#the amazing race kotlc

[chocolate-mallowmelt]

i currently have a kotlc amazing race au spinning around in my head but i’m struggling to figure out teams because they are so many good dynamics 😭😭😭

[epic-kotlc-crossover]

Suffering & Different Beast

KotLC EPIC crossover (Fitz is Ody and Keefe is Eurylochus)

Fitz heard a splash from the side of his ship. He held up his hand to signal the crew. Stop. 

“Fitz? Is that you?” a voice called from the water. It couldn’t be…

For a moment, almost sounded like his first mate, Keefe. But surely he was imaging it. “Sophie?” Fitz’s voice cracked as he raced to the side of the boat. He leaned over and saw his wife sitting on a rock jutting out of the waves. Her long golden hair billowed out behind her in the salty ocean wind.

“Fitz, after all these years, don’t you miss me?” She asked, hurt in her striking brown eyes.

“Of course I do.” His voice shook as he reached out to her. 

“Then jump in the water and kiss me,” she said, smiling playfully.

“Sophie, I’ve told you so many times: I’m afraid of the water.”

“Oh, darling, I’ll make sure you remain safe. Now come play with me and our son!” Sophie laughed. Fitz couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard that sound. It was amazing.

“I really would love to, but you know I’d prefer my feet on solid ground.”

“I would keep you from suffering.”

“I don’t doubt that you would.”

“Then come into the water!” Fitz heard the urgency of Sophie’s voice.

“Okay, fine. But first, can you answer a few questions?”

Sophie batted her lashes. “Of course.”

Fitz sighed his relief. “Okay, so, let’s pretend I was on the run from Poseidon. And let’s say he blocked the way home with massive storms and giant waves. Which route should I take to avoid him? How do I get home?”

Sophie’s face fell. “The only way home is through a place he’d never dare to go… It’s through the lair of Scylla.”

“No,” Fitz whispered, leaning back in shock.

“It’s your only way.”

“But.. Scylla has a cost.” Fitz's mind was whirling. Scylla, Scylla, Scylla. Greet the world with open arms, Fitz. The last voice was Dex. His friend, his brother in arms… He shoved the thought away.

“Well, you asked me and now you know, so jump in the water, Fitz!”

“Sophie, I would die for you, but can’t you let me stay dry on the boat?” 

“Just, please,” she pleaded, “come into the water.”

Fitz sighed and straightened his back, shaking his head. “The things I do for you, Sophie.” Just as he was about to jump, he stopped, a glare marring his features. 

“Let’s cut this charade, you aren’t my wife. You’ve been trying to kill me this whole time. I know underwater there are more of you hiding. That’s right, I know you’re a Siren.” He spat the last word with disgust.

“How do you know that?” Sophie asked, fear making its way onto her face.

“Well, for starters, my real wife knows that I’m not scared of the water. And my real wife knows I don’t have a son!” Fitz shouted.

“And,” Fitz added with a smirk, “you didn’t notice your friends got captured.”

“WHAT?” The siren yelled. She whipped her head to the side, eyes widening as she noticed the empty waters beside her. 

“Since the Underworld, I’ve decided: I’m done suffering.” He gestured to his crew behind him, and then added, “We are a different beast now. No more us will die because of you. We are the manmade monsters.” He finished in a low snarl.

Keefe stepped forward and handed Fitz his bow and arrow. When Fitz took it, his fingers brushed his first mate’s hand. Keefe cleared his throat and said, “Captain, what are your orders?”

“Kill them all.”

Screams rose from the waters as his crew murdered the packs of sirens ruthlessly. Fitz helped, aiming his arrows at the siren disguised as his wife. She dodged, hissing and splashing salty water at his eyes. 

While she was frantically dodging his shots, Fitz said, “When we were trying to escape Poseidon, we found a ship with no crew and figured out it must be sirens. We put beeswax in our ears and I played along when you pretended to be my wife. I read your lips and you were very helpful, but now that I know how to get back to Ithica, we don’t need you anymore.” He grinned evilly as the siren gasped. He used her momentary distraction to aim an arrow right between her ribs.

