#Multiple Second Chances

[synchodai]

When I say Tyland Lannister is my favorite character...

I am being 100% dead serious. Here is why I prefer this seemingly average nobleman over the many many many fan favorites in Fire and Blood.

Tyland Lannister is a second son in a story about second sons. Whether his feelings on this are as strong as Aemond's or Daemon's, we never know for sure in the books, but it's obvious that he's subservient to a mirror image of himself who only has more authority because of a few seconds separation between twins. It's a great display of both the arbitrariness and rigidity of succession.

His initial role in the Dance is as the master of coin for the greens. He's depicted as a typical Lannister: charming, comely, and cunning. He did what any savvy accountant would do and divided the crown's treasury amongst different allied regions for safe-keeping, ensuring that if King's Landing were sacked, their enemies wouldn't loot their coffers dry and they'd still have plenty of gold for their war efforts.

And of course, King's Landing gets sacked. Tyland is put in the black cells and ordered to be tortured by Rhaenyra to extract the gold's whereabouts. Winter is coming, people are starving and rioting, her army is dwindling, so she desperately needs that gold. Tyland is gelded, maimed, disfigured, and blinded but the torturers get nothing out of him.

Mind you, this man has been a rich, pampered bureaucrat all his life and he endured all that without breaking. When Aegon II releases Tyland from those cells, he has no fingernails, his eyes have been gouged out and/or sewn shut, this man who was once known for his good looks doesn't look human anymore — but he still manages to maintain his wits so much so that he plays an important role after the Dance.

Even with Rhaenyra dead, there are still armies raising their banners for her eldest surviving son, Aegon Trois. Tyland tells Adult Aegon to kill Child Aegon because obviously, the latter threatens the former's claim and Tyland's understandably angry over what his mom did. Aegon Dos is like, nah, I'll keep the boy hostage instead — that'll keep the armies at bay more than outright killing him.

So Tyland volunteers to go to Myr to hire sellswords for Aegon 2 since their armies are pretty much kaput after six years of this civil war. Tyland is blind at this point I remind you — there is a huge chance this man will never get to go home again. But he does it anyway, because even after years of fighting, he keeps his unwavering loyalty to the monarch he declared for.

Aegon II dies while Tyland is in Myr, and Tyland goes back to Westeros just in time to see Cregan Stark use his powers as the new Hand to marry Aegon III and Princess Jaehaera to unite the green and black sides. Cregan dusts off his hands, says my work here is done, warns the boy king not to trust anyone, then leaves for the North for everyone else to sort this mess out.

Now comes the part where Tyland shines as a character. He becomes the Hand of Aegon III and when you see his policies detailed in the book, it's clear that his goal is focused on repairs and renumerations. After what happened to him, he has every right to be spiteful and bitter against the blacks, but instead he "claimed a curious failure of memory, insisting that he could not recall who had been black and who had been green." He abolished the heavy taxes imposed on the smallfolk, sent out gold to lords whose holdings had been devastated during war, and set out to rebuild the Realm's granaries and fleet. Cleaning up is a tedious, unglamorous job — and because of his monstrous appearance and former allegiances, Tyland was looked upon with distrust.

And yet, while other regents grasped for power and tried taking advantage of the 13-year-old King Aegon III, Tyland seemed to be different. If he wanted power he could have married his twin brother's widow and convinced the boy-king to route more resources towards Casterly Rock and the Westerlands. But he didn't.

Instead, he genuinely seemed to be a father figure to Aegon III.

Tyland Lannister, blind and crippled, had always treated the king with deference, speaking to him gently, seeking to guide rather than command.

And for that, many lords saw him as a weak Hand. But Aegon, who cared for very little and never laughed and was always sullen, seemed to care for Tyland.

When the plague ravaged King's Landing, Tyland dutifully prioritized it over quashing the Ironborn raids at Lannisport. He was the last person to become afflicted with the Winter Fever, and the king sat by his Hand's side during his final hours. When the council starts discussing who should be the new Hand, Aegon (the boy who rarely ever speaks) says:

I would have Lord Rowan as my Hand. Ser Tyland thought well enough of him to offer him my sister’s hand in marriage, so I know he can be trusted.

This boy trusted Tyland, the man who only years ago wanted him dead.

So it's easy to imagine that this man saw Aegon III as the boy he was responsible for, as the son he could never have because of what the war had done to him. Tyland Lannister was a broken man who despite losing everything, his king and his brother and himself, kept a broken Realm and broken boy together when everyone else swarmed like vultures just trying to pick at carcasses.

