#sylphee ask

[sylphee]

Sorry this isn't an ask! I just wanted to say that your art style is super comfy and really nice to look at! It's the sorta thing that if you were feeling a little under the weather just scrolling through would make you feel a bit better!!

Ohh my gosh, thank you so much!! This is such a nice thing to say and has made me a bit emotional ;u;

I hope you're having a good day! :D

[laurarolla]

So I started Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut finally (was doing some item cleanup in Elden Ring the last few days so I'm ready for the DLC at launch). I'm in an odd headspace about it, and I suppose I should start with talking about other space fighter sim/shooter games I've played and my feelings on the genre.

See, my first of these kind of games was a demo of the first stage of Colony Wars on PS1, which eventually led me to actually play the game itself sometime later. From the beginning, there was a sort of push and pull in regards to how these games play for me compared to how I want to play them. Space fighter games of this kind ask a lot of the player right from the word go, largely because of a limited degree of mercy provided for you doing something stupid early on. There's a progression to a lot of these games where you focus on dogfighting first, then graduate to defending a capital ship, then move on to taking down capital ships, all while learning the handling of your craft and optimizing your various weapon systems. In a game like this, control complexity is a crucial balancing act, and honestly, Colony Wars is the only one of these games I've played that felt like it nailed the sweet spot for me. Strike Suit Zero is close, to the point that literally swapping two buttons might fix my biggest control issue (thrusters should be A, transform should be R3). I haven't checked that option yet. The thing is that part of why Colony Wars worked as best I can tell is the lack of customization meant every stage needed to be crafted for the player's expected skill level and equipment loadout. Later games I've played such as Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception and Strike Suit Zero have the ability to replay stages and unlock upgrades, meaning that your limited arsenal and ship capabilities feel like harder limits. Wanna try taking out the capital ships in the early stages? Too bad, you don't have the firepower, shoot incoming missiles and try to take out fighters instead. When you're done doing what we tell you the first time, you can come back with bigger guns and higher skill and do the stuff you want next time.

Maybe the honest reality is the Colony Wars broke my expectations. With only skill and luck to rely on, you had to learn the stages and figure out specific exploits if you wanted to, say, shut down a capital ship to protect your fleet more easily with a specific type of fighter, or you had to acknowledge that your equipment makes capital ship fighting entirely impossible so you need to focus on fighters while your allies deal with the big guns. Stages felt like puzzles you figured out through retries, and the game even allowed the story to keep moving forward if you failed in many cases, just with worse possible endings. Additionally, stages were far shorter and less intense in terms of enemy numbers and such. I guess my issue really is that I'm just not built for these kinds of games, despite genuinely loving the genre. I have something of an allergic reaction to the idea of crawling before walking, in a sense, and I want to feel like I earn the place of being a hero rather than feeling like I'm jammed into the role of The Ace Pilot Protagonist most of the time. We'll see how this eventually plays out, but there's a decent chance that I just won't end up vibing with SSZ by the end of it.

Fun bit of trivia: Call of Duty Infinite Warfare? Perfectly scratches the space shooter itch in bite size chunks. Very surprising to think about all these years later.

[quietbirdee]

more thoughts about hand pain and then the feeling of confused relief when something actually helps

(grimwalker keratin is made from palistrom wood so...)

[birdsides]

YES YES YES SPIRIT TRACKS YES!!!!!!!!!

I love them!! ;u;

[carrot-cat17]

🕹 video game currently playing and 📻 favorite song currently? c:

🕹 I’ve been switching between Let’s Go! Pikachu, Pokémon Sword, and Super Mario Odyssey lately, but technically the most recent game I opened was Draconia.

📻 Hhhnnngggh this one’s tough. For one thing I don’t listen to music like I used to. But for another, I still like so many songs. I think the one I’d be most likely to play on repeat right now is Long Way Down by Robert DeLong. ;u;

[joshuaorrizonte]

Find the Word Tag!

Thank you, @ashen-crest for the tag! They gave me seek, no, decline, and floor. If you feel like doing this, consider yourself tagged! Your words are love, passion, winter, and soothe.

All of these passages come from Infinity's Daylight, final draft.

Seek:

"Anna woke me after a handful of hours to take over the watch for her, and I sat thinking about everything as I watched our campfire burn. It was colder than I thought it would be. The cold never bothered me - indeed, I had once wanted to run away to Mytre, and part of me still wanted that. Maybe after things were settled with Dad, if he didn't believe me and I couldn't go home, I would go to Mytre on my own. I had always felt drawn to that region of the world, almost called to it. I had assumed it was because I was an ice mage, something very few light dragons could claim.

That made little sense to me anymore, but the thought of my magical abilities sent my ruminations in an entirely different direction. Light Dragons rarely had the capacity to manipulate cold and ice like I did, but Dark Dragons had no problem with that. And wasn't it just a strange coincidence that Dad had a Dark Dragon half-brother? I had never met the man before, but I was led to believe that he'd stayed in Sylpheed for quite some time after Dad fought the goddess Mariah and saved the city.

