#it starts out with Hilda thinking he’s the best thing ever

[blaithnne]

I love how surprised David and Frida are when Hilda mentions her dad. It really show show much of an unspoken thing this is, they both know that Hilda’s father is absent and judging from the look they give each other I think they’ve clearly discussed like “hey what do you think is going on there?” but they can’t ask about it. It’s just that…unspoken tension, this thing we can’t talk about

[littledigits]

Hi! I absolutely love your work and your art style (and I think Hilda is one of the best animated shows ever made!!) I want to dip my toe into drawing, mainly because I want to be able to do little sketchy character drawings for my D&D campaign lol. Is there any particular book or course you might recommend for getting started? Thank you!

thank you so much ! <3

I would say if you want to start drawing , do whatever makes it accessible and fun for you to start. I cant go hardcore into learning, i need some indulgence to keep it fun.

Its hard for me to recommend anything off the top of my head. there is SO MUCH GOOD STUFF OUT THERE NOW ADAYS. also you may look at a book or a course and the way its explained wont make sense to you, but someone else could put it a different way and it could click better! Everyone has a different workflow and different methods, so what i'd recommend is just poke around in some youtube videos and just watch a few beginner ones, see what methods you vibe with. But at the end of the day do what you feel like is most fun and dont sweat the details

DONT BE AFRAID TO REFRENCE THINGS! When I was in school for animation, one of the first things you did to learn to draw on model was draw overtop of the model sheet and break down the proportions. (how many 'heads' tall is it , how many 'eyes' wide is the face). If you see a style you like, learn from it !

Drawing overtop of a character and breaking it down is a great exercise if there is a style you want to mimic. Understanding the proportions helps because then when you draw, if it looks -off- you can test out your own . Who knows, maybe you accidentally made the body too long or short! People are afraid to trace or draw over, but its a great exercise as long as you dont take credit, especially if you're not just doing it for something to look pretty but you want to *understand* how it was done. This helps a lot in building your own style ! my style is a mish mash of everything i've loved and worked on over the years, and it changes over time. So if you see something and you're like 'ooo thats COOL how did they do it' , save it , break it down , maybe you'll learn a few new things !

also I recommend to start with simple shapes ! I put some screen captures from rough sketches that Scott Lewis did, who is a senior animator on hilda. Even as an experienced animator he knows how important the fundamentals are (which is why hes good at his job haha). I think if you want to do fun sketchy things for DND , keeping it simple is the way to go :) you'd be surprised how much expression you can get out of shapes ! I hope this helps you get started on drawing all the endless DND shenanigans that I'm sure live in your head :D .

[slashingdisneypasta]

Evil Queen x Fem!AFAB!Reader ll Drabble

Plot: Your gentleman caller thinks you're being attacked by a goblin 🧝‍♂️ before his eyes. He doesn't know about you and your queen's escapades... not even the rumours.

*Inspired by Grumpy suggesting that she can turn herself invisible.

Warnings: This is VULGAR, guys. 'Ghost' sex, eating out, public sex, exhibitionism!!!, dubcon on your end (this is a whole surprise from her) and non con for your poor date. Horny lesbians this is for you.

You're out in the grounds on a walk with a possible suitor (one who obviously doesn't know about your dealings with the Queen. Not even the rumours. A foreign nobel), having stopped under a particularly pretty tree to talk - at a respectable distance from one another, -, when you feel it.

Soft lips on your neck. You're startled, eyes widening for a moment. What in the worl-

The lips, belonging to someone apparently invisible standing between you and the nobel talking on about grain to you, press another cool, lingering kiss on your neck before trailing more of them all the way up your neck- leaving heat all over your skin in their wake. Then theirs a hot breath on your ear and you're truy wondering whether possiblh a malevolent castle ghost, or a goblin or something equally devious and scary has taken interest in you- when Hilda's voice whispers ever so softly in your ear. So soft you almost mistake it for the wind.

"Don't react just yet, pet. Let him think everything is fine... "

The words make you nervous but excitement licks at your insides, too, like a flame; A very bad flame that you should put out. You should, you should, you will...

You can't. You've always been weak when it came to the wills of Grimhilde, your Queen. She could make you do anything far too easily, like some sort of siren. You let her teach you things, familiarise you with things... no Lady should know about.

Like how to kiss, and how to use ones lips and tongue on another lady under her skirts when its just the two of you, and the feeling of two wet 'pussies' gliding against eachother... not to mention that vulgar word... You can't help eagerly anticipating whatever she has in store for you right now. Even if it is a wholly innapropriate moment, and you feel terrified that this man will notice, or see something, and call you horrible names. Ruin your reputation. Ruin you.

As if the Queen hasn't already done that.

Except for your reputation, which is still intact by a loose string in this palace- if only because she handles the rumours. 'Gets rid of them'. How? You're not sure. And you're afraid to ask.

While Hilda continues to leave tantelising ghost kisses all over you, your jaw line and the little sensitive spot where your jaw ends just under your earlobe (There she sees it fit to glide her tongue gently, making you shiver when the breeze blows against the area), you try your best to listen to your date. He's talking about- what was he talking about again?? Oh god oh god!-

"Anyway- my apologies, I must be boring you. No one wants to talk about grain for an entire walk." Grain! Yes, it was grain! That was the topic! As Hilda moves over your chin and to the other side of your face and places a hand on your waist and you wonder shortly if her invisibility spell works on her clothes (or if she's naked right now), the nobel gives a lovely smile and nods. "What are you interested in? Do you read?"

Oh, he's kind. You feel bad for what's happening right now- but Hilda doesn't. Her hand starts to rub slowly up and down your side as she lathers you with kisses. "I do! U-um, recently I've been reading some old fables... a l-little childish, I realise, but they're in Portugese so I'm using them to, ah, learn."

"I think that's very admirable. What made you inclined to learn a foreign language?"

"I wish to travel. And, I figure, if I'm going to be there I should know how to communicate there." Hilda allows you to reply, before leaving a particularly sweet kiss to the corner of your lips. More then the corner. Almost half your mouth. You can't kiss back, though, even if you want to- that would surely be an odd sight.

"Very good." Your nobel date laughs, before going into another tangent- this time about Portugal. He's been there, apparently, and if you were listening you would be revited- but Hilda's kisses are straying down onto your throat. She sucks a little on her way down there before she gets to the neck of your dress, and you feel her smirk against your skin. If you didn't feel unbearably hot before, from the affections and the embarrassment, your skin would definitely boil now from the fluster. She's definitely doing this at least partly to torture you.

It's one of her favourite games.

When she starts kissing down your body, over the swell of your chest and down your corset area, your heart truly starts to beat hard in your chest. Like the wings of a bird fighting to stay in the air.

What is she doing!??

Your skirt is long, brushing against the beautiful green grass of the Queen's gardens (matching the gorgeous, magnificent trees you're under), so she can't possibly go any further!! The man with you would definitely notice!

Absolutely not. She wouldn't. That's too-

You feel breeze on your ankles that wasn't there before and the presence of a hand slpping up between your legs. Fingers rubbing one of your thighs.

The nobelman notices the slight lifting of your skirt, despite the lack of wind and the fact that your hands are far from your skirts, and raises a curious brow. "- I'm sorry, my lady, but there seems to be uh- some malfunction occuring with your dress... "

"Oh, um, I'm not sure- " How to lie about this.

The feeling of Hildas hand rubbing your thigh, along with all the kisses before (and, you'd hate to ever be made to admit it- but the danger of the situation as well) are making you feel familiar tingles in your lower area. A greasy slick is beginning to drench your thighs, and you can't take it!! A dark part of you wants her to continue whatever she's doing.

Make you come, right there.

In front of this man. Out in the open. You know it would be the biggest orgasm you'd ever experienced so far, the most pleasure she had shown you so far, even though you know you would be

Mortified.

And the damage to your reputation, by way of this nobleman, would be irreparable.

- Yet, you feel it in your soul, and between your thighs, that you want it.

... that doesn't mean you have to be slave to those feelings, though. You can stop this, you know it. You should.

Hilda can't possibly make you go through with this, can she?

Even though her fingers are now starting to stroke your dripping wet folds, your skirts raising up higher as they probably glide up her shoulder. You just know that she must look devious. Evil, as they call her in the villages.

... you're about to speak up again, suggest you both (you and your date) go back to the castle- but then something happens that makes your stomach completely flip. The nobleman's eyes blow open wide and he looks horrified.

"G- goblin! A goblin has you!!"

The nobleman grabs for his sword after Hilda pushes your skirts all the way up to reveal you to the outside world, but he's quickly shot with a spark of some kind of magic; sparks of fire erupting from the handle of his blade and causing him to drop it instead kf valiantly 'rescue' you. He goes to grab it again, hurried and clumsy, but another shot of magic makes him still.

"H- " You try to say Hilda, and the nobleman (fully conscious with his wide eyes stuck on you- or more specifically your glistening folds) probably thinks you were going to say help. But it doesn't matter either way, as that is the moment Hilda starts to play with your clit. A choked moan forces its way up through your throat, the sensation of her soft, dexterous fingers rubbing prompt circles in the middle of your folds- spreading your wetness all over your lips. Oh god!- oh fuck!

Your thighs beg to part more widely, give your Queen more room to rub you and finger you, make you cum, but you refuse them. No, no. This can't be happening. Fine, you will allow the man watching to think you're being attacked by an evil forest creature- but you won't spread yourself out before him and give yourself over. Even if it feels magical. No. You can't. You have to at least look like you're in distress! You must!

Hilda starts rubbing her finger in a line through your lips, stroking skilfully against your clit as if it were her own she were pleasuring. It's not, though. It's not her. Its you. She's using yours.

Before you can even think anymore, you feel her juicy wet tongue slide against your pussy, a hot flat stroke all over. A sigh slips out of you, your hips twitching.

Oh fuck- your eyes snap up to the noblemans as Hilda continues to lick you, taste you, take away your fucking sanity.

He's still watching, he saw your face change from horror to pleasure. His brows are furrowed in horror, concern and... confusion. Are you liking this!?? Being taken by a damn fae creature!?

You're so close to just giving in now, because how much worse can it really get with this guy, when Hilda's tongue dips between your delicious folds and her lips touch your delicate private skin. Her tongue is just as adept as her fingers, scooping into you and playing with your clit like a filthy whore would in a brothel (you would never tell her such a thing, but she's aware), and you completely give in.

Your feet step apart in order to make more room for your majesty between your wet thighs so she can kiss and fondle your hole even more with her tongue. She smirks once again into your skin and you hear a devious giggle; her fingers coming up between your thighs again and holding open your folds for her to abhse your hole more directly with her dirty, hungry tongue.

For the gentleman to see better, of course. You know thats what she meant, that's what she would say. At this point you're completely hers. She could make you do anything with her tongue deep in your hole like this, your pussy absolutely loving the feel of her fucking you with it in the open air, clear for this man to watch and see. You notice he has a bulge in his nice pants as well a damp spot, and you look away; closing your eyes.

He deserves a bit of respect. What you can give him, at least. Even if that's just pretending to not notice his arousal at your situation.

Before too long a finger slips into your hole instead of her tongue, digging in deep and stretching your walls so much better then her tongue could. You start moaning more frequently, rocking your hips onto her hand. She adds another finger, ripping you open so good, and then one more, and all 3 begin to thrust firmly in and out of your tiny squishy hole. Your moaning is unabashed now and you know the nobleman is seeing you stretched open in front of him but you can't bring yourself to care at all anymore. In fact- it might be making it feel better, that you're being watched- and wanted.

Your hips roll in the air and one of your hands dissapears into your hair; tugging at the strands and begging Hilda. Pleasepleaseplease. Makememakememakeme. Ijusywannacomeijustwannacome!

When her tongue comes back to you as well as her fingers, licking at your hard clit, you open your eyes a crack and see the man once more before you're sure Hilda will 'get rid of him' like she does all the rumours about you. He looks a terrible mess, caught between horror and lust, and it sends you over the edge.

One more hard thrust from Hilda, her curling her fingers inside you to rub viciously at your tight meaty walls squeezing her, hitting your sweet spot so beyond perfectly, and you come harsher than you ever have before.

