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rheawritessometimes · 3 years

Text

A Not-So-Bad Deal

{ Childe x GN!Reader }

{ Summary } Babysitting Childe has its ups and downs. Series Masterlist

{ Warnings } Swearing, Injury, Physical Intimacy, Mild Spice, PDA, Not Beta Read, Barely Proof Read.

{ Notes } Reader is implied to have commitment issues. Accidental flirting, because intentional flirting is awkward and hard. Didn't explicitly state what each breakfast item was, but they're based on popular Russian breakfast foods. Ahah, not me setting myself up for yet another part?? Masterlist

{ Word Count } 2,955

The sentiment of spending Childe's recovery with him being a simple endeavor was quickly thrown into the garbage when you were awakened before the sun had even begun to peek over the horizon to the sound of what you were sure was a break-in. Rolling out of the bed with your sword materializing in your hand was done entirely on instinct, you were still too groggy to have any proper thought. Stealthily exiting the room, you made your way to the source of the noise, the kitchen.

Needless to say, you were more than annoyed to find that the 'break in' was actually a familiar Harbinger making breakfast, tearing apart the kitchen in the process. Your sword dematerialized as you brought a hand up to massage your temples to ward off a headache. Childe was humming cheerily in the middle of the mess of ingredients and cookware, some of which you were certain had not been necessary to whatever it was he was making. There was no way that many bowls were necessary for any recipe.

The Snezhnayan flashed a bright grin when he saw you, but the gesture did nothing to ease the scowl that had settled onto your features. That didn't seem to dampen his mood in the least, he merrily continued preparing what appeared to be enough food to feed a lot more people than were currently occupying his apartment. Was he expecting a lot of company this morning?

"I thought we made a deal that involved you resting and not cooking enough to feed a small army at ass in the morning," you remarked, the sarcasm laid on thick enough to be dripping from each word. Much to your frustration, this only made him laugh as he turned the stove on.

"Well, I usually wake up early but this morning I had nothing to do since someone broke my bones. So, I decided to make a nice breakfast for my guest to enjoy with me," he responded with faux innocence, though there was laughter in his voice that easily gave him away. His words were still effective in making you feel a little guilty, so you wordlessly brought the dishes you were fairly certain he was done with to the sink and began washing them.

The two of you fell into a comfortable quiet after that, you were busy cleaning a mountain of dishes and Childe's focus was on frying a few eggs and cutting up a bowl of strawberries. You were mindful to stay out of the way as Childe cooked and he made an effort to set the cookware he was finished with beside the sink for you. The rhythm you two had quickly settled into felt startlingly domestic, something you reminded yourself not to like, and certainly not to get used to.

"Maybe I did make a little too much," the Harbinger muses somewhat sheepishly as he looks at the table he had just finished setting. It was without a doubt too much food for only two people, the table at risk of collapsing under the weight of it all. You could only nod in agreement.

"Your guard might appreciate a plate," you offered, as though one more person would make much of a difference against the mountain of food. You had to admit, everything did look delicious. The table was laid out with fried eggs, some porridge, a few sandwiches with sausage on them, what appeared to you to be some kind of crêpes, pancakes of some sort, the bowl of cut strawberries, and a kettle of tea. It would be no trouble finding people willing to eat the excess food.

"I suppose my subordinates deserve a nice breakfast," the redhead sighs dramatically, "They're lucky they have such a nice boss."

"Mhm, and if you ever fall out with the Fatui you could certainly find a job as a cook," you reply after sampling a forkful of his work. Living in Liyue had you more accustomed to chopsticks, but it was evident after going through Childe's kitchen that he did not own a pair. As a witness to his attempts at using them, you weren't very surprised by this finding. A fork was easy enough to figure out, anyway.

"I'm glad you like it," the redhead responds with a grin, quickly busying himself with his own plate. As he eats, he begins to talk about having similar breakfasts with his family in Snezhnaya. This turns into him recounting learning how to make these dishes with his mother and you quietly listen along, making the occasional comment and smiling fondly at his memories and the way he became more animated as he spoke about his family.

The sun had emerged by the time each of you had eaten what you could, and you cleared the plates while Childe ordered his guard to distribute the remaining food to his subordinates stationed in Liyue. You were halfway through cleaning the dishes when the Snezhnayan waltzed into the kitchen, leaning against the counter. He contented himself with watching, not bothering to even offer his assistance.

"I was thinking we should do something. I've been cooped up for too long. Maybe a casual hike up Mt. Aozang?" he suggested, causing you to pause in your ministrations and glance back at him with a raised brow. No hike up Mt. Aozang would be a casual one considering the terrain and potential enemies of the area.

"It's been less than a full day," you pointed out, "And, hm, what was it? Oh yeah, and you have a few broken ribs."

"What are a few broken ribs to a Fatui Harbinger?"

"It's a no, Childe," you firmly insisted, causing him to groan and mumble about you being a 'spoil sport'. It was easy enough to ignore him as you finished up with your small chore.

"I'm using your shower," you informed him once you turned away from the sink. He only hummed in response, still pouting against the counter. It was all you could do to not roll your eyes at his childish behavior.

"What am I even supposed to do for six weeks if I can't go out and fight things?" he whined, and this time you did roll your eyes.

"Well, maybe you can still improve your fighting," you mused, "Have you ever tried working on your strategy? Because that could definitely use some improvement."

The Harbinger huffed indignantly at your words, taking the mature route and sticking his tongue out at you as you left the kitchen to take a shower. He could pout to himself in the kitchen while you had a relaxing shower.

The apartment's bathroom was on the smaller side, but it was still easily workable and didn't feel at all cramped. You had brought with you your own toiletries, but that didn't stop you from poking around Childe's well-organized things out of curiosity. There wasn't anything of particular interest so you decided to just get cleaned up and figure out what to do for the day.

Leaving the bathroom wrapped in a towel and feeling refreshed, you made your way to the guest room to pull out something to wear for the day. You decided on something comfortable, it didn't seem like you'd be going out today anyways and if you did you could always change into something more suitable. After getting dressed and taking care of a few more things, you left the guest room in search of Childe.

It was a simple task finding the Harbinger, he was seated at the table flipping through the pages of a book. You were more than surprised to see it was a book on battle strategy, although you noted it was one focused on group tactics to be used in war organization. You supposed it shouldn't have been any great shock to find he had such books, considering his position as a Fatui Harbinger who was known for his knack for combat. But to actually find him taking your advice was not something you had expected.

"Finally done with your shower?" Childe asked, looking up from his reading, "Good, you were stinky."

His tone made it clear he was joking, and you gasped in mock offense. You both laughed at this, his cerulean eyes shining with amusement. You weren't sure you'd ever seen eyes more beautiful than his.

"Anyways, I was thinking we should go for a walk around the harbor and have a late lunch a Wanmin. Then we can just wander looking for stuff to do, or we could go out to that one boat. Or maybe Zhongli will be at the market and invite us for tea," Childe suggested, setting the book down on the table. You raised your brows at his 'plan'.

"It's been a long time since I've had any time off and I don't know what to do," he justified, crossing his arms over his chest. You only shook your head, smiling softly at his pout.

"Alright, I wouldn't mind a walk around the harbor, at least. Lunch at Wanmin sounds good too. We'll see what happens afterward," you conceded, watching his expression immediately brighten. Just a walk shouldn't be too strenuous, so you weren't terribly worried about his bones. Plus, you wouldn't be able to keep him in bed all day and this was a much better alternative to him going out and finding a fight.

"Let me just get changed into something more presentable."

It wasn't long before you were walking along the docks of the harbor with Childe. You were hand in hand with him, the redhead had grabbed your hand early on, intertwining your fingers with a cheeky grin. You didn't resist when he did this, comfortable with showing the small amount of affection even in public.

Looking out across the calm waters of the harbor, you couldn't help but think it matched the blue of the Harbinger's eyes. While he had an excellent poker face when necessary, Childe's eyes were often very expressive, allowing an easy read of his mood at a glance. Smiling fondly at the thought, you squeezed his hand gently before moving on.

The rest of the day progressed just as pleasantly, both you and Childe enjoying the sights of Liyue before getting lunch at Wanmin as he'd planned. After eating, you browsed the various stalls of Liyue's busy market, admiring the vast array of goods on display.

As the Snezhnayan had earlier predicted, you did meet Zhongli at the market and he did invite you two for tea. You wondered if he had planned it with Childe, but the polite man seemed entirely surprised to have encountered the both of you.

Tea with Zhongli turned out to be quite a lengthy endeavor, and you were rather exhausted by the end of it. He had recounted the history of Liyue well into the evening, in a way that reminded you of a professor during a lecture. It was Childe who was finally able to excuse the both of you, after several hours of education on the historic importance of Silk Flowers.

"Well, I did make a promise that I would rest, so I'm afraid we must be going."

"Ah, yes. It is always good to keep your promises," Zhongli agreed sagely, his words carrying a strange gravity. With polite goodbyes, you left with Childe to return to his apartment. The walk back was through darkness thanks to the hour, but the streets of Liyue were lit and there was still plenty of activity.

It was no surprise that both you and Childe were ready for bed by the time you made it through the door. He mumbled out a mostly unintelligible apology for how long tea with Zhongli had lasted before kissing the top of your forehead and disappearing into his room.

You stood in the hallways shocked by the affectionate gesture for a few seconds before deciding it would be best to just go to bed and forget about it. Surely the action was purely the result of exhaustion.

This time when you woke up the sun had already risen. Silently, you thanked Morax for not having to wake up to Childe's noisy breakfast-making. Even if his cooking was really good, without sleep you'd eventually become rather cranky, to put it lightly.

Exiting the spare bedroom, you found the Harbinger sprawled out on the couch looking through a stack of papers. You assumed it was Fatui business, something which you wanted nothing to do with at the moment. Maybe at another time, you would be interested in their secrets, but as of right now, they weren't really your problem.

"How are you feeling? In any pain?" you asked casually, making your way to the kitchen to retrieve some ice. Regardless of his answer, it was still advised to ice his side regularly.

"Mm, I'm fine. Took some of the medication earlier," he replied, most of his focus still on the documents in his hands. You briefly wondered how often it was that the Eleventh Harbinger did paperwork as opposed to fieldwork. You would have assumed he had a secretary or something for this kind of thing, though you supposed it made some sense for him to do it if he wasn't out in the field.

Leaving the kitchen with another makeshift icepack, you noticed he had set the papers down on the coffee table and draped an arm over his eyes. You raised a brow at this but didn't say anything as you placed the icepack on his side and sat on the couch where there was space beside his legs.

"I don't think I can last six weeks like this. I'm already dying of boredom," he confessed, raising his arm to see your response.

"I'm not sure I can last six weeks either," you replied snarkily. It seemed lost on him as he nodded in agreement before furrowing his brows and scowling at you. Realization.

"Hey, wait! What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, sitting up quickly and wincing at the resulting pain. You picked up the icepack that had slid down and pressed it against his side until one of his hands came up to hold it in place.

"It means I think sometimes you're a bit much," you laughed in response, ruffling his hair and causing his scowl to deepen. He swatted your hand away from his hair using his free hand, and you only smiled in amusement.

"I'll have you know I'm a fucking delight and you adore me," he asserted, staring you dead in the eyes with a challenging look. Now that he was closer, your eyes were drawn to the light smattering of freckles that crossed his nose and dusted both cheeks. From a distance, they weren't really visible, but now you could clearly see them.

"Mhm," you agreed absently, bringing a hand up to lightly cradle his jaw, swiping your thumb slowly across his cheek. It was only when he started leaning in that it dawned on you exactly what you were doing and how intimate it seemed. By the time his lips were pressed against yours, heat had risen to your cheeks and you were certain your face was a brilliant shade of scarlet. Luckily his eyes were closed so he couldn't see you in such a state, but you had a feeling he was able to feel the heat radiating off your cheeks.

Despite your flirtations having been unintentional, you didn't push Childe away. Instead, you wrapped your arms loosely around his shoulders and fell into the slow rhythm he had set. You heard the soft thump of something being tossed onto the coffee table, but you were distracted from that when his hands found your sides and he pulled you into his lap.

A soft breath left you when his lips moved down to your neck to place gentle kisses there. The featherlight touch had goosebumps raising across your skin and you were almost embarrassed by your body's reactions.

"Alright, maybe six weeks won't be too bad," Childe murmured against your neck and you could feel his smile. It made your heart flutter, you weren't sure you liked that.

"Oh, what made you change your mind?" you asked innocently, a hint of laughter in your voice.

"Mm, I wonder." His lips began trailing back up your neck and over your jaw until he sealed them over yours again. The drag of his tongue across your bottom lip had you opening your mouth for him without a thought. In response, he pulled you closer to him, one hand reaching up to tangle in your hair.

When he finally pulled away, he smirked at your flushed appearance and the fact you were a bit breathless. The way he looked at you made butterflies flutter in your stomach and when his ocean eyes dropped to gaze at your lips you felt the overwhelming urge to flee.

"I need to go. I want to get you some proper icepacks from Baizhu and I should probably do some grocery shopping for you," you blurted, standing up. His arms fell easily away from you, but he looked up at you with a surprised and what you thought might be a slightly hurt expression.

"Um, okay," was all he could say as you retreated to the guest room to get dressed in something more appropriate for going out in public. Changing didn't take very long and you made sure to bring Mora along as you fled the apartment with barely so much as a 'goodbye'. Childe was still sitting stunned on the couch as you breezed out the door.

Running away was always a good way to deal with your problems.

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theloneliestshipper · 3 years

Note

For the prompts, could I interest you in a Boba/Leia Regency era AU? :3c The lady being of a higher class would be an interesting angle

Believe it or not I did a Pride & Prejudice Proposal AU with Leia as Darcy but then I got thinking about Leia as a sort of Bridgerton-style duchess in need of a spouse and an heir and I wrote this and accidentally threw some supernatural elements into it so IDK WHAT THIS IS BUT IT AMUSES ME.

- + - + - + - + -

“Must I do this?”

“You asked me to find you a wife,” his father reminded him.

Boba Fett kept his voice low, mindful that Prince Bail stood nearby. “Somehow I didn’t consider that I might find myself put out to stud for a duchess.”

“That’s not-”

“Is it not? Tell me again why a lady of the court who stands to inherit a fortune wants to marry the son of a horse breeder apart from the fact that his father has eleven sons.”

“Talk to her,” Jango insisted, grasping his shoulders and turning him towards the orchard.

His betrothed waited for him, a slight, solitary figure in the midst of the blossoming pear trees. Duchess Leia Amidala Skywalker, the heir to her deceased mother’s fortune and the ward of Prince Bail Organa and his wife, Lady Breha. She was twenty-three, beautiful and wealthy and the fact that hadn’t succumbed to some nobleman’s charms by now made Boba more suspicious than flattered.

If Jango had been born into a noble family he would likely be Master of the Horse for the king, but even that wouldn’t have put his third-born son on the same level as a duchess.

“Mr. Fett.” She spoke first, with a marginal dip of her chin as she extended her hand.

“Duchess.” He could hardly bow over her hand in these clothes. The prince had provided them. His younger brothers had laughed until they wept before Jango chased them off with threats to make them muck out the stables until sundown.

“It’s not that bad,” Cody offered.

“We do these things for the ladies,” Rex said with the preening wisdom of a newlywed. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Shall we walk?” The duchess couldn’t even make it sound like a question. It was a command. Boba offered his arm and cursed his fate.

“People describe you as a practical man, Mr. Fett.” She glanced up at him. “Would you say that’s an accurate portrayal of your character?”

“I would.”

“People often describe me as ‘particular.’ They say I have a very fixed view of what I want.”

He could feel the tension in her small hand even through his greatcoat. “And you want to be married.”

“Not in the least,” she responded quickly. “But I must be married to gain full control of my estate. And to keep that control I must have an heir.”

It was a relief that he was not expected to dance around the topic. Boba was never much of a dancer. “I am aware of my responsibility.”

Her discomfort was clear, but she did not pause. “That is what I wish to discuss. I do not actually wish to have children.”

“You said-”

“I cannot say so openly, because there would be all but open warfare among my relations to determine who would inherit the estate if I remain childless. Lord Palpatine, for example, would like nothing better than to add my lands to his.”

It was well known that Palpatine mistreated and starved his tenets for his own gain. Boba thought better of her for her intention to thwart him. “Who would you see inherit it, if not your son?”

She didn’t answer him. Her eyes dropped to the tall grass they walked in and for a few seconds there was only the noise of the footsteps and the buzzing of the honey bees. “There is a condition in my bloodline,” she said at last, quietly. “Some call it magic. Others, madness. It’s why my brother was sent away and it afflicted our father as well.”

“It affects only the men of your line?”

“Or perhaps it is more visible in the men.” She stopped walking and withdrew her arm. “By royal decree, my brother cannot inherit. But he is not mad. We correspond in secret.”

“You want your brother to be reinstated.”

“And I am fixed in what I want.” She took a deep breath. “If you will aid me in keeping up appearances, I will be a generous wife. You will have an annual sum to squander as you please, and if you want for company, I shall say nothing of any discrete alliances. I only ask that you not presume for yourself a place in my bed.”

Already she was far more interesting than he ever imagined, and Boba could also appreciate her skill in negotiation. She held all the cards save one, the rights to her body in the legal contract of marriage, so she sought instead to pacify him with money and dalliances.

“My father once had a young stallion,” he said, reaching up above her head to break a twig from a pear tree. “A careless groom left the latch to his padlock open and he got into the mare’s enclosure. He picked a mare and tried to mount her, but the mare wasn’t in heat.” As he spoke he stripped the smaller buds and sprouts from the twig. “She so savaged him that the stallion had to be put down. And the groom who left the gate unlatched, my father took him to Brightview pier and let him go.”

The duchesses’ brows drew together. “He took him to the lake to dismiss him?”

“No, he held him off the pier and let him go. The man couldn’t swim, but lucky for him it was a dry summer and the water wasn’t so deep. He was also dismissed,” Boba added, bending the green twig into a loose knot.

“I...I have heard that the Fetts have their own way of doing business.”

“The point is, I know well enough when a woman wants me and when she doesn’t. Unless you bid me directly to come to your bed and lay with you I will never presume otherwise.” He took her hand and placed the knotted twig in it, closing her gloved fingers over it. “It’s a tradition my brothers and I have. When you make a promise, you give the other person something to remember it by.”

As soon as he released her hand she opened it and looked down at the knotted twig resting on her palm. Her hand closed over it and she raised her eyes to his, a rosy hue in her cheeks. “I would never have thought so,” she admitted. “But at this moment I feel that such an invitation is not outside the realm of possibility.”

Her amazement was no less than his. He now craved that invitation. He wanted this determined little duchess to want him. “I will wait on your word. And there are acts we might engage in that wouldn’t result in children.” If she were willing and they weren’t so well chaperoned he might be tempted toward such acts now.

“I am not entirely uninformed of this,” she responded, dropping her eyes. “And I am...encouraged that we are of one mind.” She made a visible attempt to compose herself, straightening her skirts and tucking the knotted twig into her sash. “I suppose we should inform your father and the prince that the marriage plans may proceed.”

Boba offered his arm again, and this time her grip was firm as she took it. Almost proprietary. “As my lady wishes.”

#spaceyquill #boba fett/princess leia #rebelbounty #regency au #my fic #prompt fill #I have always wanted to write a bodice-ripper can you tell #boba fett #leia organa #I put waaaaay too much thought into this au #had to edit out an entire sideplot about anakin disappearing after his wife's death #fluff

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lilydalexf · 3 years

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Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa has 8 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files fics at AO3 and her website. She writes Mulder and Scully in a very lovely way. I've recced 3 of my favorites of her fics here before: Bird in Snow, Fall: East on M St, and Skuamorph. Big thanks to Tabula Rasa for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I'm always extremely pleasantly surprised to get kudos (or, very rarely, a comment) on my old fic, but I'm always happy to see it! I did post them all (I think) to AO3. I'm not surprised people are still reading fic, though. It's an iconic show and now with streaming, it's really easy to watch older shows and natural to want fic about them!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

XF was my first fandom, definitely my first online fandom, and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Also... I had a great time! I stumbled upon and joined the Scullyfic email list by accident, but it was the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot about how to be a writer and how to be in fandom, and those lessons are still important to me. Foundational. Also, in terms of modern fandom drama, XF was more low-key on the drama (although it didn't seem like it at the time!). But I learned something that's always served me well: find like-minded people, and hang out with them. Don't worry about the rest.

Also... you can't control the show, but you kind of can control the canon.

Because of Scully, I ended up taking a forensic anthropology class in university-- and now I have a Master's in a forensic science! Part of the Scully Effect, and proud of it!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Definitely mostly email list! I never really got the hang of message boards. Posting fic was exhausting, and tbh I never figured out how to work Ephemeral. I checked it every day, though! I loved, after a new episode, everyone sending in their thoughts and reading everyone's experiences together. Fandom was a lot more work back then, tbh!

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

That fic can be just as good, or better, than traditionally published works. There are works of XF fic that have stuck with me for years now, far more than some books I've read. That fan writers can know the characters better than the show writers. The fandom in general was really smart, and mostly more adult than me (I joined fandom when I went away to college, so I always felt at the younger end of the scale. That was good though!).

Also, my first time reading and writing porn. Not gonna lie, I was shocked the first time I accidentally read smut. But I adjusted fast. lol

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I was still a kid (now we would say preteen) when the show premiered- I think in middle school. But I was already into ghosts, aliens, monsters, solving mysteries, and I'd already imprinted on the dynamic thanks to Square One (really)! I was also just old enough to start developing celebrity crushes. Hilariously, I did not twig to the fact that I'm bisexual the entire time I was in XF fandom, despite having enormous crushes on BOTH Mulder and Scully. Ahhhh!

Also, my whole family was into the show, but I was definitely the one with the hyperfixation. I used to take notes and record the episodes as I watched. It just had the right stuff and hit at the right time. And I've always been obsessive.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

As a kid I also really liked Star Trek, and someone had given my dad a book about the history of Star Trek, which I read. This included mentions of fandom and fanfic. As soon as I had a private-- and perhaps more importantly fast-- internet connection (in college), I went looking for XF fanfic, and that was that. Hooked immediately. Also I shipped them A LOT so that's what I went looking for.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I tend to not go back to a fandom once I have a new fandom, so I wouldn't say I'm in it. I did hang around the edges for the revival, of course, because I wanted to experience that with the same people, but since the revival was mostly not that great (with a few exceptions), I didn't get pulled back into it. But I still think of the people I knew in the fandom a lot, and always hope they're doing well.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I've never left fandom, and I've been in a BUNCH: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Bandom, Supernatural, now CQL/The Untamed and other Chinese-media fandoms, with many smaller ones in between or on the side. I feel like at their core fandoms tend to be similar, although where you host the fandom makes a big difference: Livejournal, tumblr, twitter. I think that because fandoms now tend to be bigger and more diverse (which is good) there tends to be more wank (which is bad). In some of them I was close to a group of people, some of them not. Honestly the best thing is when someone you know from an old fandom is in your new fandom. It's so much fun. I have really good friends thanks to fandom, and I've had them for YEARS. Like. 15 years.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I tend to focus more on ships than characters, but some of my all-time favs: Scully, Hermione, Sirius Black, Castiel, Lan Wangji, Xie Lian. That's just fandom-oriented ones, otherwise we'd be here all day. :D

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I don't often rewatch episodes any more, although if I come across an ep on tv I might. I definitely still think about them though! For example, I'm a teacher now, and just a couple weeks ago one of my colleagues mentioned he'd heard the students saying they shipped two of their classmates, and he was like "Ship? I don't get it" and I was like "HOO BOY, do I have a story for you!" And I explained how shipping came from XF fandom, and why. That was fun. I definitely still think about Mulder and Scully too-- I mean, they're cultural touchstones, so they do come up sometimes in greater pop culture. Also, I was in Hannibal fandom for a while, and Gillian Anderson is still The Best.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven't read XF fic in years, even the ones I remember as being really significant/important to me. I still have my all-time favs saved on an external HD though! Fic in another fandom- every day lol.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Blinded by White Light by DashaK has stuck with me. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Ruby-Throated Warbler by I forget I'm so sorry -- that's lasted as my ideal post-canon MSR and as an interesting and different way to tell a story. [Lilydale note: It’s by rah.] I was always thrilled to see fic by Brandon, JET, MaybeAmanda, Syntax6... and, frankly, everyone on the Scullyfic/ Emuse list. So many talented people in that fandom!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Things Outside, which is the only thing I've ever written based on a dream, and I'm really satisfied with it. It was hard to write but so much fun to revel in the weirdness. I always kind of wanted to write more because I know a lot more about the situation, but otoh, I like the open, ambiguous ending (usually I am very HEA).

In other fandoms, King & Country in bandom (MCR) and in Supernatural I'm very proud of Hope and Clay. I struggle to write casefics even though I love to read them, but that one really worked out.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I don't think I'll ever write something new. There is an old fic that may be done but it was smut so I was too shy to post it at the time. In theory if I find it and it's decent, I could post it!

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do! I write fic very slowly, but I do write still! I have a million ideas for stories, but I'm so slow at the actual writing part.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I usually take a jumping-off point from canon, or of course, something I need to fix or expand on. Or sometimes I start telling myself a story as I fall asleep and the idea grabs me long enough I can manage to write it.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I was getting into fandom and realized people didn't use their real names. I flipped through my history book looking for inspiration, and decided tabula rasa was a great name for a writer. I tend to add an X because it's rare to get "tabularasa" as a username, and the X is indeed for X-Files (so I'm something like tabulaxrasa most places). I usually go by Tabula Rasa or Tab, though. And I still use it because 1) it IS a great name for a writer; and 2) it's not fandom-specific so I can keep it in every fandom.

I identify with it so much I have answered to this name in class (oops). I have a "Tab" t-shirt (as in the soda, but I have worn it to Comic-Con for ease of ID-- better than a nametag!). And my mom got me a necklace with a "tab" typewriter key as a charm, which I adore. Yes, I have accidental merch of myself.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

As you can tell from the above, my family knows (my family being my parents and sister). They are supportive! I think my mom read a couple stories? But obviously she has to know the fandom to get it... I got my sister into fic, and we even wrote a couple fics together (in Gundam Wing). She's a lot more selective about fandoms, but she's joined fandoms on her own, too. She's just not in one constantly, like me. :p

I tend not to tell not-online friends unless I have felt them out and know they're super fannish, or they bring it up first.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Most of my old fic is now on AO3 and I hang out on twitter a lot, @tabula_x_rasa

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I'm really glad people are still in this fandom! It will always be so important to me. Thank you Lilydale, for this nostalgia trip!

(Posted by Lilydale on March 30, 2021)

#old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #tabula rosa

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theatresweetheart · 4 years

Text

A Little Misunderstanding

This was for the Secret Sanders 2019 event run by @secret-sanders-sized. The lovely person I got for this fun event was the amazing @i-will-physically-fight-you!!

Prompt: “Good news: Logan's shrink ray works. Bad News: Logan accidentally shrunk himself in the process. ??? News: He has been mistaken as a fellow “Borrower” by Patton, a tiny humanoid being who apparently has been living in his walls all this time.”

Warnings: Fear, shrinking, non-descriptive injury, incredibly brief Remus mention, incredibly brief Deceit mention (Dorian), misunderstanding, negative self talk.

Pairing: Platonic Logicality

Word Count: 8674 words

A/n: I really didn’t mean for this to get nearly as long as it did. I just started writing and then got inspired and then it got longer. However, this was a super fun write and I loved participating in the Secret Santa event this year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

As it was, there were two different outlooks on Logan’s current predicament and, thankfully, he had already been able to gather sufficient data.

Even if his original plan had backfired horribly.

Truthfully, he could focus on the negative side effects of this mess. However, on the other hand, there were quite a few positive outlooks to this as well. Not to mention the fascinating discoveries he had already made and the incredible advancement of technology in a shrink ray that actually worked.

So with that in mind, Logan had already good news; his machine worked.

Bad news, perhaps, was that it seemed to work a little too well and Logan had accidentally managed to use it on himself.‌‌ (Not that he hadn’t thought about it. Just not instantly. He had wanted to test it before using it on something alive and sentient—just in case it had side effects.)

This accident had rendered him helpless in his own home as he gazed from his new vantage point up toward the table where his creation laid. Unassuming and harmless unless there was someone behind it. Thankfully he had thought ahead, and when he’s actually capable of getting back up there, he had added a switch that would reverse the ray’s affects just in case something like this happened.

(That and he had an overly curious friend that liked to touch his things—even if they were clearly labelled.)

