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lesbiansforboromir · 1 year

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Iconic elements of Film!Boromir's character that everyone remembers;

Very into Aragorn, has multiple meaningful scenes with him where he is clearly disarmed, awed, unnerved and yet eager for his approval and companionship. His acceptance of Aragorn's right to the kingship is treated as a vital part of his character arc and even his last words before his death are entirely about Aragorn.

Awkward, often stalling or stumbling over his words, says things that leave uncomfortable silences and often makes loud declarations of intent, very earnest in all his mannerisms and always says everything in a guileless way. Very upfront and open about his emotions, to the point of making Aragorn uncomfortable in his attempts to connect with him about his fear for Gondor's safety and his own inner turmoil surrounding his father.

Immediately ring-obsessed. He argues with Elrond about the Ring's usage and clearly is not swayed by further arguments, in fact is sent by his father specifically to get the ring and so is technically a traitorous element in the fellowship from day one. Eagerly ensures he has a place in the fellowship at the Council of Elrond and is blatantly suspicious with his treatment of both Frodo and the Ring from then on. No one in the fellowship trusts him and for good reason.

Kinda a liability! Doesn't really offer anything to the Fellowship other than another sword arm, and one that seems sub-par in comparison to his comrades considering his underestimation of the Hobbits and the multiple times he has to be saved in Moria. Has no real expertise or wisdom to offer, barring obvious declarations like 'this will be the death of the hobbits'. Indeed the one moment of apparent unique wisdom he offers 'one cannot simply walk into mordor' is so widely viewed as foolish advice that it's one of the most enduring memes of the internet to date. Only has one moment of apparent skill in his final stand against the Uruks where he kills about 5 by himself before he is hit by 3 arrows and rendered helpless. Very much characterised as 'the normal guy' and 'the himbo'.

Has a nice, supportive and loving relationship with Faramir, his little brother that looks up to him adoringly and with a sense that he could never measure up to Boromir and that Boromir is his better. Protective of faramir.

Hah that was fun and now, completely unrelated, here are TRUE AND IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT BOOK!BOROMIR!!

Has one (1) line of dialogue about Aragorn and his kingship that essentially reads 'Well I don't care about Kings but if mythic heroes from legend could come and help my people we'd be grateful (press x to doubt)' and then he NEVER! VOICES A SINGLE OTHER OPINION ABOUT ARAGORN! FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. This includes his very last words which don't mention Aragorn or the Kingship once.

Clear-spoken! Makes concise speeches full of relevant and important information when in an official capacity. Always has a tone of well-meaning half-humourous sarcasm, making casual and comfortable jokes at his own expense or sometimes lightly teasing his fellows. Otherwise restrains his disagreements to darkly humourous complaints, strained and weary reactions or clear unemotional declarations of his concerns depending upon the recipient. Takes the phrase 'you'll have to pry my feelings from my cold dead hands' entirely literally, NEVER reveals the true extent of his internal struggles until the moment he is literally dying. In fact is entirely silent whilst Aragorn is asked to describe Gondor and waxes so lyrical he doesn't even notice Boromir get up and leave.

Asks one (1) clarifying question at the Council of Elrond about why they aren't using the ring, accepts the answer entirely and never mentions it again UNTIL Galadriel tempts him with it in Lothlorien. Doesn't even WANT to go on the fellowship and is more dragged along by Aragorn with the pretext that 'Gondor is on the way to Mordor so we'll tag along.' Is utterly trustworthy and has no ulterior motive in arriving in Rivendell other than his search for an answer to his prophetic dream. In fact his whole behaviour and personality changes immediately after Galadriel's mental interrogation and he BECOMES awkward, unnerving and unsure in his speech all of a sudden.

Has a WEALTH of knowledge, experience and personal skill that he uses to save the fellowship multiple times. Saves them all from freezing to death on Caradhras through his preparedness, his arguing with Gandalf and his personal durability. Hacks the head off wargs when they are attacked in the night. Remains lucid whilst the fellowship is paralyzed with fear by the Balrog and stalls it's approach using his horn to allow them time to flee. Fights alongside Aragorn at every opportunity, including charging with him at the Balrog as Gandalf is fighting it. And not only that, he regularly is proven right in his advice (that is rarely heeded) and is well informed on both his own peoples history and Rohan's position, even against Gandalf and Aragorn's doubt of their character. Actually saves Merry and Pippin initially from the Northern orcs whom he drives away entirely before he begins taking them back to the others, is only stalled when they are ambushed by Uruk-Hai. Continues to fight on even with far more than three arrows in him and actually yanks a few out before collapsing against the tree. Definitely not a normal guy, nor a himbo, just exceptional in a more mundane way than everyone else in the fellowship (except the Hobbits).

Never mentions his brother a single time, somehow got him to stand and defend the bridge of osgiliath with him whilst knowing that it would likely kill them both so not all that protective. Faramir meanwhile cannot say a single uncomplicatedly complimentary thing about his brother and in fact cannot stop telling Frodo (a man he has imprisoned for half a day), about what a stupid, reckless and prideful man Boromir was and how he's far better in every single way.

WOW HAHA ISN'T THAT INTERESTING! COOL! Book Boromir is my favourite character by the way haha I'm suffering incomprehensible horrors :)

#boromir #text post #erran vs tolkien #erran vs peter jackson #tolkien #lotr #lord of the rings

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moltengoldveins · 2 months

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hm yes emduo and bedrock bros and the eggs in Space. Phil is one of the last surviving members of a fragile but technically immortal species of elytrians that is now only whispered about in fairy tales. He’s a private investigator and enforcer (space pirate and muscle) for his beloved wife’s galaxy-wide uhhh….. Independent illegal group of people dedicated to protecting order and monitoring corruption? Gang of space pirates who steal from rich people? League of assassins but with morals? Unclear what the Syndicate Is Exactly but it sure do Be. He’s the pilot for the SBI Boreas, a light cruiser with a frankly Absurd munitions outfit. (Tubbo’s his mechanic)

Techno is a member of the only recognized sentient deathworlder species, an odd mix of orc, elf, and pig features, and is by all accounts a living legend, or a living nightmare. He’s solidly twice the size of most other species, capable of surviving injuries what most would deem a death sentence, and a highly trained warrior to boot. Now, by all human accounts the texts of his people are pretty self-explanatory, (the Art of War is 89% Common Sense by volume) but in a galaxy of peaceful races on peaceful planets, it’s complex and brutal enough to be nigh-incomprehensible. He’s on a Lot of watchlists, but he’s also the like… platonic third partner in Phil and Madam Kristin, The Lady Of Death TM’s marriage??? So not a lot can be Done about him.

Tommy is a younger avian teen (distant relation to the elytrians, definitely Not Immortal) who Techno found breaking into the Boreas and decided to keep (Phil took one look and his Dad Instincts kicked in) and his life is going swimmingly until he gets Yoinked for leverage against his dads and mum. The organization who gets him runs a blood sport colosseum, and while in transit his cage was stuck next to this weird hairless thing?? Chained with like Heavy Duty restraints. Tommy doesn’t have a ton of time to bond with this Strange Thing before the hostage negotiations happen, but they do manage to exchange names and Tommy decides with his classic impulsive passion that This Thing And He Are Brothers For Life Now. then the negotiations immediately go south, there’s a bit of a standoff, and Techno ends up trading himself for Tommy, which is what the organization wanted in the first place. They run a Reeeeally expensive exotic show for super Rich Jerks in an undisclosed location and Techno is their latest attraction. They’re also painfully cocky, and will be dying with extreme prejudice the moment Mumza gets her claws in them.

So Techno gets Got and shoved in a high-security cell once they reach the colosseum, along with, surprise! This strange hairless creature with four limbs. It’s Chayanne, who is A Very Human Teenager who Did Not Want To Be Abducted By Aliens, Thank You. They’re both deathworlders, which Techno Does Not Realize until they get assigned to the same team a few weeks into the battles and watches Chay rip a bug man’s limbs off (Chay is Not having a good day. His dad (Missa) taught him self defense and was a martial artist, a butcher, and a rather morbid man, so some Relevant Knowledge and some general chillness around death is to be expected, but Not a chillness around KILLING PEOPLE FOR SPORT) Techno thinks this must be a fully grown adult whatever-it-is all the way until Chay breaks down crying and sounds Just Like a shoat (baby pig) and Techno feels the Dad Instinct rising again.

Meanwhile, Halfway Across The Galaxy: the government has been developing space flight, but are really only at the borders of our solar system when they catch some aliens in the act of Yoinking another kid, this time from an orphanage (Tallula) they don’t manage to save her, but Holy Crap ALIENS???? Missa, who saw a bit of his son’s abduction but not enough to know exactly what happened, sees the news broadcast, puts two and two together and gets plot advancement. He starts pulling strings, asking about old connections in the space force (Cosmonaut Fit Emsi, godfather to Chayanne and Missa’s college best friend, may or may not be involved in the Turning Of Blind Eyes) and manages to get access to a hanger bay with a captured alien ship in it a few months after the incident in what might be the coolest heist sequence ever not-actually-written. (It’s very cool in my head, think Oceans 11 but the majority of the qsmp cast, trust me I swear.) He launches himself right into space and proceeds to systematically work his way through spaceport after waystation after colony planet in search of The Aliens Who Steal Human Kids (Specifically My Son)

Techno is at this point playing the long game. He knows Kristin and Phil aren’t about to leave him hanging, and that they have enough firepower to burn this place to the ground, but he’s not sure when that’s gonna happen or how he’s gonna get Chay out. Meanwhile, Chay has No Idea what this strange Exceedingly Chill Pig Man has going on, but as far as he’s concerned, this is his life now. Forever. And making allies is important. They start trading languages and Techno starts teaching Chay katas (modified for the drastically different joint structure) in their free “big open space enrichment time.” (Side note: what aliens consider almost horrific cruel and unusual punishment is at worst severely unpleasant for humans. They just can’t take psychologically what humans can, so they kinda Have to treat their slaves better than we would. Doesn’t mean it’s good treatment, but it does mean Chay and Techno are both doing significantly better than they could be.)

