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youcouldmakealife · 22 days

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SOTM: Bryce/Jared, Elaine; Man of the Hour (Day, Week, Month, Year)

For the prompt: One of the articles Bryce mentions. "…like, a profile thing? How it was growing up gay in hockey, that kind of thing… A chance to establish myself as like, I am now,” Bryce says. “Kind of like — not set the record straight, exactly, but like, show I’ve matured and stuff. "

It’s the definition of a typical Vancouver day, drizzly and overcast, when I meet Bryce Marcus. He likely needs no introduction, but I will introduce him anyway: the star centre for the Vancouver Canucks who went from being the enemy while playing for the arch-rival Calgary Flames to becoming possibly the most beloved man in the city: certainly if you you asked the fans streaming out of Rogers Arena after watching the Canucks win the Cup for the third time, or the hundreds of thousands of lining Burrard to cheer on their Canucks at the Stanley Cup Parade on a beautiful sunny day this June.

The weather is anything but glamourous today, however, and at the Marcus Matheson household, the surroundings aren’t either.

Jared Matheson, husband and teammate of Bryce, apologizes as I step over a box in their hallway. “We’re kind of in the middle of a move right now.”

They’re trading their two-bedroom condo for something ‘a little more permanent’. Both have decided that wherever their NHL careers may take them, Vancouver is going to remain home, and they’ve just closed on a house nearby.

“Bryce is weirdly excited about getting to mow the lawn,” Jared tells me as we wait for Bryce to finish getting ready. In light of the hyper-competitive Vancouver real estate market it’s entirely understandable to be excited about lawncare — it means you have a lawn to care for — but one wouldn’t have expected that to extend even to Vancouver’s sports stars.

When Bryce emerges, five minutes after my arrival, he announces himself by swearing as he trips over a box of his own, and then apologising, both for his language and his tardiness.

“He was doing his hair,” Jared says.

“I was not,” Bryce scowls, but doesn’t offer an alternative explanation.

After a quick tour of their condo, which is currently half in boxes, Bryce and I hop into his Audi S8 — naturally courtesy Capilano Audi, whose ads featuring him are inescapable during Canucks games. We drive to Richmond so he can show me his old haunts: elementary, middle, and high school — though he finished high school in Washington while playing for the Spokane Chiefs — his home rink, the Dairy Queen his mother took him after hockey games. He’s a capable, if slightly aggressive driver. I mention this because from the dire warning I received from Jared on the way out the door I genuinely believed I might not survive the drive.

Bryce finally pulls into the driveway of an unassuming but cheerful house on a quiet suburban street. The morning drizzle has faded, and the weather is now just as bright and warm as his childhood home, and the mother who raised him there. Already waiting for us on the porch, his mother Elaine Marcus offers me a glass of lemonade. “Store bought, I’m afraid,” she says with a smile. “I’m not much of homemaker.”

Over lemonade and cookies — “Also store bought,” Elaine admits, “but this bakery is very good!”, and she’s right about that — she shows me an array of childhood and teenage photos while Bryce complains to his mother that she’s ‘embarrassing’ him.

The photos are more inspiring than embarrassing: photo after photo of a beaming little boy in an equally small Canucks jersey, proudly brandishing a plastic mini-stick (Canucks branded, of course). A true example of someone who grew up to live his childhood dream.

Sadly, as he gets a older the smile disappears, as does the man beaming in the background of so many of those happy photos. His father, Ben Marcus, was killed by an impaired driver at the age of 32. It devastated Elaine and Bryce, who was only four at the time.

“It was hard,” Elaine says. “He didn’t understand. I didn’t understand, when it came down to it. It was a hard time. He wanted to play hockey all the time, it was the only thing he wanted. He was really only happy on the ice.”

“I just wanted him to be happy,” she says, smiling tearfully, and as Bryce wraps a protective arm around his mother's shoulders, I offer to give them a moment.

“It was a long time ago,” Elaine says in dismissal, wiping her eyes. “It’s just hard sometimes. Ben loved hockey, loved watching the Canucks with Bryce — he’d have been so proud to see Bryce lift the Cup for them. I am too, of course, but it was always Ben and Bryce’s thing. He would have been so proud.”

I do give them a moment then, and when I return, my lemonade has been refilled and both are all smiles once again, though Bryce's doesn't last. He cringes as we go through photos of his teen years. There’s a sullen look on his face in every picture.

And what was Bryce like as a teenager?

"I'll let him answer that," Elaine says diplomatically.

“I don’t really know,” Bryce says, looking thoughtful. “Angry, I guess. I was an angry kid. And confused.”

About his sexuality?

“Everything was confusing,” Bryce says. “But yeah, definitely that too.”

“Bryce cared so much,” Elaine says. “About everything. He still does. The world’s hardest on the people who care most about it.”

Like so many hockey players who’ve come out since Dan Riley and Marc Lapointe did in 2010, he credits their coming out as a major influence on his journey of coming to terms with his identity as both a gay man and a pro hockey player.

“You don’t really put it together,” Bryce says. He turned sixteen the summer the Leafs won the Stanley Cup, and Riley and Lapointe subsequently came out. “Like, okay, sure, you can be gay and play hockey. Except nobody thought that. I didn’t think that. If you said that, maybe I’d say okay, but I didn’t believe it.”

How, then, did he reconcile being gay and playing hockey?

“That's the thing,” Bryce says. “I didn’t, you know? I was playing hockey, so obviously I wasn’t, right? Because if I was gay, then I wouldn’t be playing, would I?”

“It sounds so ridiculous saying it now,” he reflects. “But that’s what I thought. And I wasn’t the only one.”

But even more than Riley and Lapointe blazing a trail before him, he credits meeting his husband Jared at a hockey skills camp in Calgary. In the year before he met Jared, then twenty year old Bryce was arrested twice, for assault and DWI: the latter in particular shook his mother, considering how his father died.

"I was worried about him," she says. "That's probably an understatement."

“I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn't met Jared,” Bryce says. “I genuinely don’t. I don’t think I’d be out. I know I wouldn’t be happy. You know, everyone says it isn’t like in the movies. Falling in love, I mean. That love at first sight and all that is b******t. But that’s pretty much what it was for me.”

Was it mutual?

Bryce laughs. “You’d have to ask Jared, he tells it better than me,” he says. “But no, not really. I wasn't good enough for him. I'm still not good enough for him, but I try to be."

Another warning I’d received from his husband before my tour around town? That Bryce was an incurable romantic. This warning certainly seems more warranted than the one about Bryce’s driving.

And what does Bryce think about Jared’s warning, and his additional suggestion to take anything Bryce said about him with a healthy grain of salt?

“[Jared]’s just modest,” Bryce says.

“He lights up when Jared’s around,” Elaine says. “It’s just like when he was a little boy — every time he stepped onto the ice, he beamed. It’s the same thing with Jared. He’s so happy. It’s so wonderful to see him like that.”

And how was it, not only getting to play with his husband, but to raise the Stanley Cup together?

“It’s a dream come true,” Bryce says. “Really. I know that’s such a cliche, but so is love at first sight, right? And the hometown boy winning it all for his childhood team. They’re all cliches. But they’re my life.”

“I know just how lucky I am,” Bryce says. “Winning with Jared, with this team — it’s been such a whirlwind of a year.”

I tell him to enjoy it.

“I do,” he says, smiling so widely I have no doubt he’s telling the truth. “I really, really do.”

#SOTM #fic snippet #bryce marcus #jared matheson #elaine marcus

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coraniaid · 7 months

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Jenny and Giles were only a couple for a total of sixteen episodes and still managed to have two awkward and emotionally devastating break-ups (even if the writers couldn’t quite explain why one of them was happening). And there were still one hundred and fifteen episodes left of the series to go when Jenny died! So simple arithmetic tells us that if Jenny had survived up to Chosen, we could have watched that happen at least fourteen more times.

Here are my candidates:

Season 3

Teenage Ripper and Janna do not get on at all, but this does not stop them awkwardly having sex on top of a police car. They’re both so embarrassed about it afterwards that they don’t talk to each other for a month.

Jenny breaks up with Giles for the second time this season when she finds out about his role in the Cruciamentum. Buffy’s attempt to persuade her that it was all fine really and she doesn’t have any hard feelings about it and that Giles is still the best father figure she’s ever had is, funnily enough, not quite as helpful as she thinks. (They get back together in The Zeppo but we don’t get to see how it happens, only that Xander walks in at a very awkward moment and leaves in a hurry.)

Jenny has not exchanged more than two sentences with Faith all season (because she’s somehow worked out that Faith thinks she’s cool and doesn’t want to shatter her illusions), which is why it’s only after Faith defects to the Mayor that she realizes Giles had let one of the Slayers he’d agreed to look after live out of a motel for half a year. They break up again.

Buffy and Angel break up for the last time in The Prom and the writers decide it would be a good thematic parallel to have Jenny and Giles break up again too. They can’t think of a good in-universe reason for this to happen, given that they’ve only just gotten back together again, but figure that: hey, that never stopped them before.

Season 4

Jenny breaks up with Giles five minutes into their Thanksgiving meal and walks right out of the house. It takes him a few months to work out why.

Giles breaks up with Jenny when she helps Ethan escape being captured by the US military. She’s outraged by this because it’s both obviously the right thing to do and something that she thought Giles himself was trying to signal her to do all episode.

Giles breaks up with Jenny again during The Yoko Factor. This does not have anything to do with Spike, who has been moderately terrified of Jenny all season ever since she threatened to give him a soul, but just something Giles does out of habit whenever he’s unduly stressed.

Season 5

While discussing how the monks changed everyone’s memories to fit Dawn in, Jenny and Giles remember an argument about books and computers they’d had back in Season 1. They both remember it very slightly differently and end up relitigating it all episode, eventually culminating in a fully-fledged row in which they both say things they can’t take back. (This memory wasn’t changed by the monks at all and doesn’t have anything to do with Dawn anyway.)

Technically Jenny and Giles co-own the magic shop, but somehow Anya still ends up doing all the work. Sometimes Anya offers them helpful relationship advice: this usually ends up with her being temporarily fired.

Jenny is a little bit too enthusiastic about agreeing to teach Dawn magic. When Giles warns her that Dawn might try to use her newfound magical knowledge to bring her recently dead mother back Jenny rolls her eyes and says yes, obviously, that’s the whole point. This doesn’t go well.

If Jenny finds out about Giles killing Ben she would not even think about breaking up with him over it, but rather view it as an entirely reasonable and pragmatic thing to do and something that Ben definitely had coming. That doesn’t stop Giles somehow talking himself into breaking up with Jenny so that she can never find out his terrible dark secret.

