#ashbear

[summonerluna]

Peeking out of hiding to share this. If you're in the FFVIII fandom chances are you've at least heard of Kris/Ashbear. She lost her son at the beginning of the year and now her mother is struggling, and their family could really use some help right now. Times are hard for everyone, so if you can't help donate just sharing/signal boosting this might get them what they need!

[aleheartilly]

[RANDOM FANFICTION SPOTLIGHT] Romanticism

Time for another spotlight!

Romanticism was the second story I wrote for Ashbear's challenge in 2012, and was only cross-posted on AO3 recently with its original publication date, mainly because I'm not really convinced it's good. But readers seemed to appreciate it on FF.net, so maybe I'm not objective. Dunno.

If you wanna read it anyway after this horrible introduction, you can find it on AO3 or FF.net.

[ashbearmeadow]

Just made an art-reblogger "blog"

go follow @ashbear-artreblogs for the spammier volume of my art reblogs :D

[spyrose-blog1]

Baby Bear Shops 25 Days Of Christmas Sale!

I missed the first 6 days, so I’ll be commenting 6 days of products today! All discounts are good until 12/31/2017 :) 25% off of linked products!

https://teespring.com/i-am-but-i-am-not?pr=25DAYSXMAS

https://teespring.com/babygirl-september-2017?pr=25DAYSXMAS

https://teespring.com/kitty-pentagram?pr=25DAYSXMAS

https://teespring.com/i-have-no-tits-september-2017?pr=25DAYSXMAS

https://teespring.com/giving-a-f-ck?pr=25DAYSXMAS

https://teespring.com/purple-tie-dye-socks?pr=25DAYSXMAS

[plunnies-n-shit]

Ashbearer

Bleach -- GrimmIchi -- Phoenix AU

Masaki told him. So many times when he was younger. "Keep it hidden. No one is worth it, not even your father. Its dangerous. People are dangerous and they will hurt you."

But grimmjow loses his fraccion and hes

Hes not just angry, hes hurt and lost and grieving

And

Ichigo figures that hes already going to die fighting aizen

A couple pieces of his soul to bring back Grimmjow's precious people, thats a price ichigo can pay.

Just a handful of feathers for grimmjow to smile, for real, thats worth it.

He doesnt die immediately

But

Half of his soul is a lot to lose

So hes kinda. Stuck in baby bird form.

Grimm is his Ashbearer. Reluctantly, at first

But

Pheonixs are emotional creatures. They can tell how youre feeling, and you can tell how theyre feeling just by touching them And ichigo trusts, he loves so deeply

How can grimmjow not?

It takes eighteen months for kisuke to find a way to restore enough power to ichigo for ichigo to take a human form again.

The first thing ichigo does is demand kisuke do it for masaki too

The second thing he does is kiss grimmjow.

Grimmjow realizes he now has to meet ichigos mom

he maybe panics a little

just a little

(he panics a lot)

[manfrommars2049]

"Flight of the Ashbearers" by Dominic Jaro via ImaginaryDragons

[noisyghost]

Ashbearer Vasili, or Vas if you're friendly, he doesn't really care. 

Vas is Cheslovs zduhać, and the physical manifestation of his emotional state on the day that he died. He's cold, bitter, and noticeably paranoid, but he warms up as Ches opens up.

Vas is something like a piece of Cheslov's 'soul', and he manifests whenever Ches is asleep. He is openly hostile and overprotective of Ches, but comes to acknowledge who Ches' friends are and eventually comes around to helping them as well. Eventually.

[mizumoues]

noting down the nicknames i have

- ash - ashie - ashiepoo - ashbie - ashfall - ashbirth - ashblob - ashielyn - lyn - ashbear - ashley - ashtln - ashtray - feetash - ash holdings - ashampoo

[yourplayersaidwhat]

What a Coincidence

Our party was chilling in a magic academy while one of us was recovering from some kind of strange infection. The rogue decided to check out the library and, while he was there, steal a book.

He was found in the act by one of the students, who didn't quite realize what our rogue was doing. He lied about being a student there, to which the student replied:

Student: "O-oh, you are? That's cool! Whose class is that book for?"

