🦀 Kudos Crab 🦀
If you are scrolling and see Kudos Crab, your fics will be blessed!
You will get good comments and kudos!
You will beat your writers block!
GO AND WRITE!
🪼
DEAR READER

❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
Cosmic Funnies
ojovivo
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
art blog(derogatory)

roma★
Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
dirt enthusiast
No title available
we're not kids anymore.

@theartofmadeline

No title available

★
RMH
AnasAbdin
Mike Driver
Xuebing Du
Today's Document
seen from Singapore

seen from Malaysia
seen from Estonia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye

seen from Malaysia
seen from China

seen from Malaysia

seen from Malaysia
seen from Japan

seen from United Kingdom
seen from Singapore

seen from Japan
seen from Netherlands

seen from Japan
seen from South Korea

seen from South Africa

seen from Netherlands

seen from Singapore
@dancerwrites
🦀 Kudos Crab 🦀
If you are scrolling and see Kudos Crab, your fics will be blessed!
You will get good comments and kudos!
You will beat your writers block!
GO AND WRITE!
also hey! new critters and old alike. be aware of the critical role transcript search
remember a certain line but not the episode it’s from? plug it in here. remember a word a player said but not the context? plug it in here. want a specific timestamp for a line? plug it in here.
it’s an absolute goldmine in terms of rewatch value and it seems like not many folks actually know about it so! PSA
“The prince just fell in love with Cinderella because of her looks!”
Wrong. Okay, picture this–
So there’s the prince, okay? He’s like, smack dab in the center of the ballroom, and he is like, horrifically aware that this whole ball thing is a result of his dad falling into a panic about the royal lineage or whatever and he’s stuck listening to highborn girl after highborn girl, all lined up, introducing themselves like, “Oh yeah my family’s been a longtime supporter of the crown, and I think you’re cute, *cough* I’ve been told I have child-bearing hips *cough* Who said that? Anyway–” and Princey boy is just smiling through it, he has been the center of attention for entirely too long, he misses his emotional support horse, and is just internally like “Someone please kill me now.” And then… he sees her–This isn’t a love at first sight thing, this is a ‘what the hell is going on over there’ thing, because this girl has not gotten into the Debutante line for a solid 45 minutes.
She’s just at the hors d’oeuvres table going HAM on the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, and like, she’s polite about it, she’s happy to move aside for other people grabbing punch and canapes (and she’s really so sweet with the wait staff, it’s kind of cute because they’re like… definitely not used to being acknowledged) but it’s like, “Damn girl, did you not eat today?” and then the prince is kind of stuck with the uncomfortable thought of ‘how many girls starved themselves to fit into a corset for this.’ And then the Prince realizes he’s missed the past 4 Debutante introductions because he’s watching Mystery girl hork down crab rangoons. So he’s like, “Excuse me” and manages to break free from the never-ending parade of girls who will hop on his dick for status.
And as he’s approaching Mystery Girl, it’s kind of hitting him that something’s not quite natural about her. Not fake, but not quite real. But at the same time this whole evening’s been just a whole circus of people acting fake as hell, so like, someone seeming a little off doesn’t seem bad, necessarily. And he sidles up to her like, “Hi,” and she’s like, “Oh–hey, have you tried the tapenade?” and she points to one of the plates, and at this point, he could hit her with the “You don’t know who I am, do you?” deal or the “Very funny, I see your play” deal, but at this point it occurs to him that, no, he hasn’t had anything to eat throughout this whole damn ball, partially because of being stuck in the debutante parade, partially because of nerves, and there’s something so disarming about the question that he grabs a crostini and she still seems so food-focused that it doesn’t seem possible that this is a play. So they both grab little plates and ditch the party.
She pretty much clears her plate in under two minutes and then has half of his plate, he’s cool with it, mostly he’s just absolutely fascinated listening to her.
See here’s the thing about Cinderella:
1. She doesn’t know he’s the prince. Like yeah, he’s been at the center of the room, but she’s kind of spent half the party eagerly looking around everywhere she’s allowed to go (”Have you seen rose garden? Have you seen the solarium??” further confirmation that she doesn’t know who she’s talking to) and the other half stuffing her face with food.