Season 6

Yeah, there’s no way Jenny’s voluntarily going to England (or that she’s on board with what Giles is proposing to do to Buffy). Guess what she does instead.

Not technically a break-up, but at some point after Xander and Anya’s wedding, Jenny lets slip that she’s been married to Giles since sometime in Season 3 and they never got around to divorcing at any point since. The idea simply didn’t occur to them. They just didn’t tell anyone about the marriage because they didn’t want to make a big scene. (They’re still not speaking at this point.)

Season 7

For some reason Jenny decides to prove that Giles is the First by punching him in the jaw as hard as she can. It’s the first time she’s seen him in over a year. When he regains consciousness she preemptively breaks up with him out of embarrassment even though technically they weren’t dating at this point.

Jenny fully agrees with and supports Robin Wood’s plan to take revenge on the vampire that killed a beloved family member, even if said vampire now has a soul, but breaks up with Giles about it anyway because he refuses to accept how hypocritical he’s being about the whole thing.

Everyone else is hooking up and tentatively rebuilding emotional connections ahead of the big apocalyptic final battle, but Giles and Jenny are mature adults, not silly fickle young people. They have another big argument and spend the rest of the episode refusing to speak to each other. Like grown-ups.

(Also Jenny saves Anya’s life in the final fight against the First Evil. This doesn’t have anything to do with her relationship with Giles, it’s just important to mention that Anya survives the episode. Also Tara and Cordelia are there too and they’re both doing fine. Why wouldn’t they be?)

#btvs

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commanderthalys · 3 months

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CHARACTER INTRO: ROOTHOME

| sylvari tree/ safehaven/ home away from home

=Origins=

Similar to the Pale Tree, Roothome was once a small seed from Mordremoth. Purely by accidental circumstances it managed to make its way to the far desert highlands of Elona several hundred years ago, where it lay nestled in between barren cliffs for years, until slowly roots sprouted from the hardy pod in search of water. The mountainside where the sprout was held a massive open cave system, and the tree was able to sustain itself from the roots that made it to the cave’s lake.

As it grew larger and stronger, a single pod grew. Covered in spikes and a hard shell, the pod contained valuable fruit, the firstborn of the Roothome sylvari, who would awaken far from their home. In 1295 AE the pod exploded, sending the protected sapling far over the mountain until it landed in a river, which carried it out to sea. After drifting for a time, the pod landed on the shores of Mount Maelstrom. The firstborn, Marek, awoke and cracked open their pod, and began exploring the world for their Tree. Marek’s experiences shaped the tree’s version of a dream, they wandered for ten years before coming back to Roothome as the long lost hero of their people.

In that time many more sylvari were born from the tree much like Marek was, with one exception. Marek was alone in their pod, but through their experience the tree realized that the sylvari would need a community upon awakening in order to guarantee survival and avoid loneliness. The pods after Marek were much larger and contained several sylvari, but very rarely was one alone in a pod after the firstborn.

=Customs=

Due to Marek’s heavy influence on the roothome sylvari, they strongly value community and hospitality. All strangers are welcome regardless of who they are, and are made to feel at home unless they transgress on that kindness in some way. The Roothome sylvari have a deep love of team games and host a festival every year in the winter where pod groups compete in various trials that highlight Roothome’s teamwork. The Roothome sylvari engage in wrestling and fighting sports often, and despite their playful exterior, Roothome is incredibly well defended by the Thornguard, a group that acts as guards and guides. Although the cave is large enough for the entire population, many sylvari live in carved out hollows on the mountainside and tend to fields in the valley, keeping the path to the mountain well lit and safe. These sylvari wear warmer and heavier clothing and utilize thick furs, while those in the cave don’t require as many layers unless the weather is extreme.

Due to the nature of Roothome’s pods, the saplings awaken far from their tree, and with their podmates they go through the rite of passage that is making it back to their tree. Not all pod groups survive, but they are honored for their efforts nonetheless. Sylvari that are born with no podmates or lose their podmates are not shamed, but instead are supported by their fellows, and single podmates tend to group together naturally once they’ve returned.

=Traits of Roothome Sylvari=

All Roothome sylvari have hidden fangs concealed by their face leaves/bark that produce corrosive acid. They peel back their face leaves and bare these fangs to greet each other, but their leaves can also flare out when stressed/angry/excited. Unless displayed like that or used to spit acid, the fangs are completely concealed. They can also have pores across their bodies that produce acid, primarily in the fingers, but this varies between individuals. They use this acid to shape their homes in the thick mountain stone.

Roothome sylvari are also born with a set of dormant gills that can be activated if a pod is in the water long enough. This allows them to breathe both on land and underwater, but not all sylvari have working gills.

They can be any body shape and apart from those traits they resemble the pale tree’s sylvari

=timeline=

1295- Marek awakens

1297- secondborn awaken

1305- Marek returns to an established very small city, day of their return becomes an annual celebration

1310- major cave expansion and building of the game arena

1312- first annual festival (held in the winter)

1320- asura waygates added to the foot of the mountain

#marek #gw2 #guild wars 2 #sylvari #Lynx talks #character intro #it’s a tag now #BTW IF ANYONE WANTS TO MAKE A ROOTHOME VARI PLEASE DO PLEASE SHARE THEM WITH ME <3

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mossypidder · 5 months

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If you click the names of the birds below, you will find photos of the actual birds I’m referring to; mostly provided because the second two are morphs

EDIT: So honestly. Contrary to final poll results and my initial lean toward the grosbeak, I think I might just go with the crow. The design’s grown on me and in the last week I’ve collected many bones and observed many local crows and found myself just quietly very drawn to them. Nothing’s set in stone, but. . . It feels more right than the grosbeak- there are still things that draw me to the latter, and I still really love them and might switch in the future, right now I relate more to crows I think.

Rose Breasted/Cutthroat Grosbeak (female)

Similarities (between myself and the bird) - small and chunky - eats mainly seeds, fruits, and nuts - elusive and relatively solitary aside from nesting season - very intricate, unique nest type - monogamous - take care of young for a month after fledging (which is longer than quite a few birds) - dwells mainly in deciduous forests - I honestly think I do look a bit like a grosbeak overall - there is limited information on them (which is obnoxious, but kinda goes with my aesthetic honestly)

Things I Like About Them - very pretty markings, especially on face which makes for fun character design - they were my favorite bird as a child and I would get so excited during the brief period that they would be at our feeder

Differences - females don’t sing as much as males - I am very much a mimic- I echo other people’s words as well as animal noises a lot, mostly without thinking, and grosbeaks do not mimic. The males learn songs from their fathers, but that’s different, and I’m not male anyway.

Black Billed Magpie (cinnamon)

Similarities - eat a lot of fruit and grain - they are skilled mimics - mate for life something I aspire to achieve one day - have only been seen in Michigan ten times in the last hundred years, so it fits the “elusive bird who’s sightings should be documented” narrative - parents allow their young to stay with them as long as needed, sometimes even years - males and females are both very vocal and sing, talk, and chatter quite often - wary of new things and will shy away from bright colors and flashing lights (yes, that includes shiny things) - many widely believed myths spread about them (such as tendencies to thievery, attraction to shiny objects, and hoarding things tho I am guilty of that last one)

Things I Like About Them - Gorgeous wings and tail (though rather plain facial markings which is sad) - they’re just nice, funky little guys and they were one of my favorites when I was younger as well

Differences - not a bird I’d really call chunky lol - they eat meat (mostly bugs) and meat is not my favorite honestly - while some do only stay in groups of two, many others have tribe of up to twelve

Common Crow (cinnamon)

Similarities - will bring people they like random bits of things such leaves, rocks, lost keys, and bones, as gifts - stops for roadkill (though I don’t eat it, I’m just there to steal feathers or check opossum pouches for potential surviving babies) - bones is good, we like bones - also talented at imitating human speech, other animals, and just random noises they find intriguing - mate for life - very family oriented and good at taking care of each other. They’ve even been known to adopt unrelated fledglings - stay in the nest up to forty days after hatching and often remain with a family group for two years, helping their parents look after younger siblings - males and females are very vocal - wants to eat rocks - scavengers - likes fruits, nuts, and seeds - seen as weird or gross by the majority - slow to trust humans, but is very loyal once they do - could be considered chunky - cinnamons tend to have blue or silver eyes

Things I Like About Them - they are just. very good. - wing markings of cinnamons are very interesting, and while I’d like more intricacies to work with for facial markings, they’re still good and simple

Differences - they are very social birds (but most of that social time is spent with their family, which is where most of mine is spent as well, so I’m not sure this is a true difference) - consumes a lot of meat (which, as stated, is not my favorite) - they are very common in Michigan and easy to spot almost anywhere

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ziskeyt · 1 year

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Ziv's GanLink Fic Rec List

I miss the days of actual reclists passed around communities, so I'm making one of my own. All of these are fics I've read, liked, and think you may also like if you like Ganondorf/Link. This is not exhaustive, of course. Please feel free to reblog and add your favourites!

Long Fic (80,000+)

no matter what by wouldyouknowmore Rated: E Words: 81,825

The return of the Calamity has been foretold. And while the peoples of Hyrule are united in their preparations to oppose it, there are some who believe the current king of the Gerudo would best be kept under watchful eyes, if for no other reason than his name. Fearing for his people’s wellbeing if he doesn’t comply, and all too familiar with the legends of his ancient predecessors, Ganon willingly places himself in Hylian protective custody until the threat of the Calamity has passed. He’s resigned to a lonely, unpleasant stay at Hyrule Castle, until he meets the Hylian royal guard assigned to protect him. Sir Link surpasses his every expectation from day one, fiercely loyal and courageous to a fault, uncaring of the suspicions that surround Ganon—not to mention incredibly charming. But as they grow closer, Ganon can’t help but wonder if their fates will tear them apart again before this is all over.

Ziv's Thoughts: This is a fun fic with some really excellent and delightful characterizations of both Ganon and Link. It's dealing with an interesting "What if" premise of the world pre-calamity in BotW, and delivers it well. The weight of what might happen to him is heavy on Ganondorf, but the relationship he builds with Link is just so, so sweet. *Update: The sequel is currently being uploaded:

What Remains by wouldyouknowmore Rated: E Words: WIP

A hundred-year sleep and a complete loss of memory aren’t enough to keep Link from finishing the job he’d left undone. The Calamity is sealed. The worst is over. They’ve even managed to come out of this ordeal without grievous injury, Link and the princess both—even Ganondorf, whose survival should have been impossible. They’re here now, though, and safe. But as Link very quickly comes to understand, safe doesn’t necessarily mean whole. His head’s a jumbled up mess these days, but he’s determined to push through it all the same, to figure out this whole After situation. It’s just, getting swept up in Ganon’s very intense presence isn’t really conducive to him thinking straight…

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Sands of Time by tirsynni Rated: T Words: 103,445

Link awakens in the desert with no idea how he got there, to encounter his worst enemy…except it was the King of the Gerudo, not the King of Evil, he faced.

