#The concept of elderly wardens is getting to me too

[finelyageddragons]

Once again thinking about the connection between Duncan and the Grim Reaper. Imagine him, cloaked in black as he wonders the world searching for lost souls and claiming them as his own once their old life has ended and taking them for himself to sacrifice them in his war against the ancient evils. This great and valiant man with poison in his blood and the demon's song in his mind, a valiant knight slowing being eaten by the sickness he seeks to kill. A ghost who listens to the song at night and searching for warriors - for sacrifices - to give the blood the evil ones call for. Flee should you see him. Let the smell of his rotting mind ward you away and let not those cold steel gauntlets claim you. May the reaper find you before he does for the death will grant rest but a warden will send your soul to war as it dies.

[hetalia-club]

GOT Lore- House Tyrell

Other Houses: Targaryen Stark Greyjoy Lannister Tyrell

GOT vocab for non watchers- Ward- This is when a member of a noble house is 'taken in' by a member of another family. They are treated as one of their own and are an 'honorary member' for the duration of their stay which is typically their entire childhood. They train, eat, sleep, and celebrate with them as if they were their own family. Sometimes the Lord of the house they are staying in will find a groom/bride for them as if they were their own child. But offering your child as a ward is basically giving them to that family to raise how they want. This builds the bond between houses and helps pivotal future members form life long friendships. The Vale- A castle in the north East part of Westeros in the Eryrie. The lands are ruled over by the Arryn family. They live in a tall tower that is impossible to attack since climbing up it involves a donkey and an elevator pully system. Just don't make the High Lords mad here or you may find yourself taking a one trip tick out the Moon Door.

House Tyrell Lore for non GOT watchers- The Tyrell family are the Wardens of The South. Where do I begin with house Tyrell? The Tyrell Family are known as the Golden Roses, that is their family coat of arms. They want to be a scheming dastardly bunch but they have too much honor at the end of the day (Which isn't a bad thing). They care about the small folk a lot. Instead of viewing them as things in their way they actually want to give them a nicer life. They hold alliances well. They are the most powerful house because they own the most amount of land in a very fertile spot so they basically supply all the food to the whole seven kingdoms. So making them mad cuts off your food supply. On top of that they have the largest army in Westeros surprising that of the king with me on foot. They have a connection with their common people so people willingly and happily enlist in the military to defend them without much nudge. But They mostly just chill. They don’t really like to start shit but they will wait it out and join a winning side and finish the job. The Tyrell's are considered to be the heart of chivalry of the Seven Kingdoms. Their Knights are known far and wide for being kind and generous. Basically doing what knights should do. Their Lords and Ladies visit orphans, do charity work at the poor house, donate copious amounts of food. They tour the streets in their carriages giving food to people who line up personally handing it out. Now if you were a peasant who would you like more as a Lord? The one who personally gave you a hug and a loaf of bread and assured you life would get better and found you work after you lost your leg? Or a Lord who you've never actually seen in person and just sat in their castle all day and just taxed you blind? The answer is obvious. The people LOVE them. Because they provide for them. They just walk around the streets of neighborhoods unguarded and they treat the small folk as equal. Though it's all strategic. They know having the small folk close means they have a bigger army. They know if they are attacked by another house there will be OUTRAGE. But just because they are land locked does not mean they can't command the sea as well They have the second largest armada, their ships over power that of the Kings easily. Their castle Highgarden is a castle tucked away in a garden on top of a hill, surrounded by a maze made of rose bushes. Members of this house often have curly brown/auburn hair and brown eyes and are known to be attractive. They got them good genes.

^^ Concept art for Castel Highgarden

Francis Tyrell- Francis is the Lord of High Garden and Warden of the South. He's a relatively newer Lord. His elderly father passed a few years ago leaving the title to him. He's a great diplomat but not known to be the best sword. He prides himself on having flashy gold and green armor with roses engraved intricately into it, rather than practicality for fighting. He's known for throwing some of the grandest parties in Westeros. He’s just vibing really

Feliciano Tyrell- The second born of the Tyrell twins. Feliciano has a love of music. He plays the lute for high born ladies at his fathers parties. He isn't the best swordsman but he is very good with a cross bow. He prefers ranged fighting over close combat. Much like his father he prides himself on his intricate armor and flashy sword (that he hardly uses).

