#late as usual

[etoiline]

From the "Cal gets sent to Birren prior to the events of Jedi: Survivor and meets two folks who are very excited to meet him" fic I decided to start writing in the middle of the month and probably won't finish before Polyship Week is over:

BD chooses that moment to climb on Cal’s head so he can scan the drinks in Tayala’s hands, which doesn’t help Cal untangle himself from his poncho at all, and makes Tayala blink, bobbling the mugs a bit, and Cal doesn’t think before reaching out with the Force to steady them. In that frozen moment after, Cal knows he looks absolutely ridiculous, and potentially traitorous, depending on how these people live their lives. He exhales, trying to decide if he should simply turn around and try to avoid Bode on his way out the door, or go for his lightsaber, or jump out the window because he doesn’t think his hands will become untangled enough to work the doorknob.

This week’s word is…

✨ WINDOW ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

[esmedalma]

Sleep well, Fire Lord

Inktober 2023 Day 1 - Dream

[nexerist]

AAAAAAAA

I got busy and tried to get it out on their birthday. Better a day late than never.

Much love,

Nexi

[ivoreene]

late as usual, but happy 7th anniversary wha!!!!! love this series so much :]

tee hee

[jisatsu-draw]

Nokotan's new friend

[azrette]

And here’s the “first” meeting! The previous ones if you're curious

Quick Extras:

[infinitymake-work]

touhou ship week day 1: legacy

[reddishwork]

Few hours to go until next chap, just bear with me on this

(not sure if these updates are helpful)

[rjavenuru]

Since I'm doing the hand practices I thought I'd do inktober with them as well. So I picked 31 of my favourite sketches to ink and planned the whole thing. Well, it is now the 15th of October and I finally managed the first one ROFL! So I've changed it to ink****ber 😝 Let's see if I can actually manage all of them before the end of the year. Using a Sharpie and also first time inking with my left hand.

[exclusonic]

Happy Valentine's Day!

[peonypyxels]

local girl invites ex boyfriend & love child over for holidays

[argumentativeartisan]

aaaaand i also did exactly one piece for mermay. then promptly forgot i did it.

[ms-moonlight-inn]

WEEKLY TAG WEDNESDAY FRIDAY

Huge thanks to @energievie @jrooc @mybrainismelted   for tagging me. 😍

—

how is your day going? It’s still early, give it time, someone will piss me off soon.

are you okay? Kinda? I had to work late last night & then had shitty night’s sleep. I would really appreciate a day of reading and writing. 

what is your favourite shade of your favourite colour? My favorite color is black, so darker shades of black? 🤷🏻‍♀️ My second favorite color is hot pink. Specifically hot pink, no other shades are attractive to me.

are you single? Nope, married 

are you happy about that? Usually.

what age do you feel in your brain? Mostly, I feel like a pukey teenager, but that could be a reflection of who I hangout with all the time.

do you feel like the good times are behind you or ahead of you? Both. I feel I had loads of fun in my youth, but by no means do I feel like I’m n death’s door. I’ve stil got lots of living ahead of me.

do you have a best friend? Yes! She’s my emotional support NJ.

did you have a childhood pet? Absolutely! A Russian Blue cat named Yeska.

do you sing or whistle around the house? Sometimes. Sometimes I sing super loudly. 😅

do you light candles or incense? Either is good for me, but lately I’m using candles more.

are you busy Friday night? Tonight? Not really, probably a lot of cooking & an extra long yoga session. Maybe my laptop in bed for some writing. (Yes, I’m this boring.)  

if you were a circus performer which act would you be in? The fortune teller.  

what is your favourite outfit? Baggy jeans or cut off jeans shorts, tank top or t-shirt, flip flops.

what’s the last thing you created? Working on my gift exchange fic 

what is your favourite fic or book of all time? I adore books from Judy Blume & Chuck Palahniuk, but I haven’t read everything they’ve written. I love Blume’s “Then Again, Maybe I Won’t” & Palahniuk’s “Invisible Monsters.” 

what are you looking forward to? Summer, always summer.

what can put you immediately in a better mood? Good music, good company, good food, good reading. 😍

do you like hugs? Oh yes, I’m a very huggy person.

what is something you wish people understood about you? I’m basically a golden retriever with dark hair: goofy and enthusiastic. I don’t mean to be loud and bouncy and break your furniture; I’m just built that way. 

