#that tells the future?! which turns out to be visions of world war 2 and drives the villain (who is played by some famous game of thrones | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

empressofthesunwriter · 4 hours

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Yin and Yang

Balance is a key aspect in the world, so why shouldn’t the Avatar have an opposite?

In a world where Raava and Vaatu merge with humans, the Avatar and the Daimon try to keep the peace between the four nations.

Aang and Hua are the current incarnations, but wake up 100 years in the future.

How will these two learn all four elements in one year and defeat the Fire Lord?

I couldn’t wait to post Part 2 of Winter Solstice so here you go!

Enjoy and please comment, please, please, please!

Book 1.08: Winter Solstice, Part 2

Water.

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Only the Avatar and Daimon, masters of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed them most, they vanished.

A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar and Daimon, an airbender named Aang and an earthbender named Hua.

And although his airbending and her earthbending skills are great they have a lot to learn before they’re ready to save anyone.

But I believe Aang and Hua can save the world.

In the early morning hours in Senlin Village, you could see four figures trying to leave the village.

Well, it was two humans, Aang and Hua with Appa, the flying bison and Jaiyi, the kyuubi, trying their best to get their animal companions moving.

“Let's go, Appa! Come on, boy!”, whisper-shouted Aang, pulling the reins.

“Jaiyi, be a good girl, shrink!”, begged Hua, trying to get her ninetails to turn into her fox cub form and not stay in her big fighting form. Like this, she couldn’t fit on Appa’s saddle.

Nonetheless, none of the two animals listen to their masters.

They refused to obey since they didn’t like to leave people behind.

This realized the two children at the same time.

“Look, I'm sorry, but Katara and Sokka aren't coming to the Fire Nation with us.”, told Aang sadly.

Hua frowned, giving Appa and Jaiyi a pet.

“We don’t like it either, but if anything happened to them, we would never forgive ourselves.”

“So get your big butt off the ground, Appa!”

“And you Jaiyi shrink!”

“And then let’s go!”, chorused the Avatar and Daimon together.

This earned them unimpressed looks from Appa and Jaiyi. Both sit down on their butts, refusing to move.

“Thanks for nothing your useless fluff balls.”, groaned Hua.

Why did they have to be so stubborn?!

Suddenly Sokka called out to them, his voice full of sass: “I think the useless fluff balls are trying to tell ya something.”

Surprised and startled Hua and Aang turned towards the right to reveal a collection of Senlin villagers, with Katara and Sokka standing in the front.

“Please don't go, Hua and Aang. The world can't afford to lose you two to the Fire Nation. Neither can I.”, plead Katara desperate to them.

These two were her rays of hope.

Hope was the only thing which had kept Katara going on for years in the cold lonely nights when she missed her mother and worried for her father.

Now the world had a chance for peace if Hua and Aang ended the war and the waterbender would be damned if she let anything happen to them!

Guilty Hua and Aang look at Katara before they look at each other.

They see the vision of the comet Fang and Qinyan showed them clearly before their eyes.

Neither of them wanted to hurt their precious people, especially Katara, however…

“But we have to talk to Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue to find out what our vision means!”, argued Aang back.

“We need to get to the Fire Temple before the sun sets on the solstice. That's today!”, added Hua.

Aang airbends himself atop Appa's head, while Hua earthbend herself on the saddle.

If Jaiyi wouldn’t come, she wouldn’t force her anymore, but she needed to go.

As Appa stands up, Jaiyi, Katara and Sokka run to stand before the bison, preventing him from moving any further.

“We're not letting you two go into the Fire Nation, Hua and Aang.”, scolded Katara.

“At least, not without your friends.”, told them Sokka grinning. “We got your back.”

Jaiyi yips in agreement.

Aang and Hua can clearly see how their friends won’t take no for an answer, that’s why they tried to leave in secret in the first place.

“This will probably be the most dangerous thing we ever did!”, reminded them Hua.

However, the water tribe siblings just grinned, saying danger was their second name.

This made the Avatar and Daimon laugh.

Well, if their friends were so stubborn, they would probably follow them somehow.

Better they stayed together then.

So Hua earthbended the water tribe siblings and Jaiyi, who finally was in her fox cub form, to Appa's saddle, while Momo made himself cosy on Aang's shoulder.

The Senlin Village leader hands Aang some supplies reminding them how long their trip to Crescent Island was and wishes them good luck in their quest.

Aang wants to thank him for their hospitality and help, but the man just yells for them to go, go, go!

And that’s what they do.

Appa soars up into the sky, next destination: Crescent Island!

***

Daylight has come.

The flying bison flies over the ocean, while his passengers all watch the ocean fearfully.

“Come on, boy, we've got a long way to go. Faster!”, encourages Aang his bison.

Appa lets out a growl and does as Aang said.

Katara, Hua and Jaiyi huddle together, to comfort each other, but Hua can’t stop herself from letting out her thoughts: “Oh spirits, this is so bad. If a Fire Nations ship sees us we will get roasted nicely!”

“Hey, I’m the pessimist here.”, says Sokka, petting her head to calm her down. “Don’t steal my job.”

A nervous laugh escapes Hua.

Katara kisses her cheek, normally Hua would blush up a storm, but her nerves prevent her from doing so.

“It will be okay. We will manage.”, reassured Katara.

It’s like the universe wants to prove her wrong since Hua sees how a Fire Nation ship is now on their tail.

“What about that?!”, she shouts.

“Aang. We've got trouble!”, calls Katara back to him.

She tried her hardest not to freak out since Hua needed her, yet it was difficult.

“Yeah! And it's gaining, fast!”, adds Sokka.

The next minutes in their lifes were nerve-wracking for Team Avatar-Daimon.

Not only did Prince Zuko shoot stinky fireballs at them, also a barricade was before them and attacking them too.

Aang had trouble manoeuvre Appa around all the flying fireballs.

At one point the passengers had to put out small embers from Appa fur.

It was pure and utter chaos!

Their wild ride ends finally when Aang airbends forward off of Appa's head. He uses a powerful airbending kick, and the flaming boulder, which was coming towards them, explodes in a large smoky blast.

The Avatar falls back to Appa's head, Katara, Hua and Sokka grabbing him.

Now Appa soars safely over the blockade, passing them.

“We made it!”, celebrates Aang.

Meanwhile, the Daimon and water tribe siblings look onward in horror.

They were really in the Fire Nation.

Oh Spirits!

At least the rest of their flight was calm.

And boring.

For hours and hours, they flow over the ocean.

Hua was sure if people could die of boredom, they all would be dead right now.

She lays like a starfish on the saddle, Sokka and Katara copy her, while Jaiyi has fallen asleep on her stomach.

Aang and Momo were slouched on Appa's head and the poor bison seemed to get more tired every second.

“Aang, are we there yet?”, calls Hua out to him.

“No, not now.”

A few seconds pass.

“How about now?”

“No, still no Crescent Island in sight.”

Again a few seconds pass.

“Now?”

“No, Hua.”

She lets out a huff and dramatically drapes an arm over her eyes.

“That’s how I’m going to die….from utter boredom. What a way to go.”, mumbled Hua, but everyone heard her. Agreeing groans from all around. That’s when she realizes something important. “Wait if I die now I get reincarnated into the Fire Nation!”

“Yeah, don’t do that.”, deadpans Sokka at her.

“You got it boss.”, she answered jokily back.

At least it made Katara and Aang snort.

Silence again comes over the group.

Somehow she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew it was sunset and Aang shouted: “There it is! The island where Roku's dragon took me.”

Finally!

Appa lands at the base of a stone bridge leading up to the island's mountain.

The bridge ends at an elegant, multi-story Fire Temple mixed with Water Tribe decorations.

Lava is flowing beneath the bridge and the air is thick with steam.

Aang stands by Appa's head, and Katara and Hua stand at the bison's side.

Sokka is stretching further away.

Aang praises Appa for getting them all safely there, while Katara and Hua rub his belly.

Katara cooes at Appa how he must be tired, strangely Sokka thinks she was talking to him and tells her he was ready to beat up some firebenders.

When her realizes with whom his sister was talking, Sokka lies and says he was talking to Momo.

The lemur critters in confusion.

Since the temple was way too small for Appa, he would wait for them and Team Avatar-Daimon with Momo and Jaiyi made their way over to it.

Soon they stand before the temple and hide behind a wall. You could never be too careful.

Better look for hostile firebenders.

“I don't see any guards.”, whispered Sokka.

“The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue died.”, was Katara's guess.

“Let’s get inside, it’s almost sundown.”, murmured Hua.

Aang nodded.

“Yes, we better hurry!”

The group leaps over the wall and charges for the front door. After they are inside the temple they tip-toed through an enormous chamber with fire and water-decor columns.

“Wait.”, stops Sokka the group. “I think I heard something.”

Turning around, they see five men standing in the hallway dressed in red, with a blue sash around their waists and tall hats.

“We are the Fire Sages.”, announced the Sage in the middle, the Great Fire Sage. “Guardians of the temple of the Avatar and Daimon.”

“Great! I am the Avatar and she here is the Daimon!”

“We know.”

Without a warning, the sages attack them with fire blasts!

What?!

What was going on?!

Thankful Aang can reflect the fiery attack with his airbending. He yells at his friends to run, he would hold them off.

They didn’t need to be told twice.

So they run around the temple hallways in the hope of losing the Fire Sages, Aang joins back up with them and then they reach a dead-end.

Awesome!

A Fire Sage was coming towards them.

Even better.

“I don't want to fight you! I am a friend.”, promised the Fire Sage.

Angry Sokka tells him that firebenders aren’t their friends.

Jaiyi jumps forward to protect them, growing into an adult fox. Her hackles are raised and her nine tails wander around aggressively.

Aang and Hua stand beside her, getting into bending stances.

The Fire Sages wanted them, not Katara and Sokka, they would protect their friends!

This Fire Sage steps toward the Avatar and Daimon, before dropping to his knees and pressing his palms to the floor in submission.

This startles the children and Jaiyi.

“I know why you're here, Avatar and Daimon.”

“You do?”, chorus Aang and Hua together in disbelief.

“Yes.” The Fire Sage rises from the floor to stand again. “You wish to speak to Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue. I can take you to them.”

Sceptically Aang asks how.

In answer, the Fire Sage slides back a lamplight on the wall. He places his palm on the wall and focuses firebending into this location to open a secret passage.

“This way.”

That’s when they hear the Great Fire Sage hollering to the others to find them and their ally Fire Sage begs them to hurry inside the secret passage.

Hua and Aang exchange a look with one another, asserting each other's belief to trust this firebender.

Well, they don’t have really a choice, do they?

They enter first, Jaiyi and Momo right behind them, then Katara and Sokka and lastly the Fire Sage who closes the secret passage.

They are now in a cave, lava flowing down under them and follow the Fire Sage who tells him his name, Shyu.

“Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue once called this temple their home. Together they formed these secret passages out of the magma.”, explained Shyu to the group as they made their way through the caverns.

“Did you know them?”, asks Aang curious.

“No. But my grandfather knew them. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place.”

“Is that how you knew we were coming?”

“A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. The statue of Avatar Roku; its eyes began to glow! Then moments later the eyes of Daimon Lixue.”

Katara reminds them how Roku's eyes had glowed too, when they were in the Southern Air Temple as Aang had entered Avatar State. Then Hua got into Daimon State to calm him down, it was only logical that the Daimon Statues light up just like the Avatar’s.

Shyu agreed and said that’s how they knew how Aang and Hua had returned.

“I just don’t get it.”, began Hua. “If you Sages are devoted to this temple and to the Avatar and Daimon, then why did the others attack us?”

“Things have changed. In the past, the sages were loyal only to the Avatar and Daimon. When Roku and Lixue died, the sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar and Daimon to return. But they never came.”

Immediately the old feelings of guilt arose in Aang and Hua.

They had let down people again.

Sokka mocked them humorously that they only were 100 years too late.

For that, he got twin scowls and Jaiyi who growled at him.

Shyu continues to explain how the Sage lost hope that the Avatar and Daimon would return. Then when Fire Lord Sozin began the war, they were forced to follow him.

“I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord.”, confessed Shyu. “When I learned you two were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other sages.”

“Thank you for helping us.”, chirps Aang happily, while Hua bows in gratitude. “We won’t forget this.”

The Fire Sage smiles at them, leading the group to a set of stairs. Following them they would reach the sanctuary and when the light reached the statues of Roku and Lixue they could talk to them.

Shyu slides back a secret tile and they climb into the outer sanctuary.

Massive columns with dragon and phoenix statues atop them line the room.

An immense door is before them with a device holding five open-mouthed dragons, over them a phoenix with spread wings and waves artfully encircled them.

“No!”, gasped Shyu.

“Shyu, what's wrong?”, asks Aang.

“The sanctuary doors, they're closed!”

“Can't you just open them with firebending?”, wonders Katara. “Like you opened that other door?”

“No. Only a fully realized Avatar or Daimon is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise, the sages must open this door together, with five simultaneous fire blasts.”

Unsure what to do now, they all looked around.

There had to be another way!

That’s when Sokka had an idea.

It’s a trick he had learned from his dad.

They need to seal the lamp oil inside five animal skin casings, Shyu lights the oil-soaked twine and ta-da!

Fake firebending!

Katara and Hua are impressed with Sokka and Shyu agrees that it might actually work.

The children, Sokka with Jaiyi and Katara with Momo, hide behind the columns, as Shyu gets ready to light the twine.

He reminds the Avatar and Daimon how the other Sage would hear the explosion, so they had to hurry and enter the sanctuary.

“It's almost sunset.”, notes Katara. “Are you two ready?”

“Definitely.”, reassured Aang.

“Ready as I ever will be!”, vowed Hua.

Shyu thrusts his finger forward, sending a small flare racing across the door to light all five bags at once.

He hurries to take cover.

There is an intense explosion, producing a lot of smoke. Aang and Hua burst forward and ran for the door.

The Avatar and Daimon strain to open the door, which has not budged by an inch.

“They're still locked!”, they shout disappointed.

The water tribe teen was right with them, as all stepped from their columns.

Pissed off Aang airbends currents at the door, hollering: “Why, won't, it, open?!”

“Aang, calm down!”, demanded Hua, holding his shoulders. “Airbending at it won’t work. Seems like we came here for nothing.”

A groan leaves the Avatar’s mouth.

“I don't get it. That firebending looked as strong as any firebending I've seen.”, thought Sokka aloud.

Suddenly Katara declared him a genius.

All were more than confused.

Smiling Katara told them it didn’t work but it looked like it!

Now she had a plan.

A few minutes later the other Fire Sages reached the sanctuary where Shyu was waiting for them.

He tells them that somehow the Avatar and Daimon entered it, pointing even at two shadows you can see from the crack in the door.

Immediately the Great Fire Sage commands his fellow Sages to open the door, they couldn’t risk the current Avatar and Daimon contacting Roku and Lixue.

Hua and Aang slide into position behind nearby columns as the five sages firebend the door locks open.

As the door opens, a sooty Momo and Jaiyi are revealed sitting on the floor.

Jaiyi shakes herself free from the soot, while Momo sneezes, blowing the soot off himself.

“It's the Avatar's lemur and the Daimon’s Kyuubi. They must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!”, shouts the Great Fire Sage, but too late.

The kyuubi turns big enough to sit on him and Momo leaps atop the Great Fire Sage's head and clings to his hat. Katara charged forward, pulling a nearby sage's tunic over his head to blind him.

Sokka grabs the lower skirt of a sage's outfit, lifting it completely over his body to cover his face.

Shyu grabs the last free sage and hauls him into his grip, pinning him.

“Now, Aang! Hua!”, shouted Shyu.

A moment of silence.

Now Katara calls for them to hurry.

But to the shook of Aang and Hua's friends and allies, Prince Zuko comes forth from behind a column.

He somehow manages to pin with one arm each of Hua and Aang's arms behind their backs.

“The Avatar and Daimon are coming with me!”

More he can’t say, because Jaiyi turns into her fighting Kyuubi form and knocks with all her tails the enemy sages down.

Then she tackles Zuko to the ground, growling in his face.

So she freed Hua and Aang, who didn’t waste time and raced into the sanctuary.

Everyone looks away as the door seals with a blinding flash of white and orange light.

Inside, Aang and Hua stand around and look up at the tall statues of Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue.

A beam of red sunlight enters the room and strikes a glistening red jewel held by the statues.

Both children look confused around.

“And now?”, asked Hua.

“I don’t know.”, admins Aang. “The light hits the statues and we talk to Roku and Lixue.”

“But nothing is happening!”

“Please Avatar Roku and Diamon Lixue talk to us!”, beg Aang and Hua together.

Roku's statue turns red and Lixue’s blue as sunlight engulfs them.

His eyes glow white and hers orange.

Smoke fills the room.

When the white smoke dissipated Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue walked up to them arm in arm.

They aren’t any more in the sanctuary but on a mountaintop with clouds around them.

“Welcome Hua and Aang.”, greets them Lixue with a kind smile. “It’s wonderful to meet you finally.”

She is a beautiful aged lady and looks younger than Roku, even if they are the same age. Her clothes are in the classic blue of the Water Tribe with some red accents for the Fire Nation.

“What took you so long?”, adds Roku also with a smile.

He wears typical Fire Nation clothes, but a necklace made out of a shark tooth, clearly Water Tribe, hangs from his throat.

It was nice to see how this married couple integrated the nation of their spouse in their clothing.

Respectfully the current Avatar and Daimon place a fist into a palm, bowing their head to the Avatar and Daimon before them.

“We have something very important to tell you, Aang and Hua.”, begins Roku. “That is why, when you were in the Spirit World, we sent my dragon and Lixue phoenix to find you.”

“Is it about that vision we had? The one of the comet?”, guesses Aang.

“Yes indeed, young Avatar.”, confirmed Lixue.