Lovino Tyrell- Lovino is the first born twin and heir. He prefers to be up close and personal when he's fighting. He has never gotten in a real life threatening fight before since his family has not been in a war in his life time, he does however enter a lot of tourneys. He has never come in first but he's come close to winning. He is a bit of a sore loser and losing does put in in a very bad mood. But he does normally have all the girls cheering for him since he is a Tyrell and he is handsome. He hands a rose out to a lucky maiden before every tourney as a favor. Lovino is currently a ward at Casterly Rock to train and build relations with the two houses, something that was set up by his Aunt Elizaveta. Though he still sees his family often since it's only about a week long ship ride from Highgarden to Casterly Rock. He is betrothed to Amelia Stark (but not for long).

Roderich Tyrell- Roderich is Francis's younger brother. Roderich lives in Kings Landing where he serves as Hand of The King. He has an extremely stressful job and the King rarely listens to him or takes his advice. So he does get blamed a lot for stupid decisions the King makes since he's supposed to prevent that from happening. Though it's not his fault. He can only suggest that the King not burn people alive with his dragon for entertainment. He can't actually boss the King around and say 'you're not allowed to do that'. And at small council meetings King Gilbert would rather talk about planning a tourney or grand party of some kind or mess around with his carved dragon figurines instead of doing anything about the smallfolk uprising going on because he cut their food surplus so he could throw a tourney. His solution would simply be "let me send my dragon to teach them a lesson" so Roderich normally takes care of all those little details by himself while the King is occupied with his dragons and wine. The crown is heavily in debt as you can imagine. Because if the King wants a party...there will be a party.

Elizaveta Tyrell/Arryn- The older sister of Francis and Roderich. She is the Lady of the Vale. And has not been home in quite some time. Is currently having a love affair with Ludwig Lannister. It's a good thing her husband is a moron and has not questioned why his wife takes so many trips to Casterly Rock. She simply says it's for 'diplomatic reasons' and since she has worn the armor in their relationship and basically is the ruler of the Vale just without the title due to her husband’s incompetence he doesn't question it. He didn’t even question why his only son and heir was born with golden hair when he and his wife both have dark hair.

Laura Tyrell- The youngest child and daughter of Francis. She is relatively young so she doesn't do much of anything yet. But she does have a fondness for honey cakes and her big brothers lute playing and singing.

[cutekittenlady]

Oh obvious question that I don't think I've actually seen anybody ask? How long has Ingo been in Hisui? The most common answer seems to be like three or five but I've seen longer and shorter so I'm just kinda curious what other people's answers are. I think good options are like 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 10+. Sorry if I'm being too specific or dictate-y, I don't have a tumblr and I've just been dying to know.

It really depends on the idea, but I tend to go with Ingo being in Hisui for around 10 years or so.

The way I see it it breaks down into the following points.

Ingo looks physically older and while that can be chalked up to stress or even the idea that he fell through time later in life, I still think it's a point worth considering. Between the bags under his eyes, his hunching shoulders, and his hair loss I think we're looking at the combination of natural aging and stress. Of course, I don't consider him elderly. I mean, the youngest Id be willing to buy is maaaaybe in his late 30s if he's a victim of early onset male pattern baldness, but I honestly think he's more likely in his early 40s bare minimum.

Ingos position in the pearl clan is a decent argument that's he's been there for awhile in my opinion. I don't think most of the clan would've been cool with an outsider as a warden if Ingo hadn't first spent a looong time being the helpful resident weirdo and consistently proving he kicks ass (in pokemon battling). I mean, he'd have had to prove he was trustworthy, contributed to the village significantly by learning skills and doing work, building up connections, learning the religious and cultural traditions of the clan, and of course training up a team tough enough that the pearl would've let him become warden. A lotta folks get around this by headcanoning that sneasler picked Ingo herself, but while that's a cool idea and I love it, there's no guarantee that's what took place or even if it would have been enough to get him the job.

