#rage. rage against the dying of the light.

[jilyawards]

WINNERS ROUND-UP

Favourite Canon Compliant SHORT 2024 Winner: here lies by @gigglesandfreckles-hp Runner up: Fixed Luck by @annabtg

Favourite Canon Divergent SHORT 2024 Winners: crawl home by annabtg & the dance of mischief and duty by gigglesandfreckles-hp Runner Up: Figure You Out by @petals2fish

Favourite Alternate Universe SHORT 2024 Winner: You Know How To Ball, I Know Aristotle by @wearingaberetinparis Runner Up: “You literally checked your phone 3 seconds ago” by gigglesandfreckles-hp

Favourite Canon Compliant LONG 2024 Winners: bad day wall by @apalapucian, The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by @chdarling-tle & Love for the Summer by @missgryffin Runners Up: maybe it was egos swinging (maybe it was her) by apalapucian & Catch the Wind by @yallthemwitches

Favourite Canon Divergent LONG 2024 Winner: Nom De Plume by annabtg Runner Up: Rage Against The Dying Of The Light by @tedwardremus

Favourite Alternate Universe LONG 2024 Winner: Spitting Image by @charmsandtealeaves Runner Up: Till Death Do Us Part (Let It Be Quick) by wearingaberetinparis

Favourite Microfic 2024 Winner: crawl home by annabtg Runner Up: Risky Behaviour by @jamesunderwater

Favourite Fluff 2024 Winner: The Big Little Moments by annabtg Runner Up: Love for the Summer by missgryffin

Favourite Smut 2024 Winners: Accidental Magic by missgryffin & guilty as sin by ohevans Runner Up: Love for the Summer by missgryffin

Favourite Humour/Crack 2024 Winner: bad day wall by apalapucian Runner Up: Toe Rag (Affectionately) by petals2fish

Favourite Angst 2024 Winners: crawl home by annabtg, Fixed Luck by annabtg & Dead To Me by jamesunderwater Runner Up: Until the Light Takes Us by yallthemwitches

Favourite James Characterisation 2024 Winner: Spitting Image by charmsandtealeaves Runners Up: Nom De Plume by annabtg & The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by chdarling-tle

Favourite Lily Characterisation 2024 Winners: The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by chdarling-tle & Till Death Do Us Part (Let It Be Quick) by wearingaberetinparis Runner up: Spitting Image by charmsandtealeaves

Art of the Year 2024 Winner: Infatuated by @constancezin Runners Up: a kiss for good luck ♥️ by @daiziesssart & Jily as one of Joe Bowler’s illustrations by @maluceh

Artist of the Year 2024 Winner: daiziesssart / @daiz-nsfw Runner Up: constancezin

Commenter of the Year 2024 Winner: @annabtg Runner Up: petals2fish

New Author of the Year 2024 Winner: gigglesandfreckles-hp (gigglesandfreckles on AO3) Runner Up: tedwardremus (TedwardRemus on AO3)

Author of the Year 2024 Winner: wearingaberetinparis (ritaskeetered on AO3) Runner Up: charmsandtealeaves (charmsandtealeaves on AO3)

Fic of the Year 2024 Winner: Spitting Image by @charmsandtealeaves Runner up: The Last Enemy: Dark Marks by chdarling-tle

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The Jily Awards team.

[cloudbattrolls]

Last Call

This drabble is preceded by The Art of Knowing and followed by A Rough Start.

So ends the great search for evidence. Could we have done better? Perhaps. But it never would have been easy.

Priori passes by Halvir a few times, carefully spaced out during the night to avoid drawing suspicion. She learns a few tidbits.

Halvir? That's not a real name. Well, to him anyway. He's never had one good wriggling day party. Every single one has gone spectacularly wrong. He'd never met Calcit personally, but he knew of him. Deal with the blueblood, get a promotion. Easy work.

Priori repeats all of it later to Ullane and Hovend, including the wriggling day party fact, because she knows it’ll annoy Ullane.

Well the first one isn't surprising if he's part of the mob, Hovend says, the second one isn't... relevant, but neat. The third one is potentially incriminating, were there any way at all to verify its truthfulness,

Priori pleasantly suggests that they search his hive. It’s hard to tell how serious she’s being.

Ullane dryly states that they're trying to not make even further enemies with the Grey Mob, and there’s no guarantee that would work. It would also look very bad if they were found out.

Hovend agrees he would like to not further antagonize them without solid evidence. They can tolerate losing a person once in a while, but if a detective gets too competent... (nervously puts a hand to his throat) Plus, you know, hard to justify a full search based on one witness.

