#biaw

[gimmethatagustd]

I’m so curious about all of them 👀 Can you give more info about “baby, I’m a wreck”?

BIAW is an exes to lovers taekook, where they go on a couples retreat that they booked months in advance before they broke up 😂

wip ask game 👀

[thelonesgroup]

The New Washington State Energy Code

The 2021 Washington State Energy Code (WSEC) is slated to take effect in Washington State on July 1 of this year and everyone in the real estate profession should take note - in Washington State or otherwise!

According to the Columbian, in 2019 Washington State reported that 25% of the state's emissions were from residential, commercial, and industrial buildings - 25.3 million metric tons, also equal to the emissions from 5.4 million gas-powered vehicles. However, the 2021 changes to the energy code are expected to reduce emissions by 12.1 million metric tons over 30 years according to research by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, hired to independently analyze the anticipated results from the code changes. That is equal to the equivalent to what 2.6 million gas vehicles produce in one year.

The updates to the Energy Code are a positive way to combat climate change. The latest updates (2021) to the Washington State Energy Code are expected to result in 18% greater energy savings than the 2018 code according to Madrona Building Performance.

The first energy code was adopted statewide in 1977. In 2012, Washington State set a goal to reduce net annual energy consumption by 70% in new buildings by 2031 as compared with the 2006 standards. The once every three-years updates to the code are a benchmark on the road to achieving those goals (with a goal to reduce energy consumption by 8.75% each reduction period compared to the 2006 code or 14% over the previous code).

How is Energy Code Changing?

The code is being updated for residential, which includes new single-family homes, townhomes, and multi-family buildings that are up to three stories tall. Other regulations apply for commercial buildings. The International Energy Conservation Code standards are the base regulations that the Washington State Energy Code is built on, and Washington has refined the code even further to meet the benchmarks.

There are many aspects of the WSEC that will be impacted. Outlined here are just a few of the more-major changes planned to take effect this July:

Require spaces to be heated with heat pumps (with few exceptions for rural areas with no access to electricity)

Require heat pump water heaters (ditto)

Water heaters and the air handler would both need to be located in conditioned spaces

Reduce the air changes per hour within the home from 5 to 4 (with 3rd party testing required)

More-stringent Energy Star appliance standards

New updates and changes still being worked out, so keep your eyes open for those changes. For a full outline of the changes and expected costs and benefits, this is a good read on the Preliminary Cost Benefit Analysis of the Energy Code produced by the Washington State Building Code Council:

Preliminary Cost Benefit Analysis for the 2021 Washington State Energy Code, Residential Provisions

You might notice that many of the items include an estimated price tag (builder cost) along with an estimated savings amount in terms of energy for the consumer (homeowner savings).

You might be saying to yourself at this point, "Sounds great! We should be moving forward in a positive direction when it comes to saving energy and reducing pollution that causes global warming!"

And I agree with you 100%. However, we have another goal that Washington State is focused on along with most of the country and that is creating more housing inventory. The Washington State Department of Commerce has just released their final housing projections that Washington State will need in the next 20 years in order to put a damper on runaway housing demand and lack of affordability - 1.1 million homes in the next 20 years.

The Final Housing Projections document is a fascinating report that summarizes the type of housing needed by area median income groups by county. For example, King County (which includes both Seattle and Bellevue) needs 336,591 more homes. Snohomish County? 143,182 homes. Have you heard of Wahkiakum County? Me neither, but they still need 334 homes in the next 20 years.

Check your own county here:

Washington State Department of Commerce: Planning for Housing in Washington

To give you a sense of what we would need to achieve that goal, let's take a look at Whatcom County. Up here in the northwest corner of the state and the contiguous United States, we need 34,377 housing units in the next 20 years. That is 1,719 housing units per year. Between 2010-2020, we only built 9,637 housing units according to the Census Bureau - 963.7 per year. Therefore, little old Whatcom County would need to almost double the number of units in order to make that goal for a solid 20 years.

Yikes!

What About New Home Builders?