This points tied in with the second one in the fact that Ingo wasn't exiled alongside the MC in the game. Now a lot can and has been said about that particular plot point, but it remains that the whole reason the MC gets thrown out is because at the time of the endgame it had been, at most, a year and even if they did all that stuff they still hadn't been around long enough to not be considered a stranger. The fact that we never hear anything about Ingo getting exiled says to me that he's been a member of the pearl clan long enough to not catch any of the same suspicion.

And finally, I just straight up think it makes for a more interesting concept. I mean Ingo being in Hisui for so long is sad, yes, but it opens a lot of very fun and interesting possibilities surrounding regaining his memories, going back to Unova, reuniting with his brother, etc. One of my fave ideas that I rarely see explored is the idea that all the time travel creates an age difference between the twins. I like the particular flavor of Ingo REALLY becoming Emmets big brother and how that potentially changes their dynamic. Or the concept of lost time; when exactly does Ingo get sent back? How much time does he lose or gain? What are the consequences of this?

Tbh I feel like folks are resistant to the idea of I go being older because they don't particularly favor angst and this idea is just too sad. Which, fair strokes, is fine. This is fandom after all. Id be lying if I said my views on this aren't heavily influenced by what I think would be fun to write/read. But it really doesn't have to be all angst. Ingo coming to terms with his time displacement and still appreciating all the friends and connections he made in Hisui, can be a beautiful way to explore the story.

But anyway I wrote this on a phone at 4 am so sorry if it's incoherent.

[newdestination]

Nobori can't help but startle at the burst of laughter from the man. He'd anticipate a friendly acknowledgement, maybe some irritation at the potential day-long delay of whatever it was he'd needed from Nobori's fellow warden. The rambunctious peals of amusement weren't particularly high on the list.

"...Am I not..? Well." What on Sinnoh's good green earth was Tsubaki telling people about him to get that sort of reaction? Is there something he ought to be worried about, here? 

Seki's explanation really could not have come sooner— it, blissfully, is actually quite the wonderful news, and an even better distraction. He's never going to get an answer out of Tsubaki on what exactly he's been telling people, and Nobori is hardly brash enough to go grilling strangers for a hock of nonsense himself. It's... probably nothing new anyways. He may not be the most aware man in the world in this sort of sense, but he's hardly so dull as to not recognize what people are saying about him—

...Now that he remembers how to speak, at least. Perhaps that fact alone proves the elderly members of the camp right in talking about him mere feet away as though he were completely deaf. It's still hard to keep up sometimes, when people talk a touch too fast or weirdly.

"I... see! It's wonderful to make your acquaintance, Seki. My name is Nobori— you are welcome to refer to me as you wish." He's certainly aware that the other wardens expect a certain level of respect in association with the title. Perhaps he should too, but he still just can't quite associate himself with being a warden. He looks after Ohnyula, certainly! It is a joy to tend to her needs, just as much as it is a joy to care for any one of his companions. But she does much the same for him in a way that just doesn't seem... acceptable..? Not in accordance with what he's seen from the other wardens of the clan, at least.

It may all very well simply boil back down into a matter of respect. He... doesn't seem to be all that adept at the concept, and Ohnyula doesn't appear to be in all that much of a rush to establish the rules that he is clearly lacking in his knowledge of. It doesn't help that she feels the need to try and groom him like a kit every time she parts from his side for too long— he swears his charge is going to lick all of the hair right off his forehead if she keeps it up. It doesn't help that her recent litter of kits are beginning to pick up the exact same habit of hers, learning largely by their mother's example.

