#verse: even a short blade

[violettduchess]

Can I request ikevamp Arthur with the prompt constellations and be Spicy.

A/N: Here you are, @otomefoxystar 💜 I hope you enjoy it!

This is a submission for my and @lorei-writes Sunshine and Starlight CC ☀⭐

Arthur x Reader, suggestive content

WC: ~900

The moon spills its silvery light through the open window, granting everything in Arthur’s room an argent sheen. A cool night breeze accompanies it, whispering across the bare skin of your back. It brushes its fingers along your spine, caresses your curves and tickles the backs of your legs. Even the soles of your feet feel its chilly touch. It is, however, a welcome change from the tidal wave of heat that Arthur had unleashed upon your body not long ago. You sigh, your cheek resting against the cradle of your arms as you remember him coaxing the ever-burning embers of your desire into towering flames with his skilled fingers, his talented mouth. You burned to ash, a comet exploding across as star-strewn night sky, and now you are enjoying the sated rest of a body slowly coming back, like stardust recompiling itself into human form.

Arthur pushes himself away from the pillows he’s been reclining against, his dark blue gaze drinking in the sight of you there, on your stomach, breathing contentedly. He leans towards you, laying a familiar hand on the back of your thigh. You lift your head and glance over your shoulder at him.

“As beautiful as Cassiopeia,” he murmurs affectionately, his palm warm against your skin. You can’t help the face you make as you dimly remember a musty university lecture hall and an ancient professor droning on about Greek mythology.

“Isn’t she extremely vain and ends up causing the downfall of her kingdom?” You shift a bit, propping yourself up on your forearms and recalling more of the myth as the hazy memory slowly comes into focus. “Poseidon put her in the stars and she spends half the year upside down as punishment.”

Arthur laughs, the sound soft and admiring. “Who knew my darling was so versed in the classics?” He moves closer, sitting up beside you, his hand sliding possessively up your reclining figure, up across the curve of your hip, his fingers brushing along the line of your waist until they come to rest on the plane of your back. Using one finger, he begins tracing a line between your shoulder blades. The touch is feather-light, yet heated, a phoenix feather grazing your skin. 

“Thanks to Isaac, I know quite a bit about the scientific side of Cassiopeia. She, as a constellation, is famous for her W-shape, formed by her five brightest stars.” He draws the shape slowly and your breath comes out in a light gasp, caught in a spider’s web of desire and anticipation. “Right next to her is the more famous Big Dipper.” His finger slides down a short distance, tracing the familiar shape of its four-starred bowl and then the three-starred handle. Your back is now rising and falling more quickly with each breath, your head having fallen forward, forehead pressed against your forearms, as you lose yourself in the feel of his touch. “And right next to them is Andromeda.” He glides his hand further down your body to the sensitive small of your back. You squirm, wanting a firmer touch, but he presses you down onto the bed with his free hand, keeping you still.

“Arthur….” It’s almost a whimper, almost a plea.

His hand doesn’t budge, holding you at his mercy even as his index finger resumes its journey, tracing the shape of Andromeda’s starlit form. A shudder rolls through your as he leans down, pressing a kiss right next to where his finger has stopped. “Can you tell me, my sweet scholar, who Andromeda is?” That voice is honey, pouring itself over you. “If you manage that, you’ve earned a reward.”

You long to turn, to roll your body around so you’re facing him, so you can reach for him and pull him roughly to you, desperate to quench the thirst that is burning its way through your veins. But he knows, oh does he know, what he is doing to you, and he is still gently but firmly holding you in place. He slides his palm across your lower back and your thoughts spark into tiny bursts of light, disappearing into the void of want that has clouded your mind, making it difficult to remember anything at all. 

“Andromeda,” you manage, the word sticking to your dry throat, “was Cassiopeia’s daughter.” He trails a teasing line along the outside of your thigh, ignoring the places you most need him. Gritting your teeth, you force yourself to concentrate. “She was offered as a sacrifice by her mother to a sea monster, but was saved by Perseus. They got married and had lots of children and damn it, Arthur, if you don’t touch me properly, I swear–”

He laughs, the sound husky and full of promise. “Alright, alright.” You’re released and quicker than a star’s wink in the night you’ve turned around, rising to throw your arms around his neck and kiss him fiercely, the full force of the desire he’s built up inside you now unleashed, bright as Sirius, more powerful than the pull of gravity. Arthur’s eyes are a universe all of their own, blazing with love and longing. Gently he pushes you back down against the soft mattress, his long, bare body covering your own. “Lay back, love, and let me reward you.” He slowly begins trailing a chain of kisses down your neck, your collarbone. “You’ve more than earned it.”

Tagging: @alexxavicry @queengiuliettafirstlady @bellerose-arcana @thewitchofbooks @aria-chikage

@redheadkittys @tele86 @dear-mrs-otome @olivermorningstar @writingwhimsey

@mxrmaid-poet @silver-dahlia @wendolrea @nightfoxqueen @myonlyjknight

@ikesimpleton @ikemenlibrary @namine-somebodies-nobody @whatever-fanfics @justpeachyteastea

@chirp-a-chirp @got7igot7family @kookie-my-little-sunshine @mastering-procrastinating @portrait-ninja

@starlitmanor-network @sh0jun @fang-and-feather @bubblexly @ozalysss @kiki-tties

[chaotic-zora]

Introducing my zora oc, Thresh (Short for Thresher, ironic I know. I got attached to the placeholder name).

Pronouns: They/Them/He/Him

Height: 6 ft 7 in.

Species: Thresher Shark/Tiger Shark

Coloration: Dark purple, lavender stripes, white belly, red eyes/fins

Profession: Warrior

Facts:

-Specializes in hand-to-tail combat

-Little brain to mouth filter (Blunt)

-Has a huge scar on his crest (post The Event)

-In love with his "Best Friend" Nyvor

-Not naked I swear (workin on their armor)

Dislikes:

-Maps (can't read em, poor sense of direction)

-Horses (almost got trampled once)

-High places (post The Event)

Collection: [NYVOR] [DISTRACTIONS]

Character/Lore Dump:

Thresher is proficient in hand-to-tail combat and commonly wields hand daggers, weighted rope (to lasso and subdue opponents), and a bow and arrow. If their opponent has a unique/impressive fighting style, Thresh will attempt to analyze it and merge it with his own combat style. The opportunity to learn new techniques is what Thresh enjoys most about combat, and as a result they are well versed in over a dozen different styles. He views loosing as a learning opportunity (humble).

During fights he'll whip his tail to disorient/ward off opponents (thresher shark genes woohoo). The act can leave nasty bruises, and he ties leather strips around his tail to make the blows worse. When the opportunity arises, he'll disarm opponents by striking their wrists with his tail. When done right this can cause an opponent to involuntarily drop their weapon.

Though intelligent in combat, that's about the extent of what they can do. He has a terrible time learning anything else, can't lead, and won't follow orders that go against his morals. It's why he never earned a title beyond "renowned warrior" within his Domain. He is outgoing, rowdy, and deeply in tune with his instincts.

He's in love with his best friend Nyvor, who's a healer. Unfortunately for him, weeks before Thresh planned to declare his intentions to court Nyvor, the "Event" occurred.

The Event: Thresh murders a corrupt Noble.

For nearly a decade a corrupt Zoran Noble has been causing Thresh's Domain to fall into disarray. Due to the Noble's high standing, they have repeatedly escaped prosecution, and Thresh, sick of their bullshit, decides to take the matter into his own claws.

Unfortunately, Nyvor catches him in the act. However, instead of reporting Thresh, Nyvor purposefully takes the downfall for the murder.

'Even now....he treats me gently....'

This is all Thresher can think as they watch Nyvor pluck the soiled blade from their hand. His motions are slow, and there is a gentleness to Nyvor's actions that betray his hidden affections towards the smaller zora. If Thresh was not so overwhelmed with confusion, perhaps they would have noticed, but alas, this was not the case.

"What are you doing, Nyvor?"

The clatter of armor echoes faintly in the distance. Guards are approaching, and they are early with their check in rounds.

"Protecting you."

Thresher's breath stills in his chest. They watch, striken, as Nyvor moves towards the corner of the room, and brandishes their own weapon against them.

"Stop. Stop please."

Nyvor's smile is kind. Loving. And his voice is soft. A stark contrast to his intimidating stature.

"It's okay Thresh. Everything is going to be okay."

Eveything is not okay. Nyvor gets sentenced to death by cliff face (thrown over a cliff into rocky waters below). No one believes Thresh when they state they were the one who murdered the Noble, not Nyvor, who cleverly twists the facts to ensure the blame remains solely on him.

As punishment for defending Nyvor, Thresher is tied up and forced to watch Nyvor get knocked out and thrown over the cliff. In one last desperate attempt to save his friend, Thresh escapes his bindings and flings himself after Nyvor.

He uses his body to physically protect Nyvor's head, and upon impact, gets knocked out. Miraculously they both survive, but get separated in the current, and Thresh wakes up washed ashore on the outskirts of Hyrule, alone, and lost. Thus begins his journey to find Nyvor.

I have a lot more art brewing for these two.... more lore to come with Nyvor's side of things.

Shout out to my beloved partner @vaquero-azul-art for helping me with anatomy. Thanks babe.

[granolawriting]

Could I request a platonic piece with Anakin and a teenage Padawan reader who’s having nightmares she thinks are visions? If this isn’t your style that’s ok ^^ If you do write it, plz tag my sideblog, eternalwanderlustvagabond

Oh sweetheart, this is totally my thing! I just don't see all too many people wanting it, is all. I will gladly write any kind of fic, and this one was a sweet deviation from the norm. thank you for the request <3

·˚ ༘ fears of a padawan; Anakin comfort text ·˚ ༘

word count: 1.2k!

request for @eternalwanderlustvagabond :)

Screams. That's the thing that you remember most. Alongside the clashing of blades and the thuds of bodies dropping, that's all that stays in your mind as you wake up covered in your own sweat. Heavy breaths, petrified over what you’ve just seen. 

For weeks now it seems, every so often you’ll have a dream, perhaps, of what seems to be all of your friends, family in a sense, in a battle they can't win. It haunts you. You don't even want to sleep properly anymore, anything to get away from the prospect of those visions returning. 

