#the chime hours

[awlimagines]

The Devout Grim (First Meeting)

The overcast skies threatened rain and perfectly matched the young woman’s current temperament. Pony growled as she stalked through the cobbled streets of Mineral Town. The larger half of Forgotten Valley was prioritized in providing some form of pavement to the town’s center. The intersecting streets were barely wide enough to contain a carriage. It was probably much nicer than the mud that sucked your boots into the earth when it rained like the half she lived on. Pony’s displeasure didn’t come from the differences in Forgotten Valley’s two halves. Much like the other residents away from Mineral Town, she wasn’t bothered by the unpaved roads. Instead, she enjoyed it. Pony had lived too many years contained in the capital’s stone walls attending the Caldwell Foundation’s school to not enjoy the fresh air and open space before her now. No. Her anger was fully focused on her circumstances and certain residents. 

The Caldwell Foundation sent her here undercover as a typical resident—a poor girl searching for solace in her father’s death in the only place he called home. Pony had thought her superiors at the school seemed cold for such a disguise after she genuinely lost her father. But, she could not argue the cleverness of using such a story when Pony was too straightforward to lie easily. Even now, Pony wondered if she sold the appearance of a daughter mourning her father and returning to his roots appropriately to Takakura. It was difficult to read the emotions of her father’s childhood friend. 

After a traveler’s death on the mountain, with clear signs indicating the work of fae, the Caldwell Foundation wanted more measures to root out the cause. In addition to herself, there was an active Hunter assigned to the area, a retired Hunter regulated to a supervisory role, and a fellow graduate at the top of their class, alongside support staff. The amount of people for such a mission seemed overkill to Pony when she saw the size of the community. Takakura appeared to catch a hint of her disappointment upon her arrival and explained that although there were few residents, Forgotten Valley was essential to the land. They were one of the greatest suppliers of produce and animal products until recently, and travelers regularly passed through the town. 

Her supervisor, Matthew Hale, the retired Hunter, should have been the one to explain everything to her. Instead, he told her to focus on her farm and learn how to farm appropriately. Pony didn’t see why a cover was so important when she should be finding the cause of the town’s problems. She dutifully obeyed his orders, focusing her first week on animal care and tending crops while speaking with her neighbors. Beyond telling her to leave the other Hunter, Gordy Scherer, and the scientist Daryl Bowditch alone to complete their work, Pony had yet to receive any other orders. 

To make matters worse, Rick de Lancre was in town. The de Lancre family moved to the Mineral Town side years ago. His sick mother was sent to live in the cleaner country air while their father searched for a cure. Pony was thrilled to know a familiar face at first. Then, Rick opened his mouth to remark about her release from the Caldwell Foundation snidely. She endured his ribbing about her lackluster performance in everything but physical classes during their school years. Pony tasted blood biting her tongue when Rick mentioned farming was a better occupation for her and offered to help her learn to care for chickens if the work was too difficult. She had to maintain her cover, no matter how infuriating her peer became. 

Pony planned to take a break and ease her anger by soaking in the natural hot springs in Forgotten Valley’s mountains. Her plan was swiftly ruined when Gordy and Rick found a pixie nest in the same area. After Matthew discretely told her to remain out of the way, Pony found herself wandering the town. She just wanted a quiet corner alone to unwind. Yet, everywhere she went, townspeople were lingering in small groups. Her purple eyes glared at the church before her, debating on entering. Every other shop had people too eager to speak with her. Churches were known for being places where silence was coveted. Pony decided to take her chances and slipped inside. 

She knew it was the largest building in town, but Pony did not expect it to rival the smaller chapels of the city. It was kept pristine like all other buildings in the proud Forgotten Valley. Neat rows of bright, white pews stood alongside a plush, red rug leading through their center to the altar. She worried the dried dirt and muck on her boots would ruin the rich carpet. Her fears didn’t last long as she caught sight of the stained glass windows dying the afternoon sun into brilliant patterns across the wooden floor. Pony’s sharp eyes scanned the altar. Nothing was there to indicate what god the church worshipped. Those in the capital focused their praise on Saint Emeline, who freed humans from the tyranny of the fae. However, she knew from half-awake history lessons in school that some of the rural communities still worshipped the fae goddesses of the land. Each township seemed to have its own deity, but each was called the same thing: Harvest Goddess. Once the professor stated their practices had fallen from favor, Pony dismissed the lesson as unimportant.  

