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pebblysand · 4 years ago

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of breakable clay [extended author's notes on chapter viii of castles]

oh my god. it’s out. jesus christ.

okay first off, before i dive into anything, i know i’ve already done this in the actual a/n but i would like to wholeheartedly thank @whiffingbooks over on discord for helping me with figuring out the structure of things fic. although i have to admit i did not, at all, do what i told you i would do, talking it out was massively helpful in figuring this one out, so thanks a million. secondly, i would like send all of my most sincere and affectionate thanks to @whizzfizz on here, who mother-of-god basically designed this entire chapter and listened to me rant, and rant, and rant about it for days on end without complaining. i’ll go into a bit more depth later on, but THANK YOU.

now, a few facts on this chapter before i dive further in:

wordcount: 19168. i legit would apologise for this but i promised i wouldn’t so i’m not going to. that’s growing up people. don’t apologise for yourselves haha.

soundtrack: so i’ve never mentioned this but each chapter kind of has a soundtrack? like a song that i listened to on loop while writing this. here, i would basically point you to the entire spotify of a band called barns courtney (there’s one album and a few eps), i basically listened to all of their songs on loop this past month. i feel like they have such a strong gryffindor energy, in the good, the bad and the ugly. this chapter is definitely sort of an ode to gryffindors so their music was a very big inspo. if i had to point you to one song, it would probably be dopamine.

favourite line: ‘I dig my fingernails into the inside of my palms and it feels like the blood that comes out is already boiling.’

what is this chapter about? now, that’s an easy one. survival.

okay, now, spoilers under the cut.

ugh. holy fucking shit. i’m actually at a stage right now where i strongly believe that no one on earth will want to read this because everyone probably hates me right now for the choices that i made, especially after i made you wait almost three months for this shit. i always feel like whatever i’ve put out was the hardest chapter to write so far but this one was really out there in terms of struggles - i’m really sorry it took so long, but here we are.

there are reasons, though. first, as i said in my may round up, i didn’t really start writing this until about a month ago, because a lot of things were happening in my life that i needed to take care of. i took exams (which i passed!!!!), my mum had a health emergency, ireland added france to their mandatory quarantine list (it has been removed as of yesterday thank. fucking. christ) and i started a new job. it was a lot.

anyway, this being said, when i did get to writing this chapter, as mentioned above in the thank-you section, i kind of first struggled with the structure of it. now, you will see this is a recurring theme this time around but for this, my instincts were telling me one thing, and my brain was saying something else.

basically, what came first here wasn’t the actual content of ginny’s letters (more on that, obviously, in a minute) but the ‘mood’ i wanted for the chapter. i wanted to recreate, both for harry and for the reader, this sort of idea of being completely immersed in a book or a story. like, you know the kind of mood where reality just kind of blends out, where you start reading something and just. cannot. stop. i don’t think he’s much a reader (at least not canonically) and so i wanted this to take him by surprise, for her to take over his life with her words. i explained in the previous a/n [link] i chose to have ginny’s war be told through letters (basically, i thought it would be the best way to narratively tell her story), and i really wanted harry to experience what she’d lived through almost first hand.

now, interestingly, my idea for how to do this originally was to have the letters sort of be interwoven into the events of 1999, throughout the next couple of chapters (meaning this one and chapter nine). i had this idea in my head of him living through ‘real life’ things but not being able to take his mind off her letters, with the letters also sort of echoing the events that were happening in 99, etc. having the two plot lines develop at once and meet in the middle, kind of.

and i tried to write that. for a long time. spoiler alert, it didn’t work. i think the reason is that every time i sat down with it, i felt like i was doing a disservice to both stories. i mean: 97/98 is important, but 99 also is, you know? and by taking the narrative in and out all the time, it was like you couldn’t concentrate on one thing. it was just very messy and didn’t have the intensity i was originally aiming for because it kept being dragged out of whatever was the main action at the time. i wanted harry to get sucked into the narrative, for her letters to take over his life, but in the end, the impression i just got was that the whole thing was confusing af. instead of deeply caring about both, i couldn’t bring myself to care either for ginny’s story, or for his.

also, i just kept hitting a wall: a wall called harry. basically, i knew that the next two chapters (i.e. eight and nine) would stretch from january 99 to june 99. and for the love of god, no matter how many times i turned it around in my head, there was - to me - no way that harry as we know him would just pace himself to read her letters throughout all those months. like, harry fucking potter isn’t the kind of guy who ‘paces’ himself. he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t sleep for a week to get through it all, you know? this is everything that he’s wanted to know since last may, he’s been desperately looking for answers up to this point, there is absolutely not way in hell that he’d wait it out nicely until june. it felt ooc to have him read the letters over a few months. and i just kept hitting that wall over and over. i considered, at one point, building him reading the letters into flashbacks but flashbacks of flashbacks were, again, quite messy, and i don’t think her letters would ever be something he’d volunteer to re-read, so. clearly, it wasn’t working.

then, i think on a random sunday a few weeks ago, i just went back to the drawing board and was like: okay, say we just write all of the letters and go from there, what would happen? by the end of the day, i’d written 12,000 words and that was that, really.

now, the second difficulty, once i’d decided that was…. what you all probably want me to talk about.

i know this is probably not what you want to hear but: i didn’t really plan this? like, i understand that a lot of people have sort of a headcanon about what happened to ginny in that year in hogwarts but i … don’t. like, as planned as this fic is (which it is, i know where i’m going, i promise) that was always a bit of a blank-space-tbd in my head. i think that this story, as hinny as it is, is mostly about harry. and while i knew what i wanted for harry from her telling her story (for him to get sucked in, for him to realise that his war wasn’t the only war in the world ‘cause he’s been bloody self-centered so far, for him to realise that his plan to protect her didn’t exactly work because it didn’t cater for who she is, etc.), i wasn’t really sure what that story was. i mean, i knew it was going to be bad and traumatic, obviously, but i didn’t know what would happen. and still, to me, what i wrote is a version of that year. it’s not really my headcanon (i still don’t really have one), and i definitely accept other versions, if that makes sense.

this being said, i obviously had thought about it a little. i remember writing chapter one with that line: ‘They have sex for the first time, that day – his first time and it feels like hers, too, but he wouldn’t dare ask, not anymore, anyways’ and thinking i wanted to leave the door open. to me, it was a door completely open: it could have indeed been her first time, or she could have seen someone else (consensually) during that year, or she could have been assaulted. i honestly didn’t know but yeah, that was always a possibility in the back of my head.

then, to tell you the truth, when i wrote the first version of this chapter (the 12,000 words i mentioned earlier), it wasn’t there. i sat down and decided that i wasn’t going to go there. firstly, because, while you probably don’t know this, i’ve written about sexual assault before. my previous long fic, children, in another fandom, dealt (in part) with that. and i didn’t want to be the-fic-writer-who-writes-about-sexual-assault. especially because trust me, there are people who are a lot more legitimate to talk about this than i am. i also didn’t feel like it was necessary to the story, i could do without it and still explain ginny’s early behaviour in the fic, explain her trauma, and have harry realise the things i talked about before. secondly, i’ll be honest: i know this isn’t what people in this fandom want to read. the hinny pairing is mostly about love and fluff (which i love, btw, don’t get me wrong) and i was like, ugh, i don’t want to face the angry comments. i’m writing this a/n the morning before posting so i admittedly don’t know what the reaction will be but i do anticipate a lot of annoyance with me. i knew that a lot of people wouldn’t like it if i went there, and it was just easier not to.

but then, as i started editing, there was a comment (and this, ladies and gentlemen, is a testament to how much your comments fucking matter, okay?). a comment that i remembered reading on the previous chapter and could not get out of my head, no matter how much i tried. well, hello, @whizzfizz. i’ll happily give credit where credit is due. it read:

This made me think of something you mentioned earlier in the fic (possibly Ch1) about Harry not being sure if he was Ginny’s first but that it felt like it. I wonder if this is something that is going to come up in her letters to him.

and, so, it turned. around and around in my head, and i couldn’t get it out. and i kept saying to myself: no, you’re not going there. no, you’re not going there. and then, one night, i caved. i was like, fuck, i need to know if this person really meant what i think they meant by this. and so we talked. a lot. and, i did a lot of thinking. about women. about wars. about violence against women as a an inevitable weapon of war. about ginny being harry’s girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend (more on that later), and what that would have meant in their world. and @whizzfizz, you said something that in the end really sold me. you said: ‘at this point, i don’t think it would be realistic for it not to have happened.’ and, that was that, really.

because i was right, initially. amycus/ginny (ugh, the idea of a pairing makes me throw up in my mouth a little but yeah, there it is) isn’t necessary to the story. but i believe it to be necessary to what this story is trying to show. the plot held well without it, no questions asked. 12,000 words of the da and their battles, of ginny’s rebellions. it was fine. but i think i wanted more than fine. to me (and i appreciate how fucking pretentious that is, please slap me in the face *eyeroll*), castles is more than its plot. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: this is about what is behind ‘all was well.’ it’s about trying to paint a realistic picture of their lives. and that includes the war. and realistically, as far as i’m concerned, knowing how humans fight their wars, knowing our history and the history of violence against women construed as a weapon in literally every conflict there ever was, there is no way that this didn’t happen. ginny says it herself: for us girls, it’s just the way wars are fought.

so, i did go there. and the whole fandom probably hates me for going there, but i sort of stand by it, i have to say. to be honest, on a sort of subconscious level, i kind of wonder: didn’t i always know i was going to go there? like, this fits perfectly into the plot to the point that i think it was probably in my head for much longer than i care to admit. now, i’m so, fucking excited to write next chapter because i finally get to write happy things, and hinny getting back together on rock solid foundations of openness and sharing, and trust, and i’m so, so glad. there are a couple of scenes in the next chapter that i’ve been working towards for months and i’m so, bloody excited to write them. everyone might hate me and i might just be writing this fic for myself now (lol), but again, i stand by the decisions i took. to me, it fits.

phew. okay, now that huge thing is out of the way and explained, here are a few more jumbled thoughts:

the more i think about it, the more i think that my reason for not wanting to be the-fic-writer-who-writes-about-sexual-assault is a bit ridic. children and castles, in that way, are so, so different. like, i appreciate the overlap between the silk fandom and the hp fandom is probably ridiculously small but if you’ve read both stories, they’re obviously very different. one thing that both stories centre on, though, is consent. and to me, that’s probably the most interesting element of ginny/amycus, and the most interesting element of writing characters within a restrictive pov, rather than an omniscient one. like, do i think ginny/amycus is rape? yes. 100%. do i think that ginny thinks it’s rape? that is a much more interesting question. she says it a number of times but i think to her, this is all about control. i think that because of what happened to her with tom, she’s someone who is terrified of losing control of her mind and of her own agency. so as not to lose that, she’s willing to do whatever it takes. it is a ‘you can control my body, but not my thoughts,’ sort of narrative. and, she never says it outright because i think psychologically she’s just not there yet, but tom is everywhere in these letters. and as her world just spirals out, she hangs onto the very few things that she can control: her relationship to harry, and her willingness to do what it takes for them to survive. she initiates the ‘relationship’ with amycus in an attempt to control her fate. later, as she explains to harry she feels a lot of guilt over what she did, and like a lot of sexual assault survivors, she thinks it was her responsibility. because i’m in harry’s head most of the time for this fic, i’m not sure i’ll ever really get to discuss that at length, but it’s definitely something that i wanted to show. another interesting question is: does harry think it’s rape? i think at that point in the fic, he doesn’t have the education, nor the vocabulary for that. i think instinctively (because he is someone who is very instinctive), he doesn’t blame her. if he blames anyone, it’s probably himself. he understands the necessity to do what you have to do to survive and thinks that no, no matter what she claims, that was not consented. that’s kind of what comes out in his annoyingly inarticulate letter to her at the end. beyond that, though, i think he’s a bit lost, just like she is.

on a mildly related note, there is something that i've been seeing a lot in the comments and that i feel like i should maybe address? namely: harry's reaction to ginny dating other people. i assume similar comments will be made about his reaction to ginny/alecto (meaning that he still decides to write to her, at the end of the chapter). i've seen a lot of people observe that he's much more 'chill' about it in castles than in canon. fair point but is he, though? like, he isn't happy about it in castles. and he's jealous as well. but he was never entitled in canon. he was jealous, yes, the chest monster and all that, but he never really did anything about it, and never really impeded on her right to see other people. now, this being said, i agree that in sixth year he might have thrown a tantrum, had she done what she did in castles, but that was sixth year. it was before the war. before he lost half a dozen people. before he had to adult bloody fucking quickly. this being said, i do think castles-Harry is more 'subdued,' i suppose, than canon harry. this is a choice i made early on, which to me is related to the fact that he kind of lost his 'voice' during the war. i mean, it took him six months of people talking shit behind his back to do a press interview to defend himself. i think with ginny, it's a lot of the same. he's a boy who blames himself a lot, and generally doesn't particularly think he deserves the people in his life. to me it's an evolution of his character within the the world of castles. i'm happy to agree to disagree on it, but to me it makes sense within the character evolution and the way the fic's gone, so to speak. now, obviously, he'll grow out of that in due course, but we're not quite there yet.

regarding their relationship, now, i have to say: one headcanon that i did have for this was her not outright telling everyone they’d broken up. i’m sorry, that plan was shit. i just don’t buy for a second that she would willingly have gone ahead with it, and i don’t buy for a second that tom wouldn’t have used her had he known they’d been together, ex girlfriend or not. plus, i think she needed something to hand onto, and that was her relationship with him. her letters. the belief that they would be together again. without it, i don’t think she’d have survived. and i think that summer after the war, they were totally on the same page, for different reasons. both of them kind of saw their relationship as the one thing that kept them afloat, the one good thing they had, partly also because they’d idealised it for so long. she says it as some point, it wasn’t a relationship, it was a lifeline (another sentence i came up with as a response to a comment, lol) and while that is toxic and was meant to crumble at some point, it was necessary for them, both during the war, and in the early days after it. i think her last letter to him is painstakingly correct on that one.

regarding canon, i know i’m bending a couple of things here, which i just wanted to quickly acknowledge: 1) i know jkr has said it’s teddy remus lupin. i just can’t believe, for a moment, that someone who hated himself as much as lupin did, canonically, would name his son after himself. naming his son after his best mate who died to young to become problematic though? i totally see it. so yeah, creative licence, it’s teddy james lupin in this house, lol. 2) when they meet neville in dh, he kind of hints that they’ve only just started to use the room of requirement a couple weeks ago. the text however, only says they’ve only been staying in it full time a couple of weeks ago. i needed them to have somewhere where to meet with the da and stuff, so i bent that a bit. it’s not strictly canon, but it’s also not not canon, if that makes sense.

on seamus blowing things up and talking about eight hundred years of oppression? full disclaimer, while i am french, i have been living in ireland for long enough to become eligible for citizenship in less than six months (yay!). i know some people have said that seamus is a bit of a cliche in the books/films and all (the only irish character keen on blowing things up, haha *eyeroll*), but i actually kind of love it? like, the whole thing about the cranberries and zombie at the start of the fic has been in my head for much longer than i care to admit. i love the idea that there’s this whole muggle war going on at the exact same time that no one ever talks about and actually, i find the idea of wizarding ireland v. muggle ireland and the whole political structure fascinating. like, is wizarding ireland an independent state? what’s the story there? i have a whole seamus fic in my head, partially on this topic, that i might or might not write one day.

lastly, i know this may sound a bit weird but i need to say it: once i’d figured out what and how i was writing it, i bloody loved writing this chapter. first stylistically, i really wanted to mimic the style of how i’d written the magazine article in chapter 5 (i.e. not writing out the whole thing but writing out in text the excerpts that harry focused on) and i love how that turned out. i think it was a good way to balance her words and his, kind of merging them into one, big narrative. second, as a writer, it was so fucking interesting to write someone who knows how to write, which believe it or not i’d never done before. additionally, i loved the challenge of editing this because it was like: i’ve got to edit this, but not too much? i was very careful about modifying and polishing too much of ginny’s speech in the letters because i obviously wanted it to sound like someone who was just writing as the words came to her, without polishing the words, the punctuation, etc. like i usually would. i wanted her to have quirks (she says ‘you know?’ a lot) and i played with her capitalisation and punctuation a bit too. i know these aren’t necessarily noticeable details but it was definitely something that i thought about and that was very fun and interesting to write, as a format.

wow, okay. this was LONG but i think i have everything i wanted to say. if you’ve read all of this (whyyyyy?), thanks so much for sticking around. if you’ve got any questions, anything i didn’t address, do let me know, anon or not, my ask box is open. now, i would love to say i’m going to chill or something, but the truth is that i have to a) actually do a last read through of the fic, lol and b) put it out. this is what i get for writing the a/n before finishing the damn thing, i guess. i’ll rest tomorrow, lol.

lastly, in terms of next chapter, realistically, i’d say eight to ten weeks. i have a full time job now and also, writing this was fucking exhausting and i need to take time out for a bit before coming back to it with a fresh mind. i will be writing other stuff though, i promise. i have a couple of prompts to get to (thanks!!!) and a couple of other ideas so i will probably be posting in the meantime, just not castles.

lots of love,

#castles #extended an #writing #fic #its out #holy shit #byyyyyye #I have not proofread this so we die like men eh

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crackinglamb · 4 years ago

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OTP Tag! Again!

This time for Lahalaan and Solas. Theirs is a post canon story, so some of these will definitely not apply, or only applied in the past. @bitterotter, here ya go. My dysfunctional couple. Get a load of these two idiots during the Inquisition era.

DISAGREEMENTS.

Who is more likely to raise their voice? Probably Solas. His self control is not endless. Laani is just Tired(tm).

Who threatens to leave but never actually does? There are no idle threats in this affair.

Who actually keeps their word and leaves? Solas did. He broke her heart, took her arm and her only connection to her roots and disappeared into the ether for a couple years.

Who trashes the house? Neither.

Do either of them get physical? Laani. Her helpless frustration at loving a literal god shows itself by slapping him in the face. And regardless of the fact that he’s more likely to holler, she’s got the hotter temper. Her reaction to confirming he was Fen’Harel was to hit him (altho that was also a tantrum about where all the gear was that she gave him), and there is another occasion where they fight about the Din’anshiral that ends up with him slapped by her prosthetic hand. At this point, they both know she can’t actually, physically hurt him. Well...unless she throws knives at him, but that’s different.

How often do they argue/disagree? Not as often as one might think for such a dynamic. It’s more accurate to say they quibble more than argue.

Who is the first to apologize? Solas. He knows what he did to her. He will forever be apologetic for it.

This is super long, so the rest is under the cut.

SEX.

Who is on top? Who is on bottom? In the past it was usually Solas on top. They were pretty vanilla back when he was hiding his true self. Now? TBD.

