#not worth the time for these kind words

[hardly-an-escape]

Fluffbruary Days 9, 10 & 11

gonna try to do a little daily drabble just to get the creative juices going while I work on longer WIPs. no guarantees that it'll be every day.

Dream/Hob • rated T • urgency | kneel | rural & flush | angel | owl & reflection | water | apology

Hob’s vigil is but halfway gone when he hears footsteps behind him.

The chapel is dark. The only light comes from the pair of candlesticks flanking his armor and sword where they are laid upon the altar. Hob is clad only in a thin cotton shift, and the hairs on the back of his neck prickle as the footsteps slowly make their way down the aisle to where he kneels on a thin cushion directly before the altar.

“Rise, sir knight,” says a deep and familiar voice.

“Not a knight yet,” Hob responds quietly. “Your Highness.”

“Do you doubt your ability to master this challenge?”

“No, my liege,” Hob says. He remains on his knees. “Lest you be a manifestation of temptation, sent to sway me from my path.”

“Not I.” Dream finally steps into his line of sight, and Hob’s breath catches in his throat. His prince is a vision, dressed in a diaphanous robe, long hair in a simple braid over his shoulder. “I merely wished to look upon the face of the man I love once more, ere it is wreathed in responsibilities.”

Hob flushes. He is not supposed to touch another soul between the ritual bath and when the priests come at dawn to fetch him for the ceremony, but he longs for Dream with every fiber of his being.

“I think you have come to tempt me, you sprite,” he accuses, and Dream smiles softly.

“Peace, my own,” he says. “Return to your prayers. Know that mine are with you also. I will see you in the morning.”

He glides from the chapel, but turns when Hob calls his name.

“Dream. My prince. I want you to know…” He has to pause and swallow hard against the lump in his throat. “When I swear my oath it will be to king and country, yes. But my first and best oath – the one I swear in my heart – will be to you. Always.”

He is shocked to see tears glinting in his lord’s crystal blue eyes. Dream nods, once, and slips out the side door.

In the morning, the priests come. Hob is clothed in a robe of pure white and thinks of Dream. He receives the sacrament, the first food to pass his lips in twenty four hours, and thinks of Dream.

The king presides over the ceremony. There is a pained look and a murmured apology from his advisor when he forgets Hob’s name.

Hob barely notices. He thinks of Dream.

Dream’s hands drape the red robe over his shoulders. Dream’s hands drop the embroidered black tabard over his head. Red, for his willingness to be wounded. Black, for his readiness to die for his lord.

The king rests his sword on the back of Hob’s neck, but it is Dream’s voice that rings out over the assembled crowd.

“Rise, Sir Gadling, knight of the realm.”

prompt list!

[madderruz]

Assorted mushy gushy sumiisa doodles + a more humorous one and they're purple this time

[greenerteacups]

Hello GT, I absolutely love Lionheart!

I published my first fic and have been dealing with some criticism; it’s not anythjng super hateful, but it’s not anything meant to make me improve either. I’ve been feeling sort of down because of it. My question is: have you ever dealt with hate or criticism before? What is your attitude towards it?

I find your work and answers on here super insightful and inspiring! I hope you have a nice day ❤️

Fuck em. Like, seriously, just fuck em. There's a time and place for writers to take critique and be strict with themselves; it's necessary for any artist to grow. That place is with a chosen group of creatives whose work you admire and whose judgment you trust. A rando on the Internet, while they may in fact be the next Marcel Proust, probably isn't. And I was raised to believe that while it's appropriate and kind to pay compliments to strangers when they're performing — just as you'd smile at a busker on the sidewalk, and or compliment a chalk artist — it's not appropriate to criticize them when what they do isn't to your tastes. They're providing you with their art for free. No one forced you to read it; no one forced you to listen. If you don't like it, it costs $0 to shut the fuck up.

Also — that thing I said about artists taking critique? That assumes that you're doing this out of a desire to improve your writing, which, while noble, is not actually a thing you need to do if you're a hobby writer. I like trying to improve; it makes me feel good. But at the end of the day, I do this for fun. I do this because in my real job, I am ruthless and self-critical and try really fucking hard to do well, and you need parts of your life that Aren't Like that. You need parts of your life where you're not worrying about whether you're Doing It Right. And living without that anxiety of critique is, paradoxically, the only way you'll find the artistic courage to take risks and develop new skills. Everyone is a little bit rough around the edges to begin with. (Not saying you're a beginner — you merely said "publish," and I certainly wrote a lot of things before I started publishing! But every artist is always trying to develop new skills and techniques; in the grand scope of things, we're all beginners.) Giving someone blunt critique when they're in the beginning phases of their journey as an artist is about as helpful as screaming at your six-year-old kid because he can't swim the butterfly.

