#so be prepared for a lot of shippy posts

[ingravinoveritas]

"I'm not quite sure where the character began and Michael ended."

- Michael Sheen in an interview in 2019.

[weyrwolfen]

Happy Cody Day! Have Some Fic Recs

I wasn't able to finish writing anything for the 2-2-24 cause, so it seems like the least I could do was throw some recommendations for a few of my favorite Cody-centric fics into the ring to help celebrate. Enjoy!

Gen:

And Your People Shall Never Be Destroyed (complete) by independent_variables

Summary: A-017 turned and regarded him silently for a long moment. “You ask a lot of questions, Kote.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Is it really as simple as being one or the other?”

Kote bit his tongue.

‘17’s expression tightened, and he stepped forward to grip Kote’s shoulder.

“One day you’re going to ask a question you don’t like the answer to,” he said, eyes bright and burning. “And that’s when you’ll have to decide: is this a good thing, or a bad thing?”

My Comments: Features a whole slew of precocious CC cadets dealing with the horror show that is Kamino, but Cody is the POV character for the first, longest fic in this multi-story series. Heartbreaking with a happy, hopeful ending.

First Choice (complete) by smilebackwards

Summary: The clones get to choose their Jedi generals.

My Comments: This series has three fics in it, and while the first one is Obi-Wan-centric, the next two are from Cody's POV. The first two are a bit more serious in tone, while the last one is basically Cody's brothers relentlessly trolling him.

Shippy Fics (nothing explicit, because those fics are between me, God, and probably some overworked Ao3 website volunteers):

Our Own Choices (WIP Cody/Obi Wan) by heartofroses112

Summary: CC-2224 made the choice. Cody had to live with it. The Commander... well, he was prepared to burn the galaxy down as penance.

Or, Cody decides to leave the Empire, but that doesn't stop his past decisions from haunting him. In the midst of trying to repent for the crimes he 'willingly' committed, Cody may very well start a rebellion against the Empire while he's at it.

My Comments: Can it really be called shippy if we're 88 chapters in and the tagged pairing hasn't actually laid eyes on one another? Anyway, Codywan is pretty clearly endgame, if that either is or distinctly is not your thing. I'm mostly here for my catnip, which is the post-Clone Wars clone rebellion angle.

Our Caches and Constellations (complete Cody/Obi-Wan) by johanneb

Summary: Eleven years ago, the Jedi order got wind of the closing pincers of a Sith trap and scattered to the remote corners of the galaxy. Ten years ago, millions of clone commanders and troopers were introduced as the Republic’s new Army, made for fighting a war alongside people the galaxy seemed to be forgetting ever existed. Nine months ago, Commander Cody decided he was no longer going to risk his men's lives for the whims of clueless generals. Now, his decision to save a boy and a man in the desert, and the plan he comes up with to get away with it, will change the galaxy.

My Comments: Cody quiet quits the Empire as a prelude to loudly quitting the Empire, which is a lot easier in an AU where all space flight and communications technology is steampunk-y and fairly slow. Very creative world building.

100% open to receiving some recs too. I know both shippy recs were Codywan, but I'm not actually all that attached to that ship over any other. Happy @codyday2224 everyone!

[lynne-monstr]

i finished the spirealm show this morning. ramblings, both the good and the bad, under the cut. spoilers ahead!

i guess i should preface this by saying that i don't think most of the stuff I hated was bad. i just didn't like it. that's very much a me thing and i'm willing to own it. also i reference episodes in viki-length episodes.

anyway. i absolutely loved loved adored and am obsessed with the first 26 episodes. all the characters are great, the door mysteries are fun, and i really enjoy the glimpses of life outside the doors. yes, it's a video game murder show but for the most part, it's a fun romp.

super fun, super gay. literally every episode gave me something fun to shout about.

around halfway through i started bracing myself for people dying, but when it didn't happen i dropped my guard. and then episode 27 happened and i was not mentally prepared for cute fave li dongyuan to actually die.

to be honest, the reason i binged the last 12 episodes was because after he died, i lost a lot of interest and investment in the show. but i still wanted to know how it ended so instead of dragging it out for several more weeks, which i like to do when I'm enjoying something, i closed it off in under 24 hours.

that being said, i don't think they way it handled li dongyuan's death was bad. i loved that they kept referencing him afterwards. so many shows forget about characters the moment they die and i appreciate that my cute fave's presence continued to be strongly felt.

and then the more lovable side characters that died, the more i emotionally pulled away. I feel bad that my emotional enjoyment tanked so suddenly because I enjoyed the door with all the boxes and bonus that it was packed full of such good shippy stuff. but I mostly watched it on autopilot.

also it was a bit of a letdown that the big bad villain turned out to be so pathetic in the end. though on the other hand, it's exactly what he deserved.

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion but I really loved all the stuff that happened after the 11th door when ling jiushi wakes up from his "coma." i guess because I love the trope of what happens once the hero's journey is over and they get booted back into normal life. there's so much good possibility there, especially with ling jiushi knowing all of his friends but now they're softer versions of themselves who don't know him.

i have a desperate need for post-canon fic where ling jiushi goes on a befriending mission with all the people who had become his family. together they use the power of friendship and combined financial assets to hunt down pieces of the original world that are still present in the new reality. ljs uses these pieces to bring rnz back to life. the whole team gets up to all sorts of shenanigans trying to get him a real identity and make sure no one else can find the clues to bring back the original murder game.

also i want the chen fei backstory of why he switched from veterinary medicine to people medicine in the new universe.

(the entire 50 Years Later epilogue was equal parts ridiculous and depressing and I'm going to pretend like it never happened. it gave me the sad vibe if ling jiushi never managed to connect with any of his old friends or ruan nanzu again. and so he made fake copies of them that he could play pretend with.)

okay this got way longer than expected so I'll end with my absolute favorite scene of the last 12 episodes that will live rent-free in my head forever. and that's the three-way obsidian group hug that happens after the npc reveal. specifically the way chen fei rests his chin on ruan nanzqu's shoulder. excuse me while i die of happiness. they're a team, they're a family!

[x-i-l-verify]

20 Questions For Writers

Was tagged by @kuraiarcoiris and decided why not. :V

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

35. I have more on other sites, but since I've made my AO3 account, that's how many I've posted there.

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2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

656,547. Give or take a couple thousand.

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3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently? Dream SMP. But I also have an Inscryption WIP and a couple Kpop WIPs that I really should get back to one of these days. orz But I've written for all sorts of fandoms over the years.