What motivated this man's loyalty for a boy whose mother mutilated him? Did he regret pushing for the death of an innocent child and this was his penance? Did this man who gave everything for his cause think that this boy was something that could still give all that sacrifice and tragedy meaning? Was the mercy and kindness he afforded an apology for the horrifying trauma that scarred this boy — did he feel responsible for his mother's downfall and the failure to save his uncle? Did his disfigurement and blindness allow him to let go of the man he once was and become someone capable of seeing the folly of pride and power?

Here is his obituary in Fire and Blood:

Ser Tyland Lannister had never been beloved. After the death of Queen Rhaenyra, he had urged Aegon II to put her son Aegon to death as well, and certain blacks hated him for that. Yet after the death of Aegon II, he had remained to serve Aegon III, and certain greens hated him for that. Coming second from his mother’s womb, a few heartbeats after his twin brother, Jason, had denied him the glory of lordship and the gold of Casterly Rock, leaving him to make his own place in the world. Ser Tyland never married nor fathered children, so there were few to mourn him when he was carried off. The veil he wore to conceal his disfigured face gave rise to the tale that the visage underneath was monstrous and evil. Some called him craven for keeping Westeros out of the Daughters’ War and doing so little to curb the Greyjoys in the west. By moving three-quarters of the Crown’s gold from King’s Landing whilst Aegon II’s master of coin, Tyland Lannister had sown the seeds of Queen Rhaenyra’s downfall, a stroke of cunning that would in the end cost him his eyes, ears, and health, and cost the queen her throne and her very life. Yet it must be said that he served Rhaenyra’s son well and faithfully as Hand.

Tyland wasn't extraordinarily badass, noble, or even skilled. He was an excellent politician but no way the best. But I think that's what makes him compelling to me — that he's this down-to-earth depiction of a POW, a war veteran by all accounts, trying to pick up the pieces and slowly glue what remains of the Realm and himself back into something vaguely human.

We tell so many stories about the glory, the tragedy, and the losses of war. But I think it's important and beautiful to tell stories of those bravely and optimistically choosing to keep living in the aftermath as well.

[sulky-cabbage]

How do I make this about Sukugo

[south-sea]

Three weeks, four days, and six hours

a mission shadow takes on is only supposed to last for two weeks. it goes horribly wrong and leads to a lot of new/reopened injuries. he spends four days in a haze recovering, and then finally returns home to find a worried housemate waiting.

could not figure out the style i wanted for this even after spending so much time on the lines, so it really stopped being fun. figured something was better than nothing so i cut my losses and wrapped it up however i could manage

[nostalgia-tblr]

You'll see it's all a show Keep 'em laughin' as you go Just remember that the last laugh is on you...

I call this masterpiece 'Always Loki on the Bright Side of Life'

IT WENT SAD. Because death(s). But don't worry it just loops round to the start again when things were more light-hearted and more violent. (Much like life itself, amirite?)

YouTube link (there are subtitles on it there)

[bg3smash-or-pass]

[cupcakes-and-pain]

I was fixing and cleaning bikes today and I could not stop thinking about robot whump.

We tried to save as many as we could, because they were going to be donated to a charity, but some of the bikes were too beat up or had too many missing pieces and had to be put in the trash pile to be scrapped for their remaining, intact parts.

Imagine a robot whumpee clinging on to life, thinking they’re going to get fixed up and given a new chance like the rest of machines. Only to be looked over by the guy in charge and him shaking his head. Getting tossed in a pile under a tree, gentleness forgotten. Someone comes back, and the whumpee hopes against all reason that they’ll be given another chance, but the worker only inspects one of their parts and the bolt that holds it in place, and then begins to loosen it so they can take it and give it to one of the salvageable ones.

But on the flip side!!! Imagine a robot whumpee who is dirty, bent, and broken. A robot whumpee that was forgotten and discarded for months or even years. A robot whumpee who thought they’d never get a second chance. And now imagine them being gently held and looked at. Imagine how the workers fix their busted parts and replace the missing and too-broken bits. And then getting washed and dried, maybe even some new paint if needed. Being given a second chance at a life and purpose.

Just old, discarded robot whumpees <3

[hellcheerficdatabase]

White Snow

Author: @gingertumericlemon

Rating/warning: Explicit, referenced ED

Chapter Count: 6/? (Part 2 of Spirit Stick series)

Description:

1986: Eddie's on the make in LA. Chrissy's in Seattle. They're young and in love up and down the West Coast!

1989: Eddie and Chrissy reunite in Hawkins after two years apart during the strange liminal days between Christmas and New Year's.

What happened then, what happened in between, and what happens next.

A story about growing up.

Tags: Alternate Universe- no vecna, future fic, true love, post break up, smut, angst, fluff, Eddie is becoming famous, character study, second chances, reuniting, alternating POV, multiple chapters, part of a series, status: WIP

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

I don’t know if you already said this elsewhere, but did the Zenin ever hurt Megumi in a way it simply wasn’t possible for them to explain? Like being poisoned or bitten by one of the dozens curses? Did Gojo catch them red handed (the red is literally megumi’s blood💀)?

