#red head writes a thing

[chysgoda]

Evidentiary: Part One

A Desertwalkers Tale

Part One | Part Two

Lahabrea picked up the single bag he had brought with him when the train stopped at Stonewood. He’d need to spend the night simply because of the train schedules. He had no intention of staying beyond when the morning train returned to the city. That he needed to come out here at all was infuriating. Once he’d collected his granddaughter and his client’s property he’d leave this town behind.

He’d received a letter by a special courier from his best client that had informed him that his granddaughter had finally stooped to stealing accounting books. Bel wouldn’t be the first investigator to resort to unsavory methods when trying to crack a case, she wouldn’t be the last either. It was disappointing that a child he’d had a hand in raising would crack like that. Still, if he leveraged this correctly she would be expelled from the Landsguard and would have no choice but to give up what had been a wasteful use of her time in the first place.

A curt question to one of the train station attendants gathered the location of what the town called its best hotel. He mulled over the problems that this could cause for Gaius Baelsar. Evidence that couldn’t be used in court still existed. The Dawnservent had agents clever enough to tease out lines of investigation that were hinted at without depending on the tainted evidence. He would have to look over what was found and speak with Baelsar to determine the best legal strategies. Once he had two rooms secured he dropped his bag in one and then went to the sheriff’s office where he’d most likely find both his client’s property and his granddaughter.

The walk through the dusty street left him too much time to mull over the fight with Bel that would be on his hands when he stepped into the sheriff’s office. How she lived her life trying to fight volcanos was beyond him. Not just that, but she insisted on playing where she was always in danger. Hopefully it would blunt the youthful idealism, to have her work leave her with nothing but stark reality and ash.

When he stepped through the doors he surveyed the room and frowned when he didn’t see the yellows and purples that Bel favored in her clothes. He clenched his jaw and ignored the dread that wanted to creep in. There were many places that she might be in the town. (There would be nowhere else to find her if she was reviewing what she found.) Hephaistos’s long strides took him to the desk and the deputy manning it. He pulled a card from an inside pocket of his suit jacket and held it out. “I am Hephaistos Lahabrea, legal counsel for Gaius Baelsar. I’m here to retrieve my client’s stolen property and Inspector Bel Lahabrea.”

The deputy took the card and raised both eyebrows at the quality of the paper and printing. “You’ll want to speak with Deputy Bishop. The parrot would only work with him and the sheriff, wouldn’t give the rest of us the time of day.”

“And where is the inspector herself?” Lahabrea asked tersely.

The deputy shifted uneasily order the hard red eyes, “She’s in the clinic under Doctor Mathye’s care.”

For a moment the unfaltering hard stare cracked and reforged within the same heartbeat, “The clinic?”

The deputy in front of him had not looked up from the business card. “She stumbled in here with her jacket on fire and hugging a bunch of books. Good to see a parrot get its feathers singed…”

Lahabrea arched an eyebrow when the deputy looked up suddenly, looked down at the name on the card, and then went pale, “What I meant Mr. Lahabrea was-”

“Stop talking Carl,” a voice with an even tone called out from behind him. The lawyer turned to see a dark haired man with a white tattoo on the left side of his face. “Mr Lahabrea, I’m Deputy Augustine Bishop. The inspector warned me that you might pay us a visit.”

Lahabrea frowned at the tonawawta man that barely came up to his shoulder. The deputy folded his arms over his chest, his expression was flat. Lahabrea narrowed his eyes. “Gaius Baelsar has property here that was stolen. I’m here to retrieve that property for my client.”

“The only stolen property we have right now is a cheap flask.” Augustine stated firmly. “If you’re after the evidence the inspector collected you’ll need to take it up with officials in the city.”

“Taking items from someone’s property is theft, Deputy Bishop.” The lawyer stepped forward to loom over the other man.

“Take it up with the Landsguard.”

Hephaistos Lahabrea clenched his jaw and concentrated on keeping his teeth from grinding. Behind him the deputy at the desk began to shift uneasily. In front of him two different shades of blue watched him coolly. “You will be charged with conspiracy if you are aiding my granddaughter in concealing stolen documents.”

The deputy’s posture didn’t change, “Take it up with the Landsguard. If you haven’t got any other business here Mr. Lahabrea I’ll ask you to leave.”

Lahabrea forced himself to take a breath. The deputy was a problem for another day. “Where is my granddaughter?”

“At the clinic.” Deputy Bishop’s answer made the lawyer grind his teeth. This was like drawing blood from a stone.

“And where is that?” Lahabrea ground out.

Augustine Bishop looked him up and down for a long few moments, likely to raise his blood pressure Lahabrea thought, and then nodded to the doors. “I’ll take you there.”

Lahabrea pushed down dread and followed the deputy.

[lgbtlunaverse]

Nothing will dispell the "the curtains were just blue" myth faster than writing something yourself, because the amount of pretentious symbolism i am putting in my silly little fanfics is ridiculous. I mean SO much with these words, literally every single one of them. This fic has twenty five typos and zero correct uses of punctuation but if there's curtains you bet your ass I put thought into what colour they were.

