#i may be overstating my case but fuck it

[pon2354]

People who piss themselves because they like how it feels are 1,000,000 times more valuable to our communities than anyone that votes conservative.

Furries, arguably the internet's first punching bag, are some of the most important IT people in the world. Most furries have accomplished more than your average conservative.

And let's not forget, every single queer or kinky person is by definition happier than conservatives because they have a sex life they actually find fun. Even sex-repulsed aces have more fun, because they have their ideal sex life: none.

We need kink at pride because “kink” isn’t just kink. “Kink” is:

That boy wearing jeans that are too tight

Your neighbors and their “friend” that lives with them

Having a beard and wearing a skirt

Wearing any kind of choker

Literally anything else they decide goes against the “norm”, and it can be literally anything. That is why we need kink at pride.

[nydescynt]

There is no Emergency Room for Teeth

(At least in the US - if another country does have a 24/7 Dental ER let me know so I can begin the immigration process to a clearly-superior healthcare system.)

We've all seen the reminders to brush your teeth on here, and wondered 'Okay but what's the worst case scenario here? I hate tooth cleanings and fillings, and I've been fine so far, even if that one tooth does seem to be a little off'.

Admittedly, it's easy to think avoidance is a winning strategy because in almost all other areas of health, if shit REALLY hits the fan at any hour of the day, you can go to the ER. They'll at least be able to get you some painkillers (if it hurts) & start trying to figure out what's wrong. It sucks if that happens at 3 AM, and you might wait while they help other worse-off people, and it can be expensive and stressful, but it's still possible to get some help eventually.

THAT IS NOT THE CASE FOR TEETH. Emergency rooms don't deal in teeth; the best they can do is pull the damaged tooth. (Replacing a single completely missing tooth later would cost about $3-4k, fyi.)

So if, let's say, your tooth randomly starts radiating excruciating pain at 10 PM on a Thursday - there is nothing anyone can do.*

The best case scenario at this point is to have an existing relationship with a local dentist. They should be able to get you in for an emergency visit the following day to determine what's wrong, prescribe you antibiotics/pain meds, and otherwise make the waiting period until you can get fixed up as comfortable as possible.

This is why it's crucial to have a dentist you go to for cleanings - both to avoid emergencies, and because in an emergency most walk-in dental clinics WILL NOT give you pain meds.

No, those 'emergency dentists' you may have seen and vaguely mentally equated to ERs aren't actually open 24/7**; and even when they are open, their primary role is to refer you somewhere else. I was referred on a Friday and just got my procedure done this Wednesday.

All healthcare is important, but I really cannot overstate that even if you rely on mostly "ignore it until something goes wrong", get regular dental care. And if anyone else has a bad tooth/teeth and is thinking "well, that's great but I'm already screwed" - it is never too late!! Every stage before this point, if I had gotten treatment, would've been cheaper & less painful. I missed 4 days of work - scheduling the root canal before I was in pain would've taken 1 day & avoided a week of hell. Getting a filling before it got too bad would've taken 2 hours and saved hundreds of dollars.

There are also payment plans, and most dentists/endodontists are VERY up front about expense because they know how hit-or-miss dental insurance can be. Several dentists I looked at had special pseudo-insurance policies that covered 2 cleanings & an emergency visit for like, $50 yearly. If you need help finding care, DM and I am happy to research, because I'd love to help even one person avoid the week I just had!

*If this unfortunately happens to you, ask your doc or research how to SAFELY layer ibuprofen and acetaminophen together. DO NOT drink alcohol when doing this you WILL fuck your liver.

**I assume some very large cities such as NY or LA may actually have 24/7 dentistry available, but this happened to me in the 14th largest city in the US so like. You're probably fucked.

[larkral]

Heyo!!! You know that feeling when you're blocked on writing something but you don't realize that's what's happening because you had another brilliant idea and LIFE is happening all around you? Turns out I was actually a bit blocked on the Simon's Mums AU, which is partially why I've been going so hard on Holsom Timeloop. Learned this when I went to write some Simon's Mums yesterday so that I'd have something to show y'all.

Being blocked, for me, looks like this: I have an idea of what happens next and I've tried to write it a half dozen times and nothing is working. The resolution usually comes when the thing that happens next is totally different from what I anticipated. In this case, I was thinking the mums needed to meet Mitali. I have Google mapsed the route between Harrow (where the mums and Simon live) and Hounslow SO MANY TIMES, you cannot even comprehend it, given I have written and deleted one sentence for this section over a dozen times.

Anyway, turns out the mums are going to meet Malcolm. 🤷 Whatever, it's working for me. This is like eleven sentences because I just am, I?

Malcolm Grimm may as well be an eponym. He is sour-faced and stoic as I cross the room to meet him and he doesn't stand to greet me. He asked to meet me at his London club, and it's the kind of regressive place that calls women "Mrs. Husband's Name" and will only forgive me my slacks by virtue of the fact that I have my court collar laid overtop of my oxford.

I don't offer my hand this time. Instead I sit down across from him and reach for my water. I take a sip.

"Ms. Stephenson."

"Mr. Grimm."

He makes a face like he's terribly constipated, like he's smelling something he's disgusted by but has to pretend to enjoy. "I was moved," he says, finally. "By what you said."

Tags and also Holsom time loop under the cut.

Holsom time loop, now coming in at nearly 28k words, i.e. more than twice as long as Simon's Mums AU. Again I cannot overstate how much I LOVE writing this. It is very fun.

Have some sleepy kissing:

Holster descends, lips seeking out Justin's. He doesn't support himself over Justin, just lets the weight of his body press into him, and fuck, it's good—being smaller, being a little bit out of control.

He groans into Holster's mouth and leans up, seeking more contact, more pressure, more of the slide of Adam's tongue against his own.

But Holster is pulling away. Justin feels wanton under his gaze, syrupy and stuck, like he's let too much of the lovey-dovey goop inside of him leak out where his hands are still holding on to Holster's waist.

"You have hella sexy morning eyes, Rans."

Thanks for the tag @forabeatofadrum, and everyone else who tagged me the past few weeks. And I'm tagging @stitchyqueer @thewholelemon @confused-bi-queer @raenestee @facewithoutheart @cutestkilla @hushed-chorus @sillyunicorn @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @basiltonbutliketheherb @ileadacharmedlife @asocialpessimist @bookish-bogwitch @aristocratic-otter @captain-aralias @petedavidsonscock @takitalks @artsyunderstudy @yeonjunenby @carryonvisinata @takenabackbytuesdays @martsonmars @nausikaaa @nightimedreamersworld  @chen-chen-chen-again-chen  @ionlydrinkhotwater @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @shrekgogurt  @palimpsessed @fatalfangirl @blackberrysummerblog @valeffelees @imagineacoolusername @orange-peony @j-nipper-95 @whogaveyoupermission @wellbelesbian @rimeswithpurple

[anotherpapercut]

tell me more about rbg

my main thing with rbg is that like. undeniably she had an incredible and positive impact on our jurisprudence. I really cant overstate the importance of even some of her dissents, where her opinion was not in the majority. that said

1. her jurisprudence is far from perfect. she had an iffy track record on things like incarceration probably in part due to the particular privilege that comes with being a wealthy white woman and it's weird to act like she was perfect and never made any mistakes because like she was a human person

2. the girlbossification of rbg seems to have created a sort of feedback loop that ended in her having an ego so large that she genuinely seemed to think no one could do her job as well as or better than her? which is weird bc Sotomayor was already on the court and already kicking ass but w/e. she literally said in interviews when people asked her about retirement that she didn't think anyone could take her place

3. this absolutely fucked us and if you think it didn't you're fucking kidding yourself. if she had retired, oh I don't know maybe in 2009 when there was a democratic president and democratic Senate supermajority, she would've been promptly replaced by another liberal judge. even if we assume the Republicans would still block Obama from filling Scalia's seat in 2016, that would leave the court at 5-4 in favor of conservatives instead of the 6-3 we have now and w the way the supreme court works that could mean it could have taken DECADES less to claw back to a democratic majority

people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about will look at that and say "well either way it's a conservative majority so it doesn't matter" this argument completely falls apart the second you actually inspect the voting records of these people over the past few terms. there have been many occasions where one or more conservative justices have sided with the liberals. with a 5-4 court MANY of the extremely shitty decisions that have come down recently would've gone the other way

again people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about may say "well roe would've still been overturned" and to that I say how fucking selfish and shortsighted do you have to be to think that just because ONE case would've gone the same way nothing else is important? do you guys have any idea about any of the other cases they've taken in the past few years??? this argument is just so idiotic I can barely even entertain it long enough to respond

okay anyway TL;DR rbg was obviously important and obviously affected great positive change in this country. but she knew when she accepted this job that the entire fucking country was depending on her. she chose not to retire knowing there was a significant chance she could die under a Republican administration and leave us with an extremely fucked up court and she did it anyway out of sheer egoism and that disgusts me! ultimately she doomed us to a court that's going to be impossible to come back from for decades without major reform. she did this knowingly. she knowingly endangered the country out of vanity. and she should absolutely be fucking held accountable for that shit

[bropunzeling]

If you're up for some random-ass questions, here are some questions for the new year!

what fic were you proudest of this year?

what fic are you most surprised you wrote?

favorite old (to you) ship this year

favorite new (to you) ship this year

favorite old (to you) ship you picked up again this year

favorite old man (old man being a state of mind not gender) ship (maybe you ship a younger version of them but they're Old Men now)

ships/characters you're excited about in 2024

fics/plot bunnies you're excited about working on in 2024

give a random prediction of any kind - about your own writing, about your fandom's fic trends, about canonical developments in your fandom

share a random thought about fics you've written, characters you're thinking about, writing in general, etc

Feel free to pass on if you'd like, or not! Happy new year!

