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zalrb · 1 year

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I’ve seen so many people say that Stefan only loved someone if they saw him as a hero and he wasn’t in love with Elena anymore in s4 because he couldn’t be her hero anymore. Also that Stefan only fell in love with orphaned girls. First Katherine, then Elena, then Caroline. What do you have to say about this?

On the real, part of me just wants to leave my response at, based on the meticulous and involved masterlist that's pinned to my blog that answers these types of ridiculous assertions in various posts even if not directly asked, I think my stance is clear and the other part of me is bored so I'm debating.

I guess I'll go with the latter but I have to reiterate that these are stupid takes.

he wasn’t in love with Elena anymore in s4 because he couldn’t be her hero anymore.

4x23

besides the fact that I would never say Elena saw Stefan as a hero and I would say that Stefan never cared for anyone to see him as a hero, which is something I’ve explained in great detail over and fucking over again, I mean I have a masterlist, Damon is the one who wants to be Elena’s hero

to the point that Sybil gets her hooks in him by pretending to be an Elena desperate to be saved

even the framing of Damon running off to “get his girl” is very him swooping in to be her saviour or her hero

The language of Stelena is different

Damon tries to frame Stefan’s behaviour in 2x08 as “all hail hero hair Stefan going off to get his girl” but Stefan is literally just like, it’s not even about that. Elena is in trouble and I need to find her it’s really just that simple

which is the kind of attitude Elena herself has about Stefan

but not taking any of that into account (because who cares about context amirite) if their argument is that Elena didn’t see Stefan as her hero in season 4, I guess they’re forgetting that Elena still does rely on him quite a bit

From another post of mine (MASTERLIST) Like blood is supposed to be where they have their disagreement except that even with that, Elena looks to Stefan, they work together like a team

The one time she didn’t, she literally had no choice because she was sired to Damon and Damon explicitly told her not to tell him.

to the point that when she has no humanity, the way she chooses to explain to Rebekah that she’s a bad person is by bringing up how she destroyed her relationship with Stefan

and she was plainly jealous in season 4

Stefan simply de-centers himself because he’s not Damon and he respects boundaries so when they’re not together anymore and Elena is having issues, he’s not quick to swoop in and save the day because that’s not his place anymore, that’s Damon’s

DErs should just say they hate boundaries and leave. Like we’ve all watched the show, there are receipts.

2. Also that Stefan only fell in love with orphaned girls. First Katherine, then Elena, then Caroline.

So, people realize that TVD is a show right? And Stefan isn’t written as a character who specifically goes out of his way to fall in love with orphaned girls and it’s not even like it’s a pattern that the show didn’t realize they did, which makes him, I don’t even know what they’re trying to say with this accusation, that he likes women who don’t have parents so he can fill a void? JP and co simply have a hard-on for killing off parents because it’s the only way they can think of to try and nuance their characters and/or get Elena to relate to them

Rebekah

Anna

Katherine

Rose

Who on this show isn’t an orphan or doesn’t have abandonment issues because their parents are negligent?

Tyler’s parents:

and then Damon kills Mason

Bonnie:

Grams died

her father died

her mother is absentee

and doesn’t even stick around when Enzo dies.

Matt

Kelly just disappears leaving him to fend off rent and car insurance on his own

even when Matt tells her to leave in 1x18, she didn’t have to go, she could physically leave the house and stay around to keep an eye on her son but she just straight up leaves

Caroline and Matt bond in season 1 because they both feel incredibly isolated, for her because Damon is abusive and for him because he has no one in his life, Kelly is never around, his father abandoned them and he thinks Vicki left too not knowing she was murdered

Season 8 for Matt is all about contending with his dad abandoning him.

Hell, Kai has parental/family issues

The heretics are a found family because they were cast out by their covens. This is just a TVD staple.

3. What do you have to say about this?

What a STUPID argument.

#stelena #stefan salvatore #elena gilbert #the vampire diaries #dobsley

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damazcuz · 2 years

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what do you think of reblogging versus just liking a post, does it matter? personally i find it annoying how much people talk about it. i don't think it's that much of a problem and ive been here a few years now

On the one hand as someone who writes and draws and then posts that stuff I do fully get it, it sucks to post something you worked on and get 1 reblog and 4 likes on it. especially when its like "oh the last silly thing i posted got 60 reblogs and 100 likes what happened?" is it time of day, did my quality of work go down, was it not funny enough, was it too personal, did i draw it poorly, etc etc. going back thru my last handful of art posts, it's like how do I figure out what gets people to see this let alone reblog it to show other people? and no matter how much you Know that notes and numbers don't add up to any greater meaning about the worth of what you do, it's also like "huh! i spent a lot of time and put heart into this and it got 0 notes… and then this doodle got 600+" it's like #THINK. as an aside, I KNOW for me it's partially because some of my fandoms are big right now and have a ton of people, (DE) and/or are universally well known and carry nostalgia weight to boot (portal) and others are very small and maybe the 12 people who reblogged that piece ARE the fandom (metro) so part of it FOR ME is metering my expectations for "the numbers" based on "how many people who DO see this will even know what it is?"

anyway so on one hand. i do understand it, and i do agree that reblogging is the lifeblood of this site and without it we're all just going to sit in silence and like posts from "funnytwittertweets" (which as another aside, i have blocked, and yet i constantly see their posts recommended to me, i can click to their blog and view it without issue, and even reblog their posts so what IS the truth on that tumblr? can we start a conspiracy theory about content farm bloggers?) yeah i DO think it's better to reblog things than to sit silently and stoically tapping the like button, and it is Frustrating to figure out sometimes Why some things can take off and get reblogged and others can't. for me.

ON THE OTHER HANDS! i also like things all the time that I may or may NOT reblog later, I use my likes as a reference for things. videos and audio posts i can't listen to or watch right now because I'm at work or otherwise in public and don't want to play sound. art that i want a closer look at first, things i want to reference or fact check first, or even just "huh im scrolling without glasses and cant really see it but i'll check this out tomorrow morning." OR most often, i'm on OP's blog and it's such a pain to reblog From their url.tumblr.com/post/12343245234523 page repeatedly, i'm just liking the posts so that i can go straight into likes later and reblog them easily from there. i have followers that do something similar (they'll like my post and then 2 weeks later it's on their blog because they queued it, I also used to use a queue and would queue things strictly from like likes because It's Easier on desktop.)

numbers also mean nothing and notes aren't real, and as a personal thing, i find "likes < reblogs and follows!" "do not like unless you also reblog!" banners and stuff to be like. annoyingly passive aggressive and i won't interact with art and stuff if that's on there -_- like cousin if i want to reblog it i'll do it, and it makes me feel like, obnoxiously guilty if i want to reblog but can't in that moment (due to can't see it/ need more time to look it over / prefer to reblog from my likes page) so i simply choose to Not engage. it's the mental illness sire.

um overall i think reblogging is better and it's important. i don't want tumblr to turn into 99 corporate accounts that post stolen content and we all hold up a thumbs up in silence. that would suck and can we talk about why tumblr still shows me stolentwittertweets posts on my "for you" page? can we talk about that now?

#long post

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honey-tea-and-cookies · 2 years

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My Love For These Placements <3

Hello everybody! It was one of my best friend's birthdays a couple days ago. So,, to celebrate I've decided to make a post about some of their placements and everything I love about those placements!

Please note: While I'm thinking of my friend, I am writing this so it applies to everyone with these placements :)

I know I set this all up in a weird way, I'm so sorry. Hope it doesn't look too messy aaa <3

Capricorn Sun: Lowkey one of my favourite Sun placements!! Honestly so sweet. Very selfless people. Cap Suns are so funny I don't care what y'all say. They're always so genuine?? They don't compliment or really open up often, so you know when they actually say something, they mean it. My poor babies doubt themselves so much, but I promise you're better than you think you are, okay? I believe in you! You're brilliant, and capable, and strong, and SO much better than you think you are. You also deserve better. Please practise setting up strong boundaries.

Gemini Moon: How are you so energetic, yet so tired?? I don't understand extroverts smh. That said, I also envy that part of you. You love people so wholly. You just want to spend time with people! You just want to help people! Also, AMAZING hype buddies. Y'all always know how to make me feel confident and good about myself. I will not be insecure on your watch, no siree. This may just be something I've noticed (sorry if it doesn't resonate for you), but you guys love to dance. Not professionally or anything (though you could if you wanted, y'all go off), but just for fun! You guys LOVE music and it's so cute hearing you go on about your favourite bands and artists. Tbh that's just all major Gemini placements. Cuties!!!!!!!

Capricorn Mercury: Ughhhh (affectionately). My Aqua Mercury loves y'all so much. The only people that can stump me. I love how cut-and-dry you can be?? I overthink and unintentionally do mental gymnastics A LOT, and you guys are very good at at bringing things down to reality. You don't say that I'm wrong, you don't straight-up say you disagree, because you know I'll get defensive and double-down. You just reiterate your statement and make me understand, using logic and reason. Me + you guys = besties <333

Capricorn Venus: MY FRIEND IS A CAP STELLIUM? YES TF SHE IS 🙏😤!!!! I have a Cap Venus too, so forgive me for any bias. BUT!!! Y'all are swag as fuck. Sexy in a platonic way. Once you're close with a Cap Venus, it's amazing. They will care for you and worry about you constantly. You know you always have someone in your corner. I'm not sure why, but reassuring words and words of affirmation can be really important for these guys. The type to just let you vent and cry, or hold your hair as you throw up, or go out of their way to buy you food if they know you don't have any. Real ones 💅. I say this to my friend all the time as a joke, but Cap Venus' are the real #4lyfers. The most accepting people in the world. I would die for you, 15/10.

Taurus Mars: Also my placement, so sorry if I seem biased. We all have some kind of weird trauma?? idk but it makes us funny as hell. Also I'm not sure what it is, but Taurus Mars is kinda fruity 👀 (obviously straight people can have Taurus Mars, astrology can't predict sexual orientation, this was a joke, if you're homophobic/transphobic get of my fucking blog xx). Also Taurus Mars is VERY chill. Super cool to hang with. 100% would be besties, also would for sure would have a movie/TV marathon with you. Fantastic placement, awesome people. Also stubborn and petty but it's funny lmao.

Aries Rising: You guys always have really bright, beautiful eyes. The colour doesn't matter, they just always stand out. Once again, a chill placement. I would vibe with y'all. I'm not sure why, but y'all are the type to watch Rick and Morty (that's a compliment, it's a great show). I just need to give you all a hug (if you are comfortable with that). So cute!!! Pretty cheeks that I just wanna PINCH and GRAB (can you guys tell I'm the mum friend?? I take care of my babies <3). You remind me of the sparkle emoji, in that you always shine stunning and bright :). I love you!!!

Moon in 3rd House: You're all about sharing and connection. It's so beautiful!! You're so optimistic about others, it's cute, really. You never seem to be as kind towards yourself, though? First of all, please learn to set boundaries. Do NOT dismiss your own feelings to 'keep the peace'. There is no peace if your feelings are hurt. You matter too. Cute lil nerds. Lemme give you kiss, mwah! Your eagerness to learn and explore is adorable. I could just listen to you talk and ramble all day. Please accept my endless love and affection, sweet thing <3

Mars in 1st House: OKAY so I have this placement too, so I'll (once again) try not to seem biased. Y'all are such bad bitches?? So here for you omg. All of your fits *SERVE* idc what other people say 😤. Also if you do eyeliner, it's iconic. It just is! That's the truth. Very expressive with facial expressions and hand gestures, it's one of my favourite things. I love being able to just look after at you from across the room and know exactly what you're thinking. You and me?? Psychic connection 🤝. Nobara Kugisaki vibes (and that is an insane compliment!!)