Aim.

Pull back. 

Fire. 

Athena’s mantra rang through his ears as blood spilled from the siren. Her scream was drowned out by all the others.

All I hear are screams.

[fitzvackertheritzcracker]

what are kotlc characters like playing mario kart 👀👀

Fitz: Hates it. Won't ever play it. He's only played once against Keefe and he came 12th every race. Doesn't know how to work the controllers and keeps pressing the brakes instead of the accelerator.

Keefe: Loves it. Favourite game ever. First heard about it from Sophie after she off-handly mentioned it and convinces Grady and Edaline to let them go to the Forbidden cities just to get a copy. His favourite is Bowzer and he always picks the fastest cars.

Sophie: Likes it. She played a lot as a kid and sometimes makes references to it. Her and Amy used to spend hours on it until she was forced to stop playing because she had memorised the maps and constantly won. Once they had a copy in the Lost Cities she was in charge of teaching everyone how to play.

Dex: Loves it as well. Him and Keefe play it almost every day and he's an expert player. Sometimes he uses his Technopath powers to hack into the system and let him win easier. Favourite character is Luigi.

Biana: Likes it. She thinks it's fun to play, but the controls are hard. She's used to making impulsive decisions, however, and is quick to use the power-ups on anyone who's close at the time. Plays mostly with Keefe or Dex whilst they're over at Everglen. Her favourite is Princess Peach.

Linh: Dislikes it. She thinks it's boring and only plays when someone else (usually Biana or Dex) forces her too. She prefers the prettier maps like Rainbow Road and mainly plays her favourites on repeat.

Tam: Pretends he hates it but secretly loves it. He plays under Linh's account so nobody suspects anything. His favourite character is Mario. He's an amazing player because he's extremly competive and has mastered the skills completly.

[crymeariveronceagain]

This is why there's that line about how I "Mari-Kondo" my way through canon.

Because I'm the woman in this video and canon is her house

I BEG YOUR PARDON SHANNON????

NO TF SHE DON'T

SHE LIVES AT SOLREEF WITH HER REAL DAD AND HER ADOPTED BROTHER WYLIE

SCREW YOU SHANNON

[bookwyrminspiration]

Hello!! Its heathen!

First of all, doing this out of order is my jam. Second of all, I am answering this right after reading the one I sent about the garbage gnomes. Third of all, if your master post need doing then do it now and I'll give you an Internet cookie.

The mental image of Sophie trying to draw and then hating it and then a gnome coming over and gobbling it down is amazing and I will keep it near my heart.

Crystal buildings are entirely impractical and honestly ugly, who the fuck would want to live in that all day. Like the green of the tribunal hall would just set me off like, sense wise. I guess this is what happens when a pretenscious species decides that they're too good for wood and stone and brick, because no matter how much they want to preserve there has to be excavation for all that crystal, like for a race who's entire thing is being peace loving hippies who don't want to hurt the earth, they sure are hurting the earth (I read like. A small bit from the first book online and apparently they made the core of the earth habitual?? Like that is just straight up impractical especially for a prison. Just put them in some city catacombs like a normal person.)

Also I have not gotten around to reading your wings au yet but! The mention of Keefe doing the bird thing of pruning someone's wings on instinct is fucking adorable and I love it and I need to read that bit but I don't want any other spoilers.