The first time that they hurt him in a way that they couldn’t explain away was the last time they hurt him, because Gojo immediately cut them off and refused to ever let them ever get near Megumi again. The Zenin didn't fully realize this at the time they had custody, but legitimately the only reason why it got as far as it did was because Gojo didn't know.

They weren’t exactly advertising “yeah we beat him when we have him” to him, but it wasn’t exactly because they thought gojo would put a stop to it, per se. They didn’t tell Gojo anything they did to Megumi because they felt absolutely entitled to him. They didn’t want Gojo’s input or interference, and they didn’t like feeling like they had to ask for permission around this with Megumi. But they didn’t think he actually would cut them off from him.

In the Zenin’s mind, Gojo doesn’t love Megumi. He’s never loved Megumi. Megumi’s just a political pawn to him, a way to insult the Zenin and steal their most valuable technique for his own. And he got way more value from letting them see him. He got to have his influence on someone who was very likely to be clan head one day—if Megumi’s cut off from them entirely, he’s not moving towards being clan head. He got a bargaining chip with the Zenin—he could further his own goals by offering them more time with him. Megumi’s a powerful piece of leverage but only if Gojo actually uses him. Him intervening to protect Megumi by severing all contact doesn’t further his own goals, so when it all came to a head, they pretty blindly assumed that he wouldn’t give a shit about what they had just done to Megumi, because at the end of the day, they thought he was going to keep using Megumi for his own ends, which meant giving them access.

Instead, Gojo immediately pulled the plug on the entire situation. They never touched or saw him again. The first time that Megumi saw them after the incident that made them go no contact was when Naoya came to pick him up at his school.

[doliminuz]

Idk why but Kevin seems like he'd be a fighting game guy.

Oh definitely

I feel that guy has some form of pent up rage and just goes ham in fighting games to get it out

And ofc bc he finds it fun

[ourhouseishaunted]

70% of my trigun thoughts are abt how plants (independent and dependant) work and what they symbolize and their relationships with other characters and the world and stuff and the implications of independent plants coming with the earth forces and what it says about how earth has progressed since SEEDS left the planet, 20% of my thoughts are "hope those guys (meryl milly vash livio ww knives) are having fun" and 10% is rotating trimax Rem Saverem around in my head at all times

[oetscop]

debated on weather or not i should even say anything here at all. but theyre thinking i might be schizophrenic. i guess im not entirely shocked by this but im still very shaken and scared. hopefully this means we can finally find some sort of treatment plan that will actually work for me but looking on the bright side is getting real fucking hard

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Chiara has siblings confirmed

[3416]

just read a take about how 58-34-88 should play together in the playoffs bc we’ve had a baffling lack of offense without them, and i’d just like to say........... that is incorrect

[supercantaloupe]

was thinking about this in my lesson this morning, how it’s really common for woodwind players to have multiple instruments. like i have two oboes in addition to my english horn but not even including other instruments like EH or d’amore, most oboists i know (especially professionals) will have two or three or more. i know flute and clarinets who’re the same way but i have no idea if it’s A Thing for string or brass players too

[astralpenguin]

yes the notebook i just made that's intended as a christmas present for my brother is objectively kinda shitty and the back cover doesn't fully line up properly but fuck it! fuck it!!! he's not gonna care and is probably just gonna be like wow you made this? before putting it in his room and forgetting about it forever lmao

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

So for the past few weeks me and my friend have been going NUTS (in a good way) reading @skimmingmilk 's fanfics 🤩 I love them all, but I'm especially fascinated by "Chart A Course to Second Chances." For one, it feels canon, because of how many references to the canon there are and everyone is totally in character. There's only three chapters out now but I'm super hyped for more!!

Anyway, post of the post is that even though it was traumatizing (spoiler alert...?) I made fanart of a heartbreaking scene in the end of chapter one. Because while it was unexpected and horribly tragic, it was also SUPER well written (the whole thing is but still)

So here it is 🥹🥺😭

(I know he actually dug a lot deeper than that but for the sake of the pic- 😁😂😅 and also I'm not all that great at drawing fire sorry 😅)

And when I sent it to one of my group chats, one of my other friends who's not in the fandom was like "WHAT IS THIS ANGST?? I'm not even in this fandom but that's so sad!!" 😂😅

Anyway so yeah, I see traumatizing stuff, I go "that's a lot of damage, how about some more" and here we are 🤣

I'm also actually writing a fanfic .... based almost entirely on the events of previously mentioned fanfic 🤣🤣 but that's not finished yet lol