#Painted Kiva

[elb0wn00dle]

daily doodle number four

[jamienoguchi]

Tokutember 18, ELECTRICITY! I don’t think Kamen Rider Kiva has an electric form, but this works.

#tokutember #kamenriderkiva #clipstudiopaint

[beaniebeby]

i do a lot of playing around with coloring....thank u infinite painter....

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 3, Wave 2, Poll 3

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included. 

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Ballister Blackheart-Nimona (Novel)

Qualifications:

He’s gay and an amputee

Propaganda:

He’s a lot more evil and also more established on what he’s doing than the movie. I think he’s neat, he does a lot more scheming and plotting and general shenanigans.

Data Soong-Star Trek: The Next Generation

Qualifications:

Many fans interpret him as autistic, including me, and he is gay. Also canonically asexual! He has only ever had one onscreen romance (Tasha Yar does not count, that was a one night stand/FWB thing), with a woman, in which the entire moral was that he was forcing himself to be someone he wasn't while in a relationship with her. His closest relationship is with Geordi LaForge, a relationship commonly interpreted as romantic or queerplatonic.

Propaganda:

Data as a character is so important to me, as an autistic queer kid. His whole storyline of wanting to be human, but never being able to be human, because there's something fundamentally different about him that causes some people to treat him as lesser and nonsentient.... very autistic. He often infodumps to people, is very blunt, experiences emotions in an unconventional way, is socially awkward, and has specific interests in things like poetry and painting. He is a very kind person, and is averse to harming even people who are direct threats to him (such as Kivas Fajo). He has a cat and writes poems about her!! He breaks the prime directive to save a little alien girl!! I cannot adequately explain how awesome this character is in words.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

[southwest-pottery-bracket]

Preliminaries: Battle of the Black-on-Whites!

Black-on-white pottery is far and away the most common decorated pottery style of the ancient Southwest. There are way, way too many to include them all... in fact, there are too many to include even all the ones I want to show off!

So this is the Preliminary Round - four different black-on-white types will go up against each other... only two will move on to represent black-on-whites in the final bracket.

Vote for your favorite!

Information and details about each type under the cut:

Sosi and Dogoszhi Black-on-white

Dogoszhi Black-on-white jar. Northeastern Arizona, 1050-1200.

These are actually two different types within Tusayan White Ware - Sosi B/W and Dogoszhi B/W. However, like I said, Too Many Whitewares, so I'm grouping them together because there's strong overlap.

Sosi B/W can be identified by its bold, black designs, like the one in the compilation above the cut; Dogozshi B/W has similar design layout, but instead of solid black, they're filled with hatchure (thin, parallel lines. Sometimes, like the image above, the body is a Dogoszhi design, while the neck has a more Sosi-like design.

Sosi and Dogozshi Black-on-whites were built with the coil-and-scrape method (built up of many small coils, probably turned on a turning plate called a puki, and then while the clay was still wet, scraped smooth and sometimes polished). The paint was carbon-based and got its color from a plant called beeweed. These were made in the Kayenta and Tusayan regions of north-eastern Arizona.

Mimbres Black-on-white

Bowl with a Frog, Mimbres Black-on-white. Southwestern New Mexico, AD 1000-1150.

One of the most iconic Southwest pottery types. Literally: one of the few pottery types in the Southwest to display a wide range of icons, human and animal figures. Pre-Classic Mimbres bowls used geometric and rotational symmetry designs more often, mixing bold lines and hatchure; Classic Mimbres bowls tend to have a linear design around the rim, and then a human or animal design on the inside. Various types of figures are seen, but primarily birds, insects, amphibians/reptiles, and twin human figures, in hematite-based paint.

Mimbres bowls are among the most popular to be sold by looters on the black market. Worse, a very large number of the most dramatic Mimbres bowls come from burials; if you see an archaeological pot for sale with an animal design like this, it was almost certainly stolen out of a grave. You can especially suspect this when the bowls have small circular holes smashed or drilled in the center, usually obscuring the figure partially. Archaeologists call these kill holes, from the idea that the pot was "killed" to end its use-life when it was buried with the deceased person. If you see a Mimbres pot with a kill-hole, odds are very good (something like 80%) that it came from a burial. These displayed bowls here are verified to come from non-burial contexts.

Chaco Black-on-white

Chaco (or Gallup) Black-on-white. Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, north-western New Mexico, AD 1000-1100.

Chaco Canyon! One of the most dramatic, interesting, and still mysterious aspects of the Ancestral Southwest. In a canyon in New Mexico, multiple palatial "Great Houses" were built, with hundreds of rooms, large and regimented plazas, massive kivas (circular subterranean religious buildings), and an incredible amount of decoration and pageantry. Pueblo Bonito, the largest of the Chaco Great Houses, is proven to have had a matrilineal elite/noble lineage. How many people actually lived in the Great Houses? Were they palaces, communal centers, worship centers? Were the Chaco elite a priestly class or a noble caste or a bit of both? How did they mobilize people throughout the Chaco sphere of influence to bring timbers down from the mountains a hundred kilometers away to build these Great Houses? There are a lot of things archaeologists still argue about. Pueblo and Navajo oral histories describe Chaco as an overreach of power that their ancestors eventually rejected, leading to the collapse of Chaco Canyon as a center of social influence throughout the Southwest around 1100. (Modern Pueblo and Navajo relationships to Chaco are complicated. It was an overreach of power, but also an incredible ancestral polity.) Until then, it was certainly a socially, politically, and religiously powerful force.

You can also see this in the pottery: this style of hatchure, the narrow black-and-white lines, was massively popular in Chaco Canyon and seems to have kind of ripple-effected out to the rest of the Southwest who were in or near the Chaco sphere of influence. Hatchure is very common in a lot of black-on-white wares, but very close, very narrow, very even hatchure is strongly associated with Chaco Canyon.

Cylinder jars for chocolate-drinking, as described and confirmed by Dr. Patricia Crown. Chaco Canyon, Pueblo Bonito, 1000-1100.

Also, Chaco Black-on-white cylinder jars were used for a chocolate-drinking ritual, indicating cultural connections, religious ties, and trade routes to Mesoamerica and Maya communities far to the south in Mexico in the 900s-1000s. It's an important thing to remember: None of these cultures or time periods were static, and were almost never insular.

Mesa Verde Black-on-white

Mesa Verde Black-on-white bowls. Southwestern Colorado/northwestern New Mexico, AD 1150-1280.

An immensely popular white ware style, Mesa Verde Black-on-white is associated with the Ancestral Pueblo settlements - including the dramatic and famous cliff dwellings, like Cliff Palace. Bold, heavy, repeating geometric designs in carbon-based paint are the most common, but there are hatched designs and some areas that used mineral paints as well. Paintbrushes to apply these painted designs were made of yucca.

Some of the most fun and famous Mesa Verde B/W vessels are the mugs of Mug House, a site so named because a bunch of mugs were found in it.

