Eden's rambling

Happy New Year! New year, new you, eh? And what better embodies that than the idea of a Phoenix, amiright? heh, am I (W)right??  [Embrace the cringe, it will set you free. Trust (/¯◡ ‿ ◡)/¯ ]

I think one of the main reasons I fell in love with Ace Attorney, and especially Phoenix, is because they embody the metaphor of reinventing yourself again and again, especially after massive setbacks. Game Phoenix certainly lives up to his name. The dude literally rises from the ashes after Bridge to a Turnabout. So how about we take that metaphor and push it into allegory? Phoenixs (...Phoenixi?) are notorious for their healing powers (they heal themselves and others with their tears!), their ability to transform, and their perseverance and resilience in the face of destruction. So why don’t we go all in, throw reality out the window, go feathers to the wall, and celebrate these fantasy fics that celebrate our favourite firebird?

The following are fics (and aaaaaart! :3) that embrace the concept of Phoenix as an Actual Phoenix. As always, if you have a story along this theme that you would love to share, please add it to the comments and/or reblog. Sharing is caring! Happy New Year, happy new you, and happy reading!

Symbiosis by DeiRyuu

Rating: T     Words: 354,711     Read time: 23 hours, 38 mins

I have shared this fic before, I will share this fic again. Phoenix is an actual Phoenix and Miles and Phoenix try to find out why. It honours the games and characters by following canon touchstones, but through this creative new lens. Anyone who enjoys a slow burn of Narumitsu tales (I swear, this is the slowiest and burniest!),  long fics (seriously, did you see the word count?!! And we are not even a third into the canon events of the games!), case fics (so many original cases PLUS the canon ones!), and elements of ✨fantasy,✨ I seriously urge you to prioritize reading this or marking it for later. The latest chapter (#58) inspired me to write an over 3000 word comment. This au fic is sooo layered, so creative, sooo…. I just honestly haven’t come across anything like it. Yes, it’s unfinished, but yes, you should still read it.

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

no looking back by i8thecookie

Rating: T    Words: 6,967    Read time: 30 mins

Read this very sweet tale of mythical resurrection, Hades style. Miles does everything he can to keep his beloved, and we find out the real reason why Phoenix has the powers of a Phoenix.

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

Don't Go by achromaticly

Rating: T   Words: 1,679   Read time: 7 mins

A tasty little whump, angst and comfort muffin of a fic. Perfect for when you can’t sleep and you just need a little snack of Narumitsu Literal Phoenix Phoenix feels to help you. It goes straight to the good stuff - no lead up or extras.

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

Ardebat Sed Non Comburebatur by Lia404

Rating: M   Words: 31,736   Read time: 2 hours

This is a beautifully written, *epic* fic. Read not just for Phoenix and Miles, but for the Fey clan origin story too. Oh!!!! And bonus! It’s Illustrated!

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

It's a promise, (w)right? by Artemis_lumiere

Rating: M   Words: 31,736   Read time: 2 houra

A very wholesome-hearted royal/fantasy au story that illustrates the author’s vast and truly unique imagination. Be prepared to meet ‘Nicholas’ our protagonist, who tells the story in first person, the lovely demon (not a prosecutor) Miles, Gregory (he lives!), and many other favourite ace attorney characters in this epic world of humans, demons, incubi and succubi (!). Enjoy and be charmed by where the author takes you. English is not their first language, but this doesn’t stop them from expressing their ideas with contagious enthusiasm, so I invite you to hop on and enjoy. It’s a colourful trip!

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

The Chrysanthemums are Burning by ashtonisvibing

Rating: Says 'E' but there is no smut (yet). So far, it's a 'G'    Words: 17,857   Read time: 1 hour, 20 mins

The story is an intriguing one and the author says they are rewriting it, however I recommend checking it out and reading at the first chapter at the very least, which could be a stand-alone story. Miles and Phoenix meet as children and share some significant secrets with each other in this full-on fantasy au. Beautiful imagery and an intriguing premise that I believe is worth your time. Bookmark, mark for later or subscribe if you have an unfinished fic intolerance :P

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

Dinner with Phoenix by YukiStudios

Rating:T   Words: 3,984   Read time: 16 mins

A dragon and a Phoenix walk into a courtroom… filing it under #Narumitsu-AUs-I-never-knew-I-wanted-but-here-I-am. I’m bookmarking not only to hoard it, but share it to0 ;-)

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

How to Reach the Truth: the Dilemma of Miscommunication, Angered Sisters and Uninventive Name Choices by chameleonwrites (orphan_account) for Vashoth

Rating:E   Words: 8,063   Read time: 35 mins

Hot, sweet and smexy times for our two immortal beloveds (or, what do you think will happen when our literal phoenix Phoenix and demon Miles get locked in a basement?).