Pony turned her back to the altar, intending to revel in the quiet peace she had finally found. Her blood ran cold at the sight of Rick de Lancre passing the windows outside the church. In a panic, she scanned the room for somewhere to hide. Moving swiftly to avoid further wounds to her pride from the young man, Pony crammed herself into the confessional. The seconds felt like hours as she strained to hear the church doors open. A sigh of relief fluttered from her at the continued silence. Come to think of it, wasn’t he walking and speaking with someone else? They were probably only walking past the church. The sound of someone politely clearing their throat from the confessional’s other side shocked Pony. She let out a startled yelp as she crashed into the back of the booth, sitting hard on the small bench. 

“I’m sorry; please forgive me for surprising you so,” the calm tone mostly masked its owner’s underlying amusement. 

“No, sorry. I didn’t hear you earlier.” Pony fought the flush of embarrassment, warming her face. Of course, the pastor would be there somewhere if the church was open. If she let her guard down in the field like this, she would be dead instantly. 

“Is something the matter?” 

“No, I- Well. You can’t share what I say with people, right?” 

“I wouldn’t dream of such a thing. All confessions are between you and the goddess,” the voice reassured. Pony waited as he paused, weighing how much she believed the stranger’s words. When the pastor spoke again, the words sounded like those of a co-conspirator. “Now, pray tell me, what is it that weighs upon your mind?” 

“Townspeople don’t like me.” Pony cursed herself the moment the words left her mouth. That was too vague. “Wait, I mean, not all dislike me, but I am having trouble getting along with a handful. I just- I think I should do better.” 

“How funny. I find that I dislike being around you as well. Let’s wrap this up quickly, shall we? The divine has no forgiveness for sinners like you. Heavenly retribution will surely rain down from above.” 

The pastor’s switch from friendly ambivalence to casual cruelty froze Pony. The confessional suddenly felt cramped. She hadn’t even met the pastor face to face. How could she have made such a terrible impression so quickly? Frustrated tears pricked at her eyes. 

“Forgive me, that seemed the quickest way to show you you’re worrying over things you shouldn’t,” he soothed. “Such conflicts are normal when first meeting others. The divine can see your sincerity in having good relations, and soon, so will those you think dislike you.” 

“I see,” Pony mumbled, slowly recovering from the shock. It was eerie how accurately the pastor had pinpointed one of her greatest struggles and addressed her concerns. A mere week in town was hardly enough to have formed any relation with people. They would see in time that Pony genuinely cared about getting to know those around her and not just for the sake of her mission. She joined the Caldwell Foundation to help people, not just follow her father’s footsteps. As for Rick, she couldn’t say his confidence was unfounded. He had been at the top of their class for a reason. Besides, Pony was not a slouch herself, and despite the secrecy, she was assigned to be here. Rick was merely on break, visiting family and awaiting his first assignment. In this instance, Pony was the one a step ahead. 

“Your spirits seem restored.” 

“Yes, thank you. I do feel better after speaking with you.”

“I’m glad,” the words seemed to linger as if their owner was waiting to say something more.  Pony vaguely wondered what his pause was for until she remembered their location. 

“I should leave. Others might need to confess; thank you again, um, pastor,” Pony belatedly realized she didn’t have a name for the voice. She didn’t know there was a church to have a pastor until today either; she reflected as the brunette scrambled from the space into the church. Pony stepped further into the church, away from the confessional’s door. Another person had entered while she was in. The young male sat on the pews, making no motion to move. She hesitated to speak with him. Not only did she want to avoid interrupting his moment of reflection, but he seemed downtrodden. 

“You’re Pony, yes? A most auspicious meeting indeed. Takakura told me all about you. My name is Carter; I hope I see you at church more.” 

Pony turned to view the pastor as he exited the confessional behind her. Carter wore a kind smile, his eyes shut with the wideness of it. She was shocked to see the pastor. Pony had expected an older man, but he was much younger than the priests she saw in the city. Pony didn’t think he could be much older than herself. Unlike the other priests, who wore bright colors and ornaments, the pastor of Forgotten Valley wore modest black, broken only by a splash of green and a white stole. His hair was straight and brown, a little longer than she would have expected, but kept neat. Carter’s eyes cracked open to stare directly into her own at her silence. Pony was caught in his gaze like an ancient and unfortunate insect as his eyelids parted slightly to reveal amber eyes. She fought to banish the thoughts bubbling in her mind at the man before her, fumbling out a question instead. 

“What do you mean? That this is an auspicious meeting, does that mean something bad?”

“I merely believe you will bring a much-needed change to Forgotten Valley. I look forward to it greatly.”

