#steelsong

[kedreeva]

When I was a kid, maybe 14 or so (which is, you know, 20+ years ago), I belonged to a Yahoo! mailing list for an anime called Gundam Wing. It was mostly populated by other teens, of varying ages, as it was started by a teen and her friends. Eventually it migrated, when Yahoo! groups started as forums, and even branched off into non-GW related stuff in a second forum.

One of the things I remember the most clearly is the oldest person in the group. Her name was Steelsong. She was a 40-something Dom with a sub whose name we knew even though we knew nothing else. She ran her own fanfic archive because the web was still handmade HTML and navigated in webrings and I’m pretty sure Google didn’t exist or was only barely, barely launched and not well known. She was kind and patient and we loved her. She treated everyone on the group with the respect given any adult, even though most of the rest of the world was still treating us like we were children. Not teenagers even, but children. She never once condescended to any of us, never made our youth a barrier to her respect, never treated us like we were incapable of being full people or like we were less than her because we were young.

I remember that she hosted our fanfiction, as absolutely terrible as it was (and I still have some of it, I am WELL aware of how cringingly terrible it is, just absolute nonsense garbage), right there alongside of other fic that was soul-achingly beautiful. Not a separate section for her friends or for kids, just right there like we were good enough to feature alongside other authors. I never once received crit from her that I didn’t ask for, only support. Only love. I am still writing today partly because Steel was so kind about our fic, fanfic and original.

I remember that when I started doing clay sculpture, she commissioned a tiny pair of dragons from me, to support me doing artwork. She sent a check my mom cashed for me, and my mom helped me mail it when it was finished. It broke in transit, and Steel assured me that she mended it and that it was still beautiful. It was a small gold dragon curled up with a small silver dragon.

I remember that her patience knew no bounds. I remember that she was there for us, regardless of reason. When we wanted to know silly things like what to do with a single AA battery, she answered. When we had serious questions about sex, she answered.  When we had questions about writing, she taught us. When one of our group members, a young gay teen in Australia, ended up in the hospital and then stopped making posts, and we all knew what had happened, she let us talk to her about it because we couldn’t go to our own parents, even though we had just lost a friend.

She was not a replacement to my parents, but she was an extra parent, in some ways. A friend, certainly, but someone that had been through more life than we had and was willing to pass on knowledge if we asked for it. Someone older that we trusted with things that were too uncomfortable to go to our parents or teachers or whatever about, because we already knew she wasn’t going to judge us or something, and that we would get an honest answer.

I don’t know why I’m remembering this so hard tonight, and I’m not sure if there’s a point to sharing this, except that I know she’s gone now. She was ill the last time we spoke, and her site went down a long time ago, and I miss her. She was a huge influence on my life, then and now. She was hope, for me, that life as an adult didn’t have to be boring, it wouldn’t have to mean giving up the things I loved and Becoming Only Responsible With No Fun. Her presence meant I had hope I could still write and play with friends even when I wasn’t ‘a kid’ anymore. And she’s gone, and I miss her, and I wanted to share her from the perspective of youth, and the perspective over twenty years later has provided me.

And I think of her, when people go off about older folks being in fandom with younger folks. I’m an older folks now, or at least middle aged folks because there are certainly folks older than me still, but I wasn’t always. I’ve been here since i was a younger folks, and I know how much Steel’s presence and support meant to me, how much she helped not just me but everyone on that group. And I think of the people saying older folks don’t belong in fandom, and that they shouldn’t interact with younger folks at all, and I just think... I can’t agree. I needed that kind of solid presence in my life back then and even at the age I am now, I need the folks older than me to stay. I want them here.

So I guess, like, if you’re here and you’re 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 or 80 or whatever, I want you here in fandom with me, still. Your presence here is a comfort. It is hope. It is a reminder that life will continue to be fun, even as I get older, myself. And if you’re younger and you have this sort of elder in your groups, I hope that they are like Steel. I hope they are kind and patient and supportive, and that knowing them gives you hope for your own future. I hope in twenty years you look back and remember them fondly.

