#Including everyone we see in rebels

[drunk-on-starlight]

Yeah I don't understand why anyone other than the children of the watch would give a shit about the darksaber. It holds no meaning to any of them.

[saphronethaleph]

"Pick up" some Power Converters

“...no, what you want to do is to have most of the shipment be something innocuous – on every run. That way, even a random inspection probably won’t find anything. If you absolutely need to break that rule, still have some innocuous crates, but what you also want to do is to build up a friendship with the inspectors. Find out their routines if you can, and test out if you can bribe them to not bother looking – then you can aim the vital runs to be specifically with the people who you can bribe.”

“You’re sure that works?” Dodonna asked.

“Well, yeah,” Luke replied, with a shrug.

“Luke?” Leia called. “Luke?”

She leaned around the door. “How long have you been in here? We’ve been looking for you for twenty minutes.”

Luke frowned, then glanced down at his comlink. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“We don’t know your com code, kid,” Han provided. “You didn’t get around to telling us.”

Luke’s expression cleared.

“I have been going through Threepio if I need a com discussion,” he admitted. “I guess that’s not going to work if we’re staying with the Rebellion long term, though, I really should give you my com code-”

“Not now,” Leia objected. “What were you talking about, anyway?”

“He was giving us lessons,” Dodonna provided, indicating every single intel operative on Yavin IV and about half of the other Rebel Alliance techs sitting around.

“It’s basic stuff, right?” Luke asked. “I’m surprised you don’t know it.”

Leia frowned. “Lessons in what?” she asked. “Farming?”

“Well, sort of?” Luke replied. “Not moisture farming, not that bit, but the other stuff. I guess it’s helpful, and I’m glad to help!”

“What other stuff, then?” Han asked, leaning on the door, then got out of the way as Chewbacca made a questioning noise. “Right, sorry Chewie…”

“You know,” Luke said. “The basic stuff. Hiding stashes, underground hyperlanes, gun running, how to deflect attention from an enforcer without their realizing you’re doing it. Burning out slave collars, dead drops.”

He shrugged. “Farming.”

Leia blinked.

“That’s… not farming,” she said. “That sounds like a hostile-environment intelligence agent tutorial… how would you pass off vital information?”

“Let’s see…” Luke frowned. “One option – disguise it as something innocuous, while anyone would assume you’d hidden it in a much more complex way. Option two – copy it, send both versions by different routes or hide it in two different places. If you’re willing, get tortured, then crack under torture and give up one of them – that means they’ll believe they’ve got everything. Then another choice is to make it completely public, that’s a bit of a last-chance thing but if you make it completely public then everyone gets to see it including your intended recipient.”

He glanced up at her. “I guess you did the first one, gave up one location but they decided to keep looking for the other, and that’s what led them to R2? Or did you use one of the other methods? I could keep going.”

Leia shook her head.

“Okay, I’m convinced you know what you’re doing,” she said. “But how do you know all this stuff?”

“Do you not?” Luke replied, sounding slightly baffled. “This is boring stuff. Kid’s stuff, you’ve got to do it right but it’s a yawn fest. How does nobody have any ideas about it?”

“I know,” Han declared.

He pointed at Luke. “Farmboy, yes. Tatooine farmboy. The only thing that planet exports is crime.”

Luke looked momentarily offended.

“...yeah, I guess,” he agreed, relenting.

[yarrowleef-babbles]

mistborn's magic is cool but im starting to wonder if i can no longer enjoy stories about political revolutionary groups that are very very clearly written by em....people who are probably not very revolutionary irl. to make a long grouchy ramble short.

ive liked plenty of books by non radical authors, but the fact this one is *about* a needed revolution makes those moments particularly distracting. sometimes it makes the characters feel disingenuous.

anyway i absolutely loathe elend venture as a person and a character and a concept just. so so much. every time he talks i want to strangle him

abolish your house and relinquish your wealth or shut the fuck up forever challenge

[margindoodles2407]

OW. MAY.

No, we really need to talk about Mox, Stak and Deke.

The only clone cadets that survived.

What about their batchmates? Did they die in the bombardment? Were they terminated by their own chipped ori'vode? Did the scientist find them non-viable and have them decommissioned? Did they attempt to escape alongside Mox, Stak and Deke but failed along the way? Did they sacrifice themselves to make sure Mox, Stak and Deke found a way out?

Did Mox, Stak and Deke even find out what happened to them? Or do they believe they're alive and imprisoned elsewhere? Or do they believe they're long gone?

[redstarwriting]

the clash | i. hey, ho! let’s go!

hobie brown x goth!reader

word count: 1.1k

genre: enemies to lovers

warnings: language, insults, hobie hating you, you hating hobie

a/n: it’s here 😎 no but fr, i proudly present a new series focusing on hobie brown, loml. i‘m trying to make it gn, so if you spot anything that needs fixing lemme know. i also did include a bit of a description of what you look like, but it’s mainly just to affirm the gothic spider-person look. and if you don’t like it, you can just pretend it isn’t there, my character designer brain just took a hold while explaining lol. enjoy y’all, there’s more where this came from 👀

now reading: i. hey, ho! let’s go!

next chapter: ii. time bomb

───────────────────────────────

In theory, the two of you should have been great friends. Best friends, even. He’s called Spider-Punk, and you’re called Spider-Goth, this alone made Miguel assume the two of you would get along better than all of the Peters. Unfortunately for Miguel, he was dead wrong. It was fine at first, a good introduction. “Spider-Punk, meet Spider-Goth,” Miguel says, motioning to the two of you. You simultaneously turn your heads towards him, “Don’t call me that.” You look at each other, seemingly sizing each other up after speaking the same words at the same time. In reality, the two of you were checking each other out, but no one needs to know that. “Fine. Hobie, meet (Y/n). (Y/n), meet Hobie,” Miguel says as Peter B. Parker hops next to him, excited to see the two of you interact. Your gaze first fell on his many piercings, which suited him very well. Almost as well as the spikes coming out of the shoulders of his tattered denim vest. “See somethin’ you like?” you hear his thick cockney accent, and you shrug. “The constant changing makes it difficult,” you say, causing him to shrug. “I hate consistency,” he says, staring you up and down. “I like the guitar,” you say, and he nods. “Everyone does.” You raise an eyebrow, and he takes in the way your heavy black eyeliner makes the expression look more exaggerated than it is. His eyes go down, taking in your outfit, which seems to be varying in different gothic styles, but overall is all black with silver studs, spikes, and charms sticking out everywhere. He notices the two of you share a liking for combat boots, and perhaps his favorite thing about you are the intricate and all black spider-web tattoos on your hands crawling their way up your arms. Hobie clicks his tongue. “Goth, eh?”

“Yeah. Is that a problem with you or something?”

“Feisty for a goth.”

“Instigative as all punks are.”

“What… is going on,’ Peter whispers to Miguel who shakes his head. “I thought they would be best friends?” Peter suggests as he places a binky in Mayday’s mouth. “I did too…” Miguel says, “Maybe this is just a way these types of alternative people talk?”

“Tal vez tengas razón… Hobie does love to be abrasive for no reason,” Miguel concludes, and Peter shrugs and they zone in on the two of you again. “...I don’t suppose there’s no reason we shouldn’t get along,” Hobie suggests, raising an eyebrow at you. “I agree. We probably think similar things… for the most part.”

“For the most part, huh?”

“Just that we have similar ideas, but most likely not the same,” you respond, and he crosses his arms, his guitar moving loosely behind his back. “Opinions on anarchy. Go.”

“It’s the ideal society—”

“Good start—”

“But completely unrealistic.”

“Excuse me?” Hobie looks at you with a glowering expression. “Humans are inherently assholes. Selfish, shitty, assholes. As amazing as it would be to have anarchy running rampant,” you shrug, “It’s unlikely it will ever happen.”

“You can’t actually believe that,” Hobie says, exasperated, “I mean you actually think that we can’t achieve it? You get enough people angry, and they rebel, they push for anarchy. I’ve seen it happen; I’ve led a rebellion.” You roll your eyes. “And do you live in a perfect anarchical society now?”

“Not yet, but we’re gettin’ there,” he clenches his teeth, and you sigh. “I admire your blatant idiocy disguised as an ambitious dream,” you say, and he huffs. “Would you just talk like a normal fuckin’ person and stop usin’ these dumbass words and shitty poetic language?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, or are you as deaf as your ideologies?” This time you scoff. “I don’t have the time to be berated by someone who lives in their own delusions to try and feel the slightest bit less angry at the world for giving him the shitty cards he was dealt.”

“And I don’t have time to listen to the rubbish ramblings of a miserable twat who digs desperately into their black hole of a heart to try and feel somethin’ when the truth is they don’t even know what they stand for,” he fires back. You glare at him. He glares at you. As if on cue you both flip each other off before you web away. Peter’s voice cuts through the silence.

“Well, that went horribly!”

Miguel punches him on the shoulder, resulting in a soft ‘ow’ and a tiny angry noise from Mayday. “What the hell was that Hobart?” Miguel nearly yells and Hobie snaps his head towards him. “Don’t call me that, neither! They don’t get it. It’s not enough to want to make a difference in the world. You need to take action. Goths love to sit on the sidelines and lament instead of playing the offensive,” Hobie explains, a deep frown on his face, “Watch out for them. They might not be able to do what it takes when it counts.” Miguel sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Hobie, you’re supposed to show them around—”

“No, fuck that. I’m not goin’ anywhere near that gothic monstrosity,” Hobie says shaking his head in defiance. “We made a deal. You would show all the younger spider—”

“Yeah, well you can shove that deal up your fuckin’ ass, mate, I’m not doin’ shit for them!”

