#And no. Being listed in the allegiances does not count as a mention. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

whump-a-la-mode · 3 years ago

Note

I request fluffy fluffity fluff with feverish, injured villain, hero caretaker, painkillers and a kitten. Please.

This is so cute ヾ(•ω•`)o I don’t write a lot of fluff, but this is some cute cute sick fic. Hero caretaker? Check. Painkillers? Check. A kitten? You know it! Thanks so much for the ask!!

CW//Fevers, injury mention, intoxicated/feverish character, painkillers

The text had been unexpected, to say the least.

That wasn’t to say that Hero wasn’t unused to receiving messages, especially strange messages. Half of the time, a buzz on their phone indicated that they were about to have the record for ‘weirdest thing they’ve ever seen’ broken.

Yet, this text said nothing of giant lizards attacking downtown, or a mad scientist’s experiment gone wrong. So, perhaps, to a normal civilian, it would have been quite a normal message to receive.

“Hey, Hero? I have a really big favor to ask.”

From another hero, it would have been quite the daunting request. But, it was not from another hero. At least, not in the traditional sense.

Hero had known Doctor for quite some time-- hell, every powered person in the city knew Doctor. In some ways, they were more of a hero than the rest of them, put together. While most hospitals flinched and scurried away from the world of villains and vigilantes, Doctor embraced them wholeheartedly.

A particularly egregious wound, carved in the heat of battle? A power malfunction? Any one of these things could result in the doctor being awoken in the middle of the night, an exhausted, limping hero upon their doorstep.

Or, a villain. Doctor insisted upon making their policy for such things very, very clear. Adamantly, they refused to involve themself in the matters of heroes and villains. Their battles, their allegiances, to the doctor were all naught. As they explained it, no matter one’s actions, no matter their beliefs, no one deserved to have their wounds go untreated.

Thus, their home had quickly become a neutral ground. Lifelong sworn nemeses could have their injuries wrapped mere feet from one another, and not one glare would be shot. In Doctor’s presence, there were no heroes or villains. Only patients. Only those who needed aid.

But, it was the first time that Hero had been on the receiving end of such a request. Of course, they were not about to refuse the doctor. With how much help they had given them, it would only be right to return the favor.

“What is it?” Hero tapped in reply.

Given the length of the doctor’s response, the three dancing progress buttons hung on Hero’s screen for far too long.

“Do you know Villain?”

It wasn’t a name they’d ever expect to hear in a conversation so casual. Villain. Though Hero did not consider themself to truly have a nemesis, if they had to define one, it was Villain who would be on the very tippy top of their list.

That was, especially after their battle the day prior. Their wounds still screamed at them, no matter how they tried to quiet them with painkillers and icepacks.

“I know Villain.” Hero replied simply.

“Okay. Do you think you could take care of them for a few hours?”

Instantly, the conversation shot up to the top of their list of ‘strangest possible talks to have over the phone.’

Take care of them? Take care of Villain? What cold they have possibly gotten themself into that required Hero, of all people, to aid them?

Then again, they had looked quite rough after their battle...

They had no need to question, as Doctor continued on their own:

“They’re sick. I need to go to work, but they shouldn’t be left alone, right now. I know it’s a big favor, but they need this, Hero.”

They bit their lip.

As a protector of the city, they had a very, very long list of priorities, and upon that list, helping Villain in any way, shape, or form was at the very bottom. Helping Doctor, on the other hand...

“Okay.”

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It was only upon arriving to front door of Doctor’s home that Hero had a rather odd realization: Never before had they been to that place in a completely stable state of mind.

If they had made the decision to bother the doctor, it meant that, whatever injuries or illness had befallen them, they could not manage it on their own. Thus, far more often than not, when they stood in front of this home’s door, they did so with a head full of cotton and legs formed of gelatin.

Now, however, their mind was not clouded by any malease. Instead, it was clouded by the stark realization that they had, perhaps, just made a terrible decision.

By the time they had arrived at the house, however, it was already far too late. When Doctor opened their front door, Hero knew full well that there was no turning back.

The doctor looked terribly bedraggled, and they could not help but wonder if it was wise for them to even go to work in such a condition. Yet, every powered person in the city knew far better than to distrust Doctor’s judgement.

“Thank you.” The medic began, a warm smile creeping onto their cracked lips. “I know this was awfully short notice, but I couldn’t think of anyone else who would know Villain as well as you.”

Well, Hero certainly knew what Villain’s fist felt like, crashing into their face, though that was about it.

“Okay, come on, come on.” The doctor rushed. “I need to be heading out soon.”

The hero nodded, hurrying after them into the building. It wasn’t exactly a sprawling thing-- certainly not large enough to house all the equipment that it did-- but, nonetheless, it functioned, through some miracle.

Against their prediction, Doctor did not lead them to the home’s makeshift infirmary. Instead, they moved to the cramped dining room, which, truly, consisted of little more than a table with just enough chairs to seat a guest or two. The house itself was not impressive, its owner only made it so.

But, Hero had seen that dining room, barren table and all, more times than they could count. There was nothing unusual to be seen about it. No. The strangeness of the hour came in the form of who, exactly, was seated there.

Villain.

Oddly enough, either they had forgotten to take off their ostentatious garb, or they had simply not had the time. The villain’s cape draped over their shoulders as they hunched over, forehead pressed to the table’s surface. A full glass of water and a small pile of crackers sat near them, untouched.

Hero bit their lip. Seeing their nemesis was never a good thing, of course, but something about this simply made their heart stutter.

“What’s wrong with them?” They began, before their voice took on a more panicked pitch. “They’re okay, right? They’re gonna make it?”

Doctor snorted.

“Hero, they’re fine. They say they had a fight, overexerted themself a bit.”

A fight? Oh, god, was this all their fault?

“But... They look terrible.”

“They just have a fever.” Doctor reassured. “Power exertion is nothing to scoff at, but I promise, they’re not in any serious danger.”

Hero hummed. “Then, why did you bring me here?”

“Because we need to make sure they stay out of serious danger. They can hear you, by the way, so don’t be an ass, please. But, yes, I’m confident this fever will break, so long as it stays down.”

“You’re putting them in my hands?”

“Yes. I trust you. Seriously, Hero, you look like a deer in the headlights. I’m not asking you to perform open heart surgery, here.” They smiled playfully. “All you need to do is keep them cool and keep them comfortable.”

“What does that entail?” Nervously, they chewed the inside of their cheek.

“Not a lot. Keep a wet washcloth on their head, make sure they drink water.” As the doctor glanced to the nearest clock, they began to hurry their words. “There’s a thermometer on the counter. If their fever goes over 103, call an ambulance. But, as long as its below that, you’re safe.”

“And... keeping them comfortable?”

“Just... try to get them to sleep. It won’t be easy for them, in this state. But if you can manage it, it’ll be a lot better. Oh, and, there’s Advil in the drawer. Give them some if they’re uncomfortable, okay? Okay, I really need to go, so, you got all that?”

“Uh- I think so?”

“Good. Okay, bye! Remember, above 103, call an ambulance. What temperature is dangerous?”

“103.”

“Great. Thank you so, so much! I’ll get you like, some chocolates or something. Bye!”

By the end of their speech, Doctor’s words had sped to the point of blending into one long stream of syllables. They tossed a coat over their shoulders, shoving their feet into their already-tied shoes.

“Oh, and try not to kill each other, okay?”

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Hero was alone.

They supposed that wasn’t entirely true. In fact, it was quite far from the truth. The house was anything but empty-- their nervous glances to the dinner table’s current guest ensured them of that. But, that did not help the chord of nerves that wrapped itself about their stomach.

Power exertion was nothing to be scoffed at.

Though they weren’t alone, they were the only one in the situation who could be described as responsible. It was they who had to keep their nemesis alive. And, worse... comfortable.

How were they supposed to rock their sworn enemy to sleep? Maybe, a good place to start would be stopping staring at them like some kind of creep.

Yeah. They should probably do that.

The hero inhaled through their nose, letting out a long exhale from their mouth, before approaching the table. Throughout the whole conversation, the villain had not so much as raised their head-- their movements coming only in the slightest of twitches.

Standing at the stalled villain’s side, Hero could not help but feel to have walked into the den of a lion. Yet, not the slightest movement was made. In an attempt to gently draw their attention, they ghosted their hand over their nemesis’s shoulder.

“Hey, Villain?”

There was a twitch, and a groan, but nothing that could be described as words.

“Um, Doctor is gonna have me take care of you now, okay? Can you look at me? I think I’m supposed to take your temperature.”

If the villain had been listening before that point, there was little indication. Had they already been asleep? Had Hero already ruined everything? Either way, blearily, Villain lifted their head, unfocused eyes fixing on the wall before their face.

Placing their hand to their forehead, Hero nearly jerked their palm away. Their skin felt like the burner of a hot stove. But, if Doctor said they were okay...

“How are you feeling?” As they spoke, they felt the slightest bit of the doctor’s voice slip into theirs. That soft, coaxing tone that all medical providers seemed to be able to imitate. “You haven’t touched your water.”

“Mmm...” The fevered villain murmured. “Can’t...Swallow.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Mmm.” They were unsure if that was an affirmation or not.

“Okay. Um, well, the doctor says you need water. Let’s get you some water, then... What do you need, Villain?”

The villain blinked, seeming, by all accounts to be on another planet.

“I’m cold...” At last, they muttered a pair of coherent words. “And hot...” Well, maybe not so much on the coherent part.

What was it that Doctor had said? Something about keeping their head cool. That was it, right?

“Okay, um. I’ll cool you down, and warm you up, okay?”

“Hero!” It was an excited cry, even with the way the syllables all blurred into one another. “Hero...”

“Yeah, Villain?”

“Hero, I looooove you.”

Oh.

No, they were just feverish. Delusional, they probably didn’t even know where they were. They had no clue what they were saying, just making sounds.

“I’m gonna go get you a blanket.” Hero spoke hurriedly, rushing off to do just that. For a few moment, they dashed about the house, gathering supplies and, hopefully, not rummaging too much through Doctor’s things. When, at last, they returned to the kitchen, it was with a dripping-wet washcloth and a bottle of tylonel.

Villain, so it seemed, had fallen back into their half-restful state, head on the table. With a gentle hand, Hero tipped their chin up, brushing the washcloth over their forehead.

“You want something to help with the pain, bud?”

“Head hurty.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

They placed down the washcloth, and, in an exercise in tedium, coaxed a pair of white pills down the villain’s throat, alongside a wash of water. Hopefully, it would be enough, as a snowball would make it too the depths of hell before any more water went down.

“I have everything set up on the couch. Can you walk?”

“Mmm... Carry me... I love you!”

“Y- Yeah, alright.”

Despite the feverish villain’s words filling Hero’s chest with an odd sensation, they obliged, plucking them from the chair and draping the washcloth over their forehead, taking care to ensure that no water would drip its way to their eyes.

The couch, as opposed to most of the furniture in the house, had seen some serious use. With only one bed in the building, when a hero was wounded with such severity that an overnight visit was necessitated, it was upon the couch that they slept. Though, luckily, use had not worn away any of the seat’s comfort.

A large, white, puffy comforter had been draped over the seats, and, upon laying Villain down, Hero secured the blanket around their body, tucking it in in the corners and ensuring that no draft would disturb them.

It was all medically necessary, of course.

Though, they couldn’t help but giggle at just how ridiculous their nemesis appeared, dwarfed by the fluffy comforter, face half covered by a rag.

“Alright.” Hero smoothed a hand over Villain’s hair-- to make sure they weren’t sweating excessively, of course. “Are you alright? Comfortable?”

“I love you! Love you...”

“Okay. Well, do you need anything?”

“Sleep...”

“You’re tired?”

“Sleepytime.”

“Alright, bud. Sleepytime.”

They couldn’t help but smile.

With a few more strokes through their hair, the fevered person soon let their muscles go limp, sacrificing themself to the whims of the blanket they were half-submerged in. The sight alone was enough to make Hero’s own eyelids droop.

It wasn’t like they could disturb the villain while they slept-- no, they needed their rest far too much for that-- and, there wasn’t anything else threatening the city...

What would a nap hurt?

Though there was no certainly no room on the seat for another full-grown human, that was a problem easily solved. In a blink of white light, Hero’s bleary form was replaced by that of a feline, with a countenance just as exhausted.

The felidae-turned hero leapt onto the couch, settling themself near the edge, before shifting themself against Villain’s feet.

To know if they woke up.

After all, it was very medically necessary.

#villain whumpee #villain whump #sickfic #fluff #fluff fic #hero caretaker #whumpblr #whump community #ask

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fencesandfrogs · 4 years ago

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clan culture inspiration fic master post

a collection of fics/series/w/e i've used for inspiration. ordered by how much i used them

Flightless Dove, Poison Ivy acaciapines

read it, it’s good. it's 100% my main fic inspiration, i love it, it's very good.

the light that shines on you solacefruit

huge inspiration for my riverclan. just. massively where i get a lot of ideas. probably a larger source of material than flightless dove, if i'm being honest.

RIVERCLAN leaders have a litany of names. weather caller, storm seer, spirit walker. a new leader being made is a chance to find another for the list. these names are to honor leaders for the role they play in their lives.

(names. leaders. meaning.)

so you can see where i got that from.

Warriors Redux Deconstruction Dullard on ao3 (not linked)

i've split this into two parts, because there's a lot. i'm a fan of this in terms of world building, but i've been select in what i've used from it. deconstruction is linked highly because it had a lot of key details that shaped my opinions on what wouldn't be. a lot of this i would've changed anyway, but i wanted to list WR because it'd be dishonest to act like this wasn't shaping my thoughts.

anyway, a short list of things that were mentioned in WR:D that i'd already decided on or am now using

behaviors. i mean, i've said "flicked her tail" or "flattened his ears" so much it's getting old, but by god if i am not being true to cats movements. i think WR:D is somewhat conservative on use of purring, but i've also been writing about kits, and a lot of purring is involved with kits, so special case, i suppose. but i'm very cautious with my descriptions. i've tried really hard not to use smile, because cats don't smile. that's the one that gets me the most.

water. this is kind of a specific thing. but. in ctd's fading echoes. the lake is a concern not because the cats need water, but because the prey needs water.

queens and toms. now. i have always been irritated by this. and the lack of female leadership. because toms should know they're kept on the graces of the queens. the sisters got it right. but i can't just kick out half the cast, so i'm forced to keep them. i have, however, kept toms out of the nursery. queens are protective around their kits. it's the best i can do to appease my strong desire to literally just kick every male cat out of the clan. in all of my stories, though, i keep track of who's in the nursery with what kits, because those kits are going to bond to every damn mother. it's super annoying that this isn't kept more clear anywhere. i have to do so much math and check so many allegiances every time.

kits. it's basically impossible to convince me to write this the way the hunters do, so even in ctd, we see kits not walking, not opening their eyes, until real kittens would. does this make the early chapters of growing shadows a pain because dovekit does basically nothing but sit and listen? yes. do i care? yes, it is important to me that dovekit does nothing but sit and listen because she's a baby. bb. need protect.

genetics. usually i correct coat colors for POV cats. because it bothers me. see: tortie dovekit/ivykit in CTD, and the fact that i think in jaywing, jayfeather is going to end up amber like brightheart. i need to do some research to double check, but...i think that's what will happen. (please don't ask about hollykit, ivykit, and lionkit. i don't even know who their parents are. how is crowfeather "dark grey, almost black"? what does that mean. how is leafpool even leafpool. i don't understand anything.)

religion. i'm not fundamentally changing how starclan works, because i'm writing the books where magic is confirmed real, but...i've tried to distance the connections with it. and god, so help me, i'm going to make things a proper religion for w&f. there will be religious things like prayer. god.

cultures, folklore, names. this is getting long so i'm lumping this together. basically, i've got some name stuff sorted out. it's not "traditional" naming, because i'm not going WR on this and renaming really important cats (altho the reason WR has my respect for traditional naming is because they're not afraid to rename cats to fit the scheme), but i have some pretty defined rules. and there will be folklore and stories. this is especially important for dovefeather, when she goes to riverclan.

Sharing Tongues Icej

a series. i don't think i've used much of this directly, but it has shaped a lot of my opinions on clans. it's why thunderclan is militaristic and why windclan is so strict.

it's also shaped my thoughts on a lot of parts of clan life. i'm writing this all out of order, so i'll say, a lot of the inspiration that warriors redux had, is shared in this series. i'm not sure if there's overlap in the interst, but it's got simularities.

especially in terms of relationships. i have a bit of a fascination with story telling as a form of culture, if only because in my personal life, story telling, especially verbal story telling, has always been really important. so i think a lot about it.

anyway, these are a good set of fics, and they're ranked so highly because they're kind of a paradigm i've crafted my thoughts around.