Also, are the time zones addressed in kotlc?? I remember reading a post somewhere that mentioned that they don't really but i don't know if it was from you or not

(Please ignore the spelling errors, I mess up so often that my auto correct incorporates them now)

heathen! hello! I am doing so many things out of order so plenty of jam to be found here! Once a group of asks gets old enough I stop the chronological approach and instead go by vibes and which ones I think I can answer most efficiently, so sometimes I do things out of order. Also if a certain topic is relevant (like wings au day or character/ship hours) I'll prioritize those instead. Essentially: out of order chaos!!

also I'd forgotten about that gnomes eating the trash thing...does this mean they're like compost bins? Are there certain trash items they can't be fed? Or do different gnomes eat different types of trash? now I'm imagining there's specialized gnomes that are equipped to eat the tougher waste. How convenient it would be to have a gnome bodyguard you can always feed your trash! That's Flori's real purpose /j

(also my masterpost does still need to be updated and I still have not done that. Maybe that's a project I'll tackle this weekend. Though I'd like to also go through my bookshelves to make an official TBR!)

The crystal buildings have always been like a "okay I guess we can do that" element to the story for me. Like I have so many questions and would probably never live in a crystal home (well, at least not without asking a million questions about it so I know it's a sound decision) but as far as the story goes I mostly brush it off. I think it's the vibrant colors that are off-putting for a lot of us, at least here in the US. There's this element of what?? Colorful houses?? You can do that? Though it may be more normal to other cultures and areas of the world that have brighter houses (I can't remember any specific ones off the top of my head but I know they exist!) Another aspect of it is that if the house is made of crystal and the crystal is colored...does that mean that's also the color of the inside of your house? So in that sense it's different than having colorful exteriors to your house if your entire house is super bright. Which would probably hurt my eyes depending on the light

The excavation thing! That's a great point. Crystals are a non-renewable resource, and so much use of them for building means they're using a lot and taking a lot. For a species that supposedly values the earth and the ecosystem, i feel like it would make a lot more sense for them to build something out of a renewable resource. It doesn't necessarily have to be a human resource like wood or anything, but crystal feels like it was more for the purpose of making the world seem rich and aesthetic instead of aligning with their morals. Which is fine! Sometimes authors have to prioritize one element over the other! It's just something we happen to notice so we can be like "ah, you see, here's the decision they made and why it was the best decision at the time despite contradicting a few other things." I've done it myself!

(yes, they made the core of the Earth habitable canonically. Though I think that's from book 2, Exile. Apparently the dwarves dug out the space and the Elves made it habitable, or something along those lines. Also the elves are not normal in the slightest and had to be unbelievably extra, making a prison in the center of the earth. They do have other prisons! I think this was in part to make the elves seem really capable and other from humans, and also to add to the drama of the second book)

please don't feel any pressure to read the wings au! It's just there for fun if you want to. And it's very long (it's longer than the first book in the series and getting close to being longer than the second) so if you do read it, please take your time (this also applies to you, Nines, but I know you won't listen /lh). But yes! There's little animals traits in a few of them and preening happens to be one of them for Fitz and Keefe (as they both have feathered wings). It's such a great opportunity for cute moments between them <33. Speaking of the wings au, there's actually a new chapter tomorrow!! I won't spoil anything though, don't worry!

Time zones are not really addressed in the Lost Cities. I believe there's a brief mention in Legacy where Sophie goes from Havenfield to London and comments on how its night in both places, meaning they had the same time zone. But aside from that it's ignored. I don't know if i was the one who made that post (I have so many I've lost track), but it's one of those details that the fandom occasionally bring up like "hey guys this is still a confusing thing" and we all go "oh yea that's weird haha" until we forget and then repeat the process. There are a few topics like that that come up fairly often, usually being reintroduced by new fandom members who have no way of knowing that we've already made that observation! (not saying you're doing this or that it's a bad thing, just something I've noticed)

(also I make my fair share of spelling mistakes and I have no intention of policing anyone's spelling or grammar unless they ask me too, so you're good! autocorrect is not my friend either and my partner and I have had our fair share of funny moments because of it)

there's a lot to the worldbuilding of the Lost Cities--that tends to happen when you create an entirely new world--so it's only natural that we as readers who have the time to think things over from a lot more perspectives are bound to catch a few things that seem weird or nonsensical. But unless it's actively harmful it's usually just good for a little laugh! I have an entire series of posts pointing out the tiniest details of the worldbuilding, and while my observations are mostly valid, it's all in a joking manner.

but it's always fun to talk about!