Pony mumbled an excuse about needing to tend to the farm and her lone cow to make a hasty retreat. She was grateful as the rain began to fall in a steady shower as she hurried home. The cool water was a welcome relief to her warm face. Though not immensely religious, Pony felt she had crossed a line she shouldn’t have for thinking Carter handsome. She decided she would be sure to address him by his title, as Pony prayed to any god willing to listen that Pastor Carter didn’t see her blush.

[silverwhittlingknife]

hi Silver! o/ because that fanart made me wonder - would you happen to know when/where Dick's stuffed elephant plush Zitka turns up in the comics?

GREETINGS CAM <3333 THAT ART WAS SO CUTE

Yeah, I think your instincts are right - it's a truly adorable bit of transformative fandom, but I'm 95% percent sure it's not comics canon. Barbara has canon plushies, but I don't think anyone else does.

I got kinda invested in the investigation (it's hard to prove a negative!) and I ended up typing out an entire History of Elinore/Zitka, so, uh, if you're curious, meet me below the cut for:

Where does Elinore / Zitka - the animal - appear in comics?

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

Where does Elinore / Zitka appear in comics?

We're gonna go in chronological order!

Dick's circus elephant friend was first created for practical reasons: in Batman 436, Marv Wolfman does a big expanded flashback to Dick's circus backstory as a way to subtly show us Tim before officially introducing him (so that we can have a technically-solvable mystery-of-Tim's-identity in LPoD). In this comic, there's an elephant named Elinore who loves Dick:

Aww. Such a cute elephant!

Batman 436 comes out in August 1989. New Titans 60 comes out a few months later, in November, and guess what? When Dick visits the circus, he is suddenly surprised by an unexpected blast from the past! It turns out that even though it's been years, Elinore still remembers him!

Here's the part where Elinore remembers Dick:

SUCH a cute elephant. I love her.

(Guess who else still remembers Dick even though it was so long ago. Guess which other character is about to be an unexpected blast from the past. Guess which character Elinore is directly paralleling guess guess guess sorry everything is about Dick and Tim in my mind but I can focus I swear)

Four years later, in 1993, Batman: The Animated Series retells Dick's origin story. They like and keep Wolfman's elephant, but they change her name to Zitka:

Wolfman doesn't return to the elephant beyond those two appearances, and a few years down the line, New Titans gets cancelled and Wolfman's not writing Dick anymore anyway. So the animal gets abandoned for a while, until Devin Grayson, a fan of both Wolfman and B:tAS, revives the Wolfman-era Titans team in JLA/Titans and then the ongoing series Titans 1999.

Grayson then brings back the elephant in a flashback to Dick's past in Titans 16 (Jun 2000), where she imports the B:tAS name. Sometimes I'm skeptical of TV-to-comics imports, but honestly, I endorse this one. You lose the alliteration, which is a shame, but IMO Zitka is a better elephant name than Elinore.

Here's Dick with the newly-christened Zitka in Titans 16:

Grayson also briefly references the elephant in Gotham Knights 20 and - in a final angsty callback - in Nightwing 88 (Feb 2004), where Zitka tries futilely to comfort Dick in the midst of his trauma conga line:

... And... honestly, I think that's it for comic appearances? The two Wolfman comics plus the three Grayson comics.

Both Wolfman and Grayson are writing multiple titles - Batman, New Titans, Titans, Gotham Knights, and Nightwing between the two of them, spanning a big chunk of Dick's post-Crisis canon - and both writers use the elephant for heartwarming moments of nostalgia, which means if you're doing a post-Crisis readthrough for Dick, Elinore/Zitka feels memorable. But I don't think she actually shows up that much.

For post-2011, I am not as well-informed - throwing this out to the dash? anyone know? - but I feel like Zitka the heartwarming symbol of Dick's heartwarming circus past is, uh, thematically very at odds with the Court of Owls evil!circus vibes, so my instinct is that this story element was almost certainly dropped in the reboot.

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

In WFA, yes; in main comics continuity, no. Technically, I have not read every comic ever published, so I could be wrong!! But I don't think so.

Below, find my rambling reasoning on the tonal vibes of pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-2011, and why this particular story element doesn't seem right to me for the first two.

Pre-Crisis (...okay, mostly the Silver Age): stuffed animal, yes or no?

tl;dr no, requires too much background knowledge on the part of the reader, plus the elephant wasn't a thing until later

Elinore doesn't get created until post-Crisis, but also just generally, pre-Crisis callbacks are more along the lines of this reference in Batman 129 (published in 1960), where, wow, Batman and Robin are hunting jewel thieves - and it turns out Robin recognized this strongman! BUT HOW?!