#steelsong #personal #stories about ked's life #dash stretcher #fandom #god she would have loved ao3 so much #i wish i could tell her about the good things that have become

[chaoticcomposition]

saw oc kiss week floating around and wanted to participate, I love drawing kisses for february so it's nice to have the excuse!

ft. cady (she/they/he) on the left and @solfell's kishore (she/her) on the right. just two nbs sharing a kiss

edit: my pal wrote a piece to go along with it!

#ockiss24 #dungeons and dragons #dnd #d&d #half-orc #paladin #goliath #monk #dnd oc art #drawerings #ocs #cadiana jacqueline steelsong #elspeth regrew cady's pinky lmao

[xolaanii]

I've crossed paths with githyanki before.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #lae'zel #userwolfkissed #aartyom #vg: bg3 #c: lae'zel #oc: laewynn steelsong #p: mine #mine: bg3 #valedits #wake up babe new tav just dropped #and i right away am trying to be besties with lae'zel lol #also i wish tav smiled when you chose that last line #because in my mind laewynn is smiling because she's silly and sarcastic lol #also she is an astral elf and a bard

[hartsvale]

Alinor Steelsong. War Domain Cleric.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3edit #bg3 tav #type: gifs #game: baldur's gate 3 #oc: alinor steelsong #mine: edits #i just met her but if anything happened to her --

[coldraindropsss]

Aemon Steelsong, Tyrion Tanner, Monster

#monster #monster Gilly's son #aemon steelsong #tyrion tanner #lollys stokeworth #dalla #mance rayder #gilly #digitalart #asoiaf #asoiaffanart #got #gotfanart #hotd #housetargaryen #housetargaryen🐲 #valyrianscrolls #asongoficeandfire #asoif/got #asoif fanart #a song of ice and fire

[atopvisenyashill]

sometimes it’s a lil hard to switch gears into a sam chapter because you’ll get brienne, jaime, cersei, arianne, and sansa back to back for like 15 chapters and it’s nothing but politics or fallout of the war constantly and then theres a screech as the narrative takes a left turn detour into Sam & Gilly having a terrible horrible no good very bad day and not interacting with the greater plot at ALL and you’re like aemon stop giving sad monologues I AM NOT IN THE RIGHT HEAD SPACE DAMMIT

#i. have not read affc since before my grandma died. this is. fun. #rani liveblogs asoiaf #sam making sure they give aemon a proper valyrian funeral. aemon asking to hold dalla’s baby. #naming the baby aemon steelsong. i’m so. bro we were talking about the intricacies of court politics man 😭😭

[catiuapavel]

Hobyrim Von Rahms/Vandam/Steelsong's death quotes

CH3 Lawful

CH3 Chaos

CH3 Neutral

CH4

CODA

(Dropping sublte hints I want to murder my brother Balxephon) I want to murder my brother Balxephon

Putting Hobyrim's slightly obsessional yet completely justified fixation on vengeance and killing "him" (secretly Balxephon), I find it curiously sweet he speaks of avenging his mother but makes no mention of his father. Everytime she's brought up in the game, I get the feeling her assassination affected him than his father's.

Bonus, for additional wishful vengeful last words:

CH3 Lawful - Failing to save Hobyrim during his rescue mission

CH3 Chaos - Failing to save Hobyrim during his rescue mission

(One more time, with feelings)

#tactics ogre #tactics ogre death quotes #hobyrim von rahms #hobyrim vandam #hobyrim steelsong #just hobyrim for close friends and family (but not balxephon)

[fromtheboundlesssea]

Porcelain, Ivory, Steel Chapter 35

Torrhen III

#jonsa #jonsa child #naerys targaryen #aemon steelsong #jaehaerys targaryen #daemon martell #into the unknown #my writing #porcelain ivory steel

[metamagic-adept]

Seti Steelsong did not have an epithet like "the Architect," "of the Inner Demons," or "of the Blessed Soul." Seti was just Seti, a tinkerer and a soldier. She made things that helped people and sought to better understand the world. She was on the front lines, absorbing blows and healing. Always the last to leave a bad situation, making sure the others got out safe. Though self-sacrificing, he did not dream of martydom. The best he hoped for was a quiet and noble death somewhere far from home. Her mama would be grieved to hear the news, but it would come swiftly, nothing torturous or drawn out. That is the best you can hope for when you are secretly dying; that no one you love finds out until after it's over with.