Any kinks? Nothing outlandish.

Who has the strangest desires? She’d never admit to it, but Laani is curious what Solas is like in a more ‘natural’ form, shall we say. She harbors no illusion that he’s actually a wolf. That would be weird and squicky.

Who’s dominant in bed? Even split. Solas always knew, even if she didn’t, that he was hiding things from her. Informed consent is sacred to him and he let her see as much as he could. That continues when they’re reunited and he’s no longer hiding anything. That being said, he pursues her post canon, rather than her pursuing him during the Inquisition.

Is head ever in the equation? Yes.

If so, who is better at performing it? They would both say the other.

Ever had sex in public? No. Er...not yet, anyway. Never say never.

Who moans the most? Depends on who’s doing what to whom.

Who leaves the most marks? Neither.

Who is the more experienced of the two? Solas for sure has eons of experience in terms of sheer numbers and years, but Laani isn’t shy. She was raised Dalish, has few inhibitions and ample opportunity to have casual relationships...that is until she met him.

Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? Yes.

How long do they usually last? During the Inquisition, it was rare for them to go more than half an hour. There simply wasn’t the time or energy. Now? Let’s say Solas is looking forward to taking his time until she’s completely wrung out. Assuming she ever lets him.

Rough or soft? The softer side of rough, although they’ve had their moments of vigor.

Is protection used? In the form of Dalish contraceptive tea, yes.

Does it ever get boring? It ended before it had the chance to. I doubt it would ever, however. Solas is inventive.

Where is the strangest place they’d have sex? The store room for Laani’s bottles of Thedas.

FAMILY.

Do they plan on having children/or have children? They’ve never discussed it. I think Solas would love to, but Laani isn’t sure she wants that kind of commitment. It’s bad enough that he’s immortal and is looked at as a deity.

If so, how many children do they want/have? N/A

AFFECTION.

Who likes to cuddle? Laani did, back in the day. He was the one person she could let down her guard with. He knows it and knows he broke that trust too. There will be penance in the form of touch in the future, I’m sure.

Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places? Both of them once had a tendency. Nothing ever came of it, there’s always something in Thedas that takes precedence over personal enjoyment.

Who struggles to keep their hands to themself? Solas, now. Good thing he’s a mage, I guess. He doesn’t have to use his hands anymore.

How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable? They’ve never really had a chance to find out. There’s always interruptions.

What is their favourite non-sexual activity? Reading together. Or to each other.

Where is their favourite place to cuddle? Anywhere they can be alone.

SLEEPING.

Who snores? Laani started after she took a fist to the face during the Inquisition. Deviated septum is a bitch.

If both do, who snores the loudest? Laani.

Do they share a bed or sleep separately? They usually slept apart, even during the Inquisition, unless they were sharing a tent on the road during missions. Their relationship post canon has yet to reach a point where that’s been determined.

If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart? N/A

What do they wear to bed? Solas prefers being in the nude, Laani usually wears a shirt, simply because readiness is half a battle already won. She’s never lost her Dalish practicalities.

Are either of them insomniacs? No.

Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside? N/A

Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side? Side by side while traveling. On the rare occasions they would sleep for a while before he snuck out of her chamber in the past, they would be curled up together.

Who wakes up with bed hair? Laani.

Who wakes up first? Laani.

Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other? Neither.

What is their favourite sleeping position? Laani curls into a ball to make herself small. Too many years sharing cramped aravels with her clan. If Solas is with her, for however long, he wraps around her. Cocoon more than spoon. Touch starved idiots for the win.

Do they set an alarm each night? No.

Who has nightmares? Laani. Even without the Anchor, things in the Fade find her. Solas is the nightmare, if you believe the legends.

Can a television be found in their bedroom? N/A

Who has ridiculous dreams? Laani.

Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed? Solas. He’s spent too long on his own, sharing is not in his nature.

Who makes the bed? The Skyhold staff during the Inquisition. They both take care of their own beds post canon.

What time is bed time? Before the last bell of the day.

Any routines/rituals before bed? Nothing special. Usual prep.

Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up? Solas. He still hates being taken from the Fade.

WORK.

Who is the busiest? During the Inquisition, it was Laani. Now it’s Solas.

Who rakes in the highest income? This...doesn’t really apply. Laani is an accomplished rogue, and will pickpocket and loot without compunction. Solas is above such worldly things.

Are any of them unemployed? Laani is now. Being the ex-lover of Fen’Harel isn’t something you put on a resume.

Who takes the most sick days? N/A

What are their jobs? He is the Dread Wolf, she is an agent of his. Although it takes time for her to get there. He’s reluctant to put her in that position. He feels like he’s endangered her life enough.

Who sucks up to their boss? I’m not sure either of them would recognize this as a thing. Currying favor from each other during their various interactions over the years is less about the job at hand and more about navigating a difficult relationship.

Who is more likely to turn up late to work? Solas. He is also Tired(tm) and would love to just take a nap.

Who stresses the most? That’s a pretty even split.

Do they enjoy or despise their careers/occupations? Laani was disillusioned as Inquisitor pretty early on. The people surrounding her during the Inquisition wanted to change her, make her conform to human ideals more. She hated that and is very glad that she no longer has to abide by it. Solas detests the choices he’s had to make and cannot wait for this to be over, one way or the other.

Are they financially stable? Remarkably so for a pair of elves in modern Thedas.

HOME.

Who does the washing? Laani does her own now, as she did when she was still with her clan. Solas doesn’t have the time and there is staff for that.

Who takes out the trash? Neither.

Who does the ironing? Neither.

Who does the cooking? Laani does her own cooking while on the road. Solas can keep himself alive, but is rarely in a position where he needs to do the cooking himself.

Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying? Neither.

Who is messier? Solas, probably. An early life of privilege left its marks, no matter how much he’s changed.

Who leaves the toilet roll empty? Neither.

Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor? Neither.

Who forgets to flush the toilet? Do we even know what kind of plumbing Thedas has? Not sure this applies.

Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere? Change that to who forgets the saddlebags and it would still be neither.

Who answers the telephone? N/A

Who mows the lawn? N/A

Who does the vacuuming? N/A

Who does the groceries? Laani does her own. And by her own I mean she hunts and scavenges while on the run. Solas has agents for that.

Who takes the longest to shower? Laani. Access to hot water is something she got used to being in the Inquisition.

Who spends the most time in the bathroom? Laani, but only when she can get away with it.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Is money a problem? No.

How many cars do they own? Change that to horses. Laani owns none now that she’s no longer Inquisitor. She mostly relies upon the stable Solas keeps these days. And his is quite full. Running a full time secretive operation means many mounts for his agents. As well as his own hart, a gift from the Avvar back in the Inquisition days.

What’s their song? Hurricane, Fleurie.

Do they live in the city or in the country? Post canon saw Laani living in Val Royeaux for a while. Solas is living in [redacted].

Do they own their home or do they rent? Solas owns his land, he dares anyone to try and take it. Laani drifts, neither owning or renting. She’s Dalish.

Do they enjoy their surroundings? Laani hates Val Royeaux. She’s much happier once she leaves there. Solas enjoys his surroundings much more once she’s back in his life. Home isn’t always a place.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? What they’ve always done. Survive.

Where did they first meet? The first rift. Those were chaotic days and their initial meeting was not pleasant.

Who spends the most money when out shopping? Solas, but only because Laani has a tendency to loot more than purchase.

Who’s more likely to flash their assets? Solas. Laani hides her wealth to the point that most people don’t know she has it. (Technically, Varric has it, safely hidden away in a vault in Kirkwall.) Solas, on the other hand, funds and outfits his entire rebellion.

Any mental issues? Not particularly. Trust issues, though...

Who finds it amusing when the other trips over? Laani. For the sheer enjoyment of seeing someone so otherwise graceful and agile be a dumbass.

Who’s terrified of bugs? Neither.

Who kills the spiders around the house? Both.

Do they have any fears for their future? Oh yes. Laani knows his plan. She’s the only one who does. Parts of it she’s on board for, others not so much. Solas has his typical fear, dying alone.

Their favourite place? Being on the road, away from prying eyes and whispering voices.

Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner? Solas. After years apart, he wants to spoil her as long as she’ll take it.

Who pays the bills? Solas. He’s the one in charge these days.

Who’s the tallest? Solas. Laani is tall for a Dalish woman, but it still doesn’t compare.

Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other? Neither. They aren’t there yet.

Who wanders around in their underwear? Neither. If it ever happened, though, it would be Laani. Modesty whomst?

Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio? N/A

What do they tease each other about? Laani teases Solas for underestimating her in the past. She’s a clever woman who lives up to her name (Lahalaan means Like the Foxes). She’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself, even hampered by her missing arm. And now that there are fewer secrets between them, she’s not afraid to let him know it. Solas loves to turn her into a puddle and takes great enjoyment in the fact that he can do so with relatively little effort.

Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times? Neither It’s not on their radar generally speaking. If anything, Laani is amused at how widespread the ‘Skyhold uniform’ is among Solas’s followers. The one she used to wear with the fitted vest and knee high boots and stylish accent scarf. She’s forced to admit, he looks good in it.

Who crushed first? Oddly enough, Solas. He admired her from the start, even with her unfortunate upbringing. To his eyes, anyway. He did nothing to stop her from chasing him, to his everlasting chagrin. Or good fortune. Depends on your perspective, I suppose.

Any alcohol or substance related problems? Laani probably drinks too much, but honestly...can you blame her?

Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am? Laani. She’s more likely to stumble around and make herself everyone else’s problem than to sneak home, though.

Who swears the most? It’s pretty even, I’d say. Life in Thedas is often shitty, and neither of them shy away from saying so.

#otp tag #solavellan #lahalaan and solas #the fox runs wip

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burninghoneyatdusk · 5 years ago

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For the fic asks: 8, 13, 16, and 28!

Thanks for the ask! I am so incredibly extra and these are so unnecessarily long. Enjoy!

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Oh god I honestly had to dig into the fics because nothing came to mind right away. I’m going to momentarily get on a soapbox here and say that what I really strive for is dialogue that flows naturally and threads in the subtle gestures/actions/expressions of the characters. I also will sometimes say the dialogue outside to make sure it sounds real. Nothing stops me short in fic more than stiff dialogue (i.e. no contractions, etc.). Anyhow, no one dialogue scene really comes to mind, but let’s go with this. It’s barely dialogue, but I loved this whole scene and feel like it really brought the story full circle. I’m hoping to post the last chapter this weekend or next week, which will be my first complete fic. Ah!

“Clarke...why are you really here?”

She sighs. “I think...I don’t know. I’ve just felt homesick for a long time. I wanted to come home.”

Clarke knows that’s strange. This hasn’t been her home in a long time. He hasn’t been her home in a long time. But she can’t deny that’s what it feels like. That bittersweet longing that she can’t seem to shake. It sure feels like homesickness to her.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

I honestly stumble upon so many good pieces of writing advice on tumblr and if I reblog, I tag it under writing, so that’s somewhere to check out on my blog if you’re looking for more of the sort. I don’t really love hard and fast writing rules because I think there are usually exceptions and it stifles creativity. Anyways, some top ones that come to mind are:

Write for yourself first, then the audience. That’s Stephen King and kind of similar to the idea that the first draft is just telling yourself the story (Terry Pratchett). Not worrying about if it’s “good” if it’s the first time you’re putting it on paper. Sometimes what you really need is to transfer it from your mind to the page, and the rest will follow. I think people thinking it has to be perfect in that initial transfer is where writer’s block often comes in.

Showing, not telling. This is more general than from someone specific. Sometimes it’s easy to info dump but I try to remember that in life communication happens via a lot of non-verbal cues and so much goes unspoken, even when as the reader we’re thinking, why don’t they just say X! Somewhat related, remember the POV you’re writing from. I constantly remind myself that the character whose POV I’m writing from doesn’t know everything that I, the author, the story God, knows. Also, kind of along those lines, not stating the obvious when it isn’t necessary.

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” This Maya Angelou quote is one of my favorite quotes. It’s such a good reminder of why to write. If someone has a whole story crafted in their head and is too afraid to put it on paper, just remember that no matter how good or bad it turns out, or who reads it, you’re going to feel some sense of relief that you released the story into the world in one form of the other.

16. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Lol, the easiest question. Definitely Bellarke. Bellarke is the only fanfic I’ve written and that I’ve been inspired to write. I definitely had some Olicity head cannons during my 2013-15 obsession there, but nothing made it on paper and I’d barely discovered AO3. The only other fandom I want to write for at the moment is AWAE. I have a post 3x10 AWAE long timeline fic entirely planned out, but TBD if I ever get around to writing and posting it.

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Oh gosh. There are so many incredibly talented fic writers in the fandom. I’ll limit myself to 3 but there are so many more. It’s why I’m writing my own fic, because everyone sucked me in. There’s also so many fics on my to-read list I haven’t gotten to and as a side note, I generally don’t read G or T rated fics because I’m a heathen and looking for some smut in my fics, so these authors reflect that.

1. @eyessharpweaponshot : God, what to say. She’s just an amazing fic writer with stories that just completely suck me in. Lose You Too was a first non-canonverse bellarke fic I ended up reading and I was in awe. Waste It On Me is the best soulmate fic I’ve read. She also manages to leave the kindest comments amidst writing killer fics, which are always appreciated.

2. @asroarke : Let me start by saying that Sugar is the sugar daddy fic I never knew I even wanted and am now completely obsessed with. It’s my favorite WIP and probably one of my all time favorites. Where the Light Won’t Find You was an incredibly brave personal story she shared and one that I really related to given my own life/experiences, so I really appreciated that one. And Now You’re Home is my favorite post S4 fic. All the tropes I love - hurt/comfort, bed sharing, pregnancy. It’s just amazing.

3. JK, I’m not sticking to three, but I’ll wrap it up. @ktanansi is killing me with [Not So] Accidental Babies because I’m a hoe for any pregnancy fic. I love so many of FelicisQuill2′s stories and am always dying for an update to Almost Pure. Everyone knows @bettsfic and Training Wheels but I’ll say it again because she’s incredible. I really loved @kombellarke‘s Naked Truth just like the rest of the entire fandom and am super excited to read Finding North when I finally have some time to read fics again.

#asks #my fics #bellarke fanfiction

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ofieugogyshz · 5 years ago

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F/O list

It has occurred to me that maybe I need a post version so I can link back to it for mobile.... So here's a basic copyedit of the desktop page. I apologize for the blown up icons. I have tried different ways to make this post and alas, it will only show up blown up. ....no wonder everyone is making carrds or other outside pages

Main F/O forever and ever is Lance from Pokemon.

It’s been about… 18 years??? long time. A very long time. And only recently has TPC/Game Freak been feeding us Lance fans some very good content. bless pokemon masters. His tags are #my champion, #notes from my champion, #notes from my husband, #notes to my champion, #notes to my husband, among a handful of others. Because we've been together for so long, I'm not comfortable sharing him, but it doesn't mean I won't interact! It'll just feel weird seeing shippy stuff with others ._.;

I have some familial f/os, though the idol kids are more like “best girl/best boy” and I don’t have an self-insert or interactions with them, to be honest. But I’ll proudly post about them and gush over how precious they are.

Speaking of the kids, here are MINE. I love these kids so much and they mean so much to me and bring me so much joy to see and light and I can't even begin to words how important they all are towards my happiness, so you'll just have to look in their tags and see.

Otoya is my most precious idol son, i love him so much, i have so many pins and an itabag for him. pls do not harm the sunshine or i will not like you. at all. eiichi. His tag is "my idol son"

Rin is also my most precious idol girl! She’s super energetic and ADHD and basically her and Otoya are practically the same person. Both super sunshiny idol kids who brighten my day! Her tag is "nyan daughter"

Nozomi is actually more like a little sister to me, even though she’s the Big Sister of the group! She likes to tease the others sometimes, but she’ll also offer advice to the group when its needed, and guided μ’s together from the shadow. She also reads tarot! Her tag is getting changed from “nozo daughter” to “nozo sister”.

Mari! I just vibe with her. Also the whole pretends everything is okay and tries to be super cheery and obnoxiously shiny. Plus, we both like metal. I love her and I feel for her okay??? Her tag is "shiny daughter"

Hanamaru too! she was the first aqours girl i liked, bc we’re both bookworms, and then she fell out as mari fell in (and the anime reduced her to zuramaru and *judges yoshiko*), but she’s fallen back in the more i see of her in the mobile game and in general! and i realize that we both aren’t the fit type but if she can do all the idol stuff then maybe one day I can too!! i forgot her tag, it might have been "zura daughter" or "book daughter"

I love all these girls and Rin and Mari tend to be the top two bestest girls. as a result of them being the high energy cheerful type, I’m anticipating that Ai will be my best Nijigasaki girl. so far, yes. Her tag is "aidol daughter".

Caulifla and Cabba are my saiyan kids but honestly i forget about cabba a lot whenever i try to list my son(s). their tag is “my saiyan children”, as i cba to make separate tags for them when I don’t come across posts of them as much anymore

I’m sure there’s others that I’m forgetting, but those are the main ones. I also sometimes reblog my friends’ fave llsif girls under “#tomato niece” “#rice niece” “#rubesty niece” “#buubuu niece” and "#mermaid niece". I’ll add links later . I also group the girls and otoya under the tag “my idol children”

There’s also my Pokemon family to consider, as I’ve come to realize that it’s more than just my husband!

This is my bratty stepson, Silver. He’s more Lance’s kid than mine. We snark at each other a lot, and there’s not much a “push come to shove” level of care between the two of us so much as “Lance would be disappointed in us if we let anything happen to the other”. But he’s grown a lot since Lance took him under his cape wing, and has become much better liked, even at the Dragon Clan. His tag is “Tsundere Stepson”

My cousin-in-law on Lance’s side, Clair. She doesn’t like me, like, at all. It wasn’t until our mid-twenties that she started to calm down on the major dislike she held for me. She felt it unfair that I wasn’t being held up to the same standards that Lance expects from her, and held it against me, though she’d never openly say why. Just a simple “I don’t like her!”, followed up by her searching for excuses when asked why. We still aren’t friends, and aren’t the first person the other would turn to, but we can tolerate being around each other. She’ll only do favors for/with me if Lance is the person asking her to help. Her tag is “Tsundere Cousin”

Miss Honey, from SwSh’s Isle of Armor! She’s so amazing, so pretty, and SUCH A GOOD MOM. She helps take care of the Dojo and its students, she used to be the CEO of a trading firm, AND she will kick your ass. She also helps the students’ mental/emotional health, she’s just so caring and kind and SUCH A GOOD MOM. did i mention she’s a good mom? because she’s my mom. Her tag is “Kickass Mom”

Cynthia is a friend!!! I’d say from.... was it 16 that DP came out stateside? Anyhoo she’s a very lovely person, can be pretty wise, definitely a fellow ADHDer, we get along about myths and can hyperfixate on those a lot, and she’s a good role model/big sister-type friend! She’s very helpful to those that ask for or need her assistance. also she shipped me and lance and stuck her nose into helping move that along but that’s another topic for another day . She doesn’t have a unique tag yet; it’s currently “cynthia tag tbd”

Lastly.... Moving out of Pokemon and onto the last member of my familial f/os

Say hello to my Grandpa Nevin. He is an old dragon and an outlier and should not be counted a very wise old man. He has so much wisdom and importance to me (and Chise) that I don’t think I would have enjoyed the series or cried as much as I have without him. He’s so very very wise and important. I don’t know what else to say, man. He’s just says important things that hit right to the heart. A different outlook on things, a way to make you rethink. His nickname for me would be something like “Teller of Tales” or something that alludes to me being a writer. He doesn’t have a tag yet.