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4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

5) Its Suffering Was Real [Inscryption]

This is the one that came as the biggest shock to me when I went and looked at my kudos count in preparation for this write-up. Like, really? People like the fic where I torture the sassy robot trapped in the body of a stoat for 7k words that much??

4) A Shoulder to Lean On [Avatar: The Last Airbender]

WHERE did all these people come from, I have like 6 comments on this thing (not counting my replies)??? I mean, I'm flattered, but ??!!?!

3) Accepting Amelioration [Voltron: Legendary Defender]

I mean, it's a Voltron fic posted back when the fandom was in full swing, it doesn't really surprise me the kudos counter is considerable, though I am still surprised it got that much traction considering the fic is gen and not shippy. Am still proud I made the first daemon AU in the entire fandom, though, if this is my claim to fame, then I'm ok with that. :p

2) Temporary Shelter [Astro / VIXX]

I seriously have no freaking clue how this little self indulgent Kpop crossover fic became so popular, I really don't. I mean, Kpop crossovers are niche at the best of times, and these two groups aren't exactly the most popular Kpop fandoms on AO3 if you know what I mean. It basically started as "wouldn't it be fun if my two favorite Kpop groups were secretly friends all this time? How would I have that happen, tho?" and then snowballed from there. I, uh. I'm glad so many other people like it, ig? 0_0

1) Paved with Pawprints [My Hero Academia]

Of course it's the MHA pet AU fic. Of course. OF COURSE-

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5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely. It's only fair I reply if someone takes the time to read on my work and actually give me feedback about it, wouldn't you say? Plus, like most authors, I enjoy talking about my own work, so sue me. >:p

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6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't usually do angsty endings; I prefer happy or at least bittersweet ones. I guess by default, it has to be the fic where I slowly killed off America and China from Axis Powers Hetalia for 13k words, while the rest of the cast had already been dead for centuries at that point. So yes, the entire cast of that series was dead by the end of that fic. :))) IN MY DEFENSE, ok, I was actually trying to give them a bittersweet ending by reuniting them with all of their old friends and family by finally letting them rest after so long alone, but it still turned out really sad. TT TT It's basically my only fic where I can't go back and reread it more than once every couple of years, because I still end up a sobbing mess by the end.

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7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Well, I guess that's what you define "happiest" as. The most cathartic? The one with the least amount of trauma and extreme bodily injury incurred by the characters? 🤔 I guess by the latter definition, it would Kaleidoscopic Perceptions, a very fluffy USPH college AU that I actually enjoyed writing a lot despite me not usually enjoying romance or college AUs.

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8. Do you get hate on your fic?

No, thankfully. I've gotten a couple kinda weird comments, and of course the obligatory "It's been X months since you updated were you aware?????" comments, but no outright negativity.

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9. Do you write smut?

LMAO. Absolutely not.

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10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes! I really love crossovers. I have a few common fallbacks that fit with a lot of fandoms (daemon AUs, Firefly AUs, etc.), but I also enjoy fandom-specific crossovers when I can figure out how to pull them off.

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11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No idea. I hope not!

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12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Just once for this Gravity Falls fic.

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13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes. It had a few ups and downs, but it was overall a really positive experience, and I think it turned out really well!

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14. What‘s your all-time favorite ship?

idk that I have an ALL TIME favorite ship, especially since I hardly ever ship anything, but Frobin is pretty choice, I gotta say.

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15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Er, none of them, hopefully? I hope that I eventually get to finish all my WIPs at some point, even if it might take me awhile. >.>; But I suppose if I had to pick ONE to abandon, I'd probably pick Written In, my D&D Inscryption crossover AU. I like the IDEA for it, but writing it out is like pulling teeth, and after the first installment where the party gets together, I don't really have a lot of ideas on where to take the plot. :/ Like I have the general overarching idea but no plot structure or anything but small disconnected story beats.

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16. What’s your writing strengths?

I like to think I do a pretty good job with descriptions while not bogging the story down too much with too much detail?

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17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

Uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh, staying motivated ig. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ if you're asking my weakness about mechanics, though, uh... exposition, I guess? Dialogue in general, sometimes.

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18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

If there is actual information included in the other language, then you better provide a translation. If it's just for flavor, though, have at it.

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19. First fandom you wrote for?

TMNT, specifically the 2003 show. It's never been posted anywhere on the internet and never will. :)

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20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Becoming Real, a Kpop fanfic based on VIXX's Voodoo Doll MV. However, it can easily stand on its own as its own original work. I consider it the most accessible story I've ever written, and it also was just very easy for me to write. Writing is often like pulling teeth for me, but not this story.

Tagging: @breezy-cheezy, @quicktothebatjalopy, @hiding-in-the-vault, @variablememory, @bleue-flora, @theriu

[quaddmgd]

Yes it can! Got something cool to show ya.

So on a Tuesday night I was kinda stuck in the workroom, running rendering tasks, so I figured I can at least pop in a CP77 disc into the One S I have lying around. I had to make some preparations for my future Corpo AU shots and I've never played the last gen version before, so I was already excited to try it out.

I did all I wanted in about 15 minutes and decided to quickly shoot some pictures to see how they stack up against Series X (apart from lower resolution of course). Halcyon suggested that I start Nocturne Op55N1 to get some pics with Hanako. I decided to ship Corpo!Crystal with her after all (now you know). What the hell, I'm stuck here anyway, right?

So let's see what we can achieve with the most vanilla photo mode experience possible and the right mindset - in Cyberpunk 2077 v1.61 on Xbox One S.

I was wondering if I can get any shippy saturday material with such a limited set of tools. I got Crystal as close to Hanako as possible, then tried out (mostly unfitting) poses that I'd deviously cut to make them look convincing enough, similarly to my previous vanilla photo mode ventures (I have yet to post some of my favorites).

It worked well enough, even with the barrier around Hanako stopping me from getting them really close together. I created tension between them, simply by having Crystal "Eavesdrop (Left)", "Distracted Girlfriend" or "C'mere, Gonkbrain" towards Hanako.

But come on.... they had to kiss somehow.

I focused on poses that: a) have Crystal lean in any direction b) have an up/down slider to compensate for the height loss from leaning

Leaning poses made it possible to bring them even closer to each other, but it wasn't enough. No matter which one I chose, her barrier was impossible to break... or so I thought.

