#i don't usually write in this style

[keferon]

.....face in hands. I don't know what to say.

I'm reading this fic at a snail's pace because after every fifth paragraph, fireworks explode in my brain and I go to draw what I just read

[bonefall]

I’m rereading Po3 and despite its flaws I really enjoyed the introduction to the three. Jaykit isn’t mentioned to be blind in the first few chapters and instead they chose to show how much MORE capable he is compared to his littermates; until at the end of chapter 3, he brings up his blindness on his own. It makes forcing him to be a medicine cat SO much more frustrating because it really feels like they’re setting him up to be a warrior and choose his own fate (note i haven’t finished the reread this is just my first impression)

I like how you seem to take that path in BB regardless! It makes his arc so much more enjoyable

His arc in canon is super frustrating because he's such an independent character who clearly wants to make his own decisions in life, but then he just gets shoved into the medcat den. I LIKE that he ultimately goes there and that he enjoys it; but it was still really fucked up that they stripped away his autonomy in the process.

Re: they are not real, they are writing choices. Taking away the choices a disabled character can make over their own life, forcing them into a celibate nun role, and then going "awwwww dont worry see? he likes it! This was the best thing for him :)" was fucked up.

And imo it didn't have to be that way! You wouldn't have to go the FULL route I did with big changes, he could just be more involved in the descision to stop being a warrior apprentice and it would be fine. Minor change that would make a world of difference.

I do also have to interject to say though... blindness should really not be an extremely severe impairment for a ThunderClan cat.

I'm dead serious.

Whiskers are built-in sensors that tell you the exact position of everything within several inches of your head, ears swerve to pick up sound, and the jacobson's organ provides a sense of smell so keen that I have an entire Clanmew expansion draft because I needed to make WORDS describing the power of this sense that humans do not have. I cannot stress enough how delicate their other senses are, felines do not rely on their sight like primates do

ThunderClan lives in a mixed-oak woodland, where sight is already often obscured by foliage, objects are close together (for whiskers to feel), and nearly every movement makes noise against the leaf litter. RiverClan and (moor-running) WindClan cats would have a harder time with this disability than Thunder or Shadow.

Cat sight SUCKS to begin with. It sucks BADDD. They don't have color vision, they're significantly nearsighted, and they can't track up-and-down movements well. WC doesn't write realistic cats (more like small fuzzy people really) and I also work with more humanesque eyesight, but the only thing Jay should really lose is an ability to rapidly track a small animal swerving fast. Blind cats are often still excellent hunters in spite of that!

So it's an extra big waste that they railroaded him into a position he didn't choose, saying he couldn't be a warrior. This is the perfect disability to write, if you want to explore how ableism can impact the characters in this society who ARE legitimately still capable of nearly full independence, but still need to find accommodations for what they can't do.

In the same arc they're doing the dumb Cinder Reincarnation Plotline, no less!! Where SHE is also feeling like she has no choice over her "destiny," and gets a conflict over a potentially disabling injury

"Oh nooo if cinderpaw breaks her leg she wont be a warrior!"

"What the f-- Im Jaypaw and im reporting live from the scene where a Category 1 Idiot Moment is taking place. Woman breaks leg, suddenly everyone believes she is a horse, more at 11."

One of these days I should really make "herb guides" just covering how various sensory disabilities impact the lives of Clan cats and some tips for writing them as warriors, especially between Clans. Stuff you wouldn't usually consider, like how much noise deaf cats tend to make, how RiverClan would get a ton of sinus infections and lose their sense of smell, being blind in Sky vs Thunder, etc.

[screwpinecaprice]

She's on a hospital bed, amnesiac after an accident and she's having a crush on this man who is apparently her husband.

@dragonuva's part on an art trade with them from last year! 🥰 It's based on the first chapter of Chiptune by Newlense.

Guys. This fanfic is my favorite FAVORITE connverse fic and I love it so much I don't care if the last update was in 2020 nor if it's never going to be continued. It's so tender and the angst whalloped my guts in the right places. 😭💕

[joyfuladorable]

She let him win bouts in the past, when it was mostly just a game to occupy him, tire him out so he wouldn’t get underfoot. He’d pounce and she’d always skillfully fall and allow the pin for as long as he gloated. But he’s older now, and the time for games - at least when it comes to training - has passed. - After training, Casey takes Junior on his first ever patrol.

