#Aeryn Prompts

[autumnslance]

offering the other your coat

(Bet you all thought I was done with or had forgotten about these intimacy prompts...Now on Ao3)

He had quickly built a fire and given everyone time to dry off, except for Alisaie who kept diving back in to search until her brother made her stop, and Aeryn herself when she finally emerged, looking oddly dazed but unharmed after a quick check by both Alphinaud and Urianger. Now the chill mountain air of Il Mheg cooled further, hinting at nighttime past the endlessly oppressive Light above. Only a hint of a cold breeze could make it past the stagnancy. Were they in Coerthas, it would be a cutting wind, mayhap even a gale.

Thancred missed weather. Even the bad types.

“Here,” he said, shrugging off his coat and dropping it over Aeryn’s still-damp shoulders. There hadn’t been time to let her finish drying before they had to move on, especially if the Fuath were not done with their games. “Your Thavnairian blood can’t handle this cold,” he tried to tease.

It used to be so easy to joke between them. Five years was a long time.

She looked at him even as she pulled the coat closer. “What about you?”

“I’m fine,” he lied. He was mostly dried, and his chest armor and the shirt under it did help. He was a little chilled, but it was nothing like the shivering she was trying to hide. Even in Coerthas, she had not reacted so strongly. 

—

“Here,” he said, shrugging off his coat as they made their way back through the tunnels to the surface. He winced at how dirty and tattered it still was, even with a few hasty spells from their comrades. Maybe when they returned to Twine more could be done.

Aeryn didn’t protest when he dropped it over her slim shoulders, shivering again. Her face seemed ashen and her eyes glassy, since battling the Lightwarden. “Thanks, but what about you?”

“I’m fine,” he lied. “Could do with a little less weight at the moment, really,” he continued, giving a grin somewhere between jaunty and pained. Insisting on continuing to protect the others so soon after his battle with Ran’jit had not been the wisest course, and both Ryne and Y’shtola’s looks indicated he was going to hear quite a lot about that in sharp detail, but it had also been necessary.

As was this, as Aeryn didn’t stop shivering, but did relax slightly, holding his coat close, and granting him a soft smile. She would be all right.

—

He wrapped her slim form in his coat and lifted her into his arms. Aeryn trembled as the Light wracked her. Under the sweat and blood of battle, she seemed strangely pale. Strands of white marred the midnight of her hair.

“Thancred—” Ryne began as they trudged out of Vauthry’s palace to the mountain path.

“I’m fine,” he lied. They were all battered, bruised, and weary after fighting their way through the hordes of sin eaters and against the Lightwarden himself. They were all still better off than whatever Aeryn was going through.

Urianger wouldn’t look at any of them, and that would have to be a discussion once they were safe and their wounds tended. But for now, Thancred kept his coat close around Aeryn and willed her to hold on as they descended.

—

The seabed was damp and cold, the darkness murky and difficult to see more than a few yalms distance. They had left the Ondo and made it through the initial set of twisting caverns, and now had to cross an open space—some deep ravine, filled with corals and limp fronds of strange plants and so much more swampy, sandy ground—to another cave that would lead to the depths and the lights their fishy friends had spoken of.

Could they swim, things might be much easier, but not all of them shared the Kojin blessing, and Bismark’s breath now held malms and tonzes of water at bay.

There was no starting a fire, so the Scions huddled close as they rested briefly before continuing. “Here,” Thancred said, draping his coat around Aeryn before they collapsed onto the damp ground.

“What about you?” she murmured, speech slightly slurred.

“I’m fine,” he lied. “With you on one side, Ryne on the other, and the twins at my back.” He put his arm around Ryne as she snuggled in, watching Aeryn.

Aeryn made an indistinct noise he wasn’t certain was agreement or protest, but she kept the coat. He put his other arm around her, trying to will her shivering from the Light’s ravages away, while ignoring the quiet, tearful shaking from the twins pressed against his back and between his fellow archons.

