#This is the direct follow-up so I'd recommend reading that one first

[bi-disastersoup]

A Promise Between Heartbeats

After recovering fully from his injuries, R'alma has decided to start right away on the list of promises he made to G'raha at the ends of the universe. First on the list is a trip to Ishgard, during which he is determined to take the advice he's been given and finally make his heart and affections known to his companion. But that objective proves surprisingly difficult, given that they can't seem to get any significant amount of time to themselves in a city where the name and face of the fabled Warrior of Light are so well-known…

Link up there, preview below the cut! Also counts toward March of the Tropes: Day 31 - True Love's Kiss!

And with that..... I have officially completed March of the Tropes! *flops over and dies*

R'alma really did hate the cold.

It was no surprise, really. As a young Miqo'te kit, she'd grown up in the hot, arid climate of Thanalan. As an Auri woman, her scales and horns had been sensitive to temperature changes. Now…

Well, now he had these long, flopping ears that seemed to just leak body heat. At least, for the moment they were flopping. Normally, they'd be standing up tall and proud, their red tips and sleek black fur on full display. But ever since he'd set foot in Coerthas, he'd had them pinned almost flat against his head in a poor attempt to keep them warm.

And to keep the snow out of them. It seemed like everything that fell from the sky managed to find its way straight down into his ears now.

Sometimes he really missed having horns instead.

He was trying his best not to complain about it, and all things considered, he felt he'd done a pretty good job so far. He'd made sure to dress as warmly as he could, and was thankful that Tataru had already finished the adjustments on the heavy coat she'd made him for the Garlemald trip. After all, he knew present company wouldn't have let him out in anything that still hid his tail (which was also cold now, by the way).

And besides, G'raha seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. What was a little discomfort in the face of that?

Downtime was something that had been hard to come by in recent years and, as such, R'alma hardly knew what to do with himself when he had it. Even worse, his most recent bout had been forced upon him by his injuries, leaving him absolutely stir crazy for the last several days. Finally, though, Y'shtola had deemed him fit for travel,  and with no catastrophes looming on their horizon, he had decided it was a good time to start working on the list of promises he had made.

And to maybe work on getting up the courage to do what he and Thancred had discussed. The swordsman had given him no shortage of very pointed glances since that night. All of which he very pointedly ignored.

As it was, he and G'raha had been in Ishgard since yesterday, and he still had yet to bring it up.

The fault was not… entirely his own, arguably. As he kept telling himself, he just hadn't been able to find the right opportunity. After all, when they'd first arrived, it felt as though they had been immediately beset on all sides. Downtime was most certainly difficult to come by, even without a looming catastrophe,  it would seem.

[meichenxi]

Language learning: slow learning versus toxic productivity

Or: the process in crisis

Five years ago, all of the productivity advice I read (and gave out) as a successful self-learner of many different languages had one basic premise: that I was not doing enough, and that I could always be doing more.

Several burnouts later, running headlong from one mental illness into another, I'd like to invite you to entertain the exact opposite idea: there is a limit to what you can do. I have run face-first into mine on multiple occasions, and burnt out. At many points I've stopped learning the language at all. Most importantly, I've learnt to be distrustful of the very premise that all of the so-called productivity or optimisation advice is based on.

More is not always more.

Listen to a podcast in the target language whilst you exercise. Exercise to give yourself more energy to learn your target language. Talk to yourself in the shower in your target language. Do Anki whilst eating breakfast. Listen to Glossika whilst walking to work. Change your phone settings to your target language. Bullet journal. Manage your time. Make friends in your target language. Control your time. Write a diary. There's always enough time. These are all things I have done myself and recommended others do, to increase exposure to the language, to increase productivity.

Productivity? What productivity? What, exactly, is it that we are producing? I am producing sentences and words but - for who? Who is listening? Nobody's here, in my room, at 7am on a Sunday. If productivity were just speaking or writing, I'd be productive in my native language too, by virtue of speaking out loud. Or conversely, in language learning circles, should we measure it in terms of input? How many hours did you spend listening to Chinese yesterday? What about today? Is there anything you do in your life, in your daily life, that you could optimise? You're wasting time. There's time here, for those that want it. If you want to get ahead, to be successful, to be a good language learner, you have to know how to use that time. Go online, and debate over which tools are the best; watch your videos. What exactly is it that is being produced?

Productivity is a measuring tool for concrete output: the productivity of a field means how much crop it can yield per harvest. The productivity of a factory is how many mobile phone chargers it can bring to market per year. There are direct and measurable ways to increase this sort of productivity. But what is productivity when it comes to knowledge work? Cal Newport's work, The Minimalists, Essentialism: they all run into the same problem, which is that nobody seems to know what 'productivity' for knowledge workers means at all. You can look at a factory line and see which parts need greasing up, figuratively or literally: it is very difficult, on the other hand, to look at the work of a self-contained writer and tell her where she is going 'wrong'. (And by 'wrong', I mean - slow.) And language learning is an even more particular subset of that particular subset of work.

You could judge a novelists' productivity two ways: by the 'busyness' of her daily writing routine, or the amount of novels she produces. But what exactly is being produced when we learn a language? What is the end product?

In some ways, language learning as a hobby is even more playful than traditionally thought of arts and crafts. (By 'play' I mean something which is done for its own sake, and which is pleasurable, and which may yield next to no monetary reward.) We might think of the poet as sitting on a tree and dangling his feet in the river, a vision of artful indolence, but at the end of the day there is output - a poem. A knitter has a jumper. A potter has a pot. But language learning doesn't follow this [work] + [time] = [tangible output] structure. We can't even use the second metric of 'productivity' to measure it at all. Something is being done, of course - I can learn to speak Greek, and speak it markedly better after two months than one - but my point is you can't look at a day's work and say, this is exactly how much I learnt. Learning is not memorisation in the short term - it's receiving input, and practicing how to wield and use a structure. It doesn't happen over the course of a ten-minute podcast.

Learning happens - encoding happens - when the brain is doing other things. In other words, much like every creative process, you need downtime. You need rest, and sleep, and fun, and brightness and joy in your life. You might 'remember' a bunch of words on Anki, but you need to sleep before you can review them again: that's the whole point.

There is a much wider problem here, a culture of goals and optimising your life and glowing up, and to be honest, I find it disturbing. I think that for a very long time my language learning metrics were a stand-in, a relic, for the kinds of unhealthy and obsessively perfectionist thinking that gave me an eating disorder. How many of us truly believe - genuinely, with every inch of our heart - that we are better people if we 'better' ourselves? Learn more. Exercise more. Study more. How do you feel about yourself at the end of a day, exhausted, because you've completed day 75/100? Do you feel better about yourself because you've achieved? I'm guessing that you do.

For many people - including for myself - this wider culture has spilled over into their hobbies. Hobbies like language learning in particular are a target for this because they are so easily quantifiable - and we are encouraged, if we want to succeed, to quantify them. How else will we know how to improve?

Over the last few years, after burning out, after living off grid and without wifi and doing extreme minimalism and a lot of other lifestyle experiments to try and understand why modern life is so fucking hard, it's become clear that most systems of 'productivity' measure 'optimisation' by getting the most done in a day, but they don't stop to question whether you should be doing those things at all.

They don't stop to ask: what matters? They don't stop to ask: why am I trying to write a novel, finish my dissertation, pursue a romantic relationship, get healthy, learn ice-skating, learn to cook, look after my aging parents, and learn guitar at the same time? They don't ask: how do I prioritise, and where do I find silence? They ask: how do I cram more time in the day? They don't ask: how do I slow time down? They don't ask: how can I know what matters, if I never give myself space to think?

In other words: 'productivity' in language learning is measured by 'busy-work', by how much you can see from the surface.

You can't measure how well the learning is going, exactly, but you can measure how many hours a day you show up and grind. Whether or not that struggle is the best use of your time, or whether you're spending the time on things that will truly bring you value and quality, is a different question altogether.

And it's not one most 'productivity culture' will ever ask.

There will be things in your language learning journey that, to borrow from self-help terminology, no longer serve you. Habits and relics and resources and mindsets that worked for you once, or no longer did. Those books that are too advanced that you feel like you 'should' be able to read. That textbook that's been sitting beside your bed for a year. That habit of scrolling social media in your target language that was helpful when you were at a more intermediate level, but does little for you now that you're advanced.

Take stock of these. Simplify. Do less, but do it better. Productivity culture never stops to ask: what can I do without? It always asks, instead: how can I do more? But maybe - just maybe - the way to do more is to focus on fewer things, but do them well.

Multi-tasking isn't multi-tasking, but switching quickly between different focuses of attention. The average American owns 300,000 things, and watches television for 4-5 hours a day. On average, if you are distracted, it takes you 20 minutes to reach the same level of deep focus: but the average American office worker opens an email within six seconds of receiving it. Are you any better with your phone? How much time do you spend there? If you meditate, that's wonderful, but do you have any time to let yourself think? To walk and to understand how to feel? I don't want to sound like a boomer, but: can you name the birds? Do you live in a place, not just a room?

Stop trying to be 'productive'. Do less. Do it well.

I am now facing a wall in my learning of Chinese, and I'm still not sure how to get around it. The reason for this is because so much of the advice I gave others around language learning, and so much of the advice I found online, is focused on this sort of optimisation. But I no longer want to be listening to something, to be watching something, every second of every day. I have a partner to love and a house to appreciate and I want to spend time, humming and pleasant, alone with my thoughts, and it's summer, dear diary, and I don't want to stay indoors. Routines can keep you afloat, but they can also drown you. Do something different. Do something new. Do something that is not productive, that produces nothing, idle away, walk to work without music and perhaps when you sit down to your language learning that evening, you'll be filled with a renewed vigour and love for it. Do it because you love it, not because you scheduled it in your calendar.

A lesson, related, from my martial arts teacher. He said:

If you are tired, do not train. If you do not train, rest. 'Rest' does not mean go on your phone.