[kranagok0]

Name: Ferrán

Birthday: 04 of November

Age: 9 years

Species: ½ human and ½ fairy

Gender: Male

👍: He likes cartography, exploring (not as much as Hilda), dramas, comedy, taking walks with her grandmother (Astrid is her 'grandmother') and eating jam. any jam will do.

👎: the spiciness, not remembering things, bad jokes (she hates them), not being able to return to Tofoten and not being able to make a map well.

Trivia;

1- He may seem like someone who is patient, but since he is still a child of no more than 10 years old, it is normal that he sometimes loses his composure for simple reasons or that something does not turn out the way he wanted. The most common feeling is sadness and anger in these cases.

2- As already mentioned, Ferrán loves to eat meat and other things of animal origin. Since he moved in with Hilda he hasn't been able to eat these foods as freely as he would like since she doesn't like that. They have had several complaints with each other for these reasons.

3- Even with what was said above, they get along well. They both like to explore places they have not seen before, Hilda drawing or exploring and Ferrán looking for a perfect place to do his cartography.

4- Ferrán was not with Hilda when she went on her trip in search of elves to prevent them from moving. He was at home thinking about Astrid and if she would ever come back for him. What a scare he got when he barely left the house and said house ended up being crushed by a giant.

History:

Ferrán is adopted, at least that was what has always been clear to him from the first day he became aware of himself and his environment. He is repeatedly reminded of this by Astrid.

He has been with Astrid all his life and considers her his grandmother. She took care of Ferrán the first years of his life and loves him very much. Ferrán took a liking to cartography at some point in his life and decided that he would make maps.

which means that she would have to go exploring in many places... and this was a problem for Astrid because of certain fairy mounds that were in Tofoten

Astrid loved Ferrán as if he were her own son, and the mere thought that she could lose him terrified her. It hurt him so much to leave him with Johana that he couldn't even see her cute little face again.

Astrid told him that it was a small visit to her close relatives (Johana and Hilda) and that after the weekend she would return to Tofoten.

The days passed and there was no indication that he would even see Astrid in person again.

This made Ferrán sad for a while....

The good thing is that Hilda was there to encourage him, she was a good person, a positive influence in his life. In the end it didn't take him long to adapt to living with Hilda and Johanna.

And so it was until the giant floored the house and they had to move again, and just as poor Ferrán was adapting to his new home, he now had to go to another new home.

______

I finally finished filling out the information about Ferrán. This character occurred to me one day when I had nothing to do.... Well, I was at work and I was in a state of dissociation that made me waste my time, but they are mere details.

And yes, as you can see in his description, Ferrán is a hybrid. And no, I won't add some new fairy on earth just because. And it doesn't take a genius to know whose son he could be at this initial point in the story. And yes, she tries her best to hide that fact from everyone.

With this I say goodbye, and I really hope to upload content again like before.... Although it's not like it was much, but it starts somewhere.

[setting-ink]

Finding Home

My first (very late) contribution to @sketchbookweek 2024!

This fic combines prompts from Day 1 & Day 2, both because it took me two days to write, and because it managed to wind up fitting Day 1: Home and Day 2: Past/Future well enough for me to justify it.

Read on AO3

Home was Tofoten, first. The house with her Aunt, the peaceful hills, and the half-remembered trauma. Johanna can remember now, the years with her parents, and the pain of losing them. But Tofoten stopped feeling like home a long time ago now. Being sent off to Trolberg was a mixed blessing. It soured her relationship with Astrid, but it was the place she came into herself. Joining the Sparrow Scouts, finding her love for art in boarding school. Trolberg came to feel more like home than it did an escape.

It was also where she met Anders. Anders admittedly never quite felt like home, which felt cruel to think, but she also had a feeling he’d agree. What they had was nice, for a time, and neither would ever regret it, given what it had brought them, but it was better now, with the understanding that they wanted different things out of life. Hilda had been the greatest gift she could have asked for, but with her birth came the desire for change. She wanted to give her daughter the chance to grow up away from the hustle and bustle. Somewhere peaceful, like Tofoten had been for her. But also as far away from Tofoten as she could get. Her grandfather’s cabin had been perfect for that, away from it all, with the peace to work, and for Hilda to grow. Hilda grew, she thrived. She met Twig, and he saved her, and became a welcome addition to their little family.

And so for a time, that was home. The Cabin, and Hilda. She loved them both dearly, but her daughter would always be the most important part of it all. So long as they were together, that would be enough. She hadn’t quite expected that to be put to the test so abruptly as it was, but the actions of giants are hard to plan for. And that meant moving back to Trolberg. It would be good for Hilda, she knew. Her own time there had done her wonders, and she’d been sent there at around the same age. She missed it, if she was honest with herself. Sure, Hilda would take time to adjust, but it would all be for the best. Johanna hadn’t quite expected there to be quite so much for her to adjust to. Alfur was strange, to begin with, but soon became a welcome presence, as another voice of reason in Hilda’s life. Well, an attempted voice of reason at least. Tontu had been a more difficult shift, her own biases making for an awkward start, to say the least. But soon it was difficult to imagine home without them. It was nice, to have more people in her life. Not that she had been lonely before. She had Hilda, and that was enough.

Johanna very pointedly did not think about what she’d do when Hilda would be old enough to move out. To explore the world, as she almost certainly would want to do. She could barely picture home without Hilda there. But that was years off still, and she wasn’t quite as alone anymore.

Losing Hilda had destroyed her. Yes, they found each other again, and Johanna understood why Trylla had done it. A mother’s love was a powerful thing, and she would do anything for Hilda. But it put things into perspective for her. So when Astrid invited them to visit, she accepted. Astrid had been home once, and once there, she found she had missed her quite a bit more than she’d thought. So to almost lose Hilda again to the Fairy Mound, the thing that had haunted her for years? It hurt. So back to Trolberg it was.

Anders visiting again was interesting, to say the least. She would never begrudge him time with Hilda, but she was disappointed on her behalf when he vanished again. He had never been perfect, but she’d thought him good enough to say goodbye, at least. So learning he’d been taken to the Fairy Country, and that Hilda had gone in to save him? She wished she could say she was surprised, but she knew her daughter better than to expect anything less. Going in after her was all she could do.

Home had been her parents once. She could barely process how much she had missed them, once she remembered them again. And surely, Fairy Country could be home for them, couldn’t it? Her, her parents, and Hilda, together, and free to fly. To catch up, to be together, after so long. It could be home. It could. For her, at least. But Hilda? Hilda had a life outside of her family, she had friends, great friends, and a whole world to explore. She couldn’t leave that behind. And Johanna would never forgive herself if she made her. Saying goodbye to her parents hurt. Losing Astrid hurt. Getting her back was unexpected, but she knew now that she was going to cherish every moment she got to spend with the people she cared about.

It was somewhat mortifying to realize that outside of Astrid, the people she cared about had all entered her life through Hilda. It’s one thing for your daughter to claim that you have no friends, and another entirely to realize that she was correct. It had been so easy for Johanna to imagine leaving her entire life in Trolberg behind, because who would she miss, really? Alfur and Tontu, certainly, and Twig, yes, but who then? Stilted conversation with David and Frida’s parents, the occasional chat with Gerda? Maybe it was time for her to find her people, like Hilda had done so well.

Spending time with the Librarian had been accidental, at first. She had gone to the library intent on finding a book, and was met with a very interesting looking woman, who was nice enough to not react visibly when asked where she could find a self-help book. She had simply pointed her in the right direction, and left it at that. She only spoke up when Johanna brought her selections to the checkout desk, informing her, oh no, not that one. Trite, reductive, you’ll feel worse about yourself after reading it. The other one’s fine though. Johanna had blinked, laughed, and then thanked her, as the Librarian set the apparently offending tome aside to be reshelved later. And the other book was in fact more than fine, and she resolved to take its advice to heart, reaffirming the relationships she actively enjoyed, and seeking out things that brought her joy. This meant making chats with Gerda a weekly thing, because the other woman could be quite the conversationalist, and moreover, was wholly non-judgemental about how long it had been since Johanna had proper friends. It meant spending a day out with Hilda and Anders, because if he was going to be living in Trolberg now, they may as well get used to each other again. It meant letting Tontu and Alfur know how much she appreciated what they did for her, and giving Twig an extra scratch near his antlers now and then. It meant talking with Raven Leader about volunteering for Sparrow Scout events, because she missed the sense of community that organization had brought about. It meant calling Astrid a bit more often, just to say hello.

It also meant that when she went to return the better-than-fine self-help book, she asked the Librarian if she had any recommendations. It was her turn to blink now, but she recovered quickly, giving Johanna a once-over before directing her to a marvelous work of dramatic fiction from an author she’d never heard of before. When it came time to return that, she was surprised when the Librarian had barely seen her come in before she smiled, and pointed her towards another equally enthralling book.

Johanna was a little upset with herself that it took until her fourth visit to realize she didn’t know the Librarian’s name, and had in fact just been thinking of her as ‘the Librarian’ with a capital L. But Kaisa was nice about it, saying if she wanted everyone to know, she’d wear a nametag. It felt nice, for some reason, the knowledge that she had apparently earned the right to know, somehow. And from there, it had felt easy to go from book recommendations to other topics, what she thought of Trolberg, what she thought of Trolls. (Kaisa didn’t seem the type to still be biased against them, but it couldn’t hurt to check. Johanna was glad to learn she had nothing to worry about there.) What she did outside of work, things like that. It was a bit surprising to learn that Kaisa apparently tutored Frida occasionally, but privately she was glad to hear it. Frida had made it very clear by now that she would go through hell and back for Hilda, so if she seemed to like Kaisa, all the better. Johanna tried not to think about why she cared about what her daughter and her friends would think of Kaisa.

Learning that Kaisa had already met, and was in fact quite familiar with her daughter, had only been slightly surprising. Hilda seemed to know everyone nowadays, and she’d certainly spent enough time at the library for it to make sense. Frankly, Kaisa had seemed more surprised about it than she was, although she was unsure if that was because she had never mentioned a daughter, or because, admittedly, Hilda was a good deal more outgoing than Johanna had ever been. But knowing that Hilda liked Kaisa? And that Kaisa seemed to like Hilda as well? (Provided, of course, she wasn't causing trouble?) It was heartwarming. For no particular reason, of course.

Kaisa being a witch was a bit more of a shock, but again, all the pieces fit looking back, and so when the two of them met up for coffee, she found herself asking some of the questions she could never quite bring herself to ask Frida. Things like just what Hilda being a familiar entailed, if there was anything she could be doing to keep her daughter safe. Whether or not Hilda being part Fairy would have any impact. It was her turn to shock Kaisa now, apparently, because then she was the one with questions. How much is part, on which side of the family, could you tell me a bit about Fairy Country? It had been a bit embarrassing to have to tell her that she didn’t actually know all that much, but she did pass on Astrid’s number, in the hopes her Aunt could help Kaisa out a bit.

The phone call she received afterwards from Astrid, asking just who this witch was that Johanna was spending so much time with, telling so much to, was more than just a bit embarrassing. Because she was spending a good bit of time with her nowadays, more than just at the library, and perhaps it was time to be honest with herself about the why. Kaisa was interesting, and not just for the obvious reasons. She was witty, she was fun. Johanna felt comfortable with her, and she seemed to enjoy Johanna’s company. Johanna liked her. And perhaps that was too simple a sentiment, but it was true. She enjoyed the time she spent with Kaisa. And she wanted to keep enjoying it.

Because Kaisa was starting to feel like home.

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Spending Halloween with Chad Corey Dylan would include~

(My gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- Halloween? Halloween! He’s never celebrated Halloween before! This is like totally awesome! He’s so excited that you invited him to hang out! You have such great ideas! This is gonna be so much fun!

- Chad was literally born yesterday; or maybe just this year, so he’s obviously never had the chance to do any of the stereotypical Halloween/October related festivities that almost everyone else has done at least once. Because of this, everything that you can think to do during your time together is the best idea that he’s ever heard. He was made with as many good qualities that Zelda and Hilda could think of, but his most obvious quality is his enthusiasm. So get ready for him to get really excited about anything and everything.

- Literally anything you want to do is fine by him. He’s never done any of it so just say the words and he’ll agree.

- Baking or cooking things? That’s fun! Kind of ironic to do with him; for obvious reasons, but he’s definitely down for it anyway. Remind him not to eat raw flour and keep him away from the oven and you’ll be fine. You can expect his cookies to either be absolutely perfect or adorably messy; depending on what qualities you put into his man-dough.

