#an absurdly long time in the making

[lunasohma]

gone fishin’

[ ao3 / ff.net ]

Two exorcists wade into a river.

Alternatively: Natori and Matoba’s riparian adventure with an 80% chance of death or at the very least, grievous injury.

There is a hold-up at the pet shop. The sounds of a disagreement filter back through the shelves and Natori listens with the vaguest sense of disquiet. A separate queue has been formed so he moves along with it.

Matoba Seiji is arguing about aquarium dimensions at the counter.

"So, will you take this one, sir?" He watches the cashier age ten years in real-time.

Natori himself is next in line and there is nowhere to retreat.

"Yes, thank you." Matoba side eyes him when he finally steps up to the counter and he is all but pinned to the floor.

Natori Shuuichi can't help the sneaking suspicion that his day off won't be a day off anymore.

—

Once they're outside, Matoba generously offers the use of the trolley he's borrowed for Natori's bag of birdseed.

Natori relents.

The look Matoba fixes him with is innocently curious—the one he makes when it comes to potentially finding out something about his contemporaries.

So rather, it's carefully cunning.

"It's for birds," he blurts out inelegantly.

Matoba's expression morphs into bemusement and mild alarm. "Well, I should hope so, Shuuichi-san."

And so, as it always goes with Matoba, he feels the need to explain himself further.

It had started one morning with his half-finished breakfast. His last piece of toast had been spirited away before he could blink. The sparrow had glared at him in such a way that Natori had felt abashed.

Tossing a preemptive handful of crumbs before breakfast had turned into an investment of a bird feeder and birdseed. His elderly neighbor who shared his balcony space had turned up at his front door one morning.

"I find that they like these!" Natori had hurried to relieve her of the bag of birdseed that was more than half her height.

"So they'll grow big and strong," Tachibana-san had beamed.

While he ensured the safety of his future toast, the little bit of wildlife really was a respite in the city. He had found Hiiragi admiring them through the window on more than one occasion.

In fact, it had been Hiiragi who had sent him out this morning.

"They don't like this kind." They had run out of the usual brand. She was quietly devastated and Natori could not abide that, so he'd set off on his mission.

Of course, his luck had landed him in the same pet shop as Matoba Seiji.

"How sweet, Shuuichi-san.” Matoba is fighting a smile.

"I am." Natori lifts his chin and is pleased.

Matoba Seiji cuts a severe figure against the haze of the summer day. All harsh lines with his tailored suit and perfect posture. Natori would reckon that he was previously with a client. Or on the way to one? Either way, Matoba doesn't seem to be about to volunteer any information. Least of all about the fish tank.

So when he stops abruptly, Natori crashes into him and then knocks his shin sharply against the trolley.

"Shuuichi-san." He turns to him with a one-eyed stare.

"What." He rubs sullenly at his leg.

"I need to catch a fish."

"…What."

”Would you help me?"

It is with this plea and the look on Matoba's face—one that would sooner be seen on a basset hound—that Natori finally, officially, forfeits the rest of his day off.

—

There is a fish in the river.

This particular fish has been terrorizing the waterfowl and fauna. Growing at an alarming rate, it is poised to singlehandedly (fin-edly?) wreak havoc on the local ecosystem.

“Big. This big.” Matoba had held his hands apart, adjusting after a moment. “Well, thereabouts.”

Natori raised an eyebrow. “Very descriptive.”

”My informants were, yes.” Matoba said solemnly.

You’re being oddly cryptic, Seiji, Natori thinks.

“That’s about all they knew.”

Oh. Guess he said that aloud then.

And time is of the essence, apparently.

It wouldn’t be long before larger things were on the menu. The local poodle. The local poodle’s owner. That kind of thing. Natori makes a face.

”It’s not unimaginable,” Matoba says.

”I never said it was. Just improbable.”

”It’s not like you to lack imagination, Shuuichi-san.” A sliver of a smile.

“That is not something I’d like to imagine.”

“Me neither.”

—

Spells are out of the question for now.

“You don’t need to tell me that.”

”As you’d like.”

Water is difficult. The smallest ripple can and will push spiritual energy off course, disabling and dissolving a spell entirely. Forget about a river.