Seti watched his mother slowly disappear, and watched his mama lose her wife piece-by-piece. So when Seti began to fade, she resolved to never tell her mama. And it turns out she never had to.

________

Pockets of distortion within a malfunctioning time machine. The 4th dimension bleeding through into the 3rd. Lightning arching everywhere. The fraying of the timeline into infinite possibility. You feel you can go anywhere at any point in time. Where do you go?

Seti thinks of Ibis, how in the end she couldn't even hug her; there was nothing to hold on to.

You can go back and try to change it. There's a way to do it and create a paradox; there's another way to do it without creating one, but you may not come back.

There has been a hollowness in Seti's chest since he returned from the Far Ether. He is less here than not. She thinks about parallel timelines and endless possibility. She thinks about a young adulthood with two mothers, whole and healthy, about being able to give that to someone. She thinks about a life that is not hers, but could be real for some other Seti.

I want to change my mother's fate. Even if that means I don't come back.

________

Seti, you're back in the woods behind your house. You look down and see that both your hands are there in the flesh, and they are much smaller than you remember them. You feel like you've just woken up from a dream, daydream, specifically, since you've spent the whole day running around playing make-believe.

Seti, this young Seti, dreamed that he was a knight and an inventor. That she traveled to distant realms and times with a group of fellow adventurers. A feral ranger who could always make her smile, an unnervingly calm warlock who seemed unkillable, a jaded detective who more than anything wanted to help people in shitty situations, a fighter who ran headlong into, well, everything, and a cosmic elephant with his eyes on the stars. They helped people or failed spectacularly in the attempt. They fought monsters and corporate CEOs. They kidnapped a dinosaur. At one point Seti shrunk himself down and rode on a kenku's back into the eye of a massive storm. All in days work for an imaginative and brave seven year old. But there was something she was forgetting, something she needed to do.

As you begin walking home for dinner, you hear heavy footfalls coming down the trail behind you.

Seti hides and watches the armored figure, face obscured by a visor, march by before following at a distance. They draw their sword as they reach for the back door of the house.

"Wait. You're supposed to knock."

As far as this Seti is concerned, she defended her home from a well-armed bandit using a pot-lid shield and battleaxe made of sticks. The bandit did seem strangely upset to see him. Their voice cracked when they told him to leave. Their voice also sounded a lot like his mother's. But she stood her ground until her mama heard the shouts and came running. The bandit fled and soon Ibis came from inside to join her wife and child.

This Seti grew up with two mothers, and never worried about disappearing.

And the Seti I knew wrote herself out of the story. Gone, save for the blurry silhouette in a child's head of a hero with her shield raised high.

________

(if you are really confused and want context for this dnd character, find it here.)

#my pcs #seti steelsong

[greenbloods]

idk why it took me so long but i just got the jon snow-aemon steelsong parallels. that moment when you were a baby taken from your mother under secret identity and never knew her growing up so you take a babe from his mother under secret identity and condemn him to never know her growing up. and jon's probably going to end up being named aemon too. something something the cycles keep on cycling and violence begets violence

#jon snow #aemon steelsong #my posts

[kedreeva]

You spoke so perfectly of your lost friend that part of me misses her too. Know that you are a cherished fandom 'old' to this 25 year old. We aren't friends, but your blog and your replies to asks make me happy.

That is really fantastic to hear, honestly! I like to think I can pass a little of her on, in story and in my own actions.

#anon asks #asks #people say nice things #steelsong #I am of course happy to have made you happy too

[chaoticcomposition]

forgot about this old doodle—prosthetic tusk for date nights (any pronouns)

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #d&d #half-orc #paladin #drawerings #ocs #cadiana jacqueline steelsong #tal'dorei #exandria

[dailyreko]

reko and RECO cat fight when

DAY 230: cat fight ft. steelsong (my warrior cat reko design)

#YTTD #REKO YABUSAME #WARRIOR CATS

[agentrouka-blog]

Could Val being aunt to Aemon Steelsong is foreshadowing for Dany being aunt to Jon(AEmon) Snow?

