#Tales of Avalon.

[teamxdark]

I thought I was prepared to witness this...

@vee-skies took my request and understood the assignment! Thank you so much 💙💙💙💙 My little knight is feeling his heart get ripped apart ✨

[dragon-spaghetti]

Hap birthday to @teamxdark 🥹💖

(Please click for better quality!!)

[satoshi-mochida]

Some games that are currently stuck on older consoles that I hope get rereleased in some way, Part 4:

Part 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Kenka Bancho series

Mischief Makers

Silhouette Mirage

Fantasian(kind of cheating since it's technically not an 'older console', but still hope it leaves Apple Arcade for more people to play it)

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourlglass

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Luminous Arc series

A Witch's Tale

Okamikakushi

Avalon Code

Chibi-Robo

Drakengard series

Contact

Flower, Sun and Rain

Freedom Wars

Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines(and it's PS1 prequel)

Ace Attorney Investigations 1 and 2

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Infinite Space

Lifeline(microphone tech has probably gotten much better since this game first released to have it hear voice input better; low chance of this game coming back probably, though)

L.O.L: Lack of Love

Magical Starsign(Magical Vacation)

Metal Max and Metal Saga series

Nanashi no Game and it's sequel

My World, My Way

Snowboard Kids

Soma Bringer

Solatorobo

Viewtiful Joe

[fairytale-poll]

WORST MODERN ADAPTATION! ROUND 1B, MATCH 1 OUT OF 4!

Once Upon a Time (2011 - 2018) is based off various fairytales; Avalon High (2010) is based off Arthurian legend.

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Once Upon a Time (2011 - 2018):

Only the first season is a decent Snow White adaptation. Once the writers started to try and cram every fairytale character ever into the show it became convoluted as hell

It's a soap opera. It's a family drama. Everyone is related. Frankenstein is there.

Avalon High (2010):

[None Submitted]

[joemerl]

In my experience, that's usually code for "turns all the male characters into one-dimensional assholes to prop up the female lead (who might also be an asshole, but ignore that because #girlboss)."

[a-den-of-demons]

Feldt could feel attention on her as she attended the gym. The place was packed, so it was probably to be expected. However, it continued to persist, right up until he felt the eyes of a young looking ginger haired man on him, the man walking confidently up to her as she ran on a treadmill. "You're looking fit today." The man flirted.

Feldt, in a workout bra and pants, wiped the sweat away as she looked at the fit ginger man, a familiar scent washing off of him. It took her a second but she grinned when she realized. It was the weremonkey she fucked a while ago.

She smiled at him, “Thanks. You just finish up too?”

[avalon-princesss]

spring sale in my etsy shop 🍄 via // avalon princess

[starredforlife]

lady at the bookstore told me i had good taste. an angel got it’s wings today

[whitneyavalon]

My magical short story Dragonfare is available as a free PDF, so you can read along while you listen to the audio version, or enjoy it in a visual-only format. https://www.patreon.com/posts/dragonfare-pdf-82238659

The audio is on most music platforms (just search "Dragonfare" or my name) and at https://youtu.be/gmFC9-cIDoM

[ofglories]

Title: N/A Characters: Emrys, Uther, hints of Merlin- warnings: major character death, uther.

He knew he was dreaming, if only because it was the same as it had been every night for the past week.

Falling through clouds and bottomless, dark water filled with the glittering light of distant stars. And then finding himself on his feet, standing in calf-deep pools of crystalline water as a star-filled sky stretched endlessly above. Around him the pools of water wound between a boundless field of blue flowers, their petals glowing with a soft light.

And the only landmark to be seen was a massive tree, branches laden with pure white wisteria blossoms that shared the same ghostly glow as the petals fell like snow.

Every night at this point he would start walking towards the tree. And each night he made it closer. Tonight, it seems, he was finally allowed to reach it. The bark on the trunk was warm, the ground beneath a bed of clovers, the mysterious blue flowers, and fallen petals. It looked, frankly, like an ideal place to take a nap. But just as the thought crossed his mind, the same sound that occured each time filled the peaceful field.

The baying of hounds, louder than ever before.

It grew closer and closer, louder and louder, and then...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emrys jerked awake with a soft gasp, sitting up in bed.

Just before dawn, like every night the past week.