Finally, Phil and Kristen rock up to the party incognito, dressed to the nines and attending a Big Event To Show Off Our New Deathworlders. They see Techno in the ring and have to Play It Cool, but he seems to be doing ok actually, so that’s good. Eventually the Head Honcho Man gets into a discussion with Phil right by the viewing window, so Phil has to pretend he’s fine when he sees a door open in the arena and A @:&;!ING HUMAN STEP OUT AND SQUARE OFF WITH HIS BEST FRIEND. (Shockingly, being immortal tends to inform you of such things like Secret Deathworlds and their Scary Inhabitants) Kristin is of course Immediately On The Move, but it turns out to be not necessary: Chay just kinda strolls up to Techno and gives him a side hug (bLEASE, you want me to fight my Roommate? Get out) and while Phil is laughing to himself, the Head Honcho gets maaaaad. He pulls it around though, announcing that he “already knew the two monsters had bonded the way only such vicious creatures could, and will be giving them a challenge only they could hope to face!!” And releases, like, four of the heccin Dune sand worms into the arena. Techno and Chay proceed to fight like demons while Phil and his squad take out the party and Kristen and her squad sweep the lower levels of the colosseum in an effort to keep More Worms out of the arena. Slavers die horribly. The end.

Meanwhile, halfway across the galaxy: Missa returns!! Now with Even More Rage! His ship has broken down and because he ain’t got no Space Green Card, he’s got to get it repaired at a place that’ll take anyone. Enter Tubbo Underscore, Syndicate Member and Tinkerer Extraordinaire. Tubbo takes one look at this guy and goes “yeah that’s not a normal guy there’s something Wrong here” and through a series of pointed questions (and aggressive preening by Benson, a rather horrifying eldritch duck-dog thing the size of a small horse) Missa eventually explains why he’s in space. Tubbo, having just recently repaired Philza H Minecraft’s ship on its way to wipe out a gladiator ring, puts two and two together to make more plot, explains his Theory, and decides to accompany Missa, getting them into the next Syndicate raid on this organization. They, along with an undercover agent by the code name of Boo (It’s a word in Old Enderian that means ‘Eldritch’ or ‘Unknowable.’ Missa has to choke to keep from laughing) storm a freighter and rescue a bunch of valuable slaves and also!! Sunny and Tallulah! They have different first languages, Sunny was treated Significantly Cushier by the slavers than Lulah bc she was younger and viewed a bit more like a pet than a fighter, and they haven’t really spoken to one another before the rescue, so their rough start happens at this point. Cue Missa and Tubbo # Struggling to keep these two feral children from each others throats while they keep searching (‘Chay was literally never this bloodthirsty, the heck???’ -Missa, holding two backpack leashes apart while the girls are trying to strangle each other)

Meanwhile on the Boreas: CHAY AND TOMMY REUNION POG???? Techno formally adopts Chay according to his culture (think Mandalorian, but to the left) and Chay has enough language to understand, but not enough to inquire about, yknow, whether Going Back To Earth is an option. As far as the Boreas crew know, it isn’t: Earth is a no-fly zone and Chay’s been out here for nearly a year and a half. They have no idea how they’d begin to get him home.

Then finally, on a Syndicate-owned spaceport in the middle of nowhere, Missa finds the Boreas and sees his kid across a crowded bazaar. They hug, it’s super dramatic, very tearful, (Phil and Kristen are already planning his room on the ship: if they’re gonna coparent, they’re gonna do it Right) and after a bit of waffling, both Chay and Missa decide it’s for the best if they spend some time in space before heading back to earth, what with the whole “definitely stole a star fighter and wanted by the government, the entire world knows about aliens now” bit. There is fluff. There is cultural sharing. There is hair braiding. It’s amazing.

Then comes my literal favorite space au trope Ever: a few days into the new and improved Boreas gang’s voyage, their ship is boarded by (shock, horror) a group of Human Pirates and the crew is Immediately captured. Turns out: it’s kinda hard to keep the existence of an entire galactic community from Everyone on Earth, and these are guys who, similar to Missa, yoinked a spaceship from their military and went rogue. (I’m putting Quackity here, cause I love charismatic villain Quackity and I think it works) they pirates are very VERY “humans are gonna expand to cover the universe” “might makes right” “come, join us, and together we can rule the galaxy” about it when they realiz Missa and Chay are aboard, and the Boreas crew honestly expects Missa and Chay to join them. They’re human! They speak the same language! They value the same things! Obviously they’re gonna take that way out, we wouldn’t even blame them! (Techno feels pretty betrayed but Phil/Kristen/Tommy just look resigned) Missa and Chay play along, pretend to hate their ‘alien captors,’ and arm themselves “to help them secure the ship.”

What follows is a rather emotionally charged but Very Very Cool sequence in which Missa and Chayanne use the skills they gained in their unfortunate struggles across the galaxy to Clean House, clearing their home the ship room by room until they’ve got a pile of bloodied and unconscious or dead humans and a very very shocked new family. There might be a bit more plot after this as the family settles, perhaps a sequel made of short stories, but this is generally the end.

The epilogue is five years later, when Fit Emsi, head of the new Intergalactic Human Intergalactic Relations Organization and Expansion Section (HIROES) has his monthly checkup call with Missa and Chay, who’re having a blast with Techno and Phil and Tommy traveling the universe. Fit calls them in to consult in cultural stuff during the negotiations with, yknow, the Actual Galactic Government, the one that views the Syndicate as a crime organization, but it’s pretty well known at this point that Mumza is In Charge Of Things on the Downlow, and Fit’s still Chay’s godfather for heavens sake: there’s simply nothing the government can Do about it. Tubbo has adopted Sunny and Chay took one look at Talulah and decided “Thats My Little Sister.” Phil apparently has had a crisis recently related to some kind of ancient evil ex long thought dead, but is on the road to recovery. Everyone lives happily ever after, the end.

#molten rambles #mcyt #dsmp #qsmp #fanfic #fanfiction prompt #au concept #qsmp chayanne #qsmp philza #qsmp technoblade #technoblade #philza #emduo #emerald duo #bedrock bros #ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED TUMBLR #DO YOU NOT SEE MY VISION #IS IT NOT GLORIOUS

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drconstellation · 6 months

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Once and Future Royalty

Just, stay with me on this one. I know its going to look crazy at the start, but trust me, I know where I'm going.

It all started with the 537AD scene in Wessex in the opening montage of "Hard Times," S1E3. Yeah, the one where Aziraphale is supposed to be a knight of the Round Table and Crowley is role-playing the Black Knight, and they are both so super-squeaky shiny clean - not a speck of dirt or mud on them. wtf! It looks out of place, unrealistic, and was bugging the crap out of me, like a stone in your shoe. It just didn't fit. I mean, why put a myth, a legend, into that sequence? Oh, OK, yeah, the preceding stories from the Bible, like the Garden of Eden and the Flood, aren't "myths" as well, you say? Hmm. In the context of the Good Omens AU, being a biblical based story, they belong there far more than the legend of King Arthur.

King Arthur, who supposedly united Britain under his rule during the late 5th century and early 6th century, was shown to have the divine right to rule by wielding the mighty sword Excalibur. Some stories tell of Arthur pulling Excalibur from a stone. Some tell of him receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Either way, it was bestowed upon him by divine grace. Despite his triumph in battle, he left no heirs, as his queen, the fair Guinevere, was barren. She had a long-running love affair with the greatest knight of the court, Sir Lancelot, but despite this being an open secret in court Arthur would not put her aside. The knights of the Round Table in the court of Camelot were near-paragons of Christian virtue, and there are many tales of their search for the Holy Grail, the cup from the Last Supper of Jesus Christ.

In the end, mortally wounded in battle, Arthur was taken away for healing, and never seen again. It was said he would return when Britain was at it most direst hour to save the day once more. A "messianic" return.

The Once and Future King.

Now, I'm no Arthurian novice; I drank up all of T. H. White as a teenager, read the Dark is Rising multiple times, Marion Zimmer Bradley's interpretation and what ever else I could lay my hands on for a good couple of decades. And there is LOTS of King Arthur stuff around. You are not left wanting for anything new to read or consume. And I'll bet there are a fair few of you also out there who know a quite bit about the legend as well. Oh, and I can't tell you how many times I have watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I still walk around quoting it day-to-day, like the good little Gen-Xer I am, having grown up on that stuff. So I really should have listened to my intuition when bits of Monty Python kept popping up in my brain in response to other parts of GO I was thinking about. (Staaay, I said, stay with me here....)

I kept chewing away furiously on the Wessex problem, growling in feral frustration at it, but also kept reading and sorting out some other ideas and metas at the same time. Eventually I found the key in a tiny little post, about a small detail in the 1941 Blitz episode S2E4, of all places. I wanted to slap myself with how much was staring me in the face so obviously once the door opened. And the damn beauty of it is, that I already written about some it, out of context, without knowing the why.

OK. Where to start this journey...hmmm, back to Monty Python, because, guess what - the Wessex scene is actually riffing off one the more famous skits out the the Holy Grail. The scene is a masterpiece of political satire, from start to finish, but the relevant part here is this sequence:

In case you missed the salient points: Arthur claims he is king by divine providence, because he was given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake. Dennis the peasant protests this waterlogged method of determination, mentioning ponds, watery tarts and a moistened... well, I hope you get the idea about where this is going.