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

Once, We Were Gods by Leonawriter

Rating: T    Words: 2,725    Read time: 11 mins

This link brings you to the first story in this six part series… I can understand why this fic inspired others to write their own ‘Phoenix is an Actual Phoenix’ tales. It is so beautifully written. Come for the metaphor and stay for the feels, the characterization and poetry. Really lovely. I come celebrating it 10 years too late but like a Phoenix, Inspired ‘Ashes denote that fire was’ by achromatily (below)

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

ashes denote that fire was by achromaticly

Rating:T   Words: 3,870   Read time: 16 mins

Wow!! This fic is incredibly beautiful! I described it as 'lyrical' in my notes. Set aside 16 mins to read these beautifully painted moments that just bring so much emotion and depth to the characters… it can’t help but move you.  Inspired by Once, We Were Gods by Leonawriter (see above.)

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

And now, for some aaaaaaaahhhhhhrt

Leggalese (my beloved)

Mitabnf

who got inspired by Leggalese’s work but took it into doujinshi territory, and, and someone write a fic based on these right now (Please?) LOOK AT THEM!!!! LOOOOK AT THEEEEEEM!!!!

And one more fic, because even though it’s not a fantasy au, it featured the tag, and it’s really good:

Reset by updog

Rating:T   Words: 11,573   Read time: 46 mins

Phoenix suffers a brain injury and memory loss. Miles helps him recover. The one with ‘bird’ and a soft and brave Miles. Read this if you like stories about loss and resilience.

. * ･ ｡🔥🐦‍🔥💙🐦‍🔥🔥｡･ * . 

Being older now and having an art job it’s…kind of essential. 

So: a quick primer for those of you who are like ‘ok but how do i actually go about doing this warmup thing.’ 

1) you may be tempted to do ‘a warmup drawing’ which is just a drawing that will take longer than it needed to and probably be frustrating and kind of bad because you didn’t warm up first. It’s tempting but always a trick your brain is playing on you! Do not trust! 

2) warmups will vary based on what feels good to you/what task you’re about to do/what motor skills you want to practice. That being said, some good standbys:

a) circles. Just a whole page of circles on whatever drawing surface you’re going to be using, whether that’s your tablet or your sketchbook or a drawing pad on an easel. For these circles you should make sure that you’re drawing from your shoulder and not your wrist. In fact, you want to be drawing from your shoulder rather than your wrist most of the time! forever! your wrist is delicate please preserve it! 

In order to ensure that you’re drawing from your shoulder, when you’re holding your pencil or whatever drawing tool you’re using, the only part of your hand that should be touching the drawing surface is part of the last two fingers–some people prefer the finger tips, but I tend to favor the first knuckles. Either way, the fingers should really be ghosting over the surface, providing guidance rather than support. 

I usually start with big circles and then go to smaller circles and lines of ellipses, and then try to fit circles and ellipses inside other shapes i’ve already drawn as a precision exercise, but i don’t do that unless i’m feeling loose

b) spirals! i don’t always do spirals, but if i’m stiff and the circles just aren’t cutting it, spirals are a good fall back. I start from the center and work outward, going both clockwise and counterclockwise until i feel comfortable with the whole range of motion. Some people really care about getting perfect spirals but for me it’s all about making sure i’m comfortable with how i’m moving so who really even cares about how the spirals look. Not me! 

c) lines! straight lines! in parallel! i do a mix of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. These are often more from the elbow than the shoulder, especially if I’m working on a smaller surface. For this exercise, I recommend holding the drawing tool perpendicular with the surface

d) connect the dots. This is a precision and accuracy exercise and takes two forms. The first is to draw two dots and then draw a straight line between them. The second is to draw three dots and draw the curve that connects them. This sounds a lot simpler than it is in practice. Take time to ghost over the line you plan to draw before actually committing to your line. (I don’t always remember where I picked up my warm up exercises, but I’m pretty sure I got this one from Scott Robertson. His how to draw and how to render books are very technical but also accessible and worth checking out)

e) cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders. These help get your brain into a more volumetric space. I draw multiples of each, rotating the forms around, and I’ll often take the time to do some rough shading on at least a few of them

f) spidermans! This one is really good if you’re going to be storyboarding or working on dynamic poses. Just fill a page full of spidermans doing all sorts of acrobatics. 

g) beans. I don’t do beans too much anymore, but I know a lot of people like it so I’m mentioning it here. Fill an area with different size bean shapes without lifting your pencil off the paper. 

h) short medium and long line repetition. draw a short, medium, and long line on your page, and then draw directly on top of them 8 to 12 times, doing your best to exactly trace what you’ve already drawing. Repeat with a wavy line. I’m bad at this one, which means I probably need to do it more. 