Visions. They have to be. Despite being only a padawan, you found yourself to be quite the well-versed one. People had a lot of faith in you, they roped you into the same category they often did Anakin-- which undoubtedly made him one of your closest confidants. Both having been picked by the council to train past the average due date, and both displayed grand abilities with the force. But he just seemed to have such a better time handing such a blessing and a curse. You were in awe of him. 

These dreams, premonitions, began to affect even the way you trained. Staying up until late into the night, and limiting your sleep to short increments that don't lull you into enough comfort to dream, doesn't do too well with days that require mental strain and physical fitness. You began falling behind in a way, and people noticed. You were stuck at a crossroads of sorts; did you relieve yourself of having to handle these visions you had, or did you rest yourself well enough to perform at the level everyone expects you to? 

Then, it’d hit you. You'd never properly talked to anyone about this, you never told anyone how you felt, keeping it locked away deep inside of you you’d rather carry your sorrow by yourself and bear the consequences of silence than speak up about it. A part of you felt as though it wasn't important enough to justify a council meeting, that your pain didn't warrant any help, and you didn't want to be a burden to anyone else in a way. Who could you even talk to about this? Surrounded by younglings who wouldn't understand, or padawans focused on their own training, and heaven forbid you spoke to the higher-ups on this matter-- when they have actual pressing matters to attend to. Some worse than your dreams. You decide to stay to yourself once more. 

The soft clacking of blunt heels echoes in an otherwise empty hall-- another unsuccessful training session under your belt, apparently. You felt dejected, and those around you grew curious about your behavior. Another night you would spend awake in your room, tossing and turning over the fears that you couldn't tell anyone about. Or, so you thought. 

A second sound of feet growing rushed in the hallway you both shared, an unfamiliar tune of what seemed to be an even unfamiliar stride draws ever close to you until you look behind you to see who could greet you at a time like this. 

“Hey, do you think we could talk for a minute?” 

It was Anakin. You had almost forgotten about him as you were so wrapped in yourself, but this question makes your heart drop. Is he here to talk about your low performance? Did your master send him? Did something really happen and you never said anything? 

“Oh, of course, what's the issue?” 

You respond in the most casual tone you can muster, just barely coated over the fear and worry lacing every syllable you speak. 

“Is, everything okay with you? I mean this genuinely. I've seen the way you’ve been training recently-- it's not like yourself. And I know you like I know myself. You are strong, and something really must be getting to you right now, I can almost see it in your eyes.” 

You stand there silenced for a moment. 

“Oh- but, please, correct me if I'm wrong. I don't mean to assume I just wanted to check on you. I care for you.” 

You feel a tear well in your eye at the sound of that. He was your friend. And as you stood there, a mouth slightly open as you tried to get the words out you felt that realization wash over you. Maybe he could do something about it, maybe he would understand what you were talking about-- maybe, he's experienced them too. 

“Anakin, I've been having visions. Visions of our masters, our friends, they were-” 

Getting choked up on your words for a moment you pause to compose yourself. Anakin looks at you with eyes full of attentiveness, not a smidge of judgment is found within his eyes focused on you, a mouth closed to allow himself to listen and even more let you compose yourself without interruption. 

“They were, in a battle that can't be won. I watched them get hurt, and fail. There was nothing I could do, it was like I was an outsider to my own future. And, I can't sleep over it. I can barely eat anakin. To be honest I'm a mess. And I just don't know what to do, I don't want my family to die.” 

A frown forms upon Anakin's face, but it's a sentimental one. Empathetic, even as he opens his arms for a hug and you with tear-ridden eyes follow his embrace. His arms folded around your back he soothes your sniffles into his robe with a thumb tracing your back, and a soothing reply;

“Oh- oh, it's okay. I know what you’re talking about, truly. It's okay to be afraid of those. You love us, and we all love you just the same. There's no reason to feel bad to be so scared of things like that, it's more than natural. But listen to me okay?” 

He raises his hands to your shoulders, as means to look directly into your eyes before what he says next; 

“You don't have to worry, okay? You and I are alike in so many ways, and I can promise you, they’re not visions. No matter how vivid they may be, the force can't do that to us. You can't see into the future, not even master yoda can, okay? So don't feel like you have to bear that kind of burden. You’re just afraid, and that's okay. I am too. Every day I walk these halls I worry I won't be good enough. And sometimes, that seeps into my dreams as well. And I feel hopeless, just as you are. But you can't let that overtake you. The only way to overcome these dreams is to overcome the feeling of not being good enough to help those you love the way they help you. And the first way to start is knowing that you help me, just as I help you too. We’re in this together okay? And we always will be.” 

His eyes are stern, but they’re coated with care. Said with a small smile on his face to comfort you, he brought you into an embrace once more. 

“You’re a wonderful person, okay? And I will always be here for you. Always."

Is said close to your ear, a comforting voice and body overwhelms you and he holds you once more, and as you allow the tears to subside the words he said to you truly resonate with you. You are more than your fears, and your insecurities. And he's reminded you of that. Those who are strong, first have to convince themselves that they are strong. And just like Anakin, you wish to be strong. And with him by your side, you’re sure you can do just that. 

[august-anon]

Stolen Secrets

For Tickletober day 21, New Discovery! (yes, it is almost a week late -- if youre looking for someone to blame, check this post lol)

-----

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Ship(s): Wyll X Tav

Characters (lee/ler): Lee!Wyll/Ler!Tav

Word Count: 880 words

Summary: Tav was excited enough to have finally gotten a kiss. To discover that the Blade of Frontiers was ticklish on top of that? They were never going to let this go.

[ao3 link]

---------------

The kiss was gentle and chaste, but even still it made Tav’s heart race in their chest. Wyll smiled slightly against their mouth and they released a shaky exhale through their nose, pressing even closer. It was only a short second more before Wyll began to pull back.

Instinctively, Tav’s hand came up to his waist, fingers brushing gently against the skin exposed by his casual wear. Wyll inhaled sharply, pulling away completely as he flinched back. Tav froze, their hand now floating in the air between them.

“Wyll?”

Wyll huffed a little self-conscious laugh, glancing down and shifting his weight. “I – well, then. Um, you’ve got a party to get back to.”

Tav took a half step forward, their hand still hovering near his waist. “Are you still injured? It wasn’t an easy day – I’m spent, but Shadowheart stayed back at camp. She should have a spell or two if you need it.”

“No, Tav, it’s–”

“Or we can find you a healing potion, if you don’t want to bother her.” A smirk tugged at their mouth. “She was rather interested in her bottle of wine when we last spoke.”

Wyll gave that laugh again, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not injured, it’s fine. Though I appreciate your concern.”

Tav shifted their weight, blinking at him. “Are you lying to me?”

“No.” Wyll shook his head. “I promise. Just, ah – a little sensitive, that’s all.”

Tav’s eyes flickered over Wyll’s form. His nervous expression (only partially from the kiss, by their estimations), his almost defensive posture (as if he was preparing to run), the way his own hand hovered protectively near the exposed strip of skin. Tav wasn’t very well-versed in these sorts of things, but it wasn’t exactly a difficult deduction to make. A grin began to spread across their face.

“Who would’ve thought, the great Blade of Frontiers is ticklish.”

“Few people, in fact, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t spread it around.”

Tav cocked their head, taking a step forward and grinning wider when he took a matching step back. “Oh, of course not. I rather like the thought of keeping this information to myself. Of course, whether it remains secret is much more up to you.”

Wyll’s eyes widened. “Tav, no–”

“After all, it’s you who’ll have to keep quiet. Not me.”

Tav darted forward and Wyll yelped as he tried to scramble backwards. Unfortunately, the downside of hiding from a party on a reedy riverbank seemed to be getting tangled in the reeds at the most inopportune times. Wyll went down quickly with a crunch of wet sand and a rustle of leaves and Tav followed swiftly after, their fingers already searching along his exposed waistline.

“T-Tav, come on!”

They chuckled under their breath. “Did you really expect me to make this discovery and not take advantage?”

“I didn’t expect you to find out at all!”

Tav scoffed, planting their hands on either side of Wyll’s head, giving him a bit of a breather. His face had started to look a bit strained from holding back his laughter. Wyll took a few deep breaths as they stared down at him with a raised brow.

“We were attached by the lips mere minutes ago,” Tav said, their voice flat, “and you thought I wouldn’t find this out?”

Wyll opened his mouth to reply, and they took that opportunity to bring a hand down and poke their fingers into his side, relishing in his stutters. “I-I didn’t realize it was – hey!” 

He snatched their hand from where it had been trying to sneak up under the jagged hem of his shirt, his grip firm. They smirked, allowing it to go limp in his grasp.

“No?”

“No.”

Tav nodded and wiggled their wrist out of his grip, shooting their hand up under his arm while they still had the chance. Wyll threw his head back, horns digging grooves into the wet sand beneath them, and laughed, long and hard. Tav couldn’t help but giggle along, giving him a teasing little coo as he slammed his arm down to his side to try and block out the sensation.

“Tav,” he managed through his laughter. “Tav. Okay!”

With a smile threatening to make their face sore, Tav acquiesced, wiggling their hand out from under his arm and sitting back on their heels. After a couple deep breaths, Wyll sat up himself, fixing them with the worst attempt at a glare they’d ever seen.

“Oh, come off it,” they said. “If you really hated it, you would’ve told me to quit it sooner.”

Wyll averted his gaze. Tav laughed.

“Next time, dear, I won’t be nearly so merciful.”

Wyll pressed his lips together, letting out a quiet hum. “I suppose I should gather my own information now, then.”

Tav tilted their head to the side, blinking at him. He smirked.

“After all, I can’t let these sorts of heinous attacks go unpunished, can I?”

Tav raised up on their knees, holding their hands out in front of them as if it would provide them any sort of protection. “Wait–”

“I think a bit of revenge is in order, don’t you?”

Needless to say, it was a while yet before Tav made a reappearance at the party.

[midamappreciationweek]

Midam Appreciation Week

Friends, Romans, Midam fans, lend me your ears.