In order for builders to be interested in building, the risks can't outweigh the reward. New revisions to the energy code every three years is doing that in Washington State. If a builder has a large development that he or she wants to roll out over the course of several years, that is phenomenal for the housing stock. However, it can be a risky business venture when no one is sure how the energy code is going to play out. In fact, even though July is only months away, there are still codes and regulations being discussed and worked out at the state level. All the "what if" questions that builders have brought forth are not yet answered, including - the big one - what is this really going to cost, on average, per housing unit in the real world.

As a developer, I have had to make modifications in my own development to adhere to the previous code change as well as plan for the upcoming code change. In my development, the energy code changes for the 2018 code increased the housing costs between $20,000-$25,000 per home. Although these are costs borne by the buyer in the long run, and are predicted to closely even out over time in terms of energy savings, the bottom line is that these are expenses that will cost everyone in terms of time and money to implement.

The Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) has indicated that it expects these most recent changes to change an average home build costs by $14,850: that is $9,200 for residential energy code updates, plus $650 for EV charging requirements, and another $5,000 for heat pump water and space heating mandates.

For each update, builders and vendors need to relearn the rules, manufacturers need to update their standards, and all of that takes a lot of time and money. Builders are barely able to make forward momentum now let alone make stronger headway to begin to make a dent in the housing numbers.

Furthermore, local planning and building departments are already struggling with staffing and procedural issues. Giving them another roadblock when we should be streamlining is going backwards. According to the Building Industry Association of Washington, "on average, every week of delay adds $1,100 to the cost of a new home." The current proposed changes will undoubtedly cause additional delays and drive-up housing costs even more.

So, why am I writing about issues in the building industry in a news column for real estate agents? Because inventory affects you, it affects your buyers, it affects your sellers, it affects your kids who can't buy a place of their own, it affects our communities and those most vulnerable, it affects companies who can't hire workers because their workers cannot afford to live here!

What Can You Do?

There are two important things you can do right now:

Help give the Washington State building industry more time to implement these changes by signing this petition: Delay the Washington Energy Code to November 1, 2023

Support your local builder industry association and the National Association of Homebuilders! Attend their educational events about the energy code, learn about what they are concerned about, and tell others. Our future inventory relies on us supporting our builders TODAY! Learn more by visiting: Building Industry Association of Washington and reviewing the top priorities of the National Association of Home Builders.

We can balance advocating for the environment and advocating for the housing industry and tomorrow's homeowners when we make our voices heard. Contact your local Builder Association today, learn about their needs, and see what you can do to help.

For further reading, see these additional sources:

BIAW: Labor, Business,a nd Homeowners File lawsuit to Challenge Costly New Codes

BIAW: Building Code Proposals Increase Flexibility and Protect Housing Affordability

The Columbian: Affordable Housing vs. Climate

The Columbian: Washington's Updated Building Codes Seen as a Vital Tool to Fight Climate Change

Washington Building Code Council: Cost Benefit Analysis of the 2021 WSEC Residential Provisions

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By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI - The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings nearly three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.

[sunoofiles]

240108 | SUNOO 위버스

🦊: 행운이 가득한 2024년 🍀

[little-one-eyed-monsters]

Watch "[ENGSUB] IsBanky Birthday meeting | #MosBank" on YouTube

I know IsBanky isn't the only actor who has struggled to gain recognition in the industry (both Eastern and Western media). Add to the fact that Thai BL industry isn't exactly famous for being forgiving; many BL actors have confessed to experiencing the same, and sometimes worse treatment at some point in interviews (Saint Suppapong and Apo Nattawin come to mind, also most recently, YinWar). In hindsight, IsBanky's story is nothing new.

