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New Orufrey fic!

"Atwert's Gift (and our solace in lies)"

While at the Great Hall, Olruggio learns of Atwert's new spell: one to restore memories erased by magic. But in the time it takes to bring that spell home to Qifrey, something strange happens... and Olruggio is left staring at his oldest, dearest friend, knowing

e x a c t l y

what

he did.

Rated T, 6.5k words, spoilers for ch 40 and ch 57

#Witch Hat Atelier #Orufrey #Olruggio #Qifrey #My fics #I actually started this back in Oct 2023 #So it's got this wonderful dramatic mix of Halloween Horror and requited/unconfessed love and (sorry Olly but Qifrey makes a good point) #I saw the (ch 75) light and it made me a Qifrey Apologist - I'm not sorry

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Been working on some new fandom fics, and looking at/editing some years-old Daevabad stories that were nearly finished, and it's remarkable to me what themes I keep being drawn towards. Like deep trust and the betrayal of it, or emotional roller-coasters where characters talk on end to work through whatever happened, or stories of love so genuine that it emotionally wrecks me and fuck up my sinuses. Like!

I understand why, with Daevabad and how things ended and what aspects were left unfinished or unsaid between the characters I cared about. I get why that drove me to write dozens of fics and post 72k words so far with easily another 50k to go.

But it's..... I want to say deranged, lmao, how I unintentionally latched onto those same aspects in a completely different series. Like I'm looking at my emotionally overwhelming orufrey fics and I'm looking at my emotionally overwhelming nahli fics it's a venn diagram.

Anyway.... I'm wrapping things up, I'm hoping to be posting a lot soon.

Website-wise, I know it's down. There were. Server issues. (the server died) I'm looking for a new webhost, and will re-upload things after that. Until then everything is still viewable through the internet archive.

#*Sings a song about how my webhost sucks* #*they knew the server was aged and failing and never offered to move my data* #*they were happy to keep billing me after it crashed. Like seriously wtf am I even paying forrr*

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I know it's unbelievable, but I've actually posted a fic! I'm hoping to polish/post all of my old wips, and I've finished the oldest one, from March 2020. (I keep mentioning this so you'll understand that my other fics are better 😅)

Taking place during Kingdom of Copper, Nahri and Ali explore a mysterious ruin with invisibility shenanigans, and have some romantic pining/drama/confessions along the way.

Daevabad Trilogy, Nahri/Ali, 5k words, Rated G, COB/mid-KOC spoilers.

#The Daevabad Trilogy #Nahri e-Nahid #Alizayd al Qahtani #My fics #Kingdom of Copper

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It's been nearly a year, but I finally finished chapter 2 for my fic "And the past will lap at our shores in waves." ✨

Last time, Nahri learned the truth about her hospital and what the Nahids did to the Am Gezira shafit as it became Very Relevant again. This chapter sees the characters processing that news, as well as setting up some plot-related actions for future chapters that I may or may not ever write. 😅

This is 6.4k words of quiet, tense angst, with a sliver of romantic Nahli fluff/being supportive partners at the end because who am I without it.

Rated T, Nahri/Ali, spoilers for The Daevabad Trilogy and some mild ones for The River of Silver.

#The Daevabad Trilogy #My fics #Alizayd al Qahtani #Nahri e-Nahid #Nahli

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Mishmish & Sobek Notepad

This is a notepad design I made for The Tsundoku Chronicles' River of Silver Bookish Box that's currently on sale!

I'm really happy with how it turned out. 💖

If you would like a notepad, check out TheTsundokuChronicles on Etsy, and if you want Mishmish on a sticker or something, look me up on Redbubble! 💖🦁

#The Daevabad Trilogy #The Empire of Gold #The River of Silver #Mishmish #Shedu #Sobek #My art #Clip Studio Paint #Musoart #Should I make Sobek a sticker too?

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Jade's 2021 in Review 🎆

This year I....

I worked on 12 drawings and finished 2:

Nahli Rainbow

Sobek and his Hatchling (au)

I worked on 26 fics and posted 10:

The List

Call Me Friend (but keep me closer) (chapters 1-4)

Ending the Cycle

Want a Quickie

Non-Perilous Activities (chapter 2)

A bird may love a fish Signore but where will they live

And the past will lap at our shores in waves

I also did a bunch of updates for the Daevapedia Wiki, including making a new layout, doing the author-annotated EoG and CoB pages, Book Editions, Merchandise, and worldbuilding/Q&A pages, among some other things.

