#will i ever be over this tragedy of two brothers who are so linked to each other that they can never stop needing each other?

[demigodofhoolemere]

Me when the Anakin and Obi-Wan brain rot hits me again

#will i ever be over this tragedy of two brothers who are so linked to each other that they can never stop needing each other? #no matter what happens no matter how destroyed the relationship is they will always be painfully tied together? #no. unfortunately not. #star wars #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #sw: prequels

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello! In one of your previous posts you mentioned the game purposefully hiding the faces of figures who play a significant role in each OB boy’s trauma. So do you think this applies to Idia's parents as well (they have masks to cover their faces and they don't even have separate sprites but the default STYX members' sprites)?

[Referencing this post!]

There’s a lot to unpack here, so I’ve put my thoughts under the cut!! I hope you enjoy reading ^^

***Note: Many spoilers for books 6 + 7 of the main story!!***

I definitely wouldn’t put the Shroud parents into the same category as like… Mrs. Rosehearts, who was basically the origin from which other issues stemmed. The Shroud parents themselves were not the “root cause” for Idia’s trauma, the “cause” was Ortho’s death and Idia feeling immense guilt and shame about it. Not once has Idia blamed his parents or implicated them for this misfortune (not counting the Shroud curse, which is really the fault of their ancestors and not the Shroud parents in particular). I guess where some fans feel there is an issue is the implication that the Shroud parents did not seem to be there emotionally for Idia or offer him healthy coping mechanisms for his issue??

Before I give my thoughts on why the Shroud mom and dad obscure their faces (and how this does or doesn’t fit into the “purposefully obscuring the faces of those significantly related to each boy’s trauma), allow me to offer a different perspective to those who find fault with Idia’s parents. Firstly, consider that we know very little about the period of time between Ortho’s death leading up to Idia enrolling at NRC. Even then, most of what we know of this period comes directly from Idia, which provides us with a biased and limited perspective. Idia views most things negatively and does not seem close with his parents, so it makes sense that he would describe them in an inflated and unflattering way.

I think where a lot of the initial thoughts about the Shrouds being bad parents (a sentiment I myself had prior to their book 7 reveals) predominantly comes from them not being present in Idia’s post-OB flashback and Idia stating that his parents care more about results than their son’s feelings. We also learn from later that the family used to go out a lot as a group, but those trips stopped after Ortho died. These heavily imply his mom and dad were not there for Idia after the… incident. But let’s back up for a moment; where does the flashback pick up after Ortho died? Over two years later. That’s a large gap to not be knowing what the Shroud parents were doing during it. The STYX employees present also state that Idia has “completely withdrawn” ever losing Ortho, and this could be inclusive of the parents. So… we don’t really know for sure if, during this expanse of 2 years, the parents never made an effort to reach out. Even if they did, it seems highly likely that Idia rejected them. It’s possible that the flashback didn’t feature the parents because Idia largely shut them out of his life or did not deem them to be deeply linked to his trauma; he laments only the general family curse and the loss of Ortho, he does not direct hate at either parent in the flashback.

What we also have to remember is that it wasn’t just Idia that lost a brother that terrible day. Mr. and Mrs. Shroud their sons; Ortho literally (he passed away) and Idia figuratively (as he started to emotionally distance and isolate himself). That’s tough for any parent, but the world cannot stop for them just because they experienced a tragedy. Unfortunately, life moves on and the Shroud parents are in such important positions that they need to work. This is especially true of Mr. Shroud, who oversees all of STYX operations and is burdened with a curse that demands he constantly be surrounded by blot or else the curse will start to chip away at his own magical energy. They need to do this while juggling their own sadness over losing Ortho. There’s only so much time the Shroud parents can try to comfort Idia when they have work, their own emotional trauma to work through, and their surviving son who doesn’t seem to welcome any efforts they put in. You could even theorize that the Shroud parents (particularly the dad) threw themselves into work to try and bury their own feelings. The Shrouds do obviously have a responsibility to Idia as his parents, but parenting is not so easy of a task. They’re still individuals who have other things to balance alongside parenting and they realistically cannot dedicate 100% of their time or energy to Idia.

Now, please do not misunderstand me. I don’t want my words to come off like I’m pointing fingers or victim blaming. What I’m trying to say here is that it isn’t Idia OR his parents’ fault that they grew distant; to me, both parties were busy dealing with their own complicated emotions and their coping methods didn’t seem to align (because different people can have very different trauma responses) and ended up hurting Idia even more in the end. Making mistakes is human and normal. We've seen other characters also falter with their past actions and what they were or were not able to do at the time (Trey not standing up for or to Riddle, Lilia acting callously towards his children, etc.). This by itself is NOT necessarily a bad thing or something to hate on them for; I'd argue that what matters much more is how those matters were dealt with and what the results of those efforts have been. In the case of the Shroud parents, they do not appear to have bad blood with Idia or Ortho in modern day and the game has really done little to indicate that the Shroud parents should be viewed in a morally grey light. They've welcomed Ortho as a part of their family, openly refer to him like a third son, supported his official enrollment as a NRC student, and worry about his safety when Ortho tries to rush headfirst into danger. As for Idia, though he sometimes grumbles about his parents and tends to their actions as coming from a place of not caring, his peers have pointed out that being scolded is proof of his parents’ love for him. For example, Idia complains that his parents have sent him back to NRC so they don’t have to deal with a “nuisance” like him. He also says that there has been public interest in STYX and demand for accountability, which has specifically put his father under fire. We could view the situation like Idia has—that has parents wanted him out of their way. However, as Rook so tactfully pointed out, Idia’s parents must hold deep affection for him. This implies that the Shrouds chose to send Idia back to school for his own safety, and Mr. Shroud was willing to take the full brunt of the heat himself rather than let people suspect his son, whom Mr. Shroud must know is socially anxious. Idia has plenty of other stories about how his parents punished him for dangerous tech modifications he made, and how they’d take away his gadgets as punishment. Again, because they care about their children and their safety, even if they (especially his more stern and work-oriented father) may not show it in conventionally affectionate ways. Idia has pessimistic views that color his parents as annoying and isn’t as close to them anymore as he used to be, but this doesn’t condemn the Shrouds to the eternal hall of bad parents who never ever learn or refuse to change their ways.

Now, about their outfits! Mr. and Mrs. Shroud wear the same robes as NPC staff at STYX. This much is true!! … But I don’t think there is any deep meaning in this, seeing as Idia too wears the same robes?? I believe this is just the default work uniform for STYX researchers, regardless of the position they’re in (so this uniform detail does not technically contribute to the “intentional obscuring” of the Shroud parents’ designs).

We don’t really know what the reason for them wearing the helmets is, and nor is there very strong implication as to why. There have been plenty of fan speculations and theories including but not limited to: special personal protective equipment, magical enhancement gear, general Shroud family shyness, cost/time saving measure for the devs, etc. I can’t really say one way or another which is the “most correct” idea 🤷‍♂️

What I will say is that I do not think there was an intent to hide the Shroud parents’ faces for the same reasons that Mrs. Rosehearts’ face was. Why? Well:

Their faces are not censored in the same way as Mrs. Rosehearts was in the manga; she has her face shaded out by black, but we can still see the details of her outfit. The Shrouds, meanwhile are making the conscious decision to wear helmets—and highly personalized helmets at that. (Mr. Shroud’s helmet is different in colors and design than Mrs. Shroud’s.) This indicates individuality and wanting to make the Shroud parents stand out, not to homogenize them as anonymous black blots at which the OB boys’ trauma finds its roots.

To build off of my previous point, the comment about purposefully obscuring the face of the "source" of Riddle's trauma was ONLY said in the context of the manga, NOT the game. Therefore, in-game assets cannot be considered reliable for "the Shroud parents wear helmets to hise their faces; hidden faces = source of an OB boy's trauma" theory. If you doubt this, then please refer to each boy’s post-OB flashback. In the game, it is not just the sources of their trauma that are blotted out in black, it is literally every character (even the ones with positive memories or experiences associated with them). This includes Trey and Che’nya, whose younger form faces ARE openly depicted in the manga. So again, the “obscuring the faces of characters who are major trauma sources” thing only applies to the manga and the game does not follow this.

The Shrouds are largely depicted in a positive light. The negative aspects of them tend to come from Idia, who tends to have a pessimistic slant to his perception of the world and other people.

Idia’s personal accounts and even his post-OB flashbacks do not attribute or credit his parents for any aspect of his trauma. Much of the guilt and shame he feels is self-imposed and directed at himself.

As I’ve pointed out earlier in this post, we are assuming a lot of things about what happened in Idia’s life following Ortho’s death. The downside to this is that it doesn’t grant the parents any grace and takes everything we see (as little as it is) at face value without considering alternatives or how the parents could have changed in recent years.

Again, we don’t have a lot of information on why the Shrouds wear the helmets. I don’t think it’s wise to assume it’s for a bad reason when most of the canon has indicated we are supposed to “like” the Shrouds (or, at the very least, they’re supposed to be “redeemed” compared to the initially negative comment we were given of them).

In conclusion: no, I don’t think Idia’s parents are wearing their helmets because they’re associated with their son’s trauma. To me, the helmets feel like something they must wear for some in-universe purpose such as additional protection or to indicate their role within the organization.

#twisted wonderland #twst #Idia Shroud #Ignihyde #Ortho Shroud #book 6 spoilers #book 7 spoilers #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #question #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory #twst manga #twisted wonderland manga #Trey Clover #Che’nya #Chenya

[sirenologyyy]

ROCKAWAY !

ao'nung x fem!sully reader

✷ premise : as tensions rise and your family is forced out of the only home you've ever known, fish boy meets forest girl and the rest is history (tragedy)

✷ warnings : kidnapping, swearing, injury, blood, violence, and death

✷ author's note : here's part 2 for you guys! Just a lil heads up the fight scene is in this one 👀 also hinewai is pronounced as HEE-neh-WAI !

part 2 of the SOLD OUT OF LOVE series

"These are ilu, if you want to live here you have to ride "

You turn to Neteyam and Lo'ak, your eyes meeting theirs.

"Don't tell me you're actually scared baby bro" Neteyam taunts, leaning closer to Lo'ak as they pretended to pay attention to Ao'nung teaching them how to properly bond with an ilu.

"Who the hell says i'm scared?"

"He's bluffing" You appended lightnight fast, keeping your eyes on Ao'nung while tilting your body towards your oldest brother.

"Yeah I know he is," He crowed. "I know his tell, his face turns purple and his tail draws zig-zags in the air-" He stops. "Oh my bad, he was just looking at Tsireya"

Lo'ak jabs his elbow against Neteyam's arm as you tried stifling your laugh, slapping your hand over your mouth before it was too late.

"Are you three even listening?" Ao'nung asks, zeroing his eyes at each of you respectively, his eyes lingering on your face longer than you had liked to the point that you had just raised both your eyebrows acknowledging him, he looks away innocently, glaring at Lo'ak once more.

Neteyam looks at him. "Right, yeah, sorry"

"Answer the question skxawng" He maintained.

Lo'ak stepped up, showing his palms. "Look take it easy alright? Don't need to get a knot in your tail so early in the morning"

The blue frog was a few seconds shy from steam leaving his ears and Tsireya quickly notices. "Now that Ao'nung has explained to you all the basics, who wants to go first?" She asks.

Innocently, you shove Lo'ak forward as the rest of you took a step backwards like something tugged at the neurological link that connected between siblings. He looked at all of you standing two steps away from him almost scandalised, betrayed, possibly even outraged.

"Lo'ak!" Tsireya exclaimed happily, clapping her hands as she wades toward him, pulling him to the ilu that had been circling her through out the entire session. He looked back at the rest of you in fear, you and Neteyam silently giving words of support and encouragement as Tsireya pulled him along with her.

"Swing your leg over her body" Ao'nung instructs once Tsireya dragged the both of you a few ways away from the others, you begrudgingly swung your right leg over the ilu's slender body, running a hand over her neck as an attempt to console it from the abrupt weight shift that was you sitting on her back.

You barely even blinked before you hear Ao'nung's tongue check in his mouth. "You're sitting on it wrong"

You whirl your head at him. "I'm sitting on it wrong? " You reiterate, widening your eyes at him in disbelief.

"Yes" He deadpans. "A million possible ways you can ride an ilu yet you ride it as if you're trying to wrestle with it"

You roll your eyes in frustration, but nearly jumping out of your skin when you feel his warm hand on your leg, out of instinct you jabbed your foot against his chest, sending him a few steps back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? He sends you a sharp look. "Relax Forest Girl, I am not here to violate you" He retaliates boredly. "Put your leg down here, you're not trying to ride an íkran," He began, shifting your leg to a different more comfortable position. "Go and make the bond"

You connect your queues together and a surge of memories wash over you, clear and exhilarating days of swimming in the open ocean, hunting for food, playing in the reefs, the fear of losing her parents to akulas, your stomach sinking as you watched it swim away, the love she had for her children, 5 babies, you felt as proud as she was.

"Now we can finally start by fixing that horrible posture of yours, Eywa Almighty you look like a deformed shrimp"

"Just teach me how to ride the goddamn thing"

"I'm getting there"

You huffed, straightening your back and squaring your shoulders, trying to get yourself used to sitting on an ilu.

"You have to treat her like she is one of your own," Ao'nung tells you, walking towards the head of the ilu. "You must be gentle, slow, treat her with respect, with compassion, and most of all ride her like you care for her-"

You finally slump. "Are you teaching me how to ride an ilu or get it pregnant?"

You heard his hand splash the surface of the water, your ilu baying at the sudden action. "Would the repercussions of murdering Toruk Makto's daughter short of death? because i am going to risk it"

"You talk too much" You tell him with a sour expression.

"You talk too much " He repeats in a tone that you assumed was a crude imitation of your voice.

Your jaw almost went slack if not for your brother, zooming past your peripheral on his ilu. You turn your body around, following his distorted figure until he is thrown off his ilu. You hear Ao'nung rise from the water and laugh as his other friends do, you realize how quickly you missed Rotxo's presence.

As Lo'ak swims back to the group, Ao'nung turns to you.

"Hold here" He says, gesturing to the ilu's gill mantle, you do as he says, adjusting your grip every now and then to see which one could keep you on the longest. "Mind your back, Forest Girl"

You straighten it once more. "Jesus Christ"

His face twists again. "What the hell is a Jesus Christ?" He stops himself. "You know what I do not want to know, keep your back straight and your legs in the same position as they were before or you will be sliding across the beach like a skipping stone"

"You're a real hit aren't you"

"I know" He grinned.