I don't think so.

All of this hinges on the retrospective understanding that Jon himself mirrors Aemon Steelsong, at which point Dany being his aunt is simply established fact. Val's existence doesn't help us reach the conclusion that Jon parallels Aemon Steelsong (unlike Samwell copying Ned's "fake bastard" scenario).

And she doesn't really parallel Dany in other exclusive ways to make it significant. She references at various points Dany, Lyanna, Sansa, even Arianne. Her relationship to Dalla's son is not at all similar to Dany's with either of her nephews, both of whom are a little older than her and present rivals for a claim that doesn't even exist in Val's world.

I'd call this happenstance rather than foreshadowing.

#val the wildling #foreshadowing #rouka ask

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Mance = Rhaegar has to be one of the funniest brain dead ASOIAF theories because like, GRRM obviously created Mance and placed him in Jon’s storyline as a father figure so he can be a parallel to Jon’s real dad, Rhaegar. Like it’s so so obvious that these two men are meant to be paralleled due to their association with the protagonist; even Mance’s child is used as a narrative tool meant to inform on Jon’s own birth. And you’d think that ASOIAF stans would recognize that and be like, “huh narrative mirrors that’s cool!” But nooooo we just had to say they’re actually the same person. So by ASOIAF fans’ definition are Jon Snow and Aemon Steelsong the same character? Did Jon actually beat Tyrion to become the time traveling fetus?

#asoiaf #jon snow #mance rayder #rhaegar targaryen #have to say that mance = rhaegar is just that much better than benjen = daario = euron #in terms of insane factor #it’s so unhinged and unnecessary for no good reason #and is one of those theories that perfectly encapsulates how the vast majority of asoiaf stans just be theorizing for the sake of it #which is hilarious considering the vast amounts ot elitism you will encounter on any given day #about how asoiaf is so dark and gritty and not like other girls so asoiaf stans are not like other readers #yeah y’all are not like other readers based on your inability to understand like basic literary tools like ?!??

[missmungoe]

YOU ARE A WRITING GODDESS 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹your stories about Makino and Shanks are so beautiful, humbly bless us with your works 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

(HI, I am so glad you like them!!) From the next chapter of Tideswept, which is where my mind currently lives:

She watched as he bent to pick Siren up from the ground, the melting snow running off the blade in rivulets, gleaming silver in the frost-fogged air.

Running his fingers over the cresting wave of the hamon, “Nice,” Blackbeard said, and with such a genuine appreciation, it made her recoil, but then seeing her sword in his hand prompted a visceral reaction in her, as he mused, “Someone’s been keeping secrets. Gotta say, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

But considering the beautiful blade, not even a scratch on the polished metal, he conceded, “Then again, doesn’t look like this girl’s had any blood on her. Real shame, for a sword like this.”

Shifting his grip on the hilt, his gold-toothed grin widened, as his eyes lifted from the sword to seize hers. “Let’s see how she likes the taste.”

He turned to Shanks, on his knees between the guards, and her breath ripped from her chest, but Makino hadn't even taken a step towards him when the hands around her arms hauled her back. “No!”

Across the clearing, Odysseus whinnied, before the guard holding him yanked him back by the rains, although Blackbeard didn’t even spare it a glance, and Makino watched in horror as he lifted her sword, a soft hum stirring the cold air.

Shanks' eyes met hers, the look beneath his scars apologetic, before he closed them, just as Blackbeard brought Siren down.

The sword sang, but hers was the louder cry, a ravaging scream where it filled the clearing, and she was still screaming when his body fell forward, thrashing against the guards holding her, the last note of the steelsong ringing in her ears and her wide eyes locked on his unmoving figure on the ground, the red of his hair bright against the new snow where his hood had fallen back.

#Shanks x Makino #opfanfic #One Piece Makino #Shanks #Marshall D. Teach #WIP meme #mungoe writes