Mercury in 9th House: I am jealous of you (affectionately and respectfully). SO generous and selfless and soft an amazing. The type of person to split your last bit of food with someone. Your desire to learn is really beautiful. I've found that a lot of you struggle with typical school, but you learn really well through real-life experience. The type to spend HOURS making travel plans for years in the future, just because you're so excited and can't wait. Also really open to other people and their stories. Extremely tolerant and accepting!! I just feel very comfortable and safe with you guys. Some people could learn a thing or two from y'all smh. All in all, let's go run away to Europe together <33333

This is all I have for today everyone! I'm sorry if it was kind of short. I just love my friend (and all you guys) so much!!!!! I guess I don't need a lot of words to say it lol. Let me know if you have any of these placements, and what you think! Thank you so much for reading everyone. Sending you so much love, and hopefully I'll see you next time <33333

(ps) SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND OR ELSE!!!

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theskywaslookingback · 3 years

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You can’t just say that and Not tell us more about your oc’s 👀

(I started writing the response to this at work and it got uhhh long, sorry. Also I came home and then had to drive back to work to activate a keycard so you know...that's why this took like nine hours to post, sorry. And thank you both for asking!)

*shows up six hours late with Starbucks and a powerpoint presentation*

Welcome! Have a seat! We might be here for a while :3c

So like I guess about six years ago or so I started a pet project that I told my friends about calling it “the novel I’ll never write” which has spiraled out of control and now lives in my mind rent free but also refuses to be written down. (I even made a blog for it @thisisnotanovel and my friends and I call it tinan) It’s changed several times in the last few years as I’ve made plot changes and character changes but the basis remains pretty much the same.

“This Is Not A Novel” is not a novel about Alecsandyr “It’s Alec, asshole” Summers (who a friend once called Alex sand hair dryer and now I can’t stop calling him that in my head) who’s a mid-twenties burn out who lives with his mom, dropped out of college, and has severe anxiety and depression issues. While on a trip with his mom to visit his grandfather up in Alaska, he steals his stepfather’s car and tries to take it for a joyride. He crashes pretty spectacularly, and it’s literal luck that he survives the crash - though, if asked he wouldn’t call it luck, he’d call it a failed suicide attempt like he’s failed everything else in his life. Anyway he gets air lifted to a hospital and is put on life support.

Now, Alec’s mom is a piece of shit and she makes no secret that she hates her son and hates that he still lives with her and doesn’t want him around. She starts asking the doctors when they would know for sure if he’s going to make it and starts making funeral arrangements even before he gets out of surgery. (Syl, you might be saying, this isn’t how hospitals work. And my answer is that it’s my not novel and I get to make up what I want. I’ll do actual research if I decide to write it.) All of this gets the attention of Alec’s nurse, Dante Lebasque.

Dante is an older, sympathetic man (who in my mind version of this not novel as a not movie is Idris Elba) and he decides that if Alec does have to fully go on life support and if Alec’s mother decides to let him go then he’s going to do something about it. Because -and this is where my emo 2007 self comes into full spotlight- Dante is the head of a small vampire coven, so in order to preserve Alec’s life he decides to turn him into a vampire.

So imagine you’ve decided that you’re going to steal a car, okay? And that you’re going to drive that car off the side of a mountain. And there’s pain and then it’s dark...and then you wake up in a coffin. Because that’s how Alec’s shit goes down. He’s laying there, fully dressed in a suit he’s never worn, and somehow he can see? And he’s not breathing? And his heart isn’t beating? And he’s starving?? And of course he’s freaking out because he’s locked in a box of some kind and he has no clue where he is or why and then suddenly there’s shifting sounds and scraping metal and he’s blinking up at a solid black sky and the greenest eyes he’s ever seen and a deep voice saying “Took a bit longer than we thought. Welcome to the legion of the undead, kid.”

And that’s how we meet Richard Davis, like 100 years old but somehow also the most “new and with it” of the group. He is the hipster meme personified. He used to like Starbucks but now he’s really into this one coffee chain you’ve never heard of. He doesn’t listen to music, actually, just Gregorian chanting. His last living breath was probably saying “well, actually.” And he’s Alec’s guardian, the one who teaches him how to like, ya know, be a vampire. Alec calls him Dick.

Also at the graveside is an angel of a woman, wearing a white dress with bright curly red hair. The first thing Alec notices about her is that she’s barefoot. Her name is Erika Chambers and where Richard is blunt and impatient she’s kind and measured. She was turned by a different vampire and left to fend for herself and she killed a lot of people before killing her sire. When Dante found her she was practically feral and just looking to be taken out by a hunter. He helped her understand what was happening to her but let her decide if she wanted to stay. She did, and she’s never left.

Alec hates all of this. It’s a special hell to want to die and not be allowed to. He refuses to believe that Dante turned him for purely selfless reasons.

When Dante has meetings with the governing council, Alec finds a way to spy on him and overhear, which is how he learns that Dante’s coven was about to be absorbed into a larger one because it was too small and he needed more coven members. Alec is furious and tries to leave but Richard stops him and explains that fledglings can’t go anywhere without a guardian. Alec tries to fight Richard and loses.

Alec confronts Dante later and Dante admits that, yes, part of the reason he turned Alec was because he was about to lose his coven, but it was also because he didn't want to see a young life ended so soon blah blah blah.

So during that fight Alec totally forgets about this other part he heard between Dante and the council where they mention some concern about missing vampires from smaller covens that they haven't heard from in a while and Dante mentions that they were loners and they'll likely show up in a few years.

But alas! They have been murdered! By my favorite villain of all time, Ariadne Rosewood, who is a witch using immortal blood to keep herself immortal.

So you have Alec struggling with himself and his feelings of self worth and depression vs his struggle to trust those around him vs the larger villain that wants to kill them all.

And then we have such wonderful characters as: Karazeda Sloan, Erika's girlfriend and a vampire hunter born into the trade that kind of maybe wants to be a vampire herself. Dominic, the leader of the wolf pack that I added as a joke because I made Alec a furry and it infuriated my friends. Carolina Davenport and her girlfriend Ava Lopez with their coven of vampires, Blaise, Ambrose, and Cole.

So yeah!! Horribly long post and now to the actual joke of it:

(H)imbo - Dominic, because he's a big beefy wolfman with no braincells but much love in his heart

Mean Bisexual - Alec, because he's a bitch and I love him so much

Meaner Lesbian - Karazeda, because she's an even bigger bitch and I love her So Much

She/theys - Carolina and Ava

He/theys - Cole and Ambrose

Token Straight - Dante, but he's also ace so he gets a pass

Astrology Bitch - Erika, I bet she keeps everyones birth charts on the wall

Short King - Richard, 5'5" tiny motherfucker and the more he acts like a brat the shorter I make him. He used to be 6'2".

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

#statement ends #yetanothergreyjedi #anonymous #oc tag #long post

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keyofjetwolf · 4 years

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Hi would you like some rage about She-Ra season 5?

If the answer is no, please don’t click below. For real. Really for real. I’m not looking to piss in anyone’s Cheerios. I think if you were satisfied (or better!) with the show, that’s fantastic and I envy you. As I have always said, love what you love. My opinion is mine and means precisely nothing beyond that. If you think you may be even a little bummed reading about how someone didn’t like it, skip this post and go on with your day, I promise you’re not missing anything worthwhile.

IN A SIMILAR VEIN: If -- before, during, or after reading -- you feel inclined to argue with me, I am begging you to please not. I cannot begin to tell you how much I don’t want to be argued with on this right now. I’m still extremely disappointed and cranky, and I’m not much in the mood to have a measured, reasoned debate about my feelings. Much as my opinion has no bearing on you, your opinion has no bearing on me, and as I’m giving you the option to opt out, I’d appreciate the same courtesy. If you want to write your own post on your own blog, go nuts! Just please leave me out of it. I PREFER TO BE CRANKY AT TELEVISION SHOWS THAN PEOPLE.

The rest of you, come on down. I don’t promise coherency, but I DO promise a lot of stuff said in all-caps!

---

Hello! Thank you for joining me! We watched the remaining few episodes of She-Ra last night! I hated them! Yaaay!

What did I hate? OH HO HO MANY THINGS FRIENDS MANY THINGS. It’s not just stuff from the final couple of episodes either, I want to clarify. It’s the entire final season, settling on last few episodes like the freshly fallen snow on your front lawn that some frat boys decide to pee their names into. By the time we’d gotten to these last episodes, there was really nothing left for me but confirmation of all the shit I’d come to hate. SO THANKS I GUESS FOR PROVING ME RIGHT

Which isn’t to say there was nothing to enjoy in the final episodes! There was!

5. She-Ra’s Triceps. GET BUFF GIRL. I LOVE how Adora and She-Ra look similar, but very much not identical. Adora’s no slouch when it comes to physical stuff, but they go the extra mile to show us how She-Ra is that much more. HOW RARELY DO YOU GET TO SEE A WOMAN WITH MUSCLES. I’ve been nothing but impressed by the ways the show drew the line between Adora and She-Ra, and however I felt about its handling of other elements, it didn’t let me down here.

4. Sometimes A Family Is A Twink, A Lizard, And Their Imp Baby. I don’t have further commentary on this, and I need none.

3. Welcome Home, Daddy. THIS WAS SO SPECTACULAR. Glimmer had, I would argue, the most realized arc in the story. It was so gratifying to see this as a culmination, not just of her own struggle with her magical power and ability to harness it, but her willingness to do what needs doing, however personally difficult. That was a stumbling point Angelica could never overcome, continually trying to micromanage and protect Glimmer rather than trusting her and recognizing her for the asset she was. Also though, more succinctly: YESSSS BITCH

2. A Shanty! THIS WHOLE SCENE WAS PERFECT NO NOTES. Just the right blend of silly and sincere, a genuine delight as even brainwashed Mermista had had enough of Sea Hawk’s shit, AND so much more clever than it seemed at first glance. THIS IS THE ONLY VALID HETEROSEXUAL RELATIONSHIP IN SHE-RA I AM NOT TAKING QUESTIONS AT THIS TIME

1. Shadow Weaver. SHADOW FUCKING WEAVER. What a complicated, fascinating character, bar none the most interesting in the entire series. I do think they pulled their punch right at the very end with her, but I AM capable of remembering I’m watching a kid’s show, so I can only get so disappointed about it. Mostly, she remained a beautifully morally complex character, and she was one of my greatest personal delights from beginning to end*.

(*) Boy did this show have one single solution for mommy issues though.

THAT WAS ABOUT IT. So let’s get to why we’re all really here, and that is MY SCREAMING OH MY GOD WHERE DO I BEGIN

Nah, I know exactly where to begin.

GLIMMER AND BO JESUS MCTRISKET I AM GOING TO EXPLODE AND SHOWER THE UNIVERSE IN THE SHRAPNEL OF MY HATE

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

WHERE DID IT COME FROM

HOW CAN I SHOVE IT BACK IN THE HATEFUL SPEWHOLE THAT SIRED THIS BULLSHIT

WHY WHY IS THIS HERE WHY IS THIS IN MY FACE WHERE MY EYES HAVE TO SEE IT FUCK ME SIDEWAYS THIS IS THE MOST UNNECESSARY SHOEHORNED IN HET ROMANCE FUCK A DOODLE NONSENSE I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO BEAR WITNESS WHAT IS IT DOING IN THIS OTHERWISE EXPONENTIALLY GAY CARTOON

WERE YOU PANDERING TO THE STRAIGHTS

WHY ARE YOU PANDERING TO THE STRAIGHTS I ASSURE YOU WE ARE COVERED BOTH HISTORICALLY AND FICTIONALLY

ALSO NEED I REMIND YOU THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY ACHIEVED HETEROSEXUAL PERFECTION

NO MERMISTA NO WE ARE NOT ALL JUST LIKE OKAY WITH THIS

Oh my FUCKSTICKS, I could’ve rolled with so much more that angers/disappoints me about She-Ra’s ending if every single thing I feared about this hadn’t proved true.

AND. IT. WAS. SO. UNNECESSARY.