You let out a puff of air as you flexed your shoulders, feeling your back crack. "Y/N! It is your turn!" Tsireya calls out, beckoning you towards her and the empty space where Lo'ak had taken off just moments earlier. You swallowed, telling your ilu to move forward and as she does you lower your head closer to hers. "You won't throw me off will you?"

She clicks and yelps at you, only hoping that was her saying 'no worries pal'

Your ilu who you unofficially decided to name Hinewai, stops at the center of everyone. Lo'ak barely made it past that rock formation shaped like a fang, if you could somehow hang on til then and the way back then Ao'nung could shove that smug smile right up his ass.

"Okay, go!" Tsireya exclaimed.

"Hyah!" You yell, before filling your cheeks with air and descending under the water. It was a rough ride at first but you held onto the gill mantle for dear life while she flailed you around like some ragdoll, your left hand slips, you only manage to hold onto it again after a minute of her chasing some fish through the coral reef, making hard turns, your legs and arms getting scraped by the rocky surfaces of coral. She catches it just outside the small reef and you tell her to bring you up for some air, coincidentally a few steps away from the group.

Neteyam, Kiri, Tuk, and Tsireya started cheering you on as your body broke through the water , Lo'ak a little less considering his twin baby sister just rode and ilu and didn't fall off like he did. On the first try nonetheless, and lastly Ao'nung who didn't utter a peep.

"You were amazing out there!" Neteyam shouts, wading up to you with the rest of your siblings.

"It didn't feel like it" you admitted, almost laughing in the process.

"You should've seen Lo'ak's face when he realized you were coming back still riding your ilu" Kiri giggles, earning a nudge from Lo'ak who simply grinned before trapping you in a headlock and digging a knuckle against your hair, you try and push him off before smacking him in the face which catches him off guard.

"Teyam and Lo'ak were betting on you, you know, they said if you fell then Neteyam gets Lo'ak's chores for two weeks" Kiri adds before Lo'ak slaps his hand on her mouth, passing it off with a little laugh.

"It's true," Tuk says, looking at Lo'ak. "If you did fell Lo'ak gets Neteyam's chores plus a week's worth of yovo fruit"

"Tuk hit her head on the wall before leaving the house, she dosen't know what she's saying" says Lo'ak.

Tuk was about to object before Lo'ak picks her up sideways and blows raspberries on her stomach, bringing her to Tsireya to feed the ilus.

"Where is your brother?"

"He's down by the beach"

Neytiri frowns. "It is lunch time, very unlikely for Lo'ak not to be here by now"

"He had a big breakfast" You tell her, setting down the basket of fish you and Neteyam managed to catch after riding the ilus. "Near threatened to beat me if I didn't give him my share of banana fruit this morning"

A couple of your siblings chuckle along with you.

"Look, if he's hungry he can come to us, me and your mom have business to take care of after lunch so we gotta eat quick" Jake disclosed, nodding at the empty spots next to the dining table as he himself sat down. Neytiri asks Kiri to lead the prayer and once she was done thanking for the food you've all received and whatnot you started to dig in. Nabbing a piece of fish, breaking it apart, ripping a piece of meat, and popping it in your mouth.

"I heard you all practiced with ilus today," Jake starts, swallowing. "How'd that go?"

"It went okay, sir" Neteyam answers beside you. "Challenging at first but nothing a little practice couldn't fix"

"Good to hear" says Jake.

"Ma'ite, please sit properly" Neytiri says, looking at you. You resist the urge to groan so you put your leg down, your elbow previously resting on it before she spots you from across the table. This was stupid.

"Is that an eyeroll?" Jake wonders almost instantly, your ears flicking down for a millisecond before you look up at him to make sure he was talking to you. Yeah he was talking to you. "No, sir" you reply.

"Better not be"

"Teyam, pass the fish" Kiri asks quietly, pointing her chin at the basket of fish located in between you and him, he hands it to her across the table, watching her lips to mutter a small thank you.

You see your dad break apart a yovo fruit. "How're you all treatin' the Olo'eyktan's children? You nice to them?"

More like were they nice to us?

"Yes sir"

"Great, I need that to remain a constant, I expect the best from all of you alright?" Now that Lo'ak wasn't here his eyes find yours instantly. "Yes?"

A scattered chorus of yes sir's and yes dad's were heard across the dining table.

"Before we make dinner I want you two to help me with repurposing some of Tuk's old clothes" Says Neytiri, she didn't have to look at any of you for you to know who she was referring to.

"Okay" Kiri replies, breaking apart a yovo fruit as well, splitting the other half with Tuk.

"Okay" you say, flipping the fish to its other side to pick at the remaining meat.

You hear the collision of a wooden glass onto the table. "Should we head over?" Jake asks, looking at Neytiri who seemed to have finished eating as well, she responds with a silent nod.

They stand up from the table in unison, going over to wash their hands before they head on out. "I don't want none of you clowning around when we're away is that clear?" You barely had any time to respond before your Dad starts talking again. "Be on your best behavior or I swear you'll never hear the end of it from me"

"Be good, all of you" Mom adds.

"Neteyam, Y/N, up and at 'em " Neteyam stands up straight, straight back, straight face, so do you, though a bit slower than him. "You're in charge as usual, you know what to do once your siblings start upsetting the apple cart, you read me?"

Neteyam gives him a curt nod. "Affirmafive sir, loud and clear"

"Now for you," He says rounding on you. "Don't bite off more than you can chew alright?"

"Aye, aye" You reply, your voice hinting at the slightest almost impercievable tone of sarcasm you so desperately wanted to use.

"Alright, dismissed" and just like that they were gone.

You finally slouch again. "Come on, hurry up and finish your food before they come back"

Neteyam sighed. "Don't do that, you might choke on a fishbone"

"We can just see who's faster at putting away the plates" Tuk suggested, pushing a piece of fish in her mouth she stole from your plate.

"Do you want my fish?" You just ask, she nods and so you ripped her half of whatever meat was left before you wolfed down the rest.

Neteyam downs a glass of water. "Hah! Done!"

"Yeah well so am I!" Tuk combats incoherently, her cheeks full of fish before she swallows it all down.

"We're all done, silly" says Kiri, standing up and bringing her leaf to the sink where she scrapes all of what was left of her plate down the hole, an ilu that was waiting beneath the hut chomping on all of the left overs.

"Tuk go grab the rest of the bowls " You tell her, scraping your scraps down the hole before giving it to Kiri who washed it down.

Once the table was cleared and the dishes were put away you all go out of the hut, Kiri down to the beach to find Lo'ak while you and Neteyam watch Tuk running off towards a group of village children who beckoned her to play with them, not looking back at you any longer.

You turn to Neteyam. "Eywa, I wish it was that easy to make friends here"

He chuckles. "Come on, it's Tuk" He tells you knowingly.

"I wish we were all like Tuk" you sang, sighing greatly.

"They probably just start out really sweet, and as they grow older they turn all twisted and mean, like Ao'nung"

"No" You tell him, shaking your head, staring at your youngest sister slowly turn into a blurry figure as she got farther and farther away from you. "He was dropped as a child, it's the only explanation"

You and him walk along the coastline, enjoying the cold breeze, the warm sun, before Kiri's voice captures your attention. You didn't need to see the look on Neteyam's face before the both of you ran towards the sound. Under the shade of the trees you see Kiri and Lo'ak.

And Ao'nung and his friends.

Neteyam gets there faster than you, turning Ao'nung to face him. "You heard what she said, leave them alone"

You see one of Ao'nung's cronies step up. "Ohh, big brother coming to-" He stops as Ao'nung stops him with a hand across his chest.

"-Back off, now" Neteyam snarled, prodding a finger at Ao'nung's chest. He takes a step back, throwing his arms up in the air to show he concedes.

This man cannot be serious.

"They don't have it in them to hit us, just a couple of lap dogs and their ring leader" You say, siding with Neteyam, eyes landing on Ao'nung who looked like he was about to transform into a plum. "Come on you guys, we're done here" You tell your siblings, walking off in annoyance before one of his friends pushes you back in the circle.

"Don't touch me" You snap, slapping his arm away and shoving his chest backward.

"Hey!" Neteyam bellows, walking up to one of his goofy ass looking friends, staring at every single one of them in the process. "From now, on I need you to respect my sisters, got that?"

So he just resorts to hissing at him. With that, Neteyam grabs your and Lo'ak's shoulders, leading the both of you out of there.

"Ba-bye!" Taunts one.

"Look at them, freaks, all four of them" You hear Ao'nung whisper, your hand started to twitch involuntarily. You turn around to give them a piece of your mind but realize that Lo'ak was already 5 steps ahead of you.

"Lo'ak" you say, abandoning your original plan, sensibility taking over.

He turns to you. "I got this, sis"

"I know this hand is funny," He began, flexing his fingers at them. "Look, I'm a freak, an alien" He tells them as they laughed. "But it can do something really cool, watch, see- you have to ball it up real tight like this, and then-"

BAM. One hit square on the nose.

BAM. another across his face.

BAM. One last, under the chin sending his ass falling down to the sand.

You couldn't help but let out a laugh at the sight, Neteyam and Kiri glaring at you.

"It's called a punch bitch! Never touch my sisters again!" Lo'ak yelled before Ao'nung rams into him. Lo'ak turns him over and punches him once more, the other boys dragged him back by his tail, one of the burly looking ones slapping him hard across the face with his own.

It wasn't fair if you simply stood and watched this right? You needed to put a stop to this.

So without thinking you started running.

Running towards the fight, dragging one of the boys away from your brother by his queue, landing one across his face, dodging a punch from another before headbutting him instead. Someone drags you away by your tail, falling to the sand with a loud thud, you turn to your back and jab your heel against his loincloth, springing back up before one of the boys turn you around to try and land a punch, one to the right, dodge, one to the left, until he just kneed you in the ribs making you double over so that he could finally land a punch to your cheekbone, then another punch to your cheekbone before you grab his fist, turn him around and kick his back, taking another boy down in the process, leaving them to the care of Neteyam who had joined the fight moments after you.

Ao'nung comes at you from behind, sending the both of you down, your head landing hard on a rock sending shock waves through your skull, your temple had started to bleed as you turn him over, landing punches on his nose until it bled, he kicks you off of him, punching your stinging cheekbone, your nose, your cheekbone, then your nose, as static began to fill your vision.

"You hit like a girl!" You screamed at him, struggling underneath his grip.

"So do you!" He shouts back before you try and push him off you, struggling underneath him before resorting to kicking his groin with your knee which worked like a charm, you were on your feet a second later, spitting out the liquid iron taste that filled your mouth. You switched positions, pinning him down which caught him off guard as you tried to land another hit on his face before he got away, you see the look on his face and you couldn't help but laugh.

"Careful, wouldn't want me to think you enjoy being underneath me do you?" You intoned.

Ao'nung's gaze was piercing and vile enough to poison a thanator. "I'd rather pull my spine out of my ass than ever come close to liking you"

With one last punch to his face you scramble towards Lo'ak who had three on him. You pull one away by his tail, dragging him across the beach before punching another one square to the throat, watching him choke and stagger back before you landed two punches to his face, pinning him down, getting lost in the moment and splitting his eyebrow open. The boy was absolutely befuddled, he does everything he could to get you off of him, but to no avail, he resorted to claw at you, causing your necklace to split, beads flying everywhere.

You feel your shoulder turned around by someone, it was Ao'nung once more with another punch to the nose, feeling hot blood dribble out from your nostrils, you pull his arm down, placing a knee on his ribs and finally letting go all of your pent up frustrations onto his face, you weren't even sure if the blood on your knuckles were his or yours.

"All that mouth yet you still can't fight with your fists" He pants with a sickening grin, the dark red patches on his face contrasting with the cool teal of his skin.

Your jaw tightens, forgetting the pain, letting rage take the wheel as you pulled your dagger out of its sheath, raising it up to his neck and watching as the sight of it wipes the cocky grin off his face, his lips parting in shock. "You're right, I don't, but i'm damn sure I can fight with this"

"You won't " He spat.

But you nod. "Oh but I would, I really would"

He tries to get out of your grip, you didn't even have to do anything for your knife to knick his skin.

"You want me to take this off your neck?" You ask, looking at his eyes for an answer, you weren't satisfied on what you got so you deepened your knife against his neck, making him let out a broken hiss. "Don't touch my siblings again, or so help me Eywa I will slit your throat and watch while you bleed dry on the beach then I'll call on my íkran to feast on your scorched corpse" You hissed. "You got that reef boy?"

But he does not answer, instead he stares up at you in silence, the only sound eliciting his lips were the ragged breaths he took, you could feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest against yours, his aquamarine eyes bouncing from every point of your face, almost reading you, until the grip on your knife loosened.

You found yourself reading him too, confusion and frustration making your face twist.

That is until someone pulls you away from him, and at the spur of the moment you almost feel like his hands tried to wrap themselves around your waist before your body was so quickly pulled out of his clutches.

Another boy gave you an uppercut, then another knee to the gut before you pointed your knife at him, sending him backwards. You try and stand up, regaining your balance as you let a grin spread on your stinging face.

"That's it," you taunt, nodding at him, unconciously baring your fangs. "Back up"

One of them tries to make a leap for you but you just do the same, so they hiss instead. Fine, you thought. You throw your dagger through the gap between them, making it's mark on a tree behind them, they were stunned to say the least, it even had wisps of hair sticking out from where the knife met the tree, they look back at you horrified.

You see them run away hurriedly calling for their ilus, Ao'nung being the last as he gave you one last look before riding his ilu.

You close your mouth, tasting blood before you wipe your nose with the back of your hand. "Candy-ass bitch" you mutter to yourself.

You were only brought out from your reverie when you hear the familiar screech of an ikran.

Well, shit

" What was the one thing I asked? "

You huffed, clutching your side. "Stay out of trouble" you say with Lo'ak.

"Stay out of trouble" your Dad repeats for emphasis.

You see Neteyam stepping forward. "Dad, it was my fault"

"No, I don't think so, you gotta stop taking the heat for these knuckleheads" He snapped, turning to you and Lo'ak.

You purse your lips, hesitating before stepping forward "Dad- S-Sir, Ao'nung was picking on Kiri" You try to explain.

"He called her a freak, they picked on Y/N too!, they pushed her around!"

"Lo'ak you asshole!" You shout at Lo'ak, your temper rising once more.

"Hey!" Jake yells, making you flinch, your ears ringing at the volume nowhere near matching your voice, it ceased another impending argument. "What were you thinking? Neteyam, how could you let this happen?"

"Sir, things just got out of hand"

"Bullshit" He says, shaking his head. "If you had handled the fight early on, if you handled it properly we could've stopped this from ever happenning, do you see that?"