And there are lots more options too! Hit up youtube to see what other people recommend, put together your own go-to list, mix it up when you’re getting bored, etc. 

This is a long list, I know, but I usually don’t take more than 10 to 15 minutes to warm up, and I can warm up one handed while I’m drinking coffee, so, multitasking hurrah. 

Sometimes I’ll advance to a precision warmup and find that I haven’t loosened up enough yet; it’s totally ok to go back to an earlier exercise! Also, all of this has the added benefit of kind of ritualistically getting you into the drawing mode so even if I’m not feeling it before I start, by the time I’ve gotten to the end I’m usually Ready For Drawin’. Brain hacks. 

https://youtu.be/NBE-RTFkXDk

jorge (creator, odysseus) decided it'll be cool to celebrate the ithaca saga with the epic cast via a trip to ithaca, greece

surely nothing can go wrong

mico (telemachus) seemingly found out about the trip with the rest of the fandom. he proceeded to plot a trip to ithaca

the epic cast dealt with multiple broken vans and missed a ferry by one minute. they had to cancel a stream because they were too exhausted

mico made it onto a plane

ithaca got hit by a typhoon, forcing them to move another stream indoors

mico got banned from tiktok. it was reversed

mason (tireseas) asked luke (zeus) to stop the rain. luke refused

the crew hiked up to odysseus' palace. they ran into a roadblock. mason looked into the future and did not see a way around it. (they found a way around it)

the crew found a well and sang their epic songs into it. except jp (crew) who just sang happy birthday

janani (aphrodite) also sang "royal we" into the well

anna (penelope) made it onto the plane to fly out to ithaca

hermes (troy) decided to take a plane to ithaca like a normal human instead of teleporting. he got side-eyed by a woman at the airport as he slept sprawled out in a chair. this quickly became a meme

hermes arrived in ithaca to the delight of everyone except jorge. mico also appeared in his videos. mico still had not updated anything after getting on the plane

anna's connecting flight got cancelled, leaving her stranded in a fancy hotel. she struggled to find the toilet in her hotel room

mico finally updated, claiming he was stuck in munich. mason appears in the video and gives him a water bottle, proving he is lying

the fandom believes mico anyway

mico is forced to post another video revealing he had been gaslighting us basically the entire time and was just delayed in getting to ithaca, that was all

troy and talya (circe), in character, talk about tea. troy says the tea tastes like her father's approval. earle (ares) then asks for 1000 cups and breaks down crying as luke cuts the camera

jorge posts a video apologizing for mico's absence, encouraging him to fly to ithaca, new york. mico appears in the background of this video

mico posts a video saying that he's finally in ithaca, but the crew is in ithaca, new york. jorge appears in the background of this video

jp films a behind the scenes video, calling out "some random guy" who just showed up asking if anyone knows jorge. it's mico

janani sings "royal we" again, but after she says "troy was breached" troy comes out screaming in pain. mico appears in the background of this, filming the video from two points above

it's time for the ithaca saga livestream... except it gets cancelled because the connection is bad and jorge's devices are dying

(ʘ‿ʘ✿) “what you say ‘bout me”

the original post

Erotic fic and porn can be a lot of fun! But if you aren’t being provided with adequate sex ed through other channels (comprehensive sexual education, frank and open discussions with trusted adults, etc.), turning to fanfic and porn for your understanding of sex is gonna leave some major blindspots and may leave you with some unrealistic expectations. While there’s nothing wrong with these kinds of erotica, they are fictional and tend to leave out a lot of the more realistic, human parts of sex - they serve a great purpose, but that purpose isn’t primarily educational. The following is an incomplete list of some things you should probably know about sex that a lot of fic and porn tends to leave out:

It isn’t always super hot or super sweet. Sometimes it’s super silly. Or sometimes it’s sort of mundane and you’re both simply scratching an itch. That’s fine too. (Hell, sometimes you’re talking about comic books while boning and your partner is laughing that you’re getting REALLY ANGRY about spider-man while they’re going to town on you.)