Tell me about your Ancestors Drowsy_Salamander

so this was what got me started, even over flightless dove. it got me thinking about the differences clans would have.

i haven't written "funerals. mourning. prayer." yet, although as you might guess from the fact that i have a title, it is on my mind. i think i'll draw heavily on this for that.

one other very specific line in this that i draw on is

When SkyClan was reformed by Firestar at the gorge, it was reformed in ThunderClan’s image.

now i say that specifically because i didn't want that. i wanted leafstar to find her own tradition. a lot of skyclan's destiny deals with her struggling to adapt the warrior code to her clan. so Ancestors continues by talking about tree's influence, and this is what i got from it:

SKYCLAN once held ceremonies at tilt, when the birds were quiet, but now, they hold most ceremonies at low moon, when the spirits are strongest. ...

apprentices are made at low sun, born from a time when they were not always gathered.

(ceremonies)

and i'm happy with that

Warriors Redux: Ammendment Dullard on ao3, not linked

this is ranked significantly lower than deconstruction because (a) i'm borrowing superificial things at best and (b) i had already come to a lot of these conclusions. still, i'm writing a full list because there are little things i don't think to write whole essays about sometimes. that said, whereas in deconstruction, i could basically say "yes, everything that's said here, i agree with, i'm only tweaking things for personal taste or because of differences in perspective" here it's more like "here are the things i'm using" and the other stuff is just there, but not really anything i want to use

time and date. in one of my generic CTD posts i had a few paragraphs about this. basically, i like the system of time. except for half, because that confuses me. so it's dawn, sunrise, low sun, (sun) tilt, sunhigh, dusk, moonrise, low moon, (moon) tilt, moonhigh, repeat. and kits are aged to apprentices at the beginning or rough midpoint of seasons.

numbers. math. drawing things in the dirt with claws. in short, yes, no, what the...no. just no. cats in my stories can basically count, but they don't really, like, count the way we do? they might say five leaf bares ago, because i am not saying, "the leaf bare before the one with X which was before the one with Y" and that's what a cat is thinking and maybe they have words for this, i don't know, i'm not writing that. four and nine are holy numbers, or the closest cats get. (apprentices are apprenticed at nine moons in the holy sense, because a queen pregnent for a three --- two, but who's counting --- and in the nursery for six. this will never come up in a story unless it's a background note, because it's confusing and hard to explain off the cuff.) i don't have to explain my last point.

names. i have my own rules. i don't intend on changing character names with the exception of the symbolism in jaywing and dovefeather, but i may at some point make some comments on what, based on my rules, i would do. i don't want to change names because it confuses me, but i don't want to say for sure that i won't. definitely not based on WR rules, i have my own form of "traditional naming" for the w&f world.

clan specific notes. you can find it in my writing. there's a lot of influence in it. i don't want to list everything.

come back to you one by one solacefruit

i haven't really used this for anything, i just generally like it. it's definitely given me inspiration for how i use stories, but not any particular thing.

it really is beautiful, though.

alright, that's about it.

#warriors au #warriors worldbuilding #worldbuilding #warriors #warrior cats #jaywing #cloudtail's daughter #dovefeather #mine #txt #28th #February #2021 #February 28th 2021 #1st #March #March 1st 2021 #q

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buckyjustbelikethat · 4 years ago

Text

The Fiction of Fairytales: Chapter One

Title: The Fiction of Fairytales: Chapter One

Characters: Stucky x Reader

Summary: (a/b/o au that is non-cannon compliant) After being captured and forced to live as Brock Rumlow’s mate for years you are kidnapped by the Avengers. They plan to interrogate you for information on Hydra and Rumlow, but after Steve and Bucky realize they are your true mates, they realize that their kidnapping was more of an unexpected rescue.

Warnings: Mentions of assault, kidnapping, death, and abuse, and strong language.

Word Count: approx. 3000

A/N: Hello lovelies! 💕 I’m so sorry for the late update. Life has been really crazy both personally and globally. I hope the longer chapter makes up for the wait. Let me know if you want to be tagged or if you have any suggestions or comments!

Previous Chapter

You followed his instructions until they reached the tower. As you were driving you had the urge to cry passing by the buildings and civilization you had been kept from for so long. But the freedom was a placebo, a momentary feeling that reality is plotting to destroy. You knew you were trading one cage for another. One where you were trapped with a murderer and one when you are considered one. Tony Stark fought for good, and he proved that Brock had turned you into something only recognizable as bad.

They arrived at the tower and the moment you placed the car in park your hands were put into high tech handcuffs. Stark’s hand firmly gripped your arm, and though it was not soft, you breathed a sigh of relief when it felt nothing like the force of Brock’s hands. Stark led you to an elevator that seemed detached from the main part of the building. You hoped he didn’t feel the slight tremble of your body. You were used to the danger of being a captive of Brock, but here, you didn’t know what to expect. The floor you arrived at looked like a police station. There were containment rooms and what looked like interrogation rooms. There weren’t many others on the floor, but the guards scattered throughout looked at you in disgust as you entered. You knew that you did not participate in any of the violence hydra had committed, but being looked at as if you did made you feel dirty.

Stark led you into one of the interrogation rooms, and sat you down on an uncomfortable metal chair. He sat opposite of you and placed his feet on the table between you.

“So, are you also a mass murderer or do you just have a fetish for murders in cults?”

His question reminded you once again that he did not save you, you were considered his enemy. You didn’t know the use in arguing with him, you were unsure if they would ever really believe you, and whether the reality of the circumstance would really save you, or if you were considered damned.

“I’ve never killed anyone.” You stated with as much confidence in your voice as you could muster.

“A girl like you bonded with an evil person like that has to get her hands dirty a little once and awhile.”

You met his statement with silence. Staring at the metal table and wishing all of this would be over. When he realized you were not going to respond to his previous statement he placed photos down in front of you.

“Do you recognize any of these men?”

Your body involuntarily shivered as you had looked at the faces of men who had taken part in your torture. You recognized Pierce first, and other Hydra members that had brought you so much trauma.

“Yes.”

“Are they all still alive?”

“I don’t know.” It was your honest answer but it made you feel hopeless. Stark wasn’t going to trust you if you couldn’t tell him anything useful. You hadn’t seen a lot of them in a while, but you would never be informed of those kinds of details.

“So you’re telling me you recognize all these men and we are supposed to believe that you know nothing about hydra?” You didn’t have to look at his face to recognize the skepticism in his words.

As Steve and Bucky were walking into the interrogation room they were hit both with the most intoxicating smell, it smelled like warmth, like vanilla and caramel, and it reminded them of the cookies Steve’s mom used to make them when they were younger. Underneath the overwhelming scent was the unmistakable wave of distress. At first they didn’t understand where the scent could be coming from, or who. It didn’t take long for them to narrow down the fact that there was likely no one else nearby besides the Hydra member, who was also Brock’s omega, that Tony just brought in. They glanced at each other in apprehension before entering. They knew that whatever they were walking into it was not the happy meeting of their omega they had dreamed of, but their instincts were screaming at them to open the door.

Steve couldn’t ignore the protectiveness he was feeling towards Bucky in the moment. Whoever this omega was, they were somehow involved with the same people that had hurt Bucky. He was ignoring the protectiveness he felt towards the omega he had not even met yet, as far as he was concerned they did not deserve his protection, Bucky was his priority right now.

“Stark, Captain America and Sergeant Barnes request access to the room to aid interrogation.”

“Let them in, Friday.” Stark responds with a sigh, obviously frustrated he got nowhere on his own.

As the two men entered the room your heart stopped. Their scents felt like home. The dark haired man smelled like freshly brewed coffee, and the blonde haired man smelled like ginger and licorice. You knew without a question these two beautiful men in front of you were your alphas, your true mates. After your mind cleared from the fog that their presence brought you immediately diverted your eyes, cursing yourself for forgetting your position, if Brock was here he would have punished you for looking at an alpha, even if they are his enemy.

Bucky felt consumed by you. You were more beautiful than he ever could have pictured. He was hyper analyzing every frown, every tremor that your body was making, the way that you diverted your eyes from them. The distress and feeling of hopelessness that surrounded you suffocated him. He just hoped your emotions were not fueled by you missing your mate. Though he didn’t like the alternative. He could not win in this situation, and underneath his calculated demeanor, Steve could also feel the feeling of hopelessness Bucky tried to bury, he could not hide his emotions from his mate.

“We have reason to believe they are trying to capture and reactivate the winter soldier, what are their plans?” Stark spoke completely unaware of what was going on.

“The winter soldier?” You were thankful to be snapped back to the reality of the moment, but his questions once again made you feel useless.

“Me.” The dark haired man replied, or Sergeant Barnes as the AI called him.

Your face fell. Though you didn’t know whether to trust your true mates or not, you knew you had very little chance of gaining their love. Not only did you bond with someone else, but they were someone that obviously hurt one of them, and might be actively planning to do so again. You would be pissed if fate gave you you as well.It seemed fate cursed them and is turned your life into a farce.

“I don’t know.” You sounded like a broken record, and you knew with each repetition there will be dire consequences.

“How convenient, it seems you know nothing.”

“I’m sorry, I promise I’m telling the truth.”

Steve’s composure fell, he no longer could quiet his rage.

“Bullshit! What kind of sick joke is this? We are mated to an omega not only bonded with hydra, but obviously she has blatant allegiance to them as well.”

“Mate?” Stark questioned in shock.

“Steve...” Bucky interjected, still not as convinced as his mate was that you were lying and trying to get him to relax.

“No Buck! You deserve so much better than her, than this. And not only does she not have the decency to wait for her true mates, but she mates with a member of Hydra, and is actively covering for an evil organization.” Steve said, looking into Bucky’s eyes while ignoring Stark’s question.

“She’s your true mate?” Tony tried again.

“No.” Steve said, though the message behind his words was heard loud and clear by everyone in the room. He was rejecting her.

You felt like you couldn’t breath. You knew what was going to happen, but God, you didn’t know how you could live with it. You knew his words were the truth, he didn’t even know the full extent of how broken you were and he could already tell you would never measure up.

“I’m sorry.” You tried to show your honesty behind your words, but your voice was weak. You did not understand why you were mated either, but you knew they were good people, they were alpha’s sure, and there are parts of that that scare you, but you know that if you had met them before ever meeting Brock, they would be everything you had ever dreamed of. Your eyes remained diverted, but you could tell just from his voice, his love for Bucky. You felt like it was ripping you in two, all you had ever wanted was a fraction of that love, but the universe deemed you unworthy, adding validity to all of Brock’s claims.

While Steve was filled with protectiveness, Bucky wasn’t so sure of what to make of everything. The ways your eyes never met their own, the pain and fear he could detect though you tried to hide it, and the apology only filled him with questions. Your behavior reminded him of his own when he first got out of Hydra, part of him hoped this wasn’t the case. He would rather be mated to evil, than to be mated to someone that had to withstand the kind of pain he had to.

“What is it exactly you are sorry for?” Bucky asks, his voice still cool, but not laced with the anger Steve’s words were entangled with.

“For being mated with someone else…” you cut yourself off there, not sure if you should list all the reasons why you were sorry you ended up their mate. “And for not being able to help you all with the information you want.”

“Not being able to and not willing to are two different things.” He replied.

“I.. I know. I promise you if I knew I would help you. I understand you don’t like me or trust me. I would feel the same considering who Brock is, but please believe that more than anyone, I don’t want him to be able to hurt anyone ever again.”

“Then how the hell can you justify being with him? For not waiting for your true mates, for him?” Steve almost yells as he tries to keep his cool. He was hurt but he was masking it with anger. Bucky reaches out his hand and lays it on Steve’s shoulder, he gives him a look that pleads for his silence.

Bucky could see the tears pooling in your eyes as you fought them away, and his fear that his suspicions might be true was nagging at his mind.

“How long have you been with Brock?”

This was something that you had fought over the years to know the answer to. You weren’t sure of time when he first took you, the days blended together, but once he started giving you more freedom you decided to keep track of how long it had been.

“Eight years.” you said.

“Okay.” Bucky said, his voice calming. “We have no records of you before Hydra, so can you tell us how old you are?”

“25.” Your voice was still breathy and quiet, unsure his intentions behind his questions.

The fear nagging at Bucky became more pronounced when he learned that you weren’t even of age when you got together.

“How did you meet?”

He watched you as your body froze, panic entered your eyes and your breath became shorter. As you shrunk into your chair you winced at the metal pushing against your bruised body.

Steve started to sense the reasoning behind Bucky’s questions, especially when he saw your reaction. Things started to make sense to Tony too, especially when knowing how little you went out, and the way you looked for the cameras. He suspected you feared him and tried to find safety in knowing that Brock could see you in the surveillance footage, but now he was starting to think your fear was more of the cameras than him.

You didn’t know what to do, he asked about one of the worst days of your life, and you feared they would be disgusted by you if he understood. You saw Bucky move closer to you in an attempt to calm you down, his alpha instincts telling him to soothe the anxiety of his omega. But the closer he got to you the more you shrunk away from him. Trying to hide within the cold metal of your chair, as your pain became more pronounced.

“Hey, it’s okay, we want to help you, but we can’t do that if you don’t talk to us.”

His words calmed you and you cursed that he was able to have an effect on you. He knelt down beside your chair, trying to get a better view of your eyes, despite you doing everything in your power to hide your face behind your hair. You decided to rip the bandaid off, maybe if they understood then they would realize you were no use to them, and then maybe you could let you die on your own terms. You knew there was no other alternative. Brock would always find you, and you had no way of defending yourself, and you would not let yourself become a burden to them as an unwanted mate. You wouldn’t force them to deal with that, it would be wrong of you.

“He killed my parents and he was supposed to kill me too, but he took me as his mate instead.”

“He forced you to bond with him?” He was trying to suppress the rage overwhelming his body, he did not want to scare you away. Steve was still at a distance, now battling his own guilt from what he said to you.

“Yes, I promise, I meant nothing to him, I was just a body, everyone in Hydra viewed me the same. I promise they never discussed any information with me around, and if they did I would tell you, please believe me.” You spoke through your own tears.

“We believe you.” Tony spoke, laced with the same guilt Steve feels.

“Thank you... But they will find me, and what they will do to me is worse than death, I can’t go back, and I won’t be a burden to you, you both deserve to find an omega who is good enough. So please, I’m begging you to kill me.”

Steve and Bucky both started to growl. Unhappy with the words they are hearing from their omega.

“No!” Steve and Bucky both blurted out.

Your whole body was shaking, and it got worse knowing they wouldn’t allow you the kindness of a quick death. “Please, I know you don’t owe me anything but please. I can’t go back. Please.”

Bucky’s hand reached out to calm you, but he immediately realized it was a bad idea when you flinched away. Your face contorted in pain once again and Steve and Bucky wished more than anything that they could fix everything for you right then and there, no matter the cost. Bucky resigned his hand to himself, but Steve came up and knelt beside Bucky.

“No one is going to hurt you again. I promise you. We will protect you sweetheart. I’m so sorry we thought you were Hydra.” Steve spoke to you. His voice soft, and laced with pain for his mate.

“We are your Alpha’s and we will protect you.” Bucky said firmly, assuring you that they weren’t going anywhere despite what Steve had said earlier.

You calmed yourself enough to reply to their assertions.

“You don’t have to protect me,” you wiped your tears from your face with your still handcuffed hands. “I’ll be fine. Please, like you said earlier, you deserve better, and I understand that.”

“No, no. That is not true.” Steve said distressed at what his omega was saying to him.

“Honey, I was a captive of Hydra for years, they made me do horrible things, I understand what they are capable of, but that is not a reflection on you. Did you want to be there?”

“No.” You sniffled.

“Do you agree with the horrible things that they do?”

“No!” You stated, trying to convince them.

“Then there is nothing that could change our mind.”

You still felt unconvinced but Steve didn’t give you much time to reject what Bucky said.

“Are you hurt?” Steve asked, assessing as much of your body as he could.

You nodded. “I’ll be fine though, Brock wasn’t happy with me this morning.”

You could see Bucky and Steve’s body both tense up at your words.

“What happened?”

“It was my fault, I looked up at him.”

Both men started growling again, even Tony joined in already becoming protective over his teammates and friends’ omega.