Neteyam nods, staring at the floor.

Jake snaps his fingers repeatedly. "Do you see what i'm talking about Neteyam??"

"Yes, sir" He finally says, seeing his eyes blink like rapid-fire.

"Don't even get me started on the two of you" Jake complains, pointing a finger at you and Lo'ak, swinging like a pendulum, eyes landing on your twin brother. "You hit them first! You never hit- what do I always say? "

"Never hit first or else you're no better than them"

"Exactly!" Jake exclaims. "What did you do? Did you listen to me?"

Lo'ak shook his head. "No"

"No, because you never listen do you?"

Lo'ak's ears droop, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jake looks at you and you look at him, trying to push down any iota of fear you had within you. "Christ Y/N, where do I even begin with you"

"Maybe the part where Ao'nung and-"

"-No, you don't get to talk!" He boomed, rounding on you and you quickly avert your eyes. "You don't get to talk! not after what you said to him, the Olo'eyktan's son! Do you forget who he is Y/N? The chief's son!"

"I get it, Dad" You insist, staring at the floor.

"Another word from you and you're grounded for a week" He threatens. "is this really the shit you wanna pull???"q He asks, shouting at your face as you pursed your lips together, an attempt at stopping the tears that threatened to fall. "You're lucky if the Tsahík ever lets you step a foot on the beach again!"

"Well that son of a bitch deserved it" You said bravely.

"I don't care if he did or not, you are in the wrong, you need to see that"

"Dad, she was only trying to-"

"-zip it" He tells Neteyam. "I expected this shit from your bothers but never from you, never you, now you- you went out there and proved me wrong... what do you gotta say for yourself?"

You remained silent and you heard him hum. "That's what I thought"

His flick upwards to your bleeding temple, your bruised face and suddenly he starts remembering that stormy night. "You pulled a goddamn knife to his neck, Y/N, a knife! Are you insane? "

Your own father calling you insane was worse than any blows you had to endure from those boys.

Neytiri enters the hut, walking up to you. "Ma Jake, she gets it, please stop" She says, placing her hand on your shoulder before you shrug it away harshly.

"That's the problem, she dosen't does she?, she never thinks it through, punch first questions later, isn't that right?" He taunts, looking at you, still maintaining a shit poker face. "I can't believe you" He tells you whilst shaking his head in disapproval, that's when your lower lip starts to tremor and your throat start to to cave in.

"You have no idea how disappointed I am of you" He says to the three of you, his tail swishing in the air in frustration. "Most especially you " He tells you, feeling your stomach sink, your eyes start to fog up.

"Go apologise to Ao'nung, both of you"

"What?" Lo'ak retaliates.

"I don't care how you do it, just go and make peace"

Lo'ak heads out first, walking down the steps and onto the beach.

"So what'd the other guys look like?" Jake asks Neteyam.

"Worse"

Jake nods. "Good"

"A lot worse" You hear Neteyam say as you had your back against your Dad, knowing you weren't leaving the hut to apologise to Ao'nung. Turning towards the forest when you see Ronal and Tonowari out on the beach, talking to Ao'nung's friends and hearing the words "have you seen him around-?" before their conversation deemed too incoherent to decipher.

Your chest felt too tight, your eyes felt too hot, your back ached, your head was spinning. You had found yourself hiding in a secluded part of the island, surrounded by trees and wildlife, water trickling down the stone formations that stood behind you, birds flee above your warbling and squawking, insects chirping and squeaking.

You covered your ears as you allowed the tears to spill from your eyes, curled up into a ball as you stared into the void.

You couldn't breathe.

The world was moving too fast and you couldn't catch up, your grip on it loosening.

You tried forgetting the words your Dad told you, making yourself believe that they didn't matter because he was just angry and he only wanted to look out for you, but you couldn't, your mind was sealed shut and nothing came in or out.

You were spiraling now.

You couldn't breathe, your lungs felt like they were set on fire

Suddenly your mind started to become loud. So loud that it made you wonder where the sound was coming from, you were alone weren't you?

Was it all just happenning inside your head?

That's the problem, she dosen't does she?, she never thinks it through, punch first questions later, isn't that right?

You remember his voice, how he mocked you, how he taunted you.

Are you insane?

You shut your eyes tight, shaking your head, convincing yourself that this was all in your head.

You have no idea how disappointed I am of you, especially you.

"Stop" you tell the disembodied voice, keeping your hands clasped tightly over your ears "You aren't real, you aren't real"

"Who isn't real?"

You whirl your head at lightning speed, almost giving yourself a whiplash in the process, there, just a few steps away from you was Ao'nung, all battered and bruised, standing behind a stream of sunlight.

You stand up abruptly. "Go away" you tell him, turning around to face the rock formation, wiping your tears away.

He stands there for a moment, just looking at you, seeing the wet trails on your cheeks before you so hurriedly turn away from him. "I'm not here to taunt you, Forest Girl" He tells you.

You hum, turning back around. "I don't believe you"

He stepped forward now, directly into the sunlight, highlighting his bruises the shape of golfballs, his eyes turning into a shade of blue you never knew existed. "Fine, believe what you want to" he sighed.

"Have you come to laugh at me?"

He throws his arms in the air only to have them land on either side of his hips with a thwack. "Eywa, were you not just listening to me talk?"

"I'm afraid I hadn't been paying attention to you at all" you confessed dryly.

He gives you a look. "What are you doing here?"

You shrug. "I like looking at rocks"

"You lie" He muttered.

"No I don't"

"Are too"

"I really like how they're so grey"

He raises his eyebrows at you. "Tell me the truth, Forest Girl"

"I wanted to be alone" You say. "I don't like the beach, I don't like the Marui, I wanted some place where it felt like everything was still simple, even when it's not"

Then, a brief moment of silence.

Ao'nung looks around, there were the trees, the grass, the flowers, the insects, the shrubs, the plants.

"I understand" He says, shocking you to your very core. "You are an outsider, you do not belong here in Awa'tlu"

You couldn't help the snuff that comes out of your nose. "Thanks"

"But my people use this trail often," He explained. "you will not feel at peace here"

You stay silent, thinking about what he said, how he said it, how he's behaving, no signs of hostility, or resentment, his parents have sent him away to apologise to you, that much you know.

"Your parents are finding you, you know" He tells you after a moment.

"So are yours" you tell him, recalling the moment you saw Ronal and Tonowari, talking to his other friends to know if they've spotted him or not. "You should go back"

"So should you" He bounces back.

Then, in the distance, you hear his friends calling for him, both of you turning towards the sound.

"Hey," you say, turning to him. "Do me a solid and don't lead them here okay? I'm too tired for another fight, as much as I want to beat your dim friends to a pulp I can't afford another screwup"

He stops in his tracks for a moment before he nods at you. "I wasn't going to" He says, making your eyebrows knit at the middle. "But fine, don't think I'll let you off so easy next time"

"I doubt you won't"

He turns his head back to the way he came. "I'm here! I'm here! Stay where you are I'm coming to you" He shouts before beginning to push past the overgrown leaves that was blocking the path. It addles you when you see him stop walking. "By the way, i've never met someone, let alone a girl, that can put up a fight as well as you did"

You giggle through your nose, a smile cracking on his face before he leaves you alone.

You didn't apologise to him like your father had wanted but at least it was an entire conversation where not one of you tried to spite eachother.

You kept avoiding him during lessons which was hard considering Tsireya insists that you and him were a pair already.

So far today was just practicing the transition from holding your breath for long periods under water and learning how to regain your breathe once your ilu leaps out of the water and back again, sticking mostly to your big brother than usual.

Also the fact that Ao'nung and Lo'ak still kept sending death glares to eachother during training was another highlight you've yet to mention, it got so bad that Tsireya had to dismiss all of you two hours early saying that all of your siblings did good, and that you deserved the rest of the day off.

You slap the back of Lo'ak's head. "You're doing it again"

"What do you mean?"

"Quit staring at him, it's distracting" Neteyam says.

"Jesus Lo, just rip off eachother's clothes and hit it in the sack already"

He stood up from his seat, pointing a finger at you. "You're messed up"

You giggle at him as he walks off, you turn to Neteyam who sat beside you, remaining quiet.

"Is dad talking to you yet?"

You shook your head, brushing sand off your feet as you and him sit by the roots. "No, I doubt he ever will"

"Chin up baby sis" He tells you, hooking an arm around your shoulder, shaking you gently. "It has only been two days, I'm sure he will come around"

"If it was you maybe" you tell him before squinting at the beach, watching the whitecaps forming in the horizon. "You and Lo'ak have Dad, say what you want but I know Dad always wanted two boys, Mom has Kiri and Tuk, me, I'm just... I'm not like you, 'Teyam" You found yourself saying, looking at him now. "I cheated my way out of death, became an Avatar, Kiri and I aren't your siblings by blood but at least she was born Na'vi-"

"-It dosen't seem that different to me" Neteyam interrupted you. "I always saw you as my sister, even if you only reached up to my waist when we were kids, even if you had no tail, no fangs, none of that mattered to me... so what if you look a little different now? You've always been Y/N, you've always been my little sister"

Silence ensues as the wind blew in from the sea.

"Shit Neteyam" You finally laugh, looking at the tree tops above you so that the tears that threatened to brim your eyes would somehow fall back in. "It's only 4 pm, damn you"

He cackles, pulling you closer to him until you finally just scoot over, resting your head on his shoulder. Watching the swell of the waves, lapping up at the sand before falling back into the ocean, watching as fishermen cast their nets into the water, children swimming after eachother, hearing the faint yelps of ilus in the background.

You sit there for a few minutes, possibly even half an hour, before Neteyam stands up saying he'll go check up on Kiri and Tuk and see if their Marui was still standing, and with that you are left to your own devices. You begin to hate the quiet and so you stand up and start walking into the lush fauna Awa'atlu had to offer, dancing past moss covered rocks, avoiding skittish insects crawling about. You hear a twig snap behind you, your ears perk up, and a cold feeling washes over your back, your fingers wrap themselves around the hilt of your dagger as you began walking deeper into the forest, staying light on your feet as you hear the rustling grow louder.

You swerve behind a waterfall and start running, slipping in and out of trees, ducking over overgrown branches until you bump into a teal wall of flesh, the impact was so hard you practically bounced off of eachother.

"What the hell do you think you're trying to pull?"

Ao'nung shows you his palms. "Take it easy, no need to get angry again"

"Were you the one following me?" You pressed.

"Yes, until you started running which made me have to run after you"

You abandon your fighting stance, standing up straighter. "Is this some sick joke?"

You see him scratch the side of his mouth. "I realized I never apologised to you... for- for the fight"

"I thought you'd have forgotten it by now"

"Pretty hard not to" He laughed. "I got an earful once I came back home, couldn't stop thinking about it ever since, I even lost sleep because of it"

"My deepest sympathies" You droned.

"I guess I just wanna say that I am sorry" Ao'nung mutters. "For hitting you"

You nod, biting the inside of your cheek as you look around, hearing yourself up for an apology. "I'm sorry too... for hitting you, i'm sorry that you deserved it, i hoped it hurt"

He blinked.

"Also sorry for calling you all those names, sorry for talking about you behind your back, sorry for shit talking you in front of my parents-"

He stops you with his hand. "-what?"

"Yeah"

"Fine, apology accepted" He replied gruffly, half-shrugging. "Now come on, I want to show you something"

"Like hell i'm going to follow you anywhere"

"I'm not going to murder you if that's what you're so worried about"

"Why don't I believe you?" You sassed, raising a lone eyebrow at him.

"I never asked you to believe, I only want you to trust me"

It made you think. "If I trust you, I need to believe that you won't cause me any harm, to trust is to believe"

"It works both ways Forest Girl" you could tell he was getting tired of your technicality.

Huh. "I suppose you are right"

"Are you coming or not?" He calls after you, already several steps away.

You follow him in silence, praying to Eywa he was being true to his word and was not in fact leading you to your death. The pair of you finally reach the end of the forest, a secluded beach, you see him walk all the way to the edge of the water where he called on his ilu, urging you to do the same. You called on Hinewai and you saddled her waiting for further instructions from Ao'nung, when he starts moving forward so do you, when he stops by a huge rock formation covered with palm trees and lush flowers you stop too.

"We have to swim from this point forward" He tells you, jumping off his ilu and sending it off.

You cautiously jump off yours, making a splash as your body hit the water. "I will even race you" He says.

"What are we, 10?"

He half-shrugs, giving you a boyish smile. "Take it as a practice drill"

He dives down and so do you, following him deeper, and deeper also while trying to beat him there, wherever there was. The huge rock formation had stretched down farther than you had hoped, when you spot the hole and watched Ao'ning swim inside, you were having second thoughts about following him in, but your competitiveness took over you and you pursued him, swimming faster so that you could catch up to him. He began swimming upwards, and so do you, propelling yourself as quick as you could so that you'd be head to head, your chest was starting to tighten again and you felt like his was as well, so it was a race to the top.

After what felt like hours you resurfaced and took a huge intake of breath, beating Ao'nung by mere seconds.

"Hah! Take that!" You exclaimed, hooting and cackling as your laughter bounces off the walls of the cave which were covered in bioluminescent bugs resembling Teylu, casting the cave in a soft blueish hue.

"Where are you??" He asks, whirling his head around.

"I'm right here dumbass!" You say, splashing the water which catches his attention.

He laughed loud, wiping his face of water. "I can't see a thing! Can you see?"

You giggled, throwing your head back. "Yeah, yeah! I can see! I see you!"

You both freeze, your splashing had ceased and you both just floated here, staring at eachother's hazy faces in the dark.

"Uhm-" He starts, scratching his head.

"Should i-"

"No-! Yes-! Go ahead"

You swim out of the water, propping yourselves onto the rough rock, he gestures you to follow him deeper into the cave and he stops walking, sticking his back towards the wall and pointing his chin at the most magnificent thing you've ever laid your eyes on.

Your jaw drops to your feet as you marveled at the sight before you.

"Holy fuck" you say.

AAAAAND THAT'S PART 2! The fight scene was incredibly fun to write as you can see I kinda lengthened it just cuz I had the creative freedom, also the scene with Jake, Neteyam, and Lo'ak gotta have some angst in this chapter, even though there's more coming in the suceeding parts. Anyways!!!! I hope you enjoyed! <3

#ao'nung x fem!reader #metkayina #omatikaya #jake sully #neytiri #ao'nung fic #ao'nung x reader #ao'nung x you #tsireya #neteyam #spider #lo'ak #kiri #tuk #rotxo #atwow #atwow ao'nung #avatar the way of water #sold out of love ao'nung

[symphonybracket]

YouTube links: Tchaikovsky 6, Mahler 1

Comments:

Mahler 1

cmon there's evil frere jacque in this symphony it's the best thing ever

The beginning is so beautiful… and very reminiscent of the Star Trek intro!