The same principle applies here. If you are tired of learning, which you may well be, rest. Not going on your phone, not watching Netflix. I mean taking a walk and sitting under the tree and looking at the patterning of the sky. I mean lying with your dog and absently scratching his tummy. If you're tired, and you have the luxury to stop - stop. Let yourself be tired. Don't drink caffeine. Sleep.

Last year, I was able to write 340,000 words of fiction because I focused on one thing: writing my book. Apart from things that I literally needed to do to survive and maintain my health and relationships around me, I didn't set a single other to-do. My daily list looked like: write for three hours. Not a word limit. Not exercise, though I ended up doing that, not learning a language. I imagine that if I had tried to focus on Chinese at the same time that I wouldn't have achieved anywhere near half the result. I still learnt Chinese, a very decent amount - I went to China and Taiwan for three months in total! - but I did it because I wanted to, of a whim, on a Sunday, something fun. It wasn't a must, or anything I was forcing myself to do. Many days I didn't do any Chinese at all. It was so immensely freeing to be able to think, at 11am: I'm finished for today. Even when I was at work, because I knew I was just there to pay the rent, I felt serene. Stressed on a day-to-day level, certainly, because all work is stressful, but - there wasn't any striving. I just did the best I could. And that was enough.

I am writing this, now, as I come out of my first ever information-overload burnout. I've burnt out, but I've never experienced one of these before: even looking at a book, at a phone, physically hurt my eyes. I couldn't bear to listen to people speak and would lock myself away in my room. I physically felt I could not talk, and had to take extensive time off work. Even looking at a pen and a blank page was too much; listening to podcasts was too much; reading the instructions for dinner was too much too. The only way I could heal was by doing absolutely nothing at all. That period shocked me deeply, because it showed me how absolutely dependent I was on having some input of information all of the time. No wonder I was tired.

I know, now, that there are lots of movements built around this same idea, by frustrated learners all over the world: the growing realisation that metrics and Excel and polylogger and tracking tracking tracking can't be the only way to learn. That a list of the number of books you've read in one year is hardly indicative of how well you understood those books, and what you learned from them. You've read 20 books this year already - good job. When do you think about them? What time do you spend on reflection? Why did you choose those books? Which chapters, and which characters, hit you the hardest? Why?

Minimalism, deep work, 'monk mode', essentialism, every writer's dream to run away and write in a cabin in the woods, slow learning, Buddhism, Stoicism, Marie Kondo-ism, the art of less, project 333, my no-buy-year, slow fashion, slow food, slow travel:

What all of these philosophies have in common is the idea that doing things deliberately ('mindfully') means 1) doing things slowly, 2) doing things well, and 3) doing things one at a time.

I am now at a place in my life where I understand the value of time alone with my thoughts. I don't want to listen to podcasts every minute of the waking day, because I need time to think about them. I need time to let the ideas for my novel grow in the dark. Nothing can be heard in noise; so make space for silence. I am a member of the real, living, breathing world, and that means I cannot devote 8 hours a day to Chinese television shows like I could when I was 20. I have to call my father. I have to do the dishes. I want to flex my creative muscles in other ways. Alternatively - I no longer believe that my worth is tied up inherently with how well I do my hobbies.

You're just some guy. There's freedom in that. You, my friend - you suck <3

Let yourself be bad. Let yourself be mediocre. Let yourself 'slide backwards' or regress, because all that means is that you're putting focus somewhere else. It'll come back. It always does.

I'm no longer comfortable, therefore, with the way that the language learning community tackles productivity. Please don't misunderstand; a lot of us have time spare that we could use to do things 'better' for us. I know. But I just believe now that getting rid of things, like the time you spend on your phone, is going to be more helpful in the long run than trying to force yourself into some gruelling, achievement-centric regime that collapses from within after two months of struggle and self-flagellation.

The other realisation I have had is just how much happier I am spending more time being alive, really alive, and less time in front of a screen. For a language like German or Gaelic that's much easier, because you can study with books, but with Chinese you always have to study to some extent with audios, flashcards, computers. Especially if - like me - you can read novels without a dictionary, but cannot handwrite even your Chinese name. So where next?

I don't have any answers. I'm not sure how to pair the two things together, to be honest, because almost all of my language learning has traditionally made use of technology. It's all been goal-orientated, systems-orientated, and despite the fact that I've failed at using these systems every day for years, despite the fact that Anki has NEVER worked for me, despite the fact that I have spent hundreds if not thousands of pounds on courses here, there, a wealth of overwhelm and five thousand words saved on Pleco, did I read that right? Five thousand. No wonder I'm stressed.

Regardless of happiness, it's much easier to achieve a state of deep focus and work when you're not online. After my period of information burnout, I feel actual physical pain from the weight of choices online. It's exhausting. I'm watching a Chinese show, but I want to go on tumblr. I'm on tumblr, but I feel guilty for not watching the Chinese show. I'm constantly torn between doing this and that, never fully committing to anything, seeing a post by Lindie Botes and thinking, damn, she's good. I should be better. But I don't want to compare myself to her. Do you know what? She is good. I admire her immensely. But I don't want to judge my self-worth by some imagined scale of productivity anymore - and, the more time passes, the more I'm not sure what 'productivity' in the context of language learning even means.

Try slow, focused, deep learning. You might just find it works.

There's something refreshing, almost counter-cultural, anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-rat-race, about this thought. Slow learning. I think there's an answer here, somewhere. It's a problem I've been dancing around for a while; and do you remember how you learnt your first foreign language? For me, it was on the floor, absolutely absorbed in German comic books, flicking through the dictionary furiously and scribbling things down in a notebook. I only had one book, and one dictionary, and one grammar book. I want to go back to that sort of simplicity. There was joy in that.

One again: I don't have any answers. I don't know exactly what direction this blog is going to go in, as I wrestle with these sorts of meta-problems. I'd love to hear your thoughts. And for now, if there's one thing I'd like you to take away from this long and frankly absurdly rambling post (thank you for bearing with me!) it's an alternative answer for the question I get so often, about what you can do to learn the language when you're tired, because:

Yes, you could watch reality TV shows in Chinese, or you could give yourself permission to be human. You could rest.

Thanks guys. Meichenxi out <3

[edenfenixblogs]

hello! I’m not a Jewish person (ethnically or religiously), but I was wondering if you know of any ways that I can help Jewish people right now? Like if you know of any donation programs or volunteer work or food drives or anything of the sort that I could do to help? I want to help fight antisemitism and help Jewish people beyond simply spreading awareness on Instagram, but I’m not exactly sure how or where to start. This is a very dumb question, I’m so sorry, you can ignore this if you want

(CONT'D) also, I have another question, I’m so sorry To preface this question, I’d like to say that I’m a very stupid individual who knows absolutely nothing about anything. So the question is, do you have any book or article recommendations that showcase Jewish people’s experiences, values, perspectives, etc. Like for example, are there any books written from the perspective of an Israeli/jewish person who had moved from wherever they were to the state of Israel in 1948 (I apologise if this is a horrible example, I just know absolutely nothing about anything and everything, but I’m open to learning)

Thank you so much for asking these valuable questions!!!!! (And thanks for being patient until I was able to answer!)

Neither of your questions are dumb, and you don't need to be sorry! You're not stupid and I hope you can be as kind to yourself as you have been to me and my community in your questions.

I was wondering if you know of any ways that I can help Jewish people right now?

Truly the very best thing you can do to support Jews at this time is routinely check in on us, speak up for us, and correct misinformation or antisemitism if you see it happening. This means not running away if your Jewish friends mention two antisemitic experiences they've had in one week. This means adding a media bias/fact check link when someone sends you antisemitic propaganda from Al Jazeera. This means saying "Hey. That doesn't help Palestine. That just hurts Jews," when someone's "activism" veers too far in the wrong direction. That means that you don't just shout ceasefire now without also acknowledging that Hamas and Hezbollah also need to cease firing. This means making sure your donations and your links to donations go to sources that do not fund Hamas, like Anera. It also means making sure your donations for the I/P conflict support interfaith efforts whenever possible. I routinely promote the interfaith and intercultural organizations represented within AllMEP; https://www.allmep.org/ Also, steer clear of culturally expropriating organizations like JVP.

Like if you know of any donation programs or volunteer work or food drives or anything of the sort that I could do to help?

Ones that specifically help Jews, you mean? I don't actually! Unfortunately, the international conversation since 10/7 has had very little to do with how to help Jews in Israel or in diaspora. I would say that you should look into and perhaps even email or call your local synagogues and see if they have any kind of fund for their buildings or if they're trying to raise money to pay security and donating to them. Aside from that, I'd love for my followers to weigh in on this, as they'll know better.

Book Recommendations!

These aren't exactly what you're looking for. But I believe deeply in my heart that every single non-Jewish person should read:

Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel

People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn

Night by Elie Wiesel

There are plenty of other books that are less of a bummer to read than those, too. But I think for any non-Jew to truly understand us they need to understand the unexamined antisemitism they carry with them and they need to have true, first-hand accounts about the holocaust to understand the legacy it left to us as well as what it took away.

Followers with more specific recommendations, please offer your advice in comments or replies or reblogs or tags! I'm just one person. I don't claim to speak for my entire community, nor have I ever. But I think, as a larger community, we can all steer you in the right direction, Thank you!!!!!

[cereovo]

A set of very conceptual notes I drafted a while back for someone asking for advice on learning to draw humans. I'm entirely self-taught so this is less of a tutorial and more of a very rambling set of general principles I follow and ideas that helped while I was learning. I figured I'd post it in case anyone else could get use out of it!