—

Morning dawned cool and clear over the Crystarium. Thancred slid out of the bed and padded to the washroom, yawning. The scent of coffee brewing wafted across the apartment, and he debated how soon and how circumspect he should leave.

His clothes and gear were all easily found, aside from his coat. That was on the balcony—Aeryn had donned that instead of a house robe, sipping her own overly sweet and pale with cream coffee as she watched the sunrise.

Thancred picked up the mug of plain black brew waiting for him and joined her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Need this back?” she asked, teasing with the slightest touch of anxiety, expecting him to slip out immediately, as he might have before the First.

“I’m fine,” he replied, and she smiled and leaned against him as he meant it.

[autumnslance]

The only person Aeryn willingly could/would have was her older brother, had he lived, as she thought he was the hero and herself the "replacement" for so long.

C'oretta or Dark probably could have taken on the role if absolutely necessary, but Aeryn wouldn't thrust that burden on anyone else, either.

And now that the whole Hydaelyn-Zodiark circle is complete, she finally feels like the title "fits" even as it's no longer necessary or relevant to her future.

If your WoL could have handed off their role as Warrior of Light/Darkness to someone else would they have?

[autumnslance]

So I haven’t gotten far in MSQ (just past Dungeon 1) but how did you feel about Thancred as part of the opposition from a shippy viewpoint? You’re free to throw in other perspectives.

From the earliest FanFest discussions, about this being a contest and the Scions being on opposing teams on this initially lighthearted journey to the west, it always felt like a friendly rivalry to me. People thinking early on this would be a bloodthirsty deathmatch made no sense. Especially given, y'know, the entire storyarcs of Shadowbringers and Endwalker, particularly the way Endsinger was defeated. "With Hearts Aligned" is a revamp of the WoL's theme ("The Maker's Ruin") with the addition of how important the support and love of WoL's friends are to their success.

Anyway. I was looking forward from the start to friendly competition between the team, and wish we did get a tad more of it (particularly there's a point where Thancred mentions being happy to put Alisaie on her ass if it comes to a scrap between them; I've long had headcanons that he and Alisaie tend to train together, given they have similar drives in terms of combat excellence and their reasons for it, and they'd trust each other to push as necessary). It made sense the moment they mentioned that Koana was studying in Sharlayan in 6.55 that he was the one contracting the fellas, and he was likely not the warmonger if he'd lasted so long in the Studium.

(How much Koana assimilated to Sharlayan culture was a bit of a surprise; we were calling him a sheeb in one of my servers--a Sharlayan weeb)

Thancred did not explicitly tell Aeryn he was going to be working for another Promise. The scenes of him spying on the WoL and other Scions that Erenville's recruiting are canon for me, even if Thancred was a little more present between scenes and before leaving town than that part of the MSQ showed (I mean, the guys still lived at the Annex too, when you think of it). What she got from him was that he and Urianger had a contract that would take them out of town for a bit, and he wasn't too concerned about her going off to Tural. "You can teleport more freely than most, and I'm sure we'll see each other soon enough," that damn rogue said when they parted.

And then he showed up on the dock with Koana. She was somewhere between surprised, mad, and amused at how to get back at him. There's maybe a conversation at Many Fires that also leads to other things, a lot of note passing (they're both letter writers, at least in my world), and a few meetings at other times when traveling Yok Tural, or when back in Tuliyollal, where the friendly rivalry adds sparks in Aeryn and Thancred's relationship, working on their playfully competitive natures.

They also initially have plans, after the contest concludes, to meet up somewhere in Xak Tural in their respective explorations of the continent, but the rest of the plot interrupts that.

So yeah. My shippy nonsense for Dawntrail is that the contest allows Aeryn and Thancred to play, letting them relax with no dangerous world-shattering stakes, just friendly rivalry, teasing, and stolen moments that are fun and freeing. And in the second half of the story, when things do get much darker, heavier, and more dangerous again, he plays his supporting role alongside the others and is there afterwards for comfort and care.

