#so I must assume there isn't

[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.”

[uncanny-tranny]

Whenever people who are entrenched in diet culture talk about how terrible chemicals are, I just want to whip out this:

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

The fans: Ugh Sonic was just so preachy. I mean obviously he's supposed to be the good guy, so any uncomfortableness I feel here and any way I feel like Sonic's choices are framed as being why some other people have shitty lives is just bad writing because he is obviously supposed to be right always, but this characterization makes no sense. Isn't he right for the things he did?

Ian Flynn, using Kitsunami to say the (barely even at this point) quiet part even louder: Hey it's almost like ever since the Mr. Tinker event we've been purposely running with the critique of Sonic as being more selfish than he appears. Sonic is upholding a system of Eggman v Sonic that currently benefits him and shuts down talk of how to improve the current system because he likes his own personal enjoyment and he's attached enough to Eggman that he'd rather Eggman pretend to be a good person than be stuck in prison for life. He doesn't even quite practice what he preaches. We are trying to show that the current hero v villain system and Sonic's recklessness currently affects some people poorly and that Sonic isn't a perfect hero.

[fictionadventurer]

August: Day 19

Adventures

Tried a mochi donut for the first time. It was okay.

Accomplishments

Completed a CPR/first aid refresher course

[redysetdare]

just because someone doesn't label an attraction on the split attraction doesn't make them allo in that attraction.

I don't label my other attractions because to me the only important ones to label are my romantic and sexual attractions as those effect me first and foremost. That doesn't mean I'm just allo in every other form of attraction. I'm not alloplatonic or alloaesthetic or allofamilial or whatever other ones (not in a dismissive way but in a 'there's so many i cannot name them all way'). I don't feel ANY attraction at all. I don't see a reason to label my other a-attractions because my lack of any attraction at all makes it feel a bit unnecessary for me personally.

[bungakusyoujo]

Poets of the Fall - The Beautiful Ones live acoustic

[earthmoonlotus]

:/

[loveletterworm]

Cool game where you pick up flashlights off the ground in the dark until you're holding too many flashlights at which point trying to pick up more will make an unfitting cartoon boing sound effect that I had laying around in my downloads folder

[messy-nyks]

The Fernweh Saga by @lacunafiction - Davor edition

I-I think Ms. Verner doesn't like him...😳

Davor "Dove" Kovač 🐝 RO: Becca Warrick

Personality: cautious // aloof // pessimistic // flirtatious (only towards Becca ...and Reese??) Traits: head // independent // resistance // believer Past affinity: math Primary ability: extrasensory awareness Past susceptibility: forward. 'it’s better to push forward. don’t look back on the past when you have new places to be and things to achieve.' <<< his motto

🕊️ Fernweh: Davor lived a happy life there and didn't think about leaving in the future. Maybe for some trips, but he knew it would always be his place, his safe place... 'It was a mistake to come back here.' - that was his first thought when he tried to fall asleep on the first night in Fernweh. The nightmares came back as he thought they would. He wants to leave as soon as possible because he feels that it is not safe for Becca to be here.

🕊️ Gramps Dan: That was his gramps who taught Davor how to play the guitar. As a young child, Davor always admired him and believed he was the most intelligent person in the world. After the death of his parents and how his grandfather treated him, he was devastated and angry. He wanted answers soo badly but didn't get any. He lived loathing his grandfather ever since. The news of his passing stirred up a lot of negative emotions that Davor had previously managed to suppress. At the beginning of the story he couldn't care less about his grandfather, but because of his journal he started to believe him. Things that his granfather lived through made Davor even more angry at this messy town …but he's willing to forgive his gramps…

🐝 Becca Warrick: It was a ...funny story that brought both of them together and they look after each other ever since. He considers Becca as his precious (not in a negative-possessive way) treasure, he literally can't let anything bad happen to her. That was also she who came up with the nickname 'Dove'... (and she's literally the only person who calls him that, others wouldn't dare...). He had feelings for her for quite some time but didn't act on it... until now. Although he didn't express it, he felt very nervous about Becca being in the town where he grew up. He was curious (but also scared) about what she could think of this town. He felt like he was revealing more of himself to her…. and he forgot about any worries pretty fast, because the town started being weird as fu--.