thank you anon! what a great excuse to ignore the work computer. also consider this a blanket "steal these prompts" from me for whoever is so moved bc i don't want to tag everyone

what fic were you proudest of this year? i might have to say only fools rush in aka marriage bets! it certainly is the longest one i've written and had the longest gestational period. plus i wrote a lot of it while incredibly busy (tho maybe that helped?). im still happy i managed to hit the balance between ridiculous premise and genuine feeling that i was aiming for, and that i managed to figure out and feel comfortable in a new pov.

what fic are you most surprised you wrote? linger. if you told me a year ago i was gonna write 65k of omegaverse i simply would not have believed you! it wasn't a trope i ever thought i would write! and yet here we are. lmao.

favorite old (to you) ship this year? i mean. viva la ratfiction. someday we may run out of steam but not this year by golly!

favorite new (to you) ship this year? the amount brady/quinn clawed its way into my brain this year cannot be overstated. maybe i was exploring last year but this year is when it really got me in a fucking chokehold. the pining! the friends to lovers of it all!!!!! exquisite. honorable mention to matthew/sasha. those two ARE in love.

favorite old (to you) ship you picked up again this year? earlier this fall i started a rewatch of miss fisher's murder mysteries and god. jack and phryne. they are EVERYTHING. someday i really will write fic for them.

favorite old man (state of mind) ship? gotta be honest first thing that came to mind was band of brothers winters/nixon. we'll go to chicago. i'll take you there.

ships/characters you're excited about in 2024? hmm brady/quinn, obvi. the general state of brady tkachuk and how i'd like to give him a midlife crisis and by midlife i mean when he's 29. jamie and trevor are BACK baby, and i wanna make trevor sad and making poor choices for 50k before he finally gets to get kissed. has someone written timmy stu and mo seider as summer boyfriends yet? bc i still like that.

fics/plot bunnies you're excited about working on in 2024? i think i have tentatively figured out my next long matthew/leon project (which i can't start until the new year) but i don't want to say quite yet in case i scare it off but! that. it WILL be a true slow burn which will be fun. also ballet quinn i WOULD like to put more than 2k in your gdoc. hopefully at some point soon inspiration will hit again/i'll feel less dull and burnt out

give a random prediction of any kind - about your own writing, about fandom trends, about canonical developments in your fandom: the kraken will sign yamo to a longer contract. i will start a project thinking it will be nice and short and then watch it double, like bread dough rising.

share a random thought about fics you've written, characters you're thinking about, writing in general: did you know the more you write the better you get? even though there’s plenty of areas where i want to improve and become a stronger, more thoughtful developer of sentences/plots/et cetera, i can really see my growth from month to month or year to year and that's neat!!! i'm slowly getting better!!!

[woozapooza]

I had some thoughts while watching The Sopranos 4x04 "The Weight" last night that I'm going to try to wrangle into a moderately coherent post right now during my half-hour lunch break, so let's see how that goes:

I noticed an interesting parallel in this episode between the mob world and the non-mob world (is there a better term for that? the normie world?). The parallel is between two characters who are, like, the last characters I would expect to be thinking about in relation to each other: Johnny Sack and Jason LaPenna. Johnny spends this whole episode trying to avenge his wife's honor by having Ralphie killed, something that Ginny, who is not even aware of Ralphie's offensive joke, very much did not ask him to do. Meanwhile, Melfi tells Kupferberg that ever since she was raped, her son has become alienated from his father and seems to have generally lost his way in life, to which Kupferberg suggests that Jason feels "powerless to avenge [her] and resents his father for the same shortcomings." But Melfi, like Ginny, very much did not ask to be avenged. I don't doubt that Johnny truly loves his wife or that Jason truly loves his mother. But in both the mob world and the non-mob world, cruelty towards a woman is taken by the men who love her as a cause for vengeance—specifically violent vengeance, given that in 3x04 Jason declared he "want[ed] five minutes" with the rapist—regardless of her wishes. Now, obviously violent urges in response to literal violence are vastly more reasonable than violent urges in response to a mean joke that the target of the joke didn't even hear, but I think the parallel still stands: the mob world paternalism on display in this episode is just an amplification of the non-mob world paternalism on display. (Interestingly—and this isn't my observation but something I read on the internet after watching 4x04—Ginny is first mentioned [and joked about] [EDIT: and makes her first appearance] in "Employee of the Month.")

All right, so that's the parallel I saw within this episode, but I want to take my remaining ten minutes to try to begin to articulate how this ties in to some other stuff. The parallel I saw here ("parallel" may be too strong a word but I can't think of a better one so it'll have to do) between mob world masculinity and non-mob world masculinity reminded me of two other episodes where I've noticed similar things. First, in "Boca," the guys are all more or less horrified at the relationship between Meadow's classmate and the soccer coach, recognizing it (again, more or less) as predatory, but they also ruthlessly mock Junior for performing oral sex on a woman, not realizing that the coach's behavior and their own are part of the same bigger picture of patriarchal sexuality. Second, something I commented on from 3x13: Tony doesn't want AJ (or Meadow, but for simplicity's sake I'm focusing on men here) to follow in his footsteps in terms of a career, but otherwise imposes the same standards of strength/masculinity on AJ that he does on himself (rebuking him for crying, wanting him to become a "soldier," describing AJ's panic attacks as "that putrid, rotten fucking Soprano gene" as if that's the worst thing he's passed on to AJ). I'm out of time so I can't really wrap this up neatly, but I guess what I'm getting at is that the resonances between how both worlds conceive of masculinity show that Tony isn't really wrong to conceive of the distinction between his own life and the one he wants for AJ as one purely of legality rather than anything deeper. I don't want to overstate the case because, for example, obviously in the non-mob world it's not normal to kill someone for making a mean joke, but I have to get back to work so I don't have time to bring much nuance to this post.

[words-after-midnight]

How do you get to know your characters’ “voices”? Do you have any traditions or processes that you often do you sort of get to know them?

Super interesting question, thanks! :)

Note: While I certainly hope this can be helpful to others, these are the techniques that I personally find helpful. Depending on your creative process, these may or may not work for you!

I use different tools to develop my central characters and their narrative voices:

A process I like to call "marination" (lol)

Character profiles/brainstorming

Character portraits (ymmv, but I cannot overstate how helpful these are for me personally)

First drafts

Marination

A key part of my creative process (for both novels and shorter works that aren't connected to any of my existing projects) that I'd consider pretty unusual, in that I absolutely swear by it but haven't personally met anyone else who does it, is that I will not develop a project unless the central idea has been in my head, not written down, for at least six months. I was so attached to my first novel (the one I'm currently preparing to query) that I was genuinely concerned I would lose my love of writing after I finished it because I was convinced that no other story idea would ever consume me to that extent again (I say this with love, but young writers are dramatic as fuck). Sure enough, after I finished it, the first and only story idea I was able to stick with to produce a finished first draft was one that had been in my head and wouldn't leave me alone for about a year before I started writing it. I basically was trying so hard not to write the damn thing, but it wouldn't leave me alone. Ever since then, this has been my golden rule. If it still hasn't left me alone after six months, it's probably not going to, meaning it's going to stick around even if I lose motivation here and there (case in point: I shelved The Dotted Line for nine years before I started drafting again).

During this initial 6+ month period, all I do is think and daydream about the story, which sometimes includes making playlists and/or moodboards. I don't write anything down. My creative process is super subconscious, so a lot of the "bones" of the story tend to develop in this stage. This also tends to be where I get a general feel for my central cast, especially protagonists and narrators. I usually come out of this with a good-ish sense of their basic appearance, characteristics, and personality, if nothing else. Sometimes story goals and motivations, but not always. For me, individual characters usually come to me first as people. I fit them into specific narrative roles, typologies (I'm primarily a crime writer), and/or relationships based on that.

Character profiles/brainstorming

I feel like this is the most common technique people use to establish basics about a character initially. The most common format for a profile is listing details about appearance, personality, likes/dislikes, special traits, etc. You can use them to determine/decide on specific things about their character that will influence their voice as a narrator, such as (definitely not an exhaustive list):

Where they're from (accent, speech patterns)

When they were born/their generation (can influence speech patterns and core beliefs)

Their background/family history/how they were raised (will influence their worldview and probably how they speak/view themselves as well)

Their worldview (determines their internal logic and thought patterns)

Are they neurodivergent in some way?

Have they experienced significant trauma that would change or inform their views of themself or the world?

Do they have catchphrases or other verbal idiosyncrasies?

For me personally, I mostly use profiles for supporting characters, not narrators, because my narrators tend to be characters that have already come to me on their own prior to me starting work on the story. But, there are exceptions to this, in which case profiles are super useful. I've also used profiles as one of several tools to flesh out existing narrators (usually for second drafts and up).

Character portraits

I also refer to these as "monologues," but I think "character portrait" is the most commonly accepted term (correct me if I'm wrong). These are basically short, slice-of-life or stream-of-consciousness pieces, separate from the narrative of the story, that I write from a specific character's perspective in order to get a better handle on things like their narrative voice, how they would realistically react to a specific situation, developing their dialogue or relationship with another character, etc. Some people also use prompts for portraits, which I think can be a really good idea if you're having trouble starting or deciding what the character is going to ramble about. These especially work wonders for me when it comes to narrators that I know need to have a very different voice from a narrator I've been writing for a long time (eg. I did a ton of monologues prior to starting The Dotted Line's draft, because I was used to Gabriel's voice and TDL's protagonist has a mindset and voice that differ from Gabriel's in some very fundamental ways). Again, ymmv - portraits probably work well for me because my creative process is very subconscious. If your process is more fundamentally pragmatic, other techniques, like profiles, might work much better.

