-Wan,” Cody implores. 

“But I am not allowed to let my men die,” Obi-Wan snaps back. “The 212th. Your brothers. You. I must protect as many lives as I am able. This is the way of the Jedi.” 

“If the way of the Jedi is to die senseless deaths, then I want nothing to do with them.” Cody stares down the ice of Obi-Wan’s eyes before softening his stance. “But I know that this is not the Jedi way.” 

Obi-Wan’s eyes flare and Cody thinks maybe he pushed him too far, until the rigid lines of Obi-Wan’s body go soft once more as he loses the strength to keep up with the pace of the argument he set. 

“I have work to do,” Obi-Wan says.

Cody scoffs. “No, you don’t. You need to sleep.”

“I can’t just sleep, Cody!” Obi-Wan snaps. His face immediately collapses in regret. “Cody, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. That’s not… I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, General,” Cody says. He pauses and lets the tension hang in the air for a moment before asking, “Why can’t you sleep?” 

Obi-Wan rubs at his eyes and Cody politely averts his gaze. 

“There’s just too much” Obi-Wan says. “Too much and it all falls on my shoulders. The men, the bureaucracy, the death, all of it. And… and I shouldn’t be bothering you with it all. It’s my job, not yours, now, please Cody, let me out of here.”

“First of all, it’s not my decision to let you out of here, but if it was, I wouldn’t let you. Secondly, as I said before, you are allowed to need help. Especially now, when all you should be worrying about is rest.” 

“I can handle this, Cody.”

“I have no doubt in your abilities, General, but your responsibilities can be shared. You can share them with me.” 

Obi-Wan looks into his eyes. Cody always has to remind himself not to shrink back from the piercing gaze that seems to see right through him. He stands his ground and returns it, trying to convey honesty in his expression and hoping that Obi-Wan’s strength has returned enough for him to sense it in the Force. 

Cody wants to squirm under the silence, but he knows his general and he knows this is exactly the reaction he’s looking for. He wants Cody to speak first. 

But Cody can play this game too. He’s a soldier after all — a staring contest doesn’t frighten him. 

Even so, he knows how stubborn Obi-Wan is. “I just want you to be more careful with your life, Sir. I’m just… I’m worried about you.”

Obi-Wan’s features soften. “That’s not what I want. I don’t want you worrying about me. You have other things to worry about.”

“Then make yourself a priority.”

“So you don’t have to?” Obi-Wan smirks.

“You’ll always be my priority,” Cody replies, calm and cool and not at all how Obi-Wan was expecting him to respond it anything can be gathered by his surprised expression. 

Obi-Wan clears his throat. “Cody I… I hate this war. You know I do. I wish it never started. I wish I had nothing to do with it.” He pauses and picks at invisible lint on his robes before looking back up at Cody. “But I don’t regret it bringing you into my life. I need you in my life. I’m a Jedi, I’m not supposed to need anything but… I can’t say that I’d be alive right now if this war hadn’t brought us together.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Cody says, unsure what to do with this uncharacteristic display of emotion. “I need you too.” 

Cody continues to sit by Obi-Wan’s side and fill him in on all that has transpired, but in the back of his mind, he thanks whatever higher power is out there for bringing them together. 

They came into this war together, and one way or another, they will end it together. 

Of this, Cody is sure. 

[quailfence]

Title: Gingerbread House Length: 100 words Fandom: 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Itonokogiri Keisuke | Dick Gumshoe/Suzuki Mako | Maggey Byrde Characters: Itonokogiri Keisuke | Dick Gumshoe, Suzuki Mako | Maggey Byrde Additional Tags: Drabble, Inspired by Real Events, Ace Attorney Holiday Rarepair Week 2023, gingerbread, Humor, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Maggey Byrde's Bad Luck, Photography Summary: Maggey and Dick try to make a gingerbread house

Dreamwidth Archive of our Own SquidgeWorld

For @aaholidayrare prompt "Mistakes/Surprises/Crack"

[w0efulboopsoul]

[flowersosa]

Chef Didier and Georgia Byrd should have been endgame. Their love story is so cuuuuuuute, and that man loves him some Georgia!

[icannotgetoverbirds]

here. a treat.

STT abigail @ kel like:

that is all.