Conversely, if he were to believe the rumors he’s heard, if you have patience in spades, it is possible to work the ebbs and flows to your favor. Just a bit. Because ultimately, Nature has no qualms for your efforts.

Natori himself has a day job and finds solid ground preferable.

—

Currently, they are seated upon the bank, Matoba reinforcing his fish tank with pieces of spell paper.

”If only that kitty cat was here.” Natori smiles at the frown he can hear in Matoba’s voice.

“Natsume’s? He’s very conditional. I doubt you could afford his starting fee. Plus…” Natori lies back in the grass, catching sight of Matoba’s consternation in full. “For you, he’d probably refuse on principle.”

With a huff, Matoba returns to his seals.

After a while, Natori fidgets with the need to do something.

When he impulsively begins rolling up his pant legs, Matoba blinks up at him in surprise.

“Do you have any other ideas?”

”Well…”

“Exactly.”

Natori doesn’t miss how Matoba glances down at his left leg.

“Seiji.” The other man startles. “If this is it, promise me that you’ll finish me off.”

With that, he steps carefully down the bank.

And it’s true. Monster fish claims exorcist’s cursed left leg. Natori shudders. Even he is under no illusion that he would be able to live that down.

.

Is it really summer? Natori hadn’t been able to hold back a yelp when he’d stepped into the river.

“Something the matter?” Matoba calls from behind him.

“Oh, s’just fine.” Natori just barely keeps the chattering tremble from his voice. “Just lovely.”

You brought this upon yourself. A voice in the back of his mind chides. It almost sounds like Hiiragi.

I wouldn’t wish this upon my worst enemy!

”Is it cold?” Natori turns with a beatific smile. Sparkles too, surely Matoba can’t be immune.

“Not at all. Come on in.” Matoba watches him warily, starting to back away.

Oh no.

It is on.

“You get in here!”

—

It is only once they have both been thoroughly soaked and have started to dry out on the bank that Natori starts thinking about poetry.

Because there is something of the sort at work here. An expanse of unfamiliar ground that they find themselves navigating together again.

Contrary to what one might think, Natori Shuuichi is not against poetic justice. The fluffy kind that his acting allows him to indulge in is the best fun. And the fact that it helps pay the bills doesn’t hurt either.

Then there are the ancient grudges and blood oaths he encounters in exorcist work that are all too real. But that’s kind of exciting in its own right.

And whatever he and Seiji have going on. Natori’s not blind. More… willfully ignorant. Ever trying for blissfully obtuse.

For today, Natori is not going to be the one to point it out. Perhaps some things are better left unsaid.

The clouds are that wispy kind, all gossamer and lace, combed out against the blue of the sky above.

It is all too easy to let his eyes drift closed. His dreams are full of poetry.

—

“Surely this is not how you operate nowadays, Shuuichi-san.” Shuuichi wakes up to find Seiji peering down at him.

“Only on my days off.”

“Oh. I apologize for that.”

“S’not a big deal.” Shuuichi stretches, feeling surprisingly refreshed. “Have you seen our fishy friend?”

Seiji shakes his head. “That’s why I woke you up.”

“What?”

“We’re going to buy bait.”

.

Bait is an assortment of sandwiches from a nearby convenience store. Two of them are for Shuuichi and Seiji. One is for the fish.

The sandwich does the trick.

—

And it has teeth.

Several rows, like a goddamn shark. Shuuichi knows this because he has the fishy fiend by the tail, an arm’s length away. What good that does him is anybody’s guess, the creature is a good deal longer. That leaves him with one arm to keep its jaws as far away from his person as he can.

A burst of panic had made quick work of the restraints they’d managed to cast.

“You want this thing alive?” Shuuichi staggers back, thrown by the yokai’s frantic thrashing. The spell circle they’d set up as a last resort is a tempting thing.

“If you can manage to keep it like that,” Seiji calls over his shoulder, with a lilt of challenge. He’s making last minute adjustments to the tank.

Shuuichi proceeds to exhaust every curse he knows and then some as he attempts to keep the fishy devil from taking a chunk out of his hand.

—

When all is said and done, it is an impressive specimen of a fish.