“You did nothing wrong, sweetheart.” Bucky spoke to you.

“But I’m an omega.. and I shouldn’t have done that.”

Bucky wished he reached out and guided your chin up so you could look him in his eyes, but he was afraid of scaring you even more.

“Doesn’t matter if you are an omega, doll. You are not lesser than other people, especially not him.” Bucky said his voice caring.

“Can we take you to the medical wing to get you checked out?” Steve asked.

“S-sure.” You replied, still not knowing if you could trust them and their words, but the fantasy of their words of love was too enticing. You decided that even if this didn’t last, it was worth it to escape, even for just a moment, in fiction.

Next Chapter

Tags (open): @snakesonastarship @thanossucks @yomama-umbridge @grandluminaryearthquake @laughsandlivia @bloo-moon-freak @this-is-a-chilis-drive-thru @sergeantrosabellaswan

#stucky x reader #alpha stucky x reader #stucky #alpha bucky barnes #alpha steve rogers #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers x reader

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mamamittens · 4 years ago

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Long Awaited LoZ Thoughts

I’d like to start this off by explaining my background. I have a BA in English with a minor in Humanities. I have lived all my life in the Bible Belt of America, so my PoV of this series is inevitably going to be, at least in part, from the perspective of a Western-centric, Christianity-influenced woman. I have grown up with a deep interest in folk tales and mythology though, and took several classes on ancient cultures, so my base knowledge of religion all over the world is broader than what you’d probably expect. I am not religious myself, I’m actually agnostic. And this is just an in-universe look at the very strange religion of Hyrule. So, to make things easier, let’s just put aside the obvious meta issues with this world. The wonky timeline, complex lore changes between said timelines, and the fact that the whole series has clearly grown wildly over the course of its development without an overarching plot. The game mechanics being game mechanics. All of it. This whole thing will just be me trying to make sense of the world without the ‘it’s just a game, bro’ crutch. I will be drawing on what I know from the many games I’ve played myself, so if I don’t mention a big piece of lore from a specific game, it’s because I didn’t play it. Go ahead and rule out the early games before Ocarina of Time, as that’s the first game in the series I can remember playing. I was legitimately too young to have ever played anything prior to that, having been born in 1996. Now let’s get started, shall we?

So, obviously everyone knows that the LoZ world is said to begin with the three goddesses. Din, Nayru, and Farore came together to create the world and before they yote themselves out of the narrative as direct players, they created the Triforce. A powerful artifact capable of granting a wish and giving their respective bearers undefined power. This is directly from Ocarina of Time and we see their symbol, the Triforce, all over the many games with very few exceptions. Now, to be clear, having a polytheistic religion with three main gods is hardly new. Hinduism has three main gods after all (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva), and depending on your flavor of Christianity, you have the holy trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit). There’s even the Celtic goddesses that come specifically in threes (collectively called The Morrigan; Eriu, Fodla, and Banba). This isn’t an exhaustive list of three divine beings, by the way, just know that three is a weird trend in western-centric stories, including religion. But what’s different about the three Hyrule Goddesses? Well, they’re weirdly small for big shot gods. Let me explain.

So, the three Hindu gods I mentioned earlier each handle a specific aspect. Creation, destruction, and preservation, not necessarily in that order though (which god does what isn’t the point, so just roll with me here). These are very broad and powerful subjects. Christianity is much the same, even though it’s a monotheistic religion. God is literally an all-powerful, omniscient, omnipotent deity. Jesus is his son who gave his life to basically forgive all sin. And I’m not totally clear on the Holy Spirit, but these three are clearly Big Deals with Big Ideas behind them. A good rule of thumb for old religion is that the older the deity, the wider the scope of their job or what they represent. Which makes sense. If you had to personify the forces of the universe, you’d probably start with the sun instead of like… whatever god is responsible for the creation of rice specifically. The bigger and scarier the natural force, the bigger deal that god usually is, putting aside politics and cultural trends. Egypt is a good example of this, as their roster of gods tended to change a lot depending on who was Pharaoh at the time and wherever the city center was. Horus is the god of the sun, or at least one of them, and is generally considered king of the gods. Which makes perfect sense for a land largely made up of a desert.

But what are the three goddesses’ rulers of? Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Each with clear elemental associations and people that are obviously affiliated with them. Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, is clearly associated with water and likely has a close connection with the Zora. Din, Goddess of Power, is associated with fire and has clear connection with the Gerudo (unclear if the same goddess as the one present in the desert temple in Ocarina of Time). Farore, Goddess of Courage, is associated with all things green and of the earth, including the child-like race of Kokiri who perpetually inhabit the forest. Sure, these are broad topics, but not really… the first thing you’d think of for creators of the universe, are they? And it raises the question about the Hyrule people, who are said to be able to hear the gods due to their pointed ears… let’s put a pin in that and move on.

So, we know there are many gods in this universe, primarily because we meet them. For example, Zephos, God of Winds, in Wind Waker. But he’s clearly a fairly forgotten god, as he shares a shrine with Cylcos, God of Cyclones, which is about as bare as it can be. Just what appears to be a Tori gate with two stone monuments with the simple notes to summon them, almost completely out of the way. Which… I mean, I don’t know many gods with their extension number written on their monuments. That would kind of like going to church on Sunday and seeing “Hit me up if you need me, J-Boy 555-TAKE THE WHEEL” written on the podium. And remember, this is a world and game where the gods actively flooded the world and would therefore hold or have held enough power to directly interfere with Hyrule.

And Skyward Sword clearly has divine beings, one of which even flooded a whole area, though they’re subservient to Hylia. Who we will get back to later, I promise. The three dragons (again, that magic number), capable of divine power, though where that power comes from in unclear. The dragons are of a high status though, as evident by their servants and clear reference to high-class dress of their clothes. These dragons are revered, but clearly not worshipped, much like nobles in that regard. A curious note is the parallels to the three goddesses, and how the symbols are muddled and mixed for these dragons.

Lanayru clearly has the symbols associated with the Zora, and by extension Nayru, but is yellow. He also is saved by time travel used to grow a magic fruit, which Link often uses (time travel) in many games to advance the plot himself (and wouldn’t you know it, but mixing blue with yellow does produce green. Weird). Faron is the water dragon who flooded an area, and she is almost entirely blue (as well as unsettling to look at), surrounded by a species clearly related to the Zora though closer to octopi. But her name is Faron, which is weirdly close to Farore’s name, not Nayru. I mean, they are close to locations that resemble their names of course, but it’s still an interesting note. Finally, there’s Eldin, clearly bearing a symbol associated with the Gerudo without any strange mixes of symbols for the series. Oddly, he’s also the most open of the three dragons, especially considering the Gerudo’s traditional stance of being a ‘no-sausage’ club. Not terribly relevant, but I just thought it was interesting to point out. You can consider the Giants in Majora’s Mask on the same level as them, though their status is unclear (Since they’re summoned by a song and can stop the moon from falling, they probably straddle the line between mortal and divine).

Now, spirits also exist in this world, both as the ghostly variety and the more pseudo-divine. Not to be confused with actual divinity. Divine being can be spirits, but not all spirits are divine. In this context, spirits can be defined more as being of power capable of granting aid in return for something. Zephos can change the winds if called upon, but you don’t need to feed him, for example. But the spirits in Twilight Princess need aid before they can help you. And they’re also not very independent and are able to be fooled easily, which isn’t usually a god-like quality. While more physically present than the three goddesses, they’re also not strictly tangible, and seem to be extremely limited to their location. At best, these spirits could be classified as minor deities below the gods we see in Wind Waker. They also share the same abilities in keeping the realm of Twilight from falling over the land of Hyrule, as well as their weakness to parasites of undetermined origin. An interesting note is that they all seem to live in bodies of water. Let’s put a pin in that one too.

Someone that also counts as a spirit would be Fi and her counterpart, Ghirahim. Literally two halves of the same coin, these two are both very limited in power and function. They don’t represent anything on their own and are very dependent on others to achieve results. How or why they were made is unclear, but it is obvious that both were forged at some point, and clearly gained sentience. Even their personalities and allegiances are a bit odd. Fi for her sci-fi appearance and calculating personality in a fantasy land, and Ghirahim for his… well, everything. I don’t know why the root of all evil would make his weapon a full-tilt diva, let alone on purpose. Ghirahim always struck me as odd since his bombastic personality seemed to clash with his ultimate fate of just being a weapon for Demise.

Okay, so the Great Fairies are weird, okay?! Like, really weird. They act as spirits (I can’t think of any that aren’t restricted to a body of water in some form), but are very independent. They also don’t necessarily need anything from Link to offer assistance. Sometimes, just opening the fairy fountain is enough to gain items needed to progress. And there’s also the fact that fairies heal you upon ‘death’, though with a limited heart capacity. Sometimes they need you to do something though, like the Breath of the Wild fairies need rupees to function or items to upgrade equipment. They also usually look human, like Majora’s Mask Great Fairies are clearly just… giant women with color coded accessories. But like, they float. Where Great Faires come from, or even just regular fairies, is unclear. Until Wind Waker, Great Faires were adults. But when you finally meet the real Great Fairy in Wind Waker it’s… a child. With a doll that looks just like the ‘Great Fairies’ you’ve seen along the way. This sort of implies that Great Fairies age and die, though clearly with a different lifetime than most races in Hyrule (the child Great Fairy also only looks somewhat human compared to other Great Fairies, so make of that what you will). And it also implies that all the adult Great Fairies are dead (you’re welcome for that depressing thought), with the last one trapped in a hollow tree only accessible by the power of a God.

In Breath of the Wild, the Great Fairies are both diminished but more powerful. They literally are stuck in a giant flower with water in it, with few fairies around them, and require riches to get stronger. The connection to their new restrictions to this need for material wealth is unclear. It’s also interesting to note that their fountains are no longer places that appear to be man-made holy temples and they seem to be out of the way… well, for a given value of ‘out of the way’ (looking at you ninja village). These fairies can accomplish more tasks, but certainly won’t be doing it for free or with minimal effort. A far cry from their first appearances (no, I don’t consider using explosives a difficult task).

But Fairies are also companions with nebulous tasks, such as in Ocarina of Time, where Tatl follows Link until the end of the game. And Kokiri have their own fairy as a sign of whatever accounts for adulthood in their race. The Skull Kid in Majora’s Mask has two fairy friends who seemed to have been either lost or abandoned. Who or what gives them purpose and life is unclear, though the Great Deku Tree from Ocarina of Time can give commands, it doesn’t seem to be something he does normally? As a side note, it’s really not clear what, if anything he can actually do. Though the relative safety of the surrounding area is clearly tied with his wellbeing in all iterations, he doesn’t seem to directly influence it, or be capable of self-defense.

Now, onto the elephant in the room! Hylia! Who the hell is this?! A more recent entry to the series, her divine roll is unclear (though she clearly guards the Triforce in some capacity). It can be assumed that she’s somehow a goddess tied directly to the Hylian people, but when she appeared is up for debate. Timeline wise, it’s almost like knowledge of her was suppressed for some reason, giving rise to the Triforce mythos we all know and love without hide or hair of her seen. We know that she favored the original Link greatly, enough to shed her divinity to be reborn as a mortal and assist him. How or why is also unclear, though it wouldn’t be unfair to assume she loved him, as divine ladies holding an affair with a mortal isn’t uncommon in mythology (or even male gods doing the same, before anyone brings up Zeus). But she makes a resurgence in Breath of the Wild, with statues and everything, with the three goddesses left to only vague references in the background. Which is super weird, though not uncommon for places like Ancient Egypt. The fact that the ruling family was literally descendant from a goddess is what makes it weird though, since any monarchy worth their salt would milk that until the peasant folk revolted and made a new religion to justify killing a god.

Zelda in every incarnation is literally descendant from the original and still held at least a fraction of that divine power. So much so that a cornerstone of a powerful religious artifact inevitably ends up in her hands (or on the back of her right hand, as it were). But what is Hylia a Goddess of? We don’t know. It’s never said. Anywhere. And that’s super weird, even for a ubiquitous deity. Sure she’s a Goddess of Hyrule but… what does that mean? That can’t be all she is? Her reincarnation is literally locked in a generational struggle against the forces of darkness! What can she do as a Goddess? Well, she makes Link stronger in return for items, but that seems to be it. In Ocarina of Time, Zelda was capable of sending Link back to the past, but that was with a magic item. And we know Hylia isn’t the Goddess of Time, because Zelda references her in Majora’s Mask (sequel to Ocarina of Time, therefore implying that there are more gods unmentioned at that time), when Hylia should be mortal or at least fragmented (because Zelda exists at the time with powers and a Triforce piece). The Guardian of Time in Hyrule Warriors also fell in love with Link before splitting into Cia and Lana (and was unable to fuse back together again), so it’s unlikely that she’s the Goddess of Time Zelda was referring to, though that detail is interesting to note. No, I will not discuss if Hyrule Warriors is canon (either game), as this is already long enough as it is.

So, that brings us to Ganon, or in his original form, Demise. Which… what’s up with that? Who is this guy? He directly opposes the gods and just… gets away with it! Repeatedly! Sure, he loses most of the time, but still. It’s unclear where Demise came from, or even what he is, though judging by Ghirahim’s ‘Demon Lord’ title, it can be assumed that he is some type of demon himself. And that the many monsters we see are also considered demons, which makes sense with how they always work for Demise (or his many iterations) in some form or another. Considering how much it takes to simply seal him away, he can’t be just a demon though.

Demise obviously pulled the same trick Hylia did, which directly sets him up as a counterpart to her, but what does it mean? Why would he do that? What is Demise that he can’t be beat with the power of a Goddess alone and needs not only a brave knight but a blade literally made to counter him? Within the context of religion, the best guess I can make is that he’s some form of a God of Darkness, possibly also Temptation, Greed, and Pigs Corruption. It fits within the narrative since power is often the strongest form of temptation and we know that demons capable of opposing the gods exist. The Horned Statue literally takes Hylia’s blessings in exchange for wealth, and was turned into a statue for it. What it stands to gain from any of it is unclear, but interestingly enough, Hylia doesn’t mind that it closely resembles her own statues. So, this raises the question… why isn’t Demise a forgotten statue somewhere along a dusty road? How did he curse(?) both a reborn goddess and a human in an eternal struggle for the fate of Hyrule?

Being a god is about the only explanation for why he can do the things that he does. It explains why, in every incarnation, he ends up a rule (like Zelda). How he controls so many different species with ease. He corrupts the conflicted as easily as breathing. An interesting note is how Demise in his many forms usually ends up corrupting once good forces in some way, typically with parasites or evil spirits. And with this context, Hylia must be a Goddess of Light, and possibly some form of Will and Purity to oppose Demise’s power. It would also make her a good candidate for looking after the Triforce in that case. And yet we don’t know any of this for sure either, which is, again, very strange considering their presence from the very beginning. Literally.

Now, I want to mention the temples as a last point before wrapping this up, because it has bothered me since I was a wee little whipper snapper. For a place of worship, they sure are hard to navigate, even when they’re empty of monsters. And it’s not like Hyrule doesn’t get this, because the Temple of Time in Ocarina of Time is straight up a church. Just… without pews, so clearly not perfect, but it is possible for people to come in and… worship time, I guess. And no, not the Goddess of Time, because there’s no statue for that. I mean, I know it’s secretly hiding the Master Sword, but it is definitely a church otherwise. What a normal service looks like I can’t say for sure, but it’s definitely not like literally any other temples we see.

Now, I know it’s a little hard to remember, but temples are usually places where one goes to worship the gods (or even just a god). And we know gods exist in a very real way in Hyrule! They still manage to name Zelda the same thing despite having seemingly buried their divine origins, so some knowledge of gods walking the mortal realm exists. But the temples/dungeons we see usually don’t have much in the way of religious iconography, with a few exceptions (interestingly it’s typically the desert area that actually has statues and could feasibly have had a real capacity for worship). You want to be a devout follower of a god anywhere else? Well, fuck you. Hope you brought a sword and a good pair of boots. If you’re allowed inside at all, since it’s usually the local leaders that are only allowed inside for some reason. And most games don’t seem to have very religious people, despite all the references to divinity. Not like we’d expect them to, at least. And I personally can’t blame them. If I tried to join a religion but found only a wall as an entrance, I’d be pretty disheartened too. Then I’d be pretty pissed to find out I needed not only a royal instrument handed down the monarchy, but their freaking lullaby to even get in to the place of worship. But we know they pray to the gods at least semi-often, since that’s one of the inciting incidences in Wind Waker. And they have offering to statues of Hylia.