---

Not sure who's left to tag on this. I'll take a stab & tag @notherenewjersey As always, not pressure to play.

[gallavichsuperfan]

Thank you for tagging me, you're both superstars 🤩 🤗

@ian-galagher and @francesrose3

I am late for this so probably you all did it already - a big hug 🤗 for you all in any case 💚💚

@mybrainismelted @jrooc @juliakayyy @jessieoneday

This is a bit like me one very special day ☺️

[beloveddawn-blog]

Tribune

I missed this year's Self Insert Week because it didn't cross my dash again and I've got a shit sense of time, but I still wanted to post this.

<<*>>

They must be on a quest.

There was no two ways about it. They had Arrived. That meant they were questers. For all that Tribune did technically appear on the earthly maps, it was Not Quite Of This World. They must be on a quest.

And not just for a map.

They rolled into town, as questers do. Years back it had been on foot, horseback, or occasionally carriage, but nowadays even questers had vehicles. The gas station had been the first modern convenience to be added.

They went first to the Tourist Information Center. No one ever went to the Tourist Information Center! The old wise man who had demanded it be built had usually dispensed his knowledge on a street corner. Of course he always knew how to get to where the questers wanted to go or needed to be, but he’d also offer hints and give out personal advice with an enigmatic expression that unsettled as much as it comforted. He had insisted that the building be constructed, the sign put up. Then he had registered himself as the manager and begun collecting a government paycheque.

He had called it his retirement job. He had ordered a computer and Charmed the State into running an internet cable to the building by leaning heavily on the fact that City Hall was next door. He’d promptly fallen in love with youtube, pirated every movie and song he could get his hands on, and begun posting about his own cat.

No one ever went to the Tourist Information Center.

Not since he’d died.

They hadn’t told the state he was dead, of course. Peacefully, without pain, surrounded by his family and comforted by his familiar. But a paycheque was a paycheque, and no part questing paid well. Occasionally a particularly lucky hero would become rich, but it usually wasn’t permanent. And none of it trickled back down to those who had set the quester on their path. They were a distant memory by then, not someone a quester would bother to remember.

These two, however…

They had gone to the Tourist Information Center. They had gone to the Tourist Information Center! And not even on the advice of the mystic! The warrior had decided it herself!

The Questgiver working at City Hall had hurried over, awash with curiosity. A quick misdirect insisting that the manager and his assistant were out of town on official business had worked wonders, and she quickly got down to business. Did they wish to know the whereabouts of the Enchanted Grove? Were they looking for the Field of Life or the Well of Dark? Did they wish to harness the tornados or slay the White Coyote? Why were they here, of all places? Surely they already knew their quest and needed only some direction. Surely…

“Do you have a roadmap of the State?” The warrior asked, direct yet polite. “My GPS doesn’t zoom out far enough to be helpful in plotting our next stop.”

The mystic glanced around curiously, the first person to ever inspect pamphlets. The Questgiver blinked. “A roadmap?”

The warrior smiled, a charm even without magic. “Yeah. Kansas was a bit of an impulse, so I didn’t think to try and get one in Kingsman.”

Kingsman… Arizona? So far? Kingsman was its own quest center, though a much more earthly one. It was a hub for the old Route 66, which had its own way of warping a journey. They usually didn’t interact with them much. She made a quick decision to nip out to her car and call the Questgiver there. Surely he had sent these two to her with a plan in mind? 

She blinked, staring down at her phone where it rested on the steering wheel. She had the number for the Kingsman Tourist Information Center (a much busier one than their own, even advertising their ‘passport to adventure’) pulled up and she needed to ask them… needed to… Find a map. That’s right. The Questers wanted a map. She could do that.

She opened the glovebox. There is was! A map of  Kansas that she had gotten… gotten… On her own vacation? Yes, that must have been it. A simple map she had gotten for her own trip to… wherever it had been. It would do. She didn’t leave Tribune often (never? But then why would she have a map?) and wouldn’t miss it.