Uncategorized: sometimes boogiepop is here and I’m not entirely sure why beyond “I strongly feel a connection to it”. Please behold the original cosmic enbity:

Anyways, that’s all! Thanks for getting through this list!

#fo list #fos

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robot-unicorn-attack · 5 years ago

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alicia’s plotting ideas/notes??

SNOW (MARIVANA)

ideas & stuff!! feel free to message me either here or on urstyle or wherever else u have me, or comment directly on this post, to plot! ill put finalized notes w/ rest of snow’s info once we have it down :)

Sky - so since seraphina’s a newer racer, she and marivana don’t know each other super well? but they’re almost complete opposites, in terms of like racing specialties, and marivana doesn’t feel threatened by seraphina in any way. she probably keeps her distance whenever they aren’t doing things their agency has sent them on?

It would be kind of fun to say that maybe, as a publicity stunt, twilight’s official statement is that snow has been mentoring sky behind the scenes?

and they have to pretend that’s true, even though it’s not lol

LOL but it would be funny if one day marivana showed up at the track while seraphina was doing stuff and was just like, “so twilight wants me to teach you something that makes it look like i’ve actually been helping u. u free atm?”

but overall I don’t think marivana has too many strong opinions about seraphina, unless we want to create some kind of drama?

Ice - premade; tbd

Supernova - Marivana is…pretty indifferent? when it comes to Supernova. She knows who she is and what she’s done, of course-who doesn’t?-but if you think that she’d be starstruck and/or falling over herself when Supernova’s around her…well, you’d be wrong. Marivana’s had multiple trusted parties tell her that she’s just as good as Supernova was, at her peak, so she knows that she’s not a threat-for now, at least. Marivana’s a bit wary of the other racer, but also a bit curious to see as to where this comeback will lead.

So, depending on how much of the wedding and divorce was public....Marivana def would remember 1) the wedding, and 2) not giving a shit about it

The 2 of them have raced together, right at the very beginning of Marivana’s career? like 10+ years ago? and if As even remembers all that girly snow princess stuff, she could be like “lmao so twilight really pulled a 180 on her”

AHHHH so I know I never made this explicitly clear because I suck as a human being but - the deal with unicorns is that agencies/manufacturers/etc say that they’re just robots? agencies probably actually believe it, but in terms of the manufacturers they might be vaguely aware of otherwise but also don’t want to jeopardize any profits so they keep that shit on the DL

but obviously for ppl like Mari/As who have been riding for p much their entire life, they can tell when horses are distressed, happy/content, etc?

and robot unicorns are basically horses in terms of how sentient they are?

so i have no fucking idea when this would happen, but the 2 of them mutually acknowledging that RUR is pretty fucked up for the unicorns?

also like....IT WOULD BE SO CUTE if the two of them sort of rolled their eyes at the same time about some kind of story regarding another rando racer who quit maybe a lil after As did (so the newer racers aren’t familiar with her)? and then they realize that they both rolled their eyes at the same time LOL

honestly just being Tired Grandmas together

anyway. @interluxetumbra LMK what u think!!!

Sunbeam - tbd

Flower - Marivana knows exactly what 𝑅 𝐼 𝒮 𝐸 is pulling with Flower (her own agency did the same thing to her, after all), and she is not fooled at all. She’s not stupid; in the robot unicorn racing industry, nobody is completely, utterly unknown when they debut unless they had no prior experience with robot horses/unicorns in the past. Marivana knows that Flower probably had to work her butt off to stay with 𝑅 𝐼 𝒮 𝐸, and she would bet her right hand that the image that Flower puts out to the public is just that - an image.

*chanting* AURIVANA AURIVANA AURIVANA

is the lil club plot we have how they meet/1st time they actually talk 2 ea other????

speaking of which - how do we want to write that? collab in a gdoc???

& then they just keep coincidentally running into ea other randomly????

aura saying something super Flower-esque and marivana just rolling her eyes and being like, “ok great now tell me what you really think about __” ??? lol

aura somehow discovering that marivana is into BOTANY, of all things????

maybe this is when she makes some sort of dry remark about the bio for Flower on the RISE website? “[Flower] grew up in a lush green meadow, hidden away from prying eyes by miles and miles of ice. How Flower managed to get the ice to melt for long enough to plant flowers and trees will always be a mystery.” and marivana’s like “lol magic my ass there’s literally no fucking way”

she explains it with a good amount of scientific jargon thrown in and aura’s just like watttttttttttttt :0000

literally hit me up ANYTIME i already adore them

also - their aesthetics as racers? put together? a+++++++++

OMG THIS IS LIKE WAY IN THE FUTURE BUT LIKE, we should say that their secret relationship somehow ends up going public for the ~drama~??? and instead of being super freaking pissed off, both of their agencies are just like “lmao okay ice queen x fairy princess? best ship” and use it for publicity?????

Flame - Marivana knows about 1) the image that she projects, and 2) that this image is pretty true to who Flame really is, for the most part. Her verdict? Flame could prove to be annoying, if she gets relevant while Marivana is still in the industry as a racer. Marivana doesn’t know what life not racing would be like, but she’s well-aware that she’s the oldest racer out there (well, besides Supernova, who doesn’t count. She’s making a comeback, after all), and that retirement is probably not too far out in her future. So, if Flame is still around within the next 5-10 years, then Marivana might start worrying about her. For now, she’s just the irritating racer with ʟᴀᴢᴇʀ who won’t ever stop causing a scene.

So they haven’t really interacted much yet, do we wanna say?

they’re wary of each other because both their unicorns specialize in high power/strength so they’re like, more directly in competition?

are they going to engage in the RUA equivalent of a twitter fight??? in a publicity stunt that both of their agencies are putting on?

maybe snow has once insulted kehlani in an interview??? though it was fake/staged/scripted by her agency so she doesn’t actaully feel that way but ya know. doin it for the vine

and kehlani responds in kind, maybe at the behest of lazer, maybe not?. and it just keeps going???

but ya, marivana prob finds her personality kinda annoying so would generally avoid her unless kehlani approached first

Nyx - so like, snow probably thinks sol is way too flashy and all over the place, & does not engage her ever? she knows of the rumors of foul play, ofc, b/c who doesn’t, but she assumes that the rumors are super blown out of proportion (as rumors tend to be)?? and snow knows that if sol ever tries to target her/other ice world racers specifically, twilight will literally strong-arm lazer into dropping her. so she’s not that worried about that stuff????

definitely thinks her razor-sharp precision with U-800 is something to be admired, though, even if it’s not the flashiest skill like dressage or speed

OMG LOL spoiler alert but the 2nd event is a race on lava world, so they’re all on the main LW training/practice facilities in the days leading up to the race???? and we TOTALLY need to have them do that weirdly super aggressive staredown/pre-game smack talk sesh that they do in super extra sports anime LOL

Widowmaker - snow’s heard of her, knows of her, has competed against her, but since they both tend to keep to themselves they haven’t really talked? it could be potentially cool if eleni guessed about/found out about what actually happened with marivana’s 1st unicorn?? OMG DRAMA but what if she actually knew of the armed thief? who was on ice world for whatever reason lmfao we can hand-wave it. bonus points if she’s pissed that 1st unicorn killed the person?????????? lol

and it could be POTENTIALLY FUN to write a scene with them where eleni basically calls her out on the fact that, yeah marivana fucking hates twilight for deactivating the first unicorn so why tf does she still race for them/earn them so much money???

also marivana has literally no retirement plans atm so.....i have NO FREAKING IDEA if this would ever be possible or not, but if she somehow?? gets involved? with the people who wanna fuck up TEF govt for not giving a single shit about black hole ??? ? ??? ?? thru eleni????????//

idk dude feel free to just be like “lmao alicia that would never happen” if it feels too OOC!!! it’s also like 4 am & i’m only half coherent so ;D

but i literally have no idea in what context the calling out would be in!!! maybe if marivana saw some top sekrit info that eleni might have access to and was like “i won’t tell anyone at TWILIGHT if you tell me why you have this”? and eleni is like *eyeroll* “not like u have any reason to like ur agency”

Taglist: @ayzrules @bebemoon @jay-swagsby @filthysoulls @shiftyprincess @kzombi3 @now-on-elissastillstands

#plotting #snow #marivana #this is....so incoherent #and i am sorry #racers #writing #i guess??? lol

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lycorogue · 5 years ago

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Meet My OCs: Lia (Part 1 - Background)

I’m so good at these self-imposed deadlines, aren’t I? Sorry about that. The weeks got away from me between trying to finish a book read before its return to the library, getting my monthly fiction writing up, prepping for Camp NaNoWriMo, socializing, Zumba classes, and a solid week of working without a day off before taking the weekend to visit family. Adding in “research Lia and type up her intro” sort of slid to the back burner. Which means I only have one post to introduce her today; the rest will come throughout the week.

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

Lia was the first character I created for X-Future. She was SUPPOSED to be this flirty, rebellious, trying-out-independence teenager. She had potentially volatile powers, and I wanted to see how much damage I could make Lia cause. Basically, she was supposed to be Willow mixed with Trish....

After a week or two of player her, however, it was clear that she didn't want to be any of those things; namely flirty, rebellious, and reckless/cocky with her powers. Sure, her powers were still hard for her to manage, but they usually only got out of control whenever she was angry. Keeping her anger in check meant she became much more mild-mannered, shy, reserved, and maternal. So, I took on Willow to be everything I originally wanted to role play as Lia, and let my original X-Future gal do her own thing. Sadly, Willow, being what I initially wanted to play, soon overcame Lia as my main character on X-Future, but I tried to still keep Lia fairly active. Mostly for more angst-driven sub-plots... Poor Lia...

To find out more about her, check below the break.

I'll try to have Part 2 up tomorrow night in order to better discuss Lia's main relationships. Part 3 will then explain her story line within X-Future, and how it relates to my plan for her in Glitches. Then Part 4 will have more artwork showcasing Lia, Part 5 will have some story samples to better showcase Lia's dialect and personality, and Part 6 will have more of those cheesy WWE13 custom wrestler entrances.

So I can get started on both my Camp NaNoWriMo project, as well as the next character I wish to introduce – Trish – I'm hoping to have most (if not all) of the other parts of Meet Lia up by Tuesday evening.

Anyway, as mentioned above, Lia's main introduction overview is below. Enjoy!

Overview:

Amelia “Lia” Joan Mordeaux (Madrox on X-Future) was a month shy of turning 15 when we first started playing – roughly 14years and 8months old when sent to the Xavier Institute – and is now just over 18 years old. She's the same height as Willow (5'4” {162.56cm}), which is probably because I'm 5'3” (160.02cm)... and that extra inch is important! Lia also has a fairly lean body, although hers is significantly more pear-shaped than Willow's. Compared to Willow, Lia has a more muscular appearance with thicker upper arms, more defined legs, and more pronounced abs. Since she feels she's constantly failing her friends/classmates/the X-Men (Glitches counterpart to 'X-Men' still needs to be named... Guardians, maybe?), Lia is constantly training to improve herself, and that includes muscle training, self-defense training, and generic hand-to-hand combat training. I'm still deciding if I want her to be some sort of novice MMA fighter. Krav Maga just seems so over-used in media right now though, so her fighting style of choice is TBD, but I'm thinking generic kickboxing is a good start. She also loves to dance, practicing a few hula, hip-hop, and Zumba routines she studied via YouTube (or a Glitches equivalent I need to come up with).

Lia, as I mentioned above, is fairly maternal, usually putting a lot of unneeded pressure on herself to protect her friends and fellow classmates. Regardless of if she's at fault – or, in truth, even in the area – if one of her friends gets hurt, she feels it's a major failure on her part. She also has a bit of an inferiority complex, constantly comparing herself to her “famous” mother (I'll talk about this more in the relationships section of Part 2). Lia is also fairly meek and tries to shy away from confrontation as much as possible. Part of this is because she's a people-pleaser, part of it is because she's fairly empathetic and would much rather try to get everyone to see things from a unified perspective, and part of it is because she fears getting angry and losing control of her powers. Because of the empathy, meekness, and maternal nature, she is the unofficial Welcoming Committee at the Institute; usually offering to escort new students/recruits around the grounds, introduce them to their fellow students, and be the recruit's main companion until they find more friends of their own.

Being a people-pleaser, meek, and constantly questioning her value as a superhero, also means she can be taken advantage of, and she puts way too much pressure on herself. For an example, please see story sample “Check the Ego” at the end of Meet Willow: Part 5 (Stories).

Further Physical Description:

Lia, in X-Future, is half-Brazilian and half-whateverCaucasionEthnicitiesJamieMadroxIs. In Glitches, however, Lia is half-Hawaiian and half-Caucasian (mostly French, but with some Welsh and Norwegian as well). Her skin-tone is a darker tan that resembles her mother's complexion more than her father's. She has deep brunette hair, and she dyes fiery-orange streaks through the underside of it; making the streaks hidden whenever her hair is down, which it usually is. When she's nervous/anxious/overly-excited, she tends to play with the locks of orange. Her hair is bone-straight, and she tends to wear it fairly long, such as mid-back. She also used to keep it tied up, but she would literally burn through the ties and melt the clips, so she rarely does anything with her hair anymore. As for her eyes, they are a honey-brown with a bit of an orange tint to them. They actually appear to have a flame-like flicker to them if one is truly looking.

Family:

Lia's mother in X-Future is the lava-controlling mutant Amara “Magma” Aquilla, and her father is the duplicate-creating mutant James “Multiple Man” Madrox. For Glitches, Lia's mother Keahi still has control of lava and other such things, which I'll get into when I introduce her, and Lia's father Cody Mordeaux is still capable of creating duplicates, but in a slightly different manner. Again, I'll discuss further when I introduce them.

For X-Future, Amara and Jamie met as kids when they became students of the Xavier Institute. We aren't given any canonical ages for them in X-Men: Evolution, but Jamie was definitely the youngest, and looked like he was about 12, maybe as old as 14 by the end of the series. Amara was older, but probably not by much. She went to the high school with the original X-Men clan – probably as a freshman – so she was probably about 13 or 14 when she first appeared on the show; maybe 15 or 16 at the end of the series.

Anyway, using the show as our own canon, Jamie was clumsy, and Amara was very unsure of herself. They were quite the pair. After years of working together, they grew to become confident in their abilities, as well as became close friends. They started dating in their early 20s; Jamie asking Amara to Scott and Jean's wedding. After years of dating, the duo finally married when they were about 30, and retired from being X-Men. They settled into a nice home on Long Island, NY, and started their family.

For Glitches, Cody had gone to college in Hawaii, and met Keahi there. She was still struggling with a lot of anti-glitch sentimentality. Her fire-orange eyes gave her away as a glitch, plus a lot of locals knew of her powers, especially when she used them to help safely remove pressure from the Hawaiian volcanoes without ash and/or lava destroying the near-by towns. People feared the power she wielded, and waited for her to “snap” and destroy them via the volcanoes instead of rescue them from the natural disasters. While Keahi could easily go to college someplace that didn't know she was a glitch, she purposely stayed to fight for equal rights. This passion and activism really attracted Cody, meanwhile his kindness and supportive nature were what made Keahi fall for him. Shortly after college, they got married and moved to the Main Land (California). Soon – I'm not quite sure yet on the details as to how – Cody and Keahi learned about Emily's orphanage/boarding school, and how she was fighting for equality between Humans and Glitches (Emily believed glitches should take ownership of the name). They moved across country in order to help assist Emily and Ryder, but they still kept their lives separate from the school itself. They mostly focused on helping Emily and Ryder find young glitches that needed help; recruiting them to Emily's sanctuary. Eventually, Keahi had Lia, and the couple's involvement with the school waned as they focused on their daughter.

I don't recall the reasoning I had for Lia's full name to be Amelia, but she was given the middle name Joan after Jamie's mother: Joan Madrox. I think I'm going to keep it as Cody's mother's name as well so Lia can keep her canonical middle name.

Anyway, in both X-Future and Glitches, Amara/Keahi went MIA while on an ecological mission to help curb a series of natural disasters after volcanoes (in Brazil for X-Future; along the Ring of Fire in Glitches) started erupting at an alarming rate. Leaving 7-year-old Lia in the charge of one of his duplicates, Jamie/Cody spent a little over a month personally searching for his wife. He only gave up on the search when the pain of not holding his daughter became too great. Each year, on the anniversary of Amara/Keahi's disappearance, Jamie/Cody still spends two straight weeks searching for any sort of new clues around his wife's last known location.

Ever since Lia's mom disappeared, her father has almost literally never left her side. If he had to go to work, or was on his annual two-week-long search, or even if he had a doctor's appointment or had to go grocery shopping, he ALWAYS left Lia in the care of a duplicate. Or... more accurately... he'd send the duplicate to the more monotonous activities: work, grocery shopping, PTA meetings, etc. He took “helicopter parenting” and cranked it to 11. At the age of 14 – when she was sent to the Institute to train – Lia had never once even been left home alone. Twice, Lia attempted to bring a boy home to date – once when she was 12 and then nearly a year later for her middle school's winter formal – and both times Jamie created two dupes: Lia's “Uncles” Maddy (derived from their last name) and Arthur (Jamie's middle name). I have yet to decide if Cody's clones will also bear these names. Anyway, the poor boys Lia was interested in were forced to not only prove themselves to Lia's over-protective father, but also to his two “brothers” (he acted as if he were a triplet), and the triple-threat usually scared the potential suitor off. This means, in X-Future, that Chayse is Lia's first boyfriend and first kiss. More on that in the relationships section publishing next.

Powers:

Lia has the exact same powers as her mother. It's a bit of a list, but it mostly focuses on lava control and all that could entail.

-- Pyrokenesis: Not only can she create fire, but she can also control it to a minor extent. This usually manifests as a wall of fire, fire balls, or a “beam” of fire - like laser blasts - shooting from her hands. She can also propel herself through the air with fire bursts from her feet, much like the rocket flight Iron Man utilizes. She cannot manipulate the shape of fire the way Pyro (Iggy) and Devon can.