Ziv’s Thoughts: An excellent read. Link wakes up in the desert many years after the events of Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of time, only, he’s in a different time yet again. The story has a very fairy tale-esque feeling to it, which is quite fun to read. There are a lot of references to different Zelda games, and different Links, and it’s pretty cool how they are implemented. Ganondorf here is pretty compelling as a King trying for the best for his people in what feels like an increasingly impossible situation. Link is also just a wonderful little gremlin who only talks when he decides it is needed, and has fun with keeping quiet otherwise a number of times.

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Medium Fic (20,000 - 80,000)

Little Souls in Blistered Light by hedgerowhag Rated: E Words: 58,970

The battle between the Calamity and the Princess's knight never took place. The Master Sword remains with Link, waiting to complete their shared duty. Five years pass and Link meets a stranger who is also searching for the Calamity to finally bring this story to an end.

Ziv's Thoughts: This story is just so, so good. I loved the journey they went on together, how Ganon is trying so hard to keep Link at a distance in the beginning, and how that changed entirely in the end. The character and world building in this is just delicious. I love Link here so, so much. And, of course, Ganon as such a sad guilty man. He tries so hard. There's some really beautiful messaging throughout and I loved the way Hedge wove it through so consistently. What is not to love from the GanLink salesman himself? amid sand and stone we stood by Eremji (handsfullofdust) Rated: E Words: 30,086

Ten thousand years ago Hylia and the Warrior of Light raised an army to defeat Ganon. Link means to finish the job once and for all. The beast dies on the grassy plains, leaking ichor into the dirt. It stinks powerfully of death, as though the very end of all things has been distilled down into one being that’s been left to rot in this fallow field.

Ziv's Thoughts: This reads like a fairy tale. It reminds me of how I felt when I read Deathless by Cat Valente for the first time. Kind of like being transported to this other place sideways of here and misty and full of possibility. It’s just a wonderful journey, and the conclusion feels right and kind of ethereal. It fits very well with the general setting of the games, but almost gentler and yet the pain is more visceral at the same time. I love the strength of love in this, it’s just so much, so beautiful.

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one hundred years past 🔒 by tciddaemina Rated: E Words: 38,545

He wakes a blank slate, a living body in an empty tomb. Water laps at his skin, glowing ever so faintly, pooled around him on the dais, and as he opens his eyes it slowly begins to drain away, the blue glow fading from the room second by second until it is dim and dark. (Something is wrong.) Link wakes up a century early. It changes everything.

Ziv's Thoughts: I really enjoy this fic, and yes you do need an Ao3 account to read it. It's a fun adventure into what might happen if Link were to awaken in the desert somehow, barely any memory but he recognizes Ganondorf and eventually gets more and more memories back. It deals with a growing corruption, the building toward Ganon falling into evil. Good read. A note, if you're like me and dislike this trope, it is mentioned that Ganon has increased stamina as the Gerudo men were upon a time supposed to father a new generation. But it's a passing mention and not an actual thing in this story.

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signs of radiance 🔒 by tciddaemina Rated: E Words: 24,883

There is a feeling of profound calm, as Ganondorf steps into the temple. He should be feeling something like terror, maybe even something like anticipation, a mixed dread and desperate hope that would threaten to make his breath catch, make his hands curl tight at his sides. There's none of it. He takes one deep breath, and then another, slow, even, taking a slow step forward. He's past being hopeful, he's past being desperate, and the doom he's trying to avert is too ruinous a thing to make him fear any price he might have to pay. Weeks, months now, he's been searching for the entrance to this temple, scouring scrolls of rotting papyrus for even the hint of its existence, for the faintest chance it might even be real.

It is real, and he's found it.

Ganondorf makes a deal with a creature that might be a god, and then he does it again, and then again.

Ziv’s thoughts: In this story, Ganon knows that there is a curse upon his kingdom, and he can feel coming seemingly for him and he goes to seek out help. Link is Link, but also a creature, a godling, something more. The story actually doesn’t have much Link in it in terms of the action, this is a Ganondorf-centric story and it’s a good read. Again, tciddaemina’s fics are locked to users so just log in.

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Short Fic: (up to 20,000)

a kiss for luck by wouldyouknowmore Rated: M Words: 9,279

Vah Naboris is all that stands between Link and his final showdown with the Calamity, and at long last, he’s found a way into Gerudo Town. It just involves posing as his own great-something-granddaughter, the plucky little heroine intent on finishing what her ancestor, the fallen Hylian Champion, had started. And lucky for him, King Ganondorf believes it. Now he just has to survive his last Divine Beast, and he’s set. … Well. He supposes also has to survive the charming, attractive Gerudo king’s (very welcome) attentions without blowing his own cover, but surely he can manage that, too, right? (So, yeah. He’s fucked.)

Ziv’s Thoughts: Link’s voice in this is just a delight to read, he’s such a disaster but he’s trying his best — Ganon just has no qualms with making him flustered and playing up on an understandable misunderstanding. This one works with the idea of what if Breath of the Wild, but there’s a Ganondorf who is also King of the Gerudo while the calamity is raging? Though, it is much more about the character study/misunderstanding between him and Link.

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The Crown Jewel by Nicxan Rated: G Words: 5,028

A Gerudo that makes jewelry for a living is shocked when a Hylian man moves into a Gerudo Village.

Ziv's Thoughts: This is a really cute fic. It is not set in any particular timeline/game. Just an adorable story of a Link who finds his way to Gerudo town and Ganondorf falls for him, but through the eyes of a jewellery merchant in the city. It's a nice perspective.

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Let Me Hold You, Like a Hostage by hedgerowhag Rated: E Words: 12,071

It almost seems obligatory that the Princess must be kidnapped. It would be a shame if her decoy was captured instead.

Ziv's Thoughts: If you're looking for a fun, shorter, raunchy fic this one has you covered. It's another pre-calamity fic, and this time Link is taken hostage by the Gerudo under the mistaken impression he is the princess. They hold him to get information and, in the process, he ends up sleeping with Ganon a number of times and is an entire gremlin about it.

#ganlink fic #fic reclist #loz #long post #ganlink fic recs #reclists aren't really the best for tumblr but well!!#i've seen longer posts so whatever #formatting was a pain in the butt #i'm sorry if i'm missing any you really like #but i am serious just make a reblog and add it

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jmagnabo92 · 4 months

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GGSB Fest 2024 Day 1 - A Terrible Discovery

@goodgodfathersiriusblack

For Prompt 32 - Adventures

When Sirius returns from the veil after being in it for five minutes, everything changes. A conversation about adventures leads to a different end to the war.

AO3

***

Things had been rather chaotic in the last week since the DOM. Sirius had somehow managed to walk out of the veil unscathed and clearer than ever. He’d run after Harry (who believed he died and had gone after Bellatrix) and had gotten caught fighting her and Voldemort to protect Harry.

With the entire Ministry witnessing this and the way Harry had clung to him afterward, things had changed. Sirius had been cleared. Harry had only returned to school long enough to check on his friends and gather his things. They found a home in the wilderness, somewhere that had a lot of land and he had used every protection spell he knew (which was a lot since he could go through his father’s books, and he was a paranoid son of a bitch that never every protection spell known to man) on before move-in day.

Unfortunately, neither of them had much to move in with, and had to go shopping for basically everything.

Thus, Sirius had put off having a potentially difficult conversation for an entire week, but now that things are settled, he makes them both a cup of strong tea and takes it out to the back deck where they can sit and enjoy the freedom, they’ve both been craving.

“So… I, er, I know a lot has happened this week and in the last few years…”

“You’re not going to make me tell you my adventures, are you?” Harry asks, a slightly groan in his voice.

Sirius sighs. “The war is going to get a lot worse now that he’s out in the open. There’s no more getting away with things – everyone will know it’s him, so it’s better to talk them out now with whatever details there are so we can figure out how to end him for good.”

“I thought you said that the prophecy is hogwash, and I shouldn’t listen to what everyone’s saying.”

“And I mean that, a hundred percent,” Sirius assures him. “But he thinks it means something, and I want to protect you by ending him for you.”

Harry looks like he wants to fight him on it – say something about how he doesn’t want Sirius to risk his life for Harry, but he knows that Sirius is adamant that he takes care of Harry, not the other way around.

“And you think my adventures are the key to figuring out how to stop him?”

“I think you have been given information that you may not even realize could be vital to ending him and that’s why he keeps coming after you.”

Harry nods. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“So, will you tell me? About these adventures?”

Harry still hesitates. “If you promise not to go attacking everyone who ever hurt me ‘cause it’s a long list and…”

“I promise.”

“Alright, well, I guess I should tell you a bit about life before Hogwarts first…”

Sirius paid attention to every little detail, getting furious by certain treatments (and noting that Harry clearly wasn’t safe at the Dursleys), but noting specific mentions of his scar as he listens to Harry’s adventures because he knows that scar is important… he’s just not sure what is so special about it.

There were some things that Sirius thought were normal kid things – agreeing to a midnight duel and accidently coming across a three headed dog – that’s just Hogwarts. Crazy things happened in Hogwarts all the time… trolls though… that was new. Still, Harry survived, but then, his first quidditch match…

How had no one done anything to help aside from Snape? Why had Hagrid dismissed Harry’s concerns?

His questions continue as he listens. Things get worse – Harry choosing to help Hagrid and nearly getting killed because he was sent to the Forbidden Forest on his own at eleven. He worries about the centaurs’ prophecies. He doesn’t like that they’re right about war or their worries about interrupting what’s meant to be.

Still, despite being put through a bit of hell to the point of wanting to quit quidditch, the worst part is going to the professors and getting no help whatsoever and feeling like he has to handle it on his own. It makes him furious that eleven-year-old Harry felt like all of this was on his shoulders already.

As Harry goes through the tasks, he confesses that Dumbledore probably set him up, to test him. Let him face Voldemort on his own. It makes Sirius crush his cup of tea and they pause the story to get another cup.

Only knowing that he made it out alive had appeased Sirius into stopping him from going and confronting Dumbledore. The rest of the story was important. Voldemort had let Quirrell die, he couldn’t touch Harry, but Harry’s scar had a connection with Voldemort. He’d mentioned it before and it was obvious from this past year, but Sirius can’t help writing it down in his notes. He’s sure that there’s something he’s seen in his family’s books about the situation.