I also recommend checking out:

Drawing East Asian Faces by Chuwenjie

How to Think When you Draw (lots of good tutorials in this series)

Pose reference sites such as Adorkastock

Transcript and some elaboration under the cut:

Img 1 - Drawing a face

The two most important elements (at least for me) when drawing a face are the outline of the cheek/jaw and the nose*. I often start with a circle to indicate the round part of the skull, then add a straight like and a 'V' to one side [to create the side of the face and the jaw]. The nose creates an easy template for the rest of the face's features to follow (eyebrows at the top of the nose bridge, eyes towards the center of the bridge, ear lines up to eye) and the placement/direction and overlap with other features is a very simple way to indicate dimension. [A sketch of a face that has been adjusted by moving its parts to create 3 different angles. The following text is underneath:] -Different 3/4th views can be created just by adjusting the position of and amount of overlap between the facial features. - The top of the ear usually lines up with the corner of the eye. Think of how glasses are designed [specifically, how the arms run from the eyeline to the ear] [I go on a tangent in these next few paragraphs] *One thing I see many artists do - not just beginners - is learn how to draw A Person. As in, one singular person with one set of bodily proportions and one set of facial features. It's an issue that runs a bit deeper than 'same face syndrome' because sometimes these artists can draw more than one face, they're just not very representative of [the diversity present across] real people. Part of the reason I'm talking more about how to think about approaches to drawing - rather than showing specific how-to's - is because there is no one correct or right way to draw a person. The sooner you allow yourself to explore variety - fat people, old people, people of color, people with [conventionally] 'unattractive' features - the easier it'll be! Artists often draw their own features honestly and without [harmful] caricature, so it's always a good idea to look at art made by the kinds of people you're trying to draw if you're ever unsure about how to handle something. In general, it's far more important to learn how to interpret a variety of forms than to learn how to replicate the Platonic Ideal of the Human Body.

Img 2 - Stuff that helped me

Jumping into drawing humans (faces or otherwise) straight from photo reference can be overwhelming. The trick is to simplify forms into shapes - but even this concept is sort of abstract and it may be hard to know where to begin. Good news - Thousands of other artists have already figured it out. [When starting out] I needed to learn from photo reference AND artists I admired in order to improve. [When looking at stylization you are inspired by] ask yourself: WHY does this simplification work? How can I translate it into a different pose? Instead of copying what you see in a photo reference exactly, try to focus on the general forms first. My two biggest style inspirations for humans while learning to draw them were Steven Universe and Sabrina Cotugno's art. SU gets a lot of hate [in this instance I was specifically referring to a time on tumblr when the art was knocked for 'losing quality'] but its style does a great job of simplifying anatomy in a way that still portrays a diversity of bodies + features. [Extremely simplified drawings of Lapis, Steven, and Amethyst] SU characters are still identifiable- and still read as 'human' - even when reduced to just a few lines!

Img 3 - Things I keep in mind while drawing side profiles

- Eyebrows + eyes close to the 'edge' of the face - Forehead needs enough room for a brain - Eye is > shaped from the sides - Mouth kinda halfway [between the nose and the chin] but closer to the nose - Skin/fat exists under the jaw [and connects to the neck] - neck is about one half the width of the whole head - the back of the skull always sticks out a bit further than you might expect - Sometimes less is more - contours exist on every face, but drawing them in may make your character seem much older than they're supposed to be. However, it's a good idea to use them when you *want* your character to look old! These are very general notes- every face is different and has different proportions [and playing around with them creates unique and interesting character designs]

[songoftrillium]

Project Update 09/01/24

Hello, Kinfolks. We're a little under 60 days from releasing Book 1: Cliath, and I wanted to give you all a quick update, provide a few book facts, and hope this lets you share the excitement the rest of us have been feeling!

Book Layout

As you might've seen from our previews, writing is transitioning from writing to copy editing and book layout! If you haven't yet, check it out! The first two chapters are done, and chapter 3 is well underway. Outside of my work on Hearthbound, this is my first major book project, the largest book I've written, and the insights I've gained are ones I think might help future community content partners publishing work on Storyteller's Vault.

On Bluesky, a few months ago, I commented that you should "plan to take as much time doing layout as you do for writing." Even if one writes the book inline right in the desktop publishing program, annotation will still add time. With a WtE book we want to not just provide an adventure and a crash course on the Tellurian, but to also be a roadmap for Storytellers, new and old alike. This has happened on three fronts. The first and most important is we're taking the time to properly index everything in a way that'll let you look up specific book information quickly. The second is how we streamline information through the liberal use of cross-referencing in footnotes. In early chapters, you read truncated summarization, and in the footnotes, you can find book sections that expand on the information you're looking for and let you tune out the things that may not be so important for you to know at the moment. The third and most important feature, however, is where able, we cite our sources for our information. Should a Storyteller wish to learn expanded information on topics, they have a direct book and page citation where they can find deep lore to help construct their chronicles.

Cracking the Bone: now in coloring flats stage

For those that haven't been following, we are returning to old form. The moment you open Book 1, you'll be greeted with a fully illustrated and colored 22-page comic book showcasing life in the Age of Heroes. This story is centered around Dante (he/they,) our protagonist, and his first steps towards his First Change as a Bitten Homid Philodox. Throughout the book, we'll follow his journey towards becoming a Cliath, forming his pack under Earwig and his first mission as a Zedakh in a pack of other Queer Garou. In successive books, you'll see him transition from a scared baby gay Cub to a respected Elder in the Eastern Concordat! We're all absolutely thrilled to follow them on their journey. Illustrating this comic is the highly talented @mekanikaltrifle, who has partnered with us to bring Dante's story to life. I have a single pane I'd like to show you, bearing in mind these are just a first pass!

Book Pricing Information

We've also finalized some of our possible pricing on this book. On Storyteller's Vault, Community Content is priced on a per-page basis. The average is considered to be 12 cents per page. I did some early market work by releasing Hearthbound on a pay-what-you-want model with a recommended pricing of $2.99, totaling roughly 8 cents per page. I advertised exclusively here and on other social media platforms to queer audiences to help gauge a fair price for materials explicitly marketed to that audience. Of those that decided to pay for copies of the book, readers paid an average of 5$ per copy for an average of 14 cents per page. Given the voluntary nature of the release, we on the team have agreed that we'll be charging a rate of 14 cents per page for this release, which puts us on par with pricing for similar releases with a matching pagecount. With layout underway, we're currently looking at a book length of around 200-250 pages. 50% of proceeds go to the publisher, and the remainder will be split equally among all contributors, myself included. I and another artist have pledged to donate the entirety of our shares toward preserving the Kalapuyan language.

Book 1: Cliath releases on Halloween day!

I'd like to give a shout out to @a-boros-named-seamus, @madamebadger, The Bohemian, @peltofash, @ar2456, and Durodragon for supporting me on ko-fi, through yours and the donations of other ko-fi sponsors, we've managed to hire cultural consultants to review about half of what's been written. Because we weren't able to review all of our written words, we've narrowed our focus onto some of our most sensitive subject-matter, and believe that what we have coming out will be the inclusive Werewolf: the Apocalypse Quickstart you've all been waiting for. Thank you! It means so much to us that we have our own sept of Kinfolk out there who believe in this project!

If you'd like to help sponsor this project, subscribe on ko-fi to help us pay Cultural Consultants to work with us! We have some cool perks for subscribing, including access to book and setting previews, the ability to give feedback on game content we're producing, personalized advice for your own tables, and can even get a shoutout right in the book.

[bobbile-blog]

Okay so I've finally gotten to Jessicalter's Oprec and now feel qualified to talk about Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures. holy shit. This went straight into my list of top Arknights events. Fantastic event, spoilers will be under the cut so I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the event first. It's really good and worth your while.

Anyway, what follows is a scattered mess of thoughts about this event and things that stuck out to me.

First off, plot stuff! I'll probably cover this when I do my next plotline recap post, but what I took away from the end is that Clip Cliff seems to want to make Blacksteel independent, or at least more self-determining than it is now. He seems to be gathering resources and assets like mobile city plates and investing in long-term infrastructure like merc training, so he definitely has a long game he's pushing for. I don't think we know enough go speculate about his goals, but we'll definitely be coming back here again. After all, Tila has an infection monitor in her art, which probably means she's going to be playable at some point in the future.

Next, having looked into this a little on my own, I was interested in some of the previous places Raythean has shown up. Specifically, the ones that stood out were the drones in the Kazimierz Major and arming Silverash's forces in Kjerag, which might be referring to the Tschäggättä. It's not just notable for their apparent level of technology, but also as a faint connecting thread between three separate capitalism plotlines. I don't know if that's going to be meaningful in the future, but I found it interesting enough that I thought I'd bring it up.

Now on to more narrative things. While I love Liskarm and Franka, I do think it was the right choice to give them less screen time in this event. They're both (for the most part) fully-realized characters who understand their own motivations and morals. This is above all else an event about Jessica learning to stand on her own as an adult, so it makes sense that they're more here to support her than they are to play their own roles in the story.

Speaking of said roles, I liked the event's commentary on cops. It pointed out an interesting distinction that I wouldn't really have ever thought of, that between mercenaries and cops. To start: cops exist to protect property, not people. The police exist to protect things and do not have an obligation to err on the side of people over things, and in fact are supposed to do the opposite. This event understands that, and that role os the core of how the bank treats the Blacksteel mercs. CV, however, raises an interesting point that mercenaries are bound by the letter of a contract and not the larger obligation to property cops are, so they can actually raise moral objections and point to their contracts, sort of a Lawful Evil/Lawful Neutral to cops' Neutral Evil. The independence of their position with respect to cops allows for more of an independent morality than you'd get in a cop story and I like that, I think it's a really smart direction to take your writing in.

On a (mostly) separate note, holy shit Arknights is really good at writing cowboy stories. Between this and chapter 9 (and I would argue An Obscure Wanderer), Arknights has repeatedly made it clear that they Do Not Fuck Around with their cowboy stories and I'm surprised I haven't heard more people talking about it. It kinda has everything:

- It takes place in a rural, working-class setting undergoing a larger imminent societal shift that can inform the larger narrative, and deals with a semi-mythologized past that is rapidly disappearing.