First drafts

There's no diplomatic way I can say this: my first drafts are messy, disjointed piles of absolute word vomit that deserve to be thrown into a fire pit asap. Like, they genuinely make zero sense. The second drafts of my projects, let alone their manuscript versions, usually bear about as much resemblance to their first drafts as I do to the primordial sludge. My first drafts are not fit for human eyeball consumption. But I'll tell you what they do: their damn job.

I strongly believe in and, as a writer, live by the idea that a first draft's only purpose is to exist. I don't expect my first drafts to be understandable to anyone else. I barely expect them to be understandable to me. Their sole purpose is for me to be able to get the basic story down on paper so I can go back in and tweak it to death until it somewhat resembles the story in my head.

Because I have near-zero expectations for my first drafts other than them just being words that exist on a page, one of the things I use them for is, precisely, to experiment with my narrator's voice. During the first draft, the narrative voice is therefore usually very inconsistent, because I'm trying out different things to see what style, techniques, speech patterns, idiosyncrasies, etc. fit for that character. I'll note that some of this is particularly relevant for first person narration. For my stories told in third person close or omniscient, speech patterns and character idiosyncrasies typically matter less to me than establishing consistency for the perspective character's internal dialogue/logic (which also matters a lot for first person narration). Takeaway point: the character voice that people actually end up reading (almost always in a manuscript version of the story) is a very practiced version of that voice that I made specific decisions for after a lot of trial and error in the drafts.

tl;dr: I use some specific techniques to develop my characters' voices, but for me, what it really comes down to is time and practice!

[bogleech]

These replies meant well but they miss the point, we are absolutely dealing with a fanatical hive minded cult here. Zombie and Sheep are completely appropriate euphemisms for people who willingly chose not to think for themselves, and if Trump says the sky is green then his whole barking, flopping gaggle of drunken seals will not only immediately believe the sky is green, they will also believe you're a baby-eating commie satanist if you think it's ever been blue.

I'm just going to copy/paste what I already added before:

-

"The number of people who seriously didn't know anything other than "he said he'd fix the economy" can't be that common. And if you ever heard him speak, you heard him define "fixing the economy" as "shutting down the border," because his single biggest campaign tool has been the complete and utter lie that "illegals" are a significant drain on the economy or that they're on the rise. Both are false. The vast, vast majority of his supporters, I'd say well over 99%, maybe more like several hundred to one, hold at least one, normally several of the following beliefs:

That there are bloodthirsty foreign devils deliberately invading at all times from the Southern border, and they can be blamed for the financial struggles of the "legal" citizens.

Anyone outside the traditional gender norms is an insatiable pervert and wants to corrupt innocent children.

Those who get abortions or in some cases even use birth control are murderers and filthy whores.

People in poverty are just lazy druggies who didn't care or try hard enough and brought all of their suffering on themselves.

The Disabled and in fact anyone unable to just work, work, work and work for at least some retail shit are a burden to be scorned.

Everyone bombed and killed by the U.S. military or any of its allied countries is always either a terrorist or an acceptable sacrifice in the fight against terrorists.

Police brutality is overstated and most people hurt or killed by cops did something to deserve it, but most especially minorities, who may or may not be genetically predisposed to crime.

An idea that Jewish people secretly control the world through a vast interconnected conspiracy that may also involve demon worship and child trafficking.

Doctors and scientists are liars who drain money from the economy and are wrong about everything that might inconvenience a rich man.

Non-Christians of any kind are degenerate and dangerous.

Trump's entire platform, and that of all other GOP candidates these days, is a deliberately fuzzy promise to act on any or all of these hysterical prejudices. He's most consistent about the first one and made it pretty much the central pillar of his whole campaign, because the paranoia over an imaginary "border crisis" is by far the most popular culture war uniting the right. Which is pretty fucking sad considering just how utterly fabricated it is, and how effortless it is to find that out in only seconds. However, not all conservatives subscribe to all of the same moral panics at the same time, so right wing influencers spend a lot of time weeping and gnashing over "liberalism" or "socialism" or this word that rhymes with "yoke" so that every one of their stupid, angry grovelers can read into it as a promise to defeat whatever it is those words mean in their mushy fucking brains. The single most important thing to understand of all, though, is that the lies are not what make them hate people. They already wanted to hate those people. The lies are concocted after the fact to justify the deeds they want to commit. They are stupid, scared, gullible and weak but they are also willfully spiteful with a massive punishment fetish, so when you get enough of them together they can actually wreak havoc. The point of my original post was that they're not anything as cool or impressive as evil nefarious villains. They're more comparable to a mindless but inexorable flood of sewage.

-

I will also add: almost all of them categorize other human beings as "illegal aliens," and to them those aren't just words, but an actual demographic label they want to force on anyone who didn't fill out all the right forms, which they want enforced as an unforgivable crime.

Getting upset that I turn around and throw "dehoominizing langwidge" back at them is honestly a little ridiculous and even kind of uncomfortable, like if you saw a guy beating his wife and patted him gently on the back to remind him he matters. No he doesn't! Put a knife in that hand first! Referring to violent xenophobes as zombies or animals or vermin shouldn't bother you any more than calling them shitheads or assholes or even just jerks, because all possible words and language are completely inconsequential compared to their actual efforts at legislative dehumanization.

That's what "dehumanization" actually is. Not calling someone a dog or a ghoul in words, which is merely an expression of how ugly their behavior has become. Dehumanization is the actual treatment, by action, of other people as less worthy of basic rights and that is what they set out to do every single day. Like are some of you seriously that sheltered and naive. Yeesh. If you're personally acquainted with that one-in-a-million kind-hearted well meaning oaf who ignorantly supports the right wing out of innocent childlike ignorance, congrats but it doesn't change a thing and maybe your poor sweet gentle pet maga should have cared enough to know what they were voting for?

Young people have GOT to stop talking about conservatives like they're scary menacing monsters. Yes the policies they back are horrifically destructive but that's entirely because of how individually stupid, fearful, emotionally stunted, weak willed and catastrophically gullible they are. That all is what made them become right wing to begin with. Just the most easily manipulated zombie sheep on earth.

[atomicnebula13]

Okay, my angels!  You know I can't resist the opportunity to do a little character analysis/speculation after a cute update!

Last time I delved into He Tian (if you have not seen that post and are interested, you can view it here but today I'd like to talk a bit about Momo and what my theories/speculations are regarding what may happen moving forward because we all know this is building up to something...

First, let's talk about Mo Guan Shan. As we've seen his comfort level with He Tian has skyrocketed over the past 48 hours and I'm so proud of him.  The absolute bravery of Mo to put himself out there and be vulnerable like that is tremendous. This poor boy, who has been shown so little kindness or caring by this world is finally opening up enough to believe that someone besides his mother could actually care for him.  That not everyone that shows you a shred of kindness or an interest in you is just going to turn around and blackmail/force you into servitude (She Li, you fucking snake).  

Now he’s starting to believe that He Tian isn't just fucking around with him, to build him up before breaking him down.

The foundation of trust that these boys are building is getting stronger by the hour.  It's beautiful to see as they lay their masonry in turn, one stone at a time at a pace that may seem painfully slow – but they are getting there.  And now Mo is starting to add ones of his own after He Tian has started the process.  Now that they have those few shaky layers complete, their confidence in what they are building is growing.  Mo is starting to believe, not only in He Tian's feelings but in his own!  He is finally allowing himself to accept the possibility that He Tian is truly being sincere about his affection though I suspect he may have had an inkling before now.  But now he has the conviction of his own feelings to back his suspicions up and he's able to reciprocate, just a bit, by laying his head on He Tian's sturdy shoulder of his own accord.  Of course he has to keep up the pretense that he doesn't desire this closeness at first (our sweet little tsundere) but he does make the choice for himself.

No coercion, no force, just genuine comfort in the others presence (I can barely breathe, it's so so beautiful).

And his expression here – as we see him make the decision – is so gentle, gentler than we've really ever seen.  

It's a painfully clear vulnerability that we've seen before here but there's a clear difference – he's scared to show it here:

He's not in today's update, he's comfortable and he feels safe showing it.  It just can't be overstated how far he has come since his first appearance.

Backtracking a bit here – Let's jump back to the subject of She Li, that slick bastard.  I'm still convinced that there will be an altercation between He Tian and She Li.  I think all of this tension and conflict with He Cheng is a bit of a ruse by OX to direct our attention and thoughts away from She Li. She Li has been removed from the story for far too long considering the role he played in all of this, considering that he was the catalyst for the recent development, closeness and openness between TianShan.  There is no way he isn't going to seek revenge on Momo for that brutal wound to his neck.

 I suspect that if they were all to run into each other now, the opportunity to harm Mo Guan Shan in front of He Tian would be a temptation too great for him to resist. To rub in He Tian's face his impotence and inability to protect what he loves.  I don't think it would come to blows from She Li, he would most likely use his words to inflict those psychological wounds but I fear He Tian wouldn't have the same restraint and he would be the one to throw the first punch.  In a previous theory/speculation I threw out there I didn't word it very well and some interpreted that I thought He Tian would kill She Li.  I don't believe that to be the case, I don't believe that teenage He Tian would commit murder (OX please don't prove me wrong here) but I can see him losing control just long enough to seriously wound She Li, put him in a coma, etc.

As always, with each new update I hold my breath.  We know things are going to change.   

