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[mimi-writing-corner]

10 Non-Lethal Injuries to Add Pain to Your Writing

New Part: 10 Lethal Injury Ideas

If you need a simple way to make your characters feel pain, here are some ideas: 

1. Sprained Ankle

A common injury that can severely limit mobility. This is useful because your characters will have to experience a mild struggle and adapt their plans to their new lack of mobiliy. Perfect to add tension to a chase scene.

2. Rib Contusion

A painful bruise on the ribs can make breathing difficult, helping you sneak in those ragged wheezes during a fight scene. Could also be used for something sport-related! It's impactful enough to leave a lingering pain but not enough to hinder their overall movement.

3. Concussions

This common brain injury can lead to confusion, dizziness, and mood swings, affecting a character’s judgment heavily. It can also cause mild amnesia.

I enjoy using concussions when you need another character to subtly take over the fight/scene, it's an easy way to switch POVs. You could also use it if you need a 'cute' recovery moment with A and B.

4. Fractured Finger

A broken finger can complicate tasks that require fine motor skills. This would be perfect for characters like artists, writers, etc. Or, a fighter who brushes it off as nothing till they try to throw a punch and are hit with pain.

5. Road Rash

Road rash is an abrasion caused by friction. Aka scraping skin. The raw, painful sting resulting from a fall can be a quick but effective way to add pain to your writing. Tip: it's great if you need a mild injury for a child.

6. Shoulder Dislocation

This injury can be excruciating and often leads to an inability to use one arm, forcing characters to confront their limitations while adding urgency to their situation. Good for torture scenes.

7. Deep Laceration

A deep laceration is a cut that requires stitches. As someone who got stitches as a kid, they really aren't that bad! A 2-3 inch wound (in length) provides just enough pain and blood to add that dramatic flair to your writing while not severely deterring your character.

This is also a great wound to look back on since it often scars. Note: the deeper and wider the cut the worse your character's condition. Don't give them a 5 inch deep gash and call that mild.

8. Burns

Whether from fire, chemicals, or hot surfaces, burns can cause intense suffering and lingering trauma. Like the previous injury, the lasting physical and emotional trauma of a burn is a great wound for characters to look back on.

If you want to explore writing burns, read here.

9. Pulled Muscle

This can create ongoing pain and restrict movement, offering a window to force your character to lean on another. Note: I personally use muscle related injuries when I want to focus more on the pain and sprains to focus on a lack of mobility.

10. Tendonitis

Inflammation of a tendon can cause chronic pain and limit a character's ability to perform tasks they usually take for granted. When exploring tendonitis make sure you research well as this can easily turn into a more severe injury.

This is a quick, brief list of ideas to provide writers inspiration. Since it is a shorter blog, I have not covered the injuries in detail. This is inspiration, not a thorough guide. Happy writing! :)

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

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[mimi-writing-corner]

REVERSE TROPE WRITING PROMPTS

Too many beds

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Really nice guy who hates only you

Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

Divorce of convenience

Too much communication

True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Dating your enemy’s sibling

Lovers to enemies

Hate at first sight

Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Fake amnesia

Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Strangers to enemies

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

Too hot to cuddle

Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Nursing home au

[mimi-writing-corner]

This is so real oh my gods XD

For an au I probably won’t write

Heather: I don’t want hiccup to die.

Heather: You don’t want hiccup to die.

Heather: Now we just gotta make sure hiccup doesn’t want hiccup to die.

Eret: amazing plan but have you met him.

[mimi-writing-corner]

I require Takagi centric fanfiction that’s a follow up of this. THIS SCENE IS SOMETHING I SHALL NEVER FORGET IT ABSOLUTELY DESTROYS ME

The Most Important person ❤

Episode 304: Trembling Metropolitan Police Headquarters and 12 Million Hostages

❤❤

[mimi-writing-corner]

Yup.

[mimi-writing-corner]

This is a brilliant mindfuck

Now I need to go lie down

Just learned about garden path sentences.

They’re basically a literary prank– the sentence starts out in such a way that you think you know where it’s going, but the way it ends completely changes the meaning while still being a complete and logical sentence. Usually it deals with double meanings, or with words that can be multiple parts of speech, like nouns and verbs or nouns and adjectives.