“What does it mean?”, wanted Hua to know.

Roku explains to the young ones: “One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the War. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations.”

“The Air Nomads.”, mumbled Hua and Daimon Lixue nodded.

“So the comet made them stronger?”, summarized Aang.

Avatar Roku confirmed it, even saying it made them stronger than they could imagine.

“But that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with the War now?”

Now Lixue took over to explain: “Listen carefully, young ones. Sozin's Comet will return by the end of this summer, and Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the War, once and for all. If he succeeds, even the Avatar and Daimon won't be able to restore balance to the world. Hua and Aang. You must defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives.”

That they were shocked was the understatement of the century.

They panic!

“But, but, Lixue I may have started learning airbending, but I don’t make the progress I should, because I should learn fire first! How should I get down water too like this?!”

“Yeah, and I haven't even started learning waterbending! Not to mention earth and fire!”

“Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice.”, told them Roku calmly. “But if the world is to survive, you two must do it by summer's end.”

“What if we can't master all the elements in time? What if we fail?”, argues Aang back with Hua rapidly nodding along.

“We have faith in you Hua and Aang because you two mastered it already once and you can do it again.”, reassured Lixue.

This makes the children smile.

“The solstice is ending.”, declares Roku. “We must go our separate ways, for now.”

“But we won't be able to come back to the temple. What if we have questions? How will we talk to you two?”, asked Aang and Hua as one.

Roku and Lixue answer them together: “We are a part of you. When you need to talk to us again, you will find a way.”

The late Avatar and Daimon closed their eyes, showing the current ones what was going on outside the sanctuary.

Firebender, ready to burn them to crisp.

“A great danger awaits you two at the temple. We can help you face the threat. But only if you are ready.”

Hua and Aang who had also closed their eyes open them together.

His a brightly white and his arrows in the same light and hers in a burning orange.

“We are ready!”

The people outside saw how the door glowed bright white-orange once again.

Smoke streams come through into the room.

The door unlocks itself, beginning to open.

As it opens, a blinding white and orange light forces all present to look away.

Admiral Zhao commands his man to attack, while Katara cries out to her friends terrified.

The wall of fire amasses, circling its new hosts as Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue, eyes aglow, are revealed behind the flames, untouched.

In perfect harmony, Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue draw the circling fire together in one motion.

They send it forward in one powerful wave that sears the room, blasting the offenders off their feet and melting the chains binding Katara, Sokka, Shyu, Jaiyi and Zuko with precision.

Daimon Lixue and Avatar Roku, turn their glowing glare upon the offending sages.

The sages panic, all turning to run from their wrath.

“Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue are going to destroy the temple! We have to get out of here!”, implores Shyu the water tribe siblings.

“Not without Hua and Aang!”, countered Katara.

Never would she leave her friends!

Roku and Lixue kneel into a forward strike, melting the floor with a molten firebending trail.

They steadily lift a hand each, causing the stream of lava below to erupt into maddened explosions.

The lava soars through the temple, tearing it apart.

Katara and Sokka huddle together, arm-in-arm, behind a column.

The destruction ceases momentarily as Roku and Lixue lower their hands, exhaling soundly.

The solstice's beam of sunlight leaves their statues; their eyes no longer glow.

As this happens all smoke in the room draws in upon Avatar Roku and Daimon Lixue, their forms disappearing to leaving behind a weary Aang and Hua.

Both fall to their knee, however, Katara catches Aang and Sokka catches Hua before their faces meet the floor.

“We got your backs.”, tells them Sokka.

“Thanks. Where's Shyu?”, wonder the Avatar and Daimon together.

“I don't know.”, admins Katara.

Jaiyi licks Hua's cheek and then Aang’’s before she yips urgently.

They need to leave!

Hua, Aang, Katara and Sokka stare in horror upon seeing the stairwell leading to the exit filled with lava.

They quickly turn to the only exit; the hole in the wall Roku and Lixue had created.

There is no escaping, as they are on the top level of the temple.

All four humans gasp and the Kyuubi yips in surprise as they notice Appa and Momo swiftly closing in.

They run out of the temple, leaping into Appa's saddle.

Time to leave the Fire Nation!

***

The full moon shines down on them, as Aang and Hua, who are sitting side by side on Appa's saddle, look both in desperation at nothing in particular.

What Roku and Lixue told them…

How could they do it?

They were just two dumb kids.

Two dumb kids who had to save the world before the end of the summer.

At least…they wouldn’t have to do it alone.

Like if they agreed on, their hands find the one of the other and they squeeze.

They needed some reassurance.

That they really weren’t alone in this whole mess.

That their other half would walk the same path as them.

For the first time, both were thankful that they had each other.

How the burden of saving the world in less than a year could change your perspective on things.

Katara and Sokka looked at each other worried for their young friends.

They kneel down behind them and Katara puts a hand on a shoulder each.

Whatever the young Avatar and Daimon had learned, which troubled them so much, the water tribe siblings would support and help them.

#own character #ocs #ao3 writer #fanfic writing #avatar the last airbender #aang #sokka #katara #toph beifong #zuko #suki #zutara #sukki #aang x oc #bisexual #bisexual oc

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orangesunsets12 · 1 year

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Part 1 below //// Part 2 //// Part 2.5 //// Part 3 //// Part 4

Max woke up to most of her family and friends surrounding her, doctors instructing her about what was wrong with her, what the next steps were, and what would never heal. She woke up to a fixed world, a dead Vecna, and a strange peace. She also woke up to a letter.

Her mother had given it to her solemnly, saying that it was sent to their trailer two months before Max woke up. That she hadn’t read it, and kept it in good condition until Max could read it. But Max couldn’t really read it, not yet. Her vision was blurry, and her fingers couldn’t hold anything.

Her mom asked if she wanted to hear it read aloud to her, but Max disagreed. She would wait until she could read it herself.

Weeks later, as well as a lot of doctor’s appointments, she finally could. A part of her wished that she had read it sooner, but there was no turning back. The words, written in pen and in disjointed handwriting, meant more to her than anything, and she couldn’t help but read it over and over again.

Dear Max,

Hey. It’s Steve.

If you’re reading this I guess that you’re awake. Well, welcome back, Mayfield. I wish I could give you a big hug and tell you that I’m proud of you, but I’m obviously not there. I'm proud of you, though. I’m proud of you for surviving, for making it through, for staying strong. Not many people could survive what you did. You’re one of the strong ones, that I’m sure of.

You’re probably wondering why I’m not telling you this in person. As I’m writing this out in my horrible handwriting, I wonder the same thing. But, I guess that some things just can’t be fixed.

I just…I couldn’t stay, after everything that happened. I disappointed everyone. I ruined everything, and I couldn’t even save Eddie. I didn’t deserve to be in Hawkins, at home. Everything I saw, everyone that trusted me, everything reminded me of how much I had failed. How much I failed Eddie, Dustin, Nancy, El, Lucas, you. So, I left. I’m sorry that I didn’t say goodbye, I really wish that I did. It’s now one of my newest regrets, but I hope that you can forgive me.

I also felt trapped, I guess. You know when you feel trapped, like an animal in a cage? Like, you can’t see anything, you can’t feel anything but the cage you’re in? That’s how I felt. So I ran. Classic Steve Harrington, huh?

Anyways, I didn’t mean to make this depressing. I tend to do that, I guess. But, hey, guess what? I’m in the army now. I can’t go into the details of it, but I got enlisted and now I’m in training. It’s pretty demanding, a lot different than what I’m used to at home, but it’s a nice change. It’s sort of familiar, in a way. The preparation parts of it. But, instead of swinging a bat or making spears, it’s learning how to take orders, how to be disciplined, how to save lives, how to think on your feet. (though, granted, I think I have a lot of experience with that already). A lot of it is head knowledge, which I'm not so good at, but it’ll be useful when I’m sent somewhere to fight in a battle or war.

Wait. Forget I said that, I don’t want to tell you that. You deserve peace, a normal life, you probably don’t want to read about what I’m doing, or what I might be doing in my future. I’ll stop talking. Writing. Shoot, I’m rambling, aren't I? I thought that was more Robin’s thing, but I guess I do it a bit, too. Even in a letter.

All of that aside, I hope that you’re doing well, Max. I know that the road ahead is probably scary for you right now, but I know that you’ll get through it. You have a fire in you, Max, a fire that won’t be stopped by anything. And, you have a great support system. Don’t be afraid to lean on others for support. It’s something that I never learned, and I hope that you can learn from my faults.

I hope that, one day, our paths will cross again. I hope that one day I’ll be ready to come home. I don’t know if that day will come, but I need to believe that it will. I feel like it’s one of the few things that’s keeping me going right now, you know?

Good luck with everything, Max. Stay strong for me, okay?

From,

Steve

-----------------------------------

Part 2 // Part 2.5 // Part 3 // Part 4

#I'm thinking of making this a series #with Max's response next #i hope that you all liked it!#max mayfield #steve harrington #stranger things #ficlet #letters #military #steve & max sibling relationship #stranger things fanfic

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spikybanana · 1 year

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snippet sunday

@heartofspells thank you so much for tagging me!! :)) let's call it a thing, it's such a lovely idea

I'll leave this open tag, anyone who wanna share something from the past present or future works please do hop on! (and tag me back if you want)

sooo it's about exactly 2 months since I got brain worms about this time travel idea, and I'm still looking for a way to explain it that doesn't sound entirely nonsensical or silly. here's attempt... number seven?? I do really really want to know if any of this makes sense & would love any feedback (if you want)!

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Now that they were past anger's ebbing away, past apologies, Sirius felt the exhaustion of a sleepless night wash over him. Here on the grassy hilltop, he and Remus sat side by side, separated by the space of an unfinished explanation. Below them, the river flowed on quietly, threading like a blue ribbon through the woody valley and Remus' village which sat still, timeless as ever. To this world, London was as remote as the furthest stars.

"So. London." Sirius began, watching Remus in his peripheral vision. "I remember it. I remember the battle. But the next thing I knew, I was here."

Remus nodded. "You fell through a portal. It wasn't supposed to be there."

"They needed me, Remus." Sirius tried and failed to keep bitterness out of his voice. Every day he'd spent here, waiting for his memory to return, was a day he could have spent fighting the war. Who knew how close they were to losing, now?

Remus sighed. Some part of Sirius resented how Remus refused to ever raise his voice. "And you can get back." He said.

"To exactly when I left?"

"Time travel is possible."

"Right." Sirius snorted, unconvinced. "I thought there was the Barrier, whatever you called it, that's stopping anyone from getting in and out of London?"

"Here you are, aren't you?" Remus shot a glance at him, "It's strange, how time is tangled between London and here. Sometimes you get to jump around, across and backwards."

Sirius turned slightly to regard Remus. He was hugging his knees to his chest. And suddenly, he seemed so small, just a boy telling on the universe's secrets.

"I'm sorry I hadn't told you sooner, but you never needed to worry, Sirius. You'll get to go back. Portals are... manmade things, and at the right point in time, we could find your way back to exactly when you need."

Remus turned to him then, as well. Sirius watched him, the way his figure was framed by a soft sky, the way his eyes glowed with the golden-green-brown spilled over from this world. It was the furthest thing from a call to battle.

"And how do you know all this?"

Remus stilled, looked away thoughtfully for a moment, lower lip pulled between his teeth.

"It's because I've done all that myself." He said finally. "I came from the future, Sirius. I came from London in the future."

Sirius' mouth fell open, uncomprehending.

"You weren't the only one who fell through a portal that night, Sirius." Remus added. "You ask how I know this. You were the one who told me all this. You're the one that helped me get back here myself."

"What do you mean?" Sirius' brows furrowed, "I've— not even met you before I got stuck here!"

"No, no you're right. You've not done it yet. But you will, when you get back to London."

Sirius shifted, his head was beginning to spin. "I— What?" He wanted to scowl at the way Remus' lips quirked with amusement.

"That's right. You're going to meet me there, in London. In my past— in your future." Tentatively, Remus reached out a hand across the small gap between them, "Just like the way I came back in time to meet you."

Maybe there was a ringing in Sirius' head. Maybe it was only the wind whistling.

"So... you travelled all the way through time." Sirius said slowly, "to come find me?"

"It's nothing less than precisely what you do for me."

"Future man." Sirius let out a frustrated huff. Perhaps all this would sound less outrageous with time. "Maybe you ought to be more... I don't know, mysterious. Prophetic. For someone from the future."

"Am I not mysterious to you?"

Sirius shrugged. "Feels like I've known you all my life."

Remus grinned then, a true smile blooming across his face. "You know. I have known you all my life."

Sirius looked back at him, confounded all over again. He was way too tired to work out all the strange rules of asymmetries of their weird tangles in time. You've known me, but I don't remember you.

"Am I supposed to remember?" He asked, in any case.

"No. Not at all."

Remus' smile, Sirius decided, was mysterious then indeed.

#once upon a green haze #my writing #wip #um #yea #idk #let me know #wolfstar #wolfstar fanfiction #sci fi au #time travel #etc etc #remus lupin #sirius black #i may or may not be reworking quite a bit of it

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guardianreadersofthegalaxy · 2 years

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My July ‘21 - July’22 film ranking:

1. Last Night In Soho (AKA ‘The Great British Stabbing Bee’) – A young medium moves to London to study fashion but experiences disturbing visions from the 60s. I’m mad at myself for being so on the lookout for foreshadowing. It spoiled some of the reveals, but that’s not Edgar Wright’s fault. The director makes the Soho setting enticing and then increasingly terrifying, with flourishes that are creative but not obnoxiously so. Tomasin McKenzie’s Elouise could have just been an audience avatar, but she’s great in her own right – by turns naïve, driven and damaged.

2. Dune (AKA ‘Spice World’) – In the far future, the powerful house Atreides are sent by the Emperor to plunder the desert planet Arrakis. Dune is sort of like Game Of Thrones in space, complete with just-about-comprehensible lore and sudden twists where things go very bad very fast. And, like ‘GOT’, Dune is at its best when awing you with its staggering special effects and production design. Director Denis Villeneuve does most of the heavy lifting, creating an intoxicating sandbox for the simple yet vivid characters to play in. The third act does feel a bit like the first act of a sequel but I’m sure it’ll all balance out in part 2.

3. The Lost Daughter (AKA ‘Mamma Mia! But Sad’) – While on a solo holiday to Greece, Leda meets a young mother who reminds her of her own struggles as a parent. This could have been a slow burn, but an early reckless choice by the protagonist infuses the film with simmering tension. It’s a great character study, and director Maggie Gyllenhaal gets brilliant performances from Buckley and Colman as the quietly abrasive Leda, who’s unpredictable without seeming inconsistent. I like Gyllenhaal’s use of quick edits and closeups to deliberately disorient the viewer, as well as Dickon Hinchliffe’s score which swings from melancholy to surprisingly upbeat, ensuring things never get dull.

4. Ali & Ava (AKA ‘Disc-eo & Folk-iet) – An EDM-loving landlord and a folk-loving teaching assistant find common ground. For every film where a man and a woman bond over their love of music, I always hope it won’t muddy the waters by having them get together. Never mind. Director Clio Barnard finds magic in the drizzle and concrete of the urban North. There’s some great use of symbolism: a glance at a rocking chair or a pair of boots can tell you everything you need to know about a character. Barnard’s script deals with a lot of different issues (a few too many), and maybe should have zeroed in on the themes of mental health and the power of music.

5. Spiderman: No Way Home (AKA ‘Arachnids Assemble’) – Peter Parker meets friends and foes from other dimensions. While recent instalments have gone a bit too easy on him, ‘No Way Home’ puts Peter Parker through the wringer right from the get-go and gives him real lasting consequences at the end. His insistence on rehabilitating villains at any cost makes him easy to root for and gets to the core of why people love the character. Standout performances by Tom Holland and Willem Dafoe.

6. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (AKA ‘The Power Of The Doc) – A sorcerer has his ex-girlfriend’s wedding interrupted by a multiversal war. This was really entertaining! The action was occasionally hard to follow and the plot, while coherent, was little more than a vehicle for increasingly bizarre set pieces. But what set pieces! I know MCU directors often feel handicapped by studio interfering but, in this case, it seemed like Sam Raimi was able to make the film his own by leaning into the goofy soft-horror he’s best known for. And the, now obligatory, fan-service cameos were wisely confined to one scene.

7. Everything Everywhere All At Once (AKA ‘Racocoonie’) – A laundry owner has her tax audit appointment interrupted by a multiversal war. Co-directors ‘Daniels’ should be applauded for their boundless creativity, though I do have notes. There’s an incredible 100 minute film in there somewhere, but many moments dragged out for way too long. EEAAO rises above other Matrix knockoffs by remembering to have fun, with plenty of ‘Rick & Morty’-style comedy to complement the competently handled emotional story. By turns surreal, hilarious, tedious, and genuinely moving. And too long.

8. The House (AKA ‘There’s A Moose Loose Aboot The Hoose!’) – Three generations of cats, mice, and humans try their best to settle into ‘the house’. I mean, I just love stop motion so maybe this had an unfair advantage. Design and direction are both on point to make ‘The House’ as beautiful as it is unsettling. Thematically though, it suffers from ‘French Dispatch syndrome’: with neither the variety of an anthology miniseries like ‘Inside Number Nine’, or the coherence of a standard 90-minute film. The first and last parts had decent messages, but I never felt like Jarvis Cocker’s mouse estate agent was getting his just deserts.

9. The Power Of The Dog (AKA ‘Doctor ‘Straight’ In The Closet Of Sadness’) – A macho cattle-rancher takes against his brother’s new wife and her aloof teenage son. I thought Jessie Plemons’ understated performance was the highlight. His tearful relief at finding an alternative to his bullying brother really struck a chord, and it’s a shame that he faded into the background later on. The actors convey a lot through physicality, like Dunst’s shaking hands as she sits at the piano, or Cumberbatch and Smit-McPhee’s gait as they respectively strut and mince around the farm. Dialogue schmialogue.