It was a good thing said friend was busy today, so Logan had little worry about his accomplice making his presence known in the meantime.

And then, there was the news that Logan had yet to classify.

At the moment, there was a tiny humanoid creature standing worriedly over him—perhaps saying “tiny” at the moment would be false, as how it seemed, the both of them were currently of the same stature. The only time this creature would be considered tiny was when Logan was at his normal height, which was all the time save for now.

Worried brown eyes blinked at him, watching him through spectacles that seemed as if they had been meticulously handmade. Perfected frames made from wire that had been bent and forced into a shape resembling Logan’s own glasses.

It was rather fascinating.

To see such a level of craftsmanship when dealing with supplies that you only had on hand.

The humanoid being had a bag slung around his shoulder and a fishing line that had a hook connected to the end of it wrapped around his torso. More things that seemed to aid in survival, at least from what Logan could guess and gather.

“Gosh, you must have taken quite the fall!” The other said, dropping down to his knees and sliding his bag over his shoulder. He leaned a bit further into Logan’s personal space, eagerly wanting to help but being far too close for Logan’s comfort. “Did you fall from the counter?”

Well, not technically. However, it seemed as though he would need to come up with a story that would be believable. If he was able to get some help from a creature that presumably lived at this height, then he would do what was necessary. It would be painfully obvious in little time just how unprepared Logan was to be this size, so any help would be appreciated.

Unfortunately he hadn’t had enough time to really think about a story that would be believable. He’d hardly been this size for less than twenty minutes and Logan hadn’t known that a being this small existed in the first place.

The creature’s hands were fluttering to and fro, as if he didn’t know what to do with them. It seemed as though he wanted to make sure Logan was physically unharmed since he was hypothesizing that Logan had slipped from the counter and landed on his back on the floor.

The care seemed to be genuine, however.

Logan floundered for something to say back. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, his eyes flickering between the height of the counter and the being knelt beside him—who was still uncomfortably close. “Yes,”‌ he agreed finally, meeting the other’s eyes and watching as they widened slightly.

“You must be sore then,” he said, letting his hands rest on his knees, even though his fingers still twitched slightly. “Where does it hurt?”

It doesn’t. Logan wanted to say it outright but thought better of it. If he were to say it didn’t hurt, then the creature would probably be led to suspicions. And, to be fair, his right shoulder did sting a little.

The injury itself was from a fall he had taken a couple years back and he had ended up spraining his shoulder. It hadn’t ever really healed correctly, so Logan would feel the pain flare up every once in a while. It didn’t happen all that often anymore and he had come to learn to live with it anyhow.

It also wasn’t Earth shattering pain as one would expect, especially not if one had just fallen from such a treacherous height.

“My shoulder’s just a bit stiff, but it really is not a problem,”‌ Logan assured him, rolling it back to test it. He winced, but schooled the pained expression professionally after a minute. “Nothing I‌ can’t handle on my own.”

“Oh.” The other relented, a bit of a somber expression wiping the concerned one away. If Logan didn’t know better, he would say that he looked a bit let-down. Of course, Logan did know better… didn’t he? “Well. If you’re sure, who am I‌ to argue! I‌ should get back on my way then, anyhow. Gotta finish my borrowings for the day before the human comes back, you know?”

He said ‘human’ as if he wasn’t one. Which only brought more questions forward, such as what was he? Why was here? How long had he been here without Logan knowing? And, because of this, Logan belatedly realized he had made an incredible discovery right here.

A creature that he had never heard of before. Clearly a sentient bipedal mammal that looked, acted and talked exactly like a human. He was just a fair bit smaller. A species that remained inconspicuous to mankind and he was swiftly losing his chance to learn more.

Logan quickly sat up a bit further as the other slid his bag back over his shoulder, sat back on his haunches—almost looking like he wanted to say something before thinking better of it—and then pushed himself into a stand. His hands fidgeted in front of him for a second, before he took a step back.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, really!”‌ He said, offering a smile, before turning and calling over his shoulder. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around then.”

He needed to gather more data. He couldn’t let this chance slip through his fingers. He had to do something. Logan knew he could play up the pain in his shoulder, though, granted he was no actor.

Quickly making up his mind, Logan went with his latter plan.

Leaning back again on his right arm, he winced once more but instead let the emotion play out. “On second thought,”‌ he said, stopping the humanoid being in his tracks, wired spectacles turning and meeting his own eyes once more, “a little help would be appreciated. If it is not too much of a bother.”

He watched the other’s features light up almost instantly at the request.

Immediately Logan was being overwhelmed once more as the creature was suddenly excitedly talking a mile a minute. “Oh!‌ I would be more than happy to help!” He said, clasping his hands and practically bouncing back over to where Logan still sat. “It’s not a bother at all!‌ And I haven’t seen another borrower in what seems like absolute ages, so it’d actually be really nice to have some company again. And really, between you and me, I’d never leave one of my own in need.”

Borrower, Logan filed that information away, already beginning to take mental notes.

“Oh my goodness, look at me fussing over you and I‌ haven’t even introduced myself. Heck, we’re still practically strangers!”‌ His smile stayed bright and shining, practically exuding with warmth. He then stuck a hand out and Logan reeled back slightly from the surprise of it, not to mention how enthusiastic he seemed to be. “I’m Patton!‌ You are?”

Collecting himself enough, and shaking the surprise off with a practiced ease, he shook the borrower’s hand. “Logan.”

Patton took his hand back after a moment, his excitement never seemed to flicker. “It’s a pleasure, Logan. See?‌ Now we're not strangers!‌ Now, let’s get you off the ground before the human gets back, wouldn’t want to be caught now would we?”

Based on how Patton was talking about humans, there seemed to be an amount of fear associated with Logan’s own kind. “I‌ suppose not.” He lifted himself off the ground, and stood just a little taller than Patton did. “Though, I‌ am curious. What is all the fuss about being seen by a— a human?”

It was odd referring to his kind in the third person, as if he was talking about something other worldly, but whatever was believable he guessed.

“Hmm?” The other hummed, quirking a brow while turning on his heels and heading towards the kitchen counter. Logan was quick to fall into pace with the borrower. “Oh, well, humans are gigantic. They grab and they never let go and really, once you’re taken captive you’re never seen or heard from again. Every borrower knows that.”

“Of course, forgive my…forgetful nature.”

Patton didn’t seem to believe it at first. The quizzical look in his eyes as he side glanced Logan said it loud as bells. For a moment, Logan was half afraid that Patton knew. However, he shrugged and turned his attention upward. “You must be Wild then,”‌ he said an afterthought. “Right?”

Stunned at the revelation that there more of the same creature, he nodded in agreement. Perhaps if he feigned ignorance when it came to the dangers of mankind, he could gather more information on how the race of “borrowers” saw mankind.

Obviously so far, it was not a positive perception.

“Exactly,”‌ he agreed, watching as Patton came to stand still and staring upward toward the counter-top. “So, I‌ am rather rusty when it comes to, well, anything really.”

“Well, good thing I‌ bumped into you then!”‌ Patton’s bright demeanor returned swiftly. “I‌ can help you get your bearings and help you with that pesky shoulder of yours, before you get on your way!”

Before Logan could even say another thing, Patton had slipped the hook and rope from around his torso, swung it a wide circle a couple times and threw it up toward the top of the counter. A small clicking sound caught his attention before the hook came tumbling back down. Logan flinched away, worried slightly for his safety but Patton remained unfazed and instead smoothly caught the hook by the hilt and quickly tried again.

After the third attempt, it finally stuck and he watched as Patton tugged on the line to test it’s weight.

“Third times the charm,”‌ he chirped with a toothy grin, before wrapping his hand into the fishing wire and heaving himself upward with what seemed like no effort at all. There had been absolutely no hesitation. It was obvious this was something Patton did on the daily as it took him little to no time to reach the top.

Logan blinked when Patton was peering down at him from so far above.

“Whatcha waiting for?” He called down.

“I am afraid I’m not as swift as you are when it comes to climbing anything of such scale,”‌ Logan admitted.

His eyes locked on the fishing line in front of him, the thin rope was deceptively strong.

The last time Logan had done something even remotely like this was when his friend had insistently begged—and then inevitably dragged—him to come to the rock wall at his University. However, they had been harnessed and spotted. This, this was nothing like what he was used to. A free handed climb was not Logan’s specialty, nor was he remotely interested in trying something of the like.

“Isn’t there an— easier way up?”‌

One that didn’t completely rely on Logan not slipping and actually break something? That and his shoulder was already messed up enough, surely Patton would understand him not being able to make the climb anyhow. When he only got a confused look in response, he decided to prod at the fact his shoulder was screwed up.

“My shoulder hasn’t exactly healed in the past two minutes,”‌ Logan reminded.

“Oh shoot, of course it hasn’t!” Patton disappeared over the edge of the counter. There was some shuffling and before long he was peering back over, just as the fishing line was being drawn up and out of sight. “There’s an outlet just a couple paces away from you. It should be a bit loose around the two left screws. When you get in the passageway there, wait for me and I can meet you down there in a few seconds! We can still get to my place from there.”

A passageway inside the walls?‌ What an odd place to call home.

Logan nodded, his eyes drifting over to the outlet on the wall. “Alright,”‌ he called back up in a final affirmation.

Turning to the side and heading over, it took far longer than it would have if he were of normal height. As he laid his hands over the smooth grooves of the outlet cover, Logan was surprised to find that the thing was loose enough as it was. All he had to do was shimmy it a little to the right and he had created a space wide enough for him to squeeze through.

For a second, Logan turned to glance over his shoulder. The shrunken human looked up to the counter where the machine sat, unassuming and out of harm's way. He’d get back to it in a day or two. There was nothing wrong with spending a little time getting to understand the quirky borrower that was so willingly taking him into his home.

Logan would have to do something for him as a thank you gift.

It was only logical, of course, to want to repay someone for their hospitality and generosity.

Shaking the thought from his head, especially with how absurd this entire situation was, he pulled himself inside. Stepping over the thick electrical wires, he fit the cover back into place and was welcomed with a dusty darkness. He scanned the inside of the walls, intrigued at the absolute detail of everything that would go entirely unnoticed to the average eye. Being at such a small scale gave you a keen eye for detail.

His attention shifted when he heard footsteps from just to the left of him. Before long, a shape emerged from the total darkness and came into the slightly less dark darkness.

“Great to see you could make it,” Patton said, meeting his eyes as best to his ability. “Sorry about that whole climbing thing. Totally forgot about your shoulder for a hot minute.”‌

Logan offered a shrug. “No harm done.”

“Well, with that out of the way, let’s get home! That way I can actually help you. That’s where all my supplies are, you know,” Patton chattered at him, brushing by the taller man and heading down the opposite way he had come from. Logan was prompt to follow, not wanting to lose his only guide in the darkness and twisting passages. “That and I‌ actually have light there as well. Not that the kitchen didn’t have light, but we can’t risk helping you right out in the open.”

Easily keeping up with Patton’s pace, Logan was able to ask a few more of his questions. “Are humans really as bad as you’re making them out to be?”

“Well, of course they are.”‌

“You are not…overreacting on the entire thing? How are you so sure that a human would not be willing to help aid in your survival?”

“Logan, you seem like a nice guy but you’re also Wild,”‌ Patton said, taking a sharp left. “Out there you don’t survive off of humans. You can live off of nature and all you really have to worry about are animals. I‌ wouldn’t think some animals would be all that interested in something as small as we are, but cats—” He shuddered involuntarily, “—just stay away from cats.”

“I’m not entirely sure what my status as a Wild, as you put it, has anything to do with this.”

“Well, if you don’t come in contact with humans,”‌ Patton continued as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “you don’t have to worry about them. You don’t rely on them for anything.”

Logan hummed in response. “If you’re so terrified of humans, why not move out and live in the wild?”

Patton laughed. A gentle sound, but one that said more than just mirth. “I wish it were that easy, I really do.”

What did that mean?

Patton then put a hand out, stopping Logan in his tracks and just in time. Not another footstep in front of them was a steep drop downward.

“I hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Patton teased, sending a smile in Logan’s direction before taking his first step into the dark.

Logan could just make out the shadow of a nail protruding from the left hand wall. As his eyes got used to the constant darkness, he could see an entire pathway leading up. There had to be about fifteen steps in the staircase like creation and if one were to misstep, it would be a deadly fall.

Heights had never been an issue before now and while Logan wasn’t afraid of them, this almost reminded him from the incident before. It was like free handing another thing. His heart stammered as he watched Patton do it with a memorized and practiced ease.

Once again, Logan found himself falling behind. He moved to the wall and placed a hand firmly against it, feeling nerves welling without his permission.

“Nervous?” Patton’s voice came from somewhere in front and a little above him.

“That statement wouldn’t be…incorrect,”‌ Logan mused.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably just as easy as human stairs. You just have to get into the rhythm of it,”‌ the borrower explained, trying to ease his worry. “And, hey, I’m right here and I won’t let you fall.”

Slightly reassured, Logan stepped onto the first nail and his hand pressed firmer to the wall as if looking for a handhold on the smooth wood.

Okay. One step after the next.

“I presume there’s no way around this?”‌

Patton laughed. The sound was warmer this time. It sounded like an actual laugh and not a halfhearted chuckle. “Not this time, I’m afraid.”

“That is what I‌ was afraid of.”

Okay. One breath after the next.

It took a while, and with some unsteady steps and two almost slips, but Logan was at the top in little under ten minutes. It wasn’t one of his proudest moments, but he had come out of it alive so it couldn’t have been that bad at all.

“See?‌ That wasn’t too hard!”

And just like that, Patton was off once more. It took a few more minutes of walking through winding corridors and hopping up onto one slightly more elevated platform (that was far easier than climbing over a stairway made of nails) and they were headed down a skinnier passage.

Not lower, but just thin enough that nothing but a borrower would be able to sneak through. It was almost as if Patton had chosen this place to make his home for that very reason. It hadn’t really occurred to Logan, but there were probably a lot more things out there that could injure a borrower—other than humans, as they were thought to be the primary threat. It seemed as if it wasn’t just cats that were worrisome when you were this small. It was everything.

And that was a startling realization.

“You’ll have to excuse the state of my home,”‌ Patton told him sheepishly, a shy grin on his features as he nudged the door open. A door that was made by an old credit card. Not one that Logan recognized.

The house itself was dark as Logan stepped inside, his eyes scanning around as if trying to make out what he was looking at. He couldn’t really see a mess, so he didn’t understand why Patton was apologizing.

Before he could even voice his thoughts, a small clicking sound of a door closing followed by another softer click caught him by surprise and all of a sudden a warm yellow light filtered into the room. He blinked spots from his eyes and suddenly Logan was looking at the interior of a home lovingly made from hand. The light itself being shone via a single Christmas light hanging just above the kitchen table like a chandelier.

“Oh.”

“Hmm?” Patton turned at the quiet sound, slipping his bag over his head and hanging it on a nail protruding from the wall, bent into the shape of a coat hook. “Something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” Logan hadn’t even realized he had made the sound of astonishment until Patton had said something. “Just that— this is all fascinating. Did you wire this all by hand?”

The interior was astounding to look at, truly. The small home closely resembled that of his own, or perhaps anyone’s house for that matter. It was becoming clearer by the minute that Patton was just as human as he was, just smaller.

He could talk, think, react…It was all just rather startling.

How had a race like this remain unheard of for so long?

Were humans really so oblivious that borrowers could live off of them and not even notice they were sustaining a complete society of creatures?

Looking around the room, it seemed to be filled with little things that Logan wouldn’t have noticed had gone missing in the first place. That being said as well, Patton probably didn’t only take things from his own apartment and instead would scour the entire building.

Logan was left to assuming that taking things from a single person could be dangerous, especially if they started to notice things disappearing periodically.

“Oh, uh, yeah!”‌ Patton said, toeing off his shoes at the door before slipping his jacket over his shoulders and hanging that up next to his bag. “I‌ can’t really call an electrician. Did it all by hand. I did have some help though, but it mostly just runs on this pack of batteries.” Patton patted the slightly transparent battery container, which had two different wires stuck out from the top of it and were hidden somewhere within the walls of the home to hide them from sight. “It’s nothing too groundbreaking though.”

“Falsehood,” Logan said before he had realized it. It was the second thing he had said without thinking about it, but he was getting to see a completely independent world that laid right under humanity’s nose. And yet, even with all of this intricacy of maintaining life, there was no inkling that borrowers even existed. “Whether you did this by yourself or not is irrelevant.‌ The fact that you were able to mimic a human-styled electrical design is an incredible feat.”

Patton blinked. Almost unsure of how to respond to such a kind compliment. It…was a compliment, right?

But he broke out into a wider smile nonetheless. “Thank you.” He then shifted the conversation, not sure how else to keep it going from there. “Well come now, get comfortable. Make yourself at home, I have plenty of room! I’ll get some supplies and help you fix up that shoulder of yours.”

Logan knew there wouldn’t be much Patton could actually do for his shoulder since it was an old injury anyway, but he was getting the chance to talk to a creature that shouldn’t be able to physically exists and, yet, here he was being proven very wrong.

So, he could let Patton bandage his shoulder and do what he believed was necessary as long as he got the answers he hoped for.

When the borrower returned from a room further down the hall with an armful of what looked like bandages and tape, Logan was beckoned forward and motioned to take a seat on the chair at the table. His eyes drifted around the home further and it was cozy. The warm yellow light made it feel comfier than it probably was, and he couldn’t help but feel astonished. Everything here had to have been handmade or stumbled upon by pure chance.

After a moment though, Logan’s attention drifted back to Patton as the borrower’s hands had suddenly appeared on his right shoulder, feeling around the tendons carefully. He pressed down, but not enough to cause too much discomfort. He then paused. “Shoot,” he murmured.

“Whatever is the matter?”

“I didn’t ask permission to touch you.”‌ Logan blinked, surprised that Patton had even brought that up. Logan had thought it had been sort of unmentioned at this point. Sort of like a silent agreement. That and he wasn’t uncomfortable. He did have a friend that liked to hug him out of nowhere, so two hands on his shoulder wasn’t something Logan was particularly worried about. “Can I?”

“I‌ thought that was already previously agreed upon.”‌ Logan voiced himself and Patton relented, his hands pressing back into his shoulder blade.

“It’s more of a comfort thing for myself too,”‌ he explained. “It’s…nice to hear vocal permission, instead of just banking on the hope that it’s okay. I know that permission is really important for some people, while others can be really lenient with it.”‌

Logan carefully phrased his next question. “Do you know people that prefer to be asked?”

“Mhmm,” Patton hummed, moving to stand in front of Logan. “This is going to sound...weird, but you’re going to need to take your shirt off. It’s easier to feel the damage from there.” He seemed to consider something before quickly adding on, “though if you’re not comfortable with that, I‌ can work around it!”

“That’s alright,” Logan assured him, though it was a bit odd. He complied by pulling his shirt over his head and settling it over his lap.

With no hesitation this time around, Patton’s hands smoothed over his shoulder once more and the borrower hummed again. “I‌ knew a whole family of borrowers. They moved in about five years ago and moved out about a year later.”

“How come?” Logan winced as the other pressed a bit too harshly into his pained area by accident.

Patton mumbled a soft apology before pulling back and reaching for the bandages. “The family had twins, Roman and Remus, that liked to get into a lot of mischief. Bless their hearts, but the kiddos managed to continuously cause mayhem everywhere they went. There was one night the two had managed to tip over an entire thing of flour and tracked it absolutely everywhere. Virgil said they’d nearly given him and Dorian a heart attack when they came back covered head to toe in all this white powder.”

So, that’s what had really happened when Logan had come back from work, only to find flour spilled in every crack and crevice. He had seen the little footprints, but they had looked more like paw prints than footprints. It now also made far more sense on why those tiny footprints had led directly to one of the loose tiles on his counter-top.

It was strange to find the truth of the accident had been tiny children messing around and accidentally spilling it, but this whole situation was still so surreal that Logan was just about ready to believe anything he was being told.

To a point, of course. He wasn’t naive.

But had the family really been so terrified for their safety that they had fled? The idea almost made him feel queasy.

Were humans really as terrible as borrowers were taught?‌ Certainly, there had to be some exceptions right? Logan, himself, didn’t believe he’d be all that awful if he were to stumble across a creature of such an incredible size. Especially not if one of those creatures were a child.

Logan leaned back a bit more, lifting his arm slightly in response to Patton gently tugging on his elbow. “That was the only reason they left? That single accident?”

“You have to understand that an accident like that could have gotten the entire family caught,” Patton reminded him softly, beginning to wrap the gauze around the affected area. “With two kids that like to run around and play pretend, all the while shouting and giggling, not to mention how much the twins fought; let’s just say that Dorian realized very quickly that living in an apartment building so close to humans was not the right place for their little family.”

“I see.”

“Yup. Moved all five of them out as soon as possible.” Patton wrapped the bandage around Logan’s shoulder a couple more times before using his teeth and ripping it off. He set the roll aside and grabbed the tape, tearing a piece off and then tearing that single piece in half. Logan belatedly noticed that that one piece of tape possibly could have covered his entire chest.

“All five of them?”

“Mhmm. Dorian was the oldest, he’s actually just a couple years younger than I‌ am. Then there was Virgil, then Thomas and the twins were the littlest brothers of the bunch, but goodness, they’d have to be, what, 13 now?”

Logan was almost curious enough to ask Patton how old he actually was, since he didn’t look much older than Logan himself, but refrained. Asking someone their age was considered a rude question anyhow, but there was the lingering question in the back of his mind that wondered if borrowers were some sort of mythical creature that had either a longer—or even a shorter—lifespan than humans.

He decided to direct the conversation in a different direction for now, assured that he would still get the chance to ask his questions.

“Since they moved out,” Logan moved his arm to test the hold of the bandages and tape before moving his eyes back to Patton, “are you the only one in the entire building?”

“It seems that way,”‌ he agreed, before holding Logan’s arm still. “Stop moving it, I’m not done just yet.” He relaxed his hold once Logan quit squirming. “Besides, it’s not like I‌ haven’t been alone before, so it isn’t that big of a deal.”

The borrower then moved to stand behind him once more and pressed his hands down firm enough to feel comfortable, but not enough to hurt. Then, he began to massage at the slightly swollen muscle.

“I‌ do suppose it’s better that way, though,‌”‌ he said after a heartbeat of quiet. “If any of the Steelgates had been caught, they would have had someone to miss them, you know. Me?‌‌ Well. I‌ guess no one would really notice.”

It was such a sad thought, but Patton had said it so casually that Logan had nearly startled.

“It’s alright though,” he continued before Logan had gathered the wits to say something back to him. To refute it. “At least if I were to be found and caught, none of the humans in this building would be able to find any more borrowers—assuming you’re not sticking around after I‌ getcha all patched up.”

Logan shook his head. “I wasn’t exactly planning on it, no. Living so close to humans is not my area of expertise.”

“I‌ can’t blame you for wanting to get back to the wild,”‌ Patton said, his voice lowering slightly. Logan wasn’t good at reading emotions, but this didn’t take a professional to read those signals. This mood change was obvious and immediate. “It must be so much nicer out there. Not having to be constantly worried about mouse traps and cats. Heck, even humans probably.”

The more Logan heard, the more it sounded like humans were a borrower’s natural predator if they were to get their hands on them.‌ It made sense, logically, that a creature of this stature wouldn’t be able to escape from a human being that was so obviously superior to it. Maybe not intelligence wise, but in strength, size and dexterity.

Logan cleared his throat as the silence seemed to rage on longer than he was comfortable with. He was curious though, since Patton didn’t seem to recognize him. “Do you…know the human in the apartment here?”

“No.”‌ The response was cutthroat, concise and to-the-point. “I avoid him mostly, if we’re being honest. A human with all that science-y stuff in their apartment can only mean bad news for borrowers. I try not to go into his apartment too often. Only if it’s really absolutely necessary.”

“Oh.” Logan almost felt…hurt by that statement. Which was stupid and irrational. He had barely known Patton for two hours and yet here he was, feeling somewhat awful. Did he really exude such a cold exterior? For most people he was fine with that, but he guessed from a borrower’s perspective it would only make him seem heartless, cold and analytical. “I see.”

He had to take a moment to recollect his thoughts, fiddling with his glasses for half a second before righting them.

“Do you think he’s really all that bad?”

“Well— no,”‌ the other softened, his hands lessening their pressure on his back before removing themselves from his skin entirely. Logan felt something in his chest warm at that, but only for a moment. “I‌ like to try and see the good in everyone, you know? But sometimes, he makes it a bit…difficult. I don’t think he’s inherently bad, but I‌ don’t know if I’d be able to trust him.‌ Especially not with all those beakers and scalpels and such.‌ Who knows what would happen if he got his hands on someone like you and me.” Patton fiddled with his hands, before pulling up the other chair and sitting. He pushed his glasses further up his nose idly. “But…no, to answer your question. I don’t think he’s bad. Just– morbidly curious.”

“Hmm.”‌ Logan nodded to himself, taking the fact that Patton was now sitting in front of him as a sign that he could put his shirt back on. As he did that, he was careful not to upset any of the carefully placed bandages and was actually surprised to not find any tightness in his shoulder. None.

Deciding that now was as good a time as ever to change the subject—especially with how downtrodden Patton looked—he rolled his shoulder as a test. Nothing. “Can I ask what you did to my shoulder?”

Patton instantly looked distressed at that. “Oh no, did I‌ make it worse?”

“No, no,”‌ Logan was quick to reassure him, “if anything, I think you may have made it better.”

“Really?”‌ He looked genuinely surprised.

“Really.” Logan rolled his shoulder once more, but felt the slightest twinge. “It was an old injury I‌ managed to acquire a couple years back but I‌ can hardly feel it now. Where did you learn to do that?”

“Oh! Um, just from the Steelgates.” Patton raised a hand to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “Dorian and Virgil learned it somehow and they taught it to me. I’ve taken quite a few falls myself, so I learned how to ease that pain. Makes borrowing easier if you’re not constantly hunched over in agony.”

“Understandable,”‌ Logan relented. “Nevertheless, it is very impressive.”

“Awe, it was nothing,”‌ Patton shrugged it off, directing his gaze elsewhere though the gentle grin on his features said that Logan’s compliment had been taken to heart. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Logan’s heart stammered for a moment.

Truth be told—and a surprise to probably literally no one—Logan didn’t have many friends. He had acquaintances, coworkers that he got along with, but no one that he was close enough to really consider a friend.

It was…nice.

“Yes,”‌ he agreed, a small grin twitching at the corners of his own mouth, “I suppose that is what friends are for.”

An odd friendship, no doubt. But a friendship.

“I really cannot thank you enough for all of your assistance,”‌ Logan said as the two made their way down the corridor back toward his apartment.

He had said he had left a few things in the apartment that he would need to collect before they parted ways, however, Logan had a bit of a…different plan in mind.

Patton shrugged it off, giving Logan a humble grin as he looked over his shoulder briefly. “It’s not a problem!‌ And hey, if you ever find yourself back in the complex, my house is open to you.”

In reality, he did feel a bit bad that he hadn’t exactly told Patton the truth just yet. But it wasn’t like he was holding out on it for too much longer. He just had to make sure Patton didn’t react too badly once he learned the truth. Especially when it came down to how the borrower viewed him.

Well, not him specifically of course, but his kind.

The thought was a bit sour and it didn’t sit well with him, but he wasn’t going to let that rule his thoughts.

However, instead of following the same path, Patton had taken a few different twists and turns and, much to Logan’s relief, they hadn’t had to cross any more nail bridges or climb anything that needed a hook and a rope.

He had mentioned that since he had supposedly taken a tumble off of the table, that’s where all of his belongings were. Which wasn’t entirely untrue.

Logan’s things did reside on the counter.

Before long, Patton was stepping over a cacophony of electrical wires and Logan was following suit. The borrower held up a hand for a moment, biting into his lower lip as he peered around through the small holes in the socket. After a few seconds of deliberate silence the coast was deemed clear—of course, since the owner of the apartment was currently stood behind him—and soon the other managed to jostle the outlet from it’s socket and slipped through the small opening it had created.

As soon as Logan had stepped out and righted himself, his gaze was directed onto the interior of his own kitchen. He straightened out his shirt, adjusting his glasses before really taking in the sight before him. A look of astonishment crossed his features as he reveled in the fact that his shrink ray had worked in the first place. Not to mention because it had worked, Logan had been introduced to a whole new secret society of tiny humanoid bipedal creatures that survived wholly on their dependence of humankind and taking things that humans wouldn’t miss.