Once again, it is time to celebrate our favourite just some guy from Minnesota and his archangel hubby. So, from September 29th through October 5th, let's honour them by posting fics, art, gifsets, collages, cosplays - you get the drift.

Anything goes, as long as it's about our boys (or girls or nonbinary folk - whatever your headcanons).

Prompts:

You don't have to use these, but they're here if you want some inspiration.

Sep 29th: 90's kid / Feast / Silver

Sep 30th: Bossman / Endings / Gold

Oct 1st: Family / Beginnings / Wings

Oct 2nd: Meet-Cute / Possession / Blue

Oct 3rd: Dreams / Cuddling / Light

Oct 4th: Halo / Sunset / Cure

Oct 5th: Blade / Reunion / Future

Rules:

Make it Midam (surprise!)

Tag your stuff with #Midamap2023 (Who even has time to spell out appreciation completely, and correctly??)

Choose one or several prompts or use a joker and do whatever you want forever

If life (and/or the short timeframe, sorry!) kicks you in the ass and you don't make it on the respective day or during the week, post late and tag this blog (@midamappreciationweek - I guess in this case you do still have to type out the word appreciation, sorry).

No hate! If someone creates something you don't like, avert your eyeballs (however many you have) or do whatever your (lack of) eyesight means you have to do to stop reading. Don't shame people, full stop. Especially not for their ships, their kinks, their writing/art skills etc. This is a celebration, not a competition, and not everything will be catered to your taste.

Canon-verse, AUs and crossovers are all allowed. Give us Midam in the Tardis. Make up an elaborate detective story set in the 1930's. Or send those two on a hunt - whether for werewolves or for groceries, is up to you.

All set? No? Then send an ask to this blog, tag it in a post, or scream at it from the rooftops. (You just have to be loud enough, depending on where you live.)

If you don't have a reply within 24 hours, poke this blog with a stick. Probably, notifications aren't working correctly. (Though tumblr is a usable site. So are they all, all usable sites.)

[the-chipped-cup-awards]

2024 Chipped Cup Awards - Masterlist

Here, once again, are the winners of the 2024 Chipped Cup Awards

FLUFF:

Family: Tea and Roses by @thatravenclawbitch

Comfort: Struck By a Golden Arrow by @avatoh

Fix-it: Ritual by @peacehopeandrats

Reunion: A Dream is a Wish by @rowofstars

SMUT:

Kink/BDSM: On The House by @kelyon

Romance: Brandy, Apples, and Spice by @rufeepeach

Comedy: Accidents by @peacehopeandrats

Threesome: Fulfilling a Fantasy by @thescholarlystrumpet

First Time: Queen Takes Knight by @emospritelet

PWP: In the Dark and Wicked Hours by @rowofstars

ANGST:

Death: Strong for Belle by @desperatemurph

Hurts So Good: To Have and To Hold by @thatravenclawbitch

Misunderstanding: Unexpected But Not Unwelcome by @tickletorso

ROMANCE:

Date (overall) Lost and Found by @peacehopeandrats

Courtship: The Sweetest Dream by @threepwoodmarley

First Meeting: Portrait of the Heart by @chippedcupwrites

GENERAL:

One Shot: Pages of Reverie by @chippedcupwrites

Series: Lover’s Leap by @eirian-houpe

Novel Length: Mountains, Streams, and Magical Things by @peacehopeandrats

Short Fic: Babysitting by @timelordthirteen

Holiday Centric: Brandy, Apples, and Spice by @rufeepeach

Remix: Our Masks by @lotus0kid

Crossover: A Blade for Belfrey by @eirian-houpe

Dark Castle: Marble by @peacehopeandrats

Storybrooke: Leaving Storybrooke by @peacehopeandrats

"Missing Years": The Tent of Infinite Adventure by @peacehopeandrats

Wish!Verse: Deception by @eirian-houpe

SPECIAL CATEGORIES:

Golden Lace: The Storybrooke Whisky Appreciation Society by @threepwoodmarley

Woven Beauty: Undefined Desires by @worryinglyinnocent

Background Swanfire: To Have and to Hold by @thatravenclawbitch

Afterlife: Granted by @peacehopeandrats

Drama: Love Me Before the Last Petal Falls by @deliriumsdelight7

Supernatural/Sci-fi/Horror: The Cunning by @mareyshelley

Comedy: Lacey and the Tramp by @chippedcupwrites

AU-Original: Wretched Beginnings by @poorobscureplainandlittle

AU- OUAT: Tales of Gold by @JurisLadyAnna

AU-Other Media: The Black Swan by @deliriumsdelight7

Creature: The Finfolk’s Bride by @chippedcupwrites

Unexpected Twist: Contract by @kelyon

Bobby Squared: A Blade for Belfrey by @eirian-houpe

Trope: Love Me Before the Last Petal Falls by @deliriumsdelight7

English Language: To Nurse by @charon53

EVENTS

RSS: If You Will Be My Queen by @eirian-houpe

Fluffapalooza (Fic): The Tea Shop by @peacehopeandrats

Fluffapalooza (Art): Kiss Me Again, It’s Working by @milaeryn

Monthly Rumbelling: The Landlord and the Princess by @Rumplerose (AO3)

CHARACTER AWARDS

Belle: The Not So Dark One by @charlotteashmore13

Dark One!Belle: Rags to Riches by @alphashley14

Lacey: Sore Hearted Souls by @nerdrumple

Spinner!Rumple: Witch and Spinner by @Strummer_Pinks

Dark One!Rumple: Gilded by @eirian-houpe

Wish!Rumple: Once There Was a Wish by @peacehopeandrats

Mr. Gold: The Caretaker by @thestraggletag

Detective Weaver: Forgery by @peacehopeandrats

Baelfire/Neal: A House Built With Love by @of-princes-and-savages

Gideon: Finding You by @clarahue

OC Rumbelle Child: The Zoo by @peacehopeandrats

Villain: Cora in On the House by @kelyon

BFF/Wingman: Mountains, Streams, and Magical Things by @peacehopeandrats

ART

Fan Art: Kiss Me Again, It’s Working by @milaeryn

Graphic Art: And Love is When Someone Who Even KNows Your Scars Stays To Kiss You by @chippedcupwrites

AU In Art: Belle Isn’t Fascinated by the Idea of Marrying Gaston by @notonlymice

Fluff Art: Belle French and the Dork One by @chippedcupwrites

Angsty Art: In My Memory It Doesn’t End by @ace-cf-cups

Comic/Graphic Novel: Wearing Each Other’s Clothes by @angelqueen13art

Use of Color: Kiss Me Again, It’s Working by @milaeryn

Video: Your Beauty Never Ever Scared Me by @chippedcupwrites

SUPERLATIVES:

Best Artist: @chippedcupwrites

Best Author: @kelyon

Best New Author: @ace-cf-cups

Best Rumbelle Fic: The Language of Flowers by @deliriumsdelight7

Best Anyelle Fic: Let’s Spend the Night Together by @ifishouldvanish

Best Anyem Fic: Tyger Tyger by @shakespeareanhoneybadgers

Rumbelle Lifetime Achievement: @jackabelle73

[alias-milamber]

Today I completed a Blades in the Dark campaign

Lessons learned:

Blades in the Dark isn't great for a short story-focused campaign

BitD works well for a single-session or a long campaign with the territory/growth rules it defines, less well for short campaigns

Even when I think I'm making a short campaign, it might last a year.

Full improvisation is fun, but if you don't take notes you'll goozle yourself.

"Your Theorycrafting about the nature of the plot is entirely correct" is a vicious Devil's Bargain

As is "I'm not going to tell you, but it gets you two dice"

Write a vague prophetic dream, and use the details later to make them pay attention when you need to.

You can build an entire year long arc on the stupid pun "the bad guy is called Carson. He wants to turn everyone into crabs"

"He wants the whole world in his claws, the shellfish bastard"

A shop full of monkeys-paw magical artifacts that you improvise on the fly is like catnip to players.

Keep a list of random threads you haven't looped back to. Don't bother to check them off, things can mean two things.

If in doubt, add more cultists.

If in doubt, venetian masks.

If in doubt, add an NPC's mirror-verse twin.

"Everyone gets nightmares about being shelled and covered in Mary-rose sauce."

Three handouts:

A Dream Of Seafood

(after a player has eaten of the sacred flesh, disguised as a prawn vol-au-vent)

The world is cold and wet, and you like it that way. The sandy floor below you, the stars above, as it has always been and will always be. In the distance you hear the song of the leviathans, cutting through the ocean water like bagpipes over a mountain hillside. The words mean nothing to you, their song as alien as yours would be to them.

You do not sing your song, sound isn't what you're made for. You are, you see, you feed, you eat.

You obey.

The sandy floor rises up below you in ribbons - you never even process the net that has caught you. Your life flashes before your eyes, hits this moment, and goes beyond into the future.

You see the world above the ocean briefly, before darkness. The smell of wood and others for a long time, and a long descent into clean water. The water scalds and burns, and the life life leaves you, without your presence going with it.

You haunt the flesh of yourself as your shell is peeled back from you. A bath of pink sauce and a bed of puff pastry. Music, and strange people.

A mouth, and darkness.

And despair.

A Dream Of Shellfishness

(The first character to atune to a sacred artifact)

Within your dream you awake. You are underwater, and this seems oppressive and terrifying until you realise that you're breathing the water without difficulty, and then it just seems oppressive and differently terrifying. You breathe in brine, it fills your lungs and then you breathe out again, and beyond your initial panic, a deeper worry sets in.

You are surrounded by stars, refracted by a perfectly clear sea. Above and below you, constellations unrecognised, twinkling gently in the pitch black night. A moving black patch above you can only be a leviathan, its gigantic form gliding through the pitch black sea like a bird of prey. Behind it, the keel of a hunting ship disrupts the surface with its infernal motorised screw engine spinning to try to keep up, but the monstrous creature swims away with no apparent concern. Around you is a barnacle encrusted cage, glowing runes engraved on a wooden frame that you somehow know cannot be broken, even by you.

That's no mean feat, you discover, as a sense of scale kicks in and your perspective shifts. You realise that you could hold that leviathan in the palm of your hand, should you be able to break the cage that surrounds you. You beat against the bars soundlessly, unheard and imperceptable.