[topoet]

Upright Peacock Jazz

Gary Peacock was a very busy session player for decades with the likes of Keith Jarret. On a lp to cd transfer I have his December Poems (1979) a mostly solo bass with Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek added on two selections. His upright bass sound is sweet, his arrangements aren’t challenging & the music is sublime and not overly ‘romantic’ or emotional. I love solo upright bass. With this I…

[narastories]

nobody:

my brain: imagine Tom Byrd/Lord John Grey but make it Kuroshitsuji AU where Tom is a little demon who takes care of everything for John and doesn't just dress him but disposes of his enemies

[guerrilla-operator]

Once more, my blog has been updated. Catch up on what I’ve been listening to and tell me how great of a writer I am. Fuel my ego baby.

[primamchorus]

(Old) Day 03: Temper

FFXIV Write 2022 || Day Three || Temper

Character: Jaydin Byrd

A discussion had in the past is remembered and held dear to Jaydin as she reflects upon where her path and training has led her.

Word Count: 1,353

The days where the heat of the sun beat down on Ul��dah where one could work up a sweat merely waking up from bed were days that were unbearable. Even more unbearable was the training and practice the young woman found herself doing. She was balancing on thin beams, placing one foot in front of the other while keeping herself centred and as calm as could be.

She was only a girl of ten and one summers of age, and she was unfortunate enough to have been born to parents who often found themselves skittering past Pearl Lane.

“Keep it up, little bird! Maybe ye’ll be as good as us one day!” one of the women that had been overseeing the girl’s training said as she hopped over her and landed squarely on the beam without so much as losing a fraction of concentration or balance as she did so. The glint of the miqo’te woman’s small, ruby pendant glared in the girl’s eyes as the sunlight hit it. The girl could only knit her brow in annoyance as she, at a slower pace, kept walking along the beam.

The woman that had gone past was one of few members of a group that called themselves Thanalan’s Bricks. It was a confusing and rather uninteresting name to the girl, but apparently it was to represent how Ul’dah had ears and eyes everywhere -- that one may as well never trust a brick in the city. Thus did the group known as Thanalan’s Bricks give credence to that sentiment. They were a group of ne’er do wells that pilfered, pickpocketed, and hid in plain sight during the day, and were one with the shadows at night.

They had been teaching the girl how to move as they do, live as they do. The girl found it fascinating, after all, and being at the right place at the right time certainly helped with this endeavor in the first place.

As it was, the girl had been taken under the Bricks’ wings due to a rather loud happening in Sapphire Avenue where the girl attempted to take some sweet bread. Just something that tasted good in the midst of all the awful circumstances that those of Pearl Lane often found themselves in.

As the girl walked the beam, it rattled with another coming up to practice their own skills. All the girl could do was wobble before taking a tumble onto the ground five fulms below. With a thud and a groan, the girl laid there for a time, the older teen that had come up onto the beam laughing with a ‘sorry’ that sounded less genuine than the ‘Ishgardian knight’s ring’ being sold in the Sapphire Avenue Exchange.

“Can’t have waited to go till after I finished crossing!?” the girl hotly said, sitting up after determining that nothing hurt bad enough to cause a ruckus in that department.

“What’cha want, Jaydin? I said I was sorry,” the teen responded, folding his arms over his chest with a bit of a smug look on his face. This only caused Jaydin’s temper to rise as she picked herself up and onto her feet.

“We’re supposed to be practicing and getting better, not being the backside of a chocobo’s arse!” Jaydin replied, balling her hands into fists before she turned and stormed away. She huffed, feeling that pain in her chest that represented her rising anger, and she shook her head once she took a seat on a bench not that far away from where training had been taking place.

The woman that encouraged Jaydin whilst showing off her ability to remain light of foot approached not long after. She took a seat upon the bench. Her brown, feline ears twitched, as did her tail.

“Don’t pay any mind to Sigbert, Jaydin… Wretched little bastard, but so are you,” the miqo’te woman spoke, bringing her arms up and resting the palms of her hands against the back of her head in laced fashion.

“He’s about as bad as keepin’ his damn mouth shut to be a proper Brick in the walls. But ye got that in your favor, eh? Quieter than most, we just gotta work more on attuning yer aether to the elements to help ye out.”

“... And what exactly would 'help me out,' F’nime?” Jaydin asked, sighing irritably as she pouted.

“Wind. It will muffle our movements, offer us stability, carry us secrets where others may fail to listen…” F’nime said, smiling to herself as she turned her gaze upon the smaller midlander. She reached over and ruffled Jaydin’s hair with a bit of a smirk and furrowed brow. “But we take things one step at a time. We build things one brick at a time. Ye're still new here, little bird, and we all start somewhere.”

“How am I supposed to start if I can’t actually get started?” Jaydin pressed, turning her annoyed gaze toward F’nime’s amber one.