[axels-corner]

@annas-kotlc-shit hi, I was you’re secret Santa so I wrote a short fic about when Keefe returns to the lost cities. I hope you like it, and happy holidays!

The sun glistened on the fluffy white snow and glistening white flakes of snow rained down as Sophie and her friends made snow angels and built snow towns. It was one of the rare days they had off from fighting the neverseen. Suddenly a light glistened under the panakes tree as someone glittered into view. Whoever it was had messy blond hair almost like they had tried to give themselves a homemade haircut like the ones off of youtube, and ice blue eyes, they almost looked like- Sophie gasped

      “Keefe!” she exclaimed running up the hill. She stopped a couple of feet from him not wanting to overwhelm him with her emotions like what happened when he first woke up.

      “I’m here,” he said, “I’m here” they both pulled away from the hug Keefe smiled at her and said, “I heard that there was cinnacreme and gingerbread houses being made.” Sophie nodded

      “It’s okay Foster,” he said taking a step closer and opening his arms, “I figured out how to control my powers.” She rushed into his arms they both held tight for a few moments as panakes petels fell around them. It was still early in December so some of the leaves where still on the trees. Sophie pulled away looked up at him and said

      “They should be done any minute.” Just as she said that the timer went off in her pocket. She held out her hand “What do think about going inside to make some gingerbread houses with the others?” she asked

      “That sounds amazing, Fos-Boss.” Keefe answered and Sophie laughed starting to run as she yelled

      “You’re here, you’re really here.” Disbelief filled her voice. Keefe nodded

      “Last one to the door is a rotten egg!”

      “You’re on!” Keefe yelled after her as the rest of her friends also joined the race. As they raced towards the house a sense of peacefulness settled over the snowy landscape and everything would be okay even if they had a long fight ahead of them.

[shatteredsisters-blog]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger, KOTLC Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Keefe Sencen, Tam Song, Linh Song, Fitz Vacker, Biana Vacker, Sophie Foster, Dex Dizznee Additional Tags: Kidnapped, Missing, kinda mean, i feel bad doing this to keefe oops, Angst Summary:

How broken do you have to be before you’re shattered?

Keefe Sencen has been taken. Snatched from what was meant to be a prank, he struggles to find his way home. The question is, where is home?

Tam Song is cracking. He’s the cause of this, or so he believes. He’s convinced he’s the reason Keefe is suffering, and it’s awakening feelings he’s so desperately shut in the depths of his mind.

Sophie Foster is panicking. One of her best friends is missing and his blood has been splattered. She wonders, what would happen if there is no blood left by the time she finds him?

Time is ticking. Hour by hour, there’s a chance Keefe will never come back, and the gang is scrambling to crack the clues and ominous hints left by the mysterious thieves.

Chapter 3 beneath the cut.

Chapter 3: The Storm

Sophie had never felt more panicked.         She shared a fearful look with Linh before asking, “Fitz, what’s wrong with Biana?”

        The handsome face on the imparter’s screen twisted with terror, “I don’t know! She just stopped responding and began to cry when she read it!”

        Fitz had called a few moments ago, talking about Biana receiving a letter that left her in shock.

        “Have you read it yet?” Linh questioned worriedly.

        “No. I can’t get it out of her hands.”    

  “We’re coming over,” Sophie said, sitting up so fast her head started spinning.         She grabbed Linh’s hand and barely noticed how the hydrokinetic’s face flushed adorably with red.         “C’mon!” Sophie called, pulling her toward the cliff.         Linh flailed for a moment, startled, but got her footing and the two girls ran and jumped.

        The fall was always terrifying, even after literal years of doing this.         A crack split the air, and the duo fell in a heap. They scrambled up—blushing, obviously—dusting themselves off. A sudden noise caught their 

Loud, shrill 

Without uttering a word, the elves took off and shoved open the doors, running into the room.

