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myers-meadow · 4 months

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Azog the Defiler x OC: In which Gandalf learns that Orcs can love

Title: In which Gandalf learns that Orcs can love

Pairing: Azog the Defiler x female OC (Hadewych)

Fandom: The Hobbit movie trilogy

Summary: In this tale we follow the Companionship of Dwarves on a dual mission: reach and reclaim Erebor, and maybe rescue a friend they made in Laketown. The last quest leads to more hardship than expected, as Azog has his sights set firmly on the human, and isn't planning to let the Dwarves take her from him.

Warnings: rape/non-con, Azog is his own warning honestly, character death, non-consensual voyeurism, corruption, (mild) rape aftermath, language barrier.

Wordcount: 2147

Gorgeous dividers by @saradika-graphics

"She should be around here, somewhere," called Fili from over his shoulder, scouting ahead through the thick growth of the forest. It was a forest so thick, only little of the late afternoon sun reached through the trees. Thorin, Kili, Bilbo and Gandalf followed him. They were tired, especially now that their end goal seemed so close, yet so far away. After leaving Laketown, the kind friend of Bard, who sheltered them, followed them with provisions and weapons. That was a week ago. Immediately after she found the companionship of dwarves, they were ambushed by Azog's hunting party, and she was taken.

After five days of captivity, it was Bilbo, with Dwalin and Thorin, who rescued her from the orc camp as they all slept. She wasn't as grateful as they expected however, frightened beyond words. Her fear remained with her, even though she was safely away from the man-eating orcs.

"You don't get it," she said, keeping her voice hushed even while hours away from the site they rescued her from, "he will find me and it will be worse. You've put yourself in danger, too."

The dwarves waved her concerns away, but it gave Bilbo pause. Something felt off. Why would the orcs come for her? They were hunting the dwarves already. Despite his feeling of unease, their journey continued.

Balin convinced her, with his gentle reasoning, to come with them, and not head back: "We are less than four days march away from Erebor. Once we are there, you'll be safe inside. No orc could enter the mountain and live. Laketown is at least a week from here, on horseback. Don't be stupid and get yourself killed trying to go back."

Hope shone in her eyes at his words, a fearful hope. It was decided; she would come with them. Evening fell, and they set up camp. Hadewych remained withdrawn. As they wound down after their meal, which finally got some life back in her face, Gandalf took up his pouch of pipeweed, lighting his pipe. They sat, gathered in a circle around the fire, flames making their shadows dance.

"Hadewych, what happened to you out there?" asked Fili. None had dared ask before, as her panicked state had been enough of an answer. Kili, who sat next to her, moved her braid aside and gestured at the large bitemark on the side of her neck.

"It looked like they tried to eat you," Kili said, sounding somewhat impressed, his tone light. Hadewych slapped his hand away.

"It's beyond you," was all she said.

Gandalf took the pipe out of his mouth, and agreed with her. "Let the poor woman have her rest. We're not there yet. I have a feeling the worst is yet to come."

Later, when just Bilbo and Gandalf remained, unable to sleep, keep watch, did Bilbo dare to ask the wizard more.

"The orcs, they..." he started, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Why did they let Hadewych live? They would've slaughtered any of us as soon as they had the chance."

Gandalf, old eyes peering from beneath his wizard's hat, replied: "Hmm, it is certainly curious. I suspect we’ll find out soon enough, although I fear it won't be pleasant."

After a short silence, as the moon's rays illuminated the rocky landscape, he continued. "There isn't much we know about orc culture. So far, Azog has proven to be at the top of his tribe, with not just bloodlust, but also a great strategic mind. He's smart, Bilbo, that's what makes him more dangerous than most."

"You're saying he took her for a strategic purpose? But what on earth could that be?"

Gandalf shrugged, movements slow. "You should get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day."

In the morning as they set out on their journey, Hadewych found Gandalf and fell into step next to him.

"Gandalf," Hadewych started, uncertainty in her voice, unsure of how to ask what she had on her mind.

"Yes, my dear, what is it?"

"Do you know Black Speech?"

"What a curious question. I do understand it, yes. It is a vile language, created by Sauron and I prefer not speaking it."

"I understand if it's too much to ask, but could you maybe teach me? Every little bit would be a great help."

Gandalf halted and turned to her. His eyes bore into her soul and she sensed that he knew and understood a great deal more than any of the companions, more than even the wizard let on. "There may be a way to teach you that will help you more than simply translating words. You've tried it already, haven't you? To let the pale orc teach you."

Unsure, but aware that lies were useless, she nodded. "All I've managed to parse out are a few different words, and that's hardly enough to understand what they say. The dwarves may think I'm safe now, but they don't understand." She adjusted her cloak and hugged it around her. "It's only a matter of time before I'm surrounded by orcs again, and I need to know what they say - to know what is coming."

The wizard hummed. "I see." He paused and regarded her for a long moment. The companions walked on ahead, but it was no matter. They could catch up with ease, if needed. Then he nodded and grabbed his staff. "Then we shall see what we can do."

Another day passed, and Gandalf allowed Hadewych to learn and practice Black Speech. She had little trouble with it, aside from the grammar. During the second morning, she felt a bit more at ease and her normal self returned, and she joked with the dwarves the same as she did while they were in Laketown. Bilbo still eyed her warily - to him, the mystery of her behaviour was not yet solved.

Once they got going, the terrain opened up in front of them, and it gained in height. It would truly only be three more days until they reached their beloved mountain. The hunting party ambushed them from the side, driving them back with a cliff at their side. It was the worst possible road to be ambushed on, and even though Thorin sent Fili and Kili ahead as scouts, they hadn't seen nor heard a thing. Thorin barely escaped with his life. Hadewych wasn't so lucky, as she was slung over their leader's shoulder, defenceless without the weapons or skill the dwarves had. The dwarves hid in the mountains, and the hunting party took off just as swiftly as they came, disappearing into a thick forest, taking Hadewych with them.

Evening fell. The dwarves licked their wounds and regrouped properly that night, and discussed what they could do. Many seemed in favour of continuing their original quest, and not taking the risk of going after the hunting party.

"Is Hadewych not also one of our own?" argued Bilbo. "She went through the trouble to bring us the weapons and provisions, without her we would've been defenceless."

"That's just how it goes, laddie," said Dwalin. "She knew the risks when coming with us."

Bilbo, outraged, looked to the others.

Balin answered. "Aye... But we've been the ones who convinced her not to go back to Laketown. That Erebor would be safer."

"No way she could've reached Laketown on her own anyway," said Gloin, his voice rumbling.

"Perhaps, but a group is easier to track than a woman alone."

"We failed to protect her," agreed Kili. "We can look for her, just a few of us. The rest heads on to the mountain. With just a few, we won’t be easily noticed."

And so it was that now the few of them who went to track the hunting party down; Gandalf and Bilbo came with, out of concern, Thorin and his cousins Fili and Kili; laid low in a bed of ferns, hidden behind bushes and trees, looking on as the orcs set up camp for the night. The pale orc towered over them all. He fed his warg and pet her fur, Hadewych close at his side, one hand in the warg's fur just like him. Kili wanted to creep closer, but was stopped by Thorin.

"So this is why she wanted to learn Black Speech," said Gandalf, which the dwarves paid little mind to. Bilbo looked at his wizard friend with curious eyes. They exchanged looks, and with his voice soft, Gandalf pointed at the scene. "They seem to be talking."

"He's laughing," said Bilbo, surprised. "Gandalf, don't tell me they've become friends."

They watched as Azog lead Hadewych to the campfire, a firm hand on her upper arm. Once seated, keeping her close to him, although it was difficult for them to see, he reached for the grilled meat, steaming in the cold evening air, and took a large bite out of it. The orcs dug in similarly, feeding on what was probably small game they've hunted, or dried food they took with them. Then the pale orc did something Bilbo nor the wizard saw coming. With the dead animal speared on his hooked hand, he plucked off bits of tender meat, and fed them to Hadewych. After letting her eat it right from his hand, he licked off his fingers.

"I'd say she's still deadly afraid of him, not to speak of the other orcs around. Wouldn't you agree?"

"But an orc wouldn't hear reason! Do you really think she talked him into letting her live?"

"That seems... unlikely," said Gandalf, his voice falling grim.

Thorin decided to wait until night fell and everyone was asleep to attack, so they did. The orcs laid down to sleep not long after, leaving just two who kept watch awake, as well as the pale orc and Hadewych. When they got up to rest, they did so on the other side of the mighty white warg, and Hadewych pet her fur as Azog gathered the blanket and mat from a nearby pack. When he spoke to her, his voice was low, unexpected of an orc to speak so gently. The dwarves spread out, trying to scout out the area more now that they had less eyes on them and less ears to listen. Bilbo stayed with Gandalf, leaned against a tree, waiting for the others to regroup. Their friend and her captor had now finally laid down and all was quiet.

"It's taking so long," complained Kili. "When will they go to sleep already."

"Patience," bid Thorin, reigning his cousin in.

They regrouped at their spot, Thorin directed everyone to their positions. When Bilbo glanced over at the sleeping forms of his friend and her captor, he found a rather odd sight. It wasn't immediately clear what he was looking at, as Azog hovered above the ground, facing down, and moved his body rhythmically. Not like someone who is sleeping. Not like someone turning around in their sleep. Bilbo grabbed Thorin by the arm, wordless, and pointed. Then, staring hard through the ferns, he they saw Azog sit straighter up and pulled a leg - a human leg - to his side, changing the angle of his hips. Then his movements made sense. Hadewych laid underneath him, and he moved his hips, grinning sadistically down at her, low rumbles spilling from his throat as he fucked her.

The dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf looked on, forgetting their cover, and stared at the scene in front of them with mouths open in shock. Kili pulled Thorin aside.

"I'm not risking my life for that," he said harshly, voice a little louder than it should've been in the quiet of the night.

Gandalf opened his mouth to say something, but refrained from interfering.

"What is happening, Gandalf, why is this happening?" asked Bilbo, who didn't want to look on, but couldn't tear his eyes away for longer than a second. The pale orc leaned down again, over his captive, and said something to her. The rasp of the Black Speech sounded almost doting. As the dwarves tried to figure out what to do - leave or attack - Gandalf observed the scene and thought of how to answer the hobbit. As he did, the orc snarled, and grabbed his captive close, ripped the fabric away from her shoulder, and bit down.

"It is what it looks like, my friend; Azog has claimed a mate."

Unfortunately for the unobservant dwarves, the pale orc had a short recovery time, and was on his feet within the minute. Quiet as a panther he moved through the thicket. He called out to Thorin, voice loud enough to wake the rest of the hunting party, and the dwarves were outnumbered quick. Hadewych looked on from the sidelines, leaning her back against the white warg, face in her hands, trying to ignore the screams of pain and sorrow as the line of Durin ended before her eyes.