Ullane shakes her head and asks how Priori would get in anyway - never mind, don’t want to know. And yes, don’t want to endanger Hovend. Yuruli was bad enough.

Through a window? People are always leaving those unlocked.

Ullane mentions that she supposes she could use her bugs again.

You could, says Priori, amused.

Ullane replies it would potentially take a while, unless they had some way to bait him into running for his superiors.

Unlikely, unless he thinks his cover is blown, Hovend remarks. Then you'll never see him again

The medic, grimly amused, says she thought so.

Priori asks if she’s giving up, is she going to let the dogs rip her apart?

Ullane retorts that she’s sure she’d love that. Maybe it’ll happen.

Hovend hopes not! He's seen it before, it's really awful to see.

Ullane taps her fingers as she thinks. Not enough to justify a search. Mm. She wonders. Tried to keep Friday out of it, but what if she and I both subjected to a psychic examination?

Priori raises an eyebrow. You really would - oh, you really would. You don’t even care what happens.

The clinic administrator is as stone-faced as they come.

What, to try and prove your innocence? Not with memory removal psionics running around, Hovend says. They took care of that loophole a few sweeps ago

Clever, says Priori, amused.

Ullane puts a hand to her face. Halvir. Or whatever he’s really called. Why is he even still here, if his job’s done. Why linger.

Hovend shrugs. It'd be suspicious if he suddenly left?

Ullane rolls her eyes. Yes, but he could simply get away and go underground. Unless it’s to spy further.

Impossible to know, but ultimately definitely unnerving that he's deciding to hang around, Hovend agrees.

Either the Grey Mob has future plans, or he’s here to pick up information, she says quietly. Or both. 

The doctor decides, again, to talk to Xrumon about it.

She taps her chin, thinking. What might force him to make a move, she wonders. He can’t feel he’s compromised, he’ll just flee. He can’t be detained for too long before realizing he’s been found out. If only they had a way to simply…get him to stay in one place long enough that Priori’s powers might get more information. That would at least be a start.

Well yeah, the tealblood says, that's why handcuffs were invented.

Ullane snorts. Well, yes, but it’s going to look very bad if she hauls one of her own employees in for questioning without proper grounds besides Priori’s word.

Priori, who came with her, smiles at that.

Ethical boundaries, huh, Xrumon notes. Just give him some godawful tedious work to do then, like updating medical records.

Ullane dryly states that she’s already done enough because of this. Despite what Halvir’s done, she has no desire to do more than what’s necessary.

Then she chuckles. That might actually work. She can arrange for Priori to be inspecting something nearby.

Of course it'll work, he's seen how long updating that shit takes. Actually brain damaging in length.

Yet his still works fine, she notes, despite having done it for his prosthetics patients.

He just let the AWC in his head take over for that, he replies.

Ullane, amused, says she sees. Well, let’s try it.

"Such great ambitions... How far he's had to climb. How far he has to fall."

"When they beat him, they only made him more determined. He could taste the blood in his mouth as they broke his teeth, felt the iron wash over him."

"He knows they've been caught. Feels the noose drawing in. He doesn't dare flee the trap, knowing the hunter could be watching him next."

"The man had to die, he was getting too close. He could see him stirring awake as he checked the machinery. His pulse quickened, then settled. The blueblood fell back against his sheets."

"He sees the owner of the clinic, and he feels sad. To bring down someone helping lowbloods... But that was the price that would be paid."

Priori, as she relates it to the others, comments how thoughtful of him the last one is.

Ullane has her head in hands. None of this is useful, she says.

Isn't it? The olive asks. What about the records of the equipment used when Calcit was being treated?

Ullane, frustrated, though not so much at the other psiionic. Again, not strong enough evidence, they'd say I tampered with them.

Xrumon's not even sure what she's hoping for. For him to go over the entire plan in his head at some point?

Ullane says that just...something. What else can she do. Perhaps she should give up. A...friend told me not to, but what else can I do?

She closes her eyes. "Maybe this is it. I should just give myself over. Take what I have, hope for a lesser sentence."

"Could always call him on the stand. Maybe he'll sweat to death under a cross examination." Xrumon mentions. 

She snorts. "He's Grey Mob, you think they'd even let that happen? Doubt he'd ever come to court to begin with, too much of a risk."

"They would if the prosecution requested it." he points out. "It's a lot less suspicious in that case, since it's to seal the deal on you getting shot in the head."