The temples suggest the bar to impress the gods is pretty high, and not in a ‘sacrifice your eldest child’ kind of way. To even get the chance to reach the inner chambers you better hope it’s been kept well and that you didn’t skip leg day recently. Something I didn’t really mention before is that usually, the less involved the gods are, the more independent the people are from worship. If you worry that your local deity will flood your fields, you’re probably leaving regular offerings at their nearby shrine or temple. But if you know that the gods don’t care about literally anything you do, why worship them at all? Why make statues, art, or temples? Why bother with any of it? The answer is you don’t. So these highly selective temples are pretty weird unless you go with the idea the gods are just really done with people and never want to talk to them unless absolutely necessary.

So, I’ve rambled for over twelve pages now. What’s the point? What does any of this mean? I’m honestly not sure, but I have a sinking feeling that there’s some serious shit going on in the Hyrule pantheon. Mortals have been mostly abandoned to their doom. Gods cast out and forgotten entirely. And somehow advanced civilizations keep forming and getting destroyed with only remnants left behind with zero explanation. Assuming the original gods are even alive at this point, which I’m not entirely certain of. Their death certainly explains how Demise/Ganon keeps getting stronger, looking less and less Hylian as time goes on, if he looks humanoid to begin with.

I wouldn’t even assume it’s entirely voluntary at this point either, as Ganon clearly doesn’t have the same motivations in every incarnation (see my previous post about Wind Waker). I’m rather excited about Breath of the Wild 2, as the implications of dehydrated husk Ganon is compelling. Particularly in light of the character development Link and Zelda have received in the first Breath of the Wild. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ganon/Demise turns out to be a fallen god trying to get back home (a nice parallel to Wind Waker, actually), cast out as a scape goat. Blamed for every form of corruption and greed that naturally follows in his wake. I think I said this before, but it is interesting that he is always reborn among the Gerudo, a race famously all females. Sometimes thieves, but nearly always in a position that would naturally crave power to take control of their lives compared to Hylians. Regardless of the consequences.

Is it true? I don’t know. Probably not, but the fact that I can draw these conclusions in three hours of writing is pretty neat. I have a lot of feelings about this franchise, having grown up with it, but I eagerly await what comes next. And I should probably go to bed. Make of all this what you will.

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thirstaidkitpodcast · 5 years ago

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THIRST AID KIT | S4E03 | FORGIVE US, FATHER

Here’s the thing — we have been in-un-da-ted with all sorts of messages, tweets, tags etc asking us if we were we thought about Fleabag’s Hot Priest. Even before we announced we were coming back, thirst-buckets parked themselves in our Twitter mentions and this here humble Tumblr Ask box and just. kept. asking. if we were going to cover him.

Come. The. Fuck. On.

Anyway. It’s time.

We decided not only to lust out loud about Hot Priest (Andrew Scott), but to also take a look at another man of the cloth who was making things a little bit cloudy in the foof: Sexy Vicar aka crime solvin’ crimes, heart breakin’ and smokey jazz listenin’ Sidney Chambers (James Norton) from Grantchester. Look at this shit, FFS:

Bitch.

So! Time to peel back some cassocks and reveal the beating heart of what makes these clergy dudes so flippin’ attractive.

Here are some thoughts:

These muhfuggahs LISTEN. Not just to the women they love, but to women in general. Do you know how hot it is when your person looks at you and actually absorbs what you are saying and responds in kind? Ugh. PS: After we recorded this ep, Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge hosted Saturday Night Live and in her monologue mentioned how Hot Priest’s listening skills were the hottest thing about him (see what we mean when we say we are thirst scholars? 🏆)

Um, they’re literally off-limits. And like, practically betrothed to God (in Hot Priest’s case). Nothing — absolutely nothing — hotter.

Kindness kink! A kind man — whether he be tortured or a little cocksure — is hot as hell, OK?

Both Sidney and Hot Priest see the women they love. Like, they have a laser focus that is incredibly alluring when viewed up close. Oh, to be the focus of their loving gazes!

God loves a well-dressed man, and these men wear thee fuck out of both their churchy garments, and also their regular clothes.

Hot Priest — does he have a drinking problem? Or nah? Sidney definitely has one. It does... something to us.

In Sidney’s case — he loves a bit of jazz, and in postwar Britain, is not averse to a little sexual indiscretion. We’ll take it!

These dudes are wrestling with some big existential crises, you know? They’re doing a lot of drinking and they’re pondering their allegiance to God and the institution they have committed to, and it’s because of the love of a good woman. Are you KIDDING me? Guys... ISSA WRAP!

There’s a lot to love, you see, and even more to thirst after, and we delved as deep as we could go in our allotted time to bring you all those nuances...

Plus! We had a little time to do a litle rundown of other sexy clergyfolk of our youth — and beyond. Folks like the dude out of The Thorn Birds; that one time Lee Pace dressed as a priest in Pushing Daisies (💦); lady church folk like Pastor Grace from Greenleaf, and Geraldine from The Vicar of Dibley. We also did a corker edition fanfic Wars, by turns steamy hot and softly sweet. We hope you love it!

You can listen to the whole episode RIGHT HERE (more ways to listen are listed below).

SOME STUFF TO WATCH AND READ, IF YOU LIKE! (sorry it’s a bit Hot priest-heavy... 👀)

Here’s PWB bigging up Andrew Scott on the Emmys red carpet

Are you done with Grantchester now that he’s done with Sexy Vicar? Watch Happy Valley and see James Norton in a completely terrifying new light...

This precious baby is so overwhelmed by all this attention, we are smitten!

And here is Andrew Scott being thoughtful about the Catholic church on Colbert.

Relive the ‘Kneel’ scene with Andrew, won’t you?

TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW

—–

We’re on Twitter at @bimadew and @tnwhiskeywoman; the show is on Twitter at @thirstaidkit. Send us your (short! please!) drabbles at [email protected]. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, please, because we’re asking nicely and we were told politeness counts? Thanks!

So much thirst, so little time... See you soon!

#Thirst Aid Kit #Thirst Aid Kit podcast #Fleabag #Hot Priest #Grantchester #Sidney Chambers #Sexy Vicar #Andrew Scott #James Norton #Slate Podcasts #Nichole Perkins #Bim Adewunmi #TAK Pod #TAKPod

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gameofdrarry · 4 years ago

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Drarropoly 2020 Wand Core Submissions

Drarropoly ’20: Founders Edition ran from November 22 2020 until January 22 2021 with a total 51 players, and 117 submissions. list of prompts players were given, as well as the drabbles players submitted to fill each of the prompts, sorted by level. Just as in Monopoly one can use their money to upgrade their spaces and buy houses or hotels, players in Drarropoly were able to write more with more restrictions and higher word counts at the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. levels to earn more points.

Phoenix Feather

Free Write

Choose any number of the following themes:

Powerful Harry

Mutual Pining

Making Assumptions

Obliviousness

Unsuccessful Dating Life

Inspiration:

This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike.

Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won.

The Scale

First Years Level: Minimum: 200 words Maximum: 800 words

O.W.L.s Level: Minimum: 1200 words Maximum: 2500 words

📜 Lovegood For Love, For Good by Samunderthelights Rated: General Words: 1696 Tags: First dates, Blind date, Fluff Summary: After a lack of success in his dating life, his friends convince Harry to sign up to Luna's new dating agency for wizards. ❤️ Read on AO3

N.E.W.T.s Level: Minimum: 3250 words Maximum: 5000 words

📜 Overpowered by Fwooshy Rated: Teen and Up Words: 3418 Tags: Wand Cores, Wand Theory, Powerful Harry (sort of), Assumptions, Humor, Fluff, some bad jokes were made Summary: Harry doesn't want to give Draco his wand back. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Quicksilver and Phoenix Fire by the_sinking_ship Rated: Mature Words: 4684 Tags: Auror partners, wand lore, magical theory, powerful Harry, mutual pining Summary: A wizard’s wand is a delicate thing, precisely suited to their magic. To wield another’s wand isn’t just intimate, it’s exceedingly rare. So what does it mean that Harry’s wand responds so beautifully in Draco’s hand? ❤️ Read on AO3

Dragon Heartstrings

Free Write

Choose any number of the following themes:

Powerful Harry

Cunning/Intelligent Draco

Accidental/Forced Bonding

Accidental Magic

Dark Harry

Dark Draco

Inspiration:

As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon heartstring wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner.

The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

The Scale

First Years Level: Minimum: 200 words Maximum: 800 words

📜 Sorry, We're What by Sumthin Clever Rated: General Words: 254 Tags: Forced bonding Summary: Harry and Draco get an unpleasant surprise. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 A Blessing in Disguise by rei382 Rated: Teen and Up Words: 366 Tags: Established Relationship, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, wand bonding Summary: Attempts to force the re-bonding of Draco's wand led to a closeness between Harry and Draco that neither of them had foreseen. ❤️ Read on AO3

O.W.L.s Level: Minimum: 1200 words Maximum: 2500 words

N.E.W.T.s Level: Minimum: 3250 words Maximum: 5000 words

📜 Allegiance by Ladderofyears Rated: Teen and Up Words: 4021 Tags: Enemies to lovers, accidental magic, falling in love, accidental bonding, boys kissing, Hogwarts Eighth year, Library, Hospital Wing Summary: Harry and Draco get accidentally bonded. Draco falls in love in the process. ❤️ Read on AO3

Veela Hair

Free Write

Choose any number of the following themes:

Veela Harry / Veela Draco

Nature Magic

Fortune Telling/Divination/Prophecy

Stargazing

Tempests and Storms

Inspiration:

Veela Hair cores are temperamental like the creatures from which they come and are considered too volatile for a decent wand core in many circles. However, some wizards, particularly those with Veela blood, enjoy the boost it gives to outdoorsy magics, Divinations, and Charms. Though many non-Veela blood wizards and witches benefit from having this wand core, it is most commonly found among those with Veela blood, whom are usually found among those in House Ravenclaw.

The Scale

First Years Level: Minimum: 200 words Maximum: 800 words

📜 Saudade by graymatters Rated: General Words: 581 Tags: EWE, Thunderstorms, Weddings, Sad Fluff, Bittersweet Summary: "Saudade, n. - "a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness."" -A.F.G. Bell, 1912 ❤️ Read on AO3

O.W.L.s Level: Minimum: 1200 words Maximum: 2500 words

📜 Simply Irresistible by Samunderthelights Rated: General Words: 1356 Tags: Strangers to Lovers, Stargazing, Nature Magic, Veela Draco Malfoy, Fluff, Meet-Cute Summary: Fleur had told Harry that her friend from school would be at the wedding, but she hadn't mentioned that her friend is part Veela. That he is simply irresistible. ❤️ Read on AO3

Unicorn Hair

Free Write

Choose any number of the following themes:

Falling in Love

First Time

Mild Angst/Misunderstandings

Tooth Rotting Fluff

Inspiration:

Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard.

Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may ‘die’ and need replacing.

The Scale

First Years Level: Minimum: 200 words Maximum: 800 words

📜 A Very Particular Thrill by Ladderofyears Rated: Explicit Words: 1128 Tags: Porn without plot, porn with feelings, shy Draco, caring Harry, intimacy, aftercare, kissing, pleasure, orgasm Summary: Draco experiences the sensual enjoyment of being rimmed by Harry for the very first time. Read on AO3

#game of drarry #drarry #drarry recs #drarropoly 2020 #drarropoly 2020 submissions

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saint-patrice · 5 years ago

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In light of this post, about different types of ways you may feel about your favourite hockey players, getting an awful lot more notes than expected, I thought it would be fun to have a more detailed look into what kind of responses people were giving! I accidentally deleted the damn thing a few months ago and it took me a while to find it again, but on the plus side it accrued a lot more notes during that time - I have responses from 150 people, covering 119 different hockeys! This is pretty long, so all the good stuff is below the cut :)

So, as I said, there were responses from 150 different people (thank you all) - 119 individual names were mentioned for a total of 429 answers, accounting for 25 NHL teams. I’m going to link the Google Sheet at the end of the post, but first I thought I’d go through some of it :)

There is obviously going to be some bias towards the teams I am about on my blog since that’s where the post originated from, but with that many responses, the results are pretty varied. Anyway,

First are some of the most common players assigned to option one, which, as per the post, was “he’s perfect and i will not hear otherwise. i look at him like he hung the moon, because quite frankly, he probably did. he is the lord’s perfect creation and i would happily die defending his honor.”

As you can see Jamie Benn is the pretty clear winner, and very satisfyingly so, as he has the same number of votes as his jersey number. From what I’ve seen, Stars fans are very passionate about their captain and I love that! I don’t think there’s really any surprise appearances on here, although I wasn’t expecting Crosby’s name to crop up this much, maybe that’s just because I’m not necessarily a Pens fan. These are just the most common answers. People’s opinions were far more varied on this than the other option; on a quick count, I tallied 75 individual players being named for this one! As a result, most players that were mentioned in this category only appeared once or twice, like Ben Bishop or Seth Jones (both good choices). There does appear to be a considerable bias towards Canadians, with (if I’m right) 10 appearing on this graph. The rest of the players are European, so not much love for the Americans…interesting.

Category 2: “this little bastard creature. how dare he. how dare he make me love him. he’s a gremlin that’s crawled up from the depths of hell and i hate him with all my heart even though i love him. he’s the literal worst man alive.”

People were much more in agreement on this option - even as I was typing up the answers it was clear that TK and Seguin were almost unanimous across hockeyblr. It doesn’t seem to matter which team you support, you probably hold a little bit of rage for one of them anyway.

I think Nolan Patrick making a pretty even appearance on both lists is interesting, and I can’t say that EJ or Jimmy Vesey were names I expected to see mentioned here. Matthew Tkachuk’s Friendship Tour runs rife even on Tumblr, it would appear. Most people probably would have predicted a lot of these names for this one.

(This post is from a fair few months ago, and from a quick scroll through the tags it does appear that most mentions of AMatthews are from before the allegations surfaced in September. Just something to note.)

This is where things get interesting - I noticed some players were appearing numerous times for both categories, so I thought I’d pick out some of the most common ones, and see how opinions were split. Of the 38 times Travis Konecny was mentioned, only 2 people thought he belonged to category 1 (represented by the green bar), so I hope those people are out there living their truths. Seguin showed a similar pattern, whilst Barzal, Patrick, and Tom Wilson had opinions split close to 50/50. Surprisingly, Marchand was deemed more “perfect” than “gremlin” but that may be the result of this post being circulated a fair amount among Bruins blogs. That being said, and we’ll get onto it in a second, it does appear that hockey fans on Tumblr were fairly evenly represented in this, so maybe not.

This is a summary of how the number of players mentioned were distributed by team. There’s some more info in the Google Sheet about how many players represented each team - e.g. the Capitals, despite only making up 7% of answers, had the most players mentioned at 14! This chart is interesting, and in my experience a reasonable portrayal of hockeyblr, although a few teams are probably a little under-represented. That being said, it is probably more reflective of hockeyblr on the whole rather than on a team-by-team basis. Players who tend to be pretty popular, or at least subversive, regardless of your allegiance - Konecny, Seguin, Marner - have definitely influenced this.

The Hurricanes, Red Wings, Kings, and Lighting have been omitted from the above chart as their players were only named once or twice, and so amounted to 0% in the grand scheme of things. No players from Ducks, Oilers, Panthers, Canadiens, Senators, and Winnipeg were mentioned at all. The Ducks and Senators weren’t really too shocking, but I did expect to see a player or two from the others in there. I would assume this is a result of those fanbases not being all that big on here.