- Rest assured that he’s very happy and helpful when putting up different decorations; though there might not be much left for him to do since there’s only so long that you can keep him fresh out of the oven (And one can assume that you started getting your house ready for the holiday in the beginning of October like a normal person).

- I love this song! Regardless of what the two of you are doing, he can’t help but bop along to the seasonal sounds and spooky music that you’re playing in the background. You’ll constantly catch him shimmying absentmindedly while you’re going about your different activities.

- He watches horror movies really intently so just know that he’ll be really distracted by them if you put them on. I’m talking wide-eyed staring and almost falling out of his seat because of how far he’s leaning forward. Did you see that! Wow! Don’t worry though, he forgets about what you were watching the minute you lock eyes with him and ask him to do something else.

- He’s a daredevil so he’d love to go to all of the thrill seeking establishments that pop up during the holiday season. Haunted houses, horror themed amusement parks, creepy carnivals, scary rollercoasters: he does them all with a smile on his face; or with reactions that mirror your own.

- Chad’s adorably attentive: he’d immediately notice if you were scared and he’d do his best to reassure you however he could. It’s his job to be a good date and he takes it pretty seriously. He’d offer you his hand or his arm to hold, remind you that “nothing is real” and that “nothing bad is gonna happen”, offer to leave or do something else, etc. Being a daredevil, athlete, rocker ensures that he isn’t scared of much; it also means that he finds your reactions kind of cute.

- Why don’t we do that thing you were talking about? What’s it called? Oh right, I’ll have to remember that! Like I said before: he was literally born yesterday. You’ll have to be patient with and help him out. He’d love hearing you explain things, smiling at you dreamily and intently while you talk about and show things off.

- Carving Jack-o-lanterns are fun and all, and he was baked with all of the qualities that make him into a dream date, but like …does that include handling a knife?? He’ll be like “yeah sure, I know how” and then he’ll start using the wrong end of it before you can even stop him. When you quickly fix the weapon in his grasp, he’ll just giggle and go “Ohhh. Haha, you’re so smart!” before continuing on like normal, not noticing you breathe a sigh of relief and will your heart rate to go down.

- Riding with him on his motorcycle in the crisp Autumn air.

- He’s a sweetheart, but the concept of pranking people does appeal to him: so long as they’re harmless pranks. He’ll be a little timid at first but you can definitely convince him that it’s fine and spend the rest of the night causing some mischief.

- Doesn’t know that there’s supposed to be an age limit to trick or treating so he’d definitely go with you.

- Matching outfits? Wow, the two of you look great together! Wanna put makeup on him? Go for it! Have a mask for him to wear? Yippee, how festive! Cheap party city costume? He’s as happy as a clam. He’s honestly just excited about the opportunity to dress up so try not to overthink things.

- He’ll sometimes stop and stare at falling leaves or the neighborhood decorations: watching them in silent wonder or gushing to you over how cool they are. You have to keep an eye on him and make sure that he’s still following you because he’ll occasionally get distracted and you’ll end up halfway down the block before you realize he’s stopped in his tracks to observe something.

- Not that you leave his side very often, but whenever you do, you can’t help but find the way that he patiently waits for you kind of cute. He looks like a golden retriever. You feel like if you focus in on him enough, you’ll start to see a wagging tail.

- Make sure that he doesn’t eat too much candy. He’s kind of like a kid in the sense that he doesn’t know that too many sweets or too much food can actually make you sick. One minute he’ll be scarfing down as much sugar as he can get his hands on, and the next you’ll be making him tea to soothe his stomach because he's sporting a terrible tummy ache.

- Would give you piggyback rides if your feet started hurting or if you were tired of walking.

- He’s very respectful and has very good manners. He’ll give you his jacket when you’re cold, get drinks for you when you’re thirsty, open doors for you, etc. He also makes you feel liked and pretty without demeaning you, or having expectations for how your night together should end.

- Overall, he’s a dream date. Did you expect anything else?

[psychichuldra]

Here're the next characters I drew on the list. I'm happy how these turned out! And I got to redesign Mormor and Titania. A bit about them:

Day 5: Rev. The sidekick. This little red fox is Hilda's companion. He's her common sense, her guide. He never stops her but tries his best to advise her to not do The Stupid Thing™ and he's there to give her the "I told you so" look. He's a little helping guide in her journey to retrieve the relics and is there for her emotional support. They've known each other ever since Rev was but a little pup. Although doesn't stop Hilda from learning the consequences of her actions, he deeply cares for her and doesn't like seeing her being hurt. He's smart, careful, and likes living a peaceful and quiet life in the forest.

Day 6: Mormor. The guide. She is the matriarch of Hilda's clan. She's one of the oldest huldras in the story and she's Hilda's grandmother. She's very wise but also very tough. Often scolding Hilda for going to the human town. Fed up with Hilda's careless outings, she's set on teaching her granddaughter some responsibility by sending her on what she thinks is a wild-goose-chase: to retrieve some long lost and powerful artifacts, giving her only an ancient and damaged book as a clue. When Hilda shows up with the first artifact, she's shocked and, though doesn't show it as much, very proud. Mormor also misses her youngest daughter, Hilda's mother, greatly. When Hilda was young, she often reminisced about her to her grandchild.

Day 7: Faeye. The bad influence. The princess of the fae folk is a spoiled brat who doesn't care about the consequences of her actions. In the story, she's an obstacle to Hilda's character growth. In the beginning, she's the one who started suggesting Hilda to go to the human city with her, messing with the humans and getting themselves into trouble. Selfish, narcissistic and a prankster, she manipulates and toys with the lives of those around her to her whims. The only person she seems to somewhat care about is her bodyguard Rhiannon, but even so she likes to pull some mischief on her from time to time.

Day 8: Queen Titania. Here we go with the ruler of faeries! She's the mother of Faeye and she's married to the king Oberon. Her appearance is always changing, like the seasons. On her body you can find a sort of "horror vacui" of plants, flowers, minerals, animals, insects and even elements. She governs over the whole fae realm and she resides at the core of the Earth. However one should always be careful around her since she's as chaotic and unpredictable as the weather. She can be very kind or very cruel, or at least humans would perceive her actions as such but the fae's definition of what's "good" or "bad" are very different from that of a human's perspective. Mortality is a joke for her and she finds funny how it works. Powerful and towering even over the tallest of trees, she possess the control over all of nature.

[dragonsrawesomesauce]

Introduction to me!

Hello there! My name is Johnathan (he/him). My other account is @jonathanthetranswriter , but the device with that account is currently down for the count.

LGBTQ+

I am a transgender man who is also a-spec (a label I’m still trying to figure out). I love my community and I’m completely supportive! I believe that as long as you aren’t hurting yourself or anyone else in anyway shape or form, you should be free to express yourself however!

Hobbies!

I like writing, scrapbooking, and light gaming. That’s about it, I’m pretty boring.

Interests!

I’m going to attempt to list my interests. This list will be in no way conclusive, it’s just some of the things I like!

Cartoons:

Gravity Falls

Star vs the forces of evil

Wander over yonder

The owl house

Dead end paranormal park

Steven Universe

Hilda

The last kids on earth

+SO MANY MORE!!!!

Anime:

Saiki k

Ouran high school host club

Kotaro lives alone

Romantic killer

Madoka Magica

Mob psycho 100

Spy x family

+SO MANY MORE

Games:

Cult of the Lamb

Minecraft

Cosmic Wheel of Sisterhood

Slime rancher

Stardew Valley

Animal Crossing

Omori

Little Misfortune

+SO MUCH MORE

Fun facts about me!

-my best friend named me

-I love my friends

-I don’t think I’ve ever ended a year with the same label(s) I started with (feelings are complicated)

-Halloween is my favorite holiday ever!!

-I like musicals!

If you’ve made it this far, I really appreciate you reading this!! If you would like to be mutuals (and you’re not the bad kind of weirdo/a young minor) feel free to reach out!

[frayed-symphony]

Once upon a time I had a Tales of Symphonia OC called Reimi.

It was the early noughties. I was a teenager obsessed with 2 things - Tales of Symphonia and Full Metal Alchemist. I had seen on my favourite website at the time; DeviantART, that people would sometimes self-insert themselves into their favourite shows/games and even though I'd thought about it before, I loved these two things so much I finally decided to do the same and 'Reimi' was born.

She was my ideal version of how I looked and because I was being bullied almost every day at school, the world of Symphonia in particular was a great comfort to me. Anytime I had a particularly bad day I started to draw Reimi.

I did have one real life friend, my best friend from primary school and we'd chat on the phone every night. I convinced her to play ToS with me and the two of us fell down this rabbit hole and I made her an OC too. We called her Beatrix and she was Reimi's older sister. It was your typical 'human girls fall into fantasy world and crush on their favourite character' story. I liked Lloyd and my friend liked Kratos. We would roleplay them together and write stories for each others birthdays and Christmases. It got me through the horrible things happening at school.

In time we started to make other characters. I decided I wanted Reimi to have a summon spirit - a polar bear called Meikai who could change between human and bear form. My friend had a similar 'devil' summon, Kainashi and I started to draw them as well. (Totally stole this from Sheena but it was very fun)

The final character we designed was Harvey - he was the only one we tried to give a canonical link to Symphonia. He was the Prince of the Tethe'allan royal family and Hilda's brother. The reason you never saw him in the game, we reasoned, was because he didn't want to be a Prince and left to travel the world in secret. He runs into our heroines and becomes a part of the group. I also wanted to write some love triangle stories at that point so he has a crush on Reimi.

For a long time these characters were my whole life. They filled my brain and I would always be thinking of stories for them. The ToS characters always factored into these stories but I was too embarrassed to draw them or have anything romantic happening and that might have been because of the backlash I saw a lot of self-insert authors get. I kept my stories mostly off the internet.

But I kept drawing them as the years went on, even designing bosses and creatures for them to fight, this was one such creature - 'Malcolm' the robot. One of Rodyle's machines.

In time life got in the way. My friend and I didn't get to speak as much so the drawing motivation started to fizzle out.

I still thought and cared about these characters but there was no fresh ideas forming for them. As I got older I started to have less time for them.

This is the last drawing I ever made of them and though you might still see me draw Reimi from time to time, its been years since I drew any of the others.

I did use them for animation practise on my University course though

So that's where we are today. I had a lot of AUs for Reimi. You may have seen this potion shop picture before, it's one of my favourite ideas where Reimi is living in the slums in Meltokio, working to keep her family's store open by selling potions. It even got a Daily Deviation on deviantART! I'm sure most people didn't know it was a self-insert drawing.

Another idea I liked was Reimi being the daughter of Kvar. She's grown up in the human ranches (though largely away from their brutality) and Lloyd's group visit is a wake-up call to her that what her father and Cruxis are doing may be wrong.

I came up with way too many stories to list here.. but uh... maybe I did draw some Reimi/Lloyd art occassionally...

and thats all you're gonna see!!

Anyway I just wanted to revisit these characters since I've been doing that with my books this month. Maybe you already knew about this, maybe you didn't!! It's just a fun look into my teenage self. I am trying to draw a new outfit for Reimi now, to see how much I've improved drawing her. I hope I can post it soon.

Thanks for reading!

[minas-linkverse]

I love hearing about your guys so I wanna ask - how do you think each of them feels about their adventure(s) as a whole? You've done really great at showing stuff that still haunts and affects them, but I'm curious about the overall opinion and attitude the different links have about what they've been through. And also Ravio

I love getting your asks 💛 I just suck at answering. OTL

I think this question could run really long, like I could go really into long form detail about this stuff, but since you asked about EVERYONE I'll try to write something manageable in size.

How does the gang feel about each of their canon story?

Sky - He feels like it all had to happen. It was a story written for them eras before he and Zelda were born, before Groose, Impa, Scrapper, maybe even before Fi... He tries to see it as a kind of honour, since everything worked out. He got to be an important piece of something that lead to saving the world and the people he loves. He's just happy to help! Really, no need to worry!

Twilight - He did love the people he got to meet and places he got to visit, Hyrule... No, the world is bigger than he could've ever imagined. He always knew Ordon Village was small, but wow. Wow... It's like a little chick, with a thousand beasts just beyond the woods. He's got to do something. He's got to be there for it.