- It has a protagonist and an antagonist that serve as foils, both very heavily affected and defined by the (same) violence in their past that they've both had different reactions to. Our protagonist has come to terms with the violence as a tool to maintain order, while our antagonist has used it for personal gain and in some ways lost control of it.

- It's a story about community, and heavily emphasizes local and personal community over larger artificial corporate "community". That's my reading of the recurring motif of the cold btw, warmth represents the close, personal community Davistown used to have and the cold that now pervades it comes from how the bank has systematically dismantled that community.

- And, I'd argue most importantly, it understands the narrative power of a bullet. The Showdown at the end of a cowboy story is powerful because we've spent the entire runtime of our story with these characters, and they are now facing each other down with the intent to end one of their collective two stories. The entire weight of the narrative so far comes to rest on a single moment of tension. It's really hard to gather up the kind of narrative momentum you need to make that hit like it does in CV. For example, it requires a really light hand with actual action in the story, so that it really does feel like it's an even standoff between our protagonist and antagonist. On the other hand, though, you do actually have to establish the relative skill of both parties and actually sell the danger of the moment to the audience. It's really hard to toe the line between tension and actual action in a way that makes for a satisfying resolution, and CV does it extremely well.

Honestly, Arknights just seems really good at getting the vibes of American media right. This is something I noticed in DV and Lonetrail too, and I haven't really been able to put my finger on what it is about them, but the vibes are just really on-point. I want to write more about this at a later point once I actually figure out what it is that I'm feeling, but maybe it's the setting, maybe it's the cast, maybe it's the plot points, maybe it's something in between — it just seems to understand the spirit of period cowboy stories in a way that I can't describe. Good shit.

Finally, I wanna end this with where Jessica is now. The events of CV take place In between the events of Loneterail and Ideal City, so the current "now" of the story is a few months ahead. Jessica left for the frontier along with Woody, Helena, and Miles. They live together in a small new settlement, building the place from the ground up with Woody and Jessica acting as town sherrifs. At the point we're at now, rhe town is fairly well-established and Woody has temporarily left on other business, leaving Jessica the sole sherrif of their new settlement. However, she's risen to her new station, and is growing into a stronger person than she ever was before.

[guinea-pig16]

Late Night || Part 3

This is part 3 of Late Night, so if you'd like context I'd recommend reading part 1 and part 2! Fic is below the cut, please enjoy!

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Word Count: 2,300+

Warning: angst, suggestive thoughts

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Monty’s fist shot through his mirror, shattering the glass and splitting the wooden frame, the lights around the edges flickering in a panic.

He was pissed. He was pissed beyond words.

He let out a roar and grabbed his bass guitar, lifting it above his head, he splintered it against the floor, making it let out a horrific whine.

Monty tore apart his green room. Nothing was spared from his fury. Families walking around outside were directed by Bots to steer clear of his room. Velvet rope closed off the area, a smiling Monty cut out explaining that he was resting and would be back shortly. The shredded chair that had been thrown through the plexiglass of his room disagreed.

Hours passed and Monty finally slowed his rampage. The PizzaPlex had closed by this point, and the MopBots had finally been able to come by and begin sweeping up the broken glass and splintered wood outside of his room.

He stood there amid his destruction, body heaving in air to cool his overheated gears.

Why?

Why did this have to happen to him? Why was he always second place? Why was he always the second favorite, left behind, discarded, no one’s first choice?

Why did you choose Freddy over him?

______________________________________________________________

It was after your last shift when Monty came to find you, to try and cheer you up, find out who was bothering you, and make it go away. He had reached the entrance and saw you walking away. He had just begun to call for you when Freddy appeared.

Monty had stopped in his tracks. He doesn’t know why, but he hid, and watched as Freddy spoke to you, and led you away, back to his room. He doesn’t know why, but he followed behind silently, seething as he saw how uncomfortable you seemed. He watched as the both of you entered the room, and he watched through the crack in the curtain as you professed your love to Freddy, him doing the same.

And he watched as you two kissed.

He tore his eyes away soon after.

He couldn’t think, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t feel.

It seemed as though his servos had been ripped out of his body, his metal plating wrenched open and his wiring tangled and torn. And it hurt. It hurt so bad. He shouldn’t be able to feel pain, but this ache in his chest said otherwise.

Monty slipped away from the window and silently trekked back to his room, numb. There was a word for this, wasn’t there? A word that encapsulated what he was feeling. He wracked his mind for it, but it continuously slipped from his grasp. What was it?

He stumbled into his room and stood there. He looked around at his belongings, eyes empty. His gaze drifted over his couch, his neon sign, his arcade machine, his chair, his bass guitar, and then finally, his mirror. There, taped to the edge of the mirror was a photo strip, of you and him, smiling, making silly faces, him ruffling your hair, and then you laughing as Monty slammed his head on the ceiling of the booth. Numbly, he grabbed the photo strip and looked at the last picture. 

Had he not been clear enough? All the times he hung around you during work, all his jokes, all the touches, and the looks. Had you not noticed how he would go star-struck at your smiles and laughs? How he would gaze at you in awe when you would rant about your favorite things, how he would memorize the way your eyes would light up like the brightest stars in the sky. 

Had he realized too late that he was in love with you?

Monty’s chest tightened as he gazed at the pictures of you.

Oh, how he wished to hold you… How he wished to hold you close and whisper how much he adored you, how he would do anything for you. How he wished he could look at you with all the love and adoration he holds, and see you look at him the same way. How he wished he could kiss you passionately so you would know exactly how you make him feel. How he dreams about you at night… How he imagines you… pressed against his wall… bodies so close together…his mouth on your neck, your short breaths, his hands wandering roughly. Your arms wrapped around his neck as one of his hands wanders lower, lower. The sound you would make, how he would smother it with a rough kiss… Oh, how he wished he could ruin you…

…But he can’t now…

…Because of him.

Monty’s face drew back into a sneer, his hands beginning to tremble.

Oh, how he hated him. That stupid, popular, fucking bear. It’s Freddy’s fault this happened. It’s Freddy’s fault he lost you. It’s Freddy’s fault he’s alone. It’s Freddy’s fault that he’s always second place. It’s Freddy’s fault. It’s Freddy’s fault It’s Freddy’s fault It’s Freddy’s fault It’s Freddy’s fault It’s Freddy’s fault-

That’s when he snapped.

Monty’s fist reared back.

And he imagined it was Freddy’s face peering back at him as his fist connected with the mirror.

______________________________________________________________

Monty’s chest heaved as he panted, a motion programmed into him if he overheated. He looked around his room, mind finally clear from his mindless rage. He winced at the shattered window and noted his missing armchair. His couch was split in half, each part sitting in opposite sides of the room, both parts equally shredded to bits. There was stuffing, splinters, and glass littering the floor, making Monty grateful he was an animatronic and it wouldn’t hurt to walk around in it. His speakers had been ripped from the walls, one he could tell he’d put his foot through, and the other… From a glance out his window, he could tell it’d met the same fate as the chair. His curtains were nothing but rags at this point, shredded to a pulp. His vanity table had been reduced to wooden scraps, and his vanity chair had been twisted into a metal pretzel. And his bass guitar… Damn, he wished he hadn’t destroyed that… The body had been smashed to bits, the neck twisted and bent. And finally, his mirror… that was the only part of his rampage he remembered. There was a clean hole right through the center of the mirror, and the wall behind it. Monty looked at his fractured reflection in fragments left in the splintered frame.

God, he looked worn out... If he were a person, he knew there’d be bags underneath his eyes. He let out a sigh. Thankfully, it seemed he didn’t damage himself much during the rampage, from what he could tell he’d only really scratched the paint off himself.

He looked around his room again, thinking. Man… I’ve really gotta stop doing this… It’s always a pain in the ass to get new furniture… And now I’ve gotta get the window replaced, that’s a new one. I don’t think I’ve ever smashed that window before… He thought as he began to pick up larger chunks of debris to throw away. Least I can do is pick up a little for whatever sorry ass has to-

Knock, Knock.

Monty stopped and tiredly looked back at his door. Speak of the devil… He thought as he straightened and walked towards the door. Man, what even was he going to say to whoever had to clean this up? He hadn’t done anything this bad in a long time. He stood in front of his door, mulling over his words. The door slid open.

“Hey, look, sorry about the-” Monty started, and then froze. Cold washing through his senses.

You were standing in the doorway.

______________________________________________________________

You had already prepared yourself to see the worst when Monty opened his door. You’d been here for plenty of his tantrums before, so you were accustomed to seeing his room completely trashed.

But you weren’t expecting this much damage. You had to keep yourself from gasping as you caught a glimpse behind Monty.

Jesus Christ, he broke his fucking window! That shit is plexiglass! How did he manage to break plexiglass!? You thought as you quickly scanned Monty’s body for injuries, sighing internally when all you saw were some dents and scratches. Monty was still looking at you like a deer in headlights as the two of you lock eyes.

“...Um… Hey Monts… I just came to check up on you after the uh… well you know.” You say awkwardly, gesturing to the mess behind him. He turns his head to look at the wreckage, and you swear you saw him wince slightly.

“Yeah… I was just uh… Blowing off some steam…” He says, running a hand through his mohawk. You raise a brow at him.

“...Some helluva steam then. You do realize you threw your chair and speaker through plexiglass right?” You wave a hand to the outside of the greenroom where bots are currently sweeping up the broken chair, speaker, and glass. Monty stares at his feet. Your gaze softens and you cross your arms.

“Monty, what’s wrong? You know you can tell me, right?” You say softly. Ever since you started working here, you were the only one who was able to get Monty to talk about his feelings. After every tantrum, every rampage, you were there with open ears, ready to listen to whatever was bothering him. You didn’t mind, he was one of your friends after all.