“We find footholds, little bird. We find them, we hold fast, and we push forward. Little bastards like Sigbert will make it difficult, but we live with that -- we adapt to that. Because not everything’s gonna go our way. And when things don’t, we have to improvise…and we have to improvise quickly sometimes. Ye’ll have to do the same -- whether it be as a Brick, or when ye’re doing yer own thing out there one day.”

Looking down at the dirt beneath her feet, Jaydin considered what that meant -- what F’nime meant. There were thoughts and ideas, but a lot of them seemed a little much for her to wrap her head around.

Frowning and sighing, Jaydin did what she could to push away the frustration before looking back at F’nime and positing the question, “how will I know when I’ve found a foothold?”

“Sometimes ye won’t. Sometimes it takes a moment, little bird. I’ve found that when I’ve got my foothold, things feel stable. Not just physically, but like everything around me just feels stable,” F’nime explained, her ears flattening somewhat as her tail curled with her words. She seemed to be thinking about how to properly word what she had to say. “Maybe how I feel when I find a foothold won’t be the same as when ye find a foothold. Ye’re still young, little bird. When ye find yer footholds, ye’ll know in yer own way.”

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“... The bricks are uneven… huh…” Jaydin observed, her breath puffing out before her in a cloud of steam in Empyreum’s chilly clime. She paused in her step, gazing down at the brick path as some of the hired workers were busy with moving supplies to and from chocobo carriages to the site of the new Starry Garden.

“I apologize, I was not aware of that. Is…is that a problem, madam? I can talk with the mason who laid the stone,” the worker who had been within earshot said.

“That won’t be necessary,” Jaydin replied, looking up with a smile as she adjusted her jacket and lifted a hand to move some hair out of her face. Were she younger, perhaps it would have annoyed her unnecessarily, but an old discussion remained firm in her mind.

Jaydin had always been an uneven brick among her peers…and she still found her footholds among that. Despite the hardships, despite the obstacles. And now, here she was, forging a new chapter in hers and her Knights’ life.

“Are you sure, madam?”

“It is of no consequence. Every brick has their place in the path otherwise, does it not? It does not mar the path to trip those who walk upon it. So does it matter?” Jaydin questioned, leaving her words as rhetoric as she continued walking toward the mostly finished building and opening the doors to slip within.

The elezen worker looked at the bricks in the path, noting how they were, indeed, uneven. Placing his hands on his hips and looking after Jaydin. He seemed hesitant to leave it, but finally walked away from it to attend to other business whilst shaking his head in some manner of disbelief.

[lightishlilac]

Justice For All has some wild writing of varying quality, but the last trial becoming Phoenix's struggle between doing the right thing and sticking to his goals,,, amazing

[erythristicbones]

okay miscellaneous Wallflower Bouquet rambles under the cut since it might get long

Holly and Camellia have been friends since childhood- they gravitated towards each other bc "Hey we both have plant names" and then just stuck like glue the rest of their lives

Got married p much the moment they graduated highschool, but had been dating on and off since they were 12

Experimented with being polyam in highschool, tried being monogamous for a few years after getting married and then promptly went "actually, we'd both be really happy just staying polyam" and haven't turned back since. They're not Always dating other people, but usually are

okay onto Belladonna.....she was coerced into a really unhealthy polyam relationship and doesn't realize it bc she had no experience with healthy relationship dynamics to begin with

fast forward to the start of the story- Belle, Cam, and Holly are in some sort of group therapy together. Haven't settled on what yet tho

After hearing Belladonna share some of her home life...Cam/Holly become incredibly concerned and take her aside afterwards to be like "hey...you sound like you're not doing good and that isn't normal for polyam relationships"

Which obvs Belle doesn't take seriously at first bc she barely knows these two...but it sticks with her. She starts to note more and more things in her relationship that don't add up or clearly make her uncomfortable and she was ignoring to keep the peace

So she starts meeting with Cam/Holly outside of the group meetings, just to have someone to vent to at first. But then they become, well, p much her only outside friends and they'd do anything for her

I'm not gonna spoil anymore of the story til I've settled on how it goes but like. This is p solid for me so far

Anyways since I'll probs add more to Cam/Holly's polycule, I'm stating now that I imagine they specifically date other people with flowers names bc they think it's funny and they refer to their partners as The Bouquet

Which, also, the Bouqet just becomes their friend group too. Essentially they have dated or are dating everyone in the group and they all remain close even if they aren't currently dating Cam/Holly