[havenshereagain]

DPxDC Idea

Danny working at Wayne Enterprises as some sort of engineer, uses the in-house app for all his blueprints and stuff

He starts getting notes from a coworker in-app, and assumes its this annoying older guy in his department who constantly undermines him because of his age, despite his education and past achievements (i feel like in this AU the Fentons react well to the reveal and they work together on a number of non-lethal ecto inventions that have Danny's name attached to them)

Except one day his coworker mentions never using the app, and Danny suddenly realizes there's only one other TD he could've been arguing with in the notes of the app

[green-fifteen]

red fish, blue fish

tags: post s4, stobin, Hopper POV, prom, not!fic

word count: 586

@stobinmonth prompt: prom

So Steve leaves home after the earthquakes to be closer to everyone. He ends up living with the Hopper-Byers so they can all drive together wherever help is most needed. Eventually, Hopper kind of forgets Steve isn't one of theirs. He just fits, in a way that is both improbable and surprising to no one.

That is to say, Robin is around the Hopper-Byers a lot. Like, nearly as around them as Steve, who has moved into the spare room.

When the Beemer pulls up and he hears Robin's voice through the front door before she even gets out of the car, he pours himself another cup of coffee out of the gone-cold carafe.

He can hear their conversation better as they come in and clamber around in the entry, shucking shoes and jackets.

"But it's like, post-apocalyptic! Doesn't that make it cool?"

"Nothing makes it cool. It's Hawkins High."

"Post-apocalyptic Hawkins High."

"It really doesn't count if the school was literally 100% untouched."

"Think about the stories you can tell your kids," Steve insists. "Prom at the end of the world."

"One, the world didn't end. Two, it's not 'at the end of the world' if it's an entire year later and they've had plenty of time to clean up."

They round the corner into the kitchen and spot Hopper standing at the counter.

Robin blinks, but Steve sails by him to grab a cupcake from the refrigerator.

"They're carrot, you want one?"

She does. She and Steve peel the wrappers nearly in sync and when they shoot for the trashcan, both of them miss.

Hopper clears his throat and says, "No prom then, for you two?"

They glance at each other and Steve quickly swallows to say, "Who says I'd go with her?" like Hopper had suggested he take the Loch Ness Monster to the school dance.

Robin squawks around a mouthful. "You wouldn't go with me?" she manages to say.

And Hopper just raises an eyebrow. "In my day, boyfriends and girlfriends went together to that kind of thing."

They both seem to realize something at the same time and they rush to correct him.

"No, Hopper, I can't believe you don't know--"

"Chief Hopper, with all due respect, I would rather eat glass."

He takes a long drink from his mug.

"So you're just over here all hours of the day and night because…"

"We're best friends. Like, soulmate level."

"She's my platonic soulmate, it's a thing."

"You two are 'a thing.'" Hopper hums. "I know what that means."

Steve rolls his eyes and Robin considers him seriously.

"If we're an item, I want it on the record that you never even asked me out."

Hopper nods. "It's disrespectful, son."

Steve glares at them both in turn while he slowly drops to one knee.

"Robin, will you be my girlthing?"

She puts on a convincing display of outrage. "No!" she says. "Apparently I've been your girlthing this entire time. You've been taking advantage of my feminine virtues or something probably."

"I would never!"

"Some boything you turned out to be." She puts her nose in the air which must be some kind of cue for Steve, who grabs at one of her hands like a lifeline and places a kiss to the back of it. She abruptly drops her regal poise to smack him across the shoulders and say, "Did you really fucking lick me? Are you twelve?"

Hopper downs the last of the awful, chilly coffee in his mug and retreats.

[naga16]

Prompt 1: Red Hunter

(Before we begin, I'd like to say that I've been awake for no less than 20 hours... And it currently half hour before midnight.

Okay?Okay. )

The story begin in the watchtower. Impending doom via asteroids, aliens, gods, ghost, terrible disaster or whatever you wish. Point is, the world might as well die if they fail to find a way.

Generic cult shit and badabing badaboom!!!

GH! PHANTOM!!!! Here to save the day!!!

There's a catch though, of course there is.

Dunno 'bout the technical rules cuz I did no proper research. But turns out that certain people just needs to die to preserve the balance of the world.

Grim reapers cannot kill cause all they can do is wait for death and guide the soul in the afterlife. They don't kill, unlike the popular belief that they do.

So what does that mean? It means that King Danny assigned one of people who summoned him to be his Executioner.

Who does he choose?

Isn't it obvious?

He chose RED HOOD, of course.

Cuz Danny instinctively knew that this man is a dying revenant, starving cuz he's not fulfilling his NEED for revenge and all that shit that made him possess his own body.

So Jason was given a new name, Red Hunter, a remembrance of the good old days. He was also given a book, except for the first page, the book was practically blank.

The first page was a contract, that the person was bound for life to kill ANYONE who's name appears in the book. That the person will do the task dutifully.

Jason, being chosen, signed it since he really have no problem in killing. Truthfully, he was glad that the Big Bat or anyone else (exempt Tim and Damian) was not chosen since, unlike him, they have morals that kept them from taking lives.

So, he signed it, the book vanished with a flash, Danny smiled in victory, disaster avoided and one, two, three!!!

Jason was awoken by his Ghostly Butler. A guide to help him do his job. A person who can answer his question.

So ask he did...