Dad would always be my Dad, even if my father was that nameless Dark Dragon brother. It was a possibility I'd thought of in the past, but never as seriously as I was considering it now. Maybe now that I was free of Sylpheed, if Dad didn't want me back, I could go to Draeger, seek this Dark Dragon uncle and see what he had to say about this musing of mine.

If I could find him. I didn't even know the man's name."

No:

"Vanessa laughed merrily at my expression. "Close your mouth, child," she teased. "You're going to start catching flies!"

"But - but there's so much of - of everything!"

This time Anna laughed, and Vanessa said, "You'd think the same of the merchant district of Sylpheed City, if you hadn't grown up there. Come now, hurry. I don't know when the next boat to Elysium is going to depart. We need to get our fare taken care of and get some supplies while we're at it. Things are much more expensive in Elysium."

She led us right to the ticket office by the docks, and the porter peered at us curiously, almost suspiciously, as Vanessa ordered our tickets. "So why are you three headed to Elysium?" he asked.

Vanessa seemed to be taken aback by his question. "We - these two are disciples I recruited while in Sylpheed City. I'm taking them back to the Ferrarai monastery in Sunrise-"

"You sure about that, miss? Because that young man looks awfully like the one in the wanted posters that went up around the city yesterday."

Our guardian went pale at that, and she stared at him for a second before I chimed in: "Oh, you mean the missing Dragesrod boy. Yes, we had a hard time getting out of the city because of that. Apparently I look a lot like him. I'm guessing we're distant cousins."

Now he peered at me. "So you're telling me you're not him?"

"No, sir. My name is - is Thomas Orrizontei, sir." I ignored Anna's sharp look and plowed on: "Word was in Sylpheed that someone had kidnapped him. Isn't that what's being said here?"

"Aye, lad. A priestess of Kyrios had kidnapped him -."

"I can assure you I have not been kidnapped. I am really going to Sunrise Beach to be a priest. I'll even recite any of the Kyrian scripture you want me to."

The man considered this for a moment, then shook his head, not quite convinced, but unwilling to press further. "No, no, that won't be necessary, I believe you. You might run into trouble in the city, though."

Decline:

Not in this novel.

Floor:

"Rae opened his mouth to answer me. But whatever he had been prepared to say next was cut off by the sound of Circe screaming my name. I reacted automatically, rushing to her aid, Rae following on my heels. The hallway around me was chaos, people running back and forth and shouting at each other. I pushed through them to reach Circe. "The throne room!" she shouted at me, and Rae and I moved to obey her.

The scene I saw before me could only be described as chaotic. Serra's throne was empty, and a tight formation of soldiers from the Queen's Guard stood in a circle around the dais. I pushed my way through the guards with Circe and Rae, and knelt next to Serra and the soldier whose head she cradled in her lap. "Help him!" Serra begged me, and I examined the wound. It was a gunshot to be sure, right in the center of his belly. There was a racket outside of the circle, and one guard outside of it shouted, "There he is! After him!"

Circe and Rae bolted after the man the guard indicated. I watched them go, my view from the floor obfuscated by the guards protecting Serra. Then I turned my attention back to the man dying in Serra's arms. "He tried to kill me," she said, dissolving into tears. "This man wasn't even supposed to be here today! He stepped in front of me when the assassin fired on me. He was wearing Queen's Guard colors, Drake!"

I ignored her for the time being, choosing to focus entirely on the wounded man in front of me. It was too late. He had lost too much blood, and his abdomen was swelling with internal bleeding. My magic wasn't powerful enough to do much else than to numb the pain and force him into a sleep that he would never wake from."

[docbe]

Tag game: 15 questions, 15 mutuals

Tagged by @darkpoptoy

Rules: Answer the questions and tag fifteen mutuals.

1: Are you named after anyone?

Kind of--my dad liked my aunt’s middle name, so I was named after her without the exact intention of being named after her haha

2: When was the last time you cried?

Uuuh September sometime I think? 

3: Do you have kids?

Nup

4: Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Playfully, ye

5: What’s the first thing you notice about people?

How comfortable they are in their space

6: What’s your eye colour?

Bluish

7: Scary movies or happy endings?

Somewhere in between?

8: Any special talents?

I have a fair number of odd talents, I think, but I can never remember them when asked....but there’s the art thing and all that 

9: Where were you born?

Northern Indiana 

10: What are your hobbies?

Drawing, writing--will be happy doing just about any art or craft, probably. Videogames, lurking on the internet without saying anything to anyone...and probably other stuff once I have an income and home to actually do them haha

11: Have you any pets?

Not my own, but I’ve appropriated @mtjester‘s kitten and rabbit

12: What sports do you play/have played?

Back in high school, I had periods of playing softball, track, and volleyball. I was not good at any of them 13: How tall are you?

5′6″

14: Favourite subject in school?

I like too many things tbh...in high school, I was a fan of physics, astronomy, literature, history...honestly it’d be easier to list the subjects I didn’t like than to choose a favorite 

15: Dream job?