🕊️ Reese Verner: Back then Davor was quite cheerful and enjoyed competing with Reese regularly. They teased each other a lot. Davor always thought that Reese had a crush on him, was it true tho? donut know, but he certainly had. ...why does he appear in his nightmares? Maybe the crush stage never disappeared...? Seeing him again was a nice experience, sure... but ignoring the circumstances, he is still unsure if it was worth it and is struggling with his thoughts… Would it be worth it to return to Fernweh just to see him... again? welp, good thing he doesn't have to think about it much, am I right?

🕊️ Sofia Dorran: The two of them maybe did not have a strong relationship, but he knew Sofia is the ideal person for engaging in intelligent conversations. He enjoyed spending time with her, solving the puzzles that gramps created for them both. Davor wasn't a fan of fantasy books, but she managed to change his mind about them. Davor knows that Sofia did take good care of his grandfather, but he still doesn't quite know if he's grateful for that or wished she spent her time more... valuably... He was tempted to ask Sofia to borrow that book she found in his grandfather's bedroom, but he thought better of it. It's better to leave Fernweh… Even so, his curiosity wasn't properly fed.

🕊️ James Corvin: Maybe not brothers by blood, but definitely brothers by choice. Davor treated him as if he was the brother he always wanted to have. Back then Davor always placed a high value on his family… until now. At the time, Davor tended to be more impulsive and James was usually the one who kept him from getting into trouble (which often involved Reese). It was really hard, for both of them, to see each other after so long. Their first interaction was pretty awkward... I would even say that most of their interactions were . James noticed how Davor changed the question is: for the better or worse? I don't even know. Everyone can sense, that things around them are different now, and they aren't as close as before. Will it change?

🕊️ Alek Corvin: …To say that Alek wasn't a fan of Davor would be an understatement. Was it because James spent most of his time focusing only on Davor trying to get him out of trouble? Did Alek observe any possessiveness from Davor towards James? Or maybe simply because of the bond between those two, which was truly something that others would envy and desire? Davor never considered it, especially when he left Fernweh permanently. :)) As you can imagine, Alek doesn't seem very happy about Davor's return… But he took an interest in his new friend, Becca, which did not go unnoticed by Davor and he isn't really happy about it.

🕊️ The Waitress: Oh boy, it seems that Davor has taken up a new hobby, which is glaring harshly at the waitress. He finds her mistrustful and he smells trouble. Had they met when he was younger, there may have been a slim chance of them getting along.

🕊️ Waffles!: So um… Davor has a little issue with dogs and because of that his relationship with Waffles isn't as wonderful as I wish it would be... However, I believe that with time and help from Becca, they will eventually become friends.

[dennisboobs]

talking to macdennis shippers makes me realize how much more i enjoy charden lmfao

[match-your-steps]

just read a review of the lego movie from 2014 and it is genuinely a horrible piece of literature and through perusing the comments underneath the review, I have gained an intense dislike of the reviewer. it's not even that I liked the lego movie and he didn't it's just that a lot of the stuff he says is factually incorrect, really stupid-sounding, or he doesn't provide any real reason, and in the comments, he reacts to even the friendliest and politest constructive criticism as if it's a personal attack on him.

[graysongraysoff]

u kno i was already having a bad mental health day and now sitting in this meeting that's essentially just "hey we refuse to check our emails or our social media or even our text messages but it's YOUR fault we never know what's going on" is very much not helping

[nashidakyouko]

No, I do not think that liking a problematic or even evil character means you're a bad person.

I'm not condoning the character's actions—often not even in the context of the show. And certainly, I'm not approving those actions in the real world.

But it's a story. The world won't end if someone likes a character. Sometimes they are just well-written characters (obviously not all are well-written, but that's not the point of this mini-essay). Even if they are pure evil, if that is the purpose, then good! Achieved! (i.e. Lion King's Scar, Fullmetal Alchemist's King Bradley, Buffy's Glory, Avatar's Ozai, and many more) (then some characters who are not pure evil, but treated as irredeemable or just scum, i.e. She-Ra's Catra, Princess Mononoke's Eboshi, Buffy's Faith Lehane, etc.)

I can appreciate them for what they are while still not touching them with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole if they were real.

This goes double for characters that could reasonably have redemption arcs (or who have redemption [with varying degrees of success], but for half the fans it isn't ever good enough [sometimes even for me, I admit]—because apparently bad actions make a bad, unchangeable person, forever. But that's another post).