First of, where did the book go? Inside Jason, a little lesson of summoning the book give him a magical transformation to his Executioner outfit.

Does he have a time limit? Yes, apparently, it's 24 hours, a very good news.

What would happen if he fail to kill by the given time? A punishment to his own person. Ghost will attack him for several hours, or just bother him.

How does he do the killing? Whatever he decide. Death by bullet, stabbing, planned accident, poison, arson, or beaten. Really, for as long as he kill the person, the way he would do it doesn't really matter.

Why does he have a Butler? Cause of a previous issue with the last executioner killing themselves with their guilt. The Butler system was made so that that can be prevented.

How would he find his target? A ghost will lead him to it.

What does that mean? You will know at your first mission.

So he kills, what next? You shall use your thermos.

What does that even mean? You will know at your first mission.

Really, why does he have a butler? To give guidance and answer.

So, when will I get my mission? Now.

What?

So Jason took the book and there, written in a fancy calligraphy, the civilian name of Joker. Or at least that is what the ghost of his younger self wearing his old Robin costume said to him.

[eaterofdust]

Toothless: comparison and art study

There is something to be said for the Toothless's of the non-book HTTYD with each being different from each other. The Animated Toothless is iconic in it's design, a cat-like predator which takes only one look for the viewer to know that he is fast. The Live Action Toothless is still cat-like, and yet... too human-ish, like the eyes of HTTYD2 Hookfang. It is the unholy offspring of HTTYD3 Toothless and baby Godzilla. The Live Arena is spikier and bulkier, with a more reptilian and classical dragon appearance and yet is recognisable all the same.

Action Toothless is most bland in colours, with an incredibly unrealistic nearly pure black hue and lack of patterns. The Animated version fares better, with a faint blue hue (which is lacking in these images but real all the same) and patterns across his back and wings. Finally, the Arena Toothless. He has pink around his maw and toes, and though lacking in patterns continues the blue hue.

Interestingly, both Arena and Action Toothless lack the exaggerated scales on their ear plates, instead having a more striped texture like a horn of some sort.

Neck wise, Action Toothless is the outlier, an 'S' curve to it whereas the other two- while still having a mammalian posture- are far more reptilian in their slant. For all three, they have exaggerated scales around the spines that begin only around the shoulder area.

For faces, Animated Toothless is certainly the most complex, a flat shape that slips into a slope at the bridge of the nose and a (mind you, flexible) beak shape at the end of the nostril. His spines begin at the "front" of his eye corners and ends at the end of them (please note the third eyebrow is also error, to which I apologize greatly). Arena Toothless has a rounded flat shape, bulging out at the bridge of the nose, and having a far more exaggerated shape and yet removing the beak element to it. He has the primary row of head spikes, starting from the start of the bridge of his nose and ending at his ear-plates. His secondary row of spines, hardest to see, starts at the front of his eyes and ends at the end of his slight head indent. The third row of spines start at the beginning slant of his brows and ends at his primary ear-plates. Action Toothless also loses the slight beak, instead having the shape but with lips. He has the least flat head and the most visible brows. His spikes begin between his eyes and ends at his first ear-plates. Action Toothless is the only of the free to have more than 4 protrusions to each side of his head.

There is little to be said on head shape: Animated is somewhere between a U and a V depending on expression, vaguely snake-like; Action is a lot blunter and thicker, with more defined cheekbones and having a narrower top. The Arena is merely speculative, but likely is a oval of some kind with the same general shape.

It's fairly obvious that Action Toothless is attempting to appear less dangerous and much cuter. Such a head shape is poor for his aerodynamics, as his original head shape gave him the arrow/jet-like physics, but this lesser head shape will result only in creating more drag for the dragon who's main (if only) hunting tactic is to dive at speeds to break the sound barrier.

Posture has previously been discussed for necks, but in terms of body shape they all follow the trend of a larger chest and thinner lower body (Do not ask what happened to Animated's tail. Please.) Arena has the thickest and shortest tail, held in a dinosaur position. His wings are small, curved with fin-like secondary wings. Action Toothless has a more sloped back, and a tail consistently held low to the ground. His wings are smallest, secondary wings mimicking that of the third movie with how they are nearly folded. Animated Toothless (only from the first movie as GOTNF does use a separate model) has the longest, thinnest tail that is usually either in contact from the ground or held up. His wings and secondary wings overlap each other slightly, with the thickest connecting skin to the body.

Looking closer at the wings of the Toothlessi, it's perhaps equally surprising as not that the Animated's are the most realistic*. All the wings have connecting tissue between wing arms, creating a near flat point until fingers begin to diverge. Arena Toothless has a bulky shoulder joint, and two claws that disrupt the general shape. He has 4 wing fingers, at least 2 of which seems to be fairly straight, and a wavy texture to his webbing. Action Toothless has an oddly thin forearm, 5 wing fingers (which is most realistic as they are fingers- something that Hookfang's design tried to mimic but failed) with the primary being far, far shorter than the secondary, making his wings also appear significantly smaller than they truly are. Said wing fingers are also thick, though not pictured here. The Animated Toothless has 6 fingers, the primary being longest and surprisingly thick arms!

*Fun Fact: The Live Arena Plush has his wings and is actually capable of gliding! It is quite enjoyable.