#azog the defiler #azog the defiler x oc #azog #azog x oc #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfic #the hobbit fanfiction #the hobbit movies #the hobbit trilogy #meadow's writing #Hobbit fanfic #Hobbit fan fiction

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asa-do-your-thing · 1 year

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Asa’s Shuffle pt. 2 - NSFW edition

5 Songs - 5 Scenarios

(I listen too much Frenchcore and Techno, urgh i had to skip so much)

Can I Kick it? - A Tribe called Quest / Aegon II

Morning Sex.

Morning Sex was always a privilege that you had to earn the night before, preferrably with hard deepthroat

You had to have given him such pleasure, such comfort that he let you sleep next to him

You’d usually wake up before him so you began cudlling and caressing him gently you he could stir gently

He’d absolutely have morning wood and made sure that he pressed it into your stomach or between your asscheeks

He’s insist that he’d only start ‘fucking’ after lunch. You were privileged enough to enjoy... sex. Especially the more intimate positions like Missionary.

He’d order his maids not only to clean him up, but also you, especially you.

You had to shine like a pure snowflake for him

Parading you out of his chambers down to breakfast would almost make him horny again

Don’t Be So Shy - Imany, Filatov & Karas / Rhaenyra

Remember the times you kissed your best friend in the club?

And maybe went back to her apartment afterwards?

Yeah that’s the vibe.

Rhaenyra liked to overindulge as well and you were always there with her, the ever so trusting and discreet lady-in-waiting

Harwin wasn’t around and both of you knew she’d get absolutly horny when she drank more than she should

So one thing led to another

And you ended up sprawled, naked, on her bed

You never experienced something like that before, so it felt almost twice as intense as with any other man

It was sloppy as hell, but who cared? It felt absolutely amazing

Pleasuring her was easy, it was almost like she was already positively disposed to you

She came more than ever before, your hungry mouth never letting go of her throbbing pearl

So when both of you had absolutely run out of energy, you collapsed next to each other and pretended nothing had happened the next morning

although Rhaenyra seemed to overindulge more often as of late

leichter//kälter - Edwin Rosen / Aemond

Nothing stung as badly as knowing he didn’t love you

You knew that that’d be wishful thinking, it was an arranged marriage after all

His visits to your chambers were once each month, just enough so he could get you pregnant without having to ... fuck you more than necessary

He'd never hurt you, he's way too polite for that

But he always tells you he 'has to do it out of duty' until you get pregnant

Usually Doggy style or Snake style so he didn’t have to look into your cold, emotionless face

absolutely no aftercare whatsoever.

Maybe a courteous kiss on the forehead, that was all

Leaving you bare and crying on your bed

Although sometimes, when you did manage to get in his good graces he'd kiss you and embrace you

Maybe even use some fingers

But that usually just ended up hurting you even more when he would return to his normal state

Cruel Summer / Bananarama - Jacaerys

He knows he shouldn't see you

You haven't been wed, after all and you're both so young

But who would find out?

He'd be extra careful with you, trying his hardest not to leave any hickeys and making sure that you're as quiet as a church mouse

That would be so hot for him, the forbiddenness of it all

You told him to wait with his cock so you would still technically be a virgin

But one hot summer night as you were both hiding in the gardens he couldn't take it anymore and claimed you as his

He savored your sweet cunny

Pushed your wetness back inside you with his fingers, grinning up at you as you bit into your fist trying your hardest not to mewl for him

Finally, not being able to resist anymore, he pulled his breeched down and carefully entered you

He would kiss you, hoping nobody heard you

... until a guard found you.

But that's okay, Jace will always stand up for you and take the blame, especially if the punishment might be to marry you.

Maggot Brain - Funkadelic / Helaena

You were her safe haven

She was your angel

It never really mattered to the both of you if you would cuddle yourselves to sleep

Or if you would let your orgasms tire you out

What mattered most was that you were both there for each other

The Ying to the others Yang

You never felt the need to fuck her, neither did she

It was all pure love

Every kiss, every moan, every orgasm

Pure perfection

Of course there was nothing you wouldn't do for her

Especially after Aegon had summoned her to his bedchambers

You made sure she wasn't hurt and massaged her, trying to alleviate her discomfort

It was the only time she felt in control of her life, being able to spend time with you and pleasing you

#fanfiction #house of the dragon #hotd aegon #prince aemond #hotd x reader #aemond imagine #asas music recs #asas rambles #asas fics #helaena targaryen #helaena smut #jacaerys velaryon #jacaerys smut #queen rhaenyra #rhaenyra smut #aegon smut #aemond smut #Spotify

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yelena-bellova · 1 year

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Instinct: Din Djarin x F!Reader - One Shot

One Shot: Rest

Plot: Din and Y/n take a break on Kashyyyk before setting off on their quest.

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: none other than fluff

A/N: Wow, look at me getting two chapters out in 24 hours. Though this feels more like a one-shot, but you get the point. This is just a little piece before the chaos comes. Enjoy!!

————————

Kashyyyk offered us peace.

Peace.

A tribe of Wookiees had spotted the Crest and come to check us out. Through some lingustic difficulties, we were able to communicate to them that we were simply stretching our legs and would be gone in a few days. They said as long as we kept peace, we could stay as long as we wanted.

Peace.

The child and I sat on the edge of the Crest’s landing ramp, looking to the skies as Din ran drills with his jetpack. In between bites of fruit, the kid cooed as if to cheer him on. For only a few days practice, he was getting good.

When he landed, much smoother than the time before, I hopped off the ramp and strode towards him.

“Ready to take a break?”

“I’m still having trouble steering,” Din panted.

I chortled, he had the long term memory of a womp rat, “Yeah, I wonder why.”

“I want to try again.”

“Din, you were all blood and bruise a few days ago. You’re still recovering,” I came to him and put my hands on his shoulders, tugging him forward slightly, “Come eat. Or sit. Or do anything other than hurl yourself through the sky with fire.”

He sighed, his tell tale sign of submission. He was bending his will a little bit more know that we had confessed our feelings. A wall had come down and I’d walked right in.

We walked back towards the ship, Din’s hand slipping into mine. For something so new, it felt like we’d been this way forever. If I couldn’t still remember the insults we’d hurled at one anoher in the early days of our partnership, I might have believed it.

“Food’s in the cockpit, if you want,” I said, slightly swinging his hand.

“I’m good,” he replied, coming to sit on the edge of the ramp. The kid instnatly moved closer to him, taking his handful of fruit with. “He’s clingy today.”

“He’s been watching you with laser focus,” I smiled.

Din watched the kid eat, neither of us were used to being so adored. Children had no biases or judgements. They loved who they loved how they loved them. And the kid most certainly loved us.

“We should run one of our drills after lunch,” Din suggested.

“Mmm,” I hummed sarcastically, “Just what I want; being thrown around on a full stomach.”

“If you’re going to insist on coming up during fights-“

“I am.”

“Then we need to practice.”

Sighing loudly, I fell back against the ramp. The day had perfect weather. the sun was barely hidden behind the clouds, giving cover while still feeling bright. It was the nicest climate we’d seen in a while. I wanted to switch off the part of my brain that was telling me it was all temporary. With no war, no hunts and no Imperials tailing us, it was easy to fall into the illusion that we could make this second of ease last.

“How’s your ankle feeling?”

I tucked my chin in and kicked my foot up, “Still sore. But it’s walkable. Leave it to me to get shot by the only Stormtrooper that can actually land a shot.”

“Sharpshooter?” Din asked.

“Maybe the Empire drafted Mayfeld again,” I smugly smiled.

Din scoffed, “Had to bring him up?”

I snickered, “The thought of them rotting in a cell brings me great joy before I fall asleep each night.”

I had actively tried not to think about what we’d been throug the past few weeks. Leaving Sorgan, Calican, Din’s old crew aboard the prison ship, but it was inevitable.

“Though if you ever get tired of me,” I smirked, “You know where to find your old girlfriend.”

He sighed, “She wasn’t my-“

“Oh, relax,” I smiled, pouring water from the small container into my bottle, “It’s obvious she’s got nothing on me.”

For as different as we were acting around each other now, it still felt strange to think about calling ourselves ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend.’ The titles sounded so plain, and there was nothing plain about our relationship. We were partners, we were teammates, we had a bond that had been forged in fire. To reduce it to so mundane a title felt insulting.

“Ready to practice?” Din asked, hopping off the ramp.

Taking a deep, deep inhale, I pulled the knob from the Crest’s control board and handed it to the kid. It was the best shot at keeping him distracted while we trained.

Flying with Din came with its pros and cons. I hated the vulnerability of flying without a parachute, a strap, anything to save me from dying if Din ever lost his grip. On the other hand, I got to be wrapped up in his arms and pressed against him. In the end, my reservations didn’t matter. I was always going to choose the closeness.

“Try not to move around so much,” Din instructed as we got into position.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I raised an eyebrow, “Was my complete terror getting in the way of you looking cool?”

Din slipped his arms around my middle, my back picking up the warmth of his Beskar-clad chest. We had a few moves we were working on and they needed to be perfect before we got ourselves into any fights.

With no warning, Din blasted off the ground and we were in motion. The trees of Kashyyyk were high, so we had a ways to go before we could fly freely. Once we were in open air space, Din made a hard left, practicing making a quick getaway.

“Can you still reach your blasters?” Din asked, shouting over the wind.

I slipped my two guns out of their holsters, “Got ‘em.”

“I’m gonna bring us back down,” he said, “Be ready to roll.”

Nodding, I steadied myself against the wind. Din descended smoothly, but the view of the fast approaching ground wasn’t getting any less scary with time. However, my timing was getting better. At the precise moment, Mando dropped me, and I somersaulted to the ground, kneeling and aiming my guns upon landing.

“Nice job,” Din complimented, floating gracefully to the ground.

The adrenaline caused a prickling sensation in my palms. My legs felt like gelatin. I hoped the physicality of it would disappear, but I was, indeed, getting better.

“Eventually we’re gonna have to bring the kid-“

“No,” I holstered my blasters, “Not until we absolutely have to.”

“Which is going to happen eventually.”

“He’s already turning into an adrenaline junkie,” I argued, “We don’t need to further that any more than we already have.”

Din came to brush some dirt off my shoulder. The two of us stood there a moment, doing nothing other than staring at one another. With the change in our relationship came comfort with silence. I savored when I got to hear his voice, but there was beauty in the moments where I could just sit and admire him.

The child squeaked, turning our attention to him, and began to waddle towards the edge of the ramp. It was a good four foot fall.

“Oh gosh-“

“No-“

Mando and I both barreled toward the Crest, ready to catch him if he fell. Such was our life.

————————

Later in the evening, with the safety of the ship’s security protocols engaged, Din and I lay quietly together. The bunk we’d always taken turns sleeping in, had now became ours to share.

“We’re going to have to head out eventually,” he said, his modulate roughing up the softness of his tone. The arm around my back made up for it. “Soon.”

It was the truth I was hiding from. As easy as it was to just take care of the child, we needed to find him his people. Din and I could feed him and put him to bed, but a Jedi could show him his purpose in life.