“Okay, okay, calm down there, man. Why don’t you just ask Gwen to help you? Maybe Miles and Pavitr too? That way you fulfill your promise, 'cause I know promises are important to you, and you won’t have to talk to them!” Peter reasons and Hobie looks over at him. He furrows his eyebrows. That would help the situation. And maybe he’d be able to help you see just how garbage your take was with Gwen on his side. “Fine. But I’m not doin’ it cause I need help, and I’m not doin’ it because you told me to. I’m doin’ it cause it’s the last thing that they’d want,” Hobie says, pointing at Peter while saying it, flipping Miguel off, and then webbing away. Peter looks at Miguel who is clenching his fists… and his jaw. “You seem stressed, but don’t worry about it. Not all of us need to like each other, I mean there’s so many there’s no possible way we all could and look at you, you hate Miles even though he’s awesome and—”

“Shut. Up. Peter,” Miguel growls, stalking away while mumbling various things in Spanish. Peter looks down at Mayday. “Tough crowd,” he says as she giggles up at him.

───────────────────────────────

『 tag list 』

@casmosmoon* @khaleesihavilliard @sparklyphantom​ @weyrrii* 

*if you are italicized - i am unable to tag you for whatever reason, feel free to reach out and see if we can fix the issue

[escespace]

Merlin and Arthur in the part 3 of this:

Arthur hasn't let anyone treat his wound. It's not serious but he can't bandage it on his own either and, as always, the risk of infection (in an era where even minimal hygiene did not exist) is present.

Not that it matters because he basically feels nothing. He doesn't feel the voices of his knights moving around him as they tie up the rebel knights (remember we agreed to call them haters); he does not feel the damp earthen floor on which he is lying; he does not feel Leon hovering around him waiting for the right moment to pounce on him and bandage him like a spoiled child. And, above all, he doesn't feel as if his chest is compressing as if it wants to fold in on itself like a disposable scroll.

Isn't that on that scroll where all of his story is written? Oh, that story that includes Merlin, the Merlin he thought he knew better than anyone else, to whom he has told things he hasn't told anyone else, the one whom he believed that would be there for him even when no one else was. Was this his Merlin? His Merlin had no magic, his Merlin would know him and remember him...

But this Merlin has been in the farthest corner of the room since he tried to get close to Arthur and Arthur drove him away by attacking him with his sword. He was not the only one, really in his frustration and pain Arthur did not want anyone near him so he kept them all a sword's length away.

Only Lancelot has come close to Merlin. They have been whispering or, rather, Lance has been whispering to him while Merlin has limited himself to a couple of nods or grimaces that seem to be a language that only Lance knows

Before, he would have thought it was a language he knew too. Merlin is always expressive and his opinions, even if they don't come out through his lips, are expressed in his features. Now he doesn't know how to read him because probably never could before.

Hours pass, Leon finally manages to bandage Arthur when he became too apathetic to continue threatening with his sword.

They began to question the haters when they woke up, none of them spoke. While the fear of the Camelot crown was evident, it seemed that there was something they were more afraid of. That is until one of them, the one who had completed the most violently during the fight and who since they had awakened had been the most contemptuous, began to vociferate, spitting on the tomb of the already dead magical people or cursing those who remain alive.

He spat and thrashed around to such an extent that the knights of the round table had to stop trying to hold him back because he broke Elyan's nose. To the point that perhaps they saw some foam at the mouth like a rabid animal.

They understood something among the fanatical babbling he was throwing out.These haters served someone with power apparently and in return this person with power helps them go unnoticed in their rounds of clandestine executions. His tirade also included a lot of "monsters," "corruption," "abomination," "injustice," "imbalance," and other words that Arthur would never admit he had heard from his own father's mouth. (Nor would he admit that in a brief flash of thought it occurred to him that his father probably sounded just like that nutcase)

Merlin, at the end of his patience, ends up slamming his palms against the table, everyone's attention on him and it's as if they were seeing him for the first time. Squared shoulders, deadly gaze, even showing some teeth when speaking. It's like watching the biggest animal walk into the room without even having to make a move.

«Monsters you call us. Imbalance you scream and point your dirty finger at our abilities. But it's us those who heal the ancestors who have not yet understood which plants helped or how to treat conditions" and with that his eyes lit up and Elyan's nose was healed as well as the scratches from the previous fight In all of them except Arthur.

«And you, those born among silks and banquets, are the only ones with the right to learn to defend yourself»

«Say again, who is what »

Gwaine takes the initiative to gag the haters and the rest prepare to approach to plan their next move when Arthur interrupts the silence again

«After all that magic has done to Camelot, what it has done to me! You cannot deny that magic is, in fact, a power that disadvantages, takes from the defenseless, corrupts! Merlin, How could you learn magic after all?»

«You said it, prince, magic is a power, but it is not the only power and it is not what corrupts. Is magic what increases the tax to the point of not allowing the people to survive the winter? Is it magic that decides when to start a war that devastates the lands and innocent lives? Or is the one who wields with impunity the sword that has murdered so many people without trial, just because of false accusations? »

«Power is holding something above the heads of others, put them at a disadvantage, and decide what to do with it. Not many do anything good with it. Magic doesn't corrupt, the power it gives you maybe does, but the power has more than just one way. You have power, and Your lords and knights... Tell me, Arthur Pendragon, are these not your knights? Have they not exercised their power in a corrupt way?»

«That's not... We're not... I asked a question! How did you fall so low to learn magic?! »

«If you think I learned magic, then maybe we were never as close as you've been leading me to believe until now»

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Continuation

[therebelcaptainnetwork]

Rebelcaptain Appreciation Week!

Hello everyone, it's time for our eighth (!!) annual Rebelcaptain Appreciation week! Can we really have more to celebrate about our beloved tragic duo? Of course we can, and we will.

This year, the dates are September 9 - 15.

SCHEDULE:

Day One: Significant Moments | Rebel

Day Two: Media Adaptation (AU/Crossover/Fusion) | Missing Scene

Day Three: Firsts | Partners

Day Four: Quotation or Lyrics | Stars

Day Five: Headcanons | Elements

Day Six: Tropes | Mission

Day Seven: Free Day | Bonus Prompt: Hope

Please use this week to celebrate Jyn and Cassian in any way you would like, whether it’s making gifs, graphics, mixes or fanvids, writing fic or meta, creating fanart, etc.

We've included two prompts for each day to give you plenty to pick from. Please feel free to do either one or both! The point is to create as much positive Jyn x Cassian related material as possible.

How it will work:

Please tag your posts with #rebelcaptainweek in one of the first five tags so we can see it

@therebelcaptainnetwork will reblog ALL work with this tag

To find works created for this event, we will be tagging all reblogged works #rebelcaptain week, and specific days will be tagged #rc week: day [one]

Feel free to message us with any comments, questions or concerns. We hope you guys have a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing what wonderful things you will create!

[j-partneringrime]

Rachel Amber is such a good character and I don’t get the amount of hate she gets. I feel like people who are judging her based on some of her actions really don’t understand her character, because that’s exactly what happens in the games. In the first game, most people who talk about rachel say how popular she was or how beautiful she was, and how cool she was at parties or how good she was at modelling, almost everything said about rachel from people other than chloe is stuff like that. the way they talk about her to max, who never met her, really seems like they don’t view her a as an actual person and more as an idea, they let their idea of rachel overshadow who she actually was and what she actually did and felt, she was always the popular girl or the party girl or something like that, she was always “rachel amber” instead of just rachel amber (if that makes sense). And rachel leaned into that assumption of her a bit but not in a lying, manipulative way like some people say, but in a similar way to chloe being known as a trouble maker and a rebel, which made her act like that more than she would’ve normally, without that expectation of her. It’s just so heartbreaking to see after rachel’s death that most people who she knew, when asked about her, don’t actually talk about what she was actually like as person. And that’s shown even more while she was alive in BtS, that everyone has an idea of her but no one truly knows her, even her parents think of her as their perfect, smart, polite, always good daughter, which isn’t who she is, I mean it’s part of her and everything else people think of her aren’t lies, but they’re only part of her. And chloe is the only person we ever see rachel fully open up to and when talking about rachel, actually talks about what she was like as person and the full person what she was, not just the idea that people got from her. That’s why it’s so sad and mischaracterising when people say she was using chloe and manipulating her, because chloe was the only person she ever let her herself fully be free with and without any expectations of her, including her own parents. I don’t understand how people can see their relationship and think it’s all fake from rachel’s end, especially since the ending of BtS and the big final decision is about the trust they have in each other and how rachel trusts chloe completely, because the final choice of whether to tell her the truth or not is very much framed as either don’t tell her and save her the pain of losing her father, which chloe understands and also knows how much rachel needs her family right now, or do tell her because rachel has complete trust in chloe and to not tell her would be to betray that trust, and to betray the only real relationship rachel has, and to view that thinking rachel doesn’t care about chloe removes all meaning from that moment. That moment is literally about how much trust rachel has in chloe and how much she cares about her and the choice you make is deciding if you are going to be worthy of that trust and love that rachel is giving you or if you’ll betray it and hide something incredibly meaningful from her when she needs someone to be there for her more than ever. And I feel like that trust between them is what ends up helping rachel open up more after BtS and what lets rachel let down some of walls when she and chloe hang out with other people, like steph and mikey or justin and trevor. Rachel is an amazing character who deserved much better from both in universe and real life. She deserved to live, she deserved to get out of Arcadia bay with chloe, she deserved to meet max and she deserves to be seen as she is by the fandom instead of the strange evil and manipulative idea some have of her. Rachel Amber is an amazing character, and deserves all the love <3

Also the argument at the junkyard, really shows just how much people’s perception of rachel affects her, that chloe, who she has never really spoken to before and only interactions are yesterday at the concert and today skipping school, both of which are good days for them and go against what people think of rachel, after all that chloe still pushes and kind of forces the ideas and assumptions about rachel on her, even though none of her experiences with rachel fit that perception of her, she still uses it against her, because that’s just how she’s known sadly. Which I don’t fully blame chloe for because both her and rachel weren’t in the best mindset during that fight and literally everyone has that perception of her so chloe leaning into that perception of her is believable but you know, it still happened.