The comic goes on to recap Dick's entire origin story in flashback, on the assumption that you may not know it.

(BTW, if you'd like to know more about Haly's Circus throughout the years, nightwingology has a great post here summarizing a lot of fun plotlines and characters!)

Basically: Silver Age comics are very self-consciously episodic and kid-friendly; they're not generally gonna do overly-elaborate callbacks because they don't know what comics their kid readers may have randomly picked up or remember.

By the time of post-Crisis, comic books were being written for an adult audience buying from the direct market, i.e. readers who are collecting whole runs & don't need or want Dick's origin story to be recapped to us in full every time it's referenced. That's why in post-Crisis, we get stuff like "hey, neat, this particular soda brand is getting mentioned in several different books!!" or "in order to understand this story arc, buy SIXTEEN DIFFERENT COMICS in FIVE DIFFERENT RUNS and read them ALL ACCORDING TO A NUMBERED ORDER and also you better be following the individual plotlines and recognize these five minor characters who we don't bother to introduce!! Good luck!!" But the elaborate post-Crisis plotlines - and subtler worldbuilding like a stuffed animal callback to Dick's backstory - don't make a lot of story sense UNLESS you're imagining your readers as completionist adult fans.

So IMO a stuffed animal wouldn't be a pre-Crisis thing unless it was The Episodic Story Of the Week, and I don't think a stuffed animal is action-adventure-y enough for the fast-paced storytelling of the Silver Age. (Unless it, like, came to life and tried to eat you or something.)

Post-Crisis: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr: no, Dick's a manly tough guy, he's not gonna have a stuffed animal, that'd be lame, like something Tim might do

Part of the edgy grimdark adult vibes in 80s/90s comics is that some characters who used to be kinda silly & goofy & lighthearted - like Batman and Robin - get reimagined as Serious and Angsty and Edgy in a Tough Cool Manly Brooding Way. This massively affects characterization for Bruce, Dick, and Bruce and Dick's relationship.

(I obviously love this change & love the tense Bruce-and-Dick interactions, but plenty of fans of the earlier fluffy comics really disliked the edgy retcons of Miller / Wolfman / Starlin / et al.)

The upshot is that post-Crisis is a period when you could have a recurring reference like a stuffed elephant, but you wouldn't have a stuffed elephant, not for Dick. I think a toy like that would be too cutesy / childish / effeminate to give a male character in post-Crisis, unless you were poking fun at him.

Now, you could probably let Tim have a stuffed animal, because Tim is sometimes cool but also sometimes a tryhard loser who is faking being cool and not entirely pulling it off (see e.g. the Robin comic where he practices tough-guy faces in the mirror, or the Teen Titans comic where Conner discovers his cringy Enya CD, or when he's fanboying over Connor and it's awkward, etc etc.). A stuffed animal would be deeply embarrassing, and you'd have to be careful to compensate by having Tim do something cool afterward - but Tim's character concept allows for "he's kind of a loser sometimes."

But Dick isn't!! In post-Crisis, Dick's a tough / impressive / "cool guy" character, the kind of guy anyone would want to be, even in the flashbacks where he's Robin, and even in the stories where he's more lighthearted than angsty. It'd be kinda lame for Dick to have a stuffed elephant, so he wouldn't. I feel like Dick would be more likely to poke fun at it if someone had one, like when he's making fun of Wally for liking the Hardy Boys. Dick could have a Batman action figure, at most, and if he had one he would have it ironically.

Basically: in post-Crisis, a male character hugging a stuffed elephant feels more likely to be a punchline to me, not something poignant. (Even with Tim, Tim could have an embarrassing stuffed animal, but he couldn't hug it when sad - that's too far. Maybe Booster Gold might do this. Probably he wouldn't, but spiritually, he would. Sorry Booster ilu! <3)

Instead, Dick instinctively deals with his inner turmoil like the TORTURED ACTION HERO he is: by punching things and brooding and yelling and joining the mob and sleeping on rooftops and going on obsessive secret missions and acquiring Angsty Stubble!! Just like Batman!

(Technically I don't know if Bruce ever joined the mob but you know he would.)

Anyway as you know this is my favorite continuity and I am poking fun affectionately, but uh, yeah sdfsfdsfs. No stuffed animals.

Post-2011 / Infinite Frontier / Wayne Family Adventures: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr it's in WFA! Probably not anywhere else, but it could be.