-- Geokinesis: Basically, she's an Earth Bender from Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra. She can break apart chunks of earth and telekinetically move them; usually these are smaller chunks of earth, about the size of a basketball, although she can break apart larger portions if she uses other means to move the land (to be explained in a moment). She can, if she concentrates hard enough, also cause or stop earthquakes, as well as re-arrange the landscape within a rough 25ft (762m) radius.

-- Geo-thermokinesis: Ability to alter the temperature – and therefore pressure – of the earth in the immediate area. This allows her to create geysers, which she typically uses as smoke screens, or as propulsion for the larger land masses she broke away from the Earth (as mentioned above), catapulting her into the air. Her geo-thermokinesis also allows her – with great concentration – to either cause or stop volcanic eruptions. Likewise, instead of creating fire with her pyrokinesis, she can rapidly melt the Earth's crust to leave molten lava wherever she wished, within roughly a 25ft (7.62m) radius. A final benefit to her geo-thermokinesis is that she can create any form of lava-rock she wished, either as a means to create statues with differing stone structures (as she did with William; please see Lia's story line in Part 3), a way to create weapons/tools, or in order to manifest armor for her companions, or any other such need. She can create these stones one of two ways: adjust the chemical structure of existing earth/stone through rapid melting into lava and re-forming into solid stone, or creating the rocks from scratch using her own lava (see next bullet).

-- Obsidian Form: With training, she's now able to do most of the above without “powering up” into her “obsidian form.” However, if she needs to push the limits of her powers, and when she was first learning how to control them, she had to “power up” into this form, which amplifies her powers and control tenfold. When she does “power up,” her entire body turns into living lava.

To protect her surroundings and her companions, Lia instinctively encases her “obsidian form” with an obsidian skin (which includes obsidian nails). When she's in this form, her eyes turn into orbs of magma, her tongue is also a sheet of magma, and her hair takes on flame-like properties; flickering with her movements and the wind. Lia's obsidian skin encases her much like a ball-jointed doll, with cracks of lava showing through the flexed joints. Her teeth also become thick blocks of obsidian.

Her obsidian skin kicks in as a defense reflex. If she's ever struck by something that would otherwise puncture her skin, badly bruise it, or cause internal injuries (large falls or being slammed by/against something, for example), she instantly is encased in the obsidian. If she would be burnt by anything, she is also instantly transformed into her obsidian form. With training, she's able to actually focus this defense mechanism in order to armor certain parts of her body while keeping the rest of her flesh, blood, and bone (which makes baking fun because she never needs oven mitts anymore).

While in obsidian form, Lia can actually manifest an unknown amount of excess magma, and shoot streams of lava from the palms of her hand, much like how she can generate streams of fire in her flesh form.

Switching from flesh to Obsidian Form and back rejuvenates Lia, allowing her to heal superficial injuries such as minor cuts, bruising, sprained joints, or chipped skin (see Weaknesses below). For example: a cut along Lia's cheek would mend in obsidian form, and be healed when she transforms back into flesh. Likewise, a crack in Lia's obsidian skin (see below) would be healed by the time she's flash again. Since the rejuvenation requires Lia to convert all of her organs, muscles, tendons, and BONES into lava and then back, more significant injuries – such as broken bones or torn ligaments – can also be healed when transitioning from one form to the next, however, it is extremely draining to do so, and Lia nearly faints from exhaustion once back in her flesh form. On the flipside, more significant wounds such as punctures – being shot or run through – or lost body parts – such as cut-off fingers or busted out teeth – cannot heal via transitioning from one form to the next.

-- Body Temperature Control: To go along with her obsidian form, Lia cannot be burnt, nor can she ever freeze. She can withstand temperatures equal to molten lava (1,300-2,200 F {700-1,200 C}), basically because she herself can BECOME lava. However, anything hotter than 150-degrees Fahrenheit (~65 Celsius) – which, in and of itself, is hotter than the temperature at which normal skin starts to burn – and Lia will reflexively convert into obsidian form in order to protect herself. Likewise, her body temperature will start to rise to counter freezing temperatures; keeping her core temp at 98.6 F (37 C). However, in order to keep her core at the proper temperature, her body will automatically transform into her obsidian form once she hits external temperatures of sub-zero Fahrenheit (below -17 C). She can still bundle up, as a normal human would, in order to keep herself flesh in sub-zero temperatures. However, she really never feels the exhausting heat of summer/a desert, nor get a chill.

-- Elementally-Altered Lung Filtration and Eye Protection: Long and short on this one, her lungs are capable of filtering out the smoke, toxic fumes, and ash usually associated with fires and volcanic activity. This allows her to breathe perfectly fine while in these conditions. The lining of her throat, wind pipe, and lungs also have a higher heat tolerance so breathing in such hot air won't burn her. Her eyes also have an extra layer of protection, which allows them to stay moisturized in extreme heat/dry atmosphere, unaffected by the sting of smoke/ash in the air, and prevents her from going blind in extreme lighting. This also means things like smoke-bombs, flash-bombs, and tear-gas are all ineffective on her.

-- Weaknesses: First and foremost, Lia, much like her mother before her, is greatly affected by her proximity to the ground. If she's separated for long periods of time – such as being in the air, high up in a building, or on a ship in deep water – she develops an illness similar to seasickness/airsickness. She becomes quite weak and faint, as well as nauseated. Her powers don't work as well, or may not function at all, depending on how ill she's become. Because of this connection to the Earth, Lia tends to avoid socks and wears slip-on shoes or sandals/flip-flops. That way she can quickly kick off her shoes and actually feel the ground with her feet in order to anchor herself. She'll instantly start to feel better once she's on solid ground again, the rate of her healing dependent on how long she had been away from land.

Another great weakness of Lia's, as mentioned above, is that her powers, much like everyone’s, is largely tied to her emotions. The violent and destructive nature of her powers are closely linked to her rage/anger. This is discussed a bit more under “Power Manifestation” below, as well as in Part 3 when I discuss her story line on X-Future. Basically, she could unintentionally create an earthquake or cause volcanic activity simply by losing control of her temper and becoming unusually angry and/or aggressive.

While the obsidian skin she encases herself in is supposed to be an extra layer of protection, and obsidian is a very tough stone, it is also quite fragile if hit at the right angle. This means Lia's body is likely to not just cut and bleed, but flat out shatter if hit hard enough and at the correct angle. As discussed further in Part 3, the villain Trish nearly broke Lia's arm off at the elbow because of this flaw.

Another downside to Lia's obsidian form is that everything about her - aside from her teeth, nails, and skin – is made of magma. This means if her skin is broken in any way – the equivalent of her flesh being cut – she will “bleed” lava she can't control, so it will burn anything it touches (aside from her) just like natural lava would. Her tears/saliva are also made of lava, making her equally dangerous if she starts to cry or drool while in obsidian form. (Also, for gross thoroughness, her mucus is also made of lava, so a runny nose or bad cough is equally destructive). All of this is reason for Lia to stay outside of her obsidian form as much as possible to prevent a limb from being broken off or her bodily fluids burning through things.

Power Manifestation:

As mentioned above, Lia has to be careful to watch her anger since her control over her powers greatly dissolves whenever she's enraged. This is actually how Lia discovered her powers.

Even as an infant, Lia rarely got cold, usually running around in shorts and short-sleeves, even in the dead of winter in New York state. She didn't have the full range of her body temperature control before puberty, so she did have to wear protective clothing once the temperature had a “real feel” (includes wind chill) of about 10-degrees Fahrenheit (-12 C), and had to retreat to the shade if the “real feel” (includes humidity) was about 110-degrees F (43 C).

Her main power-set unlocked when she was 13. Her date to her middle school winter formal was just “scared off” by Jamie/Cody and his two “brothers.” Realizing it was her father's fault that her date cancelled on her, Lia threw a massive tantrum. She screamed at her father about his “helicopter parenting” and his constant babying of her; not allowing her to grow up. She yelled about her lack of independence, and stormed out of the house and onto their back porch. The moment she was outside, the ground began to tremor. The angrier Lia got, the more the property shook. Realizing what was going on, and fearful of the destruction Lia could cause with her mother's powers, Jamie/Cody tried to usher her back inside and up to the second story of their home; away from the ground.

Breaking away from her father, Lia raced off the porch and into their backyard. Nearly the instant her bare feet touched the grass, a small crack rippled through the ground, cutting the back yard in half. A few feet in front of Lia, a frisbee-sized geyser opened up, and exploded pressurized water from the town's underground stream.

Frightened by what just happened, Lia's anger instantly retreated, and she rushed to her father's embrace. He directed her to run to the attic and focus on staying calm until he can get to her later that night. He then got to work in duplicating himself so he could rush to repair the lawn before any neighbors noticed the improvised early-December hot spring that popped up in his yard. It only kept about two hours for Jamie/Cody to mend the property and go to Lia. He then reminded her of her mother's powers, and promised to help train her to control them.

He then became even MORE protective of Lia, both to keep her from anti-mutant/glitch attacks, as well as protect her classmates/teachers/neighbors from Lia's accidental activation of her powers. Jamie/Cody almost instantly knew that he wasn't cut out to train Lia, and wished Amara/Keahi was around to show Lia how to use her powers. Jamie/Cody was determined to have Lia finish middle school before getting uprooted. So the two of them worked closely on private training for the next half-year; struggling to keep it hidden from everyone that Lia was a mutant/glitch.

Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters:

After Lia's middle school graduation, her father confessed that she would probably be safer, and receive better training for her powers, if she went to the Xavier Institute (Glitches alternative name TBD). It was hard at first for Lia to part from the only home she knew, but the realization that she'd be going to a boarding school all but convinced her to go; her chance to finally get out from under her father's thumb.

Lia celebrated Independence Day with her father with an extra layer of meaning; she was to start at the Institute the next day. She spent the rest of July and all of August reveling in living away from her father for the first time. She had some lonely moments where Jamie's/Cody's absence was painfully noticeable, but for the most part she loved the new-found independence. She prepared herself to start high school as a 'new woman' and excitedly looked forward to the school year.

The excitement quickly died during the back-to-school mixer the school held the Saturday before classes were to start. In the X-Future timeline, things were going great as Lia was approached by her crush Chayse. He asked her for a dance, only for both of them to be surprised by Jamie. Lia demanded to know why her father was there, only to find out that he missed her too much, so he signed up to be part of the faculty. Lia, embarrassed, enraged, and deflated to lose her new-found independence so soon after receiving it, stormed off into the yard. She became so overwhelmed that she accidentally switched to obsidian form; burning away the outfit she was wearing. She then had to find a way to discreetly sneak back into the building and up to her dorm room while technically naked...

Thankfully, life got a bit better as she started making lots of friends around the school, unofficially making herself the “mama” of the students. This has its downsides as well as she overburdens herself with responsibility for her fellow students. For more on this, check back in with Part 3: X-Future timeline.

Lia's Style:

When I first came up with Lia, I had her dressing more like Willow, but with a few cover shirts and leggings to be a touch more modest. Almost like she was rebelling with sexier clothes – showing off her mid-drift, her cleavage, bare shoulders, mini-skirts showing off her legs, etc – and then her “Daddy's little girl” persona would kick in and have her cover up with a cover shirt or leggings.

In truth, she still is a touch like this, but she has a bit more innocence in her initial wardrobe than I originally planned. Her outfits also used to mostly consist of grays and oranges, but over the years she's trended more towards reds, charcoal grays, and blacks, with orange and/or yellow as more accent colors to give that lava-like feel to her. Her hair, as mentioned above, is usually bone-straight, mid-back length, and hung loose. When she was younger – about 14/15 – she would wear hair clips to pin part of her hair out of her face, but they kept melting whenever she switched to obsidian. Soon she figured she looked more mature without the clips anyway, and now only puts up her hair for special occasions, such as the prom.

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

Aaaand, that's Lia! In a nutshell, at least. Sorry about this being a day late, and only being one part of a 6-part mini-series about her. I'll try to get the others up ASAP so I can also work on my next OC: Trish.

While you are waiting for Part 2, you can use this time to catch up on the other parts of my Meet My OCs series, in case you're new to them.

I started off with a “Who Wants to Meet My OCs?” introductory mini-series:

Part 1: Why I wanted to do this series, and the real-world inspirations for my main two worlds:

Gyateara – a high fantasy world that will, presumably, house many self-contained series that may or may not interconnect beyond all taking place on the same planet

Glitches – a pseudo-cyberpunk future AU of Earth where mutated humans – known as Glitches – must fight for equality, and even survival, while also dealing with the normal dramas of puberty.

In Part 2 of my series, I explained the real-world inspiration for my four main Gyateara OCs: Amara Yori, Jolene Crisslebalm, Natalie, and Connor.

Part 3 of this series went a bit long, so it was broken down into its own two-parter. In Part 3a, I talked about the creation of the four main characters of Glitches: Chayse, Lia, Willow, and Trish. As I mentioned above, I'm working on Lia now, Willow was two weeks ago, and Trish is next. I'll be finishing up with my husband's OC Chayse by the end of July.

For Part 3b of this series, I explained the canonical character origins of my adult Glitches, and how they’ve been reworked to create my still-evolving adult support characters for Glitches: Matteo, Emily, Ryder, Keahi, Cody, and Iggy.

Then, two weeks ago, I switched over to the main portion of this series: “Meet My OCs” starting with my 6-part “Meet Willow” mini-series.

Part 1: Willow's Overview and Background

Part 2: Willow's Relationships

Part 3: Willow's Character Arc Events

Part 4: The Images of Willow

Part 5: Story Samples of Willow

Part 6: Two Cheesy WWE13 Video Game Custom Wrestler Entrances

Again, sorry for the delay on Lia; life got complicated. Look for Part 2 (and maybe more) tomorrow!

#writing #LycoRogue writing #OCs #Meet My OCs #Meet Lia #long post #Glitches #Lia Madrox #Lia Mordeaux #Lia #Lia overview #Lia powers #Lia history #series post #11 out of ?#updates every other Sunday #usually #next update tomorrow #LycoRogue original

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abdicatedarchive · 4 years ago

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discussion boards || juliette and daisy

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: freshens healthy restaurant // early march 2021.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: juliette x daisy.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: none.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: TBD

Sitting at a table, Daisy was somewhat regretting her decision to leave her homework until so late. While she was very close to being done, it was due in class in a few hours and she would really rather just be sitting in her room eating popcorn and watching Bridgerton or some other trashy-yet-addicting Netflix show. She had decided that the best way to get herself through the final push was to eat at the same time (she was extremely food-motivated), thus her working away at her paper while stuffing food in her mouth. Looking up, she saw a classmate looking around, presumably for a place to start. “You can sit here if you want,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. “Unless you chew loudly. We’re humans, not cows.”

Juliette had been very selective about where she went on campus to avoid potentially running into anyone she didn't want to see. That list was extraordinarily long ever since she found out that her ex was here, she was doing her best to avoid all of her friends as well. Best to keep things secret. Sadly, there was no better dining option than to go to freshens, because neither of them usually would be caught dead there. Juliette was a junk food fiend. She saw her classmate, a girl she had noted was very loud, and the first words that came out of the other girl's mouth just affirmed that for Juliette. "Luckily for you, I am a very silent chewer" she said softly with a smile as she sat down across from her. Juliette pulled out her book out of instinct, she was very used to eating alone after last semester when she made so few friends that she had to transfer here. "You finishing up that paper?" Juliette asked as she put the lid on her salad to mix it up.

She thought that she recognized the girl from class. Jules or Jane or something like that. She also thought that she had heard some gossip about her, but she heard so much gossip and did not have the attention span to keep track of who was in what trouble or who was sleeping with who’s girlfriend. “Good. Then you can sit.” Daisy said, taking another sip of her smoothie as the girl took a seat, before asking if she was finishing her paper. “Yeah. It is a stupid paper anyway, but whatever. It will get done.” She eyed the book that Juliette had in her hands. “What are you, a book nerd?” She asked. It did not look like the kind of book that got assigned for class.

"A little bit yeah, this is What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver" said Juliette as she looked at the dog eared beat up copy in front of her. Juliette opened up the mixed salad and took a bite before talking again. "It's a comfort read, if you've ever seen 2012's Stuck in Love, it's mentioned in there a lot" the girl added, not sure if the fun facts were really going to help her. She also definitely could have left out the release date, but it was natural to her. Juliette knew if Daisy had a problem with that, she would definitely say something.

Listening as the girl rattled off the information on the book she was reading, Daisy just stared at her. Definitely the book nerd type, but in an almost endearing way. Not the ‘I read books, therefore, I am smarter than you’ type. Also the awkward type. Which could mean that she could be the useful type. “Never seen it,” Daisy said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Are you the Encyclopedia Brown of books in general, or is it just books about love?”

Juliette smiled and looked down a little before looking back up, the other girl was a good kind of intimidating. "Mostly books about love, and then a healthy blend of queer and feminist lit" said the girl as she took a sip of her water. Being at college meant she could just say whatever she wanted without judgement, and it was a new but captivating feeling. That she could just be herself. Every conversation was a new level of freedom. "Do you read for fun? It's kind of hard when there's so much stuff assigned all the time" she asked.

Daisy nodded. Yep. Definitely the good kind of nerd. The girl was also obviously one of those sweet ones that were still somewhat shocked by whatever freedoms university life allowed them. It was adorable. “Does that include Virginia Woolf, or is that too hipster for you?” She asked, and then shrugged at the girl’s question. “I like reading. I’m in the English literature department, so I’d have picked the wrong department if I didn’t like to read.” Then, she sighed. “I do miss me a good trashy romance novel, though. They never seem to assign them.”

"I enjoy Virginia Woolf from time to time, I try to get a few different view points just for my own education" said Juliette with a little shrug. She was happy to hear that she had met a fellow English major, the more people in her department that she got to know meant that getting help if she needed it later would be more easy access. Juliette laughed at the girl's joke, and began to nod her head at the trashy romance novel comment, "I don't know why they don't. I think that the whole class would pay a lot more attention to their discussion board posts" Juliette replied, another giggle escaping her mouth.

Daisy liked this girl. Or, at the very least she thought she could tolerate her, which in Daisy speak meant she liked her. “I agree. If they gave us interesting reading material, people would be way more likely to read the books instead of just skipping to an online summary.” She did not understand why some people chose to be English majors - you were literally signing up to read tons and tons of books, both boring and entertaining, as an English major. Still, she enjoyed a good, entertaining book. Especially if it was a trashy, entertaining book. “They should assign Bridgerton, and then let us watch the Netflix show as extra credit.”