(btw these are more my thoughts about her from an in universe perspective, not how she was written irl, because I know some of the stuff I mention, like how people talk about her in LiS 1, is because of the story and how her character is purposefully written and meant to be viewed)

[needanaccount2readarcaneposts]

every time i read a post about how, "silco kept fighting relentlessly for a free zaun because it's what fELiCiA wOuLd hAvE wAnTed," i add another name to my kill list (in minecraft).

we'll never fucking undo the damage s2 has done to his characterisation.

let people believe in things bigger than themselves without needing some secret twist reason. let people fight for something because they observed an injustice in the world and decided to fucking do something about it, without needing a personal motivation tied to a tragic dead friend/family member/lover/whatever.

it is one thing for s1 to acknowledge that, while silco was always a true believer, his trauma at vander's hands is responsible for informing his view on the need for unflinching ruthlessness; for excising weakness. but s2 is now vander-ifying silco and fandom is eating it right up; making him 'more sympathetic' by suggesting that his determination to keep fighting in the first place was in some way tied to a lost loved one. because in a liberal media framework that serves the interest of capital, it is dangerous to suggest that someone can be motivated by purely ideological reasons and still be sympathetic. can still be right to want what they want, or do what they do.

i'm gonna make Outlaw Kings & Rebellion Chic required reading for everyone, and have included more extracts under the cut, but in summary:

Violence that does not proceed from personal injury requires no such breakdown. This kind of primarily ideological violence can be directed against a perfectly functional system - functional, at least, for the perpetrator - simply because it appears the ‘just’ thing to do. No wonder, then, that in our mass media, the characters practising ideological violence are cast as morally unsound. If normality is not self-evident but a site of contention, then it problematises easy narratives of rebels vs tyrants. And if dispute over the political system is enough to justify force, then that implies violence against the modern Western state, even its violent overthrow, could be justifiable. This is understandably concerning for many writers, who tend to come from backgrounds closer to the Lannisters than the ‘smallfolk’.

If a person can commit violence simply because they believe it’s right, without any hidden ambition, then nothing stops us from acting to change the world.

Separately, there is in screenwriting a kind of uncodified rule: villains act, heroes react. The hero, according to traditional Hollywood structure, can’t fulfil their destiny until an extraordinary event drags them out of the world they know. More often than not, that event begins with the villain. Harry Potter is only the Chosen One because Lord Voldemort killed his parents. Luke Skywalker would have stayed on Tatooine dreaming of adventure, until Darth Vader’s attack on a rebel ship sends a secret message to his farm. Frodo would be safe and happy in Hobbiton if not for Sauron. Heroes rarely set out to change the world. Villains want change, and heroes run to keep up. [...] Many of these characters live with occupation, oppression, and state brutality as part of their daily lives, but they don’t turn to violent resistance until their families are directly threatened or killed. When heroes commit political violence, it must be to avenge a personal injury. This is supposed to be substantively different from political violence committed for ideological reasons, which receives a much less sympathetic treatment. [...] When we see violent characters who kill for primarily political reasons, they are often anti-heroes at best, outright villains at worst. The idea of the full circle revolution - of the secret dictator hiding in the throat of every rebel leader, waiting to leap out and betray the non-ideological hero - is utterly pervasive. It appears in videogames, where good old-fashioned all-American heroes like Jim Raynor of Starcraft or Booker DeWitt of Bioshock Infinite are betrayed by villainous revolutionaries Arcturus Mengsk and Daisy Fitzroy (and after all they’ve done for them!). It is common in films, from supervillains like Magneto and Killmonger, liberationists written as would-be conquerors, to the rebels of The Hunger Games, who vote to continue the games as soon as they’re in power, except with the children of the dethroned elite rather than the children of the poor. The same reversal is mentioned in A Song of Ice and Fire, where rebel slaves, once liberated, enslave their former masters; in the TV version, an evil fundamentalist visits the kind of cruelty on the King’s Landing nobility that they visited on others. In all these examples we see an echo of the primal fear of every oppressive class, the nightmare at the heart of modern white supremacy: what if someone did to us what we’ve done to them? Liberation is re-imagined as the world turned not so much upside-down but mirrored. [...]

Rensin attributes the hatred of the High Sparrow to his hypocrisy, but I don’t think that’s quite right. What is terrible about the High Sparrow is that he has no personal grievance. He didn’t see his father killed by the ‘good guys’, like Killmonger. His family weren’t murdered by his oppressors, like Magneto. By his own account the High Sparrow was a cobbler who became disillusioned, found religion, and now, thanks to the vagaries of a civil war among the elite, finds himself in a position to overturn the social order. The feudal system of Westeros never injured him personally. He simply came to believe it should be torn down, and acted accordingly.

We seem to find this faintly repellent. We are so used to looking for an ulterior motive that, when we can’t find one, we grow uncomfortable. If a good person can commit violence simply because they believe it’s right, without any hidden ambition, then nothing stops us from acting to change the world. [...] Violence that does not proceed from personal injury requires no such breakdown. This kind of primarily ideological violence can be directed against a perfectly functional system - functional, at least, for the perpetrator - simply because it appears the ‘just’ thing to do. No wonder, then, that in our mass media, the characters practising ideological violence are cast as morally unsound. If normality is not self-evident but a site of contention, then it problematises easy narratives of rebels vs tyrants. And if dispute over the political system is enough to justify force, then that implies violence against the modern Western state, even its violent overthrow, could be justifiable. This is understandably concerning for many writers, who tend to come from backgrounds closer to the Lannisters than the ‘smallfolk’.

[nyaagolor]

Ranking the Ushiromiyas based on whether or not I think they're a narc

Kinzo: -1/10. Hitting a blunt is what killed him

Krauss: 4/10. While I do think he initially would be against any kind of marijuana usage by virtue of being a conservative dude in the 80s, I'm almost positive I could convince him that growing it in the mansion's boiler room is a solid investment

Natsuhi: 0/10. As far as she's aware weed is basically the same thing as cocaine and will kill you, if you brought it near her I think she might actually pass out. However, out of everyone here I think she would benefit the most from an edible

Jessica: 9/10. If this series was set in the current day she would be hiding a vape pen from her parents and teaching Kanon how to hit in the rose garden. She gets a point taken off because she doesn't know that holding it in doesn't do anything

Eva: 6/10. Hates smoking overall, so you can't actually smoke near her without getting yelled at. Though she wouldn't snitch on you, technically, that's only because she fully intends on using it for blackmail later

Hideyoshi: 7/10. He did some sketchy business deals during the war, I'm pretty sure he's got a don't ask don't tell policy (not including Eva, she knows everything). Knocked down three points for the indirect blackmail.

George: 3/10. He's definitely a narc, but that's only because he was trying to rebel sometime in HS and went to a rotation but got laughed at for rolling the saddest, most pathetic looking joint of all time. He has a vendetta now

Rudolf: 6/10. Would probably smoke if it were modern day and isn't one to snitch but his weed etiquette is so bad that I need to knock him down a peg on principle

Kyrie: 7/10. She's the dealer. Points knocked off because she keeps cutting it with cheap shit because she knows her buyers (including her husband) are kinda dumb

Battler: 8/10. Would never snitch but loses a few points because he's bad at it. See below:

Rosa: ???/10. Feels like she'd snitch but also gives me the impression of someone who's tried cocaine before so I think her thoughts on the subject are pretty mood dependent. I don't trust her though.

Maria: 10/10. She didn't snitch on Beatrice and we all know what was in that pipe

[sepublic]

Raine Whispers’ story feels defined by a constant Trolley Problem, one where they’re often forced to make hard decisions. It’s such a difficult life; The first was having to cut ties with Eda, which would’ve definitely worsened Eda’s mental health, but ultimately Eda’s was getting worse anyway because she refused Raine’s help, so Raine had to look after themselves for once.

Then there’s their role as a rebel, while balancing that as a coven head; I can imagine how these roles often went at odds with one another, how Raine had to stomach a lot by reassuring themselves, anyone else insincere could’ve and would’ve taken this position; But with me here, I can do something good for the rebellion here. Raine had to render their palisman Fiddlesticks inanimate as a violin to hide them in plain sight from Belos’ hunger, to a point where Fiddlesticks couldn’t help at all even if they wanted to.

Raine tells Eda she has to commit to being a BATT, and then have to make the hard call to commit a murder-suicide with their lost love to take down who they believe to be enemies, even if that includes a childhood friend; Because otherwise, they’re doomed anyway, so may as well take a bite out of the coven to make others’ lives easier.