But watching IsBanky now, framed from this perspective, feels so heartbreaking just because I can FEEL that he's so earnest about making it in the industry. I'm not saying other artists aren't earnest about their careers as well, of course they are. It's just that-- IsBanky has been trying far too much for far too long with seemingly no fallback, and it just sank in through this confession that nothing has come of it until now. He tried and failed to launch a modelling career after joining The Face Thailand 4 years ago. I remember he was announced for several castings since 2018, and over the years he would post pictures on set, but the only time I remember seeing him on screen was for a small role in Gen Y season 2 last year. He's been launching music under different companies that haven't gained any traction, even released songs in other languages (apart from Dancing With The Devil) which is sad considering that unlike other actors selling albums, IsBanky can actually sing. For a brief time he would post vlogs and travel videos on his own via social media (he went overseas a few times), again none of which gained significant viewership. He would go on live for hours just to look for his own sponsors, and even on their recent vlogs he and Mos would vie for sponsorship and products through personal shoutouts (kinda cringe, but I really can't fault them for the hussle). From what I could glean, he stopped further schooling to focus on his media career, choosing instead to take up acting and singing lessons to help his case.

It just feels like, unlike other actors competing for the same goal, IsBanky has his heart set on this and ONLY this, and suffering for so long with little payoff is truly heartbreaking. Not just for him, but for any other person deadset on a specific, but difficult dream. Especially while hearing stories about how audiences shun you for your physical appearance and your mannerisms.

And though IsBanky may not be the most talented person on the block, I think he deserves props for trying his best to be the best. I pray it gets better for him (and Mos Lhong too; it's really touching how IsBanky found someone who is, ostensibly, on the same wavelength about work as he is). I hope he gets more chances in the cutthroat industry and that both he and Mos surround themselves with people who'll support them (I also hope they keep supporting each other. I hope they genuinely are friends; it would help ease the struggle to have someone on your side).

This got too long, I'm sorry. I didn't even realize I was a fan of IsBanky at all-- I just like watching modelling shows, and their Mongbiew (biaw?) Vlogs are genuinely comforting. And Big Dragon is a trash watch but in all the right, enjoyable places. All the best for these two people.

[rt-nique]

I have the desire to art

Im losing my mind and trying to pick up the pieces and recover from reading Banshee In A Well.

Collection of my tweets as I read BIAW in a day:

reading Banshee In A Well made me realise I go crazy for angsty af protagonists that play the violin, not really the cause but this fic and The Children's Rebellion is more than a mere coincidence.

l am combusting as I read the lines

"Tell me, Timothy," he purrs, "how old were you, when you realised that you could not die?"

"Young," he replies, slipping on the familiar mask of the young Drake heir; composed, intelligent, ruthless

-while Allegro non molto plays in the b

I love it when fics have accompanying songs that just fits the mood like it elevates the entire experience

KDJ and Tim Drake often being used as unreliable narrators has me going insane. Like. Yes. My sad blorbos that do not believe they are loved.

*crumbles into a heaping mess*

The constant mention of Tim feeling like he's 'drowning again' whenever he hits a new low is so painful. No matter his other gruesome deaths, everytime he gets hurt (emotionally), has him feeling like the 5 yr old little boy who drowned quietly in the pool, alone.

SCREAMING!!!

The literary masterpieces fics are- I want to gobble them up and have the words imprinted on my heart.

IM CRYING! I'M CRYING!!! SOBBING MY EYES OUT AND DYING AARGSGSUGDHWUXHSUXHHEWAH

THE CONSTANT PARALLELS, REMINDERS, AND CIRCLING BACK TO WHERE IS ALL BEGAN.

unsupervised. drowning. alone.

АНННННННННННННННННННННН

[liverobinreaction]

Me: damn i cant concentrate on writing i just dont know how to continue-

Tim in BIAW: im gonna start traumatising people now

Me: ...problem solved :)

[konichiwa-gwan]

So let me tell you something right now. You make one step backward, one slipup, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won’t have to worry about 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝔂 anymore. Because I’ll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓵𝔂!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGh_Qd-BIaW/?igshid=1qyn7et5h9hfi

https://twitter.com/snukumsz/status/1318231728729751552?s=21

[oficialbilhetes]

Deus está no controle de tudo! https://www.instagram.com/p/CESxX5-Biaw/?igshid=w9ey3kd77kf8