[stormbabylore]

Glamtober | Day 05: Tank

...tank?

Tank.

Don't at me for picking the wrong shade of green.

[autumnslance]

Aeryn and Thancred learned early they enjoyed reading and discussing literature together, it's been a core part of their friendship to romance. I've written about it a couple times, made screenshots, and commissioned art a few times.

art by @smitten-miqitten and @britishmuffin

Throwing this out there as a wolqotd -

Could I get some wolships in here and what’s their favorite activity together? 🫣

[isca-rambles]

I've decided what I need more than anything is Chenford forehead moments. Resting their foreheads against one another after or before a kiss. Or even sans kiss. Just being close. Brushing noses. Forehead and hair kisses are already their thing but I need the forehead touches, OKAY? I just have a sudden need. Please give. Thank you.

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

Prompt #14: Telling

-----

There was something not quite right with Stonewood's newest residents. Which, given the town itself, was a very tall order! And normally after doing his spot of due diligence, Thancred would leave well enough alone. However, finding out that you were a person of interest in a murder, which just happened to coincide with the siblings' arrival to Stonewood....

(there was also the matter of Aeryn Striker with her quiet grace and lovely eyes, but Thancred didn't want to think about that. At all. Much. Maybe a little bit.)

Anyroad.

Initially, he'd run into a dead end. The siblings' backgrounds were clean. Two orphans fleeing the city for a fresh start in life. Fingerprints, seals, and identity-papers all matched up. And while Thancred was inclined to believe Riven Sadler was squeaky-clean...he very much doubted the same could be said of her brother. His entire demeanor was the most telling evidence against his words. The ill-fitting suits that just barely hid the muscles in his back and shoulders, the tilt of his body. The (until recently) faint blue tint of his cuticles.

I know another gunbreaker when I see one.

And wasn't it just convenient that Two-Timin' Tom had been run through by a gunblade? Thancred had let himself into Healer Bishop's office one night for a little reading. The good doctor was extremely detailed, right down to the precise measurements of the fatal injury. His Lionheart most definitely wasn't a match.

(He'd then had to revise his initial opinion of Riven after the public gelding of the Black Wolf's lackey. Squeaky-clean still, but extremely willing to get dirty. Much like a certain schoolmarm in tropical blues and sweet-smelling flowers in her hair...)

Then he hit paydirt in the form of a scorned apprentice willing to snitch. His former master had a rather lucrative trade in creating false identities and had been paid very well to create papers for a pair of siblings...brother and sister. Too well, in fact. For being poor orphans, the Sadlers were able to access a significant amount of cash to get the finest forgeries money could buy. And the chakrams Riven currently wielded had come from the Hex-Witch, and Thancred knew Zoissette Vauban's work didn't come cheap. But before he could investigate further, Van Baelsar had decided to become even more of a problem. Then suddenly one of his depots had blown up, the Weave in the area had gone absolutely wild, Urianger had started to utter even stranger and more cryptic pronouncements, and Riven had wound up in Mathye's infirmary with an absolutely unholy amount of power vibrating beneath her skin.

And the Weave hadn't settled since.

Regardless, Thancred now seemed to have his hands full. Which was both good and bad. Good that he could keep his hands and mind occupied. Bad that he couldn't take the time to visit the black-haired beauty that had firmly lodged herself in the back of his thoughts...