So we get gems like

The old man the boat. (The old people are manning the boat)

The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families. (The apartment complex is home to both married and single soldiers, plus their families)

The prime number few. (People who are excellent are few in number.)

The cotton clothing is usually made of grows in Mississipi. (The cotton that clothing is made of)

The man who hunts ducks out on weekends. (As in he ducks out of his responsibilities)

We painted the wall with cracks. (The cracked wall is the one that was pained.)

[mimi-writing-corner]

This is my life

Im just feeling a certain way rn

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I’m in this picture and I don’t like it

[mimi-writing-corner]

That’s deep, love

I like

Lost

Rest in pieces

Maybe that's for the better

Don't bother

It's rotten work

You'll only cut yourself

On all the pieces

That are left of me

But if you insist

I warned you

Why do you always have to pick up

The shards

Of a sick mind

Of a twisted mind

Of a delusional mind

Of a broken mind

Of a lost mind

Hasn't life taught you

That kissing it better

Isn't worth

The cuts on your lips

That finding

A lost soul

Won't help you

Recover yours

Nothing you ever do

For them

For him

Will ever change

The fate

You've made

For yourself

So lose yourself

Stay lost

Scatter all the pieces left

From a sick mind

From a twisted mind

From a delusional mind

From a broken mind

From a lost mind

Life will teach you

Not to lose your pieces

Among the shards of others

You can't fix yourself

By putting back someone else

So stay lost

And

Rest in pieces

[mimi-writing-corner]

Juniper’s Massive World-Building Resource List

(Shamelessly cribbed from a dozen different sources)

1. The Checklists

These are the kinds of things that present you with a list of questions about your world, that you then answer as creatively as you want to. I find myself continually having to go back and add to them, because goodness sometimes I just want to write and not think about stuff that isn’t directly relevant to the plot…until it is. And then suddenly I have to think about the ramifications of that.

CRV’s Worldbuilding Checklists (originally from btot.de) - obviously more fantasy-focused Patricia Wrede’s Worldbuilding Lists - a good balance between fantasy and other genres

2. The Masterlist

This link has nearly everything you can think of. It’s not the be-all-end-all, because nothing is, but it’s damn good.

r/Worldbuilding’s Resources List

3. The Visuals

Yes, there’s the ever-present AI-generated images, things such as Artbreeder or Wombo Dream, but sometimes you need something more concrete. Like maps. Or people.

Also, pay artists to make beautiful things whenever you can. AI art is designed to remove the actual humanity from the creative process, and while it’s fine for face claims or inspiration, I would never ever use it as, say, my book cover.

Alsoalso, learn a little something about graphic design. Please. Color theory. Rule of thirds. I beg of you.

Things I have used for maps:

Inkarnate - Browser-based, but almost entirely fantasy-focused

Wonderdraft - Large-scale mapping for countries/continents/worlds

Dungeondraft - Smaller scale mapping that shines when doing smaller areas, especially interiors (both ‘drafts are from the same creator, and are desktop only) There is not, as of yet, a Towndraft, although the community is ravenous for it!

I highly recommend the art packs from Cartography Assets, although if you’re going to use them in a commercially released work, do be a good human and pay the artists for their work! If you want to do sci-fi or modern maps, this is where to get your assets!

Things I have used for people:

HeroForge - A 3D tabletop miniature creator with a vibrant modder community. The free version lets you create as many figures as you want, but their Pro deal lets you organize them into folders, which I absolutely love. It also lets you save specific colors/materials to use across multiple figures, which saves a lot of time when creating folks with a shared uniform. You can even import people/outfits/poses from other figures! I’m told that facial feature modification, clothing patterns, and kitbashing are coming this year! (I’m a little addicted, as you might’ve noticed.) Best on desktop, but you can get a quick “sketch” done on mobile.

Picrew - A truly massive collection of portrait creators. The Discord associated with it is really helpful, in that you can frequently get links to creators that meet your specific requirements, like ‘must have elf ears and POC skin tones’ or ‘must have heterochromia and vitiligo’. This site got me through the roughest parts of 2020. Great for mobile.

Meiker.io - Similar in scope to Picrew, Meiker has a few treasures, including a lot from the now mostly defunct DollDivine, which relied entirely on Flash. There are a few that I return to again and again, but not many. Best on desktop and very easy to create your own creators.