Fans of fins sparkle with iridescence and its eyes glow cat-like.

Shuuichi almost feels bad, seeing it in its glass prison. Granted, he feels like that whenever he goes to a zoo or an aquarium. Of course, those animals have never tried to eat two of his fingers.

Yet the principle stands. So he is almost tempted to tip the tank and tell it to swim away as fast as it can.

Go on. Only if you apologize first. They make eye contact. A piece of Shuuichi’s shirt sleeve is still stuck in the fish’s jaws. It slurps the rest of it down before turning its tail to him. Ungrateful little brat.

—

“Hey, Mister! You caught it!” Shuuichi looks up to find two boys scrambling down the bank towards them. Dragging his heel through the last remnants of the spell circle, he watches them approach Seiji.

Seiji greets them with a pleasant smile. “Hello, again.”

The boys enthuse over the brooding behemoth at a safe distance.

“Oh yes, it put up quite a fight, but we managed.” Shuuichi rolls his eyes at the ‘we’.

They have placed bets on all manners of its features and now one boy owes the other a week’s worth of manjuu.

For some reason, Shuuichi feels his throat closing up.

“Dinner?” Seiji is saying. “No, actually this one’s going to be my pet.” He pats the tank. Absurdly, the fish seems to be enjoying the attention. It executes one lazy barrel roll.

The boys cheer.

Seiji turns to Shuuichi then, raising his eyebrows. “My informants,” he intones formally. The kids are amused.

Big. This big. Potential poodle devourer. It all makes sense. Shuuichi simpers internally.

He’ll spare Seiji today. Time for some Old Man and the Sea-esque regaling of their catch.

—

“Really? A pet?” Shuuichi asks. They’re waiting for Seiji’s car to come pick him and his new charge up.

“Maybe pet is a little generous. Rather… garbage disposal? And if it doesn’t work out…” Seiji gives a noncommittal shrug. Shuuichi shudders. Right. The Matoba are nothing if not resourceful.

“Don’t worry, Shuuichi-san, your efforts won’t go to waste.”

“The least I could ask for, I suppose,” Shuuichi sighs. He glances at the fish.

“It was nice.” Seiji watches him. “That you did that.”

“You know me, always a wellspring of goodwill.” His tone is light, a touch sardonic. The sentiment could float away to nothing. Shuuichi won’t let it.

“Yeah, you can be. Sometimes.”

Seiji doesn’t say anything. Shuuichi wonders what he’s thinking. But he won’t press that for now. Instead, he pursues the other thought nagging him.

“Do you think that they…” Shuuichi doesn’t know how to finish. At least Seiji gets the gist of it.

“Perhaps. Or perhaps it’s grown powerful enough to be seen.”

Shuuichi considers that. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah… okay.”

There’s nothing more to say, so they don’t.

—

Seiji is surprised when Shuuichi takes him up his offer to drive him home.

The birdseed is settled next to the tank in the back and the fish snaps at the colorful bird pictured on the front of the bag, knocking its nose soundly against the glass.

The sound Shuuichi makes can only be described as a guffaw. Seiji quickly shoos him into the car, not wanting to further cement this vendetta between them.

Shuuichi promptly falls asleep.

And then maybe it’s not the best time, but when has Seiji ever really been good at that?

”Thanks for helping, Shuuichi-san.” His head falls onto Seiji’s shoulder and Seiji doesn’t have to hide his smile.

“I’m glad you were here.”

Seiji wonders what Shuuichi will say when he wakes up to find their hands laced together.

He doesn’t mind waiting to find out.

[kokiri]

Are you obsessed with Ishgard's lore? Because I know that I'm obsessed with Ishgard's lore! I present to you a 116 page PDF that compiles all of the levequest descriptions from Coerthas Central Highlands (Observatorium and Whitebrim) and Ishgard (Temple Leves).

There's tons of fun little bits of useless silly trivia to downright harrowing worldbuilding about Ishgard's religion and military practices. So, enjoy!