[ink-dreams-ffxiv]

Prompt 18: Hackneyed

(( nod to both @autumnslance and @gunbun , we all seemed to be on the same wavelength. Aeryn and Thancred with Tiona here. ))

Raisha mused; she was not surprised that Rehna had fallen asleep to the sounds of the rain falling on the cabana and the waters below the open deck. She was however surprised that her young scholarly type had fallen asleep while reading. The tawny haired Viera carefully took the slim cheaply printed book from the red haired Miqo’te’s hand, and peered at the pages. She of course already knew what she would find, a, what did Sahxa call them? A bodice ripper of a story which was what it was. That mother and both daughters read them were very amusing to Raisha, she just couldn’t plumb their depths, and each story seemed a repeat of every other one. This one though, must have been incredibly bad; Rehna had too much respect for the written word to fall asleep with a book in hand.

“Kami but it was horrible. It was a patchwork of hackneyed ideas and tropes, none of it worked, how it ever made it into print, I have no idea. I won’t even send it to Sahxa or Mahmah, it would be a waste of time. I just hope I can convince the book seller to at least let me have a pel or two back for it being in good condition still. I’ll even accept one of her more roughly handled books if she will just take it off my hands.” Groaned Rehna after being teased by Raisha, her Viera lover was right though; the book was truly so bad, she couldn’t even remember the last two chapters she had read. She wasn’t quite sure if she had actually read them, or if she had already drifted to sleep before her eyes finally got the message and quit reading.

[autumnslance]

Something I’ve been wondering: Aeryn is of course romantically involved with Thancred, but how does this affect her relationship with Ryne? In fact, what is that relationship like at all? (Between her and Ryne)

At first, it was a little awkward; Aeryn arrived in the First, learned Thancred had been there for 5 years and 3 of those were spent caring for an adolescent...reincarnation? of Minfilia. It felt a little strange at first, especially given the sudden rescue and run into Il Mheg and things there, with Thancred being changed while no real time had passed for Aeryn. And things were rocky between Thancred and Aeryn at first in the First, between that time gap (when their romantic relationship was still pretty new when he'd been Called) and his being a Suddenly Dad (and a not great one, especially for someone with Tanzel Eadir and Iron Summer as their measuring stick).

But Thancred spent some of those 3 years telling Ryne about Aeryn, and writing himself letters on Aeryn's nameday each year to tell her about Ryne, himself, and simply things he wanted to remember while they were apart.

As in most cases, Aeryn was immediately protective of the girl, and Aeryn pretty quickly ended up treating Ryne as she does other adolescent friends; by acting like an older sister and a bit of a Mom, easily falling into a mentor, and a bit of a caretaker, role. She supported Ryne as she struggled with her sense of self and identity, understanding such things all too well...and also maybe encouraged the kid to be a little more of a kid, and even bit of a gremlin at Thancred and Urianger, cuz they deserved it, obviously. Though even Ryne can get exasperated by Aeryn's more impulsive moments! And sounds an awful lot like Thancred when she scolds the Warrior of Darkness for her brashness...But Ryne also liked watching Thancred and Aeryn being domestic and loving at each other, at the sides of him Aeryn drew out that Ryne hadn't seen yet, and at how he can steady and support her, let her relax and just Be Aeryn, not the realm's hero. She liked that this woman Thancred spoke so highly of, told such stories about, was someone Ryne could call friend, and then family.

Aeryn and Ryne became close during the course of their adventures, and Aeryn checks back often, especially once the Scions returned to the Source, carrying letters and gifts back and forth. She wants to help Y'shtola's goals in order to see Thancred and Ryne have a chance to be together--to have all 3 of them together all at once again (well, 4, cuz we have to count Gaia in there!). She wants her family to be together again, and Ryne feels much the same way, glad for the visits and time with Aeryn, but the missing pieces are obvious to them all.

It's actually been awhile since I've done an Aeryn & Ryne edit...

Original posts here and here.

[dangerously-human]

Yuletide 2024 recs

I received THE most delightful Amy/Laurie fic as my gift this year: Amy and Laurie grieving Beth as they prepare to welcome a new baby turns into Amy and her sisters sharing their different versions of some childhood memories. It's incredibly sweet, wonderfully in character, and beautifully delves into many of the same themes the original touches on in a new context. I've also done a good bit more Yuletide reading, and I have recs to share!