A voice, a sound like the antithesis of music, and you see one of the glowing runes go dark on your prison.

Vengeance will be won.

The Crab God's Shanty

(To the tune of the work song from Les Mis)

We sit, we row. Fourty fathoms low. We sail, wind blow, Forty Fathoms Low.

We load cargo, Forty fathoms low, We lift, we stow, Forty fathoms low

The stars, they glow, Forty fathoms low, The tide will flow, Forty fathoms low.

The deep, plateau, Forty fathoms low We see, he know Forty fathoms low.

The undertow, Forty fathoms low, Will make us go, Forty fathoms low

He speaks, bestow, Forty fathoms low, We feed, he grows, Forty fathoms low.

Our life, forgo, Forty fathoms low, The world will know, Thirty fathoms low.

Give up, let go, Twenty fathoms low, He rise shadow, Now ten fathoms low.

He rises slow, Just five fathoms low, Yo ho, heave ho. Claws at your ship bow.

[psalacanthea]

27, 32 and 35 for Zyn <3

Haha, nice! I do love writing banter. <3 This is from the Tav meme found here! Send me one if you like for my Tav Zynatheri or my Durge Belladonna.

27. Party banter with Wyll

Wyll: So, Zyrenna. Or was it Zynelle? It's difficult to keep track; you change names faster than the wrath of Umberlee sinks a galleon.

Zynatheri: Zyn's well enough, my dear hero.

Wyll: That seems a bit lackluster for a bard. No flourish. I could help, if you like.

Zyn: Oh, I have one of those as well, fancy enough to beat even yours. But...well, I don't use it, since I travel disguised.

Wyll: You aren't disguised now...?

Zyn: (sighs) Zynatheri Rivati, the Silver Mockingbird. At your service.

Wyll: It suits you! The Blade and the...Bird. Hmmh. Needs work.

Zyn: (laughs)

32. Party banter with Jaheira

Zyn: I met a bard once who was infatuated with you, you know.

Jaheira: Ugh. Say no more, please.

Zyn: A sprightly tune- Winsome, Wild Jaheira. There was a verse about how you sleep in trees like a big cat, waiting for a handsome man to become your prey.

Jaheira: So I can...what, drop out of the tree and snap his neck?

Zyn: That's what I always envisioned. I know that I'd be charmed by a woman ripping a man's throat out with her teeth, at least.

Jaheira: You may be irritating, but at least you have good taste.

35. How would your Tav/Durge greet a player character if they were a companion at low, neutral, high, or romanced approval?

Low Approval:

'Make it short. Words are money.'

'You? (looks you up and down) Ugh. Go on.'

(silently gestures in the air in a dramatic, expectant beckon)

Neutral:

'Delighted to see you as always! Anything you need, my charming compatriot?'

'I was hoping you'd come talk to me! Tell me everything.'

'Come, share what everyone else has been gossiping about. I'm so bored.'

High:

'Hmmh?'

Staring off into space, humming. 'Mmh? Oh! Yes?'

'Yes?'

Romanced:

'My sweet devoted heart. What is it?'

'Your smile is the sun that lights my dark life. Someone need murdering?'

'Beautiful as ever. One day I'll do you justice.'

'Is everything all right? I'm listening.'

[triplesilverstar]

There is a first time for everything

Rating: PG

Pairing: Vash X F!Reader

CW: Shooting, tied up, no sense of direction, knocked out

Word count: 1092

A/N: Chapter 1 of Bounty hunting 101: You should be good at this

Vash had no idea what had happened, he’d been walking in the desert looking up at the sky, then darkness. Now slowly coming to, his vision is blurry, and he groans, the sand below him seems to be moving. No. It is moving. 

As his awareness is slowly returning, his limbs are numb, his hands and feet are bound, tied so that there’s no way he can wiggle his way out of the binds. A headache is pounding behind his eyes. “Stop moving around so much, or you're going to fall off the toma” the voice is short, clipped. 

Glancing around, Vash realizes he’s strapped to a toma saddle draped across it and looking down the one side. No wonder he feels queasy. And now after a look at the rider of the toma, he remembers who they are. “Well, I guess you were true to your word. It’s been almost a month since Jeneora Rock.” 

You hadn’t been actively looking for the Humanoid Typhoon, you’d just happened to come across a good vantage point and set up there. It was how you’d caught a few of your bounties, unaware in the desert, a well placed shot and nighty night. Though you weren’t sure how many more bounties you’d be able to get like that, while regular bullets were common, you’d yet to see any like the ones you’d brought with you. You also had your doubts if any of the locals would be able to make them. So for now, they were for high value targets that traveled alone, and Vash the Stampede fit that bill. 

One shot, right between his shoulder blades and he went down like a sack of bricks. Sure you felt bad for the guy, he wasn’t like your usual bounties who cursed and swore at you up and down once they were caught. But work was work, and you were a good bounty hunter. You also weren’t sure how being a localized disaster could count as being a reason for a bounty. Armed robbery, murder, human trafficking, rape. Those all made sense. Even as you tied him up and threw him over the saddle of your toma you’d felt well, just plain bad about it. 

Now he was up and wiggling around, trying to figure out what had happened to him. When you spoke out the first time he only seemed to pause for a few moments, before he started shifting again and then when he spoke. He clearly remembered you and the deal made at the diner. 

“Just a bad roll of the die, walking into my little set up Stampede” which was exactly what he’d done. 

“What’d you do to knock me out?” 

“Nosey one aren’t ya?” you didn’t bother with answering his question, just keeping an easy hold on the reins, and watching forward across the dunes. 

“So where are you taking me?” narrowed eyes you glance down at him, and he seems to be all easy smiles. Yea. He’s taking this a little too well. 

“May City.”

“Not JuLai?” Nose scrunching up you tilt your head to look at him. 

“No. Why?” 

A bead of sweat seems to be falling down his face and one half of his mouth is twitching open “Because, May city is the other way?” 

“Nice try.” Snorting, you keep moving the toma in the same direction, even if you are wrong, sooner or later you’ll see a city or town on the horizon. As the noon high suns begin to descend the silence remains between the two of you. Or at least as silent as it can be with Vash still asking questions on occasion that you pointedly ignore. 

As night begins to fall you’re starting to question the direction you’ve been going. “At this rate, we’re gonna end up in the great sand ocean and be dried up husks.” Thick crocodile tears are streaming down Vash’s face and a tick is starting to pulse behind your eyes. 

“I will gag you.” Punctuating your words you give his ribs a swift jab with your elbow, yet you are starting to agree. “Though, at this point might as well set up camp for the night.” Moving swiftly you point the toma towards a rock formation, intending to camp at the base of it verses out in the dunes.

While Vash himself wasn’t going to vocalize it, fearful of what you might use as a gag on him, you surprised him more than once today. First time being you getting the drop on him, second the fact you were treating him like a real person and not a payday, even with the rib jab. Now as he watched you, for a third time he was surprised. 

You were quick and methodical, from unloading him and the gear, settling the toma and getting it fed and watered. Then setting up a small stove and cooking something while adjusting your bags, and his apparently which he hadn’t seen till the stop, to set up a short windbreak against the night breeze that was starting to curl around and up the rock face. This was far from your first time setting up a quick campsite, and you wasted few movements. 

Once good thing he noticed though, was as much as you hadn’t let your guard down around him, you had made one big slip up. You tied his hands together. Below the detachable joint in his prosthetic, as whatever you were cooking seemed to finish, he made his move. And this time, it was you who fell like a sack of bricks. 

You woke up a few hours later, tied up and a note folded in the bands of rope around you snarling as you began struggling to free yourself. Once free you snapped it open and took a read of the chicken scratch scrawled across the note.

Sorry, for knocking you out! I took a few supplies to get me through to the next town, oh and your feet are pointed in the direction of a town. So follow that when you wake up instead of whatever direction you think May city is in. Here’s hoping I don’t run into you again! 

V.T.S.

“Stampede you son of a Bitch!” ripped from your lungs with enough force you watched the toma jump, if it hadn’t of been tied to a rock outcropping it probably would have run off. 

Out in the desert a figure shuddered “I guess I should have hit her a little harder. Man does her voice carry.”

[josephslittledeputy]

WIP... Oh shit, its actually Wednesday??

Tagged by @wrathfulrook @clicheantagonist @marivenah @cassietrn @the-silver-chronicles @socially-awkward-skeleton @direwombat and I thiiiiink that's it... sorry if you've tagged me & you're not on here, its been a hot minute since I've posted a wip wednesday & my memory is basically Swiss cheese

Tagging anyone who wants to self indulgently share a WIP! Feel free to tag me, I love to read new stuff :)

**Also terribly sorry in advance cause this turned out to be a bit longer than I thought it would be**

WIP 1: OG Verse - fun times with Celeste & Gabriel

He has to resist the urge to throttle her, lest he ruin the inside of his house filled with years of carefully handpicked items, ones he held a certain fondness for. "You ruined my life, Celeste. Or do you not recall?” "Your life?" She tilts her head in mock curiosity. "What life? The one where you were sent anywhere they told you to go, like some mongrel with a barely slackened leash?" “Excuse me?" “We can pretend otherwise. Keep up the illusion that your life was marvelous, picture perfect even. But we both know the truth, don't we?" She takes a step closer. “You were nothing but the High Council’s defanged pup. Cluelessly doing their bidding before I freed you. If anything, you should be thanking me." "Thanking you?" He clenches and unclenches his fist in an attempt to suppress his anger. "Hate me if you must, fight me even, but do it later. Right now we must get out of here. If they do not know where I am yet, they soon will. What do you think will happen once they realize one of their precious dhamphirs has been under their nose this whole time?"