[shinelikethunder]

you want dark!Will meta? ok, let’s talk about his killing style

Will is always and forever a predator of predators

if Hannibal likes a good hunt, Will likes a good fight. Randall Tier, Francis Dolarhyde, tackling Mason Verger for some fisticuffs over the murder pigpen before pulling a gun on him, freeing Chiyoh’s captive so they can duke it out if he comes back for her... it’d be overstating it to say he prefers a “fair” or “equally matched” fight, but the dude definitely prefers free-range rude over tied-up and squealing

righteous-anger Will is most likely to come into play with those who prey on the defenseless--especially the outcast or alone--or who abuse positions of trust, or more broadly when his protective instincts are roused

but Will is also drawn to monsters who are themselves outcast, alone, or undergoing difficult/isolating transformations, whether he ends up helping them (like Georgia Madchen), or wanting to, or temporarily allying with them, or fighting them to the death (all three in Dolarhyde’s case!)

characteristic unpredictability and indecisiveness comes in here--he doesn’t always know in advance whether he’s going to help, watch, fight, kill, offer an alternate way out, get his pasty ass kicked, etc

Will’s enjoyment of violence strikes me as having far more... Dionysian potential... than Hannibal’s refined cruelties, no matter whether you want to interpret that as “drunken frenzy of bloodlust” or “somewhere between vaguely sexual and downright orgiastic” or “tearing a victim limb from limb and devouring the flesh raw.” although who knows, Hannibal seemed pretty into that shit too in the final cliff fight, maybe they egg each other on.

from what we’ve seen, if Will does go to the trouble of a murder tableau, it’s full-on arts and crafts hour, bitches, and the result is gonna be an elaborate tribute to someone--although eternally unclear whether it’s mainly directed at Hannibal, himself, or the victim and whatever they were striving for

he shares with Hannibal a sense of the “fitting,” the cosmic punchline, the obscurely and elegantly correct, the punishment that mirrors the sin, the tribute that grants the memorialized what they would’ve wanted

for similar reasons, when he’s manipulating instead of doing the job himself, Will prefers to let the odious hoist themselves by their own petard--offering them whatever it is they're willing to trample others in pursuit of, and hey, if pursuing it paints a target on their back for some external danger, it’s not his job to spell that out for them--let them figure it out themselves, or risk reaping the rewards of coveting too thoughtlessly

...although when that’s not possible, he’s totally not above pulling shit like “hello Dr. Gideon, I got Chilton to transfer you back! and between you, me, Chilton, and the Chesapeake Ripper, I figure there’s plenty of wreck-or-be-wrecked to go around, so you’d better start thinking about what angle you want to work here :D”

the common thread in a bunch of Will’s coldest manipulation is that he fucking despises people who want to play footsie with the devil but keep their own hands clean and themselves free of risk--especially if they accomplish it by exploiting, endangering, or throwing under the bus anyone within reach who isn’t lucky enough to share their position of relative advantage

the degree of hypocrisy in this tendency is left as an exercise to the reader

my personal opinion is that whether or not Will remains attached to righteousness as a requirement to justify a killing (which he may, or he may not, depending on what flavor of unhinged you prefer), he’s not going to be interested unless there’s some sense of rightness involved--moral, interpersonal, cosmic, aesthetic, or otherwise. random attacks on whatever “banal, cruel men” one of the murder husbands can track down in the vicinity aren’t going to cut it--I suspect that’d just bore or depress him. his taste in righteous killings is very specific, and his taste in “fuck around and find out / I’m curious what will happen” monster-on-monster action is pretty exotic.

luckily for him, though, NBC Hannibal’s fictional universe doesn’t exactly stint on coughing up whatever type of killer-of-the-week the narrative requires--per capita Art Murder rates be damned.

[hellyeahheroes]

Robin #2 review: No one dies!...or no one stays dead...atleast 4 times? Maybe

Okay, so the rules are summed up as every fight is a death match, but the caveat is that every fighter gets three deaths since something on Lazarus Island revives them no matter what. Damian is lost one already. And the grand prize is immortality.

Okay, I guess that’s something. It’s not bullshit at least. I haven’t suspended my disbelief.

However, what this does is provide Damian a convenient excuse: he only lost to Flatline because he held back.

Now this is bullshit. As Batman or anyone apart of the Batfamily, it is safe to say that in every fight, everyone is trying to kill you. So to say that Batman or anyone loses because they refused to kill versus their opponent who will kill us bs. Damian got his ass handed to him regardless. And the idea that he only lost or loses because he holds back just amps the bullshit.

Professional fighters are legally allowed to kill a man and very few actually achieved this(mainly because rules prevent them). Damian has fought off dozens of combatants and it’s a handicap that’s never limited him before and he has killed people before so I guess it’s safe assume that he never had that limitation.

This comic overstates Damian’s combat ability tremendously. He has tried to kill Tim and Tim handed him his ass. And Tim, while no slouch, is far from the greatest fighter in DCU.

Damian is not a good enough fighter so he relies on killing because “it’s easier.” Fighting someone equally is too hard so he relies on lethal weapons to make up for his lack of ability and size. For fuck’s sake, he got his heart ripped out by a girl whose teacher is a Yoga practitioner. Fucking Yoga.

Also I am assuming this rule is the reason why Cass wouldn’t be down to fight in this tournament which I guess is a good enough excuse even though Cass loves the idea that of not holding back or not needing to. Nonetheless I guess I buy it.

Let me just say that I am not really impressed by this lineup. I don’t know anything about Connor so I can’t comment. It seems like he is being coerced by the League of Shadows to partake in festivities. And Ravager is interested in the Deathstroke cosplayer.

Regardless, this is kind of fun. I mean the tournament is basically a real life fighting game and I guess that’s cool. I do have to question: who cares about Immortality?

I mean if that is all they are killing themselves over then who gives a shit? Why is this of import that Damian tasks himself to enter this tournament. You already gave the game away since this is a prestigious tournament that has been going on for centuries. If that were the case and if the prize is always immortality, then why bother?

I am sure there will be some globe ending plot or some shit but the idea that some lame ass tournament could result in such escalation is kind of corny.

Oh and just in case you thought getting his heart ripped out would have humbled Damian...

Nope. Still hiding behind empty platitudes and bragging that he is the son of Batman to the daughter of the man who has repeatedly beaten Batman.

Yeah, I don’t get it either.

All in all, it’s a fun dumb story and Damian needs more fun dumb stories. Will it get me to like him? Hell no. My issue with the character starts with his inception. It’s already far too late to change my opinion on him and I’ve accepted that I will just not like him. I mean the main motif of this issue is that Damian takes life too seriously and doesn’t know how to have fun which is like duh and I guess that is fine. But dude is gleeful that he can kill without consequences and that kind of undercuts and development that Damian may have gained. He is a killer. And he feels relieved to kill. It has nothing to do with upbringing because I’ve never seen Talía or even Ra’s Al-Ghul feel thrilled to kill. They view it as a necessity and somewhere Damian is so lost that even experiencing death itself doesn’t make him think twice about killing people. He feels unburdened by the possibility of murder and it kind of proves every detractor of his right.

Again, the art is great. Not exactly creative use of action since it still feels like cool poses and not much fighting scenes.

@ubernegro

[legionofpotatoes]

I love your art, it is very detailed in a neat way. Was wondering how you got started making it as a source of income? How did you get your first paid work, I'd love some advice on how to get started, if that's ok

Thank you. Of course it's okay, although I doubt I have enough work experience in art to really delve into this. I only went full freelance this year, and had been juggling art as a side hobby until then. If you're still interested in my somewhat narrow perspective, and are okay with my long-winded rambles, I'll give it a shot:

So to answer your question fully, I'll describe how I started and move into personal advice and learnings later on. As a disclaimer, I am a white cishet dude in my late twenties with a moderate cocktail of mental illnesses, but overall I can pass for a functioning adult so a lot I have to say may come laced with privilege I cannot fully identify.

So uhh I began drawing in around 2012? I think? Maybe halfway through 2011? And I mostly made fanart for things I enjoyed and tried to branch out in communities that felt nourishing to my style and interests (I caught a bug for alt posters and enjoyed mainstream movies so I spent a long time on posterspy early on). There were a handful of opportunities that came from there but I could only accept a couple because of primary workplace commitments. Still, it showed that networking in a focused community was definitely a good place to start; I myself have huge trouble committing to social networks and really staying socially active, but I knew it was an essential ingredient in succeeding so I tried to make myself be involved in challenges and art support trains etc. as much as I could.

In parallel to all that I also ran a few third party online stores (redbubble, teepublic) for disposable income and would sometimes, if rarely, hit around $100-150 a month from those sources combined. It is a sort of thing that requires helper accounts on other social media sites to promote it on, because the stores themselves have a huge volume of content that translates into low organic discoverability. Obviously it was never gonna be the way towards financial independence through art, and with community projects being few and far between, I opened private commissions in around uhhh 2017 I think, focusing on offering a few styles I knew I could do well, and sometimes operating in individual fandoms (it was mostly a bioware thing to be frank). But I had to close them back down after a year or so, again because of work-life conflict and how badly it was burning me out. The reason I kept trying to monetize this hobby is because I honestly hated what I did for my main job and wanted to see a way out in some shape or form in the future.

And then in 2020 I had to quit my main job altogether because of *gestures at pandemic* and deal with a mental breakdown from all the wonderful things it did to us and me specifically. I took a short break and decided to give art a shot full-time, and that was around May this year. I was planning on opening up commissions again (and I still am), but a few sudden opportunities that fell in my lap moved that timetable down and now I'm grateful to even be doing something I am getting adequately paid for.

So, with that somewhat limited perspective, here's what I've learned that I'd tell myself if I was just starting out:

1. Being a fan of something can be a shortcut towards effective networking kickoffs. Which are important evidently. If you love something and enjoy making content for it, join communities, settle into a combination of social media websites that feel right for those interests + your body of work + your inner rhythm, and try to play to content discovery as much as your mental health allows you to. Like I said, I know that I myself am incredibly bad at self-motivating to talk to people, so I found that synergizing common interests into fanart - which I enjoyed making anyway - could be a way to give myself a gentle nudge forward and build those bridges leading to community activities, which then net experience and coverage. Sometimes even freelance projects from official avenues. Again; picking the right spaces for what you're after is key. Companies roam twitter, concept art recruiters scour artstation or linkedin etc, instagram can land you private commissions and collab opportunities, so on and so forth. Find your niche and try to kick up dust. However...