Meanwhile, in 537AD, Wessex, as the mist swirls around them:

"It is a bit damp," complains a shiny silver Aziraphale.

Yes, Excalibur would be a bit damp after it emerged from the Lake. (vidavalor! Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm trying to have a serious discussion here! Please! And I wasn't even going to go anywhere near what the sword in the stone is really meant to be referring to...it's not even relevant to the discussion at hand, I swear! Well, there is going to be sexual relations mentioned but - oh, never mind...)

Right. Where were we. Lets leave those super-clean elite pretendy knights to swim off through the swirling mist back to their dry homes to write and file reports to head office, along with Patsy and the hired Igors, and Dennis can keep playing in his lovely muddy filth after he finishes protesting being repressed by the divinely-deluded Arthur. I've got a bit more to say about what Aziraphale and Crowley might represent here later but you need some more context first, so lets move on. I just needed to show you the first bit so you can see the Arthurian theme stretches across both S1 and S2, and will likely appear in S3 as well. More about that towards the end.

Ah, before I forget...another ref from the Holy Grail we need to cover:

This GIF, unfortunately, doesn't have the full exchange between the peasants, which is this:

P1: "Who's that then?" P2: "I don't know. Must be a king." P1: "How can you tell?" P2: "Because he doesn't have any shit on him."

Ah. Er. OH!

Have you made the connection?

Who have I been emphasizing as being unusually clean in their Arthurian setting? That's right, Aziraphale and Crowley.

What's this implying? That they are royalty. Celestial royalty. Maybe not kings, but how about princes? You know how we've been discussing whether Crowley was a once at least an Archangel, and there is even a hint that he was a fallen prince of Heaven given during the replay of Gabriel's trial? (Not the prince, but a prince - a seraphim) And that Aziraphale may have once been Raphael, and may be again in the future? Once and future royalty. To me it adds weight to the past discussion, and helps to explain the assumed authority expressed in these two scenes here: On the left, Aziraphale takes control inside the book shop as the angels and demons argue who is going to punish Gabriel and Beelzebub (finally found it after several months!) and on the right, Crowley is shouting at the assembling demons in the street that they are "out of order."

Onward, Patsy. (I hope you're still with me.)

1941, the Blitz part 2, minisode.

We've found Excalibur! On to Camelot!

[Edit note: I've added a few GIFs and screen shots into the sequence of parallels above because I was thinking over a few things since I posted and felt this actually sat better. To try and explain, as they don't exactly match as I would like, in the Holy Grail movie, King Arthur and the knights he has gathered rock up at the foot of Camelot and gaze up in awe at it. "Camelot!" Arthur declares to the party. "Camelot!" Galahad echoes in excitement. And a third "Camelot!" comes from Lancelot. What do we get in GO? Aziraphale leaps out of the Bentley (Crowley's black horse) and declares "The theater! Sophocles! Shakespeare!" I swear, if you put the two side by side, they would match. It's not just a reminder of how much time Aziraphale has seen pass by, or that we are seeing a tragedy play out. But damn it, I could so just see Aziraphale attending a Sophocles performance in Athens back in the day...]

Camelot was King Arthur's castle and home of his court. In S2 of GO the Windmill Theater is established as our court of Camelot where our 1941 Blitz-era Arthurian drama is to play out, involving Furfur and the zombies.

Yes, poor old Furfur. Two's company, three's a crowd, as they say. Now we know we're in Camelot, we need to be reminded of the central tragedy of the Arthurian story, that ultimately led to the golden kingdom's fall. Lady Guinevere, Arthur's queen, famously loved Sir Lancelot, and the two were passionate lovers. It was essentially a love-triangle at the top, with Arthur being jilted, but he wouldn't/couldn't discard his queen. Where do we see this playing out in 1941?

Furfur, pleased with himself for catching an angel and a demon in the act of consorting together (with the help of the zombies,) barges into the backstage dressing room, and confronts the lovers with their crime. But who is playing who in the Arthurian love triangle? I would say Furfur is clearly caught in the role of Arthur here. Consider the following exchange:

FURFUR: Hmm, well, well, well… What have we here? AZIRAPHALE: Sorry, have we met? FURFUR: Oh, no, you never had the pleasure, but… we have, haven't we? CROWLEY: Have we? FURFUR: What do you mean "have we?" You know we have. We were in the same legion. Just before the Fall. Doing dubious battle on the plains of Heaven. Remember? CROWLEY: I remember going into battle, I don't remember being there with you. Sorry. FURFUR: I was right next to you. We did loads together. You use to jump on me back, little monkey in the waistcoat. Anyway, whether you do or whether you don't, it doesn't matter. I'm here to inform you, as a representative of the Higher Powers of Hell, that you, Crowley, are in breach of the Infernal Code. Consulting and collaborating with an angel, Fell the Marvelous, aka… [opens book] Azirapalala. Azirapapap. Aziphapalala. AZIRAPHALE: [annoyed] Aziraphale

Furfur claims a past intimate relationship with Crowley, which Crowley spurns offhandedly. Crowley is playing Guinevere here, jilting Furfur/Arthur, which leaves the demon-smiting Aziraphale standing in for the handsome hero Lancelot (with his French connections, no less), and doesn't he make us weak at the knees when he drops his voice an octave in dominating disgust. (Is it suddenly getting hot in here...? Phew!)

Interestingly, looking back in S1 at 537AD Wessex, though, I would say that Crowley was Lancelot as the Black Knight, a role that Lancelot sometimes played in the legends, and Aziraphale would then be the fair maiden Guinevere. It certainly plays into Crowley's long term role of playing the knight who comes to the rescue of Aziraphale's princess in distress. Excalibur was no where in sight, perhaps still beneath the waters of the lake. Nor Arthur. Perhaps it was still too early in the story then...

I had originally suggested in my very first post that Furfur was given a stag as his demon avatar because he was wearing horns for being cuckolded by Crowley. But I wasn't quite thinking about it in context with the Arthurian legend! The stag is also often associated with royalty, plus while wandering around the medieval bestiary website that someone linked to, it interestingly notes that the enemy of the snake is the stag and the stork (Shax's avatar.) Ah ha!

So how can we extrapolate this knowledge into a possible appearance of the Arthurian theme in S3?

Will we see the love triangle of Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot come back into play and cause more chaos? I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the Fall.

Or will our lovers bring down a divinely-appointed ruler via their committed behind-the-back defiance of expected propriety?

Will Excalibur appear from beneath the waters, perhaps in another form, to declare a new king?

Could it even be a combination Jesus/Arthur, King of the World, returned? And they turn out to be a very naughty boy, disappearing into the night clubs of Times Square, New York, and that's how they lose him? (Social media viral sensation, anyone?)

I wouldn't be half-surprised if Greasy Johnson's name turns out to be Arthur, actually.

And no, I haven't forgotten that Adam's dad was named Arthur as well.

Bring on S3!

**Bonus**

If you've made it this far and you're thinking:

Let me leave you with this last connection.

In the back stage change room, remember Furfur delivers these lines:

FURFUR: What do you mean "have we?" You know we have. We were in the same legion. Just before the Fall. Doing dubious battle on the plains of Heaven. Remember?

On the first level, he is referring the Great War in the Good Omens AU.

On the second level, Furfur is paraphrasing Milton's Paradise Lost.

On a third level, I can (and will in a future meta) connect this back to the training initiative paintball fight at Tadfield Manor in S1.

And even deeper on a fourth level, if you do know the Holy Grail movie well, you'll remember there is an odd little subplot in it, that infers that the whole King Arthur and his knights thing is merely a full-on violent cosplay that is murderously rampaging across the countryside in the present day with the police in hot pursuit. It's a strange juxtaposition between reality and dream, and you aren't quite sure what it is real or not. The ending is bizarrely and abruptly surreal as the two story lines collide in the heat of battle, as the police turn up and arrest the combatants. A bit like this:

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sleepingdeath-light · 1 year

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laidback observant s/o hcs ; hunter

requested by ; just-call-me-m00n (01/05/23)

fandom(s) ; the owl house

fandom masterlist(s) ; main | hunter-only

character(s) ; hunter wittebane

outline ; “Hunter with a gn! Laid-back! observant! s/o?

Reader is super chill and is like, never mad, they also know what's going on through the castle bcs of their observation (reader is in the emperors coven and hunter is in his gg era) and they know all the gossip”

warning(s) ; none, just fluff!

your demeanour is a breath of fresh air for hunter given how hectic things can be whilst working in the coven

it’s like crabs in a bucket, everyone trying to pull each other down in order to better their own position in the coven

and then there was you — someone who was content where you were and who nobody had ever seen in any state other than calm

after working there for three years you were more legend than colleague as people were sure that you must have been hiding a horrible temper or trying to manipulate others into trusting you

but, no

you really were just that laidback

and being so laidback and quiet meant that you were often able to play the silent witness to all of the drama and gossip that circulated through the castle

you knew everything about everyone, but you never said a word — because there was no need to

your boss didn’t need to know that catie was struggling to keep her new triplets in line, or that one of the scouts was down horrendous for one of the coven heads and was planning on confessing soon

it wasn’t relevant to your job so you kept your lips sealed

… except for your boyfriend, that is

no secrets between spouses, after all

you’re one of two people who gets to see him without the mask — without the fake persona and all the cockiness and bravado that it brings

you get to see the real hunter

the geek who can spend hours happily infodumping about wild magic if you let him

the lovable boy who you have matching plush toys with, which he won at a carnival years ago

the sweetheart who loves your calmness and will seek you out after some of his more stressful meetings with his uncle — since he knows you never get angry

the man who is more nosey that anyone gives him credit for, and who will seek you out regularly to discuss and exchange the latest gossip you’ve found out about

these catch ups occur on a daily basis, where you’ll meet up on your lunch break and exchange your tales over good food and drink — all pretences dropped and his mask left aside throughout your chat

then, once your break is over, you’ll share a kiss and promise to meet up again after your shifts are over

and the mask goes on again and your sweet, loving boyfriend goes back to being the overly confident golden guard

ready to do it all again tomorrow

#sleepingdeath #gender neutral reader #fluff #fluff hcs #toh fluff #toh x reader #the owl house fluff #the owl house x reader #toh hunter x reader #hunter toh x reader #golden guard x reader #hunter wittebane x reader

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theamccafrey · 3 months

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Thea Mccafrey is dead (not really)

Meg Mccafrey -> Thea Mccafrey

Yo so like I'm making a new intro post (because I can)

archive- @chiefcrusadetree

also check out my actual url it looks kinda cool- https://megmcmeg.tumblr.com

I'm Meg, I'm a minor.