[innervoiceartblog]

"Near the Rio Grande is Kuaua Kiva, a sacred hole in the ground. I climbed down the ladder and sat in the center of the cool dark vessel. The walls of this womb are painted. Hares and birds are spitting seed. Clouds and rain fertilize the maize and handprints chase a trail of deer hooves. Masked dancers, girded with conch shells, spin hoops and rattle gourds. The snakes and eagles bear their messages to me."

Published in The Mother's Songs, 1986.

Artwork: Vessel by Meinrad Craighead, 1983, Ink on Scratchboard

Signed prints of this image are available at https://rcwms.org/product/vessel-print/

[the-art-of-sanshoku]

The only year of my life where I drew at least one thing every month so I can finally make something like this :> also my first full year on Tumblr! Started this blog about a year and a half ago because I wanted to take art more seriously and honestly it was still a pretty on and off thing for a while but I've been locked in the past few months (gee wonder why). Here's hoping to a productive 2025 🙏

Dont want to flood the tags so I'll just write down what's what and ramble a bit under the cut:

January: Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain. I remember I wanted to do something that had MS Paint vibes with Lain for some reason lol

February: Iris Wilson, Herlock Sholmes, and Yujin Mikotoba from The Great Ace Attorney. Made this after shortly after finishing the game, what can I say other than Iris is my favorite~

March: Didn't post this to the blog but it was something I made for a friend's DnD campaign

April: Prompto from FFXV, another thing not posted to my blog (I actually had no posts March or April I was very busy with life at the time) the only thing I found on my ipad for this month was a csp file of random sketches so I just cropped one I kinda liked. It was mostly FFXV because I had just beaten the game I think

May: Selvie from Unicorn Overlord, another instance of "I just beat the game wanted to draw some of them". Very happy with how I colored this one, still very fond of this

June: Yuka-chan from Blue Period, made this for pride month so I picked a character I love from a manga I love (read blue period NOW)

July: Jiro from Kamen Rider Kiva. Started getting back into Kamen Rider around June I think with Build and then watched Kiva in July. Seems I didn't do too much artwork in July so have another sketchy piece

August: Takeshi Hongo from Kamen Rider (1971). I actually started watching Kuuga here but a lot of my earlier pieces are uh.... Anyway my favorite thing from this month is this Hongo so I picked that :)

September: Azuma Michinaga from Kamen Rider Geats. The colors are kind of funky but idk I liked this one! Probably my best Geats fanart tbh

October: Godai and Ichijo from Kamen Rider Kuuga. I like this one a lot. I really struggle with drawing cute chibi things and this is one of the few times I felt I succeeded. Also the hands were fun to draw

November: Godai and Ichijo again hehe, this was from a compilation of goichis but I cropped my favorite section of it. I like doing this kind of watercolor-y vibe from time to time, and I felt these came out pretty nicely

December: Ichijo (with Godai offscreen) if you couldn't tell I might like these guys. Still very proud of this one, it has a background! And attempts at composition! POV! I didn't feel like I just slapped a character's face on a photo reference! The colors are kind of nice even. I left behind some very messy linework but it's okay.

[rabbitcruiser]

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park (No. 15)

This multi-storied ruin, the best-known cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde, is located in the largest alcove in the center of the Great Mesa. It was south- and southwest-facing, providing greater warmth from the sun in the winter. Dating back more than 700 years, the dwelling is constructed of sandstone, wooden beams, and mortar. Many of the rooms were brightly painted. Cliff Palace was home to approximately 125 people, but was likely an important part of a larger community of sixty nearby pueblos, which housed a combined six hundred or more people. With 23 kivas and 150 rooms, Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park.

Source: Wikipedia

[novaauster]

HELLOOOO LETS KILL OURSELVES OVER HERINES HARASAEON. evil of you to do this when im hungover i already almost teared up literally just seeing kiva have her own character tag. like those are my babies from my silly little head and people are creating beautiful things for them!!!! insanity. let's go:

"I just needed a plot device in order to make that boy talk about his feelings bc he only does it if he's homicidal or inebriated" another horrible day fighting the hella-rin allegations

"She never touches his skin, only his scalp, only when doing his hair." fuck the hangover i need a DRINKKK

ama. my best worldbuilding addition by far but also my mortal enemy

"Rin wants to venture into the realm of the gods, find which one is responsible for time, and hold a knife to its throat. He’d force it to turn back the hourglass and eat his words. He’d get on his knees before it and tell it that time itself, and every word spoken, and every word unspoken, must bend to the queen." this whole thing is quite literally some of my favourite writing of all time this is insane this is tattooed onto every inch of my skin i preach this from street corners i spray paint it on buses i-

THE WITCH HAS SHORT HAIR? INTERESTING

they're all so formal lmaoooo. down with monarchy but my harasaeons are okay ig

DRAKO AND AKILA MENTIONED IN A FIC INCIDENT 2 DEAD ONE STILL WRITING LETTERS

"He was born as an apology and he lives the life of a paragon. He likes to be responsible." nova your days are numbered. when i catch you

YOU EQUATED KIVA'S INFLUENCE ON THE PROCEDURE TO SUNLIGHT WHAT IF I KILLED MYSELF. AND ALL THE LANGUAGE REGARDING SHADOW/DARKNESS WITH RIN. MY LAST STRAW

"Her hand brushes a strand of hair back behind his ear, and he hears, more than feels, the kiss to the top of his head. “I’ll be right outside, baby-- baby.”" worst day of my fuckass life

KIVA OBEYS. I CANT DO THIS

clean clay is such a fun addition i love that. also love how official you made the practise of witchcraft bc that's EXACTLY what i want from it like it's literally like talking to any other medical professional

"He spends his time in the sunlight of the library, Kidaro napping on the windowsill, with political treatises, historical scrolls, and the occasional epic poem spread out around him like a hurricane, a method to its madness. He enjoys it. He was always a child with his head in the clouds. He does miss music, though. The palace can get quiet" MY BABY MY BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

RIN IS THE OBEDIENT ONE. KIVA OBEYS. DOG MOTIF HARASAEON IS THE BULLET IN THE GUN IM HOLDING

HELPPPPPP MARY IS KINDA GAGGING HIM HERE LMFAO I LOVE HER

HE TOLD HER ABOUT LILLA????? KING PUT THE VODKA DOWNNNNNNNNNN

"Royal blood, good for nothing but animal feed." NOVA. WHEN. I. CATCH. YOU

AND HE CANNOT ASK DRAKO. THEY'RE BROTHERS THEY'RE MAATUI BUT EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS WILLEM IS SOMETHING THEY CANT MAKE PEACE WITH

'would you still love me if I was a worm?' caught me SOO OFF GUARD IM CACKLING I CANT BELIEVE YOU ADDED THAT

"Rin had created a ten-step plan for the event that one of them met the same fate." HES SUCH A NERD I WOULD KILL FOR HIM

memory so bad i actually checked my kuserian dictionary bc i was like 'oooo ghost being translated to death-shadow is cool why dont i remember that' girl....