Something that’ll make me lots of money, be interesting at least part of the time, and have flexibility to enjoy my free time because jobs don’t define you and I’d rather have a healthy personal/professional balance than chase some notion of life-defining perfection in work

I’ll tag...(if you want to do it) @mtjester, @toastyhat, @splickedylit, @cat-bat, @onecricket, @spacerocks-debussey, @hypergiants, @dragonbonez, @sylphee, @tribute27, @mashsart, @oweia, @super-fast-jellyfish, @burnsidesDang it’s been so long since I’ve done one of these and actually tagged that like, idek who’s mutual and active anymore lmao and I think I thought I was following people when I actually am not?? idk if I missed you and you want to do it consider yourself tagged

[greyshuman]

Gpg suite and mail app mac

Gpg suite and mail app mac manual#

Or you can change user default GPGOpenPGPExecutablePath to set a different path, or use GPGPreferences 1.3. You need a gpg version >= 1.4.0 (or gpg2), usually installed in /usr/local/bin/, but GPGMail will search for gpg2 then gpg in several locations ( /usr/local/bin, /opt/local/bin, /sw/bin) and use the first found one. You need MacOS X 10.5.x GPGMail will not work as-is on other OS versions, because the internals of Apple's Mail changes on every revision. Note that this feature does not work when gpg-agent is used (bug 2471368). Is cleared -, or stored in your default keychain. If you allow passphrase cacheing, passphrase is either stored in cache duringĪ small amount of time (default is 60 seconds) - if it has not been used during this time, cache Don't expect better support in the future!

Gpg suite and mail app mac manual#

In automatic mode, it tries to authenticate or decrypt the currently selected message in manual mode, you click on a button/menu to decrypt or authenticate the currently selected message you can also use the contextual menu.Īfter authenticating a message, the signature information is displayed, in short or long form.Įncryption/decryption of plain text and MIME messages works.ĭecryption of HTML messages works too, if there's a plain text alternative, but you need to tell Mail to display the plain text alternative after you decrypted the message (menu View/ Message/ Plain Text Alternative). When you browse through messages, GPGMail can operate automatically, or on-demand. Look at GPGMail Composing preferences, and Robert Goldsmith's ABKey bundle.ĪddressBook groups are also supported: if you use a group's name as a message recipient, and all members of this group have a valid PGP key, then GPGMail will use all these keys. You can also apply some rules to let GPGMail decide when to encrypt/sign a message, according to the recipients. If you prefer GPGMail to always use the OpenPGP/MIME format, then you can set it in preferences, or using menu item Message/ PGP/ Force Use of PGP-MIME. In the other case, it will use the new OpenPGP/MIME format, with MIME attachments, which is not recognized by some mail agents like Outlook/Entourage/Eudora, but welcomed by Sylpheed, Mulberry and others. GPGMail can use two different formats for encryption/signature: if your message consists only of plain text (no attachments, no rich text attributes like bold, italic, etc.), GPGMail will use the old PGP format, with inline ASCII-armored signature/encryption. Note that encryption/signature is always applied on the whole message. When you composeĪ new message, you can sign it (you will be asked for your key PGP/Encrypt New Message and PGP/Sign New Message. In the Composer window, you can also add two toolbar items (by customizing the toolbar) to set theĮncryption (on/off) and add or not your PGP signature you can also use menu items At that time you can ask GPGMail to search for missing keys on key servers (if gpg has been configured correctly, using for example GPGPreferences), using menu item Download. In case it misses some keys, a warning icon will be displayed next to the popdown button. By default, GPGMail will try to find out by itself which keys are needed for encryption, according to the recipients email addresses keys are listed in the Keys popdown button. They allow you to choose which key you want to sign with, and which keys have to be used for encryption, when enabled. When composing a new message, some new buttons appear in the composer window: when to encrypt/sign/decrypt/verify, etc.Mail also has a new Preferences panel in which you There is also a new submenu, PGP Keys, in menu View, allowing you to choose on-the-fly which attributes must be displayed for keys.įinally, in menu Window, a new item PGP Key Search displays a PGP key search panel when clicked. Message menu, containing the following items: Once started, Mail has a new submenu, PGP, in its (Dec 30th, 2008) GPGMail Release 1.2.0 (v56) is currently available. The following languages are included in GPGMail: English, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Korean, Italian, Finnish, Danish, Dutch and Swedish. GPGMail has been localized in 11 different languages, thanks to contributors. GPGMail is a complete hack, relying on Mail's private internal API. GPGMail does not contain any encryption code: it is a client to gpg executable. You can use GPGMail for plain text and MIME messages, following RFC 3156. GPGMail extends Apple's Mail application and allows you to read and send PGP authenticated and/or encrypted messages. It allows you to read/write encrypted messages, as well as electronically signed messages. GPGMail is a plug-in for Apple's Mail, providing a front-end to gpg for some operations. On-line (and up-to-date) version of this document can be found at

[infinitys-chaos]

Infinity’s Daylight, Chapter Three

@adeat just for your convenience when you have the time.

Chapter Three

From the Eyes of the Son

“... and that allows the caster to channel their essence through their hands, without the use of an anchor object. Gareth!”

The sound of my teacher calling my name startled me from my daydreaming. “Huh- y-yes, Sir Lynn?”

“You, of everyone in this room, should be paying attention to this,” he said, a bit flatly. “I’m not sure any of you understand the last assignment, but especially you.”