But it meant leaving our sliver of the galaxy that brought us no hardship, no worries other than too many branches falling on the ship or a heavy storm. It meant throwing ourselves back into the flames after just clearing our lungs of smoke.

“One more day,” I replied, slowly stroking a hand over Din’s arm, “One more day to rest up before the craziness.”

He waited a moment, the only sound in the compartment coming from his gloves rubbing against my tunic. “Okay,” he finally answered.

I scooted a little closer, his arm accepting me, and pressed a kiss to the mouth of his helmet. Din leaned in slightly, the pressure of the Beskar pushing against my lips. It was the closest we could come when crammed in a bunk with the child sleeping over us. I’d take it, I’d take whatever I could get.

We settled in each other arms, his modulated breathing lulling me to sleep. In two days time, things would undoubtably get ugly again. But for now, I had everything right where I wanted it.

Instinct Taglist: @toribentleyvq @pan-ini @simp-for-corpse @spacedaddydinn @never-no-locomotive @cozyballofanxiety @miraculousreader @welcomethepedroverse @damerondala @x-judyjude-x @dindjarinsspouse @fishthemenace @aliyryun1401world @that-girl-named-alex @ssophiebirkas @jellybeanstacey0519 @elinedjarin @lycaonpictusphotography @morganlefaye13 @pancakefancake

Din Djarin Taglist: @damerondala @x-judyjude-x @dindjarinsspouse @aliyryun1401world @elinedjarin

#din djarin x reader #din djarin x f!reader #din djarin x female reader #din djarin imagine #din djarin fanfic #din djarin fanfiction #the mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian fanfic #star wars imagine #star wars fanfiction #star wars fanfic #instinct

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tsarinatorment · 2 years

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oo now im interested in that apollo is chb'd patron thing would you care to elaborate on that??

@stereden also asked this! There's not so much canon for this as some of the other things I've talked about but there's still a few things to say on the topic, and not only am I going to talk about him being the patron, I'm going to talk about how that works with the things that happen with CHB during the PJO series, and of course because we're talking about Apollo, there's the odd little titbit from TOA that makes its way into this, too.

A lot of this will be extrapolation, but I've done my best to keep more floating headcanons out of it, so this should at least all stem convincingly from canon.

I'm going to address two things under this umbrella, because I think they're related and also because I find them fascinating: Apollo as the patron god of CHB, and Apollo's loss of jurisdiction over CHB by the events of canon.

So, Apollo and the patronage of CHB. While Camp Half-Blood Confidential is pretty goofy and daft in tone, it gives us a few important little nuggets of information regarding the founding of the camp, namely that it was Apollo's idea - or at the very least, Apollo foresaw that it would happen/needed to happen.

As it turned out, giving Apollo a centaur-back ride was the smartest thing I ever did. Unlike others of my kind, I didn’t belong to a specific tribe. I was a loner…and, sometimes, lonely. We bonded during that ride. I found that Apollo could be quite charming one-on-one, when he wasn’t trying to impress his adoring throngs of fans. When we got back to the cave, he said something that changed my life. “Uncle Chiron, I’ve decided to teach you some stuff.” Perhaps he found the idea amusing: a nephew teaching his uncle. Or maybe, being the god of prophecy, he suspected I had an important role to play in the future of Olympus. Whatever the reason, he chose to share his knowledge with me. At first, he showed me simple things, like how to nock an arrow—“Aim the pointy end away from your body”—and how to bandage a gushing battle wound. He taught me to make a lyre, play a number of hits like “Stairway to Olympus” and “Burnt-Offering Smoke on the Water,” and even compose my own lyrics. Once, in an effort to refine my poetry skills, he sent me on a quest to find a rhyme for arugula so that he could finish an ode to a mixed-green salad. The best I could do was pergola. Apollo called my effort an “ode fail”—the ancient precursor to today’s “epic fail”—but he continued to work with me. The lessons went on for a year. Then one day, Apollo showed up at the doorway of my cave with a half-dozen young demigods. “You know all that stuff I taught you?” he asked me. “It’s time to pay it forward! I’d like you to meet Achilles, Aeneas, Jason, Atalanta, Asclepius, and Percy—” “It’s Perseus, sir,” said one of the young men. “Whatever!” Apollo grinned with delight. “Chiron, teach them everything I showed you. Y’all have fun!” Then he vanished.

I have high doubts that this is exactly how it went down - I don't think those six demigods were all direct contemporaries of each other, mythologically, for starters - but they were all trained by Chiron and it makes sense for Apollo to be the one to introduce them, especially as he's the one that trained Chiron in the first place, and paying things forward is not a new or novel idea, especially when it comes to knowledge (after all, that's how teaching works even now - kids learn things, grow up, the next generation of kids start learning from them. That's just how humanity works).

From here, of course CHB continues to expand until it's the camp we know and love today. Chiron details this out for us (again, I don't believe the actual way he tells it, but the basic facts if not the very fictionised retelling seem solid). I won't copy out all of that, but I will make note of Apollo's direct involvement within the expansion, that that's the addition of the satyrs:

The satyrs arrived en masse with this note from Apollo: I predict that in the future, demigods won’t be able to find Camp Half-Blood on their own. The world will simply be too large, too populous, and too dangerous. When that time comes, send satyrs to track down your prospective students. Satyrs can find anything. They recently located a herd of cattle Hermes stole from me that even I couldn’t find. Trust me: you need seekers, and they’re the goats for the job.

Apollo is the one that's actively looking out for future demigods and their safety here. It's understandable that he's the one that knew it would be needed, because of his foresight and prophecy powers, but the fact that he acts on it so early, making sure the Camp is fully equipped to handle it with the satyrs long before they'll be needed, shows that side of him that he tends to not advertise in modern times - the side that wants to look after and protect the demigods.

That's two of the most important parts of CHB - its existence, and the satyr protector-guides - both directly attributed to Apollo himself, tying him more firmly than any other god to the camp. With this in mind, who else could possibly be the patron of the camp, if not for the god of knowledge whose own teachings are being passed down, and who actively worked to ensure the safety of future demigods?

The third thing is not explicitly Apollo, but considering the pattern it seems most likely, and that's the defences around CHB, back pre-Thalia's tree.

You see, I knew that so many demigods living in one place was like an all-you-can-kill buffet for monsters. Yet I had convinced myself that our campers needed no other protection than the skills we taught them. My pride had nearly been our destruction, but I learned my lesson. I immediately sent an Iris-message to Olympus asking for help. The gods heard our plea. The next day, a magical border settled over and around the grounds—a barrier that would both conceal the camp from unfriendly eyes and repel future attacks.

It's just the general "the gods" mentioned here, but considering that Apollo is the most involved god so far in the camp, if he isn't the one that did this himself (unlikely), he's certainly one of the gods that was involved in making sure this protection happened.

Another minor little detail to note is in the symbolism of the battle that occurs which prompts Chiron to request for aid here. To summarise for those who haven't read this story, the campers are nearly defeated, and it's only last-minute reinforcements from past campers that saves the day:

Then, just as rosy-fingered dawn peeked over the horizon, a new battle cry sounded in the distance. Former campers who had learned of our desperate plight now came charging to our aid.

The reinforcements came at dawn. Yes, I know that's a favourite trope in media (see the very memorable Battle for Helm's Deep in The Two Towers), but that doesn't make it any less fitting here - the camp was saved at dawn, which is the time when Apollo takes to the sky (and yes, by this time chronologically, Helios has already faded and Apollo is the god of the sun, according to Chiron's description of their first meeting:

“Ah…yes, Lord Apollo.” I tried to control the twitching in my withers. “Very weird indeed.” I noticed the sky was darkening even though it was only noon. “Not to be critical, O Great One, but shouldn’t you be driving the sun chariot right now?” He shrugged. “Actually, I put it in park for a few minutes because Artemis is up there doing her lunar-eclipse thing.” He scratched his fashionably stubbled chin. “Or is it solar? I can never keep them straight.”

It's likely that this isn't long after Apollo took on the role, although of course he could have just been goofing around with the lunar-solar mix-up, but he is still, in this narrative, the god of the sun by this point).

The implication here is very much that Apollo's the one who called the older demigods to help (presumably the Ancient Laws are in effect at this point - in fact, that may even be why Apollo had to pass on the responsibility of teaching to Chiron in the first place, with the advent of the no interference Laws) which again adds some credence to the idea that he's also one of the gods, if not the god, who supplied the original defensive barrier for CHB.

So, that's Apollo's involvement in the original CHB, way back when, and I don't think it can really be argued any other way than that at this point, at least, he was the patron god of the camp.

But what about modern times?

Modern times gets more confusing. I still believe that Apollo is, on a technicality, the patron of the camp, but in practicality he no longer seems to have any jurisdiction over it.

He still keeps an eye on the camp - no matter how he tries to throw us off the scent in TOA, there are some slip-ups in his narration that give us a glimpse of the god who is not at all distant from camp emotionally, even if he's physically forced to be.

Over the centuries, I’d had many conversations with demigods who wanted to know more about their absentee godly parents. Those talks rarely went well.

From this it's clear that he does spend time with the demigods at camp, historically (although not recently, which I suspect has a lot to do with Dionysus' forced presence, either because Apollo fears being reported to Zeus, or because there's a rule about only one Olympian god near the camp at a time). He cares about them and goes out of his way to reassure them - all of them, not just his own children.

He also remembers names. There are twenty two campers present during THO, including Meg, and during Apollo's narration we are given the names of every single one. The facts he gives us are precise, and the fact that he is able to perfectly recall every name after being introduced once (especially when we contrast this with Dionysus' refusal to get most demigod names right even if he's known them for a decade) implies a strong level of care. And no, this is not just because it's in winter and therefore Rick had a small enough cast number that he could afford to name them all - in TTC there is a similar number of demigods in the camp, yet Percy, who lives with these people for several months of the year, never gives us names. In fact, we learn in BOTL that Percy doesn't bother to learn some of the camper names at all. This is Apollo caring about these children.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Connor and Travis Stoll are the pranksters?” From a nearby basket, Chiron grabbed a flannel blanket and spread it over his fake legs, though the ruby shoes still peeked out at the bottom. “Actually, Travis went off to college last autumn, which has mellowed Connor quite a bit.”

Not only does he know their names, he also knows their habits and personalities. That's not just a basic level of reading names off a roll list, that's Apollo being actively aware of the children at camp as individuals.

It's also shown less implicitly through his conversations with Chiron in THO. Chiron knows that Apollo cares about the campers - he opens their first conversation with this:

My old friend smiled, though his eyes were stormy and distracted. “Apollo, it’s good you are here. We need to talk about the disappearances.”

Literally Chiron's first thing is to bring up missing campers, because he knows Apollo will care about this - and Apollo does! It isn't Chiron who continues this topic of conversation, it's actually Apollo who keeps trying to bring the topic back around while Chiron talks about Python and Delphi and prophecies:

“Chiron,” I said, “this is Meg McCaffrey, my new master and wellspring of aggravation. You were saying something about disappearances?”