HAMMARIIIIIIIII. the way even her name made my stomach flip. what if i cried

got too immersed in the procedure and forgot to live react oops

"he would do anything if it meant he was doing it right" "It’s just that a firstborn is a war. A firstborn is a hurricane with a thousand buzzing wings. It is an omen seared into the back of all their necks, it is once-in-a-generation, it is a gift from the gods. And Rin is not one."

DID YOU. DID YO UFCKNING PUT EPIC OF GILGAMESH IN THIS. DIIIIID YOU FUCKING DO THAHFT. HOW LONG IS THE EYE ABLE TO LOOK AT THE SUN FROM THE VERY BEGINNING NOTHING AT ALL HAS LASTED HE'S BEEN DEAD SINCE THE BEGINNING IN THE STORY OF GODS AND KINGS YOU WERE DEAD BEFORE THE INK DRIED

drako's first thought only being to ask 'will you be okay'. frankly i cant take much more. is this how you guys feel when i talk about them because this is AWFUL

"There were myths, in the burnt edges of the kingdom, that said that there were only ever two Harasaeons. The queen and the heiress, switching places in a cycle like night and day. Hammari and Kiva, two stages of the same life, the snake’s egg and the hummingbird. And then, their reincarnations, Lugalia and-- who? The queen is dead. Long live the queen. It is a form of immortality. Rin shattered it." STOP STOP MAKE IT STOP

the philisophical conversation. is love a form of magic. the chasm of his birth. im going to GET YOU

"Please, Ama. You don’t have to love me anymore. Just remember how it felt when you did." THROWING UP BLOOD

that was. im a changed person i need 3-5 business days to think about this i need to call my mum i need to get drunk i need a fantasy witch to cut my tits off

omg hi!!! so true herines harasaeon group suicide girls night <3 and kiva has made her ao3 debut! she's girlbossing she's literally a debutante she is the queen of all time. yeah

-the witch does have short hair! she's from the east (where the monsters are) and yknow I figure that her powers are used for medicine, but if she didn't have all the safety things put in place (no sunlight, careful runes and careful chants) and just went hogwild on a monster she could basically Shigaraki that thing. monster hunting is her side hustle tbh

-the formal speech was fun for me idk. watched too much BBC Victoria with my mom and now I gasp like a gossiping old lady when I write the phrase "You have my permission to withdraw" bc it's SUCH a power-play it's so good.

-my days might be numbered but so are Rin's

-sunlight and shadow motif with nuance is always sm fun. me when characters are bright and carcinogenic. me when characters are invisible, shadows dogging their own steps, silent and beaten-down and elegant all the same. yeah

-“I’ll be right outside, baby-- baby.”" worst day of my fuckass life too tbh, that's the line that really clicked the whole fic in place for me. kiva loves him but not enough to change him. baby boy good luck taking care of yourself. etc

-dog motif harasaeons you will always be famous

-clean clay and also the oldest sigils Mary paints on Rin are cuneiform if that wasn't clear. mesopotamian aesthetic goes hard

-Mary DOES kinda gag Rin lmao. she's literally so Kanut-coded I can't stand her. she's like 'i won't throw hands with a child but i will permanently invert his worldview with some moderately harsh words and also disrespect the queen if it means showing him that there's someone who supports his evolution wholeheartedly'

-he cannot ask drako!!! grief is something the harasaeons can't stand i think. kiva ignores rin like an open would because she grieves him and lilla. willem is given the same treatment

-"would you still love me if i was a worm" is a tonal shift I wasn't sure about but I think it works. something about siblings defaulting to poking fun at each other when they can't stand the truth. their love must go either unspoken or mocked. they can only survive it with a little humor and a little grace

-rin is the nerd of all time and i love him for it

-i'm gonna be so real death-shadow meaning ghost is something i stole wholesale from Mando'a. like the language for star wars mandalorians. but yknow what the concept fucks hard and george lucas doesn't own the literal mistranslations of his peripheral conlangs

-"It’s just that a firstborn is a war." harasaeons when they have to decide between an insane warmongering eldest daughter and literally anyone else

-yes i did put the epic of gilgamesh in there. yes i was browsing Amazon Goodreads for good quotes in the middle of my economics class. dw about it

-drako asking 'will you be okay' IS how we feel when you drop the saddest lore of all time on us unprompted, yeah x

-Lugalia and-- who? The queen is dead. Long live the queen. It is a form of immortality. Rin shattered it." me when Rin ending the cycle could have been construed as a positive ending to the cycle of generational trauma and violence but instead it is a betrayal to his heritage

-"is love a form of magic" is also one of the central lines of the piece. i wanted to show the deep childlike core of Rin's pain. Tell me a story about how it ends where you're still the good guy I'll make pretend cause I hate this story where happiness ends and dies with you I thought good guys get to be happy I'm not happy. etc. you know how it is

tysm!!!!

[mythandlaur]

Code: July Day 9 - Season & Day 22 - Snow/Warmth

Admittedly I lost some steam here and doubt I'll do all 30, that was kind of a pipe dream anyway. There's still a couple more I had ideas for that I did want to get out, though. Especially after people have left such kind comments, I really appreciate it ;;

To explain this one, I'd already gone through the whole "season > weather > OH GOD I'M NOT WRITING ABOUT THE HOLIDAY IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY > snow" thought process...before realizing snow was actually another prompt later on. So I'm just going to say this counts for both. Is it cheating? Maybe a bit. Who's counting. (Is someone counting?)

...

Yumi opens her eyes, and feels a pit of dread forming at the bottom of her stomach.

It takes her a few seconds to realize that dread stems from the light from her window painting her ceiling with a different tint than normal. Then another second to stand up, two to walk to the window, and ten solid seconds for her to stare at the thick blanket of snow covering her yard in abject dismay.

She'd thought she'd be over it by the time she had to worry about actual snow. Apparently, she isn't so lucky.

Yumi can already feel the chill from the other side of the window, and she doubles over on herself, trembling. Already, it cuts through her skin, straight into her bones, and there's no way she'll ever be warm again, until she is, she's so hot it's unbearable and she can't feel her fingers and--

"Yuu-chan! Hiiro-kun!"

Her mother's shout up the stairs snaps Yumi out of her thought spiral, and she lurches back from the window as if struck, mind already racing. She's going to have to walk to school with Hiroki, and she's going to have to do it without looking like she's freaking out because it's not even that much snow it's probably not that cold and as far as anyone else is concerned there's no reason she should be any worse about the cold than she was last year.

For the rest of the usual chaos that is a weekday morning at the Ishiyama household, Yumi tries desperately to think of a way out. Her mother sees her off, so she can't just not go. She can't play sick because her mother will see through it immediately, and if she doesn't show up to school, her friends might worry about her--If she freaks them out over something this minor, well, she might as well just die. She can't ask to go by car; the snow isn't that bad, plus her father's really conscious about gas and the school is in the opposite direction of his work, and a negligible drive anyway. Whatever exists of that hope departs with him as he heads out the door, grumbling.