That’s all I’m going to get into here, but the whole workbook can be found of Google Sheets through this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cUFz4eSM_j-Ipjz7lhsAkaXqpw5M_08NcYiWBM1Zxec/edit?usp=sharing

It has all of the tables I made the graphs/charts from, as well as the whole list of the responses, some of which gave me a good laugh. And like I said, there’s some info on how teams were portrayed which might be of interest. It’s certainly not an exhibition on how you should be presenting your data, but it gets the point across :)

Thank you again for the awesome response to that dumbass post, and thank you to anyone who has read this far! I spent way too long on this so I really really appreciate it. That being said, it was good fun, so please feel free to let me know if you enjoyed reading this :^)

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

#not that anyone actually wanted me to do it but this took me the longest time #so if you gave it a look and thought it was at all enjoyable/interesting/[positive adjective] pls give it a like or some shit #i do love that validation #fr though this was fun to do and a good insight into the hocleyblr hive mind #how to tag...#gonna tag a bunch of teams tbh #dallas stars #philadelphia flyers #boston bruins #washington capitals #new york rangers #new york islanders #colorado avalanche #toronto maple leafs #eh that'll do #hockey stats #ish #❤️❤️❤️

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dios-pants · 5 years ago

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Hey, headcanons on bi!Jess? (Crushes, boys, girls, etc)

OKAY LET’S SEE

honestly in general i just see jess as the type of person who doesn’t really make a big deal of it? like it’s just a thing that is set and he can’t do anything about it so why make a big deal about it. he’ll like be talking about love interests with The Guys™ (chris and matthew if that wasn’t clear) and he just casually brings up le male he’s been talking to every time he goes to a coffee shop and they’re like whAt and he just shrugs it off cuz it’s not a big deal but ANYWAY I’M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF

would my avid love for jogan count as a headcanon

who knows but let’s get to the finer stuff shall we (also i’m going to jump around a whole bunch and i know there should be a better order to list things but i won’t be able to voice all my thoughts if i follow that order) ((this is turning more or less in order so who knows this might be in order keep reading to find out lol))

i said that he doesn’t really care who knows and he doesn’t make a big deal about it, but please note that i don’t mean he’s always been like that. he has liz as a mother, and he’s had countless stepdads and even more people he was forced to consider as liz’s boyfriends. he’s not going to be all that open to revealing something that personal that early in his life

the first person he dated was a boy. honestly, it wasn’t really “dating”. jess was still as innocent as he could be when this happened. not completely innocent like all the other kids his age, but enough to think that diversity doesn’t matter in how people treat each other (only that jerks needed to be treated as jerks and not saints if that makes sense but anyway that’s neither here nor there). anyway, it was what people who dated in elementary school did. held hands, talked whenever they could, etc. and somehow teachers didn’t know?? even though they were holding hands in the hallway but ya know. and well anyway the adults found out and they shut that down fast

as implied, jess knew that he liked boys from an early age. just like he knew that books were his home away from hell. he didn’t think there was anything wrong with boys like boys, girls like girls, but if mom says it’s wrong, it must be wrong, right? as jess got older he understood that liz is liz and is just homophobic, along with everyone else that told him that it’s not okay for him to like another boy. but the damage was already done and he still had all of the homophobia (internal and external) directed at him

that was new york, but now he’s in stars hollow

fresh slate, new start. no preconceptions. no bad reputations. he’s jess mariano, a kid whose mom couldn’t handle him so he’s being sent to live with his uncle. no girlfriends to speak about. and definitely not any boyfriends. this is the time that he starts thinking it’s not a big deal. him being bi is just a fact of life. the thing that stops him from telling anyone, though, is how stuck up everyone in stars hollow seems. they just seem so rigid and not that accepting, despite the diversity (they say the pledge of allegiance in six different languages two of which jess has never heard of). not to mention that the whole town is just a gossip mill. the second he comes out to anyone, the whole town will know and start poking into his business about what does that mean and has he ever acted on these feelings and who made you think this

so he doesn’t say anything while he’s in stars hollow

california, however, is different. jimmy hasn’t cared about jess for eighteen years, why would he care now? so jess is open with it. he’s sick and tired of everything, and he’s just done. he kinda sorta moves in with jimmy for a bit. he tries to forget about rory. he gets a job at a bookstore for a bit. he tries to forget about rory. he gets a boyfriend because there’s no one there to tell him that that’s not allowed because he’s a f*cking adult. he can make his own decisions. and he tries to forget about rory

another life, another time, jess could’ve loved the boyfriend. but alas, he could not forget about rory. and we all know what happened with that

luke finds out sometime between the end of season four and episode 8 of season six. idk when, or what his reaction is, but yeah. the rest of stars hollow doesn’t really find out until one holiday where jess brings his boyfriend to like thanksgiving or christmas or something after season seven. therefore rory doesn’t really find out until one holiday where jess brings his boyfriend to like thanksgiving or christmas or something after season seven

aside from the show-specific things, jess doesn’t have a preference. he tried to convince himself that he had a preference towards females when he was younger, but once he got out of the self-homo/biphobic mindset he realized he doesn’t have a preference at all. he likes who he likes and that’s it

jess is a pretty private person, so he doesn’t go out of his way to meet other lgbt+ people or to tell people his story or whatever. that doesn’t mean that he ignores the existence of lgbt+ people entirely. he knows how hard it can be for people. he experienced a lot of self-hatred himself. he’ll help if he knows someone needs it

as far as terminology goes, as i’ve said a few times before, jess has experienced quite a bit of homophobia. he’s associated a lot of those words with hate and discrimination. especially f*ggot. he sees it as a slur and hates being called that. he’s not that big of a fan of queer either, but he understands that some lgbt+ people don’t mind it, he’d just preferred to not be called that. he doesn’t mind the word gay at all, it’s just a personal preference that he isn’t called gay, cuz he’s bi

(okay i know that people don’t like words being censored like that cuz it’s like homophobic or racist or sexist depending on the context but. i don’t swear, and i see f*ggot as a swear. i don’t see queer as a swear. so therefore f*ggot gets an asterisk and queer doesn’t. idk it might be confusing but i just wanted to explain that real quick)

i’m like 90% sure i had more to this, but i can’t remember what it was and this is already really long so. this will have to do lol and i didn’t proofread this so sorry for any mistakes!! these aren’t even headcanons really but i hope you liked this anyway lol anywho

#WHEEZE #these were supposed to be headcanons but it turned into this #are these headcanons?? who knows man #this is really long #yikes #Gilmore Girls #jess mariano #Headcanon #questions? comments? hateful remarks?#anonymous

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years ago

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New season...incoming!

Iruma-kun 13

How did Iruma even notice that collar? Geesh, that kid is perceptive…

This “spitting blood” joke is getting old already…

*Kiriwo starts his machine* - Why do I get the feeling something bad’s about to happen…?

Could you possibly call this “rank is the most important thing” a study of class consciousness, to throw some of Anime Feminist’s words? Or maybe this is a fantasy version of technology and it’s extolling the virtues of technology advancement?! *eyes sparkle*

Can Iruma join Kiriwo already? Please?!

Aw, dear darling! (<- I’m not sure if I’ve said that a lot in these notes, but I say that when I get the warm fuzzies and wanna protect a character…basically, platonic love, I guess…? Oh, “moe instinct” - that’s the words I’m looking for.) Iruma, go and live your best life, okay?

Thank you, story! Even though I knew it was being foreshadowed so heavily by being the focus of basically 24 minutes of this show’s runtime (= about 1 ep), I thank you from the bottom of my heart that Iruma went to the right Battler.

Wait, so Ameri is actually Iruma’s senpai by one year?! Hmm? I never realised that and I read some spoilers!

I like this new chibi animation style! Yay!

I never noticed this until now, but Kiriwo has one big horn and one little one.

I think the title, aside from the pronunciation of “Thirteen Dinner”, is meant to mean “The Thirteen Counts’ Gathering” (or some other high rank) or something of the sort. Update: So I checked and the character used, kanmuri/kan, is used to mean “crown” or someone who wears a crown, i.e. a peerless person, so it would be appropriate to translate that using the term for a high rank which is presumably going to be stated in the segment itself.

Turns out Babel…is just makaitou (the demon world tower). I don’t think it’s really Babylonian in any strict sense.

Depending on where you live, the 665th floor could count as the 666th or…well, the 665th. I know in Japanese, the word for the floor on the ground is ikkai (first floor)…I’m not going to tell you what I know it as though…that would reveal my location outside cyberspace, no?

According to the katakana, the guy’s name is Beruzebyuto (hence the translation as “Beelzebuth”). Beelzebub is the Lord of the Flies and a quick google tells me Beelzebul (close enough) was apparently an alternate spelling for him (or something like that…?). Patron demon of gluttony.

Astaroth, also a demon (king of rot, I think it was from Blue Exorcist)…interestingly, Beelzebub, Lucifer and Astaroth make up an unholy trio and all of them were referred to by a dude called...Solomon (which does kinda sound like “Sullivan”, if you think about it). There’s the connection between these guys…I like his top, too.

Asmodeus, patron demon of lust. We already knew that demon was represented through Azz-Azz, but now you see a spoiler I’ve been hiding for a while – Azz’s mother.

Amaimon…uh, I don’t remember what kind of demon he is in the demonic canon but I know him from Blue Exorcist.

Behemoth…?

Ooh, Ameri’s father is smokin’ hot! (Dangit, I do not want DILFs…) Azazel, a fallen angel and apparently personification of uncleanliness(…?)

Belial and (Lady) Leviathan, which we already knew existed from initial namedrops.

Who’s Baal? Even I have no idea…Update: Apparently he’s a Middle Eastern equivalent to Zeus, which explains his thunder allegiance.

Paimon kinda looks like Chaika, LOL.

LOL, “lifehack” is certainly the right word for it, Sullivan.

LOL, Belial is so short!

Although it’s kind of awkward to not see Lady Levi take a position of power for herself, it’s nice to see she has spirit!

Aw, this is cute. In much the same way I wanted Iruma to join the magical apparatus Battler, I want Sullivan to be Demon King.

Is Opera perhaps related to Ameri somehow…?

Somali 1

I was hoping to get to Plunderer, but got carried away writing another post and then lost the ability to watch both episode 1 and 2 ahead of schedule. So Somali is the new start of the season, but the last relic of the fact Plunderer was meant to start my season (outside ID: Invaded’s advance premiere) is the visual I have for this season. (Oh yeah, one of the reasons I’m supporting this – aside from it being a mid-ranker on my hype list – is that I heard a French animator, a friend of Thomas Romain, is getting his big start here.)

“Dad.” – Oh, f***. I have myself an Usagi Drop. I knew I was going to get something of the sort going into this show, but…Usagi Drop’s experiences (or rather, watching the anime knowing the manga has that ending) have left their mark. Not to mention Somali (as this girl will come to be known) has Latina eyes, which annoys me even more since I dropped that on the basis of being scarred by Usagi Drop.

I’m wondering what Crunchyroll was thinking when they decided to coproduce this – sure, it’s probably quite cute and wholesome, but I’m far from the target audience. Did they think, “Is this what Western audiences will like?” Sure, it would hit a niche that likes this surrogate father/daughter stuff, but I don’t think it’s for me (and I’ve been thinking that all through the OP). I’ll give it a bit more to wow me, but it’s doing pretty terrible so far (because note all other anime of this particular reputation I’m more on the “neutral” side than the “like” one). Somali’s voice is probably the biggest factor – it sounds like an adult woman’s voice got pitch-shifted to attempt to be a child, rather than an actual child.

How can this golem talk about sight when he doesn’t even have eyes??? (Kinda like Juzo from NGL.)

Alright, that’s it. I can see when you’re trying to bait me with supposedly “cute” children, show. You’re gone.

Okay, since I have time and the reviews say otherwise, I’m trying again. I don’t expect to be sold to this though…

Was it just me or was there a reduced frame rate when Somali’s cape was the only thing in the frame…?

For some reason the subbers put “Why?” when the word was actually “What?”, which is a bit silly to be honest with you. (Nande?/Doushite? vs. Nani?...it’s kind of similar-sounding, but the sound is distinctly different.)

Still dropping this show. I just have another episode to add to my list now.

Magia Record 1

I heard there’s no Urobutcher this time around, but the first time I encountered the Urobutcher (in ConRevo) he made a particularly weird-feeling (in the context of the show) episode, so…uh…let’s say the Urobutcher is only as good as the material he writes, and leave it at that. Anyways, this topped my list – even before ID: Invaded came to hunt down that top position – so this better be good.

Um, am I just imagining it, or is that Sayaka and Hitomi discussing magical girls (or Madoka?) over the top of Iroha (I know that’s her name already from the synopses floating around the ‘net) and her fellow magical girls fighting?

Letterboxing? Now there’s something I thought I’d never see in Madoka Magica, ever.

One of the books was on organic recipes.

The teacher talks a tad too fast – I can understand what she’s saying, but it’s like she operates on x1.5 speed compared to the x1 speed of everything else…

“Nakama – because we can do it” – I wonder if that will mean something later…? In Madoka Magica, strange details always mean something.

“The only good witch is a dead one!” “Speech is silver, silence is golden.”– The tiny English isn’t particularly subtle, is it?

Uwasa = rumour.

Takarazaki, huh? I’ll make a note of that.

Who’s Ui?

According to the credits, I assume the blue spear girl is Nanami Yachiyo.

This is a respectable re-entry into a universe which I left not too long ago (in 2017). I’m definitely going to be able to stick with it for a season or however long it lasts.

BnHA 75

All this talk about a database…reminds me of the Quirk I designed for the wiki (also called “Database”). I conceived it in 2015, but I don’t remember who was meant to use it before I retrofitted it to fit the BnHA universe. Update: Welp, I found the document. The superpower Database (which was retrofitted to be a Quirk) is for one Itsuki Hatano.

“One blow to the top of the head!”

Iruma-kun 14

(Note: Some notes may be missing because I was busy multitasking while watching this episode.)

Go, Iruma! Live your best life!

Note “speak of the devil” isn’t how it’s said in Japanese. It sounds something like “whisper a rumour and it will come back to you” based on what I heard Kiriwo say (since I heard the word uwasa in there). Update: Apparently the phrase is uwasa wo sureba… (if you spead a rumour…) and then you cut the saying off to finish the rest of the sentence, just like you would in English.

You can’t even see a substantial part of Iruma’s hair when that demon on the phone (<-I know who it is, because I read spoilers, but I’ll keep quiet on that front!) yells for the first time.

Makura (demon pillow) has that demon pun going on.

Ooh, Kiriwo-senpai is actully kinda sexy with his hair up like that…not that I know the first thing about sex appeal…

So is the ED about the Battler Party, in a sense?

Eizouken 1

I picked this show up because of the rave reviews it was getting.

Very Future Boy Conan, that.

…what? That OP was trippy. Then again, I didn’t mind ConRevo and that was trippy…this negative feeling is probably because I don’t know much about Masaki Yuasa’s quirks, I guess.

Why do people not translate “Eizouken”???? It means “video research club”.

The back is a good spot to sit in a theatre for anime. Why do I know this? I sit in the back of my anime club all the time, that’s why!

“Are those MiBs?” – I laughed pretty hard at that one sentence.

Why does this strawberry milk seem to be a parallel to the milk Asakusa promised Kanamori? (P.S. Asakusa is in Tokyo, IIRC.) Update: Mizusaki means “on top of water” if I understood the kanji right and Kanamori, with the right combo of characters, can mean “forest of gold”...which makes a lot of sense, considering how gold is equated with wealth and currency. Also, here’s proof Asakusa is in Tokyo...not to mention it’s the place from Sarazanmai! Meanwhile, I was thinking there was some sort of anime-related significance to the name, but I was thinking of Asagaya. Update 2: Mizusaki actually means “water peninsula”. Sorry, wrong saki.

I know there’s a chase scene at the end of this ep, thanks to reading reviews. I want to be wowed by it, which is why I’m (metaphorically) holding my breath.

I like how Asakusa and Mizusaki are bouncing around ideas. That really brings the process to life.

Long skirts and wind but no sexualisation. That’s a good sign!

Whoa, that scene with the comets was AWESOME! I want more!

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Back with some good boys one season too early…let’s have some fun while these simulcasters can get this stuff fast!

Oh no! (<- self-censored) Nagi’s stupid accent is back! *yells incoherently for a second*

I like the little sound effects that happened whe Nagi’s finger moved around (to suggest “magic”).

I think the joke was something to do with the word gera (?). I don’t quite get it myself.

Misuta- Shimooka, LOL. I love how this s2 isn’t doing any hand-holding, though! I half-expect a flashback to appear and it never does.

Yamato, how are you so-*crying and Yatta! can be heard in the background*Okay, nevvvvvvvvvver mind…

I remember mistakenly saying that Nishiyama was part of Idolish7 (since I looked through some of my old notes lately). Nishiyama is part of ZOOL, so now…I’m not wrong anymore…(That’s not quite relevant to the random announcement of Re:Vale showing up, but it’s on my mind now.)

Hmm…Yamato’s thoughts on Re:Vale…I’ll keep an eye on him.

I think people like Tamaki because he treats them like he would his little sister…a true gentleman. Or maybe that’s all in my head? I haven’t been in the fandom properly, y’know.