I also...

Posted 9 bookstagram photos, which I am counting as an accomplishment because prepping these photos was hard. 🥺 (Instagram link)

Read/listened to 74 books and finished 56. 🎉📚 My favorite books/series of these were: The Outlaw Road duology (Sunshield, Floodpath), Gideon the Ninth, Percy Jackson: Heroes of Olympus, Trials of Apollo, Romeo and/or Juliet, A Forgery of Magic (Nocturna/Oculta), and The Magic Fish.

Watched 16 movies/tv shows; my favorites being Schitt's Creek, Move to Heaven, and Knives Out.

And played 18 games; favorites being Metroid Dread, Gris, and Animal Crossing New Horizons. I also started Duolingo, and was a top 1% language learner, but I think that says more about their participation statistics than my XP score.

Finally, I also made a Redbubble Shop account and it actually sold some items, omg. (the most popular being the Pokémon stickers, and mugs)

Here's to 2022 and hopefully being able to getting more things done. And good health and etc. ☀️

#My posts #Year in Review

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"And the past will lap at our shores in waves"

Early into his marriage with Nahri, Ali is haunted by fears of what happened to his namesake's first family. Fears made worse when Zaydi al Qahtani's poisoned scabbard is found and returned to Daevabad in a misguided tribute, forcing Ali to reveal the last of the truths he kept from Nahri regarding her beloved hospital and its horrid past.

Daevabad Trilogy, Nahri/Ali, rated T, 5.4k words. KoC and EoG spoilers.

#The Daevabad Trilogy #Alizayd al Qahtani #Nahri e Nahid #my fics #empire of gold #Nahli #Started this in January -- so nice to finally have it done

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A bird may love a fish, Signore, but where will they live?

Five short scenes where Nahri and Ali learn to live between swimming and soaring. (and where the whole thing is an allegory for their relationship and how they approach it together)

Scenes 1-2 are rated G (pining/innuendo); 3-4 are rated T (suggestive, ust); and 5 is M (oh my)

Nahri/Ali, rated M, 4.6k words, post-EoG.

#The Daevabad Trilogy #Nahri e Nahid #Alizayd al Qahtani #Empire of Gold #My fics #Nahli #Nahri and Ali #This is where I pretend to be cool about officially posting an M fic under my name #It's not my first M fic but it is my first posted one #Welp

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Sobek and his hatchling

Thinking about an au where instead of being sent to the Citadel, baby Ali was taken by the marid.

#Daevabad spoilers #Empire of Gold spoilers #The daevabad trilogy #Clip Studio Paint #Alizayd al Qahtani #Empire of gold #I say 'thinking' but this pic was literally the extent of it #I can't believe I just drew and finished this in like a day #Now if only I could finish all my other little ideas this quickly #Musoart

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So glad this is finally done, but here it is, eleven months late-- Chapter 2 for Non-Perilous Activities. 🎉👏

In this chapter, Nahri and Ali take a class on making flower arrangements and baking bread, and are general disasters about it while being cute and flirty. (this sucker was a pain to write, so I overindulged in the cuteness.)

The Daevabad Trilogy, Nahri/Ali, rated G, 4.4k words, post-EoG.

#The Daevabad Trilogy #Alizayd al Qahtani #Nahri e Nahid #Empire of Gold #Post-Empire of Gold #My fics #Nahli #Nahri and Ali

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Now that I've learned how to do the read more cut on mobile, I am very excited to finally share my thoughts on Ali and some Some Very Significant Water Things that he deals with in The Empire of Gold.

Specifically his thoughts on it, and how he views it affecting his relationships with others. And particularly how it all leads up to that bright smile of his at the end.

So needless to say, this has major spoilers for the final Daevabad book.

Image credit to: cultof-aphrodite (this image represents all of my tears)

So I’ve been thinking about Ali's marid connection-- his relationship to it as well as how other people feel about it-- and how that affects him as seen in EoG.