Yumi's forced to begin resigning herself to the fact that there is no way out--she'll just have to do it and hope Hiroki doesn't notice, or that a car doesn't skid and hit her, or that a tree doesn't fall on top of her, or that she doesn't just collapse...She fruitlessly tries to will these thoughts out of her mind, channeling her frustration into helping Hiroki lace up his boots.

There's a knock at the front door, stopping them all mid-bundling.

Yumi's mother nudges past the rest of them to get it. Yumi peers up from her spot on the floor, trying to get a glimpse of the visitors--she gasps in surprise when she recognizes grey-brown and bright pink on her doorstep.

The green one attempts an awkward bow at Yumi's mother, mumbling something into the collar of his jacket that's probably supposed to be "konnichiwa", but comes out more like "coney-kiva". Still, the earnest attempt at least gets a chuckle out of her mother.

"Um...has Yumi left yet?"

"Ulrich! Aelita!"

Yumi ties the last knot in her brother's laces, ignoring the insufferable look he tries to give her, probably having to do with Ulrich coming to the house. She hurries up next to her mother in the doorway, crossing her arms instinctively as the chill wind blows in from outside.

"What are you guys doing here?"

...There's a sudden flash of fear--had she missed a phone call? Aelita must notice it on her face, because she smiles reassuringly. "It's nothing urgent," she says, telling Yumi everything she needs to know in three words. "We just wanted to walk you and Hiroki to school today." She glances sidelong at Ulrich with a sly smirk. "Well, I say we, but it was really Ulrich's idea."

"Mpff." Ulrich pulls his jacket collar up further as if trying to disappear inside it. He's wearing his ski goggles, and his hat's pulled down lower than strictly necessary--right, he'd been there for the snow incident, not to mention that whole held hostage in an industrial freezer situation. He had just as much reason to hate the cold, if not more. And yet, he'd come all the way out here...?

Yumi's mother sighs in relief. "I was a bit worried about it. Thank you both, you're good kids." She shuffles back from the doorway, giving an exaggerated shiver. "Now if you're both ready--Yumi, your mittens--go on and get going so I can shut the door."

Yumi nods, shoving her hands into the offered mittens before herding Hiroki out the door with an arm, Ulrich and Aelita stepping aside to make room. Yumi waves over her shoulder. "Ittekimasu," she calls, her brother halfheartedly chorusing halfway through.

"Itterasshai!" her mother replies, waving before quickly closing the door behind them to block out the cold.

The moment their mother's out of sight, Hiroki turns on Yumi's classmates with a squint of utmost suspicion. "Are you three gonna skip school again?" He says it like a whine, but Yumi knows full well he's just jealous of what he sees as 'cool rebellious teenage activities'. Not that they weren't rebellious (or weren't at all cool, if she's being entirely honest with herself), but given he treats warnings as challenges, it's probably best to let him keep believing it's that simple.

"No," Aelita hums, "We were just worried about you guys walking all this way in the snow."

"But you're missing breakfast..."

Ulrich shrugs. "Yeah, Odd's thrilled. I didn't really feel like eating, anyway."

Hiroki scowls. "You guys are up to something!"

Aelita makes a big show of glancing off to the side with a disappointed sigh. "Okay, you got me." She slips off one of her fluffy pink mittens, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small mp3 player. "I did want a test audience for my new mix..."

Hiroki's eyes go wide, and Yumi can practically see stars in them as he chucks off his backpack and starts digging around for his earbuds. Ever since finding out Aelita was not only a rebellious teenager but also a real DJ who made real actual music herself that had been good enough to get noticed by the Subdigitals, she'd sort of become one of the coolest people on Earth to Hiroki.

Aelita winks back at Yumi as Hiroki throws his backpack back on and runs up next to her. Yumi nods gratefully, and Aelita starts walking, Hiroki keeping pace with her as Ulrich and Yumi let themselves fall a ways behind.

"Your idea, huh," she murmurs to Ulrich, stuffing her hands in her pockets to mirror his stance.

He grunts again. "Yeah. Aelita only really came so your parents wouldn't freak out."

"Good thinking," Yumi snorts, "Plus she makes an excellent distraction." She glances down at their feet, noticing the twin ruts behind Ulrich as he drags his feet. Her voice softens. "Hey, are you okay? I know you--"

"M'fine. It's no big deal."

Yumi rolls her eyes. Of course. "You know, you don't have to pretend you're some big tough guy and that's why you're doing this," she says, though there's no real venom in her voice. She lightly elbows him, nearly knocking him off the sidewalk. "It could just be because you wanted to do something nice for me."

"Th-that's not what I'm trying to--!"

Yumi bites her lip to stifle a laugh as he tries to stare a hole in the ground. She can practically see his blush. God, he's an idiot. Sometimes, that's as charming as it is annoying. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Then what're you doing it for?"

"Uh...!" Ulrich looks up at her with wide eyes, then back down at his own coat, clearing his throat. "I just wanted to be sure that you'd make it. Not--not that I don't think you'd make it, but..."

"Don't worry, I think I get it," Yumi replies with a small smile. He worried she wouldn't bother, which was, considering her thought process all morning, a valid response. The fear still cuts into her, but it's a lot less sharp with them around. Him around. "...Thanks."

This time, it's less of a shove, more of a gentle nudge. He pushes back. "Don't mention it."

"That you care? Secret's safe with me, but the others might've figured it out by now."

"Shut up."

Yumi does let herself laugh, kicking up a bit of snow with a boot. It comes up in a small cloud, fresh and fluffy, not practically frozen under her foot--nothing like before.

It's not at all like before.

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 3, Poll 6

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Data Soong-Star Trek: The Next Generation

Qualifications:

Many fans interpret him as autistic, including me, and he is gay. Also canonically asexual! He has only ever had one onscreen romance (Tasha Yar does not count, that was a one night stand/FWB thing), with a woman, in which the entire moral was that he was forcing himself to be someone he wasn't while in a relationship with her. His closest relationship is with Geordi LaForge, a relationship commonly interpreted as romantic or queerplatonic.

Propaganda:

Data as a character is so important to me, as an autistic queer kid. His whole storyline of wanting to be human, but never being able to be human, because there's something fundamentally different about him that causes some people to treat him as lesser and nonsentient.... very autistic. He often infodumps to people, is very blunt, experiences emotions in an unconventional way, is socially awkward, and has specific interests in things like poetry and painting. He is a very kind person, and is averse to harming even people who are direct threats to him (such as Kivas Fajo). He has a cat and writes poems about her!! He breaks the prime directive to save a little alien girl!! I cannot adequately explain how awesome this character is in words.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

Sir Alistair Hammerlock-Borderlands

Qualifications:

Canonically an amputee, also has a missing eye

Propaganda:

Silly victorian gentleman hunter guy in a scifi setting. His glasses are broken in a way that makes you see his robo eye AND resembles a fancy monocle. Bri'ish for some reason. Goofy lil man who gives you sidequests and is probably the nicest person in the setting. Refined vocabulary which he occasionally peppers in swears. Fabulous facial hair. Makes jokes abt his missing limbs ("[...] my more artificial limbs may begin to rust. Hard to sneak up on prey with a squeaky prosthetic!"). Huge ADHD and tism vibes imo. Also he's gay and has an equally silly + classy husband who is also disabled so epic diversity win (old man yaoi)

Anything Else?:

IM SO NORMAL ABT HIM

Submitted by @wainwrightjakobshammerlock

[tsuki-sennin]

Gorgeous everything! Connect everything!