In a Different Light (Little Women 2019, Amy/Laurie)

A conversation between Amy and Laurie prompts her to consider writing her own stories.

Tumbling and Juggling (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Edgin & Holga & Kira)

There had to be a few calm days in the time Edgin skipped over in his flashback, this is one of them.

Vigilance (Dune, Leto/Jessica & Paul, Duncan & Paul)

Devotion comes in many forms. House Atreides inspires all of them. (ft. Jessica reflecting on her relationship with Leto; Leto deeply in love following the birth of his son; Duncan getting more attached than he anticipated to child Paul)

Say the Slightest Word (Farscape, John & Aeryn)

It's a beautiful day for an identity crisis. Or, an extension of Crichton's conversation with Aeryn at the end of "DNA Mad Scientist."

If I May Hold Your Hand in the Darkness (Farscape, John/Aeryn)

Aeryn's perspective of the very end of "A Human Reaction," and a missing scene at the end.

its a nice before (The Princess Diaries, Nicholas/Mia)

A devoted Nicholas takes care of a pregnant Mia, ft. food as a love language.

There are many, many other excellent stories to be found in both this year's collections, of course - these are just a selection I've made it through so far and loved!

[stormbabylore]

Glamtober | Day 19: Magic

I haven't played BLU in a zillion years, to the degree that I gave up her old plate for it to make something else. So I used today's prompt as inspiration to rebuild and tweak her old BLU glam!

Aeryn doesn't even look like herself with that monocle... o.O; But I couldn't find a headpiece I liked for this. May I please have more hair accessories? Pleading.

[autumnslance]

I was not supposed to NPC ship at all.

I'd played through the game twice, from ARR through the StB patches (current at the time). Dark Autumn took a couple years though, so I rolled my miqo'te through fast, initially as part of a project to just see the other starter cities. Dark had been a Gridania starter, I ran a Duskwight through Limsa and a few levels after, and then C'oretta got Ul'dah, so I got to see Thancred's intro there.

I like the guy. He's OK. Generically, Conventionally Attractive Anime Protag looking, especially in ARR (it works for his role then, really). I like a lot of the tropes and the character arc, they're some favorites, so I was fond of him, but no more so than the other Scions at the time.

And nothing pinged for romances for those OCs of mine, I wasn't too interested in it as a concept either, really; this wasn't a single-player Bioware game after all. It was nice reading others wolships, but when I decided to roll up Aeryn I figured I was safe from all that and could just focus on her story without romantic anything

I made her max height midlander, close to my own IRL height. After a giant femroe and tiny catgirl, I had no real sense of scale. I amused myself by taking height comparisons with some NPCs.

Aeryn got to the Waking Sands to meet and join the Scions. I stood her next to Thancred to get height shots and then they looked at each other...

What? Wait...no! This isn't supposed to...!

Literally sat back in my chair flabbergasted. Thought about it. Tried to deny it. Then spent the next year+ trying to figure out how to make it work and write it and I was so shy and hesitant about it.

Aeryn's realization was a gradual thing that she didn't really understand and tried to deny was happening (especially after her mistake with Haurchefant, and also her empathically sensitive Echo she feared reflected others emotions over her own, though she's gotten better at parsing that), until Stormblood's events and especially on returning from the Far East. They were friends and the feelings slowly shifted, so her "oh" moment came just before retaking Ala Mhigo, when they talked and decided to give it a shot.

(Realizing she was in love with him for sure came when he was taken by the Exarch's Call, and then things got complicated in Shadowbringers, but they eventually figured it out.)

fellow wol x npc shippers- If applicable, what was the "oh" moment for you and your oc falling for their love interest? Was yours seperate from your WoL's?