Juliette had to laugh at the girl's Bridgerton comment, it was right up her alley. She had enjoyed Bridgerton, she had binged it pretty quickly. The only thing it was missing was more gay energy, that always got Juliette really into a show. But she did love a period style piece, "yeah there is so much to unpack with that show from costumes to sex education" she added, "the discussion posts would be wild, I can hardly imagine after what is it the fourth episode or the sixth? whenever the sex montages happened, specifically the one with taylor swift in the background" she rambled, "I feel like that would be a thought provoking essay."

“I agree. I get gay vibes from Benedict and Eloise.” She held up her fork and closed her eyes. “I speak their gayness into existence. Though I am biased because the lady who plays Eloise is super pretty. But then again, I would happily make out with anyone from the cast.” A little off-topic, but Daisy was never one for staying on topic. “Oh, honey, that would be so fun. Take ‘Wildest Dreams’ to a whole new level and a whole new meaning.”

"Oh for sure, potential for asexuality for Eloise as well" said Juliette, wondering where the next seasons would take all the characters. "She is absolutely stunning" she agreed. "The men are something, but I'm much more partial to the ladies in the cast" said Juliette, she was still having trouble naming her sexuality directly. It was a reflex from the before times. "I honestly think that if there is going to be sex on screen that there should be a Taylor Swift mandate." Juliette felt strongly about this, even though it was a joke. It would just add layers every time.

“Yes. I would love Eloise to be asexual homoromantic. It would be the cherry on top. Sadly, this is Netflix we are talking about so I have my doubts.” She crinkled her nose at the thought but digressed at Juliette’s next comment. “Partial to the ladies, eh? I don’t blame you at all. Ladies have a certain…” she outlined an hourglass shape in the air with her hands, “charm to them, don’t they? Sadly, I have a weakness for the weaker sex - males, that is - as well as women.” She sighed dramatically, as though liking men as well was a great flaw in her personality. “What other songs would you want? If you could direct, what are your top three Taylor Swift sex scene songs?”

"Netflix never really ... hits things on the nose. It must be in the contract that they miss the mark" she replied with a shrug. In a perfect world things would be different. She giggled at the hand motions, "a weakness for men? Most of my friends suffer from the same condition. I heard dating men is terminal" she said, playfully frowning before breaking into a smile. She had to think for a second about what Taylor Swift songs would be good for a montage, "Hmmmm, I would say for a good enemies to lovers moment ... I did something bad. Enchanted for those like ... meet cute instant connections. Ooooh, and Afterglow for missed connections or exes" said Juliette, not completely confident in her answers but proud that she could pick something so quickly.

“This is also very true. They should hire very invested college students to do the planning for them. Preferably ones that eat at Freshens and make fun of their poor creative choices.” She shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Yes, unfortunately despite my best efforts, I can’t shake the bi in bisexual. Men are just… ugh. There is something about them.” She sighed. “It will definitely be terminal.” She considered Juliette’s song choices and nodded her approval. “I approve. Netflix should definitely hire you to pick their soundtracks.”

A laugh fell from her lips, "I promise to not bi erase you, I will remember your terminal condition known as an affinity for men." Most of Juliette's friends were somewhere on the spectrum of sexuality, Gabrielle being on the far side of that. As straight as they come. She wondered about Jonah sometimes, but she never wanted to pry. "That would be an amazing job, maybe I should change majors and go into media and mass communications" she said, a smile forming on her face as she took a sip of her water. "If you could have a job that had nothing to do with your major and was super niche, what would it be?" she asked.

“I appreciate that. You’re a good egg. I think I am going to keep you,” Daisy said, pointing her fork at Juliette again. “Though I would appreciate you not mentioning my affinity for men in front of menfolk. It tends to go to their… heads.” She smirked. “Maybe you should change majors. It isn’t too late, but I am sure that you are… adequate… at whatever it is you do.” Her question gave Daisy pause. “If I could have a super niche job that had nothing to do with my major… hmmm… maybe someone who makes stage costumes? The really funky ones you see on the West End and Broadway. That would be fun.”

She smiled at the idea of being kept, it wasn't the first time she had heard something like that. One time she was told that someone wanted to pack her up in their pocket and take her everywhere with them. It was a strange compliment, but it was very sweet. "Bold of you to assume I would ever speak to a man" Juliette replied, laughing a little to herself. Jonah was a special exception, and Chase when he was also in his own dorm room. "I'm a journalism major, but I think it stems from a deep need to get out of town that I had in high school? So I'm not sure if it's actually something I want to do" said Juliette. She had a lot of time to change her major, so she was very comfortable where she was at. Jules still needed to adjust to this new college before she could really hunker down, a vague english major was where she was at right now. She listened when the girl was talking about costumes, "Well if you ever want to make that more of a reality, my best friends Gabrielle and Marina both know how to make clothes and costumes. Very talented ladies, they could make pretty much anything. Gabrielle does more contemporary stuff, but she's got the chops for funky costumes, and Marina does more period/fantasy clothing" she explained.

#juliettexdaisy #threads || daisy and juliette #daisy and juliette || 001 #juliette: thread

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strydcr · 7 years ago

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hellooo babes, i’m blair waldorf acacia (◠‿◠✿) nineteen, she/her, and the main admin here. lol sooo sorry you guys are all trapped in this rp with me. but wtver~ you guys will learn to adore my 3am messages comin’ up with plot that’ll hurt us and what not. also meet the beauty that is stryder estrellas. anyways, i’ll try to keep this as short as possible. since i always get lazy halfway thru writin’ intros. :~)) )) ) &&. of course this got way longer than expected so just find the ☪ at the end to read the summary // aim: alohacacia && skype: alohacacia

****psa you clicked on this so you’re obligated to plot with me srry but i don’t make the rules.

░ * . ╰ ✯ › ⊰ SELENA GOMEZ, CIS-FEMALE, TWENTY-THREE ⊱ is that STRYDER ESTRELLAS ? the BARISTA & FLORAL SHOP ASSISTANT MANAGER. they’re known to be INTELLIGENT & INDEPENDENT. but also BLUNT & CYNICAL. unknown to them, they are the reincarnation of PERSEPHONE.

BACKGROUND + TRIGGER WARNINGS: cheating

well to kick things off, stryder is that one night stand baby. let’s call her biological dad “bio father/dad” and her mom’s husband “dad” then of course her mom is “mom”. sorry if this is confusing. but just think about how stryder is gonna feel once she finds out about this.

once upon a time her mom and her dad were happily in love. like they were the high school sweethearts who ended up getting married and blah blah blah. but before she was born, there was a point in time where the two broke up. probably once they were both about to start freshman year of college. that’s when her mom hooked up with stryder’s bio dad. she obviously ended up getting pregnant. but she ended up making up with stryder’s dad. SOOOOOOO…. he thinks he’s stryder’s father. but he ain’t. the one night stand hook up is.

stryder is completely unaware of the fact that he’s not her real father. her mom is still in contact with her biological dad. obviously, keeping that a secret from both her husband and stryder. but it’s only because her bio dad always sends her money to help provide for stryder. so basically this family is a mess. but only on the low. because on the outside this family is absolutely perfect. she grew up in a really nice household. suburban type of wealth in a town outside of los angeles, california. big house, nice cars, a vacation every now and then. but not rich enough to like be bill gates or something you get what i’m saying? just a nice upper middle class.

you might be wondering... how did they end up in seattle? one day her dad told the fam he had to move out to there because of work. (occupation: tbd) so they packed up everything they had and left. this was around the time stryder was starting her senior year of high school. stryder really isn’t the type to throw a fit over dumb shit. but you know this girl started bawling knowing she wasn’t going to graduate with her only two friends. ‘cause she had to start the loner life all over again.

now, stryder works at a small coffee shop as a barista and an assistant manager at a floral shop. (cause persephone, flowers, how cute.....) she does go to school at a community college about 30 minutes away from her house. probably studying to become a botanists. (a literal flowerchild yes.) and to her surprise she is actually enjoying living here. she doesn’t know why, but she feels drawn to the place.

PERSONALITY + RELATIONSHIPS + TRIGGER WARNINGS: anxiety

PERSONALITY wise, she’s that tumblr post that’s like ——— me: i love myself i’m such a bitch // me: i hate myself i’m such a bitch. because one day she’ll be like “oh my god you’re my best friend!!!!!” then they’ll do her shady and she’ll be like “new phone who dis?” like do her dirty and she’ll get angry real quick. which is bad because it’ll trigger her anxiety. but yayayayayayayayyyyy. she’s the type to be sippin’ tea with her pinky finger up. she is the “is it bad that i secretly want to be hit by a car all the time” but also the “gotta better myself, my body, my skin and my bank account” type in one. she has a very clean exterior. although she outcast herself a lot. she does care about her appearance. (i.e. she has a sense of fashion.) she really likes to read and learn. so, you can always catch her doing something of the sort. talk to her about flowers or coffee and she gotchu. overall, stryder is pretty wishy washy. it all depends on her mood. she’s kind of a wallflower. isn’t exactly the most popular baby. but that’s by choice, not by force.

when it comes to FRIENDS stryder can always use some of 'em. she possess the qualities of a good friend loyal, honest, trustworthy. however, she can be quite obstinate. which might be a reason why she might not have as many friends as she would like. once her mind is set to think a certain way it’s hard to persuade her to believe otherwise. she’s the type of friend to listen to your problems, but be prepared to listen to her opinions – all of them. she’s also the type to put a friend in check when they need it. she thinks of it as trying to convince them to see the bigger picture. first impressions is something she might not be very good at. while she isn’t exactly the definition of rude, she tends to not filter then things she says. overall, i would say that she might just need a handful of friends and just a whole bunch of acquaintances.

i’m pretty sure stryder doesn’t think she has is ENEMIES. but, i could obviously understand why a girl like her would have any. she tends to be very outspoken and although she doesn’t mean to insult anyone or come off rude, she can’t help it. so, there’s always that. stryder is the type to hold grudges. (this is mostly because of her mother — trust issues man) she thinks once you fuck her over, then inevitably, you’re gonna do it again. basically, if you lose her trust everything you had, despite how far back your past goes, she isn’t going to trust you fully again. so if there was any type of fall out at all, stryder is gonna be pissed 5ever. but if in some point in time where she had to chose between her life and saving another’s, she’d save them before herself. stryder’s a good person guy’s. she has good morals. they’re just messed up in her black hole of thoughts. enemies? *grabby hands*

alright, so stryder and LOVERS. i have a feeling she’s dabbled in the dating world. she’s had a few boyfriends, dates, etc. but most likely nothing LONG TERM. possibly because she doesn’t see the point unless it’s for marriage. just like her mom and dad (lol troll.) she has the independent woman facade going on right now. which makes her seem like she doesn’t want anyone. but deep down she’s a hopeless romantic. this girl would love to be loved. and she truly needs it. most of the time she makes herself the outcast. this girl is completely oblivious to anyone having a crush on her. assuming friendship automatically. she’s probably read tons of books about love and fluffy shit like that. so she has high expectations when it comes to relationships. so someone rlly needs to come here and treat this girl right.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

FRIENDS

best friend — someone who will always be there for her. the person she feels most comfortable with. // m, f, or nb

partner in crime — they may not be the most reliable person like her best friend. but definitely someone she can get turnt tf up with. // m, f, or nb

childhood friend(s) — her first friend(s)! the one(s) she’s known since birth. she will never switch up on the real ones. (or so u think...) // m, f, or nb

ENEMIES

rivals — someone who hates her and some she hates too. maybe they just don’t get along yo. it happens // m, f, or nb

old bully — maybe somebody who bullied her or someone she might have bullied? bc honestly, if she bullied someone it would’ve been a joke. // m, f, or nb

old flame that didn’t end well — this is someone she used to date. maybe they wanted it to go further than just a date. but she ended up cutting ties with them. now it’s just made awk. // m, f, or nb

LOVERS

hate/love — just ‘cause these are my favorites. just little bickering. maybe they’re too much alike or just not a like at all. // m, f, or nb

old flame that ended well — the classic, exes that ended on good terms. they don’t hate each other at all. are actually still on really good terms. and possibly still have lingering feelings. // m, f, or nb

currently dating — going on dates and what not. having a good time. who knows where this could go. // m, f, or nb

MISCELLANEOUS

☪ overall, this bitch is flippy floppy. she’s loyal. quiet, but has a lot of opinions. intelligent, but sometimes stand-off-ish. she’s a bit of a feminist. trusts no bitch. but if you’re her friend, she’s chill AF. but really — she just doesn’t know how to process her good thoughts into words. she’s a barista and florist. she’s independent, hardworking, and determined. my muse for her is michelle (spider man homecoming) & margo roth spiegelman (paper towns). she’s a bit sketch when it comes to making new friends. since she’s a bit of a loner. and she’s super family oriented. despite her being absolutely oblivious to the fact that her mom cheated on her “dad” with her bio dad. anyways, give her girl scout cookies and she’ll love you til the end of time. overall, she’s not as lame as she portrays herself to be and is actually a pretty rad chick.

wEW this got waaaaaay longer than i expected it to be. anywho, if you actually read all this i love you and i cherish you hella. if you just skimmed, i would too. i would really love to plot with everyone. so just slide into my dms and we can get things started!! but okay, so, now imma go touch up my other intros. hope u don’t hate me after this long ass essay lmao. luv u *blows a kiss*

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lesliepump · 6 years ago

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Podcast #215: Online Accessibility & Law-Firm Websites, with Lainey Feingold

In this episode with Lainey Feingold, we talk about online accessibility requirements and what lawyers should know about them. We also talk with Lainey about structured negotiation as an alternative to litigation, and how to get companies to actually talk to you in business law.

Lainey Feingold

Lainey Feingold is an author, speaker, and disability rights lawyer who focuses on digital accessibility, which means making technology like websites, mobile apps, kiosks, etc. available to people with disabilities.

Lainey has represented blind people and their organizations for more than 25 years, and instead of filing lawsuits, she uses a collaborative process called structured negotiation (which she wrote a book about here!). Her goal is to help close the digital divide, eliminate conflict, build trust, and create relationships that are essential for systems to change.

The weirdest thing in Lainey’s desk drawer is a plastic dolphin keyring. Lainey rejects the metaphor of lawyers as sharks, since dolphins communicate, are collaborative, and solve problems. She embraces the dolphin and even hands out these key rings at her training sessions on structured negotiation.

You can follow Lainey on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Thanks to Gusto, Podium, Spotlight Branding, and Casetext for sponsoring this episode!

Show Notes

You can get Lainey’s book Structured Negotiations: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits here.

In addition to continue working on cases and mentoring lawyers handling cases in structured negotiation, Lainey is offering structured negotiation workshops to give people the tools of collaboration that have been so successful in her work.

We talked about accessibility statements during the show—here’s an example.

Check out the other resources mentioned during the show:

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/

http://wave.webaim.org/

https://www.lawtechnologytoday.org/2018/06/digital-accessibility/

https://www.lawtechnologytoday.org/2016/06/law-firm-website-make-sure-everyone-access-feingold/

https://www.lflegal.com/2017/07/cousins/

https://businesslawtoday.org/2017/09/what-can-structured-negotiation-offer-the-business-attorney-a-lot

Don’t miss an episode of The Lawyerist Podcast! Subscribe now in your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

Voiceover: Welcome to the Lawyerist podcast, a series of conversations about law practice. Each week, we talk with legal entrepreneurs and innovators about building a successful law practice in today’s challenging and constantly changing legal market. And now, here are your hosts.

Sam Glover: Hi, I’m Sam Glover.

Aaron Street: And I’m Aaron Street, and this is episode 215 of the Lawyerist podcast, part of the Legal Talk Network. Today, we’re talking with Lainey Feingold about online accessibility, law firm websites and her invented structured negotiation concept as an alternative to litigation, all of which are more related than they seem.

Sam Glover: Today’s podcast is brought to you by Podium, Gusto, Spotlight Branding and Casetext. We wouldn’t be able to do this show without their support. Stay tuned, we’ll tell you more about them later on.

Aaron Street: So when this episode airs we’ll have been a couple of weeks removed from ABA Techshow, but we had a giant contingent of the Lawyerist team and the Lawyerist tribe there in Chicago and unfortunately, I was sick and didn’t make it, but I’m curious Sam, what are some of your reflections on your probably 9th or tenth Techshow experience?

Sam Glover: 9th or tenth probably, yeah. First, we had an insider meetup there, which was great. We had a bunch of people show up and hang out and we had a great time. It was one of the few chances I had at Techshow to actually sit down and talk to a few people for more than a couple minutes at a time, which is the flip side of my reflection on Techshow. It is such a fun place. There are thousands of lawyers, there’s hundreds of vendors. It’s so fun to be in the exhibit hall, and I had maybe two conversations that lasted longer than two minutes, because there is so much going on. It’s stressful, and I remember on multiple occasions seeing somebody I would have loved to sit down and have coffee or a drink or dinner with walking by and I just had to watch them go because I didn’t have time to talk to them. It’s hard.

Aaron Street: And how much of that do you think is the fault of the structure and format of ABA Techshow? And how much of that is because you are the Sam Glover?

Sam Glover: I don’t think much of it is the fact that I’m the Sam Glover, because I’ve heard that from almost everyone who attends, and I’m not sure it’s the fault of Techshow. It’s just a big event with a lot going on, and for those people who want to go and connect with other people, it’s just really hard to make space to do that. And then it’s so disappointing, you come back and like I really wanted to spend time with Natalie Worsfold who was a recent podcast guest and a friend, and I wanted to have dinner or coffee or a drink or even five minutes chatting with her and I didn’t get to. And I really wanted to spend time with Cat Moon and I didn’t get to. I didn’t even see her, I don’t think. And Patrick Palace and just a bunch of other friends who I wanted to see.

Sam Glover: And then you get back and you realize that there were a dozen other people who you didn’t even know were there, but I wouldn’t have gotten to talk to them anyway.

Aaron Street: I definitely don’t want to shit on the ABA or shit on Techshow, but you say it isn’t the fault of Techshow and yet if that is the common unifying thread of the people who would otherwise most value the event and everybody is coming back, if not disappointed, then at least frustrated with how overwhelming parts of it are or underwhelming other parts of it are or how massive and big it is. Is there something more or different that would be helpful?

Sam Glover: I mean, yeah. I think there is a Skunkworks project to imagine ways to change Techshow or ways to improve it, and I don’t know if that will go anywhere, but I think it’s more about the format. I mean, Techshow has the same format as lots and lots of conferences, so it’s not really a knock on Techshow, but it’s one panel after another with relatively short breaks. And even though they’re hour long in expo hall breaks, that’s not much in the context of Techshow. My takeaway is that our approach to LabCon, formerly known as TBD Law is 100% right, that making space to bring people together who want to be in a room together and want to have those important conversations together, and then not interrupting those conversations with panels and expo halls, vendors and exhibitors, is a really important and valuable thing, and I’m so glad that we do it.