It's SO MUCH. The first two movements are gorgeous. Putting minor key "are you sleeping brother john" and then klezmer wedding music in the middle of it is the funniest thing anyone's ever done AND THEN CYMBAL CRASH an absolute deluge of sound and the most epic f***ing music ever (Wagner can go eat his socks). You have to love it.

Tchaikovsky 6

Everyone bangs on about the 4th movement but it's the 3rd movement that really hits

tchaik 6 is what i would listen to if i had an hour to live

the 5/4 movement of the tchaik lives rent free in my mind and i think about it every day

It’s beyond gorgeous. The melodies soar, the orchestra swells, and you just need to lie down for a while after listening to it. It’s Romanticism at its zenith. You want to weep and sigh, and it’s impossible to listen to it without literally feeling something.

Symphony No. 6, titled “Pathétique”, was Tchaikovsky’s final symphony. It is an intensely emotional piece, and to many scholars demonstrates the emotional turmoil that characterized much of Tchaikovsky’s life. He died about a week after its premiere, a fact which leads many scholars to debate about whether the content of the piece itself reflects the possibility that he may have committed suicide. The title itself is often translated to mean “impassioned suffering”, although this was most likely a later addition by Modest and not actually part of Tchaikovsky’s vision. Given these facts, many scholars interpret this piece to be about death and suffering. However, this piece can also be seen to represent life and all its contrasting moments. This interpretation is more holistic and inclusive of all of the moments captured in this piece, and also serves to break down the common narrative of Tchaikovsky as a tragic figure.

More comments about Tchaikovsky 6 below the cut (length warning):

Scholarship surrounding Tchaikovsky’s music tends to focus heavily on the ways his confliction over his homoerotic desires appears in his writing. However, his personal letters reveal a much more balanced understanding of himself that goes beyond the common narrative. In one letter written to Modest describing a new relationship with another man, he writes: “I awoke today with a feeling of unknown happiness and with a complete absence of that emotional sobriety that used to make me repent in the morning for having gone too far the day before.” Many of the letters he wrote regarding his relationships demonstrate no shame and no anguish beyond what can be expected of a man living in a homophobic society. It is important to take this information into account when listening to a piece such as this one that has been discussed so frequently, and to understand it beyond the turmoil and strife that it is seen to represent. Like many of Tchaikovsky’s works, this symphony displays a range of human emotions. It is not only representative of tragedy and “impassioned suffering”; it is a depiction of what it is like to live. It is also interesting to note that this piece is used as a signifier of queer desire in the novel "Maurice" by E.M. Forster, a novel also notable for its radical portrayal of a queer man who gets a happy ending. Much to think about there.

The first movement begins with a lone bassoon soloist playing a plaintive minor melody, which later comes back in the strings. As the movement progresses, it grows in intensity and texture. More instruments are added, and the music becomes more frantic, building and building towards the dramatic trumpet fanfare. Throughout this piece, Tchaikovsky continues to make significant use of contrasting dynamics and melodies, reflecting the emotions he hopes to convey through the music. Dramatic, tumultuous sections are interspersed with pastoral woodwind melodies, and the angry brass fanfares give way to a quiet ending.

The second movement is reminiscent of a waltz, and uses the strings and woodwinds more than the brass to achieve its floating melodies. The dynamics ebb and flow to build tension, but this movement never reaches the same levels of anguish that the previous movement does. Tchaikovsky makes use of pizzicato in the strings to convey a lighter, more cheerful mood, and features the upper woodwinds prominently. He also repeats themes frequently, giving the audience something familiar to listen out for as the movement progresses.

The third movement begins with frantic energy in the strings and woodwinds. As more instruments join the rush of music, the underlying eight note accompaniment does not let up, continuing the vivacious beginning through the whole movement. Instruments pass the melodies between each other and engage in conversations across the orchestra. Like the first movement, the brass play a prominent role in creating dramatic climaxes in the music, as well as supporting the march-like conclusion. Conductor Myung-Whun Chung describes the deceptively dramatic ending as, “one of the greatest, most thrilling, but most empty of victories in musical history,” observing that this movement has the energetic finality of a final movement. The reversal of having the true finale be a slower movement represents a shift away from the “Beethovian model of light over darkness” common in most other symphonies of this time period.

As mentioned before, ending on a movement with a slow tempo was a significant shift away from the standard of the time. This innovation inspired many other future composers to use the same technique, most notably Mahler in his Ninth Symphony. The quiet beginning builds up towards a chaotic rush of fast runs throughout the orchestra, only to stop abruptly and continue in halting, cautious bursts of melody. The movement continues with this cycle of rushing up to a climax and backing away as the movement progresses. Tchaikovsky highlights the horns in this movement, giving them both angry, blaring notes which cut through the string melodies and the flowing, lyrical lines that are passed throughout the orchestra. As the piece ends, the instruments fall away until all that is left are steady repeated notes in the basses, bringing this lament of a movement to an understated close.

#tchaik 6 comments 2nd so i can put i readmore #tchaikovsky #mahler #round 3

[lilisouless]

What your favorite Six of Crows ship says about you

inspired by this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns_7ax-i3DE&list=PLZKnRTyUP15ZC04zScew3pmDG8ZaKno_M&index=12 and the other serie s of videos 

Kanej: You crave a romance with the yearning of a period drama but also want to create unstoppable chaos while holding hands

Helnik: Your thing is enemies to lovers as long as it pays off with tons of fluff afterwards (also chapter 40 doesn’t exist)

Wesper: You like ships with the versatility of working in any possible au…And you may have anxiety and/or self steem issues

Hanina: You favorite aesthetic is either royalty core or cottage core

Matthias/Nina/Hanne: you just want Nina to be happy and fuck the fjerdans in all senses

Kuwei/Jesper : you just wanted good things for Kuwei (and really, who wouldn’t?)

Ninej: Your love language is physical touch, sharing sweets and slaying together

Kazper: You have a secret crush on someone in your life or you love buddy cop comedies

Kaz/Nina: You though the books were written by Sarah J Maas

Inej/Jesper: You believe in friends to lovers supremacy , but keep it to yourself to avoid toxic responses that you clearly don’t deserve

Matthias/Kaz : You don’t like enemies to lovers, you like enemies WHILE lovers (or you just wish Wesper went harder with their hostility phase)

Wylan/Kuwei: same as above , but more like a passive aggressive kind of hostility

Nina/Jesper: you have a crush on one or both and since you can’t have them you just make the most bi couple to ever bi

Jesper/Matthias: Probably shipped Bert and Ernie in your childhood before knowing what shipping was

Kaz/Wylan : Your thing is corruption and revenge stories, also hate the Dad!Kaz thing

Inej/ Matthias: You just don’t understand why short people with tall partners will beg to get lifted instead of climbing over them and obliterate them

Wylan/Matthias: You don’t actually ship them, you are just a Kazper shipper who doesn’t want Wylan to be sad

Alinej: Your thing is bodyguard au! (Also totally your choice but you should consider Alina x Tamar)

Zonej: There is a surprising lack of positive desi women representation on YA literature, so you said “alright i’ll do it myself”

Nina/ Nikolai : You are heterosexual 

Nikolai/Kaz: 🎼 two bastards are better than one, is twice the cringe 🎶

Kaz/Anika: You tried to get into Kaz x reader but you didn’t feel y/n had enough personality for your taste

Kaz/Imogen: You want to see more of this girl, you also dig lost love tragedies when the main characters doesn’t end up together

Kaz/Saskia: you don’t exist

Anya x Joost: you wouldn’t survive a single A song of ice and fire book

Aditi x Colm: You are a textbook hopeless romantic

Colm x Marya: you are so lost in the thought of second love chances, that you didn’t thought the implications of wesper becoming step brothers

Marya x Alys: you are so lost on the thought of destroying Jan Van Eck that you didn’t thought the implications that Alys is probably at least twenty years younger

Jan Van Eck x Death:I respect your opinions but i seriously don’t get it,death is clearly too good for him

Inej/Dunyasha: You love enemies to lovers in theory, but in practice you would rather they just stay on the enemies stage

Important: i had the link saved since this was on drafts and didn’t remember it gets you to a hp video themed since is the first one on the reproduction list, i recommend skip the video if you can’t stand anything related to jk rowling

#netflix shadow and bone #six of crows #leigh bardugo #jesper fahey #kaz brekker #wylan van eck #nina zenik #inej ghafa #crooked kingdom #kuwei yul bo #colm fahey #aditi hilli #marya hendriks #THIS ARE ALL JOKES #i have nothing against x reader fics #cw anxiety mention #cw jk rowling in the link

[linkspooky]

WHOOO that was a loaded answer and I loved every word of it OP! I am curious if you've seen the movie hereditary. I know some other post on tumblr talked about how the movie had a massive influence on Gege and it's shown pretty clearly between Megumi and Sukuna, so I was wondering if you had any input on that out of curiosity.

I've seen the movie hereditary. I think you're referring to this post about Hereditary's influence on Jujutsu Kaisen. I wouldn't put it past Jujutsu Kaisen to be inspired by other media, it's also a manga with several horror elements itself from the premise to the existence and designs of the curses.

For those who haven't seen the movie hereditary he's a quick and silly summary:

A woman buries her mother and it's heavily implied that the mother was abusive. Also she was a Satanist who didn't approve of her daughter's non-satan loving lifestyle. The mother Annie has two children Peter, and Charlie. Annie thinks her daughter Charlie is kind of annoying so she tells Charlie to go to a party with her brother and stop bothering her. At the party Charlie eats a weed brownie and has an allergic reaction to it, and so they rush her home in the car. However, Peter is speeding too fast and Charlie's sticking her head out the window so she gets instantly decapitated and dies.

Then - and this is the greatest scene in any movie ever made. Instead of calling the cops, or the hospital, or his parents Peter just drives home, parks the car in the garage, and then leaves his sister's dead body as a fun little surprise for someone to find in the morning.

After that a cult pretending to be a grief support group tricks Annie into using a ouiji board to summon Charlie's ghost back, but instead they summoned the demon Paimon, who takes over her son's body at the end of the movie.

The post I linked above posits the Megumi and Sukuna possession plotline, which has basically been the longest running arc involved with Megumi in themanga was directly inspired by the ending twist to Hereditary where Peter is made to host Paimon. Even if it's not a direct inspiration it's a pretty apt comparison. Hereditary is basically a movie about trauma being passed down through three generations until it culminates on Peter as the last link in this chain of abuse.

It's heavily implied that Grandma Satan worshipper was not a good mother, and at the beginning of the movie before tragedy even strikes Annie is completely checked out on both of her kid's lives. She's not really a mother in this family unit before the family destroying tragedy. You could say Charlie's death happens in the first place because her mother didn't want to put up with her and sent her away instead. Then after the tragedy, Annie's got a clear scapegoat to blame in Peter who caused the car accident yeah, but number one it was a pure accident, and number two he's a teen.

Grandma Mrs. Satan's poor parenting -> Annie not liking her kids -> Neglecting Charlie -> Charlie's death -> Annie scapegoating Peter for Charlie's death -> Peter is possessed by the same cult that Grandma Satan belonged to.

There's a circular quality to this grief because it's implied towards the beginning of the film while Grandma Satan didn't get along with Annie she started to connect with her daughter's children soon after Charlie was born because she saw Charlie as a prospective host for Paimon. So, it leaves the question that this might have been the plan all along, Grandma always planned to take one of the kid bodies and their mother was unable to break the cycle or interrupt grandma's plans because she was too caught up in the circle of grief too.

Ari Aster has gone on record saying the movie is about familiar trauma being passed on through generations:

I knew that I really wanted to make a film about the corrosive effects of trauma on a family unit. I knew that I wanted to make a film that had sort of an ouroboros quality about a family that’s basically eating itself in its grief. [SOURCE]

Megumi, much like Peter is the last link in a chain of trauma. I explore that concept in more depth in this post, but basically Megumi is the last link on the chain that starts with the Zen'in and Toji. Toji is rejected by his clan and basically has no family or support inside of Jujutsu Society. He flees it, finds some stability in Megumi's mother for awhile but after losing her he decides to stop caring about himself or others.

Toji then repeats the cycle. Toji is the famous sorcerer killer but in story we see him victimize several children. He kills Riko Amanai in cold blood for cold cash right in front of Geto and Gojo, the aftermath of which would affect them for years to come. He then absolutely brutalzies both Geto and Gojo who were also teenagers at the time though they were incredibly powerful ones. FInally, he also abandons his own son, sells him to the Zen'in and leaves him without a guardian or adult in his life to take care of.

The trauma that began with the Zen'in -> leads to -> Toji's actions as the sorcerer killer -> leads to -> Toji's abandonment of Megumi and Megumi having no parental figures in his life to take care of him.

Gojo is also a chain link in this cycle. His loss to Toji is something Gojo still remembers to this day, as the first and only time someone ever made him feel fear in a fight. He literally cites Megumi's resemblance to Toji as the reason that he has no problem fighting Sukuna while he's in Megumi's body.

Then, is Gojo trying to overcome this cycle of abuse by intervening in Megumi's case and making sure he wasn't sold to the Zen'in Clan?

Well, Kiiiiiiind of. It's clear is motivation is to try to save Megumi from becoming like Geto. After Geto's defection Gojo comments that being strong isn't enough to save people you have to save people who want to be saved and then goes to find Megumi early, like he's trying to intervene earlier because he regrets not being there in time with Geto.

However, this is where I say Gojo's lost to Toji gave him trauma he has yet to recover from. Ever since Gojo's awakening as "the strongest" he believes that strength is the solution to every problem. Yes, even after he had the revelation that being the strongest isn't enough to save some people. Yes, it's a contradiction. Gojo's brain is a complicated and scary place, us mere humans aren't meant to totally comprehend what goes on inside there.

Since his awakening against Toji, Gojo has always solved his problems by being the strongest, and being the strongest alone. His solution is to raise allies who will be as strong, or even stronger than him. Megumi who has the Zen'in Clan's strongest inherited technique, and one that supposedly killed a six-eyes user with the limitless in the past seems like the natural candidate.

On top of that it's clear Gojo sees a lot of himself in Megumi. They're both child prodigies born to one of the three great clans, with that clan's strongest single technique. Considering Naobito made Megumi the Clan Head in his last will and Testament, if Megumi had been raised by the Zen'in he probably would have been given a similiar childhood to Gojo's (spoiled child prodigy raised as a tool for the clan). However, Megumi is not Gojo and Gojo seems to have trouble ferreting out those differences.