The king grimaced, running a hand through his hair as he slowly stood. There would be no more sleep this night. He knew that from experience. Distantly he could still hear the baying of the hounds across the skies just beyond his window. Tonight... Emrys sighed softly, leaning his back against the pane of glass to let the cool, late winter air chill him.

Tonight he'd seen the hounds in his dream.

Blindingly white fur except for their red ears and tails. The hounds of the Lord of the Otherworld, according to the tales his mother had told him in his childhood. Hounds that could only be seen by those either about to die, or those who had died but not yet realized it.

It was an unsettling realization, to understand that meant his death was coming soon.

But the question of how remained.

There was no battle. The assassination attempts had finally started slowing down now that it seemed his immunity to poisons was becoming known. Ah, well. No point in worrying about it until the sun rose. Emrys shook his head, standing again to go handle his morning routine. Once he was dressed a walk on the parapets would be nice. With the early morning light and the breeze it would help his mind focus.

He'd need it for the day, after all.

A meeting with Uther at the same time as inspecting an old ruin Merlin had discovered before the winter snows were too heavy for exploration. A packed schedule, though better than it tended to be with significantly less listening to various lords and their complaints or reports.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ruin was, in a word, magestic.

The remnants of what had likely once been an ancient hall of some sort. Many of the walls were still mostly in tact, with damage that could easily be repaired by some skilled masons. What sort of thing could they repurpose this into, though? Emrys would have loved to discuss it with Merlin but Uther had tugged the mage away to inspect what he swore were some murals of questionable origin. And apparently the murals had been interesting enough that the mage was completely absorbed in them, enough for Uther to return from that half-collapsed sideroom with a shrug and eye roll.

Which, unfortunately, meant the king had no buffer between himself and his younger brother.

Who was, of course, carelessly swinging his sword around the ruin to "clear cobwebs".

Or something ridiculous like that.

"For the last time, Uther," Emrys sighed, rubbing his temples. This argument had been going in circles for the past ten minutes. Why was Merlin taking so long...? "You'll be given the role of steward not because I don't trust you. It's because you'd likely hate being king and, let's not mince words, no woman is going to willingly marry you to provide a legitimate heir."

Overly blunt, perhaps, but his head was hurting.

"And what makes you think either of those things would be true, huh, Ambrosius?" Uther snarled, making his headache feel worse than ever with the use of that name. Sometimes Emrys wondered if the man wanted only to provoke him by using the name he had left behind years ago now. "I'm actually related to you plus I have a child on the way with someone! That girl has no connections to the throne and has magic like that damned mage of yours."

Ah, yes.

The child.

Emrys grimaced, waving a hand as he turned away. He couldn't keep arguing the same points over and over.

"Morgan is the daughter of the Lord of Cornwall and Lady Igraine. She has a stronger claim to the rule of the land than either of us and I believe she would make a proper heir and queen to the people of Camelot. Her magic is only a bonus." Never did he understand Uther's utter disdain of magic. It was just like physical strength, something that was neither evil nor good.

But then again that was why Emrys had kept his lessons in magic from Merlin a secret.

There was no need to let his brother develop another reason to hate the mage for no apparent reason.

"How can magic be a bonus for anything?!" Gods above, he was whining now. Like a child even if he was shouting. He cast a glare over his shoulder at the younger man, scowling in turn at the sight of him standing on a collapsed pile of stone that had likely once been a pillar.

No point.

Absolutely no point in continuing.

"My word is final, Uther." With that Emrys drew himself to his full height, turning his back on his brother to look for Merlin. "You've sworn to obey your King, and so now I speak as King. Morgan shall be my heir and you shall be her steward until she is ready to rule alone."

Silence met his declaration and he could easily picture the sullen and infuriated look on his brother's face.

Now where was...

Aha!

Emrys smiled at the sight of white through the shadowed gloom of the ruins, taking a step towards the hall where Merlin was standing.

And suddenly...

Pain.

Sharp and blinding and enough to make him gasp, struggling to catch his breath as he stumbled. It came from his back but... Emrys blinked, raising a hand to his chest where a blade protruded. Blood was filling his mouth, making it impossible to breathe. And he choked out a strangled "what?" before he sunk to his knees.

It hurt.

It hurt.

What had just happened?