[silurisanguine]

OC Questions/Prompts

For Teleri De Riva:

3. If your OCs moral compass was flipped for a day, what would happen, and what would they be like? ~ For Aeryn: 4. Write a description of your OC from the perspective of another/several other OCs.

~

For Kiara: 6. How would your OC react if people falsely thought they had died?

~

For Seren: 9. How does your OCs behaviour change when they're placed in a professional environment?

~

For Zofie 7. If your OC was forced to have an animal companion, what would they pick?

Ah thank you friend for these! For Teleri De Riva (have to go with green as the other colours for her are taken!) - Considering she is an assassin, her moral compass is pretty directed towards good. She knows Viago only sends her on contracts he has thoroughly vetted. She is compassionate and caring, friendly and charming. So a reverse of that would be someone callous, cold and willing to kill anyone for any reason. a psychopath. For Aeryn - I'll write from POV of Vetra and then Reyes - "Ryder? She is a spitfire that one. Throws herself into the action and seems to actually give a damn about us here. Just wish she'd give a damn about herself, you know." "Aeryn Ryder...ahh, that day she walked into Kralla's was the day she stole my heart, damn thief. Petite, charming and feisty, but don't mistake her appearance for someone fragile, she will have you twisted into knots you didn't know the body could do. " For Kiara - depends on the people. If the Abbey thinks she is dead then it is a blessing as maybe they leave both her and her parents alone. But if her parents thought her dead, then she hopes one day she can prove them wrong. Just she cant right now, safer being apart from them. if someone ever told Garrett she was dead, he'd need to see her body before believing it. He's been fooled once before. Seren - She has a professional face, a persona that was developed in business school to help her survive the corporate world. It's polite but distant. A strange concept she often uses when entering a new universe, unsure if the sharks now were once her friends.

Zofie - She once had an animal companion. A goshawk called Ghost. She could see through it's eyes when called upon, thanks to her ISU DNA. The bird died in the attack on her. Why her drone is called Zrak in honour of that bird. She'd love to have another pet, especially a cat, but she moves around too much, so currently she donates a lot to local rescue places and visits to help out when she can.

[isca-rambles]

fanfic prompt/idea

chenford forehead/hair kisses.

that is all.

[dangermousie]

Farscape rewatch: 2x05 The Way We Weren’t

One of the best eps and so wonderfully Aeryn-centric.

If I didn’t love Pilot already. I would have fallen in love with him after this ep. The scene where he says ‘but I so desperately wanted to see the stars’ to justify to himself his prior course of action, really breaks my heart. You know, one of the biggest reasons I wouldn’t try Farscape for years, not until S4 in fact, was the ‘muppets.’ No way could I watch a scifi show with puppets. But that’s the thing. I forget Rygel and Pilot are puppets. They are complicated characters, like the rest and their arcs and their emotional heft is no less than that of human characters.

Another thing that I was thinking about with this ep, is how Farscapian. There are no true innocents here. Not really. Farscapian universe won’t let them be. Anyone who starts out innocent is forced to lose it, sooner or later. Crichton and Pilot are both innocents we see lose it. Pilot’s actions led to the death of the previous Pilot, he compromised to serve Peacekeepers. Crichton started the show out as a wide-eyed idealistic pacifist and look what he became end of S4, strapping a nuclear bomb on himself, offering the Universe to Scorpius for a mere chance to get Aeryn back. Pretty much everyone has some breaking point, some driving obsession that can override morality (I mean, Pilot wanted to fly badly enough he agreed to work for evil, in s4 John promises to give wormholes to Scorpius and thus bring war and destruction to untold innocents, to save Aeryn.)

No one starts out evil, or damaged, or guilty in FS. Even Scorpius, much as I loathe him, we really find out later what made him who he became. But (and that is why I love Farscape), not only does the show stick to “an explanation is not an excuse” belief, but there is always a possibility of grace. Of moving on, damaged and tarnished, and making new happiness and actively trying to find peace and goodness. Aeryn gets a chance to rediscover herself away from the brutality of PKs. She gets a chance to be a full-fledged human being (but also how much do I love that her deadliness does not diminish one bit.) Pilot gets the bond with Moya. Crichton, messed up beyond any recognition by the end, gets a chance at family, peace, and rediscovering innocence through his child.