Which is why we see some frustration on Gojo's end that despite the fact they have their respective clan's powerful techniques, at his second year Gojo was already a special class and well on his way to being considered the strongest while Megumi himself has a tendency to coast on his talent instead of applying himself and doesn't think it's even remotely possible for himself to get as strong as Gojo.

Gojo does not understand why Megumi doesn't "swing for the fences" the way that Gojo and Yuji does. Why he comes off as so unomotivated and fails to capitalize on any of his blessings.

However, while Gojo is able to notice the symptoms, he doesn't understand the disease or rather the cause of Megumi's behavior. The first being that Megumi is not Gojo. Gojo may find a lot of things similiar about their situations, but no matter how much Gojo tries to mold Megumi into a successor Megumi is not going to be Gojo.

That's where we get back to the connection to Hereditary. In hereditary basically the cult's grand scheme in the movie is to manipulate events to mould Peter into the next successor to Paimon, and Peter himself is not only a bit of an agenciless victim to all of their schemes as the cult progresses, but because of the failure of their mother they have no parent or adult to protect them from the cult's actions. Peter has a missing parent figure, and another figure trying to actively manipulate him until he's worn down enough to fall victim to Paimon's possession.

Not only is the story a tragedy in the genre sense, hamlet, romeo and juliet, etc. etc. but the victim Peter is agenciless in his actions like most victims in tragedies are. Everything in the world just wears him down, he has no support from adults, and no escape, he has little choice in the things that happen to him until eventually he gets his body taken away from him. HIs agency is literally stolen because he no longer can control even his own body.

Someone on reddit put this better than me:

Hereditary portrays how one might lose conscious control over his or her actions; be overwhelmed by the subconscious: possessed. It's symbolised with decapitation – a separation of mind and body. The body is what keeps the head up top and grounded upright. If they're separated, a person disorientates and loses his/her sense of up and down. Suffering without being able to interpret it is torturous and can make you want to stop trying to interpret all together. If you think of home as a person's frame of interpretation, the treehouse is where the film's themes come together:

Decapitation is a pretty common image used in the movie hereditary. Two characters die from swift decapitation. Is there a clearer symbol for loss of bodily control then having your head chopped off? Losing all five senses? Losing your ability to move your body?

Megumi is also a character who has lost control over his body and actions since Sukuna's possession of him, and the grief over loss of a sister has caused him to stop fighting for control entirely but did Megumi have a lot of control over his own life before that?

There are no adult figures who are trying to protect and care for Megumi. That was his father's job, but Toji abandoned him. Megumi and Tsumiki are essentially left to fend for themselves in the world of adults with little choices.

Megumi is given two choices, go to the Zen'in who are going to raise him to be a sorcerer, or go to Gojo who will raise him to be a sorcerer in a slightly less misogynistic environment. There's no option where Megumi gets to choose not to be a sorcerer because Gojo's "help" comes with the huge asterisk* *If you don't work as a sorcerer for jujutsu high we won't pay for your food.

Megumi was already being molded into being what someone else wanted for him to be - in this case Gojo. He was being raised as one of Gojo's allies and successors with little to no input with what Megumi wanted out of life. In the process Sukuna ends up hijacking Megumi's body and moulding Megumi to be useful for Sukuna's ambitions instead. Which is why this is so similiar to the tragedy in Hereditary it kind of feels like in traditioanl tragedy fashion Megumi has the agency of the main character of a tragedy. No matter what he does he's playing into someone's hands. So many people have plans for Megumi and how they want to use him and Megumi's just some teenage kid caught in the middle of it.

Sukuna sets up his plan for possessing Megumi at the start of the story. Megumi was taken in by Gojo and turned into a sorcerer and his tool against the elders before the start of the story. Annie's grandma always planned on putting Paimon into one of her children, and Annie doesn't figure it out until it's too late and we're already seeing the effects of her grandmother's long game plans.

So yeah, Hereditary and Jujutsu Kaisen are both about this intergenerational cycle of trauma, and how it will always affect the weakest members on the chain (children).

#megumi fushiguro #hereditary #askspookies #watch this post get like two notes #i doubt there's much overlap between jujutsu kaisen enjoyers and horror fans but #i'd be shaming myself as a horror fan if i didn't answer this question seriously #jujutsu kaisen #ari aster

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

As is explained in the book, Covey names are made up of the name of a folk ballad and a color. The origins of a few of these names are explicitly stated in the book, but not all of them, so I want to try to lay out some potential origins for all of the Covey characters’ names!

Lucy Gray-Lucy Gray, poem by William Wordsworth (canon)

Barb Azure-Barbara Allen, famous folk song and child ballad 84 (canon)

Maude Ivory-Maude Clare, poem by Christina Rossetti (canon)

Clerk Carmine-Clerk Saunders, English folk song and child ballad 69

Tam Amber-Tam Lin, Scottish folktale and child ballad 39

Billy Taupe-Billy Boy, famous American folk song (likely, though Willy is a very common name in folk songs and child ballads)

Furthermore, I also want to argue that each of their names (much like Lucy Gray's) has some element of foreshadowing or relevance to their character or story!

Lucy Gray: as we know, she shares her story with the Wordsworth character: to go missing in the woods and have her true fate be forever a mystery

Barb Azure: she's a bit trickier. Barbara Allen is a soft, quiet tragedy about a “hard-hearted” girl whose lover dies, and she dies soon after so she can be buried with him. Barb Azure doesn't have much in the way of tragic romance (she and her gf seem to be the only non-toxic romance in the Covey), so I view her tragic love as not romantic, but familial. Barb seems to be the mom friend of the Covey, quiet and reserved but caring, and I think her heart broke when Lucy Gray and Billy Taupe died, one after the other. I should note that Barbara Allen's lover is named William (I told y'all it's a really common name). We don't know what happens to Barb Azure after she loses half her family and their music, but I can't imagine she ever fully recovered.

Maude Ivory: ALSO tricky. Maude Clare is about a love triangle, in which a couple is getting married and Maude, the groom's ex, stirs some shit with the bride, Nell. The groom is very inconsequential (Rossetti was a lesbian *cough cough*), so it's mainly about what the two women are fighting over. Maude proudly hands over the groom, but showcases how much he preferred her to his wife in the process. Nell professes that she has the legitimacy of marriage, and is willing to wait until he loves her back. It's unclear who really wins. I think this could be indicative of a bit of a silent "feud" (with no hatred of course) with Lucy Gray over which will become the lead singer in the Covey. Lucy Gray effectively hands it over to Maude Ivory at the end, but it's not much of a victory, as music is soon banned in District 12. But to Maude's credit, if the theory that she's Katniss's grandmother is true, she is willing to work to spread her music in secret over the coming years.

Clerk Carmine: Clerk Saunders is betrayed by his lover’s brothers after he wrongs her, eventually being killed by her youngest brother. Clerk Carmine's brother, Billy Taupe, betrays Lucy Gray by sleeping with Mayfair, and eventually the rest of the Covey reject him, including, most personally, Clerk Carmine.

Tam Amber: Tam Lin was a mysterious fae man, and Tam Amber was a mysterious baby found on the side of the road (I'm sorry but we know like nothing about this boy)

Billy Taupe: Billy Boy is a nursery rhyme about a boy who is courting a girl who is too young to leave her mother's side, much like Billy Taupe is courting Mayfair, whose father won't leave her alone. Though the nursery rhyme itself is light and fun, it has been linked to the English murder ballad "Lord Randall," in which a jealous woman poisons her husband, much like Mayfair's jealousy leads to both hers and Billy's deaths.

Tell me what y’all think! Clerk and Billy could really be a few things, but these seemed most likely. I also might’ve missed something (I wasn’t really looking for this stuff while reading) so I welcome any new info!

#my obessions always come back to old ones so... #i welcome ye personal tam lin rennaissance #headcanon that they plant a red rose and a green briar for lucy gray and barb azure after she dies #and they grow up until they can't grow any higher and they tie in a true love's knot red rose around green briar #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #tam lin #Barbara Allen #christina rossetti #tbosas

[shining-m00nlight]

Brothers Pride

This is chapter Two of "It's tragedy that binds us". Ned thinks about how Brandon reacted to their father telling them that Ned would marry Catelyn. It's my dear Theas birthday and this is her gift!! Happy Birthday @ladycatofwinterfell !!!

Here is a link if you want to read the first chapter too.

"Brother!!!" Brandon Stark's voice boomed over the drawbridge of Riverrun. Obviously not caring for etiquette or courtesy, he crashed into Ned to

force him into a hug. Not having expected such an enthusiastic greeting from his brother Ned stumbled back, pulling Brandon with him. The pair of brothers had to try really hard to stay up right and not fall onto the ground in front of the whole staff of Riverrun and the small host of people the Starks had brought with them. If Ned was a person who would easily blush, he was sure he would have.

His brother's hug had surprised him a lot. He was sure Brandon would still be angry with him. He had been when their father had announced that Ned would marry Catleyn Tully instead of Brandon. 

--------------------------Flashback--------------------------

"What? No way am I allowing this!" Brandon yelled at their father after Rickard finished explaining to his sons what he and the new Lady Tully had agreed upon. 

"You will not have to allow anything! As I am your father and the Lord of Winterfell and as such I do not seek your approval but I am informing you about a decision I have made and you two will abide by. And you will do so in a manner fitting to

your station without bringing shame to the family

by yelling about a castel we are guests in!"

Brandon did not seem as if he wanted to heed

their fathers words.

"Well apparently Ned will not be a guest here for long. Rather he will be the Lady of this castel, spreading his legs to bear little trouts for the Riverlands." 

At that Rickard  Stark struck his son in the face. 

"You will not speak such crudness to me boy! You might think you're a man grown but don't you dare forget who I am and who we are! You will not speak about your family in this manner ever again! Not in front of me and not in front of anyone else. Am I understood?" 

Brandon still frowned at their father but nodded.

"This alliance is important for this family! I will not lose it because of your childish temperament or your hurt ego. Lady Tully's brother is dead, her sister not fit to be the Lady of Winterfell so Ned marrying her and staying at Riverrun is how we keep this ally!"

Rickard Stark ended his speech, looking more at Brandon, then at Ned. Brandon looked back at their father, pouting. The slap his father gave him obviously having bruised his ego more than his body. While it was clear he still wasn't agreeing with his father, he apparently had decided it was better to keep his thoughts to himself. Something that truly only their fathers authority could accomplish, Ned thought to himself. 

The Lord of Winterfell now turned to his second son. 

"You, Ned! You will marry the Tully girl and represent our house with pride here in the south! I know you haven't expected any of this but I am confident that you will be fine and make me proud son." 

Ned nodded: 

"I will do my best, father. I will marry Lady Tully as you command." 

"Good! I knew that I could trust you to do the right thing for our house. Lady Tully will be a good wife to you. I am sure of it. She is smart and capable. I l am almost disappointed that she won't be Brandon's wife but she does live by her house's words. "Family, Duty, Honor" and to her it's her duty to stay in Riverrun and to her it's what's best for her family. Which I have to agree with. 

You might not know much about your future bride, son but you know that she will be a good mother to your children and the rest you will learn in time" 

Ned nodded again. If he was being honest he hadn't really thought about his future wife all too much since his father told them the news an hour ago. He had been too distracted by Brandon glaring at him, as if he was personally responsible for the deaths of Edmure and Hoster Tully. 

All of Ned's thoughts were concentrated on Brandon and on trying to figure out what he would do l or say when their father wasn't with them anymore and how he should react. 

Ned was fairly certain that Brandon was not in love with the Lady Tully. The times Brandon and Ned had seen eachother in the years since Brandon and Catelyns betrothal Ned had never heard Brandon to declare deep love and devotion to the young maiden. He had talked about her beauty, that was for sure but he never talked of deeper, more meaningful things. 

On the contrary Brandon's words had often gotten more crude the more he drank and his descriptions became less and less fitting to be used for a lady of a great house. But of course Ned couldn't be completely certain, maybe l Brandon did love her. Which would mean that he would hate Ned forever. 

Ned was just about to direct his thoughts more towards the young women who would be his wife within the next few days when his father spoke again.

"I think everything has been said for now. I shall retire for the night. Tomorrow we will finalize the plans and the agreement and then everything will hopefully go on smoothly till we depart for Winterfell again. I expect of you to behave properly and go to your assigned chambers soon as well. And please remember that Riverrun and especially the Tully family is still grieving a great loss! So act accordingly. Good night boys" 

This time Rickard Stark didn't wait for the reactions of his sons but turned around immediately and left the study the Tullys had provided them with. 

Ned wanted to follow hoping he could give his brother some time and space to calm his nerves but Brandon had a different idea. When Ned tried to step out of the study the older Stark grabbed his arm and pulled him back in. 

"You can't honestly agree to this" 

He wasn't yelling. it was more of a growl. At least he was aware enough that their father was still so close that he would come running back should the shouts of his oldest reach his ear. Probably not hesitating to correct his behavior again in a less than gentle way. Ned tried to stay calm. 

"It is what father decided. There is nothing for me to agree or disagree with Brandon. Father and the Lady Tully made a decision and we must abide by it." 

Brandon grunted:

"The "Lady Tully" ,he said, his voice dripping with condensation, "the day before we arrived she was still Lady Catelyn or even the Tully girl and now she suddenly is "Lady Tully"

"Because she is Brandon. Because her father and her brother died! Or have you forgotten?" 

The look of guilt flashed over Brandons face but it only stayed for half a second then it turned back to spitefulness.

"Oh come on Neddy you can't tell me your honestly ok with Her and father deciding over your future without even consulting you!" 

It certainly wasn't Neds' favorite thing in the world, knowing that once again other people had made a decision affecting his life forever without as much as a word of warning. But he had the feeling Brandon meant that he would have a specific problem with the word "her" in his sentence which Ned couldn't confirm to him. 

Ned did not see what difference it would have made if instead of Lady Tully, one of fathers bannerman would have been the other party not consulting him on his future or wishes for it. The difference would have been his fathers words after making an agreement but the thing Ned would have liked to have been different, his involvement in the negotiations, wouldn't have changed. 

Not that Ned was ungrateful or didn't understand

his fathers decision. It was a good way to keep the alliance despite the tragedy that had occurred. He also wouldn't dare to complain about being married to the beautiful Lady of a great House but for once it would have been nice to at least been asked if he was fine and not just told he would be. 

He could not voice these thoughts to his hod headed brother though. Duty might have been one of the Tully words but Ned also understood its meaning.

"Again it is not my place to question father and it is my duty to marry for our house and listen to fathers commands." 