10. RRR (AKA ‘Rajamouli’s Ridiculous Romp’) – Sparks fly in 1920s India when officer A. Rama Raju meets the revolutionary Komaram Bheem. They don’t make films like this in the West any more, and I think that’s a shame. RRR is camp and earnest, always somewhere between ‘so bad it’s good’ and just genuinely good. While there were literally hundreds of moments of unintentional comedy, I couldn’t help but get swept up in the epic drama and spectacle.

11. Don’t Look Up (AKA ‘Leostorm’) – Two astronomers desperately attempt to warn the world’s governments about an approaching comet. This was a really tense watch. It felt like a modern update of ‘Dr Strangelove’, where the people with the power to avert Armageddon are too inept to do so. There’s a hefty dose of Black Mirror in there too, with humanity’s stupidity on full display. That being said, I didn’t leave feeling like we deserve annihilation, which might have been some consolation. Instead, I was angry that we put our lives in the hands of the Musks and de Pfeffel Johnsons of the world, and that’s not as cathartic.

12. Turning Red (AKA ‘Meilin, Wailin’ & Big Fluffy Tailin’) – A thirteen year old girl turns into a giant red panda. I feel like, as with the MCU, Pixar films have somewhat reached a point of competent homogeneity. I could copy and paste most of this from my last two Pixar reviews: the animation’s beautiful; good insights are made about the human condition; the message is hindered by over-specific lore. And that’s fine, I guess.

13. Pig (AKA ‘They Took My Peeerg’) – A former expert chef turned lonely truffle hunter searches for his stolen truffle pig. I felt like there could have been something profound going on in 'Pig'. The juxtaposition of a dirty, bleeding man sat in a fancy restaurant probably signifies… something. But there were just too many off-putting elements, like the random fight club scene, for me to grasp what it was all about. Cage does your standard 'Sadman McDeadwife' performance, but I much preferred Alex Wolff's nervous yuppie. The scene of him trying to psych himself up in the mirror only to be cut off by the editor was the highlight of the film.

14. Shang Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings (AKA ‘The Lord Of The Rings’) – A former assassin reunites with his family and returns to China to confront the man who trained him. Though I didn’t care for the mystical mumbo jumbo or tai chi air-bending, I was pleasantly surprised by ‘SCATLOTTR’. The story wasn’t that compelling but Marvel did a good job with the design of the film’s world, costumes and CGI creatures. Awkwafina was a delight, the martial arts were great and, unlike ‘Black Widow’, sincere moments weren’t undercut by jokes.

15. Black Widow (AKA ‘The Marvel Cinematic Pugh-niverse’) – A former assassin reunites with her family and returns to Russia to confront the man who trained her. Well, I came for Pugh, and I definitely got some quality Pugh. Also a few really exciting action scenes and creative flourishes, courtesy of director Cate Shortland. However, even at 135 mins, it feels rushed. Ray Winstone’s short changed and, though Harbour & Weisz get plenty of screen time, it’s all setup for character arcs that don’t pay off. Meanwhile Johansson’s Natasha treads water between Avengers films. But like I said, Pugh!

16. The Batman (AKA ‘Twi-knight’) – Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler. Director Matt Reeves draws on the serial killer films of David Fincher, emulating their tone but unfortunately also their three-hour runtimes. I’m afraid I found The Batman to be heavy on plot and light on theme, leaving me with little idea of what it was ‘all about’. Paul Dano’s a brilliant actor but he’s only really given one scene and, sadly, I think he botched it. Still, I enjoyed the action, the cinematography and Michael Giacchino’s already iconic score.

17. Eternals (AKA ‘Zhou-er Rangers’) – A team of immortal heroes reunites to protect Earth from the predatory Deviants. Better than I expected. The dialogue was godawful, I cringed every time they stood in a line, and the characterisation, while present, is spread veeeeery thin. But, to its credit, Eternals raises some interesting issues about when and when not to challenge the status quo. And for a franchise often accused of visual homogeny, Chloe Zhou did bring a distinctive style that I, if not loved, at least liked. And the jungle fight was cool.

18. Kate (AKA ‘I’ve Been Poisoned By The Japanese… I Really Think So!”) – After she’s fatally poisoned, a ruthless criminal operative has less than 24 hours to exact revenge. Honestly, I doubt I’ll remember ‘Kate’. It’s a pretty by the numbers Netflix film with a very predictable plot. That being said, there were a few moments of action that were so fantastically violent I sat up, went “Oh!” and rewound to watch them again, and that’s definitely worth something.

19. The Green Knight (AKA ‘It Was A Joke, Gawain. It Was A Christmas Joke’) – The young Gawain seals his own fate when he rashly beheads the fabled Green Knight. I liked the music, design, and some of the performances, but otherwise TGK is waaaay too arty farty for its own good. The overuse of montage and slow motion made David Lowry look like a hipster Zach Snyder. You could maybe enjoy it on the level of a music video, but one that's two hours and ten minutes long.

20. Ennio (AKA ‘The Good, The Bad & The Long) – A documentary celebrating the life and work of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. Honestly, I love Morricone but after two and a half hours I was sick of the old codger. Insights are made into the great man’s process but they’re drops in an ocean of runtime. I wish, instead of trying to cover every film Morricone ever composed, director Giuseppe Tornatore had just picked a few ‘greatest hits’. Or at least devoted more than 60 seconds to the scoring his own ‘Cinema Paradiso’.

21. The French Dispatch (AKA ‘Les Newsies’) – A French-American newspaper publishes three stories concerning an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef. Anderson delivers all his usual Anderson-isms and doesn’t demand the audience invest too much in these stories… perhaps he should have. Structurally, making an anthology film of three forty-minute segments is an unfortunate choice, as I think it’s long enough to bore you but not long enough to tell a satisfying story. Also, the random use of black & white hurt my eyes.

22. The Worst Person In The World (AKA ‘Nor-way Home’) – I’m sorry, so little happens in this film that I’m not sure that I can summarise it. My favourite part was finding out, to my relief, that my wife didn’t like it either. Perhaps I shouldn’t have had a couple of drinks before watching something where I’d have to read both subtitles and actors’ facial expressions. Either way, I mentally checked out after the first hour. TWPITW uses a prologue to establish Julie’s personality before instantly contradicting it, introduces numerous disparate plot elements that didn’t go anywhere (drugs, families, offensive cartoons) and has basically nothing happen for two hours.

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mediaevalmusereads · 2 months

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The Cassandra. By Sharma Shields. Holt, 2019.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: Mildred Groves is an unusual young woman. Gifted and cursed with the ability to see the future, Mildred runs away from home to take a secretary position at the Hanford Research Center in the early 1940s. Hanford, a massive construction camp on the banks of the Columbia River in remote South Central Washington, exists to test and manufacture a mysterious product that will aid the war effort. Only the top generals and scientists know that this product is processed plutonium, for use in the first atomic bombs.

Mildred is delighted, at first, to be part of something larger than herself after a lifetime spent as an outsider. But her new life takes a dark turn when she starts to have prophetic dreams about what will become of humankind if the project is successful. As the men she works for come closer to achieving their goals, her visions intensify to a nightmarish pitch, and she eventually risks everything to question those in power, putting her own physical and mental health in jeopardy. Inspired by the classic Greek myth, this 20th century reimagining of Cassandra's story is based on a real WWII compound that the author researched meticulously. A timely novel about patriarchy and militancy, The Cassandra uses both legend and history to look deep into man's capacity for destruction, and the resolve and compassion it takes to challenge the powerful.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: racism, homophobia, sexism, blood, gore, disturbing injuries, violence, rape, suicidal ideation, abuse

OVERVIEW: I saw this book as I was searching for interesting retellings of Greek myths. I'm not one for historical retellings; I much prefer stories which take the myth and adapt it to a new setting, so this looked promising. Overall, I can see what Shields was trying to do, and I respect her for that, but I also think a lot of things could have been done better. What mainly made this a 2 star read was the passivity of the protagonist, the general disinterest in the government project, the sexual assault, and some random racism/sexism that felt inserted for "historical accuracy." So while I liked the premise, I just did not enjoy the book as a whole as much as I wished.

WRITING: Shields's writing throughout this book is fine. I think on a sentence level, everything flows nicely and balances showing and telling well, and it moves quick enough where a reader won't get bored. I may have some sections where I can nit pick, but overall, Shields gets the job done.

I do think, however, that Shields has a tendency to get a little repetitive with certain ideas. She constantly has Mildred evaluating men as potential husbands, for example, or thinks back to her terrible mother. While I can understand inserting these things sometimes, I think Shields overdid it a tad.

Shields also writes in some random racism, sexism, and homophobia that could have worked towards exploring a theme, but ultimately felt inserted for the sake of historical accuracy. Rather than thinking about how the voices of the marginalized are dismissed and how that could be reflected in the Cassandra myth, racist, sexist, and homophobic comments come out of characters' mouths for no reason except to be annoying and terrible, and they dampened my enjoyment of the novel. It made me think that Shields had less interest in thinking about big ideas and more interest in showcasing how racist/sexist/homophobic the 1940s were.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows Mildred Groves, a 20 year old woman who leaves home to work as a secretary at a top secret government facility during World War II. Mildred is unique because she is plagued by visions, all of which come true, but no one believes her when she begins to see the future damage done by the government project she's helping to create.

The premise of this story was very compelling. I liked the idea of adapting the Cassandra myth to World War II, and I doubly liked the implications tied to warning people about the destruction nuclear technology will release on the world yet not being heeded.

Unfortunately, this book doesn't seem as interested in building up the suspense in that regard as it is interested in the day-to-day interpersonal relationships between Mildred and a handful of other employees. While I think these social dynamics are fun and interesting, I felt like the narrative was lopsided; Mildred didn't interact with her scientist boss enough to give me the sense that she was picking up on the nature of the government project, and she wasn't so disturbed by her visions that she wanted to learn more. Personally, I would have liked to see a balance so that tension exists in both the government side of things and the personal side.

Speaking of the visions, I wish Shields had done more with them - namely, using them to spur character action. Most of the time, it felt like Mildred would have a vision and then kind of brush it off. She doesn't really take initiative, using the vision to prompt any investigation. It was quite frustrating because it made Mildred feel passive.

Lastly, I wasn't a fan of Shields trying to shove a message about patriarchy into the last third of the book. Around that point, the atomic bombs are dropped and Mildred is raped, which is not only deeply upsetting but is made worse when multiple characters blame her for it. I understand Shields is trying to explore patriarchy and is referencing the Cassandra myth, but I personally found that my enjoyment tanked around that point. The shift in tone was also quite jarring, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to take away from it.

TL;DR: The Cassandra has a fascinating premise but ultimately fumbles the plot and character development. I'm not sure what I was supposed to take away from this novel, as every gesture towards patriarchy and complicity in atrocity was only explored on a surface-level, and all intrigue involving the atomic bomb was sucked out of the story in favor of interpersonal drama that culminated in some truly horrible things.

CHARACTERS: Mildred, our protagonist, left me with some mixed feelings. On the one hand, I can sympathize with a naive girl who wants to leave her home, perhaps make something of herself and live her own life. I can also understand how terrifying it might be for her to have the visions she does. On the other hand, she also seems a tad bit... I don't know. Cruel? The story alludes to her pushing her mother into a river, and though she has some remorse, the guilt doesn't weigh on her as much as one might expect. Mildred also has these little moments that seem odd, like when she mentions she likes the idea of men being violent because it means they are heroic. She also does something terrible towards the end of the book, and her self-loathing for being "complicit" in the bomb felt surface-level - things that made me truly dislike her.

Beth, Mildred's closest friend, was fine. I liked that she cared for Mildred and watched out for her like an older sister. I also liked that Mildred thought herself to be in love with her in a way. The main thing I disliked, however, was her victim blaming, which I guess made sense but still left a bad taste in my mouth.

Gordon, Beth's love interest and Mildred's tormenter, is complete trash, but I think Shields did a good job making him seem charismatic to everyone except Mildred. It helped sell the idea that he never gets to fave consequences for his actions.

Tom Cat, a sweet man who falls for Mildred, seems entirely likable and gentle, and I liked him a lot. Mildred treats him horribly, however, and while I don't think she should be obligated to return affections if she does t feel them, some of her thoughts about Tom Cat seemed unkind.

Mildred's family was also quite awful and I hated the way they spoke to her. There were times when I was unsure if their verbal barbs were supposed to be affectionate (the way some people use insults to express love), but some of their speech was awful enough where I didn't much care.

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space-ship-earth-crew · 8 months

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Spaceship Earth Crew

Fellowship of Trek

We have entered an unprecedented time in human history, where the promise and peril of technology has never been greater. The threat most concerning at the moment, is the skyrocketing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere leading to all the climate catastrophe stress that could trigger a 3rd World War. I was born at 330 CO2 parts per million in the atmosphere. Today we are almost up one hundred more, where the last time this level existed in our Earth atmosphere, was around 3 million years ago. Already exacerbating the climate crisis, the oil age continues to dominate our lives and planet’s fate. And we have already begun the very dangerous experiment of determining the effects micro-plastics will have on human and animal biology, when there is nowhere now we can go to escape them.

I want to believe in a future where technology doesn’t lead to our self-destruction, but becomes humanity’s salvation. And that’s where the vision of Star Trek comes in, a vision about humankind building a utopian paradise on Earth through the promise of technological means harnessed towards humanist ends.

For as long as I remember, Star Trek has always been around in my life. My dad introduced the original series to me when I was a small kid, I never really got it though, and grew up in the early 80’s loving Star Wars more than anything. It wasn’t until 7th grade when Star Trek the Next Generation came out and rocked my world, especially the concept of the holodeck, a virtual world as life-like as our own.

I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian church that preached more doomsday sermons than I care to remember, making me depressed about our fate. But Star Trek imagines a future where we survive the worst in ourselves, using technology to create a heavenly future for humankind. Every week at service, I imagined the sermon was a bad program playing in a holodeck, one in which I could exit at any moment simply calling for the arch.

Then I could end this depressing program of Earth on the brink of Armageddon, and retire to the enchanted corridors of a Galaxy Class Starship exploring the wonders of our universe.

Upon delving deeper into Star Trek mythology, I later discovered their vision of the future is bleak too. It’s timeline imagines World War 3 starting in 2026, resulting in 600 million casualties. In the first episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds released in May 2022, Captain Christopher Pike tells two warring factions of an alien world, that World War 3 destroyed 30% of humankind, which would be around 2 and a half billion people if the population is 8 billion in 2026.

If the Star Trek Utopian timeline for our future is possible without the world war, you can see this spirit was trying to communicate with us in this episode, even in the face of recent news headlines, showing we are living in very precarious times. Constant threats flood our news of war between the superpowers that could turn nuclear. Whether it’s the danger of the Ukraine War spinning out of control, or China’s threats of invading Taiwan, clearly things could get a lot worse when adding a climate catastrophe into the mix. On top of all this, there are calls for a new Civil War in America, with partisan hostility at the highest levels we’ve seen in centuries.

Having endured over two years of a global pandemic that killed over 15 million people, and seeing the start of a horrifying new war in Ukraine, amplifying hostilities between the world’s superpowers, things feel like they could be right on track for the future of World War 3 in 2026 just like Gene Roddenberry imagined. And yet, expressed in the premiere of Strange New Worlds, the spirit of possibility is asking that we collectively wake up from this nightmare, because our future has not yet been written. There’s still time to turn things around.

Both the religious and secular visions of our future have instilled within me a boundless optimism for our species when we finally make Earth our true country and humankind its citizens. But can we get to heaven without first experiencing hell? Can we prevent Armageddon and the 3rd World War, rewriting the Bible and the story of Star Trek? Space the final frontier awaits our answer and whether or not our species will ever live long and prosper for real. Star Trek has inspired me to answer this question in the affirmative. We can make it so, almost every human on the planet already has their very own communicator and universal translator. Now all we need is a dedicated crew of Spaceship Earth to help our species go where no one has gone before.

I want to believe the beautiful dream is more powerful than the horrifying nightmare, threatening to unfold around us. I want to believe I can find fellowship with the optimists of humanity, even in the face of conditions becoming more dire on Earth than we have ever seen. Religious fanaticism, right wing extremism, nationalism and even white supremacy are making a comeback in governments around the world. Immigrants are being demonized and we’re being divided into black and white world-views as church and state come perilously close to merging.

I have traveled across America from sea to shining sea, to find megachurch after megachurch in every state, serving as medium to facilitate millions of evangelicals joining forces in a hive like mind political network, mobilized for the election in 2016, 2020 and now 2024, becoming a tool of political polarization. I look across this landscape, and I’m trying to find something to give me hope, but where is the political network to elect progressive secular candidates who see the big picture, speaking for the Earth rather than any single nation, seeing our planet, not as a resource for capitalism, but as a collective organism capable of healing and bringing into being a future like Star Trek.

The other day a Jehovah’s Witness came knocking on my front door, asking to talk to me about the future. I responded, “You want to talk about Star Trek?” Unfortunately they weren’t amused, and eventually walked away after I told them I didn’t want to talk about the Bible. But this got me thinking, “I wish Star Trek people showed up at my door instead, seeking to build a new political network while asking to talk about another kind of future” I could totally get behind and join in to help create, if invited.

Unlike the Jehovah’s Witnesses preparing for the end, there are no injunctions or divine curses in Star Trek, directed at anyone trying to rewrite a new beginning, with a revised timeline, where we build a future and a starship without the World War in 2026. There are no fatwas against J.J. Abrams for creating the Kelvin Timeline. We are free to skip the nightmare straight to living the beautiful dream, and I don’t know of a single fan who thinks otherwise even if the current timeline has another outcome.