Celeste truly is the nicest individual you'll ever meet :))

Including this little snippet from Gabriel's pov as well cause idk, I just really like it

Unbidden worry strikes him. He listens, waits, and when his ears pick up the sound of soft, even breathing he lets out a breath of his own. Celeste and the baby were still there, unharmed, perhaps even sleeping. It brings an odd sense of comfort, reminiscent of times long forgotten, times he didn’t want to remember. If he did, he’d have to remember what brought them to a halt in the first place and he had a job to do. Grief and old wounds had no place here, at least not at the moment. Kicking his boots off, he treks into the bathroom and gently closes the door behind him. It’s a simple design: Shower to his left, toilet to his right, and a sink with a mirror above it directly across from the door. Leaning against the sink, he ruffles his short, black hair that's shaved on the sides and traces his fingers over an old, faded scar. It runs down almost the whole length of his face, going over his left eye and stopping just shy of the corner of his mouth. Overlapping it is another, only this one goes across his face horizontally, over the bridge of his nose and from cheek to cheek. The only thing that remains of the old Gabriel are his blue eyes, once full of life and mischief, now faded and dull. Turning away from his visage, he heads toward the shower and turns it on, stripping down while he waits for the water to heat up. He doesn’t need a mirror to see the multitude of scars and tattoos that adorn his body. Aching for another drink—if only to dull his senses and lingering memories once more—he curbs the yearning and steps beneath the water.

WIP 2: They Watch From The Pews

Willa squirms, trying to dodge cold fingers that reach out to trace over the letters, caressing them with a sadistic fascination that makes her stomach curdle in disgust. Disgust quickly transforms into a desperation to get away once he finally reveals the knife kept hidden behind his back. “Usually I’d peel the sin off but… I think this will suit you much better, don't you?" Pressing the tip of his blade into her skin, he teasingly drags it across her skin. "Tell me, Deputy, how did you feel when you got the news of Samuel's death?" "Chipper." She spitefully answers with a sneer. John heaves a dramatic sigh and presses the blade down harder, prompting tiny beads of blood to bubble up as he traces over the letters of her tattoo. "You can make this easier for yourself, you know." "I've heard that before. Got me a bullet to the leg." "Because you ran. My men only acted accordingly." "Fuck you and your men, pussy." "My, what a mouth on you." He tuts and makes a deeper cut. Her teeth sink into the leather in her mouth, denying him the satisfaction of hearing her make a noise. Without pause, he moves onto the second letter, brows scrunched up in concentration as he goes over the lines again and again. It isn’t until he’s on the last letter that she finally breaks with a muffled groan. He stops, lifting his eyes from his work. “Comfortable?”

John & Willa are bonding so well. Truly, I think they're starting to get along!

[velvetineblue]

combat head canons !

he's fast, and has always emphasized speed and strategy over strength. he's light on his feet and quick-witted. in 'powered/supernatural' verses, he is very adept at mid-range battle, and can do long-range... but even though his abilities could be utilized at long-distance, you're unlikely to ever find him doing long-range combat, though: he EXCELS in short-range combat, up close and personal to his opponents, utilizing his fast reaction time and agility to try to get the edge on his opponent. he taunts them, tries to make them angry and frustrated so they begin to expose more vulnerabilities that he can exploit in battle. and he's not above delivering a surprise attack when they're looking away: he thinks it's all part of the game. if his opponent can't keep up with him, can't stay sharp and defend against his assault, or keep their cool, he has an upper hand... he was always an active and fearless kid who preferred sports and adrenaline for his hobbies, and it shows: physical feats and martial arts are muscle memory for him. he prefers his weapons razor sharp and light. knives, daggers, throwing knives, thin blades / light swords ... and in his supernatural verse, he may fashion a makeshift weapon of these sorts out of ICE. for example, he often throws razor sharp chips of ICE at the opponent.

[dragon-ball-meta]

I’m not as versed with writing quality so I never understood why people so heavily criticized the Future Trunks arc in Super.

What about that arc is bad or doesn’t make it work?

This is actually really hard to answer because it's a case of the two versions being VERY different and thus having their own unique set of problems. I'll say that it probably started with its inception, as this was not an organic Toriyama arc. He didn't originally have the idea. Shueisha and Toei came to him asking if there was a way to get Future Trunks involved in this series, as he was a popular character still. Without getting too bogged down in the details, a large part of the issue revolves around Trunks sort of getting Gary Stu'd a bit. He got his own special "transformation" in Super Saiyan Rage (which has yet to be fully explained, though it appears to be a case of simply being able to briefly draw out all of his power for a fast, hard strike), he learns the Mafuba by watching a cell phone video of it, and he can even use Spirit Bomb energy to make a Super Blade for his sword seemingly out of nowhere. It's just messy. There are still things to like in the arc, like Trunks getting to meet Gohan's family and see how differently things went for him here, or getting to see Krillin's family and how 18 had changed, or even Goku's reaction to learning his family's fate in this alternate timeline or Vegeta basically driving his son to stand and fight. Some great moments. But unfortunately, it does get bogged down in that murkier writing. The manga has its own set of issues. For one, Trunks starts even MORE Gary Stu'd, literally being able to simply increase the multiplier of SSJ2 to match Goku at SSJ3 (and pushing Goku to dip into Super Saiyan God to win because apparently he 'hates to lose'). Then making him Kaioshin's apprentice and saying that the apprentices of Kaioshin all have healing powers that they lose when taking on said role... which comes into play then with Zamasu, who is seen using the Time Rings, so he must be a Kaioshin now, yet he retained his healing ability, which would require him to still be an apprentice. After that point, Trunks... is actually sidelined pretty quickly, so much so that the manga version is often called the "Goku Black" arc as opposed to the Future Trunks arc there. He falls by the wayside, really only stepping in to heal Goku or Vegeta, when he gets to the present he just plays video games with Mai and never gets to meet Gohan or his family, and least not in any meaningful way that we're allowed to see, Goku seems completely unphased by the revelation Zamasu murdered his wife and son in his own body and rather makes a joke about having to avenge HIMSELF, Goku somehow learned Hakai from seeing Beerus do it once, does it exactly once, somehow misses a guy less than three feet in front of him (cue Mushu.gif)-

-and then, come the final battle, Trunks has to use the tiny bit of energy he has left to heal Vegeta JUST enough to allow him to stand under his own power, only for Goku to find himself in trouble and cowering a bit in the face of two Fused Zamasus, so Vegeta... rushes in, rescues Goku, and actually summons enough energy to do one big attack and obliterate both Fused Zamasus, who were apparently at full power. So being healed JUST enough to be able to stand allowed him to mysteriously summon the energy to solo kill Fused Zamasu twice over. But that didn't work because Starfish Effect and a scene likely meant as a callback to Return of Cooler-

-and THAT"S when they hit the button to summon Zeno. And that's the short version for both, there's honestly more problems and weird narrative decisions within, such as Time Travel and Bulma's treatment in the manga, but that alone could fill up entire other posts.

Suffice it to say, both versions very much have issues with pacing, characterization, and some contradiction.

[hanzajesthanza]

While Geralt was dreaming the dream in Toussaint with Fringilla, Dandelion was dreaming it with Anarietta. Only, Geralt managed to wake up on his own because he had the hanza (and other stuff). But Dandelion didn't have anyone, he was alone, he was separated from the others and never returned, so the dream consumed him, and he didn't wake until he was forcefully removed from the situation. Or maybe it's not that deep... Why do you think Sapkowski removed him from the equation?

i've seen others explain this more straightforwardly, reasoning that dandelion simply isn't be able to ride with the rest of the company to stygga castle simply and practically because he's less suited for combat than... well, as regis puts it:

‘(...) I’m going with him.’ ‘Me too,’ Cahir said at once. ‘And me and all!’ Milva barked. Dandelion pressed to his chest the tube with the manuscripts which, lately, he wouldn’t be parted from for a single moment. He lowered his head. He was evidently struggling with his thoughts. And the thoughts were winning. ‘Stop meditating, poet,’ Regis said kindly. ‘For there’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re even less cut out to participate in a bloody swordfight than I am. We weren’t taught to carve up our neighbours with a blade. (...)’

though this thinking is undeniably correct (what would dandelion be able to do in the harrowing final battle if they had brought him? no, the strong must protect the sweet...) i think the matter is simultaneously a little deeper than that, as you nod to.

dandelion is more connected to the enchanted valley of toussaint and the city of beauclair than the rest of the company, including geralt, is.

for starters, he's heavily thematically linked to the aesthetics and activities of beauclair:

‘’Pon my word, there’ll be everything at Beauclair,’ Reynart de Bois-Fresnes assured them. ‘Balls, feasts, banquets, revels and poetry evenings. You’re friends of Dandelion’s, for heaven’s sake … Of Viscount Julian’s, I meant to say. And the Lady Duchess is most fond of the latter.’

doesn't the aforementioned just embody dandelion? these activities are truly his domain of existence, and he takes perfectly to this natural environment, like a fish to water:

He [Geralt] found Dandelion in the knights’ hall. The poet was wearing a crimson beret, as big as a loaf of sourdough rye bread, and a matching doublet richly embroidered with golden thread. He was sitting on a curule seat with his lute in his lap and reacting with careless nods to the compliments of the ladies and courtiers surrounding him.

more importantly, dandelion connected with the duchess six years ago, before the invasion from nilfgaard began. considering the timeline, this is before the majority of the short story "something more" took place, in other words, it's "pre-ciri" in geralt's life, it's the time of the short stories, where everything was more open to exploration (for both the author and the characters). though he's not the only one of the company who has been to the valley in years past (angouleme hid from pursuers in toussaint before), this history in beauclair is why he's unable to leave.

because the other members of the company are simply enchanted by the valley... but dandelion is enchanted by the duchess herself:

And the Duchess and Lord Dandelion … Ha, Beauclair is strange indeed and spellbinding, full of amatory enchantment … You shall see for yourselves. As the Duchess and Lord Dandelion learned then. They noticed not, from verse to verse, from word to word, from compliment to compliment, posies, glances, sighs … To put it briefly: both came to an intimate understanding.

anna henrietta herself, as the ruler of this little enchanted valley, is like a fairy queen of a fairy land. she's the object from which all the magic emanates, the most powerful and important individual who not only rules, but symbolizes and embodies toussaint's dreamlike state.

you mention "the dream"; relating back to regis' analysis about toussaint, love, and destiny:

"The dream that the Witcher is dreaming, I humbly submit with respect, is an enchanting and beautiful one. But every dream, if dreamed too long, turns into a nightmare. And we awake from such dreams screaming."

anna henrietta herself is like this, dream-like:

Anarietta thanked them with a faint nod of her head, decorated with a diamond-encrusted tiara. She had so many diamonds on her that she could have scratched glass just by passing. Beside her sat Dandelion, smiling foolishly.

and then, owing to her fickle nature, turns into a nightmare, from which one wakes screaming:

The pointy-nosed duchess suddenly fell into a fury, and one of the barons fell out of favour and was escorted to the tower for some imprudent word. Few–apart from those directly involved–seemed bothered by the matter.

what's truly captivating about anna henrietta and dandelion, though, is that unlike geralt and fringilla, they seem to have truly fallen in love.

geralt and dandelion, of course, are always opposites and run contrary to one another. dandelion's flightiness and noncommittal (and misogynistic) nature during the time of the short stories is a direct contrast to geralt's yearning and committal to yennefer, for him no other woman will ever compare. consider the events of the short story "a shard of ice," where geralt (arguably) attempts suicide when he believes yennefer will not choose him. can you imagine dandelion committing suicide, over a woman? for him, it would be like committing suicide over a sandwich or some other such consumable meal: for which the individuality of which is largely unimportant: though pleasurable, easily replaceable.

but in beauclair - a kind of fairy tale, magical, opposite-land, they reverse roles. geralt and fringilla are in a lustful but loveless relationship, using the other for information and playing a "long con" where they manipulate one another to get what they want, whereas dandelion and anna henrietta are seemingly truly in "love." for instance, compare and contrast geralt leaving fringilla's bed willingly, denying her sex (ch. 4) with dandelion allegedly enjoying breakfast in bed (ch. 3), likely the bed he and anarietta share.

this kind of role reversal is even noted by dandelion himself during his confrontation with geralt in chapter 3; consider "blind" as being in love, and being "an attentive and astute observer" as being a non-romantic.

‘Aha,’ Dandelion said slowly, tightening his lips. ‘What a curious reversal of roles. I’m a blind man, and you meanwhile have suddenly become an attentive and astute observer. It was usually the other way around.’

dandelion doesn't leave beauclair, because unlike geralt, well, maybe as regis says when they're looking around the foot of mount gorgon:

‘I’m no longer searching, I’ve found it.’

this brings us back to - what else? - sapkowski's favorite motif: woman as grail.

of course, ciri is "grail" in the broader story of the witcher, and the pursuit of her is NOT for romantic love but for either power or familial love (depending on which search party you're talking about ;)), but the search for the grail is also embodied by romantic love for a woman, as sapkowski discusses the concept in his world of king arthur, and also how he depicts it in "something ends, something begins." it's even dandelion who explains the concept to the dejected galahad:

Galahad thought again, frowning. "And the Grail?" he asked finally. "What has become of the Grail?" "What is Grail?" "It's something we're searching for," explained Galahad, setting his sad eyes on the troubadour. "Something that is the most important. Without which life has no meaning. Without which we're incomplete and imperfect." The bard pressed his lips and looked at the knight with his famous gaze, a wise gaze mixed with a jovial honesty. "You fool," he replied, "you've been sitting next to your Grail for the entire evening."

dandelion's own words about anna henrietta are enough to understand his motivations for staying:

"We set off in pursuit like idiots, like madmen. But I didn’t utter a word of complaint, Geralt. I didn’t call you a madman. I didn’t ridicule you. For you had hope and love in you. You were being guided by them on this reckless mission. I was too, as a matter of fact. But I’ve caught up with the mirage, and I was lucky enough that the dream came true. My mission is over. I’ve found what is so difficult to find. And I intend to keep it. Is that insanity? It would be insanity to give it up and let it slip through my fingers."

dandelion doesn't leave because he found what is so important, his own "grail." and he and geralt part ways, because whereas dandelion has found what will complete his quest, geralt is still looking for his grail - his daughter ciri.

though of course, dandelion, by his own foolishness, loses his grail... just as geralt recovers his! just as geralt returns to beauclair with ciri, dandelion is sentenced to execution by his beloved duchess. (and losing the grail isn't unheard of in the witcher - i recall percival's (apropos namesake) humorous story from baptism of fire, of exchanging an opal goblet for a mule).

again, they take contrasting roles to one another - in the last two chapters of the saga, geralt has completely changed. he has the stony countenance of a weary man hardened by his losses and horrors, the responsibility of a married man with a daughter. dandelion in contrast, though he's indeed achieved character development throughout the series, remains mostly similar to his beginning state in worldview, expectations, outlook.

‘Geralt, no,’ groaned Dandelion. ‘Don’t do anything, I beg you … Don’t get involved …’ The Witcher turned his face towards him, and Dandelion didn’t recognise it. ‘Get involved?’ he repeated. ‘Intervene? Rescue somebody? Risk my neck for some noble principles or ideas? Oh, no, Dandelion. Not any longer.’

but tl;dr, dandelion remains a dreamer in beauclair because his character's purpose is to run contrast to geralt. dandelion finds what he's looking for, and thus can enjoy the dream. geralt had not yet found what he was looking for, and thus was trying to fight the dream, resolving to wake up and pursue his destiny:

‘Beauclair, they say, is naught but feasts, balls, junkets, boozing and amour. A fellow, they say, only grows idle and stupid, and wastes time, instead of thinking about trade. And one should think about what’s really important. About the goal guiding us. Without let up. Not distract your thinking on mere bagatelles. Then, and only then, is the intended goal achieved.’ ‘Indeed, Mr Fierabras,’ the Witcher said slowly. ‘I’m content with our shared journey. I’ve gained a great deal from our conversations. Truly a great deal.’

[cosmiclion]

If you're curious about the Midfords' role in my AU, they have the same titles/do the same things as in canon and I don't think I'll change that 🤔 What I have so far is that as soon as they learn one of the twins is alive they rush to see him and they try to be there for him as often as possible for things like hospital visits (the kid may have had the help of two demons to get stable but he still needs human medicine).

In this verse supernatural creatures have no reason to hide their true nature unless it's for very specific purposes so everyone knows Sebastian is a demon. It's not at all unheard of for a nonhuman to become the guardian of a human child, but it's not very common for a demon like Sebas to assume that role so, understandably, they have their reservations about the whole thing, especially Frances. In fact at the beginning she's willing to become Ciel's legal guardian and raise him as her own child even if she already has two young children of her own. I thought about a little scene, for which I might draw a short comic one day if I have enough time and energy 😅

When the hectic days following Ciel's rescue and the reconstruction of the manor have passed and everything's a little calmer, the Midfords pay child and demon a visit. Little Ciel is still on his path to recovery and he needs plenty of fresh air and exercise to strenghten his legs, plus some play time with his cousins is good for his emotional health. It's a nice sunny day and everyone's enjoying themselves in the garden and Frances takes the opportunity to talk to Sebastian, so she takes him aside for a bit.

"I must say, even though it hasn't been that long he's already doing so much better, he's a very strong boy." the marchioness comments.

From their spot under a tree shade they can see the others a little bit further. Alexis is helping little Lizzie make flower crowns, which she then gleefully places on Edward's and Ciel's heads. Ciel smiles shyly but genuinely.

"And despite everything he's gone through he still wants to smile."

"Yes, he is a delightful child indeed," Sebastian nods, and after a pause he adds "and I will make sure he grows up to be a fine gentleman."

Fast as lightning, Frances unsheathes her sword and stabs the tree trunk behind Sebastian, the blade just a few milimiters from his ear, and speaks in a tone that would scatter a pack of wolves.

"Now listen very carefully because I won't repeat myself, devil. That child is my only remaining nephew and the only living reminder of my brother and sister in law. I don't care if you're Satan himself, if you don't prove to be capable of providing the best life for him, nothing will stop me from taking him from you and raising him myself. Was that clear?"

If Sebastian had an organic body, he'd swallow a lump in his throat.

"Ah, crystal clear, ma'am."

Frances pulls the sword from the trunk and puts it back in the sheath, then offers the demon a warm smile.

"Good."

[illarian-rambling]

6, 8, and 🤝 for the ask game? :D

I'll think I'll answer for my scary elf, Avymere :)

First time they realized their "calling" in life

As the heir to the duchy of Salis, Avymere has always known what their calling is. They will train as a statesman, inherit the throne, marry and produce an heir, then pass on the title to their child. This has always been how it will be and they have accepted this. However, this purpose evolves as their arc continues. It's after (spoilers) that they realize that it isn't the idea of ruling others that stirs them to action, but the idea of protecting people. That is their purpose, be it from a throne or not.

First time they took a risk, or the biggest risk they've ever taken

Along with being an important political figure, or perhaps because they are, Avymere also serves as a spy. At the point in their story that we meet them, they've been doing this for about 130 years, so they're pretty skilled. But this wasn't always the case.

Avymere undertook their first mission at the fresh age of 23. After some training under their father's spymaster, they were instructed to attend the party of a political rival under the guise of proposing a truce. The plan was for them to palm some documents while discussing things in the rival's office. While they had done this many times in training, Avymere kinda whiffed it in practice and was immediately confronted when they quite obviously tried to stuff some papers in their pocket. Panicking, Avymere burst into tears, which confused the rival long enough for them to pass the documents off to one of their attendants in exchange for a convincing copy. They ended up with the documents, yes, but the rivalry between their father and this other lord was only driven deeper by Avymere's "inexplicable actions."

That was the first big risk they took as a spy. It sort of paid off, but they definitely learned some valuable lessons about practice verses a practical situation.

🤝 - Favorite "first meeting" scene you've written between two characters

I'll actually go with the first "first meeting" scene I ever wrote - the meeting between Sepo and Izjik and Twenari. Sepo and Izjik already knew each other at this point, so it's their first encounter with Twenari. Here's the excerpt!

It took them little enough time to gather the fish into a woven basket labeled ‘woe to all wiggling things’ in curling, Llanaodan script. Izjik yawned as they started along the bank towards home. It was getting dark, and she’d been up with the sun. Sepo, however, found the darkness refreshing. Awakening even. Which is probably why he was the one that heard the small scuffling sounds coming from a nearby clump of reeds.

Stopping abruptly, Sepo grabbed Izjik and pressed his hand down to signal quiet. Ever so carefully, he set down the basket.