Post-2011 stuff tends to be cutesier overall, most of all in the current Infinite Frontier era. So I don't feel like this would be tonally out-of-line with IF comics. Taylor tends to go for more meme-y references rather than fanfic references, though.

So the obvious best fit is WFA, which is aiming for a rough approximation of Silver Age family-friendly vibes - wholesome, episodic plots, Teaching Good Moral Lessons For The Youth, etc. - plus lots of Easter eggs for fanfic readers and some comic references.

And look, here we are:

Aww.

Whew - that's everything I could find!

Anyway as you can probably tell, I LOVE the elephant, so this was a very entertaining rabbit hole to go down, thank you <3

[sunspinecity]

its so crazy that staff was like "yeah we're adding the grand exchange shop to fix the rampant issue of ancient gene clutter!" and we were all like "yay!" and then they just. didn't fix the issue of clutter in the marketplace. which was what we all actually cared about. And now it's to the point where i've been camping this mp with 5 min timers for (no joke) the last 9 fucking hours trying to find Secondary Gene: Striation (MODERN) while every ancient variation has stocked plentifully and often. and when the next ancient inevitably comes out next month it's going to get even worse. like. Man.

[chime-art]

👁 WAKEY WAKEY TIME FOR FUN

[fisheito]

He gets a little ..Dark Mode every other event

[the-kirbe-anon]

First off I wanna say please do not feel obligated to answer this if you don't want to for any reason. So I've been in the process of detransitioning for a while. I recognize that God made me a man and I should be a man. But it's just so hard for me to be a man and to wake up every morning and know I have to continue living as a man. I know that it's always hard to keep away from sin, but if you have any advice I would appreciate it. Thank you for answering if you do and regardless thank you for running this blog and all the other good you do.

Hey there! I'd first like to tell you that I'm proud of you for recognizing that God made you correctly and that you're doing what you can to live as God intended you to. It takes a lot of courage to recognize that God is ultimately right about who you should be, regardless of how you feel about it. Changing is really hard and you're taking steps to do so for God.

So a lot of transgender ideology seems to basically say "if I don't feel like what gender I was born as, then I'm not really what I was supposed to be". Much of modern gender ideology is trying to base your gender on your personality and how you feel instead of what's simply true. There are also stereotypes of what our culture thinks men and women should be like as far as personality and interests go that absolutely do not like up with what God has said about the roles of men and women.

Here's what God has NOT said about how to be a Godly man: having "manly" interests such as sports, working out, cars, ECT. Or having a "manly" personality according to what our culture calls manly.

Here's what God DOES say about being a Godly man: following the purpose God has given him, protecting and providing for those in need, controlling his temper and ungodly urges, respecting women, and taking lead when he needs to. You also must look like a male, so people don't get the wrong message.

Living as a Godly man is going to take much effort and time, and you're going to mess up sometimes, but God is faithful and forgives your imperfections.

[dandelionjack]

listening to minuet in hell. you guys weren’t lying when you said the audios were edgy. blimey what were they on in the wilderness years… charley keeps getting sexually harassed ???? there are mentions of orgies? lobotomies? devil worship? atrocious american accents? appreciate the antipsych message at hand but i’m not quite sure what time period this is supposed to be set in, why the brigadier is even there or, truth be told, what actually is going on. at all. which is fitting considering neither of the protagonists know who where or why they are (the usual) . sitting here meanwhile making earrings. The Horrors

[sp0o0kylights]

why the deep sigh before saying you’re a natural redhead lol

Several reasons!

For context this is in response to my answer in the "rb in the tags what would be the physical feature used to identify you in fanfiction of you if you were a fictional character" post a few days ago and the TL;DR is the redheads get stereotyped in specific ways I hate.

Large ass rant below (hey you asked lol)

For a lot of people, redheaded women are a fetish. ( When I was younger, I had people date me who later stated they just wanted to cross off dating a redhead, they didn't actually want a relationship, and my personal favorite, that they would never date someone who "wasn't skinny" but made an exception bc I'm a redhead. I've been offered a LOT of sex and a LOT of threesomes, because I'm a bucket list item and they will say so, to my face, in person. Like many things in life, there's a line between a preference or appreciation or even a "type" --and a fetish. The later being an issue because you're no longer seen as a person but an object, and people will make that creepily, disgustingly clear.

2. It's a stereotyped personality. Redhead's are crazy/hot tempered/insane (see: that one dude from Fruits Basket and I cant even pick a female character theres so fucking many) crazy in bed (one example among hundreds is We're the Millers "Eh she's a redhead there's a 50/50 chance she'd be into it") Soulless (I actually used that one to get through High School by insisting I was collecting souls to pay for my fire-lake front mansion, shouts out to South Park lmao), and many more. The redheaded step-child, the vixen, the other women, etc.