“Disappearances,” I prompted. “What has disappeared?”

“The disappearances, yes.” I wiped drops of tea from my pants and tried to ignore Meg’s snickering. “Tell me about those.”

He asks about it three times before Chiron finally gives him the information he's after - it's actually the thing he's most insistent about focusing on in the whole conversation (he keeps trying to dodge the discussion of Python and Delphi) - and even after that it's the one he keeps asking more questions on, trying to get more and more information. Apollo never says so in as many words, but it's clear that he's very worried about the missing campers (a façade he more or less manages to cling to until his own children are added to the number, at which point the façade collapses entirely and we see Apollo in full worry mode over the children).

So the question is, if Apollo is the patron god of Camp Half-Blood (and let's not forget his domain of protector of the young, here!), why did we never see him in this capacity during PJO?

Quite frankly, it's obvious that he can't. It's impossible that, if Apollo had any say over the matter at all, he would have allowed the sacking of Chiron in SOM. He also sends no visible aid during BOTL, but the Daedalus thing is interesting... But let's start from the top.

Apollo has lost jurisdiction over CHB by the time PJO begins. I would argue that this is a relatively recent development - there are conflicting canon statements regarding how long Dionysus has been at CHB (in TON, Apollo says he's been there for half a century but then later we get confirmation that Dionysus' punishment is far from over, yet in PJO his sentence was cut in half down to fifty years - my personal guess is that Dionysus has been there for around 15 years or so as of TLT, long enough that all the current campers have known him, but as his only known children are fifteen or older in TLT (Castor and Pollux are seventeen in BOTL, two years later, Dakota is a similar age to them) the implication is that he hasn't had any children since his punishment began, otherwise why the lack - considering his far from PG domains, Dionysus is a god I'd ordinarily expect to have a lot of children). However, Dionysus' tenure as Director of CHB likely prevents Apollo from getting too close to the camp for any length of time, as I mentioned earlier.

The biggest thing, though, and what I think was the final nail in the waning coffin of his jurisdiction, was Thalia's death. This is when Zeus put a very large, aggressive stamp on CHB - his daughter is the one guarding the camp now, through Zeus' own actions. By doing this, Zeus has completely muscled Apollo out, and we know that Apollo can't (and is too afraid to try to) challenge Zeus.

So, why would Zeus be so determined to claim CHB as his, and kick Apollo out? There's a few reasons. One is his ever-present paranoia. CHB is a major part of modern day demigod society - barring CJ, which is Mars' and the Roman equivalent, it is the most major part. The amount of power and influence it gives Apollo to have it under his control is huge, and we know Zeus fears Apollo overthrowing him (this is also why cabin eleven is the cabin for the unclaimed demigods - while the logic that Hermes is the god of travellers does hold water, as the camp patron and protector of the young, it would actually make far more sense for them to go to cabin seven. The only reason I can see why it wouldn't, in-universe (meta-wise it's clearly to build the Percy-Luke rapport in TLT to give the betrayal the oomph it needed), is if the other gods refused to let that happen. Considering they all seem fine with leaving their kids languishing in Hermes' cabin, they probably don't really care which cabin it is, as long as it's not their own - Zeus is the only one who has reason to protest against it being Apollo, and he has the clout to make sure he's obeyed on this).

Well, I say one reason is his paranoia; really, a lot of this is based on Zeus' paranoia, because all his interactions with Apollo are steeped in this throughout the series. Another aspect of his paranoia is the Great Prophecy - he wants his own child to be the Hero, but when Thalia dies, he's left in the horrid realisation that it might not be his child; Jason is still very young (and also a son of Jupiter and therefore Roman, and the Romans don't even have this prophecy), and if he's broken the Oath, there's a high chance at least one of his brothers has (whether or not he knows about Percy's existence this early is debatable, but from the way the accusations at theft were immediately levelled at Poseidon before Percy even knew he was a demigod, it's likely that the Olympians were aware of Percy's existence at least a little before the events of TLT). A child of Hades would be a problem, but Hades' kids aren't popular so he might see them as less of a concern/easier to get rid of (Hades also doesn't seem to like sending his children to camp - he explicitly refused to send Bianca and Nico to CHB). A child of Poseidon, however?

Remember that Poseidon and Apollo have historically worked together to oppose Zeus. A child of Poseidon central to a great prophecy in a camp that's under Apollo's jurisdiction is, to Zeus, a terrifying combination and one he won't want at all, so he uses Thalia to wrest the control of camp away from Apollo. Now Zeus is the one in control, and we know Zeus doesn't like giving control back. (And remember that in TLT the Apollo cabin back Poseidon... against Zeus; that can't have pleased him in the slightest!)

Of course, there's also the same power basis in his favour - he doesn't want Apollo to have that power, but he does want it for himself. The gods have all been waning compared to their original selves, and their powers are far weaker. During PJO, all of the gods are, if not pathetic, clearly weakened. It's only at the end that we see Poseidon and Hades regain their strength (the same way we see Apollo regain his in TON), while Zeus continues to wane.

So, what does Apollo do about this? He can't fight back against Zeus - TOA is a spectacular example of what happens if Zeus even thinks he's rebelling - but while the functionality has been stripped, he is still the patron of the camp, and also the protector of the young. Apollo doesn't sit back and do nothing.

First of all are the dreams - we know Percy gets a lot of demigod dreams, we know Zoe gets a dream while in CHB, we know Apollo kids get dreams, we can infer that Chiron probably also gets dreams (I'll get to this in a sec), and also that he knows about the dreams (once again, see @fearlessinger's discussion of our theory on Apollo and the Demigod Dreams).

Secondly, there's Octavian.

Now, it took me a while to try and rationalise Apollo's apparent desire to work with Octavian, especially considering the way it ends up with Octavian trying to kill the Greeks (who are under Apollo's patronage - this, at least, must have been a misunderstanding because there's no way Apollo ever approved that), but when I sat back and looked at how powerless Apollo is in PJO, it makes sense.

Firstly, there's his inability to help Artemis directly during TTC. As this is a gods and titans problem, primarily, the Ancient Laws shouldn't actually prevent him from doing this - the only thing that could be clouding Apollo's sight and keeping him out are the Fates themselves - but Apollo is still unable to do more than effectively send children to their deaths (Zoe is admittedly not a child, but Bianca is, and Apollo is the one who got them most of the way to the desert in TTC, although he isn't the one to actually drop them there).

Secondly, there's the mess that is CHB. Chiron is sacked and Tantalus (someone who kills children) is hired in his place (do I like the idea of Tantalus' punishment extending outside of the Fields of Punishment being Apollo's doing as a way to make sure the kids stay protected? Yes, I do - but there's no actual canon for this although Tantalus finally getting his hands on food right at the end, when Thalia is restored and the power in the tree is now purely Zeus', is a very stretchy potential link to the last vestiges of Apollo's influence in any capacity being broken off). This is all around Bad News for CHB and nothing Apollo could possibly have approved of. Then in BOTL the camp is literally attacked and children die (including one of his own).

Daedalus is suspicious as heck the whole time, and Chiron is clearly very suspicious of him - and yet, he does nothing (even though Daedalus was posing as a Roman adult demigod and it highly amuses me to think of the panic Chiron must have been in about one of the smarter kids asking the right/wrong questions). I was discussing this with fsinger the other day and the conclusion we came to is that Apollo may have been the one to assure Chiron that Daedalus had not - yet - joined with Kronos and was therefore safe to have around the kids. After the mess of Tantalus, Apollo would no doubt be keeping a very close eye on who was being allowed near the kids, after all (and as he can't directly interfere, the most likely method of imparting this information would be via dreams).

The fact that Apollo has been dragged off monster hunting by Artemis on Zeus' orders, thereby keeping him away from camp at the time when they need godly protection the most also plays a significant role here (Dionysus, too, was elsewhere on Zeus' orders, which makes one side-eye Zeus very heavily at this point).

Overall, Apollo has lost a lot of power in recent years, and he's desperate to regain at least enough to be able to protect Artemis and CHB again - power which he would get if the Romans started worshiping him higher, because the gods are clearly fuelled by belief (notably, at the end of TON, Apollo has regained his belief in himself, which is even more powerful than belief from others, and makes me wonder if he could now regain his jurisdiction over CHB back from Zeus). This neatly ties in the Octavian side of things in HOO.

So, in conclusion: Apollo is the reason CHB exists, he's been consistently shown to care about the demigods right from its inception to the modern day and protects them as much as he is able to, which makes him the clear choice for patron of the camp. However, Zeus' paranoia has prompted him to muscle Apollo out of any practical patronage (although he is, technically, still the patron even if he can no longer act on it), leaving Apollo desperate to regain the patronage and protect the demigods however he can without directly defying Zeus.

#Anonymous #stereden #pjo apollo #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #heroes of olympus #hoo #trials of apollo #toa #riordanverse #rrverse #pjo chiron #pjo zeus #pjo octavian #chb #camp half-blood #tsari analyses things

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gideonthefirst · 5 months

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3, 17, and i'll re-ask 16 to get whatever other one you meant!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

WAHOO! I like this one it's made me realize that I actually loved way more books this year than I was giving credit to. Let's say:

5. We Have Always Live in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Loved loved loved this one it's turned me into a big #ShirleyHead and also (along with Hill House) is responsible for some other takes I've had about books this year which I'll expound on later.

4. Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes on a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib. Nobody's doing it like him. Only music writer I've ever read who is actually capable of communicating the music itself just over text, loves the things he writes about so strongly that it makes you as the reader love them too, beautiful beautiful collection and piece of work. A Little Devil in America would be on here too but I'm limiting myself to one book per author to resolve both this and the Nabokov problem.

3. When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb. First book I finished in 2023 and one of my all-time favorites :] It's so smart and so lovingly written and so complex and doing such fun things with religion and history and gender and also it's a fun and excellently-paced read. Recommend without qualification

2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Well. It's Lolita innit

1. Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash. Would I argue that Stephen Florida is "better" than Lolita? Who knows. Depends on the day. But I did love it more than any other book I've read in recent memory. The most directly invested I've been in a story in a long time, spent huge stretches of it being so stressed out about multiple things at once that I had to pause every five pages to catch my breath. Stunning depiction of a deeply unlikable character who you still want to win an unwinnable situation. Hostile to any attempt of a reader to figure out what it "means" or is "saying". Fantastic commitment to character voice. Perfect ending that had me totally motionless and speechless for maybe ten minutes. Have never in my life been more disappointed to find out that an author hasn’t written anything else. Man. Nobody is doing it like that.