“It’s pretty scary, isn’t it?”‌ Patton said to the side of him, crossing his hands in front of him. He had obviously mistaken the look on Logan’s face. “You’ve…never actually seen a human before, have you?”

“No,”‌ Logan said, inching a bit closer to the edge of the counter, before turning around and looking upward. Seeing the scale of his cupboards and such. He was still entirely taken by the sights. He would have to try out his machine more often now.

“You’re pretty lucky then,”‌ Patton hummed, following him slightly before his attention shifted to the ray sitting harmlessly to the side of them. He seemed to consider it uneasily, not liking the look of it, but turned his attention back to the other supposed borrower. “And I really hope you never have to.”

Logan understood that Patton was wary and that was good of him, especially in a world where everything seemed to outmatch him. However, everything was coming down to this point and he had to make a decision. He could tell Patton the truth and risk the borrower fleeing, or he could wait until Patton showed himself out and then turn himself back to normal.

However, while the second option was admittedly more attractive, Logan could only keep the whole charade up for so long.

And maybe, just maybe, he could prove to Patton that not all of humanity were mindless monsters that would just grab with the intention to keep. If everything worked out according to plan, there would be no worry of Patton packing his things and leaving the complex altogether.

“They must be terrifying from your stature,”‌ Logan mused then, his eyes scanning over the ray that sat harmlessly next to them. The thing itself towered over him, just as everything else in his kitchen did, and he paused. Considering his next words carefully, he turned to face Patton head on. “Do you trust me?”

The sentence was obviously startling as the other blinked at him, brown eyes surprised and suddenly cautious. “Well, yeah,”‌ he relented after a moment. It was true because there was trust in the relationship but a lot of it came from how neither had done anything to prove that trust to be faulty. “Why?”

Logan flexed his hands, unsure of how to phrase it without it coming off as alarming. “Then I‌ need you to stand there,” he said finally, watching Patton’s confused expression morph into a slightly more concerned one. Even more so when his hands tightened on the straps of his bag. “I am asking a lot of you and I‌ will not take offense if any of this is startling and you feel the need to leave.”

The more Logan spoke, the more nervous he seemed to be making his accomplice. “What are you talking about?”

Logan took a moment, gauging his expression and considering whether or not he should say what he was about to. After a moment, he decided that he might as well get it over with. “Patton, I’m not what you think I am.”‌

Patton laughed nervously, taking a slight step backward. “What?”

Knowing that just saying it wouldn’t be taken seriously, Logan turned to look over his shoulder eyeing the ray that sat behind him. He turned on his heel and went right over to it. The thing itself was taller than he had ever thought possible and pushed the button he knew would reverse the entire mess he had gotten himself into.

He could feel Patton’s gaze watching his every move, carefully aware and astute. Logan had noticed that the other was incredibly vigilant. Even if he didn’t always let it on. Patton could notice small shifts in one’s features or dips in the atmosphere of a room.

He was incredibly intelligent and knew a lot more than he seemed to let on.

After adjusting some more of the settings on the machine itself, Logan stepped back and stood in front of it. The silence was tense, but filled with the low humming of the ray coming back online and beginning to work just as it had before.

After a second more, there was a flash of bright white light and Logan prepared himself as best as he could for it, but the change was still weird and odd and rather staggering. Going from one size to a completely different one was not a feeling he would ever get used to, but perhaps he could find a way to make it a little less uncomfortable.

However, as he blinked his eyes open and adjusted his glasses that had gone askew, Logan was looking up at the kitchen counter once again, but from a normal size while sitting slightly disoriented on the floor.

He shook off the wave of nausea as he pushed himself up onto his knees and made it so that he was eye-level with the counter and the borrower in turn, whom of which—to put it kindly—looked shaken.

Logan could read the expression on Patton’s face easily. ‌It was a mix of terror and betrayal. As this was not a secret that would be easy to swallow or wrap one’s mind around. As the whole act of shrinking and growing oneself should be scientifically impossible. And yet, here they were with yet another captivating anomaly.

Patton shook his head, unbelieving of what he was seeing right in front of him. “I, um…”

“Take a breath Patton,”‌ Logan instructed, but not unkindly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Instead, he was greeted with another shake of the head. It seemed as though his words had gone right over the borrower’s head. He was obviously in shock.

“Y-you’re a—”

“A human, yes,”‌ Logan stated, his tone remaining calm, soft and collected.

“I…I said all those things,” he stammered out, almost looking horrified at the information he had revealed without truly realizing it. His hands tightened on the strap of his bag. “And you…you know—and I…”

“Easy.” Logan would remain the calm one in this situation if that is what the other needed, which it obviously was. “Do you really think I‌ would use any of that against you?”

The borrower’s hands were shaking.‌ Actually, if Logan looked closer, his entire body was trembling.

Patton was petrified.

It set an uneasy feeling in his chest, knowing that his very presence was causing this amount of distress. So, trying to alleviate some of it, Logan lowered himself down further so he was below Patton’s eye-level. Perhaps it would have been better to have admitted to his human nature before now, but it was too late for that and now he had to deal with the backlash of such a thoughtless decision.

“You can trust me,” Logan said, his voice was firm but calm. A reassurance that he hoped was working. With the panic overriding probably everything in Patton’s being, he supposed it may be difficult to get a positive reaction. “I‌ will not touch you without your permission, I promise.”

Patton eyed him warily, his hands still snapped shut on the strap of his bag. Logan did notice that the borrower’s eyes kept darting around as well, trying to figure out a safe escape route without alerting him to the silent idea. Not that he faulted Patton for wanting to find a way out of this situation, but he supposed it was better handled now and explain himself, rather than to have Patton run off believing the worst.

Even if it hurt, inexplicably, to have Patton staring up at himself the way he was.

“I–I’m sorry,”‌ Patton stammered out, ducking his head as if waiting for something.

“I‌ assure you there is no reason to apologize.”‌ Though, Logan was a bit baffled by what Patton meant. When the borrower kept his head down, Logan understood. The talk they had about the human that lived in this apartment, the one with all the science-y stuff, as Patton had put it. “I‌ am very much not upset by that at all.”

“But I— I‌ said…”

Logan raised a hand to stop him, only acutely aware that that was the wrong movement a few seconds too late. He quickly put it back in his lap, trying to remedy his thoughtless action. “I‌ know what you said Patton, and I‌ harbour no ill will towards it. In fact, your statement earlier was rather accurate and one cannot argue with the facts.”

The borrower shuffled nervously on his feet, eyes still flicking around to make sure that he did have some sort of way to get away if things did go south. Logan could guarantee that if Patton decided to make a break for it, he wouldn’t grab for him—as that would shatter any and all chance of getting Patton to trust him.

Patton bit his lower lip, trying to weigh the pros and cons of this situation. An easy con, the human knew about him. The pro to that, however, it was Logan. Someone he had talked to and gotten to know fairly well. While everything in him was screaming that he should duck and run, it almost didn’t feel right. He tried to still his shaking hands as he dug further into the strap, looking up and meeting Logan’s eyes finally. “R-really?”

Logan offered a single nod in affirmation. “Really.”

Well, while he was still very scared—and with good reason!—Patton found himself wanting to understand, more than anything. “Then why did you…?”

“Use the shrink ray on myself?” Logan chuckled slightly when he got a nod, finding the situation almost comical as he recalled the event. “I‌ can assure you that it was not deliberate. My finger slipped on the trigger, if you must know. And while it was not an intentional usage, I‌ cannot say that I‌ am disappointed with the results it yielded.”

Such terminology seemed to make Patton almost more nervous and Logan belatedly realized that his vocabulary could make him seem intimidating, even to other humans.

“That said, I mean such in the way that I got to meet you.”‌

Logan was not one for sentiment, that much was very apparent, but for the short time that Logan had known Patton, the other seemed to be incredibly sentimental. Kind, understanding, if a bit melancholy at times. Patton was an absolutely fascinating bipedal mammal that should not be able to exist, but that was not the only fascinating thing about him. What Logan also found intriguing was just how delightful and considerate he had been with a complete stranger. Patton was sensitive, so much so to the point that it almost baffled the human. How someone could be so giving and genuine with a person they had never met before, it was almost unheard of.

Such a gentle statement had seemed to have startled Patton, but it didn’t take long before a tentative grin broke across his features. Logan was surprised to see the borrower take a few steps toward him. “You really mean that?”

The statement was so hopeful and warm, Logan couldn’t help but a let a small grin alight his own features. “If I did not mean it, I‌ wouldn’t have said it.”

Patton had been alone for a long time, at least that’s what Logan had gathered from his chat with him. Like this, he supposed one could remain in the building and live in safety and he could continue to learn more about borrowers as a whole. Only, of course, if Patton was willing to share such information with him.

“I‌ am curious, however, does me being human taint our friendship?” Logan completely understood if it did, but Patton almost looked hurt at the statement.

Logan was simply stating the facts, not trying to be inconsiderate to one’s feelings.

“Of course not!” The vehemence behind Patton’s voice was surprising, to put it lightly. “I— I‌ admit that this surprise scared me. And I’m still kinda scared, I’m not gonna lie, but you said you wouldn’t do anything to me and you haven’t yet even though you’ve had plenty of time.” He was almost rambling to himself at this point, before shaking it off and meeting Logan’s eyes again. “So, no. To answer your question, you being human does not taint our friendship.”

Logan felt warmth bloom in his chest at the reassurance and he found his smile becoming more genuine.

It was hard to say if one had been able to befriend a borrower before (which did have it’s possibilities) and just didn’t document it, but knowing this secret felt sacred. And looking down at Patton, who was no longer anxiously clinging to the strap of his bag but instead looked more comfortable, said far more than Logan would be able to fathom.

If someone as inviting and warm as Patton could like him, then maybe Logan was doing something right after all.

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hoardcloneheadcanons · 3 years

Text

The Season 1 Villain: Mr. Blackwood

Summary [ A time travelling Martin Blackwood accidentally bullies his past counterpart and a young Jonathan Sims into getting together in order to gang-up on him]

Yesterday Is Here is a time-travel fix-it fic of the Magnus Archives by CirrusGrey found on AO3 that I highly recommend. It helps emotionally cope with the tragedy of the actual series and it’s very well written.

I have my own ideas on what would happen in the fic if the time travel went slightly different and Martin showed up first, which now lives rent-free in my head as an AU to an AU. I’m hoping by writing it down I can free myself of it’s grip over me. If you don’t want spoilers for the fic, or seasons 1-4 of the Magnus Archives, stop here.

In the fic Jon and Martin from the Archives have been married and survived the apocalypse together. Both use the Helen’s doors to travel back in time to season 1 of the Magnus Archives and prevent most of the tragedies from happening. Jon uses his spooky Archivist Powers to threaten Elias, extorting him for money and preventing the appocolypse. And both Martin and Jon dispose of the main villains of season 1 and 2.

But some shenanigans happened in Helen’s doors that make it so Jon shows up first and Martin doesn’t show up until two months later. Here’s my idea of what would happen if those positons got reversed.

-The Archival Staff call Future Martin Mr. Blackwood to differentiate him from their present-day Martin. I will also be doing so, from here on out.

-Jon is, of course, skeptical, and keeps insisting that this must be some long lost brother of Martin’s who is trying to scam them (Or even his father, despite Mr. Blackwood not looking much older than Martin). Mr. Blackwood proceeds to list small intimate details about each of them (how they take their tea, things that happened their last birthday. Stuff that would be very essentially Martin to know) but also sounds very impatient the entire time. He does not have time for Jon’s feigned skepticism and denial and does not hide it.

-It becomes clear very quickly to the Archival staff that Mr. Blackwood is a lot meaner than Martin. He doesn’t make tea for people unless he’s trying to corner them to talk to them, He’s willing to kill spiders rather than release them. Murder doesn’t seem that out of the question for him. And while both Martin and Blackwood are big people, Matrin Hunches and keeps his voice soft and tries to seem smaller. Blackwood does none of that and will push his way through people and/or loom sometimes.

-As a result Tim starts jokingly referring to him as the Anti-Martin. When Mr. Blackwood starts mentioning that there should be a Mr. Sims showing up, Tim insists on making a list of traits that he bets Mr. Sims will have based on him being an “Anti-Jon”. The traits include: Wearing only bright colors, not-giving a fig about archive policy, believing all the statements (even the dumb ones), smiling, being nice to Martin, being social and (on a day where Jon was being particularly annoying) being cool.

-A few of them are totally off the mark, but many of them are actually frighteningly close to the truth.

-He ropes Sasha into it too. They decide together that Sims and Blackwood have a one-sided relationship where Sims is absolutely besotted and Blackwood either barely tollerates him or is seducing him for his Head Archivist pay.

(It’s funny because Jon isn’t making much more than any of the Archival Staff)

-Blackwood is fairly nice to Sasha who is reasonable and listens to relevant threats. Tim appreciates him for confirming and advancing the research he’s done on Robert Smirke and the Circus. But Martin and Jon hate him. He bullies them both in different ways.

-Blackwood keeps trying to convince his younger self to grow a spine, make some boundaries. He keeps trying to tell him that he can’t fix things by being nice to everyone. Martin does not appreciate it.

-Mr. Blackwood will occasionally talk like Martin’s Mum and it makes it hurt more. Not exact sentiments or sentiments but familiar phrasing and tones. Blackwood doesn’t know he’s doing it.

-Meanwhile Blackwood takes away all the “real” statements from Jon (the ones that won’t record on the computer) and spreading them out amongst the archive staff. He insists that reading them will turn Jon into an eldritch creature that feeds on human trauma and gives people nightmares. Jon thinks this is a load of absolute bull. (If you must read them, Jon, at least don’t read them outloud. Type them up or something. Don’t be stupid.)

-Jon’s the type of person who needs to know and asks all the uncomfortable questions, so having someone take away the only real information bothers him. Even if Tim, Sasha and Martin have the information it still bothers him to not know.

-Jon is also really insecure about deserving his job, and desperately trying to prove himself. So having a man burst in and tell him how to do his job stings.

-Mr. Blackwood also isn’t delicate when pointing out Jon’s skepticism is dumb. He says all the things Martin thinks but is too polite to say.

(”I’m sure there’s a very natural reason for Carlos Vittery to be wrapped up in spider webs upon his death”

“Are you serious? Jon, if you keep up this ridiculous denial you’re going to walk yourself right into something’s mouth just to prove a point. Or worse, send someone else into it. And you of all people should know supernatural spiders are dangerous.

“What do you mean, I of all people?”

“I think you know what I mean, Jon.”)

-Jon and Martin actually end up hanging out because they bond over their mutual dislike of Mr. Blackwood.

-Jon defends Martin agains Mr. Blackwood and vice-versa.

-The first time it happens, it’s Jon defending Martin and Mr. Blackwood acts surprised.

-(I don’t know why we should trust you. Even if all this supernatural nonsense is true there’s no reason we should take you’re word on how it works! You barge into the archives telling everyone what to do, fear mongering with tales of secret societies trying to cause the apocalypse, you upset Martin all the time “for his own good, you-”

“-wait, wait wait- Martin?” “When did you start caring about Martin?”

“What do you mean? He’s one of my archival assistants, of course I care about him.”

“Jon, you bully him more often than I do.”

“I-No I don’t.”

“You make it very clear what you think of his work and competence, Jon. And you send him to all the worst assignments. He let’s it happen because he knows he’s not the best at research, and he knows you’re under pressure from Elias, and he really tries not to take it personally, but it hurts him Jon. It builds up and it hurts him, even if he never says it does. So yes, forgive me if I think you’re being a bit hypocritical.”)

-Jon apologizes to Martin after that and really tries to be nicer because he does not like the idea that he’s as bad as Mr. Blackwood. He watches what he says around Martin a lot more closely after that, and keeps an eye on Martin’s reactions.

-Jon will tell Martin that he thinks he’s nothing he’s like Mr. Blackwood. He doesn’t see how they could be the same person. Martin is so caring, and helpful, and kind, and warm, and Blackwood isn’t. Jon is so wrapped up in his frustration that he does not know Martin is blushing as he says this. Martin suddenly has to go make a cup of tea. Right then.

-The next time it’s Martin defending Jon against Blackwood. Blackwood is happy that Martin is starting to assert himself but is exasperated that it’s only occuring because of his own failed attempts to get the archive staff to trust him. He suddenly wants his own Jon to come back so badly so he can tell him how ridiculous this entire situation is. So they can laugh together at how Blackwood advanced their younger counterparts’ relationship progress by at least 3 years by accidentally becoming the villain of their story, so Jon can tease him about it.

-The third time it’s Jon once again defending Martin, saying that Blackwood went too far, that he sounds like Martin’s mother and he made him cry. Mr. Blackwood realizes that, yeah he does absolutely sound like his mum and he has to leave and reasses his actions. He hadn’t realized he was picking up her specific way of critisizing-well-himself. It’s just how he talked to himself in his own head- which- well- which wasn’t great.

-Jon is so surprised that he managed to actually get one-up on Mr. Blackwood that he takes everyone out for drinks and insists on paying. Which is a nice distraction for Martin.

-It also, Blackwood notices, means Jon is getting closer to his archive staff and hanging out with them. It gives him a bittersweet hapiness. He’s so happy that they’re all closer in this timeline, that he managed to force Jon into socializing and Martin and Jon to get close. But he realizes he did it by being the outsider and interloper that they’re defending against, and he’s not quite part of this new group of the archive staff. He’s happy for them, just lonely. Even Sasha and Tim, who he gets along with more than Jon or Martin, are wary to trust him. He’s not telling them everything. He has to fight against Elias without the aid of spooky Eye powers and he’s unsure of when Elias is listening, so he’s not mentioning everything. He’s not telling them who killed Gertrude Robinson. He’s being evasive on the reasons he does not trust Elias, and about what power succeded at causing the apocalypse.

-As the days go by with no sign of His Jon/ Mr. Sim’s coming back his old connection to The Lonely intensifies and he becomes able to turn invisible and go by unnoticed again. The archive staff notice that he becomes spookier and sadder and- slightly less human and it decreases their trust in him.

[Check My Blog for a Part 2. I am writing this in one sitting, but this particular document has become long enough.]

#The Magnus Archives #Yesterday is Here #Fanfiction #Archive of Our Own #Martin Came First AU #Mr. Blackwood AU #weaponizing my own writer's block

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benditlikepress · 4 years

Text

growing pains

@coffeedepablo @indestinatus

dedicated to my queen @ncisjes who goes to work to escape my nonsense

Read in full on AO3

Tony was counting down the minutes until home-time when his phone started ringing. Usually he switched it off during meetings but for some reason it had slipped his mind, and that was why he jumped out of his seat to leave the room to answer it, seeing Tali’s school flash on the screen.

They never rang.

He closed the door quietly behind him and clicked answer as he jogged down the hallway towards the doors that led out onto a small balcony.

“Hello?”

"Hello, is that Mr DiNozzo?"

"Speaking."

"Hello, this is Tali's teacher Madame Belanger."

"Oh. Hello. Is everything OK?"

"I'm stood here with Tali, nobody has arrived to take her home."

Tony checked the time. School let out 10 minutes ago. "Uh, Tali's mom should be there. She hasn't shown up?"

"No, Mr DiNozzo. I know it's her that picks Tali up and she's always early so I tried to ring her but I got no answer. I know she's pregnant so I thought I best ring you to check everything is OK."

Tony felt his shackles immediately rise, a ball in his throat. "Um, thank you. I'll try to get a hold of her but I'm on my way myself now, so one of us will be there soon. Can I speak to Tali real quick?"

There was a small pause while the phone was passed over.

"Hey sweetheart, it's daddy. I'm on my way to come get you, OK? Don't worry about a thing."

"OK."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

Tony hung up the phone and began dialling Ziva's number as he went into his boss' office. He explained he had an emergency at home with the phone pressed to his ear and was waved away to leave just as Ziva's phone went to voicemail.

"Hey. It's me. Call if you get this, let me know you’re alright."

When she still hadn’t returned his call when he was getting into his car, he began to panic more. Though she’d been through rough patches and difficulties since she got home to Paris, she’d never once made herself unreachable. She’d always at least drop a text to let him know she was safe. Particularly since she’d found out she was pregnant.

Thoughts of the baby plagued his rushed journey to school, weaving through traffic in a way that made him wish he still had lights he could stick on the roof. Things had been going really well up until now – no worries or doctors concerns, nothing that had to be kept an eye on. Ziva had been a little anxious at first because there had been some concerns early in her pregnancy with Tali but they had turned out to be false alarms, likely caused by stress. When nothing had happened in the first 12 weeks of this pregnancy and then the next couple afterwards, her fears had been allayed. It was week 23 now and everything had been pretty much perfect.

He repeated to himself that she was in the bath and had lost track of time as he hopped out of his car and rushed up to the school gates. He was buzzed in and by the time he reached reception, Tali and her teacher were waiting. Tali immediately left her teachers’ side and came over to him, wrapping her arms around him for a hug.

“Hey, sweetheart. Good day?” He asked in English and Tali’s teacher smiled politely, though he was never sure if she actually understood a word he said when he wasn’t speaking French.

“Uh-huh. Are we going home?”

“Yeah, come on. Sorry you had to wait a little while.”

“That’s OK. Au revoir, Madame Belanger.”

“Au revoir, Tali. See you tomorrow.”

Tali took Tony’s hand as they left the building and walked with purpose although she was quiet and thoughtful.

“Everything alright?”

“Why didn’t ima pick me up?”

"I'm not sure, sweetheart. We're gonna go talk to her and find out, OK?"

"Is something wrong with the baby?"

"I don't think so. Let's just get home and we'll find out what's going on."

This seemed to satisfy Tali, who was her usual talkative self on the car ride back to the apartment. Tony was glad of the distraction – happy to hear about Tali’s class preparation for their upcoming recorder recital and her friend’s new dog.

The building looked normal from the outside when they got home, though decades worth of cop shackles were hard to shake off and Tony caught himself reaching for a non-existent gun as they entered the eerily quiet hallway and reached the locked door.

The apartment was cleaner than they’d left it this morning – clothes and breakfast and mail put away. The curtains were open but the light was on in the bathroom and everywhere was silent. Tony left Tali in the living room and cut through room-by-room looking for any sign of Ziva or something out of place, and when he reached their bedroom he found the door ajar and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a sleeping figure on top of the mattress.

Ziva was lying on her side, buried in blankets, a slight frown on her face.

Tony bent down by the side of the bed and lifted fingers to her forehead, stroking her hair.

"Hey honey, you awake?"

Ziva stirred and then opened one eye. "What are you doing here?"

"School called."

"What time is it?" Ziva lifted her arms sleepily to check her phone. "Oh my god, I have to go and get Tali."

"Hey hey hey, relax. I got her. She's in the living room."

Ziva exhaled heavily and covered her face with her eyes.

"You OK?"

"Yes. I just... I have been asleep all afternoon. I did not get any sleep last night so I just lay down after lunch and.. I cannot believe this. I have never slept through anything in my life."

"Well, you're pregnant. It happens. Why didn't you sleep last night?"

"I need to talk to Tali."

"Just - take a breath first, alright?"

She closed her eyes as she inhaled and exhaled, but threw the blankets off her all the same. She had taken to wearing his shorts as pyjama bottoms, paired with either a tank top that rode up more as the days went on or one of his old baggy t-shirts depending on the temperature. Though she was almost always overheating these days.

"Is Tali upset?"

"She's fine. She was just a little worried something might've happened." Ziva brought herself up to a sitting position and pressed the base of her palms against her eyes. “You sure everything’s alright?”

"Yes, we are fine. Completely. I am so sorry for scaring you. Really, I.."

"Hey," Tony pulled her hands away from her face gently. "It's alright. It's fine. Stuff happens sometimes."

“It is not alright, Tony.”

Her insistence struck a chord with him, the way her breathing was a little laboured and she squeezed his fingers where they were still attached to accentuate the point.

“Hey. Talk to me.”

“We can talk once I have spoken to Tali. Let me do that first.”

“OK. Take a couple of deep breaths, though. Come in when you’re ready.”

Tony ran his hand over her head as he stood up, leaving the room and going back into the living room where Tali was sitting on the sofa with a game in hand kicking her legs backwards and forwards.

“Ima and the baby are all good. See? Like I said. Nothing for you to worry about. She’s gonna come and talk to you right now.”

He sat down next to her and she began to continue the conversations she’d started in the car, not seeming to notice Tony’s small responses as he kept an eye on the bedroom door.

Ziva appeared a couple of minutes later, her cheeks slightly pink with sleep and a practised smile plastered on her face as her eyes trained on Tali.

"Tali.."

"Is the baby OK?"

"We are both fine. But I need to apologise to you.” Ziva sat down at Tali’s side, opposite to Tony, and took Tali’s small hands into her own on her lap. “I'm so sorry I did not pick you up today, Tali. I did not get any sleep last night and I accidentally napped through my alarm. I promise you it will never ever happen again. And I'm very sorry for worrying you, that is not fair at all on you."

"OK. I forgive you."

"You do?"

"You promise.”

“I promise. Can I have a hug?”

Tali wrapped herself around Ziva but the position was starting to get awkward as Ziva had started growing more significantly in the last couple of weeks. She was carrying smaller than Tony had imagined, though he supposed it was a result of keeping herself fit. She said you’d have barely known she was pregnant with Tali until her third trimester.

He watched her expression now, over Tali’s shoulder, her eyes tightly shut and then opening to look up at him with tears threatening. She ran her hand over her left eye and the movement seemed to alert Tali to pull back and look at her.

“Don’t be sad.”

“I’m not sad, OK? Ani ohevet otach. I love you very much.”

Tony still wasn't quite used to the feeling he got in his chest when he saw the two of them together like this: hugging and whispering affection to each other, looking over each other’s shoulders at him with such automatic warmth in their eyes. It was a feeling he'd forgotten existed, something that he'd not felt since childhood until Tali and then Ziva took permanent place in his life - the pure comfort of being around family. The way that even when Ziva was clearly upset and hurting there was still pure, unadulterated love in the air.

Ziva sniffed and straightened her back. “Do you want to help me make dinner?”

“Can we have pizza?”

“You know your daddy can never say no to that. Come on, let’s get your hands washed.”

Tali jumped off the sofa and ran off in the direction of the bathroom. Tony got to his feet and held out his hand to help Ziva up, though she managed to get up mostly by herself. Her hand, as it often did now, instinctively went to her stomach. It was almost six months in and he still hadn't grown out of the burst of pride every time he watched Ziva privately acknowledge her bump, the knowledge that it was his child she was tending to when she didn't realise anyone was watching.

“Ziva..”

“I promise we will talk. I just want to make sure she is OK first. Once we have eaten, she will settle down. OK?”

“OK.”

It was a lot like this with a child: something Tony had never really considered before Tali came into his life, and something he was sure would only get more significant once the baby was here. Trying to find opportunities to talk was difficult, quiet moments alone few and far between, and though all Tony wanted to do right now was sit Ziva down and wait for her to explain every single thing on her mind he instead had to be content to watch her staring down at Tali thoughtfully while she helped her knead dough and overflow toppings in the way only a DiNozzo could.

They ate quietly but happily, Tali still leading conversation, and once she’d finished she’d taken herself off to her bedroom and shouted at Tony to follow her to help her with her math homework.

Ziva still had a fearful look in her eye, and it only seemed to increase as the minutes passed. She looked at Tali’s bedroom and then back at Tony, questioning, until he signalled at her to go to their own bedroom while he followed Tali.

(continue reading on AO3)

#ncis #tiva #take 100

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today-only-happens-once · 4 years

Note

Do you have any advice for what to do when you lack motivation? Sorry to bother you. -Prince anon (Fun Fact: every. single. time that I have typed prince anon accidentally type pronce anon and autocorrect always changes it to -pron email. Autocorrect are you okay. Do you need to talk. Is pron a word.)

I think it depends on what kind of motivation you think you’re lacking.

My general advice is different now than it would have been this time last year. But understand that we are in the middle of a global pandemic. I know people say that a lot, but here’s what I mean when I say that this time:

We are in a situation, on a global scale, that asks for isolation from one another. We are seeing stats on the news and in headlines that are overwhelming to the point of numbness and detachment. And when this started, most of us thought it would last maybe a couple of months. But reality is setting in. And it’s hard to swallow and manage emotionally, even for adults.

I say this not to overwhelm you further, but I know that when I lack motivation, I am often hard on myself for it. {insert task here} is easy, I tell myself, so just get it done already. But that does’t help me. It just makes it harder to get off the couch, and now I also have lower self-esteem.

As a result, my main advice these days is this: be gentle and gracious to yourself. Forgive yourself if you are struggling when you feel like you shouldn’t be.