And the thing is, these people will bluster and say "well, I'm just being honest, I'm just trying to be helpful," but like: mmmmmmno, you're not! You're not. And it's disingenuous to say so. Because if you were actually trying to be helpful, you would introduce yourself, offer your skills as an editor/beta reader, and start building the relationship of trust that grounds any meaningful co-creative partnership. People do not just accept random critique that comes flying at them from the blue nowhere. And issuing it in that form is the best way to make them hostile, defensive, and unreceptive to it. Delivering harsh feedback without a context of care and support is almost sure to fail as a method of actually changing behavior, and either (1) you know that, and are doing it anyway — presumably because you want people to know how Terribly Clever and Better At Writing you are, or (2) you sincerely have never thought about the effect that context and word choice have on how other people receive your meaning.

Which tells me you are the last fucking person on the planet I want writing advice from.

[pixieverse-icedtea]

i always consider other people's feelings and realizing they don't even consider my own

[deoidesign]

I was scrolling and saw your art and it made me really happy because I realized you made time and time again!!!

It’s literally one of my favorite things I’ve ever read, so cool!!!

This is so sweet, thank you for sharing!

It's sort of "illusion breaking" so to speak, to think of my art being both out there in a way that someone could happen upon it, and then further that someone may happen upon it twice, and finally that on doing so they find it recognizable...

I always think of myself and my work as something that sort of sits behind the curtain. The idea that it might take up space in this way is unreal!

This is the kind of thing that means more than you could imagine.

So thank you!

[zooweemama143]

last rb had me thinking of how lame bif would actually be as a person

[dallonwrites]

actually making my tags from my last post into their own post. writers who struggle with grammar, spelling, typos, errors etc i love you. writers who struggle with rereading their stuff thoroughly no matter how much they try, who don't always have access to other people to help them read i love you. whilst reading through and checking for these things is good practice i really believe that the weight of it should not be put wholly on the writer's shoulders. especially writers who are neurodivergent, disabled, have any condition that can impede their reading + comprehension, are overworked and overtired, are not writing in their native language, list goes on....because grammar mistakes/language mistakes/typos have nothing to do with your abilities as a creative. this is where editors should be uplifting writers, helping them, not scrutinising them for something they cannot always control

[thechaotichorselord]

[ssreeder]

My life has been a mess recently and the only keeping me going currently is LIAB like I get up in the morning so I can continue reading it so I want to greatly thank you for such an incredible fic. I just started Into the fire and I’m suffering thank you! <3333

AWWWWWW YOU ARE SO WELCOME!!! I have been a bit in a funk & writing has been such a nice escape! So i’m glad it can bring us both joy!

I hope you enjoy ITF oh yeah it starts roughhhh but it gets much better! (Before it will get rough again - but hopefully not nearly as bad for our boys <3)

thanks for stopping by to send me this ask you’re amazing!!!!

[fragmentedblade]

Goodness, apparently Argenti's One and Only is named in Chinese after Rocinante, which is so fitting for him, especially with Himeko's words about him in mind

[ducktracy]

yet another reprise of the same post i’ve made dozens and dozens of times before but GEEZ! i am so incredibly lucky to be doing what i’m doing! to think i spend hours and hours and days and weeks and months and years and hopefully DECADES pouring over animation history, lauding the masters and studying their work so intently and absorbing it and feeling and identifying with it, and the fact that i get to walk the same turf they did. that i get to be a part of this business that they established. that i get to carry the torch and that, some day, no matter how small or insignificant, my own work and contributions will be regarded as “animation history” because i work in animation and all history is history. i just can’t believe that i’m privileged enough to indulge in some of the same practices that The Greats did, that i get to study their work and, if i’m so lucky, channel and make homages to it where possible.

this isn’t to say “i’m just like Tex Avery because i work in animation TOO!!!!”, but, rather, an expression of my sheer GRATITUDE and amazement that i get to do what i do at all. i’ve met so many nice people. blossomed so much as an artist and cartoonist. get inspired each day by the talent i am constantly surrounded by. and to think that i get to be a part of it!!!!! that i get to carry the torch! i know this sounds so conceited and pompous and i really don’t mean it that way at all because i don’t WANT to be known as someone who people are only interested in because i work in cartoons. i just wanna be known for me! what “me” is i guess is for you to decide! but, regardless, i’m just feeling extra thankful tonight that i’m able to indulge in my passions and SPREAD my passions and have said passions fostered. that i’m lucky enough to tread the same ground as some of the greatest creatives that gave me this ground to tread on. there will never be enough words to properly articulate just how deeply and passionately my gratitude extends.

