#A Few Small Events Happening on Dreamwidth

[fanwork-exchange-promos]

A Few Small Events Happening on Dreamwidth

Posted by: kalloway A few small events and whatnot, many inspired by 3weeks4dreamwidth: Multi-Fandom Writing Prompt Comms & Whatnot 2024 Edition - what it says on the tin, additions quite welcome! (List pruned and posted yearly, additions welcome any time.) There's a friending meme happening over on anime_manga, for anyone looking for more friends into anime, manga, and adjacent fandoms. Group-read (as in, a group all reading, sometimes on a theme, sometimes not) community readingtogether is holding a Minithon until the 15th of May. There's no theme, other than reading and chatting for 3W4DW. Multifandom spring-inspired fanwork community spring_renewal just finished its annual round, and all prompts will be retired at the beginning of the next round. Come check out the prompt list, post for amnesty, and let it be spring all year long. There's a Cygames Prompt Fest happening over here, arguably for 3W4DW but it'll remain open indefinitely. Prompts for any game or anime Cygames is involved are welcome. (Granblue Fantasy, Dragalia Lost, Rage of Bahamut, Bravern, Zombie Land Saga, Priconne, World Flipper, Little Noah, etc.) There's also a new Rec-A-Game Meme, for anyone who'd like video game recommendations. It's been more than a decade since the last one, so it's time. It'll also remain open indefinitely. And lastly, small_fandoms is running its annual Small Fandoms Promofest, which runs from today until May 15th. Come share a bit about your favorite small fandoms or maybe find a new one of your own! comments via The Fandom Calendar https://ift.tt/9dACugj

#A Few Small Events Happening on Dreamwidth

[quesadillawizard]

Mr. Fetch Notes

was the first inanimate object given life by The Ugly. Was given too much magic and free will and eventually ditched The Ugly in favor of harassing him and keeping mortals away from the city

his original purpouse under The Ugly’s command was to gather up mortals so that The Ugly could steal their youth and become beautiful again.

the event that triggered his changing sides has not been developed

design pulls elements from my old 2006 drawing style of JW’s original incarnation, the design I came up with for a humanized Jack Skellington that I played in a pokemon-based text rpg on dreamwidth for a few years, and the Baron from Studio Ghibli’s The Cat Returns.

though he is human shaped, he is still a lantern. He doesn’t eat but he drinks kerosene to fuel his flame which is usually represented somewhere on his person as a broach, his eyes, a glass core in his chest, or other motif that glows. He hates the rain and does not swim.

with being a lantern, he is very fragile. When in a fight, he relies heavily on evasion, speed, and his magic.

his magical powers include fire magic, limited shape shifting, possessing/leaking onto other inanimate objects in order to control and change them, and small illusion magics such as pulling a dove out of his hat

his well-being can be measured by how bright his flame is

if injured or overcome with desperation, his human form will start to reverting to a lantern against his will. it looks real weird

his flame has never entirely gone out and he does not know what will happen if it does

he feels pain like a human

it is unclear if he has guts and bones. he probably has whatever he sees fit to manifest at any given time

he very rarely ventures into the world of mortals but has made trips to The City’s boarders often enough to keep mortals away from it

his attitude and personality are leaning towards aloof save for when it serves him to be personable. he spends a lot of time alone scheming up ways to make The Ugly’s life more miserable. He claims to be a free agent and that he isn’t entirely concerned for the well-being of mortals but we all know THAT IS A LIE. Just give him time.

his fears are: his light going out, rusting, and The Ugly being able to control his actions again

#lantern project #mr fetch

[actuallyfallen]

I will be cross-posting my responses to the fictionkind dreamwidth community’s prompts onto this blog, as well~! It’s a very friendly community, highly recommend.

I love daily prompts and blogging my thoughts and the like, so I will try to respond to 1-3 prompts per day to work through the backlog!

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#1: What was the event that triggered your awakening? How did this process impact your life over the following weeks/months/year?

I began to experience a connection to a piece of fiction that was indescribable around four years ago; with that piece of fiction being Undertale. I felt a sense of familiarity when going through Toriel's home, in particular; able to vividly imagine (or so I thought) the senses associated with each part of the home.

Soon enough, I began to see it all in my dreams. That homey warm glow, white fur, a shared room with a sibling. Hair that I messily cut so it wouldn't grow past my shoulders and a bandaged knee, and a sense of belonging that I had been lacking my entire life.

This unidentified feeling led me to dive deep into my memories to anything that could be similar to this. I do not know how, but I was very vaguely familiar with the concept of otherkinity. It may have been from a blog that I had followed previously having a kinlist in their 'about', but I don't remember if I knew what that meant at the time or not. I looked into it further, and I have a specific memory of telling someone in a comment thread that I was questioning if I was kin, but being unsure. After what I think may have been around a month or two of looking into the community, I officially recognized Chara as my first fictotype around May of 2018.

In the coming months I would begin to interact with the community by joining the Fictionkin Amino around that time. Yeah, I know, 'Ugh, Amino,' but it was my main social media at the time, and the list of terms that the moderators provided and the ability to interact with the wider community did prove vital. I'm not on there anymore, of course; Amino is sort of a cesspool. But, nonetheless, I feel it a very vital part of my awakening journey, as it was the first fictionkin community that I joined. During this early time, I also created a few different sideblogs on tumblr for my different fictotypes (as it was my other main social media at the time), some of which still remain up and active to this day! Even if those are just reblogging images and fanart of my fictotypes.

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#2: How closely is your identity aligned with canon events from your source?

It depends on which fictotype you're talking about; I'll discuss two examples on opposite ends of the spectrum.

On one end of the spectrum is my Bede canon, which is actually surprisingly canon-compliant. I mean, of course, what you see in the source is only half the story, as it's told from Gloria's point of view, and I sort of just get yoinked by my future grandma halfway through the game and then don't come back until the end. (Thanks, Miss Opal.) But, nonetheless, the times where I am present in canon, I am more or less word-for-word canon-compliant, except for two very small instances of mild changes in my phrasing. I don't conflate my fictotype's canon-compliance with "validity", for lack of a better word (and neither should you!), but it does feel a certain type of satisfying to know that what players are presented with is, more or less, the real me.

(On the other hand, though, this also means that, if players hate me; which a lot do; they also hate said 'real me'... But that's a discussion for another prompt, I'm sure.)

On the other end of the spectrum is Travis Phelps, where a major part of the source material just straight-up didn't happen for me. Either The Devourers of God were located elsewhere, my dad wasn't a part of it, or they kept their activities much more on the down-low. Or a mix of two or more. Who's to say? I'm certainly not, 'cause I never encountered the thing. As such, basically the entire plot of the main game just didn't happen. No supernatural stuff, no prophecy. (I'd like to say 'no death', except Sal's mom still died because of my dad. Major dick move on his part. Also funny that he killed his future sister-in-law before Sal and I even met. You know, in a dark humor sort of way.)

There are a few other noncanon things sprinkled in, too, aside from that. Sal and I both dyed our hair instead of unnatural colors growing naturally. Sal and Larry became adoptive siblings a few years earlier than the source. I have memories of regulars to our church that never appeared in canon. But, yeah, all of that is pretty mundane compared to 'the main plot of the game just straight-up did not happen'. There's not much topping that, in terms of canon deviation.

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#3: Is there a live-action movie or series based on your source? How do the actors and events match up with your noemata? Is CGI or practical effects necessary to represent the people and creatures from your source?

Yes, Detective Pikachu is a fabulous live-action take on the Pokemon world! Of course, given that the draw of the franchise is the creatures that don’t exist in our world, CGI and such is necessary, but I feel like the movie did an excellent job bringing the creatures from my memories to life.

I’m unable to speak of if the CGI is accurate to how I remember the world, though; all of my memories are remembered in a stylized way. I have no clue if this is common for those with fictotypes from an animated or video game source or not (I would love some community input on this!), but all of my memories are ‘in the style’ of Pokemon Twilight Wings (the animated miniseries based on the Galar region).

#📋 i'd show you my halo if only i knew where i had put it #prompt responses

[ladyherenya]

I’ve taken forever to finish this post. Such round-ups are easier when I haven’t read so many books, and when the pandemic isn’t being so distracting.

Also read: A Bride of Convenience by Jody Hedlund, Cutie and the Beast by M.E. Carter and “Dueling Magics” by Stephanie Burgis. 

Total: sixteen novels (including four audiobooks), two novellas, one short story, one graphic novel and one comic volume. 

Cover thoughts: Tarashana is my favourite, followed by A Natural History of Dragons. I altered the covers for the Stevenson trilogy -- I like my versions more! 

Did not finish: The Long Distance Playlist by Tara Eglington. 

Still reading: Love in the Blitz: The Greatest Lost Love Letters of the Second World War by Eileen Alexander. 

Next up: The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho. 

My full reviews are on Dreamwidth and LibraryThing. 

*

A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White (narrated by Susan Lyons): Romantic historical mystery, set in London during 1918. Christian fiction. Features characters from the The Number of Love and On Wings of Devotion.

I was surprised by how long it took before I really cared about the characters and their relationships. It was interesting to consider the way dark-room photography could be used -- and manipulated -- in aid of the war effort. 3 ★ 

*

Playing Hearts by W.R. Gingell: Portal fantasy based on Alice in Wonderland. Novella. 

I like retellings and Alice in Wonderland references and Gingell’s storytelling, so I was a bit surprised by how long I took to warm to this. I liked the final section a lot. 3 ★ 

*

Dawnshard: From the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson: Fantasy. Part of the Stormlight Archive, set after Oathbringer. Novella.  

I struggled to focus, distracted dredging up and searching through my memories of this series. But Sanderson is a successful storyteller, and the end of this adventure was satisfying. 3 ★ 

*

Game of Hearts by Cathy Yardley: Contemporary fandom-y romance. Features characters from Level Up and One True Pairing.

The characters’ respective family issues were resolved far too readily, but I find this sort of fluffy romance is acceptable if it comes with fandom references.  

*

Bel Lamington (1961) by D.E. Stevenson (narrated by Patience Tomlinson): Romantic fiction. Features characters from the Dering Family trilogy.

Delightful. A very gentle sort of story, although it’s not just gardening and picturesque scenery and new friendships -- Bel also encounters stressful difficulties at work. I could predict how everything would all ultimately turn out -- but was surprised by some of the turns the story took getting there. 3½ ★   

*

A Bride of Convenience by Jody Hedlund: Historical Christian romance set in 19th century Canada. 

An interesting glimpse into an aspect of history I didn’t know about (bride ships), but neither the pacing nor the tone appealed to me. 2 ★ 

*

Torch by R.J. Anderson: YA-ish fantasy, faeries and shapeshifters. Sequel to Swift and Nomad.

A satisfying conclusion with some surprising developments. I was glad to see things resolve happily for Ivy.  3 ★  

*

The Dering Family trilogy by D.E. Stevenson: Romantic fiction set in England and Scotland. 