“Sir,” Sorrow called out, “if we all did so poorly on the last assignment, shouldn’t we be going over that material instead of the basics? We already know the basics.”

“No, I’m not sure you do. Pay attention, Gareth.” He tapped me lightly on the back of my head with his lesson papers, and resumed his droning about how to cast spells without an anchor object.

Despite his admonitions, I went right back to daydreaming. I may have understood the last lesson about as well as my kid brother Janus would have, but I knew how to cast without an anchor object to channel my essence through. I was sure the whole class did. That’s why the class was called Advanced Combat Magic. Even Sorrow, who simply did not have the essence vibrations to cast combat magic, understood that much.

But I couldn’t blame Sir Lynn much for his irritation with us. One of the three generals who would command the Sylph armies in times of war, in times of peace he was the man in charge of the educational system, as he was now. Not only was he responsible for both the lower and upper academies, he insisted on teaching the Advanced Combat Magic classes himself. Because of the intense nature of these classes, they were very small, and only a small portion of the students who applied for them actually got in. It was a stroke of luck- or stupidity- that got all of my circle of friends in the same class, and Sir Lynn frequently threatened to separate us.

Usually that was enough to get the five of us under control. Not today. “Gareth!”

“Yes sir?”

“Answer the question,” Sir Lynn ordered me stonily.

I cringed. “I don’t know it, sir.”

He threw up his hands. “Byron, then.”

Instead of answering, my step-mother’s brother drawled, “Ah, leave him alone, sir. You know he’s already got a full brain. Stuff anything else up there and it’ll ooze out of his ears.”

“I don’t need your help, By,” I groused at him. He tormented me frequently and made my already hellish life considerably more difficult. It didn’t used to be like that; we were raised as brothers. He used to care about me. That had changed abruptly around my thirteenth birthday, when Demeter started her assault on me. It didn’t happen immediately after she started hurting me, but he caught up damned quick.

Sometimes I felt as though they were colluding to ruin me. I always dismissed the thought when it happened. There was no way Byron would’ve stood for it if he knew what his darling sister was doing to me. It was too terrible, even for him.

Sir Lynn crossed his arms over his chest. “You guys seem to think this is a joke,” he growled. “You all need to know everything in this lesson. Now answer the question: What supportive magic did the Gods’ Fated Aninala Loren use during Sir Drake’s fight with the Goddess Mariah?”

He was talking about my parents, now. What supportive magic had to do with the basics of spellcasting was beyond me, but Byron was almost smug as he answered. “She didn’t, sir. She and Mika Draeger created a wall of fire to block the fight from going deeper into the city, to prevent them from doing anymore damage. That still doesn’t mean that supportive magic has anything to do with combat magic.”

Anna muttered at him to stop being such an ass, while Sir Lynn said coldly, “I’m not sure your sister would appreciate the tone you’re taking with me, Byron. And that wasn’t my point. My point is that any magic can be supportive, but first you have to know how supportive magic works- something that something none of you seems to know.”

Anna, Sir Lynn’s daughter, raised her hand. “Yes, Anna.”

“You haven’t let us practice actual casting for weeks, sir. I know we’re supposed to do it on our own, but that doesn’t help if we don’t know how to do it in the first place.”

Sir Lynn nodded. “Exactly my point, but I’m not going to let you practice until I’m sure that you know the basics of what you’re doing, which was the point of that assignment. You don’t know the basics of what you’re doing, so we’re going over it again.”

“I would argue that in order for us to understand it, you have to let us practice.” She smiled charmingly. “After all, only Alex I have the benefit of having you at our disposal to help us out with it.”

“No no no, you’re not getting away with that.” Lynn chuckled at his daughter’s attempt to flatter him. Alex was Anna’s long-time boyfriend, and had been living with Lynn and Anna since Alex’s younger brother, Thomas, had died. Alex’s parents were traveling merchants, and were hardly ever in Sylpheed City. Alex couldn’t live alone in the house Thomas died in, and so Lynn took him in. He was a year older than than the rest of us, and had graduated from the upper academy the year before. He was enrolled in Sylpheed University now. We missed him with us in class sometimes, but our social circle was close, and we saw him often.

I had loved Thomas. I had been desperately wounded when he died, and even now, almost a year later, not an hour went past that I didn’t think of him, miss him, wish he was still there. It didn’t happen quite so often, but I still wept over him, bitterly and frequently.

Lynn turned his attention back to the lesson, and I tuned him out again. As long as he was talking about the bare basics of spellcasting, I wasn’t going to listen. It wasn’t necessary. Anna was right: we needed practice, not remedial lessons. At least, I needed practice. And I knew Sorrow did, as well. Sorrow was probably the most talented magician amongst us, but she was exceedingly talented in healing magic. I still had no idea how she kept being chosen for ACM.

Lynn called my name once more- this time, I was just barely paying enough attention to stutter out a response to his question- and sighed, looking up at the clock on the wall. “Class is almost over,” he announced. “Do we all understand now how important supportive magic is in combat situations?” The four of us murmured agreement, and he nodded. He looked like he didn’t believe us. “Very well. Redo the assignment tonight. All four of you will be expected to successfully cast that spell tomorrow. It’s a supportive spell, so there’s no excuse not to practice it at home. If any of you need my help with it, speak now or forever hold your peace…”

None of us responded, and the final bell chimed. We all gathered up our books and materials and stood, and Lynn said, “Alright. Remember: practice that spell tonight. I expect better results this time around. Good night, and be good.”