[non-un-topo]

More clothing studies, this time from my fic Axis. I was aiming for authenticity while also trying to have each of their personalities show a little bit in their clothing choices. Two for Nicky, to show his layers.

[koddlet]

based on the cut scene from the 2.07 script...

[causticflower]

bite |?| no bite

Day 4: Vampire/In Disguise

[takethelx3]

They're so emotional to me.... holding them in my hands....

(And, as always, because I enjoy adding context,) let me set the scene! This time in.. sort of.. fic format?

--

Tim, who has been up one too many nights, or perhaps spread himself too thin over the growing number of cases he didn't think were becoming overly distracting, had found himself in the precarious position of being Too Tired To Watch His Own Back while solo-patroling (but what kind of Bat can't watch their own back? He was fine!).

And it seemed fine, it was fine, until it really wasn't. One minute, he was doing his thing, upright, chasing Villain Of The Week across Gotham's rooftops, nothing unusual, and then the next-

Well.

He doesn't really know that much, himself.

All he does know, is that right now he's at Dick's house, covered in bandages and bruises, in a t-shirt and sweats that - though his own, stashed here in case he ever visits - he was definitely not wearing on patrol.

And according to the orange glow around the curtains, he is fairly sure it's no longer the middle of the night, either. So that's two things that have changed since the last time his eyes were open.

Three, counting the fact there's no villain he's chasing.

Four, if he includes being in the guest room at Dick's.

Five, accounting for--

The door opens gently, cautiously, and Tim's eyes drift toward the movement, most likely to be Dick.

And when those big ol' familiar eyes lock with Tim's, sighting him up and awake, the door is flung wide open, his big brother entering the room with glee, a pleasant hum now on his lips. Tim wonders how the door has survived so many of his not-very-careful pushes, but has no time to ponder on it;

His dear big brother proceeds to fling open the curtains (to which Tim hisses and complains) and manoeuvers around the room quickly, to park himself upon the bed - cereal not having lost a drop of milk in his commotion - and scans over Tim as he slips up to sit, too.

Tim is a little embarrassed, to be perfectly honest. There's a teasing look in Dick's eye that says whatever happened to him last night was only concerning until he regained consciousness.

"Hello there, Tim." He grins, once he's finished his visual assessment, "Nice of you to drop by!"

"Wasn't in the plans, exactly. But.. yeah, nice to see you, too." He smiles back, though apprehensive, and Dick looks pleased that he's responding clearly.

Still.

He hesitates, but has to ask, "What happened to me?"

"Well." He hums, eating a spoonful of his cereal before repeating, "You dropped by."

Tim's not sure what he's insinuating. He moves to make a bit more space for Dick on the bed, pulling one knee up for comfort, fluffing up the pillows. "Dick, you're going to have to be more specific."

At first, he pouts - just a little - but then he relaxes and speaks, "I'm not surprised you don't remember, even though you did retain enough consciousness to call for help." He goes on, gesturing with his spoon, "You fell from quite the height. Then you called me and said you, 'tripped on something and your head hurt.' And after that very detailed-" The words are accented with a sarcastic eye roll, "-report, you stopped responding to me." He shrugs, then leans his arm up on Tim's knee. "Luckily, I found you and brought you over here." He winks, playful as ever. "Since I'm a very lovely big brother, and couldn't very well leave you there on the pavement."

"So.. this wasn't the villain?" He glances at his bandaged hand, gestures to his head.

"Nope. I think you tried to grab something on your way down, to catch yourself," He can only assume that's what happened to his hand, and Tim agrees with the assessment, nodding, "But most of the wounds seem to be from hitting the ground. Which, you know. Ouch." He laughs a little, then takes a leaderly turn, "And, on a serious note, if you're too distracted to even remember to use your grappling hook, you might have to stick around here for a few--"

"Oh-" Tim gets it, now. Dick, silenced, quirks a brow, and Tim snorts, palming a hand to his face. "I dropped by, right."