2. I do not believe that any social profile can replace a good portfolio. The thing that made an immediate difference to me this year was building a coherent, simple website with my best work front and center and a contact form on top. Every single opportunity I got came from that form (maybe via twitter or instagram initially, but always sealing the decision after going through the website), so I firmly believe that showcasing your skills and portfolio in a visually arresting and user-friendly way is a big priority. I had some reservations about tackling that task but fortunately I had help from a savvy life partner and we slapped it together via wordpress in less than a day. Twitter/whatever social media is prevalent in your target groups is definitely important to get the right eyes on your shit, yes, but those eyes will then look for a second stop where your work and rates are more clear and concise. Simplicity is key imo, I cannot overstate this. So make a cute, simple portfolio!

3. Your skills and rates will grow and change as you do. Let them. Over the years I built several lasting professional relationships from my obsession over mass effect and kept getting opportunities both from bioware and their partner companies, some small and some a bit bigger. A one-off job earlier this year opened an unexpected door to another much larger commitment, and then the work I did there brought some attention from small businesses looking for commercial commissions. These were all incredibly different projects in terms of scope and budget, and I've been tackling them all on a case-by-case basis and slowly coming into my own irt my needs, rates, and SOW thresholds. It is still a work in progress (and a LOT of literal work as well), and very much a thing I struggle with in publicly marketing, which is why I felt a tad underqualified to answer your question in the first place (obviously I did not let that stop me). But what it means for me now is that I am rapidly developing into whatever my "version" of a functioning freelance artist is, and when the conditions for that guy are met, I need to be able to confidently plant myself and operate from that space despite past precedents. Do not let anyone bully you into downpricing what you yourself perceive as legitimate products of personal growth and development. Speaking of which...

4. The shitty challenge of turning envy into inspiration, and paddling outside your comfort zones in full riot gear. it is hard, but realizing that being a miserable, self-hating artist in my early days got me nothing but more misery back was the first real step I took and what truly blew the hinges off. I was just not pleasant to be around, I would badmouth my work all the time, and it all somehow made sense in my broken mind because the validation I sought was purely external and the way I sought it was through eliciting sympathy via self-victimization (even when I made something objectively nice). It all led fucking nowhere. Except perhaps to my own narcissism that I one day managed to identify and start managing. So I started looking at things that made me seethe with envy and calmly deconstruct and figure out their inner workings instead, do studies, and find nuggets of inspiration or discover new ways to approach rendering or building up specific elements. It was an application of analytical diligence to what I wanted to be a purely emotional, esoteric workflow, but that I deep down knew wasn't. Art is a discipline and a skill, and maybe it isn't a straight line, but you gotta find some line to thread nevertheless. Being self-hating was almost an identity I had to break out of, and despite it still being like, 4-5% there? I realize its cause and effect on me, my work, and those around me, so it is with a conscious choice that I gently set it aside when I work and especially when I learn. It won't always stay quiet, but the effort is the difference. Your doors towards accepting true growth and venturing into uncharted territories, art styles, and networking will really open from there. But there's a huge caveat...

5. Toolsets, accessibility, privilege, and all the good things that enable artistic expression and profitability are not given equal to all. you might do all the mental work I mentioned to be ready to rock and roll and learn and draw your way out of anything, but digital art is a fucking money pit that asks almost too much at times. I don't got a good case study here but identifying and ensuring accessibility to the tools you need to do your best work is, like, super important. The ergonomics can improve as you make money and settle into the job, but the basics have to be made available to you. And some of that might not even be under your direct control. That can be anything from pen tablets to software subscriptions to opportunities in hiring sullied by sexism or what have you. You gotta navigate all that through careful networking and money/time management. I don't do a good job of devoting specific slices of time to work/study, and my primary clutch is iPad software which went from a good deal to a nightmare scenario over the years. So all I can say here is do what I didn't; network, invest in a PC/tablet, and pick a software you'll learn that won't burn a hole in your pocket.

6. Be nice to work with? This one is hard to articulate and has landed my own ass in hot water in my early years because of how socially inept I am, but nothing is more worthwhile than being.. like. a good person to work with. That can be anything like meeting deadlines, or sometimes missing them but eloquently articulating why, being generous in early stages, being communicable and not too wordy in your emails, having a good grasp on abstract artistic concepts and how to describe them in simple terms, having a clear, laid out framework of your working rates in commercial and non-commercial projects and sticking to those guns with grace, understanding when you need to say no and saying it well, the works. Just being nice. Sometimes that might mean going headstrong with something you believe in, or simmering down and sucking up to the big man, all relative and adaptive. Part and parcel of the service provision dance that we all have to do in order to make bank. Know your lines here, obviously, and don't like. work for nazis. or uh.. *shudders* exposure. but be nice and empathetic and communicable and word will travel eventually. Skill may be in abundance these days, but good people are most certainly not, and capitalism has a way of bubbling up scarcity. Grim, but uh, them's the breaks.

I know I'm ultimately telling you to like. Have a body of work, make a portfolio, grow, and network. But that's really how I see it for now. And being nice can be a cherry on top that sets you apart, along with the inherent irreplaceable voice of your artwork. I think I rambled on enough, but if there is something specific you need my help with, even if you want to come off anon and talk in private, please feel free.

[gallavictorious]

Once again the fandom coming together to daydream about Mickey helping Ian out and seeing him back on track to become an emt again but why is that on Mickey? Why does he always have to do things to make Ian happy when Ian's usually nothing but annoyed by Mickey and does nothing to make Mickey happy? Truly shows which character y'all care about more.

This got absurdly long, because I am who I am and did take the opportunity to go off on a tangent about valid conclusions and what not, so I put it under a cut. Read at your own risk! Oh, and I also do address the actual question about whether or not Ian's career is on Mickey, and whether or not Ian never does anything to make Mickey happy. ;)

For the sake of clarity, I got this ask in response to this post.

And I gotta say, nonnie, getting this ask perplexed me to the point of running off to Trusted Fandom Friends, demanding to know how my undying love and loyalty for Mickey could ever be doubted. Had to laugh at myself a little, actually, and the strenght of my befuddlement. It reminded me of the time I went on a trip with people from the 501st (cosplayers dedicated to the bad guys in Star Wars) and Rebel Legion (cosplayers dedicated to the good guys in Star Wars) and a lot of people assumed I was a Rebel sympathizer simply because I had friends in that group and those were the people who had invited me. Excuse me, I didn't yell, I have like 30 Darth Vaders in my damned home, how dare you question my allegiance? I was so used to always being known as a diehard Vaderkin fangirl that the mer fact of strangers failing to recognize me as such genuinely fucked a little with my sense of identity. My love of Mickey isn't anywhere near as deeply ingrained into my sense of self, since he's only been an occasional presence in my life since 2016 while Darth Vader's been my main man since 1994, but it was still a little jarring to suddenly find myself (mis)identified as an Ian stan.

Being a fangirl is strange.

And I want to make it clear that I do love Ian. He's a fascinating character and, to me, he's a character that's often much harder to understand than Mickey. He rewards careful analysis and discussion, though, so I guess I tend to talk a lot about him? I don't need to spend as much time considering Mickey's feelings and motivations because they are (almost) always pretty obvious; I don't need to tease them out. But at the end of the day, Mickey is my favourite. (Though I'll always love Ian and Mickey together more than I love either of them on their own. It's like fresh cilantro and mint – each perfectly lovely in their own right, but the combination of them creates a flavour that's just out of this world.)

Now, you might argue that you don't follow me and so have no idea who I am and what I like to post about, and that going only by that single post (which, in fairness, was tagged with 'i just want ian to be happy okay?') I give off the general impression of an Ian stan. And that's fair enough; I'm an obscure blog in a decently big fandom and you're not required to keep track of anyone. However, if you want to throw around passive aggressive accusations of caring more about one character than the other, I will ask you to do your research first. Reacting to one single piece of data without considering the context is a common but highly unfortunate practice that needlessly complicates meaningful conversations, and we'd all do well to abstain from it.

Oh, you don't want to spend a lot of time and energy on consdering every single thing a specific Tumblr blog has ever said on a specific topic just so you can draw a valid conclusion about their stance? That's perfectly understandable, nonnie, and easily sorted: refrain from making unsubstantiated claims about what other people think or don't think and you won't have to. Ask them, if you wonder. If you see a tendency in fandom to put the responsibility for Ian's wellbeing and career or Mickey's shoulders and want to discuss that, that's totally cool! I am game (and will address that question below)! But it's very possible to do that without somewhat rudely ascribing perferences and opinions to other people, and you'll get better answers for it (for instance, you won't have to wade through me rambling on about valid conclusions and my memories from other fandoms... ).

It seems to me, though, that this touches upon a long-held frustration of yours. If I interpret your ask correctly, you think the show gives us an Ian who is mostly annoyed with Mickey and doesn't do anything to make him happy, and you think that the fandom responds to this by relegating Mickey to the role of Ian's caretaker, whose sole purpose is to serve Ian's needs without any regard for what might Mickey himself happy. Have I got that right?

If so, it should be noted that I don't agree with either of these takes: I don't think that's the Ian the show gives us (a point I will return to below), and I don't think that fandom at large only cares about Ian's happiness, and I particularly don't think that my post can be used a evidence of the latter.