So much of this ep is about choices and past and that’s another thing I love about the show. It’s not big on ‘fate.’ Aeryn and Crichton is my huge, huge, unrivaled OTP but they are not ‘destined,’ ‘fated,’ or any of that junk. They met at the time there was a possibility and their relationships developed from there. If Crichton did propose to Alex and she accepted and they stayed on Earth, I can see him being happy. He’d never have hit his full potential for feeling (or for suffering) but he would have been a happy guy. And for Aeryn, the moment was right. She loved Velorek but she couldn’t really allow herself to express it or to feel it fully, in PK society. Ironically, it’s her experience with Velorek, combined with her experience with her mother telling her she is special, that was that little push that prompted her to take to Crichton’s words of ‘you can be more’ in the Premiere. It’s actually so interesting to me btw that Aeryn has a type - techie with a core of steel but a soft soul and someone willing to buck all norms for what he thinks is right (Velorek, even Larraq to a degree) and John is basically the apotheosis of the type, but that Aeryn is so far from John’s default type prior to her - blond, easy going, chill. 

I really love the scene where he comforts her after she’s had an exercise session and her hands are raw from the punching bag. He just holds her, as she cries. And she cries messily, unprettily, very real. 

I love that so consistently, no matter how deadly he gets, he is the soft one in the relationship, the emotionally more open one, the one who wants to talk. She started out as a machine and discovers the beauty of vulnerability and humanity as the show progresses and he starts out as a vulnerable soft sweetheart who has to armor himself to survive - being with him restores to her, oh so gradually, the humanity that he society stole from her but later on having her is what keeps in him the humanity that is being so brutally and thoroughly ripped from him. He restores her soul and she restores him after the universe does its best to destroy that in them. They meet somewhere in the scarred middle and the equality of it is beautiful. (But also, achieving their full potential is riven with loss - John would have never shown all this drive and devotion and capability as a scientist on earth but he would have also not been tortured and driven to madness; Aeryn paid for her soul by loss of everything she knew.)

And that shot of them sitting across the PK symbol from each other, as she quietly tells him about the past, and they are not touching (I love that he knows it’s not the time for cuddling, that she needs her space to collect herself) and it’s so symbolic: that red stripe between them.

One of my favorite quotes occurs there, actually:

It’s just the way they say it. Quiet.

This is a gender reversal in their relationship, isn’t it? She is the one who has problems opening up (Crichton is the only one she allows herself to be vulnerable with and it’s been a long hard process to earn it, for him). He is the one who comforts her, who wants her to talk.

He is the emotional one, the one with the heart like a carpet for her to walk on. She prefers action and it’s hard for her to navigate the emotional landscape. And yet, Crichton is never weak. He is never diminished because of caring, or being the emotional one. I like it.

I also love the attitude everyone has on discovering Aeryn has been aboard Moya before (which looks grey and dull, not the gorgeous colors of now). I love that the show doesn’t shy away either from confronting that no, she did have an ugly past, it’s not just the words, and the fact that ultimately what she is now wins over for her shipmates from what she was then. China is 100% on point when she asks did they all think she did nice things while the rest of Peacekeepers tortured and murdered; this is a question not just for the characters but for the audience - it would be so easy to sweep her past under the rug but the show won’t do so. And so Aeryn did horrible stuff and she has to live with it.

The thing with Velorek, the betrayal. I think the scene with her Mother when she was a child was so crucial for her actions post-Velorek. If she didn’t have that ‘differentness’ implanted, she could have become even more martinet like after Velorek. But instead, it gave her a sliver of an opening…And again. I love the show for going there - for giving Aeryn a horrific betrayal in her past - perpetrated by her to advance her career against a man who loved her and who she loved and who was doing something good - and showing she is not just a victim, she is a perpetrator and that if you live in a monstrous regime, are brainwashed by a monstrous regime, you have no chance but become a monster.