What exactly did pairing off Glimmer and Bo do for the story? For their characters? THIS IS THE PART THAT’S STABBING ME IN THE DELICATE WEBBING OF MY TOES. Because -- COME WITH ME A MOMENT SWEET ANGELS -- because I was under the impression that, oohhhh, I dunno, FRIENDSHIP WAS A HUGE FUCKING IMPORTANT PART OF THIS PASTEL HELLSCAPE

Is it, She-Ra? IS IT REALLY???? When not one but BOTH of your childhood friendship pairings end in romance? When you close out your five seasons with romantic relationships so painfully and specifically sown across the character landscape like an overzealous gardener turned loose on the world?

You know what you have at the end? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID

THIS ISN’T A BEST FRIENDS SQUAD IT’S A DOUBLE DATE THAT NEVER MERCIFULLY ENDS

And again I ask, Why?? What was it about Glimmer and Bo’s relationship that needed them to become romantic? What was LACKING that this was the solution?

THIS IS WHAT MAKES ME LOSE MY GODDAMN SHITTING MIND I AM SO FUCKING DONE WITH THIS INSIPID MYOPIC TRASHBAG OF A CONCEPT

I believed She-Ra’s entire premise about friendship, I believed it wholeheartedly, and I’m so PISSED that at the close of day, narratively, it swept it all the bin. AND YES, YES IT DID, otherwise, WHY IS IT THERE. It serves no story-based need, it serves no character-based need, it has no NEED at all. So is it meant to be a “reward” to Bo and Glimmer for winning the war, as if their lifelong friendship were not reward enough? Is it meant to show they’ve walked through the flames and emerged with stronger, deeper bonds, because of course a relationship can only go SO deep without fucking. There’s no avenue to Romantic Relationship that doesn’t simultaneously point to something lacking in Platonic Relationship, AND I AM FURY PERSONIFIED

I am so tired of this. I’m SO TIRED of this.

And it didn’t need to be there. They didn’t even TRY to give us a good reason. That may be the part that makes me the angriest. Of COURSE they hook up romantically, of COURSE their platonic love would grow into “more”.

Fuck YOU, She-Ra. I thought you were better than that. YOU WERE SO CLOSE TO BETTER THAN THAT

THEN THERE WAS CATRA

I get it, I guess. I mean, I think it’s shittily written, but I GUESS. Honestly, end of day, I just don’t care about Catra enough to really get too angry about it, particularly when as I’m so fucking incendiary over something much more important to me. But it’s also the show’s greatest creative failure, and even if I HADN’T gotten angrier at other choices, it would’ve still cut its own legs out from under it.

Catra’s “redemption” was weak and sad and did a disservice to her and everyone involved. She started self-centered and shitty, and she ended just as self-centered and shitty, only we’re fine with that now. She learned nothing and changed nothing, but also nobody ever demanded it of her, so I can only lay so much at the character’s feet. The problem is ultimately creative, where I think Noelle Stevenson got lost in her own love of the character, and somewhere along the way forgot that if you take them out that far, you have to be willing to walk them the long road back. Compare to poor Glimmer, for fuck’s sake, whose greatest sin was being desperate enough to be manipulated by the character whose entire fucking DEAL is being THE manipulator. How much shit did she get for that? How long was she punished? Meanwhile Catra becomes THE Big Bad for a while, nearly unravels all of reality in a fit of supreme lesbian angst and self-pity, directly leads to the death of the planet’s ruling monarch who also happens to be GLITTER’S MUM and DIRECT FRIEND TO THE SHOW’S HEROES, but that’s fine, you did one sorta good thing one time and even though it was also wrapped in a thick film of self-pity and a final fuck-you at Adora, all is forgiven!

Speaking of, Adora suffers just as much from stunted growth. From the beginning, her thing was control, unable to free herself from the responsibility of everything and everyone. What did we have at the end? Adora as the only one who could save everything and everyone. Yeah, they kept asking what it was SHE wanted, BUT THEN SHE NEVER ACTUALLY GOT TO CHOOSE. NOT activating the failsafe wasn’t an option for her, and while she wound up not having to die to do it, even that wasn’t her choice in the end, it was Catra’s. (Don’t even get me started on her nth hour “You love me?” fuckery when it wasn’t once for one single second shown to be a question of such life-turning importance.)

All of which could be interesting! That Catra and Adora went through all this, came so far to wind up right where they started? AWESOME. LOVE IT. FUND IT. But really all that happens is nobody minds now that Catra’s a self-involved little shit and tee-hee another Best Friends Squad Mission being bullrushed by Adora within five minutes of ending the last one isn’t that funny?

I can’t even dig much enjoyment out of Adora and Catra as a trope subversion (if one of them was a male, their romantic involvement wouldn’t have even been a QUESTION), because the show lost its fucking mind with romantically pairing everybody off in the final five minutes. WHICH BRINGS ME RIGHT BACK TO MY PREVIOUS SCREAMING SO I’LL STOP THERE.

There was other stuff, of course. I think it was a TERRIBLE decision to spend the last season with the focus split between the two groups of rebels, and writing half the cast into brainwashing. I think the Nettossa and Spinnerella stuff was wasted and lacked any punch at all because the show for some reason or another couldn’t be bothered to let us spend any time with them to care. The waste of Scorpia and Mermista especially (to people named Jet Wolf who are me) was fucking CRIMINAL. Speaking of Scorpia, wouldn’t her showdown with Bo have been so much more poignant if they’d had really any kind of interaction before that moment to build from? (Sure, it’s Scorpia, so if you’re going to sell the lack of context with anyone it’s her, BUT ALSO.) Hey, remember Huntara? No? NEITHER DID THE SHOW.

All my details aside though, MY MANY MANY MANY DETAILS, what kills/rages me most about She-Ra was how so much potential from the first four seasons was just flushed away. Whether it was the creative team shooting itself in the foot or corporate pressure and rushing from Netflix, I don’t know. I don’t CARE. This is the show I was given, so this is the show I have, and that kind of fall after that kind of potential doesn’t just irritate me, it makes me SAD. I wouldn’t be this disappointed if I didn’t think it could have been -- WAS -- so much more.

Time will tell if I can separate out the final season from how much I loved those that came before it. I like to hope so, because I did love it intensely and loved whenever I got the chance to really dig in and talk about it.

WHATEVER ELSE I SUPPOSE I WILL ALWAYS HAVE THIS

Again please remember that I am not at present looking to argue or debate my feelings and opinions. I get to just be angry and disappointed, as a treat!

#jet wolf watches she ra #a novel by jet wolf #ANYWAY THAT'S ENOUGH ENERGY SPENT ON THIS CHILD'S CARTOON FOR ONE 24 HOUR PERIOD

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emachinescat · 3 years

Text

And That Would Be Enough

A Merlin Fan-Fiction

by @emachinescat

@febuwhump day 27 - “I wish I had never given you a chance”

Summary: In a moment of grief, Arthur says something to his newly appointed Court Sorcerer that he instantly regrets.

Characters: Merlin, Arthur

Words: 2,752

TW: None

Note: Emotional whump is still whump, right? :) This was written while sick, and I didn't have time to edit, so please bear with me if there are any mistakes. I will go back and edit after posting; I'm on a bit of a time crunch. This takes place in an AU Camelot where Arthur lives, the knights are all alive, and Merlin is made Arthur's court sorcerer.

Keep reading here, or on AO3!

If you enjoy, please consider liking, commenting, or re-blogging, and you can follow me for more content like this! :)

Words are powerful things. As king of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon knew very well how a few simple words had the power to heal or to destroy, to build or to tear down, to foster friendship or feed hatred. He had seen words ruin lives, give hope, change the course of entire nations. His own words had impacted his kingdom and the people around him in unprecedented ways.

The words of a king held the potential for great and terrible things, which was why Arthur always chose his words as king so carefully. The words of a grieving friend had just as much power for making or breaking a world, if not more so – and despite all his diplomacy, all of his training, the king of Camelot still struggled to choose his words wisely when he was hurting, particularly when he was speaking to those closest to him. Perhaps that is the way of humanity – we allow our naturally self-destructive nature to chip away at the relationships and people that mean the most to us, and sometimes, when life spins too far out of our control, we snap, and words that we do not mean, never would mean, come flying out like an arrow from a ranger’s bow, aimed straight for the hearts of our dearest friends.

Now, Arthur Pendragon’s words had changed no one’s life more completely than his former manservant, Merlin’s. Just a week ago, Arthur’s lips had formed the words in front of his court and Camelot that Merlin was not only to be a freeman of Camelot, but that magic was legal in the kingdom after over twenty-five years of fear and hatred for peaceful magic users, and that it was Merlin, his new Court Sorcerer, who would oversee the magical protection of Camelot, and who would ensure that magic was only used for good. Arthur would never forget the disbelieving joy shining in Merlin’s eyes in that moment as he gazed out upon the home that finally accepted him, looked at his king and saw nothing but pride and friendship in his gaze where he had once feared fear and judgment. It had been a staggering moment for Arthur, that weighty realization that Merlin had truly lived his life in fear of being killed because of how he was born, that the king was now witnessing a soul set free and the beginning of a new era. Never, he told himself as he watched his Court Sorcerer wave tentatively to the gathered crowd, would he allow Merlin to go back to feeling like he was a mistake, like he was a monster, like he wasn’t enough.

He meant that oath when he made it to himself. Unfortunately, tragedy has a way of taking our promises, even the most sacred ones, and stripping them from us like bark from a tree. Pain and loss break us down and force us to our knees and pull hurtful words from the pits of our pain and we throw them around at those who want nothing more than to help us.

The attack on the patrol had been unexpected and brutal. For the first time, king and warlock had fought openly, side by side, and Arthur saw yet again how powerful his clumsy friend truly was, and his heart swelled with pride and love for the man who had stood so loyally by his side for so long. Merlin protected his king and the knights diligently, but as so often happens in any battle, someone strayed too far from the group and fell through the cracks. Merlin tried to save Sir Arnold, a young knight who Arthur had personally scouted, recruited, and trained as part of his initiative to bring in more loyal and talented men regardless of nobility. Arnold had been a farmer’s son from a small village on the outskirts of Camelot, and he was a natural fighter, a brave, selfless young man who had wormed his way into the hearts of Arthur and his men.

He was only twenty years old when he was killed in the senseless, stupid bandit attack, and though Arthur had seen Merlin fight, watched the pain at the loss fill his eyes the moment that Arnold fell, the king’s grief and loss shrouded his vision and he lashed out after the battle at the only person who might have been powerful enough to stop it and hadn’t. He knew that Merlin had done everything he had to protect all of them, and knew that Merlin too had been close to the young knight, who had thought magic was the most amazing art in the five kingdoms and had followed Merlin around like a loyal pup, bright eyes alight for more displays of magic. And yet, despite knowing this, Arthur’s words careened out of his grasp in his shock and pain, and he said words to Merlin that took everything his closest friend held dear and smashed it to a million pieces. Never had Arthur regretted words he had spoken so desperately the second they left his tongue.

“I wish I had never given you a chance! What’s the point of your magic, Merlin, if you can’t keep the people who trust in you alive? Arnold trusted that you would keep him safe, and you let him down. You failed him. Maybe my father was right. Maybe magic’s more trouble than it’s worth!”

He didn’t mean a word of it, of course. But Arthur had just watched a young man who had had so much potential die before his eyes, cut down by a bandit’s sword – a weapon normally so useless in the face of magic. Grief had sunk its raking claws into his flesh and spit vile lies into his ears, and he lashed out at the person who had just saved his life, and everyone else’s – Gwaine’s, Elyan’s, Lancelot’s, Percival’s, Leon’s, Arthur’s lives. One person had gotten himself into danger that even Merlin hadn’t been fast enough to stop. And yet, instead of focusing on the fact that Merlin had saved everyone else, instead of thinking about how Merlin would already feel guilty and devastated at his perceived failure, Arthur allowed his emotions to twist his words into something to harm, not to heal, and he watched with horror as Merlin’s tentative grasp on control and self-worth crumpled with his face.