Rogue: "uhhhhhhhhh" *rolls nat 1 deception* "G... Gidian Ashbear?" (Names of another party member's characters)

S: *rolls 0* "Oh wow, really? I've heard his class is really good!"

Thanks to two garbage rolls, Professor Gidian Ashbear turned out to be a totally real person!

[cyanoscarlet]

number 11? maybe even 16? for the ask game :)

Thanks for the ask!

11. If I’m showing off just one of your pieces to someone, which one should it be?

Goodness, I'm torn on this one!

I'll go with take heart, for now. It was basically another attempt at "mortal falls in love with a god" (previously done with "on nights such as these" for YOI), but better executed. I was also able to use a lot of the symbolisms and parallels well for this story, so color me proud!

16. 3 favorite comments ever received on fanfic?

I'm literally scrolling through my AO3 inbox for this and crying, WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME, I CAN'T CHOOSE WTF

@eternal-aegis spoils me a lot on this front uwu, and I swear I am forever grateful for this. She described my Ron Kamonohashi fic (sugar-free) to have a certain "muted spice", and this changed my whole viewpoint on writing NSFW in general. Back then I was really frustrated at not knowing how to write smut, but now I'm happier with my brand of NSFW because of this comment. (That's Heat Levels 1-2 for you RomanceClass peeps, with lots of small throwaway lines and sexy fade-to-blacks. Hehe.)

EK/ekmisao's comments on my stuff are also sweetest. This one from my SKK fic exchange fic (oneiric moments) literally had me crying after OPD because I was absolutely exhausted then, and to be told that I and what I did mattered (the doctoring, as well as the writing) helped me get through 2020 and much of 2021. Yes, I am indeed sentimental.

Kris/Ashbear's reviews on my Where I Belong fics really meant a lot to me, not just for sentimental value. (This one's for Time-Telling, my main entry.) These were back in 2012 when I was still only starting out writing fanfiction, so having one of the good writers in the fandom write reviews several paragraphs long really boosted my confidence then. I'd like to believe I've grown quite a lot since then, of course!

More fic writing questions!

[summonerluna]

👌🏼 A fic someone else recommended to you

I'm gonna go waaaaaaaaay back in time on this one, but Ashbear & Wayward's Somewhere In Between.

That is actually the fic that got me into the FFVIII fandom! I had been writing for VII, but got involved in an RP on livejournal as Rinoa (one of my only RP experiences! The other being a lotr rp also on livejournal when I was in high school). The Seifer in that group was really good and we chatted a lot and they recommended that fic to me. I hadn't read anything from VIII before and I just fell in love with it. And the rest is history.

[aleheartilly]

[RANDOM FANFICTION SPOTLIGHT] Lemonade

Ah, finally it's Saturday and I can do my little spotlight!

Enjoy Lemonade, the very first story I wrote in English, encouraged by Ashbear, during her Where I belong challenge in 2012.

We can say this story started my journey of writing in my second language.

You can find it on AO3 and FF.net, as usual!

[linnaealyn]

Quick sketch. Every so often I have to go back and play my favorite PS1-era Final Fantasy titles. Then I get stuck reading stupid-long but oh so great Ashbear fics, so…

This is the result.

[sdentrepreneur]

Oh Snap!!! Where did this come from? #yesplease #winning #sandiego #ashbear #dessert #lifeisgood #saturdaynight (at Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers)

[jennawynn]

Character Concept: Tasbera "Ashbearer"

My stint as a blacksmith from 1909 just ended (with few special event exceptions) and I decided to commemorate that experience with a character build.

A blacksmith who was an expert of her craft who suddenly suffered from a grave accident... or "accident". After refusing to bow to the local gangs, some of them decided to pay her a visit. An explosion sent her falling into her forge, trapped under debris until she was pulled free by a bystander. She was left with ugly scars that, at player's discretion, could range from up the neck to the jaw or as far as the side of the face, the ear, etc. The scars then travel down as far as the left knee and entirely destroyed use of her left hand and arm as she'd tried to shield the rest of her body from the hot coals.