[anna-kendrick]

Hi dear Chloe, it took me awhile to find this new space because you were like asimplefavor then the love life chick then idk where you went, but I’ve been out of it for the past few months. I just wanted to drop by and tell you thank you. For everything. For bringing back IDLY, BIAW. For making me feel like I mattered in a way I don’t think I ever thought I could (especially with the bechloe Illuminati). You have mattered in my life and I thought that maybe you should know. Ur friend always. 💙

omg bestie hi!! i love and miss u so, hope you're doing well!! you matter so much to me, i'll say it time and time again. i still remember how i felt reading that fic for the first time, and i don't think i'll ever forget it. ilysm miss talent, and you too matter very much to me! i'm so lucky that our paths crossed 💖💖💖

[greatshell-rider]

SKELETAL ESCAPADES: CHAPTER EIGHT

[Chapter Index] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

“Are you done yet?” BS1 (Banescale One) said, not for the first time.

“No,” BS3 (Banescale Three), the mage, answered shortly. “I could swear it’s around here somewhere. I sensed something.”

CS2 had its necro-animation puppet—the gecko—crouch lower behind the snow drift it had ordered it to go to. The skeleton’s pale bones were nearly imperceivable against the snow, but its purple aura of magic could still give it away. Especially with the banescale mage sniffing around for it.

“Still seems deserted to me,” BS1 said doubtfully, looking around him at the barren white field. “You’re sure the scout said their den is here.”

“Yes, and the magic I detected confirms it. If you would just give me the space to think—”

“Enough of this,” BS2 (Banescale Two) snapped, with a lash of her tail. “Snow must be confusing your senses, mage. And it’s freezing my scales. Deserted or not, we’re going in.”

“I’m not ready—” BS3 began to say.

“Then stay out here,” BS2 said harshly. “Do your silly little tests that please you so much. Danyr and I will take care of this.” The mage opened their mouth again, and BS2 sneered, “We’ll call you if we need back-up, alright?”

BS1 laughed, and BS3 snapped their jaws shut. They looked nervous and upset, but didn’t object as their clanmates turned towards the hill. Realizing their next move was imminent, CS2 called its sentinel back, the gecko scuttling lightly atop the snow the two banescale warriors had to slog through towards the lair. Once reunited with its fellow, CS2 had both necro-animations burrow back into the snow to avoid being seen, and pulled its awareness back to its own bones, to think.

But it didn’t have much time to do so. Before long, its outside sentinels sent another mental signal, and CS2 itself heard the sound of the two warriors blasting fire and using claws and wings to excavate the snow from the lair entrance.

It had hoped the dragons would keep flying past.

It had hoped they would fall to arguing and fail to finish their task.

It had hoped, even, that the conversation it had overheard would tell it that they were friendly dragons, that somehow news of Atomic confronting the clan chieftain-heir had reached the banescales already and they no longer had reason to attack. Though maybe such news had come, along with an order: make sure Atomic and Tibia had no home to return to.

But its hope had failed. Desperate wishes of the what-ifs and the could’ve-beens—CS2 was done with those. No more. No more of sitting around in its broken bones waiting for others, for dragons, to tell it what to do, how to react, when to hide under the shadows. The commands Tibia had left CS2 with screamed at its bones, a constant pressure on its mind that only grew to the point of pain. Obey, now.

Oh, CS2 would obey.

First situational command: Upon a creature of ill intent crossing the proximity ward and finding the lair, signal your master.

CS2 obeyed, shooting the message down its link to Tibia with all the force and urgency it could muster. The fae was almost a halfmoon away, still in the Ashfall Wastes, but by stretching its awareness far, far, it felt the alert arrive, felt Tibia’s shock and alarm at the signal.

It heard its creator say, “CS2? Tell me what’s—” But before she could finish the order, CS2, using the same stretchy nature of its tattered, magic-saturated, almost-independent soul, did something it had never been able to do before.