“What’s going on?!” Sophie asked as Fitz came running down the stairs.  

“I already told you!”

“Well where is she?” Linh said, glancing around the room.        

“In the kitchen,” Fitz said as he darted away with Sophie and Linh on his heels.

They entered the kitchen area, where Biana kneeled on the floor, her shoulders shaking. She kept vanishing, her abilities reacting to her emotions.

“Biana? What’s wrong?” Sophie asked.

 She looked up, tear stains racing down her face.

They stood quietly, waiting.

  Biana stood, wiping her face roughly with her sleeve. Sophie had never seen her do such an inelegant thing.   

  She looked at it briefly, only spying messy handwriting. Her main concern was Biana, whose eyes were red and puffy.      

  “It’s okay.” Linh murmured, pulling the girl into a 

Biana smiled sadly, but sniffed as she glanced back down at the note, “Read it. She said the words so softly, Sophie had to strain to hear them, but she obliged.

The boy of sadness has wandered away. To a place that only him and I could find. I’ve sent him there on a fake quest,

to a place where he can make no calls of distress. If you want him back, give me what I desire. Respond quickly or he shall be gone forever. Fear not, for my request is simply human currency.

The boy of sadness… 

        Realization struck Sophie harder than a bullet train. Her heart thudded against her chest as thousands of vivid scenarios raced through her brain.

“Keefe?” Linh gasped before Sophie could open her mouth.

Biana averted her eyes, another tear rolling down her cheek, “I-it has to be.”

“Who sent him on a fake quest?!” Fitz asked, the disbelief strong in his tone.

“Fitz, stop asking stupid questions and start asking why they want human money!” Biana shouted, her mood suddenly turning angry.

Nobody knew how to react.

Sophie curved her mouth to form words at the spark of realization. “Wait… there are lots of different types of human money! They don’t all use the same currency…”

And then it dawned on her. “Is this a prank?”

Linh’s eyes widened.

Fitz wheeled on her. “A prank? Sophie, no! Keefe is missing!”

“But it’s a fake quest. And whoever wrote this probably doesn’t know much about humans because they didn’t specify what kind of money they want.” Everyone was looking at her now, which made Sophie reach up and tug and eyelash out.

“It’s just… a maybe,” she mumbled, looking down.

Fitz took back the note. “Let’s call someone from the Black Swan, run for Keefe’s pendent. For all we know Keefe could be messing with us,”

Biana looked at her brother in horror. “Fitz! He could be kidnapped and you think this is a joke?!”

Fitz turned to look his sister in the eyes. “Biana, it’s Keefe. What would anyone want with him?”

Biana’s eyes blazed, “Fitz,” she said lowly.

“Not like that! I mean, who would take him? We took out the Neverseen ages ago. We demolished the rebellion. There is no more enemies, and there hasn’t been for well over two years.”

Sophie’s stomach rolled. She remembered the horror of being with Brant and the others. She remembered it quite clearly.

“We should take this seriously until we’ve confirmed it’s a joke.” Dex said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. “Sorry, Linh called. I uh... she thought I should come.” He fiddled with a gadget on his wrist. Sophie looked at Linh questioningly.

“Fine. I’ll call Magnate Leto and tell him that we need to track Keefe,” Fitz said, snapping her back to attention.

“No need! That’s kind of why Linh called. I uh, developed a way to track our pendants? I know, random, but I just… I started the project after we first got kidnapped and I found it recently and thought it’d be funny to use it to mess with you guys. But now I should probably use it to track our missing friend,” Dex said quickly.

“Do it!” Biana jumped in, “Find him, please,”

Sophie found herself smiling, and when she glanced over, she saw Linh smiling as well.

It was obvious that Biana cared for Keefe, and Sophie had to admit she was a little jealous.

But that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Hey, where's your parents?” Dex asked as he pulled a small device from his pocket.