2. She assumes she’s never going to see anyone here tonight again, and no one recognizes her, so she has no filter.
So she’s just talking about whatever with this guy. He seems cool. She talks about her friends, who are rats. She makes little outfits for them. Sometimes they bring her little gifts. She is already the coolest person the prince has ever met because of this. She pretty much offhandedly talks about whatever is fucked up about the kingdom that would take his advisors two hours of hemming and hawing and watering down to address. She just says it like it’s nothing, just funky little things she’s observed, and again, she’s not aware that he’s the prince, but it’s still pretty damn bold to bring up at a literal royal ball.
She… seems to have the majority of graces that lots of girls from Respectable Families™ have, but there’s something strange about it, something simultaneously broken and hardened, like the way you can see where ice has thawed and re-frozen. Also the way she talks about her family, and the way she avoids talking about her family– is raising several red flags, not in the “Oh this is another person trying to take advantage of me” sense, but in the “Oh fuck, something’s gone really wrong and you need help” sense and also lowkey a ‘damn is she even getting fed?’ sense. But he can’t say, ‘Hey, that’s not fucking normal for people to say that to you or treat you that way. We need to get you out of there,’ without sounding crazy himself, so for now, he’s just going to chill, make sure she’s comfortable, and keep enjoying the evening. She’s somehow befriended like 4 of the waitstaff so they’re willing to cover for them while they disappear for a little bit, and they get plenty of time to talk, but eventually it hits her that she hasn’t danced yet and she’s like “Come on! I bet we can make the prince jealous!” and he just bursts out laughing at that like “hell yeah, let’s make the prince jealous. He’s a real asshole.” Like clearly she’s having a good time, so who is he to make it weird? So they head back to the ballroom and they dance. And our girl, Mystery Girl, Cinderella, while they’re dancing, becomes acutely aware that everyone is staring. That doesn’t seem quite right. Like, yeah she’s hot, she knows she’s hot, but at least a good third of the party should still be focused on the prince, right? Where is that guy, anyway?
Oh.
Oh wait.
Oh shit.
And Princey Boy actually picks up on her realization and they whisper argue for like 3 minutes. “Why didn’t you tell me?! Now I feel like a goddamn idiot!” “I dunno it was nice being treated like a normal person” “Well me treating you like a normal person makes me a goddamn felon or something did you consider that?!” “Hey–Hey–it’s cool–you’re cool–I think you’re amazing, and if anyone says shit about you, I can shut it down.” “Well I don’t like that! That’s fucked up!” “I agree. It is fucked up, but I believe in you, and I think you should have a chance, and I’m here to back you up. I know power is fucked up right now. I know. But are you cool with working with me to change that?” And our girl Cindy pauses on that for a couple seconds, because.. she’s just spent hours with this guy and like.. she knows he’s a good guy, she knows he means well, so she’s like, “I don’t know how long I can actually work with you.” and the prince is like “Look, I know your home situation is complicated right now, but I really think we can–”
And then the bell starts ringing.
It’s midnight.
And then she takes off in a panic, and our prince just met the coolest person ever, and like, he’s pretty sure whatever situation they’re headed back to is fucked up, and all he’s got going to find her is a shoe. A shoe.
Anybody else got that Evergiven sized writers block
“Where’s the next chapter?!” Well buddy you’re never gonna guess
What’s the comic sans trick?
show concept: a professional cook who can talk to ghost, they talk with the ghosts, learn they’re favorite recipies while they were alive and try them
OMG the name could be Medi-yum
It’s been over an hour since you were bit, and you still haven’t turned into a zombie. You’ve also been oddly nonchalant about the whole thing. Your group is starting to suspect you werent human to begin with.
Okay, so I absolutely planned to make this guy a vampire, but then someone reminded me of a better idea.
~~~
Getting bitten by a zombie shouldn’t have been a relief, but I was so tired. All the panic and the scrambling for safety, and the paranoia that someone may have been infected without saying anything, and the aggravating frustration that this is so stupid; this shouldn’t be happening — it wears on the soul. So when I got my arm too close in pulling someone else to safety, and lost a painful chunk, all I could do was yell about it then get away.