"—And it is quite the pleasure to meet your companions as well!" Nobori crouches down to extend a hand in offering to the nearest one— a fairly average sized leafia— palm facing the ground for her to investigate as Seki approaches. It's meant to be a friendly overture if he's reading her body language correctly, but there's plenty of space for the pokémon to simply swerve away from him if it wills. There's rarely a good reason to crowd an unknown pokémon, no matter how well-trained or kept they appear to be. He can feel the alert eyes of his own companions weighing heavily on his back with the motion, the crooning call of Glion somewhere up above.

"I'm quite glad to have you four join me on these tracks— there's still quite a good deal I should be getting to, and I'm afraid I don't have much space left in the day to do it. This was something of a... surprise, you see." His voice drops a few levels as he talks, still somewhat mulling over the facts of the situation himself. He's not sure how long Garana knew of this, but he really can't imagine much of anything had been decided on like that a scant few days from the important date. The timing is a bit tight as is.

"You're welcome to help yourself to the tools I've brought along if need be. I intend on unearthing more of the flooring first," Nobori pulls back to point out the sections of overgrown land as he speaks, "—I suspect the stone goes much further underneath all of the dirt that's been deposited and packed down as the space moved. I cannot remove all of it before the meeting, but we can certainly neaten the corners somewhat!" He taps his fingers to his chin, mulling over the work ahead.

...It's still going to be quite a lot, but a burden shared is a burden halved!

Oh, this guy was loud. Loud enough that Seki's ears were ringing after that greeting, and even his normal speaking volume was on the loud side. It was a little surprising, but even moreso was the fact that the new Warden didn't seem to know who he was. There was a spark of excitement in his chest that made his smile broaden and eyes sparkle just a bit with boyish delight.

Wait, he really has no clue who I am?

He'd never not been recognized before. Whether it be as a curse or a blessing or the clan head, someone somewhere knew him. Even the newcomer and leader of the Galaxy group, Denboku, had known who he was.

Perhaps it was just the change in attire, or maybe the new Warden just hadn't been told about him, but he found that it didn't matter.

He never thought that being unrecognizable would feel so nice.

He chuckled, then laughed, loud and enthusiastic, a hand to his mouth and his arm curled around his stomach. The man surely had no idea why Seki was giggling like a child as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the universe. But he was happy. It was nice.

No frills, no "Lord" or anything like that! Just the innocent question if he needed help, as if he were no one important.

To think it'd be a member of the Pearl Clan that made him feel that way. Maybe that should have been more troubling than it was.

"Haha-- yeah, I'm friends with Tsubaki." He responded, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye. "Sorry, it's just a little funny... you're nothing like I expected from how he described you. Though he always has been a bit dramatic so I shouldn't be surprised." He straightened, resting a hand on his hip. He couldn't stop smiling as he added, "Thanks for the offer though, but I'm actually here to help with the cleaning and setup. I thought I'd left early enough to get a headstart, but it seems you beat me to it, Warden."

Seki took a moment to survey the work that the man had made of the area, admiring for a moment just how white the stone was underneath all the dirt.

Seki wasn't exactly great at cleaning to that level; he tended to get impatient and tired of things like that pretty quickly, but the Warden had gotten there early (a shocking thing for a member of the Pearl clan since they tended to be late to even battles) and he couldn't help but feel a touch competitive.

A member of the Pearl Clan arriving earlier than even I could... that's something else... I'll have to get up even earlier next time!

Leafia looked up at Seki, face scrunching up as if reading his mind. Across the way, his Showers and Bracky mirrored Leafia's look. All of them knew exactly how Seki was and all of them knew for a fact that they were going to have to keep him from pushing himself. They likely wouldn't succeed, but they would at least have the right to look at him with an "I told you so" look when everything caught up to him.

With renewed vigor and excitement, Seki walked forward to meet the Warden. "My name's Seki by the way. I'm looking forward to working with you."

[joiedecombat]

100 Days of Writing: the List

Since it seems there is some interest, why not? List of works (nominally) in progress, old unfinished fics, and Stuff I Want To Write below the cut. Feel free to ask about any of these.