Arthur could feel the glares of his knights on him the moment the words escaped, but he had eyes only for his Court Sorcerer, who was backing away with a horrible, broken look in his eyes. Arthur reached out a hand as if trying to grab the hurtful things he had said, as if trying to snatch them back. But it was too late, and he lowered his hand. “Merlin, I–”

Merlin shook his head, and Arthur could see him trembling. “I’m sorry, Sire,” the sorcerer said, then he turned and disappeared, quite literally, into thin air. Arthur knew he wouldn’t be far – he wouldn’t leave them unprotected, but decided to give Merlin time before he pursued this again. Meanwhile, he knew, his knights would not be pleased with him, and as he predicted, they made no attempt to hide their disapproval for his treatment of his closest friend. Arthur carried Sir Arnold’s body on his own horse, and the ride back to the citadel was passed in solemn silence.

Arthur dearly missed Merlin’s company during the short but hard ride home.

***

That evening, after Arthur had personally spoken to Arnold’s poor father, had somehow found it within him to give him the news that no parent ever wanted to hear, Arthur found himself on The Balcony – the one that his father, and now Arthur himself, used to look out upon his kingdom and address his people.

For a while, he just gazed out at the citadel, at the manifestation of all that his father before him, and then he himself, with Gwen and Merlin and his knights by his sides, had built and refined. After a while, he realized that he was no longer alone, though he could see or hear no one.

“I can tell you’re there, Merlin,” the king said heavily.

Merlin shimmered into view to Arthur’s left. The king glanced over, slightly amused, mostly proud, to see that Merlin had unconsciously adopted the same stance as his king – spine erect, hands folded and forearms resting on the railing, chin high and face set firm. In that moment, Arthur felt power and nobility radiating off of the sorcerer more acutely than he ever had before. For the first time, perhaps, he could truly feel the weight of the destiny Merlin had told him about, see the prophesied warlock Emrys stand tall with the world placed squarely on his shoulders. Arthur felt an aching desire to take some of that weight from his friend and bear it on his own back.

Instead, because it was the only way he knew how to deal with his emotions and affection for his former servant, Arthur complained. “It’s freaky that you can do that, you know.”

“Do what?”

“Turn yourself invisible. Are you sure it’s a power you can use responsibly?”

He imagined an amused smirk on Merlin’s lips, but when he glanced over at his friend, the warlock’s face had not changed; it seemed to have been carved from stone.

And so Arthur pushed back his fear and discomfort and grief and pain and said what he truly needed to say, despite how uncomfortable it was, despite how much he felt that he had no right to even speak to Merlin in that moment, let alone request his forgiveness, his friendship. “I cannot express how sorry I am for what I said to you today.”

This time, Merlin shrugged – Arthur caught the motion in the corner of his eye. “You spoke the truth, Sire.”

Arthur really hated it when Merlin called him Sire .

“No, I didn’t,” the king insisted, and when Merlin continued to stare forward, he couldn’t help himself – couldn’t stand to see Merlin shouldering a blame and a pain that Arthur had helped put there, had encouraged with thoughtless words and his own misplaced grief. He reached out, grabbed Merlin by the shoulders, and spun him around so they were facing one another. Merlin looked up at him, and Arthur saw why Merlin had refused to look at him.

He was crying.

Arthur let go of his friend’s thin frame so abruptly it was as if he had been burned. “Gods, Merlin, I’m sorry. I had no right – no right – to make you feel like Arnold’s death was your fault.”

A tear crawled down Merlin’s face, caught on the edge of his cheekbone, and hovered there for a moment that spanned eternity. Finally, it plunged, disappearing into the neckerchief that Merlin had insisted he keep wearing despite his new and improved title.

“You made yourself very clear,” the warlock said in the most measured voice he could muster. Anyone other than Arthur might have been fooled by the stoicism, but the king, who had known Merlin for so long and been through so much with him, heard the tiniest of tremors and could not recall a time that he hated himself more than this. “And anyway,” Merlin continued. “You were right.” He spread his hands out wide, and magic, cerulean sparks of light that Arthur had come to associate with everything good that Merlin was, sprang to life between them. As the king watched, the color changed from blue to purple to a dark, blood red. “What is the point of my power if it can’t protect everyone ?”

Arthur, having been reminded so fully the power of words, chose his next ones very carefully. “No one,” he said slowly, “not even the great Emrys , not even my oldest, dearest friend, can take care of everyone all the time.”

Another tear rambled down Merlin’s cheek, curled around his trembling chin before dropping off to join the first. “But you were right, Arthur. Arnold – he trusted me.”

“And he was right to.” Arthur put every ounce of conviction he possessed into his assurance. “I saw what happened, Merlin. The moment he was hit, you were protecting Gwaine from a surprise attack from behind. Your back was turned at just the wrong moment. Arnold had wandered out of your line of sight, as well. And you did everything to save him when he went down.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“Sometimes our best isn’t enough,” Arthur reminded Merlin. “But we have to make it enough. We have to understand that even if we can’t protect everyone all the time, that we ourselves are still enough. As long as we try , it has to be enough.”

“Well, it’s not.”

“I know.”

They stood in silence, and they grieved their fallen friend. Somewhere along the way, Arthur’s hand found its way onto the back of Merlin’s neck, and without either of them realizing it was happening, the king pulled his dear friend into an embrace, and together they wept for the good man that had been lost.

When Merlin finally drew away, his eyes red and puffy – Arthur knew his own must look the same – he managed a shaky smile that didn’t reach his eyes, but Arthur knew that for now, it would have to be enough. “I know you didn’t mean what you said,” the warlock acknowledged.

“But it still hurt you,” Arthur observed. Merlin dropped his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does . Merlin, I would be dead a million times over if it weren’t for you. So would the knights. But – but , that does not mean that if something happens to one of us that you failed. You may be magic itself, but you’re still only one person.”

“Technically, I’m two,” Merlin argued miserably. “And Emrys is supposed to keep everyone safe.”

Arthur studied his friend in the moonlight, then patted him kindly on the back. “When I look at you, whether you’re doing powerful magic or tripping over a blade of grass, I don’t see Emrys and Merlin – I just see you . And you keep me safe, you always have. You do your job, and you do it well, Merlin. Sometimes, people are lost, and it hurts . But the only person you have control over is yourself. Something I have had to learn the hard way as king is that you can’t always keep everyone safe. You just have to do your best.”

Merlin sniffled, and he now looked like a lost child rather than a powerful sorcerer. When he spoke, his voice was thin, weak. “Do you still wish you’d never given me a chance?”

The question, asked sincerely, struck Arthur in the heart like an assassin’s blade. “I never should have said that,” he said earnestly. “And I know that I hurt you, and that you will spend years fighting those words said in a moment of pain, but I promise you that I will not rest until I have convinced you of the truth – that I have never been happier, or more proud, to have you by my side, old friend. I’m delighted to have given you – and your magic, and our destiny – a chance.”

“Maybe you have the makings of a great king, after all,” Merlin joked, and this time, the tiniest of smiles glinted in his eyes. He added mischievously, “Tell anyone I said that, and I’ll turn you into a toad.”

Arthur smirked. “I don’t know, Merlin – maybe being a toad would be easier than all of this.”

They sobered at the collective thought of the friend they had lost. Merlin scrubbed his face with the back of his hand. After a moment of subdued silence, he took up the olive branch his king had offered him and joked, “But just think about how many things would want to kill you if you were a toad.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “And that’s different than now because…?”

Merlin gave a curt nod as the two, in some unspoken agreement, turned and began to make their way back into the castle. “Fair point.”

“Either way, though,” Arthur pressed, jabbing his elbow playfully into Merlin’s side, “I’d have you to protect me, right?”

Merlin took far too long to think about his answer.

“Merlin!”

“It’s just I’m not too fond of toads,” Merlin admitted.

“Merlin!”

And side by side, king and warlock made their way through the grief and uncertainty and guilt and hurt the way they always did –

Together.

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reve-de-dragon · 4 years

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The Prince Lindworm

To start off this blog, I’ll share one of my favorite tales : The one of the Prince Lindworm.

Text taken from World of Tales.

Once upon a time, there was a fine young King who was married to the loveliest of Queens. They were exceedingly happy, all but for one thing—they had no children. And this often made them both sad, because the Queen wanted a dear little child to play with, and the King wanted an heir to the kingdom.

One day the Queen went out for a walk by herself, and she met an ugly old woman. The old woman was just like a witch: but she was a nice kind of witch, not the cantankerous sort. She said, “Why do you look so doleful, pretty lady?” “It’s no use my telling you,” answered the Queen, “nobody in the world can help me.” “Oh, you never know,” said the old woman. “Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and maybe I can put things right.”

“My dear woman, how can you?” said the Queen: and she told her, “The King and I have no children: that’s why I am so distressed.” “Well, you needn’t be,” said the old witch. “I can set that right in a twinkling, if only you will do exactly as I tell you. Listen. To-night, at sunset, take a little drinking-cup with two ears” (that is, handles), “and put it bottom upwards on the ground in the north-west corner of your garden. Then go and lift it up to-morrow morning at sunrise, and you will find two roses underneath it, one red and one white. If you eat the red rose, a little boy will be born to you: if you eat the white rose, a little girl will be sent. But, whatever you do, you mustn’t eat both the roses, or you’ll be sorry,—that I warn you! Only one: remember that!” “Thank you a thousand times,” said the Queen, “this is good news indeed!” And she wanted to give the old woman her gold ring; but the old woman wouldn’t take it.

So the Queen went home and did as she had been told: and next morning at sunrise she stole out into the garden and lifted up the little drinking-cup. She was surprised, for indeed she had hardly expected to see anything. But there were the two roses underneath it, one red and one white. And now she was dreadfully puzzled, for she did not know which to choose. “If I choose the red one,” she thought, “and I have a little boy, he may grow up and go to the wars and get killed. But if I choose the white one, and have a little girl, she will stay at home awhile with us, but later on she will get married and go away and leave us. So, whichever it is, we may be left with no child after all.”

However, at last she decided on the white rose, and she ate it. And it tasted so sweet, that she took and ate the red one too: without ever remembering the old woman’s solemn warning.

Some time after this, the King went away to the wars: and while he was still away, the Queen became the mother of twins. One was a lovely baby-boy, and the other was a Lindworm, or Serpent. She was terribly frightened when she saw the Lindworm, but he wriggled away out of the room, and nobody seemed to have seen him but herself: so that she thought it must have been a dream. The baby Prince was so beautiful and so healthy, the Queen was full of joy: and likewise, as you may suppose, was the King when he came home and found his son and heir. Not a word was said by anyone about the Lindworm: only the Queen thought about it now and then.

Many days and years passed by, and the baby grew up into a handsome young Prince, and it was time that he got married. The King sent him off to visit foreign kingdoms, in the Royal coach, with six white horses, to look for a Princess grand enough to be his wife. But at the very first cross-roads, the way was stopped by an enormous Lindworm, enough to frighten the bravest. He lay in the middle of the road with a great wide open mouth, and cried, “A bride for me before a bride for you!” Then the Prince made the coach turn round and try another road: but it was all no use. For, at the first cross-ways, there lay the Lindworm again, crying out, “A bride for me before a bride for you!” So the Prince had to turn back home again to the Castle, and give up his visits to the foreign kingdoms. And his mother, the Queen, had to confess that what the Lindworm said was true. For he was really the eldest of her twins: and so he ought to have a wedding first.

There seemed nothing for it but to find a bride for the Lindworm, if his younger brother, the Prince, were to be married at all. So the King wrote to a distant country, and asked for a Princess to marry his son (but, of course, he didn’t say which son), and presently a Princess arrived. But she wasn’t allowed to see her bridegroom until he stood by her side in the great hall and was married to her, and then, of course, it was too late for her to say she wouldn’t have him. But next morning the Princess had disappeared. The Lindworm lay sleeping all alone: and it was quite plain that he had eaten her.

A little while after, the Prince decided that he might now go journeying again in search of a Princess. And off he drove in the Royal chariot with the six white horses. But at the first cross-ways, there lay the Lindworm, crying with his great wide open mouth, “A bride for me before a bride for you!” So the carriage tried another road, and the same thing happened, and they had to turn back again this time, just as formerly. And the King wrote to several foreign countries, to know if anyone would marry his son. At last another Princess arrived, this time from a very far distant land. And, of course, she was not allowed to see her future husband before the wedding took place,—and then, lo and behold! it was the Lindworm who stood at her side. And next morning the Princess had disappeared: and the Lindworm lay sleeping all alone; and it was quite clear that he had eaten her.