See, the counter is seemingly inaccessible, but jumping on any stool makes it easy to get on. Collision system tries really hard to push you off of it but, with some luck, switching photo mode on and off can stop it from happening*, let you stay on top and move freely. Now I was back using poses with up/down sliders and I quickly settled on "Off to the Races" as the one most likely to make them kiss. Luckily, the minimum slider value was IDEAL to get Crystal's lips on the same level as Hanako's. The only issue was with moving C left/right/close/far, as her collision remained in the same place she spawned - on the bar top. At this point sliders were useless, so I had to go back to gameplay to correct her position. After some trial and error I set her perfectly. Now a quick rotation towards Hanako and voila! Now they kiss! * - if your V spawns with the default starting pose - "Tabula Rasa", "What Can I Get Ya?" or "Night City Strut" - then it's a good sign

And how does it look from the outside perspective?

Yes, that's a lot of steps and time spent on a small photo shoot. The lighting is what it is, their eyes are open, Johnny The Parasite stands exactly where I'd want to place the camera, but it's still cute and it proves that creativity can get you places with vanilla photo mode. And final results can look really good, even on a base Xbox One.

Of course, photo editing software like GIMP can get you even better results. I use it to change aspect ratio of my pics, patch up any lighting/texture bugs, and sometimes for basic color correction. For the sake of clarity, I didn't use it for shots in this post. Just know it's there and it's easy to learn.

I couldn't decide whether it should be a blog post or a tutorial, so it's a blog post that goes step by step through my thought process, I guess. I might do some vanilla VP tutorials in the future, if the demand is there, but right now my job doesn't even let me finish my Legacy of Kain: Defiance playthrough, so I can't promise anything!

[giggly-squiggily]

Amazing, Showstopping, Glamorous Blue Lock Headcanons That Are Definitely True Ego Told Me So #2

Whoops I tripped and fell into the Blue Lock Dub we're back at it again WHOOO!

Now with shippy bits because I can :P

Rin likes to say words of gratitude in English to his teammates because none of them speak/understand him. He'll say something like: "I appreciate you. Thank you for making my time here at Blue Lock that much more fulfilling." And Isagi will just be all: "What? Whatcha say?" He always bullshits them after though. "I said you suck." "OI-"

Nagi and Chigiri like to quote dumb memes/vines/tiktoks at the most inconvenient times. They mainly does it to annoy Barou; It drives the resident King up a wall when it's 2 am and all he hears is: "FrEsh LeMonAID, FrEShly Squeezed~" There had to be a "No memes" ban placed after Barou threatened to strangle Chigiri with his hairdryer and shove Nagi's phone up his-

Gagamaru and Raichi have an ongoing slap war. Whenever one passes the other they make it a point to cuff the back of that person's head and RUN. Currently Gagamaru's got the lead by height alone, but Raichi gets creative in his return smacks. Junichi doesn't participate; he's witnessed one too many beds breaking when Raichi's retreat plan flopped and Gagamaru attacked back.

Reo's entire playlist post Nagi's betrayal consisted of "Kill Bill" by SZA on repeat. One time Chigiri and Kunigami heard Reo crooning in the shower "I might kill my Nagi~ Where to hide the body?~"

Sae likes massages but refuses having his feet touched. A lot of people assume it's because he has a superstition about "Massaging them removes the luck within" (Shidou's BS), but really he's just stupidly ticklish there that even the attempt to grab them will make him giggle like a child. (And yes- Shidou knows abou this. Yes- he has walked out of a tickle fight with a broken nose because of it.)

Aryu despises spicy food. He can't take the heat and it makes him all sweaty. "So not glam" he whined after accidentally ordering too hot a bowl of ramen. He also hates milk- so it's a constant cycle of eating the spicy ramen as not to waste it, and then chugging milk to ease the burn, and then eating more spicy ramen to get the taste of milk out of his mouth, etc. etc.

Isagi was over the moon when he found out Chigiri's favorite song was "Blue Bird" by Ikimono Gakari. Then he felt beyond betrayed when said redhead told him he'd never seen an episode of Naruto in his life and heard the song on his sister's playlist one day; hence why he likes it.

Bachira cannot take compliments. He get's all flustered and shy when even the smallest praise is passed his way. "Bachira, you did amazing last game!" Cue our monster dribbler covering his face and waving off the kind words with a "Staaaaaap~" Isagi finds it absolutely adorable and constantly finds things to compliment him on just to make the usually whimsical player stammer and blush.

Isagi is the only person who's effectively made Rin laugh. It wasn't a big one; just a small puff after Isagi made an off-hand remark about Ego giving "Big cheese stick energy" Isagi holds onto that memory like a trophy, forever proud that he was the first to make Rin smile before the younger boy looked away and refused to meet his gaze.

Kunigami does the thing where he'll go: "Chigiri, look at me?" And when said redhead does, he'll gently take his chin and kiss him. It never fails to fluster his boyfriend, even when he's prepared for it.

Niko once wore his bangs pushed back from his face. Everyone lost their shit because they'd never seen his eyes before and thought he was another person. (Also might have made some people heart-squeeze because he's adorable??? Have you seen his eyes- they're so big and green HELLO???)

Barou knows the Nyan Nyan Dance from Macross Frontier, along with various other anime dances. His two younger sisters are obsessed with them and begged him to teach them any new ones they discover. He absolutely refuses to share this knowledge with anyone and if someone were to suspect it; he'd threaten to kill them.

Rin openly despises Danganronpa because everyone keeps saying he's the "Blue Lock Shuichi Saihara"; but secretly he's thrilled at the comparison because he rather enjoyed Danganronpa. (Maki was his favorite). If asked though he'll say it's dumb.

Tokimitsu gives fabulous hugs- you just have to occasionally reassure him he's doing fine else he panics thinking he's hugging too tight or too loose. He doesn't really talk much, but the gesture says everything in itself.

[torchickentacos]

Pokemon Character Analysis- Hoenn

So, I was going to release all of these at once and then I realized I would surpass the character limit, so I’ll do it by region. THIS IS A LONG POST! I analyze and explain my interpretations and writing of Drew, May, Max, Harley, and Soldiad in this one but I invite everyone to add whatever they want- I know some of you have stuff to say about Drew and Caroline/Norman. Please feel free to add on! I LOVE seeing everyone’s opinions. Disclaimer, this is contestshippy. Not because of my bias, thought hat plays into it, but these two’s arcs and stories are just so interconnected that I can’t really talk about one without the other. Respectshippers, Advanceshippers, Sapphirepearlshippers, I see you and I love you, but I’m sorry because canon examples are what I use to back myself up here and canon examples are pretty explicitly contestshippy-but what I say here can be theoretically applied to the respective character in any ship. I’m doing Hoenn first because I hve them all finished. 