[the-desert-beast]

okay im putting him in the blender again

once again thinking about how Maelgwyn without a long-term partner- in general, but for this post let's go with "It didn't work out with Trahearne" path- Would've run himself into the ground as a "living weapon."

When he meets The Pact he's fully in his persona as The Desert Beast, a legendary bounty hunter the hometown hero, man and mythos etcetcetc he's having SO MANY PROBLEMS he cant even identify; He runs. He avoids. He drowns it out. It takes someone else loving him for him to start loving himself enough to work to solve the problems he's been ignoring for decades.

If it's just him and himself? eh not worth it. "i've pulled myself out of hell before i can do it again. life is suffering thats how its always been." this is just the status quo and like fuck he loves himself as he is enough to fix it.

so imagine That Guy, who only feels good- or fuck- feels anything at all when he can help someone else by fighting. when he can bleed, pant, sweat. Suffer on his own terms, feel the adrenaline course through his veins, the fire beneath his skin. that high? and he gets to feel it often whilst fighting to save the world? that's hard to pass up when he fucked up irreparably with another, suffocatingly attractive person.

He'd turn into a myth, a legend, made real on tyria's own earth and soil. A husk.

By soto i think he'd be empty if he even lived that long. Something about maelgwyn is that, until he gets it through his thick skull that his partner values HIM and not the things he does or what he can offer them but that they love and value HIMSELF first and foremost, he looks for ways to sacrifice himself for them. He doesn't do it on purpose, he truly believes in his heart for the longest time that if it's ever him or the one he loves; he's dying for them. The world is brighter with them in it, he can disappear any day now, that's fine.

He does not do this conciously. He puts himself in danger without thinking twice if it's "for them." (he unlearns this in his primary ships. most of them, they're battle couples, he fights WITH them instead of for them these days.)

I'm imagining that guy, dragged from battle to battle, to medic to medic, to battle again. until he's dead.

[opqrstuv04]

Still thinking about Hozier and am currently feeling incredulous about the “fairy goblin gentle bog man” perception so many people have of him. WHERE did that all come from??? Solely from Wasteland, Baby???? Listening back to self titled is insane because nearly all of the songs are overtly or subtextually sexual or political, or both! Take Me to Church goes straight into Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene, there’s a brief upbeat interlude with Someone New but goes right back into it with To Be Alone. It Will Come Back. Foreigner’s God!! The “goblin”est songs off this album as far as I can pick are In a Week and Like Real People Do, and even those are so much richer than -core ing them enables them to be. For 2014 I’d say this is music that borders on gritty and morbid, it’s not designed to be palatable. AND YET!! The complexity of Hozier’s music being boiled down to an easily accessible aesthetic makes me want to 💥💥💥‼️

[isfjmel-phleg]

[

[randomnameless]

Can you imagine what the reaction would be from Edelgard fans if Wilhelm was ever made playable in Heroes, and instead of being against Serios or not trusting her, he is actually just her BFF who talks about her more then Cyril.

He also goes like, "What secret history about Serios are you talking about? dont talk shut about my bestie.

Willy in FEH?

Lol

More seriously,

Lower your expectations anon, after the nothingburger that was Altina's Supreme Alt, FEH made it clear that the Brave Supreme Leader FB and Hegemongard's FB were outliers - we won't ever get anything like this anymore, students will uwu about academy days and the friends they made for 10 months, Hanneman, Gilbert and Alois are old thus will never be released, and the rest is flanderized.

Assuming Willy is ever released though, I can see his lines purposedly avoiding mentionning Nabateans and being milquetoast "we must defeat Nemesis and bring peace to the land" x10.

Maybe his jp lines - heavily Pat'd - would have something like "Adrestia will unify Fodlan and make it a land for everyone regardless of their race" (Pat'd swap "race" by "background" like what happened in Engage!) which would destroy the "sekrit smokescreen theory*" to smithereens, but hey, we still have to this day people arguing Supreme Leader "You are a dragon you should not rule over humans" isn't biased against pointy ears so...

Ultimately, I think most people wouldn't care.

*That was already debunked in Nopes!

Willy being alive after the WoH and Lycaon's icing can't tell... Lycaon's successor that Seiros and her ilk control humanity, given that Cethleann and Cichol left, Macuil left and he goes to meet Indech in a remote location in the mountains...

But I guess Supreme Leader's words have more weight than what the game presents, or what Rhea'n'Seteth - who personally knew the dude - reveal about him. Sure, she's biased and all, but at the end of the WoC, the only Nabatean left to "act" in Fodlan was Seiros the Warrior - her brothers fucked off.

[hyperch1ptune]

can I say something

I think yumeshipping (selfshipping) w the gadgetinis is cool actually