With that said, here are some practical things that help me when I want to get things done but lack motivation:

1. Break it into smaller pieces. Sometimes, when I feel unmotivated to do a task, it’s because it feels too big for my current energy level. Instead of “I have to grade those tests”, I’ll shift it to “today, I have grade my second period’s tests”. 25 tests is a lot more manageable to my brain than 104 of them.

2. Pair the Hard Task with something fun. This can be a little dependent on what the hard task is, but on the days when I really don’t want to do a task, no matter how small, I tell myself that I can (for example) watch Critical Role while I work on it. Not all tasks will lend itself to this (example: I can’t make phone calls and watch critical role at the same time), so be careful. And it sometimes will slow down your progress on the Task. But that’s where being gracious comes into play. I’ll remind myself, “yes, I could write this lesson plan faster if I wasn’t watching Critical Role, but slow progress is still progress and this is what will get me to eventually finish the lesson plan instead of staring at a blank document hating my life.”

3. Rewards. Make yourself have goals (even small ones) with a reward at the end. It’s important, though, that these rewards are actual rewards and not just basic life stuff. (So... don’t tell yourself “no dinner until I finish my homework”, because dinner is basic life stuff that you need, and shouldn’t be seen as a reward). For me, this looks like “I’ll work on grading/lesson planning for three hours, and then I can spend the rest of the afternoon watching Steven Universe”.

4. Accountability. This one involves at least one other person. But being accountable to someone else--for me personally--sometimes is the only thing that gets me to do The Task. During the school year, for me, that accountability is usually to my students or administration (for example, “I have to block scene 8 because I told my theater kiddos that we’d be blocking that during rehearsal tomorrow”). During the summer, I use my friends and family. For example, I might call my sister for a social call but will drop a “hey, I think tomorrow I’m gonna finish that fanfic I’ve been working on”. There’s no real pressure for me from my sis for something like fanfic there way there is for Actual Work Stuff for me, but telling someone else what my plan is makes me feel accountable to someone else, and that makes me more likely to get it done.

This is a very long response. Sorry! Hope at least a little bit of this helps.

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library-with-tales · 4 years

Text

Bungou Stray Dogs Band AU that I spontaneously came up with like a second ago.

Based off the mobile game if you haven’t noticed. Someone probably already thought of this buuuuut I like my idea so here we go:

World setting

Port Mafia, Armed Detective Agency and The Guild are music agencies while the other smaller groups are just bands (haven’t read manga yet but I’m aware there are other groups). The Special-too-long-of-a-name people are the big boy cooperation (I am so uneducated with the music world why do I do this to myself).

Port Mafia are filled with talented people yes, but they have the habit of straining the music artists sometimes (this will be relevant in a bit) and are more focused on the monz. If you want a reference, their music are on the same level as your good ol’ big pop groups, the real famous on the radio ones.

Armed Detective Agency (in this case they’re called Armed Music Agency, yes they are still armed) is a smaller agency since they prioritize quality and feelings over quantity and catchiness, which makes them pretty indie tbh, They have songs that don’t particularly appear on the radio a lot, if not, not at all. Though they’re talented all the same.

The Guild are basically the equivalent to K-pop and J-pop, not quite famous in Yokohama, but definitely famous enough to go on tour there.

Atsushi’s arc

There were a few ideas for him (music school was in the draft but I dunked it faster than I pulled it up) but it boils down to one thing: Atsushi accidentally becomes a famous singer from an old video he made when he wasn’t fully into music yet. He, being the oblivious guy he is, suddenly starts gaining fans and is beyond confused yet appreciates it very much.

Though not sure why people are calling him the Beast below The Moonlight (Plot twist, you big stupidhead, that was the title of the old song you made). He goes along with it though, calling himself Moon Tiger, which is so him honestly.

Anyways it’s not Dazai if he doesn’t try to drown himself so while Atsushi’s vibing by the open canal he just sees him. Like canon, Atsushi saves Dazai. But the thing about Atsushi is; he’s camera shy and most of his videos have him covering his face and out of camera view, so Dazai doesn’t immediately recognize him as the famous youtube singer.

As thanks, Dazai treats Atsuhi to dinner with Kunikida, and Dazai has a hunch that Atsushi is Moon Tiger so they start a small convo about it. Atsushi’s all; “ERRRRMMMMMMM” and he wants to leave until:

“Y’know, whoever Moon Tiger is, I’d totally pay a lot of money to hear him sing.” Dazai hums. Kunikida kinda agrees to this, saying how talent like his shouldn’t come totally for free. Atsushi doesn’t ask for donations or get youtube money (because he dunno how :( ) so he’s almost flat broke, and this kinda perks his interest.

“Actually, uh, I kinda know Moon Tiger. I didn’t want to bring it up because I thought you’d ask for autographs or something ha ha. I agree with the paying part.” Atsushi you’re low key greedy ngl, Pre-Bullshit Atsushi was greedy. Money-eyed hoe. “If you want I can get you to meet him, but he won’t wanna show his face so it’s gotta be somewhere he can hide himself while still being able to sing.”

“Done!” Dazai holds his hand out like it’s some sort of deal. “I know a place.”

I’m sorry Dazai, but I’m not smart or sexy as you, so I don’t know the place. Let’s go with the regular canon spot, yeah? And Dazai listens while Atsushi sings behind a big crate and when Atsushi is done, he expects money but he gets a thunderous applause instead and suddenly his identity is revealed and everyone is clapping and staring at him super amazed.

And Atsushi faints from being too overwhelmed.

Anyways, things happen, some parts are alike to canon, some parts aren’t. Atsushi’s main goal in this AU is to get over his terrible stage fright while simultaneously trying to avoid clashing with Port Mafia, who at first, wants to recruit him before he fully signs the contract with AMA.

I don’t know how battles would work in this, but they happen.

Dazai’s backstory

So my man Dazai amirite?

Not a surprise, he used to be under Port Mafia. At some point he does numerous collabs with free lancer Chuuya because Chuuya’s little sheep band had an issue with copyright with Port Mafia (oops).

Onto the main course though: Odasaku.

Ango is in charge of Oda and Dazai, who usually does music together because they’re friends (hurray). But Oda had long gave up on doing vocals because his throat just couldn’t handle it, he much prefers writing music and Dazai doesn’t mind because he never has extremely big ideas anyways.

A clash with Mimic happens and Mori’s all: We need more music we need to stay number one. And so -I dunno how- he forces Oda to finally use his voice to sing via Ango’s persuasion.

Oda completely loses his voice in the end, like he completely damaged it, and he can’t handle the music industry anymore so he leaves. And Dazai’s all: “Don’t go please.”

And Oda writes on his phone and holds it out for Dazai, “This agency. It doesn’t care much for music, does it? I used to sing because I liked singing, because there were feelings in it. But slowly this agency stopped me from being able to do that. Dazai. Don’t you think you should sing with feelings too? You’ve never made an opinion on my ideas, is it because you can’t or you won’t?”

And Dazai realizes he only likes doing music because of the people around him, especially Oda, and now that Oda isn’t in Port Mafia anymore, it just isn’t the same. He’s been making music to grab people’s attention and not much because he wanted to. So he decides to change and switches agencies.

(His relationship with Akutagawa is as straining as canon; “I don’t care about how you made this dumb song, it’s not good enough! How will anyone want to listen to this crap?” Now Aku’s music are catchy and all but lacking in meaning.)

Other things

Yosano’s music is pretty rough, but it literally lets all the feelings out, so it becomes pretty nice. So you know that music that cures this and cures that? That’s Yosano’s music, except it’s really hardcore. I don’t know how she does it, she just does.

Kyouka is the daughter of two big music geniuses and is expected to be the same, so she gets an immediate acceptance into Port Mafia and it nearly breaks her until Atsushi meets her. During a concert or something -because in the end, Atsushi’s still the fan boy type- Atsushi goes up to Kyouka and asks if she’s okay and stuff.

“I’ve made 35 songs, but I can’t...hear my own voice, my own music...” Your Lie in April ref do not hunt me please.

Ranpo is known to have serious in depth meaning behind his music, and a good 20% are just matryoshka songs (he gives out stuff if you find out if his song is an in depth meaning one or just nonsense that somehow speaks meaning while having no theme at all)

Poe’s are somewhat the same as Ranpo, except they’re more like stories to be honest, and his songs get numerous fan interpretation and so far, Ranpo always gets it right. The only one who ever does without missing a beat (ha ha got em.)

Debating if I should just make Kunikida an agent or a music artist that just likes writing songs rather than performing them.

Naomi could be an idol ngl but she’s not, she’s her brother’s number one fan! (She’s a secretary in the agency.)

Chuuya’s more famous for his pretty looks than his music at this point, but it doesn’t mean he’s a shit music artist though.

Higuchi is Aku’s agent.

Kenji’s songs are so happy and go-lucky it makes anyone listening to it feel pumped up. Hence his music are often used in AMVs or sports exercise (what a range!)

Yumeno’s music are those cursed type of songs that weren’t meant to be creepy or weird to begin with (e.g Tonight You Belong To Me, it’s an innocent song yet it can be taken as horror(?)) but end up becoming one anyways.

Dazai’s songs are so sad sometimes but they’re always upbeat. A weird yet perfect balance for his listeners.

That’s all I got! Honestly, don’t really know how to develop The Guild in this, maybe one day I will.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #band au #dazai osamu #atsushi nakajima #kunikida doppo #yosano akiko #odasaku sakunosuke #kyouka izumi #akutagawa ryuunosuke #yumeno kyuusaku #edogawa ranpo #edgar allen poe #higuchi ichiyo #kenji miyazawa #tanizaki naomi #nakahara chuuya

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an-aura-about-you · 4 years

Text

One Little Push

I don’t even know why they let me write fanfiction because I’m just gonna do stuff like this. And I started this during ptonic week, which is SUPPOSED to be a celebration of platonic friendships in Princess Tutu. (I then wrote about 40 pages to catalog my media collection so this has been put off about as long as it can be.) That said, I’ve gotten this as done as I want to get it, so let’s post it. Warnings in the tags.

Autor spends so much of his time thinking. So much that it’s become an art, staying up three days in a row with nothing but his thoughts. It’s getting to the point that he can do it without trying. He can do it when he doesn’t want to. He can’t sleep at night.

He pushes his cuff out of the way and checks the time. The train isn’t late, but it sure feels like it with how crowded the platform is. He even gets an elbow jab to the back, only just managing to catch himself before he runs into Fakir.

“Do you mind?!” Autor throws over his shoulder. “You aren’t the only one trying to stand here.”

It does little good. It’s hard to tell who’s who with so many bodies pressed together. It could have been anyone.

He resumes waiting for the train, letting his thoughts stab at his brain. They’re only going part of the way together, Autor to meet with his father in a nearby city and Fakir to go on past that to meet with a publisher taken with his fairy tales. It’s disgusting. He’d probably vomit if he had managed to eat anything.

If it wasn’t for him, Fakir wouldn’t know anything of their lineage. About their gift. Fakir wouldn’t be squandering Autor’s inheritance on fairy tales if he had just kept his big mouth shut. It’s all he’s been able to think about for weeks. He forces his jaw to loosen when he realizes he’s grinding his teeth.

The train whistle blows in the distance.

The crowd shifts, forcing Autor even closer to Fakir and the end of the platform.

What if Fakir wasn’t here? he asks from the cold edges of his mind. Everything could be mine if Fakir wasn’t here.

Is it really that simple? He can still write his own stories. They might not take the same shape, but he can still change the world with his words.

The train chugs closer to the station.

Maybe my stories aren’t shaping reality because Fakir is here. This has gone too far.

The crowd shifts again as the train whistle blares loud and clear.

He has too much influence. He’s too dangerous.

For the first time in a long time, Autor stops thinking completely and pushes Fakir in front of the train.

Everything after that happens too fast.

Whoever had elbowed Autor before shoves into him at the same moment, making things look plausibly accidental. Autor sucks in a breath at Fakir’s terrified scream of realization, instinct demanding that he try to hold on to the man he just pushed. Fakir’s hand grips Autor’s arm, but there’s enough shock at the whole thing that he doesn’t try gripping Fakir back. He blinks at the moment of impact, and his arm jerks along for a horrifying second until the force of the train detaches Fakir’s arm from the rest of his remains.

Autor wrenches the dead man’s arm off of him in fright and joins in as the entire station erupts in screams of panic. His unrelenting exhaustion makes for good tears, and he doesn’t try to stop them. His heart constricts, but it does so around a cold, black pit of satisfaction.

---

Autor’s default expression is pretty dour, and it serves him well at the funeral. Or as well as it can surrounded by so many people crying over a mostly empty casket. Even Autor’s parents, his own parents. Did they even know him outside of a classmate Autor’s brought to visit a couple of times? Are they even aware that he’s family?

Everyone is understanding about Autor’s mask of numb shock. No one else in this gathering was there when it happened. No one besides him saw Fakir’s last moments. They’re not picturing a disembodied arm clinging to their sleeve, can barely even imagine it the way he can see it.

Best of all, they’re understanding about the fact that he might not want to talk about it. It’s perfect.

---

“I was wondering when I’d meet a grandson who truly took after me.”

Autor rubs at his eyes, unsure if he’s dreaming or just meditating. He’s never heard that voice before, and yet he instantly knows who it is.

“Quick, brutal, and straight out of a tragedy,” Drosselmeyer says as he steps out of the dark corner of the room, each word holding the affection of an indulgent grandfather and hands together as though he’s going to applaud at any moment. “And you did it all on your own. I couldn’t be prouder, Autor.”

He presses his mouth into an unsure line and says, “I want you to be proud of me for my writing.”

“As long as you write what you know, I’m sure I will be.”

---

“Autor, I want you to put your writing on hold.”

Autor looks from his work to his mother, only slightly bemused by her request at the moment. “What?”

“Please, stop writing,” she says.

“For how long?”

“Indefinitely.” Lore holds up a hand. “Please, I know it’s a lot to ask, but things have changed.”

He puts his quill down. “They haven’t changed that much, Mother, which makes it more important for me to write.”

“Not when the changes might be caused by the Bookmen,” she counters, her mouth pressing into a line. “Don’t be reckless, Autor.”

He turns in his chair towards her. “I’m not naive. The Bookmen are always going to be a-”

“Autor, stop and think about it!” Lore insists, taking hold of his shoulders. “Fakir’s death might not have been an accident! What if the same thing happens to you?”

Autor stares at her, mouth agape in protest but not making a sound. What can he tell her?

“I’ve already asked your father to take it into consideration,” she continues in his silence. “You know how he is, being more prone to storyspinning the way he uses it. He’s even thinking about retiring.”

“What?!” he replies to the news, getting to his feet and disoriented from suddenly being at the same level as his mother. “Surely Father would be all right.”

“That’s just it: we don’t know,” Lore says, squeezing his shoulders. “We don’t know what they’re going to do or if they’re even behind it. If it is them, it’s not the first time they’ve considered doing whatever it takes to stop a storyspinner. It’s not even the first time they considered killing Fakir if they were the ones responsible for his death.”

“It was an accident,” Autor says, but he closes his mouth right after.

“I know you didn’t mean to, but whoever shoved into you might have had other intent. You might have been hit by that train yourself if whoever was behind you thought they could get away with it.”

Lore pulls him into a tight hug, doing her best to restrain a sob as she does.

“I just don’t- don’t want to lose my family,” she tells him, her voice hitching in the middle.

Autor gingerly puts his arms around her, doing his best to keep the bile from what he plans to do down. “Mother, do you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then trust in what I choose to do.”

“But-”

“Mutti,” he interrupts, squeezing her a little. “I know you don’t want me to be reckless. I promise I won’t be. Do you trust that?”

He can hear her swallow as she thinks about it.

“Yes,” she answers.

“Thank you,” he says, hoping the words don’t sound as dry and brittle as they feel in his mouth.

---

“So nice to see you again, grandson.”

Autor gasps and whips his head to look behind. His hair is loose, and he has to take his glasses off to attempt fixing it. He doesn’t bother with fixing anything else like his loosened cravat, his sleeves slipping from their rolled up state, or the ink stains on his his hands. “Drosselmeyer!”

“You looked like you were having trouble,” he says, idly picking up a page from Autor’s disheveled stack of writing. “Not writer’s block, is it?”

“It’s not working!” Autor replies, snatching the paper back. “Please, I need to keep my attempts in order.”

Drosselmeyer tsks at him. “Now how am I supposed to help if I can’t read it?” He takes Autor’s work up again and looks it over. The more he reads, the more he shakes his head. “Oh Autor, did you really think you’d be able to influence all of Goldkrone like that in your first worthwhile attempt at storyspinning? And all because you still have some thread of yourself that can’t let your mother know what you really are.” He drops it on the desk again. “You really should just start smaller and concentrate on her.”

“And make myself more suspicious by having her memory the only one altered? I have more brains than that.”

“Even so, most of the town already thinks it was an accident without you trying to rewrite it in everyone’s minds. Why waste time trying to get away with a murder you’ve already gotten away with?”

Autor frantically shakes his head. “If it’s not an accident, a complete accident, then she might stop my writing! I have to write! Surely you understand that I have to write!”

He grins wide. “Of course I understand that. If you’re having that much trouble with it actually happening, why don’t I help you?”

“Please,” he answers without hesitation, almost before Drosselmeyer could finish his offer.

Drosselmeyer covers Autor’s eyes with a gloved hand. (Or perhaps just a glove as he doesn’t see a wrist.) “Then close your eyes, and I’ll take it from here.”

---

Autor can write in his sleep.

Every writer’s dream has become his reality. All he has to do is sit at his desk, take up his quill, and he’s gone. When he comes back, the story is there. It’s as if the story wrote itself. He’s blacking out for longer and longer. Autor can’t stay awake when he writes.

---

Logos strokes his beard in contemplation, a look Autor’s often seen his father wear when he’s turning the words over in his head. Like all blood relations of Drosselmeyer, he knows just how important it is to choose your words carefully, even more so with how he’s chosen to use their gift. It itches at Autor, prickles the back of his head. Whatever he wants to tell him apparently couldn’t wait until dinner, couldn’t be said around his mother.

He sighs against his hand and says, “Autor, I understand there are different ways to process trauma, but your mother and I think it might be time for you to speak to someone about what happened. Professionally.”

Autor frowns in befuddlement. “What? Therapy?”

Logos nods. “We won’t force you to go. We know that won’t do any good. But ever since the accident with Fakir, you’ve been less present. All you seem to do is write about what happened.”

Autor sits up straight, back stiff as a board. “You’ve read it?”

“Autor, you’ve left seventeen versions of the same story littering the office. It was inevitable.” He leans forward. “Writing to get it out isn’t a problem by itself, but now that it’s the only thing you’re doing at all, it’s becoming a problem. And besides that, you need to grasp the limits of what we can do.” He shakes his head once. “You can rewrite the accident a thousand times if you like, but you won’t be able to use our abilities to change what happened. Don’t blame yourself for Fakir being gone.”

Autor makes a reflexive sound that he thinks is a laugh but might sound like a sob and covers his mouth. Even he’s not sure which one it was.

Whatever it was, Logos doesn’t find the noise surprising or out of place. “Your mother and I have found a good doctor, and we both think you should at least meet her.”

“You think I’m crazy,” Autor says, dropping his hand away from his mouth.

Logos looks at him as though he had just been slapped. “I think you’re hurting. And we just want to find some way to help you.”

Autor gets to his feet and holds his arms out in a helpless shrug. “And what would I tell the doctor? Make her a confidant to our storyspinning? You seem to think that’s what I’m doing. Why don’t we just tell the whole city? The Bookmen already know anyway, so what’s a few more people in on it? We’ve really thought this through.”

Logos likewise stands, still a good head taller than his son. “Why are you acting like I’m stupid? I know you’re writing a story, but you can’t do storyspinning on the past. You have to move forward for change, and you’re stuck.”

He gives Logos an incredulous look. He can tell, but he’s still acting like Autor’s innocent? He thinks back to all of the times he’s heard his father sing, trying to recall if he can tell when storyspinning is taking place or not. Is it something he just has to develop? With that thought, the truth of the matter crashes into him and he bolts out of the room.

---

Autor locks himself in the office, hands over his mouth and fingers meeting over the bridge of his nose.

“Back to work, I see,” Drosselmeyer says.

“I’m not a storyspinner,” Autor responds.

“Oh, you are. A weak little thing, but that doesn’t matter. A quill is a quill, a hand is a hand.”

“You’re using me.”

“You’re using me, grandson,” Drosselmeyer retorts, though his tone is surprisingly jovial. “I may be giving it more influence than you can manage, but the stories are all you. Not that I mind for now since they’re my favorite genre.”

“They’re not my stories if I don’t know what I’m writing.”

“We didn’t set any terms, grandson. If this is going to be a problem, then we can end our partnership.”

Before anything could be said, a hand from behind grabs Autor and he knows nothing else.

#Princess Tutu: I might need my notes for this...#major character death #death by impact #nongraphic descriptions of dismemberment #hey look I'm actually warning you guys this time #also possession but like not as big a deal as the other stuff #usually it's a big deal but it's actually a bit downplayed in this one #let's pretend this is a complete story

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diminished-fish · 4 years

Text

References for “A Portrait in Synesthesia”

This fic is COMPLETE now, so anyone who might have been hesitant to follow a wip, here you go! The whole synesthetic package, wrapped up with a nice lil bow on top. :3

For those who might have missed the masterpost: the fic was my contribution to the good omens big bang and is a sweeping, canon-compliant romp through history, told in (almost) all original scenes, with lots of nature imagery and T.S. Eliot. Kind of my own cold open, but with way more feelings and flowers. Also the sea. And an emotionally significant comet.

I had the opportunity to throw all of myself at this project and really enjoyed making it an intense focus for a while. In a way, it was an experiment to see how much I was capable of, which as it turns out, is more than I thought! (there’s a lesson here, probably...). Going this deep with the research and worldbuilding is not something I will likely be doing often for fic writing, but since I did with this one, I figured I’d share a bit of the process.

Under the cut are major spoilers for the timeline, story, and historic events in my recent fic, A Portrait in Synesthesia. I had originally planned to post this information in the end notes of the fic, but at some point, the list got way too long and posting it here became the sensible choice. There is a link to this post in the end notes of the fic, so it will be easy to find your way back here if you get to the end and want to know a bit more about the writing and research process.

The Title:

Putting this bit at the top because I don’t know where else to put it: The working title for this fic throughout the entire writing process was “In Synesthesia.” I almost changed the final title in the eleventh hour to “The Still Point of the Turning World” because of what a prevalent theme Eliot became (that line was also slipped into the story three times at important moments — once for each POV character). I also briefly considered “Always, We Were Enough” as a title, since the conversation with Adrielle at the lighthouse kind of... accidentally became the thesis of the whole story, but that was a bit too sappy even for me, a Confirmed Sap.

And while I’ll be questioning my choice of title for the rest of forever (titling things is hard, y’all), I ultimately thought the more descriptive title was best, and wanted to keep the nod to the song that inspired it all.

Speaking of the song... have you listened to it yet?? It’s great, I promise!

youtube

Synesthesia:

This was my research starting point. Before I dug into any of the historical or astronomical research or even started any serious plotting, I started reading about synesthesia, or, as Psychology Today defines it: the neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway (for example, hearing) leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (such as vision).

Full disclosure: I do not have synesthesia. I spent a LOT of time researching it for this fic and did my best to portray it accurately, in spite of the fantastical elements I added. If I’ve overstepped or gotten something wrong and there are any synesthetes out there who would like to talk about it, I am very open to those discussions. The AO3 comments are always open to that, or you can message me/send me an ask here if you would like a less public forum.

I probably read r/Synesthesia in its entirety, but this thread of first-hand accounts was one of the most interesting to me and provided a lot of the inspiration for how I used the emotional synesthesia imagery.

Besides everyone’s favorite research staring point of Wikipedia, this link is one I got from Boston University’s Synesthesia Project, and it is a pretty exhaustive list of research and books, as well as art and poetry about synesthesia. I have also been working my way through The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, by Oliver Sacks which is the book that came most frequently recommended to me in my search. It’s an extremely approachable and interesting look at neurological conditions, synesthesia among them.

As it appears in the fic:

In a broad, generalized sense, Aziraphale and Crowley have a few types of synesthesia in this story. Obviously, I gave it a supernatural/celestial twist and a healthy glug of magical realism, but I did try to keep it firmly rooted in the actual condition. The types of synesthesia they have are:

Chromesthesia: they both have this. Sounds, specifically each other’s voices, have a color association

Lexical-gustatory synesthesia/emotion-flavor synesthesia: Aziraphale has this. Words (in this case, emotions, specifically Crowley’s emotional state) have a taste.

Odor-color synesthesia/emotion-odor synesthesia: Crowley has this. Words (again, emotions, specifically Aziraphale’s emotional state) have a smell.

One of the defining characteristics of synesthesia is that it is constant. If a synesthete connects the number 9 with the color blue, for example, then they will always connect them in this way. This was the major difference between real synesthesia and the fantasy synesthesia in this fic. The sensory/emotion connections for Aziraphale and Crowley changed in subtle ways as their relationship evolved through the ages.

The “binding thread” also had nothing to do with synesthesia. That was me wanting to make the spool analogy work for the body swap, baking it into the entire fic because I liked how the imagery fit with the synesthesia, and then leaning into the magic and the soul memory so hard that I fell flat on my face into magical realism. (A True Fact: I have spent a fair amount of time lying on the floor in the past 6 months, shaking my fist at the cute little plot bunny who grew fangs and claws and dragged me down a rabbit hole that ended up being 100k words deep).

Anyway! Research!

Before I get into space and history and flowers... Yes, I admit to absolutely making up some wacky shit about Europa for the sake of fun banter and making a metaphor work. All those pre-Fall scenes on abandoned Earths are 100% a fantasy setting and I exercised the super fun right of a fantasy writer and embraced the worldbuilding (moonbuilding?). I also just thought Crowley would have delighted in tying a moon’s guts in knots, and Aziraphale would have delighted in the idea of whimsy-for-whimsy’s-sake. Please don’t lose sleep over the scientific inaccuracies.

Halley’s comet:

I promise not to bog this down with a billion comet facts, but there were a few particular things about Halley’s comet that had me gasping dramatically about how it’s “A.J. Crowley, but a comet!!” Specifically, it’s orbit and it’s structure.

Halley’s retrograde orbit gives it one of the fastest velocities (relative to Earth) of any object in the solar system. I never explicitly worked the “you go too fast for me” line into the fic because I was trying to do original scenes (this particular story lived between the lines), but... just know that tidbit is there and join me in these emotional dire straits. If you like.

The comet’s structure is what is known as a “rubble pile”, meaning it’s made up of a bunch of smaller rocks held together by gravity (read: a hot god damn mess held together by stubbornness).

As it appears in the fic:

The nucleus of Halley’s comet is shaped like a weird lopsided peanut. In fact, one could almost look at it and say it resembles a contact binary star, if such a thing could be a shriveled, misshapen pile of rubble.

Officially, Halley’s comet might have been recorded as early as 467 BC (a comet was recorded in Greece that year— unclear if it was Halley’s, but the timing and the fact that it was visible to the naked eye suggests that it probably was). This was the year I had Aziraphale making the scroll that causes Crowley’s panic in Athens (390 BC). I like to think that some human, at some point, caught a glimpse of it and tried to bring it to light, only to be written off as a crazed conspiracy theorist.

The apocalyptic depiction of Halley’s comet in chapter 9 (Bithynia) is actually based in fact. The comet made its closest approach to Earth (in human memory) in 837 AD, passing within 5 million kilometers. Its tail stretched halfway across the sky and it appeared as bright as Venus to the naked eye.

1910 Halley’s Comet panic. Bonus: c o m e t p i l l s

Where 1910′s appearance was a spectacular sight and one of the closest approaches on record (coming within 22 million kilometers of Earth), 1986′s was the worst viewing conditions in 2,000 years. The comet passed within 63 million kilometers at its closest approach, and had the sun positioned between it and Earth, making it impossible to see from areas with any amount of light pollution, and almost invisible to all of the northern hemisphere.

Historic events and settings:

Chapter 6 (Ostia): This was one of the chapters that I did a bunch of arguably unnecessary research for, since the history and the meat of the setting faded into the backdrop as the scene itself focused on dialogue and train of thought. The port town of Ostia was incredibly engrossing to read about, and between wikipedia’s ever-branching paths, ostia-antica.org, and ancient history encyclopedia’s entry, it ended up being one of the deeper rabbit holes I went down. My original intent for Aziraphale being in town was as a response to pirates sacking Ostia in 68 BC. I had him stationed there to guard against further attacks as the town rebuilt, and had him lingering because he was swept away by the romanticism of the art and the sea and the constant ebb & flow of people. I never found a way to work this in that didn’t feel super awkward and expository since the chapter was Crowley POV, so it was just left it as background noise.