Kamen Rider Legend's still here! And he's looking even more Gorgeous than ever!

Spoilers, I guess...

-The audacity of this man to call himself a "living legend".

-I kinda respect it, actually.

-Mr. Saigetsu, I don't think trying that supplementary material stuff a second time's gonna work much better.

-So is... Kivat-Bat II dead? Did he blow up in the chaos?

-I mean, he's not all that bad a guy once you get to know him, so this seems a little excessive of you, Kaguya.

-"Hello, Hotaro..."

-"Whoooo..."

-Went right back home.

-WHERE DID YOU GET THAT

-To be fair, I was utterly baffled when he transformed into Dark Kiva with no issue, but I could reasonably believe him being a Fangire.

-Having the Ark on standby, on the other hand???

-"You must all enjoy the shiny."

-Well, lets get comfortable, Kaguya~! We'll be a bit off.

-Butler-san...

-"Oh crap, my remedial English!"

-Still just urban legend...

-You think by now somebody'd have caught him in 4K.

-White guy!

-...I mean, he did play Howl Pendragon on stage for a while, right? Or am I thinking of someone else?

-"Knowledge is power, my boy! And it's through polishing the diamond of your mind that it shines like the sun!"

-HE SMELLED NICE, HUH????

-D

-Do you not have school

-Spanner and him get on like a house on fire.

-"The Kaguya fandom grows ever brighter!"

-Gorgeous!

-Gigist...

-Where ya goin, boss?

-"Ooooh~! Painted flames on yourself, hmm? Quite a fascinating look... I wonder if..."

-ExceedMighty Fire! ...Would this make him RisingAxel?

-Oh... Yeah...

-He can do that...

-He is doing that.

-YOU GRABBED HOPPER1

-Amazing Mighty Smash!

-"Did you like it~?"

-Put them down!!!

-He angy

-Ohhhhh, I get it now.

-He lonely

-I suppose there's no sentience to the Ride Chemy Cards.

-Mr. Saigetsu returns.

-Too cheap to spring for Ark-One, buddy?

-I weep for any fan artist who wishes to draw Legendary Legend.

-Gorgeously bad mood...

-Oh, never mind, I guess he isn't too cheap!

-The power of prediction~!

-A parallel between Hopper1 and Kaguya...

-Handshake :)

-Ark-One with the plastic sword!

-Oh he jacks catchphrases too.

-Oh that's a nice standby

-Yosh!

-Man I would not have gone back.

-Okay, Hundred people.

-Exactly what are you guys doin?

-THAT IS JUST

-OKAY HI ARK

-Done fucked up big time.

-It is Kaguya who vanishes

-G

-GRAND ZI-O OKAY

-COOL

-SURE

-FINE

-WHATEVER

-I DON'T EVEN

-OKAY

-NICE

-NAH IT'S COOL I'M NOT MAD OR ANYTHING

-I'm really not, I'm just

-What

[davidaolson]

Taos Pueblo Ladders & Doors

Prior to the Spanish invasion, the buildings in the Pueblo had neither doors nor windows. Access and light were provided by entry holes in the roof. Additional light needs were provided by Kiva Fireplaces. Roof access was via ladders that could be easily pulled up for safety from marauders. The doors, added after Spanish colonization, are painted in turquoise, blue, and red for protection from…

[lpmurphy]

Spring in Tchakova Park

Read on AO3

Master List

Chapter Playlist

Summary: Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.

In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice. (Complete 5/7/24)

Chapter Summary: John receives a promotion.

Epilogue: Spring in the Highland Mountains

John couldn’t remember the last time he wore the uniform that hung from the wardrobe door. 

He searched through his memory as he stared at his dress whites, only recalling a handful of times he had donned a dress uniform in recent years. It had hung in his wardrobe back in the barracks for so long before it took up residence in the back of Violet’s closet; in their closet. It had stayed there for the better part of a month in the slip of plastic the base dry cleaners had covered it with, untouched beside the pale pink garment bag she refused to let him unzip. 

It hung now from the door of the old wardrobe in the room she slept in as a girl, glowing too bright in the late afternoon sun that dropped over the lake. John turned his head to peer out the window Violet had once crawled through to meet him to the glittering waters that laid just beyond the manicured lawn of the Harris kiva. He knew he wouldn’t forget the occasion he wore the uniform for this time.

Her musical laughter echoed from down the hall and filled the bedroom he stood in with the joyous sound. John turned from the window to the opened door. Violet’s laugh was joined by Kai’s from where his botanist had been stowed away in Bill and Jane’s bedroom all afternoon. Jane had banished them to opposite ends of the kiva since the night before after the rehearsal dinner, tasking Vannak and Kai with moving them strategically so that they wouldn’t encounter one another. She claimed tradition when Violet argued with her strict directives. Violet made her own claims that they had spent the six months of their engagement sharing the same bed and that she didn’t see the difference one night would make, but the small woman remained steadfast in her demands.

It didn’t stop Violet from tapping on his window late that night after everyone had gone to bed, nor had it stopped him from slipping through the silent house to sneak out the back door to meet her on the dock. He had relished in each moment they had spent sitting beside one another on the edge of the dock with feet dangling in moonlit waters as she rested her head on his shoulder, lifting it only to sneak kisses between the words of their whispered conversations.  They had only shared fifteen minutes together before Jane caught on to their rendezvous and sent Vannak and Kai out to collect them. Their breach of Jane Protocol resulted in them both being pushed off of the dock when Kai and Vannak crept up on them, Violet’s happy shriek echoing across the lake as they fell into the chilled waters. He walked back up the lawn with her hand in his before he returned to Katie’s childhood room drenched and whole to sleep alone for what he hoped was the last night. 

Violet’s laugh echoed down the hall again and John smiled at the sound. She had told him once that she hated her laugh. It appalled him that anyone could hate such a perfect noise. John poked his head out into the hallway and found it quiet as he checked quickly for Jane. He stepped out and looked down the hallway to the open doorway of the master bedroom. Violet sat on the foot of her parents’ bed in her thin white robe, partially obstructed by the woman who dabbed at her face with brushes and sponges. She laughed at something Meredith said again before apologizing to the woman for moving too much. John leaned against the doorway of his own room and watched for a moment before the woman stepped out of the way and Violet’s eyes met his. 