Imagine a world where in every major city, you would see people in Star Trek uniforms on the streets alongside Jehovah’s Witnesses and as alternative to them knocking on your door, to share good news of a brighter future, inspired by the greatest story ever told about the final frontier. If our civilization has already built three life sized replicas of Noah’s Ark spread across three continents in the northern hemisphere, one of them being a Disney style knock off theme park in Kentucky that tries to convert visitors, surely we as a species can find the resolve to build at least one life sized replica of the Starship Enterprise, using it as inspiration for moving to the next level, converting pessimists to optimism, building a future and humanity’s first Star Ship so we can explore, rather than wage the last World War.

Because the symbolism of the Enterprise can be seen as a metaphor of (one of Star Trek’s famous early fans) Martin Luther King’s Dream Reborn for our entire spaceship Earth, and all humanity united and working together as its crew-members, we can imagine the possibilities these replicas could facilitate to transform consciousness.

We may not be ready yet for first contact and a United Federation of Planets, but the peoples of the world are ready to get moving now, to build a United Federation of Nations.

Imagine a full sized replica, of say the Enterprise D in a major world city, filled with hotel rooms as replica crew quarters, holodecks converted to theaters to play Trek, other science fiction shows and movies, virtual reality rides and adventures, Star Trek and sci-fi conventions held in the main and smaller shuttle bays, fan film festivals, ship tours, science labs, merchandise, gift shops, restaurants, bars, lounges, science and astronomy seminars and classes, gaming and gaming design conventions, school field trips, TED and science talks, STEM events along with a full sized aquarium in Cetacean Ops. Star Trek could help counter the rise of tribal religious fanaticism on Earth, while inspiring Christians and Muslims to rewrite their Revelation / End Times timeline of the future too.

Imagine a fellowship of Trek, no holy scriptures needed, just a tablet or smartphone with over 900 episodes of Star Trek, over a dozen films, many games and potentially thousands of novels.

We meet every week, not in churches, but first in virtual star ships, where a strengthened community with renewed purpose, can raise capital through donations, to build replica Starship bridges in every major city, our sacred meeting space to someday become as plentiful as Christian churches in the West and Mosques in the Middle East. The view screen in every bridge will be the main window into our cosmos, (eventually to be built a quarter size of the Volume used to film Strange New Worlds) calling us to awaken to a spectacle beyond imagination; a place to explore Astronomy and the incredible discoveries we see every day through science, whether through probes sent to Mars, new exoplanet discoveries or James Webb / Hubble space imagery. The bridge will be our cathedral of the final frontier, for exploring the wonders of our universe through smaller, more intimate meetings with your designated bridge crew.

Larger gatherings can be facilitated in replica shuttle-bays, (big enough for planetariums) built standard along with every bridge, while doubling as VR space to explore strange new worlds, along with a communal setting for special events. Here we can strengthen our community as crew-members of spaceship Earth, where we organize, become a support to each other and a global political force, countering the rise of theocracy, nationalism and fascism, transforming extremism through the beautiful vision of Star Trek; about connection, relationships, family, fellowship, and a future in which humankind is united, with infinite diversity in infinite combinations our greatest strength, not weakness.

✌🏽👁️🌎👁️🚀✨🌘✨🟠✨🪐✨🌟🖖🏽

If you are a world citizen who loves Star Trek and believes we should explore, not wage World War, I want to join forces with you to change the future and the world, so we can all live long and prosper!

🖖🏽🖖🏻🖖🏿🖖

This is my plan for taking these ideas to a new level!

Create a Fellowship of Trek Facebook group, sharing objectives and connecting with other fans of science fiction that have become dreamers, and share the same vision. Trek doesn’t necessarily mean this will be entirely about Star Trek, but “Trek” as more of a symbolic word representing a journey into the unknown, carrying you into higher consciousness, where it began with Gene Roddenberry’s dream that has touched the lives of millions of fans since. Star Trek is what I personally will focus on in sharing this vision, because I find it a useful tool and container in which total freedom exists to explore other science fiction mediums with overlapping vision.

Use Fellowship of Trek to find a common core structure, from which other science fiction dreams can be explored. This means we begin with Star Trek, but from there it can branch out and become something else entirely. For instance, bringing people together into the group who share common ground of Trek and its future vision, but once they meet, they decide to team up for some other progressive purpose to build their own new dream. So it can become a launching pad for other people to connect and build dreams that bring us closer to a vision in the spirit of Star Trek. Imagine if this was the objective of all peoples in all the world religions; bringing people together to empower, so they can go on to build something new, and aren’t manipulated to stay in a particular dogma or church.

When we are talking about the common core structure of Fellowship of Trek, I am specifically thinking of an alternative to the common core structure I grew up in with my parents in Christianity. Bible studies were the common ground that brought together Christians into fellowship. When I attended them as a kid, I always wished something existed as a secular alternative, that could even become more potent, attracting people who are more progressive and free thinking. And that’s the idea behind Fellowship of Trek. Instead of a holy scripture, we can access all of Trek Canon online, which is constantly growing, currently comprising over 900 episodes, over a dozen films, many games and potentially thousands of novels. This is the source material that can be used to anchor the fellowship, where we meet in bridge crew virtual groups, or physically at neutral locations or in member homes, to watch episodes, films, play games, or read novels, and then break them down for analysis to uncover their profound meaning. Bridge Crew is a good name for these groups, because of the symbolic nature the bridge can represent, as well as the literal vision it serves as the command center for a unified Starship crew. Through its metaphor, the bridge can be seen as a sacred space in Star Trek, where family bonds are formed that transcend biology. Diverse humans from all over Earth work on the bridge, and it’s such a progressive place, aliens from other worlds are also welcome. Bridge is also a word associated with human architecture that unites a divide. And that’s what the bridge can also facilitate; a place where diverse peoples can find common ground as a spiritual family that transcends biology.

The next component of Fellowship of Trek, is becoming a vehicle for a new politics of the 21st century, with the objective of building a united world like imagined in Star Trek, where humanity is united in peace and prosperity, using technology to free itself from the suffering of poverty and conflict, to explore rather than wage the last world war. This translates into electing secular humanist politicians who see the same big picture, and speak not for a single nation, but for the entire Earth, seeing it as a single organism, capable of healing when we refuse the Capitalistic end game of warring and competing nations that threaten ecological collapse and World War.

Fellowship of Trek can begin as a homeless virtual bridge crew, but its ideal trajectory is to turn dreams into reality; building an actual replica starship bridge as a sacred communal meeting space where members can physically meet and anchor to their community.

This is the path observed with the Ticonderoga Original Series bridge and Enterprise set built by James Crawly, who has unwittingly created a Star Trek community, where pilgrimages are now taken across the world by fans, to visit the set and attend Star Trek conventions.

There is no limit to the number of bridges that can be built, even after running out of starship designs from the series, new ones can be envisioned and constructed.

If there is a network of Christian churches in the west, and Mosques in the Middle East mobilized for positive social work like raising donations that can save lives as charity, serve as communal space for marriages and funerals, but also known for creating damaging social structures, such as raising up new generations of missionaries that serve empire and imperialism while indoctrinating children, and also serving to shape regressive political landscapes in particular countries they infect, why can’t we build a better alternative?

Imagine a world where starship healing bridges expand along with their communities of higher consciousness, serving to elect a new political network that counters fascism, nationalism, tribalism and religious extremism, serving to raise new awareness, building up walls where they belong between church and state, while tearing them down when they serve to separate peoples of earth along, national, religious and ethnic lines.

Imagine a fellowship of Trek expanding to every continent, with healing bridges in every major city as plentiful as Christian churches in the West and Mosques in the Middle East. And with such a network, we may begin to challenge the great religious social dominance, transcending their extremist brainwashed variety, using love of the wonder, mystery and endless possibilities of our universe to prevail over their fascist, bigoted God of fear, ultimately winning over the heart and soul of planet Earth. As of today, we have no life sized replica of the Starship Enterprise in any world city, yet we have 3 life sized replicas of Noah’s Ark spread across three continents in the northern hemisphere, celebrating a story of a man who builds a ship commissioned by a fascist God, to save a single family used to salvage the animal kingdom, but at the price of an extinction level flood event, he sets in motion to kill off the vast majority of all other creatures and humans.

Imagine if we could turn this disturbing dominance upside down, where the greatest story ever told about the final frontier takes center stage, whose influence in the evolution of technology has inspired dreamers on Earth since 1966, pushing us all to a new level when their most important innovations we have yet to see in any sort of beginning stage, are finally realized; with an actual working starship built along with that of a united spaceship Earth.

Imagine if a fellowship of Trek could become the vehicle by which we could achieve both of these, building bridges that connect our world together into one, while raising interest in space exploration, eventually collecting enough capital through donation, to build a replica starship of the Enterprise on Earth in a major city connected to a more inspiring theme park of our future, inspiring untold millions of humans who visit, eventually taking up careers in aerospace engineering, and then going on to work on humanity’s first working starship, pushing us closer towards an interstellar, interplanetary species living on a united world at type 1 civilization status like imagined in Star Trek!

So, to play my part in getting the ball rolling, hoping to team up with other dreamers, taking us closer to this vision, I want to begin with these following steps

Begin Fellowship of Trek Facebook Group.

Create a blueprint for the bridge we seek to build.

First build the bridge in 3D VR space.

Raise capital to purchase land for its resting space

Begin construction.

Completion.

If you build it, they will come; facilitating community around Star Trek and great science fiction, while inspiring more to follow.

Serve as blueprint for other fellowships of Trek to take root in their communities, and build their own Star Ship Bridge, ultimately pooling our resources and capital, eventually raising enough donations and interest to build a Starship Enterprise replica in a major Earth city, along with a theme park to inspire optimism for our collective future as a United Earth.

Expanding on the bridge with shuttle bay for larger events, along with a planetarium to educate members about astronomy and the wondrous beauty in our universe.

Go on with continuation of fellowship, organizing with others to elect progressive humanist candidates who see the big picture, and work towards a united Earth, where we have more money and resources to explore, not wage World War!

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tastydregs · 2 years

Text

How drone autonomy unlocks a new era of AI opportunities

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[Editor’s note: American Robotics is a commercial developer of automated drone systems.]

Drones have been talked about extensively for two decades now. In many respects, that attention has been warranted. Military drones have changed the way we fight wars. Consumer drones have changed the way we film the world. For the commercial market, however, drones have largely been a false start. In 2013, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) predicted an $82 billion market by 2025. In 2016, PwC predicted $127 billion within the “near future.” But we aren’t anywhere close to those projections yet. Why is that?

Let’s start with the primary purpose of drones in a commercial setting: data collection and analysis. The drone itself is a means to an end – a flying camera from which to get a unique aerial perspective of assets for inspection and analysis, be it a pipeline, gravel storage yard, or vineyard. As a result, drones in this context fall under the umbrella of “remote sensing.”

In the world of remote sensing, drones are not the only player. There are high-orbit satellites, low-orbit satellites, airplanes, helicopters and hot air balloons. What do drones have that the other remote sensing methods do not? The first thing is: image resolution.

What does “high resolution” really mean?

One product’s high resolution is another product’s low resolution.

Image resolution, or more aptly Ground Sample Distance (GSD) in this case, is a product of two primary factors: (1) how powerful your imaging sensor is, and (2) how close you are to the object you are imaging. Because drones are typically flying very low to the ground (50-400 feet AGL), the opportunity to collect higher image resolutions than aircraft or satellites operating at higher altitudes is significant. Eventually you run into issues with physics, optics and economics, and the only way to get a better picture is to get closer to the object. To quantify this:

“High resolution” for a drone operating at 50ft AGL with a 60MP camera is around 1 mm/pixel.

“High resolution” for a manned aircraft service, like the now-defunct Terravion, was 10 cm/pixel.

“High resolution” for a low-orbit satellite service, like Planet Labs, is 50 cm/pixel.

Put another way, drones can provide upwards of 500 times the image resolution of the best satellite solutions.

The power of high resolution

Why does this matter? It turns out there is a very direct and powerful correlation between image resolution and potential value. As the computing phrase goes: “garbage in, garbage out.” The quality and breadth of machine vision-based analytics opportunities are exponentially higher at the resolutions a drone can provide vs. other methods.

A satellite might be able to tell you how many well pads are in Texas, but a drone can tell you exactly where and how the equipment on those pads is leaking. A manned aircraft might be able to tell you what part of your cornfield is stressed, but a drone can tell you what pest or disease is causing it. In other words, if you want to resolve a crack, bug, weed, leak or similarly small anomaly, you need the proper image resolution to do so.

Bringing artificial intelligence into the equation

Once that proper image resolution is obtained, now we can begin training neural networks (NNs) and other machine learning (ML) algorithms to learn about these anomalies, detect them, alert for them and potentially even predict them.

Now our software can learn how to differentiate between an oil spill and a shadow, precisely calculate the volume of a stockpile, or measure a slight skew in a rail track that could cause a derailment.

American Robotics estimates that over 10 million industrial asset sites worldwide have use for automated drone-in-a-box (DIB) systems, collecting and analyzing 20GB+ per day per drone. In the United States alone, there are over 900,000 oil and gas well pads, 500,000 miles of pipeline, 60,000 electrical substations, and 140,000 miles of rail track, all of which require constant monitoring to ensure safety and productivity.

As a result, the scale of this opportunity is actually hard to quantify. What does it mean to fully digitize the world’s physical assets every day, across all critical industries? What does it mean if we can start applying modern AI to petabytes of ultra-high-resolution data that has never existed before? What efficiencies are unlocked if you can detect every leak, crack and area of damage in near-real time? Whatever the answer, I’d wager the $82B and $127B numbers estimated by AUVSI and PwC are actually low.

So: if the opportunity is so large and clear, why haven’t these market predictions come true yet? Enter the second important capability unlocked by autonomy: imaging frequency.

What does “high frequency” really mean?

The useful imaging frequency rate is 10x or more than what people originally thought.

The biggest performance difference between autonomous drone systems and piloted ones is the frequency of data capture, processing and analysis. For 90% of commercial drone use cases, a drone must fly repetitively and continuously over the same plot of land, day after day, year after year, to have value. This is the case for agricultural fields, oil pipelines, solar panel farms, nuclear power plants, perimeter security, mines, railyards and stockpile yards. When examining the full operation loop from setup to processed, analyzed data, it is clear that operating a drone manually is much more than a full-time job. And at an average of $150/hour per drone operator, it is clear a full-time operational burden across all assets is simply not feasible for most customers, use cases and markets.

This is the central reason why all the predictions about the commercial drone industry have, thus far, been delayed. Imaging an asset with a drone once or twice a year has little to no value in most use cases. For one reason or another, this frequency requirement was overlooked, and until recently [subscription required], autonomous operations that would enable high-frequency drone inspections were prohibited by most federal governments around the world.

With a fully-automated drone-in-a-box system, on-the-ground humans (both pilots and observers) have been removed from the equation, and the economics have completely changed as a result. DIB technology allows for constant operation, multiple times per day, at less than a tenth of the cost of a manually operated drone service.

With this increased frequency comes not only cost savings but, more importantly, the ability to track problems when and where they occur and properly train AI models to do so autonomously. Since you don’t know when and where a methane leak or rail tie crack will occur, the only option is to scan every asset as frequently as possible. And if you are gathering that much data, you better build some software to help filter out the key information to end users.

Tying this to real-world applications today

Autonomous drone technology represents a revolutionary ability to digitize and analyze the physical world, improving the efficiency and sustainability of our world’s critical infrastructure.

And thankfully, we have finally moved out of the theoretical and into the operational. After 20 long years of riding drones up and down the Gartner Hype Cycle, the “plateau of productivity” is cresting.

In January 2021, American Robotics became the first company approved by the FAA to operate a drone system beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) with no humans on the ground, a seminal milestone unlocking the first truly autonomous operations. In May 2022, this approval was expanded to include 10 total sites across eight U.S. states, signaling a clear path to national scale.

More importantly, AI software now has a practical mechanism to flourish and grow. Companies like Stockpile Reports are using automated drone technology for daily stockpile volumetrics and inventory monitoring. The Ardenna Rail-Inspector Software now has a path to scale across our nation’s rail infrastructure.

AI software companies like Dynam.AI have a new market for their technology and services. And customers like Chevron and ConocoPhillips are looking toward a near-future where methane emissions and oil leaks are significantly curtailed using daily inspections from autonomous drone systems.

My recommendation: Look not to the smartphone, but to the oil fields, rail yards, stockpile yards, and farms for the next data and AI revolution. It may not have the same pomp and circumstance as the “metaverse,” but the industrial metaverse might just be more impactful.

Reese Mozer is cofounder and CEO of American Robotics.

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ayuki-ikuya · 3 years

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I come bringing ideas and headcanons.

OK, so we all already know what The Three oldest archons abilities. So I’ve come up with my own ideas we could use for the younger archons! (And yes I’m grouping Ei, Venti and Zhongli as the older siblings since Ei Is 1000 years old Venti is 2,500 and Zhongli is 5,000-6,000 and the other archons are still in the hundreds I think)

Again these aren’t canon just stuff you can use for future Requests for Twisted wonderland x Teyvat God! Reader

For Dendro archon!Reader

Definitely a Bow User. And Is a Healer. But the their Ult can cause damage

I have a theory That during the Archon War The dendro Archin created the Regisvines to fight for them, and only two were left. I also Headcanon The dendro archon can bring plants to life and overwrite what each plant can do. (Maybe even bring mushrooms to life 👀).

Maybe They can create a giant plant from the ground that spreads Healing energies and since this is a god where talking about can Cure Curses (Ahem Vils Curses Ahem) and major Diseases and what not.

For Their Ult maybe a giant plant monster (kinda like how Gouba and Oz exists ) that will attack for them (could make for fun combos with different elements like if the dendro archon was wet Hydro Plant monster)

For Hydro archon!reader

Polearm or sword (theirs way too many Hydro Catalyst) Healer and Dps, Why? Cause I say so.