Vittoria Cottage (1949) (narrated by Leslie Mackie): Nothing too dramatic happens but it’s a fascinating insight into postwar life in England, still with rationing. I like that Stevenson considers the concerns of a middle-aged widow worthy of this sort of attention -- and of this sort of romance.  3 ★ 

Music in the Hills (1950):  James Dering goes to stay with his aunt and uncle in Scotland, and learn about farming. I knew how James’ romantic endeavours would unfold (from reading Bel Lamington) but even with that foreknowledge to make things extra predictable, I wanted to keep reading. This has such a strong sense of place! And the characters are very likeable.  3½ ★ 

Winter and Rough Weather (1951): Follows on from Music in the Hills.  A vivid insight into how poor roads and poor weather can isolate one from the outside world. I didn’t mind spending time with James and Rhoda’s friends, but they rather became the focus towards the end and maybe I’d have liked this book more if that hadn’t been the case? 3 ★ 

*

“Dueling Magics” by Stephanie Burgis: Short story set after A Most Improper Magick. Children’s fantasy. Verdict: cute. 

*

Fangirl: the manga, vol. 1 by Rainbow Rowell (story adapted by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Gabi Nam):  First installment in the manga adaptation of a young-adult novel about a fangirl going off to college.

A lovely way to revisit Fangirl! Judging from my memory of the novel, this is a remarkably -- and satisfyingly -- faithful adaptation. I really liked the artwork. 3½ ★ 

*

The Tuyo series by Rachel Neumeier:  Fantasy. 

Nikoles: A prequel side-story about a minor character from Tuyo. A thoughtful look at what causes a conflict between two peoples to escalate -- or to be resolved -- through the eyes of a likeable protagonist.  3 ★ 

Tarashana:  A direct sequel to Tuyo. I loved it. It’s a journey into the unknown, full of difficulties and danger in that way that good fantasy quests so often are. Very tense!  I was also impressed with the way this story explores the challenges of justly judging people, and how this gives Ryo a more nuanced perspective, but the events of the novel thematic cohesion. 4 ★ 

*

The Long Distance Playlist by Tara Eglinton:  Epistolary Australian YA. Unfinished.

Two teenagers reconnect through email and share Spotify recommendations for dealing with breakups. I didn't finish this before my loan expired -- maybe I'll read more when it becomes available again.

*

Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne: Contemporary romance between two 20-something employees at a retirement village.

Thorne has a gift for vividly capturing the quirky personalities of two people and capturing the different ways in which they like each other. There were a few small-ish things in this story I didn’t personally like. Mixed feelings, I have them.  3 ★ 

*

Copper Mountain by Rachel Neumeier:  Urban fantasy. Part of the Black Dog series, set after Shadow Twin and Black Dog Stories III.

Dimilioc deals with demons. I was reminded that I do care about these characters. This wouldn’t have been so tense if I wasn’t so invested! 3½ ★ 

*

The Year’s Midnight by Rachel Neumeier: Death’s Lady, book one. Portal world fantasy.

Compelling. I really like how, even though Dr Daniel Dodson doesn’t believe his patient Tenai is from another world, this doesn’t actually undermine his ability to help her. Because he believes that Tenai fully believes her story and that it’s important for understanding her anger.  3½ ★ 

*

A Natural History of Dragons: a memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan (narrated by Kate Reading): Fantasy. Isabella tells of her childhood obsession with dragons, and how, aged nineteen, she joined an expedition to Vystrana.

Such a novel and interesting approach to dragons. Isabella’s adventures are eventful, and her observations are astute and often delightfully expressed.  But  I came away feeling unsure if I found the ending satisfying, because as a reader, I’m HERE for the emotions. 3½ ★ 

*

The Murderbot Diaries: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells: Science-fiction. Set between Exit Strategy and Network Effect. Novella.

A less intense installment. On the other hand, I would happily read about Murderbot solving any number of mysteries. ANY NUMBER. It was interesting to see Murderbot working under a different set of restrictions.  3½ ★ 

*

Cutie and the Beast by M.E. Carter:  Contemporary romance, single-parent co-coworkers, roommates-to-lovers.

I finished it but it wasn't really my thing.

*

Runaways: Canon Fodder (volume 5) by Rainbow Rowell (illustrated by Andres Genolet): Marvel superhero comics.

The previous volume had more scenes which stood out to me as memorable or quotable, but this volume had a strong, complete story arc and that was really satisfying! As is the rather pointed commentary about being a superhero. 3½ ★

#Herenya reviews books

[merryfortune]

Olive Branch

Written for the 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth and as the Free Day Prompt for @ygotplusweek

100ships Challenge Prompt #63: Olive

YGOTPlus Prompt(s): Reunions, Negotiations, Favourite Things, Separate, Learning Something New

Ship: Rockdustshipping | Earth/Spectre/Ryoken

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Word Count: 2,423

Rating: T

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Tags:  Post Canon, Canon Divergent, Self Indulgent, Minor or Implied Possessiveness, Developing Relationship, Eventual Polyamory

AN: this is my guilty pleasure ot3, I just want to have my two cakes and eat them too!!

   The current situation was rapidly beginning to unfold into scenarios that Ryoken had never wanted to entertain. He would not call it the worst case scenarios - unfortunately, things like armageddon had a rightful place in thoughts and calculations like those - but he was not going to be quick to call it ideal. He still had a few fingers that he could cross but already, his heart was beginning to break just from witnessing this scenario unfold in the flesh, blood, and some pixels too.

   Ideally, there would be zero Ignis but he knew Fujiki Yusaku, Playmaker, as one thing and one thing only: incredibly determined. Once his will was committed to something, it all but brought miracles forth so Ryoken accepted that a new era would likely unfold. Perhaps from the mistakes of the previous one, this second coming would be more hopeful. He had his own, after all.

   He wanted to commit to his redemption. His atonement. To himself and his own nature, not as a destroyer but a protector. He had wanted to protect the children of the Hanoi Project and now, he wanted to protect what little serenity and closure they had found, finally, ten years later.

   This, however, would test him, Ryoken knew, not instinctively but for more humanly reasons than that as well.

   Thanks to Playmaker and his own Ignis’s determination, they had managed to revive the five remaining Ignis. Some of those matches were easier to make than others. Returning Flame to Takeru would be safe and teary-eyed; returning Aqua to Miyu and Aoi would be joyful and misty-eyed; but then there were the others. Ryoken did not have stable predictions for what would happen were Lightning and Windy were to return to their respective Origins but, for better or worse, he did have eyes. He did not need to predict what would happen were Earth returned to Spectre for he could just watch such a thing happen.

   In fact, it was happening right now and it was already piercing Ryoken’s armour and cracking his heart.

   Ryoken had always known it would one day come to this. Or that it should have come to this, possibly even sooner than ten years. He had run the simulations as a child, to discover what was the link that kept breaking, and in them, he did discover that Earth was not the cause for what would eventually break. He never was. If anything, he fixed things. Drastically so, if only for one person: Spectre. His Spectre.

   Time and time again, running those simulations, Ryoken saw all the pathways in which Spectre and Earth would become remarkably good friends. Family. Partners. Whatever form their bond took, it was unbreakable and truly only brought the best in each other. A clean track of wins for both of them, in theory, at least. And it had incensed Ryoken.

   Spectre was his. Not Earth’s.

   Ryoken was Spectre’s first everything. First friend, first confidante, first person who had ever truly loved him. Spectre adored Ryoken and Ryoken matched that adoration as best as he could.

   But he saw the digital future. He saw how Earth would disrupt that. The Ignis had to be exterminated regardless. It would be best if Spectre knew, it would protect him. The truth would only ever hurt but Ryoken now suspected, he had been for a fair few months now, that Spectre had come to realise that the bond that he was meant to have with his Ignis would have been incredible. And Ryoken had destroyed that possibility in some vain, petty destruction that only served his own ego.

   Ryoken rationalised it as being a child. Volatile, short tempered, not properly fused or wired yet. But he still felt it. That streak of possessiveness that flared a mile wide as he watched Earth and Spectre meet for the first time. Or was it a reunion as they had always known each other, on some level that Ryoken couldn’t begin to understand because he hadn’t been the one experimented on and had life created from his brainwaves and duelling. A bond that could only be truly called soulful or psychic.

   A storm raged inside of him when he should have been happy for his beloved friend. Instead, he was in wrongful furor that Spectre might be able to become happy because of someone who was not him. It was a storm between right and wrong and Ryoken knew to part it not unlike the beam of a lighthouse and he knew which side to take, even if it did repulse him. He just couldn’t let himself get in the way of Spectre’s happiness as Spectre was, easily, his most important person.

   Spectre’s eyes were wide with the purest wonder that Ryoken didn’t even think he was capable of such an unguarded, vulnerable expression. In the corners of his eyes was the glistening on a single tear. He hazarded a feeble smile as he welcomed his Ignis back to the realm of the living with a shaking hand.

   Earth reached out to him and his demeanour could only be described as calm. The past half an hour was a whirlwind, even to Ryoken so he was surprised - and maybe even impressed - that Earth could be so stony face before Spectre who was coming close to blubbering with happiness with the events that had occurred. Once more, Pandora’s box had been open but this time, it had been Playmaker’s fingers on the lock and key.

   He had brought back the Ignis and returned them to a respectable vicinity of their Origins, forcing the data back through the Link VRAINS and getting it to rematerialise in the real world. Ryoken, a good programmer and coder in his own right, could only regard it as nothing short of magic.

   “It is good to see you.” Earth said. The sound of his voice was even but gladdened.

   He reached out to Spectre’s hand and though he was a large Ignis, he was still entirely dwarfed by the scale of a human. Both his hands clasped onto a couple of Spectre’s fingers and he was made to seem so small because of it. Nonetheless, he gallantly shook Spectre’s hands and that appeared to cleanse them of their nervous jitters.

   “It's good to meet you, Earth,” Spectre replied, a hiccup to his voice, “but it feels like I already know you.”

   Earth’s eyes softened, “I feel the same.” he confessed.

   Ryoken wanted to scream. To yell. To rage. To do anything but let this selfishness stew inside of him as he held onto the helmet of his VR set. They hadn’t even had the time to get up and stretch their legs before being thrust into this situation that Ryoken could only describe as the most impossible and unplanned future possible, hurtling forward at a pace of a few minutes at best.

   Spectre shyly glanced towards Ryoken, his heart beating quicker in his chest than it normally did. He could see the upset in Ryoken’s face but he was glad that Ryoken was here. He wanted Ryoken to be here for this quite dearly. He returned his gaze to Earth and it was apologetic.

   “Are you aware?” Spectre hesitantly asked Earth. “Of my activities as a Knight of Hanoi?”

   Earth was very quiet, his expression turned very stern and with glacial speed, he finally replied, “No…”

   “No?” Ryoken exclaimed. He was startled and he awkwardly took his interjection as an excuse to cross the vast chasm between his own perch on one side of the room and Spectre’s on the other.

   “Truly?” Spectre asked and he had to swallow a giggle.

   “Er… yes… truly.” Earth said. “My best recollection of events is as follows: us Ignis made a pact not to interact with the material world, including with our Origins, for a while, we lived in the best harmony we could muster…

   “One day, a dragon destroyed the Cyberse World, we were protected by Ai who did his best to flee from this dragon… When Ai released us, Windy and Lightning withdrew. I believe now to put in place their own machinations that resulted in this Bohman figure being created.