Everyone saw, of course. Not that I would have hidden it from them because I’m not that kind of jackass, but it was embarrassing. Rookie mistakes get you killed. Or zombified, which is basically the same thing.
I didn’t object when the group locked me in a side room while they decided what to do long-term. I didn’t really know this gaggle of survivors that well, after all, and they easily could have just shoved me outside to join the shambling hordes. Nice of them not to. Those hordes will rip you apart if you’re not rotten enough.
So I just settled in as best I could on the folding chair among the boxes of junk, bandaged my arm with Kleenex and tape, then waited. The bandage was really just so it would stop dripping on my pants. I might as well be comfortable in my last minutes.
Those last minutes sure were boring. It had to be close to an hour by now.
I called through the door, “Hey, anybody got a magazine or something? There’s nothing to do in here.”
I’d hoped they would shove something under the door, but instead they just burst into furtive conversation. I sighed. Maybe there was something to read in the boxes. Pretty sure it was just office supplies, though.
I was turning the nearest box in search of labels when a voice sounded at the door.
“Are you still okay?” asked whatshisface the tall guy. Jared.
“Yeah, so far,” I said. “Not gonna lunge at you if you open the door.”
“How are you still okay?” he asked.
“Uh, what?” was my witty response.
Keep reading
“The Opposites Game,” Brendan Constantine
Can white people write POC as main characters?
@horse-faced-activist-gay said:
Recently a writing group I “audit” had a discussion about white authors writing poc, and the unanimous takeaway was “of course do it, just never as the pov/main character(s).” The argument was that no matter how careful or well researched, the pov will always come off like a white character in “digital blackface.” That there needed to be a good reason to write from that perspective, ie if the character’s race changed it should change the story? My pov character is Black; I’m white. I’ve been following this blog a long time and implementing the advice, but is the essence of me trying to write from her perspective misguided? I’ve now seen more than one author echo these sentiments. Is this just an excuse for white authors to avoid writing poc in lead roles, or an attempt not to overstep readers/authors of color? I’m very confused; any help would be greatly appreciated.
YES.
White people absolutely can write PoC as main characters if not the protagonists of their stories!
I didn’t create this blog for people to make PoC side characters 24/7! Not at all. Please write People of Color as main characters, no matter who you are.
- Colette
More reading: WWC General Topics Compilation
W a o.
Such toxic virtue signaling! If I’m being charitable, at best this is cowardice. At worst, this is the kind of BS discourse that is used to attack writers of color when they attempt anything besides personal memoirs. I recommend finding a new writing group.
- Marika
Very concerned about the state of this writing group.
~ Mod Rina
P.S. You’re right, OP, it is definitely an excuse.
Many of the responses to this post have indicated it’s fine for white people to write PoC MCs so long as you aren’t publishing them, because publishing is set up to favour white voices and you’ll be taking slots away from an author of a non-white background if you write diversity.
When it comes to the English-speaking Western market, the issue with this is twofold:
1- Most WWC readers will not be traditionally published writers; the odds of anyone becoming one are very low
2- It places a little too much blame on individuals for systemic problems in an industry
The Statistics of Becoming a Published Author
Quite a large number of people attempt to become published authors. Very few of them make it, and even fewer make their whole living off of it. So when we are giving advice, we rarely assume that these people will become professional writers, or at least, will become professional writers as their sole job description.
Also, the indie publishing market is where quite a few marginalized writers end up going, either from not being able to gain traction in traditional publishing or from simply preferring the creative control. In the indie market, there are no slots for you to take, as anyone can enter the market.