Byron met me at the door to the classroom, along with Anna and Sorrow. “Hey, remember,” Byron told me in his best Big Brother voice. “You’re on the hook for picking up the squirt today.”

“He’s got a name, By,” I replied dryly, irritated at him for referring to my little brother in such terms. “And I remember. You guys going to go hang out?”

“Yeah.” Anna smiled at me. “We’ll be at Alex’s. You’re welcome to come, if you want. After you’ve picked up Janus, of course.”

“See? She knows his name,” I sassed at Byron.

He laughed; I knew he wasn’t taking me seriously, but I was very serious. While his abuse didn’t come near what his older sister’s did, he still went out of his way to make me as miserable as he could, and I was not having him dehumanize my baby brother like that. I loved Janus too much to let him and his obscenity of a sister hurt him like they hurt me.

Anna seemed to understand that I hadn’t been joking. Anna put a hand on Byron’s shoulder, shaking her head. “C’mon, By. You come over if you’ve got the time too, Sorrow. Been too long since we’ve all just hung out together.”

Sorrow nodded and smiled. I could see the sadness in her pretty blue eyes, but she did her best to hide it. She knew she wasn’t going to have the time. “I’ll do my best, Anna.”

Those two gone, Sorrow turned to me. “Mind if I walk with you to the lower academy?” she asked, the sadness in her smile gone. It lifted me out of my own constant melancholy.

So I nodded eagerly. “Yes, of course. I’d appreciate the company.” I gave Sir Lynn a glance and a wave goodbye, then looked back at him, startled. I thought he’d been staring at me with such a peculiar look on his face.

The strange expression was gone by the time I looked back at him, if it’d been there at all. He raised a hand and waved, still smiling. “Good night, you two. Be good. And Gareth, I was serious about it when I commented on your efforts. Step it up a little and stop daydreaming in class, or I’ll need to start giving you detention again.”

I nodded, smirking at him. “I’ll keep that in mind, sir. Good night.”

Sorrow echoed my parting and walked with me out the door. She was close enough that her hand could brush mine if only I drifted a little bit closer. The thought of grabbing and holding it flitted in and out of my mind, and the moment passed as she took a step- a very small step- away from me, just enough for me to not bump into her as we walked. “I don’t know why you put up with him,” she sniped, her smile fading. “He is such a bully.”

“I don’t put up with him,” I replied honestly, shrugging. “If he’s being a jerk, I make sure he knows it.”

“Didn’t seem like he knew he was being a jerk about Janus just then.”

I shrugged again, my thoughts darkening a bit. “As long as he’s not bullying Janus directly, I’ll deal. He says that stuff to get under my skin, and he can’t. The moment he actually hurts or bullies Janus, though, all bets are off.”

“Fair enough, I suppose.” She didn’t sound convinced, but that was part of what I loved about her. She wasn’t afraid to disagree with me.

Even after my emotional collapse when Demeter started to hurt me, Sorrow remained the only one, other than Thomas, who respected me enough not to treat me like a fragile doll. She said what she thought, and, although she tempered it with compassion, if what she thought was too harsh, well, you’d just have to adjust. And now that Tommy was gone, she was the only one who’s opinion I could trust not to be put through an assumption that I was nuts before she gave it.

And I tried to return the favor, too, as I tried right now. “I really think you should come join us,” I said earnestly. “You work entirely too hard.”

She shot me a sideways smile. “Thanks but it’s alright. I like hard work.”

“And everyone thinks I’m crazy,” I said dryly. Before she had a chance to protest- and quite angrily, based on how her eyebrows knitted together and dropped- I said, “Look, you’ve been working non-stop for how long now? Give yourself a break. We miss you. I’m sure you’re not going to derail your whole life if you come over to Alex’s for two hours. Please?”

The angry, harsh expression she wore softened. “I’ll think about it. I still have to ask my mother, though. And if she says no-”

“Then I’ll never, ever push you to come hang out again.” I extended a hand to her so we could shake on it.

Her irritation with me smoothed away from her face, and she took my hand, gripping it warmly. I didn’t want to let go. “It’s a deal. You can still ask, just don’t push, okay?”

“Got it.”

We resumed our walk, discussing other things, like how Sir Lynn seemed to have backed off of letting us practice recently, choosing to have us study things other than spellcasting. “If he doesn’t let us practice soon,” Sorrow told me as we entered the lower academy and headed for Janus’s classroom, “I’m not going to remember how to do anything at all!”

“I think you’re a bit smarter than that,” I replied. “Your spells are weak but you can cast them. I think that, once you know a bit of magic, you never truly forget it. I haven’t used fire magic in so long that I can’t remember the last spell I cast, but I bet you that if I tried, I could do it.”

“Yes, well, your essence not having the resources to call on particular elements isn’t the same as knowing how to cast a spell, Gareth.”

“And your essence can use those elements just fine. You just need practice. You’ll get better.”