16. What was the most overhyped book of this year?

Sob really funny of Sarah to get Annihilation and you to get The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. This wasn’t my first answer because it certainly is less broadly overhyped than Annihilation but I haven’t heard a single other person have negative feelings about it and I’m baffled by this. It fell into such a constant and repetitive trap of overexplaining things to me, both exposition and description of things that were supposed to be scary, and it drove me nuts. It being the year of Ms. Shirley Jackson certainly did not help, since she really has the perfect balance of how much to describe something to keep it scary, which isn’t super fair to Mr. Jones but it’s true regardless. Plus I thought how it treated women was really strange (derogatory), which I would have cared about much less in a better book but in this one really stuck out and weakened it further. And overall I just did not at all really understand what it was trying to do, which could be on me but I’m certainly too annoying to admit it, the pacing did not work for me at All and it just. Ugh. Didn’t like it!!

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

I was kind of shocked by how much I liked Where Are Your Boys Tonight? but I have already talked about that one. So let’s go with The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It wasn’t like life changing or anything but it was a much more fun read than I was expecting since last attempt I made I bounced off the narration style immediately. But despite its many many concessions to the great weaknesses of epic fantasy I still intend to read the sequel and I especially love how Hobb engages with, uh, pain and sickness and disability and how she refuses to let them fade away and seems to really understand the extent to which pain and extended sickness alter people. I’m so so so excited to get to the torture because of this

#asks #ask memes #storybook-souls #ty hannah :]

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pauls1967moustache · 1 year

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John would’ve loved Nicki Minaj tbh

Sorry I’m gonna use this as an excuse to tell you my John Lennon hip hop headcanons bc I’ve actually been thinking about this since I made the post. John would love so much rap music like.. the word play but also the general narratives about experiencing oppression and the fact that the rest of the “old white men” of the music industry hated it in the beginning. John would not be the first white boy rapper but he would do some sort of spoken word thing on a song inspired by hip hop that would be kind of rap adjacent and then 20 years later everyone would be like “it was the first white rap song” like they talk about Rapture by Blondie.

I think he’d like the arty, alternative hip hop side like A Tribe Called Quest. Like he’d be down to give Tribe his blessing to use a Beatles drum sample on Low End Theory or something, which would then kick off a whole trend in hip hop about using Beatles samples (now I’m just fantasising but I WISH, god I could do a whole separate rant about this. PAUL FREE THE SAMPLES!!)

Although tbh due to proximity maybe he’d be more into the New York artists like Biggie and Wu Tang. Jay-Z and Nas in their time, which like actually..

He’d LOVE Kanye. Like blah blah Kanye production, but also Kanye oldies are funny, and tell me saying “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” on live TV isn’t the most John Lennon shit to go spouting off hdkshskaj. They’d be such besties. He’d work with Kanye way before Paul. He’d put a Kanye feature on his album. He’d let Kanye sample God on Yeezus. When Kanye got into his whole religion thing, John would do an interview like “I love him but I don’t really get it” and then they’d get into the craziest beef.

But also, per your point I think he’d like Nicki’s thing of doing a voice bc people told her to sing pretty. Idk if he’d relate as much to her lyrics but, like Kanye, Nicki’s songs are funny so I could see him being into it. Plus she’s like objectively excellent when you catch her on a great song and I think he could appreciate that. He’s friends with Kanye! He heard her Monster verse! He gets it! Although I could also see him saying something mildly critical in an interview and then getting attacked by barbs on twitter, which would honestly just be really funny.

But he’s so opinionated in general that he’d be such a fun voice to add to rap conversation, not even in the sense that he’d have anything important to say about it, but he’s smart! I think there are things about hip hop that he’d understand well before other people, (and obviously things about it he’d completely overlook due to his age and privilege) but it’s not like we’re hearing any in depth Beatle opinions on rap music and I just think his would be fun and chaotic.

#I think John would completely understand Eminem’s angry white boy thing but also would completely eviscerate it before Eminem lost his shine #I think he’d like lil nas x—not musically but as a personality in that genre #anyway lemme shut up lol #asks #John Lennon the hip hop fan

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offthesnails · 1 year

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Spent some time today thinking about an expansive open world RPG set in tribal centaur lands. Plays out just like a regular RPG in the style of recent Assassin's Creed and Far Cry games - ie, a map populated with quests ranging from narrative-driven, resource/collection driven, side quests, etc etc.

I think having mounts/vehicles in the aforementioned games changes the way the player experiences the map, and so i'd imagine if the mount was inbuilt into the player character itself, it'd make for a pretty interesting challenge in environmental design (read: speed is a given, so gonna have lotsa wide open space, etc etc )

I'd imagine the map also containing a couple of centaur tribes, which maybe the player can join, trade with, parley with, etc. These factions have fluid relationships with one another - sometimes they may be at peace and trading with one another, and other times they may be at war. So, your good relationship with a faction may cause tension with another faction. I love a good dynamically changing world. (there's an indie game called Pine that does this really nicely, but I also have Mount and Blade in mind)

This kinda randomness allows for a bit of a Rimworld flavour to the player experience - unexpected things happening to further a narrative that's unique to each player.

I'd imagine a story being something along the lines of reclaiming an ancestral homeland, uniting tribes, etc etc. But more importantly, it would have extensive capacity for character customisation (think customisation of both pelt of horse, warpaint, etc, as well as customisation of the human half), because at the end of the day, I was a barbie-dress-up-game kid, and I can't pretend it didn't inform my taste in video games. Sue me.

#2d art #snart #drawing #game concept #concept art #game design #game stuff #hypothetical centaur rpg #listen will i ever have time to solo develop something like this #absolutely not #but i do have time to think about it #I'd love to think and draw about it more later #game development

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thisisalwaysmorethanoneknows · 1 month

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It is Often that the Unexpected Happens

Chapter 2

Word Count: 1552

Summary: Ash the BeetleWing has died to what would later be called the Othermind. Unfortunately, by means outside his understanding, he has been brought back in 7426 as, far from his time, and far from the extinction of his tribe. He doesn't belong in this time, he misses his friends, and he knows that the friends he left behind aren't safe. With the help of Darner and Poseidra, Ash goes on a quest to return home.

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He woke up with a start, confused and surprised. How was he alive? He was certain he had been done for, he knew he should be dead. Despite all that, he was still alive and breathing, probably.

"Stag?" he asked worriedly, "Click? Orchid? Where is everyone?"

He shook his head, it didn't matter, he had to return to Click and Stag like he promised. He wanted to make sure everyone got away safe. He quickly flew to the camp.

He stopped where the camp should be, there were no trees, like on the entire flight, but there also wasn't any signs of dragons, or even a scuffle.

He looked around for any dragons. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an odd looking dragon. They had dragonfly-like wings, an extra horn on their head, and a stinger on their tail.

"Hey!" he said, backing up in case they were dangerous, "who are you and why are you here?"

They held up their talons before quickly responding, "I could ask you the same question."

"I'm Ash, I returned after helping save a lot of BeetleWings and LeafWings from the unusually large swarm of bees, I came back to report to Click," Ash said, before getting annoyed at their response, they looked like they were trying not to laugh, "what's so funny?"

"Sorry sorry, it's just, everything seems so convincing about what you're saying," they said, "but everyone knows that the BeetleWings have been extinct for at least three thousand years."

"You're joking right?" Ash asked, "I spoke to two not that long ago."

“I’m not joking, if I was, I wouldn’t be here," they said.

"And you are?"

"Right, right," they said, "I am Darner, of the HiveWings."

"Hive… What?" at this point Ash didn't know what to think, "what the fuck is a HiveWing?"

"Wait, you're serious?" Darner said, "and you're an actual BeetleWing?"

"Last I checked, yes," he said.

"That makes no sense to me but maybe Queen Acacia’lll understand," Darner suggested.

"'Queen'?" Ash echoed, he had never heard the term before.

“How do you not know what a queen is? I mean, they lead the tribes of Pyrrhia and Pantala," Darner said, sounding surprised.

"We didn't have them, our leaders were Click and Orchid, they didn't have special titles," Ash explained, before adding "but it's nice to know that the dragons of Pyrrhia are still alive."

"Alright, I have no idea what's going on," Darner said, "I'm taking you to Queen Acacia, maybe she'll have answers."

"I'm not sure about this," Ash said, "I kind of don't want people to stare at me, and if I'm supposed to be dead, that'll attract attention."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, we've seen plenty of odd dragons," Darner assured, "now come along!"

"Uhh, why?" Ash asked, confused.

"Alright then…"

"I'll go in first, you wait here for a bit," Darner said, "I'll tell you when to come in."

"It's normal to do this when speaking to another tribe's queen," Darner explained, not helping Ash’s confusion, “now, please stay out here while I talk to her.”

After some time, Darner came out, "alright Ash, you can come in now."

"Alright," he said before walking in. On an odd structure was another HiveWing, this one had many pieces of jewelry and something odd on her head.

"What is this, Darner?" she asked.

"Queen Acacia, this’s Ash, he is the only living BeetleWing," Darner replied.

"How do you know he's actually a BeetleWing and not just some weird SilkWing?" Queen Acacia asked, "Actually, whatever, you've very interesting, is that all?"

"What, Queen Acacia, I-"

Darner was cut off as the door slammed open, and out came what looked to be a less furred IceWing with wings similar to Darners, she had a very serious expression and bags under her eyes, "hello Queen Acacia, I'd like to request something."

"Why didn't you ask before barging in?" Queen Acacia asked, sounding really annoyed.

"I did, but they didn't believe me when I told them that I was Poseidra," the dragon said, "something about how I'm not alive."

"Well clearly you are, what do you want?" Queen Acacia asked, her tone changing from annoyed to exasperated.

"I'd like to officially resign from being a soldier, I almost died on the field, and I would like to avoid doing so in the future," Poseidra said.

"Is this what was so important?" Queen Acacia asked, "you could have waited, I'm doing something else right now."

Poseidra looked over at Ash and Darner, her squinting a bit at Ash before looking back at Queen Acacia, "I don't see why you'd be so distracted."

"Of course you wouldn't," Queen Acacia said, pinching in between her eyes, annoyed, "you're a hybrid who somehow now has fur. Nothing could possibly be weird in your eyes.”

"Part of the reason, sure, but I have other reasons," Poseidra said.

"Oh? Care to add onto the reasons?"

"Nope," Poseidra said, popping the p, "but, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a nice chat with the BeetleWing here."

"Oh I don't mind, two things solved at once," Queen Acacia said, "better for me."

"Whatever, come along," Poseidra said, "now I think introductions are in order, what is your name?"

"I'm Ash."

"Nice to meet you Ash, I'm Poseidra," Poseidra stated, "now come on, I'd like to speak to you."

"Uhh, ok?" he said, cautiously following her.

Once they were a few paces away from where Queen Acacia was, Poseidra spoke, "you don't have to be so tense, I won't do anything."

"Why am I going with you?" Ash asked.

"I don't really trust monarchs that well,” Poseidra said, looking at the throne room doors with an odd look, “I’ve had some unpleasant experiences.”

“‘Unpleasant experiences?’" Ask echoed, confused.

"It's unimportant info. So you're the last BeetleWing alive? Gonna be honest, that sounds… not very fun," Poseidra said, "you should be with other members of your tribe. On top of that I'm sure everything here is new or confusing, we've come a long way since BeetleWings went extinct."