   “I only desired to find Aqua, she was taken before I could make my decision. A decision that has now been taken from me as I have now been thrust before you… But I wanted to base my decision on logic and sound information. I needed to know more about the humans but unlike my duplicitous kin, even Aqua to an extent, I endeavoured to honour my vow so I never sought you out.

   “So, now I have to ask, what were your activities as a Knight of Hanoi? It sounds noble so I desire to tentatively approve.” Earth looked up very cautiously at Spectre, and even towards Ryoken, as he finished his ramble.

   Ryoken could not believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t decide if this was extremely lucky or extremely unlucky. How ironic that such a perceptive and observant person such as Spectre produced such an oblivious Ignis, even if Earth was right to conclude that he needed to proceed with information rather than instinct or some other whim, no matter how fond. He supposed that it would be up to Spectre to decide the worth of the fortune before them.

   And Spectre seemed very quick to make that decision, he took a breath then explained, “Master Ryoken is the dragon who destroyed your first home. We, the Knights of Hanoi, have been hunting you for the past five, almost six, years, trying to destroy.”

   Earth’s blue eyes went wide. This was certainly news to him - and Ryoken did find himself relishing that.

   “Is that true?” he asked, turning to Ryoken. “You are the good doctor’s son, are you not? The son of the man who created us Ignis, I - I have vague memories of your face as a child, seeing you from within the apparatus I was created within. Is that true?”

   “In its entirety.” Ryoken gravely replied, folding his arms.

   “M-My…” Earth murmured.

   “You understand why three of your companions were so eager to take up arms against us humans now, don’t you?” Ryoken said and he felt some snake of vindication inside of him, that Earth may flee from them and all would be right with what was left of Ryoken’s little world.

   And yet, Earth steadied, “I do,” he admitted, “but Spectre spoke in past tense just now, I noticed. He said “for five, almost six years”, that would imply the activity has ceased, albeit recently.”

   “Correct.” Ryoken growled. “We desire to protect the Link VRAINS, to do what we can with technology that once brought misery, to bring joy. To keep the Incident concealed so the victims can enjoy privacy.” Ryoken then took a sharp breath. “To even allow the behaving Ignis some space in this world, you were created to enrich humanity but per my observations, I believe it is only possible for you lot to touch a handful of lives at best. Though it pains me, I would appreciate it if you were able to do so with Spectre.”

   Now it was Spectre’s turn to be in disbelief of his own ears. His face paled but purely because he was stunned to hear such words from Ryoken’s mouth. He thought it was going to take hours upon hours of convincing him, grovelling all but on his knees, to allow Earth to stay with them. Ryoken had always been brusque upon the subject of Spectre’s unique Ignis at the best of times and at the worst, Spectre recoiled to remember what was said implicitly and explicitly about Earth’s death from Ryoken.

   Earth’s expression lightened and a peculiar thing happened. A thin branch manifested in his hands. It was thin and wiry, delicate, plumed with rounded leaves with a few bounties blooming off the stem. Earth held onto it preciously. Spectre recognised the branch by its leaves; Ryoken recognised it by its boon. A literal olive branch and it was one that Earth chose to gift to Ryoken.

   “It is my understanding that the olive branch is a symbol of surrender and compromise to humans, that to give one to another means to cease an argument or war.” Earth rambled.

   “Yes, that is correct.” Spectre assured him.

   “Then my intentions should be apparent but if not, if I have muddled them somehow, I wish to live long and well alongside you and Spectre.” Earth said. “I value peace over all else, to the point of uselessness, perhaps, but that is who I am.”

   Ryoken’s gaze wandered towards Spectre. He looked so… hopeful. It was bright and bittersweet, as such he was holding his tongue. Ryoken took a breath and he accepted Earth’s gift.

   “I believe I can find those values complementary to my own.” Ryoken replied.

   There likely wasn’t a response that could have overjoyed Spectre more. He got to his feet, untangling from the VR set, and embraced Ryoken. Ryoken stiffened but he pat Spectre’s shoulder before finally hugging him back. Earth, meanwhile, settled on Spectre’s head.

   He looked down on them both rather curiously, like he was still quantifying the various rituals of humans even though hugging was not something alien to him as an Ignis. It was more the metrics of these two and their particular relationship, perhaps even how he would figure into their equation.

   If so, Ryoken felt the same.

   He still very much, at his best and kindest, wanted to fling Earth far, far away from his domain, keep him alive just with other arrangements for a home, perhaps with Aqua and either of her girls or even with Ai and Yusaku. Instead, Ryoken swallowed that one-sided resentment that he had stoked since he was a child, trying to understand the intertwining paths of Spectre and his Ignis and instead, endeavoured to make peace with this Ignis. For Spectre’s sake. He would merely have to believe that Spectre whose heart seemingly only had enough space to love and adore just one could have enough room for two.

   After all, at the end of the day and at the end of time, all Ryoken wanted was to make Spectre happy and it had been proven to him, time and time again, there should be no better way than to let him have his Ignis. So, perhaps, he could come to tolerate - maybe even become fond - for the socially awkward little creature, too. If only for Spectre.

#yugioh polyship week #yugioh polyship week 2020 #yugioh vrains #vrains #yugioh #ryoken kogami #spectre (vrains) #earth (vrains) #respectfulshipping #motherearthshipping #writing tag #100ships challenge #aaaaa i always feel bad for enjoying this ship since its so niche

[awkwardpenguinproductions]

28 and 38!!

Hey Stars! *waves*

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much

This is... tricky. My fic reading process tends to be more fic-oriented than author-oriented, so if I find a fic I really like, but it’s the only one that author has written for that fandom, then I tend to just go through their bookmarks like a thief in the night and move on. However, I do have several authors that I end up coming back to again and again.

Enthusiastic Fish (NCIS Fanfiction Archive, fanfiction.net)= Way way back in ye olden days (circa 2007-2013) I was a die hard NCIS fan, and absolutely in love with Timothy McGee. And guess who has some of the very best McGee-centric whump around? Fish is absolutely prolific, and an incredible writer besides. Several of their stories are standalone fics, but they also have several series, and several interesting AUs along with canon-compliant fics. Their fics also tend toward being quite lengthy, which I adore. Honestly, the only downside here is that since Fish posts on FFN and not AO3, I can’t download their fics and read them on long car trips.

Ysabetwordsmith (Dreamwidth, Archive of Our Own)= this author is one of my favorites because of the sheer amount of “behind the scenes” content she posts along with her chapters. I LOVE that kind of stuff. Seriously, sometimes her Author’s Notes are longer than the literal chapters. It’s awesome.

Maychorian (fanfiction.net, Archive of Our Own)= I will admit, I tend to stick to my fandom of choice and only read works within that fandom. This is mostly because I’m already familiar with the characters and major events of the canon content, and I’m a nutcase who devours content like a black hole and doesn’t want to deal with the confusion that arises from reading from a completely unfamiliar fandom. There have been exceptions to this rule, but usually those exceptions involve fandoms that I’m passingly familiar with, but just don’t happen to be part of. Maychorian’s works are the exception that proves the rule. When Voltron: Legendary Defender was going strong, I LIVED for Maychorian’s Boom Crash series. Once the fandom had imploded and Maychorian stopped posting VLD fic, I moved on, but I still got subsciber emails because I’m an eternal optimist and also because I’m a dumbass who forgets to unsubscribe to emails and then lets her inbox get clogged up. When Maychorian started posting their fic Year of Fallen Angels, for the Batman (DC Comics) fandom, I was intrigued— Maychorian is a master par excellence of hurt/comfort and whump and the aftermath thereof (I SOB like a freaking baby every time I read Sell Me Your Nightmares, I’ll Trade Them for Dreams), and even though I know ABSOLUTELY FREAKING NOTHING about the canon Year of Fallen Angels is based in, I decided to take the plunge. I didn’t regret it, because Maychorian is a true master of the craft and I very much enjoyed Year of Fallen Angels and the few other Batfam fics they’ve posted, but DC Comics has not and will never be my fandom. Maychorian is one of the very, very few authors who has been able to make me focus on the work of the author, and not the fandom of the work, and for that they hold a very special place in my list of Fave Authors.

38) Talk about a review that made your day.

So I have two stories.

The first—

I have a How To Train Your Dragon/Brave crossover fic called Bow & Sword that I’ve been working on for the better part of ...gosh, five years (time really flies, huh?). I had recently posted a chapter after a yearlong hiatus, when I found this in my inbox:

I started pacing in my new (to me) apartment’s living room, flapping my hands (my go-to happy stim) and fighting the urge to shriek like an ecstatic velociraptor and thus freak out my brand new roommates. I had just permanently moved out of my parents’ house after almost 26 years, and I was stressed out and scared of the Big Life Change I had just gone through, and this was validation I hadn’t known that I’d needed at the time. This is still my absolute favorite review of anything I’ve ever written.

The second—

I had posted Camaraderie the night before, and the next morning I found this:

Naturally I was Freaked Out:

It wasn’t until lunchtime that I found this:

This. This just...

There’s a concept in Judaism called tikkun olam, repairing the world. Basically, it’s our job as Jews (really, as decent human beings) to help fix problems in the world (obstensibly to get it ready for the return of the Messiah, if you believe in that kind of thing). Usually this is framed in terms of Big Issues— hunger, poverty, climate change, stuff like that. But this review made me realize that tikkun olam can also be done in small ways— making someone’s horrible night better, just because of something you do for the love of doing it. Something I did because I love doing it had a tangible positive effect on someone I have never and probably will never meet. It was (and still is) an incredibly powerful feeling, and I will always be grateful to this person for telling me how my writing helped them.

Sorry, long post is long. The askbox is always open, so feel free to ask me whatever strikes your fancy (as long as it’s polite and respectful), or send me something off of one of these lists or this meme!

#ask awkpen #ask meee #ask me stuff!