Her face split into that bright grin at the sight of him, painted in shades of pinks and gold and her curls pinned up with long silver clips. She pressed her fingers to her painted lips and blew him a soft kiss. John returned the gesture with a wink as he watched her wordlessly. 

“No!” 

John turned to find Riz striding down the hallway towards him with finger waggling disapprovingly between the two of them. She wore the same pale blue pajamas she had donned since that morning. John had never seen her sleep in anything other than the regulation tee and sweats they were all issued. “Stop it! You both are going to get us yelled at. Kai, shut the door! They’re fraternizing again.”

Kai’s hand shot into the doorway and slammed the door shut. Violet’s room erupted into chides and giggles as it closed, the last glimpse he caught of her that of the smile she tried to hold back as she rolled her eyes. Riz planted herself in his doorway with an intense glare as she crossed her arms. He met her displeased stare with his own, her dark eyes ringed with makeup and hair pinned up. Tight curls bounced around her face as she shook her head and frowned at him. 

“Get dressed,” she called over her shoulder as she turned. She knocked on the bedroom door and disappeared into the room when Kai cracked the door open for her, a burst of happy conversation leaking out of the space.

John scoffed and pulled the bedroom door shut behind him. He yanked off the tee shirt he had thrown on after his shower and tossed it aside. He watched his reflection as he undressed, his eyes tracing over every scar that littered his body. He touched the gnarled white that cut across his chest, remembering the way her own fingers had so tenderly brushed across them that first night. She hadn’t recoiled or looked at them with disgust, nor had she looked to him in horror. He had once thought that no one would ever look at him like he was anything more than a machine. A weapon.  A monster. But she looked up at him that first night as her fingers traced over the darkest parts of him and he knew that he had been wrong. She called them beautiful without knowing the beauty she had shown him in her gentle touch; the same beauty that she had shown him ever since. He would gladly endure any of them over again if it meant that they had led him to her. 

He turned back to where his dress whites hung and looked over the collection of campaign ribbons and medals that decorated the chest and the Spartan insignia pinned to it. He had held many titles in his lifetime; different ranks and designations that he had been promoted to. But none of his training, none of the battles and victories that led to any of the decoration on his uniform, had prepared him for the title he would take that spring evening in front of that lake.

Husband.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 would become John Harris; Violet Harris’s husband. He had never been more honored by a promotion.

There had been no training or exercises to prepare him. There had been no briefings or directives. It was unknown and new and entirely his own. She was entirely his own. He would experience this all the same way he had experienced every unknown moment since the first at the park; beside her. It would be the same way they would face every bit of new, her hand in his as they navigated each uncharted step, and he couldn’t wait to take on every bit of it. 

He started to dress and tugged on the stiff trousers. His fingers worked at the fly as Riz pushed through the door again. Her pajamas had been replaced by a flowy dress of the same shade of blue with a high neck, her freckled shoulders and back bare. John looked over at her and took in the unfamiliar sight of his sister in her dress with makeup and hair done. She looked beautiful. 

Riz looked back at his half dressed state unhappily. She held a long box in one arm, the other hand gripping the doorknob. Small bundles of flowers were nestled down into the parcel. 

“Where’s Bill?” She asked. 

John looked around the room before answering, unsure if she had forgotten only a few minutes prior when she had found him alone in the room. He started to remove his undershirt from the hanger as he replied. “I don’t know.” 

“I need to give him his boutonnière.”

“His what?” 

Riz groaned as she leaned out of the doorway and pulled it shut behind her. John could hear her footsteps down the hall as she shouted for Bill.

“Dad!”

“Yeah, Rizzo?” 

John listened to their shouted exchange from where Bill stood on the lawn. Riz’s footsteps returned to his door as she yanked it open to glare at him again,  “Get dressed. Guests are arriving. Ceremony starts in 30.” 

“What do you think I’m trying to do in here?” 

Riz pulled the door shut again without responding. John shook his head and returned to dressing himself. The door was thrown open again and John bit back a growl of frustration as he buttoned up his shirt. Riz leaned in the doorway and watched as he tucked his shirt into his pants in his reflection. 

“Did you give Jane your ring?” She asked.

John flexed his left hand, the simple titanium band still on his finger. He had worn the ring since the day they purchased it together. Violet would tease him that he was too eager, but he didn’t want to spend another day without being claimed by her in the same way she had been claimed by him. Riz held her hand out as he yanked it off and set it into her palm. His hand felt strange without it; naked and too light.

Riz turned her head to shout down the hallway again, “Mom!” 

“Yeah, honey?” Jane called back.

“I have John’s ring! Do you still need Vi’s?” 

“I have it! The caterers just got here. Can you come show them where to set up on the map you made? I can’t find my glasses!” 

A faint smile lifted her lips and Riz perked up at the question as her hand found the doorknob. The redhead had thrown herself headfirst into their wedding shortly after the engagement. Riz cornered John in the barracks after their return from Nomad to make it clear that a mutual agreement made between himself and his bride to be whilst standing in a bloodsoaked field hospital at the bedside of her dead former lover was not a proposal in any sense of the term. 

She had dragged him and the rest of the team out of FLEETCOM that evening to the posh jewelry stores downtown. John watched as she poured herself over the glass cases and asked for different styles and cuts to be brought out, all large and flashy. The jeweler that assisted her had assumed that Riz was the bride as she carefully analyzed each ring and turned to Vannak, Kai, and John for their approval. Her mission to find Violet’s ring quickly turned into Riz slipping rings onto her own fingers, holding her hand out in front of her to look down at the glittering stones. Kai had been asked to wait outside after stacking as many baubles as she could onto each of her fingers with a pleased grin. Vannak stood behind Riz silently, but John was able to identify the way he looked down at the redhead immediately.

In the end, John had been the one to find her ring after slipping away from his team. A round green stone flanked by small diamonds on either side that resembled leaves. He purchased it from another salesman before slipping back to where Riz modeled an obscenely large diamond on her finger with a small smile. Violet had laughed through her sobs when he presented it to her beside the pond in the park the following evening, nodding happily and smiling as she kissed him. 

Riz started to pull the door shut again, but hesitated. She pushed the door open and rested her hip against the doorway, “Hey.”

John turned to her with a growled sigh as he prepared himself to be instructed to do exactly what he had been doing for a third time. Riz only smiled up at him; a soft lovely smile that he had seen so rarely he could count the occurrences on a single hand. 

“You look good,” she told him softly.

John returned his sister’s smile. “You too.”

“Don’t bullshit him, Riz. We all know he doesn’t look half as damn good as I do,” Kai guffawed from behind her. 

Riz rolled her eyes as Kai stepped behind her and John didn’t recognize her for a moment. Her own dress was a shade of pale purple, the crown of her blonde waves pinned up with sprigs of wildflowers. She offered him a wide grin as she stepped into the room and gestured to his neck. “Your collar is twisted. Here.”

