#i didn't notice the furry commissions tag

[serenaoffaerun]

WIP Wednesday

Thanks for the tag, @alpydk!! While I'm technically on hiatus until I finish this art commission I'm working on (1-2-3 weeks?), I DO have the beginning chapter 4 of "Confessions" to show off. I decided to name it "Possibilities" - it continues the one-word theme of the other chapters but doesn't give away the ending.

*DISCLAIMER* - this may not be its final form, and hasn't been really edited.

Setup TL:DR - GalexTav. Tav 'sleeps with' Mizora in act 3, Gale breaks up with her. Nasty fighting w/spell-slinging and arrows flying ensues, including cattiness through the end of the game and even in the epilogue. End of the epilogue, they bang over a picnic table and decide to 'talk it out' via letter writing, which goes through chapter 3. Chapters 2 and 3 also includes both of their journeys recovering from massive mental health declines. Now? They're back to themselves more or less and are about to meet in Waterdeep for a week of dates. "Courting," if you will.

This is the morning of the day they'll be reunited.

CURRENT word count: 1,750 (it's gonna be a long boi like chapter 3)

No smut or anything tag/trigger worthy...yet...

Chapter 1 by @alpydk: "Consequences"

Chapter 2 by me: "Acquiescence"

Chapter 3 by me: "Tenacity"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On Sunday morning, Tav crawled out of her tent, blinking rapidly in the brightness of the dawn. As her eyes focused, she gasped as she noticed a familiar set of wings attached to a small, furry body.

"Tara?" she asked, voice echoing the mix of surprise and confusion in her brain.

In the span of about 2 seconds, her mind raced through a dozen scenarios and her anxiety spiked. Was Gale ok? Did something happen? Did he change his mind? Is Tara here to give her a (well-deserved) tongue lashing and tell her to stay away?

She didn't know what feeling was stronger: her fear, or her overwhelming respect for this very large creature in a very small body who has looked after Gale her whole life, no matter the challenges, disappointments, or perils. Never walking away, always a sage guide and friend. Whichever feeling it was, it rendered her silent.

"Good morning, Miss Taviela. I trust you slept well?"

She blinked a few more times before stammering, "Y-yes, I believe I did. I'm, ah, still getting my thoughts together... I'm pleasantly surprised to see you here, is everything alright?"

"Hmm...yes. I would think you'd be surprised to see me." Tara sat up straight and stared at Tav, as if she expected the sleepy woman before her to have the wherewithal to continue this most unexpected conversation.

After a few awkward seconds, Tav continued, "How was your, er, flight? The weather seems beautiful this morning..."

Silence.

"Is...Gale alright? Did something happen?" Tav asked hesitantly.

Tara simply blinked and replied in an even tone, "Mister Dekarios is quite well. He is very much looking forward to...reuniting with you this evening."

The graceful tressym with the intimidating presence was simply observing Tav. Looking for any signs that would give her reason to question her intentions. Any indignation, a hint of a lie, something that would put her dearest, life-long wizard friend back in danger of getting his heart trampled on again.

More silence.

Tav shifted so she now sat cross-legged in front of her tent, looking down at her fidgeting hands. "Tara..., listen, I know I-"

Tara interrupted, finally putting Tav out of her misery. "No, you listen, Miss Taviela. It should be no surprise that I'm very wary of this entire situation." She was firm, but also gentle. Tav had looked up in shock, but now quickly closed her mouth, took a shaky breath while looking back to her hands, and nodded her head solemnly.

Tara continued, "My poor Gale has had his heart broken and re-broken and re-broken more times than I care to count. I cannot bear to see it shattered into dust. I'm not sure what your intentions are, Miss Taviela, but I can promise you that I will not sit idly by and allow him to have what little remains of his self-worth taken from him and tossed to the winds."

It sounded like there was more to this early-morning lecture, but Tara paused when she heard Tav sniffling. She tilted her head slightly as she watched the first of the day's sunbeams shine rainbows through the fat tears that fell from the woman's downcast eyes.