It closed off their mental communication, and for the first time in many days, its awareness was centered solely in its own mind and bones. The link to Tibia was still there, the magic that kept CS2 animated still leaking quietly to it, but for all intents and purposes, it was alone now. Just it, its servants, and the invaders.

CS2 received a signal from its lair sentinels the same moment it heard the exclaims of success as the banescales broke through the last of the hard-packed snow covering the lair entrance, and stepped into the tunnel.

“Hello?” BS2 called, a growl edging the greeting. “Anyone home?”

BS1 laughed. “I don’t care what Biaw sensed, let’s find it!”

“Let’s find you,” BS2 snarled, and by the weak moonlight streaming in through the open entrance, CS2 caught its first sight of her with its own skull as the banescale entered the den, wings raised, fangs bared, talons flexed. BS1 kept his back to hers, facing into the cave that now served as the hoard.

Second situational command: Should the creatures breach the lair, do all in your power to defend.

From the shadowy corners of the two dens, CS2 called its sentinels. The squirrel skeleton in the hoard darted down the tunnel into the nesting den, causing BS1 to startle and jump back, almost falling on BS2. The latter snarled and shoved BS1 off, yelling, “Watch it!”

As her shove sent BS1 stumbling, CS2 detached the bird skeleton from the tunnel ceiling and sent it in a dive at BS2’s head. The banescale’s figure blurred, then CS2 heard and felt a sickening SNAP and realized the warrior had smashed her tail into the necro-animation, grinding it into dust against the floor. Shock jolted through CS2—one sentinel down already?

But at the same time, BS1 staggered into the tunnel wall—activating the first of Tibia’s traps.

The dragon cried out as long ribs of elk and moose sprang out of the wall, lengthening and curling inward as more bone buried in wells into the dirt walls funneled into the ribs until they grew into a cage around the warrior, pinning him to the wall. BS1 gasped and yelled, beating his wings and tail in a panic, his legs kicking futilely as the bone cage had lifted him off of the ground. “Keud!” he called. “Help!”

“Shades,” BS2 swore, backing away from the trap and into the den, then jumped around, hissing, eyes sweeping the dark cave. “Someone is in here,” she growled, whether to her clanmate or to herself CS2 didn’t know. “Come out, trickster, if you want to play so badly.” She moved in deeper, but stayed away from the walls. “Show yourself!” She stepped into the center of the den.

Another bone trap activated, snapping upward from the floor like jaws, but again BS2 moved faster almost than CS2 could see, jumping up in a spin and lashing out with her tail, slamming through each protruding rib and snapping them like pine needles.

“Too slow,” BS2 sneered, turning another wary circle. “You’re going to have to try—”

Calling the two from outside, CS2 sent its three available sentinels—the last two still trapped inside the hibernal den, out of reach—darting at the banescale from different directions. One scampering around her feet, to distract her. One falling onto her face and scratching at her eyes, to confuse her. And the third leaping onto her sweeping tail to climb up and look for a loose scale, a patch of bare skin, any flaw in the armor CS2 could dig claws into and at least try to make the dragon bleed a little before she killed it.

The banescale flinched and roared at the skeletons’ attack, but recovered quicker, and CS2 felt the pain of yet more bones breaking and crunching into splinters as she stomped her clawed foot at the bird skeleton, bit down and flung away the gecko skeleton with her jaws, and slapped a wing at the squirrel skeleton on her shoulder, stepping back to let it fall to the ground.

No, CS2 thought, reaching out more of its magic to the skeletons. The bones quivered, but the pain it felt through them was starting to fade as the connections began to die.

“You done yet?” BS2 roared, jerking her head at BS1 still caged to the wall. “We’re dealing with a necromancer here!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” he said around a mouthful of rib. “Their Highness didn’t say anything about one of those!”

With no further attacks coming, BS2 stomped over to help break her clanmate free.

NO, CS2 thought, and strained to reach its fellows. It couldn’t do anything without them, its bones too broken to move itself, couldn’t trick the dragons into traps, couldn’t lure them away, couldn’t distract them long enough to keep Lamp and the eggs safe, it just wasn’t enough.