One part of his overall story arc is how he feels conflicted about the marid. He grew up in a society that treated them as monsters that haven't been seen in generations. That cursed the lake surrounding his city and tore up any djinn that fell into that lake, to the point that it was used by his government as a capital punishment. The gossip that ancient Ayaanle worshipped the marid and made blood sacrifices for wealth or power clashed with his Muslim faith, and fed into racist slurs thrown at the Ayaanle. Throughout the trilogy there are characters that call Ali "crocodile," a slur which clearly hurts him.

And then things get really complicated. At the end of CoB, Ali fell into the lake and was tortured by the lake marid. Ultimately possessing him in order to kill Dara, this had the side-effect of awakening Ali's unknown marid heritage.

And while in CoB Ali is horrified by his new water powers and ability to sense it, in KoC he recognizes that it's the reason he survived his trek through Am Gezira's desert. More so, he grows to genuinely enjoy it. Whether he's swimming, or bringing forth new springs to help barren villages; delighting in the mists that form around him, or seeing/traveling the currents... He likes his connection to water and the peace it brings him, even as he's terrified that he'll get caught and punished for it. Especially since in Daevabad his powers grow stronger and the people are less forgiving than in his village.

So his fear and concern doesn’t come from the water, but other people's responses to it. Which has me reconsidering all of the small glimpses we see of people responding to his marid-ness in EoG. Especially since this book series makes it clear that each pov character shows some kind of personal bias in their perception of things.

So like in ch. 12 where he's telling Nahri about his water abilities, and how he feels fortunate that she's thoughtful about it rather than repulsed or afraid. 

Or in ch. 43 when he and Fiza are on the boat after they rise through Daevabad's lake, and he asks God to bless her for treating him with her normal level of rudeness. When she first sees him changed she absolutely freaks out, as is her reaction to all things strange. But she quickly adapts to it and proves herself to still be his ally as she travels the world with him and helps convince the various djinn communities that he is still one of them as they recruit for their army. Invaluable, as most of the djinn he meets are terrified of him or call him a "marid abomination." I should also mention that by this point Ali is forced to speak softly so as to not further alarm them as his crocodile eyes and mist encircling him is intimidating enough.

Even during the battle for Daevabad when Ali pulls himself aboard one of the ships, he's encouraged that his own Ayaanle soldiers don't immediately attack him.

His siblings meanwhile kind of dance around his physical changes. But they’ve also known Ali the longest, and I feel like that shows with their interaction in ch. 47. Zaynab delicately asking if the marid will ever free him or return his fire magic. She treats him kindly, but makes it clear she wants nothing to do with this marid heritage she shares with him. Muntadhir meanwhile playfully ribs him, and lists Ali's marid traits as how they would help him in reforming the government. Though the f-bomb is cut from the final copy, I feel it's a bit revealing that in the e-arc Dhiru describes Ali's eyes as "fucking terrifying." (actually a lot of f-bombs were cut from the final copy. Sad times; EoG absolutely earned every usage.)

That same chapter shows Ali reflecting on his sacrifice to the marid and how he personally feels at peace with it. That acknowledging his watery heritage has settled a certain part of himself. But he also reflects on how people will treat him differently now because they're scared and appalled. About how he expects that one day when his status as a hero loses its shine, that their treatment of him will get worse and that there will be days that cut and feel unbearable. That no matter what, he will always be an outsider. Though he says he still doesn’t regret it, I feel like this is both premature and plays into his scenes with Nahri in ch. 48.

For one, we learn that Ali hasn't even seen Nahri since she woke up in the hospital. That after telling her that he's an ambassador for the marid and that’s why his appearance has changed, he avoids her for a whole week. Zaynab tells him to give her space because "he can be smothering," but I can't help but wonder if that space is in part to let Nahri adjust to his new looks without him being around her. 

When he finally does see Nahri in the palace in ch. 48, he hangs back, nervous. Even after their embrace and catching up, when he learns that she's leaving the palace, he starts rambling about how he has no expectations for her or for them as a couple.