But then they see that photo, and realize; Eda has kids who need her. And suddenly Raine can’t go through with taking out key coven targets because they remember the innocents they’re doing this for, the people who need help; Those are always the priority and Raine has to call off the Requiem, even if it means being captured and not making any progress with the rebellion… So they believe.

And you see that compassion in their debut episode pay off; It leads to Raine realizing Darius and Eberwolf are allies, finding a real collaboration. But then Raine has to deal with another moral dilemma: Lying to Eda about their memories in order to keep attacking the coven from within, and protecting her and those kids they made the previous call for to begin with. They have to grapple with possibly being a hypocrite, because didn’t Eda do the same to them? But Eda almost died when Raine let her in, and the stakes are so different here.

Raine scouting Kikimora’s vulnerability that episode might come across as predatory, but what other choice do they have? The oppressed have a right to violence, the oppressor make it so only one can survive, and in the end anyone will have to side with those who weren’t the aggressor. Likewise, they have to stomach Terra’s oversight to give Darius and Eberwolf cover, with those two unsuspected.

The pressure begins to culminate with Eda calling Raine for help, and at that point Raine realizes they DID make a mistake; Not letting Eda in on the rebellion lead to a lot of isolation and desperation on her and the kids’ end, not knowing if they could do something about the Day of Unity. Because now Luz and Eda are in trouble, the people Raine was keeping secrets for; So Raine organizes a rescue with Darius and Eberwolf’s help.

Then we get to the draining spell, Eda needs the sigil to sabotage the ritual. Raine has to make that hard call, has to make that sacrifice because it’s what Eda’s choosing to do, this is for the greater good right? But then Luz pulls on their sleeve, and asks Raine; Please keep Eda safe. Raine had let Eda go for those kids, they let Eda back in for this kid especially, and now they’re letting Eda die when this kid is asking for her to be safe??? This was more than their own feelings now; Raine is at odds with their morals and the greater good, and they let Eda go up those stairs…

But when the opportunity presents itself, when they’re dying and the world is burning anyway; There is no greater good left, they’re doomed regardless, so Raine decides to save Eda so she can survive, at least. For their own heart and Luz and King’s. And that’s when Raine’s willingness to undo their mistake keeping secrets finally, inadvertently saves everyone; It lead to the kids crossing paths with Kikimora (whose importance was correctly clocked by Raine) and when they go after her to save Luz, King gets Kikimora to help him free the Collector to stop the Day of Unity!

But it’s never enough; Raine and Eda can’t even savor each other together, being alive together. Raine has to let Eda go when the Collector kidnaps King, because those kids need Eda more than Raine and they’ll always make that priority. But after everything, they’ll get to enjoy being with Eda as well…

Raine had to deal with Terra’s ‘care’ and then Belos possessing them, they’ve had to suffer an intimacy. For a moment it came down to only Raine to stop Belos from possessing the Titan, Raine trying their damnedest even as their body is trying not to collapse it’s just. Ugh they keep trying, even after one plan fails they keep finding a way to salvage this and make it work! And finally it does, people come in to help them, those same kids and their mother, after all Raine’s sacrificed for them. And after all of the suffering and indignity and atrocity to bear, they finally get to kill the bastard responsible and smash his brains against the dirt!

Like any Trolley Problem there is no one, easy solution most of the time, that’s the whole point; Sometimes Raine has to break someone’s heart, overlook injustice, etc., for the greater good. All they can do is try their best and remember who they’re making these sacrifices for, and hope it works out in the end. Raine had to suffer such a burden for others with the weight of the world on their shoulders.

But they’ve always cared about the ‘lesser’ good, the little people and the individuals. So the best they could do amidst the burden was to just always remind themselves why and who they’re doing this for, and to always come back to that in the end. And it’s why the Demon Realm is saved, it’s why everyone lives, it’s why Raine gets to be with Eda when the fire has burnt itself out. After all of the sacrifice of their conscience and/or peace of mind, they get to rest too.

And that ability to see the bigger picture while still remembering the details is exactly why Raine is fit to be a leader, as a member of the Boiling Isles Council. Between the framing with Belos’ statue and the crown banner, Raine is someone the isles can trust to do their best for the little guy, and they’re no longer alone for it; Not since breaking up with Eda or starting their rebellion, or having to deal with Belos possessing them and the Titan. Raine’s received their own help too.

It’s extra insane as well, because Raine has stage fright; They’re a major public figure and going to have to deal with all eyes on them to be held accountable and they did it anyway, like all of the other the difficult decisions. They’ll bear getting on stage to say or play what they need to for everyone else to hear. Even after everything Raine is still making that perpetual sacrifice, but it’s such a smaller one, it’s something they can learn to get over, and they’ve gotten so much in return by seeing their world heal. They deserve everything. Truly the Titan’s strongest soldier, down to wearing her skull with pride.

[alpaca-clouds]

The Haitian Revolution

Yeah, okay. I guess to properly do the history thing, I also have to talk about the Haitian Revolution, don't I? Given that it is so important for the backstory of both Annette and Edouard.

Why didn't I do that so far? Because the Haitian Revolution is super hard to talk about because of the sources. A bit issue is that for a good part of it we only have French sources, that are not always the most... neutral. Because a lot of the rebelling slaves had never learned to write. As such, we actually do not know a lot about the side of the rebels until some Free Blacks started to take their side and lead the rebellion.

But I know a bit.

So, let me explain what I know.

Haiti (St. Domingue specifically, the French side of the island) was build exclusively on slave work. There were plantation there for indigo, sugar and coffee for the most part. And those plantation were very important for the French economy. And of course it was slaves working those plantations.

On the island there was a three class system (though if we are honest, it was a four class system).

Whites, who were free people and citizens of France. (Though in truth there was a difference between the plantation owning whites and those whites, who were not of the owning class.)

Free Black people. What differed in Haiti from the US for example is that it happened quite often that children of rape (white owners on Black slaves) would be freed and even adopted as children. While not considered citizens, they could own things, including their own plantations. (Yes, there were quite a few of these that owned slaves.)

Slaves, who outnumbered all other people on the island somewhere between seven to one and ten to one.

Now, most slaves did not survive the first three years after getting to the island. Many died in fact in their first year, because the working conditions were so harsh, they often did not receive food, were severely punished (through it receiving infections and such), and of course there was just the general issue of sicknesses.

There were people rebelling a long while and from what we know (again, there is so little in terms of sources) there were some escaped slaves living in the mountains and at times using guirella tactics. But there was not quite the move for a widespread rebellion starting...

That was until the French Revolution started. Once more the gentle reminder: The French Revolution took a long while to brew and originally was not a violent revolution, it only became violent in response to the violent oppression of it. Now, the people on St. Domingue were instructed not to talk about the Revolution, because some folks rightly assumed that it might give people ideas. Especially as among the Revolutionaries there was a big discussion about the abolition of slavery.

But in the end... Well, it did not work out and the freed slaves banded together for a proper uprising in 1791.

It is this uprising that we see in Nocturne. I have seen some people being very shocked in the human on human violence we see there, because folks are really whimpy when it comes to that. So, a little explanation: Originally (in the 1791) uprising the slave uprising was once again not very violent. Almost everyone who got killed was connected to immense abuses of slaves. The rebels tried to spare everyone who treated their slaves kindly. As such within that first uprising only 400 whites got killed, compared to 4000 Black people, as the French were much better armed.

Still, the rebels managed to capture part of the island.

It should be noted: This is probably around the time when Annette and Edouard left. They captured some plantation, and freed quite a few more slaves.

There would follow quite a bit of back and forth then. Especially between Haiti and the French Republic. And I would not be surprised if we were to see that in the coming season(s).

Mostly, because the Revolitionaries went back and forth between whether Free Black people could be citizens who got to vote or not. Making the Free Blacks, who originally were against the revolution, more and more take the side of the rebels.

And yes, it would get more and more violent. Because France and then later Britain, too (who did not agree with France on many things - but on saving slavery) threw thousands upon thousand of soldiers in fighting down the revolution with extreme violence, leading the Haitian Revolutionaries to answer this violence with their own violence.

But for the love of God, do not go there and be like: "Ugh, violence. Violence bad." Like, fuck that. I said that about Isaac before as well: Slaves freeing themselves have the right to use whatever violence necessary for that.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Lute sees Vaggie's wings have grown back and tries take them again. She grabs them to pull them off, but her hands burn right through her gloves. Sp, Lute tries to cut them off with her sword, but the blade shatters the second it hits the feathers. That's the power of love, bitch!

this could be either so dramatic or so fucking funny so i'd love to imagine it being Both

(fuck this turned out looooooong XD)

Emily: "Good news!”

Charlie: "YAY!"

Vaggie: "How good can it be, if we had to come all the way to stupid heaven to hear it?

Charlie: "Vaggie, c'mon- We could REALLY use some good news!"

Emily: "Then you'll love this. I looked into it and, Vaggie, you being abandoned in hell was wrong, not to mention Adam never cleared it with anyone else anyway- so you can come back here to heaven! Isn't that great!"

Charlie: "Oh... thanks Emily, that's..."

Vaggie: "Not happening."

Charlie: "Maybe she could have some time to think about-"

Lute: "No.”

Vaggie: "No."

Lute: “An angel's place is in heaven. Hell is a prison for sinners, demons, and the fallen who reject the very order of creation. If you choose to stay down there, then what does that make you?"