"It is, I'm not used to any of this," Ash said, "I'm used to sleeping in a small camp, I'm used to small structures, hell, I don't fully trust those little fires that are hanging to not burn this place down."

"It's understandable, when things change a lot in what feels like a short amount of time, it can take quite a while to adjust," Poseidra said, she sounded like she was speaking from experience, "but if it helps, I could probably get you used to everything.”

"Eh, I'm good, I don't need your help," Ash said, "honestly, I just want to go back to my tribe. I miss Orchid and Click, I miss Stag. I miss my family."

"And how do you plan to do that? They have been dead for thousands of years, and no one from our time can get you back to then," Poseidra pointed out, "we don't have anyone with that kind of ability or tech."

"I don't know, it's just hard for me," Ash said, "I've never been this alone."

"Hey, how about, instead of dwelling on what we can't do anything about, and instead find something better to do?" Poseidra suggested.

“Such as?? What can we do at this time?" Ash asked, "I don't know what is available."

Poseidra stood quiet for a moment before speaking, “I know! I could introduce you to my friend, Ray. It’s a long flight, but I think it'd be worth it."

“I think I can handle a long flight, I flew from Pyrrhia to here” Ash pointed out.

"Sure you can do that, but what about this continent and an ocean?" Poseidra asked, "and what if those millennia of you not existing destroyed that stamina of yours?"

“You are acting like you don't want me comming," Ash said, "let's just go already, which way?"

“East,” Poseidra said, “we should go as fast and as soon as we can. I want to be there before the sun sets."

“Hold on!” a voice said, both turned around to see Darner running after them, “let me come with you two!”

Poseidra’s eyes narrowed, “why do you want to come with us?”

"Most dragons have never seen a BeetleWing, it'd be nice to learn about what happened during the scorching,” Darner explained, “and Poseidra has been gone for moons, I also want to know what happened to her in that time.”

"What are you talking about?" Poseidra asked, "I almost died, what more is there to say?"

“I don't believe a word of that 'I almost died, bs,' it was so long, something happened, also you have a friend who's name doesn't sound very HiveWing, proving as much," Darner pointed out, "and I'll find out. Even if I have to pressure your friend."

"You won't get anything from pressuring them but alright," Poseidra said.

“Sure- whatever, we should get going,” Darner said, “we don’t want to put off the flight if we want to get there when Poseidra'll prefer."

“Yep, Poseidra,” Ash interjected, “the sooner we fly the sooner we’ll be there.”

"Well then, let's go!" Darner said, taking off in the direction he had seen Ash and Poseidra about to fly towards.

#wings of fire #wof #there is always more than one knows series #It is often that the Unexpected Happens #fanfic

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oldwebmlp · 1 year

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From: http://web.archive.org/web/20021206092358/http://www.cybersunbeam.com/about.html

Text from page below the cut:

About CyberSunbeam...

Who is CyberSunbeam the MLP?

(Be Forewarned this is very long!!)

CyberSunbeam is Sunbeam's long lost sister. She spends most of her time surfing the web and playing games online. She also loves drawing pictures for and meeting new faces from Ponyland. She's a little bit shy, as most Pisces are, and she is still a little unfamiliar with the vast expanses of Ponyland.

She was raised from childhood by the Queen of the Unipegs after she was found wandering through a distant forest. Suffering from amnesia, she couldn't remember from where she had come. The Unipeg Queen lavished her with love and gifts hoping that something would eventually refresh her memory, but years passed and no progress was ever made. The healers and sages chided the Queen saying that her lavish gifts might cause CyberSunbeam repress her memories even more. The Queen, however loved CyberSunbeam like she was her own daughter, and being that she had no children of her own - maybe she subconsciously wanted CyberSunbeam to forget about her past.

It took the death of the Queen and a familiar face to refresh CyberSunbeam's memory. Shortly after the death of the queen, but before the elders could decide whether CyberSunbeam should get the Unipeg throne, Sunbeam, CyberSunbeam's younger sister, stumbled upon the Unipeg tribe. Sunbeam was also accompanied by Cherries Jubilee and Medley who were CyberSunbeam's best friends before her disappearance. They had set out on a quest to find the long lost pony after years of unsuccessful attempts by the Ponyland scouts.

They searched the vast expanses of the globe for over a year with no success, and were about to give up had it not been for a strange race of creatures called Moogles. They told Sunbeam, Cherries Jubilee and Medley of a race of equine creatures that lived in a secluded valley within a distant mountain range. Knowing this was their last hope of finding their sister/friend, the trio set out to tackle the steep mountain ledges and reach the hidden valley. After a lot of work and several days of climbing (and a few minor incidents because Cherries Jubilee is a little on the clumsy side), they managed to tackle the peak and descend into the valley.

The Unipegs were shocked that Sunbeam and Cherries Jubilee, being earthlings, were able to make it over the mountain. They were also amazed at how much Sunbeam looked like their potential Queen. It only took one look at Sunbeam and her friends to bring everything back to CyberSunbeam. She remembered Ponyland, Flutter Valley and the wonderful parties thrown at the Dream Castle. Everything came back to her in a rush of emotions and she had the Unipegs arrange a grand party for her friends and sister.

Everything was perfect for the party. The musicians didn't make a single mistake, the pastries and cakes were sublime and the mood was ever so cheerful, well for everyone except CyberSunbeam. Seeing her sister and friends made her realize that she didn't belong with the Unipegs. Her refreshed memory of her old home made her long for it. Yet, she felt a responsibility and strong attachment to the Unipegs. She wished she could have the best of both worlds, but knew that wasn't possible. She consulted with the sages and elders the following morning and decided it was best to return to her homeland.

All of the Unipegs were upset to lose CyberSunbeam, especially since the Queen had just passed away, but CyberSunbeam assured them that the elders would do a very good job appointing a new royal. With that, she began the climb out of the valley and on to Dream Valley - the heart of Ponyland. Medley flew on ahead of them and made preparations for a grand celebration in CyberSunbeam's honor. It took a couple weeks for CyberSunbeam, Sunbeam and Cherries Jubilee to make it back to Ponyland, but as they grew closer, they were greeted and joined by ponies longing to see the long lost pony. Sniffles and Snookums, who were all grown up now, came out to greet CyberSunbeam, as did Firefly, Salty, Glory, Baby Moondancer, and even the Ponyland Queen herself.

Majesty held a ceremony that evening to commend the valor and bravery of Sunbeam, Cherries Jubilee and Medley and to honor CyberSunbeam. Majesty appointed CyberSunbeam as the honorary Queen for the week and made arrangements for the Flutter ponies to help CyberSunbeam become reacquainted with Ponyland. CyberSunbeam was overwhelmed with showers of gifts, kind words and love, just like her adopted "mother" had done. It helped ease her mind and settle back into life in ponyland. And, though a Unipeg will come to visit her on occasion, she holds the memory of the hidden valley in deep within her heart.

#old web #mlp #screenshot #queue

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therosefrontier · 1 year

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TWST Five-Man Band

Something I was thinking about with @pencilofawesomeness a while back, partially inspired by Idia in book 6 giving the overblotters MMO classes, imagining what their roles in the classic Five-Man Band trope might be, if the overblot kiddos from the first five books were an adventuring team or something like that. Like, an AU in which for some reason, they’re together and they’re off on some fantasy quest or being vigilantes or doing a heist or living just another day as part of the local adventurer’s/mage’s guild. Something of the sort.

In my delineation of these roles, I am largely inspired by Overly Sarcastic Productions’ videos on the topic (link is to the first video in the series). I absolutely love their channel, and so, naturally, they are who I think about with stuff like this. So, without further ado...

LEADER: Vil

—so naturally, this is a bit of a tough call since four out of the five members of this theoretical team are acting as leaders in canon, and one might as well be, and since it is a bit of a vague definition to begin with, but I feel that Vil may be the one who gravitates towards this role the most. He has a vested interest in the advancement, well-being, and excellence of the people under him, whether they want his interest or not (see Epel, and also all the NRC Tribe fun times). He just naturally acts as something between an instructor, an agent, and a parent, seeing to it that no one lags behind.

—He is the one who cares the most about image. He is the face of the team, the diplomatic one, the one who has it all together, more or less. Especially in the case of some vigilante or DnD party kind of action, he will actively try to paint their public image to be a positive one, so everyone sees them as the “heroes.” Of course, given his track record in canon, ten guesses as to how well that turns out. He blames Leona.

—Naturally, he’s going to get on the nerves of pretty much everybody on this team except maybe Riddle with his excessive standards he likes to subject everyone to, so he’s going to have to dial it down pretty early into this adventure to keep this ship from falling apart. At least, canonically, he is not completely allergic to apologizing.

—However, he also is good at keeping a level head, most of the time. He’d be the one consistently giving orders to the rest of the team, keeping his own stress levels at bay. Which is great, as long as he doesn’t go, say, repressing his feelings into a box until one day he inevitably explodes. Sure that won’t happen :)

—Also, he’s got a versatile skillset, probably, which tends to fit well into this role. He’s a skill type with a knack for potions, but he also can judo-flip a man no sweat. He fills the role of whatever part he has to play to get the job done.

LANCER: Leona

—by definition, a lancer acts as a foil to the leader, and I’d say Leona would be pretty much exactly that for Vil. Where Vil sees an emphasis on keeping up appearances, Leona simply does not care. Where Vil focuses on proper form, Leona focuses on practicality. He’s not the type to just roll with a plan that’s inefficient, or which ties their hands in some way. And he’s not about to put as much effort as Vil in his physical appearance, either. He focuses on getting the job done, which is, in a way, a lot like Vil! (Also, according to Idia, they’re both tanks, sooo...dual leadering?) But they will absolutely argue until the end of time on how they should go about it.

—like many a lancer, Leona actively pretends that he does not care about anyone here. He comes across as lazy, which is certainly not wrong, but he also will look out for everyone in subtle ways. Also, foes will be very ill-advised to underestimate him based on his deposition. He is very much a powerhouse, and he will not hesitate to step up to the plate when things go down. Plus, he has very keen senses and is mindful of his surroundings, besides also having good reflexes, which he will definitely use to protect his teammates when danger comes knocking (see, shielding Ruggie in a heartbeat from falling shattered glass, among other things).

—on certain occasions, he could step up as leader for the team. He just usually chooses not to. Again, he acts like a loner. He wins the ‘most likely to up and leave the team one day because he got in a fight with someone’ (probably Vil) award. Classic lancer.

—people-smart in, naturally, the most aggravating of ways. He’ll be the one who, less than midway through some job, figures out that their client is actually some bad character who is definitely going to betray them later, so he will propose with a tired groan turning a whole 180 on their entire plan in spite of all the time and resources they already put into this and in spite of the fact that they probably need the money from this job. Cue more arguing with Vil, and also Azul.