"Hey! There we go!" Dick's laughter swells from his chest and fills the room, and Tim finds himself laughing with him, albeit with less gusto thanks to the head injury.

It's so much easier to wake up in Dick's care than Bruce's. Bruce has to spend hours moping before he can even think to make a joke this dumb. Tim didn't even have the context required to find it funny the first or second time, but Dick was so excited to say it. He'd probably been coming up with lines all morning. Or maybe not; his improvised quips are still fast. Maybe that was improv, too, give the guy some credit.

Either way, Dick's laugh makes him feel a lot better about falling from a building; the lamest way to be injured as a vigilante.

And once he's done laughing, Dick's expression drops into a fond smile, warm eyes on his brother, "So, you feel okay?"

"Eh. I'll be fine." He smiles back, relaxing. "No need to alert the big guy."

"Roger that." He winks in a, 'your secret's safe with me,' way, then sighs dramatically. "I only regret I wasn't there to film you wiping out. The blackmail potential; lost.."

"Hey!"

--

I'm not good at shorter fics (I like to privately nurse 100k+ words that I don't show to anyone 👉👈) but I want to get more confident with writing publically sooooooo. Might as well give you a ficlet or whatever a tiny fic is called!

Also drawing Dick is hard how do you draw beautiful men when all people are beautiful to you? Smh. It's so hard being a nice guy.

[raifuujin]

“I just don't like Gosho's use of ideas nowadays” do you have some examples? I’ve been feeling the same but I still don’t have like articulate thoughts on it

Well, 'nowadays' has been for. About ten years, ish? The most glaring example that always sticks out in my mind is the Sun Halo MK chapters, with the complete and utter waste of the very common fanfic tropes of 'Aoko gets suspicions' and 'Kid gets injured around someone'. But it kind of matches the general problem I have with his writing that I don't think used to be this bad: He's trying to stuff too much around the strict case-by-case structure (or for MK, introducing the heist-by-heist structure) without actually giving anything focus. (And for MK it's so much worse because he writes it so rarely, that he makes everyone cameo every time but they tend to just get hand waves to whatever drama plot gets instigated by Kid having his next heist.)

For DC, it's the whole. 1) Overarching plot with the BO and suspects and 'here's the available suspects for who's involved with the BO that we introduce one at a time at the end of cases and then maybe leave more clues about them during future cases'. 2) Dangling character or relationship progress and then constantly pulling it away, usually as a joke. 3) When we do occasionally get some of the major plot, it's all at once and then maybe mentioned once in the next case, but otherwise completely dropped. (Amuro and Akai and Kudo tea party tease also lingers as a 'Gosho is just evil at this point'.) Basically rigid structure that doesn't allow for much of the subplots aside from breadcrumbs.

For the current situation, it's also tied into interview comments. Which. have no bearing on the story until he actually uses them. But instead of even that, the movie gets exciting stuff instead and puts it in a giant limbo of is it meant to be canon or not, because no one has been able to settle on that for any movie, even as some details get connected back to the manga more and more.

It's bad writing. Gosho has been a bad writer for a long time, and it's kinda just getting worse. It's my opinion that it's because he tries to have his case after case after case (because mystery manga), and then stuff little bits of everything else in the seams, whether it works well with the case he's writing or if it's a good delivery or (more usually) it's just. Kinda tacked on.

It's partially because of time investment, partially because I have low standards of entertainment, and partially because I want to see how it all ends that I stick with DC. MK is. Similar, but hurts more because I really hate how it morphed into the DC structure when old MK had more you could do with it. Gosho will never drop his rigid case-by-case structure at this point, but it really would be better if he did at this point. Things need development that they're not allowed to have. Or at least smooth out the lines between his hints. And stop with Heiji and Kazuha, just. God. Stop. Is this how people felt about Kid appearances? I feel like at least when people were mad about Kid, they knew nothing was going to happen from the get go, the romance 'tease' is just painful.