(White privilege is still in effect in the indie market, in terms of who gets talked about the most and whose social media efforts pay off the highest, but there is a slightly more equitable potential from a lack of gatekeepers limiting the flow of stories)
As a result, lecturing people who have a very low chance of making it in traditional publishing about how terrible they are if they try to publish because they’re doing it wrong has very little point, and ends up serving as virtue signalling.
Diversity in creators is a deeply important thing, yes, and supporting diverse creators will help move the needle. But:
Systemic Change Needs Systemic Solutions
So you have successfully convinced a whole bunch of white writers that they cannot have diverse MCs, because if they do, they are stealing slots.
Have you convinced any editors or agents? No. And it’s the agents and editors who will allow new writers to come in. As evident by two literary agencies imploding in the wake of 2020’s BLM protests, and one industry organization near-imploding at the start of 2020 from racism, these structures are very racist and will not be convinced easily.
Talking to writers, especially aspiring writers, is talking to the group with the least amount of power in the situation. Traditionally published authors, both established and trying-to-break-in, are at the mercy of their agents, editors, and marketing team. They are also at the mercy of the governing bodies of their organizations, which may very well not have their best interests at heart.
Publishing is very white, yes. Publishing talks a big talk over being progressive without actually being progressive, yes. You can’t fix those issues without addressing the poverty wages that favour those with independent wealth and/or are secondary incomes for their household, the lack of remote work opportunities (the pandemic ground traditional publishing to a halt, because most publishers didn’t even allow electronic signatures until the pandemic), the fact major publishing houses only exist in expensive cities like NYC, and the lack of part-time opportunities.
How, pray tell, can even a large group of writers fix that, when they are not the ones who are doing budgets for publishing companies?
Writers are not a unionized profession. There are some organizations that have some metrics of checking the industry, but there is a definitive lack of any single writers group that can create a collective strike until diversity demands are met. If a writer, or even a group of writers, strikes—they’re simply replaced. There is far, far too much supply of people who would cross the picket line to fill up those slots for writer actions to have much impact.
The Power of an Established Author
This might be controversial, but an established author adding diversity to their work can indeed help authors from more diverse backgrounds write fun stories for themselves.
Publishing is at the mercy of “the market.” They make all of their actions in the name of “the market.” And since publishing margins are so thin, and they pay most of the costs up-front, they will base everything off what has already sold.
Their sample sizing is small and their studies are flawed, but this is what they’re working with.
If an established author does something like, say, write a fairly prominent character who is of x marginalization, and that representation is done well, and that representation sells and leads to people snapping up that book—you have now added data to “the market” that says that this type of character is profitable, and therefore allowed to exist.
Asian stories began expanding in film after Avatar: The Last Airbender and Crazy Rich Asians, because network and studio executives saw these stories could be wildly popular. Yes, AtLA had problems and got ten buckets of things wrong from the start. Yes, CRA was xenophobic from an intra-Asian perspective. However, both were groundbreaking for their times. The same could be said for Buffy, both for being groundbreaking at the time and not standing up to newer representation in the same genre.
Will it guarantee a trickle down? No. But it does help show the white team that these stories are profitable. And you get enough clamouring for those kinds of stories and enough sales for these kinds of stories, and you begin to see creator profiles diversify.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to act as a bridge between white people and creators of color, by writing a story that has a not-white MC in a voice that’s still tinted by whiteness, but is hopefully not completely white and allows for the less white voices to come in. That is what it means to use your white privilege for good.
Consumer vs Writer