Sam Glover: I just think in some ways it is everything that Techshow is not. It validates for me our choice to do it that way.

Aaron Street: But we’re still excited to keep going to Techshow.

Sam Glover: Oh fuck yeah. I mean, I love going there. It’s just there’s this frustrating component where it’s like, “God, I missed so many opportunities to talk with people.” I don’t know if I can hack Techshow and figure out how to do that in the future, but it’s exciting and exhausting and invigorating and ultimately kind of disappointing, which isn’t really Techshow’s fault.

Aaron Street: Cool. On a totally different note, and not to cannibalize the conversation we’re about to have with Lainey, but we are in the midst of rolling out our 2019 best law firm websites contest, I think our 10th annual contest reviewing the best law firm websites in the country. And this topic of kind of website accessibility standards is one that we take really seriously, and we’ve kind of had some interesting findings as we apply those standards as a criteria to what it means to have a great law firm website. I’m curious, some of your takeaways are anecdotes from this process in 2019.

Sam Glover: Yeah. I think I must have talked with Haben Girma before last year’s contest, because last year was the first time we started taking accessibility into account. And we run everything through pretty well established accessibility tool to figure out what kinds of errors websites are having. And both Lainey and Haben who are the two podcast guests I’ve had who are really thinking about accessibility and online websites and services, they’ve said how important it is to make accessibility part of the lens that you see the world through, and it’s not something you get to put on afterwards. And so I’m glad that we’re using it as one of the lenses through which we view the entrance in our best websites contest, because you can’t have a best website if it ignores 20% of the population.

Aaron Street: Yeah, and I think it’s interesting because we’ve tried to talk about this pretty much as much as we can, both in the text of those contest posts, but also in multiple episodes of this podcast. It’s a topic we take really seriously, and yet, it’s clear that in the submissions we’re getting from hundreds of lawyers and law firms and website designers all over the country, that it isn’t a topic that has bubbled up as something that the industry as a whole is spending very much effort thinking about at all. So much so that we were reviewing one entry in the contest yesterday that had a very nice looking website. It was a solo firm where the attorney is someone with a disability and the firm’s brand is around marketing to people with disabilities, and yet, it had one of the highest scores of accessibility errors of any of the websites in the contest.

Aaron Street: And I don’t put blame on anyone here, because it’s a new topic and it’s a hard topic and it’s not something that everyone is just born understanding as far as how web standards go, and yet it feels disheartening that we can be in an era where it is very easy to figure out what this topic is, and that it still remains something that people aren’t spending much time on.

Sam Glover: Yeah, and one of the troubles with this is, and Lainey only touches on it in passing, so I think it’s worth highlighting here is that the tools that we use to build websites are not built to be accessible from the ground up. This is really something where requiring each individual website builder to deliberately build accessibility into their website is the least effective and efficient way to do it. I know WordPress is getting better and many of the pieces, the plugins and extensions that go into WordPress are getting better at being sort of inclusive and accessible by design. I think Squarespace websites have a tendency to be good, but it also depends on every component that you plug into the website. Lainey even brings up the idea of cognitive accessibility, which is what about people with limitations on how their brain works that can’t understand the complicated legal jargon on your website.

Sam Glover: And so she actually has rewritten all of her pages with a summary that is accessible at a ninth grade level, something that wasn’t even on my radar, but makes a lot of sense and aligns well with how I’ve talked about how lawyers need to communicate anyway.

Aaron Street: Yeah. I mean, and this is kind of the mantra of all of these episodes where we’ve talked about this topic is it is almost always the case that addressing these issues also makes everything better for everyone else. And so like if you’re failing to write at a ninth grade level and it is an issue of disability access that causes you to address that, great that that was the trigger for your change, but if you’re writing at a law school level for your clients, you’re already failing.

Sam Glover: And because Lainey and I are going to get into that more-

Aaron Street: We’ll stop cannibalizing the-

Sam Glover: … I’m going to leave that for our conversation. We’re going to hear briefly with a sponsored conversation from Marl Cerniglia, from Spotlight Branding, and then we’ll hear the rest of my conversation with Lainey.

Mark Cerniglia: Hey everyone, this is Mark Cerniglia. I am one of the original co founders of Spotlight Branding. We’re an internet marketing firm dedicated to lawyers. More importantly, we try to guide lawyers to what we believe is a better way to market their practice so that they ultimately become unforgettable to their potential clients and referral sources. And really, the difference at Spotlight Branding, and I think you’re going to find this in our discussion today, is that we are really one of the only internet marketing companies that isn’t focused on search engines and instead is really focused on your brand and helping you stay in touch with people and really helping you build an unforgettable brand.

Sam Glover: So let’s talk about that quickly. You gave me three reasons why SEO is not necessarily where your attention should be focused. I’m going to cover the first two briefly, and then we’re going to really talk a bit more about the third one. So the first reason you gave me was pointing out that SEO has limited real estate, which is obvious. There’re only a couple of spots on Google and not everyone can win. The second one is that SEO often means competing for people who are shopping for lawyers. If somebody Google’s Ohio accident lawyer, they’re going to come up with a bunch of different options, and they may click a bunch of them and then do some price shopping. But the third reason you gave me is that SEO can be a distraction. So say more about that, because I think there’s a lot there.

Mark Cerniglia: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for kind of setting that up. This one’s really interesting, because you’re right, it doesn’t take much to understand when you really think about it, okay, at the end of the day, why is everyone so focused on search engines, only so many people can win there and why focus on getting more clients. A lot of times those clients are price shopping. But the third one is so important, this idea of SEO being a distraction, because I think it’s the least obvious one. And there’s really two ways that I’ve seen SEO be a distraction. One is that I think it affects kind of the strategy upon which certain marketing efforts are executed. So for example, at Spotlight Branding, one of our sayings is that we focus on people not search engines.

Mark Cerniglia: And so what we mean by that is when we’re creating content, whether it’s website content, blog content or social media content, we are creating that content based on what we think a potential clients going to want to read, not what we think Google’s robots are going to want to read. I also see people, they get a website built and they’re so focused talking to their website company about, “Hey, well what are you going to do to SEO the website? Are you going to do some meta tags and things like that?” And what they just don’t understand is that stuff is so insignificant. Trying to do some meta tags on a web page, or trying to throw a couple of keywords into a blog is so insignificant. And here’s the key, it’s insignificant when that’s really all you’re doing in the realm of SEO. If you really want to go for SEO, you got to go big or go home, it doesn’t really move the needle to do a bunch of little things.

Mark Cerniglia: And that’s why really, most times you’re hiring a company that’s pretty pricey, and even then it’s hit or miss, but there’s a lot of stuff that happens, and a lot of stuff happens off the website too. So my point is that a lot of times it’s a distraction because you’re focused on the wrong things, you are doing things for the wrong reasons, creating content for robots, and not necessarily people, or if you’re having your web developer focus too much on SEO and not enough on the actual website itself, the design, the message it sends, the brand, the user experience. But the other area I want to touch on is that I think the focus on SEO has become so profound that lawyers are actually neglecting other types of strategies that could benefit them, particularly on the internet. I mentioned to you Sam when we were talking before we started this episode that there’s a study out there from the Texas Tech School of Business all on law firms that says most lawyers are only getting about one third of the referrals that are available to them.

Mark Cerniglia: In other words, the amount of people you know right now in your network, you can actually double or triple your referrals. And so we at Spotlight Branding, we look a lot at how the internet can help you do that. We look at how things like an email newsletter keeps you in touch with people, or how social media first and foremost, should actually be a tool to help you stay connected with your existing network, stay top of mind, reinforce your brand. And so some of these really simple strategies like a consistent social media presence or an email newsletter done the right way, goes such a long way in actually helping you increase your referrals, or build your brand, build your reputation. And I can’t tell you how many lawyers are out there focusing on search engines and meanwhile, don’t have a solid email newsletter or aren’t really doing social media the right way. That’s why SEOs are a distraction, either it leads you to do certain things the wrong way or for the wrong reasons or maybe even just to neglect some really fundamental areas of marketing such as a newsletter or something like that.

Sam Glover: Yeah, really has its own gravity. If you’d like to learn more, you can visit spotlightbranding.com/SEO to get the anti SEO guide. That’s spotlightbranding.com/SEO and you can find the link in our show notes. Thanks so much, Mark.

Mark Cerniglia: Thanks, everyone.

Lainey Feingold: My name is Lainey Feingold, and I am a disability civil rights lawyer in Berkeley, California. I’m also an author of a book about how I practice law, and I’m a solo practice lawyer who works out of her house.

Sam Glover: And a recommendation from one of our former podcast guests, the amazing Haben Girma, so I just wanted to give that shout out. Lainey, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for being with us.

Lainey Feingold: Thanks for having me. I’m excited to have a conversation.

Sam Glover: So tell me, what does a disability civil rights lawyer do exactly?

Lainey Feingold: Well, we do many things, but I have a very small niche. I have represented the blind community and blind people in the United States since about 1995, and that is pretty much the only people I represent is those organizations, representing blind people, and I work on technology issues, things like access to websites, ATMs that talk, prescription labels that can be listened to. So I do technology access for blind people.

Sam Glover: Very cool. This is a bit of a tenuous connection, but when you mentioned being from Berkeley, it reminded me of an excellent episode of 99% Invisible, which is sort of a design podcast where they talked about where one accessibility issue got resolved, which is in Berkeley and that was curb cuts, the things that make it so that you can ride a bicycle up a curb or a wheelchair, and the story is amazing. I assume you’re familiar with it?

Lainey Feingold: Yes. So Berkeley is known as the birthplace of the independent living movement and the first city to have widespread curb cuts, and some of the heroes of disability rights historically like Ed Roberts and Jacobus tenBroek was blind.

Sam Glover: And heroes, like Ed Roberts was a badass. He and his buddies would get their sledgehammers out and go make their own curb cuts at night in their wheelchairs. What an awesome guy? I love that story.

Lainey Feingold: Ed Roberts was an awesome guy and I was lucky enough to meet him when I first got involved in this work, but blind people have been badasses too.

Sam Glover: Absolutely.

Lainey Feingold: I have a friend Josh Miele, and in the ’90s he had a stamp made up that said, “Don’t believe the braille.” And he would stamp it on ATM screens because ATM didn’t work for blind people, but the American Bankers Association had put braille on them as if they would.

Sam Glover: So was it just fake braille?

Lainey Feingold: No, it was real braille, but ATMs are interactive as your listeners know, and so the braille could give some information like, call this number if you have a problem or insert your card, but you didn’t get the screen back and forth, which you need to use in an ATM. Now ATMs talk as result of work that my clients and I and other people have done, but at the time they didn’t.

Sam Glover: So you just reminded me of something that was a question. I remember when ATMs first became a thing and I remember seeing the braille on them, and wondering, when most of the interactions happen on the screen what good does it do me to know that a certain button is labeled one or A or B or whatever.

Lainey Feingold: Yeah, it doesn’t really do blind people much good, and that was my first entree into disability civil rights, and my clients and I worked with major banks in the United States in this process called structured negotiation, and we collaborated, and we tested machines, and get to do cool stuff like go into really secure places and look at the machines in development. And now pretty much all ATMs in the US should be talking.

Sam Glover: I think that’s a good entree into covering kind of an overview of what accessibility requirements actually are, especially in the online and digital world. You can’t just say you’re doing it, you can’t just slap some braille on it and say, call this number. What is actually required? And I realize it’s a big, broad topic and a big, big question, but maybe you can give us the short version of what you have to actually do.

Lainey Feingold: One thing I’m fond of saying, I do a lot of public speaking about accessibility, is that accessibility is not one and done. It’s not a sound bite and it is a civil right. So if you remember accessibility as a civil right, it can you remind you, “Oh, it’s about participation and inclusion.” And when you talk about the web, one easy way to think of it is when you think of deaf people, if you don’t have captions on your videos, deaf people are excluded from having information that you’re trying to provide the public. So there are international standards, there are business processes. I did a talk with a Microsoft lawyer last year where we talked about how to bake in accessibility, and we had cookies for everybody with all these different ingredients, because there’s so many rules and there’s design standards and coding standards and training and many things that go into accessibility.

Lainey Feingold: I think if you remember that it’s about inclusion, and it’s also about disabled people. So that whole ATM thing would never have happened if the American Bankers Association, which may well have been well meaning. They got the new Americans with Disabilities Act that said ATMs should be usable, they thought braille, but if they had talked to some blind people like they got to do in structured negotiations, they probably wouldn’t have done the braille. So including disabled people in all your technology, purchasing or design decisions is really an important piece.

Sam Glover: Yeah, we talked about that when I had Haben on too. That you don’t just get to do accessibility one time, it needs to be integrated into your design process. So if you’re building a website, before you upload the theme or the update, you need to consider whether or not this actually is going to be something that people who need assistive technologies can use. Can somebody listen to your website and navigate it that way, right?

Lainey Feingold: Yes. And the content management system in many ways should be better. For example, if you put a picture up on a website, on the back end, you need to say what that picture is, otherwise when a blind person comes across it, not only won’t they know what you put up, but it will often read as really distracting gibberish.

Sam Glover: We’ve been thinking about this a lot too, because they’re in many ways search engine optimization requirements overlap with accessibility standards, because Google’s algorithm, it’s web crawler bot is not a human, and it needs help understanding things, and sometimes those things overlap. But those alternative descriptions of images is a good example of where a lot of people name images using the keywords that they want the post to optimize for, rather than the description of what the image is, which is helpful. And so there’s some overlap, but they’re not always the same thing. I mean, that’s one change that we’ve made is we’ve tried to make sure that our alt tags are descriptive of the image, not trying to say something else in order to get some search engine juice.

Lainey Feingold: SEO is one of the many things that is good about accessibility beyond including disabled people, same way with captions. If your videos are captioned, you’re going to be getting more hits from the content than if they’re not captioned.

Sam Glover: And you’re going to make me happy. We’ve talked a little bit about Microsoft I think is the … Do they call it inclusive design is their theory?

Lainey Feingold: Oh, Microsoft, they are the leaders. It used to be I used to have to give talks and I’d have an opinion or whatever, but now, we can say, “We’ll look at Microsoft.” So they have built in … If your listeners aren’t familiar with some of these things, you can look in Word in the tools, they have an accessibility checker now, in the PowerPoint there’s an accessibility checker. And they don’t just say, “This is wrong,” slap you on the wrist, but they explain. I mean, the PowerPoint stuff’s amazing. They say you should do this because if you don’t do it, here’s what’s missing.

Sam Glover: Well, and they’ve incorporated it into their design philosophy as well, was one of the things I love. We’ve talked about this before, but the device you are listening to this podcast on began as a technology to enable accessibility, all aspects of it, right? Phones were a solution for people who were hard of hearing, so were keyboards and email, and so much of the technology we use today began as a solution to a problem that people with disabilities were having. And so Microsoft has just said, “Well, let’s try and solve all the rest of their problems.” And I bet the rest of us will find it useful as well, curb cuts being another example. I can ride my bike up a curb, but the solution was initially for someone with a wheelchair, so we can all benefit.

Lainey Feingold: Yes. There is a great list of those kinds of things, like a typewriter so two lovers could communicate with each other through, otherwise couldn’t. Which is one of the things I’ve really been thinking a lot about because it’s more legal attention to accessibility, and our professions looks at things a certain way, but accessibility has a potential to be so innovative and so creative. And there’s a tension there between when you put something into the law versus when you leave it for design and creative people, so that’s something I think about a lot these days.

Sam Glover: Well, maybe that’s a good point to sort of pivot to talking about law firms and law firm websites. We’ve tried to talk about some reasons that it’s a good idea to pay attention to accessibility, but let’s talk about the stick as well. I know Haben mentioned that law firm websites can be seen as a public accommodation, maybe you could help us understand that.

Lainey Feingold: Yeah, well, when we talked earlier about your interest in that, I said, “Wait, I think it’s actually in the Americans with Disabilities Act.” So Title III of the ADA is your listeners may know is the one that has to do with public accommodations, which are private companies that serve the public. And sure enough, right in the definition, there’s a whole list that starts out with a laundromat and deep inside a list of pharmacies, insurance offices, travel service, beauty shop and other things is office of an accountant or a lawyer. And the reason for that is simple when you go back to the civil rights. And so I like really separating out the legal foundation from the legal strategy, and I don’t see the foundation as a stick. The foundation is the inclusion idea, like, “Oh, you’re a lawyer, you’re serving the public, you should serve the whole public.” Someone who’s deaf or someone who uses a wheelchair or someone who’s blind, same with your employees.

Lainey Feingold: There’s more and more disabled lawyers and disabled judges, and basically digital should be born accessible now. There’s really no reason that everything that’s digital can’t be available to everyone, that’s the beauty of digital. So I don’t see so much as a stick, I see some of the strategies that people use to enforce the civil rights of sticks but I don’t see the law itself as a stick. I see it as well, it’s good we live in a place that recognizes everybody has a right to go to a lawyer, a laundromat or a dry cleaner.

Sam Glover: I don’t think it’s particularly productive to have a conversation where we sort of try to analyze what the law does and doesn’t say, but is there some pushback against the idea that law firm websites are a component of the law office and so they need to be accessible? Or do you think that it’s just not on the radar of lawyers? And I’m thinking about like, we do an annual contest of the best law firm websites and we take accessibility into account when we do that. Marshall is actually running them through the webAIM tool to try and figure out how accessible they are, a lot of law firm websites are not really paying attention to this, it doesn’t seem like. And so I’m wondering if it’s just not on the radar or if lawyers maybe just think that it doesn’t actually apply to their websites, only to their physical office or something.

Lainey Feingold: I would bet it’s more not on the radar, and also, I think a lot of law firms contract out their website, they have a third party do it, and maybe they have some general language in a contract that says this website will meet legal standards. I do a lot of work trying to talk to people about when you’re purchasing technology or technology services, you need to be really specific about what your expectation is on accessibility. It’s no longer just enough to say, “Give me something accessible.” How is it going to be tested? What standards are you going to use? Things like that. So I’d say there hasn’t been enough attention in the legal space on it.

Sam Glover: Do you have recommended language? Like if I were going to put together a contract with my web developer, would I use something like the webAIM tool and say, the contract says that there will be zero accessibility errors according to the webAIM tool or is there some better standard?

Lainey Feingold: The webAIM tool is good. WebAIM is an organization that does accessibility consulting, and they’re very skilled and the head of it is great, and it’s really good organizations. They would be the first to admit that an automated tool isn’t enough-

Sam Glover: Of course not.