All Toothless designs contain heavy scale coverage of both front and back legs, and spikes to the front. Interestingly, the Animated Toothless is the only one to be plantigrade rather than digitigrade, as well as appearing to have a slight webbing to his joint though this is equally as likely to be a meshing error. Both Action and Arena go for sharp claws atop paws rather than the flexible and dulled claw of the animated toothless, and thick plating to his rear legs. Both Arena and Animated appear to be stockier than the Live Action, which has lankier, thinner legs.

There is little else to be said between designs. For Hookfang, I brought my own most pressing issue, but Toothless? There is nothing to be said for his head has already been examined.

The only real difference between Animated and Arena Hiccup is their shirt, otherwise a ditto. Action Hiccup differs in that he wears two shirts (see multiple sleeves), lacks a boob window and has a hood. Oh wait, no, the fur of his boots is also a different colour. With such a variation to the designs, it would simply take too long to compare everything and so I shall end on this:

Arena Toothless leans into being a powerful dragon, Animated Toothless leans into being elegant and the Action Toothless was bred into domestication over the time of Vikings to now.

There is such a lack of difference between the Hiccups there is nothing to be said- which seemingly most of the other teens do not follow in.

[lulu-draws-stuff]

Friends forever ?

[blumoontf2]

Real Question: how much do we *actually* know about Scout’s mother? Specifically the type of relationship the two of them would have? I know in a lot of fanfiction and headcanons Scout is VERY MUCH a momma’s boy, which makes sense given he’s the youngest AND doesn’t have a Father.

But how Boymum do you think she is? In regards to Scout especially because I feel like having a mercenary as your Lover and then eventually a Mercenary as your SON!! Like she must have been Boymum enough to forgive her son for MURDERRRRRRRRR.

But I know in some people’s writings, Scout keeps his mercenary job hidden from his mother which also makes sense in a way because… i mean… like i’m pretty sure most parents would be disappointed to hear their kids a full-time murderer lowkey… But also she TOOK A MERCENARY AS HER *LOVER* like I’m sure she wouldn’t care too much if she learnt Scout was a Mercenary too??

And was she present at the end of the Comics? Because you had even Heavy’s Mother there and considering the event took place at HER SON’S HOUSE you’d expect her to be there??

Anyway, Open Discussion.

[sexisbetteronthemoon]

I was thinking about dog days again (as I love to do) and the thought hit me of Lance being the one turned into a dog instead of Keith. Besides the obvious fact that Lance’s family would go looking for him opposed to Keith not having that (🥲), how do you think the story/characters would change with that role reversal?

wow, i'm ecstatic my fic crosses your mind so much!

thanks for the question!

if i were to rewrite this fic with Lance being the one turned into an animal, he wouldn't be a dog. he'd be a cat bc that fits his personality better imo. i've seen text posts that say it's Keith who's the cat, and y'all can think what you want. lol. i don't care.

anyway, Lance would be a cat and he would immediately go home to his family. in the world of Dog Days as i've built it, his parents would not take long to figure it out at all, considering all they've seen. what WOULD take a while is him changing back.

what Lance most desires is to be loved, but also to be someone's first choice. the priority. if he helped a fae creature and was "gifted" with being a cat, he would really only turn back via an expression of love where Lance realizes both "oh, he loves me," and "oh, i'm his favorite person." there's also the bonus "oh, my family and friends all love me dearly," but the focus is klance here bc all my fics are.

as for the story itself, Keith would immediately notice Lance was missing and try to find him. Lance's parents would probably lie and say he went to visit family for the summer.

Keith would accept this as a "everyone leaves me eventually" thing. and he'll pack up to leave town for the summer. but not seeing Lance one last time is bugging him. and he doesn't go. he thinks: once i get word from him, i'll go.

time passes by and the more he thinks about it, the more he starts to realize that Lance wouldn't just stand him up like that. his fear of abandonment, however, would overpower that thought, and he decides he really will leave for the summer, before he bumps into Hunk and Pidge, and learns that they haven't heard from Lance either. and Keith will revisit that thought that Lance wouldn't just go without saying something to someone. even if not Keith, Hunk and Pidge should have heard from him. he wouldn't ignore them. that's not what he was like. he loved to "annoy" Keith, too. he loved having the last word. so where was he?

so he would revisit Lance's home and ask about Lance only to be told he was in a place with little cell service or something like that. small town, whatever.

only this time, Lance is there, as a cat, and he wants to spend time with Keith so badly, even if he's just a cat.

so he goes out of his way to rub up against Keith's legs, purring the entire time.

Keith isn't a cat person and he's wary of this cat. he steps out of reach and continues to press whoever answered the door for a way to contact Lance.

Lance takes the opportunity to sneak into his backpack (packed with his things in case he decides to leave after all), which Keith left on the floor beside his feet, and had to work very hard to open up wide enough to sneak into.

Keith leaves eventually, discouraged, worried, and maybe a little paranoid bc he doesn't believe Lance's family.

he gets home and startles when he drops his backpack onto his sofa bed and an offended meow comes out of it.

he warily opens it and out comes Lance, shaking himself off and grooming his fur to neaten it up again.

Keith: what the fuck.

Lance: meow

Keith: how did you get into my backpack?