Neka.cc - A Chinese-based site with a lot of similarities to Picrew, although a lot less diversity, both in skin tones and bodies. Great for mobile.

Storior gets an honorable mention because it has a ton of potential, with a lot more options in some respects, but precious few in others. Best on desktop. Can you tell I really love these things?!

4. The Organizers

It helps to have somewhere to store all this information, right? Preferably in an easily accessed database? Perhaps with links or prompts?

These are the ones I’ve used:

World Anvil - Browser-based, incredibly detailed and complex, even for the free version. I found it to be too complicated to figure out, but maybe it’ll be your cuppa!

Campfire - Browser-based, mostly focused on writers, and has a suite of options that you can opt into or out of. This also wasn’t as useful to me, since there’s nowhere to put an outline!

Kanka.io - Browser-based, and just this perfect sweet spot between bare bones and overloaded. There are specific modules you can enable or disable, like in-universe calendars, dice rollers, character journals, etc. It’s my preferred option for organizing my world-building, outside of things like Google Docs.

I also understand a lot of writers like using Scrivener for their work, but as I have Linux, I don’t have any experience with it.

5. The Rest

So, a lot of world-building comes down to how well you know our world. I love world-building because it means I get to use all my education and interests together to create something that feels realistic to my readers and players. This is a time when ADHD is absolutely useful! Chase those squirrels! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ended up reading an article on, say, rivers, only to end up with an idea for how leylines function in my world!

So here are my top 5 recommendations for figuring out how our world works:

Sociology! - If you want to know how different cultures interact, why certain customs come about, or just how a population reaches a decision, learn about sociology. It’s probably my favorite subject, and most useful to very culture-focused world-builders.

Geology! - If you want to know how your world fits together, what it’s made of, where things like mineral or gem deposits might be or how they might form… in addition to how rivers, lakes, and “strange” geographical features form, geology’s a great place to start.

History! - Okay, maybe this one is cheating, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read about something in history and thought “what if it went this way instead?” BAM, there’s a premise for you. (I have an entire novel idea built around that, told mostly through a writer interviewing a famous figure in this alt-history for their biography. After seeing the popularity of Dracula Daily, I almost want to release it like that…)

Ecology! - Oh man, if you want to figure out the botany and zoology of your world, ecology is a great place to start. It builds very nicely off of geology, and covers such a broad range of topics and how each of these pieces interact with one another - like how hydrology affects meteorology affects climate affects plant distribution affects animal distribution… which of course then affects culture!

I’m going to be sacrilegious in the eyes of some of my fellow world-builders here and NOT put linguistics - not because it’s not useful, just because it’s not a field I know much about. Instead, I’d suggest looking at world myths and religions. Yeah, it’s technically part of sociology, but if you’re developing a world from scratch, the creation stories that the sentient species tell themselves can inform a lot of their culture.

For instance, the world that Starcrossed, Amongst the Goblins & the Fishes, and The Silver Hand are all set in is an alternate Earth where magic never left the land. The creation myths in this world are much more centered around humanoids living in harmony with nature, rather than dominating it. In fact, some of the human societies have a specific taboo against desecrating the earth that is taken to such an extreme that other species, like elves and dwarves, occupy that niche instead, acting as stewards of the forest and mountain because they don’t have that same taboo. Part of these myths explain the existence of ley lines, and why they wither and die out (because of excessive logging, destructive farming/mining, or large-scale slaughter of creatures). Will this ever come up in Starcrossed? I highly doubt it. But it figures into the other two VERY prominently.

Phew! That was quite a tangent. Anyway - did I get any of your favorites? Do you have something you’d like to add? Should I make this all a separate page so it’s easy to access and update it regularly? Tell me things! Ask me things! I am an open book and love talking about world-building! Tell me where you’re stuck and maybe we can figure out a way forward together! (Also hmu on Discord, I am so mediocre at Tumblr.)

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Please return us to a world where Notp and squick are used for a ship you don’t like instead of just making up a load of bullshit about how immoral it is or w/e lol 

[mimi-writing-corner]

Original Poem - In Sound and Silence

Everything was silent.

It was peaceful, in a way.