The Questers could have this map.

She still didn’t know what they were doing in town, but it didn’t bother her much. She directed them over to Karen’s Antiques for a meal and let them be. They would find what they needed there, she was sure of it. That was the point of it.

*

Karen peered curiously at the two exploring her store. They were questers, for sure, but surprisingly undirected ones. They insisted several times that they didn’t need help finding something, and stopped at items only for aesthetic reasons. They didn’t touch anything.

They didn’t touch anything.

That… Wasn’t the point of the store. They got their burgers and were delighted, but that… still wasn’t actually the point of the store. They didn’t seem to want anything but honest, simple food. It was bizarre. It was baffling. It was… It was… Exactly what they had been looking for for centuries, actually.

Could it be?

Karen took a chance. If they weren’t who she thought they might be, the sword would know. It had its own ways of testing Questers, and its own ways of deterring those unworthy.

They thought it was gorgeous. To be fair, the sword was. It looked just like one would expect an enchanted sword of legend to look, all gems and mystical beasts and arcane sigils all over the handle, and a clean, sharp, strong tang. They both tried it, and the sword gloried in it. For all it demanded attention and care from the folk of Tribune, it never permitted them to wave it about and laugh as these two did. It accepted both of them, and Karen glowed with pride. They had fulfilled their sacred trust, and it was her that had found them! Those capable of wielding the Sword!

She was shocked when they put it back. Her dismay echoed back from the sword itself, and even the warrior’s slightly covetous last caress didn’t dispel it. “You don’t want it?” She burst out, unable to help herself.

They laughed, but it was a joyous sound rather than a cruel one. “Oh no,” The warrior giggled, glancing at her friend in a way that spoke of an old understanding. “If we can’t fit a shuttlecraft in the car, we can’t really bring a sword, either.”

“It would never make it through airport security.” The mystic agreed, nodding. “And it would be such a faff to try and ship it.”

Karen blinked. Such a very pragmatic reason… “You… are not from this country?”

The warrior smiled again. “Nope. I’m actually Canadian, but I’m going to be moving to London this fall. Jemma here just is British, though. My Dad actually would probably be pretty cool about storing a sword for me, but who knows when I’ll be able to actually have it with me. It could be years.”

The mystic nodded and rolled her eyes. “I’ve got enough stuff squirrelled away in various houses and garages across the country. I don’t need to add a sword to it. What if it got rusty?”

Karen was torn. On the one hand, the sword was notoriously difficult to please. Even people who arrived looking for it never left with it. On the other… Questers were notoriously stubborn, and neither of these looked like ones to cave to a hard sell. Eventually she backed down, even if ungraciously. “If you’re sure, then.” In her mind the sword howled forlornly.

“Do you have any postcards?” The mystic redirected. “I’d love to have one for my journal.”

“This way.” Karen allowed, ushering them back to the front. There the mystic looked critically over the postcards while the warrior poked curiously around at the small items near the till.

“Ooh! Ooh! Look at this!” The joy in the voice echoed through her mind, alerting Karen that the sword had another plot in mind. She glanced over at the warrior holding… a tiny replica of the sword in its sheath. She proudly showed it to her friend. “It’s got a matching hair stick! It was in with the others over there!”

“It’s so cuuuute!” The mystic squeed, taking it from the warrior’s hand. “Are you going to buy it?”

“If you don’t want it.” She allowed. “You’ve got like three times as much hair as I do. I’ll look better in your hair and you’re much less likely to lose it.”

“How much is it?”

“Ten bucks.”

“Five for you.” Karen blurted, causing both of them to look at her. She blushed lightly. “You liked the large one so much, it was a true pleasure to show it to you. I think you should have this one. I know you’ll take care of it.”

“I’ll take it.” The mystic declared, putting it and the postcard she’d chosen on the counter.

The sword purred, obviously pleased with itself.

[disaster-with-a-hat]

Me holding dramatically a balloon in my hand, that is painted like a ghost: "To boo or not to boo. That is the question."