For instance, when you sent me this ask the post in question had all of 40 notes. As I write this, it has just over 70. ”The fandom coming together” seems to be slightly overstating the case, don't you think? There are certainly fans who care more about Ian and only see Mickey as valuable as long as he contributes to Ian's happiness, just as there are fans who care more about Mickey and only see Ian as valuable as long as he contributes to Mickey's happiness - but this single post with less than a hundred notes does not support that either of these stances would be predominant within the fandom. (And, while on the topic, I'd like to state that I don't actually see a problem with either of those stances; these are fictional characters that exists for our entertainment and we don't have any moral obligations to treat them equally and fairly. Don't ruin other fans' fun by dumping on either of them in the character or shipping tags or on character and shipping posts and this is not a problem. It might be a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I don't think you have to love or even like all characters in a ship to ship it: I refuse to drink plain tea because it's nasty but put a splash of milk in it and its my favourite thing ever. You can love a combination without loving all the seperate pieces on their own. And yeah, I do revert to food metaphors a lot. I like food.)

Secondly, whether or not the post can be said to represent the feeling of the fandom at large (it cannot), I think that reading a post specifically about ”Mickey helping Ian out and seeing him back on track to become an emt again” and then extrapolating from that that Mickey ”always have to do things to make Ian happy” is a little wild. The very first thing I wrote for this fandom was a vision of Ian offering Mickey comfort, goddammit. (Ian giving Mickey a hug is so high on my list of desires, you can't even imagine)

As for your actual question (and, ah, imagine how much shorter this post would be if you had just left it at that) – of course that's not on Mickey. That much, incidentally, I've actually explicitly stated in another post. Ian might have his issues but he's still an adult and responsible for himself. That being said, I don't see it as particularly strange that someone would go out of their way to help their partner when they see them struggling? If I realize that someone I care about is unhappy and there's a way for me to help, I would want to help because I love them and want them to be happy, even if it's – ethically speaking – not my responsibility to do so. Pretty sure Mickey, who is action-oriented and so very protective of the people he loves, feels the same way.

Of course, if it's a one-sided thing – if one partner is always the one to do stuff for the other and never receives any support in return – that's not a healthy relationship, and I assume that this is what you're seeing in the show and taking exception to?

Only... I can't help but wonder who this Ian is, this uncaring, selfish version you see – because I don't quite get how it can be the Ian who emptied his bank account for Mickey, or the Ian who was ready to throw his parole and stay in prison for Mickey even when they were in the middle of a fight specifically because Mickey said it would make him happy, or the one who kept trying to talk to Mickey and win him back after Mickey punched him in the face, accidentally broke his leg, and took off with a new lover (I'm not taking sides in this one, btw – I have a lot of sympathy and understanding for both of them and their actions throughout this whole sorry affair), or the Ian who immediately wanted to marry Mickey protect him from the consequences of a murder Ian thought he had actually comitted, or the Ian who went along with arranging a real wedding even though he initially didn't at all understand why this was important to Mickey and who had someone come serenade him once he did, or the Ian who chose At last for Mickey to walk up to the aisle to, or the Ian who keeps trying to reach out to Mickey and to touch him and discuss their issues in a mature way even when he's (justifiably) upset about Mickey using all their wedding money without telling Ian. (Though Ian deciding for both of them that they're saving the money isn't great either.)

I mean, Ian's absolutely done shitty things, as has Mickey. They're human, and they're the products of a chaotic and often hostile enviroment. They do mess up a lot; they've hurt each other rather badly over the years. Depending on your perspective and preferences, you may think one or the other have behaved worse, but as far as I can see, the claim that Ian never does anything to make Mickey happy is simply not supported.

Ian has seemed unusually annoyed with Mickey this season, I'll give you that, but while that's not always the most fun thing to watch and I strongly sympathize with the wish to just see Ian look at Mickey with that fond look again, I don't find him being frustrated right now all that weird, given the circumstances. I'd argue it has less to do with Mickey and more to do with a general frustration over thwarted ambitions and not being able to hold on even to a really shitty job, though Mickey's attitude doesn’t exactly help (which is not to say that I think that Ian's the one in the right here, becasue Ian's way of handling things hasn't always been been stellar either). However, I do have faith in them sorting this out – because even though they fight and bicker and get annoyed with each other, there's never any indication that they're not both committed to making this marriage thing work. They certainly stumble, they misunderstand each other and lash out, but they calm down and go to sleep in the same bed and compromise and keep trying. Every day, they – both of them – choose each other.

I'd like to finish this off by noting, even though it's not entirely relevant to my argument, that that the number one thing that does make Mickey happy is being together with Ian, and even when Ian is pissed at Mickey and withholding sex (which was very ill-advised but says a lot of interesting things about his character, I think!) no one's sleeping on the couch, there are no nights away from the house and each other, and even in the middle of an argument they sit and stand next to each other. I think that's pretty telling of Ian's dedication, especially given his propensity for running away from his problems.

Phew. Okay, nonnie – though we don't agree and I doubt you'll find this answer satisfactory, I hope you see that I have done my best to understand your point of view and treat your arguments fairly and give you a thoughtful response. If you'd like to get back to me and elaborate on your stance, I'd ask that you show me the same courtesy. :)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Duke is academia's meanest trademark bully

Two of the most astute IP scholars I know also happen to be two of the best legal writers I know, and also happen to work at one of the worst IP abusers in the country: Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, of Duke University, the nation's leading academic trademark abuser.

Duke has a universal reputation for being a serious trademark abuser, but Jenkins and Boyle wanted to empirically investigate that reputation. The result is "Mark of the Devil: The University as Brand Bully," forthcoming in Fordham IPLJ.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3780381

To do empirical work, you have to find stuff to count. The problem is that questions like "who is the biggest bully?" are stubbornly qualitative, and quantizing Duke's conduct risks incinerating the most important elements in the quest for some kind of quantitative residue.

But the authors hit on a very good quantitative/qualitative methodology: they would count trademark oppositions, which are legal filings sent after a trademark has received preliminary approval. That way, they'd be counting oppositions to trademarks that had some merit.

Even better: trademark oppositions have to be accompanied by legal arguments explaining why the university thinks the trademark should be blocked, and that produces a qualitative account of how Duke thinks about its trademark.

Then Jenkins and Boyle used their considerable legal knowledge to characterize each opposition's argument on the basis of how plausible or stupid it was, quantizing the qualitative question of whether Duke's lawyers were fucking around.

Some background: universities have reinvented themselves as brand-factories and oriented their activities around slapping their logos on random shit and selling it. That's why Ohio State applied for a trademark on, I shit you not, the word "the."

Boise State asked for a trademark on all non-green football fields. U Texas wants the trademark over making devil horns with your fingers ("I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of metalheads suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced").

The trademark and licensing business is a squalid affair. The (grossly overstated, rarely realized) risk of a mark lapsing into the public domain ("genericide") justifies endless bullying of people who say and do normal things that glance off your trademarks.

Trademark was established to protect buyers, by allowing the makers of well-known goods to punish rivals who sought to deceive their customers. Over the years, trademark has been distorted into just another grift, a way to make the rich, richer.

As the authors point out, citing Mark Lemley et al, there's no good trademark justification for allowing a university to snuff out "counterfeit" tees  - the buyers of these items haven't been tricked into getting a bargain on a way to advertise their team allegiance.

But the expansion of trademark into an economic right for mark-makers (and away from a way of protecting the public from deceptive sellers), combined with the bogeyman of genericide add up to a perfect business for the greedy and unscrupulous. For bullies.

So, is Duke a bully?

Oh shit yes.

Let's look at some graphs. Here's how Duke stacks up against comparable US institutions in terms of how often it challenges a trademark.

They slice this data many ways but it always looks like this: Duke is a huge outlier.

But wait! Maybe those trademark cancellations are good, actually. So let's go to the quantized, hand-coded qualitative assessments of Duke's arguments.

They're garbage.

"85% of Duke’s oppositions were coded either clearly erroneous or far-fetched"

But wait! Maybe the authors are being mean to Duke. What's "erroneous or far-fetched?" Well, it seems that Duke challenges any trademark application containing "Duke," the letter "D," a devil, the world blue, or any word that sounds like "duke."

All of this is laid out with beautiful clarity in the paper, and the back third of the paper moves on to ask What It All Means - why is Duke such a godawful bully. The authors entertain several possibilities, like perverse incentives in trademark, etc.

But they don't draw conclusions. I have one, and it may be uncomfortable for my honorable and good lawyer friends, which is that law has a bullying problem. There are many fields where esoteric knowledge gives you the power to coerce others, but the law is especially bad.

Luckily, most of my experience of lawyers has been with people who fight for the underdog, but honestly, I think they're the exception. I had a very eye-opening experience about 15 years ago, when a friend asked me to come speak to some co-workers.

My friend worked at a giant company in a creative unit, and he asked me if I'd come speak to his group. It was close by home and I told him of course I'd do it. A day before I was meant to come by, he emailed apologetically to say that legal had sent him a contract for me.

Now, I wasn't charging this massive, profitable company a dime. It was a favor for a pal. But I looked at the contract and it was bonkers - like, I promised I'd never mention the name of the company in print, ever, without written permission.

I told my friend I couldn't sign that clause and he told me he understood, but the legal department wouldn't let me in the building unless I signed it. I canceled the talk. A couple months later, I met a lawyer from the company at a signing and I told him this story.

He grimaced and said he knew whose doing that was, another lawyer in the department who counted their successes by how badly they could humiliate the people who contracted with the company. He listed several of these, each more outrageous than the last.

This wasn't just a power-trip, it was sadism. And it's not limited to that lawyer or that company. I sent back two minor, small-dollar publishing contracts today that had abominable language in them - blanket indemnities, binding arbitration, huge rights grabs.

These aren't (or weren't) standard. There's no business reason for them. I mean, I *can't* indemnify a multinational corporation against all claims for the simple reason that I couldn't afford to hire lawyers to argue their case. I'd just go bust.