By and by the Prince started on his quest for the third time: and at the first cross-roads there lay the Lindworm with his great wide open mouth, demanding a bride as before. And the Prince went straight back to the castle, and told the King: “You must find another bride for my elder brother.”

“I don’t know where I am to find her,” said the King, “I have already made enemies of two great Kings who sent their daughters here as brides: and I have no notion how I can obtain a third lady. People are beginning to say strange things, and I am sure no Princess will dare to come.”

Now, down in a little cottage near a wood, there lived the King’s shepherd, an old man with his only daughter. And the King came one day and said to him, “Will you give me your daughter to marry my son the Lindworm? And I will make you rich for the rest of your life.”—“No, sire,” said the shepherd, “that I cannot do. She is my only child, and I want her to take care of me when I am old. Besides, if the Lindworm would not spare two beautiful Princesses, he won’t spare her either. He will just gobble her up: and she is much too good for such a fate.”

But the King wouldn’t take “No” for an answer: and at last the old man had to give in.

Well, when the old shepherd told his daughter that she was to be Prince Lindworm’s bride, she was utterly in despair. She went out into the woods, crying and wringing her hands and bewailing her hard fate. And while she wandered to and fro, an old witch-woman suddenly appeared out of a big hollow oak-tree, and asked her, “Why do you look so doleful, pretty lass?” The shepherd-girl said, “It’s no use my telling you, for nobody in the world can help me.”—“Oh, you never know,” said the old woman. “Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and maybe I can put things right.”—“Ah, how can you?” said the girl, “For I am to be married to the King’s eldest son, who is a Lindworm. He has already married two beautiful Princesses, and devoured them: and he will eat me too! No wonder I am distressed.”

“Well, you needn’t be,” said the witch-woman. “All that can be set right in a twinkling: if only you will do exactly as I tell you.” So the girl said she would.

“Listen, then,” said the old woman. “After the marriage ceremony is over, and when it is time for you to retire to rest, you must ask to be dressed in ten snow-white shifts. And you must then ask for a tub full of lye,” (that is, washing water prepared with wood-ashes) “and a tub full of fresh milk, and as many whips as a boy can carry in his arms,—and have all these brought into your bed-chamber. Then, when the Lindworm tells you to shed a shift, do you bid him slough a skin. And when all his skins are off, you must dip the whips in the lye and whip him; next, you must wash him in the fresh milk; and, lastly, you must take him and hold him in your arms, if it’s only for one moment.”

“The last is the worst notion—ugh!” said the shepherd’s daughter, and she shuddered at the thought of holding the cold, slimy, scaly Lindworm.

“Do just as I have said, and all will go well,” said the old woman. Then she disappeared again in the oak-tree.

When the wedding-day arrived, the girl was fetched in the Royal chariot with the six white horses, and taken to the castle to be decked as a bride. And she asked for ten snow-white shifts to be brought her, and the tub of lye, and the tub of milk, and as many whips as a boy could carry in his arms. The ladies and courtiers in the castle thought, of course, that this was some bit of peasant superstition, all rubbish and nonsense. But the King said, “Let her have whatever she asks for.” She was then arrayed in the most wonderful robes, and looked the loveliest of brides. She was led to the hall where the wedding ceremony was to take place, and she saw the Lindworm for the first time as he came in and stood by her side. So they were married, and a great wedding-feast was held, a banquet fit for the son of a king.

When the feast was over, the bridegroom and bride were conducted to their apartment, with music, and torches, and a great procession. As soon as the door was shut, the Lindworm turned to her and said, “Fair maiden, shed a shift!” The shepherd’s daughter answered him, “Prince Lindworm, slough a skin!”—“No one has ever dared tell me to do that before!” said he.—“But I command you to do it now!” said she. Then he began to moan and wriggle: and in a few minutes a long snake-skin lay upon the floor beside him. The girl drew off her first shift, and spread it on top of the skin.

The Lindworm said again to her, “Fair maiden, shed a shift.”

The shepherd’s daughter answered him, “Prince Lindworm, slough a skin.”

“No one has ever dared tell me to do that before,” said he.—“But I command you to do it now,” said she. Then with groans and moans he cast off the second skin: and she covered it with her second shift. The Lindworm said for the third time, “Fair maiden, shed a shift.” The shepherd’s daughter answered him again, “Prince Lindworm, slough a skin.”—“No one has ever dared tell me to do that before,” said he, and his little eyes rolled furiously. But the girl was not afraid, and once more she commanded him to do as she bade.

And so this went on until nine Lindworm skins were lying on the floor, each of them covered with a snow-white shift. And there was nothing left of the Lindworm but a huge thick mass, most horrible to see. Then the girl seized the whips, dipped them in the lye, and whipped him as hard as ever she could. Next, she bathed him all over in the fresh milk. Lastly, she dragged him on to the bed and put her arms round him. And she fell fast asleep that very moment.

Next morning very early, the King and the courtiers came and peeped in through the keyhole. They wanted to know what had become of the girl, but none of them dared enter the room. However, in the end, growing bolder, they opened the door a tiny bit. And there they saw the girl, all fresh and rosy, and beside her lay—no Lindworm, but the handsomest prince that any one could wish to see.

The King ran out and fetched the Queen: and after that, there were such rejoicings in the castle as never were known before or since. The wedding took place all over again, much finer than the first, with festivals and banquets and merrymakings for days and weeks. No bride was ever so beloved by a King and Queen as this peasant maid from the shepherd’s cottage. There was no end to their love and their kindness towards her: because, by her sense and her calmness and her courage, she had saved their son, Prince Lindworm.

Something about this tale had always stood out to me as a child. Perhaps it was that I, too, felt like a creature encased in another’s skin, but reversed from the myth, or simply that for once, the dragon did not die.

I had always remember it as less violent than it really is, perhaps out of fondness for the lindwurm.

#folklore #dragonkin #dragon #dracodex

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imagine-loki · 4 years

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Pride and Prejudice

TITLE: Pride and Prejudice CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 36 AUTHOR: wolfpawn

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki was raised on Jotunheim as Laufey’s son after the war, but an agreement was then made that he would wed Odin’s daughter so Odin could secure the alliance of Jotunheim through the marriage. Loki, in turn, was raised to be king of Jotunheim, but how he views Asgard is far different from how Odin’s daughter is raised leading to a clash of cultures as well as uncertainty between the pair of betrothed youths. RATING: Mature NOTES/WARNINGS: Forced Marriage, not all fun and games. My first real step back into the Loki scene in over a year.

Tags - @skulliebythesea @asimovethroughthisworld @blackcherry26-blog @we-shadowhunter2901

Ella sat staring across the vast icy landscape of Jotunheim, thinking of the day that had been. She was startled by the fact that she missed Loki already. It had only been a few hours, but she found herself fretting for him as she did her brother, if not more. She did not worry for Thor as much, he was used to war at this stage. She never understood how her father allowed him to fight so often in such things when he was the future King of Asgard but since her father spent his youth similarly, she assumed it was due to him seeing no issue in it as he had done similar himself. She hoped whatever happened, any future for any son she could ever give Loki, she would not have to see him off to war. She did not think such would end well for her, she would fret for the entirety of the time he would be gone. For a moment, she thought of if she did not give Loki a son, such would, in its own way, be a blessing but her fate was sealed in their marriage contract, two sons, no matter what. Inhaling deeply, she got up from her seat and readied for bed, not in the mood for anything else, though she knew sleep would not come easy to her.

The next day, she went to the throne room, noting that half the realm, or what was there and not at war seemed to be there and the tense atmosphere was palpable. Everyone wished to know what was going on but with so little time since their departure, there was no manner for Laufey to have received any form of news on the matter.

Ella thought it peculiar to see Laufey no longer circled by his sons and Arden as he usually was, instead, he seemed almost isolated. There were guards and indeed junior advisors but it did not look the same.

She listened for a time as Laufey spoke on matters and other agendas were dealt with but as the day came to a close, something came to her. There had been no mention of Byleistr and his mates. She knew Jotun heats lasted a significant length of time, usually five to ten days, and were incredibly exhausting for those involved in the situation but this changed a lot of things. Part of her wanted to say nothing, the other part knew she would need to say something. With the decision to say something to Laufey after the day so not to be seen to be interfering, she merely stood silently to the side.

Her face must have shown her thoughts in some manner when Laufey noticed her because with a simple beckoning action, he had her brought forward. “Something is on your mind, Princess?” “I am merely thinking, in an animated manner it would seem, My King,” She smiled politely.

“And what is it you are thinking?” Ella thought for a moment to fib but she was not one for lying. Loki always stated her honesty to be one of her better attributes, part of her felt she should be honest even in his absence. “If I may be so forward, My King, I am curious as to the situation with regards informing Prince Byleistr and his mates. I am aware that at present, he is not able to be reached for personal reasons but I would think with his location being closer to any attempt to breach the realm and with both of his brothers in the fray, he would wish to be informed and to get both of his mates to safety at the earliest possibility.”

“I would think that to be an accurate assumption.” Laufey nodded solemnly for a moment, contemplating her words. “It is true that should there be an attempt to invade Jotunheim, that area of the realm is closer to their likely entry point and so too is it easier to isolate.” She nodded at his words cause Laufey to speak further on the matter. “When Asgard wars, what is the planned strategy?”

If Laufey felt she would be hesitant to answer, he did not show it, nor did Ella do such a thing. “There is a procedure in place for such things. It is neither complex or overly fancy. We know the issue is on Alfheim, so we secure any form of entry point between the realms at that point. Do not shut them entirely as often those are the areas news carriers will attempt to reach the realm and in the off chance that our forces are forced back, the innocent and the soldiers involved will wish to retreat through those gateways.” “Our men do not retreat.” One female Jotnar spat at her.

“There was a war on Midgard, not too long ago, I think only about two decades, I cannot tell, life goes by so fast there, and there was an army, forced to retreat. They have these machines, tanks they call them, armoured with large guns, able to take most every terrain, they were pushed back to the edge of a landmass, their homeland only a short sea straight away, they retreated back to their land and regrouped, there, they were joined by others and together, they returned to the land they had retreated from before and fought the enemy once more. They were assisted, of course, by the central enemy fighting a war on multiple fronts, from the East and South as well as the West, but somethings a tactful retreat to regroup is the sanest option. Dying for no reason is not a good reason to die. I hope that should there be a manner for our men to do such themselves, they take it and we will be as successful as the Midgaridans in their war, if it, unfortunately, comes to that. I hope not but we must prepare accordingly.” She turned to face Laufey again and he nodded at her to continue. “We clear civilians from the area and we ready troops there in the offchance any of our enemies get through. You also apply a scorched earth strategy, put simply, we destroy any and all crops, water sources and anything else they can use to feed and tend to theirs if they get through. We should not do this until it is necessary and I know it sounds mad, especially now when the realm is finally starting to grow again, but one plant may feed them enough to advance even one step further. If Jotunheim needs to do this, we must ensure that those who lie behind us, whom we are the buffer for must assist us by way of soldiers and food for us if this needs to occur. This is Asgard’s own manner of practice in such events so for the Allfather to even deny considering assisting us, in the same manner, is hypocritical and it will not be stood for, so I would send a messenger to Asgard this instant to have it and Vanaheim ready supplies and men to do so if we need it.”

Her words startled many amongst those gathered. There was a small number on Jotunheim who were incredibly sceptical of the future of the Jotunheim throne with the marriage between Loki and Ella, not during Loki’s reign as they knew that the prince was dedicated wholeheartedly to the needs of the realm but they were concerned as to after that when the child born to the couple would become King, they worried the Asgardian-loyal mother would have too much influence and force a situation of an unfit and an Asgard loyal King but her statement and her insistence that Asgard should do as they command forced them to consider that her loyalty was with her mate and his realm.