Chapter 6 (pyramid of Cestius): Beyond being a magistrate of one of the four great religious corporations in ancient Rome (the Septemviri Epulonum), little is known about who Gaius Cestius actually was. As the city expanded, his lavish tomb was absorbed into the city walls (circa 3rd century AD), where it remains what he is remembered for to this day. I took most of my information from here (cross referenced with our lord and savior, Wikipedia) and had a chuckle at this poem by Thomas Hardy.

Chapter 8 (Plague of Justinian): The Yersinia pestis bacterium leaves no indicator on skeletal remains, meaning we rely on written records to track its path through history. The 6th century plague pandemic is the first recorded outbreak of bubonic plague, and for the purpose of our story, a certain distraught chronicler was the one on site, writing that history.

A note/cw: I wrote chapters 8 and 12 in October and November, respectively, and did much of my research for them over the summer. I imagine, given the current covid-19 pandemic, these sources would be less fun to follow up on now. Please be aware that the podcast episodes linked here, and the book cited in the miscellaneous refs section, get into pretty grisly details about illness and pandemics.

Chapters 8 and 12 (bubonic plague/The Black Death): I took a fair amount of my notes on bubonic/pnuemonic plague, specifically it’s path of destruction through Europe in the 14th century, from the two plague episodes of This Podcast Will Kill You. It’s pretty fascinating stuff and the Erins are great hosts, so check it out if you’re into delightful nerds bantering about epidemiology!

Chapter 9 (the death of Peter of Atroa): Peter of Atroa was an abbot whose fame as a miracle-worker landed him in a scandal accusing him of exorcising demons by the power of Beelzebub, rather than God. Theodore the Studite’s letter cleared his name enough to avoid execution, but his reputation didn’t fully recover until after his death in 837 AD, when he was canonized as a saint. Peter and Theodore were tough to find extensive information on without passing through a paywall, so I took these scraps and ran a mile with them.

Chapter 13 (Tlatelolco, the Aztec Empire, the Feast of the Dead): I used this site as the source and starting point on much of my research on the Aztec Empire. And listen… I know it looks like a website for babies, and yes, I’m aware that a lot of the articles are literally written for a pre-teen audience, but it’s also one of the most concise, thorough, well-researched, and — perhaps most importantly — easily-searchable sources I found. Most of the pages cite papers and archaeological journals and I was able to jump to SO many other great sources of information. Mexicolore has my undying love and devotion for making my research process easy and fun and also having lots of pretty pictures.

Most of the physical descriptions for Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco (surrounding landscape, canals and causeways, chinampas, etc.) started here.

Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco were independent cities, but shared a border (kind of like a city and a suburb) and the small island on Lake Texcoco (located where present day Mexico City is). Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Aztec Empire, and besides cross-referencing Mexicorlore, the link in the previous bullet point, and Wikipedia, I got a fair bit of information from these essays.

Tlatelolco’s market was the major hub of trade and commerce, and saw 20-40,000 people trading PER DAY. Research on the market started here.

Chapter 14 (Terschelling and the Brandaris lighthouse): While I strove for historical accuracy as much as possible in this fic, I did take some liberties— especially with the island of Terschelling and the Brandaris lighthouse (yes, it’s real!) circa 1350-1435.

The village of Brandarius is based on present day West Terschelling— a settlement founded as a direct result of the lighthouse. In the middle ages, both the village and the lighthouse were named after Saint Brandarius (or Brendan of Clonfert: ‘The Navigator’, ‘The Voyager’, ‘The Anchorite’, ‘The Bold’; patron saint of divers, mariners, and travellers). It’s still a relatively small village today, and it was a surprisingly difficult task to find historical records for Brandarius/West Terschelling dating back to the 14th century that say much beyond “it existed.” I loosely based the village off information found here, and named it “Brandarius” instead of “West Terschelling” based on the information found here.

The original lighthouse was built in 1323, destroyed by the sea in 1570, and rebuilt in 1594. Since there were no records (that I could find) of what the original lighthouse looked like, I loosely based the height and floor plan on the current tower, and made up everything everything else about the interior. The interior was based on information about other live-in lighthouses, specifically this one which is roughly the same height as the Brandaris.

The present day Brandaris lighthouse sits directly in the middle of West Terschelling. For the sake of that sweet Self-Imposed Exile + Cryptid Lighthouse Keeper drama, I took the liberty of making my fictional village of Brandarius teeny tiny and setting it slightly apart from the lighthouse.

Miscellaneous references:

In addition to the podcast, details about plague in chapters 8 and 12 were gleaned from the book The Great Mortality by John Kelly. It’s a cool read if you’re into nonfiction that reads like fiction, but does have some rather graphic passages so proceed with caution.

Yaretzi’s maquizcóatl/Aziraphale’s memento. To clarify, they were NOT the same item. I pictured Aziraphale cherishing the memory of the day by the lake with Yaretzi so much, that once he acquired the bookshop and had a place for all his kitsch, he hunted down a bad luck dragon of his own.

Here is the Aztec creation story about sun cycles and Earth’s rebirths that Yaretzi told Aziraphale. Another version of it.

In the scene in Mexico where Aziraphale briefly remembers, I used an analogy about a moment that hovers and flits away as “quick as a hummingbird.” Besides just liking the words, this was a nod to the legend of the cempasuchil flower. I originally had Yaretzi telling Aziraphale that story too, but the chapter was just way too long and something had to go.

In my very first outline, I had Aziraphale’s grief and personal growth chapter taking place at a Día de Muertos festival in Mexico. When the plot and the timeline finally got ironed out and I realized only half of that story was going to take place on Earth, I ended up focusing on Aziraphale’s brief relationship with Yaretzi instead of the festival itself (she was always the important bit). I also found myself married to the idea of that chapter happening in the 14th and 15th centuries, which meant the scenes in Mexico take place before Spain invaded and the festival was based solely on its Aztec roots. Because the plot shifted in this way, a lot of research went on behind the scenes that never made it into the fic, but for anyone interested in the Aztec Feast of the Dead, Mexicolore was my starting place again. From there, I found my way to reading about Mictecacíhuatl, the Aztec goddess of death, who was the main focus of the festival.

This isn’t research, but it might interest, like… three of you, so here you go. The scenes in Heaven (Aziraphale’s solo chapter in general tbh) were hard to write. One of those walls you hit with writing where you kick and punch and bang your head against it for months (literal months, I started wrestling with it in August and it didn’t come together until the end of January) but can’t seem to make any breakthroughs. Inspiration truly comes from unexpected places though, and when @gottagobuycheese sent me this Gregorian chant generator it actually… worked? I cranked that hum slider up to 100 and left it there for a few days (to the chagrin of my spouse) and lo— Zophiel.

There’s a cool legend about Saint Brendan of Clonfert’s sea-faring journey in search of the Garden of Eden that has nothing to do with this fic beyond being neat parallel. If that happens to be anyone’s cup of tea, the story is here. The tl;dr version is here. My original vision for the lighthouse included carved whales (St Brendan’s attribute) over the front door, and images from this story (the island of sheep, the Christmas island, the paradise island of birds) drawn on the walls of one of the bedrooms used by previous keepers’ children. Continuing the theme of “how stories echo” if you will. It felt really awkward and out of place once I wrote it in though, and that chapter was already so long once I got through all the plot bits I wanted, so it was left on the cutting room floor.

Speaking of taking liberties with the 14th century, I did fudge the timing a bit on the art created by Crowley and Adrielle. Drawings, especially pencil sketches, have their historical roots in the late 15th century, and I’m chalking this one up to the fantastical setting of the Good Omens universe. In a fantasy world where angels and demons walk among us and the earth is literally 6,000 years old, I feel like inventing pencils 100 years early is small potatoes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is the edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that Crowley nicked in Norwich. There are some really wonderful illustrations and scans of full pages under that link. I may or may not have lost a few hours down that research rabbit hole for a few throwaway lines (no regrets, I fall like Crowley).

One last rabbit hole...

I saved this bit for the end of the post since it’s not really research and I don’t know how interested people will be in this kind of thing. Also... this is a lot more emotional and personal than the historical aspects of the fic. This is just what I was feeling and thinking while I was writing, and this story is absolutely the kind of thing I expect everyone to take something different away from. If you read the fic, took your own meaning from it, and want to keep that meaning without me tarnishing it by babbling about symbolism (first of all, high five, I love you, thank you for hanging out with me and my stories), then feel free to skip the rest of this post. <3

But! For anyone who wants to know more about what I had in mind with the flowers and nature metaphors I worked into the story, read on!

The tag “it’s an OT3 where Earth is the third” is something I really worked to pull to center stage. In my mind, Earth was a fully formed character who also spent the pre-Fall storyline being jerked around by God and having its memory wiped. It experienced transformations, pain, heartbreak, joy, and love just like Aziraphale and Crowley did, and I wrote it as falling in love with the two of them over the course of the Earth Project, then remaining very much in love for the entirety of iteration 23 (the current iteration). “Memories that are buried in places deeper than the mind” referred to the soul imprints being formed, but also Earth’s buried memories— seeping through the cracks to connect them via synesthesia in emotionally charged moments, allowing them to find each other from orbit in iterations 20 and 21 (music and the sea), and pulling them together in moments of distress like Constantinople and Barcelona.

In the vein of “Earth as a character,” I used plants (mainly flowers), topography, and weather as Earth’s “voice” in the grief chapters when Crowley and Aziraphale were separated from each other and going through their individual arcs. I’m not sure it technically counts as flower language, since all the flowers featured in the fic were wild and growing in nature, but (almost) all of them served a metaphorical purpose.

Flowers:

Jasmine (for the moon): Aziraphale’s flower. Love, beauty, sensuality, good luck, purity. The rational hedonist.

Marigolds (for the sun): Crowley’s flower. Grief and remembrance of the dead, lost love, the fragility of life, creativity, winning the affections of someone through hard work. The fallen artist.

Purple Hyacinth: Earth’s flower. Regret, sorrow, a desire for forgiveness. The witness. These were the wildflowers that grew in the orchard/vineyard on the penultimate Earth, where Aziraphale and Crowley managed to work out the differences they couldn’t by the sea. Hyacinths are also the hazy images they would see in those moments of vulnerability, compassion, and compromise.

A fun aside! In very early drafts, the placeholder name I was using for angel Crowley was Jacinto, which is a Spanish/Portuguese name meaning “Hyacinth.” It was meant to be a reference to both the flower and the Greek myth of Apollo and Hyacinth, but my brain absolutely could not disconnect it from Manny Jacinto (and kept insisting on imagining Crowley calling Aziraphale homie and calling everything dope). Eventually I leaned into the Latin and landed on Joriel, then attached my banner to the Achilles and Patroclus myth instead of Apollo and Hyacinth, but the name Jacinto still makes me think of starmakers.

Honeysuckle & morning glory, climbing the oak tree: Aziraphale + Crowley + Earth. Seen in chapter 10, when Aziraphale and Crowley shake hands on the Arrangement. Two plants whose vines grow in opposing spirals. In nature, they have a symbiotic relationship, twining around each other in order to climb trees, walls, and fences, allowing both of them to grow higher than they could alone.

Or: local woman sees this tweet, hasn’t known peace since.

The deasilwise / widdershins (clockwise / anticlockwise) thing got sprinkled throughout the story, with deasilwise being the “angel direction” and widdershins being the “demon direction.” Halley’s comet, with its backwards orbit, orbits the sun deasilwise, even after Crowley becomes widdershins.

Amaranth: Immortality, unfading affection, finding beauty in inaccessible places.

The garden in the dunes and Petya’s travelling garden:

Where Aziraphale took a methodical, Kubler-Ross approach to dealing with loss, Crowley’s process was meandering and chaotic. The garden in the dunes was where it all came to a head— his way of throwing all of his emotions on the ground like a big jumbled pile of pick-up sticks, then slowly sorting through them and putting himself back together. There was a whole lot of Earth/flower speech going on in those scenes.

With the exception of zinnias, the garden was made up of perennials or self-sowing flowers. This happened “off-screen” as I could never find a decent way to work it in, but... the zinnias which Crowley bullied into being perennials returned to being annuals and died off after he left Terschelling and sometimes I still cry in the shower about it.

Zinnias: Adrielle’s flower. Endurance, lasting friendship (especially friendships lasting through absence), goodness, daily remembrance. This one is also a small self-indulgence on my part since Adrielle was something of a self-insert. My mother loves zinnias and, growing up, our house was absolutely surrounded by them in the summer. Anywhere there was a free patch of dirt, Mom planted zinnias. They’re a scrappy, weird looking flower that doesn’t have a smell and a lot of people find rather ugly... and I love them with my entire heart. There is no flower on this earth that fills me with more whimsy, nostalgia, or childlike contentment. Also butterflies love them.

Chamomile: Patience. Fresh chamomile flowers are very aromatic and smell like apples.

Daisies: Transformation. Also simplicity, loyalty, and new beginnings.

Poppies: Restful sleep or recovery, peace in death, remembrance.

Tulips: Each tulip color has its own meaning, but the most common thing they symbolize is deep love. That said, I mainly chose this one for their prevalence in the Netherlands, as well as being very colorful perennials.

Pansies: The love or admiration that one person holds for another, free thinking, remembrance.

Lily of the valley: Rebirth, the return of happiness. They also have a very strong, very sweet smell and can grow in cool climates. These were the main reasons I chose it, rather than any of the religious connotations.

Lavender: Silence, devotion, serenity, grace.

Orchids: There’s... actually no deep symbolism with this one. Nothing intended anyway. Orchids, lavender, and cranberries are the dominant native plants on the island of Terschelling. I thought they’d be pretty in the dunes.

I am also a music-must-be-playing-at-all-times kind of person and I came out the other end of this project with FIFTEEN (15) playlists. Some of them are all instrumental playlists that I used to set the mood while I wrote certain scenes/segments, others are lyrical and tell a story or helped me sort out the story, some chapters got entire playlists all to themselves (looking at you, 14th century). The main playlists are linked in the notes on AO3, but I may collect them all in a tumblr post at some point if there’s an interest.

This entire project was an enormous labor of love that took up pretty much all of my free time for six months. So, if you read this far... thank you for coming on such a long journey with me!! Truly, deeply, and from every corner of my heart, thank you for reading. <3

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moonraccoon-exe · 4 years

Note

Hey! Sorry I had some pre-midterm tests to deal with! :/ anyway, for the supportive characters and stuff for gladnis, could I see stuff with glaives, the other chocobros, and... up to you! (A little bit of little sister Iris would be heavenly though...)

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AGAIN, SWEET MUFFIN, I AM HERE TO DELIVER yo pizza

I don’t know if these two asks are the same person (are you? :o) BUT LOOK AT THAT. SAME WANTS, SAME NEEDS, SO I SHALL PLEASE THE THIRST. And I hope it’s ok to put these two asks together? They’re asking for nearly the same, so I thought it was ok, but if either of you have any troubles with it, you tell me, okie? :3

BUT HERE I AM, ANSWERING THIS DELIGHT OF AN ASK ALKSDJFG YES. GLADNIS DEARS, I MISSED THE OTP.

Anyways, these are gonna be shorter for each character as they’re plenty, but they’ll form one big post so I hope you like it! :3

How other characters (besides papa Regis) support Gladnis:

Noctis

My boy is…slow.

He’s really smart, he’s just…very dense.

He’s known both Iggy and Gladio since he has memory, he’s just…very, very…v e r y dense in these matters. Very. Like. Very.

Ignis literally TOLD him about his crush on Gladio MULTIPLE TIMES.

Did Noctis catch it? OF COURSE NOT. He thought Ignis just over worried about his personal relationships, and never noticed he spoke about Gladio in ways he never spoke about others. And same the other way around, Gladio also spoke about Iggy with Noct AND THE IDIOT STILL. DIDN’T TIE ANYTHING TOGETHER.

Sixteen year old Gladio, blushing crimson red, messing with his uniform: “Do you…do you think…Ignis will think i look stupid? Or…maybe…or maybe if I do something to my hair…”

Noct just be like lmao why are you so stressed over a uniform you dummy thing what does ignis care anyway lol

He knew via Ignis. And of course he didn’t get it.

“Today was really nice. Gladio and I went to the park and just spent a nice while talking…I hope…maybe we can have a second date soon…”

Noctis is like yeah that’s nice

“And it’s official now! I don’t know why, but it just makes me more nervous, but in a good way. Is it normal? I’ve never…I’m just so happy, from among all people, Gladio chose me? AMONG ALL PEOPLE NOCT.”

yeah that’s nice specs :)

Noctis thinks Ignis is just talking about friendship, and when he uses romantic terms like date or boyfriend he THINKS IGNIS IS JOKING BECAUSE WHY WOULD HE BE TALKING SERIOUSLY

noctis pl…please

He finished processing it for real HAVING TO SEE THEM KISS.

Noct was talking with Gladio, chatting chattering, then said bye. Gladio was going through a hallway, Ignis appeared, they said hello, then hugged, and proceeded to kiss.

Noctis.exe Processing data.

Ignis and Gladio spent the while hugged snuggled and talking, and smooched again.

Noctis.exe Processing, please be patient.

Ignis and Gladio held hands and started going away together.

GASP

“OHMYGOD WERE YOU FOR REAL!?!?!?!??!”

Noctis.exe has short-circuited

Noctis supports them, just acts like he doesn’t give a damn.

Noctis is The Teenage Brother; will go Ew at everything romantic they do in front of him.

Gladnis snuggle.

“Eeeeewwwwwwwwww”

Gladnis smooch.

“UGH- UUH- EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW”

Iggy pokes Gladio’s nose and Gladio proceeds to pepper his face in smoochies.

*noctis gagging noises*

Gladio may shove Noctis in between them on purpose to annoy him. There were have them, Gladnis smooching with a much smaller Noctis trapped in between their chests, flailing, screeching, completely ignored and about to explode.

Noctis is the Worst wingman.

“Hey Noct, do you think Iggy will like me in this outfit?”

“eh”

he’s busy with the face buried in a cushion while he rots in boredom, DON’T INTERRUPT HIM.

“Hey Noct. Do you think Gladio already has one of these? I want to get him one but not sure if he has one already.”

“yeah”

Yeah what? Noctis you’re not helping

Noctis does as Regis and will sometimes use his power to get these two to be together, but, unlike Regis, he won’t say shit about it and will even deny it.

The prince requires of his chamberlains in this room which is conveniently empty and there just casually happens to be a secret door for the roof on this particularly starry night.

“I. FORGOT. OK? I FELL ASLEEP EARLY, I WAS TIRED, COR NEARLY SET ME ABLAZE IN TRAINING, I FELL DEAD ASLEEP, I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT THAT DOOR, LEAVE ME ALONE.”

Noctis is a gossipy little shit, but in a good way.

“Omg Iggy guess what today Gladio spoke about his cap ripping, see, I already told you what you can get him for Crystal Day, hm? HM? YOU’RE WELCOME.”

Also uses it to his favor.

“Ten gil and I tell you what Ignis wants to do for his birthday. He told me. Hm hm. For real. TEN GIL I SAID.”

Prince Noctis PROTECTS HIS BELOVED BROTHERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH TEETH AND NAILS, OK?

There’s this magazine that put up some tabloid stupid article that distorted something Ignis said and made Gladio look bad.

Noctis is alone in his office, feet on the desk, swinging a little on the chair, phone to the ear, and FREAKING AN G R Y.

“Yes, that’s what I said; put the article down and make another one clearing it. No, I’m not your boss, but I still request it. I will request it only once more. No? Then how much do you want for the brand? I will buy it and do it myself. Yes, I will buy it. My name and occupation? Prince Noctis CXIV, why? Oh? Aah, so NOW you want to put it down? How nice of you, guess you only needed time to re-consider it, right? It’s ok, it happens to the best of us, how kind of you.”

Ignis is trying to help Noct walk out of some place without being asphyxiated by the media, so he gets the spotlight.

“Mister Scientia! There’s rumors you and the Shield of the prince are DATING?”

Ignis freezes a little.

Noctis proceeds to let out tHE BIGGEST BURP OF HIS LIFE.

Next day tabloids “Prince Noctis BURPS LIVE! OOPS!”

The media are RUNNING STRAIGHT TOWARDS GLADIO.

Noctis is JUMPING BEFORE HIM TAKING HIS JACKET OFF AND DOING AN IDOL POSE.

“HAVE I TOLD YOU GUYS I’LL BE HAVING A BIIIIIIIIIIIG BIRTHDAY PARTY NEXT WEEK!?!?!”

Socially Awkward Ultra Timid prince Noctis actually stood there POSING for the cameras for ten minutes to get them distracted from the relationship announcement.

“Prince Noctis will host Huge Extra Most Expensive Billionare Birthday Party OF HISTORY!! WOW!!”

((big birthday party was pizza time with the chocobros lmao))

If Gladnis ever have a misunderstanding or problem, Noct is the first they go with. Noct is there to comfort them individually, and, smart boy as he is, he also figures out the mistake and plays a big role at fixing it.

“What? Oh no, that’s not what he said. Or not as you think. He meant…”

“Oh? Oh no, that’s not what he was doing!! Ahahah you dork, no! Actually…”

Noctis keeps asking “When are you dorks getting married?” to embarrass them and make them go shy.

Joke is on him when they DO GET MARRIED.

Noctis keeps complaining that how dare they be boyfriends, how DARE they be boyfriends, MAKING HIM, THE ACTUAL PRINCE, THE THIRD WHEEL?????

But whenever Gladnis have the slightest misunderstanding, Noctis is first to go SMACK SENSE BACK INTO THEM HOW DARE THEY GET UPSET WITH EACH OTHER

Noctis has also used his title to make reservations in restaurants that clear THE WHOLE RESTAURANT just for Gladnis lmao

Noct has always hated that when he makes a reservation, they clear THE WHOLE RESTAURANT like NO, why would he want to dine in an empty place!? Not like he goes out often, but he’s learned that his title has that accidental effect, so guess who’s using it for Gladnis anniversary dinners.

When they want to get fancy, or when Noct wants them to go fancy, at least. Normally they just go for noodles the DORKS

Noctis covered half their wedding without even being asked because HE LOVES THEM AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP SO MUCH AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

((the other half was Regis and he was so upset he wasn’t allowed to cover it all, this dummy papa))

Noctis best supportive baby bro, please hug him.

Prompto

You knew about fanboy #1, but where is fanboy #2?

In the bushes, stalking them, snapping surprise photos to show them later.

“Prompto, that’s creepy.”

“BUT IF I TELL YOU I’LL TAKE PHOTOS, IT WON’T BE NATURAL ANYMORE, AND YOU TWO SHINE BRIGHTER WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’RE HAVING A PHOTO TAKEN. I’M HARMLESS, WHY IS IT CREEPY.”

Prompto that’s not the point, just…don’t.

How Prommy knew about Gladnis, hm?

It wasn’t that exciting, pretty modern way to know.

Noctis told him via text lmao

“DUDE I HAVE GROSS NEWS, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT.”

Nocto! >:|

Prommy’s reaction was sort of cute, though. He’s a bit sharper than Noct to notice these things, but he still didn’t expect it. He thought about the two as a couple because he liked the sassy interaction, but he wasn’t sharp enough to see it wasn’t sass, it was ACTUAL FLIRTING. He was so used to the two being good friends it just. Didn’t occur to him that it was a real thing and not just him seeing things.

Noctis tells him via text.

Prommy is gasping OUT LOUD.

He gasped so loudly and sharp he chocked onto his own saliva and fell off the bed.

He ended up repeatedly swinging the feet in the air and against the mattress and squeaking. Squeaking.

“I KNEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW IT”

says the boy that didn’t know it

Prompto’s trying to talk about it all day with Noctis.

Noctis talks about it for three minutes then goes “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh can we please nOT”

Noct is just Like That with everything that isn’t videogames or fishing, have mercy on him.

“Dude, and who told who? Dude, have they kissed already? Does lord Clarus know, omg. Dude, DUDE, DOES LORD CLARUS KNOW OHMYGOD”

“PROMPTO I DON’T KNOW”

Prompto’s THIRSTY for gossip and news on his new favorite ship.

Prompto’s stalking them on social medias waiting for the first of them to drop the first hint of romantic something. Why? Just to squeak about it. There’s literally no other use for it.

Prompto’s now Asking and not stopping.

Training with Gladio? “WHO TOLD WHO. HOW DID IT HAPPEN. SINCE WHEN DID YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM. WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST DATE, CAN I KNOW THAT? HAVE YOU TWO ALREADY KISSED. WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE. GLADIO, TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH”

Hanging with Ignis? “WHO TOLD WHO. HOW DID IT HAPPEN. SINCE WHEN DID YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM. WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST DATE, CAN I KNOW THAT? HAVE YOU TWO ALREADY KISSED. WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE. IGNIS, TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH”

Arcade with Noct? “NOCT, WHO-”

“PROMPTO I DON’T KNOW”

Prompto’s always asking about their relationship to either of them when he gets the chance. He could talk about it ALL DAY and go on and on.

“Why are you so interested in our relationship, Prompto?”

“I DON’T KNOW, IT’S JUST SO WEIRD, I’M SO CURIOUS. It’s like…its. It’s you *takes a fry* and it’s him *takes another fry* and it’s…*puts fries together* and it’s you.”

…prompto, don’t.

Prompto is the Anti-Noctis.

Gladnis snuggle. Noctis goes Eeeww

*Prommy puts a hand to his chest and aaw’s*

Gladnis smooch. Noctis goes EEEEEEEEWWWWWW

*Prommy clutches chest chest and whimpers*

Ignis proceeds to poke Gladio’s nose who then proceeds to pepper his face in smoochies. Noctis is gagging.

Prommy’s hiding his face in his hands and SQUEAKING into a pillow.

“NOCTO HOW ARE THEY SO CUTE I DON’T UNDERSTAND.”

Prompto’s always doing shitty photoshop pictures of Gladnis that are ridiculous on purpose just to make them laugh.

Prom is there to yell NO when Noctis makes a mean comment.

“UGH YOU TWO ARE SO DISG-”

“NOOOOOOOOO! YOU TWO ARE SO CUTE, KEEP DOING YOUR STUFF”

“Stinky dorks-”

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVEBIRDS!!!!!!! CUTE!!!!!!!”

“EW go get a roo-!”

“WE’RE LEAVING, YOU MAKE YOURSELVES COMFORTABLE, OK, IGNORE THIS ASSHAT”

Prompto. He. He made Gladnis puppets.

Ignis is too busy, like absolutely fucking loaded of royal stuff and so he’s away and unable to reach? Aaw, don’t be sad big guy. *puppet Ignis proceeds to smooch him*

*Puppet Ignis proceeds to give Gladio a million cheesy compliments and pick up lines in an unnecessarily high pitched voice*

*Puppet Ignis is nuzzling at him and insisting on kissing*

“PROMPTO STOP”

It’s not Prompto, it’s Pocket Ignis, you rude ungrateful ass.

Gladio’s not annoyed, he’s actually pretty amused XD

Gets tired of Prompto not leaving him alone, though? Gladio’s going to be “Ok you conviced me, come here Iggy” and tries to make out with the puppet, hence making a hysterical Prompto screech and try to run away.

Same goes for Ignis. Gladio’s away on some Crownsguard or Shield training at the outskirts? Away and gone and missing?

PUPPET GLADIO IS IN THE HOUSE, BABY, DON’T WORRY, HE’LL SMOOCHIE YOU IN THE MEANWHILE.

There we have an Ignis quickly striding across the flat escaping while Prompto tries to catch up with him with his cheesy pick-up lines and pet names with the Puppet Gladio.

When Gladio asked Prompto if he wanted to be his bestman for the wedding, Prompto nearly freaking had an aneurysm the poor eager hyped thing.

Best supportive buddy ok, pls hug.

Nyx

He knew via Gladio.

Because guess who’s Gladio’s WINGMAN AYEEEEEEE

Cor, actually

BUT NOT THIS TIME. This time Nyx bby. Cor was Advice Man. Nyx was Accomplice Mate.

Gladio would tell Nyx his progress with his crush. Nyx would always listen because it was so stupidly adorable.

It started because both would take longer in the training halls than the rest so they’d often meet at the shower/dressing room, and conversation started little by little. Conversation on Ignis first came up when a sixteen year old Gladio was being a bit clumsy, dropping his stuff and putting his shirt backwards and stuff, so of course an amused Nyx had to ask.