“Gareth Lance Dragesrod, how in the world am I supposed to practice anything at all when our instructor won’t let us? It’s not like there are monsters crawling all over inside the city walls!”

“Come over to Alex’s and we’ll all practice together.”

“Oh, you- you-”

I laughed and winked at her as I knocked on the classroom door. Janus’s teacher answered; I had no idea what her name was and I couldn’t be bothered to try to remember it. My interactions with her were so limited that it didn’t matter. If it ever did matter, I’d ask. “Hello, Gareth,” she said, a touch of concern in her bland voice. “I was hoping one of your parents would be here to get Janus. I assume that they weren’t able to get that message to you, if you’re here.”

Irritation lanced through me at the implication that Demeter was my mother, so strong it was almost painful. I somehow managed to keep myself from snarling as I said, “No, no one told me they were supposed to come get him instead. Why?”

“I need to discuss something with them. Would you mind passing along the message for me?”

“Not at all. Can I see Janus before I go? I mean- I’ll take him home, too, if you want me to, but the way you said that-”

“No, that’s fine. I don’t want to let him go until I’ve spoken to your parents. Come on in. Janus!” the teacher called into the classroom. “Your brother’s here!”

“Gareth!”

And then I got a hyperactive bundle of Janus slamming into my legs, nearly knocking me off balance. Sorrow giggled and put a hand on my shoulder to stabilize me even as I put my arms around him, as much to hold him still as to return his hug. “Hey buddy,” I greeted him, laughing lightly. “Did you get in trouble again, kid?”

“Nope! I think Ms. Broden just wants to tell Mommy and Daddy about my awesome story.” He looked over at her for confirmation, and I ran a hand idly through his blond hair.

Ms. Broden- she had a name for as long as I’d remember it now- nodded. “Yes, but I’m afraid I want them to see it before anyone else does,” she said, answering my next question before I asked it.

“Uh-oh.” I looked down at him. “What’re you writing about that’s got Ms. Broden wanting to show Mom and Dad, eh?”

He shrugged, snuggled closer to me, and started obnoxiously fake-snoring. Ugh, this kid was just too cute to cope with. I flashed his teacher a wistful grin. “I’m going straight home now, but you might want to let him nap while you’re waiting for them to come. Might be a while.”

“Understood.”

“Alright, kiddo,” I said to Janus, trying to pry him off me, “I’ve gotta go tell Dad that he’s gotta  come get you. Be good, okay?”

“Am I gonna get wings like yours when I grow up?”

The non-sequitur caught both Ms. Broden and Sorrow by surprise. Used to it by now, I answered without missing a beat, “I dunno. It’s possible. You’re half-Dragon, half-Sylph like I am, so maybe you will.”

“But your Mommy has wings, too! Mine has none!”

Uncomfortable, I said, “Yeah, well… yeah. I don’t know if they just run in my mother’s family or not, but if that’s the case, then you’d be out of luck, kiddo. Sorry.”

Janus sniffled and pulled away. There was a time in history that the Sylph, more often than not, did have wings. What kind of wings depended on what clan they hailed from; Mom and I both had thin, dragonfly-like wings, translucent but shaded. Hers had a reddish-blue tint to them throughout, while mine were black.

At first, that bothered me. I was just about Janus’s age when they came in, and the process was painful and bloody. I hated that I had them, I hated that my back was tender, I hated that I couldn’t wear any of my favorite shirts anymore because now I had these things sticking out of my back. Eventually I came to appreciate them; they made me special and, according to those who could see them easier than I could, were quite beautiful, with a metallic sheen that glittered violet and midnight blue when I fluttered them. Mom told me that these wings were the mark of the Fated in the Sylph race. No matter how rare the wings became, one who was Fated would always develop wings if they had Sylph blood.

But mine were, according to her and much to my relief, a mere byproduct of our family line. There wouldn’t be another Fated Cycle for another five hundred years, at the soonest.

I bent to scoop Janus up into another hug. “Oh, don’t do that!” I admonished quietly. “You’ve got something I’d love to have, too, but I don’t.”

“Huh? What is that?”

“Your magic has matured enough to let you use your Dragon magic, remember?”

His gaze turned pitying. “Oh yeah, you can’t use Dragon magic, can you?”

Being pitied by a seven-year-old was a grating feeling, but I’d asked for it. “Nope. Dunno if I ever will be able to either. Usually Dragons begin to be able to use that magic by the time they’re a little older than you, but I’m way past that now. Might be that I’ll never be able to use it. So don’t sweat the wings, alright, kiddo? We’ve all got things we wish we could do, but we can’t, and that’s okay. We’ve all got other talents to make up for it.”

“Like writing!”

After a disbelieving pause, I agreed, “Yes, like writing.”

I finished saying my goodbyes to him and his teacher, and left the school with Sorrow. “Well,” she said brightly, turning her face up to the darkening sky and failing sunlight, “it’s good to know that he values the power of the pen over the most destructive force known to mortal kind.”

I gave an ungentlemanly snort and ignored the implication that a child had more skill in composition than I did. “I guess that’s a valuable skill to have in this world,” I admitted, a bit sullenly.