Laufey gave an approving nod. “Very well. Godrick, do as my son’s mate states and have such a thing sent to Asgard. ” One of the junior advisors bowed and rushed off. “With regards to Byleistr, and indeed the evacuation of the areas closest our borders, that must be dealt with also. I need available guards to the different homesteads there, tell them to bring all valuables with them, anything that could help an enemy is to be brought. Starve them of any resource that could assist them. As for my son, he will need to be brought back at the earliest convenience.” One of the advisors stood forward, Ella knew he was one that was disgusted by Byleistr’s actions, not out of loyalty to Loki, but of a loyalist to tradition, and tradition did not allow for Byleistr’s actions. “But Sire, the land they are on is not overly inhabited, sending a soldier there is not going to be easy, it’s a long trek and it takes from the protection of those who need it most.”

Others nodded in agreement.

Ella looked around. “How far from anything is it, exactly, if I may be so bold as to ask?”

“The most of the afternoon from anything else.” The advisor stated.

Laufey studied Ella’s face, he could see her calculating to herself. “A princess cannot be expected to do such a journey alone,” he insisted.

“I would not expect you to allow my going alone, My King.” She looked to the side and noticed Greta looking at her curiously for a moment before the Frost Giant smiled slightly. “But I will not be alone, and my going there will signify the severity of the situation.”

She stood and silently awaiting Laufey’s response.

Laufey considered it for a moment before speaking again. “Very well, Greta, daughter of Cillian, you go with the Princess and retrieve my son and his mates while the guards assist the people and ready as she stated.” He sat back, his silent manner of signifying he was too tired to deal with anymore.

Ella bowed slightly and made to make her way to Greta to see when the Jotnar would be ready to leave.

“Sire,” One Jotnar stepped forward. “Surely you do not think it a good idea to allow one so small and vulnerable into the snows, what if she is attacked.” He indicated to Ella as he spoke. “I do not think it fair to have to have another risk their lives for such a thing.”

Ella did not mean to scoff, she simply had not been ready for the absurdity of the Frost Giant’s words. When he looked at her again she shot her arms straight out, causing two large daggers to come out of thin air, startling everyone, even Laufey before she scraped the two blades off one another and bright and intense flames blazed from them, the heat of which could be felt a few metres away.

“I am sure that should any issue befall us, Micha,” Greta began. “Her Highness is capable of protection one as small and vulnerable as me.”

#Loki #others #Submitted fic #chapter 36 #submission #Pride and Prejudice #wolfpawn

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astraseason · 4 years

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𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost, don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

full name. princess araceli of hoshido, nohr, & valla. pronunciation. ah-ra-selly. nicknames. ara, celi, little princess, traitor. height. 5′5″. age. physically 22, mentally 300+ due to several repetitions of the hoshidan-nohrian conflict. zodiac. leo. languages. common, nohrian, hoshidan.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour. periwinkle blue. eye colour. red. skin tone. pale and rosy-cheeked. body type. petite and slender, with lightly toned muscles. some slight curves. accent. early on, araceli spoke with a distinct nohrian accent. over the years -- from her perspective, at any rate -- she has since lost it. dominant hand. ambidextrous, but favours her right hand. posture. straight and proper, befitting a princess. she has a habit of slouching when alone, though. tattoos. none. most noticeable features. pointed ears, her left eye is missing and has been replaced with a glass one. she is uncomfortable with displaying the false eye, however, and covers it up with a black eyepatch. almost always wears a big, silver butterfly hairpin. occasionally, dragon horns, a tail, or some other draconic appendage.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth. the kingdom of valla. hometown. unknown; though likely valla’s capital. birth weight / height. unknown. first words. likely ‘mama’ or ‘papa’. siblings. lilith ( younger biological sister, self sired by anankos or in the case of canon divergence mothered by mikoto ), any other custom my units ( can be older or younger, but always her biological sibling ), high prince ryouma, princess hinoka, prince takumi, princess sakura ( hoshidan step-siblings ), crown prince xander, princess camilla, prince leo, princess elise ( nohrian “adopted” siblings ). parents. anankos ( biological father, first dragon, will eventually die by araceli’s hand ), mikoto ( second princess of valla & later queen of hoshido, deceased ), king sumeragi of hoshido ( stepfather, deceased ), king garon of nohr ( “adoptive” father, disowned ) parental involvement. uh. let’s see here. biological father sent her and her mother away from valla to prevent them getting caught up in his degeneration... and set her up to be the one to kill him in the end, to the point of meddling with time magic to ensure his defeat. her time with her mother and stepfather was cut short thanks to garon ambushing sumeragi, murdering him, and kidnapping her. he then proceeded to quite literally beat any traces of hoshido out of her to the point where he had her memory wiped entirely, and even then continued to be abusive. when she finally got to reunite with her mother over a decade later, mikoto was murdered before her eyes. so uh... i’d say they weren’t really involved in her life.

ADULT LIFE

occupation. princess of hoshido/nohr/valla, commander of the united hoshidan & nohrian army. in the postgame, she becomes either the unwilling queen or an ambassador of valla. current residence. upon refusing to pick a side in the hoshidan-nohrian conflict she becomes a vagabond, later the rebuilt kingdom of valla. close friends. aqua, felicia, lilith. i want to say jakob too, but he makes her very uncomfortable nowadays... relationship status. verse dependent, but typically single. she will not get romantically involved with anyone in the birthright or conquest timelines. the pain of losing that relationship to a timeline reset and the other party not remembering anything of it is too painful for her to bear. financial status. despite being a princess of two ( three, really ) kingdoms, not very wealthy thanks to her decision to remain neutral. driver’s license. in modern verses, yes. jakob might act as a chauffeur, though... i don’t think much about modern aus tbh. criminal record. "treason”, if you want to consider refusing to pick a side in a war treason. xander and ryouma sure did. plays it straight in birthright or conquest, given she is picking a side there.

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation. pansexual. romantic orientation. panromantic. preferred emotional role. submissive | dominant | switch | unsure I equal preferred sexual role. submissive | dominant | switch | sex repulsed libido. this is a sfw blog, so we’re done talking about this. turn ons. kindness & intelligence. tends to gravitate towards people she feels she can take care of, perhaps out of a desperate desire to “do something right”, but also has a weakness for ‘knights in shining armour’. turn offs. being an irredeemable dick. that’s... honestly it. if you’re not the best person out there but you’re willing to put in the work to better yourself as a person, she’ll give you a chance. she also finds jakob’s almost obsessive devotion incredibly off-putting and scary, though that’s more a problem specific to him. love language. words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch in the case of family or a significant other only. relationship tendencies. a little too self-sacrificing and slow to lower her walls, but incredibly affectionate and loyal. has difficulty accepting that her significant other actually does love her, however, due to the trauma she has endured... or that she even deserves the affection to begin with. but she will still move mountains for them.

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song. arsonist’s lullaby - hozier, no light, no light - florence + the machine, point of no return - starset. hobbies to pass the time. reading, sleeping, busywork around camp. mental illnesses. undiagnosed anxiety, ptsd, & depression. physical illnesses. n/a. left or right brained. right brained. fears. going underground, xander, takumi, jakob, making important decisions, abandonment, being misunderstood, losing control of her draconic form, anankos, garon, her immortality, being seen as property or a possession. self confidence level. practically nonexistent. vulnerabilities. dragonslaying weapons.

tagged by:@stormsiris tagging: you, if you haven’t done it yet.

#✽ ― 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. ﹙araceli | study.﹚#✽ ― 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. ﹙araceli | headcanon.﹚#long post //#✽ ― 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐬. ﹙dash games.﹚#ngl my brain started going foggy halfway through this so i might go back and edit it later #but this works for now

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princesssarcastia · 4 years

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Arrow Meta Fix-It

so uhhhh. yeah. here it is; part of it, anyway. more to come! also I started this months and months ago, so you can kind of see that progression throughout.

—

So I got hooked on arrow fic in the last two weeks, god knows why, and like— its great. The whole writing side of this fandom has great ideas and I love them.

But uh. Now I have ideas. Or actually, one idea, singular, but it’s a fucking enormous job and idk if im up for that, so instead imma throw it out here for shits and giggles and see if it can motivate me to actually start it.

Within the initial premise for each of the three core characters lies what I think could be a much better story than canon:

We have one disillusioned son of the one percent who, after five years of hell and survival mode, returns to a life of wealth with a list of other one percenters who use their wealth and influence to put down the rest of the city in order to straight up murder them.

We have one disillusioned veteran who served in the Middle East at the behest of warlords, now forced to provide the same services to one percenters because that’s the sum of his skill set after two tours, even though it’s not the sum of his personhood.

And, we have one ex-hacker who’s underpaid, underappreciated, and who spent their college years trying to start the digital revolution against the capitalist system.

Like. Look at that setup for a second.

All I can think when I look at this is how fucking amazing it would have been if they went ham on the robin hood angle.

A story where Oliver doesn’t murder the body guards and then give the big bosses a “chance to do the right thing,” lol, but instead trusts his father’s list and recognizes that the people working for his targets don’t actually deserve to die most of the time. He just goes straight for the people who failed his city, divests them of their funds in order to compensate their victims, and then kills them instead of their hired help.

A story where when Diggle says Oliver can do more for this city, he doesn’t mean beating on more common criminals than the investment bankers Oliver likes to kill; he means addressing the roots of poverty and crime in the city using the wealth he used to take for granted, but is now so uncomfortable with. Where Diggle wants to help the little people, not just hurt the big ones.

A story where Felicity helps Oliver when he comes to her not just to find Walter, but because his mission, and the stuff he’s been doing—look, its not like she’s comfortable with murder! Murder is bad! But god, all of this reminds her so much of what she and Cooper thought they could accomplish together. If she helps Oliver here and now with his mission against the corrupt one percent of Starling, she can do a lot of good. And she’s come a long way in her coding from the girl who only got caught, mind you, after Cooper had cleared out millions of dollars of debt.

I’m thinking, like, Leverage with murder instead of grifting.

Oliver comes home and he’s visibly uncomfortable with the huge displays of wealth surrounding his family and their entire lifestyle. No, he didn’t actually spend five years on an island, but this is still completely foreign to him, now. Eating regularly and nutritiously sends his system into shock; his bed is too soft; formal wear is stifling and doesn’t provide nearly enough places to stash weapons.

(More than that, I’d be interested in seeing how his PTSD/social anxiety clashes with the lifestyle his family just wants him to slide right back into. People want to stand in peripheral vision and ask his opinions on things and touch his back to get him to move and hug him and sleep with him, wtf no get out don’t touch me. Actually, I would love to write read something where tender physical intimacy feels completely foreign and honestly threatening to Oliver, after years of every touch being dangerous. That to me feels more realistic than him jumping into bed with like twelve different women)

Oliver who would much rather live feral in the rafters of his new hidey hole in the old steel factory, sustaining off protein bars and the salmon ladder and never seeing the light of day again. Instead, he has to pretend to be a normal human being and play off the last five years of horror as “cold,” so he doesn’t upset Thea and Tommy (and his mother, but less her than the first two).

Oliver who tries to use the playboy card to live ferally anyway, just show up for meals at home and then back to the rafters he goes, but then his mother has to go assign him a fucking bodyguard who follows him everywhere. And he’s good at it, too.

Diggle comes into the job expecting basically another rich brat, with maybe some mild PTSD. Instead he gets this scary ass man who looks like he could take Dig in a fight, can turn emotionally on a dime the second someone normal comes up but then goes back to deadpan brooding the second they’re gone, regularly escapes (fucking escapes! What the fuck) from Diggle’s protection to do…god knows what, but definitely not sleep with women, given the way his shoulders tighten every time someone touches him.

He does not get paid enough to deal with this shit.

Felicity catches Adam Hunt’s murder on the nightly news and does a little fist pump; right on, hood guy, eat the rich, because murder in the abstract is easier to support than said murderer asking her to help him murder more people. Just because she works for QC and got a dye job doesn’t mean she supports the system, no siree bob. She just has to live in it.