Pronouns: she/her. You can call me anything; gendered complements (and insults ) are fine. I'm bisexual btw

I've got adhd

I'm Indian (if that holds any relevance)

My phone is always dying, if I have a conversation with you I'm always gonna worry about how weird I was and I will kill anyone who is able to link my irl identity to this blog

Masterlist or something

-Get me to 2k notes

-Reading list

-Live reads (basically I read a book and post stuff I like about it online at the same time)

Heartstopper Volume 1 (Completed)

Heartstopper Volume 2 (Completed)

-Picrew list

-I act like an insecure girlfriend (collection of posts, you can simply look up the tag #megmc~insecure girlfriend~)

Book Fandoms

Harry potter

Red White and Royal blue

Sherlock Holmes

Fav artists

Queen

Taylor Swift

Moneskin

The killers

Series/ movies

Harry potter

Heartstopper

Rwrb

Full house

Fuller house

Friends

Brooklyn 99

Modern family

The entire Ocean's series

Now you see me

DNI

Adults (I get if you're reposting or commenting once in a while, but you know what I mean)

Homophobes

Racists

Sexists

Bigots in general

NSFW blogs

Tags

sheer queer: all queer content

killer queen: Queen (the band)

dumblydore: Harry potter related stuff

History Huh: Red white and royal blue stuff

megmcmeg: my shitposts

divider dump: reposting dividers i hope to use

Legends of Tumblr: really famous posts that I've only seen in screenshots

megmcmemes: funny shit

megmcbooks: book crap

megmc~insecure girlfriend~ : Collection of posts where I act like an insecure girlfriend.

mootlist

updated 16.2.24

@ezraisfallingapart @catinasink @ali-da-demon @eddiethebanished @a-chaotic-business @zombieleon @discoveredreality @i-like-swiss-cheese @nickbutnodick @dobry-slimak @thedvilsinthedetails @toulouseradiosilence @laula521 @chaotic-beannn @anne-is-okay @the-lionsheartlionsheart @plumspider @blue-the-berry-boy @ambiguousoup @ballisticallytestedwensleydale

Tumblr Fam

(I'm so sorry for tagging yall again I just wanted to save the list somewhere)

@eddiethebanished - youngest sibling

@zombieleon - cousin

@ballisticallytestedwensleydale - tax fraud uncle💀

@ali-da-demon - middle child u couldnt forget if you tried

@nononsenseneanderthal- big brother

@dobry-slimak -sibling

@parasite-2 / @shortgaything - gay cousin

@ezraisfallingapart -a parent u can go to 4 advice :)

@a-chaotic-business - a gay family friend who technically isnt related to anyone but is family at this point

@url0cal-weird0 - cool witchy queer uncle

@catinasink - youngest cousin

@megmcmeg - Oldest sis

Oh and to see if anyone actually reads all this,

if you came till here, could you like go into the comments and type

123

(idk just feels like nobody would read this crap)

#megmcmeg #sheer queer #legends of tumblr #killer queen #divider dump #history huh #dumblydore #megmcbooks #megmcmemes #megmc~insecure girlfriend~#banana

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thelordofgifs · 1 year

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A non-exhaustive list of Finwëans I simply do not find interesting:

The man himself, the OG, the very much not-legend, Finwë. Like thanks for failing through life, emotionally fucking up every single person you remotely interacted with, and then dying to catalyse the plot. What was even the point.

Findis. Ok this one upsets me because I’m sure she COULD be interesting but like… what does she do? How is she involved?? You might say “oh she’s smart and doesn’t participate in the toxic family drama” but?? I’m reading the book because I’m invested in the toxic family drama?? The sane and normal one is not going to interest me??

Amras. Why are you here? Your twin was literally burned to death and somehow you aren’t even in the RUNNING for Saddest Fëanorian. Smh do better. (In a non-crispy Amrod canon, all this is doubly so and Amrod also becomes uninteresting.)

Angrod. Again, who even is this guy. Caranthir yelled at him once for visiting Thingol, which was a stupid reason. He should have yelled at him for having no plot relevance and not even the excuse of an interesting and tragic romance.

Orodreth. Oooh he annoys me because I don’t know who his father is. Also despite his non-negligible role in two of the Great Tales, he just… doesn’t intrigue me at all. I don’t know what his deal is and I Don’t Care.

Gil-galad. The parentage debate is funny but I am simply not invested in him as a person. He just strikes me as the Voice of Authority in the background of all the Second Age drama where Elrond, Celebrimbor and Galadriel are far more interesting players.

Ok now come out of the woodworks and defend your blorbos!!

#silmarillion #lighthearted character hate #pls don’t take this too seriously #and shout out to the nolofinweans for just being uniformly excellent

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detaia · 5 months

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"Information itself deteriorates in the process of producing industrial quantities of content. The mask has fallen and the gears of the mill spin naked before us as they wheel and crunch all meaning to dust and Raid Shadow Legends sponsorships. Go to audible.com/repentharlequin to enter a coma and escape this madness!"

hbomberguy, Plagiarism and You(Tube), 1:23:24

watching the new hbomberguy video and this bit is such good writing i fuckin love it.

once again reminded of how much i love hbomberguy. considering how much effort he puts into his own videos, he could be forgiven for being more heated when discussing the topic of plagiarism. but he isn't. he's composed and lighthearted and funny and he lets the evidence and arguments presented speak for themselves. I feel like it would be very easy for a video like this to derail into shitting on the people being exposed, but Harris does such a good job of discussing in depth why people plagiarise, the manipulative ways they respond to accusations to protect themselves, and just how galling it is that people like Brian Deer can dedicate themselves to investigating and reporting the truth, going so far as to defend themselves in court, only to have their life's work constantly plagiarised years afterward. He explores and questions and its always done so in a thorough, balanced manner. Its never "fuck this people in particular" but instead "hey lets take a look at this deep-rooted issue by examining a few relevant examples in INCREDIBLE detail"

I don't know. The appreciation and care Harris has towards not just other creators but also the act of creating an informative, well-crafted video just really comes through to me. Harris brings up that Brian Deer emailed Kat (his producer) to tell them that more people were buying his book after Harris recommended it in a video and it's such a lovely moment of mutual appreciation. yippee!!!

#PEACE AND LOVE #ramblings #hbomberguy #media analysis

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cutebutalsostabby · 2 months

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Indescribable

Short fic based on @breannasfluff's finish the prompt challenge :) first part, in italics, is Breanna's work. I wrote the second half.

(Tried to match the style and tense but oops in advance.)

-------

Hyrule wipes his forehead and turns to Wild with hopeful eyes. “So? How did I do?”

Wild’s face does this funny thing where it goes through too many emotions at once and ends up scrunched. “Well…six fires in just three hours is your personal best! The only problem is that we’re making fruit salad…”

“I need to cook the fruit!”

“Well, about that...”

“And then there’s that sauce you wanted me to add to it.”

“Which is…warmed in a pan.”

“And don’t get me started on the whipped cream!”

They both turn to look at the jar which once held cream and now holds…chuchu jelly. And maybe some butter.

It’s at this moment that Legend walks in and freezes, sniffing the air. “Do I even want to know?”

“Ledge!” Hyrule grabs a spoonful of something from his bowl and holds it out. “Taste this and tell me what you think!”

The veteran is dubious, but at a nod from Wild, accepts the spoon. Then his face scrunches up because it tastes–

Indescribable.

Indescribable is the word that comes to mind.

Sweet, innocent Hyrule is staring at him with bright, hopeful, expectant eyes, and yet the only word that comes to mind is "indescribable".

No, Legend tells himself sternly, he should at least try to describe the situation happening inside his mouth. If the scattering of pots and pans, the strong odour of burnt cabbages in the air (why?) and the heavy dusting of flour and cinnamon on Hyrule's clothing are any indication, his successor worked hard to produce that deeply indescribable taste. He should at least provide some form of feedback.

Reluctantly, he looks down at the bowl Hyrule is holding, on the off chance that it will offer up some further clues. The ominous sludge inside is a murky, greyish brown, splotched with brackish oil, and right in the middle, Legend thinks he can see...

"Is that... a tentacle?" he asks unwillingly.

Hyrule appears genuinely startled at the question. "Huh?!"

"I think it's a spicy pepper," Wild observes casually from the side. He reaches over with a spare wooden spoon and scoops the offending produce out for inspection. Sure enough, the bright red monster part is revealed and re-identified as a large, whole chilli.

For some reason.

"So?" Hyrule prompts eagerly. "How does it taste?"