Max: Max is slightly more interesting than I think people pick up on. Like, yeah, he’s Max, but hear me out. He’s a nerd who likes to push people’s buttons, and he’s good at booksmarts. But he’s actually really far from the typical nerd stereotype in one big way- Thinking versus Feeling. Max acts emotionally. Like his sister, he’s a huge feeler rather than a thinker. He wants to form friendships with pokemon, more so than people. Everything else with him is fairly surface level and not worth going over, but I do like him as a character. There just isn’t much there aside from that. 

May: May is interesting, because a lot of people seem to not know where to go with her aside from food and being sweet. I think that the one thing people miss out on with her is that she reaches out to people. She initiates friendships and conversations and sometimes arguments, though usually Drew baited her into it. With Drew especially we see an interesting push and pull- a pattern of her trying to get him to talk to her or any variation of trying to interact with him, and he pulls away from her pushing. (Until he doesn’t.) She actively seeks out new things and people and relationships. She also sees the best in people even when they’ve done nothing to deserve it, as seen with Harley-who she put up with for entirely too long, but it speaks to her optimism and open-mindedness. She’ll forgive time and time again. This is getting more into headcanon territory, but I perceive her as someone who is really good at reading people emotionally (Drew’s crush aside lmao). She’s incredibly attuned to her mom as seen in Love, Petalburg Style!. She can read Max really well, as seen in the Jirachi Movie. We see her comforting Dawn after May perceives Dawn’s distress in the Wallace Cup arc. She’s empathetic. She feels someone else’s pain and wants to help them. Alternately, if she feels someone else’s excitement or happiness or anything, she mirrors that. So, when writing her, I tend to take other character’s emotions more into consideration because she picks up on them. She’s like an emotional sponge. I think she’s overall just a very emotionally intuitive person-even with Drew, though she couldn’t see the crush that everyone else could see clear as day. I think Drew knows that she’s intuitive, hence why he has a habit of trying to keep the upper hand in their interactions-so he can avoid her using that intuition on him- but let’s move on to Drew and get more into that. 

Drew: Alright, play some old Fall Out Boy songs, go to your local florist, and bring out the aqua pants. Time for this emotionally complicated dork. This is an interesting one, so prepare for a LONG section. Not that you guys would expect anything less from me at this point, I love analysing this guy. This is a little shippy but that’s only because I use canon examples of situations and tbh Drew doesn’t really talk to anyone but May. Overall, Drew is pretty introverted, a little pessimistic I think, and would rather sit back and analyze a situation, going over possibilities before making his move. He likes to be in control. We see this with him walking away after giving May roses- he’s controlling the situation by not giving her time to respond, therefore not putting him in an emotionally vulnerable situation. @lostlegendarie has some GREAT posts that analyze his body language, and all of it points to someone closed off. It’s worth noting those walls and the exterior seem to be mostly/only around May, which I’ll get to later. However, once those walls fall down, you’re left with someone gentle and pleasant, as seen most prominently in The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing, also known as Contestshipping Crack Cocaine. And life is but a seedy bathroom counter in a party. Anyways. Spiky walls aside, he’s actually pretty mild-mannered. Maybe not affectionate, but we’ve seen him being thoughtful and caring, going as far as to basically invite May to Johto with him (which, for him being an introvert who travels alone, feels really big to me. Essentially his way of saying ‘I want to spend time with you/I want you with me’.) With him, I think a lot of it is about reading into what he does-which May can do, hence why she puts up with his prickly exterior more than most people probably would. I think she can see that undercurrent of support. As far as affection goes, though, like most of his emotions it mostly happens inwardly. I think the biggest proof of this that we have in in Who, What, When, Where, Wynaut as well as The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing. So, shipping agenda aside (feel free to replace May with whoever you want, idc), he looks at May, fond expression on his face. He doesn’t reach out to her or vocally say anything, but the look on his face is enough. Inwardly, I’m sure there’s a lot more going on, but he’s the type to just sit back and look at someone, keeping the thoughts and hands to himself. Which sounded cleaner in my head. Should probably reword that. Okay, trying again at that, he’s more likely to just look and inwardly think about someone lovingly than to hug them or hold hands. There we go. I wrote this section at 2 AM if it isn’t clearly evident. Alright, moving on from that lmao. Finally, I said I’d get to this later- the walls and prickliness seem to only be around May. This falls over time, and I think you could go two ways about it- either it’s just him maturing as a character, or (in my opinion) it’s a vy for attention. He knows May reacts to his taunting, and he likes getting that attention. So, disclaimer, boys shouldn’t be mean to girls to get their attention, not cool. These two are my exception because it’s not him being mean to assert dominance or whatever-it’s him desperately trying to get a reaction out of her in the way he knows works, putting her in control (which is, I’m sure, an unintended consequence on his part). It may seem contradictory to what I said earlier about him being in control, but that’s the thing- it switches back and forth. Honestly? I truly believe if May had ignored him in some scenarios and not given in, it would be an entirely different dynamic-but that’s not in her nature, and he knows that. Overall, this creates a really fascinating power dynamic-a constant push and pull from both sides that makes every single interaction fascinating and something worth delving into and analyzing. When writing him, the main things I keep in mind are that the prickliness is mostly a facade, he’s really big on internalizing emotions and putting them in a little neat box that will eventually overflow, and he will analyze and overthink everything possible to ensure the best outcome. He likes to have control over his life and situations. 

Harley: So, here’s another interesting one. Harley is quick-witted, driven, individualistic, and far more intelligent emotionally and intellectually than people give him credit for. He can see a situation and see all of the openings for him to take advantage of it to make it go in his favor. He’s an opportunistic person. But emotionally, he’s incredibly skilled at getting under people’s skin. Where May is intuitive of reading people’s emotions, Harley is intuitive when it comes to causing emotions. He knows what makes people tick, and he knows how to take advantage of that. I’d say the only person Harley had a learning curve with is Drew- if I recall (and I very well may not), Harley first tries to get under Drew’s skin by mentioning Drew’s crush, which gets no reaction from Drew because Drew doesn’t really give a damn what Harley has to say about it. Then in one of the contest episodes, Harley takes to insulting May to Drew instead which does prompt a snarky remark back. That aside, we see this the most with May. HArley knows exactly how to get to her-ethough, she wears her emotions on her sleeve and it’s easier to see when he gets to her, so Drew may be more bothered by things than he lets on and we just can’t see it as easily. Back to Harley. He’s also a very- hear me out- justice-oriented person. He has a really strong sense of justice and righteousness-it just happens to be on his terms. He has a strong sense of justice, it just aligns to his morals which tend to differ from everyone else’s. If he feels that someone has done wrong by him, he will take action to bring about his perceived justice. An eye for an eye, revenge served cold. His sense of justice may not hold up in court, but it’s definitely an integral part of his personality. He believes in retribution. 