I have had my hair color come up in job interviews, with teachers, with coaches or trainers and even in situations as a kid where I was essentially asked "Hello kid I just met, you're a redhead, are you going to behave for me?" Related, my parents got a LOT of praise because I was quiet. Throughout my life the most common "praise" I have received is that I am "not a typical redhead" bc I am "calm."

You still see a lot of this bleed into fanfiction, but you used to REALLY see it bleed into fanfiction lol.

Addendum to both points above--the fetish, hot, good in bed thing typically only applies to conventionally attractive women.

Redheaded men are "ugly", and if you don't fit into the current but ever changing Socially Acceptable Hot Chick Look, then you're in for it. This includes weight, skin color/tone, freckles, type of hair, fuckin' eye color sometimes, the list goes on.

I vaguely recall someone who was doing a media study about how the male "problem child" in media is typically portrayed as a redhead. off the top of my head, the kid from Malcom in the Middle and the kid from the magic school bus.)

And that's just the cis shit.

3. People in general get weird about my hair. A lot of strangers enjoy touching it without asking, or otherwise felt ownership over it if I had parts of it dyed, etc. I legitimately had people get super upset the time I dyed it black. Hell I had STRANGERS get upset. People I never met in my life who were making small talk in the check out line, absolutely FURIOUS with me about dying it black, because they asked me what my natural hair color was and I answered honestly.

4. If you're over the age of, ehhhh, 25? 27? You probably remember the age of fanfic where we described EVERYONE by their hair color lmao. Redhead was right up there with bluenette. It was painful and that post reminded me of it.

[whaleiumsharkspeare]

Me sleeping soundly until I’m abruptly awoken by the two 100+ year old clocks in the living room going off at the same time and chiming together in a competition to see which one of them can be louder

( @looneytoonblr)

[awlimagines]

The Flirty Changeling (First Meeting)

@kinokoshoujoart

Claire straightened to observe her field. The enormous expense of land past the tiny bit she managed to till was overgrown with stumps and large boulders. A frown creased her face at the sight. Gustafa had told her not to rush into doing everything in her first week. After she passed out and found herself at the clinic, Claire was forced to admit the older man was right. Everything didn’t need to be done immediately. Her tools required upgrades to clear the field without hurting herself. The young woman had a start on that. The General Store and other farmers had assured Claire that the turnips would be easiest to grow and sell. 

She had spent the last few days following Gustafa through the mountains, learning to forage and increase her profits. Now, Claire wanted a break. She had always dreamed of visiting town and making friends. Seeing how the green-hatted musician spoke of blending perfectly fine into the community gave her some confidence. Claire hesitated at the edge of her new home despite her enthusiasm and eagerness. The cobbled street extended far into the distance, leading to danger. Her every instinct screamed to remain away like her mother always taught her. People like her couldn’t be prosecuted for being different and loved by the Fae if she kept to herself. 

Long blonde locks shook the thoughts away as Claire forced herself forward. She had already visited the General Store and met four other families in Forgotten Valley. Admittedly, she had Gustafa to soothe her nerves for each encounter. Claire didn’t want to keep relying on him. She could stand on her own feet and do well for herself. Besides, she couldn’t keep using him as a crutch when there was no telling when the musician would move again. Claire didn’t desire to travel. She wanted a steady home with friends surrounding her. Walking into town was the first step in the process. 

Claire soon felt overwhelmed wandering the streets. Thankfully, the town was much smaller than she had read of the city. However, the thought did little to ease her anxiety. Her mother’s warnings and threats of a swift death should anyone discover her secret swam freely in her mind. As she took a shaky breath, her blue eyes caught sight of the neat sign indicating the library. Her feet made a direct path to enter. She had met both Basil and Mary in the wilderness surrounding Forgotten Valley. The father and daughter duo had been very welcoming, and unless Claire was mistaken, Mary tended to the library. A familiar face would be a welcome sight. Not to mention, she would love to see all the books they had. Claire’s home with her mother only had the same three books, and the young woman was eager to view more. 