“Away on business,” Fitz answered automatically, watching him switch on the tech.

Dex placed his thumb on the black panel. “Keefe Sencen,” he whispered. The device pinged for a moment, before zooming in on a globe, then to a country, and then to a giant forest.

Located, Heller Kern forest, 48-18-8-9.

“Why is he in Claralux?” Fitz said, looking at the map.

“What?” Sophie glanced at him, confused.

“It’s the proper name of the forest,” Dex explained, “Claralux is a forest with bioluminescence in the core of it. The trees also sing a powerful, ancient song that even we can hear. It allows us to hear the voice of the one we truly desire, but it can be a lot of things based on the book,” 

“Oh.” Sophie said. “How do we get there?”

“With this!” Linh said, fumbling to hold up a crystal, “I’ve kept it since we lived there. It’s true, though you can ask the trees to stop if they trust you,”

The crystal was a pale green, one that Sophie had never seen before. “How did you get that?”

Linh blushed. “I made it,”

Wow. That… Sophie didn’t know what to say to that.

Dex eyed it, the amazement clear in his periwinkle eyes. But thankfully, Biana saved her from having to respond.

“C’mon!” She cried, racing over to Linh.

The small smile that cracked across the hydrokinetic’s face caused a series of emotions to spring through Sophie’s heart, but she shoved them away.

Linh held the crystal  up to the light, motioning to follow, “Let’s go!”

The forest was unlike anything that Sophie expected. In all honesty, she didn’t know what’d she was expecting.

But a strangely warm, glowing forest was not it.      

The trees were tall and welcoming, and even though they loomed over Sophie and her friends, she didn’t feel threatened. They went on for miles, never seeming to end.       

 “Woah…” Fitz said, gazing at the forest with his mouth hanging open.

Dex and Biana stared at it with the same awe, but Linh was hurriedly shoving the crystal back into her pocket, then glanced at them, “You all ready?” They snapped out of their trance and nodded.

Linh turned to look at the forest as well, and she heaved a deep sigh, “Okay… Follow me.”

She took one step towards the woods, which encouraged Sophie to do the same.

Their walk went slowly at first, as they all were distracted by the pure, natural beauty of the place. They quickened their pace, with Linh and Dex in the lead.

Sophie admired the forest from behind them, but ahead of her she watched as the two elves shivered as they set foot into the woods.

“What is it?” Biana asked worriedly.

Linh turned to look at them, her pale blue eyes glazed over.

Worry sprang through Sophie, seeping through her bones. “Linh?” she whispered.

“It’s… just the trees. They’re louder this time. Urgent. Can’t you hear it?”

Her voice was soft, distant, even. How she sounded when Sophie enhanced her for the first time.

Sophie shook her head. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Then listen.”

Sophie was confused. How does she listen to something she couldn’t hear?

But she closed her eyes anyway, and focused on the forest.

“Help him,”

Sophie looked at Linh. “Did you say something?”

Linh shook her head, focused on something else.

How could Linh have said something, but not actually say it?

“Help him,” it repeated.

Sophie looked up. It wasn’t Linh. Was this the forest? Was this was she was talking about?

“How?” Sophie whispered, earning some bewildered looks.

“Sophie?” Fitz said, stepping forward.

And suddenly, light shimmered into the air, and it then elongated into a long line, stretching and winding into the forest, to places they couldn’t see. They all gasped, staring at the glow. But then they took deep breaths, and listened to their hearts.

And so they followed the light.

It was easy to say that Sophie wasn’t scared. But she was. The deeper she got, she swore the shadows grew longer and seemed to move unnaturally.

Something about the way they moved felt so… familiar.

Step by step they walked through the forest. Fitz stayed near the back, while Dex and Linh led them. Biana stayed close to Sophie.

The trees suddenly ended, the thick trucks seeming to curve around a single clearing, an area that bright light emanated from.

It took her breath away.