“I’m…we’re…some friends and I are going out tonight but…there’s…there’s this guy I like and I’m a bit nervous and…”

Nyx Romantic Aid Buddy senses tingled.

25 year old Nyx thinks IT’S SO CUTE OMG THE TEENAGE SHIELD HAS A CRUSH THAT’S SO AMUSING LMAO so he tried to help

Helped Gladio gather his stuff, dress nice, and calm down by talking smooth and cool with him, and inspired him to go ask that boy out or, if not, at least impress him.

From that day on, Nyx would ask just casually how things were going with the crush, and Gladio would inform.

And it went on for YEARS lmao both as a crush and when they were already boyfriends and so on

Gladio first kept informing him of what he THOUGHT Ignis thought of him but no advances

“You know, Gladio, it’s been quite a while since you first told me of your crush and you still haven’t asked him out?”

“IT’S NOT THAT EASY TO ASK A GOD OUT IN A DATE, I’M SORRY I’M SUCH A MORTAL.”

Nyx kept encouraging him day after day after day, and it was perhaps partly the reason Gladio dared say anything. either because he was inspired or just annoyed lol

When they started talking about it, at first Nyx had no idea who the crush was and Gladio forgot to tell him alkajsd

One day when Nyx first started insisting Gladio ask him out, Gladio insisted he couldn’t do it and after a long while he just went “it’s just…it’s…it’s…Iggy? you know…the prince’s adviser?”

Nyx went .u. ohno that’s adorable best friend crush

Guess who now is not being very subtle on it (thankfully Iggy won’t notice lmao)

Every time Nyx sees Ignis now, HE FLINCHES AND GOES ALL EXCITED LIKE GASP “HELLO IGNIS :D”

Ignis is ??? h…hello mr glaive that never before spoke to me until now out of nowhere and so excitedly and daily??

Nyx can’t HELP IT HE’S SO EXCITED IT’S GLADIO’S CRUSH OMG THEY’VE SPOKEN ABOUT HIM SO MUCH HE CAN’T HELP BUT GET ALL EXCITED

Also, whenever he gets the chance, he freaking. MISLEADS IGNIS ON PURPOSE TO MAKE HIM GO WITH GLADIO.

“Mr. Ulric, would you happen to know where lord Drautos is?”

“n- YES. YES OMG YES YOU ASKED THE RIGHT GUY, HE’S AT THE EAST WING, THIRD FLOOR, MAIN HALL.”

Guess which Amicitia is holding guard in that room.

Nyx is accidentally bumping into either of them when they’re together trying to make them fall into each other into a romantic awkward hug that will turn into an adorable ask out for a date.

Nyx this isn’t a romantic tv show it doesn’t work like that you just made Gladio drop his candy

Nyx is giving Gladio A THOUSAND NOT SUBTLE SIGNS when he sees him with Ignis

Gladio is trying to have a casual, normal conversation with Ignis.

From above Ignis’ head he can see, at the other end of the hallway, a HYSTERICAL NYX JUMPING, BOUNCING IN HIS SPOT, FLAILING THE ARMS, MAKING FACES, MOUTHING SOMETHING, AND MAKING SIGNS OF “HUG HIM”, “KISS HIM”, “TELL HIM”, “YOU CAN DO IT”

Gladio is unable to focus in what Ignis is telling him because Nyx is flexing like a gorilla while making strange faces.

Nyx throws Gladio into meeting with Ignis without preparing him.

Nyx and Gladio are standing at a hallway just talking and chatting casually and GASP IGNISISCOMINGGOGOGOGOGOGOOG *SHOVES HIM INTO THE OTHER HALLWAY MAKING HIM NEARLY FALL AGAINST IGNIS*

Nyx thinks Gladio is ignoring him when he’s making signs to him so he’s now literally MAKING SIGNS TO HIM, like. A cardboard piece with a message on it NYX WAS TRYING TO GIVE GLADIO DIALOGUES LMAO HOW IS HE SUCH A DORK

Nyx is switching the conversation to Ignis if Ignis is passing by.

Gladio and Nyx are talking about some food stall they both seem to know and AH YES IT’S SO NICE YOU THINK THAT OF IGNIS, GLADIO

Gladio’s constantly made a blushing, nervous mess in these situations when Ignis turn to look and Nyx just KEEPS GOING.

When Gladio told Nyx he had finally asked Ignis out and he said yes, Nyx stood on the bench and literally roared out “Yes” to the roof with the arms open and down like a dinosaur screeching.

Every time Gladio is talking with Ignis now, or hugging him or anything, when he looks up from behind Ignis, there’s Nyx alone or with his other two friends making thumbs up and nodding and JESUS LORD CAN YOU NOT STARE GUYS, STOP.

Best Romance Aid Buddy, please hug.

Libertus

Libertus knew via Nyx.

Libertus wasn’t the slightly shaken. He had this blank face on as he kept drinking from his smoothie. Calmly put it down.

“Weren’t those two brothers?”

Libertus is still a bit lost in the royal families’ relationships.

Nyx is sharing slight harmless gossip on the situation with Libertus. Libertus doesn’t really care much but he’s happy to hear Nyx. Not like he has lots of options anyway lmao

“He ALMOST asked him out this time but he shied away again, dammit.”

“Bummer.”

“I know.”

“LIB, HE SAYS IGNIS DROPPED A HINT TODAY, THAT’S A SIGN.”

“nice”

“I KNOW.”

Libertus is busier in his own stuff and world to care about people he rarely interacts with, but Nyx’s excitement slowly catches his attention with time.

Even Libertus can’t be saved from some cute romantic story.

Eventually, it’s Libertus who approaches Nyx for the gossip.

“Yo. How is Shield boy doing?”

“THEYWENTOUTALONEINANONOFFICIALDATE BUTTHATCOUNTSASADATERIGHT OMG MY BOY IS PROGRESSING”

“Nice.”

The curiosity, of course, leads him to start spying a bit as well.

There we have Ignis standing in a hallway reviewing some papers when he feels a stare, so he turns and there, in the distance, is some Glaive that’s never spoken to him, smiling at him, and waving.

what the hell

Now every time Nyx gets all hyped because he’s seeing Gladnis interact, Libertus gets dragged along so he just stands there and stares too.

Nyx is the “IMPRESS HIM, HUG HIM, YOU’VE GOT HIM NOW KISS HIM” guy. Libertus is the kind to make *index fingers goes into the O formed by other hand’s thumb and index* signs at Gladio.

Libertus is going with Amicitia junior to get a laugh from how she talks about Gladnis.

“And the other day Ignis went to our house and he helped papa prepare dinner, and it was very delicious and I had a wonderful time, Ignis is great and I always tell papa to adopt him and sell Gladdy at the market.”

Libertus finds little Iris’ sister talk funny.

Libertus is shoving condoms into early-relationship-stages-Gladio’s pockets so they fall off while he’s talking with Ignis just to make them both embarrassed.

“Gladio?”

“I DIDN’T. PUT IT THERE, NO, IT’S NOT- NO, I REALLY MEANT JUST DINNER, THIS WASN’T- NO.”

When they do start having sexual interaction, though, Gladio just gets free condoms now and joke is on Libertus.

Libertus just wants to have fun.

Crowe

Crowe’s confused, but hell does she support that.

“I THOUGHT LITTLE GLASSES KID WAS ACE?”

Why was Nyx the only one that wasn’t surprised, where are you two dorks getting all your info from omg

Crowe noticed before Nyx told her.

Crowe’s sharp on this one. She did think Iggy was ace, but she wasn’t 100% sure because she could see the signs.

Crowe’s like (ಠ‿ಠ) every time she sees them interact after the first time he caught a first glimpse of a sign.

Sort of like how Libertus started waving hello at Ignis from afar, except she’s much sneakier and hasn’t been caught and does the creepy (ಠ‿ಠ)

Crowe’s trying to set them up every time. Indirectly.

She’s asking Luche to smack Pelna without him knowing Drautos will be watching so Drautos is chiding Luche and Pelna for their kidly fight, getting Drautos busy and distracted a bit, Cor will be curious and will approach and ask what’s going on, Gladio will look for Cor because he’s late for his training, so he’s going to ask someone if they know where Cor is, and Crowe is SO MAKING ANOTHER OF THESE LARGE PLANS TO HAVE IGNIS BE THAT ONE PERSON AT QUESTION REACH.

Crowe this is unnecessarily intrincate stop

Crowe’s giving flirting advice to Gladio, too

Glaive Trio = Gladio’s Wingmen Squad

Nyx is the supportive cheering guy. Libertus is the sexual jokes dork. Crowe is the STYLE ADVISER.

“Sweetie, you don’t want to tell him that. Unbutton the collar, your hair a bit more like…this, chin up, and you give him a look like you don’t care about anything. You grab his shoulder. And now a smolder as we practiced. Voice deep. Tone smooth, but sound a little raspy. And you say. Hey.”

Crowe’s giving Gladio a Judging Look every time he says he wasn’t able to ask Ignis out. It’s enough to make Gladio feel embarrassed and little (in a good way that makes him go YEAH IT’S NOT THE BIG THING I CAN DO IT.)

“You’re such a nerd with your condom jokes, Libertus.”

Crowe is making condom jokes, too, the double faced nerd.

Crowe is telling Gladio she could lend him her bike to impress Ignis.

“Just a problem, Crowe.”

“Hm?”

“…I don’t know how to ride this. And he does, so I don’t think he’s gonna be impressed.”

Dork.

Crowe is trying to make Gladio grab that Sexy Attitude, BUT HE’S JUST. TOO MUCH OF A NERD, HOW DOES HE HAVE ANY REPAIR.

Crowe SLAPS HIM WHEN HE SAYS HE’S NOT WORTHY OF IGGY.

“OF COURSE YOU’LL NEVER BE WITH THAT MINDSET, WHAT THE HELL DID I TELL YOU YOU ARE? EXACTLY. WORTHY. NOW GO GET YOUR DATE WITH THAT BOY.”

((it’s nice slap, no worry))

Crowe is the dangerous (harmless) threatening friend that will insist as in REALLY insist for asking the crush out.

Nyx tells her and Libertus for the tenth time that Gladio chickened out last minute again.

Crowe is going over to Gladio.

“It’s not that hard, boy. I swear to the Six, if you don’t do it, I’ll do it for you.”

“I…I can’t…”

“…”

“Ok, I’m going.”

Crowe actually. WENT WITH IGNIS.

Gladio’s standing in the hallway internally screeching so hard his face is red and he’s about to have a heart attack while flailing all over the place, and Crowe’s getting to Iggy.

Gladio thinks she’s just kidding and will just walk past him.

Crowe’s tapping Ignis on the shoulder and now they’re talking.

Gladio’s on the floor spazzing.

He can’t live anymore bye.

Crowe’s just making casual talk with Ignis lmao just did it to make Gladio have that breakdown because AH YOU DIDN’T LIKE HOW IT FELT, DID YOU? DID YOU???? WELL NEXT TIME I’LL DO IT FOR REAL SO YOU ASK HIM OUT NOW, BOY.

Crowe’s stealing Iris when Gladnis want lonely time but don’t want Iris to like. Suspect anything kajsdka.

Crowe’s clearing the area for Gladnis when they’re all smoochie snuggly and some idiot like Luche is about to walk by.

Hey Luche. *throws a towel to his face*

Crowe is warping to Gladnis when they’re about to smooch just to startle them lmao

Crowe’s having more fun than Libertus

Sometimes, after or while making out with Ignis, Gladio looks up and Crowe’s on the other end of the hallway like (ಠ‿ಠ) *eyebrow wiggle*

Crowe no

Crowe’s always. ALWAYS. The one finding them the secret spots in the Citadel when they want a quicky.

Gets them the tools, too *eyebrow wiggle*

Good girl Crowe approves.

Cor

*HYPERVENTILATES*

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED HERE, YOU KNOW I FUCKING LOVE COR WITH A PASSION

He knew about it through Regis because…fanboy #1 had to tell all his friends of course.

Cor is mid sandwich when Regis KICKS HIS DOOR OPEN

“CORHAPPYNEWSIGNISANADGLADIOAREOFFICIALLYDATINGNOW”

Cor still has his mouth half-opened for the bite he was about to take. Regis is welcoming himself in his office and grabbing a chair and sitting all while rambling near screeching

“YOUSHOULDHAVESEENIGNIS’FACEOMG BOYWASBEAMINGWITHJOYITWASSOCUTE HEWASLIKEANDIWASLIKEITOTALLYHAVETOASKHIMSOIDIDANDGUESSWHATHAPPENEDITWASSOCUTE”

Regis was so excited he left without having had one word from Cor.

Cor sat there in silence with the sandwich in his hands while his brain processed what just happened.

When he understood he just smiled, lifted the eyebrows, thought “who would have thought”, and continued eating his sandwich.

Have mercy on him, he’s dry and cold and a stone.

Cor was always Gladio’s Advice Man. Nyx encourages, Cor guides.

Cor is petting Gladio on the head every time he’s pining or moping about being unable to ask Iggy out.

Cor is Practice Dummy for Gladio’s attempts at how to confess.

It didn’t work lol

Gladio told Cor about his crush. IGNIS TOLD COR about HIS crush. COR KNEW ABOUT IT BEING A MUTUAL THING. BUT DID HE SAY SOMETHING. DID HE FUCKING. SAY SOMETHING.

NO. COR LEONIS DIDN’T SAY A FUCKING THING.

“Wait you knew all along? Why didn’t you tell any of us!? It would have made it much easier, we’d have known it was mutual and we’d have confessed earlier.”

“…it wasn’t my secret to tell.”

COR >:|

Cor is the most supportive uncle you’ll ever find. From afar. Very quietly.

Cor is there to support Clarus too when Clarus becomes a Lost Papa on the matter. Doesn’t understand much as Cor doesn’t have a similiar experience, but a buddy can always listen.

Cor is there to support Ignis when he becomes a little insecure as to if it’s alright to be dating someone from the second most important family of all Lucis and maybe Eos.

Cor is there to support Gladio when he becomes a little insecure as to whether or not he’s being a good partner as he thinks Ignis deserves because it never feels like he’s doing enough.

Always having his mug of coffee with him, of course.

Ignis’ parents are forcing him into extra training time?

Oh my what a shame I have no extra space for that….bUT YOU CAN ALWAYS COME INTO MY SIX PM TRAINING WITH ANOTHER MATE BUT I DON’T THINK YOU’LL HAVE TROUBLES WITH SHARING RIGHT?

Ignis himself is overdosing on work and refuses to listen even to Gladio.

Cor is KNOCKING HIM OUT. ACCIDENTALLY. DURING TRAINING. A C C I D E N T A L L Y.

Ignis is nervous about dinner with the Amicitia.

Cor secretly made sure to put Clarus in a really good mood before work shift was over.

“I’m sad. I have watch on the main hall at five, so it won’t be over in a good couple hours, and Iggy finally had some free time today…”

Cor is fucKING SNATCHING THAT WATCH. NO ONE IS PAYING HIM FOR THESE EXTRA HOURS BUT DOES HE FUCKING CARE.

Boys went out late at night and were home pretty late. Clarus was angry.

“They were at my place. Sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Cor :0

it fine they young let them live

who would have thought that under that stoic face there was such a nice devil, Cor

Cor is always number one person they go to when they want to share some Gladnis thing in conversation. It’s just so easy to talk with him, he has no expressions and doesn’t answer, it’s like talking to a lamppost.

He does give advice or comfort if needed, though.

Cor always comes up with holidays plans or discounts for the two.

“Do you look up holidays for two on your spare time just to tell us?”

“…they pop up randomly in my computer.”

Cor you don’t use your computer.

Cor is a bit too honest. Doesn’t mean any harm, he’s jsut being honest.

“You don’t want to kiss Gladio today. He’s stinky.”

COR

Cor dealing with Gladnis in the everyday

“Ok, we’re in for our sparring session today, we-”

“Cor can I go smooch Iggy? He’s over there at the window :3″

“…”

“No. Defeat me and you can”

“D:”

“Ok, today’s session-”

“*Ignis’ sad puppy eyes*”

“-is cancelled, I heard Gladiolus is at the fifth floor, go look for him and say hello for me.”

he’s not giving preferences lmao he just has to train Gladio but couldn’t resist Ignis’ unintentional sad puppy eyes. WHO IN THIS WORLD CAN.

Cor is answering for them to the media.

“Mister Gladiolus, is it true you and Ignis Scientia are dating?”

“No, we’re not.”

“No, I was asking-”

“I’m not.”

“…I was-”

“No.”

Cor sees the struggle they go through with the media and Noct jumping in to save them and thinks it’s very noble so let’s give the boy a break, and be the shield ourselves.

Cor is now bodyguard for the Gladnis in public.

“Mister Amicitia!”

“Yes?”

“No, I mean Mister Amici”

“Y e s ?”

Media tries to go to Ignis

“…m…mister…Scienti-”

Cor’s popping out of nowhere with his dead face like

“Y E S?”

Cor’s using the Gladnis to encourage them to train harder.

“If you want to save him you have to defeat me.”

“COR, NO, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, THAT’S NOT HOW- NO”

“And I’m not having mercy on you, hm”

“BUT WHY WOULD YOU PUT GLADIOLUS IN A CAGE, HE’S NOT EVEN CONSCIOUS”

Ignis is tied to the ceiling somehow

“COR NO”

“Get through me and he’ll be safe”

“COR THIS IS NOT PEDAGOGIC.”

They won only once. Because Ignis broke out of the cage. and maybe they had Nyx help. And maybe Cor was blindfolded.

He’s the Legend, you can’t just win against Cor like it’s nothing.

Uncle Cor picked Gladio’s wedding suit.

Uncle Cor will be the most hysterical loving grand uncle but we’re not there yet akldsjf

Uncle Cor good boi he approves and likes yes yes

Iris

NOW HERE IS THE TEA.

S I S T E R I N L A W I R I S

Iris the Adorable and Equally Frightening. Iris the Badass. Iris the kiddo. AS HER ROLE IN GLADNIS.

Iris was like nine or ten when Gladnis became official.

You know fanboy #1 and fanboy #2. BUT THIS IS FANGIRL #1 BABY GIRL IRIS IS ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL FOR GLADNIS.

Iris likes Ignis and has always done. She once asked Santa Crys that Clarus adopted Ignis because he’s just such a good Big Bro.

Iris did genuinely asked Clarus once to adopt Ignis and sell Gladio at the market.

She loves Gladdy wholeheartedly, it’s just Sibling Stuff.

Ignis has always been good to Iris since even before he and Gladio were a thing, and it’s always been genuine, not just that “get the little sibling love to have easier access” thing.

Ignis and Iris even spend time alone without Gladio.

Ignis has gone to pick Iris up from school.

Ignis has given Iris his jackets if it’s cold or raining.

Ignis has cooked for Iris a million times.

Ignis has been her confidant for YEARS for things she feels too shy to share with anyone else, even Gladio.

Why do I feel I’ve already written Ignis-Iris headcanons and these exact same?

Ignis constantly lets Iris use him as model for make-up or nails or hair.

Iris constantly sews plushies for him. Ignis has a whole shelf full of little and big plushies he’s been gifted.

Iris will go to Ignis if she sees him and try to drag him home since she was like seven.

Ignis nearby? Yes, papa, we’re taking him home. What do you mean no? I will feed him and make a bed for him in the living room.

Iris, he’s not a pet aksjdf

Iris and Ignis have their own little bubble and Gladio’s not allowed in, I’m sorry

There they are the two dorks. They’re talking. They’re talking about SOMETHING. What is it? What is it? YOU WILL NEVER KNOW. WHY THEY ARE GIGGLING, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW.

Iris spoke so much and for so long about Clarus adopting Ignis that Gladio was a bit scared of how she would manage the news of them in a relationship because that would cut the option of adopting him.

Iris took it surprisingly well.

A bit too well.

Iris screeched.

Iris jumped out her window.

Her room is on the second floor.

It’s fine, she’s trained since little because the little shit could never sit still and Cor had to do something to at LEAST teach her to land since age 5 because the gods know this child needs to know how to land.

Iris ran around the house for an hour before she got tired and collapsed in the grass, and even there she kept flailing and screeching.

Clarus arrived home to Gladio calmly watching TV eating ice-cream while a nine year old Iris was sprawled on a side of the house like her sould abandoned her.

Iris is a Prompto equivalent of The Asker.

“HOW WAS IT. WHO TOLD WHO. WHERE DID YOU GO. HOW MANY DATES HAVE YOU HAD. HAVE YOU ALREADY KISS. WHY HADN’T YOU TOLD ME BEFORE. WILL YOU MARRY HIM. GLADDY TELL ME MORE.”

Someone is knocking on Gladio’s door at two a.m.

“Gladio have you told him you love him.”

Gladio closed the door in her face.

Iris never stopped trying to drag Ignis home even when she was already 15.

There she is, calmly going, grabbing Ignis’ wrist, and saying nothing while heading to Clarus’ car.

Family dinner at the Amicitia, nothing is going on, nothing relevant has happened for months, everyone is quiet and

*LOUD FIST SMASH ON THE TABLE*

“YOU HAVE TO MARRY HIM OR I’LL BE SO FREAKING ANGRY, GODS DAMMIT”

The happiest motherfucking day in Iris’ life was when Ignis called at her door, sat down on her floor, and said “Would you be so kind as to teach me to make a moogle plush toy myself? I’d love to make one for Gladio.”

Iris taught both Gladio and Ignis to sew moogle plushes AND SHE WAS SO HYSTERICALLY FREAKING C LO S E TO TELL EACHE OTHER “HE’S MAKING ONE FOR YOU TOO OMG THE COINCIDENCE, WHAT WERE THE ODDS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Iris is fan #1 of Prompto’s Gladnis photos and is always asking him to show her.

Iris gets some of those photos framed. She’s not even gifting them to them, she’s just putting them at the livign room because LOOK AT THIS HAPPY FAMILY, THAT’S MY BROTHER IN LAW AND MY BROTHER AREN’T THEY THE MOST BADASS ADORABLE COUPLE IN THE WORLD AREN’THEYGODDAMMIT!!?!??!

Gladio is annoying Iris on purpose.

“Gladdy, I’m gonna have Iggy kick your ass.”

Ignis is very much ready to kick Gladio’s ass if Iris asks him for it.

Iris likes to cause little harmless misunderstandings between the two just for the sake of it.

“?? Ignis? I thought I’d bring the tools.”

“?? No, I was told I’d bring the tools? What are we cooking if no one brought the food?”

Iris is containing the laugh from the living room.

“Hey, I thought I’d forgotten my scarf here?”

“No, you took it home with-”

“…”

“Iris.”

“IT WASN’T ME, WHY DO YOU THINK EVERY TIME IGNIS COMES HOME LOOKING FOR SOMETHING AND DOESN’T FIND IT IT’S ME WHO TOLD HIM THAT JUST TO HAVE HIM COME OVER? PFFT.”

Iris sometimes gets gifts to give to Gladio so HE can give them to Ignis

“Iris, I already give him a bunch”

“IT’S NOT ENOUGH GLADDY”

Iris alongside with Prom is always trying to get them nice, romantic dates. Cheesy sometimes. Overly cheesy sometimes.

There you see the whole scenery Prommy and Iris put up together in a garden, a tiny table and cushions for a comfy date, in a little silk-drapes tent decored with lights, candles, and a couple flowers.

“Iris we just wanted to watch dumb cartoons”

“SHUT UP THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ROMANTIC”

Not like Iggy and Gladio are complaining but omg the EFFORT

You know what sorta sister in law Iris is?

Gladio and Ignis are having a private conversation at the garden.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Iris from somewhere in the universe

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER”

Honestly how badass is Iris here, you pick on her, she brings forth her TWO BIG GUARDIAN BROTHERS

Iris be. Cutest most troublesome most supportive sister in law since she’s a kid, ok? SHE’S MORE INTO GLADNIS THAN GLADNIS THEMSELVES.

AND THERE YA GO AKLSDJFGKLHJAD

Aaaaaah man, this took quite longer than I expected, but was it worth it! I had lots of fun with it, and I hope you enjoyed it too? I REALLY HOPE SO BECAUSE THIS IS FOR YOU ALSKJDFDLGKJ

Also, I hope the midterm thing went okie!! Sending you lots of happy raccoonie thoughts for school to be gentle and go FANTASTIC! ( ´ ▽ ` )

Thanks for the ask and LOTSA MAGIC YAYS FOR YOU! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

#gladnis #gladio #ignis #ffxv headcanons #coonanswers #yay gladnis!#gonna post papa regis in a bit :3 #i had it before this one but i wanted these two posted the same day lmao

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smilingperformer · 4 years

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Pokémon Sword & Shield - Personal experiences, Part 1

About a week ago, I declared that I wanted to write down a critical post looking at my experiences with Sword & Shield, noting what I liked and what not. Considering the fact that I still haven’t completed the game (at around 37.5h mark and done with 6 out of 8 gyms), I’m gonna divide this post into two, where this first part focuses on gameplay, music and graphics, while the latter part, which I plan on writing next weekend, will focus on the story and character portrayal, including the trainer customisation, League Cards and Pokémon designs of this generation. Do note, these posts will contain spoilers for new, unrevealed Pokémon, so if you want to discover them yourself, I suggest you read this post at a later date! If not, then let’s get started! With a Charizard Pose!

As a disclaimer, the version I’ve been playing is Pokémon Sword, and as said above, the amount of time spent currently is around 37.5h.

Gameplay

Let’s start with the aspect that’s most important to the games, alright? So, how’s the gameplay in Sword & Shield? The battling system remains the same as previous games, meaning it’s turn-based, commanding attacks to your Pokémon. There’s not much to say to this aspect of the game, but I do love the improvements to the UI during the battling. Now that the series is back to one screen again (which happened first with Let’s Go), all the needed info has to be displayed in the same screen. If you ask me, it’s displayed nicely, and the UI style is very slick. The button mappings have changed for quick-selecting pokeballs and checking move-related info, so if you’re used to doing the R1 + a combo on checking move info, you’ll accidentally do the move instead. Happened to me a ton of times. But, since we have to consider that 3DS had less buttons for usage, new button mappings are fine.

The effects of Pokémon loving you during battle is still there, as in if you’ve been playing with your Pokémon a ton, battled with them and spent tons of time, they’ll start dodging attacks to your shout, curing poisonings and paralyses on their own without healing items, and get more experience. It does make the game easier, but I have found myself still struggling against some of the stronger type of Pokémon, even when my Pokémon has more levels. But that may be because I’ve tried switching out team every now and then to avoid being overly overleveled. And it’s been for the best!

Encountering wild Pokémon

First introduced in Let’s Go, Sword & Shield now lets you actually see the Pokémon catchable in the wild, making the world feel so much more alive. The grass encounters are still there, but instead of triggering random at your place, they’ll trigger nearby to you, and you can choose to either ignore or run into it. And from what I can tell, some Pokémon are only catchable in the grass patches. But I could be terribly wrong! The ways Pokémon react to you are different to the type of Pokémon you encounter, some examples being kind cheers from smaller Pokémon, some running into you at slower speed, some chasing after you and being faster than you, and some plain up teleporting away or running away from you as fast as possible. It’s such an awesome feat to see, and I have to note how much I love that Diglett and Dugtrio can actually be seen moving under the ground in fast speed, then coming up in another spot. It feels like such a huge improvement from how they moved in Let’s Go. Same with Rhyhorn, I love how they decide to charge at you, with no way to turn mid-ram! Meaning if you dodge, they miss. It’s such a nice way to show the wild Pokémon’s personality. This is why I ended up catching a certain Pikachu and making it my main Pikapal, despite wanting to get certain type. Because it kept coming at me, stopping to say “Pika~“, turning away in sadness, then turning back at me as I would approach it. It was so cute to see.

There are also fishing spots where you can encounter water type Pokémon, and they seem to appear in similar fashion as in Gen 7 games, but with less-obvious-looking spots. If you run into the spots, they’ll disappear, just like before. So go at them at walking speed! Speaking of which!

Controlling the character

Never have I enjoyed controlling my character’s movements in a Pokémon game before, as I have in Sword & Shield. Not only does the spinning have an awesome finishing pose involved now, you can also control the speed your character is moving at by the amount of tilt you do with your left stick. If you tilt it a tiny bit, you’ll be moving at a slow pace, and when doing this in a grass patch, you’ll be entering a sneaking mode, where your character will try to not make any sounds at any close-by Pokémon. It’s a feature that was last seen in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, and boy am I glad to see that feature return!