The ones who have some power to move the needle are consumers. Consumers can buy not-white authors and prove the market can support multiple of them. Consumers can seek out the indie market to show large publishers that people want to buy certain kinds of stories (this is how LGBTQ+ romances began to break into mainstream).
Note that this is still not systemic change that would allow the publishing industry to diversify, but it is something that would allow some change in what authors receive offers of traditional publishing.
WWC’s advice is primarily to writers. We drop in many notes to read diversity, especially if you want to write with it, because it is important to support real Creators of Color instead of exclusively supporting the characters in media themselves, but we are speaking to writers.
Consuming Diversity
Consuming diverse media will help you write diverse media, doubly so if you are writing something that might be touchy with the group in question.
This has both the benefit of supporting the creators of color and encouraging the market to diversify, but it also gives you very important data around what is safe to be discussed in media. Only good things can come from diversifying your media selection, both in the books themselves, and seeking out reviewers of color to share in the joys of those books while also exposing yourself to new perspectives.
You, as an outsider, cannot determine the boundaries of what is hurtful and what is not. Only insiders can do that. If you can’t find writers from the background you wish to use writing about a certain thing— don’t do it as an outsider. And if you can barely find any authors from that background at all, that’s a sign you need to vote with your dollar first, try getting it published second.
You will need to sample a large, varying group of authors to get a general sense where the boundaries are— and you’ll never make everyone happy. But at least if you have absorbed a lot of stories, you’ll know you’re within some people’s boundaries of what’s allowed to be discussed and not.
On Identity Stories
Probably the most controversial of the lot.
Depending on which group you talk to, you’ll either get an “absolutely not” or a “well, we have enough material out there, so… run it by us first but go ahead and try?” You can and will get these differing opinions within the same group.
Cultural competency is a skill learned over time, particularly when leveraged by experience. If you are starting from “I’m from a mostly white town that has maybe one token PoC family I was never close with”, chances are you’re better off starting with diverse side characters and consuming a whole lot of stories from non-white people before attempting to write a character of colour as a main character.
But if you’re from a really diverse town, you were perhaps the token white family around, and you’ve experienced tons and tons of cultural sharing from just making friends? You will be in a much stronger position to write something that really tackles deep issues.
If we examine the backgrounds of many white authors who are considered to be more successful by BIPOC communities when writing non-white characters, even for stories centered on identity, we see these patterns of cultural competency. These are individuals who have lived or worked in settings where they themselves are the minority, who have studied the regions and cultures they feature in their stories, who have spent time in fields that put them in touch with a wide variety of human experiences: diplomacy, teaching, library sciences, healthcare and social work.
In short, they are people who, independent of their writing career, have done active work in connecting to people different from them. This does not mean that being a schoolteacher automatically makes a white person better at writing with diversity. However a white person who chose to become a teacher in order to address inequality in education is more likely to utilize the skills they might employ to better understand the perspectives of their non-white students to create realistic non-white characters.
In conclusion
Discourse activists often treat structural issues as if they are made up of isolated problems, each with a single solution. However, most workable solutions must be multi-pronged. Imagine the probable profile of a paid, white author. Compared to their BIPOC counterpart, this person is more likely to:
Be published in a traditional publishing setting
Have wide visibility with consumers
Enjoy the economic and political freedom to write as they please
Much of this is because Western publishing environments afford them these privileges. However, while one can reasonably ask people to be aware of their privilege, it is less reasonable to expect them to restrict their own opportunities and act against their own interests (Would you?). Operating with zero-sum logic is rarely as effective as encouraging people to pursue mutual benefit.