Linh started forward, walking in powerful, confident strides, before a shadow appeared and disappeared, forming the familiar face of Tam. He was grinning maniacally.

“Ha! Got you!” Linh stepped back in surprise, while the others jumped at the sudden noise.

“What?” Biana said, confused.

Tam looked at them apologetically. “Sorry, I had to make it believable. I made Keefe come out here in search of Sophie, but I haven’t seen him yet... I was gonna fake kidnap him, but I guess that’s failed.”

Dex paled. “The tracker says he’s within one hundred feet of us,”

“Not possible, I’ve covered every inch of this forest looking for him.” Tam said. “But to be sure…” He spread his arms out, and shadows went racing over and around all of them, and Sophie shuddered.

It was hard to remember exactly how powerful the Shade had gotten in the last few years.

“He’s not here,” Tam said.

“That.. no. This device is tracking his registry pendent.” Dex said, holding up the device.

“Maybe it’s wrong?” Fitz suggested.

“It’s getting the feed from the Council. I see what they see. So if it’s wrong, then it’s not my tools.” Sophie looked sideways at him, remembering how The Black Swan would mess up their registry pendants every so often so they could slip to a place unknown or prohibited. Maybe Dex forgot that?

“Guys?” Linh said, suddenly standing a few feet away from them, holding up a piece of paper in one hand and an empty, uncapped bottle in another.

She read it, and handed it to Fitz.

Sophie’s heart dropped as she saw the look on his face.

Horror. Fitz slowly handed the note to Dex, with the others watching carefully.

They looked at Dex, watching his skin pale and his hands fidget as he processed the words.

And then Sophie took her turn. The words were harsh, like it was written by one very, very, very angry person.

Revenge is best served on a silver platter.

The shiny pendent fell with a clatter.

In order for you to pay for your misbehavior,

He will have to SHATTER.

Her hands shook as it dawned on her what was happening.

Biana took the note from Sophie’s gloved hands, falling to her knees at the possible loss of her… friend.

“Guys?” Fitz said, his voice coming out choked. “You need to see this,”

Sophie’s eyes followed the disruption in the grass, a pathway made by a sled or something large.

Or someone being dragged through it.

And then she saw what he was looking at. She froze as her heartbeat thundered in her ears.

Keefe’s silver registry pendent.

Covered in blood.

[bookwyrminspiration]

I was just going to reply on the original post, but I figured everyone should see this. (This will be long). This is a gentle reminder regarding body image and representation, but I will not hesitate to be rude about this if it comes to that.

This is the comment I got, and this is the original post:

I’m assuming this comment was made in regards to the aesthetic attraction of Linh’s figure, so that’s what I’ll focus on more.

I drew Linh in a normal, healthy body. She is not “a little too fat” and she is not unhealthy. She is in a human body that has curves and shape and fat, because that’s how bodies work. That being said, whether or not someone is healthy has no correlation to their value as an individual.

These characters are not real, they have no concrete design. Some people may imagine the character one way, but that is their own opinion, and you have no right or privilege to tell other people they are misrepresenting or drawing the characters “incorrectly,” especially when what you’re talking about is a personal preference.

Yes, Shannon has provided a baseline of how she views the characters, but we cannot trust any author to be 100% unbiased and inclusive in their work. It’s simply impossible. It’s been said before and I’ll say it again, the elves having only “slim figures” and being portrayed as “naturally more beautiful” is harmful. Because it tells us that in order to be beautiful, we should look like elves, and in order to look like elves, we should be thin.

Yes, some people can separate themselves and their self image from the work, but some people can’t, and they can’t find more positive representation.

One of the great things about fandoms like this is that they’re made up of people who have the experience and insight to correct these gaps in representation. We have queer creators to write and draw characters in an accurate and respectful way. We have plus sized creators, creators from different cultures, and so many more. As a fandom we can decide to fix the mistakes ourselves when we see them, because Shannon does make mistakes. Everyone does.