“There’s nothing alive here, like Biaw said,” she growled, digging at the base of a rib anchored into the wall. “It’s all pre-set traps, puppets. Nothing can actually hurt us if you weren’t such an idiot—”

CS2 poured magic into the shattered necro-animations, down the thinning links, begging them to keep going for just a little longer. It wasn’t enough. Little bones, tiny skeletons of prey creatures, stripped of flesh and hide, were nothing but flies to dragons, to be swatted away and ignored. Even as CS2 used every last drop of Tibia’s magic she had put into its bones to try and maintain the connections, it wasn’t enough. The grayness of exhaustion, of its mind losing consciousness, pulled at CS2, warning it it was using up too much of the magic needed to keep itself reanimated. The Dark loomed over it, poised to sink its claws into it and drag it away.

NO. NOT. YET.

The second situational command blazed in CS2’s mind. Defend the den from attacks, to the end. With all its power.

CS2 did something else it had never done before. One link remained, not between it and the other necro-animations, but between it and its master. Its creator. The dragon who continually fueled its ability to think and exist.

CS2 seized that link, and rather than send its awareness down to watch through Tibia’s eyes, or to send a signal, or to push more magic into broken puppets, it pulled.

At first the well of magic, the bright burning spot in the corner of CS2’s mind that tied it to Tibia, resisted. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. This wasn’t the rules of the game. It was master and servant, creator and creation. One held the power, and the other was given it. A hunter and its prey, the command and the obedience.

But CS2’s soul stretched. It no longer fit within its own bones, and it forced it to no longer accept those rules. CS2 sent claws into the bright spot of magic, digging into it, tearing and gnawing, until it felt that resistance bend, then break.

Magic flooded into CS2’s bones, at the same time pain ripped through its soul. It screamed, and then it stood up.

At the center of its blackening vision, where it could only just barely focus past the pain, it saw both banescales look up. BS2 warily stepped forward. Behind her, BS1 had one wing and part of his neck free of the cage.

You’re too late, CS2 thought, as the magic filled it up then spilled over, streaming out of its bones, flying across the den to all other sources of bone it could sense, which glowed in its vision a stark, vivid yellow. It grabbed the skeletons, its puppets. It ripped the failed cage out of the floor, then the third trap in the hoard wall. CS2 screamed again and stepped forward, off its ledge. Bones flew to it, shattered or whole, and kept it from falling. Bones stacked atop and wove around another, building a body up from underneath CS2’s skeleton so it could walk, stiff-legged and staggering, toward its targets.

BS2 didn’t hesitate but leapt back into the den, wings flaring, mouth opening to bare fangs as she hissed a challenge.

CS2 gathered all the bones, breaking them down and reforming them as it wished, and as the dragon lunged forward, it dove down her throat.

Back in the dark, but this time it was warm, and moved. Wet, sticky, CS2 forced its way down, digging in a hundred claws into the fleshy walls when the tube constricted and rushing air tried to force it back out, the banescale doubling over and hacking, but failing to eject it. It climbed down, down, down, breaking itself down into smaller, denser pieces as the tunnel shrunk more and more, shredding a thousand tiny shards into the meaty throat until CS2 had no choice but to rip through the barrier into a space slightly more open, and found what it was looking for.

It clamped its jaws around the center of the dragon’s violently beating life, and dragged itself back up the throat and out of BS2’s jaws, ripping the heart out after it. Hot dark liquid sprayed out after it, coating CS2 in stickiness as it backed away to watch the banescale take a shuddering step, jaw opening and closing in a mimicry of breath. Wide orange eyes stared up at CS2 in terror, before the legs folded and the body collapsed to the ground in a broken heap. Blood pooled around its head.