Works (nominally) In Progress

Fanfic

"Reason or Rhyme" (Time Princess - Gotham Memoirs). The Vittorio expansion/fix-fic, because I will be forever disgruntled at how little romance content was actually included in the Mafia romance route.

Galactic Date Night Shenanigans aka "The one where everything is Balkar's fault." (SWTOR - Theron Shan/Jedi Knight). Theron "disaster spy" Shan is goaded into trying to take his wife out for a nice date for once, and it goes like every other plan these two have ever had anything to do with.

#3: [I] trusted [you] (SWTOR - Theron Shan / Jedi Knight). A post-Nathema prompt fic I swear I will finish one of these days.

Original

super secret short story/novella project - Okay it's not that super secret, but it is something I'm mostly keeping under my hat for now as I work on it because of reasons, and is actually (inconveniently, for 100 Days of Writing purposes) the main thing I've been working on lately. I expect to be able to say more about it later. Maybe even within the 100 days! We'll see.

southern gothic urban fantasy procedural romance - Faerie Animal Control Warden meets FBI Elf during investigation of a suspicious death out in the kudzu. A little bit of Bright, a bit Mushi-Shi, a drop of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Stuff I Want to Write

Distinct from works in progress in that I have not actually gotten past the planning stage on any of these - if that. A few of these have been rattling around in concept for long enough to have gone through several distinct evolutions without ever getting any writing done on them. Still, hope springs eternal and ideas are never wasted.

Fanfic

the rival bands AU / the rock opera playlist fic (Sailor Moon - Makoto Kino/Nephrite). Currently exists entirely as an incomplete playlist.

space opera Pride and Prejudice retelling - exactly what it sounds like on the tin. Do y'all know I have yet to encounter a futuristic/space AU? Surely there's one out there somewhere, but I have yet to see it. If you know of one, for the love of God don't tell me.

"Ten of Swords" - (Archer EMIYA/Minako Arisato). fate/stay night + Persona 3 Portable crossover what's even wrong with my brain.

Original

the Regency fae story - a Regency-era fantasy in which a lot of the needlessly complicated and restrictive social rules followed by the upper classes are actually an attempt at defending against the Fair Folk. Sort of Pride and Prejudice vs Changeling: the Lost vs Labyrinth. Could turn into a whole Pride and Prejudice retelling, I guess?

drinking games - fantasy imperial court intrigues involving a romance between a court poison taster and a master spy/assassin.

untitled - East/southeast Asian-inspired Beauty and the Beast retelling in which the Beast is a mountain god whose appearance is based on a tiger. I'm probably too white to write this.

untitled - Private investigator hired to investigate local bad-boy-made-good for insurance fraud, turns out it was actually an ill-advised teenage deal with the devil coming due. Might fit in with that other southern gothic urban fantasy idea, I am not sure.

the ciphered letter - This one started off as a combination of a Mage: the Awakening campaign and a really, really weird spam email I got one time. Orphan gets mysterious ciphered letter, meets snarky Welsh mage, awakens to magic and maybe almost gets made a human sacrifice to an eldritch abomination.

Forfeit - Regency/Victorian-esque fantasy involving reincarnation, a race of immortals, and a half-immortal teaming up with a mortal who sacrificed his future reincarnations for pseudo-immortality to uncover and stop the sinister secrets that power a colonizing empire. It makes more sense in my head... probably?

untitled - Slow burn enemies to lovers between the world-conquering emperor and the rebel leader who's opposing him, over the course of a time loop. AKA Lord of Heroes Kartis/Monarch with the serials filed off. Or I guess I could just write Lord of Heroes fanfic?

low fantasy Magnificent Seven Samurai - Farming village scrapes together a group of starving mercs to protect them from marauders, drama ensues. That's it, that's the whole idea.

Unfinished Fics

Distinct from works in progress in that these are all old enough I can no longer claim I intend to finish them. Some of them I may come back to, especially the few that had substantial progress made before they fell by the wayside. Most will probably be left abandoned, either because I have lost interest in continuing to work on them or I have just plain forgotten what I was planning to do with them.

dreameater - A very old, loosely Forgotten Realms-inspired concept involving an aging half-elf, his fully elven partner, and a mysterious magical threat that's devouring people's dreams.