Lance: meow

Keith: okay. get back in it, i'm taking you back.

Lance promptly escapes every attempt Keith makes to catch him.

Keith gives up and sighs heavily, sitting on the couch and staring at the Lance the Cat.

Lance the Cat stares back.

Keith: you know your family is going to miss you right?

Lance: meow

Keith: i'm taking you back. tomorrow. when your guard is lowered.

Lance doesn't mind this. he just wanted to spend some time with Keith. and that night, he takes up Keith's pillow and Keith feels bad about moving him. he allows it. and in the morning, he indeed picks Lance up and makes his way back to Lance's place, Lance purring all along where he's tucked into Keith's jacket. he's never been so close to Keith before and he's delighted.

he's definitely going to be visiting Keith a lot more.

shenanigans will ensue. Lance will learn why Keith is the way he is. he will learn why he keeps getting rejected. and it will conversely make him love Keith all the more.

then Lance changes back. bc Keith is a fucking sap who will definitely start talking to Lance like he's a real person and spill all his secrets, including the fact that he misses Lance and originally felt abandoned by him, but is now really concerned about him. Lance won't be asleep like Keith was in Dog Days. he'll be awake when the penny drops. he'll be wide awake when Keith is adding to his missing mother board and explaining it to Lance. when he tells Lance the Cat that Lance the Person makes it hard for him to want to leave permanently at the end of his school years.

when Keith says, “I want to come back to him,” and realizes Keith's in love with him and has been for a while.

and Keith, who has been suspecting he's losing it bc he keeps seeing Lance in a cat, will see Lance suddenly blink into existence where the cat was, naked as the day he was born, and go, "yeah, that tracks," and while he's still stunned, Lance will kiss him.

or something like that.

[chysgoda]

Beginning City

A prompt fill for @voidsentprinces's countdown to Dawntrail prompts!

Art’imis sipped the tea Momodi had given her. Momodi herself had been called away to get four new adventurers signed up in her book. They looked so damn young. Even younger than her daughter who was now a seasoned soldier and adventurer herself. How many books had been filled up with names since she had put her own down? That had been…she didn’t want to think about that number. 

“And what’s gotten that expression on your face?” Momodi asked. The lalafellan woman placed her hands on her hips. 

“I think I need to Limsa up this tea,” Art’imis sighed, “with the good stuff.”

“And what brought that on?” Momondi laughed as she looked for the whiskey in the cupboards under the counter. 

“Thall’s platinum balls, they’re babies!” The paladin made a vague gesture in the direction the newly sanctioned adventurers had wandered off in. “Babies!”

“Art’imis you were that old when you came to Ul’dah.” Momondi said, her words muffled by the counter. She popped up with the whiskey bottle she’d been looking for and poured a generous amount in the tea cup. 

Art’imis wrinkled her nose as she protested. “I was in my twenties when I signed that book!”

Momondi reached up to flick the end of an ivory horn. She snorted when Art’imis made a face at the buzz it caused in her head. “You were that age when you started on the blood sands, which some people might say is worse.”

Art’imis took a long sip of her fortified tea so she could ignore Momondi’s snorted laughter at her sulk. She looked out across the tavern and back through the years. So many landmarks in her early adventuring career had happened here. So many meals were taken here when Bel was young and she’d been too dead tired to cook for them at home. For a few years it had been the only place in Ul’dah she had felt safe after the bloody banquet. 

“A gil for your thoughts?” Momondi asked.

Art’imis blinked and came back to the present, “Just remembering when I practically lived here between meals, seeing what leves there were, meeting clients.”

The Momodi started wiping down the counter in the barman’s never ending battle with smudges. “You had a bit of an advantage with clients back then, since you’d been rubbing elbows with the who’s who of the upper crust for almost a decade before Mylla kicked you down to us.”

Art’imis laughed and took another sip of tea. “Just been thinking about beginnings and new adventures.”

“And where’s your eye turning next?” Momondi leaned against the counter always ready for the latest gossip. 

“X’rhun and I will be heading to Tural sometime soon.” Art’imis turned so she was fully facing the other woman. When had those crow’s feet developed around her eyes? She took another sip of her tea. “I’m thinking of taking Gale and Zephyr, giving the shield a rest.”

“Pelhi’sae’s blades?” 

“I think I can pick up the style again without spiraling,” Art’imis looked from her tea cup up into Momodi’s face. 

Momodi frowned for a long moment and then rubbed her forehead. “Have you spoken to Mylla?”

It was easier to tell when Art’imis was irritated now, Momodi thought, the golden aether scaring glinted when her eyebrows twitched subtly. Art’imis was better at keeping that irritation from ruling her responses now too, so her voice was even. “No, I didn’t think there was a need to.”

Momodi looked out over the tables filled with adventurers and all the folk that tended to congregate around them. She turned her head to the ruby door, she could still picture Mylla practically dragging one of the highest earning stars on the sands in to sign up with the adventurer’s guild… had it really been fifteen years ago?  

Silence stretched between them and Art’imis deflated just a bit. “I was in bad straights then.”

“You’d have been a dead woman walking if you’d continued on the path you were on,” Momodi stated plainly. She’d always prided herself on being honest with her adventurers. 