The small hope that those words would end their conversation died immediately when Brandon, now a bit closer to yelling and Ned's face, spit out. 

"Your duty is to fuck my girl then huh?!" 

Ned was uncertain what he could answer his brother and tried to think of a response. However Brandon didn't even give him the time to say one word before continuing to get in Ned face to complain some more. 

"It is your duty to get what I have been waiting for, l for so long? Oh I'm sure it was hard for you to take on such hard duty, getting to live a nice life here in the south with nothing to do as you have a wife that will be responsible for everything important in the castle and in the Riverlands. Being able to just relax and enjoy your life must have been such a hard thing to have to agree to."

Brandon didn't seem to see the irony in first accusing Ned in hiding his displeasure at the situation and changing it to accusing him of eagerly wanting it. He just continued ranting. Had Ned paid closer attention to his brother's face he might have noticed the change from anger to something a bit more calculated.

"Though now that I think about it little brother it might become a difficult duty to accomplish for you as I believe pleasing your Lady shall be part of it. From seeing how you interact with the fairer sex I am sure she will be disappointed outside but especially inside the bedroom. Considering she will compare you to me!" 

Ned stood there in silent shocked at his brother's words. Brandon had apparently decided that his words would end their talk as walked out of the room leaving Ned behind. 

Ned still tried to comprehend his brother's words. Did his brother just confess to taking Lady Tully's maidenhead? Surely he couldn't have been this stupid. If their father or worse, Hoster Tully would have found out, they would have had Brandons head. How could his brother have been so reckless?! 

Ned's head began to pain him the more he thought about not just Brandon's words but every word spoken in the last two hours. Slowly Ned's head started to swim and his thoughts overlapped and got out of control. 

In his probably last coherent thought of the day Ned decided it would be best for him to go to bed and deal with everything tomorrow as his father had said before. The next morning he hadn't been quite sure how he had found his chamber but he had been glad he did.

-----‐--‐------------------Flashback End-----------------------

After that day he and Brandon had barely talked. All of their interactions had been short and in the presents of others. The few exceptions were when Brandon would whisper crude japes in Ned's ear, most insinuating that Ned is displeasing to all women by simply standing near them.

Therefor Ned was understandably confused to be

greeted by his brother this way and so he only cautiously hugged him back to welcome him.

"Welcome to Riverrun, brother" 

Ned said as their hug entangled. Then he turned to his father. Though curious to find out what had changed his brother's attitude this drastically, surely time couldn't be the only factor, he could not forget to greet his family properly as was expected of him. He didn't want his wife to think he would scorn duty in the face of family and forget that he represented Riverrun when greeting guests. 

His wife, who had still been standing right next to him when Brandon had crashed into him, was already greeting Rickard Stark. The rest of his siblings standing right beside them. 

On her face a true smile that made her eyes sparkle and could only mean she was already reporting to them how little Robb was faring. Fitting to her eyes, her hair was shining thanks to the sun. 

She was a true beauty, his wife. Brandon had not exaggerated when speaking about it. But Ned had also come to learn that there was so much more about his wife. Things that Brandon either didn't know or didn't think were important enough to tell Ned about. 

Before Ned could further dwell on his wifes many qualities another of his siblings yelled his name and ran into his arms.

#if you haven't already tell Thea a happy birthday! #she deserves the best day always! #and I hope we can all contribute to it a bit #game of thrones #asoiaf #catelyn stark #catelyn tully #ned stark #brandon stark #brandon x cat #rickard stark #nedlyn #a03 fanfic #my fic #ao3fic

[jxncywarrior]

Stranger Things characters and ships as Taylor Swift Albums

Part Two: Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

*Disclaimer: I’m tagging all the ships and characters featured. I’m gonna try not to be biased. MOST of these are strictly based on canon. No hate to ANY ships or shippers.*

Fearless: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“Well you stood there with me in the doorway…It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something, it's fearless”

Fifteen: Will

“In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team but I didn't know it at fifteen”

Love Story: Lumax (Max’s POV)

“Romeo, save me, they're tryna tell me how to feel. This love is difficult, but it's real. Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess”

Hey Stephen: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“Hey Stephen, I could give you 50 reasons why I should be the one you choose”

White Horse: Byers Brothers to Lonnie

“I was a dreamer before you went and let me down. Now it's too late for you and your white horse”

You Belong With Me: Byler (Will’s POV)

“I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're 'bout to cry”

Breathe: El to Hopper

“Cause it's tragedy and it'll only bring you down. Now I don't know what to be without you around”

Tell Me Why: Max to Billy

“I need you like a heartbeat but you know you got a mean streak. Makes me run for cover when you're around”

You’re Not Sorry: Mileven (El’s POV)

“You got your share of secrets and I'm tired of being last to know”

The Way I Loved You: Jopper (Joyce’s POV)

“Breaking down and coming undone. It's a roller coaster kind of rush. And I never knew I could feel that much”

Forever & Always: Byler (Will’s POV)

“Oh, and it rains in your bedroom. Everything is wrong It rains when you're here and it rains when you're gone”

The Best Day: Will to Jonathan

“know you were on my side even when I was wrong. And I love you for giving me your eyes. Staying back and watching me shine”

Change: The Upside Down

“These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down. It's a revolution, the time will come for us to finally win and we'll sing hallelujah, we'll sing hallelujah”

Jump Then Fall: Lumax (Lucas’ POV)

“I realize your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard”

Untouchable: Byler (Will’s POV)

“It's like a million little stars spelling out your name. You gotta come on, come on. Say that we'll be together”

Come In With The Rain: Elmax (El’s POV)

“I've watched you so long, screamed your name. I don't know what else I can say”

Superstar: Steddie (Eddie’s POV)

“And all the girls in the front row scream your name”

The Other Side Of The Door: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“You carried me from your car up the stairs. And I broke down crying, was she worth this mess?”

Today Was A Fairytale: Jopper (Joyce’s POV)

“Can you feel this magic in the air? It must have been the way you kissed me”

You All Over Me: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I lived, and I learned. Had you, got burned”

Mr Perfectly Fine: Mileven (El’s POV)

“But that was when I got to know Mr. "Change of heart" Mr. "Leaves me all alone, " I fall apart. It takes everything in me just to get up each day. But it's wonderful to see that you're okay”

We Were Happy: Lumax (Max’s POV)

“No one could touch the way we laughed in the dark”

That’s When: Stonathan (Jonathan’s POV)

“I said, "I know" when you said, "I did you wrong, made mistakes and put you through all of this"”

Don’t You: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“Don't you smile at me and ask me how I've been. Don't you say you've missed me if you don't want me again. You don't know how much I feel I love you still”

Bye Bye Baby: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I want you bad but it's come down to nothing and all I have is your sympathy”

If This Was A Movie: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I know people change and these things happen but I remember how it was back then”

Links to other parts of this series: Debut, Speak Now, Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore

#jancy #will byers #lumax #stancy #jonathan byers #lonnie byers #byers brothers #billy hargrove #max mayfield #byler #eleven #el hopper #jim hopper #mileven #jopper #stranger things #the upside down #elmax #steddie #stonathan

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

walks into ur inbox and sets up a big conspiracy board. hi mac :3 do u wanna hear about the hs epilogues and hs2??? well i'm gonna learn u a thing about homed stuck post canon!!!! here we fucking go

ok so idk how much of the epilogues u have read, but basically to sum it up: it was made as a way to make the fans of canon hs angry. like that's kinda the whole point. and it worked because honestly!! they are quite terrible!!! and i do like them a lot but there are a lot of things that were done in bad faith with very little care to original canon, such as: raging misogyny in the form of making jane a hashtag girlboss who sexually abused jake, jade who has no concept of sexual boundaries and was literally framed to be the girl who got in between the gay couple, and like. a lot more. so it's. very far from perfect. honestly a lot of the character writing isn't even that good

but something to keep in mind is that while yes, part of the reason a lot of it is written that way is because hussie just wanted to piss people off, there is kind of a canon reason for it??? dirk went kind of off the rails and absorbed the knowledge of all of his splinters and alternate timeline selves (which for a person who hates himself that much!!! not great!!! would drive a guy a little nuts!!!) and he got a little. bro strider-ish. very manipulative and Not Nice. and he also grabbed control over the entire narrative in the meat timeline so!!! he was just messing with people and trying to convince himself he didn't feel bad about it. sad!

and the candy timeline is controlled by alt!calliope who wanted to make the entire timeline nice and perfect and domestic, a war broke out between trolls and humans, shit hit the fan pretty bad, but the narrative only focuses on the romantic and family drama which says sooooooo much about how alt!callie views the world and these characters. she grew up obsessing over them and now can't process that these are real people who are friends with the alpha timeline version of herself and it drives me bonkers and fucking yonkers GIRL YOU ARE MESSING WITH PEOPLE YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN YOUR BROTHER!!!! since ultimate!dirk absorbed the knowledge and memories of lord english through his absorption of arquiussprite he is basically lord fucking english so him and alt!calliope arguing over the timelines is literally just. two siblings who never grew up pulling their toys/friends back and forth and being upset because they can't get their own way IT'S INSANE

also the prose slaps sometimes. meat page 39 is an especially good example, like the way it capture's ult!dirk's character voice is. AAAAAAUGHJGHGH. god. the feelings of that part. the way he's clearly trying so hard not to care..... but he DOES. and you can TELL. honestly it really captures the tragedy of dirkjake so well. also candy page 14 is just. woagh. idk if you read that part but dirk dies in candy and it's just.... holyyyyy shit dude. it's a bit gorey and it is a suicide so maybe not the best part to read if you're in a bad state of mind but GOD. it just. there's something about it that somehow manages to capture dirk so well in a way. like of course his death would be self inflicted while feeling like he's doing something "right." jesus christ. i can give u links to my favourite pages if u wanna read any of em

ummm ANYWAY. hs2 is a continuation of BOTH timelines. john died in the meat timeline (sad) and got incredibly depressed in the candy timeline (also sad) but also he had a son with roxy in candy!!! his name is harry anderson and lemme tell u i love all of the kids in candy. there's harry, there's vrissy (an ecto clone of vriska adopted by rose and kanaya), tavros crocker-english (jane and jake's kid, the most tragic little guy ever tbh) and um. yiffy. yiffany longstocking lalonde-harley who was born when jade wanted a kid. i'm not gonna get into the whole ordeal of yiffy rn it was so balls to the wall insane if i explained everything i would be here all day. but also VRISKA IS THERE 🎉🎉🎉 and she is the highlight of the candy timeline lemme tell u. she's gonna end the troll/human war maybe. or maybe she'll just fuck around. who knows!!! it's vriska!!! i love her silly unpredictable swag :3

the meat timeline is where i go especially crazy because there is soooo much to analyze here in terms of prose and imagery and just. stuff in general. basically dirk and rose blasted off into space to go create a new intelligent species and introduce them to sburb and make their universe "relevant" again because something just feels Off about their current story, and they can't quite tell what it is so they're fixing it any way they can think of. also terezi tagged along because she was there when john died and she still hasn't found vriska and so she is also depressed so hey why not tag along on this death trip to the stars!!! also a bunch of others are trying to chase them down in their own spaceship, including: dave and karkat, jade, callie, and roxy (who is transmasc in the meat timeline!!!) also davekat is canon in the meat timeline and they have some lovely existential discussions about dave's immortality and karkat's mortality

anyway thats all i got for now. i feel insane about these guys and i'm hoping the new writers for hs2 can maybe improve the story a bit AND THEY ALREADY KIND OF HAVE!!! they brought sollux back, they made jake less of a punching bag and more of a character, they have vriska shenanigans, and jane is less of an Evil Girlboss and actually more of a homestuck villain if that makes sense!! AND THE ART STYLE IS BETTER TOO the hs2 style kind of devolved a bit and looked a bit terrible after a while (they might have just had new artists on at the time) but now they've got different artists!! and the guy heading it now worked on some of the original homestuck stuff!! so they're trying to slowly fix some of hussie's bad writing choices and expanding on the cool stuff that was already there!! i love hs2 it is my deeply flawed very fucked up baby :3 sorry this was so long. the demons got me u understand <3

I UNDERSTAND I UNDERSTAND. OMG THANK YOU. i actually did start reading candy/meat when they first came out (<< 17 yr old who was so so so excited for new homestuck content) and ended up. giving up on them REALLY quick. i actually got to the part where dirk died in candy and that was what made me put them down entirely bc i was SO upset . also like u said yes the way jade was characterized was so so so uncomfy for me. so those r like the two main factors that made me totally give up on meat and candy. and i kind of openly was super super mad about the epilogues for a while after that and then i realized. oh no. im a fool. im exactly the kind of person they were written to make angry HHFDBSJS. so i backed down and learned to appreciate them for what they were from a distance <3

i appreciate u SO MUCH for the deep dive bc holy shit. every once in a while i have the internal struggle of "god i miss homestuck. maybe i should go back and read the epilogues" and then i Dont hFBFSJDK . i actually do not know SHIT about hs2 in general !! i know there is. ult dirk who looks like an anime villain and i think thats great for him. aaaaand. the davekat laundry room scene which i have only seen panels for and not dialogue and i love them so much forever. and thats about the extent of my knowledge.

#IM GLAD U ENJOY THEM BC I ALSO LIKE TO KNOW EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. i am avsorbing your knowledge #i think i would like to go back and read meat and candy again some day and give them another chance #((mainly so i can then read hs2 bc thats what i care about)) #but i think i need to be in the correct headspace to do that and it has never really felt like the right time i guess #unfortunately the first time i consumed them i was a super super hyper depressed lonely college freshman #and they kind of scarred me a little hBFHDJSKS #I APPRECIATE THEM NOW THOUGH. #THANKNU THANK U THANK U i love whiskey inbox time #friends!!! #asks #anachronistic-falsehood

[dragongutsixofficial]

You mentioned that you tend to work through a Nobody Dies lens. Does that apply to Dimitri, and what is his relationship with the Hresvelg siblings?

Thanks for the ask !! ^^ It took quite some time for me to make up my mind about this specific thing and yes, that lens does apply to Dimitri. There's a few reasons to this decision, which I need to recontextualize a bit in regards to the Hresvelg siblings:

I'll start by this: Aline and Adel do not consider Dimitri as their sibling at all. This isn't due to the fact that they are not related by blood (they both have different mothers than Patricia), but rather because they have basically never met before the Academy nor developed a meaningful relationship during their time there. Both of them always had in mind that they would end up betraying and declaring war on everyone in Garreg Mach, and that Dimitri would end up being one of their fiercest enemies as King. Moreover, Adel has never liked him because they are both faced with very similar mental health issues and he has some internalized trauma that he doesn't like to see reflected in someone else. As such, if it had only been for the two of them and Edelgard, Dimitri's death, although incredibly sad and unfortunate, could have been a logical conclusion to his arc in Crimson Flower.