[kira-kui-n]

neglecting my job at the draw giant 6+ digit kill count robots as silly little animals factory

[thevalleyisjolly]

As an archivist, thinking about the right to be forgotten in a specifically archival context, and the idea that not everyone wants their stories or their records to be made available to anyone/for everyone; that often, what a community judges to be the best preservation for their own histories and culture is not what is beneficial to outsiders, especially outside academics.

More specifically, thinking about this in the context of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/The Silmarillion/other Legendarium books as “historical” texts.  Thinking about maybe the “authors” not writing everything down because they understand the power of stories and how the telling of a thing grants a certain power over it, over how it is known and spread, and positions the teller as a figure of authority over what (and who) is depicted.

We already know that Bilbo is an unreliable narrator, that he changes things and leaves things out.  There were a few posts and fics years ago, when the Hobbit movies came out, about Bilbo befriending a young Estel in Rivendell and deliberately leaving that out of his stories at Gandalf/Elrond’s request.  What other things might he have left out, perhaps, out of respect for his friends in the Company and their desire to keep their culture and language private and closed? 

Pengolodh compiling the Annals of Beleriand from which came the greater part of The Silmarillion - but he was in Gondolin for much of the First Age, and would have had to rely on other sources to give an account of the rest of Beleriand.  Who did he talk to?  What might they have said and not said, and what might they have requested he include or keep out? 

Anyways, the Legendarium as an archive, something actively created and shaped by the different people in and around it, who both added things and left things out unintentionally or by design or on request. 

[hirokiyuu]

look at my alternate yuu concept boy

[higherhell]

Ryoichi Endo - Soft Ballet, Vietnam (January 23, 2024 - Clip Studio Paint)

Rough around the edges, but I was overcome with feelings about That One Performance of Vietnam by Soft Ballet yesterday (as I often am) and had to finally do something with it after wanting to for ages. Call it an exploratory test I suppose, as I definitely intend to return to this subject later, my work here is not done... (would love to go for a more dramatic angle for example, and higher detail...there are so many breathtaking shots in that performance it's overwhelming) But for now I figure I may as well share, since so little of my work lately has been share-able, haha (perils of ambitious secret personal projects, rip lol)

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

ippiki au lore dump

if the name of the au does not make it very obvious, this au was inspired very heavily by the trained cards for kick it up a notch (i just chose to reference the comm, hitsuji ga ippiki, as the au name because it sounds cooler than calling it like. kickup au. so its ippiki au instead. when i first started working on this i just called it animal fighters au but thats long LOL)

its one of my favorite sets, im a big fan of dystopian and post-apocalyptic themes which the set hits perfectly and there was room to have fun with animal designs (i mean, seriously, they gave kohane sheep horns and named akitos costume "hound kid") and so i started thinking from the moment i laid eyes on the set when it leaked and i ended up with an au based around the idea of animal/human hybrids.

first of all for actual au stuff, character profiles! these were made a lot earlier on into working the au so ive made minor adjustments to their designs since then, but nothing drastic. mainly just little things ive changed when drawing them in more detail, like additional scars and such.

while making kohane a sheep and akito a dog (hes... not a specific kind of dog. hes a mix of a whole bunch of different larger domestic dog breeds combined with some wild canines. ) were obvious from the set, deciding on the animals for an and touya required a bit more thought. i ended up settling on a fox for an partially as a nod to her ny3 card and also because for a long time now ive thought theyre fitting for her anyway, and touya as a black leopard because... he's kitty. but i wanted to make him a big kitty not a domestic kitty. i do also like bunny touyas but for how i was feeling with this au i wanted him to be a cat.

theres the fun little detail that kohane is the only animal that isnt a predator in vbs.

but i should probably explain why theyre animal hybrids in this au.

im going to put the rest of the lore dump and more art below, this gets long.

basically, in the face of a coming apocalypse, there was an effort to attempt to hybridize humans with animals to see if they could create a form of human (or something seen as "human enough") that would be more resilient if the apocalypse threatened the survival of normal humanity. it was never completely successful and the hybrids were less stable/generally shorter lived (if physically stronger) but it ended up being unnecessary and enough of humanity survived to rebuild. but the experiments to create hybrids continued.