"Uh," says Legend. He fishes for relevant words. "Spicy? I guess?"

"You guess?" a crestfallen Hyrule asks.

"Maybe he needs another taste?" Wild suggests sweetly.

And now that Legend's actually looking, he can't help but notice the distinctly vindictive edge to that smile. Obviously, that little shit is in on it. So Legend, of course, does the only thing he can do in that situation.

He lies.

"It's great, Roolie," Legend says cheerfully. "Might be the best thing I've ever tasted. Did Wild teach you how to cook that?"

Hyrule beams. "Yeah!" he replies, in tandem with Wild's emphatic, "No."

They look at each other - Hyrule with confusion and Wild with incredulity.

"Guess Wild still has a lot to learn then," Legend concludes. He claps Hyrule lightly on the shoulder, gives a small, encouraging nod, and rapidly evacuates the premises - a well-trusted problem-solving technique that is yet to fail him, even once.

Left behind to double-guess his scientific method, Hyrule can only glance mournfully at Wild. "That bad, huh?"

"...Let's just start again from the top. Alright?"

#linked universe #lu fanfiction #finish the prompt #lu ftp #lu triple threat #lu legend #lu hyrule #lu wild

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thecourtjester12 · 3 months

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About, asks, au's and relevant nonsense!

About me!

Heeeeeello, hello, hello! I'm Jester! I use They/she/ey pronouns and am a 22 year old autistic, aroace, artist/writer/jack of all trades creative bean/gremlin.

About the blog

I namely post Smoon (aka the daycare attendent, Sun and Moon FNAF) and Au's, be it drawings, writing, random thoughts and sneak peaks! And of course fanart (be it canon fnaf (or my takes on charas) orrrrr fanart for other lovely creators daycare Au's!)

I reblog stuff a lot, I just LOVE sharing peoples awesome stuff!! So expect to see a lot of that, buttttttt generally that will be set on queue throughout the week (unless its something more time dependent!)

Please read the FAQ page before sending asks!

FAQ page!

Asks are through Ask the Jester! Ask status: OPEN

Additionally I take requests for a small writing series which can be found HERE for 'FNAF sensory writing requests' which are SFW canon FNAF and reader interactions! Please read the info page before sending in Requests.

Asks open doesn't automatically mean Requests are open. Requests status: OPEN

My Au's (I'll have things sorted eventually so y'all can click and see all of a specific au's stuff at once)

JDCAU Masterpost (Jester's DayCare AU...its a terrible name I know) All info and posts on this au! (Masterpost is mostly done...needs to be spruced up a bit!)

My take on Fnaf SB if the fire never happened and the plex was taken under better management, stuff for the Au will be tagged as #jdcau

J-TOL Masterlist(Jester's The Other Location, its very sparce atm...needs to be spruced up)

Same universe as JDCAU, there are two locations the second location never had the virus at all here, also under the same management now and have their own struggles! Stuff for the Au will be tagged as #j-tol

LOTC (Legend of the Celestials)

Siren/leviathan Smoon au, very mythology/folklore based, reworking this au atm...stuff for this Au will be tagged as #lotc or #LOTC

Currently under rework/work in progress so not much for it rn

REDACTED

Currently unavailable, please try again soon!

Under construction and not currently available to the public! (...Also just...have no clue on a name for it...I don't want redacted to stick...but it might :' D) Currently tagged as #REDACTED au (Reaalllllly need to name it >_<)

MIW (Monty In Wonderland)

Currently unavailable, please try again soon!

Under construction and not currently available to the public!

Any snippets that may appear will be tagged #miw or #MIW

LSAU (Lonely Star Au)

An AU where Sun Polaris is sentient but Moondrop is not and his frequent struggles. Lots of angst and making the boi miserable. This Au is also inspired by a prompt from my friend @sketchtxt ! :3 (...and both are a frequent object of friend wanting to smooch...you know who you are.)

Masterpost to be made! Anything for this Au will be tagged #lsau

NBC au (Nightmare Before Christmas Au)

Currently unavailable please try again soon!!! Currently this au is in early stages of brainstorming, what it is may be announced soon! :3 Currently tagged #NBC au

ESS au (Eclipse's Solar System au)

A human SB au that mainly focuses on Eclipse and their twins Nova and Callisto and all their friends! A very fluffy slice of life type au with silly shenanigans and bits of angst! I have an ask blog for ESS au found here! And anything will be tagged as #ess au

PDC au (Playdate Collector au)

An au where me and my friends @sketchtxt and @sir-qwillian-ferne are SMods and put a bunch of our Au's together because we want our various Smoon's+ to interact and made lore for it! We all have a blog for it that can be found here! Anything for it will be tagged #pdc au

CTAMK au (....you'll find out soon)

An in progress AU with my friend @sir-qwillian-ferne to make a wholesome rarepair ship work! Currently not available to the public, please try again later! Anything that IS available will be tagged #ctamk au ;3

Tags listing

List of the types of main tags and what they're used for outside au tags

#jesterposts

any and all post asides re blogs from other amazing creators

#jesterdoodles

any and all drawings, sketches, all art stuff

#jesterwrites

any and all writing posts, be it wips, sneak peaks and finished works for A03 or here

#jester rambles

just random rants and tangents and whatnot that are just me rambling on whatever

#jesteranswers

for when answering asks!

#canon #not canon Anything not canon to an au will be tagged #notcanon.

A03 and Other Stuff

Most AU based stuff will be linked with their specific Au master lists (eventually...) Any misc stuff outside that will be listed here!

My A03

My artfight!

My side blog where I post non Smoon content!

Moots and Friendos!

No order of importance or preference, just nice and alphabetical They're all super cool so maybe check them out! ^-^ (Sorry for the random tags y'all >_<)

@buggoblin2 @cero-sleep @crabsnpersimmons @cryptidbisexual @dragoncxv360 @flufflefleurry @ieatconfettiforaliving @just-a-floofy-catt @salemlucidsleeper @rayofmisfortune @ryobitheaxololt @sir-qwillian-ferne @sketchtxt @tinyfairart @trenchcoat-full-of-snails @voidedpumpkin

#jesterposts #about #masterpost #faq #about asks #au's #about me #tag list #moots and friends

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theluckywizard · 2 months

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In the Shattering of Things, Ch. 71: Carnage

Summary: Rose's investigation at the Winter Palace leads her to the servant's quarters and grand apartments where she uncovers a rather full scale Venatori incursion. Fic Summary: Lady Rose Trevelyan's idle, aristocratic life blinks out in a haze of irrelevance when the breach destroys the Conclave. She may be soft and coddled when she joins the Inquisition, but there's a fierceness inside her she's yet to fully recognize. Armed with only a few relevant skills and the mark that makes her a legend, she is thrust onto a path delivering hope where it’s long been scorched away and finds comfort in the grumpy, handsome stick in the mud charged with her protection and training. As she stumbles her way across southern Thedas, she begins to realize she's tangled at the center of machinations she barely understands, and she's not alone in that. Enter Hawke. Excerpt below the cut 👇

Vivienne squares me to her, fussing with my hair, repinning the disheveled strands that have broken free. I’m damp around the edges of my face and my upper lip, a sheen of sweat reflecting the light no doubt. I draw my skirt around me and fasten it under the edges of my bodice. Dorian and Blackwall guard the back entry while we pull ourselves together for the ball once again.

“Leave it to Briala to make such a brazen offer,” Vivienne spits, dabbing a perfume of vanilla and ambrette on one side of my neck.

“Well it’s not as though she offered nothing,” I counter. “We could use elven spies.” And whatever that weapon is.

“Don’t trust a word that crosses that woman’s lips,” she continues. “If instability is what Corypheus seeks then Briala and her elven revolution would certainly fit the bill.”

“Perhaps you resent her because she’s a little bit right,” I remark, with a careful look up at her. “Elves have been denied rights and representation just as often as mages.”

Vivienne’s dark eyes challenge mine, formidable in their intensity, but I don’t back down either. I know I’m right.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” I whisper. “We have leverage. What if I showed them both the locket— What if I could soften their positions toward one another? Wouldn’t they be stronger united?”

Vivienne sidesteps my point with a shake of her head, dabbing the edges of my face with a handkerchief. “This will not do. Not when you haven’t been seen inside for a spell.” She manifests a palm full of ice and blows across it at my face, cooling me. She stands back to inspect me, smoothing a wrinkle in my gown and then begins tying my mask back on. With no further discussion, she opens the door and shoves me out alongside her. The others remain to pack up and stow our gear discreetly.

I fold my hands behind my back and find an elegant, leisurely pace like I’ve just come out of the guest garden and stroll toward back toward the ballroom.

Read the rest here Start the fic here

#In the Shattering of Things #Dragon Age Fan Fiction #Dragon Age Inquisition #Rose Trevelyan #Cullen x Trevelyan #Hawke x Trevelyan #Wicked Eyes Wicked Hearts #cullen rutherford #garrett hawke

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the-orion-scribe · 11 months

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A Road Trip to Roadside Attraction

This is kind of a follow-up to my essay on Escape from Reality. I decided to review one of the fandom’s most widely-riled episodes – Roadside Attraction – and upon a rewatch, I say it isn’t that bad. Some of the flaws fans have with it are very true and I agree some aspects could have been written better. The pacing could improve a lot more for one thing; it’s pretty rushed for a road trip episode. But I don’t think it really deserves the title of worst GF episode. Even on IMDb, an unofficial platform on rating episodes, RA is not even in the bottom 10 worst episodes (at 7.9/10 stars, on par with Legend of Gobblewonker).