The real issue here is Loki. For some context (although I just linked his character sheet), he is Patricia and Lambert's kid and since their couple was already Going To Shit™ by the time he was a toddler, he mostly stuck to his older brother's side. However, during the events of the tragedy of Duscur, during which he travelled with his mother, TWSTID decided to abduct him rather than kill him, and raise him to be a puppet with a legitimate claim to rule Fodlan in case Edelgard ever decided to rebel against them. And although he got brainwashed by his uncle Thales/Arundel, he never forgot about Dimitri and deeply wished to reunite with him; this also means that when he first got to meet with and learn about the existence of the rest of the Hresvelg siblings thanks to Kronya (I'll go over this in a later post) as a young teenager, his whole world was completely shattered. Long story short, that led him to join the Hresvelg siblings and get to be part of a family again. However, Loki never once forgets about Dimitri, on the contrary: realizing that Edelgard and him are on their merry way to fight each other to the death only amplifies his wish to see him again after all those years and convince him to make peace with her, because he just wants to have his whole family back and alive. As such, seeing any of his siblings die would absolutely destroy him.

That means that Dimitri could survive in Crimson Flower. and if he doesn't Loki might never recover. But then, how so ?

Sadly, it is in my own opinion unlikely that Edelgard and Dimitri could ever see eye-to-eye and become allies, even with Loki as a middle ground. Especially since Loki doesn't care for the Kingdom per see and feels a lot closer to his Agarthan culture of adoption and his focus is on bringing TWSTID down. Any attempt at discussion would just end up being a repeat of their Azure Moon talk at best, because their world visions are just too different.

This entails that any of Loki's attempts at convincing Dimitri to make peace with his sister would be unfruitful. First, because Dimitri would've thought Loki had died a long time ago, and finding out his little brother is alive would be a pretty big blow: but you know what would be an even bigger blow ? Finding out that he was raised by and thus, helped TWSTID, the same people who are responsible for the genocide of Duscur and their parents' death. And that he is still technically helping them by standing at Edelgard's side, the very person who betrayed all of them. The only way they could rebuild a stronger relationship would be if Loki decided to join his side, something that he is unwilling to do since A) he has three siblings on the imperial side and B) all four of them are planning to take down TWSTID. Unfortunately, this means that all of Loki and Dimitri's interactions post-timeskip end up in disaster- although none of them ever physically hurts the other in battle. This depresses Loki quite a bit, and enrages Adel, but he eventually accepts that he cannot take responsibility for his older siblings' actions and settles on one goal: keeping them from beating each other to death.

However, Loki brings something new to the table regarding Edelgard and Dimitri's relationships: memories. At his contact, El makes the connection and remembers the time she spent in Faerghus with the prince, which does make her take a step back. Although that is definitely not enough to make her negociate, it is to make her consider sparing him in battle- a bit like how in-game, Claude can be spared. Her unwillingness to back down from her ideals, though, makes it absolutely necessary that Dimitri is removed from any position of authority, else he could always rally support against the Empire. The Kingdom of Faerghus as a geopolitical entity may survive, but the Blaiddyd monarchy needs to go.

So... Where does that lead us ? To a rather bleak solution which is far from perfect, but has to make-do in their complicated circumstances where both sides can't meet in the middle. Edelgard agrees to spare Dimitri in the battle of Tailtean, and lets him go- letting Loki take the lead on this one. This means that Loki has to accept that he might never see him again, and that he might never forgive him. This can turn one of two ways:

I do believe that if Dedue survives and hasn't turned into a demonic beast yet, he can convince Dimitri to go without pulling a stunt similar to the one Edelgard pulls with the dagger in Azure Moon in a last desperate attempt to kill the Empress, because he still has him to cling to.

Otherwise, Dimitri truly loses everything and everyone: in which case convincing him to seize the opportunity to stay alive would be pointless. In that eventuality, Loki forces his hand and just teleports him out- making it impossible for him to make it back to the battlefield before all is lost. Which... is an even bleaker alternative.

In any case, that means that the Hresvelg siblings and Dimitri have to cut contact, at least for a good number of years. Maybe someday, when Fodlan (and especially Faerghus) is rebuilt, they might get in contact again- once both Loki and him can have some time to heal. Maybe slowly rebuild a semblance of a relationship, who knows ?

... Well damn. That was a BUMMER and incredibly angsty. Sadly, not all things can have the best ending for everyone involved. =(

=D Thankfully, Claude and Edelgard's relationship would be a lot better- no fucking thanks to Aline !

#fe3h #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #edelgard von hresvelg #hresvelg siblings #loki blaiddyd von hresvelg #aline von hresvelg #adel von hresvelg #crimson flower #AAAANGST SO MUCH ANGST #ask #thanks so much !!!

[serial-doubters-club]

InuSan or SessSan and why? Go!

I was not prepared for this one! 🤣🤣🤣

SessSan all the way! But I can't deny that InuSan doesn't make me go 👀👀👀.

InuKag is way too precious to me, and most of the time I find it hard to ship Inuyasha and Kagome with anyone else but each other. But if I had to ship Inuyasha with anyone else besides Kagome it would indeed be Sango. They could easily bond over their passion for fighting and combat, and I can see them spending long hours training together. Throughout the series they formed a strong friendship, and who knows, during the heat of fighting practice, I could envision a little somethin' somethin' going on between those two. I may have a little headcanon going on that Sango had a crush on Inuyasha throughout the story, and had Kagome not returned to the Feudal Era, they would have grown closer and eventually fallen in love. I offer you this link of an InuSan moment/comic I found a looong time ago that sparked my interest in InuSan. FYI, It does depict Inuyasha and Sango having a moment while they're already with Kagome and Miroku, respectively. Just giving a heads up in case that situation makes anyone uncomfortable. Also, my brother was working on translating the comic for me. He forgot, but this was my reminder to remind him to finish it.

I definitely prefer SessSan, though. Even though Sesshomaru isn't at the top of my favorite characters list, I have so much fun shipping him with everyone looool, especially Sango. Iirc, it was a fanart of the pair that sparked my interest in them. They just look so good together! But as I started formulating headcanons for how their interest in each other and their relationship would start, I realized that they have one very important thing in common - Kohaku. At one point Sesshomaru spared Kohaku's life and later in the story Sesshomaru becomes his protector. I like to headcanon that in seeking out her brother time and time again to try to reestablish their connection and help Kohaku regain his memories and heal from his trauma, Sango would inevitably run into Sesshomaru time and time again. Sorry, a lot of this is just headcanon, so I apologize for the rambling, but this pair just gets me so excited! I imagine that Sango would visit Kohaku regularly, and with time Sango would gain Sesshomaru's trust, respect, and admiration.

We all know that Sesshomaru is worse than scum for everything he did to Inuyasha, but I think that in watching Sango go above and beyond to save Kohaku and help him heal, while also seeing how strong, powerful, brave, and optimistic Sango is in the face of all of the tragedy she's experienced, Sesshomaru would at least witness how powerful a sibling bond can be and that might move something inside of him. I'm notorious, at least in my own eyes lol, for attributing emotions to Sesshomaru that seem unrealistic for him to develop (but I believe, dammit), but I sincerely think that Sango and Kohaku's relationship might move him to at least recognize that he was cruel to Inuyasha and maybe (strong strong strong emphasis on "maybe") even ask him for forgiveness. I don't imagine them ever being as close as Sango and Kohaku, but I think there is a possibility that they could grow to tolerate each other better and even become allies.

Also, what's not to freakin' love about Sango??? She's strong. She's smart. She's profound. She's beautiful. She's a QUEEN BAMF. I also enjoy the headcanon that when Sango first encounters Sesshomaru in her attempt to make contact with Kohaku, she kicks his ass and hands it to him. This boy would fall head over heels for her, and I have already made plans to have my funeral on this hill.

In conclusion, Sango and Sesshomaru would make a badass couple. There's emotion, passion, romance, tenderness, angst, conflict, tension, and drama in that story and you bet your bottom I am on the case and have SessSan fics in the works to address it all. Cause I mean, what about Miroku, amIright? And Sango's a demon slayer while Sess is a demon *eyebrow wag*. THE POTENTIAL ANGST AND INTERNAL CONFLICT IS DELICIOUS.

So, yeah, if I had to choose, I'd choose SessSan.

I love you for sending me this question @sassybratt9791! Thank for the ask! <3 <3 <3

#oh god I rambled #I'm sorry Mom! #asks #sdc mail #inuyasha #sango #sesshomaru #inusan #sesssan

[branwendaughterofllyr]

White Ravens, Winter Roses - Part Two

Branwen releasing her starling by Margaret Jones

Having gone over the parallels between Branwen, Lyanna, and Sansa, I want to discuss how the actual story of Branwen ferch Llyr shares some of the same themes as ASOIAF

Branwen ferch Llyr is rife with terrible violence, particularly against innocents. The catalyst that sets off the tragedy is the deeply brutal mutilation of Matholwch’s horses by Efnysien.

Then he went for the horses, and cut their lips to the teeth, and their ears down to their heads, and their tails to their backs; and where he could get a grip on the eyelids, he cut them to the bone. And in that way he maimed the horses, so that they were no good for anything.

The Mabinogion tr. Sioned Davies

What, after all, beyond that violent act at its genesis, was Branwen’s story about? Was this a Welsh-Irish Romeo and Juliet? Star-crossed lovers at the mercy of tribal prejudice? Or was this a tale of a beautiful woman suffering at the hands of the very men who should have been protecting her? Or was this story not about Branwen at all, but actually a cautionary tale about the cyclical nature of atrocity? A lesson in how violence will beget violence in an ever more terrible spiral of destruction?...For me, a lens of 2009 brought me zooming in once again upon Efnysien’s act of violence and also upon Matholwch’s ‘reply’ to that insult – his own excessive and displaced punishment of Branwen upon the couple’s return to Ireland. These beats of the myth struck a strong contemporary note with me, although at first I couldn’t work out exactly what that note was. It was something to do with the unreasonableness of these men’s actions, the excessive nature of their physical and emotional violence and the nihilistic resonance it left in its wake. -Owen Sheers

‘Oh son of God,’ she said, ‘woe that I was ever born. Two good islands have been laid waste because of me!’ She gives a mighty sigh, and with that her heart breaks. And they make a four-sided grave for her and bury her there on the banks of the Alaw. The Mabinogion tr. Sioned Davies. 

The fundamental conflict of the Second Branch of the Mabinogion cycle of violence begetting violence, spiraling out to ruin the lives of everyone it touches.  

Matholwch is egged on by his men to avenge the insult, and he does so by punishing the innocent Branwen, who is alone and a foreign land and dependent on her husband. He does this, even after Branwen’s brother Bran the Blessed has done the he can to pay Matholwch’s honour price, giving him the legendary cauldron of life itself. 

What is fascinating to me, that despite all the fantastical elements of the story, the human aspects shine through. Jealous Efnysien, who must always cause others to share his unhappiness by destroying violently what is precious to them. Wise but long suffering Bran the Blessed, who loves his sister and honors his responsibilities to his family. Branwen and her despair- there is very little mention of her happiness, even during her marriage which is celebrated by her brother and husband. The main emotion that follows her is sorrow and grief. Matholwch’s human flaws are what cause him to punish his innocent wife. It is the shame of his insult spreading throughout Ireland, and the pressure from his men that cause him to act. In the end, no one is happy, and both Branwen and Bendigeidfran die, and Ireland is left a ruin. 

ASOIAF, for all it’s magic and prophecies, is also driven by humanity of its characters. The tragedy of self fulfilling tragedies that permeate the series has closer links to the Arthurian Romances and Greek tragedies, but I think the extremes of cruel violence and attempts at restitution and even forgiveness are closer to the Welsh tradition, especially the story of Branwen ferch Llyr. There are moments when it seems that crisis will be averted. Bendigeidfran sits with Matholwch after the mutilation of his horses, asks what compensation would make him happy. Branwen, even after three years as a servant and being struck daily, advises her brother in her letters that it should still not come to war, even after all she has suffered, for she knows what war would do to the land. And the war is terrible, and no one truly wins in the end, and even the great cauldron is destroyed. It feels similar to the Dance of the Dragons in Westerosi history, when the civil war is finally over, and just about everyone who began the conflict is dead. The War of the Five Kings saw all but one of the five die, along with their families and allies, and the story isn’t even over yet. 

The innocent horse being mutilated for no other reason to satisfy someone's anger reminds me of the deaths of Lady and Mycah, both innocents punished by vengeful people, despite committing no crimes. The incident at the Trident is a microcosm of the wrongs done through out the rest of the books, something which I think was very intentional. Both Arya and Sansa still carry the scars of that day, and Ned greatly regretted it, and not doing more to prevent it. 

The Arthurian mythos is descended from these earlier Welsh myths, but are influenced by the later French Romantic and chivalric traditions and other literary movements. ASOIAF has many direct ties to Arthuriana, but in many ways is more a critique and deconstruction. I think that it has a lot in common with the Mabinogion, particularly in it’s unabashed reckoning with violence. (that's not to say Arthuriana doesn’t have similar moments, just that it’s less graphic, and... just different.) 

It’s just that the personal conflicts creating political conflicts that devastate everyone that feels very ASOIAF to me. Other parts of the Mabinogion are much more fantastical, and less.. personal? More reliant on expected tropes? Or more allegorical? I think I can write about Blodeuwedd in another post, but Branwen ferch Llyr as a story feels like an ancestor to ASOIAF in many ways. 

This is less of character meta now and more me ruminating about ASOIAF and the Mabinogion. GRRM has said that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict, and I think that this story presents this is a very visceral way, and how it can lead to tragedy. But while Branwen ferch Llyr is a tragedy, and I think that ASOIAF is much more likely to end on a happy note. Tolkien  wrote about what he called the “eucatastrophe,” a sudden turn of good over evil, just when all seems lost. In many ways ASOIAF subverts this idea- there is almost never an almost divine moment of grace when good is able to triumph despite the odds. However, I would like to suggest that just because this particular idea is not played to in ASOIAF, doesn’t mean that the series is as “grim dark” as it accused of being. There is an undercurrent of hope that is absent from many of the great epics and stories like the Mabinogion. The wolves will come again, there is a dream of spring. The good will come from people striving for it, and working towards it despite everything, not from no where, but perhaps invoking the same feeling. Tolkien called this the essence of the fairy story. 

The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially 'escapist', nor 'fugitive'. In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.