[bitchinparty]

BP 2020 Main Con Info Post

Here is the ginormous, one-stop-shopping con information post, including registration, hotel, con schedule, travel, tourist, and concomm contact information, to be updated as we go. Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter or Dreamwidth for quick links to updates! You can also reach the concomm at pacificwriterscon [at] gmail at any time. General Information: When is Pacificon 2020? April 4 and 5, 2020, with an optional movie night and other activities on the evening of April 3. Where will it take place? At the Issaquah Hilton Garden Inn near Seattle, Washington. How do I sign up? The registration post—including detailed registration and payment information—is here. Full membership is $85, and is limited to 100 attendees. You must be at least 18 years old to attend. The current list of attendees will be posted soon. If you need some help with the registration fee, check out the financial assistance post. "Bitchin' Party"? Seriously? "Bitchin' Party" became the unofficial name of the con after some of the concomm had the misfortune of watching a gloriously bad TV show called Dante's Cove. Don't worry, we're not using it unironically.* *except that some of us totally are Hotel Information: The hotel is the Issaquah Hilton Garden Inn, located at 1800 Gilman Blvd, Issaquah, WA (here on Google Maps). The front desk number is 1-425-837-3600, and the fax number is 1-425-837-3635. How much does it cost? The con rate $124/king and $144/two queens, plus tax. A small number of cots will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis upon check-in. How do I reserve a room? You must reserve your room by March 3, 2020 in order to receive the con rate and be in the room block with all the other cool kids con attendees. If you're looking for a roommate, we'll link that thread once we get closer to the con. To reserve a room online: 1. Go here. 2. Select your arrival/departure dates, your number of rooms/guests, your preferred bed configuration, and then provide your information. Our group code is PWC402. (Note that you can only add ONE additional person's name to your reservation, so give some thought to who is likely to arrive first. It can also be changed later if necessary.) A credit card is required to hold the reservation, but no deposit is required. (They do have a disclaimer that they can place a hold on your card for the full amount of your stay, but FWIW, we've never seen that happen.) NOTE: If you have ANY question or problem with the reservation process (for example, if you did not get the correct rate quoted to you, or it says it doesn't have your preferred bed configuration available), PLEASE call the toll-free number at 1-877-STAY-HGI and talk to a real person (tell them you're reserving for the Pacific Writers' Conference). If for some reason that still doesn't resolve things, contact us at pacificwriterscon [at] gmail [dot] com and we will contact the hotel. To reserve over the phone: Call the main reservation line at 1-877-STAY-HGI and tell them you're reserving for the Pacific Writers' Conference (that is our sekkrit spy codename to civilians!). Make sure you specify whether you'd like a king room or two queens. Again, if you have any trouble—if they tell you our block is full or that the con rate isn't available—contact pacificwriterscon [at] gmail and we will contact the hotel. Hotel Amenities Room amenities include: - mini fridge - microwave - 42-inch HDTV - FREE wireless high-speed internet throughout the hotel Hotel amenities include: - on-site restaurant (including a bar) - room service - pool and hot tub - fitness center - free parking - complimentary shuttle available for transport within a five-mile radius of the hotel Check-in starts at 3 p.m., check-out is at noon. The con will be providing hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar on Saturday night, a full breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning, and some snacks and beverages throughout both days. We'll post a complete menu a couple of weeks prior to the con. NOTE: We are NOT allowed to bring our own outside snacks into the meeting room. You are, however, welcome to eat or drink whatever you like in your own room. Area Amenities Within walking distance of the hotel, you'll find several fast food options, a couple of restaurants, a grocery store, a Starbucks (of course), and a liquor store. Within easy driving distance and within the range of the complimentary hotel shuttle, you'll find practically anything else you might need, including lots of food options, Costco, drugstores, Target, various banks, an organic grocery store, etc. Maps will be included with your welcome packet when you arrive. If you want to check out the lay of the land before then, Google Maps is your friend (see the hotel link above). Con events The con will officially run from 9 a.m. on April 4th until 5 p.m. on April 5th, with an optional movie night and other activities to get the ball rolling on the evening of April 3rd, and post-con movie-watching on the evening of the 5th. Panels Panels are being organized by the ConComm, with help from you. Final list of panels will be linked here once they are available. Always check out the panels tag for the latest info! Vidshow There will be a vidshow on Saturday night, details TBD. Check out the vidshow tag for the latest info! Room parties Room parties are totally encouraged (as long as noise is kept to a respectful level that won't get us in trouble with other guests/the hotel)! Please note, however: NO alcohol is allowed in the main con ballroom (except via the cash bar on Saturday night). Feel free to drink/eat whatever you want in your sleeping rooms. A list of things we will not have, because we are all casual and stuff: No celebrity guests (y'all are rockstars enough for us) No art show No dealers No free meals besides hors d'oeuvres on Saturday and breakfast on Saturday & Sunday What we do have is LOVE, people. SO MUCH LOVE. And bacon! Getting to the con: By air Airport You'll probably want to fly into Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport. Getting from the airport to the hotel The hotel is about 20 miles from Sea-Tac. The most affordable option is to take the light rail and connect to a bus; the light rail will get you from the airport to downtown Seattle for $2.50, and from downtown, there are several buses to Issaquah (average $2.50 fare) that will drop you off at the Issaquah Transit Center on 17th Ave NW, less than half a mile from the hotel (see the Metro Online Site for more info). Otherwise: - Taxi (in the vicinity of $55-$65 plus tip), Uber, or Lyft - Shuttle service - When the con gets closer, we'll open up a thread for anyone who wants to try to coordinate cab/shuttle-sharing with other attendees. - Rent a car (see below for driving directions) Getting to the con: Not by air The thread for roadtrip coordination will be posted closer to the con and linked here. By train or bus Amtrak and Greyhound both have stations in downtown Seattle. From there, you're about a 20-minute drive away from Issaquah. See below for driving directions. Local bus service is, as I said, not all that comprehensive, but it is pretty easy from downtown--the Metro Online site is here if you'd like to check out your options. By car: driving directions - As long as you are not east of Issaquah (including from Sea-Tac airport), take (as applicable) I-5 N, I-5 S, I-405 N, or I-405 S to I-90 E (toward Spokane). If you're east of Issaquah, take I-90 W. - From I-90, take exit 15 (WA-900 / 17th Ave NW). - Turn right at the light onto 17th Ave NW. - About a block down, turn right onto Gilman Blvd (by the Burger King). - The hotel will be about a block ahead of you on your right, behind the John L. Scott building. The hotel is here on Google Maps. Getting to the con: Other Travel by War Rig, Bifrost, tour bus, dog sled, Goat Van, stargate, wormhole, battlestar, firefly, TARDIS, Leviathan, Chevy Impala, Mystery Machine, or similar to be arranged by individual attendees. Roommates, rideshares, and airport transportation coordination Roommate, rideshare, and cab/Lyft/shuttle-share threads will be posted closer to the con! Weather It does not, in fact, rain ALL the time in Seattle. However, in the springtime, it tends to rain quite a bit. Bring a waterproof jacket if you have one, and maybe an umbrella if you plan to be out and about (though the hotel also has a few umbrellas you can borrow). Temperatures will probably be in the 50s/low 60s, but given climate change shenanigans, we cannot safely predict the weather. Basically, layers are highly recommended—not only is Seattle weather changeable (it snowed at our first BP; WHAAAT), but so are hotel temperatures (especially in meeting spaces, where they tend to crank the air conditioning), so being able to take off/add clothes as necessary is your best bet. Tourist information Downtown Seattle is about a 20-minute drive from Issaquah (up to about 45 minutes with traffic). For information about tourist activities available in the area, you can visit this site. Who's flying this thing? The mod team is intransitive, jedusaur, & pi. General questions/concerns/etc. should go to the ConComm at pacificwriterscon [at] gmail   Questions about registration should go to the ConComm at pacificwriterscon [at] gmail as well. As we get closer, we'll update this post with panel, vidshow, and other contact info, but the entire ConComm has access to the above email, and the appropriate person will answer any questions that come up, so that email address is your best bet! We're trying to tag posts as much as possible for ease of navigation. To view all the tags for the community, go here. See you in April!

#bp2020 #bitchin' party

[kingsman-reverse-bang]

Kingsman Reverse Bang - Round One Wrap-Up

@elrhiarhodan reposting from Dreamwidth

Today marks the end of a journey that began with a wistful post during the 2019 Snowflake Challenge - specifically Day 12 - Create Your Own Challenge, where I wrote that I’d love to run a Kingsman Reverse Bang challenge, and asked if anyone would be interested in helping me out. My dear friend and frequent brain twin, @anarchycox, answered the call.  We immediately plunged into the planning, setting up a very aggressive challenge schedule, going over and modifying the rules and FAQ I’d developed for a similar challenge in other fandoms, figuring out our roles in managing the event, because these things don’t run themselves and there are so many moving pieces in a Reverse Bang, which is essentially two challenges in one - the arting and then the writing. We were VERY pleasantly surprised at the number of people who’d signed up as artists and as writers.  The amount of artwork and the variety of it, with rare pairs and fandom bicycles and interpret-how-you-will choices was stunning. And our writers rose to the challenge, hopping on board the now-unusual requirement to work through Dreamwidth, and making their selections with a cut-throat rapidity that still makes my jaw drop.  And best of all, every single piece of artwork got a story, something that is quite rare in a small and quiet fandom like Kingsman. I’m a veteran when it comes to running these kinds of challenges, and I have to say that this was the best experience I’ve had as a moderator - most of which is due to AnarchyCox.  I cannot stress how dedicated my co-mod was to this challenge; Anarchy was shoulder-to- shoulder with me all the way, a true partner in every decision.   And of course, I am immensely proud of our artists and writers, who added thirty incredible works to the Kingsman fandom.  Actually, make that sixty, since art and story are separate fanworks, one inspiring the other. There are two writers who I need to crown with extra special laurels - anarchcox and @elletromil, who had stepped in when two writers defaulted at the very last moment.  They awe me, plain and simple. This post is both a victory lap and a bit of self-examination.  As smoothly as this challenge went, it was not without its problems.   1 - Schedule.  We were much too aggressive with the original schedule and extending it twice isn’t a good thing.  We really hadn’t figured on so much artwork and so many writers taking on multiple stories - seven writers did two or more stories.  And speaking as a writer who should have known better, there were quite a few writers who blew past the minimum word-count requirement without thinking and got themselves into a bind writing epics. 2 - Attribution.  Giving the writer the option to include their artist as a co-creator was, in retrospect, a not-so-great idea, since it impacts AO3 stats for any artist who happens to be a writer.  If there are writers who did make their artist a co-creator, you may want to check with your artist and ask if they want to remain as a co-creator, or if they want the story to become a gift.   3 - Posting.  We really don’t know if having an open posting window was the best approach.  Kudos and comments were way down and we have to wonder if that’s because of the way posting was set up, or if that’s the nature of fandom and challenge works. 4 - Achievement Unlocked.  One of the things we were kind of proud of was the Achievement Unlocked Round.  A few authors did claim stories, but the rule was that nothing could be posted until the primary stories were finished posting.  We hadn’t anticipated that it would take this long to finish (my dear Anarchy had just been burnt out with the three stories she’d written when she’d picked up the pinch hit and needed time to recover her mojo).  If there are any writers who’d like to pick up artwork and write something else, or have started their Achievement Unlocked story and were patiently waiting for permission to post, please go ahead and do so.  We’re keeping the AO3 collection open until the end of the year. We will be setting up a poll in the next day or two to get your feedback on the challenge, but if you’d like to comment here, your input would be very welcome. Once again, so many thanks to the awesome artists and authors who participated in the first round of the Kingsman Reverse Bang.  Anarchy and I have ideas for something a little different for next year, and we hope to see you there. PS:  In case you haven't read all of the stories or want to revisit some of your favorites, you can find the whole collection here, on AO3.

#kingsman reverse bang #kingsman #fanworks #round one

[silmarillionwritersguild]

Silmarillion40 Acknowledgements

Over the past forty days, thirty-five different creators have shared over 100,000 words of stories and poetry and sixteen works of art. Putting together a project of this size requires many hundreds of hours of creativity and industry. I am indebted to those whose skills and efforts made the Silmarillion40 possible.