Oliver seethes as his mother uses him as a pretty prop for photo-ops, nothing to see here our family is picture perfect! Mom, daughter, son, husband (not father, never father). He is—he is so much more than this. Oh, Oliver’s self-worth is shit, but the shallow emptiness of this lifestyle grates. And even thinking his life is worth nothing, Oliver recognizes his skills and tactical ability make him a very valuable asset (fuck you Amanda waller); maybe if his mother had him assassinating her rivals, he’d be happier, because at least then he’d actual be useful.

—

@absentlyabbie you liked my tag-blogging about this, so. here it is

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landoflustfulladies-dark · 4 years

Note

Bonus rules for breeding frenzy, take and pick as you will... (1) Infertility spells are less effective, or straight up don't work during the curse! (2) Whatever person sires the most children by the end of the curse ends up with a special prize of some sort to help encourage them to get breeding. (3) Throw whatever muses from your blog into Sasha's Den during the event, cause I'm guessing you want Rise bred anyways. (4) Womb tattoos that glow when the girl is successfully knocked up?

Yes to all! I may actually extend the duration of the curse since I have a couple work shifts back to back (closing tonight, opening tomorrow) but I 110% encourage people to breed my gals to their heart’s content!

#Anonymous

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first-of-her-nxme · 5 years

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Hey it was a nice experience going through your blog! You might have already answered this but can you elaborate on why Jaqen is Rhaegar's son? Or you may put the link if you have already answered. Thanks!

Hey :)

Sure but there is a lot to unpack so I’ll try to give a relatively short answer and if it still leaves you with some questions, please ask :) Btw it is not my idea that Jaqen is Aegon, it’s as old as A Clash of Kings and I first heard it from one of AO3 authors but I don’t know if I can tag her here so I’ll edit if she speaks up :) Edit: I first heard of it from @darkeleni

The first issue I need to explain is how old is Jaqen. Every time we meet him in the story he is wearing a very young face. We know that in Westeros boys as young as 16 are considered adults. In some cases even younger, like Robb Stark when he’s crowned as the King in the North. So a 17 year old can be referred to as a boy or as a man, depending on the person speaking. We first see Jaqen through Arya POV and for her he is very young, the youngest of the prisoners, but still a man grown because he is older than her brothers, even than Robb who is already a king. Gendry who is three years younger is described as “almost a man” while Jaqen calls himself “a man.” We get more information about J’s age in Braavos chapters. Every acolyte gets the same training so it means J’s training was the same as Arya’s. In Braavos Arya is always posing as a girl of her age so it means each of J’s faces points to his actual age. And the face he is wearing in A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons used to belong to the 19 year old acolyte, Pate. So Jaqen was born exactly in the same year Aegon was born. Pate is sometimes called a young man, a youth or a boy. J. was 17 in the first book, almost like Loras who is also called both, a boy and a man.

The next thing is his face. The answer is in the books, it’s the face Arya sees when she meets him:

He was the youngest of the three, slender, fine-featured, always smiling. His hair was red on one side and white on the other

George Martin explains:

…right from the start I wanted the Targaryens, and by extension the Valyrians from whom they were descended, to be a race apart, with distinctive features that set them apart from the rest of Westeros, and helped explain their obsession with the purity of their blood. To do this, I made a conventional ‘high fantasy’ choice, and gave them silver-gold hair, purple and violet eyes, fine chiseled aristocratic features.

Jaqen is one of the two characters with long, straight, “white” hair like Rhaegar’s hair, the other one is Bloodraven. J’s hair is half red - he either dyes his hair to memorize Elia, like we are told Young Griff does to memorize his mother, or it’s his birthmark that becomes more visible with age like the red mark on Bloodraven’s face.

“Jaqen is as dead as Arry,” he said sadly, “and I have promises to keep. Valar morghulis, Arya Stark.”

Arry is not dead, it’s Arya. Arry had Arya’s face, her body and mind. Arry’s story of being a commoner’s son was as fake as Jaqen’s story of being a commoner from Lorath. They both made the same mistake that betrayed they were noble born: Arya called Roose my lord instead of m’lord and Jaqen called Arya my lady of Stark not m’lady like Gendry. “Arry” derives from Arya’s real name. Jaqen is as Arry - a real person with a fake backstory and a fake name but a Valyrian one, a name that resembles Aegon and Rhaegar ( H’ghar read backwards ) or Vhagar, a dragon name. They are both orphans - A man’s sire is long dead ( J. even speaks like Rhaegar:My royal sire fears your father...) - his parents were killed, Arya’s father was murdered too and her mother is about to die soon.

I have promises to keep. - I am the prince that was promised.

Valar morghulis, Arya Stark. - All men must die, Arya. All who murdered my family and took what’s mine. GRRM borrowed this line from The Odyssey - there will be killing till the score is paid. The concept of “no one”, a hero who hides his true name comes from The Odyssey too.

Their exchange has been rewritten for the show. Jaqen simply says “Jaqen is dead” without any reference to Arya and Arry. It means that this plot, as well as book Arya plot, is dead and the show is not telling GRRM’s story. J. is one of those characters that died in the show but will never die in the books.

His identity is revealed in A Clash if Kings, before the Young Griff is even introduced, when Arya blackmails Jaqen to free the northmen. Jaqen doesn’t want to help, she has only one wish left. He asks Arya if it would be enough to kill king Joffrey. She doesn’t say no, but she names him instead:

“Even if I named the king … ”

“Speak the name, and death will come. On the morrow, at the turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there, and a king dies.” He knelt beside her, so they were face-to-face, “A girl whispers if she fears to speak aloud. Whisper it now. Is it Joffrey?”

“It’s Jaqen H'ghar.”

Very clever, Mr. Martin - Joffrey is not a true king, the true king is Jaqen H’ghar.

J. gives Arya his iron coin - a coin of the faceless men, a symbol of anonymity. But when he gets his dragon egg from Euron and comes to the Citadel to hatch it, he kills Pate with a golden coin - the three-headed dragon with a face of a dead king whom Pate cannot recognize. The king from J’s coin must be a long dead Targ king, that’s why young Pate doesn’t know his face. It’s also a reference to J. - he is the dead king, most people think he was murdered in King’s Landing.

A man does not fly like a bird - but he will, that’s why he wants a dragon.

And last but not least, how he was saved. Rhaegar did it before he went to war. Rhaegar believed that Aegon was the prince that was promised, he saved him like Jon saved Mance’s baby. His last moments with his wives are described in Jon/Gilly scene in A Dance with Dragons. Varys smuggled the baby out of the Red Keep through the black cells - that’s why we met Jaqen in the black cells in King’s Landing in A Game of Thrones - another motif borrowed from The Odyssey and also The Lord of the Rings - the rightful king is coming home. J. came to Varys because he knew Varys was meant to fulfill his father’s wish, and because Illyrio had dragons’ eggs. Of course by this time Varys made a plan of his own to replace J. with another “Aegon”, the usurper.

J’s story is also told through symbols: the symbolism of wine, crows ( they are the messengers of gods ), the imagery of dragons and so on. The Ghost of High Heart’s prophecy, Jenny’s song ( the book version ) and My Featherbed refer to Jaqen and Arya too.

Thank you for the ask :)

#Jaqen H'ghar #Aegon Targaryen #asoiaf #Arya Stark #Rhaegar Targaryen #asoiaf meta #jaqen h'ghar is aegon targaryen

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slashertalks · 5 years

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some vampire meta shit, and the theoretical societal balances which must be, and often are, struck within narratives depicting a carnivorous pseudo-human species (or, some thoughts about Daybreakers)

So it may not be well known here, but it’s a pretty obvious fact on my blog dailyhudson that I love the movies Near Dark and The Lost Boys. I’ve always been interested in the mythology of vampires, especially the scientific facts behind their origins, and I think the varying structures of vampiric societies within film narratives can be very interesting. So, that’s what I’m going to discuss here. I’m not sure how long this piece is going to be, but we’ll see as we go along.

I’m going to start with a little dissection of varying vampiric traits. Picture a vampire; I’m guessing the image your mind conjured up had fangs and drinks blood. Yeah, just fangs and blood— that’s all I can give you, because vampiric traits are so wildly different that at this point, there’s really no comprehensive list of universal features. Not even fangs are universal; in Near Dark, none of the vampires are shown to have them. However, there are recurring traits. Fangs are the most wide one, but there are also: altered eyes (commonly red or gold); pointed ears; bat-like feet or noses; the ability to shift their appearance between something human and more monstrous; flight; shapeshifting; a member of the undead. Why is “a member of the undead” not universal? Ignore the fact that I’m about to call upon Twilight, but it is a vampire narrative; within the plot, Bella gives birth to Edward’s baby and is turned in the process— the child is born a vampire, and therefore I don’t technically qualify it as “undead.” Alongside that, within the majority of narratives it is not a corpse which is reanimated, but a human that is turned. Vampirism is simply another state of being alive, though it can be used to prevent imminent death. Vampirism being conflated with death, in this meta discussion of morality and societal structures, would likely originate from a fear of what’s more powerful, more animalistic than ourselves (humans); how often do we think of ourselves as predators, when stronger creatures exist? To become a vampire is to lose your humanity but to gain the characteristics of what I will refer to as a “true predator,” not unlike a lion. Whether or not our actual humanity, our empathy, is lost varies on the narrative in question, and even then is questionable at best, considering the point of view of the narrative is nearly always a human one.

Now, what spurred this on was my viewing of the movie Daybreakers: an apocalyptic, near-starvation look at an imbalanced vampiric society— essentially, a worst-case scenario. Turning to both the Lost Boys and Near Dark, in these narratives we are shown two small groups of vampires coexisting in a world where they are unrecognized by humans (except in very rare cases, like that of Grandpa and the Frog Brothers). This is the ideal vampiric society, and one seemingly acknowledged by elder vampires; Max keeps a tight reign on the boys, only permitting David to turn a human when the human is approved. Jesse is angry with Mae for having turned a human without consulting them first. There is an understood need to keep the vampire population small, and to train them: Caleb is supposed to learn how to be a vampire, how to avoid attracting attention, how to recognize where and who to target. Even when they kill the bar patrons, the bar itself is mostly empty; a stark contrast to scenes like Daybreakers’ human farms or the blood rave in Blade. Even in the Forsaken, where the vampires are especially predatory and violent, they target very few people: our specific main characters and a small party of frat boys.

Within these narratives, there is an understood balance between vampires and humans. Not unlike any predator and prey; if prey cannot subsist, neither can predators. Vampires are an especially delicate predator, in that even if they can live off of animal blood, it is often not nutritionally fulfilling, leaving them weak and acting only as a bandaid until human blood can be obtained. Particularly within Near Dark, there is also a clan mentality: a desire to protect and safeguard your sired family; while Homer sired Mae, it’s easy to assume Diamondback and Severen were both sired by Jesse (who sired Homer is unclear). They are loyal to each other, a metaphorical pack of wolves; even Mae, who is turned back human (though that scenario raises questions of consent, since she never expresses a desire to be human and is, in fact, fearful when she awakens), is torn between staying with her family and defending the man she loves and had sired. The basis of a sustainable vampiric society would, as evidenced by Near Dark and The Lost Boys, require vampires to live as small, nomadic clans, keeping a tight control on the size of their groups and even killing off those who cannot successfully make the transition (whether because of fear, like Caleb, or because they cannot control themselves and feed without abandon, risking exposure). It’s also notable that there’s at least one older “alpha” within each clan; Jesse and Diamondback in Near Dark (though Severen is stated by both Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein to be older than Diamondback, his personality is naturally more immature and so he defers to Diamondback without issue), and Max in The Lost Boys. An older vampire within these clans would also be key to continued clan subsistence; until the younger vampires understand the need to maintain small, manageable groups and can go off on their own, the “alpha” vampire is there to guide them through vampiric adolescence.