But first off, let’s explore why the episode was written. It seems out of place, doesn’t it? Right smack in the second half of Season 2 when the threat of Bill was on the horizon. Doesn’t it feel weird that after Bill-proofing the Shack, then the family leaves the Shack for a road trip? Even Ford was not at all mentioned in the episode (Look up the transcript and try to search for Ford’s name), though Hirsch later explained in the canon Journal 3 that he stayed behind to boost the Shack’s defences.

Roadside Attraction has the misfortune of being sandwiched between two plot-heavy episodes. I would argue it’s not Roadside Attraction that’s the odd one out but actually the Last Mabelcorn that was shoehorned in-between the less plot heavy moments. From the commentaries, it seems it has always been planned to have such a road trip episode as a throwback to the Gravity Falls crew research trip across the Pacific Northwest region (the episode is full of references to real Oregon tourist traps).

The initial plan was that the preceding episode, The Last Mabelcorn, was supposed to be a Wendy-centric episode that Hirsch scrapped at the last minute for unknown reasons. I guess the “Dipper getting over Wendy” subplot was intended to build on from that. The rewriting of The Last Mabelcorn placed the threat of Bill on the forefront, and that led to RA breaking the pace.

The criticisms about the episode being a whiplash are valid, and I certainly agree Hirsch could have ironed out more details of the episode and its relevance to the overarching plot. My best guess is that Hirsch didn’t have time to ‘fix’ RA after rewriting the entirety of The Last Mabelcorn and eventually did the retcon in J3, but admittedly it still doesn’t make sense overall. Even Hirsch admitted the placement seemed off in the commentary, wishing it had come out earlier. Nevertheless, I still like the road trip aspect, giving us a break from Gravity Falls and exploring more oddities beyond the region. And of curious note, the Spider-people we see is a throwback to Trembley’s State of Union speech in Irrational Treasure.

"The only thing we have to fear is gigantic, man-eating spiders!"

Another thing fans like to diss about was the Dipper flirting romance subplot, and some even dissing Mabel as a ‘hypocrite’ for calling out Dipper for flirting with many girls at once. I admit that aspect is a little cringe, and a major flaw of the episode is just how contrived all the girls Dipper encountered are reunited back again at Mystery Mountain.

But my view on it is, at least, it shows Dipper trying to be more confident of himself and exercising that charm he never knew he had. It might not be a popular opinion, but I like that the episode shows Dipper still harbours feelings for Wendy, despite their conversation back in Into the Bunker. It’s still a few weeks since that and it takes time to get over Wendy. His line about wanting to move on to move one but unable to switch his feelings was poignant. And I personally found it very relatable, unfortunately.

Some people have criticised Dipper as a playboy for chatting up so many girls. But then a close friend pointed out that casual flirting isn’t cheating. Dipper never stated he wanted to start relationships, just boost his confidence and get to know new people. And Stan reassured (wrongly) that Dipper will never see them again. Despite whatever that happened in the episode, Dipper at the end of the episode still managed to accomplish some of his goals – getting over Wendy (or at least, not to dwell on her for much of the trip) and learning to talk with girls.

I think there’s still something many fans tend to overlook for this episode, and that is Stan trying to improve his relationship with Dipper ever since what happened in Not What He Seems. It’s rather apparent Stan was trying to impress Dipper with the bad advice to repair their bond, so he wanted to try and win him back by giving him advice on girls. It’s of note that Stan only (re)used the advice himself after Dipper had so much success, and that is what caused him to get into trouble with the spider chick. Stan did eventually admit he’s no expert, and I quite like how they bonded over their failed attempts near the end of the episode. I wished this could be expanded further on, but I guess there’s some time constraints in the episode. Moringmark did so for his fan comics. (Stan and Dipper, and Candy and Dipper).

I admit Mabel is being quite an ass in this episode. Some haters of Mabel use her actions in this episode to fuel their rants, and it’s frustrating some have raised good points. She takes her brother’s box of private items in the opening and criticises his lingering crush instead of offering help besides telling him to “move on”. It’s no wonder Dipper followed Stan’s advice considering his sister was so unhelpful.

Some have said, Dipper tried to comfort her when she was upset about Mermando and her failed romances (in Society of the Blind Eye), but why couldn’t Mabel do the same and offer advice? Well, as we know, Mabel isn’t an expert in this field (despite what she claimed) nor is she as wise as Dipper, who was mainly comforting her about her failed romances and not her inability to move on.

Mabel had a much easier time moving on from her many ‘romances’ because she didn’t get as emotionally invested in them as Dipper did with Wendy. The closest Mabel got was with Mermando, spending one-on-one time with him and learning about his family, and it’s shown (in Sock Opera) that she did, in fact, have a harder time moving on from him than any of the others. While Dipper’s crush on Wendy was one-sided, it was also (probably) the first time anyone of the opposite sex (besides Mabel or his mom) had ever paid any kind of positive attention to him, causing him to become a lot more invested in the relationship than social-butterfly Mabel ever was with her crushes.

Because of this, Mabel underestimated how hard and how long it would be for Dipper to ‘move on’ from his crush on Wendy, despite placing greater value on their platonic friendship. She herself has moved on quite easily from most breakups, and even Mermando only took a couple of weeks at most, and assumes her brother must be capable of the same. This is not a character flaw, just a matter of Mabel not understanding Dipper as well as she thinks she does.

I would like to add that Mabel didn’t exactly know what was in the box and thought it was important to Dipper, until she tripped and the box contents revealed itself. She was trying to be helpful as a sister in packing Dipper’s stuff for the trip, but admittedly she should know her boundaries. But well, that’s the thing with siblings unfortunately – often taking and moving your stuff without permission.

Another point raised is how Dipper got thrown under the bus for acting confident and socialising, while the girls get to flirt with several people throughout the series (Boyz Crazy and Northwest Mansion Mystery as examples). Let’s explore the events of the episode from Mabel’s perspective. The girls were far from aware that Dipper had just been trying to practise turning on his charm, and Candy in the spur of the moment caught it. Mabel was trying to be a supportive friend and, from her perspective, it’s an ideal fantasy to matchmake her friend with her brother. Admittedly Mabel was supposed to have learned from Love God not to get involved with people’s relationships, but I say Mabel was trying to kill two birds with one stone – help her brother get over Wendy by pushing him into a relationship with Candy. Mabel isn’t some malicious troll, but she does have good intentions in whatever she does.

I guess, after the match fell through and the fantasy crushed, Mabel thought Dipper was flirting around with many girls, at least from what Candy told her firsthand about what happened in Mummy Town. It might seem a huge double standard that Mabel called out her brother as “traitor” given she had many matches herself, but I say she’s partially justified (at least from her perspective) given Dipper was trying to flirt with many all at once. (While we know that isn’t the actual case, she doesn’t have the full picture yet.) On the other hand, Mabel only had one interest every time. And she’s also trying to protect and cheer up her friend who’s feeling betrayed. Had she known about Dipper’s socialising with other girls, I doubt Mabel would have been so quick to set him up with Candy. I don’t think Mabel was hypocritical so much as misinformed.

No one in the romance subplot is the asshole, really (well, except Stan, perhaps). The entire drama really stems from miscommunication between the siblings, and also highlights the diverging bond between the twins – a theme of the second half of Season 2. I might agree that the subplot could be handled better, but then, most of the episode could really see better writing. The subplot ended amiably overall for Candy and Dipper. I wouldn’t say the episode really sank the ship (Hirsch made his opinion clear about Candip – clutching at straws – but we can ignore that) since the two came to an understanding. The ship isn’t bad at all, bringing together two nerds, but they’re still young and I suppose there’s still a better chance in their older years. I would like to point out that Candy still has her limelight in this episode, bringing the family out of the situation with the Man-Spider.

My conclusion is that the episode isn’t as bad as many fans claimed. The episode still has its charm and brought us somewhere different, and the Man-Spider twist is really the highlight. My most favourite part of the episode is Dipper learning to be more socially confident himself, and it’s rather consistent with his character back in Northwest Mansion Mystery, during which he was in his element and Pacifica caught his charm. Stan’s advice was sound, but like any other advice, there’s certainly an appropriate time and place to use it.

But I’m inclined to agree it’s in a weird spot, and I’ve only rewatched the episode in a vacuum which makes it easier and more enjoyable to rewatch. It’s certainly one of the weaker episodes, but there aren’t as many out of character moments compared to some episodes (Stanchurian Candidate comes to mind). The only weirdest part was Dipper writing the numbers on his arms instead of a notepad, but I guess he was trying to be cool with some pen tattoos.

I suppose RA would have benefited greatly if the episode were to be in the initial half of Season 2, or that Hirsch had gone ahead with the Wendy plot in the previous episode. I agree some parts could have been explained and written better, especially the actions of Mabel and co, and the talk between Stan and Dipper near the end. The episode is rather rushed, quickly resolving the romance subplot before dealing with the Man-Spider. Some jokes don’t hit as well and aren’t very memorable. Though the last part about Stan getting his just deserts for ruining the other traps is really ironic, and him being clueless of what he did to deserve it.

The point of this essay, nevertheless, is to understand and offer an explanation for some of its flaws. Of course it doesn’t redeem the episode totally, and I know RA would probably continue to receive a lot of scrutiny and hate from the fandom. But I hope others will understand some of the creative decisions and relook the episode with another mindset. I think it’s a fun road trip episode, and doesn’t really deserve all the hate it gets. If people can dissect Fly of Breaking Bad and explore its deeper meanings, I suppose others can for this episode.

Feel free to reblog and share your thoughts and opinions!

(The above is written with assistance from MilkyBoyBlue and TheoryOfWeirdness, fellow fic writers, and @hkthatgffan, who is able to provide newfound appreciation for the episode)

#gravity falls #gravity falls essays #stan pines #stanley pines #dipper pines #mabel pines #roadside attraction

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lbfad-minibang · 7 months

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SUMMARY SELECTIONS OPEN

There are twelve glorious fic summaries under the read more.