You’ve mentioned how Hydro archon summons a giant wave? I’ll do you one better and their E skill summons a giant sea creature of your choosing to soak the fighters (A cool visual is their polearm turning into a big dream catcher then going swoosh and Baam Maybe like A giant Water Koi fish finna drown your ass *ahem ace ahem*)

Now mihoyo likes to reference Their character form honkai impact into genshin impact (and since they took a characters look from Honkai and another characters abilities with the whole Dual ego thing for Raiden shogun and Ei) I’m gonna base this Ultimate Skill From a character from Honkai (for research search up Herrsercher of Sentience)

Since the Hydro archons whole thing is about Justice. Now here me out here. WATER WHIP. Just a giant whip of water that can go on for miles (maybe it’s salty maybe it’s like fresh water depends on our readers mood lolol). Like, It’s whip of water strong enough to cut diamond or whatever it would be very cool (Kalim would wanna see if he could do something like that with his UM Que jamil trying to stop him)

Maybe their hair turns into water too.

Pyro archon! Reader

Claymore. A Big strong war god needs a big strong weapon. Dps and Defense.

Now It’s not just one claymore, It’s DUAL-CLAYMORE, why? Cause it’s a war god that’s why!

I like to think the shield is like Xinyans and XiangLings combined and it’s constantly sending off tiny Fire Discs. Or just symbols shooting fire like what the Pyro Abyss mages can do

For Ultimate I like to think it’s like Childes Daggers but Bigger and on fire just a huge sword made of fire.

The pyro archon doesn’t think just BURNS. and STABE

Cryo archon! Reader

I can’t really come up with much for Cryo archon. But maybe a Catalyst that can summon a giant blizzard that drops down giant ice swords (kinda like Ganyus)

Definitely a sub DPS.

Maybe a healer too since The Tsaritsa is The archon of love?

What do you think about these abilities? Since you mentioned that the students and staff would assume their just strong mages I tried to be very creative with these abilities.

Also how I think the lore could go is maybe somewhere after leonas overblot and before azuls, Crowly has found a way to send Yuu home reluctantly. Yuu, grim and the aduece duo, and maybe some of heartslaybul or savana claw whoever you want come with them to the office to send them home. But Yuu is contemplating whether or not they WANT to go home now. But something goes wrong, maybe grim messes up the spell for the portal to work becuase (although he doesn’t want to admit it ) doesn’t want Yuu leaving, and their greeted with a surprise guest. Now this gives Yuu time to decide if they genuinely wanna go home and when teh archon finally has the materials they need to create a portal Yuu will tell them to leave the portal open (maybe put it into a tiny pocket mirror like the how we have the teapot) because they wanna stay for a little while or just until grim graduates (Que a happy fire cat ) and the archon whose grown attached to some people here was like ok “let our friends visit whenever they want, only if their headmaster allows it”

Now onto the headcanons

Anemo Archon! Reader and Mondstadt! Yuu

Everyone expected a lot of things not a person with Green eyes and (H/C) hair with green highlights. And an odd thing about them was the glowing stone on their person, Yuu didn’t have that?

Everyone’s freaking out because they’ve accidentaly taken another person from Yuus world.

And since Venti Is a well known famous bard In teyvat let’s say or Dear (y/N) is also a known bard and is not at all freaking out about what’s going on in fact let’s say our dear reader recognizes Yuu! And so now (Y/N) is now a new student (and a new headache for Crowley) in the ramshackle dorm! Yup! Just an ordinary human bard, Ehe~.

I’ll leave the rest of this up to you, Where Yuu has to explain what the world of teyvat is like (and why Yuu doesn’t have a phone (and a vision) because Twisted wonderland is far more advance in Technology and teyvat has JUST invented the Camera)

Also I head canon that people with Visions can summon their weapons and object with their visions, ok? Ok. To make things make more sense when reader pulls out a lyre from floating glitter.

Geo archon!reader and Liyue! Yuu

Same things happend here, but hey! We’ve summoned a Funeral Consultant! A very (ahemATTRACTIVEahem) Wise funeral consultant at best!

Our dear Friend (y/n) is very calm about the situation as well. After all everyone and liyue knows their god was killed and The Adepti are watching over them

So Our dear reader is seeing this as a free vacation 😊

Electro Archon!Reader and Inazuma!yuu

Since the god of Inazuma isn’t “Dead” or hasn’t left and the people know what their beloved archon looks like, Yuu will definitely Be Freaking the fuck out

“YOU DIDNT BRING ME HOME YOU JUST SUMMONED MY PEOPLES FUCKING GOD OH SHIT”

insert the meme of the womens face that gets zoomed in on the second panel “the. WHAT.” 😃

And y’know how Eis “Hello” voice line where she makes the traveler her guard she says the same thing to Yuu except “I recognize you are one of my people as your archon I shall be your guard and keep you safe from any danger in this Foreign world” and let’s say The puppet will not be used and Reader will be in control becuase they don’t have to worry about erosion right now so the puppet will be resting while (Y/N) is in control protecting their Precious Inazuma citizen is ok.

Well until They can get the materials they need to open a portal. I’ll let you figure out the rest, but congrats ramshackle you now have a god in your abode 😃✨

-Plot Anon 💗

PLOT ANON-SAMAAAAAAAAAA ILY!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your hard work sob

Anyways, for skills of the archons-

Dendro Archon

I think they'd use a sword or a catalyst tbh, if the skills you listed, it makes a little more sense to have them be more of a catalyst

For their elemental skill, I think they'd summon/throw something similar to Klee's and Aloy's elemental skill except they heal if someone in your party is nearby, their healing could scale by their EM or ER.

For their burst, I like your head canon for the Dendro Archon, so I might go off from that and your idea for their burst, just more tweaking. The dendro archon would be able to summon a large plant that heals AND deals Dendro damage by sapping mobs hp. The amount of life sapping it does and the healing would scale off their original HP (artifacts that give hp won't be of use)

Hydro Archon

I agree with hydro polearm or sword. Too many catalysts

Mmm... To be honest, I think you should have the burst be her skill... The whip idea is intriguing, but I think it would work more for a skill which can allow them to use it several times before waiting for the CD to go down. I think the whip skill would work better with Crit as well.

AND AS FOR THE MENTIONS OF WAVE AND A SEA CREATURE, I'LL DO YOU ONE BETTER BUT FOR THEIR BURST!!!! They summon a large tsunami which takes form of a monster/animal and lunges at the mobs (similar to Zhongli tossing down a dumbbell), however the amount of damage the burst can do is depending on if they are afflicted by the wet status the mobs are afflicted by. If already afflicted with hydro, the mobs would receive double damage while those with other elements afflicted on them would receive the element combination DMG and normal DMG while those that aren't affected by an element, they would receive normal damage. The amount of damage the burst does is scaled by EM.

Pyro Archon

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CLAYMORE

Hmmm.... I think the skill would be they set an AoE with magma, mobs will receive damage from it and will continue to receive damage if they stay on it, but those who are in party, they will receive an ATK boost that scales from HP.

For the burst, I think I'll use a character from Honkai Impact with their special move which is Murata Himeko in Vermilion Knight: Eclipse battlesuit. Pyro Archon uses their claymore and another claymore but made of pyro and is far more larger and their cut scene has the Archon raise the pyro claymore above their head and slam it down to send pyro erupting from the ground (similar to the pyro axe wielding hilichurls)

Cryo Archon

I agree with catalyst

Mmmmmm.... I'd say her skill would beeeeee... Trapping several mobs or so in ice. They can either do 2-4 ice traps depending if you got their c1. (The ice traps are similar to Mirror Maidens traps BTW but it deals or affects the mobs with cryo)

For burst, I like the idea of summoning a blizzard/swords, but it's similar to Ganyu's. SO I'LL DO YOU ONE BETTER!!!! Cryo Archon will summon a blizzard which freezes mobs without having to use hydro, the freeze status lasts for a total of 15 seconds or higher if you got their c3

Hmmm... I like the idea, but imma tweak it a bit. The archon was in fact summoned through that portal because Grim decided to mess it up just for Yuu to stay a little longer, and so the Archon now resides in Twisted Wonderland as well in order to aide them until they can return back to their world. That way it makes more sense and makes it more fun.

Anemo archon

Yuu would be a bit jealous about them because they got a vision.

Crowley needs to hide his money

Sam has been strictly told to not give them wine that Sam stores in his shop...

Vargus is conflicted about them because they legit float without magic

Trein recurved a major headache

Divus is praying to whatever god existing to take them back

Ehe

EHE TE NANDAYO!?

Geo Archon

Yuu feels awkward meeting the consultant of the funeral parlor having to meet the Director...

Crowley is praying for dear god for them to go away.

"STOP TAKING MY MONEY YOU GORGEOUS FIEND" - Crowley

Train + Crewel + You = Besties

Sam was literally threatened to not joke around with you with business.

You legit did not fuck around with people when in contracts.

"Osmanthus wi-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP" - everyone

Electro Archon

Yuu is literally terrified in "your" presence.

Shogun malfunctioned due to being in an entirely new world so you had to disable Shogun's rules and create new ones regarding this world.

Yuu is still unaware of Shogun being a puppet

Crowley is no longer safe.

The staff (specifically Crewel) is supporting Shogun/You to beat Crowley's ass into shape.

Only the Diasomnia dorm knows your predicament with you and your puppet(s).

You are the definition of Queen/King/Royalty of the school. If you search up NRC, your picture literally plastered on it as the definition.

#twisted wonderland #genshin impact #twisted wonderland x genshin impact #archons #NRC

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sirikenobi12 · 3 years

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War & the Jedi

This will be a long meta rant, FYI.

The Jedi Order, specifically the Prequel era Jedi Order, gets a lot of hate these days particularly regarding their involvement in the Clone Wars. Accusations are tossed at their feet constantly ranging from corruption all the way up to warmongering.

Let’s first look at the Oxford English Dictionary definition of these two accusations, shall we?

Corruption - having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

Warmonger - a person who encourages or advocates aggression towards other countries or groups.

The definitions of these two words are so very misunderstood when it comes to relation to the Jedi. If the Jedi are truly “corrupt” then where are the examples of their dishonesty for wealth or personal gain? In fact, I’d argue that canon (and Legends) makes a point to show us that it is the Sith who are in it for personal gain, not the Jedi. The Jedi have absolutely NOTHING to gain from this war on a personal level, in fact they are losing members in terrifying numbers.

The Jedi are also not advocating aggression towards the Separatists, in fact what we see instead is the Jedi DEFENDING against the Separatists. I have yet to see in either canon or legends an instance where the Republic forces invade a Separatist planet who doesn’t have an army or some military involvement (i.e. weapon factories). However, time after time we see the Separatists forcing peaceful planets who want nothing to do with them to either bow to their cause or die (i.e. Ryloth, Lurmen planet, Kiros, Mandalore) the Jedi and Republic Troops will then follow the Separatists to these planets, but they try to do what they can to liberate the planet from the Separaist invasion and then they give the planet the OPTION to join the Republic for safety and economic reasons, but they never force them, as is super evident with Mandalore.

Yet people don’t seem to see this and continue to drag the Jedi through the mud.

Here are the top 5 other “woke” takes I hear -

Jedi are peacekeepers and should not have gotten involved:

First things first, let’s look at the definition of Peacekeeper - a soldier, military force, etc., deployed to maintain or restore peace.

I’d argue by that definition the Jedi were still peacekeepers, it’s true that they weren’t a 3rd party as they normally were before the war, but their position was trying to maintain or restore peace. Peacekeeper is not the same thing as a Pacifist, the Jedi were skilled warriors (training from childhood to wield a lightsaber), the difference is Jedi used their skills for defense not attack which is what we constantly saw throughout the Clone Wars.

With regards to the idea that Jedi “should not have gotten involved” I ask you then what exactly were they supposed to do instead?

We see at the beginning of Attack of the Clones that the Jedi are worried things will escalate to war, they have obviously gone to the Chancellor hoping that a diplomatic solution can be presented to avoid bloodshed. Or if that isn’t possible then that the Republic have some way to defend themselves other than relying solely on the Jedi (i.e. an army). The Separatists are the ones pushing them to a breaking point, were the Jedi just supposed to stand back and let innocent people be invaded/killed because they didn’t want to get involved? The Jedi were “Guardians of Peace and Justice” which means it was their duty to help bring about peace in the galaxy while also enacting justice.

Then after Geonosis (where they lost approx. 187 members mind you) they learned that the Sith are leading the Separatist army - the Jedi are duty bound by their code to fight the Sith, they had no choice but to join the war.

So, I ask again...what were they supposed to do instead?

2. Jedi used a slave army for their own purposes:

Okay, I can (and probably will) write a whole argument based on just this accusation alone. There are so many fallacies I don’t even know where to begin but I’ll try.

I guess my first question is the same as #1, what were the Jedi supposed to do instead with regards to the Clones?

Technically speaking the Clones didn’t “belong” to the Jedi, they were “property” of the Republic (as stated by Lama Su in Attack of the Clones). In fact, the Jedi Council not only didn’t know about the order, they had vehemently denied Syfo Dias’ earlier request to raise an army in the first place. The Sith KNEW the Jedi would be against it, this was all part of their plan to trap the Jedi (as was EVERYTHING about the war) - they clouded the Force, they literally deleted Kamino from the Archives so the Jedi wouldn’t discover it until the Sith WANTED them to (i.e. Jango just happened to use a Kamino dart?? Come on people). Yoda even states “blind we are if creation of this clone army we could not see” he fully admits they missed it because the Dark Side was clouding their vision.

Regardless, the army was created, there was no changing that fact. Had the Jedi not taken command of the army do you think the Clones wouldn’t have had to go to war? Do you actually believe that the Republic who couldn’t get their citizens to give 2 craps about the war would’ve taken up the mantle and fought instead? Do you think if the Jedi were like “thanks, but we didn’t order this” that the Kamioans would’ve just let the Clones go free?

The answer you’re looking for is...no.

So, like absolutely everything about the Clone Wars the Jedi did the best they could with the cards they had been dealt. They chose to lead the army on the front lines, putting themselves in just as much mortal danger as the men they were leading. They even sent a member of the Jedi Council to oversee the creation of future clones/training to ensure they were being treated humanely (something the Kamioans thought was ridiculous). They were the first to tell the clones that they were individuals, they constantly put themselves in front of their men to protect them (i.e. season 7 Obi-Wan deflecting the rocket from blowing up his men). The Jedi did what they could, just because we didn’t see on screen Jedi stopping to grieve every time a clone died did not mean that they didn’t care - real life Generals can’t stop in the middle of a battle to grieve over their fallen soldiers either, so why is it we consider it a moral crime if the Jedi don’t?

Another thing I’ll add is once the Jedi had evidence that the Clones were actually ordered by Dooku, did they immediately stop and say “oh hell no, these flesh droids can’t be trusted, we should just have them decommissioned”?? NO! They defended the Clones, stating that they were good men and should be trusted (and look where that trust got them in the end).

The Jedi were forced/coerced to fight this war as much as the Clones were!! Why are we willing to forgive the Clones, but not the Jedi???

3. Ki-Adi-Mundi killing Geonosians was the same as Anakin’s slaughter at the Tusken camp:

This is another moment where context is everything because there is a HUGE difference between Ki-Adi-Mundi on Geonosis and Anakin in the Tusken camp. The fact that I have to even spell it out makes me wonder how people can even dress themselves in the morning.

The Geonosians were an opposing military force, attacking Ki-Adi and his troops. Anakin slaughtered unarmed women and children out of vengeance.

Now, had Ki-Adi turned to his men and screamed “to the catacombs!” brandishing his lightsaber with a murderous glint in his eyes and proceeded to cut down the unarmed bugs below the battle then you’d have an accurate comparison on your hands and I’d be appalled right there with you.

But, as it stands this is not the same thing...not even close.

4. The Jedi sent children to war:

So, this is a tougher one and I can even understand the concerns behind it, and I even share some of those concerns. The thing I will say to this is, given what we see throughout Star Wars, what constitutes a “child” seems to be different than our own real world definition.

Padme, for example, was 14 when she was elected Queen, and she wasn’t even the youngest ever elected. She (and her handmaids) were trained as children to defend themselves and their people both politically and in battle (much like Jedi), but you don’t hear people condemning the people/traditions of Naboo the way we see the Jedi being condemned for theirs.

Jedi children arguably mature faster than your standard person, and with regards to Star Wars there are also species’ age ranges to keep in mind. Grogu for example is still a baby at age 50, could it be possible that Ahsoka at age 14 is on the same maturity level as a human in their early twenties due to her Togruta DNA?? We don’t know, it’s never stated other than Anakin saying something about because of her advanced skills he forgets how young she is.

Obviously Boba Fett is treated like an adult by other Bounty Hunters - no one even questions when he picks up a job and is placed in charge of a group at age 12 or 13 (and he is placed in an adult prison without anyone questioning it). It could be that by law according to Star Wars that 13 is actually considered an adult. Throughout history (and in many different cultures) 13 was when people were considered to be “coming of age”, So, once again we’re placing our cultural biases onto a fictional space fantasy world without realizing it might not even be an issue in that world.

But even beyond all of that I ask you again - what else should the Jedi have done?

Their young Padawans would eventually have to grow into Jedi Knights, even before the war by the time they are teenagers they usually followed their Masters on missions (often very dangerous missions) in order to get real world experience. At the time of the Clone Wars the real world they were living in was one at war. If they hadn’t brought their Padawans onto the battlefield how else would they have learned how to strategize, or how to cope with the emotions of battle? They would’ve been ill prepared if the war had continued on for years and years as it had looked like it was going to do...once again, the Jedi had no real choice in this.