It didn’t last.

The void is here.

The void is calling.

In the stars that judge me for my height.

In the moon that hates me in her sight.

The sky that walks away when I pass by.

The wind that freezes down my spine.

It whispers. Whispers quietly, so no one will appear.

No, that’s not right.

Because I’m here.

And it calls.

Is it speaking? Is it singing?

I think it’s both at once.

The ripples of the sea bellow are also calling.

I hear. I hear and I listen and respond.

My mind replies with its own call.

It has so much to say. And yet so little...

My thoughts are flying in a non-existent space.

How curious. There’s so many, and they’re all wingless.

Nothing but a whisp of air leaves my lips.

A breath.

It was warm once.

It will freeze forever.

I don’t like the cold. I never have.

It’s stiffling. It leaves my fingers with a different kind of burn.

So cold it’s hot, and maybe on some god’s behalf.

I hate it.

There is something else I also hate.

The thoughts have grown in number yet have shrivelled up in size.

They still move quickly.

Some of them are wise.

Something hurts.

I used to wonder what it was.

Not anymore,

I’ve long since lost my compass.

The wind grew stronger. Rain fell.

And the sea wove its enchanting spell.

Everything was loud.

The world, the everything, the nothing.

…

The voices aren’t speaking anymore.

They’re screaming.

Funny, I hear them even less now.

There is only one voice I can hear.

The void is calling.

It’s still here.

In the stars that judge me for my height.

In the moon that hates me in her sight.

The sky that walks away when I pass by.

The wind that freezes down my spine.

The sea…

…it might accept me.

Even though it hates me.

It’s okay, I understand.

And so I’ll give into a final flight.

For this will be my final night.

I fall. It’s loud, it’s cold, it’s hot.

Being free in this world is something I cannot…

But not anymore.

An enchanting spell of blue, a splash.

One day soon I’ll just be ash.

And it took me.

I’d say my final day was quite well spent.

And then

Finally

Everything was silent.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Feedback would be more than welcome!

To be honest, I don’t have much experience with poetry. Any poems I usually write have a very clear and standard structure. This one is different and throws me for a loop.

[mimi-writing-corner]

The Lights of Avalon

Chapter 8 - The Boy with Glowing Blue Eyes

Chief of the Nine Sisters of Avalon, Ruler of the Underworld, the one who parts the veil between worlds. Demi-goddess and faery woman. The Necromancer. The Great Sorceress: Morgan Le Fay. Chills ran all the way to Jack’s core, adrenaline shooting through his system. The hair on the back of his neck rose up—from static or fear, he couldn’t tell. Was Avalon listening this time? Had he insulted them so badly that she decided to appear in person? Good.

This chapter's a little under 14k words 😭

Special thanks to @santathegrey for beta-ing this time around, and @jjackfrost and @twiafom for streaming Minecraft playthroughs together against my better judgement!

AND HOLY SHIT CHECK OUT THE AMAZING FANART THIS FIC HAS GOTTEN!!! @the-bubbles-tm did a gorgeous painting of Jack and Hiccup on the Lake (and made a spotify playlist for the fic that is SO GOOD), AND designed the boys’ costumes based on the currently released chapters!! And @bignostalgias drew this BEAUTIFUL Nimue, AND just posted these amazing sketches based on scenes from Chapter 7!! (I’m still crying over Astrid freaking out about her crush on Tooth in the last comic laskjdflksadjf)

I’m so so grateful for your guys’ beautiful work!! 😭❤️❤️❤️❤️

Link's in the title, or you can click over here!

HAVE FUN!!

[mimi-writing-corner]

💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨💜✨

Aww to see Chillax mentioned brings happy tears to my eyes 🥹

Principles: An overview

The principles are aspects attributed to Celestials, mortals and immortals, as well as some items and events. They can help define the powers and demands of a Celestial, the characteristics of a person and the properties of an item. There exist twelve principles, with one additional principle that was created by the wonderful @mimi-creates.

The twelve principles are: Crown, Lock, Grail, Feather, Moth, Shine, Rot, Heart, Pyre, Shard, Wind and Lantern. The thirteenth is Chillax.