Lainey Feingold: … if you want to ensure accessibility. But what’s happening now is there’s a lot of activity in the legal space which has attracted so called experts who aren’t really experts and people looking for a quick fix. So I would caution your listeners to not just … It is good to do automated testing, but there’s no substitute for having the site looked at and tested by people with disabilities, and you can write all that into the contract. I had a new website done a couple years ago, and I had very specific language about who’s going to test it, and when is it going to be tested before delivery? What happens when something gets delivered with accessibility errors? Whose responsibility is it to fix? Basically, law firms need to start treating accessibility just like they would any other quality that’s important to them like security, which gets so much attention, of course it should. We’re sort of hoping that one day accessibility will be looked at the same way.

Sam Glover: Would you be willing to share that contract language? I’m sure our listeners would be curious to know what that might look like when they’re looking for a developer to update their website.

Lainey Feingold: Yes, I can give it. It’s more, not too much language, but Mark could probably put something together like that, but more of considerations, because firms are different sizes but there’s certain considerations when you have a technology contract that law firms should know about because they’re advising clients who have their own websites but they also should know about for themselves.

Sam Glover: I would love to get that from you and when we do we’ll include it in the show notes. You have a list of five things lawyers need to know about online accessibility, are there some that we haven’t covered yet that we should make sure to touch on?

Lainey Feingold: You’ve probably read that article more recently than I have, so you might have to tell me about technology today. I mean, mostly, I feel like it’s an awareness right now. It’s an awareness thing. And in addition, I wrote that article about a year ago, which is in law technology today, people can check it out.

Sam Glover: We’ll throw the link in the show notes for sure.

Lainey Feingold: Yeah. As I just mentioned, because there is so much attention to the legal space right now, there’s a lot of lawsuits being filed, it’s really important to what I say vet before you get. Don’t just rush out and hire the first consultant that comes knocking on your door, and don’t recommend to your clients that they do that, because people end up throwing good money after bad, because they get scared or they’re just like, “Oh, we need to fix this quick.” You got to think of accessibility like you would anything you care about. Interview a couple people, see if you have internal expertise. There’s so much free information that’s good on the internet and this great conferences. So there’s a whole community of accessibility that isn’t so much about the law that lawyers can really learn from.

Sam Glover: I often find that when it comes to things that feel like marketing or sales, like a law firm website, lawyers really want a quick fix answer, and sounds like the answer is you kind of need to take the time to get this right. and it’s not just a quick fix answer yet. Maybe at some point in the future it’ll be as simple as, use this tool, or these are accessibility approved WordPress themes, or this website builder has got all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted and you can just use it, but right now it sounds like the answer is do a little bit of research.

Lainey Feingold: Yes. And some of these automatic site builders, they do have accessibility features, but they have to be turned on. They have to be used. And so some things might be simple, I don’t want to scare anybody away, and say you can’t do this without expertise, it’s not that, but you have to know why you’re doing it. Don’t think of it as a checklist. Lawyers like, “Oh, here’s the regulation. Check, check, check, I’m done.”

Sam Glover: It’s more about shifting the way you think about the things that you build, the things you put together and the design that you do.

Lainey Feingold: Exactly. You can look at websites and say, like people always say to me, who aren’t disabled, they go to my website, they’re like, “Oh, wow. It’s really easy to find things,” or, “Really easy to read it. I like the contrast.” Whatever, those are all accessibility things. So there’s a great expression that we have, which is essential for some, useful for all. And there’s some great videos, your listeners could start there. There’s some great three-minute videos, I can send you the link and you can just see, like captioning is a good example, without this feature that’s essential for deaf people, but it’s so useful in so many environments, noisy environments or whatever.

Sam Glover: For sure. We need to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors. When we come back we’re going to shift gears slightly and talk about your approach to structured negotiation as a way of resolving disability claims instead of litigation, sometimes at least, which I think is fascinating. And so we’ll be back in a minute to talk about that. Speaker 6: Legal research is too expensive, hard to use and time consuming. It doesn’t have to be. With Casetext, you can save $2,000 and 210 hours on legal research this year. Casetext has unique artificial intelligence technology that does a lot of the research for you. Just drag and drop a complaint or brief and you’ll quickly find cases on the same facts, legal issues and jurisdiction. Casetext is fast, well designed and comprehensive, and it’s very affordable. Go to casetext.com/lawyerist to get Casetext for $55 a month. Casetext is modern legal research trusted by over 3,000 small firms and 40 firms in the Am Law 200. Go to casetext.com/lawyerist to get started. Speaker 7: If you have a small business or know someone who does, you probably know that small business owners wear a lot of hats, and some of those hats are totally great, but some, like filing taxes and running payroll for example, are not so great. That’s where Gusto comes in. Gusto makes payroll, taxes, and HR easy for small businesses, fast, simple payroll processing, benefits and expert HR support all in one place. Gusto automatically pays and files your federal, state and local taxes, so you don’t have to worry about it. Plus, they make it easy to add on health benefits and even 401(k)s for your team. Those old school clunky payroll providers just weren’t built for the way modern small businesses work, but Gusto is, so let them wear one of your many hats. You have better things to do. Listeners get three months free when they run their first payroll. Try a demo and see for yourself at gusto.com/lawyerist. That’s gusto.com/lawyerist. Speaker 7: In business, reputation is everything, and while online reviews can make or break you, your best clients probably aren’t showing up, and that’s too bad, because if they did, you’d have more clients, more referrals and be the top rated law firm in your area. If you’re tired of waiting for reviews to trickle in, you have a choice, either keep waiting or get proactive with Podium. Podium helps you get more reviews on the sites that matter most. Use their messaging platform to give friendly reminders, while sending clients straight to the review sites that you care about the most. With Podium’s built in analytics, you can set goals, monitor progress and incentivize your team to reach out to more clients. Become the number one choice online. Visit podium.com/lawyerist to save 10% when you start. That’s podium.com/lawyerist to get started and save 10%.

Sam Glover: Okay, we’re back. So Lainey, we’ve set the context here by talking about online accessibility and how to think about it, especially in the context of law firms. One of the things you do is when you find a company that isn’t up to snuff on accessibility, you try to get them to change, and the way you do this is with an approach that you call structured negotiation rather than litigation or at least sometimes. Maybe you could set the stage for us. Tell us about that, and kind of what the different approaches, because I think like most of our listeners, I immediately asked you, well, what’s the difference between that and sending a demand letter? And why does it work better for you?

Lainey Feingold: Yeah. So structured negotiation, I actually wrote a whole book about structured negotiation [crosstalk 00:34:14]-

Sam Glover: You don’t have to try and cover it all here.

Lainey Feingold: … anyone who’s curious can check that out. When we first started working on ATMs we, for many reasons, decided rather than file a lawsuit, maybe we should try talking to the banks about the technology. We wrote letters to Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo back in the ’90s, and much to our surprise, they all said, “Yeah, we’ll talk to you.” So we did this negotiation process, we didn’t call it structured negotiation. We were just sort of trying to solve a problem, blind people can’t use ATMs. And towards the end of those negotiations, our blind clients who really are integrally involved in the cases that I do, came to me and said, “There’s a new thing called online banking. We have to be able to use that.” And our blind clients were very early adopters.

Lainey Feingold: They had rigged up all these things like computers that spoke to the banks, and the bank information came back and it went to a braille display, and it was all new to me. I didn’t really know anything about this. We went to Bank of America and said, “There’s this thing, online banking, and it’s new technology, but that needs to work for blind people too.” And because we were in a conflict situation, there was no, “What do you mean? You have a new cause of action three years later.” It wasn’t that. It was about, we had the relationship. The bank people knew their customers who instead of being plaintiffs with a plaintiff hat on, were customers in a collaborative process. They said yes, and in 2000, Bank of America became the first company in the United States to make a commitment on web access.

Lainey Feingold: So we decided, “Wow, that really worked.” We didn’t have discovery, we had joined shared expertise, we didn’t have expert panels. I don’t want to say it was a love fest, because it wasn’t. There were lots of ups and downs on the way, but we’re like, “Wow, maybe this is a thing.” So we called it structured negotiation, and I’ve been using it ever since for 99.9% of the work I do. And I think the whole trick is in what you just said, how do you start?

Sam Glover: Right, because I think most plaintiffs’ lawyers are like, “Oh, I open up every single lawsuit with an opportunity to negotiate, and I send a demand letter in every single one,” and I think that’s the important difference.

Lainey Feingold: I really think the whole thing is in that, and in fact, I have a couple quotes in the book from friends who are more traditional lawyers who tried the process and one of them says, “Before I knew about this, I thought of a demand letter as just like check the box and the demand letter.” So to do an invitation to negotiate is really different, and one of the key differences is that you’re allowed to say something good about the organization.

Sam Glover: Right, I assume it’s not just a threat.

Lainey Feingold: Yes. Well, I have a slide in my slide deck of a cat looking in the mirror and seeing a lion, and I love that, because every organization, no matter how big or how small, sees themself in a certain way. And in many types of law, not just disability rights, you can frame the legal violations as inconsistent with how the company sees itself. We know you pride yourself on safety. I spent a lot of time on company websites looking at how do they think of themselves. So we write the letter and it’s very serious. We put in the statute, the case law, but even that we frame it, it’s all about the framing. Since we start the legal section with a sentence that says, “In structured negotiation, one of the beauties of it …” Not exactly this language. One of the beauties of it is that you don’t have to fight about legal issues you disagree on, but within that context, we think it is helpful to explain to you why this is a legal violation.

Lainey Feingold: Every sentence, the tone can be different without detracting in any way from the power of the claims or the value of your clients.

Sam Glover: I’m wondering if this approach … I think it probably has broader application. I’m wondering if it’s the kind of thing where lawyers just aren’t going to get themselves into the frame of mind, lawyers who are used to fighting and being bulldog litigators aren’t going to be able to get in the frame of mind that is approaching a company, a corporation that we’ve become jaded about or learn to view as the bad guy, I think it’s hard to approach a company like that with the idea that we can be partners in improving this thing and it’s a thing that you need to worry about.

Lainey Feingold: Well, the last chapter of the book is called Cultivating the Structured Negotiation Mindset. The reason it’s the last chapter is because I was afraid if I started talking about patience and trust and equanimity and not making assumptions at the beginning, I couldn’t get a lawyer to open the book. They’d open the book, they’d say, “Patience, trust, forget it. I can’t do this thing.” But I think those things can be learned just like we learn how to be aggressive, just like we learn how not to trust, just how we learn to make assumptions. Once we send the letter the next real juncture point, I call these, throw in the towel points, because there’s so many places along the way you could say, “This isn’t working. I’m going to throw in the towel.” And the very first one is what kind of letter you get back, and how you read that letter, because well first of all, there’s a time, do you even get the letter?

Lainey Feingold: You make up a date, “Please respond by X date, you don’t get the answer, you think they’re blowing you off. That’s an assumption. It’s not always true. I’ve often spend a lot of time that that date which I just made up, because we don’t have any court rules. So all the engine has to come from the party who wants to work in this way, which I’ve come to believe can also be the defense side. That you can get a lawsuit and say, “You know what, my client has defenses, but let’s see if we can work these out without spending so much time in negative energy.” So we get the response letter, and oftentimes, “We don’t have to do this. Websites aren’t covered by the law.” There’s lots of arguments. All you need is one line in there that says, “But we’re willing to talk to you.” Another slide I have is this big pile of nos. It’s like all these macaroni nos and oh and it’s … A great quote, I’m forgetting who said it, “I’ve stood on a mountain of nos to get to a yes.”

Sam Glover: That sounds about right.

Lainey Feingold: And I think lawyers, we’re just trained to say, “Oh, well they want to fight, we’ll fight.” Or, “They didn’t give me what we want.” But especially-

Sam Glover: I mean, that’s absolutely been my mindset in the past when I was suing debt collectors, same deal. I’m just like, “Screw you, here’s your complaint. Let’s fight it out.”

Lainey Feingold: Yeah, which lawsuits have been a very important component in civil rights cases and in the web accessibility space in the digital space. So it’s not like I’m here to say never to a lawsuit, but I think that especially on issues where it would be good for people from opposing clients to know each other, once you step into that lawsuit conflict space, it’s very hard to get to know each other as people. I mean, I’ve tried not to use the word plaintiff, because I looked up the etymology of it, and I swear to god it means wretched complainer. You can look it up yourself. And the word defend, it’s like you get a law suit, of course you want to defend yourself, you got a lawsuit. Is there a way as lawyers we can create an environment where people say “Yeah, we got a claim here. We have a problem, can we solve it together?

Sam Glover: I imagine the course of your conversations when you’re doing this sort of thing sometimes revolves around sort of the cost benefit, and I’m wondering, that’s one question when you’re dealing with a Wells Fargo, it’s an entirely different question when it comes down to the level of a small law firm. I’m wondering how you can help small firms think about the cost of being inclusive, the cost of complying, and I mean the actual monetary cost versus the benefit or the risk or however you want to characterize it. Because I know Jess Birken after she ran her website through the webAIM tool, decided she was going to make it as inclusive and accessible as possible, and I think the quote she got from her web developer was something like $10,000 to help her with, which is just like a non starter.

Sam Glover: So she did what she could and she documented that process and it ended up being less expensive, but it feels insensitive to even talk about it in that way, but it’s a real cost and I’m just kind of wondering how to think about it. I don’t really know how to think about it.

Lainey Feingold: Yeah. Well, there’s a couple things. One is that the Americans with Disabilities Act and most of the state laws that reflect the ADA are … Don’t forget, George Bush signed it into law. So there is an undue burden defense for this type of thing.

Sam Glover: Yeah, I guess that’s what we’re trying to figure out here is, what is that versus reasonable accommodation? And how to think about that?

Lainey Feingold: Yeah. I mean, one thing I really think is important is transparency, is to have an accessibility statement on your website. I have a post I can send you for the show notes with a few large companies, but you can look at my statement where I’ve been keeping track for like 67 years about companies making statements. And training your staff if you get a call, “Oh, I can’t use this on my website.” And one of the things I’m fond of saying is people don’t want to sue, people don’t even want to do kinder, gentler, structured negotiation. They want to go to a website get the information they need, get it quickly and go out. So say you have certain things like documents, like if you have a retainer, to make a document accessible is not as expensive a proposition as making a whole website accessible.

Lainey Feingold: So make a roadmap for yourself. Make it reasonable for your budget and your size and say what you’re doing. Say what you’re doing.

Sam Glover: I really like the transparency of that approach.

Lainey Feingold: Yeah, because what you can do is you can offer people a one off until the time your full site is accessible, you can make people know that if there’s something they can’t access, that you will make provisions to make it in accessible format for them. So every law firm should have a plan. And when you get a new site, there’s no excuse for the new site, because when accessibility is from the beginning, it does not significantly add to the cost. And if you get someone who tells you it does, then you should look around for someone else.

Sam Glover: So maybe the approach is identify all of the things, your documents, your website, whatever else you might have that you need to check the accessibility on, and then find out where they stand and the things you need to improve and come up with your roadmap and your strategy and maybe put on your website and let people know like, “Here’s what we know is not yet accessible, but it’s on our radar and it’s on our roadmap, and here are the dates we expect to be able to do something about it,” or, “Here’s why we’re not going to be able to do something about it.”

Lainey Feingold: Yes. Now, I could feel myself becoming a defense lawyer listening to you, because for people I work with, people would want to know that and people would understand. Maybe someone would go to the site and say, “Oh, the priority should be different,” and you would have an interactive experience with that, whatever. I know there’s debate in the defense community about the transparency piece, which I think the transparency is winning out. Microsoft is very big on transparency, for example. Anybody who’s global, I don’t know if your listeners have global law firms-

Sam Glover: For sure.

Lainey Feingold: … but there’s now international standards that specifically require the accessibility statement to be transparent, but there is that balancing act between, how transparent are you and a certain type of lawyer looks for that then says, “Hah.”

Sam Glover: Right. It potentially provides the ammunition for a gotcha, right? Because you’ve admitted that you’re not accessible on something.

Lainey Feingold: Yes. So I think the wording of it needs to be careful, but I think the more important part than saying what you haven’t done is saying, “We’re committed to making our site accessible. If you experience anything that you have a challenge around, call this number, send an email to this person.” And then it should go without saying, but it doesn’t, make sure whoever’s answering the phone or responding to the email understands that people use sites in different ways. Another piece we haven’t talked about is the whole cognitive accessibility.

Sam Glover: Oh, say more.

Lainey Feingold: Well, it’s getting more attention internationally, and there’s a task force on cognitive accessibility, which generally lumps in issues like how do artistic people interact with digital content or people with dyslexia. It’s hard for lawyers, because our information is complex, too complex, but people can see on my site, there’s basically three levels of accessibility standards in what they call the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. And most organizations and law firms should be striving for AA version of meeting that standard. Well, given the work I do and my public role in it, I strive for level AAA. And one of the AAA requirements is to have your content be at ninth grade reading level or if not, have a summary. So I do that summary at ninth grade reading level for most of the content on my website. It’s a good exercise for me too.

Sam Glover: I think, you should be able to explain complicated concepts that at least in ninth grade reading level, so that just jives with what I generally tell lawyers they ought to be able to do anyway.

Lainey Feingold: Absolutely. Word has a checker. It’s not 100% accurate, but as part of the spell check, you can see the reading level check. And even things that I think I wrote, “Oh, I won’t need a summary, because the whole thing will be easy to read.” Rarely do you get to the ninth grade reading level, in part because we’re used to talking with a lot of clauses in our sentences, bigger words and things that pump up the reading level. But some of the issues around cognitive for example, not having flashing content or having a lot of white space, everybody likes that. Not having the videos come on automatically with the audio, things that are annoying. It’s another one of those essential for some-

Sam Glover: Annoying for others.

Lainey Feingold: Yes, exactly. So there’s a lot of really good work being done internationally on the cognitive piece.

Sam Glover: Very cool. Is there anything that we should cover that I didn’t ask you about yet?

Lainey Feingold: Yeah, I just want to say one thing about the sort of mindset of structured negotiation which is I really do think it can be learned, because I don’t think I was this person when I first started being a lawyer.

Sam Glover: You had a bulldog phase?

Lainey Feingold: Maybe not so bulldog, but I started out representing labor unions and doing traditional civil rights cases. So that’s one piece to say is that you can learn these things, and the other thing to say is that it’s almost miraculous how when you behave in a collaborative way, how everyone around the table becomes collaborative. And in the disability rights field, some of the defense lawyers, I know them through structured negotiation and other people know them through litigation. People behave differently. I don’t know if you’ve had anybody on who’s been to the neuroscience of things, but I completely believe in this mirror neuron thing. If one side is being problem solving, very hard for the other side to start being conflictual. I use a metaphor of the shark and the dolphin, why is this profession analogized to the shark?

Sam Glover: Why not the dolphin?