CS2 wobbled slightly, disorientated in the sudden coldness of the den, then became aware of its second target. The banescale had half of himself loose, and as CS2 turned toward him, he wiggled free from the rest of the cage, falling to the floor in a graceless pile of flailing limbs. CS2 lunged for him, but he dove for the tunnel and it fell into the hoard, smashing its bones against the far wall from the force of its leap. That rattled its mind, sent dizzying waves of pain washing through it, but erupting from that pain, came anger. Even with all its power now, it still hurt. With all of this magic blazing out of it, still those dragons thought to beat it.

“Help,” it heard the banescale gasp as he staggered down the tunnel towards the entrance. “Help! Giaw, help! Help, it’s coming!”

And it was. Oh, it was.

First, the corpse. CS2 called it, and the skeleton inside the stinking pile of meat shuddered, then ripped free, gore-slick bones rushing to slap into place within CS2’s distorted skeleton. With them came something else, a glowing mist of orange that melted into the purple.

MORE, CS2 commanded, reaching out past the lair with its mind and touching each source of glowing yellow it found scattered across the snow-drenched grassland. MORE, it snarled, calling those bones to it as it pulled itself back upright, then shambled down the entrance tunnel after its fleeing target. The bones came, dredged up from the earth, ripping themselves free of dirt and snow old and fresh, flying to and adding themselves to CS2’s mass as it clawed its way down the tunnel, squeezing its bulk through the entrance to expand and cascade out onto the hill. More and more, CS2 sucked magic now tinged with red from its creator and used it to direct bones that were gray, bones that were white, bones that were little more than dust, bones that no longer sat together in complete sets, bones that had once belonged to souls of beasts both hunted and killer but now were only its own. CS2 built up its skeleton, bigger, taller, stretching it up towards the moons, toward those fake disks of light, until the land below stretched out wide before its senses, until the two tiny black dots it saw far, far below were only barely distinguishable from all the snow, and CS2 identified them: its targets.

Throwing open wings that curtained out the moonlight, CS2 slammed down two great taloned feet of bone on either side of the two banescales and roared.

No sound emerged.

Beneath it, the dragons cowered, having thrown their wings over themselves in a last desperate attempt at protection, huddling together in the snow. But they didn’t flinch at the sound. Because there hadn’t been one. CS2 tried again, putting all its pain and anger into the roar, but nothing, not even the faintest wind, came out. As if CS2 wasn’t even really there.

It raged, smashing wing and talon against the earth, beating at the snow. Bones shattered at impact and others flew to replace them. CS2 could strike the same fist into the hill a hundred times, and a hundred times whatever bones broke, CS2 could remake a hundred times over and replace again and again. But no matter how much magic it used, no matter the force of its frantic despair, its blows didn’t leave a mark. The bones broke too quickly. Other than the misshapen trails left behind by the dragons, the snow was untouched by its presence. Perfect, pristine whiteness shining under the moons.

CS2 sank back onto its haunches and lifted its forefeet, staring at them. Its wings, wings, sank to the ground, but only rested lightly atop the snow despite their bulk. As the anger slunk away—it realized, dimly, that the banescales were running away, but no longer cared—a new awareness crept over it. It, it had built its huge skeleton into that of a dragon. These were talons, not the short digging claws for a chipmunk’s paws. It had wings, grotesque and fragile without the folds of skin that lent the ability to fly. And a great horned skull to crown the mess, its jaws bristling with teeth molded from the skeletons of creatures CS2 couldn’t name any longer, so many times had it broken those bones down and forged them anew with others.

This is what it was, now. It stood atop a hill sheltering sleeping predators underneath a sky of glittering stars it, it had never seen, it had never known the winter constellations because it had died, it had been hunted and killed, its body, its body of flesh and fur and blood that once been its own shape and sensation, pierced and cut into by the clever talons of beings so much bigger, so much smarter than itself—CS2 was dead, and now it took its murderer’s form with all its magic, power stolen rather than innate or built, and this still wasn’t life.

The snowy ground might as well be as distant as those cold, staring stars and moons, because CS2 was not of this world. And this world was no longer of it.

Undead.

The pain was back, CS2 realized. It had forgotten it while still caught up in its fury, in the thrill of pursuit, of hunting those dragons, but it was never gone. And it was. So. Much.