[eerna]

My mentor's constant stream of "what are you, STUPID?????" criticism style sure does make me less of a proud stubborn ass, but at what cost

[mikiusol]

I wish more people wrote about Jack, Miko and Raf... Rarely do I come across a good story that features them. Reading one that has even either as a main character is great too! But I've only ever read 2 stories that had all three :(

[stardestroyer81]

Can I offer you a nice transfem sheep in this tryin' time? 💙🏳️‍⚧️✨

[emblazons]

"I think it would be easier if we were a team."

Day Five of @bylerweek2023 - Secret Identities aka - the Modern!Byler + DnD AU no one asked for

The details for their character sheets came from here + here, though only Mike's is confirmed secondary media. The details + story behind these versions of byler under the cut!

The Secret

The Cleric (Will) & The Paladin (Mike) have been playing digital campaigns together for nearly five years now, after Mike‘s then-newfound investment in Critical Role inspired him to hunt for an online DnD game to play for himself.

Inseparable on the pixelated battlefield, their half a decade of campaigning together has slowly turned them into the best of (digital) friends, as they’ve shared their deepest secrets in the anonymous-but-meaningful way you can only online. From Will admitting that his main concern even outside being ridiculed for his sexuality is healing from childhood PTSD to Mike admitting that his picture-perfect family hates his interests and would never accept that he likes guys, both of them have learned to defer to each other in and out of campaigns—they have grown deeply fond of each other through their characters’ adventures…and chats that mean more to both of them than they would dare admit aloud.

Even so, all the Cleric and the Paladin really know about each other on a practical level is that they’re both 20 this year, are both in college now, and that they both come from the Midwest—though they do hope to meet one day if it ever makes sense.

There really is nothing like a friend who gets to see the sides of you you’re not allowed to show in any other space—and neither of them wants to live their entire lives without someone who treats them as well as their longtime D&D companion.

The Identities

Mike Wheeler and Will Byers have been in each other’s orbit since elementary school in Hawkins, though Will’s been pretty distant about keeping tabs on Mike since he dated (and subsequently broke up) with his sister El during freshman year. Mike always enjoyed the time he spent with Will and could tell that Will felt the same, though Mike knew from the second he broke up with El that Will’s love for his family was going to take precedence over their mutual interest in the same (nerdy) things—the same way it did for his sister Nancy when she broke up with Will’s brother, Jonathan, when they went to college.

It’s been years since that happened now, though—and the last time Mike spoke to Will was when they gave each other a friendly hug goodbye the day of high school graduation. Now well into his 3rd year of college, Mike only knows that Will goes to IU just like he does…but on a campus of over 30,000 people and as an English major to Will’s Visual Arts, it’s not like they see each other.

Even so, time away from his exacting family has made Mike more comfortable, and he has slowly realized that it’s time to branch out of his solely hypothetical “rebellious” spaces and into meeting real people who share his interests—to fully embrace is love of DnD in real life to learn the fine art of figurine painting, soak up all the wisdom to be found in classic printed dungeon master guides, and experience the ruckus of a well-strategized in-person campaign. That’s why, on one rainy Friday night in March, he wanders into the Hellfire Club—the on-campus DnD group he’s heard of but never been brave enough to join.

Given his knowledge of Will from all those years ago, seeing the guy he grew up with sitting next to him for Eddie Munson’s grungy basement campaign wasn’t all that much of a surprise, actually. What was a surprise was what happened when he looked down at the table in front of the boy next to him….only to see “Will the Wise” at the top of Will Byers character sheet, plain as day.

tl;dr - you're 20, and your long-time online crush bestie who knows all your secrets turns out to be the brother of the girl you dated for five seconds at 14. Chaos ensues.

[llilyrose]

i actually read ghostlight before i got super active in the isat community help. i only got to it when it had like 7 chapters though so everything after that point is a mystery to me.

boy am i sure glsd there's only 24 chapters for me to do!!!! haha what do you mean the fic is in a series on ao3!!!! hahhahahaha what do you mean there's an ongoing sequel!!!!!! hhahahahhaahahahhahaha why do i hear BOSS music.

[arahabakix]

millions knives -; recoloured

[writterings]

most splatterpunk novels are like. here is the most poorly written gore scene ever. here is also the worst way to execute this concept. but i'm still gonna read it because i appreciate the idea of what the author is doing.