Lainey Feingold: Yeah, I do workshops on this and I say, “Well, what are the qualities of the shark?” And they’re like, “Aggressive, attacking, menacing, intimidating.” That’s what a lot of people think of our profession. And the dolphin gets things done. I mean, think of flipper, he was always saving the day, and there’s great science on collaboration with dolphins, and we don’t have to be sharks to get things done and to effectively represent our clients. So that’s been my experience, and I wrote the book because I thought it could be useful to others, so there you have it.

Sam Glover: I think that’s a great place to end. Lainey, thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Lainey Feingold: Thanks Sam.

Aaron Street: Make sure to catch next week’s episode of the Lawyerist podcast by subscribing to the show in your favorite podcast app, and please leave a rating to help other people find our show. You can find the notes for today’s episode on lawyerist.com/podcast.

Sam Glover: The Lawyerist podcast is produced with help from Lindsey Calhoon and edited by Paul Fischer. The views expressed by the participants are their own and are not endorsed by Legal Talk Network. Nothing said in this podcast is legal advice for you.

The post Podcast #215: Online Accessibility & Law-Firm Websites, with Lainey Feingold appeared first on Lawyerist.com.

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#Legal #law

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maxwellyjordan · 6 years ago

Text

Podcast #215: Online Accessibility & Law-Firm Websites, with Lainey Feingold

Lainey Feingold

You can follow Lainey on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Thanks to Gusto, Podium, Spotlight Branding, and Casetext for sponsoring this episode!

Show Notes

You can get Lainey’s book Structured Negotiations: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits here.

We talked about accessibility statements during the show—here’s an example.

Check out the other resources mentioned during the show:

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/

http://wave.webaim.org/

https://www.lawtechnologytoday.org/2018/06/digital-accessibility/

https://www.lawtechnologytoday.org/2016/06/law-firm-website-make-sure-everyone-access-feingold/

https://www.lflegal.com/2017/07/cousins/

https://businesslawtoday.org/2017/09/what-can-structured-negotiation-offer-the-business-attorney-a-lot

Don’t miss an episode of The Lawyerist Podcast! Subscribe now in your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

Sam Glover: Hi, I’m Sam Glover.

Aaron Street: And how much of that do you think is the fault of the structure and format of ABA Techshow? And how much of that is because you are the Sam Glover?

Sam Glover: And then you get back and you realize that there were a dozen other people who you didn’t even know were there, but I wouldn’t have gotten to talk to them anyway.

Sam Glover: I just think in some ways it is everything that Techshow is not. It validates for me our choice to do it that way.

Aaron Street: But we’re still excited to keep going to Techshow.

Sam Glover: And because Lainey and I are going to get into that more-

Aaron Street: We’ll stop cannibalizing the-

Mark Cerniglia: Thanks, everyone.

Lainey Feingold: Thanks for having me. I’m excited to have a conversation.

Sam Glover: So tell me, what does a disability civil rights lawyer do exactly?

Lainey Feingold: Ed Roberts was an awesome guy and I was lucky enough to meet him when I first got involved in this work, but blind people have been badasses too.

Sam Glover: Absolutely.

Sam Glover: So was it just fake braille?

Sam Glover: And you’re going to make me happy. We’ve talked a little bit about Microsoft I think is the … Do they call it inclusive design is their theory?

Sam Glover: Of course not.

Sam Glover: We’ll throw the link in the show notes for sure.

Sam Glover: It’s more about shifting the way you think about the things that you build, the things you put together and the design that you do.

Lainey Feingold: Yeah. So structured negotiation, I actually wrote a whole book about structured negotiation [crosstalk 00:34:14]-

Sam Glover: You don’t have to try and cover it all here.

Sam Glover: Right, I assume it’s not just a threat.

Lainey Feingold: Every sentence, the tone can be different without detracting in any way from the power of the claims or the value of your clients.

Sam Glover: That sounds about right.

Lainey Feingold: And I think lawyers, we’re just trained to say, “Oh, well they want to fight, we’ll fight.” Or, “They didn’t give me what we want.” But especially-

Sam Glover: I mean, that’s absolutely been my mindset in the past when I was suing debt collectors, same deal. I’m just like, “Screw you, here’s your complaint. Let’s fight it out.”

Sam Glover: Yeah, I guess that’s what we’re trying to figure out here is, what is that versus reasonable accommodation? And how to think about that?

Lainey Feingold: So make a roadmap for yourself. Make it reasonable for your budget and your size and say what you’re doing. Say what you’re doing.

Sam Glover: I really like the transparency of that approach.

Sam Glover: For sure.

Sam Glover: Right. It potentially provides the ammunition for a gotcha, right? Because you’ve admitted that you’re not accessible on something.

Sam Glover: Oh, say more.

Sam Glover: Annoying for others.

Lainey Feingold: Yes, exactly. So there’s a lot of really good work being done internationally on the cognitive piece.

Sam Glover: Very cool. Is there anything that we should cover that I didn’t ask you about yet?

Sam Glover: You had a bulldog phase?

Sam Glover: Why not the dolphin?

Sam Glover: I think that’s a great place to end. Lainey, thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Lainey Feingold: Thanks Sam.

The post Podcast #215: Online Accessibility & Law-Firm Websites, with Lainey Feingold appeared first on Lawyerist.com.

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#law #justice

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wavemasterryx · 7 years ago

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All the writing projects i’ll probably never finish. i don’t know why anyone would want to hear about them, but i guess if you’re /that/ bored, enjoy. Oh, right, there’s also going to be massive spoilers in most cases, if that’s something you’d worry about.

Also, don’t worry about how much progress i might have made on actually working on one of these instead of writing up all of this. The answer is “none”, because this is not writing, it’s depression-fueled babble.

---

01) Sunny Hoof: Thy Music Too

Small story continuing the series with amputee Blackjack and nightmare Glory, attending the Nightmare Night festivities in Chapel. i think Blackjack’s costume was going to be Bowser, so that she could conveniently disguise her wheelchair as his flower-copter thingy, but i don’t remember who Glory was going to be. It was either going to end up being the two of them sneaking off to bang in the haunted house, or a not-lewd double date with LittlePip and Xenith; i never did decide.

---

02) Sunny Hoof: TBD

Another small story taking place during Chapel’s Running of the Leaves festival (admittedly, not nearly as much running as old Equestria, considering at least half the population has some sort of disorder or disability). Rather than Blackjack, this one would actually be centered on RedEye and Ilaris having a very casual walk (wagon ride) through the orchards, pure silly fluff.

---

03) Project Horizons the First Movie

Something of a difficult position, this idea takes place after the events of Chapter 77, but before the Epilogue is set in motion. I mean, in anime it’s very common for movies to happen that are completely non-canon to the show but take place withing a specific time-frame relating to the show, i guess that’s what i was really banking on.

Anyways, the basic idea is that as rebuilding is finally getting underway, a well-intentioned alicorn happened across (or was given by someone...) a document leading her to an ancient shrine of phenomenal power. Using this power, she wishes “all the good people who were claimed by the Wasteland, within the memory of the living” to be returned to life. The spirits warn her that she should bring back the not-good as well, but she insists on not undoing everyone’s hard work saving the world, to which the spirits concede, leaving her with a warning that there will be a price.

This price comes in the form of four “Aspects of Suffering”, pure evil taking the form of the (very common in anime) four celestial beings, and seeking to bring pain and misery back to the world.

In essence... it’s just a series of excuses: to bring everyone back to life that deserves to have a happier ending; to have a series of cool, flashy battles, without the potential for everyone dying; and to get some particular scenes that i really want to happen... like Primera threatening / trying to seduce Pip with a choking Homage (something about “i’ll beat her record and make you scream 33 times” ), P-21 and Rampage returning to Equus via rocket, which they land on top of one of the big bads, and Cuarta being all smug and mocking everyone right before she (and the building she’s standing on top of) gets tagged ‘it’ by Puppysmiles.

The story would end with the aspects being defeated somehow... and then a hard “defeat equals friendship”, with Blackjack giving them a chance to do better, much to /everyone’s/ dismay.

---

04) Project Horizons the Second Movie

Taking place shortly after the first movie, things would seem to be going pretty well with the rebuilding. It would be pretty slice-of-life for the first few chapters, with gradually more hints that something else was going on as certain ponies begin mysteriously disappearing for increasing lengths of time; including Dawn.

A search would reveal they’d fallen into a trance and in some secluded location had begun building some kind of portal. Either the work would be just finishing as it was found, or letting it proceed so they could find out what was behind it... the portal would lead Blackjack and a large strike force to one of the other planets in the Equus system, where they would find themselves in a mechanical nightmarescape, created by fragments of Cognitum.

Naturally, they would need to stop her resurrection, and wipe her blight from existence for the final time.

---

05) Project Horizons the Third Movie

Compared to the other two... this idea is more of the pure silly fluff that should be expected of me. i don’t recall if i had decided how or why, but the basic idea was that something had happened to shift the world to an alternate reality where a large portion of the population is foals. There would be kindergarten shenanigans, shopping trips and cooking with mama Boo, and all kinds of likewise absurdly and unnecessarily cute things. Also unlike the other two, i have no conclusion in mind for this one... maybe there could be two versions, one where they go back to normal and one where they don’t?

---

If i somehow had enough money to commission Somber to write these... i wouldn’t... cause there’s no way he should have to write stories with ideas as bad as these. Not that i wouldn’t be tempted anyways... out of morbid curiosity i do wonder how much it would cost for him to consider it...

Unfortunately, they’re definitely too complex for me to be able to handle on my own. i know, it will be hard, but you’ll have to struggle through the disappointment.

---

06) Boo Quest: the Chrysalis Building

A slight re-imagining of the story i had intended to have behind my farce of an attempt at running a “choose your own adventure” thing on Boo’s tumblr. i’m sure some people were curious what was waiting on the top floor...

It would definitely not involve any voting for this incarnation though, it would just be a straightforward story to be told of what happened on her adventure.

---

07) Fallout Equestria: Botsunyu

The first of my ideas for a full-fledged independent side-story, directly ripped off and or a homage to Resident Evil... 5. i think. It would feature a 3-person squad of NCR recruits investigating the hulk of a ship which had been sent on an exploratory mission to Neighpon, only to drift back into Manehattan bay after several months without contact.

On reaching the ship, they find the remains of some of the crew, but mostly a large amount of strangely fleshy tumorous cocoons (or possibly crystalline, if i want them to be less horrifying). In the course of attempting to salvage the ship, the team would encounter and try to deal with the hatchlings of the colossal nautilus / parasitic wasp starspawn which attached itself to the underside of the vessel.

The story would end with the destruction of the ship, but how many of the team survive, and if they actually manage to defeat the starspawn or not, i’m not certain.

---

08) Fallout: Neighpon

More of an exercise in world building than anything, this idea was a to be centered around the daily life of a ninja scout in training and her hunter-tracker best friend. Both are orphans, their home villages having been almost totally wiped out by the massive starspawn monstrosities that inhabit the island nation.

i had also considered a variant of this same idea but with more generic characters, to emphasize the world instead of my bad character designs. Not that the world design is really all that much more remarkable.

---

09) Fallout Equestria: Deepest Dark

Probably the idea i’ve talked about the most before... centered on a structural engineer living in a vault dedicated to deep core mining operations. The idea is based on Dead Space, Alien: Isolation, and other such horror games... that the stable’s mining runs into something as it progresses deeper... never quite pinned down what. Some kind of primordial evil, monster from another dimension... i’d vaguely considered it actually being Sombra’s horn, but thinking about it more now, that actually seems like the least threatening of the ideas.

This story would involve a lot of violence, and potentially end with the entire stable, including the protagonist, being wiped out.

---

10) A Bleach Love?Story: EIRS

The only large story project i’d ever actually finished, and then i had to go and extend it... It’s probably the story i would like most to complete, if just because my mom really wants to find out how it ends... She’s literally the only one though; my other two “fans” disappeared when the [Adult Swim] forum died, and there’s no way i could reach them now... If i ever did manage to finish it though, there would be an issue of what to do with it... since posting it here wouldn’t really accomplish anything other than making another post for people to scroll past. The only other places i really frequent only service furries, so even if written works were more valued there, i wouldn’t be able to post it.

Anyways... the story itself... i actually know more or less exactly what i want to happen, but i’ve completely lost pace with the style that i wrote it in, so it puts me somewhat on edge about how big the difference in styles is.

The villain of this season is borrowed from Digimon, and is slowly eating the entire multiverse, erasing anything it consumes from time, so that it was like it had never existed.

i actually had the next chapter halfway done when i stopped writing... It was going to be the big hint of what’s going on... Then the chapter after that the D-Reaper was going to make its first big attack on the Enterprise away team, allowing me to bring in a cameo from the first season that i was really hoping to use (redeemed villains for the win), and letting them just narrowly escape. Third chapter it would attack the Enterprise, and then only Data would be left to find the answer in the final chapter. Which there is one, i actually have the scene almost entirely planned in my head... except that it’s kinda... a really controversial idea, that i don’t know if it would come across as too disrespectful, even though i don’t mean anything bad by it at all...

The ending i had in mind was Data (ironically played by a Jewish actor, which i didn’t remember until way after i planned this...) retrieving the Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis, and then using it to politely ask God (played by Lelouch Lamperouge) to restore the multiverse.

To me... it’s a perfectly logical and thematically appropriate way to end the story... actually the only ending that really makes sense... But i don’t want to insult anyone with it, it’s just supposed to be silly fun with a small side of heartwarming, and i know religion can be a super sensitive issue... so that’s a big problem for me.

It’s so close to being finished, which makes it really quite sad...

---

11) TBD: Mercenary Pony Adventures

Really the most ambiguous of all my ideas... it’s something of a catchbasin for all my failed RPG character ideas... a seven-element wizard, a slime wizard, a combat maid, and possibly the two (prospective) main characters from Fallout: Neighpon. It would requite a lot of inter-personal interaction to drive it, between quests...

---

12) Space-Thriller

Super casual space exploration and possibly light adventure fluff, centered around a young alien slug-girl.

Based on an RPG system i’ve tried a few times to create, but it’s never worked out because i am terrible at balance. In this same general idea, i would also love to do a story about the adventures of the HMLV Destiny or the smaller and much more reasonable HMCV Raven (101 and 20 pony crews, respectively), but i don’t have any more confidence in writing their stories than i did in running the campaigns that they were part of...

---

13) Pokemon: Milk & Honey

i have spent an unnecessarily large amount of time creating my own ‘version’ setting within the Pokemon world; this story reflects how events in the game would take place if the NPC (Red, Ash, etc) were playing rather than the player. Or if it were an anime instead of a game.

i’ve been told that stories of Gym challenge journeys and fighting against a region’s evil team are some of the worst fanfiction you could possibly do for Pokemon (maybe second only to running a scarf shop), but i mean... it’s kinda an important step in establishing characters, isn’t it?...

So yes... the story would follow the two protagonists as they travel through the region, battling, training, and growing closer as they reach for their dreams together.

With all the planning i’ve put into it already, i probably have a reasonably serviceable outline for the potential story... but actually writing it is another matter entirely...

Plus there’s the added problem that... the plan is supposed to be for the female protagonist to be incontinent as a result of her quite meager psychic power interfering with her body’s natural development. i really want it to be a super casual part of the story, like not a big deal at all so that it doesn’t interfere with anything... but then i’m an idiot and go tying it and her mental health to several key plot points and well... i don’t know how many times i need to say i’m a bad writer before people believe me.

---

14) Pokemon: Milk & Honey, TBD

Following a rather large battle at the end of the main storyline... the two protagonists are invited by the Pokemon League to take a job in it as special investigators. While they patrol the entire region regularly, they are also responsible for keeping an eye on the “Dreamers Network” a vast virtual reality system that is growing steadily more popular since its debut.

When users start turning into Pokemon, and coming out of the VR sleep acting like they are still those Pokemon, it’s up to the protagonists to track this brainwashing back to its source; a small clinic on a private server, and find some way to put a stop to it.

Oddly enough... this side-story is actually based on a dream i had way back when i first started plotting out and working on this world. Most of it has faded, except for one very strong scene... The male protagonist staring up at his partner on a floor above, being wheeled away by a nurse as she’s begging for him to shoot her [with a special gun that would disconnect her from the network and potentially completely wipe her memory], because she doesn’t want to risk the treatment making her do anything wrong. It still plays quite vividly in my head, even nearly 6 years later.

i believe my intention was for it to be a human-form Sableye or Espeon behind everything, trying to extract vengeance for someone (probably their trainer) who they had cared about greatly and lost... Or maybe a Mesprit draining away positive emotions in order to feed them into their close friend who only exists as a remnant on the network. Or something like that.

---

15) Pokemon: Bunkatsu Village

A version of the Pokemon world without humans, this story takes place a decade or two after a comet / space ship carrying an alien virus crashed into the planet. The virus infested and altered everything, the only pockets of normalcy being small villages like Bunkatsu that are surrounded by a powerful barrier; the result of part of the “Legendary Heroes” final effort to save the future. Pokemon in these villages are trained to be adventurers and head out into temporarily stabilized pockets of the outside world to search for resources, treasure, and (hopefully) the eggs of the fallen heroes.

---

16) Build a Perfect Blitzle

This story would have been the first in a potentially lengthy series of dirty stories, serving as something i could finally use as an outlet for everything i enjoy that makes me a bad person. It would entail someone being held by “Build Corp.” (voluntarily or otherwise) and being put on a livestream feed where every day the viewers would vote on a set of options put forward by the stream’s “sponsors”.

While actual voting would have been nice, i decided that using a dice to choose randomly would work fine, and so using a list of all the things i like, i could come up with a satisfying simulation of adding torment after torment to whatever poor characters ended up being chosen.

This seemed like a really nice idea at first... but it started getting to me that there’s literally no one i could share it with... so there was no reason to write it, since it could only turn out worse than it exists in my head already. i actually even finished some of the first trial with Kino, and it didn’t seem half bad (as much as it wasn’t long enough to be bad yet), but yeah...

The idea really had some potential... so many different things that could happen, and the ways options might interact with each other... and new and different kinds of volunteers... It really could have been fun.

---

17) Other

A few other random ideas i’ve considered at one time or another, but would be significantly less likely to attempt than anything listed above:

Something with my ponies from World of Warcraft. Perhaps a history, or travel journal to be serious... or lacking that... more silly slice-of-life stuff. There’s also some potential for naughty things with a few of the characters (seems to be a running theme with this section), but some would be too tempting to involve certain NPCs, which is a big “no no” according to tropes...

A fetishy but possibly not explicit story involving an alchemist zebra of mine and a friend’s pony, as part of an ongoing series they’ve been writing for them.

Or.. trying to write the exceedingly inappropriate story ideas i’d wanted to commission of my dumb bunnies.

#ryxstories #fallout equestria #project horizons #project horizons the first movie #bunkatsu village

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