Wild - He's chill ✌️ He's had a lot of time to think about things, and although it's a work in progress, he's finding peace with things.

Legend - At this point they feel like a tool to do what must be done, so that those who are safe from the horrors can continue to be so. He could complain, but eh. He'd rather see those people prosper than start fighting against the inevitable. Someone else would see this all as an honour, right?

Ravio - Well he thought he was going to watch the world end, so this all turned out pretty good! People try to tell him it was amazing of him to gather up the bravery to leave for Hyrule and aid the hero, but he can't help but to wonder if it was that ...or him fleeing. AH WELL, who cares. It all worked out! Let's just move on. He'll just apologize to Hilda one hundred times! What do you mean you don't want me to do that? Hilda? Hilda?? Come back I want to apolog-

Wind - Isn't it COOL?? He defeated TWO ancient evils. He did get lots of help! And he's very grateful! But he DID THAT! Ha suck it.

Yet... Why does it feel so off when he says that? He is so proud of what he's done, he loves the people around him, he's happy. Yet it feels like there's this giant boulder crushing him, or some deep hole he can't fill. What kind of nonsense is that...

Time - He's never truly belonged and never will, that's what he learnt. He was never a Kokiri, and he'll never be like the Hylians who he looks so much like. He grew up wrong and out of time. He doesn't even recognize the world he landed in. Guess he's glad the world is safe, but... When the journey is done, there's nothing but emptiness again.

Minish - He is the best most specialist little man, he saved Hyrule and his Grandpa is very proud. Zelda is so happy and he will do anything to make sure that stays!!!! He is so strong and special and capable and cannot be stopped for he will make everything MORE GOOD!!!!!!!

[a-champion-of-stars]

(Cw for a brief bit of violence)

[Lumiose City]

With the beginning of a sigh Hilda leaned back against the building. Two was still inside waiting for the stone to be properly fixed, and she had gotten oddly restless, taking it upon herself to step outside to get some fresh air for a moment.

The city was loud, quite loud compared to places she preferred to be, but somehow it wasn’t all that bad to be around.

The sounds of cars speeding down the road and people walking past all blended together into a cacophony of noise that fell into the back of her mind.

Somehow this was nearly calming, and she was just about to tune out the world entirely when something inside her jumped. It was like an instinct, warning her something was nearby. But what could it-

��Am I mistaking you for someone or-?”

It barely took a second for everything to click, and Hilda didn’t even stop to think as she realized who was speaking right behind her, swinging around and within a moment her fist had connected with the jaw of the man standing behind her.

She shook her hand out after, a buzzing pain ringing through it from the force of the punch she had just inflicted. The man had stumbled backwards, clearly in shock from both the hit and the force behind it.

“…should I take that as it is you?”

She didn’t respond to him, instead stretching her somewhat aching hand for a bit more.

“Hilda, right?”

Finally looking right at him, she lifted her left hand to respond.

“N.” She held the word as she stared right at him. The amount of things she was feeling at the moment was messy, and she wasn’t even sure how to describe it all, yet she couldn’t help but say something else before he had a chance to even respond.

“Sorry.” Hilda signed, slowly enough for him to catch it, but quick enough to drop her hand back to her side before he spoke.

“Well I can’t exactly say it was entirely unexpected.” N sighed, one hand still clutching the side of his jaw. “You never particularly liked me, and I can’t imagine that changed much considering…” His words trailed off, as though he didn’t quite want to fully bring up the past.

“Anyway…” The sentence faded out as quickly as it had started, and an awkward silence settled between the two for more than just a moment.

“What did you want to say to me?” Hilda asked slowly, seeming unsure of each word as she went, her gaze showing a genuine curiosity as she stared at N.

“What?”

“You approached me, clearly ready to speak before-”

“Before you punched me?”

“Yeah, before I punched you. What did you want to say?”

Another silence settled over the two of them, although this one a bit more brief.

“I’m not entirely sure.” He admitted in a somewhat diffident tone. “It’s just…I guess after everything it would've been weirder if I hadn’t said anything? It’s not exactly like I ever expected to run into you again or anything but still…”

“Do you want to talk?” She asked, mentally running through the nearest the routes the city led out to. If they were to have a conversation the middle of this busy city was possibly the worst place to get into things, for a multitude of reasons.

“Route 14 would be the best place to head if you do, a lot less people and there’s some forested areas for any needed cover, they wouldn’t mind talking to you either.” Hilda couldn’t help but be shocked by her own willingness to have a conversation with this man. She had spent so long harboring nothing but contempt for him, and yet here she was, more open to him than she’d ever thought possible.

“Really?” N sounded about as surprised as she felt about the whole thing. She just nodded in response.

“Since you’ve offered I see no reason not to, there’s plenty to discuss if you’re open to it.”

“One moment and we can get to it then.” She replied, taking her phone out of her pocket the moment she finished signing to send a quick text. While she wasn’t planning on going too far outside the city, leaving Two in the dark on where she was was not an incident she wanted to repeat.

When her phone was back in her pocket she began walking towards the nearest gateway, N following her out.

There was a lot to be said.

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

I just posted this on Twitter, and I just had to delete it and remake it because I spelt regret wrong. This is an essay I wanted to make after this poll. https://twitter.com/Geekgem1/status/1622753923470880770  

My essay of why I love Johanna from Hilda so much as a character. Hoping I don't regret this.

I have thought about posting this on Valentine’s Day, and it’s that day. I know I don’t need to make this, but I made a poll, and it would be cheap to go back on it. Before this, I was wondering how to write this, I don’t want to make it too gushy, but not too simple. Yet, I’m just going to write down what I’ve thought.

We all have a character we love, one that means a lot to us. Maybe because we can relate with them, we know what it’s like to be in their shoes. Maybe because we admire them or want to be like them. Whether we like them for simple or complex reasons. It’s an interesting discussion and it could tell us about the person who’s talking about that same character. I have a lot of favorites, some for understandable reasons. One I think could be considered “Controversial” to me personally. Whether for complex or simple reasons. And that brings us to this here...why do I love the character of Johanna from Hilda?

Why is that this woman has been on my icons for quite a long time, even when sharing it with other characters? A character that I have made jokes with friends that if someone were to ever insult her, I’d would rain Hell upon that person (Yet don’t worry, I won’t) for doing such a thing. A character that I guess you can call me a “Fanboy” of. Why this character from a show I’ve been a fan of since the Thanksgiving break of 2018? Why her?

A heads up, this is my opinion. This is something I really want to write and make sure I get right. And it explains why I like her despite the answer is very simple.

What makes Johanna really stand out as a character to me is that she’s basically the “Everywoman” in the show when you think about it. She is written realistically as a parent and a person. She isn’t a perfect person or a perfect parent, and honestly, that’s pretty great. While there are characters that you can consider the “Every person” in a sense. But I think I am saying that about Johanna is likely because she’s the one who still gets really surprised by the amount of fantastical crap despite trying to get used to it. Even if I sometimes make it a funny joke or I point out in my list of favorite female characters, she’s likely the most “Normal” of them all. And she’s surrounded by women who aren’t really...normal.

The point being she would be like someone that would exist in reality. And while she isn’t perfect, she is a fantastic mother. I think her relationship with Hilda is honestly the “Heart” of the series. While there are other characters that still get included in that. Yet ever since the start of the show, again, it’s about them along with some others.

And honestly, I think I should just admit it, even if it’s likely very boring. But it’s the fact she’s so kind and understanding. She is supportive and protective for her own daughter, even when she’s very worried about her. Including during the course of the series where their relationship is tested. While I have seen some criticism concerning her in season 2, but I still love her. She’s again, not perfect, and legit wants the best for her daughter. The fact she questions her own parenting, if she’s doing the right thing. She is trying to make sure her daughter is safe because she doesn’t want to lose her.

Then you have the movie that really showcases that whole intensity of trying to get her daughter back. The emotional toll of that story and everything else going around it. Along with well, learning to trust her daughter’s best instincts. In a nutshell, she really develops over the course of the series. Whether it be some parts or insane situations.

Johanna is a literal trooper when you take into account some of the crap she goes through. She is as brave as her daughter, while being genuinely terrified. And usually at the end of the day, she’s just a legitimately good person. Now when I think about that, it’s strangely inspiring.

I think I’ve said enough but I really wanted to write down a very good explanation why this character means the world to me. From a show that also means a lot to me. A show that has made me happy for years, that I just love with I guess all my heart. A show that needs a DVD/Blu Ray release because I fear the day the show gets taken off of Netflix, but that’s a whole other discussion.

So, yeah, that’s my big essay talking about Johanna. Why does this character mean a lot to me. Or why I really like her. I guess I’ll say she shows qualities I like in a woman. But that’s nothing against other characters. And she’s one of those characters you legitimately root for, even if you side with her daughter too. Other folks have talked about her. But it was time I give my own thoughts on her.

Again, I think I’ve said enough, and I’ve made it a very clear essay of why I love this character very much. I hope to all who read this to have a happy and safe Valentine’s Day. :)

[kumeko]

A/N: For New Dawn zine! I have never thought of these two as a ship before, but Hilda really needs Leonie’s discipline XD It’s a tough battle, good luck Leonie.

…

…

…

…

Hilda preferred Leonie in bed. In perfect honesty, Hilda preferred everything in bed: food, entertainment, even governance. If she could just live under her comforters for the rest of her life, she’d die happy. Surely it wasn’t too much to ask her people to accept this single eccentricity, in exchange for all the hard work she’d done during and after the war?

Still, even then, above everything else, Hilda preferred Leonie in bed. Because if Leonie was curled up under the blankets, her muscular arms wrapped tight around Hilda, then she wasn’t out swashbuckling, earning herself a new tale and a new scar. If Hilda was resting her head on her chest, listening to her soft snores, then she didn’t have to worry about danger. If they were together in the castle, rumours of mercenary exploits and threatening ruffians were just that: rumours.

Unfortunately, Leonie did not feel the same.

Hilda huffed grumpily as she leaned against her headboard, watching as her girlfriend shimmied into her shorts. No, it was more than that. Not only were they not on the same page, they weren’t even in the same library. If Hilda wanted her to stay, Leonie wanted to go. If she wanted her to rest, her girlfriend needed to move. Leonie absolutely hated lounging about, hated anything at all that was lazy or sloth-like. Whether it was back in school or after the war, Leonie preferred waking up at sunrise, doing manual labour herself, and even went out of her way for extra work.

It was tiring just to think of, let alone do.

“How did we ever end up together?” Hilda mumbled to herself, crossing her arms underneath the blanket. She couldn’t even feel Leonie’s warmth lingering on her side of the bed, in the indents left behind by her body. Just how long ago had her partner crawled out of bed? Probably at the crack of dawn, knowing her.

Noticing she was awake, Leonie glanced up and shot her a bright smile. Her mid-length orange hair curling around her head like a lion’s mane. “You’re up.”

Well, Hilda had to admit begrudgingly, part of the reason they were together had to be this view. Sure, Leonie was half-dressed, but the other half was the one Hilda liked best. Especially the abs. Hilda could spend days admiring those alone. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re running away from a one-night stand.”

Leonie snorted as she started to buckle her belt. Despite the belt, her ill-fitting pants didn’t curve to her body at all. Hilda would have to force her to go shopping later. If Leonie wanted to rough it, she could, but not dressed as a slob. “Please, with your brother around? Anyone running would die in a heartbeat.”

“He’s a little over-protective,” Hilda conceded, watching the way the light hit Leonie’s skin just so. Her chest was littered with hickeys and scratch marks and Hilda felt an odd sense of possessiveness and pride. Maybe she should have given another hickey on her neck, just to make sure any barmaid knew better than to flirt with her later.

“A little?” Leonie chuckled, shaking her head. It only made her look even more lion-like. “That’s like saying Raphael eats a little. Or you sleep in a little.”

Hilda wrinkled her nose at the insinuation. It was one thing to drag her brother’s name in the mud, but quite another to drag her own. “Rude. So why didn’t you wake me up? You didn’t want me to catch you leaving?”

Leonie’s laugh deepened, a rich and husky sound. Everything she did, even her laugh, always sounded like she was putting in 110%. “Nothing like that. I just thought the princess wanted to sleep more.”