"Fortune Favors the Brave" (Baccano! - Luck Gandor/Eve Genoard). The Luck/Eve shipping fic.

"Intermezzo" (Blood+ City of Nightwalkers). Follow-up fic to an obscure manga prequel/side story for the vampire anime Blood+, involving Hagi and the Hong Kong cop who semi-adopted him that one time.

"The Art of Losing Everything" (Dragon Age: Origins - Alistair Theirin/f!Cousland). An Alistair/f!Warden fic with themes of loss, duty, and sacrifice.

"In Pieces" (Dragon Age II - Fenris/f!Hawke). A terrible horrible no good very bad AU where Hawke actually turned Fenris over to Danarius and then came back to try to fix her mistake, which I can never finish because I can't make that initial decision make internal sense no matter how hard I try.

"Pas de Deux" (Final Fantasy VIII - Squall Leonhart/Rinoa Heartilly). Exploration of how Squall and Rinoa's relationship could develop after the events of the game.

"With Good Intentions" (Final Fantasy VIII - Squall Leonhart/Rinoa Heartilly). An AU in which Rinoa discovers that technically you can change the past, it's just that if Squall has an actual decent childhood the world ends. Way too ambitious for me to ever actually finish, probably, but I can't quite give up on the idea.

"I've Loved These Days" (Gundam SEED - Mu la Flaga/Murrue Ramius). One of several partly-written Gundam SEED fics kicking around in my files.

"The Last Night of the World" (Gundam SEED - Mu la Flaga/Murrue Ramius). Another Gundam SEED fic, one that began as a prompt in ye olde LiveJournal days. "I've Loved These Days" might have been a prototype, though they don't appear to have any text in common. Could in theory still get finished, maybe.

Valentine's ghosts (Gundam SEED Destiny - Andrew Waltfeld/Murrue Ramius). I'm just saying, Andy/Murrue would have been so much more interesting than the whole Neo thing in Destiny.

"Lion Passant" (Kingdom Hearts). Something something Leon as a failed Keyblade Bearer. The Kingdom Hearts franchise has rewritten its own lore at least three times since I originally had the idea, I can't imagine I'll ever continue it now.

"Vigil" (KotOR - Carth Onasi/f!Revan). Carth/Revan retrospective somewhere around the tomb of Naga Sadow on Korriban.

"Semper Fidelis" (KotOR/KotOR II - Carth Onasi/f!Revan). Post-Sith Lords Carth/Revan resolution fic.

"Clarity" (KotOR II). Atton Rand backstory study from the POV of that one nameless Jedi.

"A Simple Game of Cards" (KotOR II - Atton Rand/Jedi Exile). Spoilers: it is never a simple game of cards. Turns out someone already did it with more or less the same twist I had in mind.

the besieged base fic (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). A fic rendition of the "Besieged Base" mission from the first Mass Effect.

"Get Up, Jonah" (Mass Effect). I woke up thinking about Turkish drummers. Didn't take long; I don't know much about Turkish drummers. Virmire, before the other shoe drops.

"Long Night" (Mass Effect). Ashley on Virmire.

"My Heart Dances" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). Liara POV of Shepard/Kaidan.

"No Way Out" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). Heading up the Citadel during the ME1 endgame.

"Right Here, Right Now" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). An ME1 epilogue / pre-ME2 sort of fic.

"While the Night is Still Young" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). Shepard/Kaidan en route to Ilos.

Apparently I had approximately a million little Mass Effect shortfic ideas I never finished and in some cases never started. Apparently they're all for the first game. (I think there was a Thane idea or two for ME2 that I just never started on at all. RIP.)

"To Absent Friends" (Tiger and Bunny). Sad, sad futurefic of an elderly Pao-Lin reflecting on the deaths of all the other heroes over the years.