in the present day of the au, hybrids are created for... less pleasant tasks. the kinds of things people dont want to take on, and theyre physically stronger than the average human so theyre put to those jobs instead. or theyre created as showpieces/pets for the wealthy (most people outside of those circles find it strange to keep hybrids like that though. hybrids arent always seen as being truly human (although theyre fully capable of everything human and then some) but theyre still seen as human enough for it to be weird).

many of them though, are created as sacrifices for entertainment in battle arenas where theyll have to fight each other to the death. its a seemingly inevitable fate to die there once theyre sent, but escape has happened before. an is living proof of that, as both of her parents are escaped arena fighters who helped establish a small town of hybrids out in the wasteland beyond the city at the core of hybrid creation and sacrifice.

how an ended up as an arena fighter despite being born well outside the city... thats a long story.

touya is a showpiece fighter, created to fight but kept secure and safe outside of his registered fights. he might be healthier physically, much less worn down by fighting, but hes been very socially isolated and doesnt fit in with other hybrids very well.

an and touya fight in the same arena, and touyas fight days are the only times he interacts with other hybrids. hes given free reign around the hybrid compound (where most other hybrids are restricted under collars and chains) and he ends up meeting an there. although tense, they become sort of friends and he frees her and they escape together.

kohane and akito are just normal arena fighters, created solely for that purpose, although kohane was meant as an early sacrifice due to her skittish nature, but she survives. theyre in the same arena as each other, although its a harsher one than the one antouya are in, theyre unable to properly interact with anyone else at all and are just lucky enough to be neighbors to end up bonding.

i just grouped them based on which side of their face they have the barcodes on in the original cards lol in this au the arenas generally brand their fighters with a code for identifying them. touyas is actually not permanent like the others, but temporarily applied whenever he has a fight coming up (like a temporary tattoo lol)

kohane managing to survive despite the intention being that she dies is actually the driving force that starts the fic for this au (which fun fact, despite me never mentioning the title, does have a title! the fic will be called "fight, flight, freedom", unless i think of something that fits even better, but i already like the title as is so i probably wont change it)

its rough but i promise everyone gets a happy ending eventually :)

now for sitting through all that rambling heres some art

heres my very initial attempts at designs for them! no drastic changes even since this initial pass at designs tbh i was pretty content with them pretty quickly

some various doodles of them interacting, some during/around the time of the fic and others post-fic

what if they were... more animal? like furries instead of just the ears/tails? obviously noncanon but it was a fun little thing to draw

wip aged up designs! heavily inspired by the power of unity set because it also fits into the post apocalyptic type theme and i thought would work for them when theyre a little older. assume theyre about 20-21 here, while in the main canon of the au theyre about 16-17.

a silly little sketch i did last week of aged up akikoha in their burn my soul outfits... kohane cant really wear hats, horns are inconvenient for that. everyone elses ears would probably make hats difficult too, but you could probably make holes for their ears. you cant really make holes for the tops of her horns.

some little finished pieces i did for this au. can you tell akito is my favorite to draw for this?

now heres some other random au facts

an and haruka are childhood friends, haruka also being the child of ferals. haruka is a domestic cat hybrid (either a gray or black cat, i havent decided which yet). she is not in their hometown anymore either. where is she now...? ill leave you to wonder about that.

kohane and minori grew up in the same group of created hybrids together, theyre friends but were sent to different places so they dont know whats happened to each other since. minori is a goat btw (inspired by her halloween card)

a lot of ans scars are from injuries that snowballed after an incident in a fight that severely broke her tail and led to part of it being amputated. her balance was thrown off for a while after that so she was a little clumsier in fights than normal

akitos scars on the other hand are caused by the fact that hes a reckless fighter. a good fighter, but not much care for the damage he takes in the process. that and improper padding on his collars and muzzle, leaving those spots unable to fully heal from being rubbed against metal for months and when they finally do heal they scarred.

im still sorting things out for sure but tentatively for vbs npcs i have decided on fox ken and yuka (obviously, same as an), tiger taiga (i mean... how could i not go for the pun. and i think it suits him), maned wolf nagi (update march 2024 ive drawn nagi now so this is what has been made canon), raccoon kotaro, caracal arata, and dog souma (sorry to any tatsuya fans, i have not figured out how to include him in the au at all)

vbs all very clingy with each other once they get comfortable together. platonic polysquad ❤️

other characters outside of vbs exist in this au but theyre just not relevant enough to the story for me to include here 👍

the fic outline is like 2.4k words. the first chapter is a couple scenes away from being finished and its about 5k words. it will not be the longest chapter of the fic. this is going to be a long au.