She felt oddly pleased by the nickname and the thought. That didn’t stop Hilda from turning up her nose and rolling her eyes. “Like I can with the racket you’re making.”

“Please,” Leonie scoffed as she scanned the floor for her bra. Her hair tumbled over her shoulder as she moved. “You slept through a midnight ambush once. Even Claude was shocked.”

Hilda flinched, remembering the embarrassing incident. She curled up defensively and pouted. “I was tired.”

“You sleep like a log.” Leonie made a triumphant grunt as she found her bra on a vase. Within seconds, there was a small snap as she secured it on; the woman was just as fast wearing it as she was taking it off.

There was no point in arguing the observation. No one, not even her brother, would claim she slept like anything but the dead. With a huff, Hilda changed the topic. “Why are you always up so early?”

“It’s not always.” Leonie picked up her shirt, uncurling the wrinkly mess from the ball they’d made last night. “Just, I have to go today. You know how it is.”

“You could go later,” Hilda suggested, miffed. “It wouldn’t kill anyone.”

Leonie shot her an incredulous look and snorted. As she tugged on her shirt, she shook her head. “I’m a mercenary. It could kill someone.”

“Or save them.” Sensing this was a nonstarter, Hilda shifted to plan B. Quite honestly, it was the superior tactic, but it also had to be used sparingly. Stretching her arms above her languidly, she let her bedsheet fall and pool around her waist. Hilda knew her assets. She knew how to use them. “Come on.”

“Hilda.” Leonie turned to her and immediately flushed. Clearing her throat, she averted her gaze and mumbled, “Shamir’s waiting for me.”

“I’m waiting for you,” she corrected, her lips curling in annoyance. Really, how could Leonie look away, let alone think right now? It wasn’t like Hilda’s seduction skills needed to be improved; they had worked just fine last night. “Where’s Catherine when you need her?”

“With Byleth,” Leonie replied amicably, her blush slowly receding. She finished buttoning up her shirt. “As usual.”

“Then where’s Claude when you need him?” Hilda stared out the window. The sky was blue. There were no clouds. More importantly, there were no newly-appointed King of Almyras flying past on their dragons. “He should just take his wife and then Catherine could take Shamir and I’d have you all to myself.”

Leonie’s expression softened and she sighed exasperatedly. “Even if that did happen, we’d still have to run the mercenaries together. I’d still have to go out.” She rested a hand on her hip, her fingers curling around her belt hoop. “You think Claude’ll be back soon? Or, wait, should we call him—what’s his name again? Kalid?”

“Khalid.” Hilda sat a little straighter, let the blanket fall a little lower. An exaggerated roll of her shoulders, a hair toss, and viola! She smirked as Leonie’s eyes followed. “And yeah, he said he was just getting things ready on his end.” Crossing her arms, she directed Leonie’s attention back up. “King of fucking Almyra—why didn’t he tell me that earlier?”

Leonie tore her eyes away and bit her lip. “Well...it’s kinda obvio—”

She frowned. Figured Leonie would take his side. “Don’t answer that.”

“If you say so.” Leonie laughed and pulled her hair out of her shirt. “Still, can’t believe he’s a king. I mean, I can but also…”

“Yeah.” Hilda nodded, understanding her feelings immediately. “He’s both suited and not suited for it. And he did that in, what, a month? Two? It’s scary to think what’ll happen when he and Byleth work together.”

“That’s what ended a war,” Leonie pointed out. There was a small click and Hilda’s jaw dropped as she realized Hilda was all armoured up. Just when did she put on everything? “Anyways, you can stay in bed.” Leonie smirked fondly. “I know you need your beauty sleep.”

“I wasn’t going to leave anyways.” Hilda sulked as she beckoned Leonie over. “You need to learn to rest.”

“I do know how to rest,” Leonie argued as she obediently came over. Her gloved hands gently gripped Hilda’s bare shoulders and she kissed her forehead.

“A night off isn’t resting. Next time you’re here, it’s for a proper vacation. Or else.” Hilda grabbed Leonie’s collar and dragged her down for a proper goodbye kiss. It’d be weeks at least before they saw each other and she needed something a little less chaste.

Leonie was red by the time she pulled back. Despite how flustered she looked, she miraculously managed to keep it from her voice. “Fine, I’ll make sure next time. We can go out somewhere.”

“Mmm, no need for that.” Hilda smiled coyly as she patted the bed. “We can always stay in.”

The blush spread to her neck. Leonie shook her head. “I don’t think I can—”

“We’ll stay in,” Hilda repeated firmly before pushing Leonie away. “Now shoo. Scram.”

Leonie stared at her blankly, bemused. “Huh? Didn’t you just try to get me to stay?”

“That was then, this is now.” Hilda sank back into her bed, pulling her blankets up. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you come back. And besides,” she winked, “I still need my beauty sleep.”

[stillhavetodothat]

Replaying Nancy Drew without Cheating - Part 8: Danger on Deception Island

I’m going to go ahead and argue that this game, this charming, riveting, addictive game, is the start of a series of 3-5 games that are universally beloved by the Nancy Drew community. I don’t know many people who don’t genuinely have a nostaglic love for this game, me included. In fact, I would have considered this my second favorite for many many years, right after Treasure in a Royal Tower, which can never be replaced in my heart.

I’m also going to go ahead and tell you: this was the first game that I didn’t feel like I needed to cheat even once. The only thing I slightly struggled with was the anagram puzzle from Hilda (BTW, I have a bone to pick with Nancy’s “handy dandy Anagram Buster.” How is this thing handy dandy? I can do what it does using a sheet of paper. It doesn’t bust anagrams at all. Who would have made such a useless piece of software?) Overall though, I don’t think the puzzles are particularly hard, and there’s always something to do next, so there is very little aimless meandering about in confusion. I’ve also played this a fair number of times, so there’s that too.

This is a classic and will always be one of my absolute favorites. It has some of the coolest, most unique elements out of any game, not to mention a top notch soundtrack, and I can guarantee that I will be replaying this game for many years to come.

Some of my thoughts:

1. I think one thing I like about this game is that it is a lot of looking around/snooping/figuring things out by yourself; the game does not rely on having a bunch of conversations with the suspects. In fact, in this play-through, I was surprised at how little Nancy actually does chat with other characters. There were times I was CRAVING some human interaction, but all I could say to people was “It was nice talking to you,” despite the fact that I hadn’t been TALKING to anyone at all.

2. Weird that the first thing Nancy does in this game is get obsessed with a random piece of driftwood that she finds in the water. Who even is she. I relate less and less to Nancy with each passing game.

3. Once again, fuck Nancy’s anagram buster. I hate anagrams, and I hate false advertising.

4. Katie Firestone will never not be a knock-off, more boring Joanna Riggs to me. She is so whiny and boring that giving her food poisoning actually gives me a goddamn dopamine rush (also, WHY does she have some much expired shit in her fridge anyway? The woman JUST went grocery shopping). Despite the fact that you never actually see her do anything wrong, I don’t blame the town for disliking her. I’d love nothing more than to grab my torch and pitchfork and run her out of Snake Horse Harbor alongside clam chowder queen Jenna Deblin and dungeness crab daddy Holt Scotto.

5. Speaking of Holt Scotto, someone go and check that man’s cholesterol levels. He must be slowly eating every male dungeness crab within 10 miles of Snake Horse Harbor, based on how he takes all the crabs visitors bring him and cryptically says that he’ll “take care of that crab” for you. 

6. The whole storyline of the tunnels under the town and the history of shanghaiing was the best part of this game. Wandering around underground, actually figuring out on your own (without having to be explicitely told) that the burglars had to have been using the tunnels to rob all the local businesses, finding your way into the sea caves - all very fun gameplay.

7. As cool as finding the orca in the sea caves is, I can’t imagine how scared shitless I would be in real life.

8. Why is Dr. Predoviciu casually the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen? Girl, TELL ME YOUR HAIR CARE ROUTINE!!

9. After winning a whale watching tour with Andy Jason and taking a bunch of photos, Nancy thanks Andy for letting her use his camera. Uh, is she getting these pictures at any point? Is he going to send her a USB flash drive or some shit? Why didn’t Nancy have her own camera (as a supposedly semi-famous and always prepared amateur detective)?? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

10. Why do we then basically have to force Andy to give us a keychain after the tour, when the keychain probably costs about 50 cents? The sign says the keychain is free to “everyone who takes our whale watching tour,” NOT to “everyone who PAYS for our whale watching tour.” What a crock of bullshit. For some reason, I had a crush on Andy Jason as a kid (that curly hair! that weirdly buff body!) but this playthrough made me realize that I actually loathe him to my very core.

11. Therefore, there is nothing more satisfying than this moment (not even making Katie Firestone throw up over the side of her boat):

12. Speaking of the ending, this game may have the best (or at least one of the best) ending sequences of any game. The fact that Nancy goes up to a RANDOM ASS FREIGHT BOAT, in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, CLIMBS ABOARD, has to STEALTHILY HIDE ON DECK TO NOT GET CAUGHT BY POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SMUGGLERS, and then FIND KATIE TIED UP BELOW DECK??? Fucking genius. Amazing. It might be the stupidest thing Nancy ever does (the only person she tells her plan to is ANDY FUCKING JASON, after all, so there is no one who would know where to look should she go missing), but it leads to a high-stakes, adrenaline-pumping last several minutes.

13. Hilda. Hilda MF Swenson. The fact that she calls Nancy the millisecond that Nancy finds whatever she was looking for is absolutely hilarious. Hilda is literally spending her life just watching Nancy’s every move through her binoculars, and giving her convoluted, long-winded puzzles to solve for absolutely no reason. Hilda is a more entertaining character than all the others put together.

Ugh, what a fantastic game. The only thing that is keeping me going after finishing is the knowledge that the next few games are equally as brilliant, so I know that I have much to look forward to. On my way to get screamed at by Shorty for picking a slightly underripe green bean. <3

[reyggtv]

Just because two people admitted to doing something genuinely nasty does not mean that even the community on Twitter has a "major predator issue". The actions of ExJr and TZ are horrible for sure, I think we can all get behind that, but it should not represent a large majority of its community as a whole and honestly would be just straight up disrespectful and tasteless to imply that *everyone* on there are they like that. That is just not the case. Even the people who defended those people at the time clearly did not know the extent of the damage and only later knew just how serious things were after more details came up about it. Plus, also, a show made for kids, is going to have the majority of its fans, also be kids lol. Twitter is always going to be a place full of sick or weird people, especially with the person who’s running the site behind it that’s always going to be the case, but out of my 6 years of my time in the Hilda fandom I can say that the people who pose this much of a danger to others especially minors only make up a fraction of people I’ve ever interacted with. Most people just wanna make their fan art and OCs and move along with them, people sometimes dedicate years just to try and make something genuinely special that they’re happy about, as what I have been doing since 2018.

People don't want to be weird, people don't want to involve themselves with drama. I didn't even want to expose the things that TZ said on Twitter because I knew that it would only just create more tension than help solve anything, and plus, he was like my bestest ever friend, that shit hurt me. But at the same time I felt like I had to or else people were gonna start accusing that I was okay with "defending a pedo" even though clearly I wasn't.

I take these things very seriously and do not hold back on trying to hold anyone accountable for what they might've done. Not long ago I had to ban someone off my server because they decided to share porn with another minor, which is obviously a big no no and did not hesitate to ban that person as soon as that happened.

With all that being said, I know this post can come across as me trying to say "there has never been a predator problem in the Hilda community!" Well, that’s not exactly true, because while I think the majority of Hilda fans aren't as disgusting as some may make it out to be, the small minority that I've encountered has done some of the most distressing stuff I’ve ever went through.