Still, Harry presses on. He goes into details about his second year that nearly has Sirius breaking his promise not to throttle anyone and risk getting sent back to prison.

It’s only Harry stating, “You got me away from them, don’t get me sent back,” that stops him.

He takes a deep breath and says, “I’m sorry. I just think you deserve better.”

“I know that now, but I – I have you now. Don’t ruin it.”

“I – I promise not to ruin it,” Sirius states, in fact, he has a calming potion somewhere. He summons it, causing Harry to give him a confused look. He downs it and then says, “Please go on.”

Harry gives him a look, but does begin speaking, again. He details some truly horrific things as the events of his second year unfold. Even with the calming drought, he absolutely wanted to strangle a few people, but he did know the gist – hints from stories of his adventures from his professors, and he manages to get to the chamber without breaking another cup. He’s sure that’s to do with the calming potion.

Harry attempts to gloss over the interaction with teenage Riddle, but Sirius stops him. “This is when you probably gained the most information. Teenage Riddle would’ve been more open less cautious about what he shared not that Voldemort’s any better when he thinks he’s won.”

Harry nods and details everything. The important bits included the possession being different than a normal possession, draining Ginny life force, and ending it by stabbing the book. That was telling.

Regular magic couldn’t end him, and he needed something extremely difficult to overcome (the only reason Harry’s still here is because Phoenix tears can do just that). It was something nearly indestructible that Sirius had an awful feeling he knows what it is, deep down, and he’s going to have a difficult time ending Voldemort with this information.

Still, Harry continues on, finishing the story and causing Sirius to be curious about the Malfoy of it all. Perhaps it’s time to get more information about them out of Kreacher.

Then Harry details some things about third and fourth year, most of which Sirius already knows. He pauses before the graveyard. “Do you want to hear it all, again?”

“It would be helpful, yes,” Sirius states. He offers his hand for Harry to squeeze. “Take your time, I’m right here.”

Harry nods, reassured. It’s slow going, detailing everything again, but Sirius pays closer attention this time. Particularly to Voldemort’s own speech and idea that he went further than anyone else to be immortal. It brings him back to the horrible book, the way that he was wraith, and the way his scar reacts to him… there’s something there, he’s sure of it.

Especially when Harry tells him about this year with the feelings and visions. There’s a connection there that has something niggling in the back of Sirius’ mind.

“… and that’s it really,” Harry says, after he explains about Voldemort’s failed possession of him. “I haven’t felt anything since.”

Sirius nods. Voldemort’s probably realized that if he can see into Harry’s world then Harry can see into his and it’s just as dangerous as it his beneficial. He’s more proficient in occlumency (and Sirius will be going after Snape for his behavior) and it makes it easier for him to block out Harry.

There’s a hefty pause before Harry asks, “Do you really think knowing will help you?”

“I think it already has. I’ve got some ideas for what’s really going on, but I need to look at some books.”

“Can I help? Please.”

He wants to say no, but he knows that if anyone deserves to be a part of this, it’s Harry. Especially since Dumbledore’s already stated his intention to start telling him things.

“Alright, kid, we can do this together.”

“Brilliant.”

***

It takes weeks of painstaking research and a rather unfortunate conversation with Kreacher (he really hates the elf now) before he has some basic ideas of what Voldemort’s been doing – horcruxes. Worse yet, more than one. Harry had already killed one – the diary. Regulus had stolen a second that Sirius was able to kill with magical death fire – Slytherin’s locket.

How many others were there?

Well, based on his conversation with Dumbledore, four. He had wanted to slowly parse out the memories he’d been gathering over the years ever since he believed how deep into the dark arts that Voldemort had gone, but Sirius wasn’t having any of it. It was a waste of time, and he wanted to end Voldemort as soon as possible.

Maybe Harry could have one normal year of school, finally.

Dumbledore relented and with Harry’s knowledge and discussions with the ghosts of Hogwarts, they were able to determine that Voldemort had a snake, Hufflepuff’s cup, Ravenclaw’s diadem, and the Gaunt ring. Dumbledore had already taken care of the ring. Which left three.

It hadn’t taken much prying – given the orders he could give to Kreacher, however unpleasant, to get the information about the cup being in Bellatrix’s vault. Bringing in Kingsley and Bill, they managed to get an order to obtain her vault and get ahold of it without breaking in. Sirius had the rights to do it since she was a convicted criminal. Technically, Narcissa or Andy (even disowned) could’ve done the same thing as a member of the Blacks, but luckily for him, they hadn’t.

Harry had been the one to suggest that Voldemort could’ve put the diadem in the room of requirement. Surely there was a room of hidden things that would make it seem plausible.

The room itself was beyond anything they had anticipated, but with the Order finally doing something, it was attacked with vigor.

It took a few weeks of searching, but finally, finally, they found it. On the bust of the worst headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen, but finally.

Sirius happily raised the Sword of Gryffindor and sliced it in half, watching as it screams and disappears.

One to go.

***

“We should just attack Malfoy Manor,” Sirius states. He’s surrounded by Order members and Aurors. The Head Auror looking quite like he can’t believe he’s taking orders from an ex-(innocent)-fugitive. “We know he and his snake –”

“Nagini,” Harry pipes up from beside him.

“Right, Nagini, are in there,” Sirius states. “We don’t know how aware he is of what we’ve done, but once he knows he will move, and it will be difficult to pin him down. We can’t let that happen. He could end up making more – unstable as his soul already is – and we would have no ideas.”

“He doesn’t seem to be aware when one is killed, only if someone tells him,” Harry states. “That’s why he knows about the diary.”

“Potter’s right,” Snape states, quite looking like he hates the words spilling from his mouth. “But we won’t have long before he does figure it out. He’s already suspicious and paranoid.”

“Let’s take the time, plan it right,” Moody states. “We’re only going to have one shot – we can’t screw this up.”

“Then, let’s plan.”

***

That evening after hours of planning, Sirius is summoned to Hogwarts. He’s not terribly happy about this, but with assurances that Harry (with Ron and Hermione relaxing for the night) will be okay, he goes.

“It’s been a long day, Albus,” Sirius states. “We’re very close to ending this and now that it’s in the Ministry’s hands…”

“It’s not, Sirius,” Dumbledore states. “Because there’s something I haven’t told you.”

“More?” Sirius asks. “I thought we agreed –”

“I couldn’t tell you in front of Harry.”

“Tell me what?”

“When Voldemort’s unstable soul split the night he attacked the Potters, one part became a wraith, while the other part went into Harry’s scar, that’s why it acts the same way some of the horcruxes. Giving him visions and feelings of Voldemort’s – why they’re so connected.”

Sirius takes a deep breath. He’d known this for a while. It was the only thing that made sense and it was why he’d been working with a healer out of the country to find a way to remove it before the final raid.

“I know.”

“So, you know that he must die?”

“No!” Sirius nearly yells. “He doesn’t have to die, what – you – are you serious? All this time, you planned for him to die?”

“He should survive, if he walks to his death willingly,” Dumbledore states. “When Voldemort took his blood –”

“That was two years ago,” Sirius states. “Which means, before that, you thought – you figured… how could you?”

“There weren’t any other options –”

“Yes, there are! I’ve been working with a healer, Dumbledore. One who figured out a way to remove his scar – he doesn’t have to die,” Sirius states. “How could you think that keeping him alive all of this time just to have him die at the right moment was okay?”

“I assumed it was necessary because of the prophecy,” Dumbledore states, somewhat ashamed. “I thought intervening would prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled.”

“Not all prophecies are fulfilled. Some aren’t meant to be, and you could have saved Harry a lot of trouble had you done the right thing with regards to this situation… instead…”

Sirius doesn’t wait for a response. Instead, he storms over to the fireplace.

“It’s a good thing that he has me to actually look for a solution and find one. Planning his death, I can’t believe you.”

Without another word, he’s back home and his terrible mood is obvious to the kids, but he waves them off. “Enjoy your night.”

“Thanks, Sirius.”

***

In the morning, Harry sits across from him with tea and a grim smile. “He knew?”

“He did, I’m sorry, kid,” Sirius states. “Although he believed you would survive because he took your blood if you let him kill you, that only became a thing after the graveyard…”

“Wow,” Harry says, softly. “I suppose that I should’ve known somehow…”

“No, no. You believed in him just like everyone else. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Sirius assures him. “I think he just… doesn’t always look for other answers. The important thing is that we’re getting rid of the scar and by the end of the week, he’ll be gone, too.”

“That does sound pretty great. You’ll stay with me?”

“Always.”

***

The procedure goes well, and on Friday Morning the Daily Prophet has this headline:

You-Know-Who Defeated: The Chosen One’s Innocent Godfather For The Win!

Sirius doesn’t care for the attention on either he or Harry. All he cares about is Harry’s grin as he sits across from him at the table.

“Think this means I’ll finally have a normal year?” Harry asks, hopefully.

“I think this best chance you’ll get to have one,” Sirius offers. “Thank you for having the difficult conversation at the start of the summer. Now, you’ll be able to go back to school and not worry about anymore adventures.”

Harry smiles. “Thank you for everything, Sirius. This means more to me than I could ever explain.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Kid. I’m always here for you, always.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Good.”