Solidad: Solidad is pretty clear to me, despite our lack of information on her. She sees someone having a problem and she wants to fix it, whether they asked-or wanted-her to or not. And she’ll do it in whatever way she sees fit. Most evidently seen when she straight up tells May Drew has feelings for her, because Solidad sees that as the best way to get May to understand him. She perceived an issue. She saw a way to fix it. She tries to fix it, even though Drew would not be happy with that. Usually it seems to work out in her favor, but this has huge potential to backfire. She does not run her fixing by anyone else-she just does it. Solidad is also very intuitive-she can read Drew very well, which is a skill next to nobody has. He’s usually about as clear as a brick wall to most people, aside from his blatant crush. But Solidad is likely the big sister type who can get almost anyone to open up to her- and even if they don’t open up, she can read them anyways. But where May is an intuitive emotional reader who picks up on things without any thought or without even realising it, I think Solidad is more intentional with her reading. She’s the type to consciously psychoanalyze someone. She has intention behind reading their emotions-it’s purposeful. May feels other people’s emotions. Solidad thinks about them and reads them. So again, writing Solidad means keeping tabs on everyone else’s emotions–but with more intentional action cues, like ‘Solidad caught (character) tense his shoulders’ or ‘she smiled as she saw (character) give a small laugh’. She actively sees and hears these things. May just picks up on it subconsciously. An important distinction, in my opinion-because they’re similar in that aspect but they go about it completely differently.

[rubberduckyrye]

Why I will never RB your Art if you say “Don’t Tag as X” (And why I will probably block you for it)

Okay so I’ve seen this. So many times in the tags, so many times on art posts that were otherwise good and awesome that I would have reblogged--but then I saw the “Don’t tag as X” thing, and rolled my eyes and chose not to RB the art. In some instances, I even block the artist.

Most of the time, this is in relation to ships and art that can be interpreted as shippy but the original artist doesn’t want their work to be interpreted that way. Which is the first red flag for me--art is meant to be interpreted in a million different ways. No two people are ever going to interpret any kind of art the same way as another person. So trying to control how people interpret your work is at best, a fools errand.

However that’s more of a petty reason above all else--the main reason why “Don’t tag as X” is a huge problem is, in relation to how people interpret things differently, is that no matter what you do, people WILL interpret your art in a certain way. A certain way that may involve being a trigger for them.

So let’s say I see an art piece that is... let’s say it’s for Character B and C. The artist asks me not to tag my potential reblog as BC. Let’s say I decide to oblige by the Artists request and don’t tag it as BC.

So let’s say we have Follower X. X used to heavily ship BC to hell and back, but because of harassment, they can no longer even look at B and C together without thinking about the harassment they faced. It’s a proper trigger for them. It’ll give them panic attacks upon seeing it.

Now let’s say we have Follower Y. Y never really shipped the ship itself, but their ex shipped it a LOT. Their ex was abusive. They associate the ship with their ex, so the ship is a trigger for them--just seeing B and C together triggers them. They get sick to their stomach upon reminders and avoid the ship for their mental health.

Follower Z is a bit different. They just don’t like the ship, and want it tagged for blacklisting purposes. Vague art of B and C being cute and cuddly included.

So now here’s a problem with “Don’t tag as X.” The artist doesn’t want me to tag their B and C art as BC. Except three followers really need that ship tagged as BC.

“But it’s not ship art!”

It doesn’t matter if it is, or isn’t “ship art.” Well what you mean is “romantic ship art” anyway, so any and all platonic art is a form of ship art, but I digress. It doesn’t matter if it was intended as ship art or not. People will interpret it as ship art regardless.

“You can make blacklist tags for those followers!”

No, I can’t. Not for everyone. I never said I personally knew X, Y, or Z as my followers. I can’t tag what I don’t know--and if I tried to tag every post with “(Follower) don’t look” I’d have a bajillion tags like that. It’s not practical.

“But tumblr makes you see tags in your activity feed and I don’t want to see people tagging my art as X!”

Oh well. Sorry, but I can’t really feel a lot of sympathy for people who are making it more difficult to allow others to curate their own experiences.

“But it triggers me to see my art tagged as X!”

That’s a right shame. However, you should be aware that even if people RB your art without the tag, people will still consider your art in a way you don’t like. This is something to discuss with your therapist or peers, because trying to police how others interact with your work is not it, fam.

“I’m still going to say don’t tag as X.”

Then be prepared to get blocked. I’m not obliged to RB your art, and I don’t want to see your art anymore if I can’t reblog it safely and add tags that I think are necessary.

“But you’re hurting artists by not RBing their work! You should just respect their boundaries!”

I am respecting their boundaries, but nice straw-man. Me not RBing their art is a form of keeping to that artist’s boundary. “Don’t tag as X”? Then I won’t reblog it, meaning I won’t tag it as X. Congrats, boundary respected. The artist might not like it, but that’s just how it is.

If they want their work to be seen by the mass public, they have to get comfortable with the idea that people are going to misinterpret their art and intentions behind their art, and that’s okay. If they are not at that stage of acceptance, they aren’t ready for it.

Anyway, that’s my Hot Take of the day. Brought to you by someone who’s seen “Don’t tag as X” one too many times.

[reliquiicis-a]

ooc — I am (still) slowly working through my tracker stuff and my drafts and throwing everything into queue. Then I need to backtrack and make sure I didn't miss any notifications.

After that I want to prepare some things for sinday tomorrow just so I don't forget and am forced to come up with something on the spot. In the meantime, feel free to send some things in before midnight and I'll get to all sinful things tomorrow <3 (you're also more than welcome to send in normal memes that are totally 100% safe for work, but my muses are in a mood so... why not take advantage, right?)

If you're waiting on a reply, check my tracker here. It is currently updated with my most recent stuff. I have a few in drafts I need to reply to at least once before I can add it to the tracker so don't worry if you don't see ours. If it's not there, you're more than welcome to reach out and see if I missed it -- because sometimes I do! Also if I liked something and haven't responded yet, it's probably lost in my likes so please poke me to remind me, uwu.