When I was 14, still brand new in the Hilda community, I met a guy on Hildacord and he wanted to become best friends with me, he was 17 or 18 I think. On my birthday, he offered to do a Johanna e-RP with me, something I had never done before, because it was the best gift he could give me for my "special day" or something like that. We then continued to chat and eventually, we reached a point where we were actually trying to date each other for the next year and a half or so. I was now 15 and he was 19. I sent him explicit pictures of myself, and he seemed to have kept those for himself, and we continued having these explicit roleplays for that amount of time and convinced me that all this grooming, dating an adult as a teenager, and exchanging eachothers addresses to send eachother gifts was the most normal thing someone could do. When someone finally told me that all of this was wrong and I needed to get out of it, I ignored them for a while, because how could that person really be manipulating me like that? I refused to believe it. It wasn't until I was 16 that I finally realized what was wrong and sometime later went on Twitter and expose him for all these things. Of course, Twitter being Twitter, instead of them trying to go after the literal groomer, I was the one who was targeted instead. They tried to say that I was transphobic, or that I was manipulating him (even though they were the one who did to me in the first place…), and at the end of it all, no justice has been made since. That guy is still out there proudly in the wild, he faced no consequences whatsoever, meanwhile, *I* was the one who had to get the shittier, because despite all the evidence I had against him and from what HE directly admitted himself, the people just refused to believe any of it was true, and thus, he’s still now out there, still with some of the friends that I know as well. With those friends, even going as far as to turn my back because they didn't want to come to terms that I was a victim of grooming and sexual harassment.

This became even more apparent when before all that, right after I had just turned 16, one of my friends hacked into my Twitter account and was blackmailing me to sending me them money via Bitcoin or else they would use it to target and harass my friends and my follower. They were someone who I trusted to run my then Daily Dose of Hilda account at the time, I shared them the password so they could make posts on it with my permission. They changed the password and had their email sent to another one. When I confronted them about this, they told me the only way I could get my account back was either through paying them in Bitcoin, or by sending seemingly incriminating evidence of myself to make me seem like I was someone that I’m not. That’s where all those screenshots some of you might’ve seen where I said/shared some inappropriate things about Hilda. I did not send those things on purpose, I was forced to. As a matter of fact, even before the hacking occurred, they *still* went out of their way to demand these types of messages/interactions from me even though I clearly wanted nothing to do with it. They even wanted a picture of me crying reacting to my account getting hacked, imagine if I had actually gone through with that. They *insisted* that I have these interactions or else they would just pull off something like this. But at the end of the day, it didn't really matter. Because it worked. Not only did I get my Twitter account hacked anyway, they also managed to make me look bad even though I was a victim of grooming, once again.

I didn't know any better at that age, and these people knew that, and purposely took advantage of me because of it.

The Hilda community has had some sick people in the past, I would know, because I lived through it. That goes about having to be in any community for as long as I have been. If people are going to mention about a "predator issue" that’s happening around, why aren't we talking about *this*. Why aren't more people talking about *my* experiences? Why do you people insist on taking things on face value and never finding out what the bigger picture *actually* is? If anything, *I* should be the one who should be upset and trying to quit the community for having to deal with this bullshit. Imagine trying to live your life as the best Hilda fan you can be, all you want to do is make friends with everyone, and be a wonderful influence to all, but instead, you have to live through years of sexual trauma, harassment, grooming, your own friends turning your back on you, blackmailing, stalking, and instead of people trying to sympathize with you for ALLLL of these horrible things that some did to you, they instead just choose to find an excuse to dehumanize YOU because they're in denial of the facts and want to make sure that their feelings are justified.

I hate it. I really fucking hate it. I hate when I have to go through this. I’m so fucking tired of going through harassment and abuse time and time again as one of the bigger Hilda figures, and yet, despite everyone else going out of their way to share their own experiences and sympathizing with them, they just choose to ignore *me* because quite simply I’m "Rey, the big bad meanie Voldemort" :/

I am truly sorry to those in the Hilda community who went through similar things and received trauma as a result, you are not alone, and I will always be there to support you. But, I kept all of this hidden from me for way, wayyyy too long, and whether or not people are willing to listen to me through this, does not matter, I just want my feelings to be able to heard throughout the world, once and for all.

Despite all of this, I am proud to be a Hilda fan. I would have never been able to make the projects I wanted, the school I’m going to, the friends that I’ve made, and the many fans I’ve accumulated just by making funny Hilda videos on YouTube, if some people don't want to care what I say, that‘s okay. At the end of the day, I’m just doing something that genuinely makes me happy, and Hilda has, and will continue to make me happy as time goes on. If people don't like that, too bad. Hilda is my life passion and I am not going away anytime soon because of it.

Hearing about drama in other sides of the fandom is wild like what do you mean Hilda Twitter has a major predator issue and Hilda Reddit is queerphobic. How did that happen. At what point down the fandom evolutionary line was there a division so catastrophic that while we’re here like “lalalala let’s play with OCs and make funny new crackships!” those other guys are committing Literal Crimes. What happened to Vibing.

[bouwrites]

Those Warm and Halcyon Days: Chapter 56

Shocks of White

Ao3.

First, Previous, Next.

Story under read-more.

“I was prepared for bloodshed,” Leonie sighs. “As a mercenary at war, I’ve seen more than I care to remember, but… I guess I’m still not used to this.”

Ignatz hugs himself tightly. “Even our enemies were fighting for their own cause. They held out without fleeing until the bitter end…”

“Fools,” Veery sighs. “No cause is worth all this death. They should have run.”

“I wish…” Ignatz shakes his head sadly. “But they were resolved to die for what they believe in, and we can’t afford to stall here.”

“If that’s what you have to tell yourself,” Leonie says. “Not everyone who dies in war truly believes in what they’re fighting in. But I do, so I won’t let it stop me. I just wouldn’t want to become the type of person who feels nothing when someone dies, even if they are my enemy.”

“Is everyone ready?” Claude calls from his usual spot at the unusual table. While they talk, the last of those invited arrive, so it seems the meeting is finally starting. It feels strange to be doing this here in this new room at the Great Bridge of Myrddin rather than the war room at Garreg Mach. “Good. We have a few things to discuss. First and foremost being our next step.

“The Great Bridge of Myrddin is ours,” Claude says. “Well done, everyone. This is an important victory, and you all performed wonderfully. Now that Count Gloucester is no longer under Imperial threat, I’m going to have to return to Alliance territory and convince him and the other remaining lords to join us. Lorenz, would you return home for the time being and lay the groundwork with your father?”

“Fine,” Lorenz says. “After all, this is for the Alliance. Or rather, for all of Fódlan. We must be unified if we hope to face Edelgard.”

Claude nods. “For those of you who live in Alliance territories, I ask that you return to your houses and spread the word about the current situation. Until we finish our preparations, Judith and the knights will do everything in their power to defend the Great Bridge of Myrddin.”

Judith snorts. “That’s a casual way to dole out such a deadly mission, boy.”

“Do you object?”

“Just who do you think I am? I won’t let the Empire pass this way, even if it costs me my life.”

“Too bad you’re not allowed to die. The Deer know this already, but I’m counting more on you surviving than I am on holding any military advantage. Fight like your life depends on it, but flee if you’re ever truly in danger. Always.”

“A tall order, as always. And a very you perspective. I’ll use my best discretion.”

“Good, any other objections?”

“None from the Knights of Seiros,” Seteth says. “Go forth and secure us a sufficiently powerful army.”

“You can count on it,” Claude says. “But if we hope to convince the remaining lords to lend us their soldiers, we have to know what we’re doing with that army. I trust you’ve been talking amongst yourselves about our options from here? Are we still putting it to a vote, or have we come to an agreement?”

They have been talking. Extensively. It’s the subject of many long, long debates around the monastery, most of which Veery eavesdrops on rather than participates in.

“No agreement, I’m afraid, though I can tell you right now we have a clear majority,” Lysithea says, “so a vote would just be a formality.”

“All the same,” Claude says. “Does everyone consent to a vote? Majority opinion dictates whether we invade Adrestia, or travel to Faerghus.” When he gets a unanimous agreement, Claude says, “Then, all in favor of invasion directly from the Great Bridge of Myrddin.”

Claude, Hilda, and Teach all raise their hands. Judith, Catherine, Shamir, Alois and Cyril though somewhat reluctant-looking, as well as Leonie, Ignatz, Raphael, Marianne, Lorenz, Lysithea, and Veery. All of the Golden Deer agree, it seems. It’s their allies who have objections.

“All in favor of bringing our army to Fraldarius to back up the Kingdom and bring the war to the front lines there.”

Dorothea, Petra, and Manuela, of course, and Flayn and Seteth.

“It seems we’re outvoted,” Manuela says. “Oh, well. There is a very good case to go straight for Enbarr, so I won’t complain.”

“It is not how I would lead,” Petra says, “but neither option is wrong. I trust that you know what you are doing, Claude.”

“I appreciate that trust, Petra. Remember, everyone, that this means that once I get the remaining Alliance lords on our side and the last of our reinforcements, we’re going to be entering enemy territory. The battles ahead are going to be the toughest this war can throw at us, so we’ll need to be prepared. If you can, this also may be the last time you’ll get the chance to visit home.” He sends a reluctant, apologetic glance to Dorothea, Petra, and Veery. “I encourage you all to take advantage of that chance. Prepare yourselves; say goodbye if you need to. We’ll be meeting back here before we know it.”

The meeting is dismissed, but Veery… doesn’t really know what to do with himself. Claude is going back to Derdriu where he’s going to gather the rest of the lords for a proper Alliance meeting. Veery thinks Teach will probably go with him. Everyone else who has a home to go to is going there.

But Veery’s home is across a continent and an ocean. Just like Petra, he just doesn’t have time to make the journey all the way there and back. (He thinks, maybe, that’s still better than Dorothea and Manuela, whose home is not so far at all, but where they cannot visit all the same.)

Veery supposes he’ll just stay here at the bridge. Help Judith defend it while Claude and the others are doing their jobs.

Claude dithers about whether to bring Veery to Derdriu with him, it turns out. It gets to the point that, just before they leave, Hilda just takes Veery aside and asks if he wants to come.

Apparently, the cat saint being present is something akin to having the prospective next leader of the church in Professor Byleth there. The Church of Seiros is so fractured at this point that traditionalists, with Teach as the figurehead, and the Cult of the Cat Saint, who follow Veery, are both abundant between the remaining lords.

Ironically, neither Professor Byleth nor Veery have any interest in either of those factions, or indeed the Church of Seiros as a whole.

Either way, Veery remembers the last time Claude makes him try to convince a group of people to calm down using his position as the cat saint and emphatically refuses the invitation. Hilda nods understandingly and says that, if only one of them is going to show up, Professor Byleth is the less divisive one, anyway, and that part of Claude’s indecision about it is that he doesn’t know if showing Veery’s face will incite the traditionalists against the resistance regardless of Professor Byleth’s theoretical position in the old church.

That’s just fine with Veery. He’ll gladly avoid Alliance politics, and all politics really, for as long as possible.

When Hilda and Claude do leave, Veery figures that’s that, and that he’ll just bunker down here at the bridge with the knights and soldiers until everyone is ready to move. He doesn’t expect Lysithea to find him, or to ask him to accompany her back to Ordelia territory.

In the face of her request, Veery just dumbly blurts, “Why?”

Lysithea chuckles. “There’s something… I have a theory, and I want to run it by you. But there’s also something you should know, and if I’m right, it could be very important if we hope to win this war.”

“But why me?” Veery asks. “I know Claude is busy, but if it’s really that important it should be something to go to him about, isn’t it?”

“That’s true.” Lysithea inclines her head. “But I specifically want your opinion, and… and there’s something you need to see. It’s relevant specifically to you.”

Veery blinks. “Uh… okay, then. I’ll come. Sadi, Hoarvug, and Caub can come too, right?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t think to separate you. Although… when we get to the details, I am going to want to have that conversation with you in private.”

“That’s fine,” Veery says immediately. “I’ll get the others and we can go.”

Wasting no time, Lysithea gives him a nod and leaves him alone to prepare for the journey. Veery likewise sniffs out his friends and guides them over to where Lysithea is already packed and ready to go.

The journey isn’t long compared to some journeys Veery has been on. Ordelia territory is just east of the Great Bridge of Myrddin, towards the edge of Leicester, but still just down the Airmid River. Lysithea notes that it’s especially important for her to go home for the time being, since her territory is the next best place to cross the river into Adrestia, and vice versa, with bridges much less regulated and observed, as they’re present for travel and trade rather than as a military checkpoint. So, as long as the Great Bridge of Myrddin is held, it’s actually Ordelia which is the Alliance territory under greatest threat of counter-invasion by the Empire.

“Are you worried about that?” Veery asks.