Kai stepped behind him and John watched their reflections in the mirror as she adjusted it. She glanced up at him, her lips turned up into a soft smirk as her eyes returned to his collar, “I can’t remember the last time I saw you in these.”

“Me either,” he chuckled. He looked from her reflection to where Riz stood in the door. “I’ve never seen you both like this. ”

“Don’t get used to it. This is only for your lovely bride, Chief,” Kai chuckled. Her fingers left his collar and her hands lingered on his shoulders. She met his eyes in the mirror and gave them a gentle squeeze before stepping back. 

“Did you ever think any of us would be doing this?” She asked, watching his reflection in the mirror as his fingers started at the buttons of his jacket.

“Absolutely not,” he chuckled. 

Kai’s laughter joined his own as she stepped beside him, taking his arm in her own. She rested her chin against his shoulder wordlessly as she stared at their reflection. Riz joined them in front of the mirror and took his other arm. They stood in the comfortable quiet they had been raised in, in the silence John had always found solace in their company. He watched their reflections in the mirror and found himself not flanked by his team, but standing beside his sisters on his wedding day. Riz lifted a hand wordlessly and John watched her swipe two fingers across her eyes, as if drawing them across the faceplate of her helmet. Kai copied the motion, their eyes never leaving him in the mirror. John’s chest twisted as he smiled and dropped his eyes from their reflection before he turned his head to press his lips to Kai’s temple. Riz offered her cheek to him as he turned to her.

“Riz! Kai! They’re here!”

Jane’s voice echoed down the hall, lifting their heads from his shoulders as they looked to the door. Kai called back to her before slipping out of the room and turning down the hallway. Riz gave his arm a squeeze before following Kai, pulling the door shut with a gentle click. John turned back to the mirror to straighten his jacket a final time and took a steadying breath before turning from the mirror to the window. 

He watched as Riz stepped out between the rows of white chairs that faced the lake to where Jane stood, both women watching the small team of florists adjust the arrangements that decorated each row. Elliot chased Sadie across the lawn while Andy followed closely behind, watching his son intently to be sure the boy didn’t ruin the small suit he wore. John watched as Keyes crossed the lawn to where Bill stood with their hands outstretched in greeting as they regarded one another. Miranda followed behind him and greeted Kai as she approached, flanked by the group of Spartans that followed in their own dress uniforms as they looked around the property assessingly. John chuckled and shook his head as Jane approached, Violet’s plea for her mother to keep her hands to herself ignored as she pulled the Admiral into a hug before turning on the Spartans who watched her warily with open arms.

“You know, the bride is supposed to be the only one in white.”

Violet’s voice pulled him from the window. John turned to face her and felt his breath leave his chest at the sight of her in the doorway. John dragged his eyes over her and she smiled back at him with that bright Violet smile. She held a finger to her lips as she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, closing it carefully to not make a noise. She smoothed the front of the lacy gown as she turned back to him. John’s eyes lingered on the neckline for a moment and Violet laughed softly. Cortana pressed him to say something to her, but John couldn’t find a single word to describe just how beautiful she looked. Not a single synonym was capable of capturing it.

“Mrs. Harris was clear that the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride before the wedding, troublemaker.”

“Your mom said we couldn’t see each other. It’s not traditional.”

Violet scoffed as she lifted the skirts of her dress and crossed to where he stood. “Good thing we aren’t a traditional couple, then,” she remarked. He brought a hand to her waist as she stepped in front of him and traced his fingers over the floral lace that hugged her body. 

“How do I look?” She asked softly. She rested her hands on his chest as she looked up at him, his hands cupping her face. He found himself caught in the green as he always had been as he looked down at her. Her curls were soft between his fingers as he brushed her hair over her shoulder and traced his fingers along the gentle curve of her spine.

“Perfect.” He murmured. 

Violet brought a hand to his face and brushed her thumb across his cheek, “Katie is keeping watch. We have a few minutes before Mom or Riz notice that I’m missing.” 

John turned his head towards the window, watching as Riz fussed with the buttons of Vannak’s uniform. He lowered his lips to her ear and Riz turned bright red before she swatted his shoulder with a tightlipped smile. Bill and Jane chatted with Keyes, and Kai stood beside Jane as the older woman adjusted the thin straps of her dress and scolded her over the dirt that already stained the hem of her skirt, “I think they’re both distracted.”

Violet laughed as she wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her head against his chest as she watched their combined families find their seats in the rows of white chairs. John wrapped his arms around her in return and pressed his lips to her head, careful not to disturb the length of sheer fabric that was pinned into her hair. She didn’t say a word as she stood in his embrace, both watching their families mingle together. Violet only lifted herself onto her toes and pressed her lips to his jaw. He leaned into her lips; into the sweet, botanical smell of her shampoo and gentle kiss. She swiped away the residue of her lipstick with her thumb before he brought his forehead to hers. 

She looked up at him with those green eyes that he had found himself in and John felt his chest twist as it always had. He had always known there was something peculiar in her gaze; in the tenderness and goodness she watched him with. It had struck him from that very first moment beside the pond. A curiosity he had mistaken it for before he understood exactly what that feeling was. That feeling only lingered as he tried to identify the way she stared at him that no one ever had before. He understood now that he had found himself in the eyes of his wife on that spring day in Tchakova Park. Her hands found his cheeks as she brushed her lips to his, his face in her hands as she kissed him. 

“I love you,” she murmured against his lips. 

He lifted her face to his again and brought his lips to hers, allowing the words to fill him up with the glow that he knew only in her presence. He had felt love only in his fractured memories; he had thought it existed only there in the ruins of his boyhood. A fleeting feeling that was not his to know again. He had known it in the presence of botanists so many years ago, and had found it again in the arms of the botanist who looked up at him like he deserved nothing more than the gilded haze of all of her love. She had told him before the bookshelves in her apartment that broken things deserved love and he had questioned it, unaware of how her love would repair him in every moment since. 

“I love you, Goose,” he whispered against her lips.

“Violet and John!” 

Jane’s shout pulled her lips from his as her head snapped towards the window. Jane marched across the lawn, her face as fiery red as her lips as she neared the window. They shared an amused look as Jane tapped on the glass, “You get out of there right now! I swear, you two are incorrigible!”

Violet giggled and pressed her lips to his a final time. Jane sputtered at the sight, “Out, Violet Renee! Now!”

“I’m going!” She muttered, throwing her hands up in defeat. She gathered her skirts in her hand, John helping her gather the fabric so that she wouldn’t trip as she stepped back towards the door. She turned over her shoulder a final time and smiled that Violet smile. 

“I’ll see you soon, big guy,” she said softly. “I’ll be the one in white. Well, one of them, that is.”

John chuckled as she slipped back out into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind her. Jane’s voice echoed down the hall as she shouted at Violet, her weak protests fading down the hallway as she returned to the room at the end of the hall. His door remained shut for only a moment before Jane entered, still airing her disappointment to Violet before she stepped in. The severe look she wore faded as she turned her focus to John and his botanist’s smile split the face of her mother. Jane pressed a hand to her chest as she looked up at him, tears welling in her dark eyes. 