He felt strange. The pain was there, drowning him as surely as the blood spilling from his mouth. But at the same time it felt strangely distant. Like the sound of screaming filling his ears. Who was screaming? Was it him? No. He couldn't even draw enough breath to speak anymore. There were hands on his shoulders, Uther? Emrys forced his eyes open, struggling against the fog that was already filling them. A sound, the baying of hounds, began somewhere.

Oh, this was mortal.

This was a mortal wound.

So that was what the dreams had been about.

White filled his vision but he couldn't focus his eyes. Everything was blurred, swimming as if he had opened his eyes underwater. But still he forced his hand to move, to raise up to touch that bright color one last time.

A smile was forced to his face.

Then...

His eyes closed, and opened again.

The field from his dreams surrounded him. And he could see the tree.

"Ah... So this is..." Well. There was nothing else to do then. A bitter smile crossed his face as Emrys made his way to the tree. "Maybe one day... I can apologize. Hm. I hope Merlin will guide Uther's child, perhaps protect them from his worst behaviors."

What a shame.

He'd been looking forward to abdication and living a normal, peaceful life...

[raven-writes-fanfic]

Notes from The Tale of Prince Steven of Avalon

OKAY so I decided that instead of going back and editing this fic's notes and risking nobody seeing the relevant info that I desperately want to share, I'd stick it here! (I'm calling it the Ficcyclopedia™.) SO! If you have any interest at all in the inner workings of my brain in regards to this fic, it's all below the cut. 💜

In the first chapter, these are the relevant tidbits, neatly sorted because my OCD said to.

Places:

The original fairy tale takes place in Ireland, and I kept that the same, save for the name of the kingdom. Avalon is a play on the land Tír na nÓg, which is the mystical "otherworld" in Irish mythology. Avalon is just another name for "paradise" or afterlife, basically. I wanted something pronounceable, so this happened. It also is really fitting with Steve's character (both in this story and in MCU canon), in my opinion.

I basically decided to run with the whole "Bucky is probably Jewish" Fanon thing, and decided his mother was possibly (in my head most likely) from Poland. Thus, a lot of locations and names and things stemmed from Polish culture and mythology. So, bouncing off of the whole "Avalon-is-based-on-Irish-afterlife" thing, I named Bucky's homeland Verais (Vehr-eye) as the phonological equivalent of Wyraj, which is the afterlife in Polish mythology. And yes, it is spelled a little prettier than just phonetics, because I said so.

In conjunction with the Verais thing, I named the people there the Lechian people, which is for Lechia, an ancient name for Poland.

"The Land of Ice" is a pretty obvious (to me) way of saying Russia.

Gidra is Russian for Hydra. Do with that what you will. ;)

Names/Creatures:

The name Drew means "from druids" which is a play on the fact that in the original story of Conn-Eda, the prince's stepmother was the daughter of a druid. I wanted to include that little thing, even if it wasn't exactly the same.

His last name, Balcombe, means "person who casts an evil eye." It's also a surname that's common to the Isle of Man, which is the place I based Drew's homeland off of.

In the original fairy tale, the supernatural hound is called Samer. Samer means lots of different things in many languages, but my favorite was the Sanskrit for "air" or "wind." I turned it kind of Polish and gave the hound the name Zenon, which is derived from the Greek god Zeus. And Zeus, as we know, is the god of the skies or whatever. ;P This one is a bit more convoluted, but I think it still works.

Even though "Alkonost" seems like a made-up word, IT'S NOT!!! It's the English pronunciation of Алконост. The Alkonost is a woman-headed bird in Russian mythology. And the creature that Conn-Eda goes to see in the original fairy tale is a bird with the face of a human. This one took me ages to find, but I did it for you guys. :D (JK I really did it for me, but y'all benefit, so.) (Also, in chapter two, I made the Alkonost a man. I know it's not perfectly in line with the mythology, but it's really important to me that it be a guy, okay? You'll see why.)

Almaz is the English pronunciation of алмаз, which means "diamond." I wanted the stone Alexander gives Steve to be something precious, but also Russian, because reasons.

Movyatzekon is a semi-made-up word for talking horse, strung together from the words "talking" and "horse" in Polish.

In a related vein, the horse breed that I imagine Bucky is is called a Gypsy Vanner. I picked it because it has famously shaggy hair (and so does Bucky at certain points in Marvel canon!!). The very specific horse I envision for Bucky is in the moodboard above.