Vaggie: "It's making me fucking happy, for one thing."

Charlie: (whispers) "... a happy day in hell?"

Vaggie: (whispering back) "Every single one."

Charlie: (BEAMS)

Lute: "Then you've made your choice. You're not an angel. You’re not one of us. You're a traitor."

Vaggie: "And it's been better company than I had up here."

Lute: "Think so?” (grins) “Sera, respectfully, hell is rebelling-"

Charlie: "We were PROTECTING ourselves!"

Lute: "-they killed Adam and one of their people is up here acting like he doesn’t still sympathize with murderers and filthy sinners. We can’t risk anyone else getting past heaven’s gates.”

Vaggie: “Like I’d ever want to!”

Lute: “So you wouldn’t lead the charge if your demon bitch said the word and pointed at us?”

Emily: “Lute!”

Charlie: “Vaggie wouldn’t-”

Vaggie: “Charlie never would! That’s what makes her different from assholes like YOU.”

Lute: “You think everyone’s as weak as you are, don’t you? She’s a hellborn princess. She just called violently resisting a sanctioned extermination ‘self defense.’”

Charlie: “YOU WERE KILLING PEOPLE!”

Lute: “Sinners are not people. They had their chance and burned it. And they’re not the only ones.”

Emily: “But they can be redeemed! We’ve seen it happen!”

Lute: “Once.”

Emily: “It doesn’t matter that it was only ‘once’- it matters that it happened and we still don’t understand why. We have a duty to the people of heaven, but if sinners can find their way here then that duty includes them too! And the exterminations were just wrong from the start!”

Lute: “Careful Emily, you’re starting to sound like a traitor too.”

Emily: “If the other choice is sounding like YOU, then-”

Sera: “Enough! Both of you! Emily is not the one on trial here, Lute.”

Lute: “Then listen to the ones that ARE! Sera, listen to them, listen to HER- she’s made her choice. She’s fallen even more than Lucifer Morningstar did-”

Charlie: “Don’t you DARE bring my dad into this!”

Lute: “-and there should be a PRICE for that. We need to take precautions.”

Emily: “Precautions? What does that even mean? She’s locked in hell with everyone else, like Lucifer is, what more can you even do to her?”

Lute: “Same thing I did before. Only this time.” (draws sword) “I know how to make it stick.”

Charlie: “What?”

Vaggie: “….you… bitch.”

Lute: "Traitor's don't need an angel's wings, do they? Traitors don't deserve them."

Charlie: "Well she has them again now anyway so CLEARLY having angel wings doesn’t mean what you think it does!”

Lute: “It means I didn’t use heavenly steel the first time.”

Emily: “You-”

Charlie: “Don’t. Come any closer.”

Emily: “Lute stop! Sera stop her! This isn’t helping anyone!”                        

Sera: “I have only one question.”

Lute: “Ask and get it over with, we all know what the answer is already.”

Sera: “Hush.”

Sera: “Vaggie. Do you reject our offer of a pardon, and the orders of and service to heaven, in favor of remaining hell?”

Vaggie: “…I do.”

Sera: "Understanding that no other angel has ever done so before?”

Vaggie: “They would’ve, if they’d met Charlie.”

Sera: “Then you are guilty of treason.”

Vaggie: “…”

Sera: “Lute. Make it quick.”

Lute: (grinning) “As the seraphim commands.”

Emily: “Wait-”

Charlie: “BACK. OFF.”

Sera: “You are not in hell, miss Morningstar, this is not your domain and you have no power to draw on here. I will honor our former treaty not to spill hell’s royal blood but do NOT test my patience with it. Emily, restrain her.”

Charlie: “NO-”

Emily: “Sera you can’t! This is-!”

Sera: “Fine. Exorcists, hold the hell princess. And Emily, if you cannot obey a command or bear witness to my rulings then leave before I remove you myself.”

Emily: “I… you…”

Lute: “Kneel. Traitor.”

Charlie: “TOUCH HER AND I’LL MOTHERFUCKING KILL YOU”

Vaggie: “Charlie don’t struggle don’t fight them- get those fucking spears out of her face- Emily!”

Emily: “…what…?”

Lute: “I said. KNEEL.”

Charlie: “VAGGIE!”

Vaggie: “Please! Don’t let- AGH- don’t let them hurt her!”

Emily: “I won’t… I.” (grabs Charlie and holds on tight) “I- I have her. Spears down. I, have her restrained.”

Charlie: "FUCK YOU LET GO! LET GO-"

Sera: (relieved) “Thank you.”

Lute: "Let's make you look the part first shall we? Trim this hair out of the way?"

Vaggie: "You're pathetic."

Lute: "I'm not the one chained up and crying on my knees."

Charlie: "PLEASE I can make a deal I can make a new agreement with heaven- Whatever you want! What do you WANT from us!?"

Lute: "I want her to hold still. If she flinches, I might nick that left over eye of hers."

Vaggie: "Fuck. You- Ah!"

Lute: "Whoops. Hope that won't scar."

Sera: "Lute I said to make it quick-"

Lute: "We want to it be clean too don't we. I'm just cut cutting off some loose ends- wouldn't want to miss her wings and MANGLE this, would I."

Emily: “Charlie-”

Charlie: “YOU!”

Lute: "There. Now you look just as pathetic as you did three years ago."

Emily: “Charlie just close your eyes, she’ll be okay-”

Lute: “No she won’t.”

Charlie: “VAGGIE-”

(Slash)

(THUNDR CRACK)

(shatter)

Lute: “AARGH!”

Sera: “…….” (horrified)

Lute: “My hand! My sword-” (rounds on Charlie) “Demon BITCH! WHAT DID YOU DO!?”

Charlie: “Vaggie? Are you..?”

Vaggie: “….fine. I’m. I don’t think it’ll even bruise?”

Emily: (awed) “Your wings broke her sword. They shattered heavenly steel-”

Lute: “DEMON MAGIC!”

Emily: “A miracle.” (releases Charlie)

Charlie: "Vaggie-" (snaps the chains off vaggie and pulls her close)

Sera: “Traitor. How did you regain those wings.”

Vaggie: (huddled in Charlie’s fierce hug) “C- someone told me I had to fight with love, and I thought about Charlie, and they just…”

Lute: “SEE!? They were made in HELL they’re as profane as the love that spawned them-”

Emily: “Then they’re not under heaven’s jurisdiction to take away, are they? They belong to Vaggie. Not to us.”

Lute: “Belong to- she doesn’t DESERVE-”

Emily: “And you don’t deserve to cut them off her apparently.”

Lute: “I-”

Sera: “Lute. QUIET.”

Lute: (seething and bleeding from sword shrapnel) “…”

Sera: “You, fallen. If I bent my power on you, I could very likely burn those wings from existence.”

Charlie: “If you want to start a war with hell that’s a VERY good way of doing it. Sera.”

Sera: "...."

Sera: “…you will no longer be allowed past the gates of heaven. You are here on and forever more bound to the regions of hell, regardless of your wings-”

Vaggie: “Fine by f-fucking me.”

Sera: “-and in time you will lose all your divinity. You will bleed a demon’s blood one day.”

Vaggie: “Good.”

Lute: “If you live that long.”

Charlie: (Unholy SNARL)

Emily: (getting between them) “Can I send them home now? Or are we going to do something else to shame all of heaven in front of our guests?”

Vaggie: (sighing) “I’d love to be home right now…”

Charlie: “We’ll be there in a second.” (hugs her tighter) “I promise.” (kiss her hair) “Want to stretch your wings?”

Vaggie: “…yeah.”

Sera: “No, Emily. I will banish them.”

Charlie: “Okay.” (suddenly glaring) “Ha ha thank you Sera but don’t bother. It’s straight down from here and the prison wards don’t stop anyone from coming IN do they?”

Emily: “Are you sure your wings are okay for flying with, Vaggie?”

Vaggie: “That’s what I wanna find out.”

Charlie: “We’ll be fine. And we won’t be coming back.”

Emily: “I’m sorry.”

Lute: “Like you’d have the chance.”

Sera: “Go. Heaven is no place for either of you.”

Charlie: “Wow really I hadn’t noticed! I mean no one in HELL ever tried mutilating my girlfriend in front of me, but whatever I guess!” (muttering) “Sadistic homophobic pricks.”

Vaggie: “Told you.”

Charlie: “You did. You did tell me. I’m sorry I didn’t-”

Vaggie: “I love that you didn’t listen.”

Charlie: “…okay.” (deep breath) “Okay.”

Vaggie: “Besides, there’s Sir Pentious up here now.”

Charlie: “True. They don’t deserve him.”

Vaggie: “And Emily.”

Charlie: “Hm.” (burns a hole in the clouds beneath them) “Ready to fuck off together for all eternity?”

Vaggie: (weak chuckle) “Yeah, sweetie. Let’s go home.”

- they go home-

Sera: “Emily.”

Emily: "..."

Sera: “I hope you will think hard on what you’ve done and very nearly did today. Please.” (touches Emily’s shoulder) “For your own sake. Please.” (leaves)

Emily: “…she’s never going to forgive me, is she.”

Lute: “Oh shut UP. Sera will forgive you for ANYTHING.”

Emily: “I meant Charlie.”