#sirius black #harry james potter #sirius and harry saturday #good godfather sirius black #Good godfather Sirius Black Fest 2024

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atopvisenyashill · 2 months

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Hello! I have a question and I hoped that you might help me. I’ve seen a lot of posts in the asoiaf tag where people claimed that GRRM is criticising feudalism. My problem is that I don’t understand why would he? Feudalism isn’t a system that actively exists anymore. It’s not like criticising capitalism or totalitarianism which still exist. And it’s a fantasy series and most fantasy series have a somewhat medieval setting. It doesn’t make sense to me.

oo fun question anon.

well, first off, i would say he’s not just critiquing fuedalism. he’s also critiquing monarchies, which unfortunately still exist, and power structures in general, which definitely still exist. for example, that famous broken man section, sorry for length but the whole thing is good:

“Ser? My lady?” said Podrick. “Is a broken man an outlaw?” “More or less,” Brienne answered. Septon Meribald disagreed. “More less than more. There are many sorts of outlaws, just as there are many sorts of birds. A sandpiper and a sea eagle both have wings, but they are not the same. The singers love to sing of good men forced to go outside the law to fight some wicked lord, but most outlaws are more like this ravening Hound than they are the lightning lord. They are evil men, driven by greed, soured by malice, despising the gods and caring only for themselves. Broken men are more deserving of our pity, though they may be just as dangerous. Almost all are common-born, simple folk who had never been more than a mile from the house where they were born until the day some lord came round to take them off to war. Poorly shod and poorly clad, they march away beneath his banners, ofttimes with no better arms than a sickle or a sharpened hoe, or a maul they made themselves by lashing a stone to a stick with strips of hide. Brothers march with brothers, sons with fathers, friends with friends. They’ve heard the songs and stories, so they go off with eager hearts, dreaming of the wonders they will see, of the wealth and glory they will win. War seems a fine adventure, the greatest most of them will ever know. "Then they get a taste of battle. For some, that one taste is enough to break them. Others go on for years, until they lose count of all the battles they have fought in, but even a man who has survived a hundred fights can break in his hundred-and-first. Brothers watch their brothers die, fathers lose their sons, friends see their friends trying to hold their entrails in after they’ve been gutted by an axe. “They see the lord who led them there cut down, and some other lord shouts that they are his now. They take a wound, and when that’s still half-healed they take another. There is never enough to eat, their shoes fall to pieces from the marching, their clothes are torn and rotting, and half of them are shitting in their breeches from drinking bad water. “If they want new boots or a warmer cloak or maybe a rusted iron halfhelm, they need to take them from a corpse, and before long they are stealing from the living too, from the smallfolk whose lands they’re fighting in, men very like the men they used to be. They slaughter their sheep and steal their chickens, and from there it’s just a short step to carrying off their daughters too. And one day they look around and realize all their friends and kin are gone, that they are fighting beside strangers beneath a banner that they hardly recognize. They don’t know where they are or how to get back home and the lord they’re fighting for does not know their names, yet here he comes, shouting for them to form up, to make a line with their spears and scythes and sharpened hoes, to stand their ground. And the knights come down on them, faceless men clad all in steel, and the iron thunder of their charge seems to fill the world… "And the man break. “He turns and runs, or crawls off afterward over the corpses of the slain, or steals away in the black of night, and he finds someplace to hide. All thought of home is gone by then, and kings and lords and gods mean less to him than a haunch of spoiled meat that will let him live another day, or a skin of bad wine that might drown his fear for a few hours. The broken man lives from day to day, from meal to meal, more beast than man. Lady Brienne is not wrong. In times like these, the traveler must beware of broken men, and fear them…but he should pity them as well.”

When Meribald was finished a profound silence fell upon their little band. Brienne could hear the wind rustling through a clump of pussywillows, and farther off the faint cry of a loon. She could hear Dog panting softly as he loped along beside the septon and his donkey, tongue lolling from his mouth. The quiet stretched and stretched, until finally she said, “How old were you when they marched you off to war?” “Why, no older than your boy,” Meribald replied. “Too young for such, in truth, but my brothers were all going, and I would not be left behind. Willam said I could be his squire, though Will was no knight, only a potboy armed with a kitchen knife he’d stolen from the inn. He died upon the Stepstones, and never struck a blow. It was fever did for him, and for my brother Robin. Owen died from a mace that split his head apart, and his friend Jon Pox was hanged for rape.” “The War of the Ninepenny Kings?” asked Hyle Hunt. “So they called it, though I never saw a king, nor earned a penny. It was a war, though. That it was.”

Bolded parts mine! All of it, but especially the bolded parts can apply just as easily to soldiers in the war of the five kings, the war of the roses, world war 2, vietnam, and every war in between. Think about the way military recruiters show up to high schools with cool gadgets and the promise of free college, and the way Meribald talks about the lords showing up pressing young boys into service. Think about the fact that the British military executed three hundred and six soldiers suffering from PTSD after WWI for "cowardice" and the starving soldiers Meribald talks about abandoning their armies just for an extra mouthful of food. when meribald talks about the soldiers looting from peasants, think about the fact that the innocent people in gaza are starving to death while a handful of miles away, there are restaurants booming and food enough to throw away. War is war, regardless of whether it's being waged a thousand years ago or a thousand years from now.

it's important when discussing asoiaf to remember that george is often holding a mirror up against our own society - he is saying that this, the violent patriarchy of westeros, is our natural endpoint if we continue to treat each other the way we do. it's about taking these typical tropes and roles and archetypes and asking what they are really like, how hard they really are, how awful they really are, and if this is the life we want to befall our own children. it is about asking if we, as in the reader, are capable of breaking the cycle of violence as surely as it is about asking if the characters can break that cycle too. There's a reason, for example, Ramsay's story is so tied up in domestic violence, or why Robert's character focuses much more on the way he has failed his family than anything else. There's a reason there's so many sibling groups (Martells, Daynes, Starks, Lannisters, Tullys, Baratheons) that get wrecked by the Rebellion and that the series tracks the way this wreckage seeps out into the realm. Yes, asoiaf is about feudalism but it is about us as well.

second, while feudalism doesn’t technically exist any more, the relics of feudalism still haunt the world; from hereditary noble titles to literal monarchs with absolute power to extreme barriers to social mobility and even serfs. you'll see a lot of academics, especially since the pandemic started, talking about "neo-feudalism" and the idea that just like the middle ages was shaped by pandemics that ravaged populations and made it easier for upper classes to get richer and stop social mobility, the pandemic has enriched the richest people in the world and made everyone else exceedingly poor. while george obviously wasn't writing about the neo feudalism people are talking about today, this is a concept that's been kicking around since the 1980s so I think it is likely that George had done some research into the relics of feudalism and the criticism of modern governments working like corporations. Because this history may seem a long time ago - the war of the roses ended over a thousand years ago, after all - but feudalism and it's relics are still very much within living memory. Russia still had serfs until the 1860s, Bosnia and Herzegovina up until 1918, and Bhutan until the 1950s! There are also still countries all over the world that still have what is basically legalized slavery, whether it's workers stolen from one country and trafficked to another, a minority group that is used as slave labor, or prison labor. I think George is also knocking at the remnants of it as well. I mean, the UK monarchs aren't even that powerful in the grand scheme of things and yet every time they have one of their lil events, they destroy tent cities and mass displace the unhoused populations of London because like, homeless people are gross instead of actually doing anything to help those people. Diana was a teenager when she married Charles. Yeah, that's a far cry from like, poor Rhaella but that doesn't mean it's not still a fucked up institution that is worth taking aim at!

but thirdly!! feudalism exists in fiction constantly still - as you said, a lot of high fantasy has a medieval-ish bent (even books pulling from non western cultures or authors from non western cultures still tend to pull more from history that falls pre-1500s; this is mostly just my opinion as a librarian and fantasy reader, but it's really only been the last decade or so that fantasy has branched out into non medieval time periods like with stuff like babel, six of crows, some of katherine arden's stuff, etc). the divine right of kings is still alive and thriving in fiction and (again, this is my amatuer opinion here) I do think at least part of this is because a lot of american fantasy writers have never lived under a monarchy, so the bad affects of it are far off and easier to romanticize. as well, you get a lot of "times were simpler" PoVs from non americans who have lived under some sort of monarch as well. and that’s why i believe he’s criticizing it - he’s critiquing the genre itself for its romanticization of feudalism, monarchies, kings and queens, and the idea of the divine right of kings. he's saying "look realistically this shit sucked for everyone" and then rubbing your face in how bleak the feudal system actually was. It's the aragorn's tax policies aspect - there is more to being a leader than a watery tart throwing a sword at you!! it's jaime's entire riverlands arc - house lannister won the war on a technicality, and yet the horror, the desolation, the despair are still fresh in the minds of the common people, in the minds of the people who lost their loved ones.

#asks #anons #grrm #rani attempts meta #getting on my soap box

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mariacallous · 2 months

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Since February 24, 2022, no country has donated a larger share of its GDP to the Ukrainian war effort than Estonia has. Given the tiny Baltic state’s Soviet-era experience of life under Moscow’s domination, that level of generosity is not difficult to understand. The Insider recently traveled with two high-level Estonian officials on a tour of the front in Ukraine. The experience underscored just how deeply Russia’s other neighbors understand that the failure to properly arm Ukraine is already placing the European Union’s security in jeopardy.

“If all countries did what Estonia was doing, we’d be in Moscow by now,” Mikhail, the commander of a Ukrainian infantry unit currently deployed in Robotyne, told The Insider, only half joking. We’re meeting Mikhail at an undisclosed location to the north of his unit’s positions, roughly 20 kilometers behind the frontline.

It’s one of the last stops on a three-day tour of the front, with The Insider joining Estonia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Annely Kolk, and Marko Mihkelson, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament. The trip coincides with what one Ukrainian officer described as the “toughest fighting since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.” As we saw and heard for ourselves, Ukrainian forces are suffering acute ammunition shortages while attempting to hold off an enemy that is stubbornly determined to advance, regardless of the human cost.

The trip has been arranged by a Ukrainian-Estonian group of volunteers, who run the “One Team, One Fight Foundation.'' They’ve been delivering non-lethal military aid to Ukrainian soldiers across the country for nearly two years. The foundation’s director, Dmitro Drey is an affable Ukrainian originally from Luhansk who speaks the heavily accented Russian common for a native of the Donbas region; its co-founder is Harri, an Estonian ex-soldier. Both men have traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers across Ukraine delivering desperately needed military equipment to frontline units.

Most foreign dignitaries, understandably, will never come as close to the fighting as Drey and Harri do. Many of them would never leave Kyiv or Lviv to travel incognito in inconspicuous, unarmoured vehicles without a security escort. But for both Kolk and Mihkelson, the importance of speaking to Ukrainian troops in person — to get a firsthand understanding of the war — outweighs the not inconsiderable risk. For long periods of time, we were well within Russian artillery range, and the sound of incoming shelling was a disconcerting constant.

For Mihkelson, a reserve officer in the Estonian armed forces, speaking directly to Ukrainian soldiers enables him to better understand the situation on the battlefield, enabling him to be a more effective advocate for the increased provision of Western aid. For Kolk, trips like this one are part of her diplomatic mission. “I’m ambassador to all of Ukraine, not just the capital,” she says. “Sitting in Kyiv gives you an unrepresentative picture of this war.”

And the ambassador is right. Unlike last winter, this year Kyiv has experienced no blackouts and no loss of water supply. The atmosphere on the streets remains relatively calm. If it weren’t for the air attacks — which rarely penetrate the excellent Western-supplied air defense network guarding Ukraine’s largest city — a visitor could be forgiven for forgetting that Kyiv is the capital of a country fighting for its survival.

It’s different in Druzhkovka, 20 kilometers from the battle. Here the sound of artillery is constant, and yet, as in Kyiv, people continue to go about their lives the best they can under the circumstances. A mother and her child walk in a nearby park, while city maintenance workers prune trees. It is a surreal picture. Military aid is distributed to soldiers that have recently come back from their positions in nearby Chasiv Yar, and Kolk and Mihkelson get to hear about the situation in the trenches.