Like I said before, I am preparing for sinday tomorrow. I have a few schedule nsfw memes, but feel free to start sending things in early! You can find my memes here. Also if you want to send in multiple, don't feel bad about doing so... I love all memes and all interactions/ships!

My updated muse list is here -- my google docs are still a work in progress. Oops? But if you have any questions about a character or ship or anything in particular, feel free to reach out (either on here or discord -- which is available to all mutuals, you just gotta ask!)

I will be working on a mains and ships call post in a few days - hopefully within the next week - so keep an eye out for that <3 And tomorrow I will also be reaching out to those I haven't interacted with a whole lot or at all (especially newer mutuals) either in the form of memes or ooc discussions so bear with me. :))

That being said - do not feel scared to approach me. Even if we don't have a ship, you can send in shippy things, I don't mind!!

[smiletimeisrunningout]

okay, so, yesterday I had a Day, and today I woke up exhausted, but 4 hours from now I'll work and I have to prepare for it and have lunch too, so about today's activity:

I'll still be asking new mutuals to plot if I saw them recently online

I'll be focusing on feels-y stuff in all blogs except for my Warden character in my multi and Emma meeting characters I was dying to write with because I am really happy about that

I am in fact very here to write DAO and Dragon Age in general in my multi to figure her out AND to write shippy OR feelsy/fixing canon/sentimental/hurt comfort threads today.

I might post a lot of memes on some of my blogs and be less in others but it really depends on the type of interactions there, hoping my life CALMS DOWN and lets me write today.

[elvenbeard]

I've played Cyberpunk twice before but your posts have inspired me to go for my third playthrough and first as male V so I can try out the Kerry romance. Also attempting to learn my way around the AMM mod so I can play around in photo mode more, cause I'm loving the virtual photography stuff. I'm hesitant to share though cause I feel like I barely know what I'm doing (especially since photography is my actual job and I feel like I should know what I'm doing 🤦‍♀️) and you're the only person I follow that's even into Cyberpunk. Anyway, sorry for the rambling, I guess I just wanted you to know your blog inspired someone 😊

aöskdjfaödsjfdffj !!! I feel like I've unlocked a new fandom achievement :D that honestly means so much to hear that I inspired you like aaaahhh ;A;

Okayokayokay, but yes, first things first: I'm extremely biased obviously, but definitely go an play Kerry's romance! It's short (I'm just gonna assume you know his questline if you played the game twice before) but personally I found it so heartwarming and lighthearted and chaotic in a good way after all the horros V went through for the entirety of the game until then xD Also, Kerry is such a good, multilayered character and you're not gonna be in the slightest prepared for some of things he'll say to a romanced V (at least I wasn't, but I also mean that in the best way XD). Would love to hear your thoughts once you get there and I hope you'll love it as much as I do xD

Also!! Don't be shy to share your virtual photography stuff! Photography isn't my job, I do have a tiny bit of experience with it through uni (we had a half-year course once, with outdoor and photostudio shootings and all that, and I learned a lot and really enjoyed it). And it's true, there are some similarities, in terms of how to pick and frame your motives for example, but also: it's still very different tools you're using, so it's normal to not immediately get the hang of everything. I quickly went digging through my screenshot folder for some of my first pics I took in Cyberpunk just with basic photomode:

I still genuinely like all of these (even though I think I didn't share all of them publically so far). But looking back with what I've learned since then (the oldest is the one with Vince on his bike, from Dec 15th '22, the newest is the one with Kerry and Nibbles, from February 22nd '23) I also know what I'd do differently to make them even cooler now xD

AMM also had a bit of a learning curve for me, still does in some regards XD But it really brought my VP to the next level, just for the immense amount of new poses compared to the 20-something or so in vanilla photomode, the nicer and more natural facial expressions, and yeah... the ability to spawn multiple characters xD You can do shippy stuff even with vanilla photomode, but with AMM there's... so... many... possibilities...

ALSO! What I'm still trying to get the hang of but which is so so nice and one of the main things I'd change about my old screenies: custom lights. Spawning different colour lights, basically having your own little photostudio setup wherever you want, however complex or simple you want, is amazing and makes a huuuge difference!!

An example of my learning curve with AMM and one of my favourite photo subjects: Arasaka!Vince

Feb 2nd 2023: The first time I styled Vince to look like he did during his time with Arasaka, vanilla photomode, the only mod I had was one to enter full CC with a shortcut whenever and everywhere. Already pretty cool shot, but in hindsight, the lighting is so bad xD I think I have a version of this edited to death in Photoshop somewhere, but I can't find it atm. PS helped fix the lighting a bit, but yeh... it's still not ideal, but not much you can do about it in vanilla except play with exposure and contrast more in the effects tab.

March 12th 2023: Spawned Vince with AMM, I think the pose is still a basic one that you also have in Photomode though. But his expression is an AMM one, there's custom lights, and I made use of AMM's awesome feature that lets you teleport to locations that are usually off limits (here the Arasaka Counterintel office you only get to see during the Corpo lifepath quest). Already so much better just with some red backlight and a bright frontal light that actually makes his face visible! XD This is also completely unedited!

May 7th 2023: One of my recent faves, post-graphics update, which also made everything look so much nicer in general! I think I had three custom lights (pale blue from the front, bright yellow from the left, and a small white one from top). And I've become a bit less scared about getting up close and personal into his personal space XD

TL;DR: It's a process! We're all starting somewhere, and if you're not comfortable sharing your stuff yet, that's completely fine. It's a learning curve, too, but don't give up :D I think I've really discovered an amazing new creative hobby through this game in the shape of virtual photography (and unlike real people, silly pixel men will hold their pose forever without flinching and I can fly around them and take pics from every angle... but admittedly, getting them to do exactly what I want is definitely a challenge sometimes, cause I can only say "noo, go 20 pixels further in Z direction... noo, too far, 1 pixel back again!! noo, look at Kerry, don't look at yourself, that's weird, stop moving your head around so much!" but when you then get that one perfect shot it's worth the effort and fiddling XD patience really really is key though).

If you ever decide you wanna share some stuff I'd love to see :D and if you need help don't hesitate to reach out! Now I gotta apologize for rambling, but yes :D Have lots of fun with male V and virtual photography :3

[ravarui]

Ravarui is an independent multi-fandom multi-muse RP blog.