Lute: (disgusted noise) (throws her broken sword down after them) (stalks off)

Emily: (sits down on the edge of the clouds) (finds one of Vaggie’s loose feathers floating by) (picks it up and twirls it sadly as she stares down at the distant warm glow of hell)

-down in hell-

Angel Dust: "Unholy fuck, Vaggie Tales, what the hell happened to your hair?"

Charlie: "Lute."

Vaggie: "Heaven."

Angel Dust: "Huh. Shit that's a bad enough cut to make a guy rethink the whole redeemin' himself stuff to get up there, y'know?"

Charlie: "I know. Trust me Angel Dust- NOW, I know."

[pixiecactus]

so in that fandom confessions post, of how people that like sansa and elia tend to depict lyanna and arya as wild and ugly when it's a canon fact that both of them were considered pretty.

there's a stansa claiming that they have never seen any elia or sansa stan do this. and i remember that old saying that goes "no hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver" (sorry for not putting a translation, but i think that i'm pretty done with posting altogether, and i really hate this time of the year, so i couldn't care less right now)

so i went through their blog to see what content they reblog, and i find it so interesting how this is one of the tags they wrote.

i can only talk for myself, as someone who doesn't like sansa that much (i really appreciate that later on in the books we don't see her judging other girls or women for being sexually active; look at her go! she's growing and learning to be more accepting; i'm a little bit impressed)... actually i think it has come a time in my life where i really pity the girl for the fandom that she has; they don't like her canon personality, and they only use her as a vessel to project themselves into a "pretty, young, and naive maid" archetype in a fantasy setting.

but i want arya and sansa to reunite; actually, i even see them sharing a desperate hug because they need to confirm that the other one is real by touching them.

where the problem lies for me is people trying to erase the fact that arya and sansa don't have a good relationship. and meanwhile, i agree that arya loves her sister, because (i can't stress enough this next part) family is one of the most important things for arya. i can't say the same thing about sansa, for this girl, the most important thing is herself, and she doesn't like arya, simply as that, because her little sister dares to rebel and not conform to what is expected of her because she was born a girl. 

sansa can't connect to arya at all because she doesn't understand her; and instead of coming to terms with this fact, sansa wishes that arya was different and then later on when sansa thinks that arya is already dead, she thinks that

"arya had been entirely unsatisfactory as sisters went" (copy it up and google it, if you don't believe me, this is actually a book quote coming from sansa's pov)

let's add to the fact that sansa is one of the stark's golden children. sansa is praised all the time around by pretty much everyone. don't you think that sansa seeing this and seeing arya be reprimanded at the same time couldn't translate into sansa being entitled and holding the belief that she's always in the right and arya is a disgrace to all of her family?

they can bring that part, in which sansa prays for all of her family (arya included) all they want, but as someone who grew up catholic, when i was a little girl, i used to pray for people who i almost never interacted with, like my neighbors, and even the ones that i didn't like, because i was taught that was the way to be "a proper little girl under the eyes of god", so as a person with that past experience behind me, i'm simply not convinced of this act being significant enough.

i have major problems with sansa dreaming about having a daughter that looks just like arya too, because i can't get out of my head the thought of if this were to actually happen and sansa has a girl that looks like the girl's aunt, every time that child misbehaves or fails any of her duties... i can see sansa resenting arya even more, because sansa would blame arya for her daughter being this way.

i do really want them to reunite (hopefully this reunion is one of the last ones to happen because i want arya to be around people that had always loved her, you know, like jon and bran and even rickon) but sansa has not matured enough to be able to recognize that she hurt her little sister badly, and i'm pretty sure she could (and would) hurt her again easily, because she had so little growth as a person. so what it comes down to is that i don't trust sansa to be around arya.

and i'm so scared of the possibility of arya forgiving her sister way too easily because sansa hasn't shown almost any remorse for the things she said to arya. and let me be clear: in any way, shape, or form, arya never did anything to deserve to be treated this way. arya always deserved better from her older sister. and arya doesn't owe sansa any kind of forgiveness just because "they're the sun and the moon."

with that particular rant from me over and done. i saw this reblogged in their blog as speculation for arya in the future.

and this next type of posts are the things they reblog for arya.

and i'm going to let those posts and tags speak for themselves.

like this person is a stansa, a jonsa, a "stark sisters" stan, a dany anti and a green stan... like "girl (gender neutral), pick a struggle for real"

[thewalkingwillowtree]

Courting Ayelýn

Series Listing Found Here

Aonung x Original Na'vi Female Character

Summery: Pressured by his parents to enter a formal courtship, Aonung rebels in his own way and what starts as a ruse, turns into something real. 

Note before reading: This is a spin off of my Safe Haven Series.

Reading Safe Haven is not necessary to follow this story.

Some characters have been aged up. Aonung in particular is 25.

Ayelýn is my own creation. *Pronounced Aye-Lin

~

Part 6 - When They Loved

Neteyam stared at his friend in disbelief. He blinked slowly before his head snapped over to where Ayelýn sat a few feet away, then back to Aonung as if trying to understand. 

All the while the wheels turned in his head, Lo’ak sat back with a smug smirk, enjoying every second of Aonung’s annoyance toward him. 

Lo’ak had slipped up- and Neteyam being no idiot had pried, causing them to have to tell him the truth. 

“Nope. No.” Neteyam shook his head. “You’re both fucking with me.” He looked at his brother as if asking for confirmation, and at Lo’ak’s nod, he scoffed in bewilderment. “It’s all an act? You and her? All fake? She- Ayelýn isn’t-”

“Like I said, it’s all part of a plan.”

“Mm.” Neteyam clicked his tongue and Aonung felt an uncomfortable stab of guilt at the disappointment shining in the man’s eyes. “And when’s this plan of yours ending exactly?”

Aonung’s brow crinkled. “We agreed after the celebration of Lo’ak and Tsireya’s bonding ceremony.”

“That’s less than two weeks away.”

“I know.”

“Whatever happened to what we talked about? I leave and you what- just jump at this moron’s reckless idea?” he asked, gesturing to his younger brother.

“Hey- I’ll have you know it’s a full proof plan, alright?” Lo’ak defended. “If anything, Fishlips here should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you? For what exactly? Lo’ak if anyone finds out, Aonung could-”

“Relax, bro- sheesh.” He rolled his eyes. “Definitely didn’t miss this,” he muttered under his breath. “Look, ‘Teyam, if I didn’t come up with this plan, our poor sorry assed friend here would have never met his one and only Gorgeous Lýn and fallen in lo-”

“I met her before the plan,” Aonung interrupted. He knew what Lo’ak was going to say, and he really wasn’t in the mood for this conversation. “What does that matter though? Can we just talk about something else?” he snapped.

Lo’ak groaned into the palm of his hand. “Brother, do you see what I have had to put up with? I wish he’d wise up already. I'm getting tired of his shit. I should just go over there and tell Lýn-”

“Would you shut the fuck up!”

Neteyam bit the inside of his cheek as he observed the metkayina male. Aonung glanced over at Ayelýn as if making sure she hadn’t heard his outburst. 

“You’re in love with her,” he stated, ignoring Aonung’s attempt at a scoff of indignation and continuing with, “Tell me you’re not sleeping with her.”

Aonung didn’t answer and that was all the clarification Neteyam needed. 

“You’re an idiot, you know that? I’ve been here all of two days and I know for sure that if you let that woman go, it’s going to be the biggest regret of your life.”

“We have an agreement, Neteyam,” Aonung mumbled, not even putting up a fight. “...She doesn’t feel the same way.”

Lo’ak snickered, and through a fake cough he muttered a rude remark that earned him a deadly glare. Thankfully his brother interrupted whatever Aonung’s retaliation would have been. 

“She doesn’t?” Neteyam stared at him as if he was mad. “Cause from what I’ve seen- it sure doesn’t seem that way… You two sure fooled everyone- including each other… Have you even talked to Ayelýn? Have you told her?”

“No… But just last week she screamed her head off telling me she couldn’t wait for this to finally be over.”

“Right. Now was that before or after you did something stupid?”

The skxawng couldn’t even hide it. He snorted at the memory of Lýn’s fiery gaze as she yelled at him for the stupid prank he, Kaii and Khalhan had pulled on her. 

“Would you quit pissing off the woman you love? No wonder she can’t wait to get away from you.”

“Don’t think I could if I wanted to. Brother, every time she gets mad, her face morphs into the prettiest scowl I’ve ever seen, and then after that I just want to fuck her to make up for being an dick.”

Lo’ak snorted.

“So you are in love with her then.”

Aonung paused, only just registering Neteyam’s love comment. “I’m n- I don’t know,” he lied.

“You don’t know...” Neteyam shifted on his haunches and pointed over to where Ayelýn sat. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love that woman over there.” 

Lýn sat a few feet down the beach, chatting with a large group of women. Perched between Tsireya and a breastfeeding Xilä, she was all smiles at whatever the conversation was.  

Aonung’s eyes tracked Lýn’s movement. 

And as if she could feel his stare, she glanced over at him. Brow raising, she and Aonung proceeded to have some sort of unspoken conversation that only the two of them could understand.  

Lýn’s head tilted in silent question and Aonung responded in turn, cunning gaze and quirked lips making the metkayina woman roll her eyes in faux annoyance. She was fighting a smile but it broke through right before she returned her attention to the women surrounding her. 

Neteyam and Lo’ak who had watched the entire thing unfold, shared a knowing look. 

“Yeah, alright…  Totally not in love with each other… Got it,” Neteyam said sarcastically as Lo’ak smothered his laughter. “What do your parents think of her? Have they caught on?”