The situation is bleak. Nearly every unit we speak to says that Ukrainian troops are outmanned and outgunned, facing extreme ammunition shortages as they attempt to hold the line against an enemy with an almost suicidal determination to advance.

It’s not difficult to make the direct connection between broken Western promises and the current difficulties on the front line. According to Mihkelson, a lack of Western strategic vision is also to blame. “There’s no clear understanding of how this war should end in Washington or Berlin,” he argues. “We rarely hear that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield.” The constant slow-walking and incremental provision of aid, particularly from the United States, clearly frustrates him. “Why don’t they send some of their own F-16s? They have so many!” Mihkelson says, referring to the American decision not to supply their own fighter jets to Ukraine, instead relying on European allies such as Norway, Denmark, and The Netherlands. “Or the ATACMS missiles that are just sitting in warehouses waiting to be decommissioned.”

The limitations and conditions under which the West has supplied weapons to Ukraine also come in for criticism. In Mihkelson’s words, demands that Kyiv refrain from using Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia’s internationally recognized borders is akin to asking Ukraine to “fight this war with both hands behind their backs.” It is an opinion commonly shared amongst the Ukrainian troops we spoke to.

As infantry commander Mikhail noted near Robotyne, Estonia’s commitment to the Ukrainian cause stands out. The Baltic country of less than 1.5 million has donated a staggering 3.6% of its GDP in bilateral aid to Ukraine since January 24, 2022, easily the most generous country by this metric (for comparison, the United States has donated 0.32%). “We know this war is existential,” Kolk tells The Insider, explaining Estonia’s high level of support. It is an understanding that permeates every level of the Estonian government. Given the country’s direct experience of Russian imperialism, there is a widespread belief in Tallinn that if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, Estonia could very well be his next target.

The same is true for Estonia’s neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, both of which have also donated significant amounts of military support to Ukraine while imploring their European and NATO allies to take the threat of further Russian aggression more seriously. For years, the NATO strategy for defending the Baltic states followed the “tripwire” approach — having small numbers of international troops forward deployed to the alliance’s eastern flank not in order to successfully defend against an invasion, but to ensure that any Russian incursion would risk inflicting casualties on British and American active duty personnel, thus bringing the full force of those two military powers into the conflict. But of course, in the event of an actual Russian invasion, the arrival of help from points further west could not have come immediately. “The ‘tripwire’ policy would have left our country occupied by Russian forces,” Mihkelson explains.

The experience of Ukraine under Russian occupation, along with the effectiveness with which Russia has used threats of nuclear “escalation” to delay Western aid deliveries — from the United States and Germany in particular, Mihkelson notes — have led the Baltic States to begin constructing a defensive line of bunkers and fortifications along their countries’ borders with Russia. The importance of Russia not being allowed to quickly take territory, illegally annex it, and then hide behind a nuclear shield is now well understood. Questions of whether an American President would risk nuclear retaliation to support a European NATO ally date back to the Cold War, and the defensive line currently under construction is an attempt to prevent that question from ever having to be answered.

Both Kolk and Mihkelson express frustration at how long it has taken some of Estonia’s allies to appreciate the danger Russia presents to its neighbors. “The West has massively underestimated the threat Russia poses, at all levels,” Kolk argues, paying particular attention to the Kremlin’s information warfare operations. “Here in the Baltics we’ve seen it for years. Russia tries to claim Russian speakers are ‘oppressed’ in our countries, but the truth is Russians living in Estonia have more rights than Russians living in Russia.”

Mihkelson highlights the pattern of Western passivity towards Russia that, in his estimation, led to the current full-scale war in Ukraine. “There seems to be little understanding in many Western capitals that Russia is fundamentally attempting to overturn the current world order,” he says. “This is not only about Ukraine,” he adds, drawing lessons from recent history. “We’ve seen continued weakness in the West’s response to Russia, from the invasion of Georgia, to Obama’s ‘red line’ in response to chemical weapons attacks in Syria. That was clearly a moment when Putin detected weakness.” He notes that, when confronted, Russia has almost always backed down. “We’ve seen so many ‘red lines’ Russia themselves have set down, and then backed away from, when they’ve been crossed,” Mihkelson says.

Towards the end of our tour of the frontline, we arrive at a position close to the town of Orikhiv, north of the highly contested settlement of Robotyne. As we pull up, an M142 HIMARS rolls out towards its firing position. In a testament to the ammunition shortage, only one of its six launch tubes is loaded with a GMLRS rocket. Several groups of Ukrainian soldiers arrive at the meeting point simultaneously. Two young servicemen who hadn’t seen each other for months hug upon realizing that the other is still alive.

Kolk clearly finds the experience emotional. “At that moment I felt I couldn’t hold back tears anymore. My own son is 21,” she says. “I cannot imagine him greeting his friends in such a way.” Except if Estonia’s continuing support for Ukraine demonstrates anything, it is that Kolk, Mihkelson, and hundreds of thousands of other Estonians can all too well imagine that, if Ukraine does not receive the military aid it needs, then the ambassador’s son really could be greeting his friends in exactly the same way in the not-too-distant future.

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alarrytale · 4 months

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“They refuse to break up though, they'd both be miserable and all they've fought for over these years would be for nothing.“

A couple days ago there was a discussion at Gina’s asking her opinion about their relationship and she said something like even she doesn’t know if they are still together, she believes they are and would be sad if they manage to break up after everything they’ve been through. And it make me think and came up with some theories. First of all, I’m optimistic in the believe that after all they’ve been going through and how 1dhq/sony/syco whatever tried to tear them apart but they made it (literally like Louis is singing haha) what would be a point of those fights, surviving multiple stunts/beards and inventing such a way of communication like were rainbow bears if at the end of the day they call it quit after some sort of disagreement? I believe being on this long relationship you just rather find compromises and solutions and work for your relationship than just throw the towel into the ring and give up. And another reason, from learning a bit from local gay community (my close friend is gay), I believe when you find your perfect match, you just work for your relationship because it’s also possible you won’t find your soulmate in years and maybe never again because a) it’s still a minor community, b) let’s be honest, they are very promiscuous and I just see how hard is to find a serious relationship for my friend. And if I’m not wrong, most of famous openly gay men are in long term relationships because (i believe that since they) once found their soulmate, they just lock it up than date for a year f.e., break up and move to another relationship. That’s my theory I made after thinking about them and how they are just perfect for each other literally getting it all serious while still being teenagers. What are yours, Marte?

Hi, anon!

I've said this a million times before, but it bears repeating. If they'd broken up we'd know. Not just a hunch, not just a feeling or a notion, but we'd know for sure. I've talked about the signs before of a break up between them so i'm not going to repeat myself.

I agree with some of your points (without perpetuating stereotypes about the queer community). I agree that gays have a more difficult time finding life long partners and that they face more scrutiny, and it's more challenging for them to maintain a relationship. So if you've found the one, the love of your life, the one that just gets you, the one that makes life easier and your days brighter, the one you call first when you're happy or sad, and you have made it though challenges, made it though good times and bad, funerals and births, and think you can deal with everything that comes your way as long as you stick together, then you fucking fight for that relationship. In H and L's case they've faced so much pressure to break up. Their careers would be a hundred times less stressful and difficult if they just broke up. But they refuse to. Not only because they love each other, but because they shouldn't have to break up in order to have a career in music. They have faith in themselves and the world. They would be accepted and so loved if they were allowed to be out. So they stick together and continues their career, despite the attempts to break them up and break them down.

We're the greatest

It's you and me until the end

Life for us is never over

#larry genuinely happy #boyband politics #this turned sappy #i'm not like that at all lol

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joyfuladorable · 6 months

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⭐️ any section of I'll Be Okay! that you're itching to speak on, i am all ears, ears for days.

Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

*twirls you around!!* HANNAHHH!!! 💜💜

Oh, man, so, as I made sure to point out in the Author’s Notes, this fic was inspired by This Art by my Buddy soggytommy on twt:

My writer brain was active at the time so I sat down and wrote a couple hundred words and DMed my buddy the wip, to which they responded by giving me more context about the scene: fighting the PDs, Leo accidentally blows something up, Mikey suffers the consequences.

So, the actual bts is that I Had been considering making this full angst with comfort at the end, but y’know!! I’m a sucker for levity during serious situations (which is probably why Mikey’s my fave, lol), so I tried to strike a balance there with Mikey kinda breaking the tension at multiple points, even with himself during the immediate aftermath of the explosion.

Also, I enjoy echoing/calling back to lines in my fics! The most obvious recurring one in this fic is the theme of Promises (Mikey promising he’ll be okay, Leo promising to tell him the end of the book, Mikey promising to tell someone immediately next time he gets badly injured). Don and Leo both tell each other at different points that they’ve done Enough. In Mikey’s POV, there’s Orders, with Mikey immediately following Leo’s command to Run and then later listening when he tells him to sleep. There’s also the Donnie SAINW trauma I slipped in, with both Leo and Mikey noticing he doesn’t react well upon seeing Mikey with arm injuries. Probably a few more but these are the clearest ones off the top of my head, lol!

Oh, and here are some of my favorite lines:

- “Aw, du’...” Mikey glares up at him. “Cli’ ‘angr.” << *points at my bestie* turtle who wants immediate gratification instead of suspense and probably loves to binge stories in one sitting

- A bookmark sticks out of it, tasseled with yarn and made up of layered and colorful construction paper and filled with childhood memories. A frail thing (a treasured gift) that has somehow survived all these years and unintentional moves. << *points again* baby Mikey made that :3

- The stabby thing needs to stay in his arm or else he’s off to join the Big Turtle in the Sky. << Personally the funniest joke I had Mikey think to himself next to the This Mission Blows line

- I know it’s Bad, he tells his brain as the pain whites out his vision. Stop yelling at me. I know. << *Mario falling in lava owowowow noise* if I ever actually draw this scene I apologize in advance

- Leo being up meant that they could stay up late, so Donnie would tinker or read and Raph would hog the Gameboy so Mikey would be resigned to reading comics. Sometimes, he’d slip under Leo’s blanket tent and try to read with him, asking him questions about the heroes and the villains and the story. << I wrote this Because of your (yes, You, Hannah) comment on Ch1 which made me think about Leo reading to his bros. Also, I totally drew a thing inspired by this because it’s The Most Precious Thing

- “Nope!” Mikey forces a leg to kick out of his blanket, missing Leo by a mile but sending the message loud and clear. “Y’know what? No blame game! No one wins in the blame game.” << *points for one last time* things I’ve actually done as a kid tucked in bed and a sibling says something stupid so I kicked out to let them know so

- And, he finally gets a hug from his dad, a carefully gentle thing from Splinter that he soaks in like the rays of the sun. << Actual Favorite Line that I will feel proud of til the end of time and also maybe draw at some point cuz Splinter Hug

#sea answers #sea rambles #YAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!#thanks again Hannah!!!