The blog is private/mutuals only and highly selective Personals do not interact, unless you got an RP Sideblog

Written and loved by Akki (she/her - 30y/o - germany)

Icons were made by @alyafae

Short overview of my muses as well as my rules under read more (in case the link doesn't work)

Shanks is currently my most active muse, so be prepared for a lot of One Piece content on this blog

Links:Rules - Muse list - Memes - Wishlist - Headcanons - Mains & Exclusives

Muses on this blog are currently:

Tony Stark from the MCU Red Haired Shanks from One Piece (Manga/HC-based) John Marston from Red Dead Redemption 2 Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones (book based with some show influence)

Request only:

Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones (Book based with some show influence)

Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2

Morzan from Inheritance Cycle (Heavily HC-based)

Disclaimer: This is a multimuse blog for muses of various fandoms. I am up to date to everything regarding all the muses I have on this blog, so this blog is NOT going to be spoiler free.

Recent spoilers, for example in regards to the latest One Piece Chapters, will be tagged however.

This blog will contain mature and triggering content, such as murder, robbery, kidnapping, mentions of slavery etc. Especially when my Red Dead Redemption muses are involved. I will tag triggering content like "murder tw" for example.

1) No Godmodding

If you do it, I’ll contact you and ask you not to do it again and change the part in the reply. If you do it regulary you will be blocked.

2) Portrayal

My Tony Stark is mostly based on the MCU since I have little to no knowledge about the comics. His relationship with Pepper is exclusive with @alyafae version, since we developed our headcanons together over the years and there is no way to seperate them by now.

Everything that happens in Movie Red is irrelevant for my portrayal of Shanks and will be treated as AU. So please do not assume that he raised Uta, unless we discussed it beforehand, because my version does NOT know her.

His backstory is heavily headcanon based and in my version he was NOT found in a treasure chest as a baby by Roger!

Post Time-skip Shanks has a tattoo that looks like this

In the verse where he is married to Makino he wears his wedding ring around a thin chain around his neck, and he keeps the ring hidden under his shirt. No one except his crew and the people of Fuschia know about their marriage. Please do not assume your muse knows about it, unless we talk about it before. I am more than fine with muses finding out about it over the course of threads! It just has to come naturally.

Arthur and John stay mostly true to canon. Arthur is mostly based on the high honor version, because that's how I play him in the game. John is mostly neutral, but leans towards high honor, can however also act more low honor, depending on the situation/muses

3) This blog is 18+ and mun is 28+

I will not write with anyone under 18, since I myself am in my thirties now and it just makes me uncomfortable writing with minors. Preferably people who follow this blog are 21+

4) Shipping:

Shipping is always welcome, no matter what kind of ship. If we're mutuals and you would like to ship our muses in whatever way, don't hesitate in approaching me. Chances are I ship them already as well anyway.

I am multiship in regards to all of my muses. The only exception is my Tony Stark muse when it comes to shipping with Pepper. That is exclusive with @alyafae

I also won't ship Steve and Tony. If you are a Steve Rogers blog and send something shippy in a romantic or smutty way Tony will not react in a positive way and will make fun of him for it.There are only two people who are excluded to this rule.

5) Triggers:

I have personally no triggers and I am willing to RP very dark themes as well. The only topic I will not touch is animal abuse. Otherwise everything is fair game.

If we write dark/triggering themes I require plotting/ooc talks! I do not want to make my RP partner uncomfortable.

Should we write something dark and you notice that you can’t bring yourself to write this theme anymore or feel in any way uncomfortable with the way it’s going: Please tell me immediately so we can talk and drop it if you need it.

You never have to worry when you bring something like this up. The well being of my RP partner when writing highly triggering and dark subjects is my main concern.

6) Activity:

I have a personal life and RPing is a hobby and not my job.

I try my best to do my drafts, but I don’t always have muse for them and some drafts take me longer than others.

Mains/Exclusives get priority most of the time.

So please be patient. You’re welcome to send me a small reminder if I didn’t reply in two weeks. Tumblr loves to eat my notifications and on top of that I have the attention span of a squirrel sometimes and also tend to forget to draft replies.

7) OC’s:

I am OC friendly, but picky when it comes to interacting/following them. If you have no about page I will not follow at all. No arguing. If you have one, I'll read through it and if I can see our muses interacting I'll follow. Otherwise I wont. It's nothing personal.

8) Duplicates:

I adore duplicates! I love exploring all kinds of shenanigans our muses can come up with, if there are two of them.

9) Memes:

This blog is private/mutuals only. It’s a personal preference so I can keep my blog tidy. Memes are open for everyone, even non-mutuals, unless stated otherwise in the tags.

My memes don't have an experiation date and it doesn't matter when I reblogged one. If you want to send something in, feel free to explore my meme tag and send whatever interests you. Spamming memes is also encouraged.

You're always welcome to turn asks into threads! Doesn't matter if we already have a lot of them going or not. It's always encouraged.

10) I wont accept asks like: Do you want to RP with me?

If I am following you it’s a 100% indication that I want to write with you and explore the chemistry between our muses.

If I am not following you and you send me such an ask it will be ignored. If you truly want to write something then come to me with an idea or send me a meme. They are always open unless stated otherwise.

11) Inbox memes/Asks:

Always specify a muse when you send something into my askbox. Especially when sending asks regarding Headcanons or little games like: Guessing my muses kinks

Unspecified asks will get deleted/not answered

If you forgot to specify you're always welcome to either hop into my DMs to clear things up or send a follow up ask.

12) This rule applies to ALL blogs that follow me (especially personal blogs)

If you reblog my roleplays when you are NOT involved in them, I will message you and ask you to delete it from your blog. If you don’t do this you will be BLOCKED without a further warning.

13) If I see you posting a lot of callouts and drama I will block you. I am to old to deal with this stuff

14) My IM is reserved for mutuals only. So if you have any question send them into my askbox.

Rules will be updated

[windydrawallday]

SO NEAR BUT YET SO FAR

Hey there! To the ones following my Strangelove shippy challenge: I will share the next entry TOMORROW Saturday because I found myself in need of more time to fix some details, do the lettering, and prepare everything in format to post on different sites (I manage IG, Twitter and now here).

I'm loving this comic so far (yes! character conversation from me at last) it resumes a lot of the merged art style I'm using but is still demanding to achieve so, better to give it another day before wrapping it all up.

Thank you for your patience and interest ♥ I'm forever grateful!