5. The Jedi lost their way because of the war:

Did they though?? I’d argue they actually didn’t. We first have to ask ourselves what is a Jedi - well, according to the very first time we hear any type of a description about a Jedi they are introduced as the “Guardians of Peace and Justice for the Republic” I don’t see how the war took that away from them.

The Oxford definition of Guardian is a defender, protector, or keeper. I fail to see how the Jedi stopped being any of these things because of the war.

Here’s the bottom line, the Jedi’s biggest mistake was that they fell for a plot 1,000 years in the making. The Sith spent over a millenia perfecting/hatching this plan, there was nothing the Jedi could’ve done to prevent the war by the time the trap was sprung. As always, I’m not saying the Jedi were perfect (I hate that I have to always specify that when I argue that the Jedi were good), all I’m saying is they tried to do the most good that they could with the situation they fell into - few groups/characters can claim the same thing.

Everyone seems to forget that the Sith controlled BOTH SIDES to that war, there was nothing - absolutely NOTHING the Jedi could’ve done that would’ve changed or won that war. So, instead they saved as many innocent lives as they could and to me, that’s very Jedi.

#star wars #jedi #Clone Wars #jedi appreciation #jedi positivity #jedi positive #pro jedi #stop blaming the jedi #meta #rant post #war #The Clone Wars #attack of the clones #jedi culture #jedi council appreciation #jedi did not deserve genocide

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the-punforgiven · 2 years

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Tbh Dark Souls 2 feels more like a spinoff of Dark Souls 1 than an actual sequel

Like DS2 is off doing it's own thing, in it's own setting, with it's own story and themes largely divorced from the main plot, which is by no means a bad thing, I think it's really cool actually, a story about the exploration of the self and self-identity is always rad

Dark Souls 3 however, feels more like it actually returns to the themes and lore of the original and expands on the story and themes it told, but I also recognize that with as open-ended as these games are that's sort of subjective lmao

But to me, Dark Souls 1 and 3 were, to me, both about the ruling class and, much like a flame, their need to rampantly consume to survive, and when their power starts to wane, everybody suffers for it. It was always Gwyn's war against the dragons, Lordran was the land of the gods in which Gwyn was king. Even after he links the fire and sacrifices himself, all his power stays with Gwyn's family and allies (and not even evenly, I mean Nito and The Witch of Izalith kinda got shafted tbh). Even when the fire is fading look at the state of Anor Londo and the Duke's Archives compared to literally anywhere else in DS1. The royal family all want to stay in power so they conscript you to literally burn yourself to death to prolong their reign, and while they dress it all up with fancy titles and grandiose presentation in the end, to them, you are nothing more than fuel for the machine that is their rule, ever-churning and consuming all it touches, like the flame it sprouted from.

And in Dark Souls 3, you see that to the extreme. You see this already-failing system withered to the breaking point. The gods and the kings have consumed too much and Gwyn's system can't bear that weight any longer. No longer does it take just one powerful being to keep that flame going, you trudge through the ashes of kingdoms that all burned for the sake of whoever holds the crown, all burned to prolong the reign of royalty you never knew. Everyone knows that flame is fading and nobody is sure how much longer it has. Even the sacrifices that came before you and even rose with you know the system is failing, and has been for a very long time. The sacrificial renewal is barely working anymore, but you are still sent off to die a most painful death to keep the wheels churning, to stave off the change that you can be sure will happen eventually.

You are a bandaid being applied to a severed limb at this point, a far cry from the "this will surely fix everything" linking the fire was sold as in DS1. Compare the explosive flourish of power the Link the Fire ending was in DS1 vs how it is in DS3, how small and quiet it is now, with dark still creeping in around the edges.

And people know that it's all falling apart, fanatical cults have taken over large sections of what was once Lordran, The faith in the gods' system is wavering and the gods themselves have lost their power. And yet, even without a figurehead to run it anymore, that system still raises you. Still herds you like cattle through to the end to burn yourself to death. The world itself has been so disgustingly and irrevocably poisoned by the effects of Gwyn's reign that even without him the system is so automated that the sky itself becomes a symbol of your shackles, of the duty to him you never asked for.

But who, at this point, does that death even serve? The old royal family is dead, the kingdom that sprouted out of their ruins is surely falling now that you've killed their royal family. The cult church of the Deep as far as we can tell is too concerned with their vision of a post-flame future to care one way or another.

Maybe, you can let the hollows you mowed through can find their peace, finally free of this endless purgatory their lords and masters shackled them too. Perhaps you will burn, reforge the chains that keep them bound. Perhaps you'll enslave them, keeping their deathless purgatory but with the lights turned off, the same power-hungry monarch as Gwyn but manipulated, repackaged and Kaathe-flavoured. Perhaps you'll make a nice haven for them, far away in a small painting tucked away in a withering world after the great machine that shackles the world finally breaks down for good. Or perhaps you'll simply let the dark fall. Let the fetid, rotted corpse of a monarchy finally die after the uncountable number of years more than it should have; not to take control, not to subjugate, but simply to be. To finally, finally, let hollows, let humanity, be free. No gods, No masters, No Gwyn.

... Or that's how I interpreted those games, at least.

#Pun's text Posts #Dark Souls #I'm very sleepy I'm sorry if this is incomprehensible #but I think DS is a very subject-to-interpretation sort of game #sort of series I mean #but this is my reading and I cannot be convinced otherwise

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writings-of-a-british-fangirl · 4 years

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Everything Has Changed [Zuko x Reader]

Title: Everything Has Changed Summary: Even after returning to the Fire Nation, you weren't happy. Zuko on the other hand seemed to be having a lot better time. Maybe, he would be better off without you here, ruining his happiness. Warnings: A little bit of angst? Request: N/A

A/N: This wasn't requested, but I've been rewatching ATLA recently because it's been added onto Netflix and I'm feeling inspired <3

PART 1: EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED PART 2: CHANGE IS GOOD PART 3: CHANGING SPIRITS PART 4: A HEART OF CHANGE

Zuko~Everything Has Changed

You'd been Zuko's best friend for as long as you could remember. And, although the friendship hadn't always been easy -the Prince had quite a famous temper- you couldn't even imagine a world in which you weren't friends. This is why the inner turmoil you were feeling inside was making you feel all the more guilty.

You had returned back to the Fire Nation when Zuko had reclaimed his honour by fighting the Avatar along with his sister, Azula. Since you didn’t side with the Avatar and the 'traitor' Iroh, you'd been welcomed back with open arms. However, it wasn't quite the life you were expecting. You were still happy for Zuko! Of course- this is what he'd always wanted. In fact, you'd always supported Zuko in his journey to find the Avatar but something about this felt wrong. Especially since Aang had helped Zuko's uncle, Iroh, to find and rescue Zuko from the caves under Ba Sing Sai.

So, now you were stuck in a very difficult position.

It had almost been a month since you and Zuko had returned to the Fire Nation, and yet you'd barely spoken a word to each other. Once, you had felt like he was the only soul in the universe that understood you completely… And, now? It felt like you didn’t even know him. He'd been far too busy celebrating the fact he was now recognised as the Crown Prince. You'd also noticed that he'd been spending more time with Mai- along with Azula and Ty Lee.

That didn’t sit right with you. As long as you live, you promised yourself you would never trust Azula. Where she was involved, it meant trouble. She was the type of person that always had an ulterior motive- even when there didn't seem a need for one.

And, as for Ty Lee and Mai, you just saw them as Azula's attack dogs. Not that she needed help fighting people, but you couldn't exactly call them her friends. Azula didn't have friends. That required her to care about other people. The only way she knew how to relate to people was through fear. Yet another reason you found to keep as far away from her as possible.

Zuko seemed to be doing the same to you. Maybe him and Azula were more alike than you thought.

You had gone down to the Royal Gardens for some peace. As much as the 'Hero's Welcome' was a good ego booster, it wasn't good for the soul. And, right now you were doing some serious soul searching. You'd helped the Fire Nation. You'd fought the Avatar. You should feel good. Right? Except you didn’t, you felt awful. When Aang was shot down, all you could see was a child. A 12 year old kid who hadn't chosen this role in the world. Who was just trying to survive. Who was trying to help the universe.

Sighing, you put your head in your hands. What had you done? What had Zuko done? You thought of Uncle Iroh… How you had betrayed him. You told yourself that you were doing it to survive, that you couldn’t survive a Fire Nation Prison, but the truth was that you were a coward. A coward who couldn’t do the right thing.

You hadn’t realised you had started crying until your tears had slipped down your cheeks. Quickly, you wiped them away. Crying was weakness.

Your attention was caught by a small turtle duck quacking loudly. He appeared to be suck in a weed within the pond, meaning he was separated from his family. You could sense his distress from where you sat. Gently, you moved to the little creature, and slowly removed the weeds from around the turtle duck. Hurriedly, he swam to his mother, who welcomed him immediately. You watched the family of ducks swim happily away. Together. Loved.

"Why can't I just be like you, little turtle duck?" you murmur to yourself, "You seem so happy. I wish I could feel like that again."

It was only then you noticed how dark it had gotten. It was best to return to your room before the guards started asking questions- and 'suggesting' you return to safety. Despite being welcome in the palace, it felt more like a prison.

What you hadn't realised while you had been sat in the gardens, was that you hadn't entirely been alone. Zuko had walked past the entrance to the caught yard and you had caught his eye. At first he saw a glimmer of his mother sitting by the pond. She had always loved animals, especially feeding the turtle ducks. But then his vision cleared and he had seen you. It made his heart sink. He hadn't spoken to you in weeks. He didn't entirely know why…

Zuko watched you disappear out of the garden and down the corridor… Away from him.

He hated to admit it but being back in the Fire Nation wasn't bringing him the happiness he thought it would. His honour had technically been restored and yet he was feeling more ashamed than ever.

Part of him wanted to follow you; the other half knew he should visit Mai as he had promised earlier. The latter part of him won, but he couldn't help but look back in your direction. As soon as he reached Mai's room, he knocked softly.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Mai asked, dragging him into the room, "I thought you'd never show up."

"Ah," Zuko let out, "I didn’t- I just got caught up. That's all."

"Whatever," Mai smiled.

As much as Zuko wanted to enjoy his girlfriend's company, you were still nagging on his mind. Even when Mai was speaking, he was still thinking back to you. How sad you looked. How guilty he felt about ignoring you. Mai started noticing how distant Zuko was being.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Zuko said defensively.

"What's with you? You don’t have to snap at me. I was just asking a question," Mai replied, leaning away and folding her arms.

Zuko sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just tired," he said, "I need to go. We'll talk tomorrow."

Mai attempted to reply but Zuko was gone.

---

You'd been inside your head for the past hour. It was as if everything was slowly coming together. You knew what you had to do now. It wouldn’t be easy- but when was the right thing to do ever easy? Some part of you broke knowing you'd have to leave Zuko behind but in the end you couldn't let him control your destiny- not when he seemed to want no part in your future.

You began packing as quickly as you could. Throwing a few items of clothing into a bag as well as some medicine, basic hygiene products and a blanket. You didn't know where you were going but you knew you had to get out.

Just as you finished packing, you heard a knocking at the door.

"Hello?" you reply after a moment of hesitation.

Zuko hesitated.

"Who's there?" you replied, walking closer to the door.

With one hand you slowly began opening the door, with the other you had a small flame building. It never hurt to take a precaution when living in a place like the Fire Nation.

You fully opened the door and saw Zuko: you were stunned for a moment.

"Zuko?" you asked.

Gently, you let your hand drop, and the flame went out with it. You opened the door and walked back into your room, leaving it open to Zuko whether he was going to follow or not. He was surprised at your lack of response. He was expecting you to cry at him or yell at him, but there was nothing.

He followed you into your room and shut the door behind you.

"Don't you want to know why I'm here?" Zuko asks.

"I don't think it's going to matter much longer," you tell him, "I don't think anything you're about to say is going to matter much longer, Prince Zuko."

"Prince Zuko?" he repeated, "You've never called me that. Not even when we were kids."

"Yeah, well things have changed since then."

"For the better!" Zuko insisted, "You're telling me you preferred it when we were sailing in the frozen South Pole for weeks at a time than being a war hero in your own nation? You can't be serious?"

"Maybe I did."

"You can't be serious! I- We were miserable!"

"Maybe you were! I wasn't!" you yelled at him, walking closer to him, "I had my best friend! I don't even know who you are anymore! You haven't spoken to me in weeks!"

"Y/N, I-"

"-No! Don't Y/N me!" you snapped at him, pressing a finer to his chest, "I was there for you. I never stopped believing in you. I never left your side. But, the moment you get back here, the moment you have your precious honour back, you forget I even exist!"

Zuko was silent.

"And, the saddest part is that I waited for you," you murmured, all your anger gone, "I waited. I thought maybe you're just busy, off doing Prince stuff. But, then I saw you with Mai. Even Azula. And, I knew something had changed. I thought I was your friend; that we had a friendship that was unbreakable. But, now I see you were just using me as a replacement. As a place holder."

"No," Zuko cried out, "That's not true."

You turned away, trying not to let him see your tears building.

"Then tell me why I feel this way. A stranger in my own nation. A prisoner in my own nation."

"I'm sorry… I didn't think-"

"-No you didn't think."

Zuko tried to reach out towards you. And, then he noticed your bag on your bed. It was full and there was items strewn around your room. Something was going on.

"Y/N, what are you doing? What do you mean it's not going to matter anymore?"

"I'm leaving."

"You can't."

"I have to."

"You can't leave me here, please," Zuko pleaded.

"You'll be just fine," you sadly smiled, "You haven't needed me since you got back. I'm sure you won't even notice I'm gone."

"That's not true!" Zuko argued.

"Then what is the truth?"

"The reason… The reason I couldn’t talk to you… Is because every time I looked at you I was remined of that day in Ba Sing Sei," Zuko murmured, "I… I've realised I made the wrong decision that day. Looking at you just reminded me I didn't need to be in the Fire Nation to be home. I just needed you."

"Oh, Zuko."

"I'm sorry," he murmured, "I truly am. I'll do anything to make it up to you. Anything."

"Leave with me."

"I want to leave," Zuko promised, "But it needs to be the right time. The solstice."

"I'll wait," you agreed, "But promise me something."

"Anything."

"Promise me things will be different this time. I'm tired of fighting against the world's last hope. I'm tired of not doing the right thing."

"I know my destiny now. My uncle helped me see the light," Zuko said quietly, "I know what I must do now. I'm going to find the Avatar, and I'm going to help him defeat the Fire Lord."

"Not 'I'. We. I'm coming with you."

Zuko nodded at you. And, for the first time in what felt like forever he had hope.

#zuko #zuko x reader #prince zuko #prince zuko x reader #avatar #Avatar The Last Airbender #Avatar the Last Air Bender #atla #zuko imagine #zuko imagines #avatar imagine #avatar imagines #alta imagine #one shot #reader inser #imagine #imagines

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steambend · 3 years

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steambend’s end of year fic rec list [2020]

so i thought i’d just collate a list of my favourite fics i read this year. i’ll split it from completed to ongoing, and it will go from general to mature rated fics (each category is also in alphabetical order, because i’m that bitch). i’m sure most of these fics you will have seen or read before, but i wanted to get them all in one place and maybe start an annual tradition on my page!

these are all zutara fics

completed fics, rated: general

beautiful by dyce

zuko cannot stop noticing that katara is beautiful.

brightest in the dark by soopersara

a less-than-friendly interruption in the crystal catacombs pushes zuko and katara together, and they have to work together to find a new path.

canon divergent from crossroads of destiny

completed fics, rated: teen and up

mending wounds by fictionissocialinquiry

'the fire prince is older. you can see it in the calmness of his expression, the relaxed carriage of his shoulders. he is smiling at her. she's never seen the fire lord's son smile.' while lost in the foggy swamp, searching for her brother and her avatar, katara is haunted by visions of the fire nation's disgraced prince. visions of peace after war, visions of honour and secrets...

stealing from pirates by dyce

without zuko to rescue her from the pirates, katara is captured... and finds that they already have a prisoner in desperate need of her help.

such selfish prayers by andromeda3116

katara's ambition, so long set aside for the good of others, breaks free and sets fire to her soul. or, katara has a vision of her canon future, casts it aside, and becomes a world-changing politician instead.

the color of the stars by bluenebulae

“roads were made for journeys, not destinations.” ― confucius

one moment changes the course of history. katara and zuko are imprisoned by the fire nation army during the day of black sun, and when they escape, they find themselves adrift in the fire nation with no one to rely on but each other. with only six weeks before sozin’s comet arrives and four nations to cross, the pair must track down katara’s allies, save the world—and learn to trust each other.

canon divergent from part 2 of 'day of black sun.'

there are worse things i could do by orosea

she thinks of how this must be so easy for sokka, to be married at home, to someone of his culture. she has nothing against princess yue, the sickly girl is kind, and frankly, far too good for sokka. which is the problem. sokka is in love with her.

and what does katara get? a marriage to a firebender. thrown into a country she doesn’t know, like fish carcass, to the nephew of the fire lord.

for her tribe, she tells herself.

rounding the edges by sadladybug

it can take some grit and hard work to grind out the sharp edges, but the effort can produce something that shines. a zutara oneshot in which katara learns a few new things about zuko, including the fact that he may be very difficult to live without. featuring unexpected teamwork, tense training moments, and more than a few awkward conversations. canon compliant(ish), book three beginning sometime between tsr and eip.

what fortune lent by lewilder

au; the southern raiders' mission aims true and katara is taken to the fire nation as a prisoner of war. as her circumstances and the political climate change, she forms unexpected alliances and makes it her mission to restore her people and find the avatar.

completed fics, rated: not rated

and you feel your heart (taking root in your body) by raisindeatre

"no one is now what they were before the war." - catherynne valente

after everything - the comet, the war, the coronation - katara tries to find the road back to herself. somewhere along the way, she also finds the road to zuko.

ongoing fics, rated: teen and up

in the kingdom of heaven by nautica_dawn

in her later years, katara will look back on the agni kai against azula fondly. in her younger, more immediate years, she wishes she'd turned down zuko's offer.

polar nights by crystalline talisman

in order to arrange a treaty for the long standing war between the water tribe and fire nation, prince zuko is sent to the south pole to arrange a truce by fire lord lu ten, where he is greeted by subzero temperatures, sea prunes, and quirky customs. this of course, is a cake walk compared to the revelation he'll be marrying the stubborn spiritual leader, katara. au. zutara.

the chief and i by jassmarie19

when the fire nation decides to take over the world, it is the temples that go down first (peacefully, and no one suspects a thing). then their eyes turn towards the mainland and all is lost for the earth kingdoms. at this onset of war, the southern water tribe shuts itself off from the rest of the world. it is a challenge at first, but the fire nation decides they have loftier goals than the tribal people of ice and water. they are forgotten.

a century has passed. the fire empire runs the world, emperor azulon at the head with his grandson, the herald of light, prince zuko of the southern isles by his side. fresh off winning the last vestige in the earth kingdom, prince zuko travels to the south to gain the last of the free world. but they come to the southern water tribe knowing nothing but snippets saved before the conquering. the herald of light has a lot of work ahead of him if he is to convince their vexing chieftain to surrender. the fate of the great imperial empire counts on this.

this might as well happen by owedbetter

stranded in a foreign country during a pandemic, zuko has a crazy idea.

ongoing fics, rated: mature

southern lights by colourwhirled

a world where the avatar has disappeared from memory. where sozin’s conquest was successful. where the unsteady order of the empire is threatened as members of the royal family are picked off one by one and lines are slowly drawn in the sand.

one last chance for peace forces an unlikely alliance between a homesick waterbender, a carefree air nomad, a runaway earth kingdom heiress, and the fire lord's inscrutable son. together they must learn to shed old enmities and become the balance they seek to restore to the world.

or:

the avatar has four heads.