Agony ate at the hollowness of it as CS2 sank back down into the lair entrance, magic seeping out of the bones shattered and reshattered along the same lines until there were no further cracks to break. The Dark was back, swooping across its vision in dizzying waves as it stumbled down the tunnel toward the hidden entrance of the hibernal den, suddenly desperate to reach it before the last of the magic evaporated.

I need, it tried to gasp, though it had no lungs with which to breathe and that hurt to know, I need to get there. I need to make sure.

That last burning command, the final situational, the ever-permanent. To the end, keep Lamp and my eggs safe.

It fell through the hole into the cold cellar of a den. How long had CS2 dug? There was no sensation in its bones. But no, no, the holes had been from when it had summoned all the bones in the vicinity, and that had included its two remaining sentinels. Their skeletons had broken through the wall of earth to answer its call, and now their remains were scattered somewhere outside in the snow or down in the lair, following CS2’s staggering path. Collapsed there on the floor of the hibernal den, that was almost the end, the Dark almost claiming it. But the master’s command drove it to be sure, and it dragged its skeleton forward, to lift its skull and see with the last of its clouding vision.

A guardian dragon, statuesque in the gloom, lay encircling his nest of sleeping eggs. Peaceful as snow.

Would the banescales have even found them? Would they have thought to dig deeper, upon finding an empty lair and hoard? Had the commands Tibia had given it been too hasty, too simple? What would CS2 have done, if it could have chosen?

CS2 was not alive, it could not even move, and it still had these thoughts, this awareness, these questions. And it made no difference, whether it had them or not. It didn’t matter, not to the world, not to its master, so the weight of them fell solely upon itself.

It was too much. Too much.

I did it, it sent to Tibia, without remembering it had closed the mental communication. I fulfilled your last request. I can rest now. I get to do that, at last.

And it was dark.

[mac-lac-blog]

J-hope appreciation post 💞

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Awesome Romance Author April Kihlstrom

Awesome Romance Author April Kihlstrom

April Kihlstrom: A Regency Author to Discover

Please welcome awesome romance author April Kihlstrom, writer of over thirty Regency romances. April is probably best known as the Book In A Week maven. She’s been teaching a course on BIAW for many many years. She also writes children’s books about her dog Sophy.

Take it alway, April…

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your…

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231201 | MUSIC BANK MINI FAN MEETING

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BiAW-I4F1XI/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1jhwjyfcv7xsp Please don't interact if you're in our dni, thank you!

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Do you have any scenes from Banshee In A Well that stood out as particularly fun to write? Or any moments that you think came out well? I’m going through and rereading the fic, and I, of course, love all of it so so much- but I’m curious about what was satisfying from your end!!

(I’m also working on a bit of art of your story! It’s a bit of a mishmash of scenes, but if there’s a moment in particular that you’d want to see….)

YESSSS so I absolutely ADORED writing the Ra's Knows reveal, because I loved showing that all of Tim's deaths didn't go unnoticed, and that actually, by dying all the time, he kind of fucked up! I also loved just writing Ra's in general as a major creep who just... wants to possess Tim (in a material sense). I cannot wait to write the fic where Tim misjudges Ra's and ends up in the Pit, because I am going to fuck him up so badly.

I also LOVED writing Bruce's scene, because while his voice was really hard to get at first, working out his thought process and his reactions gave me the chance to try writing him, and that ended up being really fun! The last chapter is also dear to my heart; I rewrote it a bunch bc I just wasn't sure what direction to go in, but after chatting to different people, I found a way I really really liked. One thing about my writing is that I adore hopeful endings, sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, sometimes both, and I really think the ending of BIAW came out beautifully.

Thank you so so much for reading and enjoying it so much!! Though I'm curious, do you have a favourite scene?? Let me know!!

AND THANK YOU OUGHHH I would absolutely LOVE to see anything you make!!! I'm just overjoyed to see how talented people are and how they view my fic! Let me know if/when you're finished, so I can appropriately scream in delight about it!!!