What about Daybreakers, then? Even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the high vampiric population is an explicitly-stated anomaly; Sunnydale is the location of the entrance to hell, naturally attracting supernatural beings— as such, we can assume within the rest of the world vampires exists either solitarily or within small familial groups (like Spike, Angel, and Drusilla did). Daybreakers is interesting to consider, since the transmission of vampirism is... unclear. It did start as a disease, considering the search for a cure, but based on the societal structures implemented in previous examples, one can assume that the disease struck out of the blue and spread quickly. Yet, at the same time, it can be transmitted via a bite. So, how did it start? Who was patient zero? The global nature of the disease and disregard for traditional vampiric societal structures put forth by previous narratives would suggest to me that there were millions of youthful vampires at once with no mentors to learn from. Even in the terrible Lost Boys sequel, the oldest vampire is (likely; that film is nonsense and I’m not going to dig too deep into it) thousands of years older than any other vampire. Even mad with power, the alpha is explicitly against the idea of turning all the humans at DJ X’s (another vampire’s) raves; he understands that too many vampires will lead to starvation and extinction. Following this logic, there can be no alpha vampire within the narrative world of Daybreakers; there’s nobody to pass along life lessons to the young vampires, nobody to teach them to keep their familial packs small and their destruction to a minimum.

What, then, is the morality of vampires hunting humans in Daybreakers? Clearly there’s a dichotomy between non-sapient predators and vampires: lions and wolves do not have the ability to reason, they act on instinct and drive alone. Vampires have the ability to reason, have some sense of morality, as do humans; therefore, it’s unfair to strike a “true predator”/“true prey” dichotomy. What about the fact that the vampiric society is facing starvation, then? What about humankind’s status as an endangered species? There’s no fair settlement between humankind and vampires within Daybreakers’ universe; human societal structures built around individualism and capitalism cannot make the transition to vampirism. Extinction is a guarantee without an alpha to lead the pack, so in a world where the vampiric agent was spontaneous and widespread, as is implied by Daybreakers, there was no other option for vampiric society.

I found Daybreakers interesting but unsatisfying. I’ve briefly touched on the attraction of vampirism from a specifically queer point of view, but I think that’s an important consideration. Growing up without knowing yourself, losing your childhood, losing members of your family because they can’t accept you, and having to rebuild your life in a society where you don’t know who you can trust... it’s a deeply disheartening way to come into yourself as a young adult. The vampiric societies depicted within films like Near Dark and the Lost Boys, where the vampires are fiercely loyal to one another, and in the case of the Lost Boys near-flirtatious with each other, are very attractive. The thought of a family you can’t lose, drawn to each other by attraction and bound by immortality; no fear of losing the most important people in your life to suicide or violence— I’ve often joked that only straight people turn down vampirism within films, but is that joke really that far off? Michael in the Lost Boys struggles with accepting the attraction the boys have for him, fleeing to the comforting heterosexuality of a relationship with Star rather than confront any potential queerness. Mae is completely comfortable in her skin, but Caleb can’t accept her identity as a vampire, and fears the implications that has for him (what does it say if he’s dating a bi woman?). Louis in Interview With The Vampire slowly learns to accept himself, but not without struggles and denial (a true statement of many “coming out” narratives). These parallels come easy to vampiric stories, and combined with the attractiveness of vampirism to a group who struggle with acceptance and often rely on found family rather than blood relatives (and what if your found family could become your blood family through vampirism?), it would be a disservice to leave this out of the discussion.

My dissatisfaction with Daybreakers originates, I think, from its overt heterosexuality. There’s a lack of nuance to the narrative, an almost propaganda-like ignorance towards the point of view of an equally sapient species. Take this with the smallest grain of salt, considering the queer parallels with vampirism are generally unintentional, but how often has the “h*mosexuals are destroying good christian families” argument been used? How often have people said that if society accepts gayness there won’t be any straight people left? Not that I’m particularly sympathetic towards this corrupt vampiric society, nor the majority of the vampiric characters, but in light of the connections I’ve drawn between queerness and vampiric stories the saving grace being “they gave up vampirism and turned back human” is... tiring (you can pray the gay away, after all). The statement above, and the statement that Daybreakers’ vampiric society is corrupt and unsustainable, can mutually coexist. After all, Blade is a vampire who essentially serves as population control against a corrupt vampiric society— good vampires and corrupt vampires are also not mutually exclusive, as Daybreakers would indicate (the character Frankie can’t stop himself from feeding on a human as soon as there’s not a crossbow in his face).

Perhaps I’m digging into this a little too deep— perhaps there’s nothing beneath the surface of these narratives, but I’m loathe to believe that. After all, I’m here running this blog because there’s very often a deeper layer to horror narratives, a breaking-down of norms unattainable with other genres. For example, while it wasn’t a fantastic film, Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker did depict a gay man who was a sympathetic character and a caring basketball coach who worried about his students, was realistic about the challenges of homophobia, but still did what he could to look out for the main character when things began to go off the wall. It’s not so unreasonable, then, to say that many vampire narratives (intentional or otherwise) are steeped in queerness and the antithesis to upper-middle class, white, heterosexual familial values— a found family of misfits, loyal and protective of each other, which Good Heteros can do nothing against? How terrifying! This is why I feel so apathetic towards Daybreakers: where it could have explored and played against structures the way many horror films do, it slotted itself right into the mold of “normal” (read: white, able-bodied, cishet, middle+ class) people = good, Others = bad, and the hottest take the movie had was “maybe unchecked capitalism is Not Great.” Which, duh, of course unchecked capitalism is bad, but that’s a subject for another day and a different blog. The difference between the other vampire narratives I talked about and Daybreakers is the difference between good barbecue and the McRib; between real blood and a substitute: it’s edible, but something important is lacking.

#daybreakers #near dark #the lost boys #vampire meta #I’m back at it!!!! back at it again at Krispy Kreme!!!!!!!

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smutandfluffohmy · 5 years

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Arthur and Merlin preferences (Season 1)

Season 1 Spoilers! Someone please tell me why I watched the entire first season of Merlin in two days. (Someone send some BBC Merlin requests my way please (if the requests are about seasons 2-5 please put ‘Season X spoilers!’ at the start of the request please for me and other people that may browse my blog))

-The embodiment of ‘Two bros chilling in a hot tub five feet apart cuz they’re not gay’

-Merlin mockingly calling Arthur ‘Sire’

-Merlin being Arthurs first best friend

-Going on rides together to get away from their responsibilities

-Daring each other to eat gross things

- “You’re a royal pain in the ass.”

-Arthur trying to teach Merlin how to sword fight

- “So let me get this straight you made a sword for me then you threw it in the lake?” “It’s called the excalibur.” “Oh sorry. So you threw the excalibur in the lake like a moron?”

-”Can you stop crying like a girl about the damn Unicorn?” “I don’t know can you stop being ass?”

-Constantly saving each others lives

- “I saved your life so now we’re even.” “Okay but what about those other five times I saved you.”

-Talking about their day while walking around the castle

-Arthur showing Merlin all the hidden passages around the castle

-A lot of “can you do this?” then one of them getting injured

-Arthur teasing Merlin about being too messy

-Pushing each other into the lake

-Lots of midnight snacks when Merlin stays too late to help Arthur with something

-Merlin wanting so desperately to tell Arthur about his powers but too scared to loose his best friend

-Arthur believing Merlin when he said he was a sorcerer but choosing to ignore him in fear of what his father may do to him.

#bbc merlin #merlin #arthur pendragon #merlin imagine #bbc merlin imagine

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secretsofthemasquerade · 6 years

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what you should get in the September Sale

Drive thru is having a Sale until September 21st!

Vampire: the Masquerade titles

Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary edition

Despite all the shit I gave White Wolf (CCP version) for the bad art choices, V20 is a must have. It contains almost everything you’ll need to understand what VTM is, especially if you only know about it from VTMB. Very much a great compendium :)

V20 Dread Names, Red List

Just because I’m on the cover. This is a compilation of overpowered antagonists and enemies of the Camarilla, a list of over the top NPCs, but they’re interesting enough, and the Art is Good :)

V20 Lore of the Clans

Overall this replaces the Clanbooks, it’s quite short but it’s more than an interesting read to see the new takes on the clan. Unlike V20 which takes content from Revised, this is mostly new content. Lore of the bloodlines feels a little unnecessary to me but that’s just my opinion and you may very much enjoy it ;)

V20 Hunters Hunted 2

This is a good book to play hunters that are not Hunters (aka with so many fancy powers and just people who know the supernatural exists and are willing to -do something about it-)

Vampire the Dark Ages 20th Anniversary edition

Honestly I was very skeptical about Dark Ages, but VDA20 was written with thoughtfulness in mind and I’m honestly quite pleased with the results, even if I am just not drawn to that kind of setting. I’m not a fan of the saturated colors by Mark Kelly for the full page art but it’s overall much more beautiful than V20 is. for 6 bucks it’s worth a grab :D

Undead Blood Magic Bundle

This bundle contains Blood Magic secrets of thaumaturgy, Blood Treachery, House of Tremere and V20 Rites of blood. Lots of rites, rituals and fun stuff. Rites of Blood is actually the one of best value, but might as well grab the bundle imo (I’ll let you do the math tho). I think each book individually is less expensive than the bundle! But I won’t link them all (too much work), just click on the bundle link and you’ll be able to click on each title individually.

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary

I made a post a long time ago saying why I wouldn’t back it and why this book did not interest me as it’s basically a big fic about Beckett meeting a bunch of other NPCs and witnessing a bunch of canon events, but I do understand its interest and it is valuable Lore and fluff content for those of you who enjoy it. So I’m putting it here because it is a good book, it’s just not for me. This serves as a bridge between old Canon and the canon of V5, for what it’s worth :)

Clanbooks 1st Edition

The PDF quality is bad because it’s old-school-scans (and some pages aren’t really straight), but if you want to feel where I came from, this bundle links back to each clanbook. I think each clanbook individually is less expensive than the bundle! But I won’t link them all (too much work), just click on the bundle link and you’ll be able to click on each clanbook individually ;)

Elysium the Elder Wars

Oldie but Goodie. I have a very fond liking of this book which explains well what Elder games can be ;)

State of Grace

A book about all kinds of faiths and how to reconcile them (or not) with vampirism. Serves as a great starting point for your own research. I wouldn’t take it on its own, however.

MET VTM

You might also want to grab anything from the LARP books (the corebook being obviously first), they’re a great read and the mechanics are honestly interesting, even if you don’t LARP. I still frown at some of the art choices because lots of the costumes look like bad halloween costumes and not something vampires would actually wear but those are very personal tastes.

And now some Vault titles!

Obviously I can’t do this without plugging my own titles ;)

My Guide to Playable Characters (which the reviews say is good to help players get into playing RPGs overall, with specifics for VtM), my Guide to Siring and my One Shot scenario (which gives that 1st edition horror premise, it seems?) are all on sale.

But more importantly, you might want to check.. Dark New England, a sourcebook about New England, which is a MASSIVE labor of love and with incredible content in relation to Native American clans. Authors also put together a lineage book about the native kindred bloodlines, to complete it. It’s Descendants of the Three sisters.

The Gargoyle bloodline-book seem to be worth checking out!

You should also check Sei-ey’s Vampire Drawings, a beautiful artbook which is just amazing (you may know his work from Deviantart)

Some other interesting artpacks (portraits) by Luis Miguez, in pure black and white old school style can be found here, here, and here. Carlos Garcia also did one right here.

You might also want to grab these two color portraits right here.

@andrealeora Did two amazing packs of art, one of scenes and one about portraits, that you should check out. Check her blog to see some previews of the contents ;)

And finally, because I’m French, here’s Mont Saint Michel by night, for Dark Ages.

If you’re curious about other Vault Products, I highly recommend reading It’s More than Just Gaming reviews to see an honest breakdown of some of the titles ;)

All of the links are affiliate links and if you purchase anything after clicking, I’ll make a small commission, which will allow me to buy more art for my upcoming titles and host further giveaways!

#secrets advertizes #storyteller vault #onyx path sales #white wolf sales

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