My first thank-you goes always to my comoderators here on the SWG, who support projects like the Silmarillion40 through their planning expertise and devotion of their time: Russandol, Angelica, and Elleth. A very special thank-you goes also to Lyra, who works with me on running the site's challenges and ended up swept into Silmarillion40 planning when I started using our shared challenge document to plan the event. Lyra stepped up to make the beautiful border on the Silmarillion40 site, wrote most of the forty prompts, and authored the introduction when, nearly on the eve of the project's debut, I realized I hadn't done this yet and wouldn't have time. This project would not have had the splendor it did or be nearly as well run without Lyra's assistance.

Three volunteers set aside time every week to make sure that the day's fanworks were shared on our Dreamwidth and LiveJournal communities. Thank you Angelica, Lyra, and Hrymfaxe for taking on this regular obligation and watching out for and helping each other without a word of prompting from me.

Grundy, Fernstrike, and Jenni volunteered as beta readers, a job that cannot be underestimated because having in-house betas available to our authors ensures that no one is left out from participating simply because they don't have a beta in the Silmarillion fandom. Ensuring as many people can participate on the SWG as want to has always been a core value for us. Thank you to our betas for helping make that happen!

I want to give a special thank you to hennethgalad, who pinch-hit for not one but two stories (and the Day One collection!) after authors had to drop out at the last minute. A willingness to write what's needed with only a few days' notice cannot be undervalued, and hennethgalad's swift willingness to step in made my job much less stressful during this event. Thank you also to the other contributors to the Day One collection--Angelica, amyfortuna, Himring, Jenni, Lyra, Vulgarweed, Oshun, Independence1776, LadyBrooke, Fernstrike, Linda Hoyland, and lordnelson100--for collaborating at the last minute so that we'd have a written fanwork to post on the first day.

Lots of people offered friendship and encouragement--a forty-day event is long (and begins well before the first fanwork is posted). My weekend chat buddies Hrymfaxe and Robinka, who listen to me whine and rant on a weekly basis. My friend Oshun, who I know is always there when I need someone (which is a nice way of saying that she also listens to me whine and rant). Lyra, who is not only brilliant and talented but always patient when it takes me more time than I care to admit to reply to her emails (and who is still waiting for me to fix a posting mistake I made on the archive that I promised to fix on Day One ... and here it is Day Forty now. Yikes.) Hennethgalad, who sends me beautiful seascapes and webcams of the ocean just because. My husband Bobby, who has done more than his fair share of livestock feeding, garden harvesting, and housecleaning while I juggled this event, professional coursework, and the start of the school year. So many friends who have encouraged me and the SWG now and over the years, whether promoting the event or reccing a Silm40 fanwork or simply commenting--whether they know I'm listening or not--about how much they are enjoying the event ... all of these seemingly small gestures mean more than I can say. Thank you.

And finally--to those thirty-five creators, who stepped up to make something beautiful or thought-provoking or funny or heartfelt (or all of the above!) for this event. You shared your time, your talent, and your imagination with us. Silmarillion40 would not have happened without you, and I continue to be awed by both the talent and generosity with that talent in our small corner of the fannish world. Thank you all for sharing both with us.

Peace and Elves to all of you, Dawn Felagund SWG founder and owner

#silmarillion40

[olderthannetfic]

Escapade 2017 Con Report

I gave @rhaegalks​ a lift, came home, and flopped on my bed for a few hours. It turns out that a gross head cold plus a ton of parties plus the hotel’s alarm going off at like 7am is not good for my ability to be upright and functional. Zzzzz.

This year, we were in a new and fabulous hotel. Let’s hope we can afford it next year too. (Check out Escapade’s crowdfunding campaign.) The rooms are big, with an excellent fold-out couch in the outer room and two TVs: it’s the perfect set up for room parties.

Not that I had any of those this year. I was too busy helping with the Friday night dance party and hosting the Saturday night after party in the con suite. I would have thought that the hotel’s layout made sound travel, but we had no security issues, so I guess the sound proofing is better than I thought or we just weren’t that loud.

Booze and food:

What? You don’t think those are the most important parts of a party?

The hotel has happy hour every day. All the ehhh wine or basic mixed drinks you can cram down from 5:30 to 7:30. I didn’t eat at the hotel restaurant; reportedly, the burgers were dry. The old hotel is just across the street, and its restaurant is very good, if overpriced. I brought some real food for the con suite. I wish I’d been able to do more. Maybe next year, a few more of us can bring entree type offerings. I love how BASCon let you just eat lunch out of the con suite to keep things cheap. (RIP, BASCon. ;__;)

Friday, there were three specialty cocktails served by the hotel bartender. Vodka (ew), more vodka (ew), and a specialty margarita (pretty good for a bar at a hotel event). The hors d’oeuvres were great: little egg rolls and beef skewers.

Saturday, a bunch of us went out for swanky Mexican a short drive away. (The con is in the cultural wasteland that surrounds LAX, so the options are mostly bad chains, plus terrible Mexican, better Mexican, and swanky Mexican. Not so much with the variety. There’s a Greek place I’ve still never been to.) I had duck molé and regaled @t-cupsandtime​ with my many lolwhut fandom adventures. (Yes, I talked about myself all through dinner. Why do you ask? ;D)

Later, after the vid show, I hosted the after party in the con suite, where I set up a bar to serve a variety of lovely cocktails, each a different color. (Predictably, I got caught up dealing with tech issues in another room, so people just drank all the vodka and poured themselves whatever they felt like, but I did have a cool cocktail menu in theory!) 

We also watched a few vids and, more importantly, I was able to inflict Always Crashing in the Same Car on a whole roomful of fans. Come dwell with me in terrible kinky porn land, friends!

My cocktail offerings were:

Negroni - in honor of Killa always eying my sugar death bomb drinks with alarm

Moonlight - in honor of Joi McMillon’s gushing at Visible Artists over the editing process on Moonlight (you fangirl, you!)

Amaretto Sour - because I had a lot of home-grown lemons

Grasshopper - because SUGAR DEATH BOMB

China Blue - no, not that vodka bullshit in a martini glass: the tropical weirdness with lychee liqueur, blue curaçao, and grapefruit juice

White Russian - can’t go wrong with the Dude

Penguin - frothy, pink, and full of gin--in honor of Escapade’s mascot, gay penguins

Vids

This year, there was just a vidding 101 panel (which I did not attend) and vid review (which I did). The Friday dance party was my playlist, which you can see on Tumblr here. It wasn’t as OT3-y as I wanted, but it worked great as a dance playlist.

I’ll mention again that I started my vid search based on the fandoms on people’s profiles on the Escapade website. 90% of you didn’t fill anything out, so I didn’t look for your fandoms. Just saying! The dance party also takes suggestions, both for fandoms and for specific vids. Suggest early; suggest often!

I did a lot of my vid hunting on AO3. Unlike Tumblr or Youtube, you can search it properly for just things that are fanvids or just for fanvids in specific fandoms, and you can find things that were posted longer ago than last week.

The Saturday vidshow is the big one where vidders premiere their vids for a rapt audience as opposed to a bunch of loud drunk people... unless you’re in the loud room, in which case, it’s still a bunch of loud drunk people. This year, it was a little underwhelming. While the vids were all excellent--maybe even better than in other years--they were also heavily drawn from last Festivids and last VividCon. As often happens, many of them were rather heavy. For the dance party, I chose based on music, even if the only copy of a vid I had was grabbed from Youtube and full of pixilation. The real vidshow tries to keep image quality higher, and that makes finding vids much harder: most vidders don’t think in terms of HQ files that will look good on a projector. I think that’s a pity because, while our numbers at Escapade are small, we’re a very dedicated audience. Make pretty HQ versions, vidders! Let us love you! And post to AO3! Let us find you!

Panels!

Lots of meta and recs panels for me this year. I ran a panel on films about fandom: the problematic ones that exist, the ones we’d like to see, and my grad school thesis that I’d like you to donate to when the indiegogo goes up.

I also ran The Fannish Dating Game, the panel where you pimp your fandom by being a bachelorette and answering our lovely contestant’s questions. Certain People having failed with McHale’s Navy last year were determined to drag everyone into Barney Miller this year. When I was a contestant, the three options turned out to be The Eagle, Master and Commander, and Cardcaptor Sakura--all fandoms I used to be in. Heh. I think I’m due for a turn back through Hornblower, to be honest, but maybe another Age of Sail frenzy will follow.

The Kids Are Not the Problem: I know I attended this, but I can’t remember a thing about it other than who the mods were... Doh.

Home on the Web: This was a panel about what’s missing in Tumblr or other alternatives today and where we should go. The discussion circled around the idea that there needs to be a fannish-run social media site and that we need a good backup/download tool for Tumblr lest it go away some day. I don’t think we really discussed what’s wrong with Dreamwidth: many things are great about it, but it lacks some of the audiovisual aspects that I’ve grown to love elsewhere. One thing that came up again and again for me is that some of the requested things exist or could exist, but we either aren’t making use of tools we should, like filling out our AO3 profiles or using AO3′s bookmarks feature, or we don’t know where to find the good fuckyeah tumblrs and other replacements for fannish newsletters. In my opinion, everyone should go ahead and invest time in tumblr even if its economic model is unsustainable, but we should figure out how to back it up ASAP. Everyone should also go have the threaded discussions they want to in AO3 fic comments.

Let’s Collab! New Forms of Collective Fan Creativity: I couldn’t make it to this since it conflicted with Home on the Web. I’d love to know how it was.

How to Threesome: We played with posable dolls and nattered about what kinds of sex we like in OT3 fic and whether or not it’s similar to what makes sense in real life. (Answer: of course it’s not. It’s exactly like two-person couples in erotica and romance in that there’s lots of Souls As One simultaneous shit and much less realistic sex where one person takes a lot longer than another.)

The Slash Book: This is really cool. There’s talk of a slash book that combines fan and academic perspectives.

OT3 for Me: Another panel of OT3 squee. (It’s Escapade 27, so the theme is OT3s.) We all wanted more canons with OT3s and other poly arrangements. What year is this again? Surely, there should be more in self-published ebooks at least by now? Lots of us talked about shipping teams together: buddy cops = OTP, Leverage = 2+3, MCU = team orgy.

It’s Canon, but is it slash? I proposed this but didn’t run it, so it spent a lot of time on the meta question of what defines slash. I was more interested in the question of whether pro m/m is scratching the same itches and what’s good. We concluded that it theoretically could, but the vast majority of it doesn’t because it’s just not good enough at setting up the iddy character dynamics before it gets to the fucking. Give us buddy cops and superhero-supervillain feuds before they bump uglies, please!

You’re Totally Welcome on my Lawn, but I Wish You Wouldn’t Pee on the Grass: Not, as it happens, my panel. Anyone have a panel review?

We’re All Going to Hell: Obviously an amazing panel full of all of My People. Now where are my noncon xeno recs?

Wank: It’s Coming from Inside the Fandom: We tried to define both ‘wank’ and ‘The Discourse’ and never really settled on anything, but we did get to explain His Wife, A Horse to the unwary. Muahahahaha!