Artists, please select your TOP THREE favorites.

There is also a spot for you to let me know if there's anything you would rather not draw for, or anything you refuse to draw for. Although I hope to get everyone one of their top three summary choices, that may not be possible, so this is important.

Once you've read all the summaries, please fill out THIS GOOGLE FORM.

You must complete the form by Wednesday, October 4th, 2023. We are not stringent on time zones. It just needs to be the relevant date somewhere in the world. If we get everyone's picks in before that date, we will start working on assignments and they might even go out early. ;)

FIC #1 Pairings Featured: main pairing- Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua, side pairings- Jieli/Shangque, Ronghao/Lady Chidi Genre: sleeping beauty LBFAD style, XLH’s PoV, past life, tragedy, reincarnation, fantasy, worldbuilding, immortals, fairies, demons, rebellion, angst, happy ending Major Characters: Dongfang Qingcang, Xiao Lanhua, Danyin, Changheng, Ronghao, Jieli, Shangque, Xunfeng, Yunzhong, Lady Chidi Rating: T Potential Warnings: Major Character Death, Mention of Suicide, Fantasy Racism Summary: As pupil to the famous botanist Siming, Zhihan gets to follow her master on an expedition to one of the most notorious locations of their world. The ruins of a once glorious palace. Legend says inside slumbers the last existing immortal, able to grant the one who wakes them with tremendous powers. But until today no one has ever been able to breach the wild orchids seemingly sprouting from the palace’s very walls, making them a topic of intense research.

So, Zhihan doesn’t expect to be drawn inside as she touches one of the flowers. Coming face to face with a handsome, sleeping male in the centre, she starts regaining memories of a former life as a girl called Xiao Lanhua.

FIC #2 Pairings Featured: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua Genre: M/F, Explicit, canonical character death (referenced), post-episode 36, reunion of DFQC and XLH, miracles do happen, aftermath of what happened in ep 36 (I don't really know what you mean by genre?) Major Characters: DFQC, XLH, Yunzhong, Changheng, Xunfeng, Shangque, Jieli, Siming Rating: Explicit Potential Warnings: Major Character Death (canonical)(referenced only), explicit sexual content Summary: Glazed Fire - the fire of mercy and compassion, a matter of legend noted only in the most obscure ancient scrolls, and never seen in living memory across the Three Realms. Only Siming in her remote exile among the stars had glimpsed its possibility when divining the fate of her only disciple and disciple’s lover. But could she have foreseen how the presence of Glazed Fire - wielded, shockingly, by none other than the Moon Supreme - would change the Three Realms forever?

(A post-episode 36 exploration of Glazed Fire and how it shapes and changes the dynamics… between Dongfang Qingcang and Xiao Lanhua, in the Moon Tribe, in Shuiyuntian, in the Mortal Realm, and between these entities. Story starts from Siming's pov (prologue), but the focus is DFQC/XLH pov. Includes their reunion post his return. I wanted to set out to explore Glazed Fire and what it is, what it means, how it differs from Hellfire, and how it changes the balance of power in the Three Realms. Also, to give stuffy old Yunzhong his appropriate comeuppance (wow I can't stand that guy!).

Ideas for art:

1. There are no good still shots of the sequence where DFQC/XLH are kissing with the Glazed Fire raging around them, his hair gradually turning black again, and the black tendrils of Tai Sui's presence being worn away by the dual presence of the Goddess of Xishan's powers and the Glazed Fire.

2. A NSFW of DFQC/XLH's wedding night - at long last - with the Glazed Fire flowing around them (there will be an explicit scene close to the beginning of the fic, and a wedding scene at the end).

3. A scene where DFQC confronts Yunzhong with the Glazed Fire - think palms meeting and energy auras competing/pressing against each other but the Glazed Fire gradually whittling away at Yunzhong's energy. Of course, on reading the fic if the artist has other ideas I'm open to them.)

FIC #3 Pairings Featured: main ship- Xiao Lanhua/Dongfang Qingcang/Changheng; side ships: Jieli/Shangque (healthy & happy), Ronghao/Chidi Nvzi (Not healthy & happy, to the lesser extent that they show up) Genre: hurt/comfort; torture; kidnapping and rescue; getting together (?) Major Characters: XLH; DFQC; CH; Yunzhong; Shangque; Jieli; Ronghao. Rating: T (maaaybe M) Potential Warnings: torture (mostly offscreen, probably some onscreen; nothing gritty/grisly enough to merit "graphic depictions of violence") Summary:

"Did you see the Moon Supreme's wrist and neck?" Ronghao murmured to Lord Yunzhong, after the fires were extinguished. "There were marks there, and I suspect many more hidden by his robes." He paused, thoughtful. "They looked exactly like the marks your whip burned into Xiao Lanhua's skin."

(Canon divergence in which Yungzhong learns of the heart-curse connection early. He kidnaps XLH while she is weak upon returning from the mortal realm, and tortures her to weaken DFQC in preparation for war. The newly rebellious Changheng reluctantly teams up with his enemies to rescue her and depose Yunzhong. Lots of physical and emotional whump & hurt/comfort. Changheng worries about XLH and, despite himself, about DFQC. My endgame ship is OT3 XLH / DFQC / CH and if they don't get together in this fic, they will certainly all get much closer. Shangque and Jieli come along to flirt and defend their friends. XLH gets an early dramatic reveal as the Xishan Goddess.

Art prompts: There will be several hurt/comfort scenes in various configurations that would be juicy illustrations. Dark & whumpy ex: XLH tortured; DFQC experiencing her wounds and pain from afar; CH & Shangque half-carrying DFQC between them. Tender reunion and recovery ex: the boys cradling XLH immediately after rescue; the awkward and emotional conversation the trio have afterward about their status; trio cuddling. Protectiveness: XLH trying to defend DFQC (both of them still drained in the immediate aftermath of the mortal arc) before Yunzhong kidnaps her. The crew being protective badasses during rescue. CH realizing that against his better judgement, he's worried about DFQC & hates how little he can do to stop him from hurting.)

FIC #4 Pairings Featured: main pairing- Dongfang/Orchid, side pairing- Shangque/Jieli Genre: fantasy Major Characters: Dongfang, Orchid, Shangque, Jieli, Xufeng, Changheng (I think?) Rating: T Potential Warnings: None Summary: Years after Dongfang's return, an assassin makes an attempt on his life, but their magic goes haywire when it meets the goddess' protection. When the dust settles, Dongfang is fine; except this isn't the Dongfang they know. Now timid and soft-spoken, Orchid and Shangque work together to find out what is behind the sudden change in his personality. It soon becomes clear he is Dongfang—but not their Dongfang.

Meanwhile, Dongfang finds himself in a world where Xishan survived, and the Moon tribe is subjugated to Shuiyuntian. Here, hellfire is just a long-forgotten legend, and as a royal Dongfang must submit to harsh treatment by the fairy realm. His beloved Orchid is the goddess Xi Yun, a ruler who is cold and unforgiving towards the Moon people.

As Orchid and Shangque attempt to find a way to bring their Dongfang back, they also need to keep the switch a secret while they investigate who was behind the assassination attempt: which also means passing off the gentle version as their bold and decisive king. At the same time, Dongfang wrestles with the drive to free his people and put Shuiyntian in its place. But he also needs the goddess' help to get back home, something that may be impossible to get if he returns to his old self.

FIC #5 Pairings Featured: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua Genre: Post-canon, fluff, light angst, amnesia Major Characters: XLH, DFQC, Changheng, Shangque, Xunfeng, Jieli Rating: T Potential Warnings: None Summary: Very loosely inspired by a plotline in Back from the Brink. Set after the 500 years, DFQC returns to XLH without the memories of his past. This version of DFQC is innocent and unaware of the ways of the world, so XLH must teach him. At Shangque's suggestion, XLH tries to recreate moments of their past to jog DFQC’s memory but he only remembers flashes of memories. Eventually, they go to Lucheng and run into Changheng. Changheng and XLH conclude that if DFQC cultivates his powers to the level they were at before his death, he may remember everything. After some misunderstandings, Changheng and XLH team up to train DFQC. It ends with DFQC’s memories fully restored after he’s refined the glazed fire.

FIC #6 Pairings Featured: Main pairing- Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua, Side pairings- Danyin/Xunfeng, Jieli/Shangque, Siming/Changyuan Genre: Romance, Drama, Fix-it fic kinda, I wanted at least 5 more episodes after the finale so I wrote a thing, drama-canon compliant, post-canon, check the potential warnings but I promise it’s a happy ending, there’s a wedding, maybe two Major Characters: Xiao Lanhua, Dongfang Qingcang, Xunfeng, Danyin, Jieli, Shangque, Changheng Rating: M (planned), might spice to E Potential Warnings: Canon-typical Major Character Death, canon-typical violence, no plot armor for side characters, bugs (butterflies) Summary:

Fic excerpt:

Dongfang Qingcang felt drunk, such was his state of disarray that his woman put him in, as if reducing him to some mere mortal, out of breath and panting.

But any hope he had of catching his breath was tossed over the garden balustrade along with any remaining coherent thought as he felt Xiao Lanhua pepper kisses along his jawline.

He groaned, head rolling back to give her better access, and– gods– he felt those petal-soft lips kiss the side of his neck, and then open-mouth kiss his Adam's apple, Xiao Lanhua was so clever, so creative, so– his thoughts short-circuited as she licked into the hollow of his throat. His hand went up to grip the nape of her neck so he could ravish that perfect mouth of hers and let her know in very little words just how perfect she was when–

A cough. Loud. And definitely not for the first time.