Sorrow scolded me lightly for being jealous of a child, turning that bright smile to me. “Well, you better get home so your father can rescue him. Let me know what the deal was, okay, Gareth? I’m curious.”

“I will. And remember- I expect you to be at Alex’s place tonight.”

“If I can.”

“Sorrow…”

She sighed, shook her head, and then, looking askance, said, “Alright, I’ll be over. But I can’t promise it’ll be for anything but to say ‘hi’.”

I thought about taking matters into my own hands and calling Valerie to let her know that her daughter was more stressed than she let on, but… nah. Sorrow was a big girl and if I was honest with myself, I wanted her around for selfish reasons. Sorrow wasn’t the one who was stressed. I was. She made it better.

Then I thought to say that to her, but by the time I did, she’d already given me a hug goodbye and started walking away, in the direction of her home- away from me. With a heavy sigh, I started trudging towards my home. Demeter wouldn’t be home from work yet. I’d have a few minutes of peace, at least.

[joshuaorrizonte]

Thomas slouched in the leather seat, staring out the window. Next to him, Drake Draeger, his boyfriend’s father, drove, staring straight ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

He was silent, and hoped that Drake would remain that way, as well. He was mortified, having been caught in Gareth’s bedroom hours after Drake had told him it was time to go home. Gareth has begged him to stay, to climb up the tree outside of Gareth’s bedroom and climb back in the window. Gareth had been so adamant that Thomas felt that he hadn’t had a choice.

Fortunately, Thomas’s parents weren’t home. Dealing with Alexandre would be difficult, and he knew he was eventually going to have to face them, but at least he wouldn’t have to tolerate them that night.

Drake flipped on his turn signal, and Thomas sat up straight, confused and startled. This wasn’t the route Drake usually took him home on. He swallowed hard, debating if he wanted to speak up or not. He chose not to, and watched as Drake made another turn, and pulled into the Sylpheed National Park’s parking lot.

It was pitch dark, and Thomas trusted Drake more than his own parents, but this was unnerving. “Sir?”

Drake inhaled, exhaled, and then said, in his usual mild, gentle manner, “Relax, Tommy. I’m not going to yell at you.”

“That’s... good to know...”

He grinned wryly. “I’m not going to hurt you, either. But I figured my chances of getting you to talk to me are greater when your brother’s not involved, so here we are.” When Thomas didn’t reply, Drake said, “I want to know why you defied me like this. You know the rules. On school nights, you leave no later than eight so that both of you can get your schoolwork done and get in bed at a reasonable hour. It’s-“ He looked at the digital watch on his wrist. “A quarter after ten.” Still, Thomas kept quiet. “I suggest you explain yourself if you want to be allowed in my home past five.”

That threat got his attention. “Gareth asked me to stay,” he answered. “Practically begged me to. I... didn’t want to say no to him when he was so adamant.”

“Why did he want you to stay?”

“I don’t know. When does Gareth ever do anything?”

“You’re not getting away with that, you know.”

Defensively, Thomas said, “It’s the truth, sir. He wouldn’t tell me why. He just said that he really wanted me to stay.”

“He says he really wants you to stay every day, Tommy.”

“He said he’d just die if I didn’t tonight, though.”

Sighing, Drake pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “Thomas. Gareth has a flair for the dramatic. You know this.”

“But tonight was different. He was different.” Thomas slumped down again.

“Stop that. You’re acting like a kid. You’re sixteen years old.”

Insulted, Thomas straightened. “I’m not allowed to get frustrated?”

“You’re not allowed to pout over it.” Drake thought for a moment before speaking again. “How are your grades? Still keeping them up?”

What difference did THAT make? “Of course. Straight A’s, like always.”

Drake seemed to consider this. “You do realize that Alex probably already knows something is off tonight, right?” Wordlessly, Thomas nodded. Guessing that he wasn’t going to get much more out of him, Drake started the car again. “As far as Alex is concerned, you stayed late to get some help with your first aid class and we lost track of time.”

Drake’s words surprised him. “You’re not going to-“

“No. This time. And as long as you’re doing schoolwork and it’s alright with your parents, you may stay until nine from now on. Abuse my kindness in this at your own peril. I won’t hesitate to restrict you to afternoons only.” He glanced at him as he started driving. “And we can all agree that none of us want that, least of all you two. But you’re both on thin ice right now.”

“What do you mean, we’re on thin ice?” Thomas went cold. He couldn’t mean...

“I am almost positive that you both know what I mean and that you don’t want me to answer that,” Drake said flatly, “but suffice it to say that I notice far more than either of you seem to think.”

Thomas swallowed hard at that, but felt compelled to pursue this. “Sir, I- don’t-...”

“Yes? You don’t what?”

“Are you upset with us?”

Drake sighed again. “He’s too young for this,” he replied, keeping his words carefully vague. “That’s my only concern, and I’m willing to overlook it for as long as I believe I can trust you. You came perilously close to breaking that trust tonight. I repeat: abuse my kindness in this at your own peril. I’m ignoring what’s going on against my better judgment. Do NOT make me regret that. The consequences won’t be pleasant for anyone, least of all you and Gareth.”

He was ignoring what’s going on... he knew... “Don’t tell my parents.”