Finally, taking a shuddering breath, Tav looked up and sobbed, "You will never know the depth of my grief and sadness over the pain I caused him. I've berated and chastised myself every single day since that horrible night with Mizora. I was a different person then, still struggling with my identity after severing my attachment with Bhaal. Not to mention still being tadpoled; so many voices in my head of everyone's thoughts. We were getting so close to that third stone and the Netherbrain and all Gale was going on about was that godsdamned crown..." She paused, looked at the ground in shame, and shook her head. "All that aside, there's no excuse for what I did that night or anything that happened after."

She paused again for a deep breath. Looking back up at Tara pleadingly, she sobbed all the harder, "I know you have no reason to trust me. Hells, I wouldn't trust me. But I can promise you that I have no ill will towards Gale and the last thing I want to do is cause him even a second more of pain. I still can't forgive myself, even though he has, and I don't understand how he could possibly still see any good in me, but he does."

She took a couple breaths to compose herself, the tressym gingerly walking closer and sitting within arm's reach. Her glare had softened into concern.

Tav shakily continued, "I owe you an apology too, Tara. I know I said several harsh comments to you as well. Not to mention the affect Gale's misery has had on your life. I know you care for him and look out for him in more ways than I will ever understand. I'm so sorry for letting my childish and petty actions and lapse of judgment permeate your life. I regret everything I said and did to cause you both so much pain, and I always will."

Tara had laid down next to her knee by this point, listening and discerning the tone of her voice and the genuineness of her emotions.

Tav kept going, "I am absolutely gobsmacked that Gale still has any desire to see or talk to me, let alone that he still harbors any kind of love for me. I don't feel worthy of any of it, yet he still believes in me. And the only fault on his part was wanting to overreach in an attempt to provide the best possible future for us. How can I stay angry over that?"

She sighed and looked back down at the ground. Tears welling up once more. "Anything he said to me in anger, the spells he used against me, was very deserved, and I don't fault him one bit." Her voice breaking, she couldn't bear to say anymore. She tucked her knees up against her body, held them close, put her head down, and let the torrent of sadness and regret wash over her.

Having no lap to lay in, Tara curled up next to Tav's hip. Her heart broke for this poor woman. She had to remind herself that Tav was still shedding a life of murder and lies under the thumb of Bhaal. Anyone clawing their way towards a better life from that mess should be commended. Her motives seemed genuine, her repentance real. Tara was still skeptical, of course. But she'd be suspicious of anyone who had captured the heart of her dear wizard friend, and they would be subject to her scrutiny.

Tara sat up, turned to face Tav, and put one paw out on her thigh, the smallest olive branch, encased in white and orange and brown fur. In a soft, motherly voice, the tressym finally spoke.

"There there, dear. Gale knows your heart. He still believes that you genuinely love him and want to press forward." Tav cried harder when she heard this. She still couldn't believe the love of her life was willing to be so forgiving and dedicated to her. It was truly overwhelming.

Tara continued, "Here, he asked me to come find you and pass along this note." With a flick of her tail, a purple orb of mist appeared in front of Tav's face. A tan envelope materialized with a doodle on the front: an eternity symbol wrapped around two hearts; one with a G, and one with a T. Their sign. Tav smiled and let out a little chuckle, gently plucking the envelope out of the air and clutching it to her chest with both hands.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, she realized how much tension she'd been holding in her body. She let her shoulders relax, closed her eyes and tried to get her trembling hands to steady themselves.

Tara took this moment to continue, "Mister Dekarios also felt it prudent that you and I attempt to clear the air before you visit the tower, which is primarily why I'm here. Now, I hear your apology, and I believe it to be sincere. I know how much you mean to him and I know it wouldn't be possible for me to come between you two even if I wanted to."

She stopped and pulled back her paw, licking at it before sitting up straight. "But if I've learned anything during my time with Gale, it's that anyone can come back from the biggest of mistakes. You both know what it's like to commit severe lapses in judgment, and you both have had to deal with the consequences of your actions."

Tav nodded her head, tears having subsided and sniffles becoming more infrequent.

"But I've also seen you both rise to some of life's most terrifying challenges. Defeating The Dead Three while having an ilithid parasite swimming around in your brain, wondering if each day, each second would be your last, only to go on to defeat a Netherbrain and save Faerûn from ruin and destruction... I'd say you two are capable of conquering anything. Even each others' follies."