I will admit, when drawing Linh it wasn’t my intention to try and bring more representation to the fandom, I just wanted to draw her because I like her. And I drew her how I imagined her. If you imagine her as thinner, or taller, or thicker, or plus sized, or anything, that is okay. That is your interpretation of her character. But understand that no one else is required to share those thoughts, or create content mirroring your interpretations.

People make the argument that because this is a fantasy world, it’s fine that everyone is thin because it isn’t our world. I hear you, but let me tell you this: It doesn’t matter that it’s a fantasy world, because the people reading this series live in the real world, and the story has real world impacts. The people reading about this supposedly “perfect, superior race” are real people, and no matter who you are, you’re going to look for yourself in the series, because you want to relate to these amazing characters. We all do it, looking for anything and anyone like us, but we can’t all find anything.

I can’t find a LGBTQ+ elf for myself, or an elf with anything close to my ethnicity. I can’t find an elf with chronic pain for myself. Others can’t find plus sized elves for themselves, or their ethnicity, or a million others things I can’t think of.

So fandom creators will draw and write things to fill those gaps, because we want to be a part of the story. The way I drew Linh’s body is very similar to my own, because it’s a way I can see myself in the story. And she is not too fat, she is just existing.

Let me make it clear, I do not fault anyone for not realizing there are things wrong in KOTLC, or for expressing a differing opinion about a character. I do fault you for choosing to pretend you still don’t know. I’ve now told you some of the issues, and you have the responsibility now to use this knowledge when talking about the representation, and when commenting on and observing the content others creators so graciously provide.

I would also like to make it clear that I am not 100% without fault either. I can speak on these issues, and I am, but that doesn’t mean I won’t say something wrong, or forget something, or just speak out of turn. I am always open to hearing constructive and informed feedback from others with more experience, or perspectives I haven’t considered. I’ve chosen to speak right now because the original comment was talking about my work, but there are a lot of other people who can say more.

I am also always willing to talk more in depth into subject like these.

Talk to people, educate yourselves, enjoy the community, love you lots <3

[crippling-pages]

First off I love the idea, and secondly if you wanna be accurate to the books I'd say;

Sophie and Dex; the overall best friends that we need more of. Also, in the first book we see them in the human world working pretty well, and if they work that well together not knowing almost anything about where they are, imagine how well they could work together if they know everything about it. (They also are just an amazing duo that would 1000% work together.)

Tam and Biana; I am saying this as not a Tiana shipper because I know people will call me biased for this, but as a reader of kotlc; they' ve canonically been pared for many, many assignments and have worked together lots of times, almost always getting a lot of work done. They're dynamic also works really well; they're both really smart and clever, so they would and do work well together tbh.

Other than these two, I'd say Keefe and Fitz and Marella and Linh. Obviously this is if you want to have the best working groups together. If you want unique groups with different dynamics though...

Keefe and Linh; This one would be a funny and interesting one to see. I feel like they would get a liiittle bit off topic and distracted every now and then, but they would get some good shit done when they focus!

Dex and Marella: Our little forgotten duo. Tbh they are really underrated team, and would 100% succeed in their assignment, while having fun and being goofy along the way XD

Sophie and Tam: Alongside Tam and Biana and Sophie and Dex, they would be a powerhouse duo. They would get ahead of everyone and take an ice cream break while doing it.

Biana and Linh: Our amazing girls. They would have fun together and honestly just enjoy the whole thing. Maybe they'd go shopping, or talk about boys, they might forget they're actually doing something important, but they'll catch up quickly!

Anyways this is my opinion for which would be the best team and which duos would be interesting to have lol. Hope this helps! <3

i currently have a kotlc amazing race au spinning around in my head but i’m struggling to figure out teams because they are so many good dynamics 😭😭😭

[chocolate-mallowmelt]

wait i love all of this thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️

i currently have a kotlc amazing race au spinning around in my head but i’m struggling to figure out teams because they are so many good dynamics 😭😭😭