Crown

Crown is the first principle and, as such, the all-encompassing aspect of unity and creation. It governs and empowers all principles and records their history. It is the aspect of the plentiful, of completion and unions, of assimilation. Crown is the aspect of travel, fruitfulness, and all-consuming diseases.

Current Celestials

The Birthgiver

Uctuhl

Nacre

The Jury - Rot, Crown

The Rose-and-Stone - Heart, Crown, Grail

Sarkos

Chuma - Feather, Crown

Current societies and followers

The High Hand

Temple

Obsidian Tower

Rituals

Watcher's Crown

Fruiting Harvest

Items

Woven Pearls

Lock

Lock is the principle of secrets untold, of hidden knowledge, of that-which-isn't, of openings and pathfindings. It is associated with wounds, locksmiths, burglars and oracles. Its possessors are characterized by intense abstract dreams, intuition, manual dexterity, reclusion and often self-destructive tendencies.

Current Celestials

The Mother of Ants

Nagha'ore - Lock, Rot, Wind

The Birchwing - Lock, Grail

The Bamboo Cutter - Moth, Shard, Lock, Wind

Huxley - Lock, Grail, Rot

Current societies and followers

The Great Hooded Monarchs

Temple

Rituals

The Unknowing

Items

Cracked Moonstone

Grail

Grail is the principle of sensation, of the deeper hungers of the body, of the carnal desires of the soul, of birth and seduction, of the thirst for the forbidden. Its followers are characterised by irresistible charisma and inhuman desirability. Grail is also the principle of dependence, of the blood and flesh, of the consumption of starvation.

Current Celestials

Sanguis

The Bleeding Gold

Huxley - Lock, Grail, Rot

The Birchwing - Lock, Grail

The Rose-and-Stone - Heart, Crown, Grail

Current societies and followers

Order of the Cuprite Cup

August Latere

Temple

Church of St Erote

Rituals

The Devouring Sacrament

Items

Red Ink

Essence of Aphrosia

Feather

Feather is the aspect of darkness, of violence and conquest, of an end enforced, of kindness through death, of betrayal and pain. It is the principle of the Angel which usurps and the Beast clad in another's name. Feather followers are characterized by bloodlust, manipulation, cunning, heartlessness and the habit of wearing masks, metaphorical or physical.

Current Celestials

Unnamed True Evil

The Crescent Wyrm

Mor - Feather, Rot

Smyrt - Feather, Wind

Chuma - Feather, Crown

The Executioner - Rot, Feather

The False Shepherd

Current societies and followers

The Six Harbingers

The Sextons

Temple

Sexton's Chapel

Rituals

The Edge of Days

Items

Birds of Hades

Moth

Moth is the principle of whimsy, of theft, of chaos. It governs the fervent chase of desires and the shedding of unnecessary things. Its followers are characterized by erratic, reckless behavior and hidden ulterior motives. It is sometimes the aspect of seamstresses and barbers.

Current Celestials

Thinea

Acerlusca

The White Owl - Moth, Wind

The Bamboo Cutter - Moth, Shard, Lock, Rot

Twin Victims - Heart, Moth

Current societies and followers

The Keepers

The Tineidan Skintwisters

Woodwhisper Club

Temple

Lighthouse Keep

Rituals

Path through the Wood

Items

Hemolymph Extract

Shine

Shine is the principle that corrupts, the light that blinds the mind. This sourceless glimmer seeks to spread its influence in a shadowed world. Shine followers are known for their deep devotion, raw, strong emotions and delirious tendencies. It is one of the principles associated with the forbidden practices in the Rift.

Current Celestials

Yofm'log

Azanahoth - Pyre, Shine

The Light - Shine, Grail

The Whirlwind

Hinata Yamikumo

Current societies and followers

Acolytes of the Sun-in-Veils

Temple

Aerlutum

Rituals

An Extinguished Sun

Crack in the Sky

Items

Blighted Eye

Rot

Rot is the principle that ties life with death and decay with rebirth. It is the aspect of nature, of unending cycles and immortality. Its followers are characterized by deathlessness, fondness for farming, and the kindness one can find only in nature.