#escapade 2017 #con report

[arcanetrivia]

alynnafoxie replied to your post “alynnafoxie: Can I ask the otherkin community a question? I’m a...”

holy crap you mean Mythicalia, like 10 years ago? wow there are people still around from then? Where are we all hanging out? Seriously I wanna know...

Not sure what you mean about Mythicalia; none of the chats are connected to that. The last one we had was in 2010 and after having to cancel it the following two years running from lack of registrations (mostly - it was a bit more complex than that in both 2011 and 2012) I was getting burnt out and just let it lapse. I don’t know what happened to most of the people who ever came to one, although it’s quite possible a lot of them moved away, either back east or to Portland or Seattle (I know this to be true of a few people).

Where is anyone, well, as you’ve probably noticed the online community in general has kind of broken down. Most of the forums are low-traffic if not moribund; the same is true of almost every list (Elfinkind Digest and elven-realities get a trickle now and then); ditto LiveJournal and Dreamwidth communities. I hear the Kinmunity board gets some activity, but I’m not a member; ditto Werelist if you fit with that community. There are some otherkin groups on Facebook, but I wouldn’t want to touch that with a barge pole, and I think that’s partly what happened; people moved on masse to a platform that didn’t support the kind of reasonably private communication needed for the topic, so it kind of fell apart. (You might be able to set it up a bit better now, but I think the damage has been done.)

Mythicalia itself is on indefinite hiatus if not permanent retirement (unless I happen to luck into a good private site by the I-know-a-guy-who-knows-a-guy kind of method); @rialianashtae mused at his wife’s memorial last summer when talking about Walking the Thresholds that perhaps the need for that kind of “classic” otherkin gather might no longer exist, at least not in the way it did 15-20 years ago, and he might be right.

I am still running a monthly meetup in the SF Bay, alternating second Saturdays and second Sundays, and we host a special event at PantheaCon each year. I moved it off Meetup.com about six months ago because I didn’t want to keep paying their monthly fees for a small group like ours, so it’s on my own website and mailing list now: http://eristic.net/fey/sfbayotherkin/index.php It’s not very large, mostly about three to six people each time out of a pool that’s not much larger, but it’s there. Be warned, though, it’s a general social thing and makes no guarantees of being On Topic; more like “If you want to talk about otherkin stuff, these are people who will understand what you’re on about.”

(The PCon meetup is bigger; we get 20-30 people wandering through over the course of an evening, although some of them are just curious randos in search of a badge ribbon. 2017 was our sixth year and we’ve started to build up a small group of regulars, including Lupa, although she doesn’t call herself a therian anymore.)

#alynnafoxie #replies #otherkin #chat

[inversekaon]

[fic] Like Ships in the Night (3)

Fandom: Yugioh Zexal Paring: V/Gauche, background Mizael/Kaito Rating: T Wordcount: ~7000 dreamwidth link AO3 link

Soulmates AU. Fate would always ensure that soulmates found each other. Even if it had to try again…and again…and again…and again…