Walls and shelves were lined with neat, orderly rows of books, though the room seemed devoid of people. Claire glanced through the shelves, searching for the bespectacled Mary. It wasn’t until the sound of voices trickled down that she noticed the stairs. Once at the top, Claire glanced down the aisle to her left to locate two others. She recognized Mary. The young woman sat neatly at the top of a ladder. A rag for dusting the shelves and books lay forgotten on the shelf beside her. Mary’s braid hung loosely over one shoulder as she frowned at the person below her. From their voice, Claire could guess a male spoke to Mary. His blonde locks sat nestled atop dark brown roots. From her view of his back, Claire figured the young man must be important. His white pants and vest he wore shone brightly with their immaculate cleanliness. The blue top had lines of golden thread accenting the bottoms of his sleeves. 

“C’mon, no one comes into this place. You could take a break and come hang out with me, is all I’m saying,” the young man persuaded, a hand resting on his hip as the other beckoned Mary to leave her perch. His words only seemed to sour the librarian’s mood further as her frown deepened and eyebrows furrowed. 

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Claire politely announced her presence.

“Oh, Claire! I’m so sorry; I didn’t hear you come in!” Mary exclaimed, clambering down from the ladder as the person speaking with her turned. Claire faced a flawlessly tanned young man whose golden eyes perfectly matched his hair. He flashed a brilliantly white smile as his eye caught her own. 

“Claire, this is Rock. He lives on the other side of Forgotten Valley, past Mother’s Hill. His parents run the Lei-Over Inn. Rock, this is Claire; she took over the farm here,” Mary introduced them before scowling at Rock. “You see, we have visitors to the library, and you’re interfering with my work.”

“It’s nice to meet you! A goddess has to favor me to have sent another beauty to keep me company! We should all go and have some fun instead of being cooped up indoors,” he happily chirped, immune to Mary’s mounting frustration. Claire’s blue eyes darted between the two as Mary opened her mouth to give Rock a piece of her mind.

“That sounds great! I’ll come by tomorrow to go through the books when you’re not so busy, and I haven’t had much chance to look around,” Claire quickly interjected, hoping to diffuse Mary’s tension. She had but a moment to register a flash of relief cross the other woman’s face. Another look Claire couldn’t quite place quickly replaced it. Was it pity? She didn’t have the chance to ponder further as Rock spoke. 

“Really?” His golden eyes widened, and his mouth hung open in shock. The sight made Claire think briefly of a guppy gasping for air before the young man recovered. “I mean, yeah! Of course, you’d want to! How could you pass up on spending time with a catch like me? Let’s go!” 

Claire found herself being steered from the library quickly. It wasn’t until they both stepped from the building that they paused. Rock stood alongside her with a frown, seemingly lost in thought. It didn’t seem the young man had any plans for if Mary or anyone else agreed. Claire fought down the giggle that rose in her throat at the thought. He looked like a puppy that unexpectedly caught something and didn’t know what to do next. 

“Would you like to walk and talk? We can go where the wind takes us?” Claire offered. 

“I like the way you think! Yeah, we don’t need plans!” he grinned widely before strolling toward her farm and Mother’s Hill. “So, how long have you been in Forgotten Valley? I don’t remember hearing about another cute farmer moving in.” 

“Barely more than a week,” Claire answered. She hadn’t been aware there was another new farmer in the area. But before she could ask more, Rock spoke again. 

“Oh, wow! So, you’ve been here for about the same amount of time. Did you take over a family farm, too? Well, Pony is sharing the land with Takakura—something about her dad being buddies with him and buying the farm together. They have a cow, and she seems focused on planting crops and getting a sheep. Ugh, she’s such a workaholic, honestly. Are you like that too?” 

“I was advised not to try doing too much at once. So, I was exploring the town during my free time.” 

“Oh, you should come visit our side then! Lou makes a great curry, but there’s no room at our inn unless you want to share a bed with me,” he teased with a wink. Claire jolted at the suggestion like a prey animal finding itself in the sights of a predator. She quickly searched for a way to change the topic without hurting Rock’s feelings. 

“So, um, what do you do for work? Do you help at the inn?”

“Work?” Rock grimaced at the question. “I don’t believe in working yourself to the bone for things that won’t matter anyway. I think we should all focus on enjoying life, and that’s what I do every day! I’ve thought about starting a fashion magazine to help Forgotten Valley improve their looks, but it sounds like a lot.” 

“I think you would make a great fashion magazine! Your outfit looks amazing, and I could certainly use some help,” Claire mumbled the last bit. Her overalls were comfortable and great for working on the farm, but walking next to Rock made her feel underdressed in comparison.

“Yeah, it’d be top tier if I did it. But I wouldn’t stress too much about your style. Not many people can pull off overalls like that. Most people I’ve seen in them don’t look half as cute. H-hey! Why is your face turning red?” Rock asked, his carefree demeanor slipping into anxious worry. 