Current Celestials

Shuggor

The Ammolite

The Seed Unearthed

Vehemcervus

The Judge - Rot, Lantern

The Jury - Rot, Crown

The Executioner - Rot, Feather

Hiemvenari - Rot, Wind

Huxley - Lock, Grail, Rot

Nagha'ore - Lock, Rot, Wind

Mor - Feather, Rot

The Bamboo Cutter - Moth, Shard, Lock, Rot

Current societies and followers

Order of the Cosmic Tree

Elios McCoy

Feodore Boucher

Temple

The Wood

Rituals

Spoils of Life

Items

Heart

Heart is the principle of life, protection, willpower, of the drumbeat rhythm that must never cease. It is an unstoppable aspect that does not fall in the face of adversity. Heart is the aspect of the thrum of the body and the dance of the sea. Its followers are characterized by relentless need to preserve and protect and often obsessive determination.

Current Celestials

The Unsunken

The Velvet

The Rose-and-Stone - Heart, Crown, Grail

Twin Victims - Heart, Moth

Current societies and followers

Order Unceasing

Feodore Boucher

Clemente Kohler

Temple

The Atria

Rituals

Call of the Vigilant Storm

Items

Rose-pearl Dust

Pyre

Pyre is the principle of transformation, destruction and the raw power of the elements. It is the aspect that enables fire to mould the metal and words to mould the mind. Its followers are characterized by ingenuity, mechanical thinking, and superhuman strength. Pyre is known as the principle of blacksmiths and craftsmen.

Current Celestials

Azanahoth - Pyre, Shine

The Lady of the Soil

The Daughter of Star - Pyre, Wind

Current societies and followers

Brotherhood of the Leashed Flame

Clemente Kohler

Temple

Ignis Temple

Rituals

The Infernal Rites

Items

Ember Amulet

Shard

Shard is the principle that divides, it is the aspect of separation, miscommunication, of the discrepancy of mind and body. This principle urges towards isolation and study of the night sky. Its followers, many of which are witches or oracles, are characterized by introversion, seclusion, vast knowledge of astronomy and the soul.

Current Celestials

The Shattered Risen

The Holy Wound

The Bamboo Cutter - Moth, Shard, Lock, Rot

Current societies and followers

Alaterate's Oracles

Temple

Twilight Gate

Rituals

A Heart's Division

Items

Witch-kissed Dream

Wind

Wind is the principle of the inescapable end, of death, remembrance, unlife, debilitation, and beauty. It is the aspect of those things that never cease to change and those that are not quite dead. Its followers are sometimes characterized by remorselessness, sometimes by cold sorrow and repression of feelings, but are always characterized by withdrawal and silence.

Current Celestials

The Elegiast

The Chameleonskin

The Whiptail

The White Owl - Moth, Wind

Hiemvenari - Rot, Wind

Nagha'ore - Lock, Rot, Wind

The Daughter of Star - Pyre, Wind

Smyrt - Feather, Wind

Current societies and followers

Order of the Silent Hour

Temple

Church of Eternal Winter

Rituals

Recitation of Lost Hours

Items

Teardrop Bell

Lantern

Lantern is the principle that draws power from knowledge, that enlightens the mind. It is the aspect of the Compass - it is unkind, but, above all, it leads. It shows the way to the willing and the unwilling. Its followers are characterized by lucid dreams, mercilessness and devotion to knowledge and its preservation.

Current Celestials

Sirius

Orion

The Flowerdancer

The Light-of-Day

The Light-of-Night

The Judge - Rot, Lantern

Current societies and followers

The Archivists

Elios McCoy

Temple

Lotus Library

Rituals

Glimpse of Glory

Items

[mimi-writing-corner]

YES. Just… YES

just thinking about Jack learning Norse the long way without magic after dimension/time traveling to Berk. Rambling nonsense under cut

Ok ok as learning a language takes time and dedication, Jack mostly communicates non-verbally at first and slowly incorporates Norse into his vocabulary. He sporadically gets lessons from the Dragon Riders, but it’s slow-going as there’s always external shenanigans to resolve, and to be honest most of them are poor language teachers (with the exception of Fishlegs, who is very kind to make Jack flashcards to study with). He also visits with Gothi, as she sympathizes with his struggle to be understood, and he picks up on her symbols as they become friends. He thinks of Sandy and feels a pang of homesickness.