This switch to occasional chibi antics…I’m not sure I like it…

Ohmyglob! Another boy to add to my growing list of husbandos! *points at Yuki* I knew he existed, but I haven’t had a proper chance to have a reaction to him ever since I started really “having a thing” for long-haired guys.

Re:Vale are like a comic act (manzai).

Momo has pink nail polish…I just noticed. Update: It’s probably more red than pink.

“Chan-momo” appears to be a variety of modern slang similar to Pig Latin. Apparently Gen from Dr Stone uses it as well.

Yuki has these cute little diamond earrings and Momo has studs. I’ve also never noticed this until now. (I, myself, can’t wear anything past clip-ons because I have a genetic quirk that makes it annoying to get my ears pierced, called beta thalassemia, so I can only fangirl about other people’s earrings.)

What’s the FSC again…?

Kyu-to aidoru!

I think Momo and Yuki are going to reach out to Mitsuki and Tamaki (respectively) most this season…just a feeling, based on their dispositions. Tamaki and Yuki have similar faces, on top of that, so thank goodness we can tell them apart by hairstyle.

Yuki wears this steel blue shade of nail polish…ooh, also cute.

*Riku goes stiff-faced* - *audibly facepalms at Riku’s reaction*

Momo has a black and green earring set on one ear…huh.

Ooh, very nice. It’s a keeper.

Update: Apparently, you pronounce their name “Re:ba-re”, which is a bit different to what I was expecting (essentially “Re: veil”).

#simulcast commentary #mairimashita! iruma-kun #Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun #boku no hero academia #My Hero Academia #Idolish7 #Chesarka watches BnHA #Chesarka watches MI-k #Chesarka watches Idolish7 #Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!#Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!#somali and the forest spirit #Somali to Mori no Kamisama #Idolish7 Second Beat!#Magia Record #magia record: puella magi madoka magica side story #Chesarka watches Magia Record #Chesarka watches Eizouken

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jen-dnd-rps · 6 years ago

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Sera - A Higher Calling

There was one constant in Sera’s life, one person she knew she could count on, one person she owed absolutely everything she was: Benjamin Castro. She didn’t know how long he’d been doing what he did, or how many people like Sera he’d recruited into his own personal resistance army, only that his resources had always seemed limitless. Sometimes (often times, to Sera) it felt like what they were doing was not nearly enough, but it was far better than doing nothing. They kept people alive, clothed, fed, sheltered. And Sera knew if not for Ben she likely wouldn’t still be living.

What she wasn’t completely sure of is how far Ben would be willing to go to support a full-on revolution. He had his place in this society, built on years of established contacts both high and low. Would he be willing to give that up if it meant the kind of change they’d been trying to make multiplied a thousandfold or more? It was this thought that had Sera chewing her lip as she followed him into his study in the house she’d called home from the time he’d plucked her from the streets what felt like a lifetime ago.

“You look better,” he commented as he took a chair next to her in front of his ornately carved wooden desk and crossed one leg over the other. He was noble without being of the nobility, ever elegant and intentional in every word and movement. Much as he might have tried to impart these traits to Sera, she knew she would never master them the way he had.

“The rest helped,” she answered, “as does being here, knowing we’re safe. It’s been...intense.” Quite the understatement, and she knows Ben sees it for what it is by the bemused smile and single arched brow. “Thank you, for taking everyone in. I know the risk you’re taking in doing this.”

Ben waved a hand. “Of course, of course. You are family, Seraphine. We look out for one another, yes?” Sera nodded her agreement, one of the mantras that was drilled into her from the first day she’d arrived here. “That was Alexis Hammond you brought in with you, was it not?” Another nod from Sera and a thoughtful pause from Ben before he continued. “And this is the ‘friend’ you mentioned in your message, I presume. How exactly did this come about?”

Sera recounted the past few weeks, starting with the prison and ending with their latest encounter with Kunt and the others. She held nothing back, reciting the list of people and places with unusual candor for someone practiced at keeping things hidden and obscured. Ben listened intently, his bright blue eyes gleaming as he took it all in, the only reaction was a widening of his expression when she said they’d killed Kunt.

“You’re sure?” he asked when she’d finished. “It was truly him, not another illusion?”

“Yeah, it was him. He had Zechman’s belt, and the feeling in the place changed when it happened. It’s hard to describe, but it was like a darkness lifted, only it wasn’t visible darkness, but a mental darkness. We didn’t stay long enough to really analyze it,” she finished with a faint smile.

Silence stretched between them. Sera’s fingers fiddled with each other as she waited for more questions. Ben cupped his chin in his hand and held a finger above his lip, the familiar sign he was processing information and thinking through options.

“The book, it actually exists?” he asked her finally. He’d heard of it, the rumors discounted as myth. “Does it have the answers you - or Alexis - thought it would have?”

“I don’t know,” Sera answered honestly. “When we brought it to Lex, she hid it away. It wasn’t safe for us to know until Kunt was gone. If it does have something that will help, I’m sure she’ll tell us. It’s partially burned, so I have no idea what will be usable and what’s missing.”

“Interesting,” Ben noted. “Please offer Alexis my services should she need translations or transcribing.”

“I will, but don’t be surprised if she doesn’t take you up on it. She is necessarily cautious,” Sera warned. “I’ll let her know, and tell her you can be trusted.”

“I understand completely, no offense will be taken,” Ben replied with a faint smile. There was honor among thieves, and there was also trusting a stranger with what was rumored to be one of the most powerful and important documents in history. “Your message also mentioned a family reunion. Safe to say you didn’t mean the additional security here?”

“No, that all came up after I sent it. Ben, I...” Sera paused, raked a hand through her hair and searched for the words. It was the moment of truth, whether she would have to choose between the man she owed her life to or the cause she’d taken fully to heart. “I know that you have people, like me and more, pretty much everywhere in this country. What we’re doing, Lex and my friends, and the others Lex is working with, the plans we have...”

“I’ve seen them,” he said, his gaze flicking to the desk where a copy of Lex’s manifesto sat among his other papers.

“...all of these people we’ve been helping, that you’ve been helping, it will change their lives. We wouldn’t need to do this anymore. We would just need to oversee the regional magistrates to make sure they don’t grow too power-hungry and start all of this up again. Resources would be equitably distributed, and healers and educators, and -” Ben held up a hand and Sera stopped.

“Seraphine, you don’t have to sell me on this. Alexis’ plan is well thought out, and while it will be challenging to implement, I agree that it is far better for more people than our current system.” Sera slowly let out the breath she was holding. Ben leaned forward and held out a hand. Sera took it and he set his other hand on top of hers and held her gaze intently. “You are a fighter. You have always been a fighter. You are smart and resourceful, and I am certain Alexis sees you and your friends for the assets that you are. Give me a day,” he said after a short, thoughtful pause. “I will notify the family of our allegiance to this cause, and spell out the assets that are available and how to contact them. My only request is to be kept apprised of the situation, specifically your status among the living,” he said with a wink. He gave her hand a squeeze and a pat and let it go. “You’ve a new way to message me, it seems. A weekly tweet from some little bird would be sufficient, hmm?”

It wasn’t just relief that struck her, though there was plenty of that. Ben had always been her mentor, a father-figure for her and so many others. Even walking in today she’d felt that same dynamic, the leader and the led. Somehow during the course of the conversation it seemed to shift; she wasn’t an equal - likely never would be his equal - but he seemed to respect what she was doing, to respect her for her part in it, and wanted to support it. She felt like this was the first step from one cause to a much larger one, a step she could take because she knew he was still behind her all the way.

“I’ll, um, let Lex know. And I promise to get messages to you at least weekly,” she agreed, touched at his concern. “Thank you, Ben. This...I know I haven’t said it nearly enough over the years, but everything you’ve done for me, I uh...” She cleared her throat to release the catch there. “I’m so grateful. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this if it weren’t for you. I’ll find a way to repay you one day. I have no idea how,” she added with a small laugh, “but I’ll find it.”

Ben stood and Sera followed suit. “You can repay me by making this happen. You and your friends, and Alexis, and whoever else is in on it.” He clasped her shoulders. “Make this happen, Seraphine. That will be payment enough.”

Sera nodded, her resolve more than doubled. “We will. I’ll um, let you know if we need your help with anything. Thank you, again, for everything.”

Ben let his hands fall and led Sera to the door. “Get rest, Seraphine. All of you. Take as much time is you want. I have a feeling you’ll need it.”

#sera #ben #boe

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weavingthetapestry · 7 years ago

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Isobel Bruce, Queen of Norway (c.1272-1358)

It may come as a surprise to some that the infamous King Robert I was not the first Bruce to wear a crown. That distinction goes instead to one of his many sisters, Isobel, who, in 1293, became Queen of Norway as the wife of King Eirik II, long before her brother got anywhere near the throne.

Isobel Bruce was the daughter of Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, and her second husband Robert Bruce, 6th Lord of Annandale. Some Norwegian historians place Isobel's birth c.1280, but I’m more inclined to agree with other sources that she was the eldest daughter and closer in age to her brother Robert, who was born in 1274. We have almost no certain information about Isobel’s youth, though we can perhaps theorise about her early social surroundings. Bruce ambitions and experiences- especially for Isobel’s generation- were shaped by many diverse political and cultural contexts. The family had a stake in the largely Gaelic world of Irish Sea politics, from Ulster to Carrick; in English-speaking territories as different as Annandale and Essex; and as part of a French-speaking elite among the English and Scottish nobility, with both continental and insular ambitions. The Bruces were also a large family, Isobel having five brothers (Robert, Niall, Edward, Thomas and Alexander) and at least as many sisters (including Christian, Mary, and Matilda). The antiquated assertion that she was married before the Norwegian match (explaining how Thomas Randolph might be nephew to King Robert) seems extremely unlikely however, and it is more probable one of her parents had another daughter named Isobel who was Randolph's mother.

(The lighthouse here is perched on top of what little is left of Turnberry Castle, seat of Isobel’s mother as countess of Carrick, and one of the childhood homes of the Bruce children, maybe even the birthplace of her brother Robert I. It is situated on the Ayrshire coastline, with Ailsa Craig out to sea. Not my picture)

However, despite the lack of information about her early life, Isobel Bruce’s importance increased in the 1290s- as did her family’s importance more generally. King Alexander III of Scotland had died in 1286, his only living descendant being his granddaughter Margaret of Norway, daughter of Eirik II of Norway by his first wife Margaret of Scotland. But in 1290 the Maid of Norway also died, which provoked a competition for the throne commonly called the Great Cause. I won't go into detail here, but briefly the two main contenders were John Balliol and Isobel’s grandfather Robert Bruce, 'the Competitor’. Eventually, Balliol's case triumphed but this didn't extinguish Bruce ambitions regarding the throne. And it was during the final stages of the Great Cause in 1292- not long before her mother’s death in that same year- that the prospect of Isobel marrying the king of Norway initially surfaced.

Eirik II of Norway had been one of the claimants for the Scottish throne, attempting to inherit through Norse reversionary law as the father of the dead Maid of Norway, though probably the Norwegians never had any serious hope of this claim succeeding, and instead used it as an opportunity to wring political and financial concessions from the Scottish and English crowns. Eirik Magnusson was roughly twenty-four years old in 1292, he had been a widower since the age of fifteen, and the late Margaret of Norway had been his only known child (his brother Duke Håkon however was the more viable heir). Aside from these obvious reasons though, it is a little unclear why he married Isobel Bruce the next year. It is possible that the plans had been made in advance of the decision in favour of Balliol’s claim to the Scottish throne in November 1292, and could have represented the Norwegians’ allying themselves with the Bruce claim as another claimant Florence, Count of Holland had. Alternatively, if the plans were made after Balliol’s claim had won out, the Norwegian king may have been strengthening his relations with the Bruces as powerful magnates who were deeply opposed to the new king of Scots, and in doing so strengthened his relationship with Edward I of England. However given that in 1295 Norway entered into a treaty with France- who had also made a treaty with King John of Scotland which would eventually lead to his deposition by Edward I- promising aid against England, it is very difficult to pin down the exact political strategy which Isobel Bruce’s marriage represented. Nonetheless on 28th September 1293*, Isobel and her father Robert Bruce- named as Earl of Carrick though he had resigned the earldom the previous year to his son- received a safe-conduct from Edward I of England to travel to Norway by Christmas that year, and Isobel and Eirik II were likely married in Bergen soon afterward.

Though sources are sparse for Isobel’s marriage, an inventory of some of her belongings does exist, providing rare evidence of a thirteenth century queen’s trousseau. An indenture dated 25th September 1293, preserved in the English archives, lists certain items to be delivered to Audun Hugleiksson (one of Eirik II’s most trusted advisors) and Weyland de Stiklaw in Bergen before Michaelmas, by Henry de Stiklaw, ‘Master’ Nigel Campbell, Lucas de Tany, and Ralph de Arden. The items were for ‘the most serene lady’ the Queen of Norway, and evidently formed part of an expensive trousseau. Among other furnishings and clothing are listed robes of scarlet and miniver, with tunics and supertunics to form four or more outfits, furred cloaks and hoods, coverlets and bed hangings in cloth of gold and miniver (one bearing the arms of France), various cushions and curtains for two couches, and silk to make a cushion for the Queen’s regalia. The list is topped off with 24 silver plates, 12 cups, 24 salt cellars, basins and pitchers and the like, not to mention two small crowns. For a young bride such possessions served as an expression of status as she travelled far from home, and while they were not as extravagant as the more famous trousseau of Isabella of France, they were still rich pickings for the daughter of an earl, calculated to impress as far as her father could afford...

(Eirik Magnusson, king of Norway. In Norwegian history he is known as ‘priest-hater’ and is remembered for his wars with Denmark and for being dominated by his barons. In Scottish history, he is remembered as having two Scottish queens and especially for being the father of the Maid of Norway. Picture from Wikimedia commons.)

After Isobel’s wedding we lack sources again. Little is known about her life as queen consort, excepting the birth of her daughter in 1297. Ingebjørg Eiriksdatter, likely named for her paternal grandmother, was the only one of Eirik II's two known children to survive him; her half-sister, the unfortunate Margaret, had of course died long before Ingebjørg was born. Thus when Eirik himself died in 1299 the crown passed to his younger brother Duke Håkon, and Isobel, consort for only six years, was left a widow with an infant daughter.

Despite the insecurity that could come with widowhood, Isobel was not in any hurry to remarry. She remained on good terms with King Håkon and the new queen, Eufemia of Rügen, and attended important state occasions. Nevertheless, the winds of change were blowing in Norway. Håkon V’s rule was quite different to his late brother's, and he wasted little time disposing of certain former royal councillors, notably imprisoning and executing Audun Hugleiksson by the dishonourable method of hanging. Håkon also favoured Oslo, and during his reign the city began to outstrip Bergen as a centre of royal power. While Norway under Håkon would have more of an eastern outlook, however, Isobel remained in the west for most of her widowhood, playing an important role in the spiritual life of Bergen.

She still had her daughter’s future to think about however, and in 1300 this may have resulted in a plan to marry Ingebjørg to Jon Magnusson, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, though as this betrothal is only recorded in the Icelandic Annals it is difficult to assess its context. Earl Jon was, by each earldom respectively, subject to Norway and Scotland, and his status was defined by this dual allegiance. During the Wars of Independence, he may have inclined towards the Bruce camp, but this is ultimately unclear. But he was still just as much a Norwegian magnate, and perhaps this convenient position between the two kingdoms was what influenced Isobel's choice. Despite the fact that the prospective bride was only three and the earl much older, these plans may also have been put in place to safeguard her daughter’s future given her uncertain inheritance: Barbara E. Crawford believes that the proposed match, “seems to have been a desperate attempt to find a protector for the fatherless child”. The marriage was not to be, however, as Earl Jon died soon after.

This may not have been the end of Isobel’s interests in Orkney however, as a royal official previously strongly associated with her rose to power there soon afterwards. Weyland de Striklaw, who we already met briefly receiving delivery of the goods for Isobel’s trousseau, had once been a canon of Dunkeld and maybe even Alexander III’s chamberlain, but from the 1290s onward he and his brother Henry were more associated with the Bruces. It seems that he may also have had strong personal feelings on the political situation in Scotland, as in 1297 it was recorded that he had been banished by the English regime in Scotland for failing to obey their government. In any case he found employment in the service of the Norwegian Crown, probably as a result of his association with Isobel (then queen consort) whose patronage may partly account for his prominence in Norwegian royal documents during the last years of the reign of Eirik II and the early years of King Haakon’s rule. Fortune favoured him further after the death of Jon, Earl of Orkney, when he somehow managed to become guardian to the earl’s successor, Magnus, and gained control of administration in Orkney and later Caithness. We have little evidence of Isobel and Weyland’s direct cooperation in this affair, but it seems plausible that, given his earlier association with the queen it was partially her influence that helped him secure his position in Orkney, and could be taken as evidence of Isobel’s discreet political activity after her husband’s death.