"No, no, ripped by dogs." She reminds him, with wry humor. "Hm. Maybe so."

"In that case, should prepare for court. Don't think there's anything else left for me to do."

Priori actually looks slightly surprised for once and Ullane rolls her eyes.

"You thought different? I knew how this would likely end. I can tell when I'm beaten."

"Gee, aren't you a ray of moonlight. Have you even hired a defense attorney?" Xrumon asks.

She closes her eyes. "Yes. Have one ready."

Priori, raising her eyebrows. "An indigo. How do you know her?"

Ullane merely smiles. "She owes me a favor."

"Also, don't want to hear about my lack of moonlight from a black hole." she says, deadpan as usual, but a smile twitches on her lips.

"Hey, black holes trap light, they don't have a total absence of it.”

"I'll write you an apology in cursive and seal it with wax." The yellowblood says, flippant.

"Win your court case first before bothering."

"Don't you want a last memento of being right about something over me?" She teases.

"Not really, no, that'd just be pathetic to lord over someone right before they get fed to dogs." Xrumon says bluntly. 

She laughs softly. "Is that so. Well, I'll need to prepare, then."

The medic leaves Xrumon and Priori alone.

Priori looks at Xrumon and shakes her head. 

"You know she can't win. They'll make her look bad, and she already looks bad enough. Why do you pretend otherwise? You of all people know what the courts are like."

"Do not go gentle into that good light, old age should burn and rave at close of night; Rage, rage against the dying of the night," he responds, unperturbed. "Or would you prefer the more common saying? Better to die on your feet, than live on your knees."

"Gerrel told her that." She says, amused.

"Then he knows what it's like to get his head smashed in and have to stand back up too."

"Ullane doesn't think she should stand back up. You know that's half the problem. She wouldn't even be doing anything if she didn't feel it was expected of her. Though, she also feels bad for Calcit."

"That's why I have to remind her to give a shit about trying. I have to drag my skeletal ass around doing shit still, she doesn't get to stop trying just because a court case is a little hard."

Priori laughs. "You two are so funny. Most people think you hate her."

"You insult someone hard enough one time and that's all anyone ever remembers."

"It was several times." She says, amused.

"Case in point."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Who am I to argue with a former lawman."

Her smile indicates she would, but she thinks not doing so is funnier.

"Anyone on the street would, really."

"How lucky I'm not anyone."

"No, you're just you. Who knows everything she shouldn't."

She smiles as usual. "Should, shouldn't. People spend too much worrying about those things. No matter what you think or know, it all comes down to what you actually say and do."

"And what you do is be weird as shit!"

"I like to seek out like company. Which reminds me. I should visit Friday. Should Ullane actually die, she'll certainly show up crying on your doorstep."

"She won't die. She's too fucked up to die. Death only takes the good ones."

"Well, she would hate me spoiling her surprise, so I might as well: she plans not to. For all her mopey talk, she has a plan. When doesn't she. She's Ullane Wistim. Good, bad, very ill-advised; she always has a plan."

"See? Told you. I can know things too, without having to cheat with whatever power you have."

She smiles. "I don't know if it will work. I can't tell the future. But it's quite the preparation she'll be making along with her legal one."

"I'm sure it's something fantastically stupid and horrible, as opposed to something sane like hiring a better attorney."

"Mm. I wouldn't call it stupid. Risky, but it's all things she's worked with before. Horrible, yes, some trolls might consider it so. It won't be pleasant to watch, if she has to fall back on it. I can't say about the attorney, I don't even know her name yet."

"Only her caste."

Elsewhere, the yellowblood speaks on the phone to her lawyer, one Indrid Dynast, and then hangs up the phone.

She releases a breath. She tries, with minimal success, to relax her almost permanently stiff shoulders.

Ullane Wistim looks over the records of the things she has done to herself. Her bones and organs, reinforced. The psiionic enhancer she built into herself recently updated with Friday’s assistance, made even more powerful. Regenerative capules inserted into her body, should they be needed if she is torn at by dogs.

Another boosting serum, ready for before she goes to the trial.

A note, written, to be put out just before she leaves.

It seems a fitting summary of her life. 

Science, and regrets.

A woman who believes she deserves to die, yet tries so hard to live. This is the last we'll hear from her for a time. Now the baton passes to her lawyer, miss Dynast.

I hope you'll enjoy the show.

I did.

[lassieposting]

Yes, I am an ardent hater of today's "if you feel powerless, don't forget that you can donate :))) even though you can barely feed yourself :)))" culture, where the average person has no power or agency to fight for what they believe in beyond stumping up cash.