Both Jack and Hiccup are very expressive characters who often use exaggerated gestures and expressions to prove a point, so their friendship consists of a lot of pointed looks and unabashed flailing. Rolling their eyes. Goofy smiles. Smiles with Mischievous Intent. Sarcastic deadpans. Reading the tone of each others’ voices. As they become more comfortable with each other (and Jack becomes more comfortable being visible and tangible) this includes Jack holding Hiccup’s hand to lead him somewhere, poking each other to invoke a reaction, Hiccup steering Jack by his shoulders away from trouble, falling asleep haphazardly on top of each other while attempting to study. To an onlooker their conversations are madness.

Hiccup learns English as well as a fair trade. So he can know Jack a little better. So Jack isn’t alone in this. Similar to OTNWAS (fic of all time), he starts using English expressions and slang that Jack introduces him to (“Cool,” he says, drawing out the vowels. Jack nods at him rapidly. He exclaims something incomprehensible to Hiccup - but undoubtedly encouraging from the way his eyes are crinkling at the corners - before repeating, “cool beans,” and gives a double thumbs up. Flashbright smile. “Cool beans,” Hiccup says, still with only a fuzzy understanding of what it means).

Hiccup also spends a lot of time drawing with Jack, as a tool to aid communication and make new flashcards, but more often than not it devolves into stupid Pictionary doodles as Hiccup struggles to interpret Jack’s drawings. (“Uh, is that…. Stormfly?” Hiccup asks, and Jack pulls a face that is both distraught and amused. “So not - oh! That’s an axe! You’re drawing Astrid! Oh gods. I have to show her this, oh gods.” Something about the maniacal glee in Hiccup’s tone must have alerted Jack to his intent, as he received a sharp poke under his ribs as a reply, making him wheeze. In English, Jack says, “whatever you’re thinking, don’t,” and Hiccup, recognizing the last word, bursts into giggles.)

Jack is dedicated to making Hiccup laugh, of course. Jack is very willing to make himself the fool to do so. Toothless is happy to help.

Soon Jack can string Norse sentences together skillfully, drop some vibrant curses, and sing a few ballads as well (the ballads he picked up even before he fully understood them). And because Hijack has taken over my one braincell, Jack tells Hiccup he loves him in Norse after an eternity of fumbling to figure out the right words.

(antique fic trope alert, 5 times Jack tried to tell Hiccup he loved him in Norse +1 time he got it right. someone take me out to a dennys parking lot and break my kneecaps)

[mimi-writing-corner]

I read it the moment it was posted but I missed out of reblogging? We must rectify that mistake now don’t we

The Lights of Avalon

Chapter 6 - Lions and Dragons

As Hiccup explained the structure of the ribbing, Jack was beginning to notice a familiar design; he had seen them all over Berk after all. “They’re kind of like dragon wings.” Hiccup smiled. “That was the idea.” Jack smiled back. “We could have used something like this for our show today. It was the Tale of Sir Yvain, the Knight of the Lion.” “Yeah? Who did you play?” There was a beat. “The Lion.”

Oh my god we’re at the part of the story where the boys are finally TALKING EXTENSIVELY :’’’’D I had a lot of fun stuffing this chapter with a bunch of fluff and friendship!

Special thanks again to @jjackfrost for beta-ing and congrats to @twiafom for escaping their shadowbanning!

The link's in the title, or you can click over here! Have fun!!

[mimi-writing-corner]

It was so GOOD 😫💜✨

Yet another amazing chapter!

Awaiting (not so patiently XD) the next one

The Lights of Avalon

Chapter 5 - The Prince of Berk

Stepping onto the windowsill, he leaned as far outside as he could into the sunlight. Up there, buildings of the city below him looked almost the same size as his wooden carvings lining his shelves. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air, heavy with the scent of the sea. He heard a seagull’s call above him, and opened his eyes to the sky, the clouds and drifting in the strong wind. The giant flags flying against the sunset-lit clouds made it seem as if the dragons were lighting them with their fiery breath. This was as close to the sky as you could get in all of Berk. Hopefully soon, he would get even closer.

NERDY DRAGON BOY IS HERE!

Special thanks again to @jjackfrost for beta-ing and @twiafom for annoying(me)!

The link's in the title, or you can click over here! Have fun yo!!