POWERHOUSE: Jamil

(or as per the classic trope, the “big guy” role of the team, kind of, but “powerhouse” runs by a slightly different definition which I think fits him better. Leona and Vil are already the tanks; they got that covered)

—He’s the reliable one, or rather, the one that everyone relies on. He’s keeping this ship afloat by sheer stubborn will, against his better judgment that says he should have walked away from this circus act long ago. He keeps track of all of the little things and makes sure that everybody is fed and not doing anything dumb, while also being the one who ends up at the crux of every operation, trusted to keep a level head and not diverge from the plan on a whim or do anything too risky. And when things do go wrong, he steps in and fixes things like a pro.

—On that note, he is also, indeed, quite strong. He has a ton of power with raw skill to back it up (also in game being the only one of these five to make us fight him in OB form twice since he yeeted us into next tomorrow the first time), even though he tends to be low-key about it. He’s this particular brand of powerhouse that gets habitually overlooked, in part by his own design. He doesn’t have the same commanding presence as Vil or Leona, or so he thinks.

—so yeah, definitely going to be a problem later: he gets underappreciated. People just expect him to do things, and he does them. Doing things is in his instincts, born from his background of probably still being attached to the Asims in this AU. Whatever’s up with that. So yes, could absolutely snap one day. Maybe he’ll join Leona in running off and having a solo arc somewhere else before he inevitably crosses paths with everyone again and maybe bails them out of some situation in the process. Or maybe it would be more thematically impactful if he’s the one getting rescued for once...

—However, all that aside, he probably would low-key enjoy the adventuring. He gets to actually go out and travel, and get a bit of the freedom that comes with being a rogue (which is what I’ve decided these guys are, at this point, much to Vil’s chagrin. They are absolutely operating on ‘rogue’ vibes, whatever they’re doing). He’s just...not exactly on vacation because he’s dealing with an increasingly high pile of problems along the way. He should have a vacation, though. He deserves it.

SMART GUY / THE BRAIN: Azul

—he takes on the smart guy role of being planner *supreme*. He involves himself the least in open fights out of the five, instead relying more on his wits to get through situations as if his life were a heavy Euro board game actually. He’s all about collecting as much data as possible to formulate strategies, and tricking making deals with people to get them to do things and cough up information. He has few qualms about using whatever means necessary to get what he wants. Also, he’s the one to actually pay attention to things like finances and the sustainable logistics of what they’re doing, probably alongside Jamil.

—that said, the theoretical team he belongs to here is actually quite adept at scheming overall, so it wouldn’t all fall to him to strategize. I’m imagining that his role here would be the gatherer of information as well as the manager of the playing board during whatever mission they’re on, seeing to it that everything and everyone is in place and that all of their foes and neutral characters alike are right where they need them to be. He’s the people-hacker. Did the randos trust him? Probably not. But he works with it anyways.

—so with that, he would definitely be prone to way too much stress if things don’t go as planned, which with these guys, is probably often. As much skill as they collectively have, I cannot imagine life treating these guys so kindly. Things will absolutely go wrong. And Azul is going to have to learn to roll with that. He’s also going to have to learn to stop trying to scam his own teammates.

—if the team needs to do reconnaissance work, I think that Azul and probably also Jamil would be the go-to ones for the job. The two of them argue a lot in general, but the two of them work way better together than either would care to admit.

—And lastly, Azul could fall into that sometimes smart-guy trope of being very much underestimated in a fight. Since he stays in the background, people assume that he is weak, and that is true to an extent, as he is certainly not athletic, but he is very strong, actually. He’ll crush your wrist with the grip strength of an octopus. Do not try him.

THE HEART: Riddle

—because his name is Rosehearts no, really, he’d be the heart, by the definition that he is the emotional center of the team. It’s because he’s the passionate one. Whatever he’s doing, he does it for its own sake, not necessarily for some specific self-serving goal. He has the determination to see things through to the end, because that’s the thing to do, regardless of whether or not the act is actually in his best interest. In this way, I think he’d be the least pragmatic of the team. Especially in the heat of the moment, he’s not out there running cost-benefit analyses on whether he should or shouldn’t. If he gets hit by a high-voltage paralyzing energy beam, he gets back up again and sets the whole field on fire like a maniac, before they strike him down yet again. He is absolutely the reckless one out of the five, which will certainly give some of the others grief, but also, in the sense of team dynamics, he balances them out, as the heart does. Sometimes, they need a little bit of reckless.

—But at the core of it, he sticks to his principles and has a strong moral code (the ‘moral compass’ brand of heart rather than one of the peacekeeping varieties, for sure). The heart is the emotional center because they have a strong conviction in why they’re doing what they’re doing, and that conviction spreads to those around them, becoming the reason why they’re choosing to stick together at all. In this case, it would definitely be more subtle, with perhaps no one, Riddle included, realizing that he has that kind of effect at all, but he’s just...very steadily always there. He’s consistent, in his resolve and in his quirks alike. However annoying those quirks may sometimes be, they all know what to expect from him, and that kind of stability could be very good for the team, again with balancing out the others.

—So, I said he’d do what he does for its own sake ultimately, but also, I could absolutely see him having some strong overarching personal mission driving him to be here at all. Maybe he has some task given to him by someone else to complete, like searching out an important artifact or getting a very important sword from point A to point B, or maybe something earth-shaking happened to him to get him to go rogue. Maybe in this AU, he was actually friends with the other four Heartslabyul peoples first, but something happened to them, and now he’s out on a mission to ‘get his card soldiers back’ because that’s the rules he cares about them. (Sorry this is just where my brain goes haha). There are many possibilities!

—On that end, there really could be so much conflict in that scenario. He abides by the rules religiously, but if he goes rogue, then he’s kind of...well...not doing that. He’ll try hard to stick to a very specific standard, even if it doesn’t make practical sense actually, and when that doesn’t work out for him or when other people don’t have interest in the same rules that he does, he goes into a rage. Maybe he gets to have some character development before the onset of this team-up so things don’t completely fall apart on day one, but still, issues to work through.

—And....all of that aside, he fits nicely into this role because the heart is traditionally often the ‘mage’ class type, or in other words, the glass cannon! Riddle has high power but a very poor constitution, naturally making him very reliant on his teammates, although he often does not particularly see it that way. When he gets his sights set on something, he’ll do it with or without them, and to an extent, he can handle himself, but he really is best off in a group.

++++++++++++++

Anyways that turned into a long post but saying all that to say, these five would absolutely be a disaster of a team, but I think they would also have the potentially to be pretty dang cool as a squad. I want to see them do a heist now. Which, maybe I will...? I’m writing this literally right before the release of book 6 part two on the English server, and I have a feeling that we’re about to actually see these guys work together maybe, so I’d be curious to see how well the headcanons hold up. So yeah, what do y’all think? Would you assign their roles differently?

#twst #twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #Azul Ashengrotto #Jamil Viper #vil schoenheit #twst book 6 #twst book 6 spoilers #not really direct spoilers but I do reference it sooo #playing it safe #specifically referencing part one #curious to see how much material part 2 would add to this #but yeah somehow in the course of writing this I got a very specific vibe in my head #of these guys as rogues of some sort #and now I am stuck on it #I'm thinking of fanfic ideas help #but anyways this was fun #albeit took way too long to write #thought experiment #it's all about the dynamic #how they play into each other #which I find funny because it does differ from the typical a bit #in the most classic version the leader is more likely the plucky reckless hero #and the lancer is the morally dubious action guy #and the heart is getting them all to stop fighting #but in this case the heart is quite full of violence #and vil for all his talk is really just a tired dad half the time #and leona is also tired but in different ways #they're definitely all stuck in this adventure but they are too collectively stubborn to stop

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writerbuddha · 1 year

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@allronix, I'm reading your reply to my Pro-Jedi Essay On the Life and Fate of Shmi Skywalker, with unwavering interest! I address this part of your response in a separate post, since I think the seriousness of the topic and the space I need to address it properly, requires it.

"Just like when we hurt our finger, we don't think, "Oh, my finger is hurt, maybe I should help it", but rather, there is an instant and intuitive, natural response to it, our quest to be happy and not to suffer is inseparable from and complemented by the same quest of our loved ones. Unlike attachment, compassion can extend beyond the individuals who we're close with or make us feel good; based on the realization that all living things want to be happy and doesn't want to suffer, just as intensely as we and our loved ones are, it can encompass all living beings wanting to be happy and free from suffering"

This is a nice and lofty concept. And like all nice and lofty concepts...I never see it work in reality and I doubt it's possible. Call it the cynicism of a burned out idealist; we're inherently selfish, sadistic, tribal and hierarchical. Neuroscience points to hard coded limits in our ability to care for others, as much as idealists want to re-code human nature to be otherwise, often by by the barrel of a gun. Sure, we can recognize that another guy across the table isn't any different from us on a situational basis. Sure, great acts of generosity and altruism happen. Can people love the theoretical concept of all mankind? Sure. Universal love, though? The more I see people IRL proclaim they're all for peace, justice, and universal love, the easier it seems to scratch of the veneer to reveal the hate for some other tribe, be it the wrong political party, religion, or the rival sports team.

The nature of our discussion is to exchange perspectives, and me trying to persuade you into accepting the philosophy I live by would be a severe violation of these unsaid, but obvious rules. Thus, if our worldviews are colliding on these topics, I shall take it as a sign that I shall go so far and no further. However, for the reason I would find it rather tasteless and inaccurate to simply reply, "agree to disagree", and there are important things I feel I need to clarify about what I mean by "universal love" and so on, I address a few things that is not directly Star Wars.

I thank you for your reply, what I take as your advice to be cautious, and in turn, I aim to give something to reinforce hope.

Compassion is different from Empathy

I must point out that the articles you linked are about psychology and not neuroscience, and they echo the findings and ideas of Paul Bloom, author of "Against Empathy": we're not really capable of empathizing with the suffering of a million, we're better at zooming in on individuals; too much emotional empathy, that is to feeling the feelings of other people, in the sense of picking up the emotions and feelings of others, will possibly leave us drained and exhausted, as if we were running out of empathy. It should be added, though, that other psychologists are warning against not to take these findings as a judgment on empathy in general, pointing out, culture is able to influence our ability to relate to large groups. What's more important, and this is recognized by Bloom, too, the compassion I talk about is different, philosophically, psychologically and even neurologically.

What we mean by Universal Love?

There's a notion of universal love that's to hold all life, all humanity in your heart at once, that is a profound, immense feeling of love, care, benevolence just radiating from you and embracing all living things. This notion is present various cultures, and it's most often attributed to God in theistic traditions. In those traditions, this universal, divine love is said to manifest in the unselfish love we have for one's fellow humans. Ultimately, I believe, this type of universal love is reversed and possible only for, say, God. I'm skeptical whether it's possible for humans. Nor I think that it's humanly possible to have close, stable relationships with all living things, nor that we should strive for that.