Lysithea hums noncommittally. “Not especially. It’s possible, of course, but the Empire doesn’t have enough troops to spare for that. If they attack Ordelia, they’ll be leaving themselves wide open so long as we have the Great Bridge of Myrddin. It’s the same reason we took the bridge rather than invade through my family’s territory to start with. Besides, I’ve had spies on the bridges ever since the war started. If they do choose to invade, my parents will have notice, and Holst can mobilize the Goneril forces to come protect us if necessary. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I think we’d survive.”

Well that’s… good. It at least convinces Veery that he’s unlikely to have to fight on another bridge on this little excursion.

When they arrive at the Ordelia estate, a place not quite as pretty, but just as impressive as the Goneril estate, they’re greeted warmly by an older couple who don’t for a moment question why three cats and a heavily armored Albinean are gathered just behind their daughter.

It’s actually a little impressive just how nonplussed they are. Most people at least stare a little, but Lysithea’s parents only look at each of them with politeness.

They don’t look all that much like Lysithea, though, in Veery’s opinion. Sure, humans mostly look the same to him, but he at least knows enough that families generally have certain traits in common. Just like in agell. Their hair and eyes, especially, since more minute details tend to slip past Veery’s notice. But Lysithea’s parents both have greying brown hair, and their eyes are much more of a vibrant color than Lysithea’s. Veery always assumed the white hair was just a genetic thing.

Well, whatever. The lord and lady of the estate greet Veery and his friends with respect and eagerly put them up in rooms where they can lay their things and rest from their journey. They eat together, making small talk and much larger talk about the war and the state of it. Lysithea dominates that conversation for obvious reasons. Never once is Veery’s presence questioned, so he figures Lysithea’s parents know why she’s brought him here.

It’s the next day that he finds out, himself.

Lysithea grabs him in the early morning, before much of the estate is up, and leads him quietly to a dusty corner of the estate that doesn’t look like it’s been in use for some years. Silently, she slides a large iron key into a lock and opens a heavy door, then begins her descent down the steps past it.

“Eighteen years ago,” Lysithea says as they pad softly down those steps, “House Ordelia was involved in a rebellion that took place within the Empire. After it was quelled, all of the key officials were caught and put to death. The Empire sent replacements, who they used to take control of House Ordelia.”

“This is…” Veery racks his mind, sure he knows what she’s talking about. “The Insurrection of the Seven?”

“Yes and no. It’s the Hrym rebellions that led up to the Insurrection. It’s considered the cause of it, and so House Hrym is considered one of the Seven Houses involved, but the coup itself took place around four years later, long after House Hrym was destroyed.”

Veery hums. All this is something of a footnote in the history books he reads five years ago, but it’s starting to come back to him. “Okay,” he says. “So, at that point, the Empire took over House Ordelia.”

“That’s right,” Lysithea says. She comes to a halt outside of another door, and Veery has seen enough of castles and estates at this point to suspect they’re just outside the dungeons. But instead of going in, she turns to Veery with a deadly serious expression on her face. She looks so… haunted, in such a way that it feels almost as if the darkness peels off the cold stone walls to press in and try to extinguish their little magical lights.

“Among the people sent by the Empire were mages dressed in black. They were… unsettling, in a word. Skin as pale as death.” Lysithea says, voice detached. “It took me a while to piece it together, partly because I thought that my perception of them might’ve been colored by my age, and I just imagined them into such unsettling nightmares because of what they did, but I always suspected, from as far back as the Gaspard Rebellion. It wasn’t until Edelgard announced herself as the Flame Emperor and the connection between them and the Empire was confirmed that things fell into place with any certainty.”

She takes a deep breath and lets it out sharply. “Those mages were Agarthan. I’m positive. They didn’t use those bird masks they did back in the academy days, but they were dark mages, pale skin, dressed similarly, and… well, you’ll understand when I tell you what they did here.”

Agarthan mages in House Ordelia when Lysithea couldn’t be more than a child? How old is she now? Veery doesn’t know, but humans age so quickly that she must’ve been so tiny so long ago. What could people willing to raze entire innocent villages do to a child?

Lysithea folds her arms across herself, shrinking as small as Veery has ever seen her. “Those mages imprisoned the children of my house,” she says. “I was only two when it happened. One by one, they performed horrible rituals on my siblings. Blood experiments. Even me. It didn’t stop for four years, until finally all of my siblings were dead and I was deemed a failure. When I was just six years old, they left. There was nothing more they could take from us. When my parents finally took me out of this dungeon… that was the first time I could even remember seeing the sun.”

Oh gods… “That’s horrible.” What else can Veery say? He doesn’t know how humans work well enough to know what exactly two- to six-year-olds are, but at least according to Lysithea, somewhere in that range is where her long-term memory sets in.

Veery comes from a place where the sun can effectively disappear for such a length of time that Fódlanders balk and wonder at the possibility, but even he can’t imagine not seeing the sun for years. He wonders if she even knew to miss it. Just imagining it makes Veery feel hollow.

And that’s not even starting on the blood experiments. Although, at this point, that’s almost typical of Agartha.

“Wait, blood experiments…” Veery lashes his tail, “like with Flayn?”

“Exactly,” Lysithea says. “You see why I’m so confident that those mages were Agarthan. Or, worked for the Agarthans, at least. It was the Flame Emperor, Edelgard, who was behind Flayn’s kidnapping and the experiments done on her, but ultimately that blood was used for an experiment performed by Solon, who we know Edelgard was working with, and who we know to be Agarthan.”

“It does make sense,” Veery sighs. “So… what did they do?”

Lysithea closes her eyes for a moment, hanging her head, then turns and unlocks the dungeon door. “That,” she says, “is what I want to talk to you about.”

Of course. It’s not like her to drag him all the way here just to share a story about her personal life. There’s business to be done. Veery dutifully follows her in, eyeing carefully the empty, moldy cells clearly no more cared for than the rest of this wing. He wrinkles his nose at the smell. Stale air and mold hang heavily in these dark confines.

“My apologies for the stench,” Lysithea says. “You understand why no one ever comes down here.”

Oh yes, he understands well enough. After something like what Lysithea’s family has been through, it makes sense that they’d avoid such an obvious reminder.

“I’ll get right to it. The purpose of the experiments done on me was to bestow the power of two Crests on a single individual. I bear the minor Crest of Charon, as well as the Major Crest of Gloucester.”

“Two Crests?” Veery frowns. “Did they give you both, or were you born with one?”

“I have no clue. I was only two when my siblings and I were imprisoned here. House Ordelia technically does have an ancient connection to the Charon bloodline, but we don’t test at birth like some houses do. It’s not as important for us, and that connection is so old that there hasn’t been a record of House Ordelia producing the Crest of Charon for generations. Today, it’s assumed it’s completely gone.”

Lysithea pauses outside a cell – they’re moving so slowly that Veery almost doesn’t notice until he has to stop himself from running into her – and stares into it for a long while. “I’ve often wondered if maybe I did somehow have the minor Crest of Charon. That might explain why I survived where my siblings didn’t.” She sighs. “But then, I’m also the youngest. I was the last to be experimented on, so I’m sure they just developed their technology and refined their methods to that point. Personally, I think that’s more likely.”

“Huh.” Veery taps his chin, idly swinging his tail as he thinks. “And you have both Crests?”

“I do.”

“Then… You said that the Agarthans deemed you a failure. What went wrong?”

Lysithea takes a moment to grit her teeth and breathe before she answers. “…A drastically shortened lifespan. According to the tests those mages ran on me, I’ve only got five more years at most. Maybe less.”

Veery… doesn’t know what to say to that. Human lifespans are already so short. It doesn’t matter that much, that difference, because agell so rarely survive the full two hundred years or so of their natural lifespans – Veery himself rarely expects to survive the day – but he can’t imagine having a clock put on his life like that. For him, if he’s skilled or clever enough to survive the threats the world throws at him, the end of his lifespan is so far away he can’t even imagine it.

He’s… probably uniquely unqualified to understand this particular pain of hers.

But it does explain something that Veery does understand. She is always working so hard, always so impatient and determined, because she does not have the time to slack off and still accomplish her goals. In a way, Veery respects that a lot. Having effectively endless time to work with, Veery can be quite lazy himself.

He also knows, because of that, that Lysithea will probably appreciate relevant questions and an attempt to get work done over platitudes. “Do you know what caused it?” he asks. “Is it something we can reverse, if we can figure out how?”

“No,” Lysithea says. “Of course, I’m trying everything I can to do so, but the ideas I have are all purely theoretical. Even if we pull them off, there’s no guarantee I’d live any longer because of it. My best option right now is to find some way to remove these Crests. Without the strain of their power on my body, I might be able to recover. Of course, the reverse is also true. They might’ve weakened me to the point that to lose that power now would kill me.”

A way to remove Crests… Veery wonders if such a thing can really be done. His understanding is that they are biological, like his own. The power of Veery’s heart, of his Crest, is instinctual, as natural as breathing. It’s just a part of him, and he can’t possibly imagine parting from it. It would be, quite literally, removing his heart.

But Crests can be given, and Veery’s perception of them doesn’t allow that any more than it does taking them away. So, clearly there’s something about them which can be transferred, if not created. (Veery does not have time to examine the Crest Stone from the demonic beast at the Great Bridge of Myrddin closely yet, but it’s different in a way that nags at his soul. The silence from it has thus far prevented him from even trying to share with it, but he has a terrible feeling he’s going to have to put to the test before bringing it to Claude.)

Perhaps they can also be taken. Well, Veery is already doing research on Crests and their power. Maybe he can do something to help. “I can try looking into it, if you want.”

“I was hoping you would say that,” Lysithea says with a strained smile. “It occurred to me that all this business may help you with your own Crest research. It all revolves around the same principle, after all, making Crests as powerful as they can be. Whether that’s through the creation of Relics to hold that power, boosting the strength of an already native Crest, or bestowing multiple Crests, the end goal is the same.”

Veery has the same thought when Hapi mentions the experiments on her.

“To that end, I thought I’d show you the workplace the Agarthans used while they were performing those experiments.” Lysithea halts once more next to a nondescript door and idly gestures to it. “I… I’m sorry, but I can’t go in there.”

“That’s fine,” Veery says. “I’ll look around on my own. See if I can find anything helpful.”

She nods. “Okay. But there was something else.” She bites her lip for a moment, then raises a hand to her hair. “You know, my hair wasn’t always this color. You’ve met my parents – it used to be the same color as theirs. During the experiments, one morning, I awoke like this – a shock of white hair, all trace of pigment, gone. It’s… such a small detail, and one that hasn’t seriously impacted my life, aside from a few odd stares. But we both know someone else with the exact same hair, don’t we?”

It clicks. “Edelgard,” Veery breathes. “You said the Insurrection of the Seven was four years after House Ordelia was taken over. And… and then you said you were imprisoned for four years, didn’t you?”

“That’s right. The timing, and the fact that Agartha is known to operate in the Empire, is extremely suspect. Did you know, the Imperial lineage traditionally has brown hair? I looked into the records. Edelgard, as a child, was recorded to have brown hair.” This is crazy theory territory, where things start adding up just too well, but Veery does not like the conclusion its leading to. “She also had ten siblings. Eight older, two younger, all written into the Imperial family tree with brown hair.”

Veery’s throat feels dry. “Edelgard has never mentioned siblings…”

“That’s because they all died. Shortly after the Insurrection of the Seven, they reportedly were struck by disease one by one until only Edelgard remained.”

Just like Lysithea’s own siblings. Lysithea eyes him, knowing he makes the connection, but Veery does not voice it aloud.

Instead, all he can say is, “How can she work with them?”

“That’s the part that pisses me off.” Lysithea sighs sharply, lip already curling as she prepares to speak. “Ironically, in any other situation, I would be on Edelgard’s side of this war. She plans to create a world where Crests no longer exist. I, of all people, know how terrible Crests can be for those who bear them. And even though I know starting a war is a horrible thing, I just don’t have the time to be satisfied with the slow and steady option. War, toppling the system as it is, quickly, so that I can actually see the benefit when it’s all over, is extremely appealing to me.

“If she were just Edelgard, an Imperial emperor bent on changing Fódlan, I’d have joined up with her in a heartbeat. But she’s not. She’s also the Flame Emperor. And I cannot, will not, ever abide working together with the Agarthans. For that sin alone, I will destroy her. The fact that she has been through the same thing as me? That only makes me angrier.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Veery says. “Why work with them at all? After what they did to her, she should… well, she should want to be rid of them as much as you do.”