More sensible recommendations for the public as a whole, including writers, may include:
Encouraging white writers to promote their POC colleagues
Rewarding established authors who provide networking/ mentorship opportunities to aspiring POC writers
Demanding greater transparency from publishers on editorial staff demographics, promotional and marketing budgets and salaries for authors
Pursuing expansion of consumer tastes
Incentivizing educational institutions to nurture POC writers
Supporting the number of POC involved in the criticism, evaluation and analysis of compelling media (including independent reviewers such as booktubers of color)
Increasing public consumption of written media through book fairs, libraries, independent bookstores while reducing reliance on monopolies (Hi Amazon) for distribution.
It is easy to point out problems in society. It is a much more difficult and involved commitment to be a part of the solution.
- WWC
P.S: Individual moderator perspectives will be coming at a later date, likely in a separate post
[ID: a background of wildflowers with a coral-colored block in the upper third and at the footer. White text reads “Haven invites you to The Critical Role Summer Wildflower Exchange for fandom biodiversity. Submissions open June 10th-26th. Sineups open June 27th-July 11th.”]
[ID 2: white text above a brown outline of a poppy on a coral background reading “No: BeauYasha, WidoMauk, Perc’ahlia, ShadowGast, Platonic WidoBrave, WidoFjord, Fjorester, or vax’leth]
The Critical Role Summer Wildflower Exchange
A not-quite-rarepair exchange.
Dreamwidth. Haven Discord Community. Ao3.
The rules are pretty simple: any pairings are allowed except the top ten relationships on ao3 under Critical Role - the ones that currently have the most works. These are, in order, Beau/Yasha, Caleb/Molly, Percy/Vex, Caleb/Essek, Caleb/Jester, Beau/Jester, Caleb & Nott | Veth, Caleb/Fjord, Fjord/Jester, and Vax/Keyleth.
Please see the ao3 link for more information,
So I've caught up on Starship Iris finally and, having finished GtN and HtN last month I am kind of dying for an Iris AU where Cavalier!Arkady is a defector from the 4th house and Necromancer!Violet exists and is maybe 3rd house, with bureaucratic reason she gets drafted to go to Canaan House instead of someone more important... (who the important person is doesn't really matter because we care more about Violet that w/e Princess at this point) And Cavalier!Krejjh and Necromancer!Brian are 5th house in love or 6th house research and Sana and Campbell are 2nd, or maybe 4th fealty... I just have my brain going SO MANY DIRECTIONS HERE please tell me someone else has listened to/read these because I have THOUGHTS 👀
It’s only a murmur at first. One more of the Mighty Nein has married, with a small but beautiful wedding in the Menagerie Coast. The Bright Queen is mildly offended to have been both uninformed and uninvited - particularly after the same offense had been given by both the Lavorres and the Nydoorins - but sends her regards, nevertheless. Then the curious part makes its way through the grapevine into Xhorhas. For Caleb Widogast had always been almost overly friendly with the late Shadowhand, and all the whispers name his new husband Essek.
It’s absurd, of course - Shadowhand Essek perished in the Astral Sea years ago. The Mighty Nein had given the tearful report themselves, and what reason had they to lie? His replacement had made sure, regardless; scrying had turned up no trace. But the Dynasty is nothing if not thorough, and so the first Taskhand to volunteer finds himself far away from home with a mystery to solve.
Keep reading
Some of the best writing advice I ever got was if you’re stuck on a scene or a line, the problem is actually about 10 lines back and that’s saved me from writer’s block so many times.
I feel like I need an elaborate explanation
Often times, I find myself stuck on what a character should say next or what should happen in a scene to connect A to B or so on. When this happens, I fall into the trap of writing and rewriting the same few lines over and over, and becoming more and more dissatisfied every time until I give up.
But problem is almost never actually whatever line I’m trying to write at the moment; the issue is the stuff leading up to the line. Maybe there are structural issues with the set up, maybe I wrote a bit of dialogue that was out of character leading to a discussion that doesn’t make sense, maybe I’m missing a vital piece of exposition or expositing too much. It could be a lot of things, but the important part of the advice is to look back and be willing to consider changes to something earlier in the work (even if you’re really attached to like a piece of dialogue or a particular sentence or something) instead of trying to find a way to force out a scene that’s not working.