Which when combined with the above points… really makes me think that Ali was concerned that Nahri wouldn't be interested in him anymore because of his marid looks and heritage. 😢 That despite everything they went through together and their mutual feelings expressed in Shefala, his changes put her beyond him again. Or alternatively, that what happened was just some madness of the moment and held no weight in their new world. And so he tried to distance himself first. 💔💔💔

Which maybe explains why Nahri's vulnerable request to keep spending time with him in a normal setting, and that she wasn't going to let him out of her debt, led him to having "the brightest, happiest smile she's ever seen from him." Because it’s not just confirmation that she still wants a relationship with him, whether it be platonic or romantic, but that she accepts his new marid reality, too. 😢💖

And while Ali’s personal relationships are safe, he does have to change his behavior for others. Where the Ali from CoB and KoC would lose his patience or give rousing speeches to inspire others and tear down corruption, now he has to speak softly so he doesn’t frighten others. Even when leading his own people into battle on the lake, he worried if his surprise appearance would cause them to attack him. When he snaps in the hospital room after he learns Dara shot Nahri, the whole room’s temperature dropped into a cold chill. Ali learning to hold his tongue and speak carefully is no longer just to improve his diplomacy skills, but is now critical to continue being welcomed in the larger djinn community.

And honestly, I don't have the vocabulary to describe how I feel about Ali's and the Ayaanle's experience of being called crocodile as a slur now having a foundation in Ali's family line being related to Sobek. Or how Ali's marid abilities are tied to his torture by them, whether it be the lake marid or Tiamat. I don't like that it's all rooted in pain. And I don't like that in every sense of Ali's identity, he is the outlier because he belongs to another group.

But this whole series is about complications and gray nuance. There are going to be Post-EoG stories in The River of Silver anthology which will include a story on our new river lord. So hopefully we'll be able to see how Ali is adjusting to his new life as openly-marid, and how he's fitting in. I hope the reality isn't as gloomy as Ali perceived it to be.

#The daevabad trilogy #Alizayd al Qahtani #Gonna reblog this here since I don't have a fic ready for posting yet #I think I mostly wrote this back in December #It is a long boy - so many thoughts #And also river/ocean gifs #The empire of gold #So many spoilers

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Another week, another fic!

Inspired by the Incorrect Daevabad quote, I wrote a fic last year and have finally posted it.

Ali brings a tray of quiches to the hospital but can't quite figure out why everyone's laughing. Good thing he has Nahri.

Nahri & Ali, rated T, 2.4k words, post-EoG.

#the daevabad trilogy #alizayd al qahtani #nahri e nahid #the empire of gold #my fics #nahri and ali

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What is going on with your website, Distant Horizon? I see it hasn't been updated in a few years. I found it recently and was really intrigued by it. Do you think you will ever start updating it again? Maybe because of new avatar content from Avatar Studios? If not id still like to know more about it and what happened/ how you made it. :)

Hi there! Yeah, My old beloved fansite Distant Horizon is more-or-less on permanent hiatus. (Although now that I'm looking at it, I realize I didn't announce that anywhere?? Oops.)

But yeah! I had a lot of fun working on the various pages, especially the easter egg/omg dude! page, the annual pumpkin carving contest, all the character sprites, and the seasonal layouts. Especially when the show was originally airing and there was so much fun energy in the fandom. But it eventually became too much work for me and my interest in ATLA and website maintenance in general just declined over the years. (I know I should update it with the Avatar Studios news but... I don't want to 😭)

I do still love atla though and I'm curious to see what Netflix and Avatar Studios will be doing with the series. But I'm also observing from a distance. I'm not sure if I'll ever update my site again, but we'll see. It feels kind of unnecessary with the other fast-updating atla news sites and the very comprehensive fandom wiki. And tbh just the thought of doing website stuff is exhausting to me. I'm out of the game and aren't interested in getting back in.

But when ATLA first aired in 2005, I loved that first two-part episode so much that I made my fansite in one week. Back then it was just the layout and pages with character bios and lists of the creatures and items and whatever official info and art I could find from promo sites and Nick.com. God I used to take screenshots of the show by pausing my vcr and taking a photo of the tv. 😂 But it was a lot of fun seeing the Avatar world expand with every new episode and rushing to add that new info to the site. And DH continued to expand with the forum, the wallpapers and fanart that fans sent in, the tcg scans and calligraphy translations, all the other info pages, and info/official art from the international Nickelodeon sites. Fandom was really collaborative and even though the shipwars were terrible, everything else was really nice.