In my mind, at level 1, the smith has a limp and no use of her left arm. For a smith, that arm is pretty important. Maybe not the hammer arm, but how do you hold your tongs? I imagine she has an aversion to fire- not just because the experience was traumatic, but also because it still fucking hurts when you expose a burn to flame. She uses a one-handed hammer because it's what feels right in her hand, and maybe she can use heavy armor, but maybe she's just as comfortable in leather- her trusty leather apron.

Blacksmiths aren't just hulking brutes. They had to be smart, creative. They had to be able to visualize what they were making and figure out how to get from a lump of ore to a beautiful blade. Whether that's Intelligence or Wisdom would depend on the class she'd take. As she progresses as an adventurer and gains confidence and abilities, I see her struggling with having this decision to remove her arm. It's never going to heal. Not without very powerful magic that she can't access and can't afford. But once she does make the decision, she can start with prosthetics.

Let that arm level up with the character- from a simple hook or wooden hand, to a pair of tongs locked into place by the usable hand, to some sort of working grip, all the way up to a magical prosthetic that can be functional AND badass.

I see a struggle in identity as she loses her defining ability (temporarily) and maybe takes up adventuring as a last ditch effort to find meaning in life. Maybe she takes up adventuring as a way to get revenge on the people who maimed her. I see "Ashbearer" as a mean-spirited nickname that's similar to her name as a reference to her accident- the bits and pieces of ash and metal that had embedded themselves in her scars. I see her eventually turning that name into something she uses as a metaphorical shield or weapon.

So now the builds:

Queertical Role:

If I were to build this character for my world, she'd be an NPC, so I'd probably make her a dwarf and have her be one of Gunnloda's cousins. A forge cleric of Akthor would give her lots of dramatic potential as she and Gunnloda would have had very different reactions to their death/near-death potentials.

Level 1: 16/10/18/12/18/8 (QR Array) Insight, Perception, Persuasion, Religion, Smith's Tools, Tinker Tools, Undercommon, Warhammer, light hammer for range. No shield (can't use it). Avoids spells that have fire effects like Sacred Flame. Toll the Dead sounds like the ring of an anvil rather than a bell. She doesn't have warcaster yet and doesn't have a spare hand to do spells, so her magic focuses on non-combat utility and non-somatic spells- Cure wounds, detect magic, command, healing word, protection from evil and good.

D&D 5e:

A forge cleric would be a great choice, but I'm also very much leaning towards this event being what pushes a smith into the possibilities of magic and becoming an artificer. Of course I'll have to wait until November to really utilize the official class that will be coming with the new Eberron book. I still like dwarf, though there are a number of races that would work. Nearly all races and settlements would need someone who can work metal unless they had some sort of nature magic where they shun it (like druid camps).

Level 1: UA Artificer 15/10/16/15/12/8 (Standard Array) Arcana, Insight, Perception, Persuasion. Smith's tools, jeweler's, thieves, tinkers, woodcarvers. She can make you a tool, carve the handle, add gems, etc. Light hammer for range, warhammer. Undercommon. Mending, resistance, disguise self (when she's self-conscious), identify.

Pathfinder 2e:

Forge dwarf is interesting. It mitigates some of the flaws I'd intended, but it would make the loss of identity even stronger. Without a good arty class (yet), and with alchemist being the only other real 'crafting' class, I decided to go wizard in Pathfinder. Forge dwarf, tinker (for engineering lore rather than Artisan's guild lore), universalist wizard.

Level 1: 14/12/14/16/12/8, Arcana, Crafting, Diplomacy, Medicine (from tending to her own wound), Religion, Survival, Thievery, Engineering Lore. Universalist Wizard with Spell Substitution to be flexible and creative like a smith needs to be. Dwarven Weapon Familiarity, Specialty Crafting- Blacksmith, Counterspell, Hand of the Apprentice. Her spellbook includes Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Message, Read Aura, Shield, Telekinetic Projectile, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Magic Weapon, Mending, Summon Construct.

[astoryisaloveaffair]

>By Ashbear

>Rated T

>Canon Compliant

“ Rinoa & Squall - A story for those who never wanted the romance to end. From the good times to the bad, this follows the first four months of their relationship. It's the course you take to discovery; it's the journey that teaches along the way.”