Evil exists in every world. Only shaming it when it's convenient (such as attacking fans of a thing), does very little to help any real victims.

Instead of screaming about an evil character, consider putting that energy into helping real people, real victims, and trying to stop problems (i.e. assault, genocide, misogyny, war, official/unofficial slave labor, hate groups, etc.) in whatever little ways you can. Find a good charity and donate. Give food and money to shelters and victims. Listen to their stories. Some of them might even tell you that the fiction you are so opposed to actually helped them feel less alone. Or any number of things that might have made the story cathartic for them, making it so they like the bad guy as a bad guy. Or, hey, just ignore the people who are bugging you and enjoy whatever media you want. Put your energy there instead unless the truth isn't that you don't care about victims, and you're just virtue-signalling.

*This is not about actual victims who are being upset or triggered. The only thing I have to say there is that you can go to a different media. Be safe, but don't tell OTHER POSSIBLE VICTIMS that the way they cope is inherently bad.

**ABSOLUTELY you can dislike characters or whatever. You can entirely judge them as evil and immoral. I am not saying you have to go along with every single thing. ABSOLUTELY you should not have to engage with things that you hate or make you uncomfortable or even triggered! None of this was meant to undermine any of that. I mostly just mean that everyone has their own experience AND fiction follows different rules, usually for the sake of telling a story. You do NOT have to engage or fake being comfortable. You CAN say you have issues with something. You should say! But your experience is not EVERYONE'S experience, so everyone—on both sides of this—needs to be more mindful of that.

***writing essays about the evils of characters and even how they may reflect or affect the real world is totally a different thing than screaming endlessly about it online. No problem there.

[blujayonthewing]

well I just spent an hour digging through my own dnd notes and social media and also almost cried because I mentioned, in passing, something justin had said about one of his NPCs and he, completely lightheartedly, was like '?? I don't remember that at all. [I mean I'm not making it up?] I think you might be making it up 😏'

[nostalgia-tblr]

nah sorry i've thought about it and odin's "raise lauffey's only biological son as my own = he inherits when laffey dies = jotunheim is mine now/it's free real estate" plan just wouldn't work. it's a shit plan.

sure you can say your younger son is now the king of jotunheim but how are gonna get anyone there to accept that? even if he is now king by the letter of their law, how do you make that population accept his authority? the authority of someone who was raised by their enemy and who must be assumed to be loyal to that enemy. to borrow a phrase "you and whose army?" all you have there is a claim to that kingdom, you still need to make it happen.

whereas "found a baby, it's mine now, keeping forever with no expectation of this ever actually getting me anything else i just heart my new blue son (if ur offerin a 'free jotunheim with purchase' deal i wont say no tho obvs)" doesn't rely on outside events or anyone else's actions and so... it just makes more sense.

what i'm sayin is... i'm sure "ooooh this could be useful, i shall keep it" was a factor in odin's initial adopt-the-baby decision but i don't think it's at all reasonable for him to think it would actually work when the time came to deploy the plan and so no i don't think odin did just keep loki around for imperialism reasons, i think by the time that film is set he must have long since given up on that (other than a vague "well if it happens it happens" at the back of his head) and he really does just love his kid and hasn't told him where he actually came from in case it made him sad.

[bi-chimneyy]

putting this on here because it's kind of a fandom thing,, but it's become very clear to me in the past couple of weeks how many people genuinely can't tell the difference between joking "affection" (eg. over-exaggerated sexual or romantic gestures like flirting, kissing, etc) and like genuine intimate affection (eg. a quick hug or kiss on the cheek, etc, not intended at all to be funny or the butt of a joke) - often cis(het) dudes do this kind of thing a lot - comes from socialisation, I don't think this type of thing is legitimately gendered but guys are generally more discouraged from being emotionally open with other guys in a genuine manner so this type of joking intimacy manifests a lot. btw both of these types of intimacy can be platonic and often are but yeah I've seen a lot of people confuse the two. neither of them necessarily indicate what type of relationship you have w people - ik I do both with my friends but it kind of plays into the "there's no platonic explanation" aphobia and amatonormativity when we're both conflating the two *and* implying that any intimacy must therefore be romantic.