(A much later depiction- with anachronistic kilts- of Isabella’s sister Mary Bruce imprisoned in a cage outside Roxburgh)

Meanwhile, since Isobel's departure in 1293, Scotland had plunged into the first phase of a bitter and prolonged war, both with England and internally. John Balliol had been deposed by Edward I but rebellions still occurred and others claimed the Scottish throne, most notably Isobel’s brother, Robert. In 1306, he had himself crowned king at Scone, but the first year of his ‘reign’ did not go well and he was forced to flee into the west. It is probable that he took refuge in the Western Isles, and also in the islands of Ireland, though some historians have argued that he could perhaps have gone to Orkney or perhaps even Norway. Certainly the ladies of his court, before being captured and handed over to the English, appear to have been heading to the safety of Orkney, where they would then be able to seek protection in the name of the queen dowager. Instead they remained in English captivity until after 1314. Two of the ladies- Isobel's sister, Mary and Isabella, Countess of Buchan- were quite literally imprisoned in ‘cages’ suspended outside the castles of Roxburgh and Berwick. Another of Isobel’s sisters, Christian, endured a slightly less extreme imprisonment at Sixhills nunnery in Lincolnshire, while her sister-in-law, Robert’s queen Elizabeth de Burgh, was held under house arrest. Young Marjorie Bruce, Isobel’s niece had also originally been intended for a cage but was instead transferred to a convent. Isobel’s brother Niall, who had defended Kildrummy Castle while the women escaped north, was executed by the degrading method of being hanged, drawn, and quartered, while two more of her brothers, Thomas and Alexander, were hanged following a failed invasion of Galloway the following year.

Isobel’s feelings about these family tragedies are unknown, though she might at least have been relieved not to be in Scotland. Even so, she did not forget her kin across the sea and would work to muster troops and funds to send to Scotland in support of her brother's claim. She may also have been a positive influence on the proceedings at Inverness in 1312, where the Scots under her brother Robert I confirmed the Treaty of Perth, which had transferred the Western Isles to Scotland in 1266, with the Norwegians. This event is notable for being the first major diplomatic settlement achieved by Robert the Bruce and it is entirely plausible that his sister played a role as a mediator, though we unfortunately again we lack evidence. She is known to have communicated with Christian (who proved a redoubtable woman in her own right), after her sister's release in 1314, and several decades later the two ladies interceded with their nephew David II on behalf of at least one Norwegian merchant. In the end, of course, their brother Robert did become king of Scots in more than name, enjoying an unparalleled ascendancy in his final years. However Isobel’s only other surviving brother, Edward, was not quite so fortunate in his bid to become High King of Ireland, being killed in battle in 1318 and his corpse quartered. Isobel herself never returned to Scotland; nevertheless, she seems to have kept abreast of affairs there, and was certainly contact with the court of her nephew King David, while she maintained at least some some Scottish servants.

(Bergenhus fortress- this would have been the site of the major royal residence in Bergen during Isobel’s day. The hall on the left was built in the mid-thirteenth century during the reign of her husband’s grandfather Håkon IV- the same king famous in Scotland for his involvement in the Battle of Largs. The tower on the right incorporates the only other surviving mediaeval bit of the fortress, ‘the keep by the sea’, built in the 1270s by Magnus VI, and rebuilt into its present form in the sixteenth century by then governor Erik Rosenkrantz, employing Scottish workmen. Photo from wikimedia commons).

Meanwhile Isobel was busy in Norway. She continued to use her position as queen dowager to influence political affairs and remained on good terms with both Håkon V and, much later, his successor Magnus VII. The latter king was the son of Isobel’s niece, another Ingebjørg, one of the two daughters of King Håkon. In 1312, in a double wedding in Oslo, Isobel’s daughter Ingebjørg and her cousin of the same name married two younger brothers of the king of Sweden. Ingebjørg Håkonsdatter married the elder of the two, Erik the Duke of Södermanland (and other territories), while Ingebjørg Eiriksdatter married Valdemar, Duke of Finland, Uppland, and Öland. Isobel was present at the wedding and probably had a hand in organising the match, but her daughter’s marriage would not last long. The two Swedish princes had long been mistrusted by their elder brother King Birger, and eventually, in 1317, they were arrested at a banquet at Nyköping Castle and held in the dungeons until their suspicious deaths there sometime after January 1318, having possibly been starved to death. Their widows, the Duchesses Ingebjørg, did not simply roll over and accept this, however, and became the leaders of their husbands’ supporters, who in 1318 sent King Birger into exile in Denmark and crowned Magnus, the son of Ingebjørg Håkonsdatter, king of Sweden, while he succeeded his grandfather Håkon V as king of Norway in 1319. The regency was held by Magnus’ mother and grandmother, and Ingebjørg Eiriksdatter also held a seat on the regency council, though it is difficult to ascertain how much influence she actually wielded. We also have no evidence of her relationship with her mother Isobel, which again is very frustrating, but it is likely that Isobel followed the events in Sweden closely, and she would have been even more interested after Magnus VII became king of Norway too, as she remained on friendly terms with the new king.

Most notably, Isobel was heavily involved in the promotion of religious activity in Bergen. In 1305, she attended the consecration of Arne Sigurdsson as bishop of Bergen, an important public occasion at which King Hakon and Queen Eufemia were also present. Whether she was also present in 1301 for the execution of the ‘false Margaret’- a woman who had claimed to be the late Maid of Norway and who inspired a small martyr cult- is unknown, though her strong association with both Bergen and Orkney would have meant that she was well acquainted with the details. In 1324 Bishop Arne’s brother and successor, Audfinn Sigurdsson gifted her several religious houses in Holmen, in return for her donations and patronage of the Church in Bergen. She continued to be associated with the bishops of Bergen in other ways- for example, in 1339, when Isobel and Bishop Haakon Erlingsson successfully interceded with King Magnus on behalf of a prisoner, and the two seem to have worked together politically on other occasions. Religious patronage was often an important part of queenship, but surviving records indicate that Isobel was particularly active in Bergen during her widowhood, and had a strong relationship with the city’s bishops.

(Above: the first folio from an Old French version of William of Tyre’s “Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum”, which belonged to Isobel Bruce, and the ex libris announcing her ownership is in red ink across the top of the page. Below: one of the illuminations from the Ms. See here for more of the book.)

Although the church in Bergen where she was buried no longer stands, one particularly fascinating object associated with Isobel has luckily survived the centuries- a manuscript known as Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana Pal. Lat. 1963, which contains an Old French translation of William of Tyre’s “Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum”. This was a crusading chronicle and history of the kingdom of Jerusalem written in the twelfth century, originally in Latin, whose Old French translation became particularly popular in western Europe in the thirteenth century. The version which survives in Pal. Lat. 1963, however, is particularly interesting as it is the only work in French known to have been in Norway in its time period, and furthermore the manuscript itself appears to have been made in the middle east, probably in Antioch, thus raising many questions as to how it ended up in Norway (various Scottish, English, French, Norwegian, and ecclesiastical routes have been theorised, see the article in sources for more). We can be certain that it belonged to Isobel at some point however, as on the first and last folios, the words “Liber Domine Isabelle, Dei gratia Regina Norwegie” are clearly printed in red.

It is unclear what conclusions we can draw about her literary interests from her possession of this book, though Isobel might have had many reasons to be interested in William of Tyre’s chronicle- her father and grandfather are both supposed to have gone on crusade, while it was famously her brother Robert Bruce’s ambition to lead a crusade himself, thus Isobel came from a family with a strong interest in crusade and it is not impossible that this interest was shared by daughters as well as sons. The Norwegians also had their own crusading tradition, most notably during the First Crusade, which is the conflict primarily dealt with in William of Tyre’s history. Even if we cannot be sure that the subject matter reflects Isobel’s personal interests, an indication that at least one of the book’s readers had an interest in Scottish affairs is evident from a piece of thirteenth century marginalia on folio 78vb. Written in French, this is inserted next to a passage which gives a list of various kings (including of England and France) who were on the throne when Jerusalem was captured in the First Crusade in 1099, and adds, ‘et en escoce le bon Roy David le p’mier de ce nom’ (loosely, ‘and in Scotland the good king David the first of this name’). In fact David I did not succeed to the Scottish throne until 1124, but despite this mistake it is interesting that at some point someone reading the manuscript- whether Isobel or perhaps someone associated with her- felt it important to add some Scottish context to the events of this very precious book. (It is also worth noting that the Bruces derived their claim to the throne through their descent from David I’s youngest grandson, while Isobel’s nephew was to become David II). It is unclear if Isobel owned any more books- though given her spirituality and rank it’s entirely possible- and was never famed as a literary patron as her contemporary Queen Eufemia was, but the fact that this book survives offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and interests of an otherwise very shadowy queen.

Isobel lived a long life and she never remarried. Her daughter appears to have predeceased her, and though some sources indicate Ingebjørg may have had children, when she died in Sweden in 1357, Isobel was named as her heir under reversionary law. Around about the same time (1356/7) her similarly long-lived sister Christian died and was interred in Dunfermline, where Robert I was also buried. Isobel herself probably died in 1358, in Bergen. She was possibly in her eighties by then, and had outlived her husband by nearly sixty years. Though we know little about her, and her activity is often shadowy, it seems that she quite ably wielded influence as a queen, particularly as dowager, and her patronage may have been of importance to the careers of men like Weyland de Stiklaw, though often this influence and patronage was exercised discreetly. Her contribution to the histories of Scotland and Norway may have been small, and certainly less adventurous than that of her brother, but nonetheless her career throws up some interesting perspectives on the cultural links of Norway and Scotland, the role of women and queens, and the history of the Bruce dynasty.

*The calendar says the safe-conduct was issued in 1292, but I agree with Barrow that it’s probably misplaced and refers to the following year.

Selected references:

Regesta Norvegica- here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (calendared not originals)

Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, Vol. II

“Islandske Annaler Indtil 1578″, Gustav Storm.

“North Sea Kingdoms, North Sea Bureaucrat: A Royal Official Who Transcended National Boundaries”, Barbara E. Crawford in the Scottish Historical Review, 1990

“A Manuscript of the Old French William of Tyre (Pal. Lat. 1963) in Norway”, by Bjorn Bandlien

“Norwegian Foreign Policy and the Maid of Norway”, Knut Helle in the Scottish Historical Review, 1990

“Robert Bruce: King of Scots”, G.W.S. Barrow

I should also mention that Isabella Bruce has a chapter in “Eufemia: Oslos middelalderdronning” (ed.) Bjorn Bandlien, but the nearest library copy is in London so I was not able to consult it. However if I ever do get the chance I will update any of this as necessary. There were some other books I consulted as well but the above were the major sources.

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midnatt-heronweather · 4 years ago

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2020 review

Disclaimer: You won’t hear much about the virus in this. I’m not a denier, I know the damage and destruction covid19 has caused and the death toll, therefore I am not yet cold enough not to realise this is going to sound completely selfish, but that is my decision. My reviews focus on MY year. Just so you’re aware. “I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.” Bob Dylan.

2020... What can I say?

This was the year I decided to officially identify as Non-Binary, not that anyone actually cares or believes me or things i'm "(insert stereotype at will)" enough. except for those very VERY rare people who do and who actually listen and hear me when I speak

Anyway -It has been a trashcan fire of a year since February/March February when I saw the Hu and Counterfeit alongside Ally. And I say February/March because that was the weekend I say my year ended...the good part anyway. Because it was that weekend when I got the ultimate honour, privilege and miracle of meeting Jason Carter, After that it was like a Dementor had French kissed the year and I can’t be the only one who thought it? Conventions and gigs postponed, rescheduled and ultimately cancelled, masks, social distancing, lockdowns the works. And can I just say - I didn’t clap, and I don’t feel in the slightest bit ashamed for it. Despite or maybe because I have friends and a few family who work in the NHS I couldn't bear to be a part of the hypocritical BS idea. I live in a country that will clap for their 'beloved' life saving NHS but then stand silent when Pay rises are frozen and when the NHS is in danger, we as a country expect a lot but don't lift a finger to gave back, clapping doesn’t pay bills. But...Bright points in the year let’s try staying positive and leaving the crap outside shall we...well... The main one has got to be that the US finally found their sense and President Elect Joe Biden will b sworn in January 20, 2021. After that... I’ll have to get back to you. Oh...no..no that’s not one... seriously I’ll have a think and get back to you. Conventions: Just one this year, for me, because of the obvious... But what a convention FCD Events presents 2258 a Babylon 5 Conventions: Where, as well as finally being among actual self confessed fans and being able to tick a b5 convention off my bucket list after starting cons way too late to attend the OG cons I did the impossible... I MET JASON CARTER... have I mentioned this? Have I? Should I say t again? I MET JASON CARTER!!! Also Mira Furlan, Tracy Scoggins and Patricia Tallman, but I met him! Finally! And... Just a reminder I did warn you guys, several times that it was likely hell would freeze over if I ever got that particular honour, do not say I didn’t. I’d never done an FCD before, I’d meant to, even bought a ticket but it just never seemed to happen, but the second someone said b5 con, I was so there! Karan Robinson made my year by making me the Anla’Shok uniform. And Nadine added the cherry on top by making the belt buckle that ONLY Marcus and Entil’Zha Sinclair wear: D (for the record: Velcro still hates me) David one of the organisers of FCD kept randomly shouting “We live for the one.” And when people other than m actually knew the response and responded... dude kick in the feels I kid you not. Next Year (Angel Willing) Adam and I are attending the Teen Wolf conventions entitled “Howl at the Moon 4” in Paris, France... which is cool on so many levels not least of which being I get to meet JR Bourne and Daniel Sharman again and get to visit the church of St Julian of the poor. And yes, there are cons planned here in the UK. But... well. It’s already looking Grey, and not the good kind. Music and Gigs: Two gigs one after the other at the 02 Ritz in Manchester. The First:

The Hu a Mongolian band who Ally really likes and I think are pretty cool. They are amazing live there’s no doubt, can hold their own in England even in a room of idiots. The 2nd :

Counterfeit (also with Ally) I went VIP and got to meet the boys again, and listen to a Q&A with them. I will forever love them, not just because of Jamie’s acting side despite what people say. Didn’t realise how special until recently though because; after keeping fans going and hyping up new singles during lockdowns, they recently decided to go their separate ways. Jamie’s gone solo and he’s put three songs out on YouTube. _ I was meant to be attending a one off gig by Ruelle and Fleurie both of who had music used on Shadowhunters, even talked my friend Lou into it, but it was a victim of the lockdowns and things and I’m not the optimistic type so I doubt it’ll ever happen now, will be lucky if even one of the ladies comes over here if I’m honest. Recently I’ve rediscovered a love for Black Veil Brides and their leader Andy Black’s solo stuff. Olivia Hyde of Bad Pollyanna recently killed everyone in her black unicorn’s fanbase with an amazing solo album, me included. Ally has introduced me to a few interesting bands this year, *Wingtips – very 80s Goth, very Ally (translation: very cool.) *Allegiance Reign – a Japanese Samurai metal band, not sure what Ally actually thinks of these guys, she found them while perusing YouTube and thought of me :D Suggestions greatly accepted, I am always up for giving new stuff a try. Hopefully next year things will even out and gigs will be able to be put on again. TV and Fandom’s: *We FINALLY got Roswell: New Mexico in the UK, and ITV blitzed through 2 seasons in less than a month, but it was enough for me to decide I loved it, maybe more than I did the original. Alex is my fave, but obv Michael isn’t half bad, nor is Max when he’s not making goo-goo eyes at Liz. * Finally got to see 9-1-1 Lone Star and I absolutely love it, (I kinda knew I would from all the talk) * Decided to give the Charmed reboot a 2nd look and it’s proved addictive, now waiting for s2 to be downloadable on Amazon or something. *In march I was so, so excited for the return of The Expanse and the fact the main cast were coming to a con in the UK, then.. The verse went to hell. I still Love the Expanse, but I’m not as die hard as I was, not for lack of trying. Still love it for Anna of course, any excuse to see her. *After 15 years Supernatural finally ended in 2020 with season15: I stopped watching religiously at the end of season 6 but that does not mean I stopped liking the show just that I didn’t like the direction (like with The Expanse recently) I loved watching the reaction of the fans, and how much they (we if I’m counted) mean to the cast. * I have to mention Cursed... If only to say HOLY HELL DANIEL! 𝑴𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑻𝑽 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒇 2020 Cursed 9-1-1 Lone Star & 9-1-1 Warrior Nun Prodigal Son Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Doctor who (Officially season12) Roswell s1&2 (it counts cos ITV only just got the reboots) Charmed s1&2(it counts cos E4 only just got the reboots) Call the Midwife (s9 btw) Our Girl Strike Back: Vendetta Friends: “Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