<What’s going on,> Izjik signed. Through the veil of night, Sepo could make out every last line of worry on her face.

<We’re not alone,> he answered. With but a whisper, Sepo palmed his handy leviathan tooth dagger and started to creep towards the sounds, which had now fallen silent.

Behind him, Izjik removed her washava and short spear from her belt, ready to take down any attackers that might be waiting for them to take the bait. As he drew closer, Sepo could hear breathing, hard and fast.

Frightened maybe? Or ready for a fight. In one deft motion, he brushed aside the reeds, brandishing his dagger in the face of their would-be stalker.

To Sepo’s astonishment, his knife was not greeted by a bloodthirsty siren soldier, nor a grim Trench guard. The only thing on the bad end of his blade was a child—shaking, snot-nosed, and looking shocked as a hooked fish.

The girl was only a scrawny thing. Sepo couldn’t have said how old. Her short ebony hair was done up in tight locs that had definitely seen better days and she wore a stained dress that might’ve once been yellow but was now the same muddy color as the rest of her filthy self. Old tear tracks leaked from her eyes, revealing a richer umber tone underneath all the dirt.

She was holding a knife.

Sepo was so surprised by all of this that he didn’t register the silvery blade swinging up towards his kneecap. Thankfully though, Izjik did.

In the instant between ‘Is that a knife?’ and ‘Oh shit, that’s a knife!’ she had flung out her washava to meet the blow. The rope weapon wrapped itself around the child’s wrist, pulled tight by the momentum of the polished stone weight tied to the end. With a pained yelp, the blade flew from her hand.

Izjik pulled tight from her end, yanking the child forward into the mud. As she did, Sepo grabbed the child's weapon and pulled her up by the shoulders, holding her in a well-practiced grapple. Like clockwork, Izjik placed her short spear against the girl’s throat the moment Sepo had her up.

For her part, the little thing burst into tears.

<Name? Who sent?> Sepo signed messily, trying to communicate while holding the kid.

“Uh, that’s a child,” Izjik said, removing her spear in confusion, “Like, an actual child.”

<And?>

“The fuck do you mean ‘and?’” she admonished. “Here, just aggh-”

Izjik smacked Sepo’s hands off the kid, who had stopped sobbing and was now just hiccupping pathetically. Upon being released, the girl slumped to her knees. The little thing looked exhausted. Izjik joined her on the ground. Tenderly, she wiped away the girl’s tears and took her hands.

“Hey friend, I’m sorry. That must’ve been quite a scare.” Izjik spoke to her softly yet firmly, like she would to a panicked dog. “Are your parents around?” she continued delicately.

The little girl shook her head in a firm ‘no.’

“Ah. Well. Then, are you here alone?”

At that, the child’s eyes grew big and terrified. She seemed to squeeze into herself as she slowly shook her head again.

Thanks for the asks, these were fun ones!

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Looooong post incoming...

THE INCREDIBLES and INCREDIBLES 2 have been on my mind, lately.

Writer-director Brad Bird’s 2004 superhero movie, done up at Pixar in the days they weren’t owned by The Walt Disney Company, was like a formative film for me. Like STAR WARS was for many kids growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, THE INCREDIBLES was probably that for 12-year-old me, among a couple other movies. (That same year, I was also blown away by SPIDER-MAN 2 and… Umm… I, ROBOT?)

And I’m one of the few weirdos that really, really dug the contested sequel. Well, contested by people online. It did get good critical reception and got an Oscar nom, made a truck ton at the box office, but it’s one of those weird “big” movies that came out, made tons and tons of money, but I hear few talk about it to this day. I feel some other recent Pixar sequels fit that bill as well, like FINDING DORY and TOY STORY 4. These absolutely massive movies that people raced to see, because they love the originals and the characters in them so much, but then seemingly… Forgot about? I think it has a lot to do with just how much stuff comes out now, that it kinda all gets lost in the shuffle. They don’t stick the way TOY STORY 3 did back in 2010, before we got so inundated with lots and lots of stuff oozing out of every pore: TV, streaming, other movies, podcasts, more streaming, etc. etc. Plus, there's that special sauce with the originals that tends to make them hit different than the sequels, no matter how good the sequels may be...

But no matter, I loved INCREDIBLES 2 and still do, even if I think it falls a little bit short of the original. That was a hard act to follow, after all. I did go over some of the few things about the sequel that I thought could’ve been expanded a bit, a few months back… And I’m thinking about them again.

I think the main point of contention with INCREDIBLES 2 was the Screenslaver, and the whole twist being that he was a fictional character, a face that was created by a disgruntled telecommunications company exec who wanted to keep superheroes illegal.

I get it, in a way. Screenslaver looks cool, and that one action sequence with him in the strobe light cage with Elastigirl? I fuckin’ LOVE it. Such a dynamic, well-done action sequence. I guess it made people wish that both Bob and Helen, and the kids and Frozone and maybe those weirdo superheroes like Screech and Reflux, took this guy on. A slender, creepy mask-wearing mind control villain… It's what you expect in a superhero movie, the heroes fighting a rather weird bad guy!

And yet, in a way, I feel like Screenslaver being a mere face. A distraction. Makes INCREDIBLES 2 every bit as subversive as the original. Especially since INCREDIBLES 2 came out in 2018, which was literally a superhero/comic book movie-heavy year. Maybe the heaviest? You had AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, DEADPOOL 2, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES, VENOM, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (!), am I missing anything? That year was S-T-A-C-K-E-D.

By contrast, in 2004, THE INCREDIBLES debuted opposite of SPIDER-MAN 2 and HELLBOY… And also BLADE: TRINITY, THE PUNISHER, and CATWOMAN… Much different times. Especially when it was greenlit by Pixar in the year 2000… What was happening in superhero movies that year? X-MEN had come out, and that was after a fairly successful BLADE movie… And years after BATMAN & ROBIN was lambasted and put the Batman movie format to rest for a good while. (Now it’s inescapable. Every few years, a new actor portrays Batman in live-action.)

THE INCREDIBLES stood out in 2004, I feel, not just because of the freedom animation allowed for the superhero concept (which put it above many of the live-action spectacles being made at the time), but also because it rung closer to a ‘60s spy movie than a typical beat-em-up extravaganza. It’s clearly set in a midcentury modern world, a stylized retro futuristic early ‘60s that is informed by the presence of superpowered beings. Or “Supers”, as this franchise has always called them. While there isn’t a wealth of material explaining how world events played out, it’s all implied and hinted at in both films.

By the mid-1960s, American animation had kinda been pigeonholed as an outlet for cheap, reliable kids’ entertainment on Saturday mornings. The closest thing to an American “spy” movie in the animated medium back then was, of all things, a FLINTSTONES movie: 1966’s THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE. THE INCREDIBLES almost feels like a lost animated movie made for a slightly older audience circa 1965, but dusted off decades later and done in CGI. That’s a Brad Bird staple. Born in 1957, he loves midcentury modern retrofutures, and just that setting in general. THE IRON GIANT is set in the late 1950s, he had a cancelled take on Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT that was set around the time it was introduced, his long-gestating RAY GUNN has been described as a 1930s sci-fi noir retrofuture, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE is of course a ‘60s spy show and a series of feature films (Brad’s feels the most ‘60s out of the movies), TOMORROWLAND… Need I say more? Even RATATOUILLE, which doesn’t involve super heroics or gadgets or futuristic technology… It’s literally a movie about cooking! Even that movie has a retro vibe to it. It’s set in the then-present, but it’s timeless in its look and feel.

Anyways, THE INCREDIBLES plays as much James Bond as it does, say, Batman. You have the whole Nomanisan Island lair, close-quarters fights with armed men, Michael Giacchino’s score, it’s a just-right mix. The first INCREDIBLES has a rather conventional bad guy in Syndrome. An evil guy in an eye-catching suit, with all these various man-made powers, as opposed to other Supers’ natural-born powers. INCREDIBLES 2’s villain is merely an average woman, roughly in her 30s? 40s? She has no powers, she’s just a master manipulator, almost a filmmaker in that regard. I mean she’s an artist and a designer, that’s made perfectly clear the minute you see her, so it makes sense that she could pull off this elaborate show. Mysterio in SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME - which was released a year after INCREDIBLES 2 - needed drones and such to do that. That the Screenslaver is merely a brainwashed pizza delivery guy is part of her brilliance.

So, that’s what makes INCREDIBLES 2 stick out from the other superhero movies circa 2018. A year where the majority of the villains were clear-cut, like a big purple alien guy who wipes out half the universe… and here’s INCREDIBLES 2 with a very crafty woman who essentially puts on a big show. And that in the second half, it’s her and her use of mind control technology that are the big obstacle for the Supers. Not a creature or a conventional superhero bad guy. I think it works, honestly. Like, what’s a different kind of challenge? What if all the good guys got brainwashed, leaving a few… Namely the KIDS, to fend for themselves? That’s a very cool idea, honestly. But again, I get why detractors wanted the shadowy mind control guy instead. Part of me would love to see that version of INCREDIBLES 2, too, if it ever existed. According to interviews w/ the filmmakers, Screenslaver was a late addition to the plot. INCREDIBLES 2 was supposed to come out in summer 2019, but Disney had pushed it up a year, which apparently affected a lot of the decision-making. For some, it shows.

Maybe if INCREDIBLES 2 came out in 2008 instead of 2018, and had the same exact villain twist… In a world where other Disney Animation and Pixar movies with twist villains didn’t yet exist (i.e. Hans, Callaghan, Bellwether, Ernesto), it’d be received differently? I do not know. But that’s why it all works for me. I can tune out the succession of “twist villain” movies, and take INCREDIBLES 2 on its own merits.

In my previous piece on INCREDIBLES 2, I did kind of find fault with its rather rushed third act and how the film doesn’t really bite into the meatier political aspect it kind of teases. The whole idea of a society being dependent on superheroes, rather than getting up and helping pitch in to make the world a better place. (Not dissimilar to TOMORROWLAND’s message.) It’s really all just there to serve Evelyn’s character, which I’m totally fine with… It works in that context. But on the other hand, I feel like this could’ve gone further and explored the whole idea of superheroes being - to quote Jenny Nicholson in her review of JOKER - a “band-aid solution” to crime. And it being a PG-rated mass-market Disney release is no reason to keep me from speculating about this version of INCREDIBLES 2.