Dongfang Qingcang was going to murder whoever was interrupting them.

“Sorry,” Jieli said, a shit-eating grin on her face that wasn’t the least bit apologetic, “We didn’t want to interrupt but if you all don’t leave now you’ll be late to tea with Lord Yunzhong.”

–End Fic Excerpt–

Fic starts about two weeks after the finale when DFQC is reincarnated.

Changheng goes missing in search for his banished mother, and in a cruel twist of fate Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang must postpone their wedding day as they embark with Danyin, Xunfeng, Shanque, and Jieli in their quest to find him. Their search will take them to the deepest depths of the Memory Loss River, the swamplands on the outskirts of Haishi City, and to the stars beyond the Destruction of Heaven.

This is a multi-chaptered fic, expected to be 30-40k words. The draft in-progress is currently 13k words long.

Side characters, ensembles, and expected side characters and ensembles in this fic include: Lord Yunzhong, Lord Liyuan, Lord Dong, Die Yi, Ronghao (mentioned; he stays canonically dead), Siming, Changyuan, Dragon Tribe (and minor OCs), Mermaid Tribe (non-canon + minor OCs), Butterfly Clan (non-canon, clan name may change + minor OCs), a pirate crew (non-canon + minor OCs)

Thank you artists for reading, and I hope you are interested in my story!

FIC #7 Pairings Featured: Main pairing- Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua; side pairings-Jieli/Shangque, implied Xunfeng/Danyin/Changheng, Siming/Chang Yuan; platonic Dongfang Qingcang & Changheng, Xiao Lanhua and Jieli, Dongfang Qingcang and Shangque Genre: Fluff, comfort? I guess it could also serve as a slight character study and/or post-canon speculation Major Characters: Dongfang Qingcang, Xiao Lanhua, Changheng, Xunfeng, Jieli, Shangque, Siming Rating: G Potential Warnings: No archive warnings apply Summary: Cangyanhai is no Shuiyuntian: the water flowed as tears for thirty thousand years, and everything the soil grows tastes of cold moonlight. Even the hardiest trees in the coldest winters weep bitter sap. Still, Dongfang Qingcang reasons, if his forebears were able to cultivate the land and grow crops, however meagre, they can grow beautiful things, too.

/or, Dongfang Qingcang wants to put together a garden for his wife, and starts by asking those she loves for advice.

FIC #8 Pairings Featured: Yunzhong Jun/female OC Genre: tragedy, mortal trials, accidentally falling in love, angst with a bittersweet/sad ending Major Characters: Yunzhong Jun, female OC Rating: T Potential Warnings: mild body horror, spiders, depictions of violence Summary:

A Dream of Golden Millet

Chun Shisan, a spider immortal in Shuiyuntian, has had enough of her emperor. Yunzhong Jun suffocates the life out of the heavens, unbending and unyielding in his absolute power. In the mortal world, Pu Songming is a young and idealistic scholar with nary a shadow of his celestial self. When Chun Shisan sent Yunzhong Jun to the mortal realm, it was with every intention of giving him a taste of his own medicine. Except we all know how this story goes. And it can’t end well.

FIC #9 Pairings Featured: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua Genre: whump, hurt/comfort, AU, canon divergence Major Characters: dongfang qingcang, xiao lanhua, possibly shangjue Rating: T Potential Warnings: None (it will be whump but nothing I would describe as "graphic violence") Summary: Whumpy AU canon divergence: Amidst the confrontation in the forest, Ronghao "accidentally" stabs Xiao Lanhua (in Dongfang Qingcang's body) as she rushes to kiss Dongfang Qingcang. Badly wounded, she stumbles into Dongfang Qingcang's arms and desperately kisses him and they switch bodies, Dongfang Qingcang swaying dangerously the instant they do. He grits his teeth and holds it together long enough to fire off a blast of hellfire that sends Ronghao and Changheng reeling. Their opportunity lost, Ronghao whisks Changheng away, while Dongfang Qingcang slowly crumples to the ground, and Xiao Lanhua drops to her knees beside him, desperately trying to put pressure on the wound…

FIC #10 Pairings Featured: main pairing- Changheng/Dongfang Qingcang, side pairings- Changheng/Xiao Lanhua, Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua Genre: Smut, Canon Divergence, Missing Scenes, Character Study Major Characters: Changheng, Dongfang Qingcang Rating: Explicit Potential Warnings: Grief, Canonical Temporary Character Death Summary: In the aftermath of the great battle, and the great loss, Changheng has too many things to process. Before he can fully come to terms with any of them--his shifting feelings for Dongfang Qingcang; a mortal lifetime that won't let him return to immortality unchanged; the desperate hope of a discovery that could save Xiao Lanhua--Changheng gets word that Dongfang Qingcang is dying, burning himself up from the inside. What happens next is an emotional whirlwind he can't deny and the last conclusion Changheng expects is to find himself on a boat sailing through an endless sea of stars on the edge of reality, surrounded by fireflies and plied with flower cakes and sitting opposite his sworn enemy--his dearest friend--his love rival--his ally--his zhiji. The space between them is sickeningly empty of the person who belongs there, thick with tension and hope and things that words were never meant to describe. Luckily, they have more than words to rely on.

FIC #11 Pairings Featured: No main pairing. Side pairings- Jieli/Shangque, Changheng/Holly Genre: Fluff and friendship Major Characters: Xiyun (Orchid), Jieli, Shangque, Xunfeng, Changheng, Holly, Creeper, Peach and Succulent Rating: G Potential Warnings: None Summary: A short story of approximately 5k words, divided in 5 chapters. It will be canon compliant and take place after the battle of Tai Sui. Main character is Xiyun (Orchid), and the story is written from her point of view, with focus on the way forward. The red thread is promises she made to others while she was Orchid, and figuring out life as a goddess in a world where Dongfang Qingcang is no more. Quick story outline: Xiyun gets back together with her flower friends from Arbiter Hall. She brings them and Jieli with her to Xilan. In Xilan she is greeted by many people from both tribes who have come to pray to her and ask for blessings and healing. Shangque joins them there, as he once promised DFQC to never leave Orchid's side if DFQC was not around. Later, Xunfeng visits to ask for help in keeping the peace in Cangyan Sea, and reminds Shangque and Xiyun of their promises to both DFQC and to the Moon Tribe. Xiyun agrees to divide her time between the realms equally, and also finds a new apprentice for the role of keeper of the Destiny Tree in Shuiyuntian.

Snippet of draft:

Lord Changheng offered to escort them, and thus Xiyun set out for Xilan, joined by Jieli and four flower spirits. The small group arrived at the Xilan Holy Lands just as the sun set, and were met with an ocean of people. The visitors had set up tents while waiting for the Goddess, and a myriad of fires were burning in the night. Standing with torches in hand, they greeted the Goddess. Xiyun walked through an alley lit by flames - torches raised to light the path for her on her way to the Xilan Arbiter Hall. No one spoke, struck by the magnitude of what was taking place. It was a gathering of love, of appreciation, and Xiyun silently met the eyes of each person she passed. The large gathering closed in behind the group, creating a procession as they followed the Goddess on her way. Xiyun only broke free from the faces of the people when she finally reached Arbiter Hall, finding it lit by candles, and by the entrance stood a familiar figure. Overwhelmed by the welcoming, there were both tears and a smile on her face when Shangque bowed to her.

“Welcome home, Goddess Xiyun,” he said.

FIC #12 Pairings Featured: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua. Side pairing: Extremely minor Jieli/Shangque (their relationship will just be mentioned). Genre: romance, drama, action, angst with a happy ending Major Characters: Pretty much just DFQC and XLH, but with cameos of Changheng, Danyin, Xunfeng, Shangque, and Jieli Rating: T Potential Warnings: character death (sort of; the story takes place in the extremely far future, and all of the cast has passed away of natural causes and old age by then, except DQFC and XLH). Summary: Tens of thousands of years ago, when the Moon Tribe faced its greatest danger yet, the kingdom's most valuable resources, the Moon Supreme, Dongfang Qingcang, and the Moon Queen and Goddess of Xishan, Xiao Lanhua, were sealed away. As they slept, their powers, that of the glazed fire and the holy goddess, continued to protect and provide for the kingdom. It worked; while Cangyan Sea was ravaged, it survived and the people moved on and rebuilt.

Unfortunately, The Moon Supreme and the Moon Queen did not awaken. They were relegated to folklore and legend, though those who knew them knew that one day, when they were needed most, they would return.

In the present, in a mortal realm much like our own, two lost immortals find themselves awakening in a new world.

Cangyan Sea is different now; their friends have long passed, and the lush, deep forests are no more. The land is hot and barren, a sea of sand, a desert landscape of dunes and sparsely vegetated mountains, dotted with small rivers that fill and empty with the seasons. But the people still live and thrive, and Dongfang Qingcang and Xiao Lanhua's return will change everything.

After all, as was written in the old tales, they will only awaken when the world is about to be threatened in a way that they alone can stop.

Fun ideas: DFQC and XLH's mortal realm is much like our own, with modern technology and an East meets West fusion in clothing, architecture, etc. The Moon Tribe is, in my mind, a dieselpunk world (sort of; think Mad Max vibes with Moon Tribe aesthetics and more just 'our culture is desert based' than post apocalyptic) powered by magic and cultivation. They'll spend time in both realms. Lots of romance, of course. DFQC and XLH have been married for hundreds of years by the time the story starts. Also! Cool clothes and lots of Canglan being badass powerhouses together.

#love between fairy and devil #lbfad minibang #!mod

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