My understanding of "friendship." is skewed, and I’m not saying that to be "Vulcan." it’s honest, and anyone who wants to know how or why just has to ask. But let’s leave it at that for this. It makes some things more stark... and I've said this recently, but this binfire has made even me more aware of who’s out there in my verse, whose pack, who’s potential, and who’s just pathetic. The last I’m not going to waste my breath on. The first two: Pack and Potential (read: new acquaintances /potential friends) Pack: Yes I go on about friends as 'Pack like a person whose OD'd on Teen Wolf... because I am so :P My pack as a whole are varied, and spread out across this country with a few dotted around Europe and Aus. hopefully they know who they are because I don't do mushy crap as they know. But if they do know, they know I'm there when I'm needed and more than willing to sod off when not. Yorkshire brass makes me frank and I’d hope fair. There are 2...mayb 3 who sit above the rest, in special place for the things they've done and things they've been through with me. I make no denial of that. But everyone is important to me. I wouldn't change them for anything.... Ok... tell a lie, maybe 1 or 2 when they do my box in, but that’s only like for a week maybe less. I've spent too many years and got too many scars and burned too many photos and bridges because of fake people and users to not be honest to a fault. It’s who I am. Potential: the Counterfeit gig in Manchester, 2258 and yes even Tiktok have given me the opportunity to make some interesting acquaintances this year, and some I hope will become friends in the real in the future, but for now I will say - "I am defensive, stand off ish, sometimes bull headed and of course opinionated, but I am by no means blind. Or blinkered despite what may be said of me. I am there when needed, if I can be of use, just poke me." Ave Atqua Vale This section has its own post these days. Sadly. Pictures Will try and make one of my “a year in ten pics.” Posts later. Final words While I am not fond of this time of year, Enjoy your celebrations whatever for they may take, I will be watching The Magicians / Call the Midwife and plotting 202? Cosplays. I will be here when (fk knows why) I'm needed. Otherwise- Compliments of the season, now go get a beer, i'm sure you need it after reading this crap.

in the words of The one and only Jason Carter “Hindsight is 2020″

#2020

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fullvoidmoon · 7 years ago

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Follow Your Heart’s Desires

Pairing/s: Fili x (human!fem)reader

Setting/Timeline: A year after BoTFA, Durins live!AU

Warning(s)/Genre(s): Fluff

Word Count: 1,223

The Hobbit, the Durins, © J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit films and Tauriel(mentioned) © Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and New Line Cinema Context and original character © me

Requested by @deepestfirefun

A/N: This is not the usual fluff that anyone might initially think, and sorry if that fluff is not enough than what you expected.

The Hobbit tag list: @sdavid09, @igotanaddixon, @fizzy-custard, @life-is-righteous, @kittenwritesstuff, @fromthedeskoftheraven, @deepestfirefun, @dreamsofrivendell

Masterlist: HERE

Part 2 - Never Again

“What would you do if it was to happen to you?”

“What does your heart tell you to do?"

Fili, now the Crown Prince of Erebor, has been a frequent visitor in (Y/N)’s workshop since her first few weeks moving in to Dale.

Hailed from Gondor, (Y/N) decided to leave the comforts of her old home to find better opportunities as a young seamstress and moved in to the then restoring Kingdom of Men near the Lonely Mountain; grabbing the only chance to prove her worth when words sent out that both the royal families of Dale and Erebor needed some assistance in mending old and making new clothes for everyone that survived, just few weeks after that famed battle against the Defiler.

“I honestly don’t know what to do,” Fili whispers, almost ashamed of being embarrassed, “a lot has been happening, and I do not know which the truth from the false is anymore.”

There were rumors that the dwarrowdam he has been courting for months is seeing another, something that devastated him at first. But (Y/N), aside from Kili, has been his rock and confidante, and is very supportive of everything he does.

“You do know you can’t be certain and just call off the courtship because of the rumors, Fili,” (Y/N) replies with a chuckle, trying to ease the uncertainties swirling in his mind, “you need something to prove such claim before doing anything you might regret in the end.”

Because (Y/N)’s door is always open for Fili to take refuge in; from escaping from his duties to seeking her comfort in times of doubt, the Crown Prince of the Durin’s folk is starting to realize and see her not as the young seamstress from Gondor, but as his princess and his One.

He badly wishes to be honest with what his heart is telling him, Fili could have told you right then and there. But he is Crown Prince, he receives high regards from everyone especially from his Uncle, and he is afraid he would fail them. Fili couldn’t tell his Uncle he wants to have (Y/N) as his wife and princess even if he wants to so badly.

And all Fili could do is quietly reach out to Mahal to hear his prayers and dream of one day he would take you as his bride without any expectations and apprehensions. But he knows that will never happen, thus making him keep his every wish and pleas within his heart like a forbidden secret.

If only he knew a pair of the bluest of orbs, ever observant even to the most little of details, that never ceases to look onto him even from afar; looking on to the eldest Durin Prince as he tries to not be obvious in front of the woman of his affections.

-----

“You love her, and that much is obvious.”

Never has Fili feel so small his entire life. Not because he is being reprimanded by his mother or receiving stern words from his Uncle, but because he was caught being smitten and very much in love with a human. It took him this long to realize what his heart needs, and it brought extreme happiness in his entire being. And he made sure no one, especially his Uncle, knows of his affections towards the young seamstress.

But now he couldn’t help but fear for (Y/N)’s safety; Thorin could do anything for both of them to stay apart, never to see each other again.

“You look pale, nephew,” Thorin says, pulling Fili out of his rumination.

“I’m sorry Thorin,” Fili whispers, shame slowly becoming evident in his visage, “I never thought I-”

“Why are you apologizing?” Thorin interjects as he approaches Fili in quick strides, “you have done nothing wrong.”

“But I am in love with a human,” Fili suddenly exclaims, his fears starting to show in his tear-filled eyes, “I am in love with (Y/N) and it should not have come to that!”

Thorin has sometimes seen Fili being reduced to the pressure his duties bring him, but never has he been disconcerted and crestfallen. He knows Fili is among the few dwarrows who never thought of tradition whenever love is concerned, making him vividly remember his persistent persuasion for Kili to court Tauriel.

Then it dawn on him.

“You fear I would not allow such love,” Thorin whispers, placing a hand on the Durin Prince’s shoulder, “because you are a prince, and she a human and a seamstress.”

All Fili could do is give a small nod, quietly letting his tears cascade his cheeks and dampening his golden mustache and beard.

Thorin hooks his finger under the younger Durin’s chin, slowly raising his head and looking at him with endearment, “would you believe me if I tell you I would never think of a better bride and princess for you than (Y/N)?”

“Are you certain,” the look in Fili’s eyes changes, his inner turmoil disappeared before being replaced with relief and confusion, “why?”

“I can see the young woman brings you immense joy like never before,” Thorin replies as he wipes the remaining tears in Fili’s cheeks, “she brings out the best in you, and you to her.”

“Then why having me paired with Lady Flanna?”

Thorin sighs, suddenly remembering the red-haired lady from the Iron Hills. He must come up with something other than marriage to appease her family to strengthen their political allegiance.

“For political relations, I suppose,” Thorin says as he approaches his desk, “but never doubt I prefer (Y/N) as my future niece more than any dwarrowdam there is.”

Fili was about to respond when a sudden loud knock, more like someone trying to break down the door of Thorin’s private study, interrupts their conversation. And the door was indeed almost knocked over its hinges when Dáin forced it to open before marching over, clear irritation and fury evident in his visage.

“Thorin, we need to talk!” The red-head Lord of the Iron Hills exclaims, his accent becoming thicker “and I would not ‘ave any more dilly dallying with ‘dis matter.”

Thorin raises an eyebrow as he look on to his fuming cousin, “and what do you want to talk about for you to almost break down my door, Dáin?”

“’Dis is about one of my lord’s daughter, Lady Flanna,” Dáin growls, “and ‘de rumors spreadin’ about her.”

Something seems to have dawned on Thorin for the second time that day, and a glint of realization becoming visible in his sapphire orbs as he gives Fili a small grin.

“I think I may have a solution with our predicament,” Thorin winks as he gives Fili a reassuring pat on the back, “go and spend some time with your ‘friend’. I need to speak with Dáin about certain matters first.”

Fili couldn’t believe what he heard, and it didn’t fail to bring a smile on his face as he hurried out of his Uncle’s study, completely oblivious to Dáin’s confused stare and Thorin’s grin still plastered on his face.

And as he sprints down towards Dale with a slight spring in his steps, Thorin’s words keep on repeating in the Crown Prince’s mind, igniting the fire of hope in his heart that was once an ember.

“Do what you have to do, and follow what your heart truly desires.”

#FVMfanfics #FVM fili fanfics #the hobbit #fili #fili x reader #durins live!au

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meredithsreadingchallenge · 5 years ago

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I’m so thankful to be writing this review right now. Now, I can share one of the best books I’ve read this year. I have to consider this for the No.1 spot unless another book comes around and steals the title.

For this review, I’m going to see if I can try a different format for writing. Please feel free to leave feedback for which review is best for you to read. Any is appreciated!

In 2019, I received the “His Dark Materials” series by Philip Pullman as a Christmas gift. I watched the movie earlier in the year, which I know is not what a reader is supposed to do, but I loved it. The story was interesting, and I fell in love with the main character and her journey across the world to save her best friend. I started reading the first book, “The Golden Compass” after Christmas because I was excited to start, and I finished the book on the second day of the new year. It counts, by the way!

Here is what I think of the book, even though it’s four months down the road. Remember, spoiler warning:

1. What audience is the author writing for?

I think Pullman is writing for anyone that listens. The main character is about 11-13 years ago at the start of the book, so it does appeal to readers who are in that age range who likes mysteries, fantasy, and adventure. I would also argue that this book is for young adults, which is about 8th grade-12th grade, for there are vocabulary words that I had to look up a couple of times. The third audience would be adults because there are many parts in “The Golden Compass” that deal with mature thoughts, events, and feelings that are viewed from a child’s perspective. This book can appeal to any age group!

2. Do I care about the characters?

If caring is defined as ‘I like the majority of the characters’, then yes. For someone that watched the movie with no idea about what was going on until a half-hour in, I enjoyed them. Lyra is my favorite, and her daemon, Pan. I like her because she’s at that age where innocence is stripped for reality, and I don’t mean that in a sick way. She goes through several major events that alter her perspective on the world, politics, religion, and most importantly, what family is to her. It was intriguing to read the story from her point of view because Pullman revealed to the reader her thoughts, feelings, and motivations with appropriate dialogue and exposition.

3. Did it have a compelling plot?

Yes, YES, YES IT DOES! Excuse my enthusiasm, but here are some spoilers about the book.

It’s about Lyra Belacqua, a twelve/thirteen-year-old girl from Oxford who is forced to take a side in a complicated war. After stumbling on a proposal meeting for her uncle, Lord Asriel, she learns there are these mysterious particles called Dust, and it divides her home to two sides: those who want to explore it and those who despise it. She has no idea why people are touchy around the subject, but when kidnappers called ‘Gobblers’ abduct her best friend and the Master of Jordan college gives her a golden compass with symbols, she sets out on a journey to save her best friend.

This is all I’m going to reveal because the plot thickens and gets disturbing as she travels the world. Personally, I was hooked the minute I finished Chapter 1, and I even began to mutter comments to myself when I felt strongly about important plot points, especially when Lyra interacted with Ms. Coulter. Of course, I saw the movie and know Ms. Coulter’s role, but still! I felt so much more hatred for her than I did when I watched the movie. You don’t mess with that woman!

4. Did any quotes strike me?

Yes, but this one is another spoiler. Please feel free to skip this question!

When Iorek Brynison says to Lyra, “Belacqua? No. You are Lyra Silvertongue” (Pullman, pp. 348), I wanted him to win the fight against the bear king so bad. You see, Lyra and Iorek share a special bond because she rescued his honor in exchange for his allegiance to save the abducted children. He swore to protect her during the mission, but he also told her once that his kind cannot be tricked because they possess the talent to see pass deceit. However, because Lyra tricked the current bear king that she was Iorek’s daemon, Iorek respects her for proving him wrong. It makes me smile every time!

5. What is the author’s voice like?

The author’s voice is quite interesting. Pullman takes the role of a narrator—an observer in the world of the book. The narrator knows what Lyra does and thinks, and sometimes they view other character’s stories as well as share their opinion. Based on the verb tense, the narrator is speaking about a time in history, but when reading the book, it almost feels like you’re right there, watching Lyra as she reads the Golden Compass (or aethalometer!).

6. What is the author’s purpose?

I think that Pullman’s purpose was to demonstrate that religion has a strong influence on the minds of adults. As Lyra further investigates the Gobbler’s abduction patterns to save her friend, the Church’s opinion becomes prominent. It seems that those who work for the Church are against the investigations of Dust and have power over the distribution of information, so it becomes clear that Lord Asriel’s proposal is a threat to their cause. Pullman wanted to highlight this theme because religion is known throughout history to want to control the thoughts and beliefs of its followers, especially when it comes to new findings in science. Also, if science threatens an idea supported by the Church, then the world becomes divided on what is right and what is wrong.

7. What did I learn from reading?

I learned that the world is very different from the eyes of a child. A child, like Lyra, can pick up on something wrong from time to time, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. The more a child is exposed to the reality of adulthood—such as abduction, religion, deceit, and war—the world changes. Lyra was able to compose herself, to remain present in learning about the world around her, but it still came as a shock when she found out that the people who loved her would also not hesitate to put her in harm’s way. Lyra learned the importance of bonds with people who are not your family with the Gyptians and Iorek Brynison, and this also established her core belief of loyalty and justice.

8. What rating did I give this book?

I gave this book 5 stars because it made me think, I wanted more, and I was intrigued by the themes!

9. Who would I recommend this book to?

I would recommend this book to anyone. It has a little bit of every genre in it, like fantasy, science fiction (I would argue), general fiction, and adventure. Because of the vocabulary and themes, I think it would encourage young readers to investigate meanings they don’t understand and ask questions. While religion is known to be restricted, sometimes offended for free-thinking, this is what learning is all about. I would also recommend it because it’s a good story, just a little something to read when you want to explore a different world.

10. When will I read the remaining books in the series?

Because of the pandemic, I am reading the next book, “The Subtle Knife,” earlier than I expected. The remaining books on my list for the year are somewhat similar, I want to include a little more diversity, besides just anxious about what happens to Lyra next!

Speaking of which, what am I currently reading?

· “IT” by Stephen King: You will not believe it, guys. I made it to the halfway point! I’ve completed 50% of the book, and it’s a lot to swallow. It’s certainly different than the recent adaptation (mind you, I haven’t watched that one all the way through, just snippets). Still, I think this is why I appreciate the book more. I love reading about the memories the losers club have when they return to Derry, and I’m always wondering what’s going to happen next, even if my eyes are tired.

·“Girl, Stop Apologizing” by Rachel Hollis: I haven’t continued to read much of this book because I still need to make a blog post for Excuse 5 and I’m currently working on their #Next90challenge course. When she started advertising for it and mentioned it was a free course, I thought it would be a good idea to try it out. So far, I’m having fun! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the lessons. For now, thank you again for being patient. Excuse 5 will be created shortly after this review.

I finished three books since my last blog post, which were “The Fates Divide” by Veronica Roth, the novel version of the hit musical, “Dear Evan Hansen,” and “The Flight of Swans by Sarah McGuire. Currently, I am figuring out which book review to do next after the Golden Compass because I am behind. Using this month to focus on making posts is going to be beneficial now that I have this free time to do it. No more excuses!

As always, please stay safe wherever you are and practice healthy habits.

* Photo Credit: this photo is a blurred version of the cover from the book. The cover is originally based on art by Iacopo Bruno (2017). Text is generated from FireAlpacca.

#readingchallenge2020 #thegoldencompass #bookreview #spoilers #fantasy #dustanddaemons #favorite #fiction #novel #ages10andup

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