You will probably not climax at the same moment. It’s a sweet idea, but extremely hard to coordinate, and if all your concentration is going into coming at the exact same moment, you’re probably not enjoying yourselves as much as you might. 

Sometimes bodies make weird, goofy noises. Squelching, slapping, air-escaping, un-sexy noises. It’s okay to laugh at this. 

Hell, it’s okay to laugh during sex in general.

Sometimes you fart. Sometimes you fart while someone is going down on you and it is embarrassing as hell. This isn’t the end of the world. Embarrassing body things happen. Heck, sometimes, with anal, there’s a little poo. You get over it.

Sometimes sex is… kinda bad? This doesn’t mean it’s assault, or something traumatic – sometimes it’s consensual but just kinda bleh and not what you hoped for. The best thing to do (if you’re talking about sex with a partner and not just a hook up who you can not call back) is talk to them about it. Figure out what went wrong, what you enjoy and what you don’t, and communicate what techniques you do and don’t like. Also don’t be afraid to stop someone in the middle of the sex act you’re not enjoying and offer guidance on how to help make it good for you too. (Side tip: masturbation makes great research into what you personally do and don’t enjoy sexually)

You won’t enjoy every sex act. Not every body is wired to find every thing pleasurable. You might find anal does nothing for you. You may find g-spot stimulation just makes you really anxious that you’re about to pee. You may not enjoy giving or receiving oral. You’re not broken if you don’t like something that every pornstar or smutty fanfic protagonist seems to have earth-shattering orgasms from. Everyone’s got nerve endings in a range of places – it’s quite literally, different strokes for different folks.

On that note, not all orgasms are earth-shattering. Sometimes it just feels warm and nice. That’s fine too. 

Sometimes, if you’re neutral on a sex act and your partner loves it, you can suck it up for them, and they’ll suck up something they’re not crazy about for your pleasure in return. But communicate preferences with each other! Know that when a partner does that thing you love that they don’t get much from, that it’s an act of care, and vice versa. 

Falling asleep in each other’s arms right after wild passionate sex seems really romantic, but dried and crusty fluids are gonna be a bitch in the morning. Also, after sex, you should both (regardless of your equipment) go pee to clear out the urethra of any gunk or bacteria to reduce risk of a UTI. 

Putting a towel down on the bed before sex means you don’t have to sleep on wet funky sheets. (it’s also verrrrrry useful for period sex if you or your partner menstruate.)

A lot of people don’t like dirty talk, or rough sex. Always ask first. (Fanfic on the whole does a better job than porn at showing communication, but a lot of it is still highly fictive on this point)

PROTECTION PROTECTION PROTECTION. Use condoms, dental dams, etc. not just to prevent pregnancy, but to reduce risk of STIs. (Yes, even couples with the same genitals who don’t need to worry about pregnancy).

Lube is great and very important, but random goopy things around you are not good lube. Random oils especially, since oil doesn’t flush out well and can trap bacteria inside the body – oil-based lubricant also degrades condoms. Use lube specifically designed for intimate purposes. Water-based and silicone-based lubes help sex feel really good!

Bigger isn’t necessarily better. A lot of people with vaginas don’t enjoy the feeling of being repeatedly punched in the cervix by a monster cock. Some people enjoy a larger size when being penetrated by an appendage or toy and some don’t.

Bodies are hairy. Genitals are hairy. You may get a pube stuck in your teeth at some point. If your partner is WAY fuzzier than porn ever led you to believe they’d be, well, that’s normal. 

Not everyone loves the taste of ejaculate. Sometimes it’s nasty (flavor tends to vary from person to person depending on their diet, but sometimes you just really don’t like it no matter what. Some of us hate the taste of peanut butter. People don’t always like things). It’s okay not to swallow, or to request a penis-having partner warn you so they don’t ejaculate in your mouth (in fact, it’s polite for them to do the latter). 

If you’re gonna have shower sex, get one of those rubbery mats for the shower floor that gives you traction, because otherwise it’s super embarrassing to call for an ambulance while dripping wet and naked because you slipped and accidentally broke something and your partner got a concussion while you were trying to bang in the shower. 

Muscle cramps happen. If you’re in a weird position, your body may decide to object. Pillows for support can be wonderful things. 

Anyone who finds towels aren’t enough, they make waterproof pillowcases you can get for like $10. Fold a bath sheet in half, slide the pillowcase in between the layers. 

This is also the reason I’m moving into Sex and Relationship Education (RSE) in the U.K. Education needs to be so much better regarding this area.