“I-I just didn’t expect to hear such a nice compliment; thank you,” Claire murmured, pressing her cool hands to her face to fight the embarrassed flush. 

“Oh, uh, sure. Well, it’s about time for dinner, and Lou will miss me if I’m not there. I can’t go hungry all night, haha,” he forced a laugh before maintaining a leisurely walk as he fled the young farmer. He was far more used to the local population of eligible bachelorettes rolling their eyes in response to his compliments or advances. They certainly didn’t demurely avert their eyes or blush in response. Rock wasn’t sure how to respond or treat someone so sincere toward him. As the blonde struggled to rid himself of a rising blush on his cheeks, he figured it might be worth revisiting her to see if this was some weird fluke.

[dreamwinged]

paid someone on etsy to analyze my selfship twirling my hair i cant wait to hear what they say

[ravenmoodle]

Think i've got too many character's in this story?

[mylittleredgirl]

hot singles in my area are messaging me and asking for $3 before their end of month fundraising deadline

[notanotherinfjblog]

Texting habits per judging function

No one asked, but here are some observations I've made in my personal life.

*Note that this probably differs by age, gender, and culture (for instance, I have been told by several Americans that I use an insane amount of emojis, whereas it's not considered weird at all here in Germany).

FJ:

Generally very good at texting, will respond to absolutely every point you make. If you send them a long voice message, they can be found taking notes while listening so that they will not forget to answer any point you made.

Have a very hard time leaving someone on read and if they do, either something happened and they forgot, or they simply don't like you very much. If they open the message, they answer. If they don't have time to answer you right now, they simply will not open the message yet.

If the text conversation is done (i.e. you wrote something like "bye, see you tomorrow!" that does not require another response), they will still at the very least send you an emoji back for no reason other than letting you know that "Yes! I read your message! I'm not ignoring you! I love you!" (Literally every FJ I have ever known does this. Every single one, including myself.)

They will adapt to your style of texting. If you are the kind of person that likes to send a bunch of heart emojis to friends and the FJ friend is not, they will still pepper in a heart here and there. If you generally don't use emojis, they will use them only occasionally. If you reply in wallpaper long messages, so will they. If you break up your messages into several texts one after the other, so will they.

FPs:

Also generally quite good at texting and can actually appear a lot warmer in writing than in person (there have been several instances where I received really lovely messages from FPs who I used to think hated my guts whenever we met in person).

Prepare for emojis. Seriously.

You can have infinitely long text conversations with them. If you are willing to commit, the conversation between the two of you will never end. With NFPs, the conversations usually end up spiralling into nonsense scenarios, while SFPs keep telling you about their day and keep answering you about your day every day.

TPs:

(my texting experience with TPs is unfortunately very limited, so feel free to fill in my blanks)

Fe is very noticeable in the extroverts, i.e. they tend to go the FJ route described above, but in a more nonchalant and more relaxed way. Like with FJs, the focus of the conversation is on you and their dynamic with you.

The introverts (i.e. my dad, i.e. my only point of reference) are bad at texting and prefer to call, so almost all text conversations go something like this: TP: "Hi, I tried to call you, but you didn't pick up. I hope everything is alright with you?" You: "Yes, sorry. Everything's good here, how about you, everything okay?" --- end of conversation ---

TJs:

Generally bad at texting. Also don't really like it and see no point in it, so they usually prefer calling or talking in person.

Will appear colder in writing than in person, especially the STJs. Their answers will be straight to the point. No beating around the bush and no needless extension of a conversation in form of jokes/questions/anecdotes for a bonding experience. If they want to tell you something, they will tell you in person.

Have absolutely zero problem leaving people on read and usually don't mean anything by it.

STJs rarely use emojis, NTJs do but not excessively

If their answer requires them to type anything more than two sentences, they will send you a voice message instead. (Literally every single TJ I know does this, except my INTJ brother who is a complete maniac and calls instead.)

[shredsandpatches]

Today's "Doctor Faustus staging thing that Lea definitely wants to see": doing it in a candlelit space (like the Sam Wanamaker) and having the final soliloquy lit by a single candle, or (I might like this better) starting with multiple lit candles and extinguishing them over the course of the speech so there's only one left by the time the clock strikes twelve.

Mephistopheles, of course, responds to Faustus' final "Ah, Mephistopheles--" by blowing it out.

[doctorwhoisadhd]

oh my god i can access a WHOLE BUNCH of audio dramas via hoopla