“My father hasn’t- thank, Eywa… but I’m pretty sure my mother has her suspicions. They both like her though- my mother especially.”

“Huh… Thought she hated everyone.”

“Nope… She dragged Ayelýn around yesterday, officially introducing her to our council as her daughter-in-law. And she’s even meddling. The woman went and offered Lýn a new role here at Awa’atlu. A mender’s apprentice.” 

“That’s good though. Lýn would be closer to you now, no?” 

“If she takes it, then yeah.” 

“I don’t understand.” 

“He’s being stupid again,” Lo’ak chimed in. “Tell him what you did, idiot.”

Aonung shifted. “Lýn asked me whether I think she should accept the role or not… I told her I’d think about it.”

Neteyam groaned as if in pain. “Oh you poor, stupid soul. All she heard you say was don’t take it.”

“And then what, ‘Teyam? I’ll have to see her around here all the time and I won’t have any claim to her! Honestly, the fact that she wasn’t taken before baffles the fuck out of me. I have eyes- I see men watching her when they don’t think I’m looking. The second we’re through they’ll swoop right in! I mean have you seen her?!” Aonung was losing it now.

“She is very pretty, yes,” Neteyam agreed with an amused smile. 

“She’s stunning. She’s a sweetheart when she’s ready, but she’s also got this little attitude that just makes me fucking crazy… And she’s so stubborn and she works herself tired everyday and all I want-”

“All you want?” his friend pressed and this time Lo’ak had no snide comment- this time he stared at his friend with true concern. 

“All I want is to take care of her, alright,” he snapped. 

Neteyam smiled. “…Alright… So, what are you going to do to make that happen?” 

~

Strolling along wet sand, Lýn’s mind plagued her. 

She had but a handful of days left with Aonung. With desperate measures, she tried to formulate a plan for how she’d handle the separation. 

Her heartbreak was not the only one she worried over. As a consequence of her own actions, she knew the news would also be hard on her family.

Her parents had grown fond of Aonung- her father even called him son. Kaiiff would take it the hardest of course- Ayelýn knew he looked up to Aonung. 

Thankfully, a gleeful shriek and excited squeal pulled Lýn from her thoughts.

Her attention drifted to Zyden- Neteyam and Xilä’s son- the baby walking on slightly wobbly legs as his uncle Lo’ak held one of his hands- helping him stomp and splash at the gentle waves rolling on shore. 

She smiled at the little one’s baby talk, jumbled babbles filled with the few words he knew- mamas and dadas and fishies in an odd but cute mixture of both English and Na’vi.

The Sully family were amazing people. 

Her time spent with them had been surprisingly wonderful, and while they were the ones visiting her home, she felt very much welcomed by them. 

Accompanying the Sullys were Neteyam’s in-laws. 

There were Xilä’s parents- Jxo, who Lýn found to be extremely intimidating- even when he held his grandchildren and Sal- her mother, who looked as if she’d give Slwen good competition for who could be the rowdiest. 

D’avi- Xi’s sister, who had a little baby bump sprouting, was hilarious in her own way. She teased Lýn constantly about Aonung once she found out they were courting. Thankfully Yalnïk- D’avi’s husband rescued her countless times by interrupting- bringing their children along- the most adorable twins Lýn had ever met. 

Xilä was who she especially had become fast friends with however.

Lýn had friends, but very few of them made her feel the way Xi did. Xi had an energy that made just about anyone love her instantly. 

As the days went on, Lýn stuck close with D’avi, Kiri, Xi and Tuk throughout the different ceremonies- each one more elaborate than the next. 

Guests from all over Pandora arrived at different times- some visiting for a feast or two, whilst others stayed for it all- each of them bearing grand gifts for the soon to be mated pair. 

Lýn had no idea that the celebrations would be this big, but when she really thought about it- of course it would be. 

It was the union of the offspring of two esteemed Olo'eyktans; Jake Sully- the legendary Toruk Makto and Tonowari- leader of fifty villages- the largest clan spanning the seas. 

~

A few days later, as night crept slowly, Lýn approached Aonung and the small group he sat with on the beach.

With a friendly, “Hi,” she tried to crouch next to Aonung, but he scooped her up instead, seating her between his propped thighs. 

He was pleased that she didn’t mind this and instead settled comfortably against his chest without a fuss. 

“Zyden is adorable,” she complimented Neteyam and Xilä, smiling at the baby who was currently rather entertained with the sand. 

Little toes and tail wiggling excitedly, he was grabbing tiny handfuls and dropping them into Lo’ak’s waiting palm. The two of them had been inseparable since the Sully’s arrival. 

“Thank you,” Neteyam replied, and Xilä smiled in thanks from where she was leaning on her husband. “Are you and Aonung planning to wait long after your ceremony to start trying?”

Ayelýn frowned, not understanding, whilst Aonung gave Neteyam the dirtiest glare he could muster over the top of Lýn’s head. 

“Children,” Neteyam confirmed. “Having your own little ones, I meant.” 

“Oh. Oh.” Ayelýn’s cheeks bloomed bright. “Um-”

“Aonung told me he was hoping to have at least five the last time we visited.”

Ayelýn coughed, choking on air as she knocked her chest. Aonung fussed over her in serious worry, rubbing her back whilst Lo’ak laughed his ass off- even little Zyden joined in as if it were the funniest thing in the world, despite not understanding. 

“You’ve gone and traumatized the poor girl, handsome,” Xilä murmured to her grinning mate, chiding him lightly yet unable to hide her own amusement. 

“Sorry…” Lýn cleared her throat, patting Aonung’s thigh in reassurance that she was okay. “We um- haven’t talked about children yet.” 

“Gorgeous, he’s just messing with you,” Aonung said, soothing his hands down her arms, and then to Neteyam he mouthed, “Fuck off!”

Thank Eywa the conversation changed after that.

~

As the night wore on, their little group grew.

Rotxo arrived first, followed by Tsireya who instantly cuddled up with Lo’ak. Kiri and Spider joined soon after, then a couple others Lýn hadn’t had much interactions with; W’aote and three other men who were all part of Lo’ak’s patrol team back at Home Camp, and Tasam- Kiri’s courting partner. 

Little Zyden was all tuckered out and slept sprawled on his father’s chest- sleeping deep enough that the noise around him didn’t seem to be a bother. 

It was a fun, rowdy group. They talked about everything, from stupid, silly stories to serious conversation on matters that concern their clans. 

“You’ve gone quiet,” Aonung whispered to her, tugging her hair to the side to kiss her exposed neck.  

She shivered from his touch. 

“Are you ready to head back home?” 

Home. 

Aonung probably hadn’t realized what he was saying Lýn thought, but she’d picked up on his words over the past week and some. 

Everything he said hurt her just a little bit- our bed, our home, our hideaway, our, our, our.

“Lýn.”

“Hmm?” She blinked away her thoughts, head tilting to catch his gaze, not surprised when he kissed her the second her lips were within reach. 

“Ready to head home?”

She wanted to… more than anything. But they were two days away from the end of their plan. They were supposed to be distancing themselves- in a fight. 

“I shouldn’t,” she whispered back. “The plan-”

“Shh,” he kissed her again, palm cupping her cheek. “Not tonight. Please just stay.”

And of course, no matter how many times she’d said no to him, she always gave in. 

“Okay.” 

~

Two days later, on the morning of the final blessing ceremony, before Lo’ak and Tsireya’s mated bonding, as Ronal led the congregation in harmonic chant… Lýn cried. 

~

Ambling around Aonung’s little marui, Ayelýn collected her things, item by item. She did so with a heavy heart however, knowing that the end had come for her and Aonung. 

They’d put it off time and time again, but this round was different. This round was the end.

While she shoved a simple tweng into her satchel, Aonung entered and stopped short at the sight of her- stomach instantly sinking in dread. 

At a quick glance around, most of her things were already missing. He hated it already- his home looked empty without her things mingled with his. 

“What are you doing?”

“Oh- hey,” she greeted, unable to turn around and face him. Her throat burned and eyes stung. “I’m packing.” 

“I see that… Why?”

“What do you mean why? This was the plan,” she said, trying to keep the bite from her tone. Lýn walked over and knelt on his messy sleeping mats, lifting and feeling around as she searched. “Have you seen my shell necklace?”

“Lýn.”

“Could have sworn I took it off before falling asleep last night,” she mumbled. Giving up, she stood and resumed the packing of her bag.  

“Lýn-”

“How do you want to stage the fight, by the way?” 

Aonung rubbed his temple and fought to keep his irritation at bay. “Fight? What fight?”

“Mm. The argument you suggested? Don’t tell me you forgot. We’ve had this planned for months now, Aonung. I’m supposed to break your heart, remember?”

“Ayelýn-”

“And of course you’ve forgotten, but come on Aonung, this was your plan.”

In truth, it was her fault for not bringing it up last night- her fault for not asking him to clarify the plan for today.

Instead she had selfishly basked in everything that was him- fucking away her sadness and clinging on to the little time she had left with him.

“Ayelýn!” he yelled. “Look at me.”

Fingers clenched tightly around the handle of her satchel, she released it and turned. Slowly. Keeping her expression as closed off as possible. 

“You want to stage the fight? That’s what you want?” he asked, eyes tracking every inch of her face for a telling lie. 

“It’s what we planned to-”

“I didn’t ask you that, Ayelýn.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. “What do you want from me, Aonung? I don’t understand why you’re asking me that?” 