maybe ill do another lore dump another day if i can think of more stuff. well see.

if you made it this far, thank you for reading, heres an edit i made the moment we got high quality versions of the cards and is probably partially responsible for the existence of this au

[seaofreverie]

The Me who bought tickets to see TMBG in february 2023 and the Me who's going to actually go to the show next month are two completely different people

[soop-jpg]

heres the thing ok. i really like cissiecassie but to me theres just no way they actually work until theyve cycled through bffs -> dating -> exes who cant bear to speak to each other at LEAST 3-4 times. they cant keep away from each other but while theyre really young they cant compromise the way they want to live their lives for each other, so they're stuck repeating the same things over and over and over until eventually theyre like 30-35 and havent seen each other in like 6 years (after yet another breakup) and happen to meet again under entirely mundane circumstances. and THEN. finally. they can be normal about each other and have a good healthy relationship. thank you and goodnight

[dihalect]

here's a thing about palestine/israel that i can't stop thinking about. supporting an ethnostate, apartheid, and/or genocide seems like just about the most un-jewish thing one could possibly do. i genuinely do not get it.

like. irl, i've been osmosizing jewish culture and scholarship for the past several years. the impression i’ve gotten is of a people who has undergone untold amounts of discrimination and violence over the past couple millennia, and who is proud of their resilience in the face of that oppression. i know that enduring oppression doesn’t necessarily make someone a good person. and obviously, no group is a monolith. but my impression has been that recognizing that harm and defending other downtrodden groups was a common principle of jewish culture. hell, that’s why my alma mater was founded — so i was living in that legacy for the past ~6 years.

even if you think jewish people have the sole right to the land that we call israel, the israeli state's treatment of palestinians flies in the face of all of that. to go "fuck you, i got mine"*, treat another ethnic group as second-class citizens, and concentrate, blockade, and slaughter them seems completely irreconcilable with what i have come to know and appreciate as jewish values. a complete betrayal.

like. am i missing something big here or

*or, more accurately, “i will fuck you over to get mine”

edit: obviously not every jewish person supposed israel/is zionist. but, as we’ve all seen jewish anti-zionists say recently, most jewish ppl in the imperial core are. and this genocidal ethnostate calls itself ~the jewish state~.

[cxsmiicc]

picked up tfoh thinking oh yay its smaller than the last one then checked the page count and questioned every decision that led me to this point

[emperor-nasch]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: RWBY Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos Characters: Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren Additional Tags: Menstruation, Sharing a Bed, Comfort No Hurt, jaune is a dork, but he is also a sweetheart, Not Beta'd Summary:

Pyrrha doesn't show up to breakfast one morning. Jaune is concerned, but Nora assures him everything is a-ok. However, Jaune needs to make sure Pyrrha's alright. After all, she isn't one to stay in bed all day.

[bumblingbabooshka]

I need to write that fic where Mirror!Tuvok meets Neelix because I do want to establish that he thinks Neelix’s cooking is great in comparison to Mirror!Neelix’s because that guy thinks its funny to keep poisoning the crew’s food. Not consistently and not enough to kill anyone but he is poisoning it.

[captainlordauditor]

BruDick Week 2023, Day 1: Soulmates | Weddings & Marriage | Aftercare

It’s finally @brudick-week!! I’m so excited, I’ve managed to do way more for it than I expected, and I got an excuse to draw their wedding. I tried to mix Romani (feeding each other bread and salt) and Jewish (the chuppah, both of them wearing white) wedding traditions for this one, and there’s a bunch of details here I’m super excited about, I hope someone spots them and appreciates them as much as I do.

[observethewalrus]

whyyyyyyy do I associate my hair so closely with my gender presentation, brain please just let me cut it ffs

[dandelionjack]

THAT CRAB WAS ON HER FACE FOR HOW LONG???