Now, if you tilt the controller more bit by bit, you’ll notice how the speed of your character increases gradually, and the animations transition smoothly when doing so. I don’t have a gif to show of you of this, but if you entered this post before playing the game, make sure to try it out! It may be minor, but to me it’s such an awesome feat, as I can now walk or run at any pace I want, and gives me more control on the character!

At some point during the story, you’ll gain access to a bike powered by your Rotom Phone, and it helps you move at a faster rate in the game, if that’s what you want to do. I myself opted to mostly walking, mainly using the bike in the Wild Area. Controlling the bike feels good, turns feeling natural and the bike never feels like it’s going out of control. The speed boost by pressing B makes you go extra fast, and you’ll be able to upgrade it up to tier 3 in the Wild Area. I haven’t found the upgrade yet for being able to go over the water, so I’m gonna assume that’s mostly post-game. Or I’ve just missed it somehow, and I have no idea how!

Side note: Shiny hunting

Now, from what I’ve read, despite Let’s Go letting you see the Shiny versions in the wild, Sword & Shield does not let you see them. You instead have to encounter the Pokémon and hope that it is indeed a shiny. I myself believe this was done by design choice, as to make the Shiny hunting still feel rewarding, instead of making you just stand on one spot after getting max chaining, hoping for one to appear. Like it was in Let’s Go. Thou, in Sword & Shield, it’s a whole new method. You only have to focus on encounting that one specific Pokémon for countless times, and at certain points of counters, the chances of encountering a shiny increases. This is all official info from The Pokémon website! And I believe the article also states that, the glowing Pokémon, which have chances of having better stats, egg moves and other cool stuff, also have higher chance of being a shiny.

You can also apparently do Chain fishing for increased shiny chances on the fishing spots, which is quite cool! The breeding method is still the same as far as I can tell, but there’s now also a chance for a different type of Shiny sparkle animation. If you get a square type sparkle, then congratulations, your Shiny is extra rare!

Berry farming

I find the berry farming in this game to be my absolute favourite form, as I myself didn’t find any appeal on farming the berries itself, often neglecting that aspect in previous games, and this doesn’t feel even close to the tedious pick-up animation chain Gen 7 games had whenever you were picking up the berries from the ground. But, knowing how my sister has been liking the discoveries of mutated berry farming, that seems to be gone, and I do find that kind of discovery not being there kinda sad. Maybe there’s something to this later in the game, I don’t know.

Gym Battles

The gym matches provide some extra challenge in throwing at us Dynamaxed and Gigantamaxed Pokémon, which I myself haven’t been able to one-shot. While being overleveled does make it easy to steamroll the first few Pokémon on Gym Leader’s team, the final Pokémon always Dynamaxes or Gigantamaxes, and it does make you wonder whether your Pokémon’s gonna survive the hit or not. I always look forward to seeing what kind of Pokémon is gonna get Gigantamaxed next, as after the first two gyms, the Gyms always have a Gigantamaxing Pokémon on their team. At least, from what I can tell.

Speaking of Gyms, the Gym Missions have so far been a ton of fun. While one of the wants you to herd a bunch of Wooloo to knock-down barriers, other one has you avoiding traps, being auditioned or spinning around like crazy. So far none of the Gym Missions have been the same, and it’s very refreshing! One of them was very easy to cheat on thou, provided you had the right type of Pokeballs with you, which does make me wish Game Freak had implemented some type of restriction on what type of Pokeball you can use during the mission. But, I guess they didn’t want to force you to use certain type. Since you could actually keep any Pokémon you catch during this Gym Mission.

PokeJobs

The new feature that pretty much replaces the PokePelago from Gen 7 games. And it’s very simple: the new Rotom-powered PC Box has the option to check out jobs for your Pokémon to do, and they usually have a description that states in a fancy manner of what type of Pokémon you send out for that specific job. The amount appears to vary from 3 to 10 at a time, and you can send them out for from couple hours to a whole day. Once your Pokémon return, they’ll gain tons of experience based on how long they were at the job, and how well it was done. Sometimes, one of the sent Pokémon will come back with items! It’s a nice way to get your boxed Pokémon up to proper levels, thou sending them out on these jobs also makes them unavailable to use during that time. Logical, but I myself sometimes accidentally sent out a Pokémon on a job for a whole day, then realising I needed them for the future battles. I can only blame myself for that. I do find it a teeny bit annoying how the Pokémon disappear from the Pokebox, meaning if you’re very precise about organizing it, it’ll become a mess. Unless one found a good way to make it less messy. I myself haven’t!

Camping with your Pokémon

Throughout the game, you’ll be able to camp out with the current Pokémon on your team, and play with them using different kinds of toys on your toybox. From what I can tell, playing with them can give them experience at the end of the session, so it’s a nice reward for spending time with them and making friends along the way. Petting is not longer possible thou, which makes the Amié and Refresh lover in me cry in sadness. But alas, if we consider the fact that this game is meant to be enjoyed both docked and handheld, the petting mechanic would be extra akward to do with a stick instead of touching the screen. So, I can understand why it had to go away. This game isn’t motion-based after all, like Let’s Go was. Seeing the Pokémon play with each other and become friends with each other is such a wonderful feat to see, so I feel like Refresh was replaced with a good counterpart. I’m happy with my current experiences with the camping, and look to see if there’s more to it.

Or whether another Pokémon will come to my screen the moment I camp out and just stare at me for few seconds. Gosh you’re too cute Wanpachi!

The Curry making

During the camping, you’ll also have the option to make curry, to which up to 4 players can join up together to make a delish dish to eat. The partner eating the dishes with you is the one who’s first positioned in your party, so make sure you switch it out from time to time to see how different Pokémon eat their dishes! Smaller ones have smaller, cute dishes, while fully evolved tend to eat a huge amount! Above screencap being my Inteleon’s dish.

How you cook is based on what incredients you’ll be using. First you’ll choose the base of the curry, which can vary from bread to noodles to leeks that may or may not be liked by SirFetch’d. Then, you’ll add berries. I’ve been trying out different kinds of combos, but so far I haven’t failed a single dish. But I’ve also yet to get a perfect dish done. I’m guessing the way you perform with the mini-game of spamming button A, totating the right stick at right pace and timing your final button A also contributes to this. So I need to practice some more! I’ve been doing it a ton, and find it awesome time-spender. It also has benefits on making the Pokémon in your party more friendly to you, gain experience, and, based on how well the curry was made, restore health and pp, also reviving fainted Pokémon. It’s a great, cheap way to get your Pokémon back up to speed. Unless you’re in the middle of a Gym Mission, then you’re not allowed to do that. Which is a good way to restrict your healing options and make them more challenging!

Wild Area

Now this is what I was most hyped about in this game. The Wild Area. After couple hours of playing the game, you’ll reach this huge, unlocked and fully explorable area, where you can encounter all kinds of Pokémon, varying from levels 10 to whopping 60s at least! It’s entirely possible that you can encounter higher level Pokémon as well, but I myself haven’t seen higher than 60 yet.

Exploring this area is quite a pleasure, as in addition to previously mentioned controls on your character, you can now also move your camera with the right stick. Which is a first in a main-line Pokémon game. I have also discovered, thanks to a NPC I’ve encountered, that you can zoom in and out with a click of stick button. This will help you see either closer or wider, depending on how you like it. I myself like switching between the modes depending on the situation!

There are tons of areas to explore in the Wild Area, and tons of stuff to collect as well. Each day, each sparkling collectable respawns, meaning this place is the perfect way to farm yourself cash. Also berries, there’s tons of berry trees in the Wild Area, which can also be found on traditional Pokémon-styled routes.

Wild Area is also where, if you connect to the internet with Nintendo Online membership and through the Y-comm, which is pretty much upgraded PSS system from Gen 6 games, you’ll be able to see other players around the world right beside you. It’s such an awesome feeling, and makes the Wild Area feel even more alive. However, this does jag up the performance a bit, and you may see your frames drop down for a bit before coming back up. It’s a shame, but as an MMO player who’s had to deal with worse, it’s.... manageble. Not ideal, but not the worst. The way the trainers just pop out with no cool entering animation feels akward thou, haha.

There’s also Rotom Rallies to do, trainer battles to find, treasure digging through two NPCs and findable trainers who trade up items for amounts of Watts, the Wild Area currency you’ll obtain from glowing Pokémon and red glowing nodes.

Max Raid Battles

As previously mentioned, in the Wild Area, you’ll be seeing red-glowing nodes around, sometimes sending out a long beam to the sky. This indicates that you can enter a Max Raid Battle, in which you can join with up to 3 other players to take down a stronger, bigger wild Pokémon. This is also the only way to encounter Gigantamaxing Pokémon, thou I cannot say for sure if it’s the only way to get yourself a Pokémon that can Gigantamax. I’m not that far in the game yet. But so far, these raids have been fun, although I’ve only ever managed to join up with one other player, with rest of the spots being filled with NPCs. Which sometimes have really weird choices of Pokémon partners (looking at you, trainer with Magikarp against Pumpkaboo!) Depending on the amount of stars, the Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed Pokémon may sometimes put up a barrier to slow down the process of taking it down. While the non-dynamaxed Pokémon on your team can then only take down the small, red-colored bars from the health bar, the Dynamaxed Pokémon can destroy the whole bar and do damage at the same time. I am not sure if it depends on type matchups or just works that way regardless of the move. But it does make the Dynamaxing feel worth the trouble!

The Gigantamaxed Pokémon seem to have way lower catch rate thou, and it really bums me to see the Pokémon run away after one catch try! God damn Gigantamaxed Sandaconda and Butterfree!

The Y-Comm

I don’t have screencaps to provide for this at this moment, but I’ve been using it quite a bit by now. As said before, it is basically a return to the style of PSS used during Generation 6, and you’ll be able to do Pokémon trades, league card trades and check out raid battles, while also request single, double and multi battles. One aspect from previous games is gone thou, and that’s the GTS feature. Yup. You can no longer put up a Pokémon to be traded for certain, specific Pokémon. Which is a huge bummer, considering how even I used this feature to help with completing the Pokedex in Ultra Moon. I don’t know what the reasoning could be for this, but I guess all I can do is speculate that Switch is not capable of this kind fo feature? I’m not able to say, I ain’t familiar with Switch backend capabilities. And I don’t remember if Let’s Go had GTS or not, but I’m guessing it didn’t. Otherwise, the Wonder Trade has been replaced with Surprise trades, which is basically the same, but this time happens in the background, without halting your progress with the game. Which is an awesome improvement to previous titles.

Quality of Life improvements

There has been a ton of QoL improvements done to this game, most notable ones being able to access the PC box at any time, which certain areas restricting the usages, like Gym Missions. You’re now also able to rename your Pokémon at any PokeCenter nearby you, also being able to make your Pokémon forget or remember a move at same place from the same guy. With no heart scale costs! No longer do you have to wait for almost-post-game to get your Steenee the move it should have learned already but somehow didn’t to be able to evolve to Tsareena, or run back at certain town to rename your Pokémon you either forgot to name or messed up naming. It all makes the game feel less inconvinient and more controllable.

TRs are also back from pre-gen 6 era (or is it pre-Gen 5?), which break after one usage. You can mostly obtain these during Max Raid Battles, so it gives you a great reason to keep doing those battles if you want more of certain type of TRs! Some are obtained while you do the story and explore the routes, so make sure to do that as well! There’s also now two different Pokémon Nurseries to put you Pokémon at, one being at Route 5, while other is located in the Wild Area. So, if you want, you can farm eggs at both of the locations.

You’re now also able to adjust audio settings for music, sound effects and what-not, thou it’s oddly behind finding a key item during the first big city, Motostoke. It’s possibly as a way to introduce this new feature, but it does feel a bit odd to make it an key item instead of making it a setting right away.

Music

Now that we’re done with the gameplay section, how’s the music? In short, it’s darn amazing! Each music so far has been a joy to listen, some of my personal favourites being Gym Leader Track (which changes dynamically based on whether your Pokémon fainted, beat the opponent or whether it’s the final round of the battle, it’s so cool!), Stow-on-side’s theme and the upper Wild Area’s tracks. Sonia’s theme is also such a pleasure to listen to, every time she appears in the story I just find myself not touching anything os I can listen to her track. I’ve yet to found a track that I’d find annoying, and so far this game’s OST has a high chance at being my favourite. Thou, Alola’s OST is still my top favourite, mainly because of Malie City, Ultra Necrozma and Gladion’s themes. Thou Marnie’s and Bede’s themes are awesome as heck as well! Especially the battles ones, thou the ones during their cutscenes are great as well! Lots of love can be heard from this soundtrack, and I can’t wait to hear more!

Graphics

To be able to talk about the Graphics, I’ve been playing the game on both docked and handheld modes. From what I can tell, this game looks absolutely stunning in the handheld mode, while during the docked mode, some of the shadows may look a tad bit jaggy and can flicker a bit while moving. It appears to happen in certain arears during the daytime, so it’s not that bad, but it’s still noticable. But aside from the shadows, the game looks amazing to play on a 23 inch TV, and also on 39 inch TV. The colors are such an eyecandy to watch, and I hardly find myself looking at something and being like “man, this looks so bad“. The trees in the Wild Area? Sure, the texture on most of those trees look akward, but I honestly don’t pay any attention to them? Because I’m mostly looking at the grass movements around walking Pokémon, how Pokémon feel like the belong to the same space, and how it just feels so nice. Say what you may about the graphics, this is the best looking Pokémon game up to date. Even if it’s not as gorgeus as Zelda franchise’s Breath of the Wild. It still looks good and appealing for my eyes as a Front-End Developer with graphics design studies behind as well. Could it use an improvement? Absolutely. Does it need it desperately? In my honest opinion, no. But I do hope the next game in line will look evenly or hopefully even better than this gorgeus game!

I will say thou, the drawing distance with trainers and Pokémon in this game is quite akward. It would appear to be around same distance as in most MMO lowest drawing distance setting, but it’s still noticable. I do understand this helps the game keep up better performance and not drop frames constantly (which has only happened to me in the Wild Area while connected to the internet), but maybe there’s something that could be done to improve the drawing distance in the future, to make the world feel way better? Only time will tell I guess.

Animations

The new animations added to the game look amazing, and your trainer character no longer looks like an emotionless, empty-staring character during cutscenes, but actually has a fitting face for the situation. At least, from what I can tell. The movements overall are smooth, and I haven’t seen too many jaggy model turning without any other movement on the legs or so. Maybe a bit with Pokémon, but not much with trainers. There are couple, but not overwhelmingly lot.

What is an awesome addition to the game thou, is the fact that there’s now visible lip syncing with character models, even with your trainer character, and the speed of the lip syncing is based on the text speed setting. I tried the fastest setting, and it made some of the cutscenes look SUPER akward, as the camera would do the movement as it is programmed, but the text was already done and the character at the cutscene is just turning around or being zoomed in and not moving their lips at all! It’s a bit akward, and hilarious! But this only happens in the fastest setting, as it works well with normal and slowest setting! So, make sure to not put on the fastest setting?

First impressions on story

You’ve reached the end of part one of my experiences with the game! To give of final thoughts, I’d like to say what my first impressions are on the story, now that I’m over the half-way point, at least from what I can tell. It’s been an interesting one so far, with the Gym Challenge feeling like where’s playing an actual Pokémon Anime season instead of just running from gym to gym. Each gym leader has character, current favourite being Opal from Ballonlea Stadium. And it’s totally not because of how obsessed she is with the color Pink, and how she just scouted out Bede out of nowhere. In addition to Gym Challenge, there’s also a mystery with the Dynamax being built on, and discovering the legend of the Darkest Day with Sonia, and the lore behind the heroes that saved Galar during the Darket Day long, long ago. There’s also the build-up with Bede collecting Wishing Stars for Chairman Rose, Hop having amazing character development arc with having an Ego that gets crushed during one point of the story.

While I’ve been so much distracted by the Wild Area and not having completed the story yet, it feels interesting and I always look forward to seeing what we’ll uncover of the legend next, and whether Chairman Rose is doing something shady in the background or not. At least his backstory has me worried. The start of the game’s story was such an awesome way to get the story going, and I look forward to seeing how we’ll be possibly(?) restoring Zacian to its game cover glory. As it did look kinda beat with all the scratches and ear being cut.

Thank you for reading this post guys! It took hours to write, and creating a new private twitter account to get these screenshots transfered. But I hope this was an enjoyable post to read! I’ll be writing my second post after I’ve finished the story and played the post-game for a bit, which could be next weekend, or could not be. Depends on how much further I’ll get during the next week, haha! Anywho. Until next time!

#pokemon #pokegames #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #discussions #swsh spoilers #gen 8 spoilers #long post

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fan-clan-fun · 4 years

Text

These cats are just a pair of siblings that I had a lot of fun working on. They are basically two sides of the same coin, foils to each other. They are members of a fan clan (I know, shocker) called HawkClan.

I apologise for any grammatical errors, weird sentence structures or anything like that, english isn’t my native language.

Wonderful! And no worries about the writing, Im always impressed by non-native english speakers and their impressive english, at least when compared to the other languages I myself supposedly speak. So let’s see what we have!

Adderstar: Massive, intimidating, a frightening foe. These are the words most cats would use to describe HawkClan’s young leader, Adderstar. But don’t let her physical appearance fool you, this huge tabby has an ever bigger, albeit squeamish heart!

Born into a litter of three, Adderkit was the biggest and strongest one. She would often be found rough housing with her two brothers and the other kits in the nursery. But with great power comes great responsibility. That’s a lesson Adderkit needed to be taught the hard way. During one of their usual play sessions she accidentally tackled one of her brothers, Shadowkit, violently, breaking one of his ribs which caused internal bleeding. Despite the medicine cat’s best efforts, Shadowkit passed away. After that, Adderkit refused to play with the other kits, especially if they were younger or smaller than her. Blazekit, angry with his sister and unable to cope with the loss of his brother, became cold, angry and distant. He now refuses to acknowledge Adderstar as anything more than a leader and lashes out at any cat who points out their obvious connection.

Interesting, Im curious about when she would have done this and how. Cats can do some serious damage, but to have the strength (unless it was aided by height or some other advantage) to cause a broken bone and internal bleeding would be quite difficult, not impossible, just difficult. But! Maybe an easier ( and even more heartwrenching) way it could have happened, was if their sibling got an infection when Adderkit played carelessly with claws out. It could have made Adderkit much more careful of how she fought. That said, I really do like this motivation, and either way if you wish to keep it, would make for a compelling character development.

Moons passed, but memories of her brother kept haunting the she-cat, even when she started her apprenticeship. Darkstar, the former leader, having seen her potential and her struggles, decided to mentor the young cat himself. Both cats were insanely stubborn, refusing to acknowledge the faults of their ways; Darkstar, too focused on battle tactics and strength, and Adderpaw, afraid of her own power and abilities. The two cats clashed on multiple occasions, but Darkstar wasn’t known for giving up a challenge. He realized that the best motivation for Adderpaw was the pain of others. He would often put himself, sometimes other cats, in dangerous situations that would require immediate action from Adderpaw to solve. This is why Adderstar is so good at fighting badgers, according to some cats. Slowly but surely, the two started to understand and trust each other.

See I like the dynamic between Darkstar and Adderpaw.... but I dont think it would be either wise or realistic that a clan leader would allow either themselves or clanmates into a potentially dangerous situation just to encourage an apprentice. Maybe if it wasnt actually dangerous, but it would be a bit odd to put the responsibility on an apprentice to save the day, when it would be the leader’s job to do that. Unless... well I’ll address it below.

Many moons later, Adderfang was made deputy, instead of Blazestep, whom many cats regarded as the best warrior in HawkClan. This widened the rift between the two siblings even more. Adderfang never thought of becoming a leader. She just wanted to fulfill her warrior duties and get her mind off her brother’s death. She didn’t want to be a leader, she had no need for more worries.

So I do think it is very odd that Adderfang would have been chosen as deputy when the rest of the clan regarded their sibling better. That said, you could argue that Darkstar’s actions in her apprenticeship (reckless self endargerment and potential endangerment of others) and then choosing her as deputy over other better liked candidates, could point to nepotism or serious character flaws. I feel like there is more going on with Darkstar that might need to be addressed for this to work. Not impossible, but an interesting conundrum.

“He has the heart and passion of a Bear. You have the strength and clarity of a Hawk.” That was all Darkstar said. Adderfang understood none of that. Strength? Well, she had that. And what good did that bring her? Death and sadness, nothing more. Clarity? All her life, she knew nothing, but confusion. What is her place in her clan? Does a murderer even deserve a place to call home? She tried to pry Darkstar for more; she needed reasons, true reasons, not baseless statements. But Darkstar wouldn’t say more. He’d just smile, like he knew something that no other cat did. “You’ll understand one day, mousebrain.”

But even after standing on the shores of the High Lake (A/N: it’s just a big, icy lake, this is where deputies are made leaders under the full moon), even after becoming Adderstar, she still couldn’t quite grasp what those words meant.

Im curious what those words mean too, I feel like there could be some background spiritual stuff going on.

Blazestep: HawkClan’s finest warrior. And also it’s angriest one, this jet black cat is one scorching inferno. He’s brash, aggressive, and he’s not afraid of showing his fangs or unsheathing his claws. How does one small, frightened kit grow up to be a walking volcano, ready to erupt at any moment?

His brother’s death hit Blazekit harder than any blow from a cat ever could. Shadowkit was the only kit willing to play with the weakling Blazekit. All the others would mock or turn their backs on him. And, playing with Adderkit was just plain sad. Even as a young kit, Blazekit could see that Adderkit was going easy on him. Never once did she shove him too hard, bit or scratched him playfully. What’s worse, she even pretended to be hurt when Blazekit tackled her or batted at her with his tiny paws. Blazekit hated all of it. He hated Adderkit and her pity, he hated the disgusted and mocking looks of the other kits. Shadowkit was the only other cat he could confide in.

And then Shadowkit was stripped away from him, by Adderkit of all cats. Blazekit was truly alone now.

Sounds like a lonely and frustrated kit, poor guy.

Adderkit tried to reconnect with him, but he rejected her pitiful attempts. It’s not like Adderkit made such a tremendous effort either: whenever Blazekit would confront her, she’d just avert her gaze, murmur something and leave with her tail drooping. Blazekit hated it. He hated how Adderkit couldn’t face the truth, how she couldn’t, no, didn’t take responsibility for her strength. Instead of realizing the power in her paws, she just hid away from it. Blazekit hated it.

Moons went by, and soon, it was Blazepaw’s turn to prove himself. His mentor, Nettlemoon was the exact opposite of the fiery tom. Nettlemoon tried to teach the young cat patience, but Blazepaw would have none of it. Despite this, he was an outstanding apprentice; he could execute most moves with ease and with little practice and he was excellent at predicting his opponent’s next move. He was just bad at catching squirrels.

But being good wasn’t enough for Blazepaw, he wanted to be the best. He’d train long and hard after nightfall, when the clan was asleep, often overworking and injuring himself. He had to get stronger. No cat will make fun of him anymore, he’ll make sure of that.

So at this point I really worry for this apprentice, and worry that neither his mentor of the clan around him seemed to notice his struggle. I cant imagine that his mentor wouldnt have noticed his injuries and addressed them. He may be hot headed and determined to be the best, but there is only so much he can get away with before he should have consequences. Then again, if you do continue with the thread of Darkstar putting himself in danger, I suppose an absent mentor wouldnt be entirely unrealistic for the clan.

He was Blazestep now, but his goals never changed. And he was going to make it. He could already see Darkstar appointing him as deputy. He could see all of those mocking glares turn into quick, wary glances filled with fear. He could see himself standing on top of The Ruins (A/N: a place for the leaders to stand during clan meetings, it’s just an old church overgrown with weeds and trees), fur blowing in the wind, looking down at HawkClan. He could see himself racing towards battle, his clan at his back and Shadowkit at his side.

And then it was stripped away from him, by none other than Adderfang.

So I am curious about why the clan ended up liking (or at least respecting) Blazestep more than Adderfang, at least that was what I understood since it seemed he was considered a better warrior by the clan. He does seem to have a lot of anger issues to work out, so with your explanation of his character it makes a bit more sense that his sister is deputy, but I feel like there is a disconnect between your personal discussion of the siblings personalities and how the clan perceives them. Maybe its just a case of unreliable narrator. Is Blazestep really sneaky, and hides his true anger problems and ambition? I suppose if he was clever enough as an apprentice, and didnt push himself too far he might have been able to pull the wool over his mentor’s eyes, but he would have to be very clever and careful not to injure or tire himself so much that it would affect the rest of his training.

Anyway, I hope I didnt sound too critical, but these characters are very interesting and compelling, interesting enough that I was quite invested in them! I hope to see how you decide to write them in the end!

So, yeah, these two are the main duo of HawkClan. Sorry for the long read, I got pretty carried away while writing.

#warrior cats #non-canon clans #warriors OC #warriorsworldbuilding #submission

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mageicalwishes · 4 years

Text

Crying In My Prom Dress - Chapter 5

Read on AO3: here

Read the previous chapter (on Tumblr): here

Summary: The Leaver’s Ball marks the end of the school year. The end of their time at Watford. Baz has a confession to make before it’s too late. But, will he ever pluck up the courage to tell Simon how he feels?

Inspired by the song “Prom Dress” by Mxmtoon.

Chapter: 5/7

Words: 4,025

Baz

This is undoubtedly a new low. I’m sitting, crying on the floor of the school’s bathroom stall. I am such a disgrace. I spelled the stall clean prior to sitting down (obviously), but I will still be needing at least an hour in the shower later - It’s a particularly grim place to have chosen to have my little breakdown. I don’t often cry, in fact I pride myself in my near unfaltering ability to suppress any emotion above purely neutral. However, tonight everything finally got the better of me. Everything simply got to be too much.

I guess that, faced with the reality of leaving Watford, I just feel overwhelmingly disappointed. Everyone else has been talking about how amazing their time here has been, but I can’t say I feel the same. Of course, there are some positives - Academically I excelled (and I genuinely enjoyed learning here), Dev and Niall have always been there for me, and most of the teachers were lovely. And, of course, there is Snow. But, on balance, it just feels as though I’m ending on a low. Watford was the place that my mother was murdered, the place I became what I am - So, I never expected to adore it. But, I at least expected to look back on my time here as being an overall positive. Unfortunately, it just hasn’t been. I wasn’t leaving Watford with a wealth of lifelong friends (my outwardly cold demeanour ensured that few really got close enough to become more than a casual acquaintance). I wasn’t leaving Watford with the love of my life in my arms (I’ll never get the chance to tell Snow now, he’s still wrapped up with Wellbelove). I wasn’t leaving Watford feeling as though I'd made my Father proud (he didn’t really react much at all when I told him I finished top of the year). I suppose I just expected more. Looking back on my time here - I have far too many regrets. What if I had told Snow how I feel? What if I had allowed more people to really get to know me? What if I hadn’t pushed so many people away? I just feel bitter. It seems everybody got their happy ending - Everybody, but me. They were all dancing about with their lovers or friends, and I was standing there talking to the bloody Magic Words teacher. Pathetic. All in all, it was a pretty miserable excuse for a final farewell party.

Simon

When I shuffle into the bathroom the sound immediately hits me - Sniffling. Somebody is definitely crying. Baz is crying. Merlin, he really must be upset - I’ve never seen Baz cry. I’ve rarely even seen him crack a smile.

“Baz? Is that you?” I ask, hesitantly.

“Crowley, Snow. You seriously can’t let me out of your sight for more than five minutes, can you? Am I not allowed even a moment of privacy? You are frustratingly persistent in your endeavour to become the most annoying Mage to ever live,” he croaks. His words are clearly supposed to be his usual brand of biting, but the cracking of his voice softens the blow significantly.

“What’s wrong? Whatever it is you can tell me. I promise I won’t tell anybody else."

“It is none of your concern, Snow. Go back to your ball”

“It is my concern. Just … Let me in. I want to talk to you. If you don’t, I’ll have to try and spell the door open. You probably don’t want that ... There is a fairly high chance that might backfire," I continue, unbothered by his attempts to turn me away.

“Merlin. Fine,” he sighs. “But breathe a word of this to anybody, including Bunce, and I will not hesitate to murder you. And, I can assure you I will not afford you the mercy of a quick death.”