[[chapter 4: "and always, his eyes, cautiously watching her. even when he thinks she isn’t looking. it drives her mad"]]

waste no more time by owedbetter

'waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. be one.’ - marcus aurelius

no one knew where the painted lady of republic city came from. they only know that one day, she did. healing the sick, fighting injustice where she could, and ruining profiteering capitalist organisations when she could.

and ozai corporations will stop at nothing to put an end to this brand of vigilante justice, even hiring the elusive powers behind blue spirit investigations to seize and desist her from further damaging the chaos her revolutionary care is inspiring among the people... by any means necessary.

a tale of justice, love, and revolution.

and that is it! happy reading guys, and feel free to reblog and add your favourite zk reads of 2020

#steambend's end of year fic rec list #2020 #fic recs #zutara

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mcu-fan-fics-blog · 3 years

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The Helping Hand

Summary: Y/N Krast Illegitimate Daughter of Tony Stark. Product of an unwanted teen pregnancy. What would Howard Stark be capable of doing to assure his sons future? What will happen when Tony meets our Beautiful, young, genius, rich philanthropist.

Word Count: 2000 approx

A/n: I will try to finish part 2 during the week maybe Wednesday or Thursday. I did change what happens in the movie but it will call make sense I promise. See you soon!

Tw: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Drug use, Drug addiction, Teen Pregnancy. (If there are any I missed please tell me.)

Ch.8

Chapter 9: Civil War Pt.1

Ch.10

Secretary Ross what a bitch. I mean you save the world you'd expect a thanks maybe a parade or something, but no. Instead they ask you to legally give up your rights, your anonymity basically all you value. "We can't seriously consider signing this." Steve spat out. "You're being Hyper nonverbal." Nat points tony out. "That's because he's already decided." Steve points out calmly. "I can't sign… I won't sign the accords." You mutter out quietly. "I'm not even an official part of the 'team'. I don't even have a hero name." Pietro chuckles giving you an approving nod.

Nat brings you and Pietro back to reality. "You were still there." She points out matter of factly. "Either way that does not change that we have made some very public mistakes." She continues. "We need to be put in check." Tony states. "If we don't do it now they will do it to us later and they won't be asking nicely." He says. "I agree it's better to keep one hand on the wheel, than letting go completely." You're honestly not listening at this point anymore. You jump back in after Visions statistics. "My friends are dead because of you." You point out.

"You blame Wanda for an accident. When I saw your effect on Sokovia way before you blew it up." You mention spitefully. "If you want to sign because you feel guilty go ahead. I'm not being forced into this..." Tony sighs hurt by your comments' brutal honesty. "I'm just trying to protect Wanda." He says looking at you. "Too little too late… where were you when she was in Lagos." This is when Wanda steps in. "Just calm down okay… Just- lets just hear him out." She says looking at you. "Either we have her here with her brother or they become government property." He continues. "You can't just not sign… think about everything you'll lose." Steve jumps in again. "If we sign, we lose our chance to choose. We work under our own authority now, but people have agendas and you know that better than anyone." Steve points out.

Tony and Steve go at it for a minute when he abruptly leaves. Soon you find out why… Peggy passed. You and Nat flew out to be with him for a moment. After which he told you he was not signing the accords. "Wish you the best Captain Rogers." Is what you said. You hesitated but pulled him into a hug. "If you ever need anything talk to me… I'll do my best to help you out." You tell him and he hugs you back. Nat convinced you to fly to Vienna with her and sign the accords there. So you did and regretted it not long after you arrived. It was a complete bore fest. You let Nat do her own thing and you just walked around like a lost puppy until something called your attention. You rush back to her immediately. "Nat, something's wrong, something is very wrong." You repeat then you look out the window confirming your theory. "EVERYBODY GET DOWN" you yell as you leap on Natasha. She's about to reprimand you for causing a scene when the whole building shakes.

It was a blur and everything hurts. You stand up and all you can hear is ringing and a faint voice. As you stand you hear your name faintly Natasha is calling you but there's something else. Your head begins to throb. The voice it's clear now. It's repeating words. "Zhelanie, rzhavyy, Semndtsat', Rassvet, Pech', Devgat', Dobroserdechnyy, Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu, Odin', Gruzovoy Vagon." You grab your head to try and steady yourself. But the voice gets louder and then you recognize it. "Don't believe what you see… dig deeper Y/n. It wasn't him." Then you're pulled out of your daze by Nat standing before you. "Y/n are you okay?" She asks worried. You only nod turning your head and noticing that somehow you made your way outside. "I umm- I need you to call tony and tell him it happened again." You say calmly she nods and takes off to make the call. As she did that you called Steve. "Yes, Steve I'm fine we're fine… but you need to listen to me."

He was scared and the news spread like wildfire. "It wasn't him… Steve it wasn't him." He's quiet. "How do you know?" You sigh. "I just do Steve okay. I believe in you alright. But you can't look for him. If you find him the rest will find him. Keep your distance a week two tops just listen to me please." You plead with him he eventually sighs. "I'm trusting you Y/n" you sigh in relief. You hang up when Nat begins to walk back to you. "Tony is sending a Plane." She mentions looking around them fixing her sight on you. "How did you know something was going to happen?" Her voice nearly a whisper. You shake your head. "Y/n you told me something was wrong very wrong at least 30 seconds before the bombs went off."

"I-i don't know Nat something felt wrong… off then I looked out the window." You say trying to piece together your thoughts. "Lets go… let me drop you off at the airport." She says helping you up. The drive was quiet and uncomfortable. She wasn't sure she believed you, she saw that you called someone. Her walls were up and your answers were not helping that. She helped you board the plane and said her goodbyes and walked out. The ride was quiet what you wanted. But those words kept circling your mind. You couldn't have heard them more than three times but they were burnt into your mind. Vision and then twins were waiting for you when you landed. "Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner will not get here in a couple of days." You nod taking your time getting off.

"Are you okay?" Pietro asks when you trip down the last step. You shake your head. "I'm just tired, plus it's not everyday that you live through an explosion." You chuckle. "I just need some rest." You finish. Your sleep was not as peaceful as you'd like. Your head kept going back to that state of limbo the same words repeating over and over again. In the morning you're feeling well enough and make your way down to the kitchen. You weren't surprised when you found the Maximoff twins already up and going. "Good morning" you say as you walk up to them noticing Vision floating in a corner. "Good morning do you feel better?" Wanda asks as she flips a pancake. You nod watching Pietro chop vegetables extremely fast. Wanda clears her throat catching your attention. "Your thoughts were very loud last night…"

"Oh my Wanda I am so sorry if I kept you up." You begin apologizing but she cuts you short. "It's fine I only brought it up because I can hear them… they are there, but I can read them?" She says questioning whether or not you understood. You nod. "Did it happen again?" She asks, worry filling her eyes. "I-i don't know how to explain it. Yesterday I felt something was off. I heard a voice after the explosion." You mention trying to wrap your head around the situation. "It was repeating these words. I can't stop thinking about them." You finish off. She gives you a confused look. "Bruce said it's kinda like the green guy… It keeps me alive."

"Is that why I can't read you anymore?" She blurts out. "I don't know probably." You shrug. "Nat, she doesn't believe me… I saw it in her eyes." You mention quietly. Pietro rushes over to you and puts his arm around you, messing with your hair. "Well we believe you, isn't that right?" He looks at Wanda and she nods. He has to throw a piece of fruit at Vision. "Yes, I think there is something to your condition." He mentions a smile growing on his face… Or what you think he thinks is a smile. It causes everyone to break out into laughter. After that you and the twins have a nice couple of days hanging out and living in some type of normalcy. You would watch the Dik Van Dyke show and Bewitched per Wanda's request and then one night something was off again. "Wanda… something's off. It's different." Is the last thing you manage to say before Vision rushes over to your side. This time the threat was internal… your heart.

"Y/n to my understanding your heart is going into cardiac arrest. Stop fighting your mind, it will protect you." He mentions. You clutch your chest and let your mind loose. "Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner have been informed and will be here soo…'' is all your hear before you black out. You're in and put at one point you think you see Bruce but you're not sure. Then you're back in that white tundra and she's there waiting for you with a warm smile on her face. "Why do we keep meeting like this?" You ask as you run towards her. "It's you…" Is all she says hugging you. "Yes, who else would it be." You say playfully. She chuckles but she shakes her head. "It's you we meet on your terms. You only let me in when your guard is down." She steps back. "Are your okay?" She asks cautiously. "I really hope so." You say honestly taking a seat on the floor. "That's not what I meant… I-i um I had to give you a push in Vienna." She sits next to you. "That was you! Of course that makes sense. What do they mean." She smiles. "You'll figure it out… I know you will." She says again and you lay your head on her lap. She runs her fingers through your hair humming. "How long can I stay here with you like this?" You ask with your eyes closed. "As long as your want monkey."

"Where is she, is she okay? What the hell happened?" Tony burst into the compound the anger masking how scared he was. "Dr. Cho is in there right now and she's stable. She's almost done. Dr. Banner is assisting" Vision answers Tony calms down slightly turning to the twins. "What the hell happened?" They both shrug and Pietro speaks up. "You should ask her." He says his head nodding towards Nat. Tony makes a double take when Steve and Sam walk out behind her. Natasha walks up to them "What happened?" Tony only signs "That seems to be the Billion Dollar question." Wanda jumps back in. "She said something was off… something happened in Vienna." Now Pietro get defensive and jumps in to back his sister. "She said you didn't believe her." Tony turns to Nat. "Did she tell you this?"

"What was I supposed to believe Tony… she knew a building was going to explode before it did." Tony is now pacing. "She told you something was wrong… MY DAUGHTER told you something was wrong, that something was wrong with her. And you didn't think to tell me!" Natasha is left speechless and so is everyone else. That's when Dr. Cho walks back into the waiting room. "The surgery was a success and we replaced the damaged heart. She should wake up in a couple of hours depending as their medications wear off." She says not noticing the tension. Tony sighs in relief and Dr. Cho walks off. Tony points at Natasha. "You will stay away from her agent Romanoff." With that he walks off.

It had been more than a few hours. It had been days and you hadn't woken up. "What is happening to her?" Tony hadn't left your side. Everyone had stopped by everyday their hopes diminished. Bruce calls him over and makes him take a seat. "Tony we have to wake her up soon!" He nods. "Of course we do!" He says looking at Bruce shake his head. "Her medical directives legally bind us to remove all life sustaining measures after two weeks."

#avengers #marvel #natasha romanoff #natasha x y/n #pietro maximoff #tony stark #wanda x reader #fanfic #reader x avengers #wanda maximoff #bucky barnes #civil war #captain america #chapter 9 #vision #tony x pepper #tony stank #howard stark #helmut zemo

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chudleycanonficfest · 3 years

Text

Day 29, Post #2 by @maggotsstuff

Title: The Masterstroke

Author: maggotsstuff

Pairing: Ron-Hermione

Theme: A Friendship like no other/Bravery

Beta Credits: Two amazing person – Adenei and Folk-melody.

The sleepy stone corridors of the Castle of Durmstrang reverberated with the sound of heavy footsteps. The echo of the rhythmic pace pierced through the silence of several corners and passages until it came to a halt before an old wooden door. There was a gentle knock on the wooden surface, which was soon followed by a series of raps.

The din was answered by a slow and lazy creak of the hinges, followed by the dim light of a candle that floated in the air. The silhouette of a woman dressed in black robes and a black hood appeared at the door.

“Prince Draco! What business brings you here to my chamber at this hour? Could this not have waited until the daylight had shone?” she asked haughtily.

“Huh? Is this the way to speak to the future King of Slytherin, Ravenclaw?”

“My fault, Prince Draco. But your aunt, Queen Bellatrix is still the Queen of Slytherin.”

Draco became so pale that his face was almost the same colour as his silver blonde hair. The sentries escorting the Prince, who stood a few steps behind him, lowered their heads.

Draco’s face contorted with a scowl, which was smothered by the smirk playing across his thin lips.

“You are too smart for your own good,” Draco replied darkly. He didn’t wait for her reply as he paced back through the corridors.

Ravenclaw heard warning bells chiming inside of her. Draco certainly had not come to invite her for any midnight tryst. She hurried after him. The floating candle moved ahead of all.

The quartet marched through the long corridors and then through a small passage, which opened in a big hall that was decorated with a throne with a serpent headed backrest. Ivory chairs were arranged in rows at a distance from the throne on both of its sides. The tall walls of the hall had human heads affixed to them. It seemed that each head had a story of an atrocious death to tell.

At the far end of the hall, a flight of spiral steps was erected. The small procession halted there. Draco turned back and feigned surprise.

“Ah, Ravenclaw! Did you follow us until here? Am I so lucky that the mighty witch of my land has finally discovered the truth in my words?” he jeered, raising a silver blonde eyebrow of his at her.

“I cannot ignore the nephew of my Queen. If he cares to visit me at this hour he would certainly have urgent orders for this servant. I am waiting for your commands, Prince.”

“I am humbled that the mighty witch has expressed her desire to fulfil my wish,” Draco stroked her cheek over her black hood. She clenched her fist to resist herself from cursing him back.

“But tonight, your service is reserved for my aunt. You will regret wasting more of her valuable time. The fulfillment of my wish can wait until then,” Draco brushed his hand against hers.

Without another word or a second look, Ravenclaw glided over the staircase.

***

Queen Bellatrix lived in the innermost quarters of Durmstrang. Her chamber was decorated with exotic furniture and guarded by the Naginis. They were serpents with human heads and were her pets. The Naginis spiralled themselves on the way to her bedroom. They hissed at Ravenclaw. Their hisses were silenced as a tall woman with dark hair and heavy eyelids strode forward from behind a tapestry. Ravenclaw bowed to her.

"Welcome to my palace! Was my nephew good to you?" Bellatrix winked.

Ravenclaw did not want to bite her bait.

"At his best, my Queen." She tried hard to maintain a neutral expression.

Bellatrix snorted.

"I know you have much disdain for me and my actions. Yet you never fail me, Ravenclaw. Isn't it difficult for you to serve the same woman who wiped out your entire village, maybe even your family?"

"If you hadn't raided my village and stolen me from my family that day, the villagers would have killed me because they thought I was a curse to the village."

The Queen acknowledged with a nod.

Since the Queen was silent, Ravenclaw continued, "May I ask the Queen why she summoned her servant at this hour?"

"This is what I like in you. You're always in to business," Bellatrix laughed.

Ravenclaw stood silently. There was stony silence, which was soon broken by the Naginis' hisses.

"Alright, I take it that you don't want to have a friendly chat with me. Ravenclaw, tonight I dreamt of a knight."

Ravenclaw's eyes blinked in astonishment. She was not at all prepared to listen to the Queen's rendezvous with a knight in her dreams.

"The Vision," Bellatrix gestured towards a glistening mirror, "told me that he can give me the child who will help me conquer the world."

Bellatrix, who was pacing around Ravenclaw, stopped on her tracks and gauged her reaction. The witch kept on staring straight. Bellatrix handed over a scroll of parchment, several quills and an assortment of ink pots to Ravenclaw.

"I want you to paint me a picture of this knight. With your mystique powers you will tell me who he is."

***

Ravenclaw sat deeply immersed in her thoughts in the confines of her dingy room. Her companion of recluse, the black robes and the hood laid discarded in a corner. Eyes shut, she let her mind run free.

While she was at Bellatrix's palace, she had decided to safeguard the man from the evil designs of Bellatrix whose sketch she had unintentionally made. Soon after, her mind worked at the speed of light.

Bellatrix wanted to have him captured by her Dementors. She convinced Bellatrix that if the Dementors captured Ronald, Gryffindor would definitely know that Bellatrix had him kidnapped.

King James of Gryffindor was not on good terms with Bellatrix. (The relationship between the two monarchs had soured after she had executed Sirius, her brother and James’ friend, on charges of treason.) The king would encash the opportunity for a war because of this; Slytherin's army would not be able to sustain Gryffindor's warfare, she reasoned.