Monty finally looked you in the eye again. You could almost see the thoughts running through his head as he stared at you. You observed him as he thought. He looked tired, almost defeated. You could feel sadness radiating off of him, so palatable it almost brought tears to your eyes. What on earth could have made him feel this way?

“...Y/N… I-” Monty started, leaning closer to you. But he was quickly interrupted by the sound of jogging footsteps, and a familiar voice. Before you turned around, you saw Monty’s fist tighten.

“Monty! I see you have finally stopped. Are you feeling better, my friend?” Said Freddy as he approached the two of you. You turned and smiled brightly at Freddy, unknowingly causing Monty to frown, rage beginning to bubble up once more.

______________________________________________________________

Monty watched as you turned your attention from him to the bear behind you, giving Freddy a gorgeous smile. He watched as Freddy smiled back and placed a hand on your shoulder, you unknowingly leaning into the touch. And he watched as Freddy turned those wretched blue eyes to him, them filling with concern. Oh, how he wanted to rip those eyes out of his stupid face.

“I’m fine.” Monty sneered, causing you to raise an eyebrow at his attitude. 

“...Ah, that is wonderful to hear, Monty! You had all of us worried today. It lasted much longer than usual, you see…” Freddy said, uncomfortably, shifting slightly in place. Monty glanced behind him.

Damn, how long did it last? He had blacked out during his rage, the only thing he remembered was punching the shit out of his mirror. After he saw… Monty growled lowly at the memory, and watched as Freddy subtly pulled you closer to him. You put a hand over Freddy’s, and looked at Monty, concern filling your gaze.

“Monty, what’s wrong? There’s clearly something bothering you. Come on, you can talk to us…” You say, reaching a hand out to him. 

Monty considered your hand for a moment, and looked between you and Freddy. He looked at your concerned expression, and then looked at Freddy, and was slightly surprised to see the same look. He didn’t think Freddy cared that much. Maybe… Maybe he could tell you. Tell the both of you. Maybe you would understand. Maybe Freddy would too. What if… What if you felt the same way? Maybe he and Freddy could agree to…

No.

Monty froze.

Y/N chose Freddy, remember? They left you in the dust, gone, discarded.

He shuddered slightly.

F o r g e t  t h e m .

Monty was silent for a moment, before he straightened and glared at you and Freddy, causing the two of you to take a step back. 

“I’m fine. Now buzz off before I make you.” He snarled, before slamming his door shut. He stood there and waited until he heard the two of you walk off, listened to the hesitation in your footsteps.

…Why did he do that? He was just about to talk to you, let you know how he felt. What stopped him? Monty ran a hand over his face and began to walk across his room to sit on the remnants of his couch when he stepped on something that wasn’t glass or wood. He stopped and looked down.

It was the photo strip of you and him.

He stared, and then leaned down and picked it up. He held the strip gently in his hands as he looked at the picts of you and him. There was still time to get to you and Freddy. If he ran he could catch up, explain himself. And then he knew you’d be able to help. Figure out a way where you both could be together. And maybe he could learn to get along with Freddy, if only for your sake. Maybe he didn’t have to be alone-

As if.

Y/N doesn’t care enough about you to do that. How could you be so naive?

Monty stilled, staring at the strip.

You don’t need anyone, you’re better off alone.

F o r g e t  a b o u t  t h e m .

T h e y  n e v e r  c a r e d  a n y w a y s .

Monty blinked, his vision going blurry for a moment.

Right. They didn’t care, did they?

What was he thinking?

Monty looked once more at the photo strip, and then shredded it to peices, feeling familiar rage bubbling up in him once more. A snarl ripped out of him.

Oh yeah, he remembered the that word now.

His eyes glew red as he began his rampage anew.

Betrayal.

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Hi hi hiii !! I hope you enjoyed! Sorry if this wasn't what you hoped for, or expected from me, I've been having crazy writer's block recently and have been busy with graduation stuff. I'll be working on a part 4 and maybe 5 soon though! I promise I'll get to an actual proper Monty x reader soon!

Thank you so much for your support! XOXO <3

tagged people:

@dokoni-mo @softiejae @quietlyignoringyou @johnwicks-tie

[yolalalalaala]

What if Eury and Ares are dating when Mutiny happened?

(btw, it seems tumblr is more used to release pictures and videos. If anyone can recommend me a place to post long fan fiction, I'd be grateful！)

(I put some original characters in the article, not much space, just to explain how bad the situation on the fleet is)

The situation was worsening. Eurylochus felt the churning in his stomach, the hunger-induced pain spreading, and he pressed against his abdomen, tightening his belt further in an attempt to quell the longing for food. It had been a week since his argument with Ares—no, they hadn't broken up; Eurylochus wouldn't call it that; they had simply disagreed, that was all—and the food on the ship was gone, with only limited fish catch to sustain them. The crew had been starving for days.

He spotted Perimedes on the deck. Since leaving the Underworld, days had passed in this manner: Perimedes stood silently, gazing out at the vast, boundless sea. Eurylochus knew he wasn't looking for the direction of home. During those shared, comforting nights, he had realized that few men still harbored hope of returning.

"Sometimes, I think I see Elpenor," Perimedes said almost in a trance. "He's drunk and looks happy. I told him I wanted to go down to him, and he got angry—didn't he want me to be with him?"

Eurylochus couldn't fathom what it felt like to have a loved one in the Underworld. Sometimes, he felt that Perimedes' longing for Elpenor surpassed his desire to survive. This man missed his beloved so much that he could venture into the realm of death. In that stagnant place, without tomorrow or future, they would at least have each other. Eurylochus recalled the nights he spent without Ares, chatting with his companions about those who had passed.

At one such time, Antises handed him a shabby little notebook, smelling of sea salt and ocean breeze. Eurylochus remembered seeing an identical cover with another comrade. He opened it and saw Polites' name, neatly lined up with others on the first page. Eurylochus recalled these names written there; they had all died at the feet of the Cyclops.

Perimedes reached out and flipped to the last page, where the last line read the name of his beloved, Elpenor.

"This was Crytrius's notebook," Antises said. Before the war began, Eurylochus wasn't familiar with this young man from the farmland on the westernmost edge of Ithaca. As for now—there were only 42 of them left, and it was easy to know each other.

"Crytrius wanted to record the names of every fallen comrade. He always said if we didn't remember them, the spirits of those who had passed would truly be forgotten. He sank into the vast ocean, but I took his notebook," Antises explained. "After enduring the great god of the sea, it was difficult to record the deaths. We struggled to recall the names of every comrade. At least this way, they left a trace of their existence, even though we too might follow in their footsteps and perish here."

Yes, if he died silently in the middle of the sea, he would pray that at least someone remembered him. Gods were immortal, and he hoped at least Ares would remember him, though he knew that tiny, short-lived mortals meant nothing to the gods.

"It's hard to say I don't long to reunite with them in the Underworld," Perimedes chuckled briefly. "Whether wandering the ocean or heading to the realm of death, we have no place to call home, alone and desperate—what's the difference?"

"But the blood on our hands cannot be washed away. Can we go to that peaceful land? Or must we pay for our killings?" Menechas said from the corner of the room. Silence fell upon the room.

Eurylochus pulled himself out of the abyss of memories. Now, six more names had been added to Antises' notebook, one of them being Menechas, Antises' best friend, the young man who worried about his past killings.

The pain of losing his companion made him want to vomit, but his stomach was empty, so he could only retch a few times. His good friend Odysseus was drifting further and further away from him, and he could feel the rift between them. Since hearing the prophet's prophecy, the captain had been in a bad state, silent and increasingly gloomy in his eyes. But Eurylochus never expected him to go to this extent – to sacrifice his crew willingly.

Eurylochus never thought Odysseus had an obligation to save everyone, but he couldn't accept his friend turning into a cold-blooded monster. So he told himself that the captain just couldn't think of a better way, and that Odysseus hadn't expected those six men to sacrifice themselves. He confronted his friend, praying that the other would answer as he deceived himself, but he didn't. Odysseus covered his face with his messy hair and roared two words: "I can't!"

The hunger grew fiercer, and he took a deep breath, remembering what Odysseus had told him – not to eat the cattle of the sun god.

This meant there were cattle ahead… Even if eating their meat meant death, it was still meat that could fill their stomachs. He stepped forward and patted Perimedes on the shoulder: "... I have a not-so-good idea, but I think you'll want to carry it out."

He knew the captain would eventually return home; otherwise, based on his understanding of Odysseus, the latter wouldn't have become gloomy instead of desperate after meeting the prophet. Since that was the case, whatever choices they made wouldn't drag the captain down.

"There are cattle ahead. Their meat can fill our stomachs, but we'll also incur the wrath of the gods and meet our end. What would you choose, my friend?"

Perimedes laughed: "You know perfectly well, Eurylochus, that most of us feel no difference between living now and being dead."

The two men fell silent, as if calmly accepting the fate that was approaching. After a moment, Eurylochus left the deck and entered an empty room. With the death of his friends, more and more dormitories were becoming vacant. He took a deep breath and sat down on the deck.

"Hey Ares, I don't know if you can hear me. I know our last encounter wasn't pleasant." He paused, feeling a bit awkward talking to himself like this, but continued, "Look, my companions and I have made up our minds to die because the suffering of hunger is too long. So, I want to say goodbye to you."

There was no response. Eurylochus didn't know if his words were heard by the god of war. He knew the other god always loved bloodshed and could understand his indifference to the lives of other mortals. But a few days ago, when his comrades had just died at the throat of Scylla, his boyfriend's nonchalant tone was still hard for him to accept. Ares just laughed and mocked Odysseus' cowardice in not facing the enemy head-on, which was also what Eurylochus didn't want to hear.

They had an argument then. But now that Eurylochus had made up his mind to give up his life, continuing the cold war made no sense.

"Uh, that's about it." He fell silent again. In fact, it was meaningless, wasn't it? The gods lived such long lives; how could he care about the death of a mortal?