I get that Brad Bird probably just wanted to keep it simple and streamlined, and that the “who needs Supers anyways” idea is just a device for Evelyn, not there to make a larger statement. I do believe all art is political, even these movies, but how far the creators want to go with the politics is another story. Ultimately, Evelyn’s methods of getting her way are wrong, but she has points… What if a better society could be created that didn’t depend on superpowered beings having to clobber criminals or threats to save the day?

Clearly the world of THE INCREDIBLES needs superheroes, though, because you have things like mole men with massive drill-mobiles cutting through cities like they’re nothing. But I feel that in a world where we are hyperaware of the system’s flaws and how it’s mostly a failure by design and pretty much creates crime (I’m getting political here, heads up), INCREDIBLES 2 could’ve possibly said something about that. Instead of having superheroes, a stand in for the police when the police themselves or the military can’t handle the threat, what’s causing all the crime in New Urbem and Municiberg in the first place? What systemic inequalities are happening? How progressive is this world because of the presence of superheroes/cool tech? Why are there are robberies? What’s the poverty rate? Etc. etc.

And you may be thinking, this is just an animated family movie, it doesn’t have to be that deep… But I disagree. Plenty of family films, and good stories in general, don’t shy away from this kind of stuff. Art is not made in a vacuum. A lot of actual real-life kids LIVE these sorts of things, too.

But even PG-13 Marvel movies, probably because they’re released by Disney - and Disney tries to play moderate when it comes to political stuff (though they are still too far left for dinguses who yell “WOKE” at everything), don’t really go that far either.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR chips at whether there should be government regulation of superheroes or not, until it settles for being a story about two friends turning against each other over a family death… and then a few MCU movies later, none of that matters - the superheroes are ultimately needed to stop the big purple guy in space… THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER asks why, in a post-Blip world, a universe where half of all the living beings just ceased to be… Why are there still such inequalities on Earth, after Thanos’ snap and subsequent revival of everyone who was unalived? It’s all the catalyst for the Flagsmashers, and leader Karli herself. She was so nuanced as an antagonist, and you also had this ersatz Captain America guy who straight up murdered a person in cold blood. I was loving where it was all going, until a few episodes in, they just made Karli a straight-up murderer. All that nuance is flattened, and the final episode is just another big fight scene. Outside of Sam Wilson’s speech at the end, what really changed on MCU’s Earth? What did this Disney+ series have to say, really? Other than bringing up those very real problems we face in the U.S. and around the world?

I think INCREDIBLES 2 is just more interested in being about its characters first, which, again. Is fine. I don’t think less of the movie because of that. The first INCREDIBLES was about the family dynamic first and foremost, too, and not the spectacle. I don’t require Brad Bird to share all of his political views with me. I appreciate that the movie even posits the question to begin with, it’s ultimately why I’ve been thinking about it! Maybe Bird sees that world as simpler because it’s one where superheroes have been around since at least the turn of the 20th century, and things are different because of that.

This is probably why some people get a very Ayn Randian reading out of THE INCREDIBLES, when I think Bird’s conceit was merely “the villain is someone who uses technology to be a pretend-superhero”. It’s all there to inform Syndrome’s character, not necessarily to declare to the audience that people without powers CAN’T be superheroes. Syndrome kills several Supers so he can enact his plan and make everyone into Supers, because he’s big mad at Mr. Incredible, and that’s why he fails. He could’ve just grown up to make super technology to make other people super, not kill a bunch of them. Heck, if he had turned out better, he could’ve singlehandedly ended the outlawing of Supers… And not natural-born Supers… Imagine THAT movie…

The original movie, I feel, just doesn’t necessarily make a case for whether people born without superpowers can be Super. This dichotomy is just there to make the villain what he is, and hint at what he could’ve been instead of a villain. Sure, the Parr family and Frozone saving the day at the end upholds this apparent status quo, but I don’t think Bird was thinking about it like that. He had denied the Ayn Rand comparisons as far back as the release of the first movie.

The likelier reading of this film, and some of Bird’s other films such as RATATOUILLE and TOMORROWLAND, is informed by Bird’s career trajectory. He was mentored by Milt Kahl, of all people! One of the greatest animators, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men… He was mentored by him as a teenager! But most of Bird’s career, as noted by Mark Mayerson, was a long series of denied opportunities. His aforementioned SPIRIT movie didn’t take off in the ‘80s because who during that period - a time when SECRET OF NIMH came and went, and when features like TWICE UPON A TIME couldn’t get an audience - wanted to sink money into an animated action movie of that caliber? RAY GUNN didn’t go through in the 1990s at Turner Animation, and Warner Bros. dumped THE IRON GIANT in the late summer of 1999 with an ineffective marketing campaign that caused it to flop at the box office.

Because IRON GIANT did so badly, Bird took his toys and left Warner Bros. He headed to Pixar with his superhero movie concept, and he got in despite those who didn’t quite want him around. John Lasseter was not fond of an outsider coming in with this very different pitch for a movie. Up until that point, Pixar was literally what I like to call “Team TOY STORY”. John Lasseter, TOY STORY’s director, also directed A BUG’S LIFE and TOY STORY 2. Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton, where instrumental in TOY STORY 1 & 2, directed MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO respectively. Lee Unkrich, an editor on TOY STORY, co-directed on TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO. Lasseter fired Jorgen Klubien off of his CARS, which was in the works at the time, and took it over. Tight-knit building. Bird was an outsider, and Lasseter wasn’t thrilled about that. But luckily, Steve Jobs staved him off and also kept Michael Eisner’s doubts about THE INCREDIBLES at bay. Bird got to make his rather outre superhero movie at Pixar in spite of Lasseter, Eisner, etc…. And it was a big hit and an Oscar winner. Lasseter was singing a different tune after that.

Future directors didn’t have Jobs’ protection, though, which meant that Lasseter could fire them more easily… And he did… Brenda Chapman, Bob Peterson, etc.

So then after THE INCREDIBLES, Brad Bird really wanted to get a live-action adaptation of the novel 1906 off the ground, but that didn’t go anywhere. He took over RATATOUILLE at Pixar, made a big hit out of that, and then tried to pursue other endeavors. His MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie (GHOST PROTOCOL in 2011) did very well, but then after that, he made TOMORROWLAND and it bombed… And then took on an INCREDIBLES sequel. He is just now starting to get his cooler ideas off the ground, as his RAY GUNN is finally in production at Lasseter’s Skydance Animation. Funny how that works, right? The guy is over 60 years old and is just getting started.

If anything, his movies are more about that. He’s a guy with really cool, game-changing ideas for animated movies in an industry that isn’t interested in that… So… The INCREDIBLES movies being about superheroes who want to help people but not being allowed to by the system, RATATOUILLE being about an animal that doesn’t belong in a kitchen wanting to cook for people, GHOST PROTOCOL being about spies still trying to do the right thing and save the world after their unit has been shut down by the system, TOMORROWLAND being about people not subverting the system by pitching in to make the world a better place and also being barred from the utopia - by, again, the system - where they can make that happen… Yeah, it’s very clear that Bird’s movies are just him venting about his own hangups via fantastical concepts, not trying to espouse some sort of Ayn Randian ideology. How the hell do you get “if you’re naturally talented, you should hoard those gifts from the rest of society” out of THAT?

I think that’s what it is, and that’s what informs the world of THE INCREDIBLES. It’s simply an Earth where superheroes exist, and the system makes them illegal instead of finding other ways to correct accidents that have happened whenever they are around. Just outright ban them from doing what they do, instead. I mean, governments in real life ban all kinds of people for various reasons, strip away their rights, dehumanize them, criminalize them, etc… Sometimes mere circumstances, such as poverty, are viewed as personal failure and inherently criminal. There’s a level of relatability with superheroes for some people because of that. The late Kevin Conroy, for example, used his role as Batman in the 1992 animated series an outlet for his struggles as a gay man. X-Men stories, and the early 2000s X-MEN movies, are either interpreted as that or ARE largely about that.

But even then, Bird’s world still posits some interesting questions that it doesn’t fully answer. It’s busier focusing on the characters. This is more an observation, as I’m not trying to dock the original or the second movie any points… I just wonder why, in the sequel, the world the movies are set in was so quick to legalize Supers after everything that has happened. All it took was saving a boat and that was it? Not the defeat of Syndrome’s final Omnidroid? Not the other good deeds before that? I feel like that portion in the final third of the movie was strangely very rushed.

The thing is, before I wrap this up (phew), we only have two canonical movies in this series, and a handful of comedic/gag-based shorts. The world of the INCREDIBLES is wide and ripe for exploring, I’d argue, but Brad Bird’s not getting any younger and he should pursue the projects he really wants to make. Again, RAY GUNN, his Western, his horror movie, his musical, etc. Pixar honored him by not having someone else throw together a second INCREDIBLES sometime in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Like, Disney could’ve forced Pixar to make one without him anyways, but no. They waited. And if there’s a third one to be made, or a prequel set during the “Golden Age”, they’ll likely wait for him to be available and willing to do it. Or if he gives it his blessing and leaves it to another director… Like Pixar did with TOY STORY 4 and INSIDE OUT 2, and almost did with FINDING DORY. I wonder if he was gonna do the same with INCREDIBLES 2, had TOMORROWLAND done great and he went straight for a sequel to that.

I’d like to see more of that universe, but it needn’t be forced out of the filmmakers at Pixar. Maybe the little we know of it is what kind of stokes our imaginations when it comes to this series? Look at something like STAR WARS now… There’s a ton of movies and shows and expanded universe stuff, which arguably dilutes the magic of its universe... THE INCREDIBLES isn’t that big wide despite the original movie almost being 20 years old. THE INCREDIBLES doesn’t need to be that huge, but I would like to see a little bit more of that world. Maybe another movie - be it INCREDIBLES 3 or a prequel called SUPERS or something - or a Disney+ series, but not the behemoth something like STAR WARS or the MCU have become.

I feel it’s worth playing around in a little bit more. I’m also biased, because I love the movies, particularly the first one.