“That was the point of this conversation, yes.”

“No, I mean- I mean that I’m gay.”

Drake glanced at him sharply and pulled over. “Why? Do you believe your safety to be in danger if they knew?”

“No- no. Not physical safety. But they already think that I’m a failure. They’ll make my life hell if they have another reason to think that.”

“Being gay doesn’t make you a failure, Tommy. You’re absolutely not anyway, but that doesn’t even factor into the equation.”

“I... I know.”

“Do you?”

“I think...”

Again, Drake sighed and pulled back onto the road, muttering something about being put in a difficult position. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m absolutely not going to out you to anyone you don’t want to be out to. I think you’re being unfair to your parents in this, but your orientation is none of their business. But know that I’m here if you need an adult to talk to.”

“I-... thanks.”

The rest of the ride home was spent in silence.

A character is stuck in a moving vehicle with someone they would really rather not be with

-why don’t they want to be there? 

-does the other character feel the same?

-what do they talk about, if they do talk?

-focus on body language to convey things not said

[sylphee]

I got my physical copy of the little nightmares zine today! Always loved seeing your art around so my brain was firing off happy sparks when I saw your piece in the zine!

Yay!!! I'm so glad you got your zine! All the artists, writers, and mods worked so hard to make it awesome :D

And thank you very much ;u; That piece was a lot of fun to work on, so I'm happy you liked it!!

[ladyarjuna]

“So how did you meet her, anyway? She just showed up with you one day,” Feuerbal asked. 

“... Found me abandoned in a treasure chest and fed me. You?” 

“Someone left me on her doorstep for no reason. ... I wonder what happened to Sylpheed...?” 

[quietbirdee]

dont think i realized how much i needed to see flapjack telling hunter he loves him ;;;~;;; love the way you wrote his dialogue

listen.... i'm genuinely always thinking about them ;u; flapjack loves hunter so much, and it's important to let him know!!!

(and aaaa i reworked the dialogue like, 3 times so i'm really glad you liked it!!)

[birdsides]

thank you for drawing the train blorbos with freckles 🥺🥺🥺

sdfjkl I tend to add freckles to my favorite characters haha

I'm glad you like them!!

[cuddlyclover]

Game Sale!

Hey everyone! I’m selling a bunch of old 360 and a few PS3, and PC games, as well as and unopened Skyrim Enchanced for the PS4. Everything except the Skyrim is $5 plus a few bucks for shipping, and Skyrim is $30

Adding a list below the cut to see if anyone on tumblr wants ‘em before I try and put ‘em up on Ebay. Just shoot me a message or an ask if you’re interested <3

Xbo360 Games:

Project Sylpheed Fable 3 Lego Indy Original Red Faction Guerrilla Prince of Persia - Reboot Bully - Scholar Ship Edition Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Bullet Storm Blur Lost Planet 2 Fable 2 Brother In Arms - Hells Highway Overlord Splinter Cell - Conviction Kinect Adventures Dance Central Your Shape Fitness Evolved Assassin's Creed - Revelations Call of Duty - World At War Call of Duty - Modern Warefare 2 Assassin's Creed - Brotherhood Deadrising Brutal Legend Chrome Hounds Street Fighter 4 Assassin's Creed

PS3:

Assassin's Creed 2 Dragon's Dogma Clive Barker's Jericho

PC

007 BloodStone 007 Quantum of Solace

[joshuaorrizonte]

I was tagged by @asrasotherbottom for a WIP tag game. I’m currently working on a rewrite of my novel trilogy, Infinity’s Chaos. As always, tagging anyone who might want to do it. Here, have a sample:

A noise like tiny windchimes rang out through the air, stopping the conversation. We all looked around in surprise. "What was that?" I asked, and then my gaze fell on Tommy. His pendant from the Children of Kyrios was glowing.

He scowled, tucking the pendant in his shirt. "It's nothing important. Do you want me to go talk to her, Al-" Again, the noise chimed, and Tommy grasped the pendant through his shirt. "Go away, Karinthe," he muttered.

"What is it?" I asked again.

"The pendants can be used as communication devices," Tommy told me. "I told Karinthe when we lost you in Sylpheed that I didn't want to do this anymore, but he refused to take it back. He's trying to get in touch with me and frankly, I don't want to. Nothing good ever comes of it when he talks to me." The pendant chimed for a third time, and Tommy sighed. "I better go see what he wants. I'll be right back."

With that, he stood, walking several feet away from us by another tree. He leaned against it, pulling the pendant from his shirt and held it up to his ear. 

Alex watched his brother curiously, before turning his attention back to us. “As I was saying,” Alex said softly, “this is hard enough to deal with. I need your support more than ever, Sorrow. Part of that support is accepting what I’m telling you. I have one shot, and that’s that this illness might be tied to Evan’s life. Take him out, and maybe it will resolve itself. I need to focus on that if I’m going to have any chance at all of beating this. Can I rely on you to help me with it?”

“Of course, I didn’t mean to-“

Sorrow cut herself off as we watched Tommy return to us. His stride was purposeful as he pulled his glaive from the holster on his back, pressing the button on the staff that made the blade pop out. “We need to go,” Tommy said firmly, urgently. “Now.”