Yes, I am going to remind y'all anyway that the American Civil Liberties Union is there to fight for your rights and they could use your support if you have any to spare. If you subscribe to their newsletter they send you regular updates on what they're doing to fight Drumpf and his force of fascist fuckwits.

[nattousan]

hey digital artists! c'mere real quick! :3 I wanna tell ya somethin! :3

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c'mon! don't be shy! it'll just take a sec! :3 how long have you been makin art for? haha oh wowww~

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almost there, i promise lol sorry these cellar stairs are sooo long haha

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:3

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*SLAMS YOU AGAINST MOULDY CELLAR WALL* LISTEN AND HEAR ME WELL NOW, GOT IT?? IM NOT FUCKING AROUND.

PRINT OUT YOUR DIGITAL ART. PRESERVE IT. DO NOT WAIT.

What would be left of you if your computer bursts into flames? Hmm? All those years of honing your craft? Who would know of it? Your tablet could die tomorrow, fall victim to the plague, THEN what? There'd be no trace of you. Your art account with years of accumulated passion? Gone with the flick of a server switch. Do not trust the cloud it is ephemeral in the eyes of time.

Place your trust in papers gentle hands and it will sing of you even after you have gone quiet.

Print your art.

*walls you in*

[greeneyed-thestral]

Doctor Who 3x02 | Staged 1x01

[svtskneecaps]

etoiles telling tubbo "gg" when there's still so much time to server close, when there's still so much time to turn things around and tubbo is there desperately trying to save them all and etoiles tells him good game, when the game wasn't even a competition, when the whole team went down and they weren't even there to resist it, when the fight wasn't even over quite yet and even still etoiles was resigned to it or maybe he knew even then where the winds were blowing and he accepted the end of this battle his team couldn't even fight. when tubbo is there begging to help him and etoiles tells him good game.

i do not like poetry, but i am rolling do not go gentle into that good night around in my mind right now

[trailandkale]

we gotta fight against the despair

[softgothbabe]

Do not go gentle into that good night

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

[obaewankenope]

Americans

Keep going

Love, the world

[former-leftist-jew]

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[kaurwreck]

I won't promise it'll be okay, regardless of what happens over the next few days, but I can promise the outcome is navigable.

[beauregardlionett]

one rant. i'm allowing myself one rant and then i'm not complaining again because it gets me no where. people in my class - people my age who i have been in the same room with almost everyday for three years as i complete this degree - voted for trump. it infuriates me. it scares me. i'm not safe in my classrooms, on my campus, on the streets, no where. it sickens me. someone who i have considered a friend since our first semester posted on her instagram story today "elections will come and go. don't let politics ruin your relationships. one of the truest signs of maturity is the ability to disagree with someone while still remaining respectful." in most other situations i would agree, but in this context that is some fascist horseshit.

if you voted for trump, or if you refused to vote because you "hated both options", i don't like you. i don't respect you and you are the problem. i have no more sympathy, empathy, or mercy for you. you are not my friend, and i don't want you around me. we could have reasoned with harris. we cannot reason with trump. he has admitted to sexual harassment, he openly does not care about people who are different from him, and he is a convicted felon. and he is in charge of this dumpster fire country yet again.

so i will maturely tell you to respect this boundary and fuck off. do not speak to me because you clearly do not respect me if you support trump. i hope karma finds you and gives you the exact amount of grief you deserve.

and to everyone who is like me, who did not want this, who is terrified - do not give up, do not leave this world. hold my hand, and i'll see you on the other side.

that is all.

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

Every single night I ask myself, “do I want to go gentle into that good night, or do I want to rage & rage against the dying of the light?” and the answer to that question determines whether or not I take melatonin.

[jamietarttsnorthernattitude]

Six Seven Eight Sentence Sunday

Jamie has too many words he wants to say to Roy running through his head, mixing through each other like players on a pitch. He can’t keep track of the ball, of the words he wants to say, he can’t make them lineup, they all jumble together fighting for dominance.

I’m sorry.

It’s all my fault.

Don’t hate me.

Please forgive me.

I’m sorry.

Too many words that can never be enough.

[natethehydra]

Very, very understandable reaction to finding out your loved one is kidnapped.

Best way to describe my reaction to such a thing should it happen? Well…. There’s a reason why this phrase exists;

“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

[indiworld]

Was Ruvina even a goddess of Sorrow before her sibling died??