I laugh then, and I hear the quiet click of the lock. I push the door open lightly, and plop myself down on the floor beside him, locking the door behind myself. He’s hugging his legs against his chest, and has his chin rested on top of his knees. He’s hanging his head forward, clearly trying to hide his face behind his sheet of black hair. I’ve never seen Baz look anything less than perfect (even now he looks frustratingly put together for a bloke who is sat crying on the floor of a bathroom). But, he looks smaller now than I’ve ever seen him. Fragile, almost. My heart constricts at the sight of him. I sort of want to hug him - I definitely shouldn’t though, he’d probably snap my neck if I tried.

“Are you okay?” I whisper.

“Yes, Snow. As you can see, I’m positively ecstatic,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Sorry. That was a bit of a stupid question, I know. Just … Just tell me whats wrong”

He looks over at me then. His cheeks are glistening where he’s been crying, and his nose is slightly flushed. The urge to hug him swells up within me, again.

“I tried to tell you it was none of your concern, Snow. But, you’re so bloody headstrong, you’d probably end up blowing us both up trying to unlock the door,” he scoffs.

“Probably,” I mumble. “If you’re not going to tell me, I’ll just have to keep guessing until I get it right. I can always tell when you’re lying, so I’ll know when I get it.”

He raises a disbelieving eyebrow at me. “Go on then, Snow. Dazzle me.”

“Did your date not show up? Is that why you were late? Were you waiting for someone?”

“No, Snow. I didn’t have a date. Try again.” he says, his voice unnaturally flat. At least, I’m pretty sure he’s stopped crying now (his voice isn’t as shaky anymore) - That's good.

“Why not? Loads of girls fancy you, I’m sure you could’ve found a date easily,” I ask.

“Well, I’m afraid the feeling is not reciprocated. And, nobody really likes me, Snow. I’m not you, remember. I doubt everyone is as willing to go with me as you think. Besides, the person I wanted to go with already has a date. I’m not so insecure I need to take somebody I have no real interest in.”

“Oh,” I say, dumbfounded, Baz never gives this much about himself away. “Well, I like you. Loads of other people do too - I’m certain. Penny always says you’re smart. So, I’m sure somebody would’ve wanted to go with you. But, I understand that's not what you want. My point still stands though. But, Does - I mean, does the person you wanted to go with know that you did? They might not really like whoever they ended up going with … They may have wanted to go with you too. Maybe they were just waiting for you to ask?”

“No. I can assure you they are very happy with their date. They wouldn’t have wanted to go with me.”

I sigh. He can be so stubborn sometimes. He can’t know for sure if he never even tried. “Okay,” I concede. “Well … Did Miss Posibelf say something that upset you?”

That earns me another eyebrow raise. “Spying on me again, Snow?,” he says, smirking. I don’t respond. He pauses then, his eyes scanning across my face as if he was trying to figure something out. “Look. I know you think you always have to be the hero, but you don’t. You don’t have to do this. Just - Just go have fun with Wellbelove - She’ll be waiting for you. Despite what you may think, I really don’t want to ruin your perfect last night together. You’ve established I’m not in here plotting, so you can go now. Everything is fine, Snow.”

I frown. “No. Everything isn’t fine," I argue. You’re clearly not fine. You don’t have to pretend you are - Because I can tell you’re not. And, I’m not just here because I think I have to be. I’m not a hero. I’m here because I want to be. I wanted to make sure you were okay." I huff, finished with my rant. "Oh - And, uh ... me and Agatha broke up. So you don’t have to worry about her waiting for me - She isn’t. Her and Penny are dancing together.”

He looks over at me, his mouth hanging open slightly. “What? Why? You two seemed perfectly fine when I left," he stumbles.

“Uh … Well, she said that I was paying more attention to you than I was to her. Apparently I do that a lot. I said I was going to the bathroom and she knew I was only going because I saw you leave - So she dumped me,” I explain, awkwardly. He’s definitely going to laugh at me. I know it. Dumped because I’m obsessed with him - It's pretty bloody embarrassing. But, I’m not actually obsessed with him - Only Agatha and Penny think that (Well, once Dev said I was too, but he was probably just trying to wind me up). But, to my surprise, he doesn’t.

“Oh,” he murmurs “Me. It’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not angry at you,” I say in rush.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his tone sincere.

“Yeah. Honest, I’m fine. I’ve known for a while she was probably going to break up with me again. And, I thought I loved her and everything - But, I don’t think I do. I mean I definitely don’t feel heartbroken, or whatever. More sort of … relieved? I don’t know. I’m not sad though. I didn’t even cry - Not because I didn’t let myself either, I just didn’t need to. So yeah, I’m fine. We’ve not really been a proper boyfriend and girlfriend for ages. She said she didn’t love me, and, well, I’m beginning to suspect I didn’t love her either. So, it’s all good. It’s probably better for the both of us. She didn’t seem upset either. I mean, she seemed happier dancing with Penny than she has with me the entire night, anyway. I’m good. And, just to be clear, it’s not your fault. Even if it was … I’m glad it’s over. Don’t tell anyone I said that though - I don’t want to accidentally upset Agatha, or something. I just … I guess she wasn’t my destiny, after all,” I ramble. I don’t really know why I told Baz everything in so much detail. I mean, I haven’t even told Penny yet (Although, Agatha probably has), so I don’t know why I told him. He’s staring at me, blankly. He keeps opening and closing his mouth like he’s trying to figure out what to say (he looks a little bit like a fish, it’s kind of funny). “Sorry. I just … You know - I sort of butted in on your private moment. And, I’ve been asking you to tell me personal stuff. So - You know, I thought I should at least do the same. I’m not a hypocrite, you know,” I explain.

“It’s okay, Snow. You don’t have to - I mean, it’s fine. Don’t apologise. I just - I’m just surprised”

“Oh,” I chuckle. “You looked like you were malfunctioning. I thought I’d finally broken you.”

He laughs back, cracking his first proper smile of the evening. I like seeing him smile. “Hush, you. I’ve seen you trying to do Magical Words homework, that is what malfunctioning looks like,” he teases.

We sit in silence for a moment, our soft breathing the only sound filling the stall. His is slower than mine. Then he speaks, his voice barely a whisper. “Look, Snow. I’ll tell you. Just - Just don’t tell anybody.”

“I won’t. I promise. We can do that oath spell if you don’t believe me.”

“We don’t need the spell. I believe you,” he says, taking a deep breath. “I was upset because … Because, Watford didn't turn out to be all I had hoped it would be. I guess, I just feel disappointed. There are so many regrets, so many what-ifs - And, now it’s all over. No time left to fix anything, no time to make amends - I just have to accept things as they are. And, the Ball … it just made me feel worse. I was under the impression that the person I wanted to be with already had a date they were very happy with. And, Dev and Niall were busy with their dates. So I just felt a bit … Alone. It just overwhelmed me,” he says, nervously wringing his hands together in his lap.

“Oh. I’m sorry. You still have a few hours at Watford, I’m sure you could fix something if you wanted. But, I’m sorry it wasn’t what you had hoped. You came top of the year though, that’s great. You should be proud of that. And … Well, I don’t have a date. You could dance with me if you’d like. That way you won’t be alone.”

“Dance. With you. In front of everybody,” he scoffs.

“Yeah. Why not? Come on - It’ll be fun. Seven years together - I reckon I at least owe you a dance”

“Hmmm” he mumbles, clearly unconvinced.

I jump up, holding my hand out to him. “Come on. It’ll be fun, trust me. You’ve trained me up to be a proper little dancer - I’d hate for all your hard work to go to waste.”

He snickers. “Hardly, Snow. Despite my best efforts, your footwork is truly appalling,” he teases, reaching up and sliding his hand into mine, allowing me to pull him up off of the floor.

Victory.

————————————————————————————

Baz

Simon Snow still can’t dance. He has stepped on my shoes at least twelve times, but I don’t even mind. I’m so far gone for him. We’re holding each other close, moving together slowly. People are staring (obviously, they all know us to be mortal enemies), but I can’t find it in myself to care. I’ve got far more important things on my mind. I’m holding him, and he’s holding me. He’s laced our fingers together tightly, our palms pressed firmly together - His hand is so warm in mine. He’s so close to me like this, and he’s beaming up at me. I’m the reason behind his smile - It’s exhilarating. He’s chatting away happily, telling me about some football tournament he set up with some lads on the beach last summer. It’s perfect. If I let myself, it’s easy to pretend that this is something more than it really is - That we’re something more than we really are. Snow was right - This is fun.

————————————————————————————

Much to my dismay, the DJ seems to have resorted to playing exclusively upbeat, pop songs (meaning there is now no excuse to hold Snow). However, Snow has not stopped dancing - If you can class what he’s currently doing as dancing, that is. He’s madly hopping up and down on the spot, flailing his arms around like a lunatic. If Snow is bad at slow dancing, he is positively abysmal at regular dancing. I’m not complaining though, in spite of his terrible dance moves, he is a sight to behold. His curls are mad now, going in every sort of direction. And, his cheeks have flushed a frankly distracting pink, with the exertion of it all. He's stunning.

“Do you want to go and get a drink? I think I might pass out if I don’t - I’m boiling!" he asks.

“Sure,” I say, nodding my head. He smiles up at me, reaching out towards me, and intertwining our hands once more. He turns then, pulling me in the direction of the drinks table. He weaves us through the dense crowd, refusing to drop my hand until we reach our destination. We must’ve looked slightly strange, but I couldn’t care less. Everyone else is irrelevant right now. Snow held my hand, without the excuse of dancing together. He held it because he wanted to - Granted, most likely not for the reason I would like, but I’ll take what I can get. And this - This is more than I could have ever hoped for.

We sit beside each other on the floor at the edge of the hall, while Snow finishes his drinks - He got three whole pint glasses of lemonade. Honestly, that boy is ridiculous. We don’t talk much (since he’s busy guzzling down his lemonade) , but it’s nice. Every now and then, he’d look over and smile at me slightly - It made my heart melt. I’d gladly sit on this rock-hard floor all day if it meant that he’d smile at me like that.

“We should go and find Penny when I’m done,” he says, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his blazer. Even that uncouth habit couldn't put me off of him now. “Just, I haven’t really spoken to her since we arrived. You okay with that? We can stay just you and me if you’d prefer.”

Of course, I’d rather stay just us two, but I can’t tell him that. I’m already walking on dangerous territory (I’ve allowed myself to take far too many liberties this evening) - If I was that honest, he would certainly suspect something was up. “Certainly, Snow. That's fine by me,” I mumble.

————————————————————————————

When we reach Bunce, she’s got her eyebrows raised and a smug, knowing smile plastered across her face. How irritating. Snow grabbed my hand on the way over - And, she has definitely noticed. I drop his hand quickly, as if burnt. He pouts up at me, clearly confused. I understand why, I’ve let him hold my hand all evening - Everyone around us has already seen, but Bunce seeing is entirely different. Bunce is aware of my real feelings towards Snow. Doing that in front of her … It’s humiliating. Simon just shrugs at me, and jogs forwards, scooping Bunce up into a huge hug.

“Hey Pen, How has your night been? Where did Agatha go?” He asks. Oh. Right. Wellbelove. I had sort of forgotten about her.

“Pretty good, thanks. Aggie went to go and dance with Keris and Trixie. I don’t think she’ll come back,” she answers.

Thank God. I’m not sure whether I could tolerate an evening of Snow and Wellbelove sharing wistful gazes at one another. Although, Snow says he wasn't particularly bothered by their breakup, and I believe him (he never has been a good liar). So, perhaps it wouldn't have been like that at all. Still, her being here would’ve been a bit too awkward for my liking - Given that, technically, I’m the reason they broke up. Somehow, I doubt Wellbelove would’ve appreciated my presence there.

We all start dancing again then. Bunce really isn’t much better than Snow. It’s frankly embarrassing how rhythm-less the two of them are, but dancing with them is far superior to standing on the edge of the hall alone. Bunce slowly shimmies herself over so she is standing beside me, then. She taps on my side, and gestures for me to bring my head down so that she can whisper something in my ear. I oblige, reluctantly (Whatever Bunce has to say, I doubt it’s anything I want to hear).

“I see you listened to my advice, Basilton. What exactly did you tell him?,” she asks, her tone teasing.

Oh. She thinks I told him. Well, I suppose that is understandable, given that Snow has been clinging onto my hands at every available opportunity - We must’ve looked like a couple. Just the thought of that makes me giddy. Me and Snow … A couple. I should be so lucky!

“No, Bunce, you’ve got it wrong. I haven’t told him anything. So please, Keep your trap shut . Unless you’d rather me cast a Cat Got Your Tongue on you - That can be arranged, if need be,” I threaten.

She pulls away from me, an unamused frown adorning her face. “Calm down. I’ve told you already, your secret is safe with me. Sorry, I just assumed … with the hand holding,” she says, her voice trailing off towards the end.

I grimace. Bunce talking about it makes me feel horrendously uncomfortable. I know she saw (obviously), but talking about it - That’s different.

She sighs at me, then. “Seriously? Just - Just tell him. Tonight, Basilton. It’s your last chance, Please don’t waste it - You’ll regret it if you do. There is obviously something going on between the two of you. I just want you both to figure it out.”

I give her a curt nod, unsure of what to say. She rolls her eyes, clearly fed up with trying to convince me. I look over at Snow, he’s still blissfully flopping about the dance-floor, a bright grin spread across his face. He’s the brightest thing in the room. He’s shining. Frustratingly, Bunce is right - I know she is. I have to tell him . And, I will - Tonight. Maybe not until we get back to our room, though. That is not a conversation I want anybody to overhear.

With my decision made, I straighten my back and walk back over to Snow, taking my place at his side.

————————————————————————————

The rest of the night passed in a blur. Me and Snow danced together until the DJ announced that the night was officially over (Bunce had already left by that point). It had undoubtedly been the best night of my life so far. I felt alive - Really, truly, wholly alive. And it was all Snow’s doing.

Now, we’re sitting side-by-side on the steps of the White Chapel. It’s freezing out here, and I’m so close to him that I can feel his body trembling against mine. Every cell in my body is screaming for me to reach out and wrap my arms around him (not that I could really heat him up) - But, I dare not. I’m not entirely sure what we’re supposed to be doing here - Snow just sat himself down on the floor without any explanation, patting the floor beside him in an invitation for me to join. Of course, I didn’t protest. For whatever reason, Snow wanted to spend more time with me - I certainly wasn’t going to turn him down.

“Hey, Baz,” he says, turning to face me. “Were you planning on going to the after-party?”

“Uh. No, Snow. To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn’t aware there was one,” I explain.

“Oh. Well, Keris is hosting one. Everybody is invited. And, she only lives like a fifteen minute walk away. And, I - Um, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? It’s not supposed to be starting until one thirty, so we have time to go and change and everything. But, we could go together? If you wanted.” He’s nervous, I can tell - He’s refusing to meet my eyes, staring intently down at his lap instead.

“With you?” I ask, disbelieving.

“Uh yeah. That’s what I meant. Un - Unless there is somebody else you’d rather go with?”

“No,” I say, far too quickly. My heart is pounding. I need to calm down. “No. There is nobody else. I want to go with you.”

“Wicked” he says, smiling at me, his dimple popping obscenely. Looking at him like this is like staring directly into the sun - It burns. He’s so beautiful it hurts. I dart my gaze down, suddenly sheepish. He’s everything I want. I love him - As absurd as it is, I really do. I love him more than anything. I have to tell him. And it has to be tonight.

He reaches out and rests his hand on top of mine, and I feel my heart surge within my chest . “Come on then,” he whispers. “Let’s go and get ready.”

#carry on #wayward son #snowbaz #snowbaz fic #simon snow #tyrannus basilton grimm pitch

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silly-jellyghoty · 5 years

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As some of you following this mess of a blog may have noticed, I'm getting myself a puppy. Actualy, it's more of a late birthday present from my parents, but the point stays the same - soon, there's going to be a small furry creature by my side and since it will be my responsibility to raise and care about it, instead of surprising me with an actual fluff ball out of the blue, mom and dad let me chose the pup on my own.

Naturally, at some point it became a topic between my coleagues and me during work break yesterday, which is a reason why I am writing this long post right now (sorry but not sorry). I want to talk about this, because some of things about dog raising said people mentioned made me stare at them in disbelief while other made me hopelessly sad and angry. Me. A normal person. Someone who never studied dog psychology or kynology or training methods in any serious way other than reading a few books and stuff on net out of curiosity. I probably can't even imagine what an expert would think about all that nasty stuff I heard from them!

So let me tell you one thing - common people (the ones I talked to at least), even those who currently own a dog or owned one in past, have prety much ZERO IDEA and also ZERO WILL TO LEARN about how to chose the right dog and how to rise it properly! Their whole thinking process when it comes to dogs can be sumarised into - wild puppy appears. Puppy uses cute eyes. It's supereffective. Puppy is now theirs. They put it on a leash or chain. They feed it once a day and get angry when it barks and destroys things. The end.

Like... excuse me?!

In this essay I will...

But seriously. If you think about getting yourself a dog but have no idea how to go around it or you know of someone in such situation who needs a bit of an advice, in this post I will give you all a few tips about chosing process I learned both from getting our previous family dogs and by googling around for hours (not kidding, I've been excessively searching for informations ever since that birthday gift puppy talk I had with my parents).

I hope that this post may help you with chosing just the right dog for you. Or at least it may give you some ideas about which questions to ask yourself and what to look for and think about before you bring a new puppy to your home.

And no, I don't mean questions such as "how big of a dog do I want" or "what and how much does it eat" or "do I have time to take it for a walk everyday" or "should I get a female or male, neutered or not" etc. I believe that you already asked yourself those and you know your answers or have at least some vague idea about what your future dog should or shouldn't be like.

What you probably DIDN'T think to ask yourself or your family members (those guys I talked to before definitely didn't from what I understood) can be put into following categories:

- possible genetic defects and predispositions to hereditary deseases associated with specific dog breeds

- common or seasonal illnesses and health risks associated with dogs body type

- comfortable temperature range for the dog

- intelligence, trainability, temperament etc

- hair and skin care, shedding, grooming difficulty

- background and personal history of specific dog

So let's start with the least funny topic of those and that is INBORN DEFECTS AND HEREDITARY DESEASES

To understand why they are such an issue, especialy in relatively young or modern, recently fixed breeds which origins can be tracked down to just a small number of dogs, you have to realize that the natural form of a dog is a wolf. Size may differ and so can fur lenght, quality and colour, but the shape stays more or less the same - long slim legs with well defined fingers, long wrinkless nose, long slim neck, relatively small standing ears, solid muscular body fully covered in fur. Examples of dog breeds with similar traits include but are not limited to german or belgian shepperds, russian laika and all basic schpitz types of dogs starting with tiny pomeranian and ending with eskimo dog. The less of those traits you find in a dog the more prone to hereditary deseases the said dog breed is for one simple reason - selective breeding.

Older breeds have somewhat of an advantage. They developed over longer time from possibly hundreds maybe thousands of original dogs with different atributes. Mountain breeds turned to be thick coated because short haired dogs simply died during winter. People in areas with a lot of rodents and weasles preffered dogs of smaller sizes to hunt them down. Whether they were terrier, pinch or dachshund shaped, people didn't care as long as rats were gone.

As such, old breeds draw from richer starting genetic pool with less strict breeding oversight in early breed forming stage (this may have changed later and turn towards inbreeding tendencies but it's not a rule) which makes expression of hereditary deseases less likely (this still doesn't mean they have zero, mind you). For the same reason, dog mixes comming from different backgrounds such as half breeds or multiple breeds bastards are, generally speaking, healthier than pure breeds. More genes to draw from means lesser chance of two faulty alellas of same gene meeting in the same animal and expressing itself as a physical flaw or degeneration.

Compared to that, as an example, after a serie of genetic tests on modern pug population in UK, whole breed was tracked back to only aproximately 50 original ancestors. Basicaly, this means that if you compare two dogs whose closest common relative was their grangrangranmother 5 generations ago, chances are that, geneticaly speaking, they are still an equivalent to first cousins because the whole population is just so much inbred.

By this I don't mean to say that you shouldn't get a pug puppy and that pugs are the root of all evil just because of their past of inbreeding. What I'm saying is that before you bring your new pug home, you should do some research about breed's hereditary health issues and predispositions for such and ask yourself - are you prepared for an option that at some point your beloved pet may need an expensive eye surgery? Are you sure you have enough money to pay vet for threating dogs breathing difficulties, allergies and infections connected to its deformed snout (because let's speak openly, dog breeding, especialy when it comes to decorative and companion breeds, is all about active propagations of deformations for the sake of aesthetics, health issues be damned), possibly for a bigger part of their life? Are you prepared to take care of them in case they become partialy paralized due to hip joints deformation in older age?

If your answers are yes, then sure, get yourself a pug. Or bullterrier. Or cavalier king charles spaniel or any similarly inbred dog. If not, then chose a different breed with less potential for inborn defects. Keep in mind that just because the dog meets its breeds standards it doesn't mean those standards are 100% healthy to begin with. Even if the dog is fine right now, it doesn't have to stay that way forever. Use google. Do the math. And take your time chosing.

Next set of questions you should ask and find answers to is about health too, but this time they have less to do with genetics and more to do with BODY TYPE, SIZE AND SHAPE.

A quick overview:

Gigantic breeds tend to have problems with joints and bones, they also have shorter lifespans (french mastif, great dane and irish wolfhund live for only about 7 years. For a comparission, the oldest documented dog is lhasa apso. It lived fir 29 years).

Wrinkled breeds and breeds with excesive skin on head and around mouth or neck have higher risk of getting exema, yeast infection or mites in their skin folds. Combine it with long fur and you can count on antibiotics and/or antiseptic shampoo or powder prety much every rainy season. To add to this, shar-pei are also prone to skin overgrowth where folds may reach such a size that they obscure dogs sight and have to be removed by basicaly dog face lifting surgery. Accidental lip bites and mouth infections are also a thing when it comes to breeds with a lot of skin. Oh, and if such infection lasts for a long time or repeats often there's a high chance of dogs teeth getting infected and falling out as a result. So yeah.

Dogs with long or floppy ears can have a huge problems too. If combined with long fur of spaniel breeds for example, be prepared for seasonal ear infections and exema due to high temperature and humidity which has nowhere to go because of all that hair (we had american cockerspaniel and when she turned 8 she became fully deaf because of this despite my family treating her ears with cleaning drops and antibiotic solutions daily). And don't even get me started about grass seeds stuck in auditory canal. We had to see veterinarian to take those out at least once a week every summer. Also, there will be pieces of food stuck to hair and prepare for puddles of water around the bowl every time they drink too. Fun stuff.

Combine long ears with short legs of basset hounds for example and you get a lot of scratched and accidentaly pierced earlobes by their own claws when they run around and trip over them. It happens more often than you think.

Also about grass seeds and those hard thistle hooks, stabbed between fingers or paw pads, it's prety much impossible to spot them by eye on long haired breeds and you have to search for them by masaging between fingers and pads with your fingers daily during grass and thistle season. If you see a dog biting and licking it's paw, it's either stuck rock, long fur tangled into hard dirty fur ball that needs to be cut off from between its fingers or grass seed.

The list continues. Consider yourself warned.

Another set of questions you should ask is about TEMPERATURE RANGE in your area and is basicaly just about using your common sense.

No matter how charming you find them, for the sake of the dog's well being, please, don't get yourself an alaskan malamute if you live in Florida. And don't expect hungarian vizsla to survive winter in Rocky mountains sleeping outside in dog house either. Use that brain of yours a bit, I'm begging you! (One of my coworkers doesn't understand that dalmatian is NOT a dog suited for living outside whole year around, especialy in those -23°C night drops we get in february. Like excuse me? Poor creature doesn't have the undercoat for that kind of weather!)

INTELLIGENCE AND TEMPERAMENT

This part is easy. Ask yourself what kind of dog you want to own. Flegmatic feet warmer? The one you can take for a jog with you every morning? Agile fast learner for active fun such as freesbee or dog dancing? Childs nanny with a lot of patience around toddlers? A house guardian?

Some breeds are good for more than one thing, some are bred with specific personality in mind. For example - you can't turn border collie into your slow granma's lap warmer she can brush every day for hours, there's shih tzu for that, among other. But what you CAN do with a collie is to have it trained to pick said grandma's fallen walking stick, to bring her ringing phone or to bark if she forgets to turn off gas in kitchen. Remember - there's many many breeds with many different personalities and talents to chose from. Take your time picking.

Also, the saying that dog copies its owner is true. Even one of the calmest breeds - labrador retriever - can turn into a vicious biting beast if raised in disfunctional household. And with a patience and kind treatment, czechoslovakian wolfdogs can be as sweet as sugar.

However, one can't go against dogs predominant behavioral patterns, only along them. Jack russell terriers will be fast and easily excited whether you like it or not. Just because they are trained it doesn't mean they also magicaly lose their natural temperament. Remember that if you chose to get yourself a rat hunter you get yourself a rat speed, agility and seemingly endless energy. And since having a bored dog means having a destructive dog, imagine multiplying that destructive potencial with dogs activity and intelligence level. You don't like where this is going? Your dog, your problem. Chose the breed wisely.

If you still don't have any idea where to start, there's a cheat sheet in form of Stanley Coren's Dog intelligence chart. Naturally, higher on scale - easier to train. Check it out, guys. It may give you some interesting breed choices to consider.

Another category of questions you should answer to yourself before getting a dog is HAIR AND GROOMING related.

Dogs shed. Some all the time, some only once or twice per year. Some hair, despite being short and supposedly easy to care for while on dog in question, is a bitch to get out of clothes and carpets. Meanwhile other hair is so light and silky it floats around if you only as much as think about it, but if let untreatef there's a small dog worth of it everywhere all the time.

There are also exotic fur type options such as komondor or puli dog with natural dreadlocks or hairless xolo from Mexico.

Depending on your choice be prepared to spend anything from one week of seasonal blowout for akita inu or malamut to daily brush of lhasa apso. Either you make the time for grooming it yourself or you pay for it in dog saloon but one way or another, the hair is there and something has to be done about it. Again - your dog, your choice. Just be sure you know what you are getting into. Use that damned google or ask other dog owners about their grooming routine.

Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to fur is whether or not you can get your dog wet. Some breeds with thick fur may take too long to dry on their own which may result in pneumonia in cold weather or yeast infection, mites and exemas in hot temperatures. Don't bath those kinds of dogs unless it's realy necessary and be prepared to invest into dog rain coat and right grooming tools. Or, have them buzzed regularly.

But then again, WHY in the hell would you get yourself a long haired breed if you cut its beautiful mane to 5mm nonsense every month?! I've seen this done to ALL yorkshire and west white terriers in my town without exception. Like... what the hell? If you guys want a small terrier but you are too lazy to brush that long fur regularly then just get yourself border or jack russel terriers to begin with! I mean, the whole point of having a yorkie or westie is the trademark long fur goddamnit!

Oh and about cool fur (I almost forgot to mention this) there's rhodesian ridgeback whose back hair grows the other way! Check it out!

The last of important things you should consider before bringing a new dog home is its BACKGROUND AND PERSONAL HISTORY of the dog

This is especialy important if you are getting an adult dog or a dog from shelter.

Just as humans have their habits and past traumas, dogs have their own too. Aside from obvious problems connected to initial changes of dogs environment and/or lifestyle after transfer, dogs with the past of abuse may pull you into a whole lot of difficult situations.

They may be unusualy agresive or shy or scaredy or whatever compared to other dogs of the same breed (or multiple breeds if they are mixed) or they may act perfectly normal until triggered by something specific and behave in unexpected way when distressed.

We had such a problem with our retriever x boxer x german shepperd mix when she first came to us. She was all nice and friendly untill anyone, be it a family member or stranger, picked up a stick or rod. She had an abusive first owner who used to beat her using those, we think, and so sticks and other long slim items held in one hand turned into her stress trigger. My family was lucky that her first reaction was to flee and hide and as she grew to trust us the issue faded accordingly till it fully disappeared, but different dogs may act differently. Keep that in mind if you get yourself a rescuee.

Dogs which struggled with hunger in past tend to turn into glutons and may develop obesity and associated deseases if you don't keep their food intake in check. Those which came from households of alcoholics may react agresively to smell of alcoholic drinks. If the dog was tortured by nasty brats, it may attack children on sight. Et cetera et cetera.

So if you decided to get yourself a "second hand" pet, find out as much about that dogs past as possible. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst advice has never been more true than when it comes to dogs comming from shelters.

Thank you for comming to my TED talk and feel free to add your own experiences and opinions

#dog #dogs #love dogs #dog breeds #how to chose #lhasa apso #shar pei #malamute #german sheperd dog #golden retriever #pug #king charles spaniel #yorkshire terrier #westie #boxerdog #jack russell terrier #purebreed #mixed breed #and everything else

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