There were a lot of other atla fansites too, small and big, and that community was probably my favorite aspect of the fandom. So many people set up their own sites and dedicated it to the latest atla news or their favorite characters, or their fanart, layout graphics or sprite adoptables, or snarky takes on badly written fanfics, and etc. A lot of it is completely gone now, which is... really sad to me, and is why I still keep Distant Horizon up even though I'm pretty much done with it. I don't like seeing fandom stuff disappear as if it never existed.

Anyway this got really long, sorry! 😅 But to answer your last question, I was just a nerd who learned how to code html on Neopets, loved it, and wanted to make a website for my own art and stuff. If I didn't know how to do something, like make a mysql database to make my wallpapers & tcg gallery searchable by characters, I looked it up and learned how to code it. (I make that sound easy but know it involved a lot tears.) I made a couple of fansites before DH, so by then I knew what I was doing and what kind of site I wanted to make. Although that still didn't prepare me for just how big it got. At one point my webhost had to contact me because of how much traffic the site was getting, and they couldn't understand why so many people were visiting if there wasn't pirated content or p*rn involved 😂

But experienced or not, if there's something you want to do, then do it. It may be difficult and involve a lot of crying or complaining, but if it's something you want, keep going for it. 👍

#I'm giving this advice as if I don't immediately give up on my drawings when it gets too tough #Although I've never applied my website-method of getting things done to my art #Gonna cry and complain as I make my messy sketches into beautiful art ✨ #Anyway thank you for your question! ❤️ #@loganjaymiller #Atla #Distant Horizon #I'm still very proud of my fansite even though I cringe at all the outdated info #I really should fix it at some point

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Nahri & Ali, rated T, 1.6k words

The Daevabad Palace is alive after millennia of housing the powerful Nahids, having absorbed their triumphs and sufferings and so much spilled blood. The Palace cares not for the sole Qahtani that remains living within its walls, and is determined to make its feelings known until a certain Nahid steps in.

#the daevabad trilogy #the empire of gold #Empire of gold spoilers #Alizayd al Qahtani #Nahri e-Nahid #My fics #Gonna be posting fics all summer 🤞🤞 #Trying to work through my hoard of old wips lol #Nahli #Alinahri

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Guess who just spent two hours detailing a background corner of a drawing, only to realize afterwards that 90% of it will be hidden behind the character.

#This is definitely why I write more often than I draw #But I'm drawing again; that must count for something #And I'm sure there's some stupid lesson in here about how I need to focus on the overall picture #Rather than getting sucked into some minor detail that ultimately means nothing and is a complete waste of time #Gosh it's almost like I should apply that to my life in general #Or something #Hhhhh

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Took me long enough, but I finally opened up a shop on Redbubble! 💖💖

It currently has only some of my favorite Pokémon & Daevabad artworks, but if there's anything I've done that you'd like to see up there, please let me know! 💕

#I tried adding some of my old zelda and Avatar/Jedi art but it got bounced 😔 #But I'm very excited to make more sticker designs #Redbubble #Pokémon #The Daevabad Trilogy #My art

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"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone;

I can see all obstacles in my way;

Here is that rainbow I've been praying for;

It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright sunshinin' day"

- I Can See Clearly Now, Jimmy Cliff

Fanart of Nahri and Ali from The Daevabad Trilogy, spoilers for The Empire of Gold.

It doesn't really seem right to be posting this when everything is so troubled. But sometimes you gotta believe that the storm will end regardless of how it currently looks. So please think of this as a hope for better days.

Nahri and Ali both go through a lot during the series and end up with their own share of scars. But they make it through to the other side.

In fantasy, it only takes a few brave souls to turn the tide and make things right. In reality, it takes a population. There are a lot bad things going on right now, all around the world. Palestine, India, Tigray, Colombia, Brazil... I know it can be overwhelming, but please educate yourself on what is happening, and support however you can. Amplify voices, speak out, donate, contact your representatives. Don't let it fall into silence, into the "it's not my problem." We can't solve things on our own, but together, maybe.

#the daevabad trilogy #Alizayd al Qahtani #Nahri e Nahid #The Empire of Gold #Empire of Gold #Clip Studio Paint #Nahli #Nahri and Ali #Musoart