The grace and the hope is that when given a chance to take a new path she does (and it’s even more stark with Crais - who was many more times a monster but even he is shown to be warped by the regime and after enough time on his own he becomes if not good per se, then at least a real human being capable of doing good things.)

To get back to the Velorek thing - it is also such a theme that being good does not guarantee reward or a happy ending. There is no easy grace - Aeryn betrayed a good man, a man she loved (as much out of panic because she felt herself deviating from prescribed path as to get advancement - I don’t think she’d have become “more” even with her capability for it if her choice to return to default was not taken from her until she had some chance to reflect and transform, and that is so realistic, brainwashing and societal conditioning are pervasive) and he was executed and she has to live with it.

And how do I love that so much of this ep is turning defaults on their heads - from reminding us that Aeryn was a perpetrator not a victim but also with Velorek who first seems a peacekeeper psycho and then we realizes keeps his humanity as much as he can in that mad place. It’s like their sex scene where it starts and we assume he will try to rape her and then we watch and realize they are lovers, in love (and Aeryn is as always in charge, heee :P) and it basically screams at us - don’t go for easy defaults, look behind the assumptions.

Btw I love this show for allowing Aeryn romantic agency and history - she loved someone before John even if she was not ready to fully commit. And there is no jealousy in John, just a little wonder and just the fraughtness of discussing love with her.

Also - very true to the whole story that for Aeryn physical is easier than emotional and comes first (as Chiana points out to John in s3 because that girl gets relationships.) She is from a society where sex is easy and meaningless but emotions are terrifying and forbidden so of course. For her to admit that she loved Velorek shows how far she’s come; she’d have never been able to realize it in the peacekeepers (and the story of her mother in s3 shows how even people with capacity for love will eventually have it brutalized out of them so safest not to love, it’s self-preservation.)

Also, we see how far the characters have come from the pilot episode but also how far they have yet to go. Look at Zhaan here and yet less than a season later, she will give her life to bring Aeryn back, not just because of her love for John but because of Aeryn herself. (And also, the show is A+ for calling Zhaan out for hypocrisy but also the continuity was always so good!)

I could go on and on and on forever, but I’ll just mention two little things here. One is, I love the shot when Aeryn and John drop from the ceiling into Pilot’s den in unison. Two? The tag. First time I saw it, it killed me dead. When Aeryn and John are talking and she tells him that he reminded her of Velorek and he asks ‘And you say you loved that man?’ and they stare at each other and away with all the questions and answers they are afraid of saying, in their eyes. 

[autumnslance]

Not for Aeryn; she wasn't supposed to be shipped with anyone, not a single NPC had pinged me like that with my other OCs, it didn't seem a thing I'd be doing. Thancred, while a favorite character, hit me out of left field as an actual ship option for her.

I did always debate something happening between Aeryn and Haurchefant, though never an actual romantic relationship; they just in the end wouldn't be compatible that way for multiple reasons. It took me awhile to determine how it played out; did I want the "whoops" moment or not, and in the end I determined making a messy mistake of judgment and the fallout of that to be far more interesting character-wise than her making the smart choice. The WoL's in a pretty rough spot for much of Heavensward after all, and Aeryn's a very impetuous, emotionally-driven person no matter how much she tries not to be.

I haven't really pinged onto true ships for my other OCs. C'oretta and Iyna have had flings or one-nighters here and there, but it's not the same thing at all.

Another fun question: Was there ever a ship for your OC/WoL that almost was? The one that just barely got away, that just didn't click like you wanted it to? Or perhaps ships that you DID have but ultimately changed to someone new? I want to hear some of those stories!