Instead of creating unwanted repercussions, Bellatrix could allow her to steal him away from Godric's Castle. No one would know as she would kidnap him through her magic.

Bellatrix's eyes gleamed with evil delight. The echo of her savage laughter still rang in the precincts of her mind.

Ronald — the valiant warrior of the kingdom of Gryffindor — the knight appearing in Bellatrix's dreams — the man with fiery red hair grown up to his shoulders, long nose and strong jaw, with arrogance in blue eyes — his eyes stirred the memory of someone far, yet so near, that someone who was always so kind to her, that someone whom she loved, whom she might still love. But Ronald was not him. Still….

"RONALD! We shall meet soon!" Ravenclaw thought aloud.

At Godric's Castle, which was miles away from Durmstrang, Ronald heard his flute piping out a syllable which strangely felt like his name. He hurried to the object which was staked in his old leather bag.

He shook his head in disbelief and unwittingly blurted out, "It's not possible!"

But a part of him still hoped.

***

Draco kept lurking around and pestered her for information about her meeting with the Queen. But as days elapsed, he gradually lost interest in the matter. Ravenclaw regarded that the time had finally arrived as Draco’s prying eyes were off her.

One moonless night she flew off to Gryffindor in quest of Ronald, the man with blue eyes. She flew hundreds of miles across rivers, forests and oceans, until finally she noticed Gryffindor's red and golden flag fluttering with the wind. Her tired body immediately recovered with a fresh surge of energy.

Ravenclaw hovered over Godric's Castle for a few seconds. To her relief there were no protective enchantments over the Castle. But the Castle was much bigger than Durmstrang. She decided to perch on top of a low tower until it was dark.

Ravenclaw chose a window as her hiding place which was hidden from direct view. When she crawled onto the panel, she was alarmed by the sound of a low cough. She crawled through the panel into the tower and found herself standing in a small bedroom and staring at an old dog.

"Fang!" she exclaimed. The dog ran towards her, barking with delight.

But, there was a rush outside and she hid herself under the simple four poster bed.

"Fangiekins! What's up," the entrant hollered. Fang pulled him to where Hermione was.

Down under the bed, Ravenclaw tried to control her breath. She knew it was him.

Ronald — Ron! What would she do now?

Before it was too late and Ravenclaw changed her mind, she exhaled through her mouth, emptying her two lungs. Right after her action, she saw Ronald's legs lose balance and before he tumbled onto the floor she withdrew herself from her position and helped him fall asleep on the bed. Fang fell asleep too. All she needed was to wait until dark to steal him away. She hid herself again under Ronald's bed, her mind wandering back to the alleys of Hogsmeade where she met Ronald for the first time.

***

Before darkness crept in, Ravenclaw came outside. She paused to stare for a moment at the tall man sleeping soundly in his bed and then set to work as fast as she could. She gathered ropes, leather straps, even iron chains that she found in the tiny room and strapped Ronald securely to his bed. When the Castle went silent, she levitated Ronald's narrow bed and with a little shove pushed it outside of the window. She fastened her robes to one of the four posters and flew away towards the land of Slytherin where Bellatrix was waiting for her prey.

***

Ravenclaw zoomed into her chamber with a sleeping Ronald on his four poster bed, through the open window of her chamber. The morning rays of sun followed her soon after.

No one noticed except a man with silver blonde hair who had patiently waited for Ravenclaw's arrival since her departure. He hurried towards the Queen.

Ravenclaw headed straight for her bathroom. She needed a bath and food for further functioning. But when she finished her bath and entered her room a hard punch on her head welcomed her, knocking her straight to the floor.

She laid on the floor trying to gather her wit when she saw Ronald's familiar pair of boots running past her. There was a thud and the door to her chamber swung open. She tried to crawl towards the door, but she felt too weak.

She heard Ronald. He kept on swearing. There was the sound of hitting, punching, kicking and cries of pain. Ronald roared.

Ravenclaw somehow managed to stand on her feet. She snatched a scarf, covered her face and hurried out of her chamber. Injured bodies of sentries laid scattered on the stone floor. She saw Ronald clutching Draco’s neck and suffocating him with his bare arm.

"Ronald! No! Please don't kill him!" Ravenclaw screamed. Ronald continued holding Draco’s neck but it seemed to her that he had relaxed his muscles.

"Bring him to my palace." Everyone who was not gravely injured turned with surprise to the spot from where Bellatrix's voice came.

"Well done, Ravenclaw. But your service is not over yet. Follow us to my palace," Bellatrix commanded. Ravenclaw obliged, forgetting that she was awfully hungry.

On their way to the hall, Draco sidled her.

"Why did you bother to save me from that beast?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"Maybe because I hoped that you can do better than what you are," she whispered back. Draco became sober.

***

Bellatrix ordered all but Ravenclaw and Ronald to leave the hall. Ravenclaw furtively glanced at Ronald. He was still fuming.

"Follow me," she commanded while climbing up the stairs. Ravenclaw followed. But Ronald could not break the magical barrier and climb the staircase.

"My Queen, this is the magic of your ancestors. No man can ever cross this barrier and reach your chamber," Ravenclaw said concernedly.

"But you're a witch. Break the barrier so that Ronald can follow his destiny," Bellatrix demanded. Ronald frowned.

"Your ancestors' magic is far more superior than the feeble witchcraft I practice."

"In that case, I beseech the responsibility of his well-being upon you. My nephew Draco shall be commissioned for your assistance."

Ravenclaw understood the subtle warning. Yet, she felt relieved.

"Unlock any room nearby to your chamber and arrange for his stay. You can take him away now." With an air of finality, Bellatrix flounced away.

***

"Why am I here?" Ronald growled as he followed Ravenclaw through the corridors and passages.

"I am not supposed to tell you. Ask the Queen," Ravenclaw kept on marching forward without looking back at him.

Ronald let out an exasperated breath.

"You are the one who kidnapped me, aren't you? Not her. So you will tell me."

"I didn’t know you could be so naive, Ronald. If you haven’t noticed, I am a plain servant here and I work on orders. It's the Queen who decides," Ravenclaw's voice vibrated out shrilly.

Ronald was taken aback. They walked in silence for some time and then Ronald said grumpily, "I am hungry."

"So am I. I haven't eaten for more than twenty four hours. Besides, there was nothing to eat in your room at Godric's Castle and the stench in it was horrible," Ravenclaw barked.

She was listless. That was the first time after so long; she had a banter with someone and was thrilled about it.

"Now it is my fault that I don't keep food to feed my kidnappers!" Ronald retorted back.

Ravenclaw smirked. They kept on walking and reached the same point where Ronald had caused quite a stir some time back.

"This is where you will stay. I will send for some food if you are hungry. And behave yourself. Don't try to run away again. We have had enough of your nuisance," she said sternly.

"This is mental."

Ravenclaw heard him say before she left, and she felt butterflies fluttering inside her belly.

***

Almost a month had passed since Ronald's kidnapping. To Ravenclaw's relief, Bellatrix was yet to figure out how to let Ronald into her palace. The wizards she had summoned to break the jinx failed miserably in their mission. Bellatrix ensured that those wizards were punished adequately.

When Ravenclaw entered Ronald's room, he was lying on his small bed, blankly staring at the ceiling. He didn’t even stir when he heard the door to his room open and close.

"I just came to check on you," Ravenclaw tried to be as comforting as she could. He said nothing.

Over the past one month Ravenclaw had shared many details of her dark life and Ronald shared his experiences. They became much more civil to each other, if not friendlier.

"Look I never wanted to put you through this—"

"Bellatrix came here yesterday," Ronald blurted out.

Ravenclaw's palm automatically covered her mouth over her hood; her eyes popped so wide that it could have bounced out of its socket.

Ronald stared at her for a moment and then said, "You knew about her intentions, didn't you?"

Ravenclaw slowly nodded her head. She knew that he would now hate her forever.

"Then why did you bloody kidnap me?" he yelled.

"Or else she would have sent the Dementors after you. They are the worst kind of species. They would have plundered everything you had in Gryffindor and scarred your people for life," she screamed back.

"Huh, Dementors! As much as Bellatrix called you a brilliant witch who traced me out of her dreams, you failed to understand that I am not afraid of any mortals or demons. But since you wanted to become this angel," Ronald marked quotes in the air, "you could have spared me too. Why did you bring me here?" Ronald asked sarcastically.

"Because I was stupid and thought that I could protect you. Besides, I knew that Bellatrix's palace was forbidden for man. Her father, King Salazar, was a wizard and a blood purist. He cast those unbreakable spells so that no man of lesser blood ventures near her. And I knew you didn't have royal blood running in your veins. But I must admit that I didn't know Bellatrix well. I didn't think that she would keep you a hostage and…," Ravenclaw's eyes were downcast with guilt and she faltered.

"What if I refuse to oblige. Would my head be displayed on the wall of that scary hall?" Ronald asked, frowning.

"No. I will never let that happen. Tonight you will escape from Durmstrang. And you needn't escape through that tunnel underneath your bed." Ronald stood up in attention.

"You think I didn't notice," Ravenclaw said with a chuckle. Ronald deliberately bumped his head against one of the posters on his bed.

"Don't do this," Ronald snarled. "I don't want you to risk your life for me."

"You needn't bother about me. I'm tired of my life, anyways. People like Bellatrix keep me safe, but scar my soul. Your world will not take me back because of who I am," Ravenclaw turned away to hide the tears glistening in her eyes.

Ronald tentatively placed his hand over her shoulder. This was the first time he touched her in the past month of their acquaintance.

"You never asked me why I didn't kill your friend Draco when you asked me not to kill him," Ronald said gently. Ravenclaw turned around in surprise.

"The day you kidnapped me, I heard your voice coming out from the flute an amazing girl once gave me. She was a witch, but she didn't know that I knew. We seldom met. But I remember all the moments we shared together in the village of Hogsmeade," Ronald paused. Ravenclaw's eyes began to shed those unshed tears of years.

"One day she told me that she cannot be friends with me anymore. Rumors of her being a witch had already rippled through our village. I told her that I wanted to be friends with her no matter what. I would stand by her even if the gods were against her. She cried. Just like you're crying now."

He brushed his fingers against her tears. Ravenclaw closed her eyes.

"She gave me a magical flute and said that if she ever needed me she would call out for me through that. She had indeed called out for me on the day she vanished from her village. I went in search of her, but the entire village was in shambles," he hesitated and then added, "her family was murdered too."

"OH, RON!" Ravenclaw wrapped her arms around Ron's torso and buried her head into his chest and cried. He embraced her with equal passion.

They sat down together on Ron's bed. She craved more of Ron's warmth and comfort, which he was more than willing to give.

"What gave me away?" she asked softly.

"Your voice, Hermione!" Her body tensed at the mention of her name which she thought had died a thousand deaths already.

"You could have found me using your magic. Why didn't you do so?" Hermione could sense hurt in Ron's voice.

"I was in captivity, mind you. But after that I thought that you would never want to be my friend after knowing my truth," she said with a shaky whisper.

"From the day we met here, I wanted to say something to you, but couldn't sum up my courage—," Hermione covered his mouth with her palm before he could complete his sentence and said, "Say it Ron."

"That Ravenclaw is a stupid name and your costume is ridiculous," he chuckled.

Hermione punched his gut.

"Ouch! Hermione it hurts!" He gasped in pain.

"I can curse you and make you speechless," she threatened him with mock anger.

"I know you won't because, I — I wanted to say that I was and will always be yours," Ron whispered.

Words didn't seem enough to express what Hermione felt at that moment. She lifted her hood in one swift motion and kissed Ron's mouth. She was finally back with the one she belonged to.

***

Hermione braced herself to execute the plan of their escape that she and Ron had hatched. If caught, she knew both of them would face a gory end. Ron was, however, amused to find her so worried.

"Come on, love," he said, "I am the best commander of Gryffindor. I know the rules of the games. From what I could make out of the excellent details you have provided, we are on the right track."

We are on the right track—We are on the right track— She kept on repeating.

And then she found the person she was searching for — Draco. He was standing on the edge of an open terrace.

"Good Evening, Prince! Have you gotten tired of spying on me so soon?" Hermione cooed. Draco was startled. "And oh! Please don't let yourself stand on these edges. A sweet little shove could be fatal," Hermione murmured into his ears and smirked mischievously.

For a moment Draco was shocked at her audacity, but thereafter he composed himself.

"Why did you come here?" he grunted. "Are you not supposed to be guarding your captive?"

"Umm… the Queen herself guards him now."

Draco glanced at her sharply.

"Didn't you know why she made me kidnap him? She wanted to have an heir to her throne. The Vision told her that Ronald is the man who should father her child if she wanted him to be invincible."

Draco was gobsmacked. "And did she tell you all this when she summoned you?"

"10 points to you. At least you figured this out. Yes, indeed she told me. You should have known that he meant more to her than other men when she refrained from killing him after he created all that nuisance on his first day here."

Draco was staring at her in silence.

"But I pity you, Prince. After how she murdered your grandfather and your parents, you still believe that she will let you be the king of Slytherin."

"You are lying. My parents murdered my grandfather and she punished my parents for spilling the blood of their father. She brought me up like I was her own progeny," Draco countered.

"For a Prince, you have an intellectual range of a teaspoonful," Hermione snorted.

"What do you mean by that?" he growled.

"Your aunt staged everything. She didn't kill you because you're not capable of harming her while you're a kid. But times have changed."

Draco contemplated for a moment.

"But why are you telling me all these things? I have never been really good to you. In fact, my words only confirmed my not so good intentions for you," Draco said plainly.

"Like I said before, I believed you could be better. I always considered your behavior towards me as an act of spite. You said those things because you were jealous of me and wanted to rile me up. If I am not wrong you would have considered it to be a personal insult in laying your hands on the dirty knickers of a witch," Hermione said in a breath.

"What now?" Draco asked intrigued. He had dropped all his pretense and listened to Hermione with rapt attention.

"News is that Ronald is going to escape tonight. If I were you I would have never stopped him," Hermione finally made her move.

"I will not stop him. But who's going to stop Bellatrix? Her Dementors will find him from any corner of the earth," he stated matter of factly.

"Did you know how your grandfather was murdered?" Hermione asked.

Draco scowled and shook his head affirming his lack of knowledge.

"Bellatrix turned the Dementors against him. And from what I know, you have access to her palace being of royal blood. Bonus — the Naginis would not be very happy with her if they knew that Ronald does not have royal blood running in his veins, yet she had been pursuing after him."

"Ravenclaw, you are simply a genius. I would have actually married you if you were not a witch. What do you want in return? I will give you anything," Draco blurted out. His eyes were gleaming with pleasure.

"I want to leave Slytherin. No one should come hunting for me," she said boldly.

"Granted. Tonight you and Ronald can leave Slytherin, and no one from Slytherin will come after you. I will handle the rest," Draco announced.

"Fine. I take your word. Goodbye," she said.

"Ravenclaw, one final word. If Ronald does not accept you, you can still be the old witch of Slytherin," Draco sniggered.

Hermione left him without another word.

***

The death hour had arrived. Ron didn't agree to be flown away by Hermione. He wanted some action during his escape so that no one became suspicious of Hermione helping him. In case Draco ditched them and Ron was captured, he didn't want her to be tortured.

When it was dark, Hermione reluctantly let him crawl out of the tunnel he had dug out on the wall. She supplied him with all the ammunition he wanted. They kissed each other before he left promising to meet soon.

Hermione watched through her window as Ron dropped himself on the ground with the help of ropes suspended from the tunnel. He was dressed in the robes of sentries of Slytherin. After some time, she saw his silhouette riding a horse towards the entry gate. And then she saw the big gates ajar. Draco had ultimately kept his word. She heaved a sigh of relief. She watched until she could see his silhouette fading away in darkness.

Hermione swept her glance one last time all over her little room and then with a smile on her face leapt out from her window to fly away. She deserved to share her home with Ron. They had always belonged with each other.

***

The news of murder of Queen Bellatrix by her own pet Naginis spreaded like wildfire through Gryffindor. The king of Gryffindor, James, announced a feast for all his countrymen in honor of his dead friend Sirius, who was framed and killed by Bellatrix.

Hermione watched everyone making merry from the small quarters where both Ron and Hermione now lived together along with Fang.

Ron watched her golden wedding ring glisten under the sun. He tried to steal a glance of her content face as she examined her ring. As much as he tried to watch her smile, the cascade of her brown untamed hair teased him by causing hindrance.

In a way, her wild hair was like dark clouds in the sky, hiding away the brightness of the sun beneath them, he thought. In his case, it was the pleasure of experiencing the sweetness of her smile that her hair was robbing him off. Ron smiled. He was a goner.

Ron trudged towards the window beside which his wife was standing. He lightly grasped a fistful of her hair and kissed her neck. Hermione sighed. He closed his eyes and savored the feeling.

"Ermynee! You're so intoxicating. What have you done to me?" Ron breathed into her ears.

Hermione turned to face him. They kept on staring into each other's eyes.

"What did I do?" Hermione asked, raising her brows.

"I was a savage warrior. And now I am a moonstruck lover."

He pressed his hand against his heart and staggered backwards.

"But how could I help in this situation?" Hermione asked with mock dismay.

She flung her arms around his neck. He embraced her with fervor and crushed her chest against his.

"As much as I like your clothes, your skin suits you best," he hummed breathlessly, lacing his fingers in her hair. And then they kissed.

"I love you so much, Ron," Hermione murmured in between kisses.

"I love you more," Ron panted and smiled.

They kissed deeper and became hungrier. The anticipation of intimate touches became too much for both of them to bear. Ron pulled Hermione to their bed and worshipped every inch of her body with every inch of his until both of them surrendered to spasms of ecstasy.

Hermione smiled. She would never need those black robes and the stupid name with Ron around her. His love was enough to keep her safe.

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