Eurylochus sighed, stood up, and walked out of the empty room. Ares didn't respond. The man thought bitterly that maybe he had been too optimistic; in fact, Ares had broken up with him completely.

The next day, he and his comrades all agreed on the plan to eat the beef and die, and they carried it out as such. Odysseus looked pain, and he ordered them to row faster, but all thirty-six crew members knew they had no hope of survival; they had accepted it the night before. At least they would die full, and that was enough.

But strangely, nothing happened; no god became angry. The fleet was puzzled until a tall figure landed on the ship and ran quickly towards Eurylochus.

"Eury!" His tone was almost panicked, "You don't know how… It's good that this has been resolved. You won't die, at least not so soon, my love."

Everyone on the fleet was stunned. Who would tell them what was going on???

"It's a good thing you're not the first to eat the cattle. I mean, you're the first mortal, but other gods have done similar things. Hermes paid with his lyre, and what I have is not inferior to what he had." Eurylochus found the other's tone cute, like a child comparing toys. But it didn't lessen his confusion.

"I thought we broke up?" He asked cautiously.

Ares was stunned. Then the god of war erupted, roaring, "What? No!" The ship was rocking slightly because of his roar. Eurylochus was worried that the ship would be overturned, so he quickly soothed him: "No, I mean, of course I don't want to break up, but yesterday when I talked to you, you ignored me."

"That's because I was preparing an apology gift!" Ares was still roaring, but the ship had stopped rocking. After he finished speaking, he hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat embarrassed: "Uh, I'll leave for a while… I'll come to you tonight, Eury."

The tall figure left, leaving the stunned crew and the stunned Odysseus, who was also shocked but more relieved.

"... It's good that you're still alive," Odysseus said. "I have something to ask you, Eurylochus, but we'll talk about it later."

He left. Eurylochus knew his friend would leave the crowd whenever he was emotionally upset; he didn't want too many people to see how much he cared about his friends. He smiled, happy to see his familiar captain back. The rift was still inevitable, but… things were getting better.

Now he had to face the crew's questions.

[riessene]

@mutantenfisch ty for appreciating my baby so you get a lil tutorial First step is naturally to have Baldur's Gate 3 installed and preferably patched to the latest version as that one is what will mostly be supported by modders. Next you install a mod manager of your choice. I used bg3 mod manager because it was the one recommended in the first mod I used and it works great for me. Link to download it: https://github.com/LaughingLeader/BG3ModManager/releases

Unzip the archive wherever you like it doesn't matter and click on the icon.

Before you start just to make sure everything works as intended, fill out the paths for the game.

(Mine found the game by itself but never hurts to check.) Okay now we are ready to get mods. Download the one you like from Nexus (or anywhere else tbh I don't think the files are different) As an example I'll use this one https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/213 First rule of modding is to CHECK THE REQUIREMENTS

We see that author helpfully linked the things we need for their mod to work. We click on Patch 3 Mod Fixer, go to FILES and download (use MANUAL DOWNLOAD) it and do the same with Improved UI. And download the mod we're actually here for too 👍 Most mods come in zip files containing pak files. You don't have to unzip them bg3 manager takes care of it itself. Go back to the mod manager and follow my very fancy diagram

Make sure you got all the mods in the requirements section. That's it! You can also click Go->Open mods folder and check if they are there.

Read the mods descriptions carefully - usually authors will note if there's a specific order their mods should be or direct you to a patch that might solve conflicts with other mods. If you want to delete the mods you can drag the mods back to the Inactive right column (click save!!) and then delete the paks from the folder above^ Hopefully it's coherent enough!;^) Ask me if you have any more troubles and if someone more savvy in modding than me noticed a mistake in this little guide I'm all ears! And remember - a lot of mods will stop working on full release so I'd strongly recommend clearing up everything you installed before loading up the 1.0 version.

[gffa]

Hello there! I was wondering if you could help me with some comic recs. I've been looking to read the Batman's-lost-in-the-time-stream stories specifically the ones where Tim tracks down evidence of Bruce not being dead (blowing up the LoA and losing his spleen in the process etc), but I find it tricky to pin down the exact comic names and numbers. I figured asking was worth a shot since you seem to know your way around the various continuities. Thank you! 💙

Hi! I will freely admit that I had to Google a lot of this, because I haven't read most of those comics since they originally came out and my memory is fuzzy, but I do think I can at least point you in the right direction. The majority of what you're looking for re: Tim is going to be in Red Robin, but a lot of this storyline spilled over kind of everywhere and crosses into several smaller event storylines, but as best as I can remember/find: (Note: These are all comics from around 2008-2010, so when you go looking for them, keep them separate from a lot of the current ongoings that have reached these numbers again. XD)

Bruce "dies" in the Final Crisis mini-series

Portions of that story also spill over into Batman R.I.P. 2008 (Batman vol. 1 issues #676–681). For memory, it's a separate story from the fight with Darkseid that "killed" Bruce, but aspects of it are intertwined with that main story, so feel free to skim if you want.

"Nightwing: The Great Leap" (vol. 2, issues #147-153) is part of the Batman R.I.P. storyline that will lead into Last Rites and Battle for the Cowl

The final issues of the Robin vol. 2 series, issues #175-183, are also part of the lead-up to the Last Rites storyline (and then part of the main storyline itself)

Last Rites is spread out across Batman #682-685, Detective Comics #851-852, Nightwing #151-153, Robin #183

Okay, for Battle for the Cowl storyline, there's a lot going on, but you can read the three issue mini series (Battle for the Cowl #1-3) and then kind of pick-and-choose what you want from the tie-in oneshots. I'm not sure how important most of them are, if you're just here for main Batfam drama, but the DC fandom wiki has a good list of them all.

This leads us into the Batman Reborn storyline, which is Dick as Batman and Damian as Robin and there's a lot of comics going on at this time that are dealing with the general fallout but not necessarily specifically about Bruce being lost in time. But I really liked this era, so of course I'd recommend reading it anyway.

Red Robin is where you're going to find the "Tim really looks like he's having a mental breakdown and goes off to find Bruce" content that you're looking for, those issues are the prime material for it, just that there's context spilling everywhere first before you get to them.

Batman and Robin from 2009 is Dick and Damian's side of everything that was going on--they do have other stuff they have to deal with, they're fighting against all the usual cases in Gotham popping up, but the "Bruce is lost in time" story does have a lot of context here as well, that Dick actually is doing research into this as well.

Early on in both of the above two comic runs (within about six issues or so) was an event called Blackest Night where all the dead came back to life and it's mostly about that, but the Batman tie in issues had Tim coming back to Gotham and the issue was raised of, "wait, why does Bruce's corpse look all wrong?" and people start to believe that Bruce is alive. I'd say read the two Batman tie-in issues for sure and at least skim the main Blackest Night #1-8 for anything Bat-related.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1-6 is Bruce's side of his "death" and eventual return.

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home is the follow-up/aftermath of that and is spread out across several oneshots and the order is generally: Batman #703 (prelude) --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batman and Robin #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Red Robin #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Outsiders #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Catwoman #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Commissioner Gordon #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Oracle #1 --> Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Ra's al Ghul #1 --> Batman: The Return #1 (These are NOT issue #1 of their given series, these are all separate oneshots--aside from the Batman #703 prelude, of course.)

@fantastic-nonsense also has a really great context-laden post here about the storyline of them searching for Bruce and is very helpful to understand all the moving parts! If I missed anything major, hopefully she or someone else can step in and give us issue numbers. I know that's a lot of comics to throw at you, but it kind of goes to show that this is how some of the Bat-storylines used to have more of this kind of stuff, where they had big, sprawling events and everything kind of spilled over onto everything else. I don't miss having to buy a zillion issues to keep up with a storyline taking over my favorite book, but I do miss the interconnectedness of stuff like this, when it worked, it created storylines that genuinely were game-changing in the Batman franchise. Hopefully, this helps and if nothing else you can know that you inspired me to go pull out some of these runs and reread them to refresh my memory. (Even if I'm still mortal enemies with Grant Morrison, they wrote a lot of the comics that were at the height of my interest in DC. XD)

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  LadyKailitha! @ladykailitha has 33 fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 32 of them are in the Steddie Tag.

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @ladykailitha:

Little Runaway

Staking My Claim

I'll Be Your Knight

Eddie's Big Stevie Rescue

"LadyKailitha is a wonderful writer both on Tumblr (shout out to WIP Wednesday, makes my day!!) and on AO3! They absolutely deserve all the recognition and respect for their work. And now I'd like to share the love 🫶"-- anonymous

Below the cut, @ladykailitha answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I’m obsessed with them. LOL! On a more serious note, it’s because I relate to the two characters a lot and want to see them happy.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Childhood friends. I just love watching them be friends as kids and then grow apart and then back together again. I could read it a billion times and do it again. As long as there’s a happy ending of course.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

AUs. Just all of them. I like canon Eddie and Steve, but putting them in different worlds and still finding ways to make them who they are. chef’s kiss

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

There are so many good ones but one that I’ve read several times is STRIKE TEN by oaseas. So good.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

That’s the best part of steddie is not knowing there’s a troupe I want to write for until inspiration strikes. Like I never thought I’d do a sugar baby/daddy AU, but I’m currently writing one. Ditto for omegaverse, but now I’ve written two from the same universe. But as I’m typing this… probably sentinel/guide. The idea has always intrigued me.

What is your writing process like?

First is day dreaming up an idea. Then depending on how long the idea is, I’ll do a short write up about. If it’s long, then it gets treated with plot beats I want to hit. I don’t consider it an outline, because they aren’t in order. Then I will sit down and start writing. I will do at least 400 words a day and keep at it until I have at least 3 or 4 chapters into it before I start posting.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I have to have a backlog of unpublished chapters because I worry if I’m not putting out stories people will lose interest. It’s also so that if I write myself into a corner I can go back a couple of chapters if I have to and change it to fit the new direction the story is going.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely on a schedule. I’ve tried waiting until I’m done and I just get too excited for other people to read it and start posting.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Well Met By Moonlight. I’m really proud of the world building and mystery.