True Compassion is based on Reason

Compassion is not an emotion, a feeling, an emotional response - true compassion is a state of mind, a mental attitude, and a firm commitment founded on reason. It's something that you have to cultivate and nourish, it takes diligence and time. This is why I said, genuine compassion is based on the understanding, all that lives is essentially one and the same in wanting happiness and not wanting pain. Continually familiarizing our mind with this basic fact, training our mind to look deeper, to look beyond the superficial differences and into the hearts of others, deflates selfishness, sadism and the hierarchical and tribal approach, and gives rise to the empathetic understanding of our underlying oneness, to the genuine wish for another to be free from suffering and to have happiness.

Compassion is unconditional and universal love, since it's a genuine concern for the well-being and happiness of others, that is based on and a reaction to a universal experience. Once we understand the universality of wanting to be happy and not wanting suffering, we can understand that even our worst enemies are motivated by this simple desire, and what we resent in others is also within ourselves, our reaction to their desire for happiness and not wanting suffering, will be the same: we will want them, just like everyone else, to be happy and free from suffering. The same with strangers. And if we allow this reality to sink in deep enough, it's really not hard to have a sense of connectedness to everyone we meet or know about, to genuinely care about their well-being.

Compassion is to feel with, experience with, suffer with another, and thus, we rejoice for their happiness and we want to alleviate their suffering as if it was our own, there are feelings of profound empathy, which allows us to have the sense of being parts of each other, and the well-being of another person, we will reach out to others as if they were us. This is why it's compared to hurting your finger - your hand reaches to help its pain in an instant and intuitive, natural response. The finger and the hand are parts of the same organism, and similarly, we can sense ourselves part of the same organism of all life, and we can have compassion and care for all.

Empathy Fatigues, Compassion Energizes

This cannot be equated with mere empathy, that is to take on the suffering of others or pick up their emotions, feelings and so on, which could lead to the so-called "compassion fatigue" which is, however, proposed to be a misnomer. In the West, there's a notion that compassion is always you sacrificing for others, that if you are truly a compassionate person, you serve the needs of the others on the expanse of yourself. It's crucial to understand, true compassion includes self-compassion: genuinely wanting ourselves to be happy and free from suffering. It's not surprising that self-compassion is actually, along with self-care, the core of preventing and overcoming what is called "compassion fatigue", but, in the same time, said to be comprises of "empathy overload" or becoming "over-empathetic" to a level where one feels numb to the suffering of others, "viewing self-care as selfish", leading to burnout. "If I have empathy toward you, it will be painful if you’re suffering. It will be exhausting. It will lead me to avoid you and avoid helping." Bloom explains, continuing: "But if I feel compassion for you, I’ll be invigorated. I’ll be happy and I’ll try to make your life better."

Unlike bare empathy, compassion involves wisdom and insight, making us able to understand the reality behind the huge numbers of suffering people, and in the same time, the empathetic aspiration to make others happy and free from suffering, based on the recognition of the simple fact, others, just like ourselves, want to be happy and don't want suffering, creates healthy emotional distance from the person and the situation, and rather than leading to discouragement, distress, fatigue or decreased empathy, it brings strength of mind, inner balance, courage, boost self-confidence, helps us to become more resilient and improves our overall well-being. Based on my experience, it's very much true that the more we genuinely care for the well-being and happiness of others', the greater our sense of well-being becomes. Our hearts become warm, open, bonded to others, we even feel physically better, and our mind is automatically put at ease, which is the foundation of happiness.

Compassion is Something we Practice and Nourish

Compassion is something you must practice, practice and practice. You can't just pick it up somewhere or you know, deciding to be a good person from now on, or receive it through prayer, or just born to be good as opposed t others who born to be less good. It's inherent to all of us, be we need to take time and effort to bring forth. The more conscious and mindful we become to the reality of others and of ourselves, the more naturally our compassion will flow.

The healthiest and easiest way of cultivating compassion is to train ourselves to recognize our essential oneness with our loved ones, the people we're close with, to cultivate our unconditional love for them, to want them to be happy and free from suffering on for the simple reason that we know, they want to be happy and free from suffering. Then, through understanding our oneness with the circle of the living beings who're close to us, we can go further and further, we can understand the oneness of all humanity, of all life, the basic fact that all that lives wants to be happy and free from suffering. And so, we can embrace them into our unlimited compassion as well, even if we won't and most likely can't get close to them.

Obviously, this takes time and effort, especially because we must also learn how to rearrange our way of thinking about the people who wrong us or don't care about us. And we must learn how to include ourselves into our compassion, how to be kind and caring toward ourselves. That's a very hard thing to do, considering that we have a tragic tendency to hate ourselves, blame ourselves, say things to ourselves that we would never say to another living thing.

But I am absolutely certain it's possible.

I'm working on my reply to the points you raised in other parts of your response, and await the further parts of it! :)

#compassion #love #empathy #self compassion #self care #philosophy

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scruffandyarn · 2 years

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Take My Hand, I'll Start My Journey (9)

Fandom: The Mummy and The Mummy Returns Pairing: Ardeth Bay x f!reader Warnings: More sword-fighting practice, memories involving baseball, drunken Jonathan asking inappropriate questions, feeling butterflies, more liberties taken with the Medjai culture

OK, so there are three more parts to this story after this one.

Take My Hand Masterlist

Part 9:

You heard your name being called and you headed back towards the dirigible. While it would’ve been nice to find one of Alex’s clues so you could feel at least a little helpful in the search, you knew Evelyn needed it more. She needed the hope that built up with each find.

“Abu Simbel.”

“Damn it, why can’t I do this?” You were leaning over, panting, after Ardeth had knocked the sword from you, yet again.

Theoretically, you knew why--you kept wanting to swing with just your dominant arm. He’d spent the morning, gently correcting your hold, reminding you to use both of your hands. Just like with the shotgun, you couldn’t be expected to have the full strength of your dominant shoulder--at least for not more than a few swings.

Unfortunately, you just couldn’t get your brain to remember in the moment.

“Baseball.” Rick approached the two of you. “You’re still trying too hard to mimic Alex’s fencing teacher. Have you ever seen a game of baseball?”

You nodded. “It’s been since before my father died.” Not too long after your family had moved to New York in search of that ‘better life’ that had been promised.

“Do you remember anything about it?”

“I remember…he was very excited. There were so many people there. It was my first time trying popcorn. And…and my sister spilled her lemonade down the back of my dress.”

Ardeth chuckled while Rick sighed.

“Anything about the game?”

You paused, trying to recall. “There was a man with a bat. Well, more than one man, actually. They took turns and they had to try and hit a very small ball with it. I feel like it would be much easier to be successful at it if the ball were bigger. Or maybe the bat?”

“Do you remember how he swung the bat?”

“Oh, you mean like…” You took the stance you vaguely recalled seeing the men take during the game.

“Exactly like that.”

Ardeth smiled as he handed you back the sword. “Can you swing the sword from that position?”

You closed your eyes and focused. Tentatively, you moved your arms, doing your best to mimic what you remembered from the game. When you opened your eyes again, both men were grinning at you.

Rick nodded. “Play ball.”

“...and that is how I was able to survive through the desert.” Rick finished summing up his experiences in the French Foreign Legion with how he managed to make it out alive after being stranded in Hamunaptra.

“Interesting.” Ardeth seemed to be mulling something over in his head.

“That means it’s your turn, Rick.”

Izzy had taken back over piloting duties when the sun had begun to set, leaving the rest of you to sit around the fire. As a way to distract yourselves, a tipsy Jonathan started a game of truths, where one person (Jonathan) asked another person a question, and they had to answer truthfully. After answering, they would be able to ask the next question of someone else.

“OK, Ardeth, you are the leader of the twelve tribes of the Medjai, which, I assume is a very important position--shouldn’t someone in that position be…I don’t know…older?”

“Rick!” From what little you’d gleaned about the Medjai people in your quest for knowledge, you knew that this might be a story Ardeth shouldn’t have to share.

“It is alright, ______.” Ardeth placed his hand on your knee, drawing your attention, and flashed you a smile. Then he turned back to Rick. “It is a position I inherited in my sixteenth year, when my father was killed.”

You looked up from where his hand was still resting on your knee to see Evelyn pinching Rick on the arm and Rick wincing in response.

“Wow, sixteen.” Jonathan nodded absentmindedly, taking a swig from his bottle. “I was just learning how to pick-pockets then.”

“Jonathan!” Evelyn smacked her brother on the shoulder.

“Hey!” He rubbed his shoulder. “We’d never have met your husband or had that dashing adventure in Hamunaptra if I hadn’t been able to pick Rick’s pocket.”

“You…you said you found it during the brawl!” Apparently, this was the first Rick had heard of Jonathan robbing him. “That brawl started because of you--and I was nearly hanged for it!”

“Gentlemen!”

As Evelyn tried to get her husband and her brother to stop squabbling, you leaned in to Ardeth. “That must have been a heavy burden to carry at sixteen, losing your father, having to lead your people. I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been for you.” You placed your hand over his, a gesture you hope offered a little comfort.

“It was…not the easiest time in my life.” He admitted quietly, wrapping his fingers around yours. “I did not feel ready then--sometimes, I still do not feel ready now.”

Before you could respond, Rick started speaking to him. “I’m sorry if my question brought up any painful memories or anything like that.”

“Wait! That means you have to have a son?” Jonathan interrupted, his speech slightly slurred. “You know, in order to pass on the torch? So, what happens if your wife only has daughters or can’t have kids--do you get another wife? How does that work?”

Your eyes widened in disbelief and met Evelyn’s, her own the size of saucers. She shook her head vehemently to your silent question, then snatched the bottle from her brother’s hands. “I think you’re done for the night.”

“Oh, was it not my turn?”

“No more turns.” Rick stood and hefted his brother-in-law up. “We’re just--we’re gonna--yep.” He headed towards the hatch, dragging Jonathan along with him.

“I’m so sorry, Ardeth.” Evelyn hurried after her husband, taking a healthy swallow from the bottle as she went.

You and Ardeth sat for a bit, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

“Still think asking questions isn’t something that should require asking for forgiveness?”

He seemed startled by his own laughter at your comment. “I suppose it depends on who is asking the questions.”

You smiled, trying not to focus on the fact that he was still holding your hand, trying to ignore the churning of your stomach. Your smile quickly faded into a yawn as the day caught up with you.

“Sorry.”

He shook his head. “I believe it would do us both very well to get to sleep. The closer we get to Ahm Shere, we will need all the strength we can.”

“Right.”

You were just about to reluctantly take your hand from his when he squeezed it gently. “If you are interested to know, I wouldn’t take another wife. There would be no shame in having only daughters or having none at all. The position would be passed on to the next male relative--a cousin, perhaps.”

With that, he let go of your hand and pushed himself to his feet. Then he grabbed your hand again and pulled you to your feet. Your brain, it seemed, had decided to shut down for a minute.

“Come, let us get some rest.”

#the mummy #the mummy returns #ardeth bay x reader #ardeth bay fanfic #ardeth bay #fanfic #scruff's stuff

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