[shslargue]

I posted 1,035 times in 2022

79 posts created (8%)

956 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@jacksope-lives

@hecksupremechips

@neshatriumphs

@msbadatnamingthings

@shippy-from-apocalypse

I tagged 266 of my posts in 2022

#jacks - 100 posts

#fanfic - 48 posts

#fanfiction - 46 posts

#infinity train - 35 posts

#ao3 link - 34 posts

#teen titans - 31 posts

#teen titans 2003 - 29 posts

#link post - 20 posts

#nesha - 19 posts

#the magnus archives - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 118 characters

#this is a ‘me enjoying projecting onto original characters’ thing and not a ‘fetishizing a personality disorder’ thing

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

"Where others saw insignificance and pointlessness, I found freedom."

The Magnus Archives Fear Entities 1/15- The Vast

The Vast is one of the most underrated Fears, so I decided to start with this one first! I’ve definitely gained a much bigger appreciation for it as time has gone on, it’s truly terrifying to think about how small you are compared to the endless expanse of the universe.

Playlist can be found here!

🌩️🌊⚡

37 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

#4

“I am the throat of delusion incarnate.”

The Magnus Archives Fear Entities 7/15- The Spiral

The Spiral is, hands down, my favorite fear entity. I love Michael, I love Helen, Another Twist and Checking Out are two of my favorite episodes in the entire podcast, and if we don’t get to see the Distortion (in whatever form it may take) in the magnus protocol I’m going to set my computer on fire. Anyway, this was a nice distraction from preparing for final exams!

Playlist can be found here!

🌀🚪😵‍💫

37 notes - Posted December 3, 2022

#3

"Who will you be, with a name or three, and a stranger’s face worn wrong?”

The Magnus Archives Fear Entities 6/15- The Stranger

The Stranger is easily in the top three fears for me. Maybe because it’s such a looming threat in seasons 2-3 and gets a lot of focus, but I think it’s also largely because the concept is just absolutely horrifying. This drawing is one of my favorites I've done with this series, and editing all the mouths and eyes was so much fun! (yes they are all taken from photos of me--)

Playlist can be found here!

🎭🎪🤡

68 notes - Posted November 28, 2022

#2

literally nobody talks about kagepro anymore until every August 15th when it hits like top three trending on tumblr. good job remembering our roots everyone

75 notes - Posted August 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

“My limbs were alive with searing energy, and my heart was aglow with love.”

The Magnus Archives Fear Entities 3/15- The Desolation

The Desolation TERRIFIES me. It didn’t really affect me much the first time I listened to the podcast, but upon relistening I now realize just how devastating it can be. Especially Jude’s statement. Terrifying.

Playlist can be found here!

🔥🕯️🧡

80 notes - Posted November 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mokutone]

and ofc the addition

[pricemarshfield]

oh, captain, let’s make a deal

A Fabian/Zelda (Donocaster? i don’t know) sparring fic. No shippy stuff, could be interpreted as platonic. Read on AO3 here.

Zelda's had a lot of practice fighting one-on-one with enemies that are taller than her. Fabian's faster than Porter is, though, better at dodging, taking the momentum of her attacks and using it against her. He's also got magic for an added layer of unpredictability.

It's kind of exhilarating; she can fully focus on the fight without Porter's commentary on what she needs to do next time, without worrying about her rage shredding anyone. (The room's got a static gentle repose effect built into it, and Ostentatia's got plenty of revivify diamonds if the worst happens. They've had this place set up since Yelle's foraging-gone-wrong.)

Zelda doesn't go to the Academy anymore, but it's no excuse to let up on training, so when Fabian takes one of her strikes and parries it to brush a blow against her shoulder, she lets it fuel her rage, leaps into the air, and kicks off one of the walls to launch herself at him, both daggers first.

He's fast, but she's faster, and she knows the fight's won when Fabian drops his sword.

Zelda drops out of rage and takes a few steps back. "Sorry."

"Part of sparring!" Fabian says, waving it off. "I have a health potion. Do you need one?"

Zelda assesses herself. "Not really?"

The Fabian she'd ever-so-briefly interacted with before their spring break would've taken offense at that, but he just laughs and downs the potion, wounds closing. "How do you get that fast? Do you have a haste enchantment?"

"Uh, eagle totem," she says, gesturing to a little eagle charm her mom had gotten her. He nods. "Sort of a, uh, spiritual thing?" It comes out like a question when she hadn't intended for it to, but this is still more than she'd expected to be speaking post-fight.

"I wasn't prepared for it," he says.

"Well, your magic sword was a surprise," she says. "I barely dodged the fire because I was only looking to avoid the blade. You should--" Her mouth shuts with an audible click. What, she's gonna give advice to him? They didn't even have any classes together, he's not even a barbarian. "Never mind. Sorry."

"No, tell me," he says. It doesn't sound confrontational, but outside of her rage, him having more than a foot on her has gone from something she needs to account for and possibly exploit to intimidating. "You beat me, I might as well learn."

He's not meeting her eyes when he says it. That makes it easier to speak up again. "You fight in a way that's really, like. Showy. Like a dance. It would probably benefit you to use that as a distraction and then attack, quick and fast and with as much behind it as possible. They probably won't be ready for that."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Fabian says. "Thank you. Do people with the eagle totem fly, or am I misremembering that?"

"Not yet," she says. Sometimes when she jumps into the air she feels like she'll stay there if she just tries, but she knows if she gets ahead of herself, the rage will start to burn her up from the inside out. Also, falling would be super embarrassing and she'd have to run away into the woods to never be seen again. "One day. I think."

Fabian doesn't push her to talk further, which is good. She puts in one headphone to see if he'll add anything else or if she's good to go. She didn't have a bad time or anything, sparring's always fun, it's just--social interaction. And all.

"Same time next week?" Fabian asks. "You're a far better sparring partner than Gorgug. I know him too well."

"Oh!" Zelda says. She actually really likes sparring with all the other Maidens, but...yeah, this is more unexpected. Actual learning opportunity. She's still learning new moves, not just practicing the ones she already knows. "Sure. Maybe. We might be out of Spyre."

"You mean Solace?"

"No," she says, staring down at her hooves until she catches herself doing it and looks back up. "Interplanar stuff."

Fabian looks impressed and jealous in equal measure; she hits play on her music, even with only the one headphone in. "I think I might ask the Bad Kids to do our GED, then, sounds exciting."

Their parties are still rivals, technically, and she knows her girls will hype her up no matter how much what this is does freak her out, so she adds, "Well, we still did it first." She follows up by bolting out of there as fast as she physically can, even jumping up to the rooftops to get a little more distance, but it's not a terrible line? Probably?

When she glances back, he's smiling.