How did you get the idea for Little Runaway?

When I first got into the fandom, there was a severe lack of Eddie and Steve postseason 2 and I really wanted to lean into that a bit.

When writing Little Runaway, what was something you didn’t expect?

Max becoming a reader insert in a way. Where you see the characters through her eyes at the end.

What inspired Staking My Claim?

LOL! Steve licking Eddie’s hand like he was a cupcake he didn’t want to share.

What was your favorite part to write from Staking My Claim?

Jeff. I loved how he just kinda rocked up and said, “As Eddie’s boyfriend, you are now my responsibility and no, you don’t get a say in this.”

How do/did you feel writing I'll Be Your Knight?

I love this one. It really does not get enough praise honestly. I loved the idea of the sound of Steve’s lighter as he lights and puts it out over and over again. I just really loved the idea of Steve guarding Eddie because he’s part of the group now.

What was the most difficult part of writing Eddie's Big Stevie Rescue?

The subject matter. It’s one of my darkest fics because Steve gets slipped a date rape drug and the fall out of not trusting the people you care about with the deepest parts of yourself. Also, keeping the tension ramped up.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I absolutely love the scene with Billy and Steve from “Never Hold Back Your Step…” when Billy gets Steve’s lifeguard job and Steve calls him a washed up surfer. That whole takedown was cathartic as hell.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m currently working on a couple that I think are just so much fun. “The Hellfire Exotic Club” a stripper AU that has been a blast to write. And “Of Butterflies and Backstrokes” the Olympic swimmer AU. I’m proud of that title, too.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

nope!

Thank you to our author, @ladykailitha, and our anonymous nominator! See more of LadyKailitha's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam, it looks like I'll be in Chicago for a few days next May. I'm going through all the typical sight seeing websites, but do you have any recommendations for a first time visitor? I'm not huge on architecture, parks or crowds. History, art and music are a big yes. I'm considering the Big Bus hop on/off tour for practicality. Any tips would be appreciated!

I used to have a "guide to Chicago" that I would link people to, but I think it probably badly needs updating, since a lot of what it talks about is pre-pandemic, and some places don't exist anymore (which is not necessarily down to the pandemic, Chicago is an ever-changing place). RIP Apocalypse McDonalds. Definitely before you follow anyone's advice including mine, look up what you're going to go see to make sure it's still there.

So, couple of quick recommendations; thanks for telling me some of what you're into, that always helps :) I'm going to assume you're either staying somewhere close to downtown or willing to trek into the city from outside it. A lot of people who tell me they're visiting Chicago are actually visiting Rosemont, which is a nice place but not Chicago and not super close to most of what I'll be talking about. Chicago is extremely large, and if you are staying around the O'Hare airport area (Rosemont) it will be an hour by public transit or at least $50 by rideshare/cab to get downtown.

I will say whenever I'm visiting somewhere, my first stop is always Atlas Obscura, which usually lists the really weird shit to do. :D

I've never done the Big Bus tour, but it's much nicer to do it in May than, say, December, and the people I know who've done it found it a convenient and inexpensive way to get around the city without having to deal with public transit, so while I can't personally recommend, I've only heard good things.

I know you said you weren't into architecture, but if you want to see a lot of Chicago in a very relaxed fashion, while incidentally getting some architecture knowledge, it's tough to beat the Chicago Architecture Center's boat tour. You just get on the boat, buy a drink if you want one, sit back, and drift down the river and back while someone narrates the history of Chicago architecture to you. You'll also, in May, see lots of other folks out on the river and get a real taste of Chicago's downtown scene. If you'd like to see the river without the cost of the architecture tour, I'd check out the water taxis and see if there's an opportunity to take one when going between other places you're visiting. They do a lot of tourist-destination stops.

For history, the Chicago History Museum is a natural fit and a lot of walking tours leave from the museum, although most of them are architecture :D I would also HIGHLY recommend Adam Selzer's Mysterious Chicago tours; Selzer is a very smart local historian and if you'd like to do reading ahead of time I also highly recommend his book Ghosts of Chicago. If he's offering a tour of Rose Hill or Graceland cemeteries, I'd jump on that; Graceland was my old "home" cemetery (it was literally my backyard for about a decade) and I think it's extremely interesting and beautiful. If you do go to Graceland, I can recommend Byron's nearby as a great place to get a burger, fries, Italian Beef, or a hot dog. But pretty much any tour he offers I would recommend whether I've been on it or not, he's great.

For art, again, the natural choice is the Art Institute Museum; to avoid lines, I'd recommend buying your museum ticket ahead of time and entering through the Modern Wing on Monroe Street, which is less attractive but also way less crowded than the "Lions" entrance on Michigan Avenue. I always recommend people make sure not to miss the Thorne Miniatures (they're in the basement so easy to miss, but any docent can direct you there) and the Ugliest Vase in the World. They move the vase around quite a bit, but if you check the website for the Londonderry Vase before you go, it'll tell you where to find it. Its hideousness must be seen in person. Also make sure not to miss the Chagall windows, they're off in a corner by the entrance to the cafe.

I'm not really much on music so my reccs are weaker there, but if you'd like some Chicago blues in a tourist-friendly environment, Kingston Mines is good, as is Buddy Guy's (which also has great food and is closer to downtown). If you like fried chicken, Harold's Chicken Shack is near Buddy Guy's (it's all over, it's a small chain, but that's usually the easiest one for people to find). The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is pretty great for classical music, and in the summer they often have special guests. If you like the NPR show "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", they record live in downtown Chicago at the Fine Arts building; you usually have to buy pretty far in advance, keep an eye on tickets here.

More general recommendations: the Museum of Science and Industry is really fun, especially with kids but even without, but it's also the furthest out from downtown and can take some work to get to. Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium are both fun times, although the Shedd is kinda pricey I think. They're right next to each other though so a day doing both is convenient. If you are doing any of the museums, keep your eyes peeled for the "Mold A Rama" machines, where for $5 you can watch the machine injection-mold you a souvenir. Often the museums have custom machines for various exhibits (the Death exhibit at the Field had a skull one, for instance).

There are two train systems in Chicago: the "El" (the color-coded trains you see in movies all the time) and the Metra. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE THE METRA TRAIN ANYWHERE. The Metra is a commuter rail designed for people who know how to use it, and they don't announce stops or even sometimes have signage; often the train won't stop at a platform unless it's told to during certain times of day. It is extremely easy to get extremely lost on the Metra and end up somewhere you do not want to be. If you are taking public transit, even if it seems less convenient, stick to buses and the El trains. The El and Metra run on different tracks so it's easy to avoid the Metra, but I always like to warn folks.

Okay, I think that's the highlights, minus some parks and such; I hope you have a great time! Feel free to hit me if you have questions.

[blukiar]

For the sake of others

(I notice my rb answer doesn't show up on the og post, neither in the tags so I'm gonna make it a separate post for the sake of Anon and any other persons curious to know about the situation)

Now first and foremost - this post is NOT to address the situation itself as I HATE drama but I HATE being apart of it MORE. This is about an earlier situation that I think people should be aware of. Trust is key, and misinformation destroys that.

(For the nevermore situation I recommend reading this Red FIRST, then navigate to the others as there are a COUPLE responses from several different folks so Idk who to link. In the end it is up to you to decide who you support/who you believe is in the wrong. Personally, BOTH are in the wrong)

Now to the point of this post: I'm keeping the name in because it's not a personal acc, and the person behind it has announced stepping away from the fandom entirely. REGARDLESS DO NOT GO HARASSING THEM NO ONE DESERVES HARASSMENT!

Earlier today upon checking my dash I saw this and immediately got upset about it because this is unacceptable. On a normal day I'd just roll my eyes and scroll away from drama related posts but THIS one grind my gears so much that I HAD to confront OP on it. What happened next made me even more disappointed as this acc was literally the only nevermore content acc that I follow on tumblr...

About an hour after confrontation, I checked back to the post only to find that my comment was removed/hidden by OP as shown below

It's funny how they and a couple others are calling out how Red tries to silence folks speaking out on the situation by deleting comments and leaving out stuff etc, etc, YET they are no different...

All I asked is why they blatantly lied to Anon about the situation? Knowing FULLY well that's NOT what happened. The least you could have done was to direct Anon to RnF page/or to the accusers posts to read the response to the situation and have them formulate their OWN opinions and conclusions to it. But instead they chose lie to Anon and hide/remove my comment.

Now I get it, OP didn't have to answer me, they're NOT obligated to, they could have ignored me or even block me! They have the freedom to do so, who am I to get angry for that? YET they chose to silence me. The same thing they accuse Red of doing, for a simple question?? Wow...

Then OP proceeded to add "evidence" to their earlier summary that, mind you, DOES NOT support their earlier claim here. It's just screenshots of Red talking about the Crimson situation, you know, about the 1 single individual - OP's summary made it sound like it's the ENTIRE moderation team that are groomers and that Red allowed it

The point here is that OP lied and silenced me for calling them out on lying to someone who was unaware and genuinely trusted them to tell a truthful rundown of the situation

And honestly, I wish OP well, I hope they take the time to take a breath and reflect. I wish them a blessed day/night and I hope that Anon gets the truthful information they need cause this is just disappointing...

Again this post was made for the sake of those unaware of the situation and is just looking for a TRUSTWORTHY and a non bias source to go by. For that I think it's best to read Red's response first to get the gest of it then navigate to the others and make your own conclusions.

Thanks for Reading, and sorry for ruining your day with this nonsense.

[er-cryptid]

Hi I'm interested in being an EMT. I plan on taking the class in September. Do you have any advise or tips for taking the NREMT? Also can you talk about what to expect on duty? Not really sure how to ask that but just curious how life is in the field.