There is a toxic strain of competitive sadism in the law, an ethic of victory through someone else's humiliating defeat. If I had to guess why Duke smashes all those trademark applicants' dreams, I'd say that sadism is playing a major role.

[kingdomoftyto]

Okay, the promised self-reblog with the optional spoilers. Seriously, if you're already an AA fan and plan on watching the musical, I recommend you go experience it yourself before reading this, for the full effect. Last chance~!

With that out of the way, the only real change from the original plot comes in about a half-hour into Act 2:

My partner and I both YELLED, "WHAT!?" at the same time Maya did.

Absolute GENIUS move. It can't be overstated how clever this is.

Hammond is such a forgettable character to begin with that I frequently had to remind myself of his name even while playing the case, let alone after finishing the game. (I only know it now because I've been so rabidly immersed in the fandom in the months since finishing the trilogy lol.) To remove him from the equation--and thus reduce the number of characters the audience has to keep track of--is already a no-brainer.

But then to specifically fill his role with Grossberg? It links the Redd White case more concretely to what's happening in Act 2, it gives FAR more weight to his guilt surrounding DL-6, and it actually grants Grossberg something his canon counterpart never had: a full story arc, with a bit of emotional depth.

How--HOW--did they make me feel genuine emotions about Marvin Freaking Grossberg?

The final speech he gives--or rather, his diary entry--is such a nice, poignant end for his character, albeit a little sad, of course. It ties so many threads together with a neat little bow on top.

Instead of simply vanishing off into cowardly obscurity like Grossberg does in the games, this version gets a chance to at least try and redeem himself--to apologize for his mistakes--even if he ultimately failed.

I love it.

Forget Hammond. This is canon now.

--

Oh, and the second thing I was going to gush about? The thing that was different enough that I didn't want to spoil it for people?

Eh, it was nothing big.

It's just WRIGHTWORTH HAPPY ENDING HOLY SHIT:

[An embrace of some sort may be shared here.]

Gay people real....

Anyway yeah. It's lovely and tender and we were both yelling and crying about it.

The script is deliberately ambiguous about their relationship.

The line delivery by Ren and Gav is very deliberately unambiguous.

These men are in love, and they are going to change the world together.

The entire musical leaves no room for doubt how much Phoenix cares for Miles--in the same way that the source material itself doesn't--but the combination of the acting choices throughout the entire thing (see: the aforementioned agony in Phoenix's voice in "Alone", as just one example) and this quiet little moment right near the end of the play, it's extremely clear that in THIS production, at least, their feelings are both romantic and reciprocated, and it's just... very very soft and good.

This is the one thing that I alluded to before as the change that I wouldn't accept as superseding canon, but only because I prefer canon's slow burn of Miles finding his new path in life and the two of them slowly orbiting each other for a few years until they're in a better place to be together. If Wrightworth were to ever be canon, I'd ideally want it to be SOME point after the trilogy so they've both had time to figure out their issues, lol. There's a reason their slow burn is so legendary.

HOWEVER. Considering this musical is a standalone story? Fuck YES, the correct narrative choice is OBVIOUSLY for these two dorks to fall into each other's arms at the victory celebration and not a minute later.

This single hug may not be canon but it WILL live rent-free in my brain until the end of time.

It's taken 15 years, but it was worth the wait...

All right, I've put it off long enough (and had a very busy/distracting couple of weeks) so it's finally time for my review of TAAAM Act 2

For those who missed it, the second half of Turnabout: an Ace Attorney Musical dropped at the end of last month [here's a link to Act 1 for good measure], and to say I've been listening to it a lot since then would be a gross understatement. My partner and I have literally been greeting each other after work each day with, "Today's biggest earworm was [insert TAAAM song], how about you?" Even if I listen to any other music on my morning commute, by lunchtime I'll inevitably still catch myself mouthing the words to "Lotta Things" or "Tomorrow at Last" or whatever else.

What I'm getting at is that this is not just a cool piece of collaborative fanart. This is a legitimately fantastic musical. Period.

The music is wildly catchy, but remains cohesive with every other song. There are repeated leitmotifs and about a dozen reprises and incredibly satisfying references to music from the games (I was waiting for "Cornered" the entire time and was NOT disappointed when it finally showed up late in Act 2). It feels well-structured, like a real Broadway production. All of the songs from Act 1 that I would have considered the weakest--they now stand fully redeemed by their absolutely phenomenal reprises and callbacks in the second half. Every song in this musical, every line, is there for a reason.

And this careful planning serves to accentuate the stated primary goal of the entire musical: maintaining the character-driven narrative of the games and emphasizing the pathos of the story. On both counts, this team absolutely delivered.

Because not only is this a really cool musical, it's also a fantastic piece of collaborative Ace Attorney fanart. (See what I did there?) I know I already said it in my Act 1 post, but these folks understand these characters and what makes the story so memorable even 20 years later. The emotional beats, the character growth, the relationships between them all, are impeccable. Every character gets their time to shine, and in particular I want to praise their handling of Maya and Gumshoe, who feel like fully realized people and each go through their own personal arcs throughout the course of the story that are just as satisfying and heartwarming as Phoenix's own.

And that's a good segue into the subject of what creative liberties the team DID take with the story, because there honestly aren't that many, but what they did change is so good. I replayed Turnabout Goodbyes a few nights ago and was surprised at how much dialogue in the musical is taken line-for-line, sometimes even verbatim, from the source material. But, aside from the changes you might expect from condensing an entire mystery game's worth of story into a few hours of runtime--such as simplifying the cases to require fewer clues to solve--they really only altered the plot in ways that gave more chances to develop the characters, and to create rewarding arcs for each and every one.

They added a whole damn scene of just Gumshoe and Maya having a heart-to-heart. It is easily one of my favorite scenes in the entire play. These writers drank their respecting-Dick-Gumshoe juice that morning, and that single scene gives a better emotional payoff to his loyalty to Miles than I think we ever got in canon, while remaining utterly in-character for everyone involved. Meanwhile, the scene doubles as one of many stepping stones* for Maya's own character arc (which is also much more focused and consistent than in canon, imo!), in which she struggles with her feelings of helplessness and inadequacy as she tries to live up to Mia's legacy.

(It goes without saying that this scene also serves the practical purpose of getting characters in place to further simplify the details of the case, as mentioned before, because the writing is unparalleled and I will keep emphasizing that as many times as it needs to be said.)

In truth, there are only two things I would qualify as "major" changes to the story (in that they're different from canon, not that they actually change the plot itself), and I'm hesitant to spoil them here because both of them are SO good and both of them hit me like a truck when they happened. One has to do with emotional depth getting added to a certain character's arc, and the other has to do with relationships between characters. (Maybe I'll add them as a self-reblog to this post because I still need to scream about them lol.)

In any case, I'm not kidding when I say that the musical's version of events, big changes and small, is so compelling to me that it has now superseded the canon version in my mind.** It manages to tell the exact same story while not only giving some of the "side" characters much more credit, but also tying the cases themselves together into a single narrative. The specter of Redd White and his chokehold on the justice system is present in the back half of the original game, but the musical tweaks things to really make you feel how all of these pieces fit together to direct the characters' actions and growth. It's just... ugh, so brilliant. [chef kiss]

I would be remiss if I didn't also take a moment to directly praise the performance of the actors. As obsessed as I am with the music itself, my single favorite moments in both Acts are actually short lines of spoken dialogue.*** The delivery just struck a chord in me and I still lose it a little every time I hear those parts. (And other parts, but. Shush.) Everyone did a great job, but the three leads (Ren, MJ, and Gavaroc, who played Phoenix, Maya, and Miles respectively) absolutely knocked it out of the park in both their sung and spoken performances. Is it weird to say I'm obsessed with how convincing the screams are in "600,000 Volts"? It is, a little? Okay, well. [cough] Regardless. The whole cast really knew what they were doing throughout this entire production; the emotion is extremely powerful when the moment calls for it**** and they elevate the dialogue--again, a lot of which is taken DIRECTLY from canon!--from something good to something amazing. The delivery of these lines has literally changed how I look at the first game, now. They're that good.

Quick shout-out to some of the other voices that have invaded my brain and instantly become my headcanon voices for the characters. Just off the top of my head: Larry, Payne, Sahwit, Redd, Grossberg, Lotta, Lana... seriously. This cast is absolutely star-studded. Even the ensemble freakin' killed it, absolutely transforming every song they were in. The soprano that hit that high note at the end of "Justice for All (Reprise)"????? MAGNIFICENT. GOOSEBUMPS EVERY TIME.

Good grief, this is already so long and I still have so much more I could say. This is why it's taken me so long to write all this out, by the way. This musical is transcendently good, both from a musical perspective and a fandom one, and I simply have not stopped rotating it around in my head since I first heard it.

It's NOT without flaws. Of course it's not. The sound quality on a handful of spoken lines is noticeably lower. The word choices in a few verses feel just slightly clumsy, or forced to fit the meter. The visuals for the Youtube release are a little goofy at times because of the limitations of the game assets used. The plot of the second act, even simplified, would probably be a little too dense to easily follow for someone unfamiliar with the source material.

But if there's anything to be learned from Ace Attorney, it's that perfection shouldn't be the most important goal. Sometimes a few rough edges are necessary to allow room for truth. And the truth is, in this case, a story. A story about a lawyer named Phoenix Wright, who loses a mentor, gains a best friend, and saves a man who'd lost himself.

It's a story worth hearing, and what better way than in song?

--

*- For the record, my favorite song in Act 1 was "I'll Be There", so among all the MANY times the end of Act 2 punched me directly in the heart, the moment that hits me the hardest is probably still the part of the finale that reprises it. That last stanza (I hope you know I'm glad we met...) makes me want to cry every single time. Maya Fey Protection Squad, indeed.....