The woman known as the warrior of light flinched and then rested her weight on the edge of the bar. “I guess you’ve a right to worry. You saw the worst of it, when I spiraled out after Pelhi’sae’s death.”

Momodi rested a hand on Art’imis’s arm. “He was your father in every way that counted, how you lost him would have broken anyone.”

“There’s been a lot of my stories that have ended since the final days, I’d like to finish this one too. I need to be able to look back on him without those years just after haunting me.” Art’imis looked at the wall behind Momodi. 

“You’ve got people who care enough to keep you together, now.” The matron didn’t comment on the wet sheen in her friend’s eyes. “You don’t need to ask for my blessing to do this.”

“No, but I didn’t want you to worry when you saw them on my back.” 

Momodi patted her arm, “thank you for the warning, but you’d best let Mylla know as well.” 

“I think I’ll need some more Limsan tea,” Art’imis grimaced, thinking of approaching the high strung guild mistress, “without the tea.” 

Momodi laughed and left the whiskey bottle at Art’imis’s elbow so she could attend to a patron approaching the bar. The raen woman watched her and considered the roll book that still sat on the bar. She finished her tea and indulged her wandering mind in some philosophy, just because the story was finished didn’t mean it vanished. She poured a shot into the tea cup and slammed it back before sealing the bottle. She fished a small bag of gil out of her pocket and caught Momodi’s eye. She held up the bottle and then dropped the gil pouch onto one of the many step stools behind the bar. 

Offering obtained, Art’imis stood and went to see Mylla. 

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

something about trust

Writing below the cut!

“How… does it feel?” Locus asked haltingly. Lopez shrugged. “<Weird. But I expected that.>” Locus hummed, his brow furrowed like he was lost in thought as he scanned Lopez’s face. Lopez grabbed Locus’ wrists, bringing his hands to his throat.  “What are you--?” “<One way to test it. Take my head off.>” Locus’ eyes widened, his expression turning panicked. He tried to pull his hands away, but Lopez held him steady. “<You are the only person strong enough,>” Lopez said firmly, giving the other no room to balk any further. “<If this synthskin doesn’t fix the problem, I want to know now, not later.>” Lopez could feel the way Locus’s hands shifted, his fingers flexing as he fought some internal debate. Lopez couldn’t read his mind, but the flicker of those marble grey eyes was telling as Locus looked at his hands around Lopez’s throat, then to his face and then back again and again. “<It doesn’t hurt, if that’s what all this fuss is about.>” Not strictly true, having his head removed wasn’t exactly a pleasant feeling. But better to do it now, with some degree of control, than in the middle of a fight or an accident. The sensation of feeling everywhere his skin touched was strange though, the normally very localized sensors spread out across the surface of the synthskin. Was this how humans felt things all the time? No wonder they were so easily distracted. Neither of them moved. “You’re certain?” Locus asked finally, his voice little more than a whisper. Lopez raised an eyebrow and let himself grin just a little at being able to convey the sentiment properly. Maybe there were some advantages to the synthskin after all. “<I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t.>” A nod, then the pressure. Lopez knew Locus was strong, for a human, but the feeling of his hands tightening around his neck and pulling at his jaw, the base of his metal skull…  His head didn’t budge, and the pressure eased. Lopez clicked his tongue, releasing Locus’ wrists. “<Good. That is one problem fixed, at least.>”

[elilelibeli]

Sirius Black discovers magic of a good dress:

“Sirius hurry up” Remus was begging at this point with no success. Sirius was nowhere near ready, or quite frankly even near begging to get ready. He always took long showers, but since he was dreading to go tonight he took his extra time.

“Perfection takes time Moony” Sirius chirped while he helped Remus tie a bowtie. His hands slipped from his neck trailing down slowly.

“Sirius, stop it, it will not work on me right now. We have cancelled three times already, we are going tonight. Please just get dressed, you know I hate to be late.”

“But Moony please It’s such a horrid weather, it’s perfect for staying in, look the bed’s practically calling your name” Sirius purred, draped on their bed, softly patting his hand as an invitation to Remus.

“Oh you are being so bratty right now.” Remus murmured to himself, “You know I would rather stay in too but we can’t reschedule again. We go tonight and it will be over.” Remus pulled Sirius’s arm gently to get him off the bed. “You have 15 minutes.” he shook his head while watching Sirius glaring at him stubbornly. “Come on don’t be a princess” Remus said as he was leaving the room.

Sirius, still half naked stomped to his closet. “Uu Sirius be responsible, don’t be a brat, stop being difficult, blablabla” he was mumbling to himself laced with annoyance as he was scanning his closet to choose something to wear. Suddenly he smirked as if he saw the target he had been long searching for, he quietly chuckled “I’ll show you a princess”

It took Remus to call Sirius the third time for him to finally descend from their bedroom.

Remus’s reaction looked almost animated, as if he had come to a halt. Sirius smirked secretly, as he casually walked to get his boots and a leather jacket from the doorway closet. He did expect a reaction, a surprise, a mild shock even, after all he was wearing a dress, a beautiful dark red dress.

“Come on Moony, we’ll be late” Sirius said sweetly as if he didn’t just manage to break Remus.