“Oh, my sweet boy,” she breathed. “You look so handsome.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Jane crossed the room to him and reached up. John leaned down so she could take her face in his hands and press her lips to his cheek. She kept his face in her strong grip as she looked up at him.

“You can’t give her back, John.” Her tone was serious, but John noticed the way the corners of her mouth lifted with her words. “You’re stuck with her now. No returns, no exchanges.”

He chuckled and Jane patted his cheek with a ringed hand. She had no idea just how content he was with being stuck with Violet Harris. 

“Yes, ma’am.”

Jane smiled again before releasing him and allowing him to straighten up. She nodded towards the window to the filled chairs that sat on the lawn, the evening sun casting pinky glows across the waters of the lake.

“It’s time,” she announced happily. “Ready, sweetheart?”

He only nodded and offered his mother-in-law his arm.

He walked Jane across the lawn to where his family sat. Every Spartan that wasn’t actively deployed sat behind Keyes and Miranda, towering over Violet’s extended family as they nodded to him. He couldn’t remember the last time they all had been together. Never for an occasion such as this. Jane pressed her lips to his cheek again before taking her seat, whispering excitedly to those seated around her as she sat. 

All eyes turned to him as John took his place before the lake. He had been acutely aware of every gawking stare he had received, had become used to the spectacle he became to others, but he found himself unminding of the stares as he watched his family step out of the kiva and start down the aisle to the song Violet had picked. He watched as Riz took Vannak’s arm, blushing again at something he whispered to her as she gripped the small bouquet she carried. They started down the aisle towards him, Vannak blinking rapidly so that John couldn’t see the tears that threatened to slip down his cheeks as they neared. John smirked as they separated and took their places on either side of him. 

“Going soft on me?” John muttered as Vannak stood beside him. 

“Fuck off.”

Kai followed behind them with Sadie’s leash gripped in one hand as the dog trotted down the aisle, sniffing happily at the seated guests as her tail waggled. John snapped his fingers at his side when the dog became distracted by sniffing Val’s pant leg and Sadie’s eyes snapping back up to him as she corrected her course. Meredith and Katie followed behind, their arms linked as they smiled up at him. They took their places that they had so carefully practiced the night before and John found himself surrounded by his family as the music changed and their guests stood. He had picked this song; it played beyond her windows that first night she kissed him. 

Elliot trotted down the aisle with Elize’s hand gripped in his own, a chorus of adoring noises following them both as his niece and nephew toddled towards where their grandmother sat with arms outstretched for them. Elliot raised a tiny thumb to John after he sat in Jane’s lap and met his uncle with a serious stare. John returned the boy’s gesture before turning his eyes to the lights of the deck. 

Bill stepped out of the doors first and held out a hand through the doorway. Violet took his hand and stepped out, a few soft murmurs falling over the rows of chairs as she took her father’s arm. Bill patted her hand and leaned down to whisper to her before kissing her cheek. Her eyes found John’s as they started across the deck to the lawn, meeting his with all of that warmth with each step she took towards him.

As she neared, he knew he’d never need to count the steps across the park and down Cornelia Street to the white building again. Nor stop to stare at the lights on the pond and wonder what home felt like, or what kind of man would come after him and stand where he stood now. He had searched those waters and pinpricks of lights for a reason. For the humanity that hummed around him as it bustled through the park. For something to fill the hollowness that consumed him in every moment since he removed the pellet, unsure of what he lacked to fill that space. He searched for home, and what would guide him to that home like the lights that beckoned on the waters. He knew that the home he longed for only looked to him now as his wife walked to him on her father’s arm.

He found his home in Violet Harris. In gentle touches and green eyes and that too bright smile. That smile would guide him home every time.

Violet stopped in front of him and turned to hug her father tightly. Katie stepped forward to take the bouquet she carried and those eyes returned to him with that Violet smile as she reached out her hand to him.

He reached back and took the hand of his wife.

[warcraftlocationscout]

Fluttering Cavern (Waking Shores) - Dragon Isles

Located in the highest reaching earthen pillar in southern Waking Shores, Fluttering Cavern is a venue with a vista into the Wild Preserve. There are three entrances with broad balcony-like overhangs, a central kiva, and left-hand ramp up to a second level. The upper level features a prominence lofted over the lower kiva as well as a secluded rear room with an elevated, tiered stage on the far side.

These caverns are naturally decorated with greenery, gently dripping water, and a treed outside. In the rear upper room, cave paintings of dragons retell a mythic history. Vibrant Butterflies peacefully wander the ceiling.

This location could easily serve as a guild hall, personal home, or regular setting for natural scenes.

Tomtom command: /way Waking Shores 35.5 82.0 Fluttering Cavern entrance

Immersion caveats: - Mining nodes may make for momentary interruptions. - Friendly drakanoid NPC, Collector Zik, at one entrance. - Flying or summon required.

[beautyofnavajoart]

Doll: baby in typical carrying frame; Doll of Navajo woman, fabric body & clothes, wool hair, bead & metal jewelry. Fabric; Wood; Wool; Glass bead; Metal; Leather. 11.7 cm x 4.1 cm x 4.1 cm; 20.3 cm x 8.1 cm x 4.3 cm

This image shows two handmade dolls, featuring a Navajo woman and a baby in the typical carrying frame. Both dolls have hair made of wool and are wearing beaded and metal jewelry. Though the work is undated, one can assume it was made during the mid-1800s from the woman’s dress and the doll’s stylistic traits. Dolls in this era were usually made to be sold to tourists, or sometimes for personal use as a way to maintain cultural heritage and show the daily life of a Navajo community member. Some of these dolls were also used as fashion inspiration for Navajo women, much like how the European fashion dolls of the 16th century were used to advertise pieces by designers for clients overseas without having to paint it (like a prototype of sorts). Navajo women and European women influenced each other’s styles in this era; European wives would go back to their homes with Navajo style clothing and vice versa sometimes. For example, some Navajo women were inspired by the maximalist use of satin in Europe and incorporated it into their dress (or substituting it with velvet), personalizing it with silver and coin buttons. The moccasins, leg wraps, floral skirt, and wide belt are also typical of Navajo dress in this time. 

Though some Navajo dolls were meant to be sacred or instructional (and the excavation of them deeply upset local communities for possibly inflicting harm on themselves), these dolls seem to be more recreational, meant to be played with or collected, as they are not decorated like kachina dolls, which would have a more instructive role in teaching children the nation’s mythology. Additionally, the presence of the baby doll lends itself to the idea that this work was more showing cultural and daily life, and was meant to be collected/shared rather than revered. 

SOURCES:

Spain, James N. “Navajo Culture and Anasazi Archaeology: A Case Study in Cultural Resource Management.” Kiva, vol. 47, no. 4, 1982, pp. 273–78. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30247346.