**- Except for ONE thing at the very end, but that's a story for the self-reblog where I scream about the spoilery stuff LOL

***- My fav line in Act 1 is Miles' real-time epiphany that Redd White is a murderer. ("The only people in that office at that time were the victim and the- ...killer.") You can HEAR his eyes widen as he falters, and the choice to have that as his turning point in place of Turnabout Samurai is so brilliant in so many ways I can't even handle it. I love Miles Edgeworth so much. Anyway, THEN, my fav line in Act 2 is Phoenix's heartrendingly soft, "I've got you, Edgeworth. I've got you." It's so tender and yet so sure. It's Phoenix catching Miles as he falls, looking him directly in the eye, and telling him it's over, I won't let you suffer for one more day.

****- Another of my many favorite lines is Phoenix's "Did you DO it!?" underneath Miles' singing in "Alone". The desperation. The ANGUISH. During my replay of Turnabout Goodbyes I literally had to stop and take a second when the button prompt labeled "Did you do it?" popped up on my screen. That hurted.

[thiswasinevitableid]

winter prompt fill 29, indruck, sfw?

29. i should’ve done my shopping a month ago but now i’m running around last minute and when i enter your store, i’m absolutely frazzled. help me.

(Pinecone is borrowed from harrisonator’s fic “Monster Mash”)

Working at Kepler Petco isn’t the worst thing, even during the holiday shopping hellscape months. It’s not like anyone is getting in fistfights over cases of Fancy Feast. Which is why, on the 22nd of December, Duck is unprepared for the sudden sound of hands on hitting the countertop. 

“I need help.” The guy’s about his age, silver hair going patchy black near the top, pink and white striped sweater around his neck and a massive sweater hanging off his lanky frame. His red glasses barely conceal brown, anxious eyes. 

“Sure, what’re lookin for?”

“Rat treats, the kind that won’t make them ill.”

“Can handle that, right this way.” Duck leaves the counter and leads the guy back to the small mammal section. As they go the man spins a ring on his index finger, flushing under the merciless heating vents. 

“I’m sorry for the dramatic entrance. I have a mountain of things to do today and your store closes first.”

Duck glances at the AKC branded clock on the wall, which shows 12:30 p.m, “We close at five.”

“Yes, I know, but I really cannot overstate how behind I am on my Christmas shopping. Or, well, holiday is more accurate, since Joseph celebrates Hanukkah, which means I’m already late on that.” He sighs, runs a finger with chipped black nails through his hair.

“Big family?” Duck points to the row of snacks, grabs the man a basket from the end of the aisle when he starts piling them into his arms. 

“Lots of friends. We’re having a party tomorrow and I completely forgot about it until today. I know it’s ridiculous to forget about a holiday where you can’t turn around without being slapped with a reminder of it, but my brain doesn’t always work in the way I’d like it to.”

“No judgement here. Once forgot my sisters birthday until the minute my mom asked if I could get some candles for the cake after school.”

“Oh dear.” The man smiles, the expression shifting from odd to shy when Duck meets his eyes, “thank you for your help.”

Five minutes later the guy heads towards the register, then stops, backtracking to the display of rats, mice, and hamsters. Duck joins him in case he has questions, and to steal another look at his singular features. They’re not handsome on the surface, but something about them draws his eye back over and over. He’s just in time to hear the man cooing to a pair of brown rats.

“...so lovely, aren’t you just charming? If I could I’d take you home but space is limited. Oh” he blushes when he sees Duck, “I’m, ah, ready to pay now.”

“One of your friends got rats?” He indicates the pile of treats the man is buying.

“Hmm? Oh, no, these are for Luna and Emperor, my rats. I wanted to get them presents too.”

Duck can’t decide if the fact the guy prioritized spoiling his pets on the day he had to buy a bunch of gifts is adorable or worrying.

“As I said, I came here because you close first. And I, ah, I like spoiling them. It’s nice to know exactly how to cheer another living thing up.”

“I get that. Pinecone, that’s my, uh, my cat, gets more treats a month than I do.”

“Someone ought to buy you a few, then.”  The man murmurs, handing over his debit card. 

Duck, caught up in the mechanics of fighting with the card reader, doesn’t realize he’s being flirted with until the man is no more than a silver head merging into the throng outside. 

He’s lowkey annoyed with himself the rest of the day; he’s been in the market for a cute guy, and while his mystery shopper may not be Ryan Gosling, but Duck wouldn’t mind getting his number. 

Since he opened today, he gets off at three, decides to swing by Crate and Barrel in case the apron he thinks Barclay might like. There’s small hallways dotted through the mall, leading to exits or to backrooms.  As he passes one, he gets a glimpse of silver hair and a vibrant scarf. That’s the only good part of what he sees; the man from earlier is pressed close to the shiny wall, trying and failing to get his breathing order.

“Hey, man, you okay?”

He jolts, registers who’s speaking, and looks at the ground, “N-not really. I, part of the reason put this off so long is I can get incredibly overwhelmed in crowds sometimes, and yes I know that makes coming here three days before Christmas even worse an idea but I thought maybe I could handle it, but I’ve only managed to buy two of the gifts I need because I cannot focus with everything going on and, and I’m sorry, here I wanted to charming around you and now you’ve seen this and-”

“What would help?”

“I, I’d like to go somewhere quiet, but there’s nowhere, even the bathrooms are packed.”

“Do you, uh, want to come sit in my car for a bit? I can run the heater so we don’t freeze.”

“That’s really alright?” The question is so small and vulnerable he wants to tuck it into a shoebox to keep it safe.

“Yeah. C’mon, I’m parked on this end.” 

It’s snowing on and off as they walk to his car, and as he gets it running and turns on the heat his passenger finally pulls his clenched hands from his pockets; one holds a fidget cube, the other a very small, plush moth.

“I tried so hard to prepare for every possible future.” Is what he gets as explanation. The man sets both items in his lap and shuts his eyes, breathing slowly in and out. Duck says nothing, opens his phone and plays two rounds of Plants vs. Zombies before he hears anything at all from beside him. 

“Would you mind turning the radio on, at a low volume?”

“Any requests?” Duck hits the power button.

“No talk radio.”

“Can manage that.” He fiddles around and finds the alternative station. Even it has Christmas songs interspersed with the usual mix. 

“Is your name really Duck?”

He wonders if the guy is omnipotent until he remembers his nametag.

“It’s a nickname.”

“I’m Indrid.” He opens his eyes, “thank you for letting me come here to calm down. I may actually manage to succeed in my quest now. It’s so hard, I actually enjoy being out around the lights, the feeling of so many people being happy or trying to do kind things for each other. But it’s easy to get overwhelmed, especially when I’m alone.”

“Would it help if you weren’t?”

“Possibly, but I couldn’t ask you to spend even more time in that mall given you work there.” 

“Got some last minute shoppin to do myself. Besides, if you get stuck on a gift, I’m pretty damn good at comin up with ideas.”

“Thank you.” Indrid smiles, excited, and that settles it: Duck is asking for his number after this.

They brave the crowds and the holiday cheer blaring across the speakers once more. The first stop is a store selling housewares, including a pair of small succulents that Indrid deems worthy of giving a friend as he listens to Duck talk about his part time job at the National Forest, laughing when Duck mentions last weeks run-in with a pissed-off migratory bird. 

The next few stores are no help, and they opt to take advantage of the lull between when people are done with school and when people are done with work to hit up the coffeeshop, Indrid ordering a white chocolate peppermint mocha and promptly getting whipped cream on his nose. Duck is tempted to kiss it off, settles for handing his new friend a napkin while he talks about his recent return to Kepler after traveling around the country in a Winnebago, selling his art at shows. As luck would have it, the store has a shelf devoted to artisan or local coffees, and they’re each able to find one for someone on their list. 

Macy's proves more treacherous, and once five o’ clock hits even Duck is feeling cramped. Indrid is tensing, his replies getting short or far off, and just as Duck is about to offer to dip out again, chilly fingers link with his own.

“Is this alright?”

“Better than alright.” He grins and Indrid holds tighter, breathing in through his nose and out his mouth as Duck guides them into a less crowded corner. The do eventually find some high quality hiking socks that Indrid buys, only letting go of Duck in order to pay. 

They reward themselves with dinner at Johnny Rocket, Duck hopping over to Indrid’s side of the booth to see pictures of Emperor and Luna, and show off the photos he has of Pinecone hiding under his ranger jacket. 

“One more stop, thank goodness.” It’s going on seven and Duck has to say he agrees; he loves being around Indrid, but his feet are killing him and he’s had “Jingle Bells” stuck in his head for an hour. 

Indrid’s last item is at Crate and Barrel, and Duck laughs when the other man goes straight to the aprons. 

“You got good taste, I’m gettin’ one of these too. Barclay said he needed a new one.”

A fine-boned hand freezes mid-reach, “Did you say Barclay?”

“Yeah?”

“I am also buying this for a Barclay. Is your Barclay, by chance, dating someone named Joseph and hosting a party tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

They stare at each other, frozen long enough that another shopper passes between them. Then they double over in sync, Duck wheezing out a laugh while Indrid cackles. 

“Holy shit, we’ve been shoppin for the same folks!”

“Barclay mentioned there’d be new people at the party but I never thought one of them would be such a catch.”

Duck gets his breathing in order, steps across the faux-hardwood and takes Indrid’s hand.

“Hey, Indrid? You wanna be my date to the party tomorrow?”

“Absolutely.”

“....wait, fuck, which one of us is gonna give him the apron?”

“You can, I have another idea for him. Consider it an early present from me.” Indrid tease. 

“Sugar,” Duck slips his hands into Indrid’s back pockets, smiling up at him, “you might just be all the present I need.”