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ab0minationn · 2 years

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thought this up trying to avoid having to study but - au where akari and ingo are both dumped into the icelands, and are found by lady sneasler and are brought to pearl clan. they’re both amnesiacs, and are seemingly unafraid of wild pokémon???? when it comes time for lady sneasler to choose her warden, she chooses both of them. irida tried to get her to pick one, but she refuses. and, well, what a noble pokémon wants is what they’ll get.

akari still has her mission of catching all pokémon, however it’s a little easier as ingo is able to help her a lot more - it’s much easier for them to switch off catching duties since there’s always someone to stay with their noble. they also meet the professor on a trip to jubilife for supplies, and team up with him in the dex as it’s mutually beneficial for both sides.

both ingo and akari work together to quell the nobles, with diamond clan allowing them to help their own nobles after seeing how well they handled kleavor’s frenzy. kamado is still sus of them, but seeing as they’re not galaxy team members, he cant do much initially. they’re also on good terms with rei and cyllene, as they’ve each encountered rei frequently on their own survey trips, and cyllene makes it known their contributions are appreciated even if they aren’t part of her team.

when the red sky breaks out, they aren’t exiled, however kamado does order all survey corps members to attack the two - unless they’re anywhere near lady sneasler’s home. they don’t have death wishes, after all. the initial story ends as it does in the game, with the exception of both ingo and akari quelling the legendaries, and working together on the trials that the lake guardians set. however, they do only visit jubilife when absolutely necessary after that, choosing to give laventon their notes and pokémon out in the field when possible - they would rather be as far from kamado and beni as possible, thanks.

akari is still the main person to battle volo, however ingo steps in after giratina’s second form gets revealed, as akari’s pokémon are absolutely exhausted at that point. volo throws a bit of a hissy fit, but they just give him A Look and he drops it relatively quickly. when they finally reach arceus, the god does remark on how he hadn’t expected them to become a single unit throughout their time, but allows them to fight them together, as they had done with all the other nobles.

they are given a month or so to get things in order and say goodbye after this, and a small party is thrown for them. lady sneasler presents one of her kits to become the new lord sneasler, and those wardens will be going nowhere without her (and the clutch of eggs hidden in her basket, but they don’t know about that quite yet)

they are both dropped in unova, with emmet and ingo able to reunite. akari is dawn in this au, and so returns to sinnoh after a week or two, however she is back within a month after that. she (and, unbeknownst to her, ingo) was having extreme trouble sleeping, panic attacks, and was generally still in the panicked survival mode that she had been in hisui. her mom wasn’t extremely happy, however there’s approximately one (1) other person alive who knows what her kid’s been through, and so allows her to return. it’s a slow process, but they are eventually able to heal, as their proximity means that the stress from being separated after basically attached at the hip for years in hisui is able to be calmed (it also gives akari a new respect for emmet - she was sure he had felt what she did only a hundred times worse when ingo left)

anyways this was j some random thoughts i had while studying earlier, and it’s now time to return to studying sadly

#pokémon legends arceus #ingo #emmet #ingo and emmet #akari #akari and ingo #uncle ingo #dad ingo #uncle emmet #idk if i’ll actually do anything with this au #just thought it up and thought it was interesting to throw out into the void #i would call it the twin warden au but that’s the name of a really amazing fic already #so i’m at a loss lol

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pdaliceliveblogs · 1 year

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So that was a damn lie.

ANYWAY

Everything is in place for the final stretch now. Most of the Boiling Isles are out of commission. Lilith, Eda, and King have been quietly surviving and planning. Belos has squirmed his way into Raine’s body and making trouble. The kids plus Camila are in the Skull, right below the Collector’s palace.

And the Collector is about to throw one hell of a tantrum.

So much of this episode was very… Lord of the Flies. Kids without supervision, I mean, but then also with bad supervision. At Hexside, the sole present adult (though she was shamming as a student) manipulated her way into being the power behind the throne, using Boscha’s preexisting selfishness and violence and encouraging the worst in her, playing on her genuine fear and grief for her puppeteered teammates, helping her be her worst self. The rest of the kids, though, for the most part were just trying to survive. Fucking around selling tee shirts, making a damn statue of their principal. They’re not competent, they’re kids, but they’re trying. I liked that Matt got to step up while remaining an absolute dweeb. He can be both a decent leader and a dorkass who draws stubble on with a marker (to be more like his missing big brother).

Meanwhile, the Collector… the only adult they’ve had around for hundreds of years is Belos, who never really treated them like a child, but like a resource. On their own, now— or even with Odalia around, because she isn’t interested in being a guardian either— they’re off the rails. Like the kids at Hexside, like Boscha, he’s flailing, trying to be a kid, trying to have a good time, but because of how powerful he is he’s doing a lot more damage than Boscha just being a shitty student council president.

He’s caused real, lasting harm. He didn’t mean to. He still did. Both of these things are true. I love him. That’s very true.

I’m sad that we had that moment of “perfectly eavesdropping on just the bit that will make things sound bad”; that’s a kind of contrived coincidence that annoys me. They were really tight on time, I know, but sigh. It’s not enough to override how good the rest of the episode is, but sigh.

I’m terrified for Raine. I know several times now we’ve expected them to come out of something hideously scarred and traumatized and they’ve sidestepped, but I feel like their narrative luck is running out. I don’t think the show would kill them off (KNOCK WOOD) but I do think they’re not coming out of this unscathed.

Trivial things— I still love the idea of Lily and Eda sharing an arm, tossing it back and forth when somebody needs two hands for something. I’m sad about their hair getting cut off, but at least in Eda’s case it makes sense; I was brushing out my hair like a day after watching the ep and noticed how much I was using both hands and was like “…oh”.

Stringbean is precious and I adore her. Alador is still unaccounted for, and the concept art that showed Kiki wearing his goggles makes me very worried for him. Steve is also missing, and if he gets to actually hang out with his little bro on camera I will be so happy. I need, need the Coven Heads to wake up. Especially Darius. Yeah, I know, I’m predictable, but goop man really grew on me and I want to see him complain about the playskool-ass outfit the Collector put him in.

I am overly amused by the idea of Eda seeing Raine up and about, tackle-hugging and kissing them, and Belos just YEETING himself out of their body like EEW WITCH TONGUE

Camila is going to be vital. I do think she’s going to be the one to really get through to the Collector. Old-school Trekker and the star child.

I’d love to see the kids reunite with their parents, I’d love to see Hunter get to attend Hexside, I’d love to see Raine and Eda actually talk about things, any and all Lilith Presence we get will delight me.

I’m a little terrified that it’s going to be over so soon.

It’s gonna be great, though.

#owl house #the owl house #owl house liveblog #owlblog #pdaliceblogs #owl 302 #episode wrapup

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owlbearwrites · 7 months

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Rowan worldbuilding? I'm not sure what question to ask, but I love me some worldbuilding. In one of your other asks answered you mentioned different societies plus different factions, so maybe do you have specifics in mind there?

Thank you for the ask!

When I think of the different factions in the Rowanverse, I think of an alignment grid not unlike D&D, with the axes being Level of Organization and Attitude to Technology. (Note that it's not a like-for-like substitution, and being pro-tech or tech-skeptical has no correlation with the goodness or evilness of any group; there are good guys and assholes in both.)

The Agency is a collective that had grown out of the remnants of pre-apocalypse NASA and denizens of the moon colony who got stranded there when life on Earth went sideways. Considering that advanced science and technology was absolutely instrumental in their survival when they were cut off, it is now paramount to the small society that had formed from the original engineers, astronauts and moon colonists. They’ve done very well for themselves in the past two hundred years, especially after making great strides in robotics, creating increasingly advanced machines to fill in for humans in more hazardous jobs. Some say they may have even created true AI, and can make androids virtually indistinguishable from humans. The Agency’s biggest problem, however, is that they are still stuck on the freaking moon, and the various risks that come with that isolation. Their greatest, yet unfulfilled ambition, is to re-establish a two-way link between the moon and the earth. The network of space elevators went out of commission during the first few decades post-apocalypse, and every attempt to land a spacecraft has failed. (The android survivors of those failed missions have been stranded on earth.)

The Technocrats is a catch-all term for a loose faction of groups united by an ethos of respect, awe and fear of technology. They are acutely aware of the power of advanced technology, and wish to both preserve it and stop it from falling into the wrong hands… which, as far as they’re concerned, are the hands of anyone but them. They believe that unrestrained proliferation of advanced technology was one of the reasons for the apocalypse, and see their mission as preventing it from happening again. As in any doctrine, there are moderates and radicals. Moderates are invested in salvaging, preserving and studying as much of pre-apocalypse technology as possible, and then carefully and discriminately using some of its less destructive elements for the betterment of life on Earth. Meanwhile, radicals strive for maximum isolation (*coughhoardingcough*) of advanced tech until such times as the rest of the human species is mature enough to use any of it (citing the apocalypse as proof that the last time, they clearly weren’t). Most Technocrats harbor a deep hatred for sentient androids, viewing them as an aberration and the result of humans trying to play God. Some of the most radical members of the Technocrats are calling for the destruction of the Agency, being the creator of the aforementioned aberrations, but the whole ‘having to get to the moon first’ problem keeps getting in the way.

The Neighborhood Watch are just trying to keep people alive, really. Theirs is a faction that had grown out of various volunteers and first responders in the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse, and carried on with an ethos of mutual aid, or as much of it as was possible during the continued unprecedented times. There are multiple settlements up and down the former US East Coast that are loosely aligned with the Neighborhood Watch principles of ‘try to help out, don’t be a dick’, and rely on each other for trade and support (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t). They don’t shun technology as such, but they’ve learned over the years that salvaging and repurposing anything high-tech will invariably draw the Technocrats’ attention and result in said technology getting seized, with violence if necessary. It’s not unusual for Neighborhood Watch aligned settlements to have an informal agreement with local Technocrat groups to hand over any advanced tech in exchange for protection from marauding gangs.

There are obviously people and settlements that fall outside the grid, with their own ideas and their own problems. But these three are the main factions and creeds I've got so far.

(P.S. The Fallout crowd out there can easily spot the inspirations behind each of these.)