~*~*~*~*~

Like Ships in the Night Part 3 // In Consort

Do you like me? Those words kept on echoing in his mind—even more than the words scrawled on his arm—and while he hadn't been completely sure of his answer at the time, he'd become quite sure of it over the past week. "Of course I do," Chris muttered to himself as he scrolled through his collection of videos of Gauche dueling. He selected one he hadn't watched yet, and then promptly tuned out as he waited for Gauche to appear, rather than his opponent. Now that he knew for sure it was him—now that he felt like he was allowed to like him because he wouldn't be falling for someone else's soulmate (again)—he could say with absolutely certainty that he liked Gauche and was attracted to Gauche and he had been for quite a while now. Maybe it had even started back when Gauche had demanded a duel from him, or maybe it had only been after Gauche had gotten to his feet after the first duel and immediately demanded a second. He couldn't say for sure when he'd started liking him. But he could pinpoint exactly when he'd first realized he was attracted to the man. There had been one afternoon when Gauche had been slow to get up after losing a duel, when he'd pushed himself up on his elbows and lay there with his knees bent and legs spread and looked up at him like he was daring him to do something....Chris had had to turn away very fast to keep from staring at him too long, and he had had more than one dream since then with Gauche sprawled the same way in his bed. He had, of course, thought of Gauche as attractive before then, but it was only then that he knew how attracted he was personally and wouldn't mind doing something about it. Then he hadn't. Because Gauche might have been better off with someone else, he he didn't want to get in the way of that. And he didn't look up their duel either, because maybe that phrase on his arm wasn't exactly right, but as long as he didn't know for sure, he could still have some hope that it was. He didn't want to know for sure until he was sure in his heart that Gauche was the right one after all. Thankfully, the advertisements for the tournament had made that decision for him. Otherwise, he might never have checked. The video ended and Chris scrolled through for another one. As a Pro Duelist, Gauche had quite a lot of videos of his duels out there, although Chris had been somewhat reluctant to watch them until now. He had been content with dueling Gauche himself a few times a week. Gauche had suggested they wait until the tournament to duel again, however, since it would only be a couple weeks, so Chris had to content himself with watching his duels with other people instead. ...In retrospect, he probably should have just accepted Gauche was the one as soon as he started rearranging his schedule to spend more time with him. ...Which had been quite a bit earlier than when he'd received that beautiful vision of Gauche on his back. ...Kaito had almost certainly been thinking it as soon as Gauche had texted him that first time. Hopefully, Kaito wouldn't say so once Chris actually told him they'd figured it out. Even Gauche couldn't make up for an utterly lackluster opponent, though. He liked Gauche quite a lot, but it was the Gauche who never backed down and fought passionately to the end that he liked most, and while he was politely keeping a smile on his face, Gauche just had no need to fight so hard in this particular duel. Chris closed out of the video and looked for another one. He settled on Gauche's duel with Yuma from the last WDC. Even though this upcoming tournament was actually mostly his own idea, and the holoscreens around the city advertising it used all the footage they could from the previous one, Chris didn't have anything to do with putting together the advertisements so there was plenty of footage from the WDC that he hadn't seen. Like this duel, for instance. He probably should have watched it by now, though; a duel against Yuma was sure to bring out the passionate Gauche he'd come to enjoy so much. ...Of course, he also had to put up with listening to Mr. Heartland every now and then. Chris's eye twitched a little as the man's grating voice introduced the field and the players. Mr. Heartland had played no small part in why he'd avoided watching any of the WDC for so long. Then his eyebrows shot up and he leaned forward in his seat. Gauche had just stood up on his Duel Coaster and turned around to face Yuma head on. Of course, it was a very Gauche-like thing to do that. If anyone else was going to do that, it would be him. But it still caught him by surprise. Chris had thought he'd been the only one who had done something that reckless. And he'd only done it once. But not only had Gauche stood up right from the start, he seemed determined to get back up and keep standing any time he was knocked down as the duel progressed. No wonder he had been so excited to hear they would be using the Duel Coasters again; he seemed to have had quite a lot of fun last time. Chris smiled a little as Gauche replenished Yuma's lifepoints to make it a fair fight. But Yuma didn't seem to be giving him the fight he wanted. Gauche slowly grew more and more frustrated until he finally snapped. "That was such a cheap attack! I don't....I don't wanna have such a lame duel with you!" Chris paused the video and stared out the window. What had set him off had been Yuma dealing him effect damage while smoothly avoiding taking any damage himself—exactly the way Chris preferred to play. Yuma's tactics were quite good, but they were tactics Gauche hated to play against. It wasn't as though Chris hadn't noticed that from the beginning. He was still amazed, even now, that Gauche hadn't just walked away after a handful of duels like that, and watching this exchange only rekindled that feeling. Granted, Gauche had only ever seemed frustrated by their duels and not like he'd hated them, and he did always come back for more but...he really hadn't seemed as happy to duel Chris as he had those handful of times when Chris switched to a more straightforward deck and playing style. His fingers tapped absently on the tablet in his lap. It really wasn't the way he preferred to duel...but if it got Gauche to smile like that again...and there was nothing saying he had to duel that way always from now on... Chris unpaused the video, and his chest felt tight every time Gauche's grinning face appeared on the screen, but he was too lost in thought to pay much attention to anything else. ~*~*~*~*~ Gauche made his way through the familiar halls of Heartland Tower with a single-minded purpose. As he reached the room where he'd been told he could find Kaito and his guest, the doors slid open and the two of them walked out. Whatever conversation they had been having died as soon as Kaito had to stop short to keep from walking right into Gauche. "What are you doing here?" Kaito asked in surprise. Gauche ignored him. He wasn't the one he was here to see. "You're Mizael, right?" Gauche asked, looking pointedly at the boy next to Kaito. He only knew the blond in passing, but this was where Alit had said he would be, and he did look familiar now that he was standing in front of him. "My name's Gauche. Can I talk to you?" Mizael and Kaito glanced at each other, and then gave him identical looks of confusion. "About what?" Mizael asked. "V—er, Chris Arclight." He wasn't sure which name Mizael would be more familiar with. V hadn't ever corrected him, but he seemed to be using his real name just as much these days. "You're the one who dueled him back when...you know. Right? Can you tell me about it?" Gauche had spent most of the last week or so trying to learn more about V without having to resort to asking his brothers or Kaito, who he didn't like and might give something away. It hadn't gone particularly well. During the WDC, the only duel that had been recorded in full had been his own duel with Yuma. There was absolutely nothing of V's duel with Kaito. He couldn't find any evidence that V had participated in any duels before the semi-finals either, which had him seriously wondering if he'd even earned his Heart Pieces himself. (If he'd known about that at the time, he definitely would have had something done about that. But V had obviously been qualified, so he couldn't bring himself to be too annoyed about it now.) In fact, the only footage Gauche could find of his dueling was from the Duel Coasters part of the tournament, and there still wasn't much of that, since there had been so many of them for the cameras to focus on. Gauche was more than familiar with his dueling and attitude from that time anyway. He had finally resorted to talking to Yuma and his friend Kotori about it—which turned out to be the best decision he could have made, because Yuma and Kotori seemed to have been there for every duel and almost every event that had happened over those handful of months. Yuma very enthusiastically told him all about V's duel with Kaito—and about V and Tron's surprise history with Yuma's father and why they hated Dr. Faker so much. (Kotori had been reluctant to share that bit, but Yuma was already halfway through the story before she could even try to say anything.) And Yuma had very enthusiastically told him all about V and his family's contributions to the fight against the Barians. That they had been keeping an eye on what was going on, so they could step in to protect Yuma if he needed it. That Yuma had briefly lost the Original Numbers, but V and Kaito had built a portal to the Astral World to save him, and then dueled one of the Barians together to make sure Yuma could leave safely. That V had taken charge once the Seven Barian Emperors had appeared, keeping Yuma out of their hands while everyone else tried to defeat them. That after the death of their brother, V and III had thrown themselves into the fray to give Yuma time to escape to the Barian World to try to end things with Don Thousand directly. Unfortunately, Yuma had only seen the very end of that duel, and he couldn't seem to describe what had happened without stumbling over his words. Gauche had decided that rather than force him to live through it again, he might as well just go and ask the Barian they had dueled directly. He'd have to talk to Mizael about the rest of the duel anyway. Mizael crossed his arms and eyed him with a frown. "I suppose. Why?" "He's...my soulmate," Gauche said. That still didn't feel quite real, even a week later. "I want to know more about him." "I knew it," Kaito said with a smirk. "Oh?" Mizael's shoulders relaxed somewhat, and he even had the hint of a smile. "Congratulations. He's a fine human; I would have been honored to have him as my soulmate." Gauche's eyebrows shot up. "That's a pretty high opinion you've got there." Kaito feeling that way he would have expected, but he didn't really expect that from anyone else. "Indeed," Mizael said, and then said nothing else to elaborate on it. Instead, he tilted his head slightly and added, "If you want to know about Christopher, wouldn't it be better to ask his brothers? Michael could tell you about our duel as easily as I can." "I want to hear it from someone less biased," Gauche said. Or less biased in V's favor, anyway. Though from the sound of it, Mizael really might not be super biased in his own favor either. "Hmm," was all Mizael said to that, but he did look marginally more approving. "Well, it might take a while to go through all of it. Do you want to go somewhere...?" "You guys can talk about it in my apartment," Kaito said, gesturing vaguely upwards. "We were about to head up there anyway." Mizael's cheeks tinged the faintest shade of pink, but he nodded to Kaito and sent Gauche a questioning look. Gauche shrugged and gestured for Kaito to lead the way. Gauche had been in Kaito's apartment a handful of time while he'd still been working for Mr. Heartland. It had been vast and utterly lifeless then, with only the bare minimum of furnishings to make it seem like someone lived there. He had also lived there by himself. Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland let him spend as much time as he wanted visiting his brother, but Haruto had not been allowed to live with him. It was too dangerous, they had said. They were all just tools, was what they had meant. The apartment Kaito led them to now was completely different. It was slightly smaller, for one thing, a more appropriate size for one or two or even three people, and there was more than one piece of furniture. And there were also toys and papers and books scattered about, evidence that not only was Haruto living with him again, so was Dr. Faker. Luckily, it seemed neither of them was here right now. Gauche had to wonder how much time Kaito actually spent here, how much he had actually been able to forgive his father for the shit he'd put Haruto through, or if this effort had been mostly led by Haruto himself. Once they had settled in the living room with the tea Orbital 7 had been threatened into making for them, Mizael finally began his story. He seemed to have been thinking about what he was going to say the whole way up here. "It was after we had all defeated that first group of duelists protecting Tsukumo Yuma," Mizael said with a slight nod toward Gauche. "While I was searching for Yuma and Kaito, I came across Christopher and Michael instead. They had been waiting to intercept us—to intercept me, in particular. They goaded me into a duel for Yuma and Kaito's locations. Christopher even mentioned he had been Kaito's mentor. He knew I would never refuse after hearing that...." Mizael covered the duel itself with excruciating detail, which Gauche found interesting—because he never had gotten to fight against any of the Arclights' aces while they still had them—but not as interesting as the overall picture of it and all the other little details he slipped in. Like that V and III had absolutely done their research and gone into that duel prepared to shut down the Barians' trump card with alarming ease. That the Arclights had their own unique Rank Up Magic card. How the heck had that happened? Then Kaito had interjected that V had made it for them, and Gauche was even more impressed and disgruntled. That guy was really out there making his own cards?? And that wasn't exactly a standard card either; it had to have had some weird powers to it. That V and III had also been prepared to trap any and all Barians who came their way, to keep as many of them occupied and away from Yuma as possible. V was still wearing that bracelet of his even now; he wondered if it had any of that power left. Next time they met, he'd have to ask. That V and III were even more annoyingly competent fighting together than V was by himself, and Gauche was disappointed he couldn't have faced their Numbers but also somewhat relieved they were gone now. And also that no matter how scarily good they were, Mizael was even more so. "Before I could deal the final blow, we all saw a star streaking through the sky. It was Kaito, heading to the moon." Mizael glanced over at Kaito, who was watching him like he didn't already know this, like Mizael hadn't just said the most astonishing thing yet. "They seemed to have been waiting for that timing. Christopher called up Yuma so he could see what was happening, and so he could speak with both of us. "The key needed for the Numeron Code was on the moon. It needed specific Numbers for it be released—namely, mine and Kaito's. Christopher and Michael had been stalling for time while Kaito left for the moon, so he would be sure to make it there without anyone stopping him and accidentally ruining everything." "And for Yuma to get to the Barian World," Kaito added. "And that. But that wasn't as important," Mizael said. Kaito rolled his eyes, but his mouth twitched into a smile too. "Anyway, the important thing is that they sacrificed themselves to give us time to escape," Kaito said quietly. "Yes," Mizael said, turning back to Gauche. "But it was more than that. I've thought about this a lot since then—and I've spoken to Christopher about it as well, and he didn't deny it....The Numbers required to summon Numeron Dragon were mine and Kaito's. It had to be the two of us, in that place on the moon, for it to work the right way. Christopher and Michael...couldn't have won that duel, and they challenged me knowing that." Gauche stared at him for a minute, still trying to wrap his brain around everything that had just been thrown at him. V and III...had started that duel just to stall for time, knowing that they wouldn't be allowed to win it? They'd challenged Mizael...knowing they weren't going to walk away from it? Not because of a lack of skill, but because that was the way it had to be... He suddenly wished V was here with them, or he was wherever V was, so he could drag him off and show him exactly how he felt about that for several hours. "Did they throw it?" Gauche asked finally, his fingers digging into the couch cushions. He didn't think they would have—that V would have done something like that, but if they absolutely had to lose... Mizael pursed his lips with displeasure for the very idea. "No. Nothing like that. They fought me with everything they had. It was simply with the knowledge that fate would not be on their side." He paused and glanced thoughtfully over at Kaito. "Although Christopher probably did have a contingency plan, in case they did actually beat me. That would be like him." "He was going to come duel me himself, if he had to," Kaito said. "We had a suit and stuff ready—" Mizael snorted lightly. "You would have both ended up dead." "Probably," Kaito said with a shrug. "What Chris was really hoping for was that he'd find one of the other Barians first—Durbe maybe—and you'd find them and then he could beat them and survive and tell you where you were supposed to go. But I know he also really wanted a chance to duel you, so I don't think he was unhappy with how things worked out." "I want to duel you," Gauche blurted out. Sure, Mizael didn't have his stupidly overpowered Numbers anymore, but he'd undoubtedly be a challenge even without it. What he'd just told them about his duel with V and III made that clear enough. Mizael smirked and took a sip of his tea. "Find me at the tournament, then. I'd be honored to duel any one of you." ~*~*~*~*~ The morning of the Heartland Limited Carnival dawned clear and bright, but chilly. By mid-morning, the Duel Coaster Stadium was filled with the dull background roar of thousands of excited voices from the packed stands, and the day was shaping up to be one of the warmest of the week—which meant it was comfortable just standing there, but they were all sure to be freezing once they were speeding along the Duel Coaster track. Gauche absently adjusted his fingerless gloves and his feathered collar as he stood there in the center of the stadium with the other contestants. Since it had only been about eight months since the WDC, it was barely spring and some chilly days couldn't be helped, but it was certainly going to help to make things interesting later. It was nice that his favorite coat was already decently warm. The floating platform MR. Heartland had once used suddenly shot into the air for the new MC to announce the beginning of the tournament. Gauche glanced up briefly at the giant hologram of the man and shook his head a little. V had said he'd been concerned that Nico Smiley would be similar to Mr. Heartland in all the wrong ways, and it was easy to see why; the man looked like if Charlie Chaplin had decided to dress like a bee and become a sleazy used car salesman, and his mannerisms were just as wildly theatrical as Mr. Heartland's had been. Still, when Gauche had met him at the banquet last night, Smiley had seemed like a genuinely decent person, just a very enthusiastic one. He'd eagerly congratulated him on his win in the Spartan City tournament, even though it had been months ago, and he'd spent several minutes chatting with Droite about the nitty-gritty details of managing a Pro Duelist. Speaking of the banquet...Gauche frowned and scanned the crowd on the field, searching through the other contestants, the attendants, and the torrential downpour of confetti. The banquet had been considerably more relaxed than the one before the WDC had been, since all of the contestants either knew each other or knew Yuma, but Gauche had felt much the same frustration, as there had been one person in particular that he had never managed to catch up with no matter how many times his silver hair flashed from across the room. Gauche finally spotted V standing almost at the end of the line of Duel Coasters, chatting with Mizael while Kaito leaned against one of the coaster cars nearby. V glanced up briefly, but he only waved his hand once and then turned his attention right back to Mizael and Kaito. It wasn't quite a dismissal, but it sure was close enough to be annoying. Gauche scowled and started picking his way through the thin crowd to give V no other option but to pay attention to him for a minute. Then he stopped as he noticed Kaito making his way across the field towards him. "Why is he avoiding me?" Gauche demanded as soon as Kaito was close enough. He should just go over there and ask V himself, but if Kaito had been sent over here, there was probably a reason. Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Who said he was avoiding you?" Nevermind. Gauche was going to march over there anyway. "Wait, wait," Kaito said, grabbing his arm before he could get too far. "Okay, he is. But he asked me to tell you to wait a little longer. He won't keep avoiding you once we're all dueling." "Why?" "You think if I knew, I wouldn't tell you? It'd serve him right. I'm not his errand boy," Kaito said with a sideways glance back at V, though there wasn't any real venom behind it. Gauche conceded the point with a shrug and also looked back up at V. Mizael was still there, but he seemed to be talking to Tron now, while V's attention had moved on to his brothers. Even from here, Gauche could see the smile on his face while he listened to whatever III was so enthusiastically telling him. Perhaps it was just excitement over being here in the first place; III had been the only one of them who hadn't taken part in this bit last time, even though it was impossible he didn't have a full Heart Piece like the rest of his family. It was a scene he would have been hesitant to interrupt even if V didn't have that charming smile on his face. Unfortunately, someone else decided to interrupt it for him, as Smiley announced that it was time for everyone to get into place to officially begin the tournament. Kaito lifted his hand in a wave and walked off, heading back toward the group at the end of the row and the coaster car he'd already claimed for himself. Gauche snuck one last glance at V gracefully leaping into a blue car, and then he jumped over the back and into the seat of a nearby red one. He was already placing the completed Heart Piece he'd received with his official invitation into its place by the time Smiley even got to that part of his preprepared speech. After all, it wasn't like Gauche hadn't done this once before; he knew how this worked. He barely glanced over the course map that popped up—just enough to check where the Trap Points were, so he could avoid them. Smiley started counting down. Finally. Gauche grabbed on to the joystick and leaned forward. "—Three! Two! One! Fire!" Gauche slammed the joystick forward. His coaster car shot out at the front of the pack, around the loop, and out onto the course. He made short work of the first person to challenge him, some friend of Yuma's who he only vaguely recognized. The kid seemed just as happy to be dueling him as he was to be here in the first place, so he didn't feel too bad about knocking him out so early. Maybe later, he'd go find that kid and give him an autograph or something. He didn't see anyone else for a while after that, except for from a distance on some other track. The Duel Coasters were fun and a pretty unique idea, but since they were so spread out, they did make it more of a challenge to actually come across any of the other duelists. Of course, that was part of the fun, but it also meant a lot of time to just think and strategize, and of course, his thoughts very quickly drifted to V and what he might be doing. Was V expecting Gauche to go find him? Was he planning on finding Gauche instead? Was it too early to go find him? It would be fun, dueling him like this again, but it might also be fun to try to get all the way to one of the arenas with him and duel him there. Maybe he could even lead V to the Canyon Field where he'd dueled Yuma last time—although if V had gone back to his preferred deck, he wouldn't be summoning many monsters, so he wouldn't be affected much by the field's penalty— "Gauche!" Gauche's heart skipped a beat. He spun around in his seat. Behind him, swiftly catching up with his car on the same track, was a blue coaster car. The one belonging to V, who stood proudly with one foot on each seat, his hair whipping in the wind behind him like a silver pennant. Gauche had never seen a more beautiful sight in his life. "There you are!" V called out. He brought his duel disk up and bent his knees slightly. "We've got a good mood right here. Gauche, I challenge you!" It wasn’t quite the same, but it was close enough and he knew exactly what he needed to say in return. Gauche scrambled to his feet, grinning from ear to ear as he climbed on top of his car and raised his duel disk. "Heh, you want to fight me? Bring it on!" "You’re both idiots!" Kaito yelled at them as he passed by on a lower track. Gauche could barely hear him over the wind rushing past his head and his heart beating wildly in his ears. To his delight, V's deck was a new one, and he was more than willing to use more straightforward tactics today too. Gauche could tell there was more to the deck than that—that it was probably similar to his first deck in having two mostly different strategies built in—but that just made it feel even more meaningful that V had chosen to save his annoying Burn and Negation effects until he was facing someone else. Right now, V was giving him exactly the kind of duel he loved. Maybe he could make it up to him later by not complaining so much when V switched back to the tactics he loved. Maybe. Of course, just because it wasn't the style V preferred, it didn't mean he wasn't good at it, and he'd learned from his mistakes from the last time they had dueled and he'd lost. He wasn't about to lose today. Very soon, Gauche found himself facing down the final attack with nothing left to defend himself and not enough lifepoints to get through it. "Wait," he said, throwing up a hand, before V could declare his last attack. V hesitated but dropped his own hand, waiting patiently to see what he wanted. Gauche frowned down at the cards in his hand, not really seeing them. What he wanted was for this not to end yet. Not his time in the tournament, exactly, but this time with V. All he'd wanted for the past few days was to be with V again, and now he had it, but as soon as V declared that last attack, Gauche would be rocketed off into the sky to spend the rest of the tournament watching from the stands. Sure, they could see each other again tonight, but tonight wasn't now. "...More than I thought I would," Gauche murmured and chuckled at himself. It was hard to believe he'd been so unsure about his feelings for V a couple weeks ago, when now all he wanted was to remain at his side. He glanced up at V and was suddenly struck by an idea. A fantastic, exhilarating, ridiculously stupid idea. If V didn't yell at him for it, it'd be more than he deserved. Gauche carefully knelt down to grab the throttle and slow his coaster car down a bit. V frowned but also hurried to slow his car down, ending up right on Gauche's tail but not in danger of crashing into him. Gauche grinned at him as he stood up again and dropped his arm, nodding that it was fine to go ahead with the attack. V frowned at him for another moment. He raised his hand and declared his last attack. Gauche jumped. ~*~*~*~*~ One moment, Chris was wondering what on earth Gauche was planning. He would just have to wait and see, he supposed, as he declared the attack that would drop Gauche's lifepoints down to zero. The next moment, he was watching his attack go through, and then Gauche jumped off the back of his coaster car— And the next, he was on his back, looking up into Gauche's grinning face. Gauche was sprawled on top of him, and the track was still whizzing along below them, a constant reminder of just how fast they were still going. Distantly, he saw the seat of Gauche's coaster car fly off into the air without him. Distantly, he thought he could hear the stadium explode with noise, although he was sure they couldn't hear the stadium from here. Distantly, he could feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest and his pants seemed to have suddenly gotten tighter and the words on his arm might have been tingling. The next moment, he wasn't staring up at Gauche's grinning face anymore, because Gauche was kissing him instead. Chris's eyes slipped shut, and he grabbed onto Gauche's fluffy collar as he kissed back, trying to make it clear what a stupid thing that had been through sheer force of lips and desperate clutching hands alone. If Gauche instead got the impression that he was desperate for something else, well, that was also true. "Ha, you should have seen your face," Gauche murmured against his lips. Chris shoved him back just enough to scowl at him. "You idiot," he hissed. "What the hell were you thinking?! What am I supposed to do if—" He decided not to finish that sentence and jerked Gauche down into another kiss instead. He could feel his eyes grow warm just at the thought of what could have happened if Gauche had missed, especially now that his initial shock had faded and the echoes of that panic were crashing down on him. He was an idiot and an imbecile and Chris could no longer think of a future that didn't have him in it. If he'd ended up falling... Well, for one thing, Chris would have blamed himself for the rest of his life for encouraging that stupid risk-taking behavior. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Gauche said after a minute, but at least now he had the decency to sound ashamed. But only briefly, because then he grinned and shifted a bit in Chris's lap and said, "Seems like you didn't hate it that much, V." Chris bit his lip to keep himself from doing something stupid, like kicking him off or grinding against his hip. "Get off," he muttered instead. "I still have a tournament to win." "Yeah, yeah." Gauche carefully rolled over and slid down into the second seat of the car. "You'd better win it, 'cause now you're playing for both of us. That was pretty mean, you know. You couldn't've waited to knock me out 'til we were Underground, at least?" Chris took a moment to collect himself before he sat up and slid down into his seat beside him. "I couldn't wait that long to see you," he murmured. "Next time." Gauche snorted lightly. "That's your fault. You could've come and found me last night. I was looking for you." "If I had found you last night, we would never have made it back to the party," Chris said, determinedly keeping his eyes on the track in front of him and not anywhere near Gauche. His throat felt very dry just saying that. Gauche chuckled and placed a hand on his thigh as his leaned over to murmur closer to his ear, "Oh, so you picked a time when we had to behave instead, huh? How responsible, V." Chris tensed and glanced over at him and that cheeky grin on his ridiculously handsome face. He was right, of course; Chris did not trust himself to keep his hands to himself at this point if they were anywhere more private. But rather than say so—again—he grabbed Gauche's collar and tugged him into another kiss. Gauche made a faint noise and cupped the back of Chris's head with his hand as he enthusiastically kissed back. His fingers sank into Chris's hair and curled against his scalp, and Chris had to fight back a moan of his own. Maybe he should have just gone and found Gauche last night. He'd been somewhat nervous that Gauche was going to turn him down—even after Kaito had mentioned that Gauche had been asking about him—so he'd wanted to give Gauche the opportunity to cut ties in public and not feel pressured into accepting their bond, but it would seem he'd had nothing to worry about. Gauche's answer after all that thinking was obviously the same as his. And they could have spent all night repeating that answer over and over. Oh well. It wasn't like last night was the only night they ever could have had. Tonight would be just as acceptable. "It's Chris," he murmured as he finally pulled away. Gauche stared at him, looking bewildered. "Huh?" "You don't have to keep calling me 'V'. You can call me Chris. V is...not someone I want to be with you." Gauche stared at him for another moment, still looking somewhat bemused. Then he grinned and leaned in for one more quick peck. "Good. Chris suits you better," he said against Chris's lips. Then he fell back into his seat and pointed dramatically forward. "All right, Chris, let's go win a tournament!" Chris rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile a little as he pushed the joystick forward, urging the coaster car to catch up with the rest of the contestants. "Of course." ~*~*~*~*~ When they glided into the Space Field some time later, someone was already there waiting for them: Mizael...and Kaito. Chris immediately turned the joystick to take them back out. "Oh, we'll find somewhere else. Don't let us interrupt you—" "Wait, Chris—" Kaito called before they could get anywhere. "I'm not here to duel. I'm just a spectator like him," he said, gesturing at Gauche. Chris glanced over at Gauche. He looked just as surprised as Chris felt. Chris shrugged and pulled the coaster car to a stop so they could both jump down. If that was the case, then there was no reason to leave, though he was having trouble believing it. "You lost already?" Chris asked as they walked across the field to where Mizael and Kaito were waiting. Kaito scowled and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. "This guy couldn't wait and demanded a duel before we even got to the Underground. Kinda like someone else I know." Mizael flipped his hair back from his shoulder. "What's the fun in waiting until we're here? We duel like this all the time. Isn't the point of today to have fun with those rolling coasters?" He glanced over at Gauche and finally looked a tiny bit apologetic as he added, "Looks like you couldn't find me in time. That's a shame; I was looking forward to it." "S'not like we can't duel some other time," Gauche said with a shrug. Chris eyed both of them with surprise. When Kaito had mentioned that Gauche had wanted to talk to Mizael about him, he hadn't considered that it might include making plans to duel each other. Although now that he thought about it, it shouldn't surprise him at all; of course Gauche would want to duel someone as skilled as Mizael. Maybe he really shouldn't have taken Gauche out so early... "Since we're all here, why don't we have a Tag Duel?" Chris suggested after a moment. Gauche whirled toward him, a grin already breaking out on his face. "Can we do that?" "I don't see why not. As long as we both agree to it," Chris said with a nod to Mizael, "and how it might affect the results, it shouldn't be a problem." He could probably mention that this whole tournament was basically his idea in the first place, so if anyone should be allowed to bend the rules a little, it was him...but he wasn't going to. The people who needed to be aware of that—the ones who had the authority to say whether they could have a Tag Duel or not—were already aware of it. "Interesting. I did want to duel you one-on-one...but as he said"—Mizael nodded at Gauche—"we could do that anytime. I've never Tag Dueled with Kaito before..." He looked briefly over at Kaito, who nodded back at him, his duel disk already back on his arm. Mizael turned back to Chris with a smirk. "Very well. We'll accept this duel." Chris smiled as he turned away to get into place, Gauche trailing along next to him. Absently, he wondered how Smiley was faring right now; not only had he had to account for Gauche and Kaito sticking around long after they should have left, but now he was going to have to scramble to announce a Tag Duel in which half the participants were no longer part of the tournament. He half expected Smiley to cut in at any minute; these fields weren't completely cut off from the main commentary, after all. "You better not drag me down, Chris," Gauche said with a grin as they stopped and turned back around to face their opponents. Chris smirked, thinking back to the last time he'd heard very similar words from Kaito. That had also been against a Barian, though a considerably less friendly one under considerably more urgent circumstances. That had seemed like fate, and so did this, facing down his dearest friend and his soulmate with his own soulmate at his side, just because they wanted to. "I wouldn't dream of it. There'll be plenty of time to drag you down later." Gauche snorted, but he was still grinning when Chris smiled over at him. "Oi, not in front of all the kids." "My apologies. Shall we?" Chris and Gauche raised their duel disks in unison, and across the field, so did Kaito and Mizael. "Duel!" ◁◁ Part 2: Hailing

#Contrastshipping #Zexal #christopher arclight #Gauche #zexalfic #fanfiction