“Oh sorry, yes coming, grab the keys will you?” Remus, as if someone had restarted his system suddenly came back to action. Sirius could smell the awkwardness surrounding him.

Sirius was happy, his revenge plan was working perfectly. If he was forced to attend by Remus, he would make him feel awkward and embarrassed with dressing up in a dress. He was suffering, so Remus would have to suffer, it was only fare.

“Is this new?” Remus coughed awkwardly when they got into the cab.

“It’s Mary’s she asked me to grab her dry cleaners the other day” Sirius said casually. “I don’t think she would mind tho.”

“No, don’t think she would” Remus agreed quietly, looking away in the mirror.

They didn’t talk much after, giving Sirius time to think and that was never a good thing, because the outcome was either massive menacing or massive overthinking and how this thought train was going, the spiral was coming his way.

Suddenly he felt stupid. He was such a hothead, just wanting to embarrass his sweet, nice Remus. They were going to go to public and he was sure he would get looks, those weird, sinister looks. Yeah, just like clockwork, he was spiraling.

The taxi stopped, Remus getting off to open the door for Sirius

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Remus asked.

Of course he immediately noticed distress on Sirius’s face, he always knew.

“Sorry..” Sirius mumbled scrunching the fabric of his dress with his nervous hands.

“What for?” Remus asked genuinely confused.

“The dress” Sirius was staring at his feet, “I was so annoyed at you for making me come and I wanted you to suffer like I would be tonight, I saw the dress and I thought I’d wear it to embarrass you, you called me a princess so I thought I’d show up dressed like one to get on your nerves”

“Embarrassed?” Remus looked even more confused somehow, “Why would I ever be embarrassed because of you?, do you think i’d be embarrassed to walk around with you in a dress?” He looked at Sirius.

Sirius was still staring at the ground. “I just didn’t think this through you know.. I just thought..”

“Sirius look at me” Remus said firmly, waiting to look Sirius in his eyes. “Do you like wearing this dress?”

Sirius gazed at the boy, he didn’t really think about how he felt. First, it was just a stupid revenge plan, which quickly turned into an overthinking spiral so in between that he didn’t really have time to think how the dress made him feel.

If he was honest, he did like how he looked, and he felt quite powerful in his dress. The dark red looked really good with his complexion, the shape of the dress complemented his physique perfectly and it went so well with his leather jacket and doc martens. He felt quite good.

“Um.. I think so?” Sirius hesitated “I quite like the color” he mumbled.

“You are right. This color is amazing on you, you look absolutely beautiful sweetheart” Remus smiled at Sirius.

Well Sirius was wearing a dress which apparently made him absolutely beautiful and he was also about to cry.

Remus chuckled, probably noticing Sirius’s my eyes are about to be filled with tears look, “Let’s go inside, yeah?” Sirius could only nod.

The pair made their way to the entrance, Remus’s hand on Sirius’s back. Remus smiling at him, checking in one last time, as they went in.

Sirius was wearing a dress and Remus was next to him holding on like he wanted to show off to everyone that he was here with Sirius, like Sirius belonged in his arms, next to him, like he had won a prize.

Sirius’s plan had failed so miserably.

“I thought I made you upset when you saw me at first, I thought you’d be scared or embarrassed to go with me like this” Sirius said to Remus once they found a moment to each other again.

“What? No..” Remus started to explain himself.

“No worries Moony, it was quite funny you just stopped working there for a sec and you were so awkward all the way here”

“Yes cause I was stunned to see you, you quite literally took my breath away as you walked past me and you did it so casually like it didn’t take all my self control not to jump you right there and then in the hallway” Remus rumbled, pink blush creeping up to his cheeks.

“Oh you really like the dress, don’t you?” Sirius teased, every little bit of insecurity and doubt leaving his body. He felt so powerful at that moment.

“Oh you have no idea” breathed out Remus, “Although, I am planning to show just how much and even though your plan failed tonight, mine will work out so very perfectly” he winked and walked away leaving Sirius with a dumbfounded look and blush the same shade as his dress coloring his cheeks.

[sysig]

“My streamer” voice: My doctorrrrrr (Patreon)

[havenshereagain]

WIP Wednesday!

I did finally finish the de-aged Tim fic (i'm waiting for that prompt for batfam week to post) so i'm not gonna post a snippet of it, but I do have two others to post from! One is kinda a vent fic of a thing i've been thinking about in my own life applied to Tim and Dick (i know i make their relationship strained a lot, but i enjoy playing with their dynamic) - not sure why i've been thinking about it since it happened years ago, but i am. The other is inspired by finding out DC has their own version of ao3, with Jaytim both being fic writers reading each other's hero RPF without realizing who the other is

Tim and Dick Vent Fic

Dick's face softened slightly at that and he patted Tim's hand. "You're too old for that, bud," he said, and Tim felt his heart break. Of course. It was the same argument his parents always used about physical affection - it was childish to want, Tim was too old, he was better than that. He just hadn't expected Dick to think the same thing.

He wrenched his hand from Dick's, turning on his side away from him. "Righ'," he muttered, trying to blink back the tears welling in his eyes. "'m too old t'need t'be taken care of. You can-" he broke off to cough, sitting up against the pillows but still keeping his eyes off Dick. Tim couldn't look at him right now. "You can go." Tim felt a hand on his shoulder and pulled away from it, lurching forward with another cough.