Lysithea sighs, steadying herself to speak more calmly again. “That, I don’t know for certain. Claude mentioned she said before that she thinks their power is necessary to take down the church. That, if she doesn’t use them, she has no chance of success in this war.”

“That’s right. She said the same thing to me. I think it was in the letter she sent, asking us to join her right after the Revelation.”

Lysithea hums. “This is only speculation, but my best guess is that they just indoctrinated her into believing whatever they feed her. At face value, she might despise them, but when it comes down to it, she’ll do whatever they say. Whether that’s because she doesn’t believe she has the power to resist, or some misguided belief that she’s actually the one using them… it’s irrelevant.

“Without any evidence, we’ll never know, but I suspect that she’s acting at least partially on their information. I had to check and double check after she released her manifesto, but there are a few things in there that seem to support that she’s basing her beliefs off of what they give her. Notably, her assertion that the church orchestrated the secession of the Kingdom, and later, the Alliance, in order to split Fódlan.”

“Is that wrong?” Veery asks. “I don’t know the history well enough.”

“Even most Fódlanders don’t,” Lysithea says. “And in fact, I had to reference several dozen different texts just to rid myself of any doubt. But the church didn’t touch the War of the Eagle and Lion until years into the conflict. They did end up backing Loog and the Kingdom, and did end up with a lot of influence there because of that, but the church’s influence was, by and large, solely a mediating role. And then during the Crescent Moon War? Aside from the church’s simply being present in what was an extremely devout country, there’s no record of them so much as looking at the war.

“I thought, perhaps, that part of her manifesto is just Imperial propaganda at worst, but then I realized that while the Church of Seiros has slowly been dying out in the Empire, the two were never truly hostile. The church actually seemed almost strangely accepting of their dwindling influence. Sort of like in the Alliance. And in fact, at the time of the War of the Eagle and Lion, the church enjoyed a very good relationship with all of Adrestia – which covered all of Fódlan. They had no reason to weaken Adrestia except for perhaps groundless paranoia. But the really incriminating thing? I only found it after we went back to Garreg Mach. In Abyss’ library. Burnt reports, badly damaged but legible. The fact that I know Hubert has almost definitely seen them pisses me off to no end, but let me see if I can summarize them.

“The first one, about the War of the Eagle and Lion, mentions that Loog, the leader of the Faerghus Rebellion, somehow acquired mysterious weapons something like the Heroes’ Relics, which I can only find the vaguest references to elsewhere. It also mentions Loog’s tactician, Pan, and implies that he was a member of a group that the report called, ‘Those Who Slither in the Dark’.”

Wow, Veery is sure glad they’re not calling the Agarthans that. It’s so… verbose. And just overly dramatic. “That definitely sounds like the Agarthans.”

“Mhm. There was also something on the Crescent Moon War, as well. The author of the report seemed to believe that King Klaus I, whose death destabilized Faerghus and, ultimately, led to the Crescent Moon War, was assassinated, and that his will, which separated Faerghus among his heirs and started the internal conflict and involved Leicester to begin with, was fake. There’s no evidence that it’s the Agarthans who orchestrated it, except that it’s definitely in line with their methods, but there’s also no evidence that the church did anything. And knowing Rhea is effectively immortal and was almost certainly the Archbishop of the time no matter what name she went by, I have to conclude that assassination and fake documents is not in line with church methods.”

“She tends to prefer domination and fear over subtlety,” Veery agrees. “So, you think the Agarthans just fed Edelgard false information? Blaming things they did on the church to give her an enemy she can’t fight on her own, then convince her that she needs them to win that fight… I think I can see how that might work.”

“That’s my suspicion, yes,” Lysithea says. “In the end, she really is just a puppet of Agartha. I’d pity her if I wasn’t so angry about it. As it is, I don’t think I can find it in me to feel pity for anyone willing to work with them, no matter how manipulated she may be.”

 “I don’t feel bad for her, either,” Veery says. “It’s terrible what happened to her, and if you’re right, she’s just being manipulated, but she still started a war. Reasons aren’t excuses, and people are dead and suffering because of her. I don’t care how traumatized the axe trying to kill me is; I’m still going to fight back.”

Lysithea huffs. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Does Claude know all this?”

“Not all of it,” Lysithea says. “I admit I’ve been putting it off because I don’t particularly want to have that conversation about my past. I have pointed out the errors in Edelgard’s manifesto, and the possible Agartha link, so he at least knows that she may be motivated by their information, but I haven’t told him the full details. Teach knows about my past, but I don’t know if she’s made the connection with Edelgard or not. No one else should know anything.”

“Okay. I know you’ll let them know whatever’s relevant. But… If Edelgard went through the same experiments you did, she should have two Crests, right? One is public knowledge – I don’t remember which one exactly, but what’s the other one? Do we know? They give special powers, so it might help us fight her if we know.”

“Her Crest of Seiros is well known,” Lysithea says. “And I have my suspicions about the second one. But you’ve fought her directly as well, so you tell me if I’m right. One known effect of certain Crests can heal the bearer, sapping the enemy’s strength for their own much like a Nosferatu spell. Claude’s Crest of Riegan effectively works this way. The details are a little different, naturally, but did it seem like Edelgard perhaps had more energy than she should? Did she maybe fight unhindered through wounds that should have crippled her?”

Veery wracks his brain to remember. “…Something like that. I kept trying to counter whatever that Crest was with Nosferatu but she just kept going at full strength.”

“As I suspected. I don’t know much about the end goal of the Agarthans who performed those experiments on me and my siblings, but I do remember whispers about a weapon.”

“Edelgard once told me that they view her as a weapon,” Veery says.

“And if the goal is ultimately to topple the church, perhaps even specifically to kill the remaining Nabateans, then… thinking back, how did they overpower the Nabateans last time?”

“With Nemesis?”

Lysithea nods. “Nemesis, who wielded the Sword of the Creator.”

Oh. “Teach heals like that, too, doesn’t she? Because of her Crest?”

“That’s right. I suspect that Edelgard’s second Crest is, in fact, the Crest of Flames. If the Agarthans wanted to make a weapon capable of toppling even the Church of Seiros, there is no better Crest to grant her.” Lysithea sighs. “This is all speculation, of course. But that’s everything that I know. Go ahead and search the Agarthan’s old workspace. They cleaned up and took their equipment when they left, so I doubt there’s anything to find, but I admit no one has looked very thoroughly. If you think of anything, or need anything from me, just come find me. And… if there’s anything at all, here or if you figure something out later, that you learn about the Agarthan Crest research, please share it with me.”

“Of course. You’re so much smarter than me, I’m going to need your help to figure anything out, anyway.”

She smiles. “You give yourself too little credit. Anyway, good luck. I’m… going to get out of here. This place is horrible.”

“Yeah, go,” Veery smiles for her. “I’ll find my own way out.”

She nods, tosses him a key, reminding him that it’s for the door at the top of the stairs on the way out, and then takes off. Veery watches her back fade into the dark, shakes his head, and faces the door behind which cruel blood experiments were performed on one of his most trusted friends.

It’s so cold, but strangely enough, realizing that Lysithea trust him enough to ask him to search through this place, to look through what remains of the darkest part of her life, makes him puff up his chest a little. He can’t let her down.

So, he better get started.

Veery spends a long time in House Ordelia’s dungeons, despite the fact that there isn’t really much to see. As Lysithea says, the people who used this area have clearly cleaned up after themselves. And the Agarthans, being as underground and hidden as they are, it’s no surprise that they’re thorough in their cover-up when they operate somewhere as openly as this.

Still, it’s not wholly empty. Veery can see the equipment that can’t easily be moved – tables and other surfaces mostly, many with straps meant to hold someone down on them – and what little remains of what anyone would consider the trash, plus Lysithea’s account of what happened, and piece together something of a story.

Honestly, were Veery not a healer, he would not know where to begin. But this scene, old and dank and long abandoned, is not so different from a surgery room. Surgery isn’t all that common, at least not five years ago, because for the most part, a combination of magical healing and the relative peacetime they were in meant surgery was rarely necessary.

In war, or up in Albinea where magical healing is scarcer (though knowledge or the necessary conservation of the healer’s magic reserves for more patients), surgery is a more relevant option. That said, Professor Manuela was quick to make Veery participate in such tasks. Mostly because he has little trouble keeping a steady hand in the face of grisly gore. Many who choose the path of a healer are much more soft-hearted than him.

Or, much less used to it, anyway.

Veery surveys the room with as analytical an eye as he can muster when the straps on that table are so close together. Thinking as someone who works on people, who uses equipment probably not that dissimilar to what the Agarthans used, Veery arranges things in his mind to how he would do it.

Scuff marks on the floor, that desk was close to this table at some point. The mage would stand there, extract blood, or perhaps inject it? and use the desk to hold his equipment.

Veery searches the room up and down, and most of what he comes up with is pure speculation – there just isn’t anything to work with, but he does find a broken needle rolled to the edge of the room.

And that’s it.

He comes away, eventually working his way back through the dungeons and up the stairs back to the rest of the estate, with nothing concrete and nothing particularly new. Lysithea can tell him about the experiments in far greater detail than he will ever glean from that room.

What he does learn is that whatever methods the Agarthans used weren’t purely magical. Yes, Lysithea can tell him as much, but observing the workplace itself does give Veery a better understanding of how the operation works. It’s closer to something he’d see in Albinea, where magic is more of a supplement, than something he’d expect in Fódlan, where magic is more readily relied upon.

So, perhaps some form of alchemy, or even blood experiments, was also used in Hapi’s experimentation and to create the Relics. A little less magical, a little more scientific. In which case, roping Claude in to help, if possible, may prove fruitful.

It’s an idea, at least. In the meantime, Veery talks at length with Lysithea, reviewing everything he can think of. They talk about Crests, about the Heroes’ Relics, the Crest Stones themselves and the corruption within them, and they also talk about Agartha, who they are and where they may be located.

Lysithea wants to hunt them down and wipe them out, keeping a careful eye constantly on her spies’ reports for any sign of their whereabouts, but Veery quickly talks her down to simply killing the Agarthans which wish to meddle with Fódlan. If they truly do have a base, and a whole civilization, then Veery cannot believe that every one of them poses a threat to the people of Fódlan.

To wipe them out entirely would be just another genocide. Another extinction. Once he points it out, Lysithea readily agrees. Veery suspects she’s mostly being hyperbolic, anyway, and means that from the start, but he’s relieved at her so easily backing down from such an extreme position.

And Veery spends a long time reading through Lysithea’s reports, lending his eye to try to find any hint of either Agarthan or unusual Empire activity.

It all seems normal enough to him. Until they get to a report made recently and rushed to the Ordelia estate. When Lysithea receives the message, they both suspect Empire movement, but then she opens the letter, letting Veery read it over her shoulder, and instead it reports something quite different.

A small force – downright tiny compared to the forces in play in the war, but still enough to draw attention – on the Leicester side of the Airmid River, slowly working its way east. This report indicates that they ignored the Great Bridge of Myrddin – Judith wouldn’t have let them pass, anyway – and are currently travelling into Ordelia territory.

This force is flying the banner of House Blaiddyd.

“We’re going back to the Great Bridge of Myrddin tomorrow to continue the war,” Lysithea says. “But I don’t think I’m comfortable leaving this alone. If this really is Dimitri and the others…”

“Should we try to intercept them? If it’s Dimitri, they may just be trying to cross the Airmid over here. But… then why not just try to talk to the Alliance? At worst, he camps out close to Myrddin for a while until Claude gets back.”

“The fact that they didn’t even try does concern me,” Lysithea hums. “Remember what Sylvain said about Dimitri? It could have something to do with that. Or, it could just be bandits flying Blaiddyd’s banner. Either way, we should at least confirm that this force is Faerghan. If they’re going to be running around Ordelia, or entering the Empire form Ordelia territory, I want to know who they are.”

That makes sense to Veery. “I’ll get Caub and the others.”

“I’ll confirm their location and find some troops. If they are hostile, I’d rather have more than just the five of us. And we probably won’t be coming back to the estate, so pack anything you don’t want to leave behind.”