#fate is just the half of it #wip wednesday #wip wednesday game #writeblr #writers on tumblr #science fiction #post apocalyptic #worldbuilding #scifi #writing community #w

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fullofpossibilities · 2 years

Text

NEW IDEA

OK SO I have a theory on why Pariah Dark was only sealed away instead of killed, and no it’s not because he was too powerful too kill, and no it wasn’t because Danny is too merciful (although that last part be true).

It’s the same reason other ghosts are never said to die in their ghost form, they can’t.

Ghosts literally are the dead, there is nothing after this, they are already in their afterlives. Get a life-threatening wound? They’ve got no life to threaten. Chop their head off? It might take a while, but it’ll grow back onto their neck so long as the stitches don’t tear.

Tear them apart molecule by molecule? That might take longer to heal, but they’ll have to make do with floating around in pieces until it does.

Reinforcing this idea is the fact that Danny has canonically punched through an ectopus before (the specific episode escapes me). Why would he do such a thing unless he knew they would heal? He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person that would kill, not even his worst enemy.

Ghosts cannot die, but that doesn’t mean they cannot suffer. Every second they spend healing these terrible wounds they are in terrible agony, as they can feel the pain of a dying wound without the release of death to free them. This is why, despite their inability to die, ghosts still don’t want to be injured.

So get this then....what about halfas?

The show has canonically mentioned multiple times threats to end Danny’s life, by both ghosts and humans. Never has it mentioned that he will come back. I’ve heard a lot of people theorizing that when Danny dies again, he will simply turn into a full ghost.

But what if that’s not how it works?

Danny stands in the balance between life and death, a connection that has grown so strong that to separate one side of himself would kill the other. Separating the ghost will kill the human, but the REVERSE is also true. When the human dies...the spirit fades along with it. Since both of his forms are so connected, they cannot survive without the other.

Ever wonder why there are no other halfas? Because the very few times they happened in history besides the three in the show is because they died in both forms at the end of their human lifespans.

Halfas are proven to be much stronger than ghosts, demonstrated when Danny improves so quickly and beats ghosts HUNDREDS of years older than him. The price given for this power is a shortened lifespan, in both forms.

They will have it all in life, but lost it all in the end.

I’M SORRY BTW I JUST HAD TO GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD PLEASE DON’T KILL ME I LOVE ANGST IT’S ALL MY BRAIN GIVES ME.

Credit to @tathartiel for helping me think of this :)

#danny phantom #death #halfas #pariah dark #ghosts #angst #fan theory #mild gore

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oldsargasso · 2 months

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WELL. The last ep did not provide any contradictions wrt Kenta getting Kim out of Tony’s, so we are free to continue just assuming it happened LOL. I also think Kenta must have helped Kim get settled in! He did seem more emotionally invested in Red Racing than Tony was, like he protested Tony pulling their funding (and perhaps he’d foolishly hoped that it could have become a venture that Tony cared about more than the trafficking). Benz made an offhand comment in a live about Kenta contacting him to join Red Racing, so I’m just going to tell myself they knew each other before the kidnapping, because that Look said everything. And what an odd shift in dynamic that must be, from having someone show you your new apartment to having them hold a knife to your neck to having them kneel at your feet.

(screaming about Kim giving Kenta a collar PLEASE)

I’m also going to assume that Kim saw Kenta collapsed by Tony’s body with a bloody knife in his hand, put two-and-two together, quietly crouched by his side and lay a hand on his shoulder. (I can’t stop thinking about Kenta looking like a puppet with his strings cut)

Kim and Winner’s relationship this episode… there’s so much to unpack there. Kim certainly did get his payback for Winner kicking him while he was down. But Winner pointing a gun at North and Sonic is gonna hang between them for a long time, those are Kim’s BABIES! But also the way Winner always folds so deliciously when he’s overpowered, like can him and Dean have matching collars with Kenta? I think Winner and Kim would have a (hate fueled) physical relationship before they develop anything else. They’ve certainly got a LONG way to go.

I think Kenta paid someone to sabotage Babe’s car, and since there was a gap between Kim finding the footage, letting Tony know he knew, and getting kidnapped, he could have informed X-Hunter and they ideally banned that dude. (there are SO many plot holes to patch up ahdjfj) I do think Winner could easily have mentioned Dean as a candidate, yes!

And yeah I agree, it’s WinnerDean + KimKenta in my head. I’ve got a couple different ideas on how the pairs would get tangled up with each other, and I’m trying to weave them together into a cohesive thread.

First of all, I think Kenta and Dean could easily end up doing community service together, and it becomes this weird bonding thing for them? Like they’re both left with their lives in pieces at the end of this crisis, and they end up in the same place. At the start of it, Dean can’t look at Kenta (or anyone really) without glaring at him, while Kenta just radiates sad puppy energy even though is expression is completely flat. But by the end of it, they’ve got this sort of… companionship with each other. (watch me end up writing KentaDean fic once I wrap my head around their complicated emotions)

(And this is where I tie in our WinnerDean poolboy thread) So when Dean gets hurt by Winner, Kenta finds out about it, which means Kim finds out about it. And Kim already has five hundred bones to pick with Winner, which means Winner gets his face slammed against the tile of the diner-bar bathroom and a very harshly worded interrogation of what his intentions are with Dean, which prompts him into actually fixing that situationship this time (because oh, it was in fucking shambles when he had the audacity to offer Dean money).

And it also means that KimKenta start a regular thing of taking Dean out for drinks/coffee, because Kenta cares and Kim realizes Dean doesn’t have anyone looking out for him. And Kim isn’t blind, he sees the looks Dean gives them, especially the wistfulness when Kim has a hand on the back of Kenta’s neck.

Anyways that’s just a thought! I’m just glad they all survived (no WAY SonicNorth would be killing someone) LMFAO WE MADE IT AND NOW WE HAVE THE MV TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

And no you are definitely not alone in that Winner -> Babe thought! They fucked once years ago and Babe told Winner he was stinky and a bad lay, and Winner basically never got over it.

I am so sorry it's taken me like a week to answer this. I kinda want to just hoard these in my inbox forever honestly

the one real advantage of caring so much about side couples is there's so little to go on we can just make up whatever we want lol. SHUT UP I never even considered that Kenta was the one to contact Kim after Tony choose him for Red Racing. omg. [have I discussed with you the fic I'm very very slowly working on where Kenta collects Kim from the airport when he arrives and they hook up from then because for a long time Kim thinks Kenta is like Tony's super buff but totally regular P.A. leading to delicious betrayal when Kenta pulls the knife] I forgot about Kenta actually arguing about cutting the funding. he's so invested!!

I often think about these events from Kenta's perspective (since we kinda get more of him onscreen) but Kim truly has the wildest journey of everyone in the show. like he's already got a career racing. and then he moves to Thailand for a bunch of money and finds out his new boss (I almost typed owner but um.) is actually in the market of human trafficking and organ trading? and then gets found family'd into a whole new racing team. and the whole time he's just so cool with it?? god I love Kim.

(listen if anyone deserves a collar it's Kenta and if anyone deserves to collar someone it's Kim)

the fact that no-one went over to Kenta after that…DEVASTATING. I haven't been able to rewatch the episode yet - I want to watch the whole series from the beginning - but that being the last we see of Kenta is the second worst thing the show has done. (first worst is Dean not even getting MENTIONED in the final episode I cannot live like this) but it's okay because we know that during the race at the end Kenta was sitting in the stands supporting his boyfriend 😌 had a handmade sign and everything 😌

Winner pointing a gun at North and Sonic but also going "but first: are you two…y'know…" I love him so much he's so terrible. he was SO PATHETIC at the end of that encounter. and NOT DEAD just injured. North and Sonic are KIM'S BABIES!!! (in another universe what a fun ship the three of them would be unfortunately my heart cannot go there. I think they have fun together for a little while though.) I especially love that Kim got another chance to be a badass.

oooh I have so many Thoughts about collars. like for Kenta it's 100% ownership (at least 15% of my brain is just constantly going "he's a loyal dog a LOYAL DOG") I feel like he wants to wear it all the time. a conscious reminder that he's not on his own. Winner does not want a collar. why would he want one! I think it plays well with the still-antagonistic relationship he and Kim have. Winner gets a collar more as a reminder: "behave or else" (perhaps a leash and muzzle to reinforce the message) and then Dean, hm. part ownership/belonging, part 'look how pretty you look in it' you know? I will refrain from going on about what each collar looks like lol. also Kim should get a physical symbol as well. maybe a pretty necklace, perhaps with three pendants/charms or something.

I GOTTA GO READ THE FIC YOU JUST POSTED AJSHFAJGFIA. I still haven't read the pacific rim au either because I want to devote my whole brain to it. but yes. YES TO EVERYTHING ALL OF THAT!! community service as a gateway to a happy poly relationship. the system works. not Dean's wistful little looks :(((

I love poolboy Dean :( screaming at Kim slamming Winner's head into the wall. it's what he deserves 😌 I just love how emotionally clueless Winner is. like it never even occurs to him that other people might have Feelings because he's spent a long time not acknowledging his own. he's not a narcissist he's just oblivious. it's an interesting dichotomy because Winner has a high self-esteem, he loves himself, yet it never occurs to him that other people might like (love??) him. his immaturity after Tony appointed him Kenta's replacement is such a lovely character detail. for him the events of the show are basically an opportunity for him to play-act as a bad guy, because he's got the secure foundation of his rich family. he's been the star of Red Racing for years(?), he's popular, he's talented. and the contrast of him v. Kim, who's got much the same background is so fun.

WHERE IS THE MV. I NEED IT. I NEED TO WATCH IT FIVE HUNDRED TIMES AND BE SUPER NORMAL ABOUT EVERYTHING IN IT.

ETA: I automatically put this in my queue instead of just posting it lol BUT now I can add. forgot to talk about the start of the polycule beyond kentakim + winnerdean. although I love your ideas and would like you to tell me 5 million words of them. I have been Thinking about Kim/Dean where Dean serves his community service and he repents and is absolved by Babe (Way gets to take the easy way out :|) and rejoins x hunter BUT not as a driver, just working in the garage. and he's like mad at Kim for taking his place but at the same time Kim doesn't have the History the others do with Dean, so Kim's actually the one Dean finds himself hanging out with the most. and then it leads to hooking up (it's great) and the tentative start of a relationship. and then Pete comes round like "I found this 🤨" and hands over Kenta. and then Kim has a new project to focus on and Dean is NOT JEALOUS but he is, Kim doesn't want him anymore, it's very tragic. perhaps he goes out and has ill-advised revenge sex with Winner (it's great) and comes back to Kim like "what do you think about that huh!" and Kim's like. "hot." and it carries on from there.

#asks #pit babe polycule #pit babe

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