Sure! I did it a couple years ago and I loved it!

The NREMT:

Read the National Registry's exam information and advice.

Use practice test resources. (I recommend the practice exam book by LearningExpress and the review book by McGraw-Hill.)

Don't cram the night before/morning of. Follow general test-taking advice like eating a good meal and being hydrated and well-rested.

There may be multiple correct answers to a question. Select the best answer. One will be "more correct" than the others.

Following this - don't overcomplicate the questions. Don't assume any information not stated in the question. Don't start thinking like "Well, if it was a basic medical case, I'd answer B, but if the patient was diabetic, I'd answer C, so I'm not sure."

The test is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT). This means that, for a topic, it will start you on an easy question, and if you answer correctly, it will give you a harder one. This will continue until you inevitably get one wrong. If you don't know the answer, think it through and do your best and don't let it shake you, because the test intentionally makes things harder the more you get correct.

Since the test is responsive, the number of questions you have may vary. It could be 70, it could be 120.

Do not rush. According to the National Registry, fewer than 1% of candidates run out of time. Misreading a question is a bigger threat than running out of time.

Since the test comes from the National Registry, it will not ask about state or local protocols.

Clinicals:

All EMT programs require clinical hours. The amount varies by state. (My program required a minimum of 300 hours.)

If you have some time between calls, I highly recommend asking one of the paramedics or experienced EMTs to walk you through their ambulance set up and show you where things are.

A small thing of Vick's VapoRub is useful for dealing with smells. (I've also heard peppermint oil.)

You likely won't be anyone's first experience having a student. Almost every preceptor I had was very good at directing and great at answering questions.

If you're doing clinicals while still in the class, you may encounter situations requiring skills you haven't covered. If you don't know how to do something, say something.

Depending on where you are/what time it is, you may have some down time. The best thing to do is bring study materials and use that time advantageously. (And if you have questions, there are experienced EMTs/paramedics right there.)

You'll see a lot on duty, so I can't tell you what to expect. Some of it may be difficult to see, but don't be afraid to talk to your preceptors about it. They've been on the job and will (likely) be informed about coping mechanisms.

The types of calls will vary based on where you are and local events. All my clinicals were during COVID, so we had quite a few respiratory cases. There was a biker week during that as well, so quite a few motorcycle crashes. I live by a large beach, so we collaborated with beach rescue sometimes. EMS is one of those fields where you can't really say what you might encounter on a daily basis, but during clinicals you will have the opportunity to talk to people with experience who will usually be glad to help you learn about the field!

If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to do my best to answer!

[0rczy]

ORCZY'S FAN FICTION RECOMMENDATIONS

For following Fandoms: Varian and the 7 kingdoms, Lego monkie kid, JRWI riptide

Hi there! I tought I would share some of my favourite fanfictions I've read since April last year, as sort of a recap and also recommendations. These are all longer stories btw, ranging from 78K to  236K words. Hope you find something that piques your interest :D

If you have any other recommendations, PLEASE share them, I'd love to read more from these fandoms.

VAT7K

-Varian's Tangled Trials by IFoundYouJustineTime and TheArtistsMuse A complete Vat7k story adapting the original creators' plot points into an amazing, 24 chapters (episodes) long fic that reads like an actual cartoon. If you're new to Vat7k or Tangled The Series, or even if you haven't seen the latter (like me), you WILL enjoy this. If you like a fun adventure with a bunch of nerds as a found family, this is for you.

-What Summer Meant to You -If I Really Hated you (and I really, really do) both by Battybatzgirl First one's a battle of the bands/modern AU, second is an AU where the boys are rival engineers, both focusing on the ship Varigo. The writing style is what made me stay and read these to the end. Incredibly funny and entertaining to read, the way Varian and Hugo are characterised is just. So good. If you like a well written, lighthearted, romantic comedy, this is for you. (Both include some skippable adult scenes, but the story is much more about the romance)

-Making End's Meet by Meltthepoint As the author's name suggest, this is a melting point (Donella x Ulla) story, set in a modern setting. Donella enrolls Hugo into this new school, who then befriends Varian. Ulla and Donella meet again. This is about how two women make up and start anew after their lives went into directions they didn't want. The story is much more character focused, a really fun read. Very insightful about the women's characters. An exception, as I still haven't finished reading it. Definitely not the type of fic I can binge read, but I'm really enjoying it.

At the end of everything by Squirrelflight A Night in the woods AU (haven't played the game, you don't have to, to read it), and unfinished as of yet, but man. Worth checking out! Unlike the stories above, this one's definitely darker and has a really tense aura. Love it. The writing is so good it makes me so thrilled about what will happen next! I also really like, once again, the characterisation.

LMK

-You can stay here by KALL A pre canon story about how Pigsy and Tang adopt MK, how MK gets to be in a safe environment and starts figuring himself out. Great writing style, entertaining plot, what more could I ask for? (maybe an update lol) As of yet, unfinished, and hasn't been updated since late 2022. The author actually posted ( https://www.tumblr.com/its-kall-the-clown/735524530668371968/are-you-going-to-be-updating-any-fics-on-your-ao3 ) about wanting to rewrite the story sometime. Which is great! In case you're reading this, take as long as you want!

-A garden across our collarbone by PittedPeaches Spicynoodle soulmate AU where what you write, or in MK's case, draw on your skin, appears on the soulmate's skin as well. Red Son's journey of (very slowly, this is a slowburn) falling in love with MK. A lot of inner monologues, the story plays out more like a retelling of what happened from Red Son's perspective. Kind of like a diary entry and I LOVE IT. I actually didn't understand the pairing before reading this, nor was I that invested in Red Son's character. This fic changed everything. (it also sends you good luck if you read it on the train! I acquired: friends!)

RIPTIDE

-BREAKING FREE! by earlgray_milktea A fish 'n chips Highschool Musical AU (another thing I haven't seen, you don't need to, to read this). The writing is so undoubtedly Disney, it is at times so over the top dramatic, you can't help but smile at half the interactions. The charm is big on this one. The characters are exagerated but somehow not (completely) out of character. Basically if Riptide was on Disney, this is exactly how they'd act. Also it's just really, really cute.

-Depths of Natarus by goldpines Chip Mermaid AU set in an Undersa/Oversea war, focusing on Fish n Chips as well as Jay Ferin (my girl!). Two reasons why you should read this right now. First: the descriptions are SO detailed and immersive! It made me also kinda have a crush on Gillion Tidestrider. How. Second: it made me care about Jay. And the way she's written here is just so so great. You can tell the author knows what they're doing, the feels just keep coming, I alost teared up multiple times. This story makes you feel a lot of emotions at once, an overall amazing reading experience.

And these were my favs since last April. Specifically the ones that made me go absolutely insane. In a good way. Again, if you have any good recommendations (preferably longer stories, but shorter ones are also fine), please feel free to share them.

Thank you for reading this, if you did :D

[love-killed-the-superstar]

Are there any leosagi fics you recommend for a newbie? I am just now warming up to the ship it’s so cute.

*cracks knuckles* oh, this'll be fun!! welcome to the fold! this is in no particular order, even though i'm still going to plug my all time favourite one first:

Silk and Steel by katanashipping: This is the first leosagi fic I ever read and the one that has haunted me since I first read it in 2014. Rereading it is actually what kickstarted my latest round of tmnt obsession. It's an alternate retelling of s4 and oh, it is so good. The ending scene... *chefs kiss*

In Between Worlds by Koalagriton: I read this one recently and it was so good... A series of drabbles about them reuniting at the next Battle Nexus. The last chapter is my favourite - the fic is kinda bittersweet but I love it to death.

In Circles by Garden_Guardian: A really nice and sweet fix-it fic for the capril wedding where Leo and Usagi actually TALK to each other instead of ignoring each other like awkward exes following Samurai Tourist. Includes some really adorable fanart attached!

Approval by hostofhorus999: A classic 5 times + 1 times fic - this time Usagi getting blessings from Leo's family to propose!!! It's so fucking sweet.

Operation Matchmaker 2: Electric Boogaloo by GreenGoddessSmoothie: A classic 'brothers trying to get leosagi together' tale. Shenanigans ensue, it's great, I laughed super hard.

Operation Elopement 2: Electric Boogaloo by GreenGoddessSmoothie: A direct sequel but about them getting eloped!! It's really cute, made me really emotional.

Fewer Things Forgotten by kay_cricketed: I only recently found out about this one (livejournal was slightly before my time lol) but it's a leosagi fic in 50 sentences and ohh it's so good. I initially wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this style of one-sentence stories but it pulled some real emotions out of me!!

The next three are multi-chaptered and pretty wordy but I still recommend:

Dragon of the Sun by ForestWhisper3: Okay so technically this is a Mikey-centric fic but the leosagi in it is so good I had to include it. It's a retelling of the Ultimate Drako arc featuring mystic!Mikey and it's a lot of fun. The leosagi parts are in chapters 5+6 but PLEASE read the whole thing it's super good and I'm kinda obsessed.

The Tortoise and the Hare by AmevelloBlue: REQUIRED READING (/j). This fic is super good. It recontextualises all leosagi episodes in 2k3, adds in missing scenes and then spins off into a really cool climax featuring Jei and it's just - super good. Loved it. Reread it three times already.

No Room For Dying by Amevello Blue: Direct sequel to Tortoise and Hare. This is the Ninja Tribunal arc we deserved honestly. Really highlights how shitty the tribunal is, Usagi slots into the plot seamlessly, it explores Usagi's own trauma from UJ which I really appreciated, the relationship drama is perfect and... yep. Just a really solid read. I'm going to do my third reread once I hit season 5 on my rewatch.

finally, i am not above plugging my own fics... i recently wrote one for tmnttober from usagi's pov where he's celebrating tanabata with the hamato family and trying to keep his crush on leo under wraps: climb up to my view, see the world in my shoes

have fun!!!