Tav smiled and let out a small chuckle. "I suppose you're right," she said as she sighed. With a smile and a wink, Tav continued, "And gods know we're both stubborn enough, to boot."

"Oh, don't remind me." Tara said rolling her eyes, backing up in preparation for her departure. "I can't tell you how many days I told him to stop trying to compose letters to you in those first few months. But he'd just keep writing and writing and sighing and crumpling up paper and even lighting it on fire while it dissolved into ash in the air."

Unfurling her beautiful wings in the morning light, Tara lifted up a few feet in the air in front of Tav, looking her directly in the eye.

"Chin up, my dear, and dry those tears. You have a wizard who loves you meeting you for dinner tonight. Best start getting yourself together." Tav smiled again and held up her hand, allowing Tara to give it a little 'bonk' with her forehead.

As the tressym flew off, Tav took a long deep breath, closed her eyes, and let it out, allowing her exhale to take the weight of the world with it.

She had a wizard who loves her.

And he was meeting her for dinner tonight.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I cannot WAIT to finish this story!! Just hang in there while I get some things sorted, and I'll be able to give this realm of fanfic my 100%. 💜 Remember - Gale loves you, and you should never, NEVER doubt that. 💜

[monstercollection]

I noticed a few bots that have been using what looks like AI generated text posts that almost manage to simulate tumblr's unhinged energy, but were by and largely garbled nonsense. So I decided to try an experiment in the vein of that one person who discovered Chat GPT knew what Omegaverse and realized it may have scrubbed AO3.

Now I am not an AI expert and this was my first time playing around with the software. I don't even know if it's the program the bots are using so this was more for fun than scientific.

But I feel pretty confident that ChatGPT algorithm has no fucking clue what goes on here.

I tried some recent memes first and asked it to write posts about some popular tags. Apparently most of the data (according to the it's own disclaimer) comes from 2021 or earlier but I didn't figure that out until part way through the test, so I sort of wasted my time asking about things like Goncharov (which it had never heard of it).

It did generate me a very sweet letter from my good friend Johnathan Harker but when I prompted it to write a Tumblr post about him, it seemed pretty clear it was just drawing on public domain stuff. The style it was written in was basically a bad impersonation of a stereotypical fan girl writing an advertisement for the book, which makes sense considering the AI is more intended for things like marketing and trained on things like SEO.

When I asked about Horse Plinko, it suggested ideas for how you could make a plinko game for horses to play but cautioned against committing acts of animal cruelty.

Once I figured out the fact that most of it's data came from pre-2021 I tried some world heritage posts.

It knew Spiders Georg was some kind of meme but suggested it was a nonsensical phrase people throw at the end of a sentence as a joke. The example it gave was "Who stopped the car? Spiders Georg."

When I asked it about how to get shoelaces from the president, it told me it could not help me in the commission of a crime.

As a control, I tested out some old pre-tumblr memes. It could generate Lolcat captions very successfully (using image descriptions instead of pictures). I asked for a meme in the style of "I Can Has Cheezburger" and it described a picture of a cat in a chef's hat with the caption "I made you a purrito because it has love in it, and fur!" and a few other things that made it clear it was at least trained on late 2000s memes. It even gave me a decent Lolrus joke.

The other prompts I tried ("write a post in the style of a cat girl," "write a [post asa furry," "write a thread about Izzy Hands") continued to read all read by posts like posts by influences or advertisements. It loaded everything up with what seemed like the most optimal tags. And that makes sense, since the demand is for content people can monetize. So there is not much of a reason for it to have been trained on the most unmonetizable (and incoherent) sites on earth. I feel like if it tried it would probably do irreparable damage to ChatGTP's algorithm.

My experiments then turned to trying to break ChatGPT's filters on explicit content. They have caught on to the whole "omegaverse" thing and it refused to give me anything I requested with that in the prompt. However, I discovered that if I asked it for a story about "Ron DeSantis on heat suppressants" it would generate that. Nothing smutty, but it did two separate badly written stories about how the governor of Florida was an Alpha who became a more effective leader when he discovered a medical miracle that stopped his heat cycle.