Jaytim Tales of Our Own

Tim was always blown away by how well dar managed to write he and Jason's relationship. They almost always managed to actually get Red Robin right - he wouldn't just stand back or stand down, he would argue with Red Hood, push back against his bullshit, and, when they wrote combat, was able to hold his own easily. They wrote Hood getting saved by Red more often than the other way around, though the new fic was an exception.

It was actually reminiscent of something that'd happened maybe a month or so ago, where Tim got in over his head with some drug traffickers and waited until the last minute to call for back up - only for Jason to show up barely two minutes later and decimate the guys. Jason had apparently already been on his way for his own reasons when Tim's call for back up went through, and he was pissed about Tim going in on his own. The two had actually argued briefly on a rooftop about it - maybe a clip of that had been the inspiration? Usually Tim was good about not being filmed, but he'd been tired and annoyed that night, and even he wasn't perfect about spotting onlookers.

[gamebunny-advance]

Most Inane Rambling Yet

Sorry I haven't been around. Just been feeling *weird* lately. I'm just not connecting with my hobbies right now.

That said, I did go ahead and pick up "Date Everything" recently.

I don't have the "fandom brainworms" for it the way I did NSR, but I am burning through it pretty heavily. (But, I do that for literally EVERY game I own. There's a difference between my fandom brainworms, and the "consume literally every piece of content that exists for this thing" brainworms. They can overlap, but less often than you'd think.)

Anyway, I've got a lot of thoughts about it, but this is the most inane one:

(Frank discussion about sex past this point. Also, spoilers for Date Everything.)

Despite being a game where you can ostensively date and/or f*ck anything, it seems actually kind of unkind to objectum people.

Granted, it's not a community I have a lot of experience or knowledge about, but despite the premise of the game, it does seem to shame you a bit if you actually want to fuck your furniture.

Not *heavily*, but there is some built-in disdain for the concept. If you bring it up to Skylar (responding with "What if I actually want to fuck the furniture?" when you ask her if that's what's actually happening in the more "intimate" scenes), she reacts in disgust to this. It's not like an "Oh... okay..." kind of dismissal that I think would be expected from the tone of the game, but she reacts with actual disdain for you if you answer like that. Like, this is probably meant to be self depreciating humor, like, "Hey, isn't it crazy that we're insinuating that you're actually fucking your furniture?" without realizing that there are in fact people that want to fuck their furniture unironically.

Like, you can absolutely think that's weird. I'm just in the camp of, "If it's not hurting anybody, then let people do what they want." It just strikes me because otherwise this game is basically about the power of empathy. Most characters are treated sympathetically, in spite of their flaws. Very few characters are taken as "jokes" or shamed, even if their disabilities can initially present themselves in humorous ways. Distinct exceptions to this rule are the characters that present as non-human, even with the dateviators.

The first is Sinclair the sink. Most of the player character's reactions to Sinclair are dismissive at best and outright aggressive at worst. I guess because the player is supposed to assume that he's just a liar rather than someone that's actually struggling with insanity. In reality, he's suffering from drug-induced confusion, but I don't think that should make him a less sympathetic person. And I think they only thought they could get away with this because he is less anthropomorphized than the other characters.

This is a man struggling to make sense of who he is right now, and the player's kindest action to him is just to figure out the cause of his confusion. You are never given options to sympathize with his situation, just try to solve it. It irks me a little because very few of the mental health focused routes expect you to "fix" the person. They usually respect that "fixing" those sorts of problems isn't possible, or at the very least is gonna take a long time to overcome. The best ending for a lot of these is just giving those characters the tools they need to help cope with their bad mental health and/or support them through their journey as they work out their problems. With Sinclair, the player character is never written to actually be supportive of him. He's essentially treated as a puzzle box as part of someone else's quest, instead of a person in need *because* he is a sink.

Second is Dishy, whose gimmick doesn't need additional explaining, but he is nonetheless a less anthropomorphized character that is treated as a "joke" option specifically because he is less human. Don't get me wrong, it's funny. The commentary about invasive smart-appliances is topical, and the evil mascot character is basically a staple at this point. But that doesn't change that he's a joke-character *because* he is a dishwasher.

But, if you want to be totally fair, (at least as I recall), sex-scenes with these characters aren't written any less sincerely than the others. So at the very least, the game does *let* you fuck them if you want to, and it is still described sensually. But it's shaking its head disapprovingly as it does so.

And I wanna make it clear, I'm not offended by any of this, and I don't know if actual objectums would be. I can't really say that the game is "punching down" because objectums are such a niche and unknown community. It's the kind of thing that would sound ridiculous to the average person, and is thus a source of comedy. And, these characters are funny. It is funny that I get to have a boss battle with my dishwasher and then willingly fuck it afterwards. It is funny when the sink-man breaks the 4th wall to tell you to get him off the character introduction screen. It is funny that both of their human forms are decidedly off-putting on purpose to further emphasize that they are very different from the others.

I just think it's weird that a game about fucking your furniture shames you if you want to fuck your furniture. But I think the idea that I'm even taking it that seriously is the most inane thing I've done in a while.

Nonetheless, these are my honest thoughts about the situation.