And I think that's why there has to be such devastation. SO that the hope and joy is that much more poignant. 

The Mabinogion is really not a fairy tale, though it shares some elements, and I think that’s why it’s intersting to bring up. There is no happy ending, but the story rumbles on, and I don't think that’s what ASOIAF is going to do. 

Branwen ferch Llyr is full of “almost” moments, where the disaster is almost diverted, the crisis almost resolved, but it all comes to naught. I pointed out in part one that while I think Lyanna is more of a Branwen played straight, tragedy and all, Sansa is a deconstruction and rebuilding of the trope that Branwen plays into. She is not saved by her brothers after everything that was done to her, but that’s alright. She’s going to be able to make her own happy ending if she chooses. Violence against innocents will not go unpunished, and there will be an end to the war. I do think that certain level of sacrifice is going to be required, just as Bran the Blessed decides that his head should be placed to watch over his people, at the cost of his life. And maybe Branwen ferch Llyr does end on a more hopeful note, for the people listening?

#long rambling post from me #sorry #had this sitting in my drafts for a really long time #asoiaf metas #meta #mine #Mabinogion

[iheartbookbran]

Ok the dance on its own would be a gruesome yet interesting story to watch, Rhaenyra is certainly a different character to how most sane readers would read the Dany of the first books. But S8 told the public her character was ultimately an evil ruler who massacred innocents to 'rule with fear". So the overwhelming majority will just see a similar narrative repeat and certainly connect those characters/outcomes. In the context made by HBO the Dance becomes a 'doubling down' by default. 1)

And personally, I can't really think of any way the people behind the decision to go for Rhaenyra/The Dance didn't see that at all, it actually seems quite deliberate to me. So tbh, fuck everyone, and I MEAN everyone involved with this who thought this would be a great idea; a great story to tell now lol. 2)

Er… I mean I think it could go either way honestly? I agree that Rhaenyra, at least how GRRM presents her in F&B, is closer to how Dany antis think of Dany, y’know, as “spoiled” and “cruel with the people who don’t agree with her” than how Dany actually is in canon, which we know is the opposite. Honestly I don’t even think Rhaenyra behaved with any more cruelty than the rest of her peers during the Dance, at least not until after the paranoia had truly settled in her and she lost almost all of her children and was betrayed multiple times. Overall Rhaenyra only ever really fought for her rights and that of her children, which again should not be considered as this unforgivable sin because almost everyone else is kinda the same :/

And I understand how Rhaenyra’s ending can be compared to Dany’s in the sense that both of them are women claimants to the Iron Throne who were betrayed and killed by their male relatives, but I also think that the circumstances in which it happened are completely different. The tragedy with Rhaenyra is that ultimately she “wins” because her line does end up in the Iron Throne, but the claim of her surviving sons doesn’t come through her but through Daemon, and it effectively ends any chance of a future female Targaryen to ascend the throne. Some of those same themes of misogyny and sexism exist in Dany’s story undoubtedly, but I also think that her story has so many additional themes and it is “bigger” so to speak.

I mentioned in my original post how Rhaenyra is very different from Dany, like for example how, when given the possibility of giving two lordships to female claimants, as the eldest daughters of their houses, Rhaenyra chooses instead to give the seats to their younger brothers, arguing that her own claim to the throne should be considered the exception and not the rule, since Viserys chose her specifically as his heir. And to be fair, this could’ve also been because she didn’t want to give White and Hammer more power through their marriages to those girls, but she also didn’t make any effort to give the girls the lordship without the marriages. To me that’s a stark contrast to Dany who’s out there fighting for the freedom of slaves and linking herself to every downtrodden person she comes across.

Not to say that this should fall into a “good” vs “bad” woman dichotomy when it comes to each women’s morality, and therefore that’s why Rhaenyra deserved to die at the end and Dany didn’t. I don’t think Rhaenyra deserved to die, but I believe that’s exactly the point GRRM was trying to make, hence why Aegon II also died and why Alicent’s whole line ended up dead as well. That’s a entire different message from what we got from GoT with Dany, who is a abolitionist and liberator for 7 seasons and then spends the first half of the last season saving the people of the North without really asking for anything in return, only to do a complete turn over in the remaining 3 episodes and burn a bunch of innocent people in a battle that she could’ve easily won with barely any casualties, just so the writers could “justify” equating her to a dictator and a n*zi, and have their boring action protag kill her while ugly crying—that’s like, not comparable at all with what Rhaenyra and Aegon had going on if you ask me.

I also feel like the general audience should be able to make the distinction between Dany and Rhaenyra because the general audience was just as outraged by the GoT finale as like, diehard Dany stans or book readers. Tbh, anyone who didn’t have an agenda or shipping goggles on could tell what an ass-pull that ending was. People are not stupid and if the writers keep all the characters’ characterizations consistent throughout as many seasons as they’re planning on having, I think they’ll be able to pull it off.

Also I think it’s funny that you mention the people who decided to make this particular period of time a show because GRRM himself was the first one to propose it, according to this podcast. I don’t think choosing to tell this story is necessarily the problem, unless the upcoming Dunk & Egg show ends up painting Aegon V as a tyrant because he wants to give more rights and protections to the smallfolk, in which case I will start thinking HBO is pushing some kind of message lmao.

It is precisely that we’ve got an upcoming Dunk & Egg show plus who knows how many Targ and/or Valyran projects without a single peep or a minimal acknowledgment from the network that what happened with Dany was wrong, that’s the real issue imho.

Like I don’t mean this to sound as if I’m trying to defend the show’s existence or that I think people should watch it, I’m not even sure I will watch it. I just disagree with the notion that the problem sterns from the similarities of two women veering for power ending up dead, because the circumstances leading up to it are so wildly different to begin with.

#Anonymous #ask #ask pam #sorry for my rambling #daenerys targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #house targaryen #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #a song of ice and fire #got #dracarys to d&d #house of the dragon #hotd #fire and blood #f&b meta #meta #my meta

[surviverp]

SIX wanted connection have been added. click the source link to be redirected to the page.

IZNA HALE ( amita suman ) is searching for their HUSBAND’S YOUNGER BROTHER. they should be aged 21-25, and look like MARK MCKENNA, RUDY PANKOW, UTP. here’s what you need to know about the story: she pretty much helped raised them, alongside y/m’s older brother and they were for the longest of times a make-shift family. when she married into their family it made everything real for them all that this was a forever type thing. three years ago, tragedy over run their camp, izzy happened to be holding y/m’s wrist during this time and amongst all the chaos they got separated from y/m’s older brother & niece… pretty much since then they have been going from town to town in search of their loved ones but coming up as short every time. though they had each other which they cling to each other. i’ll love to discuss this more with you. ── you ARE NOT required to contact the player before applying. if you wish to, you can reach them at @plagvcd. 

IZNA HALE ( amita suman ) is searching for their HUSBAND / FATHER OF CHILD. they should be aged 29+, and look like FREDDY CRATER, LEWIS TAN, BARRY KEOGHAN, AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON, UTP. here’s what you need to know about the story: so, izzy met y/m about when she was eighteen-years-old and they both couldn’t deny the sparks that flew between them though instead of acting upon their feelings, they just hung around each other and worked together to get to other safe havens, alongside his younger brother. over the years spent together they got married, she took his surname and not long after they would find out they were pregnant with their first and only child at this point and time. spending two whole magical years together watching their daughter grow, only for it all to be snatched away from them when the haven got over run and the couple got separated from one another. y/m with their daughter and izzy with y/m’s younger sibling, ever since they have been separated izzy and y/m’s sibling have been searching every city, haven for them that has been their life for the past three years, meaning their daughter is five now and I’ll love to discuss everything in-depth. ── you ARE NOT required to contact the player before applying. if you wish to, you can reach them at @plagvcd. 

WILBUR WARREN ( jack wolfe ) is searching for their SLOW-BURN LOVE INTEREST. they should be aged 28+, and look like BILL SKARSGARD, DYLAN O’BRIEN, REGÉ-JEAN PAGE, UTP. here’s what you need to know about the story: opposites attract is the love trope this is all based upon and i’m more then happy to add more tropes upon this one just the foundation is opposites attract. it’s possible they have encountered one another before, either way they might not have been thrilled to meet one another in the first place - whether it’s because y/m wasn’t ready for pursuing a relationship (as who would in the world they live in?) or just wilbur being an awkward bean and well him being to invested with his inventions. wilbur is a walking ray of sunshine (though is as sly as fox) and well, y/m is midnight rain pretty much, just want this to be filled with angst, pain and damn just a rollercoaster ride for our poor beans… how it slowly blossoms into their endgame? i’m trying to leave this as open as possible for us to plot and build tropes, everything. ── you ARE required to contact the player before applying. if you wish to, you can reach them at @plagvcd.

WILBUR WARREN ( jack wolfe ) is searching for their YOUNGER SIBLING. they should be aged 21-24, and look like RUBY STOKES, CAMERON CHAPMAN, UTP. here’s what you need to know about the story: they would have the surname warren and I will ask for their first name to start with a w - as their parents thought it was cute. wilbur will doing anything for his younger sibling, they’re as close as can be due to their parents raising them to always have each other’s backs even if the other was wrong and well, they have kept to it. In other words they had a fabulous relationship with their parents and each other, very supportive. honestly, I’d love to discuss this more in-depth with what happened to their mother and brainstorm a bit more.  ── you ARE NOT required to contact the player before applying. if you wish to, you can reach them at @plagvcd. 

ALEJANDRO "ALEX" SILVA ( pedro pascal ) is searching for their PSEUDO DAUGHTER. they should be aged 24 - 27, and look like MOON GAYOUNG, ZENDAYA, HAN JIHYUN, SAMANTHA LOGAN, CAMILA MENDES, SIMONE ASHLEY, ALISHA BOE, ZION MORENO, TATI GABRIELLE, LIZETH SELENE, UTP ( any f / nb fc will do, preferably poc ). here’s what you need to know about the story: basically a lee + clementine [ telltale's twd ] meets joel + ellie [ tlou ] type situation. i imagine alex somehow saved y/m from whatever or whomever when they were roughly 12-15 and though he had the intention of dropping y/m off at the next safe spot they came across, something they both agreed upon, he obviously grew attached and, well, they've been together ever since. maybe y/m is the one who convinced him to settle down & let them take up residence at jackson five years ago? ── you ARE NOT required to contact the player before applying. if you wish to, you can reach them at @dvrkhearts. 

NOA MULLER ( zoey deutch ) is searching for their CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND / POTENTIAL LOVE INTEREST. they should be aged 26 - 33, and look like JORDAN FISHER, IM JINAH, EVAN MOCK, RACHEL HILSON, ALPEREN DUYMAZ, GURLAINE KAUR GARCHA, LEE DOHYUN, CHARITHRA CHANDRAN ( UTP ). here’s what you need to know about the story: their adults were childhood friends, which was then something that was made true for noa and y/m. regardless of how y/m may feel, noa is certainly that person who falls in love way too easy and has probably been harbouring a crush since forever ago, but noa's parents were lost to raiders when she was 14, so the only constant person she's had in her life since birth has been y/m, which explains why she hasn't had the courage to ruin anything between them yet by spilling the beans. besides all that, the only other important thing to note is that they settled in jackson twelve years ago ── you ARE NOT required to contact the player before applying. if you wish to, you can reach them at @dvrkhearts.

#appless rp #oc rp #new rp

[jude-thedude98]

https://www.wattpad.com/story/325027546?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details_button&wp_uname=jude-thedude98&wp_originator=cjNWlTHdf4vATysNrY2T3sSPJmfOnOX4jeVDlJweauP2kGARpPaizwFKvGVoycwu9bK7N%2Fc4U3wQ%2FGmG%2B%2FYbpkuXKDwTTWkx6sOwXg2kfR97m4ZBIHWDHOmjCznxSC0r

You can either choose The First Khronicle or The First Trial OR choose them both! I, Mr. PoetAll, am a multigenre author who has two stories on Wattpad. One a fantasy and the other a romance either way we gotta figure out WHODUNIT?

https://www.wattpad.com/story/339435419?utm_source=android&utm_medium=link&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details_button&wp_uname=jude-thedude98&wp_originator=%2FmlQd0qBpE5%2Bmv8DmaBiF6RVcOreEofh9CajSjnoSCaagZ8OIchnGumhxcCveiXH1xHL5oyvEzUaHeI9jupxFL7%2Ff6EduhWG0e60eJgVkkIb2fJrbNxEJV8llHwVtFeR

The Khronicles of The Kingdom Synopsis:

WHODUNIT? The king and queen are now, both, dead. The many mysteries follow the four princes as they meet many wizards, many warriors, many more Vykings, dwarves, elves, fairies, witches and sorcerors and sorceresses, goblins, and dragons; SO MANY DRAGONS! If that doesn't interest you maybe the cannibal clan will. What will the four princes do? How will they work together against forces known and unknown.? Will they ever avenge their fallen Roysl parentd? WHODUNIT? I don't know but msybe Barabas and Squire do... Or maybe the other surrounfing countries and clsns do? Find out who is enemy and who is Ally! Maybe one of the gods can tell you...

Leaping Lessons of Love Synopsis:

WHODUNIT? When death begats more death how can you find out the seed of evil? From Little Jeán Augustine in 1705 to Casanova Hayes in 2014; Acres, Washington has had an unsolved murder each and every century. Strikingly enough, someone - in the form of Casanova's brother - grew tired of hearing about the reoccuring mysteries. Maybe it hit home when it was his sister or maybe it was his (to-be) boyfriend who told him that love is worth figjting for even and especially in the unknowns. With that being said, Sage (the boyfriend) has a choice to make. Follow down the trail of tears, agony, pain, abuse abandonment, and heartbreak or stand for what he believes in, which is; "Don't get caught up in mischief, that's a hankering for a different tissue." Could you solve this riddell? Or could you stand with the same thought as Casey; "I write for a living so therefore I write my own story." Will he write the ending conclusion to the mysterious murders? Or will mystery and murder continue in a Leaping Lesson of Love? Can and will love TRIUMPH over ever TRAUMATIC TRAGEDY? Or will TRIAL & TRIBULATION be the TURMOIL that TRAPS Casey, Sage, and their loved ones in TEST after TEST? Find out as this WHODUNIT Romance Series unfolds.

#story by mrpoetall #leaping lessons of love #leaping #lessons #of #love #llol #love lessons #casey and sage #whodunit novels #lgbt novel #the khronicles of the kingdom #the #khronicles #kingdom #adiçian kingdom #four princes #dragons #fantasy novel #adventure novel #romance reader #adventure readers #my ocs #my stories #my novel #mrpoetallslibrary #writing community #fiction writing