He clicked his tongue. “I think you should take that role my mother offered you.”

Ayelýn blinked. She shook her head in confusion, feeling a distinct feeling of whiplash. 

Why was he bringing that up now?!  

“Um… Are you sure? You didn’t seem pleased about it when I first brought it up.”

“I wasn’t.”

“...Can I ask why?”

“Because at the time I was being selfish to protect myself. Because if you did, then that would mean I’d have no choice but to see you everyday after this- after we ended.”

Lýn looked away, pretending his words didn’t hurt. She failed to keep the bitterness out of her tone when she asked, “What changed your mind then?” 

“I found out something quite interesting,” he replied as he approached her slowly.

“Did you?”

“You’re in love with me.”

Lýn’s jaw fell open, then snapped with an audible click of her teeth while a sense of dread that he’d found out, flooded her. 

“I’m no-”

“You aren’t?” 

“Aonung-”

“Tell me something, Lýn... What am I going to do if you fall in love with someone else one day?”

She folded her arms with a scoff. “I think you’ll survive,” she snarked. Her walls were all the way up and she hated that he was still able to rile her up this easily.

“I won’t.” He shrugged, still creeping towards her. “What about you? Hm? What are you going to do if I fall in love with someone else one day?”

She said nothing to this, expression confused as she tried to keep up with the conversation.

“Will you really be okay pretending you never cared about me at all?”

She froze, not only at the question, but realizing how close he’d gotten to her, had her panicked.

“Admit it. Tell me you love me.” 

“Where is this even coming from? I don’t love you.”

“Liar.”

“Aonung-”

“I heard you, Ayelýn. I heard you and Xilä talking a few nights ago.”

‘Fuck.’ 

“It was just talk, part of the act,” she mumbled.

“I don’t believe you.” 

Lýn’s face scrunched as she prepared for rejection. She wasn’t even given a second to think because he was talking again, and this time his words had her head spinning. 

“Maybe you’ll admit it to me then, if I said it first?” 

She inhaled sharply. 

“Will that work for you, gorgeous? If I said it first?” 

“You- you don’t love me.”

“I don’t?”

“Do you?”

His gaze was intense and Lýn felt annoyance bubble in her chest from the sight of the stupid smirk playing at his lips. 

This was probably some big joke to him. 

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, turning her back on him to add the last of her things in her satchel. 

That was not the reaction he was expecting. 

“It doesn’t matter?” His brows narrowed in upset. “The fuck does that mean, Ayelýn?” 

“No… Because then what?!” She rounded on him, eyes fiery and full with hurt. “I’m not so naive to think that you actually- ! The whole point of me pretending to court you was-”

“Are you serious?” He stood straighter, disbelief and distress radiating off of him. “Look I’m not sure at what point exactly that things officially changed, but be honest with yourself, Ayelýn. Did any of that feel like pretending to you?!”

“Aonung-”

“I want you.”

“N-”

“I want you, Lýn. No pretense. All real. Everyday. Forever.” 

Ayelýn was not a crier, but his words hit her so powerful, everything inside of her crumbled.

Hesitating, she took the bait. 

“Including courtship? For real.” 

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes. I’m not a stupid plaything.”

“You aren’t,” he agreed gently, forcing himself to not push her too fast- hope still there. "Courting gifts?” he asked in slight teasing. 

“Yes… you never did actually get me any.”

He bit down a smile. “Meeting of the families?”

“Yes.”

“Those long overbearing, traditional bonding ceremonies?”

“Yes.”

“...Mating? Tsaheylu mating?”

Lýn bit her lip, trying not to crack a smile. She failed. “Is there any other kind of mating?”

“Hey. I’m only trying to be clear with your demands over here.”

A breathy laugh escaped her at that. “Then yes, tsaheylu mating.”

“Okay.”

“Just like that…? You’re going to give me everything?”

“Just like that, gorgeous.” He stepped into her space. “But you have to agree first.” 

It was that tone again. The one that confused her to pieces sometimes.

“Aonung. I’m not playing a game right now.”

“That’s good, cause neither am I.” He was a hair's breadth away from her now, fingers coming up to tangle in her hair- thumb tracing her jaw. 

“You’re annoyingly difficult to stay away from, you know that?”

His forehead fell onto hers. “Then don’t make it difficult. Tell me you want me forever and I’m yours. Tell me you love me and I swear, I’ll do my best to be the best mate I could be. I won't be perfect..”

Lýn swallowed.

“But I’ll take care of you, and you can boss me around like wives normally do sometimes- kind of like what you already do when you tell me I’m being stupid whenever I get in my head and start behaving like an ass.” 

“Aonung-”

“And I’ll keep you, Lýn.”

She sniffled. 

“You say it all the time- as a joke, I know… But I’m dead serious right now... I’ll keep you and love you. And I’ll take care of your family- and Keftxo.” 

He swiped away her tears. 

“I'm a good man now because of you.” 

“Hush… You’ve always been a good man,” she croaked. 

“Better now, I should say.” 

Aonung cupped her face with both hands, lifting his head to see all of her. 

“I love you, Ayelýn. Pretty sure I have since the first moment we met when I found you kicking and cursing at that damn deathtrap of yours.” 

“Canoe,” she corrected through a teary laugh, eyes swimming in adoration for the man before her. 

He chuckled too, a tad choked up himself. “I love you and I want you forever, Lýn.” 

Index finger hooking and tugging him down by the cord around his neck Lýn nodded- a sweet smile playing on her lips- the action causing their noses to brush. 

 “...I love you, Aonung. Every part of you, inside out. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” 

Aonung’s face split into a wide grin. In one fell swoop, he scooped her up by the thighs, lifting her high up his waist as her legs and arms wrapped around him. 

“You want me?”

She laughed as he nipped her lips playfully. 

“Yes.”

“I’m half expecting you to tell me you have rules,” he teased. 

“Ohh I do. I am telling you right now, I am not popping out five babies.”

He cackled at that, head tossed back in pure glee.  

“Fair enough,” he agreed. “Hey, Lýn,” he called.

“Hmm?” she hummed, pecking that little birthmark on the corner of his mouth.

“Say it again… Tell me you want me.”

Lýn kissed him first. A feverish kind filled with a dose of desperation that came from raw and excessive longing. The kind that was long overdue- the kind that released all the pent up energy that came from avoiding their true feelings. 

“I want you, you skxawng.”

“I want you too, gorgeous.”

~

And that's it folks!

Thank you for reading, commenting and liking! Thank you for your patience and a special thank you to @iwannabeapinkaesthetic for the inspo for this fic to come to life!

It was a joy writing my very first Aonung story, and so much fun creating Lýn.

As always, please let me know what you think and I hope to see you in my next one.

💛💛💛.

~

Tags:@jakesullyfatjuicypeen@granddearduck@riatesullironalite@strawberri-blonde@earthling55 @innercreationflower @gyuventure @btsiguess-kpop@blkmystery@neteswife@luvteyams@isnt-itstrange@erenjaegerwifee@faatxma@ivysully@bakugouswaif@pinkpantheris @mntx666@ironcaptainnataliabarnes @staymentallystable @neteyamslovrr @melsunshine @tadomikiku

[dealingdreams]

The more I think about the decision to not move forward with a season two of the Acolyte the angrier I get. I truly believe this decision will bite Lucasfilm on the ass. It's an incredibly bad decision.

Cause listen it's not even entirely about the show itself. Do I in general think the show deserved a season two?? Yes, I adore the show, I adore Osha and Qimir...I'm so interested in seeing where there story goes...so for personal reasons I want a season two. However, it's not just about the show but the precedent this sets.

There is only so far nostalgia can get you. Lucasfilm can only eat it's own ass for so long before there is nothing left. Every current live action project in production or upcoming project, aside from skeleton crew, has a connection to a legacy character, has a character or characters previously established in a TV show or film, and/or has a character we've already seen die on screen. All of these projects including Skeleton Crew are set in roughly the same time period. We are talking about a galaxy far far away and we've barely been able to explore it.

Every recent project that as tried to do something new, tried to expand the universe, expand or re-canonize lore from legends, add new characters, more diversity, or give us a new perspective or point of view has been backtracked, retconed, or thrown away in the most disrespectful way possible.

I was raised with Star wars I want it to succeed but when it refused to standbye its projects, refuses to support or protect it's cast members, honestly I'll add in that they also don't protect fans trying to genuinely engage with their content in a positive way by not moderating their comment sections...what precedent does that set?

Because regardless of if this is Lucasfilms intention or not this decision feels like its catering to a rather loud horrid group of 'fans'. 'fans' who dont want star wars to succeed unless it's done in the way they want but the thing that is so batshit to me about that is obviously these people don't even fucking understand what Star Wars is about in the first place. Again got to make it clear this isn't directed at people that don't like the show and are normal about it, but directed at the people that are continuously harassing the cast but especially Amandla. People that are celebrating the cancellation. Everyone should have a story wars project that makes them feel represented. You aren't loosing anything by a show you don't like still existing it is literally as simple as not watching it.

And on a personal note...as someone who has loved this franchise, who loves the lore, and the universe what incentive to I have to continue engaging in their productions? All the stories I love are done...The Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and now The Acolyte are done...so what's left but cgi Luke Skywalker? I will be watching skeleton crew simply cause I'm concerned for those kids so would like to engage with it in an informed way but other than that me and star wars are probably gonna take another 4 year break.