🎤
🎤 Favorite line from a fic:
This is a whole little passage from a Kimallura fic I wrote way back in 2017, but it makes me chuckle every time I look back at it 😄
cw for implied sexual activity (nothing graphic)
"It’s just that- the last time I pleaded for Bahamut’s strength was, oh I can’t even remember-“
“That was hardly a week ago,” Allura cut in, still smiling, as she came back with two cups, one full of Kima’s coffee, black, and the other with the strong tea she preferred in the morning.
Kima finally caught her breath, sighing, but confusion filled her as she realized she wasn’t entirely sure what Allura was referencing.
Allura’s smile narrowed to a smirk. “Do you really need a refresher? If I recall, we were up in our bedroom, taking an early consummation of our vows and you were spread out across the bed, oh so sweetly while I-“
“Oh, that!” Kima cut her off as a warm rush ran through her whole body and her chest tightened at the memory. Now that had been one hell of a night.
Thank you! 🥰
🏆🌍 !!!
Ooo some good ones:
🏆 Fic I'm the most proud of
I'm proud of a few different fics, but I'm particularly fond of "until the weight falls from your back (I’ll keep you in my arms tonight)". A Perc'ahlia fic that takes place after episode 82 of Critical Role campaign 1, it explores some of the tenderness they have in their relationship, and is really just a feel-good bath fic, with intimacy and fluff, but no sexual content. It was and still is pretty different from everything I've written, and I'm still proud looking back on it 😊
🌍 favorite type of AU to write?
Probably some variation on a modern AU? It's so interesting to explore how characters' motivations and histories and actions can translate into various settings, and there are So Many options to explore! It's hard to narrow things down within there, and role-swap AUs are Also delightful 👀 especially, if I'm just trying to maximize angst potential 😄
Thank you! 💞💞
fanfic writer ask game that’s definitely not an excuse for shameless self promo
rb if you want to play!
🌗 fluff or angst?
🧑 favorite character to write?
💕 favorite ship to write?
📚 favorite fandom for write for?
🍑 do you/would you write smut?
🥰 fave fic you’ve written?
🏆fic youre most proud of?
💎 fave trope to write?
🌍fave type of au to write?
🍄how do you get yourself in the mood to write?
💡what inspires your fic ideas?
🕶canonverse or au?
📒any fics planned?
🎤fave line in a fic you wrote?
🎁 have a quote from a WIP?
Haven is a discord server for writers, artists, and creatives of all kinds.
No salt, a sprint bot, dedicated fandom and original content channels, and a bunch of really sweet people. Friendly to all genres of content.
Vex and Vax have a secret, and it is this: they don’t know whose dæmon is whose.
They think, perhaps, that Kari is Vex’s – given that Vex has wanted to fly practically since she could talk. The raven looks at home on Vex’s shoulder, after all, flaring his wings and nipping at her earrings, toying with her hair. He looks as though he belongs there. As though he is part of her. As though he could never possibly leave her.
That leaves Kira as Vax’s, a cat as black as the shadows he walks in so often. They’re not sure what breed she is – probably a moggy, Vax had said once, affectionately, and gotten bitten for his troubles. She is a sleek thing, as light and soundless on her feet as Vax is, and equally good at getting into places she really shouldn’t. She follows him across rooftops and through open windows without a care in the world, a ghost in a rogue’s footsteps.
The dæmons know whose is whose, probably – or maybe they once did, but they too have forgotten. Either way, neither of them are telling.
Then Vex gets a broom, and Kira takes to sitting on the back of it when she flies, all neat and elegant like a real witch’s cat. Then Vax gets wings, and a pact with the Raven Queen, and Kari takes to calling death is coming, death is coming from his place on one pauldron of his ancient leather armour. The twins begin to think that, perhaps, they had guessed wrong.
When the Raven Queen comes to claim her Champion, though, it is Kira who runs after Vax into the eternal dark – just a cat, in the end, chasing after the bird that she never quite managed to catch.
And it is Kari who stays behind, perched upon Vex’s shoulder as though he is a part of her, and crying out softly for his flock-mate: come home, come home.