Misc. Stuff:

Mulct is an actual word!! It means "a fine, or compulsory payment." Basically, it's the punishment Steve gets for losing the challenge his stepfather gives him.

Variola is an ancient name for smallpox. I chose this as the disease Steve's dad dies from in the fairy tale because, canonically, he dies from mustard gas exposure. Mustard gas exposure can cause skin lesions that can mimic the look of smallpox.

And chapter two stuff, which is literally only places:

Steve and Bucky pass through a kingdom called Albion, which is a very ancient name for England (going back as far as 5th century B.C.E.). Guess where on the map I imagine it is? Yes, you're right. It's England. ;D

They also pass through a land called Veneti, which is named for an ancient west-Slavic tribe called Veneti. It's meant to be where Belarus is, roughly.

Chapter three stuff, which is one measly thing:

(in reference to the chapter title) Travail: painful or laborious effort

If you want to talk about where certain MCU characters come into play, you can always scream at me in whatever way you want! I am probably disproportionately excited about how I've managed to work in so many MCU characters in general, so it's a whole thing in my brain now.

And if you read all the way to the bottom of this long-ass post, thank you and I love you. I mean, I'll love y'all regardless of whether you read the post, but yeah. ✌🏻

[teamxdark]

hii i just want to drop by to say that im binge reading ToA so hard rn and cannot stop gushing at every single scene. THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WITH ME, it’s a magical journey on its own to be able to read through your words 💖

Aaaaaaaa thank you!!!!!

ToA really was a passion project that fell out of me and I'm always happy when it still touches people and gives them a good read 💙

[sohannabarberaesque]

You'll never guess what Peter Potamus just came up with in partnership with the Catalina Diving Clowder

Out Avalon way, on no less than The Magic Isle (and during somewhat slack times for the tourist trade more than anything, aside from the annual Avalon Harbour Underwater Cleanup), there's a new and potentially emerging tradition about to ensue.

No less than the Catalina Diver's Story Slam, devised and developed with much consultation between the Catalina Diving Clowder and the Ambassador for Diving among the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, no less than Peter Potamus. And, at least for the nonce, in a small-time venue in Beautiful Downtown Avalon, let alone the Casino (that being ruled out for the sake of testing audience response before considering same).

While it may not be The Moth exactly, the Catalina Diver's Story Slam can expect to have plenty of intimacy when it comes to divers of all stripes sharing tales of diving and the dive experience in any and all manner of conditions, snorkelling to SCUBA to rebreather--perhaps with at least one tale of a mermaid encounter or even one involving a dolphin-assisted rescue of a stranded diver.

And you have to wonder how many abalone dives off Catalina Peter Potamus and the Clowder went through to come up with the nuclei of the slam!

*************

@warnerbrosentertainment @joey-gatorman @theweekenddigest @princessgalaxy505 @archive-archives @themineralyoucrave @catalinablog-blog @screamingtoosoftly @warnerbros-blog1 @thylordshipofbutts @jellystone-enjoyer @tallcharlie @warnerbrosent-blog

[jolieeason]

Bookish Travels---January 2024 Destinations

I saw this meme on It’s All About Books and thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!! This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy, too!! Bon Voyage!! Please let me know if you have read these books or…

[fairytale-poll]

BEST MODERN FAIRYTALE ADAPTATION! ROUND 1C, MATCH 3 OUT OF 4!

Avalon High by Meg Cabot is based off Arthurian Legend; Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones is based off Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer.

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Avalon High by Meg Cabot:

[None Submitted]

Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones:

One of my favorite books. "As she clears out her old bedroom, Polly discovers that below her memories, in which she led an entirely normal and unremarkable life, there is a second set of memories, which are rather unusual." It's about memory and taking control of your life. Also books. It's one of those books that get better the more you re-read it.

[sonsofks]

¡Conquista el Futuro de Camelot! La Explosiva Expansión "Legion IX" de King Arthur: Knight's Tale Aterriza en Steam a Principios de 2024

NeocoreGames Anuncia una Nueva Amenaza en Avalon: ¡La Novena Legión Romana Desembarca en la Isla Mística! NeocoreGames nos emociona al revelar que la expansión tan esperada de King Arthur: Knight’s Tale, titulada “Legion IX”, llegará a Steam a principios de 2024. Nuevos héroes, enemigos, mecánicas de combate y un grupo más grande son solo algunas de las características que ofrece esta desafiante…